Extremely repetitive even on the first playthrough and you have to do it 3.5 times to see all the story and for things to actually make sense.
Even if you hack the game and oneshot everything, skipping the battles, it takes an absurd amount of time to finish the game in it's entirety.
Most characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts with 1-2 distinct traits/tropes that they just repeat ad nauseam.
- Yes, Leonie, I know you are Jeralt's apprentice. Stop mentioning him every two sentences.
- Yes, Sylvain, I know you're a horrible human being. Stop being horny all the time.
- Yes, Cyril, we know you like Rhea and cleaning. Can you kindly shut up now?
Not to say that every dialogue or interaction is boring or horribly cliché, but a lot of them are. And a lot of them are just meaningless filler. Though, even despite the flaws, you do get attached to the characters. Seteth is my favorite personally.
The music is repetitive also. The same "heroic" track plays in EVERY character introduction in the game.
Most of the missions are bland "kill all enemies" or "kill commander" and they keep repeating over and over with no variety at all. AND you play the exact same 99% of missions on different story routes. The only fun missions are in the DLC which I actually enjoyed.
The difficulty balance/progression in the main game is broken. Which is also somewhat fixed only in the DLC story.
Basically everything that is bad with this game is done better in Valkyria Chronicles 2 on PSP (or any VC game really). Even graphics imo, since VC series is heavily stylized. And I just can't stop comparing the two. Even the story is very similar with the military academy setting and warring nations in the background. It had better builds, player progression, better side-stories, better characters, more even difficulty curve and more engaging game mechanics.
Not that I completely hated the game. I actually intend to do all 4 routes and already watched all of the support conversations by hacking the game via emulator+cheat engine table. And I will probably do the same with the Three Hopes sequel/spinoff, since I really did get attached to the cast. But holy hell, this game is overhyped AF.
It has a ton of wasted potential, but ultimately it IS wasted.
If you, like I, heard all the raving reviews and want to play it, I would recommend you go play Valkyria Chronicles series games instead. They're leagues better than this one. Sadly, I must admit.
Even if you hack the game and oneshot everything, skipping the battles, it takes an absurd amount of time to finish the game in it's entirety.
Most characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts with 1-2 distinct traits/tropes that they just repeat ad nauseam.
- Yes, Leonie, I know you are Jeralt's apprentice. Stop mentioning him every two sentences.
- Yes, Sylvain, I know you're a horrible human being. Stop being horny all the time.
- Yes, Cyril, we know you like Rhea and cleaning. Can you kindly shut up now?
Not to say that every dialogue or interaction is boring or horribly cliché, but a lot of them are. And a lot of them are just meaningless filler. Though, even despite the flaws, you do get attached to the characters. Seteth is my favorite personally.
The music is repetitive also. The same "heroic" track plays in EVERY character introduction in the game.
Most of the missions are bland "kill all enemies" or "kill commander" and they keep repeating over and over with no variety at all. AND you play the exact same 99% of missions on different story routes. The only fun missions are in the DLC which I actually enjoyed.
The difficulty balance/progression in the main game is broken. Which is also somewhat fixed only in the DLC story.
Basically everything that is bad with this game is done better in Valkyria Chronicles 2 on PSP (or any VC game really). Even graphics imo, since VC series is heavily stylized. And I just can't stop comparing the two. Even the story is very similar with the military academy setting and warring nations in the background. It had better builds, player progression, better side-stories, better characters, more even difficulty curve and more engaging game mechanics.
Not that I completely hated the game. I actually intend to do all 4 routes and already watched all of the support conversations by hacking the game via emulator+cheat engine table. And I will probably do the same with the Three Hopes sequel/spinoff, since I really did get attached to the cast. But holy hell, this game is overhyped AF.
It has a ton of wasted potential, but ultimately it IS wasted.
If you, like I, heard all the raving reviews and want to play it, I would recommend you go play Valkyria Chronicles series games instead. They're leagues better than this one. Sadly, I must admit.