Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Interview @RPGamer

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RPG Site: In the first Valkyria Chronicles, you were able to recruit more characters at the main camp over the course of the game while in Valkyria Chronicles 3, additional characters would join you overtime. How does Valkyria Chronicles 4 approach the recruitment of new characters?

Kei Mikami: So in VC4, more characters join Claude (the main character) at certain points in the story. It’s similar to VC1 in that everyone has different Potentials - some characters are more comfortable being around specific people more than others. Characters will come into the game within each new chapter.

RPG Site: I have an important question. Can you tell us a little about the inclusion of Ragnarok the dog?

Kei Mikami: Ragnarok is actually a rare character that you only get to see at random basically. There’s a random 10% chance that he’ll come running ahead of the medic when a unit is in danger.

Ragnarok does have a certain relationship with the main characters. They see Ragnarok as a good boy - kind of like a funny little dog character, but Ragnarok actually sees himself as a level above humans.

RPG Site: One thing I liked in Valkyria Chronicles 3 is that I was able to change the class of any character. For example, it allowed me to make a Shocktrooper into a Scout, unlock an ability to travel farther under that Scout specialization, and then change back into a Shocktrooper retaining that ability to travel farther. Is there anything like that in Valkyria Chronicles 4?

Kei Mikami: That level of customization is actually not available in VC4 because of the sheer number of characters that join you - there’s about 50 of them. That depth of customization you speak of was possible because there was a more limited number of characters available to you, so the goal there was to have a system flexible enough to make up for the limited quantity.

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With VC4, there’s only one main relationship because we felt that having two separate stories would divide fans into debating which one is the true route or story.

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To your point on how it expanded through word-of-mouth to gradually getting popular, it was thanks people trying the game and releasing it on multiple platforms - especially Steam. It did a great job making the game more accessible to a larger audience so even more people got a chance to finally play it.

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Zloth said:

PC Gaming for the win! Sega has learned well.

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Zloth said:

!?!?

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Couchpotato said:

Quite surprised to see Sega focusing on releasing more JRPGs, and other console games on Steam. They also publish PC games for Creative Assembly, and Relic Entertainment.

So allow me to say I can't wait to play more Yakuza and other console exclusives.

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joxer said:

Played Cold Steel games?

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