Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles: The shiny, big-eyed fantasy and magic version of World War 1.

Story: So two fictitious nations in a fake version of Europe are waging war over a fake non-renewable energy source. Along the way, Welkin, a teenage aspiring teacher with no military experience, gets involved with Alicia, a teenage aspiring trooper with slight military experience, and the two of them survive an assault on their hometown by the enemy. They are recruited into the army and are IMMEDIATELY appointed commanders of their own unit above people with, well, actual experience. This is the anime version of World War 1, meaning your group can comprise of big-eyed young teens of assorted genders and sexualities, 24 is old enough to be considered a salty veteran, most of the ladies have revealing skirts that do nothing to shield them from bullets or wind, there’s a mystical force that gets awakened, a secret conspiracy behind everything and a heaping scoop of dialogue. There are way too many cutscenes, and not enough of them are optional, but the characters are likable enough that you’ll find the cockles of your heart warmed as they start to bond and overcome their prejudices. And I guess the art style helps a bit.

Realism is my bane in gaming, in part because I have no first hand experience in most fields covered in games aside from being a virtual couch potato (thank you Grand Theft Auto 4.) I can’t handle a realistic sports game because I have no idea how to realistically choose plays for a virtual team and scout virtual free agents. I can’t handle a realistic racing game because I have no clue which virtual shocks will make my virtual car handle turns better. I can’t do realistic Tom Clancy shooter games because I have no clue how one should control a virtual team of elite troops and barge into a room filled with terrorists. And I can’t do a realistic strategy RPG because I have no idea how to realistically manipulate a team of black mages against a group of magic-wielding virtual goblins.

I can’t seem to handle a strategy RPG. I’ve heard people praise the genius of games like Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics, but it seems like I never seem to know enough about the units or required tactics to understand what the fuss is about. Of course, it could also be due to the grinding required to succeed. I get the idea that you need to redo missions repeatedly to level up your units, classes, sometimes even individual weapons! And if you make a new character, it seems that he or she will start at level 1 and you’ll need to grind levels to get him up to par with the rest of your team. Both of which are reasons are why I like Valkyria Chronicles.

For one, the class system follows a K.I.S.S. mentality. Scouts can run far and shoot people, Shocktroopers can mow down people in close range, Lancers can fight tanks, Tanks can fight everything, Engineers offer assorted gimmick utilities and Snipers pick off people from a long distance and die from other snipers. Classes level up as a whole rather than by individual units, a monumental improvement from every single strategy RPG I tried to play. The experience you win from missions can be assigned to the class of your choice (with the only sacrifice being that you have to listen to the annoying drill sergeant repeat the same dialogue every time you go to the “training room” menu.) There’s a bit of grind, regrettably; if you feel like you need to level up any given class more or make some money for upgrades, you’ll have to replay “skirmish” missions, which are essentially story missions without the story bits. I’d like for the rewards of completely such skirmish missions to be more generous, but alas. It helps that the gameplay is enjoyable enough that you may not mind at all the grind.

That’s right, I didn’t mind the grind! So Valkyria Chronicles is a miracle akin to Barack Obama being America’s first black president, in that it’s the first strategy RPG that I liked!

Well, I think that’s a big deal anyways.

Another key note is that you’re actually tasked with the recruitment of your units. You have a litany of possible recruits, each with a list of people they like working with, as well as unlikely strengths and weaknesses such as “power decrease due to pollen allergy” and “accuracy increase from motherly instincts.” Not electing to follow everyone’s individual preferences in ice cream flavor won’t cripple your tactics, but at the same time, you’ll find yourself picking favorites in your squad. I’m guessing that this game was developed by the Skies of Arcadia team, partly because you can recruit a few members from that game in your army, and partly because it’s the only rational explanation for a 2008 release by Sega actually not sucking.

The actual gameplay can be described as a hybrid of Fire Emblem and Brothers In Arms. You select which party members enter the fray along with Welkin in his tank. The game is turn-based, but rather than only being allowed to move every unit once, you’re allotted a set number of points to expend however you like, be it on making your tank do all the dirty work, giving “orders” (stat boosters in a nutshell) or saving said points for another turn. That’s another thing I like about this game over, say, Fire Emblem; with enough moxie, you can, for example, sneak a single unit behind enemy lines, pick off key enemies and then send in your army the next turn. And call me ignorant in the genre to make such a statement if you like, but it’s nice to see a strategy RPG depend so much on actual strategy instead of what level your units are.

The “Brothers In Arms” part of my Brothers In Arms/Fire Emblem siamese combination comes in the rain of bullets. When moving around, enemy units will open fire, and you can lose a trooper on your own turn if you’re reckless enough, so cover and smart unit placement is critical. The Fire Emblem half sticks his head out once again once your unit runs out of health. It’s possible that you can lose a beloved party member, but unlike Fire Emblem where a cheap ambush or underestimating an enemy will cause that black mage you’ve been trying to level up to die and force you to restart the mission or else carry on without him/her, here you’re given a chance to save your favorite spiky-haired soldiers by sending someone else to recover them.

Which is greatly appreciated, as missions can be quite merciless. More often than not, you will not be finishing a mission on the first go, as the game will often throw unexpected ambushes by divine angels or mortar shells from the heavens. A well-played assault can blow up in your face because of an unexpected set of reinforcements. Be sure to save often, and be grateful that you can create as many saves as you’d like over the Fire Emblem games.

You can’t quite power-play Valkyria Chronicles like one would be able to with other RPGs. I found myself playing a mission, losing, getting angry, and then trying the mission again the next day with a new gameplan and a new outlook on life. And every time I would get angry over a cheap enemy sniper attack or goddess assault, I knew that I’d be able to exact my vengeance another day. So you need a bit of patience to play through Valkyria Chronicles, but the uniqueness of it all and the game’s ability to avoid most of the genre pitfalls makes it stand out as one of the Playstation 3’s strongest games. In my mind, this is the best original gameplay concept of 2008 that doesn’t fall flat on its face. And quite frankly, I don’t care if I’m the only one that thinks this is special, but me liking a strategy RPG is big deal!

Pros : I’ve neglected to mention that there’s a really interesting cel-shaded-pencil-crayon-thingy art style used in the game.

Cons : The game is becoming hard to find in stores. So if you find it, buy it while you can!

4 stars.

Fire Emblem almost became the first strategy RPG that I liked, but the game kept finding cheap and deranged ways to kill my units and test my will to restart missions or carry on.