LogFAQs > #984530472

#4. Valkyria Chronicles (2008)
Total Points: 33
List Appearances: 11
First Place Votes: 4
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/878ba04d.jpg

Writeup provided by Kotetsu534
https://i.imgur.com/ILbTEvO.jpeg

If I had to pick two words to describe Valkyria Chronicles they would be 'beautiful' and 'creative'. If I had to pick a third and fourth they would be 'earnest' and 'elegiac.' The beauty is obvious - it's filled with bright and colourful anime-style cel-shaded graphics, using effects to make it look like a series of sketch drawings. The creativity is foremost in its genre mix of map and turn-based SRPG with a fully realised 3D world where you play your turns out in real-time. It's a melodramatic anime-style game with a very simple structure. The elegiac feeling comes from the narrative's focus on what's lost in war - but I can't help that reflect, on a meta-level, that VC was a ambitious, bold, home console effort from Sega early in the HD era, and it didn't achieve what they might have hoped.

The player accesses VC through a book interface - clicking on each 'panel' to watch scenes, read exchanges, or play missions in order. It's set in a altered-but-unmistakably-WWII scenario, with it's narrator introducing it as the story of how a tiny nation (Gallia - introduced with a picturesque town straight from the Low Countries) could best a military giant (the Empire). And that's the course of the story, with some deviation into the Valkyria-legend layered on top, some gigatanks to blow up, and a smattering of anime cliches. Where VC's story is more unorthodox is in its protagonist Welkin Gunther, who is a credibly nerdy and eccentric sort who would never have willingly chosen military command but has it thrown on him (due partly to his dad's reputation) and turns out to be pretty good at. The thread in the story where he learns how to build and lead a team out of the rag-tag bunch of Squad 7 frames his character and gives the story momentum. I also enjoyed his love story with Alicia, which becomes more prominent in the later chapters; it's uplifting, they're nice characters, I enjoy asaccharine love-in. The writing isn't exceptional, but it has its moments, especially when the Squad 7 characters reflect on why they're at war and disagree with each other. The script has to balance a gamut of tonal shifts as the player goes from scene to scene, and I think it about pulls it off. Avoiding spoilers, it doesn't shy away from the horrors of war or persecution.

But we're here for the game. There aren't a ton of games that try to mix full fledged 'tactical' play with 3D real-time action, and there certainly weren't many around on consoles in 2008. It works so naturally you quickly wonder why it's so rare - jumping into the 2D sketched map into the colourful 3D world is seamless and joins together very different genres in way that's compelling. The first couple of missions are essentially increasing complex tutorials, showing you how to move around, shoot enemies, take cover, move your tanks, and advance on enemy camps. But within a couple of hours there's some real challenge introduced, and you need to reach a fairly good level of proficiency to advance. There's one notorious difficulty spike which almost certainly wouldn't get released today, but which I found quite exciting, even if it's objectively quite poor design to throw so much at the player in one mission. Where VC's mission design excels is keeping its creativity up - you very rarely feel like you're just playing the same mission again; each one has its own setting or gimmick, often using environmental effects like desert, night, forest etc. to add some new mechanic you have to deal with.

At its core, of course, its an RPG. But mercifully not an overly complex one - you get experience and you go level up units back at HQ between missions (most of your units' power comes from a grade shared by the entire class, so you can happily switch units around to try others out without underpowering yourself), you give them better weapons and buy upgrades for your tanks etc. There are other systems to use like 'orders' (which can power up your units in different ways), different types of ammunition, plus one major level up for each class that unlocks a new ability. There are of course some broken combinations out there - part of the fun of any RPG is trying to figure out how to abuse the systems. The characters that make up Squad 7 are the typical mix of misfits and the competent, and you'll be upset if your favourite gets caught overextended and killed. I especially liked the Skies of Arcadia cameos (Vyse and Aika).

No comment on Valkyria Chronicles would be complete without underlining just how beautiful this game looks and sounds. The intro movie opens up by drawing a picture then showing it come to life - there's no effort to hide how the magic happens; Sega knew they'd pulled off something special. The early HD era was notorious for bid budget releases coming with a drab colour palette ranging all the way from grey to brown, so VC was even more stunning in its time. It's not just the gorgeous backdrops that bring the towns and fields to life that I love either; the main characters are drawn in a clean anime style that I find very appealing, with just a bit more detail than is the norm. Welkin's been my avatar on PSN for over 10 years now. And for my money, this is one of Hitoshi Sakimoto's best soundtracks. While he brings many of his classic melodies, the liberal use of harsh brash and sombre strings give it a fitting military feel, while still feeling wistful and melancholic. I doubt VC could have hit me as strongly as it did if the presentation and style was average.

There are a few quibbles I have with it. First, the balance between classes is way off: scouts are too mobile and therefore overpowered; worse, the 'ranking' system is entirely based on completing missions in the minimum turns, which means that A-ranks more or less require the player to ignore a lot units and focus on abusing Scouts. Second, the game plays too slowly: there's a lot of animation cuts during turns (which adds a lot of character, but do you need to see the same fist pump on every enemy kill?); sitting through the enemy going through a host of turns can easily take 3 - 5 minutes and could've used a skip or fast forward function. If it had a gone little further away from 'anime' tropes and characterisation the story could have landed bigger punches.

But these are minor blemishes. It's a great game, and thrillingly unique (and packed with content - a couple of DLC packs, on top of several sidequests which flesh out key characters, mean there's well over 30 unique missions). It blew me away in 2008 and I've championed it since. I think its stand out achievement is that every element serves a singular vision: the storybook form, a mix of enough strategy with enough real-time action, the graphical style, the music, levelling up units together, enough risk to let the player feel some danger. A tone that happily shifts from the slapstick to the melodramatic to the sombre. It doesn't ask you to take it too seriously, but if you go with it, you might not forget it.

The intro:
https://youtu.be/sJPhasMsayI?si=hihBqFNsuA-LLJXO

A beautfiful and sad instrumental ending song:
https://youtu.be/k9Ac8nhBSDo?si=Xrqk5nlY7zfIw795