Sega Nerds

Review: Valkyria Chronicles

Posted by George. Filed under George, Review, Sony PlayStation 3. Tagged with Valkyria Chronicles.

Sega has finally brought Valkyria Chronicles to the west, six months after the Japanese release and following much positive feedback from the gaming community. Now that the game is here, was it worth the wait?

Story

The game takes place in 1930 in an alternate Europe, cleverly called “Europa.” You guessed it, this is a fictional anime account of World War II. The game’s opening sequence shows a young man named Welkin Gunther coming to his hometown in Gallia to pick up his sister, Isara. While he is there, he runs into a resistance fighter named Alicia Melchiott.

Alicia asks Welkins why he is there, and even though he tries to explain she won’t listen. The reason everyone is so uptight is because the East Europan Imperial Alliance has been trying to take over Gallia for its ragnite ore.

Ragnite ore is a precious resource, used as the energy source to power tanks and various other equipment. The Imperial Alliance is also at war with the Atlantic Federation, and Gallia just happens to be in the middle of the conflict.

After Isara comes to Welkin’s rescue, an Imperial soldier attacks. You are forced to fight and the game begins…

How do you play this?

Valkyria Chronicles is a strategy roleplaying game (SRPG), so everything is turn-based. Actions cost points, and you can spend them on whichever units you want. However, the more often you use a unit per turn, the more tired they get. Additionally, certain weapons have a limited amount of ammo that must be replenished by an engineer or by ending the turn. Moves need to be thought out and planned ahead, as it is easy to put your units into dangerous situations through reckless action.

Squad 7 is made up of 20 soldiers in five different classes, which you can recruit yourself. Each one has its unique advantages and disadvantages. The classes in this game are:

• Shock Trooper – Holding a machine gun and taking down enemies like butter, this is what Shock Troopers do best. However, they aren’t very mobile so they can be left behind on larger maps.
  
• Snipers – Snipers have low defense and low mobility, but are deadly from a distance. They work better on high places where they can scope the battlefield.
• Lancers – Lancers are heavily armored units that walk around like titans and blow stuff up, especially tanks.
• Scouts – Scouts can run very far and check out the battlefield, reveal enemy locations and hopefully get back in one piece. They aren’t that strong with firepower, and have low defense.
• Engineers – They do everything great, besides fight. They can heal soldiers, replenish ammunition, repair tanks, and even place sandbags for cover.

After choosing your team and positioning them on the battlefield, you deploy into action. You will see an overhead of the map, showing where your squad and any known enemy positions are. If you want to spot other enemies, a scout is the ideal class to go running around.

Valkyria Chronicles utilizes traditional SRPG aspects, but mixes things up. For example, movement is not based on a grid system (as in Shining Force and Final Fantasy Tactics), but by a movement meter that is determined by your class and stats. It feels like a more modern take on an old classic.

In most SRPGs you have a set view of the action and know the location of every unit on the battlefield, while in Valkyria Chronicles you really don’t. You have to use scouts to determine enemy locations. Since the game zooms in to 3rd-person combat during movement and attacks, you never know what’s around the corner. I think this adds a great sense of awareness to the game that is lacking in previous genre entries. Exploring around adds a sense of danger, as you don’t want to turn a corner and see a shock trooper staring at you with a loaded gun.

One thing I thought I was going to hate was waiting for the enemy’s turn. However, every time I was finished with my turn I wanted to see what the enemy did. Because the position of your units at the end of your turn is just as important as the actions you perform during your turn, there was always that moment of “please don’t kill my sniper,” with me on the edge of my seat and my controller tightly gripped.

If one of your soldiers loses his health, you have three turns to rescue him before he dies. If an enemy solider gets to him before you, he will also die. This could mess up your big plan, since you will have to use turns to rescue your fallen comrade. In most cases, if your soldier dies he or she is gone forever.

The best part of the game is actually having the ability to aim shots yourself. This can make the difference between killing the enemy or wasting your turn. For example, aiming at the head takes fewer shots to kill, but gives a higher chance to miss.

Graphics look nice, right?

One of the “wow” factors for most people in Valkyria Chronicles is its graphical style, which is presented in what Sega calls the CANVAS Graphic Engine. I think it really worked well for the game, as it fits with the storybook layout for the menu and looks amazing at times, despite a few rare occasions of graphical slowdown.

The game is supposed to look like a moving painting and it accomplishes this well. I thought that the game was going to be all looks and no gameplay. I have to say I’m relieved that it is both.

Story and music

I thought the story was a fairly interesting take on an alternate World War II. It was interesting enough, but I didn’t find it all that great. It’s not bad by all means, just not outstanding.

I think the story was outshone by the characters. Because every character is given so much personality and back story, you’ll find yourself getting attached to even the minor characters. When they die in the battlefield it will piss you off. It’s also interesting to see Welkin’s response to a situation, as opposed to someone like Largo.

The composer of the game is Hitoshi Sakimoto,  who also composed for the game Odin Sphere. I have to say, I didn’t really notice the music much during gameplay, due to being focused on battles so much. But the menu music and other bits I remember are good. A soundtrack should fit the game’s themes without being distracting or overbearing, so Valkyria Chronicle’s does a fine job; just don’t expect anything mind-blowing or too memorable.

Passing the time…

This game has meat and potatoes. I actually liked exploring around and spending my hard earned cash on weapon and armor upgrades. I also enjoyed leveling up my units, which really makes a big difference in the battlefield. The game provides many options for customization, as you can not only pick 20 soldiers from a large roster, but you can equip them all with different weapons from a branching research tree. Your tank also has similar upgradeable features, allowing you to plan out your battles the way you like.

If you’re in the mood you can even play the game in Japanese, if you find the English voices to be annoying. There is also an optional installation that copies about 3.5GB of data to the PlayStation 3’s hard drive, decreasing load times.

Something I suggest you guys do is just play the game in English. The dub is surprisingly competent, though some of the voices are bad (in the good way). It reminds me of Shenmue and Virtua Fighter. Good times.

The short of it

If you have to buy one Sega game this year, make it Valkyria Chronicles. A Sega game of this caliber is something of a rarity nowadays, and it is easily one of the best to come from the company in a while. High production values, great characters, awesome gameplay, and amazing artstyle make Valkyria Chronicles one that should not be missed. Trust me, if you buy this game you will not regret it.

+ Great gameplay makes you come back for more
+ Graphics are very impressive
+ 18 chapters and plenty to do outside story mode
+ Detailed rich characters with unique personalities

- No trophy support
- No multiplayer
- Some cut scenes drag on too much

Hudson’s take:

For God’s sake, buy this game. Every one of you out there with a PS3 needs to pick this up, and not just because it’s an amazing, genre-bending title overflowing with character. Pick it up because this is the kind of game that Sega, the creative, risk-taking console manufacturer that once was, used to put out during the Dreamcast era. This is a chance for Sega Nerds out there to enjoy one of the best games on the PS3 and show the company that innovation and polish will not go unnoticed, nor unrewarded.

Nathan’s take:

Valkyria Chronicles is not only one of the best SRPGs I’ve played, it’s one of the best games I’ve played this generation. Sega games like this are now far too few in between, and to miss Valkyria Chronicles would be a horrible mistake. The gameplay is deep and rewarding with plenty of replayability thanks to the skirmishes and New Game+ modes, and the presentation is stylish and top-notch. The only thing I can complain about is the lack of online play, which is something that better be in the sequel… Right, Sega?

We have three votes saying yes, so Valkyria Chronicles is Sega Nerds’ first recipient of the Sega Nerds Seal of Quality.