Valkyria Chronicles - A Fluent Review

Great review Fluent! Really goes a long way in explaining this game to people haven't played it. Though I don't exactly get the criticism of the save system. You don't HAVE to save after every turn, and you definitely don't need to load after every wrong move either.

Neph, I totally agree you don't have to save after every turn, and I certainly will NOT be re-loading after every bad move, but having the option there is tempting, and it has led to a bit of the tension draining from the game for me personally.

For example, fighting that giant tank was *extremely* tense before knowing I could save during a battle. Once I discovered I could save, it became much easier for me.

Again, this is just personal preference, and I don't expect everyone to agree. I just would have liked a bit more restriction in this area of the game, or maybe an "Iron Man" mode that limited your saves to 2 per battle or something. Then people who don't want to use my system could play the Normal mode, but those of us who want more tension in the battles could use the Iron Man mode.

Iron Man mode would be perfect.

I haven't played this one yet. Does it have permadeath a la Fire Emblem? That would be another way to increase the tension.

I think the Gameboy Advance Fire Emblem games did it the best. There was no saving during a mission except for a quicksave that would dump you back at the main menu. Perfect if you had to quit playing in the middle of the mission and it prevented save scumming.

Plus the permadeath really made sure you played carefully rather than aggressive and mindless.

… And I was just reading "Vanilla Chronicles" …

Now you're talking my language, Neph!

VC does have permanent death, although you can rescue a downed unit in a certain number of turns before they die. If you successfully have another person on your squad reach them and call a medic, they will be evacuated safely and be able to live to fight another day.

Now, if the character that fell is in a hard to reach spot due to enemy resistance, they could be lost in a few turns, for sure. So, I kind of like that system quite a bit.

The permanent death factor does add to tension during the battle, but again, if someone saved 2 turns before the character was lost, they could just re-load like nothing happened, move that character out of harm's way and continue their battle. That sort of tactic reduces the tension once again.

I have to put in some house rules for myself or something. A mod for this aspect would be awesome if it existed.

For now, I'll just have to use a good, old-fashioned Willpower skill check. Which I'll probably fail miserably.

I played the game for around 15-20 hours I think and enjoyed it and then got sidetracked, but I never saved during combat.

I save just before combat but that's it.

Savings after every move would make it boring imo.

I did have to restart some battles a few times, when I lost everyone, but I don't mind that.

There's playing smart and then there's playing scared. Playing turtle style where you put everyone into cover and sllooowwwly advance while picking off enemies is more of the latter. A very good idea in real life where there is no re-load but not very fun, IMHO. It's a lot more fun to experiment and discover what's possible. The game sets up some nice side-paths for you to discover, too. There's no way I'm running down one of those if I'm already half an hour into a battle!

Zloth, that type of decision-making process is what makes the game fun!

Do you run down that path and take a big risk? Or do you play it safe? Not being able to experiment and then re-load just makes for a tenser battle.

No, it makes a nochoice frustrating and annoying consolegame.
The baby cries - which on consoles often means a need to replay an hour of a game. On PC we know better. Save the game, feed the baby, check dipers, play with the baby, go chores, do whatever else, reload the game at the exact point you stopped - everyone's happy.

But Fluent, I'm still unsure why rarely anyone mentioned "Okay, I'm persuaded, I bought VC!".
Is it because noone trusts us that the game is worth every penny? Or just because it's a bad timing with Eternity and GTA around?

Hmm, good question, jox! People are probably busy with Pillars, I'd imagine. Either that, or many people here have played it already.

In case it needs to be said, though (for those who haven't watched the review, or just see me talking about the save system quibble) - BUY THIS GAME! Do it, now! It's a beautiful, beautiful gem.

I will buy it for sure…. as soon as I have the time.

To reassure joxer and Fluent: Okay, I'm persuaded, I bought VC, I even installed it and I will start playing it… after I finish Pillars of Eternity.
I don't think that's the type of game many people played and like you said the timing is not very good. And The Witcher 3 is coming.

My third game that i ever pre-ordered on PC. So that says a lot. The other ones were Van Helsing 1 and 2 (what can i say, i fell in love with a ghost).

If you go for absolute completion, you need the save. For A rank you need to respect certain requirements. For killing the enemy aces, you need to find the approximate area where they spawn. So, saving helps to do that. The game has its share of grinding for materials to craft better stuff for the team. So, no need to frustrate yourself more than necessary.

You have a big amount of research and craft items, more recruits (some will unlock only when certain requirements are met, some by just following the story). I really don't get why people hate the anime theme, as that is common to all the jRPG's and i really don't understand why most of the big sites seem to ignore pasionately the PC re-release. And those are the same sites that made a big fuss at the console's launch and blamed Sega for the lack of promotion. I guess the job is ours again, to promote this vastly under-rated game.

And for some strange reason, i loved two of the game's villains: Jaeger, which is the most rational of them and in the right conditions he would probably fight along the Squad 7 and Selvaria (which fought for the Empire for the most cliche's reasons - she was in love). If a game can make you care even for the smallest characters or for its villains, well, i'd say, that the damn game is a solid one.

P.S.: the game is out on PC since november 2014, so saying that timing is bad…Nope.

I love the art style in the game. I'm not necessarily an anime fan, but that's more because I haven't seen much anime in my lifetime. I do like most JRPGs, though, and the game is simply gorgeous to look at, with the hand-drawn aesthetic and the beautifully soft color palette and tones. In 1080p with supersampling anti-aliasing turned to 8x, it's simply stunning.

The game is just warm and inviting overall and it's a joy to play. Make a nice, hot cup of coffee and just enjoy.

Originally Posted by wolfsrain
P.S.: the game is out on PC since november 2014, so saying that timing is bad…Nope.

You mean since Dragon Age Inquisition.
Do you remember any advertisment on VC PC port? Neither do I. Meanwhile, every possible site overspammed me with DA3 splashes.

Coffee and cigarettes like Jim Jarmusch said

And that's exactly what i have when i play this. A nice, hot coffee and a few ciggies. Yeah, i know, smoking is bad

I don't smoke anything these days. Used to, though. I would advise you to quit the cigs, but drink as much coffee as you want. Coffee is good for you. It makes you smarter with a better memory, amongst other things.

The game seems interesting but I don't really like the (anime) art-style and JRPG type stories.

Mordheim: City of the Damned seems to play similarly and has a more interesting setting (and better graphics) in my opinion so I will wait for it's release.

Your loss.

Has anyone else actually watched my review? Comments/suggestions/thoughts on it?