I finally finished Valkyria Chronicles yesterday. I don’t think I’ve taken this long to beat a game since Lost Odyssey, and I logged twice the time on that one. Something about Valkyria, despite not being too huge takes a very deceptively long time to play through. Each mission is at least an hour ordeal. Every time I sat down to play I knew it was going to be a time consuming ordeal so I put it off more than other games. In fact, I think I beat four other games while working my way through VC.
For those that don’t know, Valkyria Chronicles is a Tactical JRPG that I described in some detail here. They give you a book to page through and each page has a series of episodes to select. One, and sometimes two of these episodes are playable missions. The rest are short videos. There are around 22 missions and each one takes somewhere between an hour or two, but all the rest of the game is primarily cutscene. There’s a separate menu for leveling up, adjusting gear and whatnot, but the crux of the game is selecting episodes, most of which aren’t playable. This could be a turn off for some people, but the video to gameplay ratio is still way less than most JRPG’s. They are just presented in a misleading fashion.
The missions feel kind of like a board game, you have your turn, which gives you around 10 moves, and then the computer has theirs. You must accomplish a certain objective while keeping the main character alive. Sometimes there are other stipulations. The maps are laid out in clever ways to allow for a multitude of potential strategies to unfold. It is a fairly enjoyable system and it allows you to save often and encourages you to do so. This was quite nice for my playstyle because I was hardly playing it safe. Rarely would I eliminate all my opposition before proceeding forward. I would generally attempt to break through their defenses and manipulate the system in order to take the objective as quickly as possible. This of course backfired a lot, but when I found the strategy that worked it was way more efficient and quite rewarding. It also seemed to get me a pretty high rank for the mission most of the time. Without saving after each turn and sometimes each move, this would have been infinitely more frustrating.
The gameplay is not without it’s problems however. Several of the missions would start and it would seem like the enemy had every advantage they would need to easily win. They would start with larger numbers in positions that could easily wipe out the main character if only they were adhering to similar tactics as my own. It quickly became apparent on these missions, despite being horribly outgunned and invading well defended positions, that the enemy was too retarded to fully take advantage of their umm… advantage. This only proved to be annoying a few times though, eventually you’d learn the computers playstyle and be able to plan your strategies around how you would imagine they would react. It even fit in with the story a bit seeing as how the main character is supposed to be a tactical genius. Those few times however made the game look pretty bad. For instance, on the second to last level I left one guy protecting my base. On the enemy turn he was killed within their first two moves. They then proceeded to move every single guy they had closer to the base, using all their moves in the process. Any one of them could have taken the base causing me to lose the mission, but they didn’t. I completed my objective on my next turn and won instead. It was pretty ridiculous.
Where the game really shines is with its story. I am pretty much completely burnt out on all things World War II, be it video games, movies, or HBO series, but this was a very refreshing take. The game takes place in an alternate reality where three different “Europan” factions fight it out. You take control of a milita squad from the small neutral country of Gallia that only wants to defend against the incoming invaders. The game presents some very interesting and mature ideas about war. It is a little naïve and contradictory at times, but overall it was a much welcomed change of pace. The story strays farther and farther from the source material later in the game as well. Almost to the point where I wouldn't reference WWII at all. I also have to applaud it for being damn near making me cry at one point. I can’t think of any other game that has come remotely close to doing that. :)
The game also looks absolutely gorgeous. As you can see by the screenshots I’ve blatantly taken from a quick image search, it really sticks to the storybook feel. I suppose you could describe it as cel shading, comparable to Eternal Sonata. It manages to stands on its own by using scratchy filters, and frames around cutscenes that really just look fantastic in motion. It’s games like this and the new Prince of Persia that get me most excited when thinking about the current generations graphic potential. MGS4 and Gears 2 both look amazing in their own right, but I’ll take the colorful unrealistic game any day.
Valkyria Chronicles is a great game that every PS3 owner should be proud to brag about. Sadly, like most inventive, but somewhat different games, I fear it is doomed to become a cult classic among the westerners. Luckily, from what I understand it spawned quite a following in Japan, enough to warrant a manga and an anime series at the very least. If you have a PS3 I highly recommend you check it out. If you are anything like me, you aren’t using your PS3 for much else.
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