A remaster of Valkyria Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical role-playing game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3 in 2008. A Microsoft Windows version was released on November 11, 2014. A remastered version for PlayStation 4 was released in Japan on February 10, 2016 with a Western release planned for May 2016. Both PC and PS4 versions include previously released DLC. The game is set in fictional Europa, loosely based on Europe during the early years of World War II. Because of its abundance of Ragnite ore, which takes the place of petroleum in the game setting, the neutral nation of Gallia comes under attack from the East Europan Imperial Alliance, which is itself engaged in war with the Atlantic Federation. Players take control of a unit of the Gallian Militia, dedicated to repelling the invasion. The game's visuals, which use Sega's CANVAS graphics engine, resemble pencil drawn paintings in motion.
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Enjoyed this a bit, was quite nice. While was cliché here and there, it wasn't like it was bad clichés and didn't mind it (Though quite a jarring difference between the clichés and the setting because of the real life war it took ideas from). Plot wasn't a world beater but did a nice job, simple to follow and engaging to a degree. Gameplay was interesting, overall a fun tactical rpg at times needing a lot more thinking than usual which is a good thing. The addition of Valkyries in a war story was nice and cool, though I definitely wish it was more prevalent within the plot, only really showing face a few times which is a bit off putting given the name of the series.
The gameplay itself is interesting enough - strategically moving units around a 3D space, dodging enemies and hiding behind cover to avoid getting hit, and aiming yourself rather than relying on hit% or a dice roll. I appreciated the way the maps used verticality a lot, and line of sight as well. The leveling system was a little weird - having levels tied to classes meant that none of your units necessarily fell behind, but it did make me feel more disconnected to the playable characters moreso than something like Fire Emblem or a Pokemon nuzlocke would. The upgrade trees for weapons was a nice touch, and although it was interesting that you could pick up enemy weapons off certain corpses, I never found the enemy's weapons useful enough to use practically.
The story, as alluded to before, is very run-of-the-mill; but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It does do a good job exploring the various natures of the gravity and seriousness of war - but it can be hard to take the story seriously when it seems like the characters, outside of Welkin and Alicia, don't? If that makes sense? The Valkyrur and their connections with the Darcsen tribe give a sense of intrigue, but I feel like these sort of themes explored better in something like Fire Emblem's Tellius duology.
Other things: the music was not necessarily a favorite, and even became annoying at parts (especially the book mode music), but the cel-shaded style mixed with storybook style art were gorgeous to look at and kept me going.
Overall not a bad time, but I feel like I could have spent my time a little better.