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Valkyria Chronicles |OT| Beautiful art meets genre-redefining gameplay

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
suikodan said:
I tried chapter seven this weekend. I passed it without any hurdles except that I got defeated in chapter 8 and quit the game. Sadly, I didn't save so it was back to chapter 7 and now, I can't pass it.

I hate wasting time like this... :lol

Damn, you got big brass ones. I save after every battle. Some of the fights have taken over 45 minutes a piece, I'm not going to redo those for the hell of it.
 

soldat7

Member
I almost bought this but decided against it. I haven't really enjoyed a JRPG in years and I've never been into SRPGs either. Anyone else feel/felt like me? :(
 

Llyranor

Member
I'm not sure I'll pick up any of the DLC. I guess it depends on how well-balanced they all are.

This video (hardEX mission 1) isn't very inspiring http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEMOiceXxYY
It looks like essentially a turkey shoot. At the 3:50 mark, you see Rosa running in open ground straight towards an enemy position (3 MG + 1 tank MG) shooting directly at her for a full 5+ seconds, and she just shrugs off the damage and then kills them all with her flamethrower.

If the mission packs are designed from the ground up to cater to specific class levels and such, then I might get those. A bit skeptical.
 

Owensboro

Member
Llyranor said:
I'm not sure I'll pick up any of the DLC. I guess it depends on how well-balanced they all are.

This video (hardEX mission 1) isn't very inspiring http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEMOiceXxYY
It looks like essentially a turkey shoot. At the 3:50 mark, you see Rosa running in open ground straight towards an enemy position (3 MG + 1 tank MG) shooting directly at her for a full 5+ seconds, and she just shrugs off the damage and then kills them all with her flamethrower.

If the mission packs are designed from the ground up to cater to specific class levels and such, then I might get those. A bit skeptical.

If by "shrugs off the damage" you mean "got a potential proc, lost half her life, and then got lucky because no enemies dodged her attack", then yeah it looks easy. But If just one person dodges that attack, she's dead. Not to mention she dodges a tank shell during the enemy's next turn. There were a lot of things that just went the player's way in that vid (something that rarely ever works for me :lol ).

Just looking at the field setup in that map, I don't even want to imagine what they did in the maps that gave me headaches.
 
soldat7 said:
I almost bought this but decided against it. I haven't really enjoyed a JRPG in years and I've never been into SRPGs either. Anyone else feel/felt like me? :(

Depends on why you don't like JRPGs I suppose.

All of the shitty story stuff that plagues JRPGs is here: the really bad acting and writing and all.

The SRPG gameplay is quite good. Refreshing. The visuals and audio are nice, but nothing out of this world. The controls are intuitive. There's a solid amount of customization, though so far to me it's 'buy everything you can get and you'll have everything'.

I really enjoy it, but it's definitely not for everyone. If you can grab it at $30 I say it's worth a shot. Worst case scenario, you'll be able to sell it for more than you bought it for.
 

soldat7

Member
gregor7777 said:
Depends on why you don't like JRPGs I suppose.

All of the shitty story stuff that plagues JRPGs is here: the really bad acting and writing and all.

The SRPG gameplay is quite good. Refreshing. The visuals and audio are nice, but nothing out of this world. The controls are intuitive. There's a solid amount of customization, though so far to me it's 'buy everything you can get and you'll have everything'.

I really enjoy it, but it's definitely not for everyone. If you can grab it at $30 I say it's worth a shot. Worst case scenario, you'll be able to sell it for more than you bought it for.

Thanks for the reply...something compels me to buy this game...either it's the low hum of the GAF underbelly or the compulsive collector's voice inside my head. Either way it's getting louder!
 
Darkpen said:
I'm a bit shocked by the accounts of people who were turned off by the demo o_O

I was convinced to buy this game by demo alone. All of the SRPG trappings were there, and all I needed to do was wait for the release :S

I was still on the fence after playing the demo. I really liked the gameplay, but felt it wasn't enough to convince me that it would be the best thing ever. But I gave into it anyway. And seriously, the demo really fails in bringing out what VC TRULY is about.
 

Durante

Member
gregor7777 said:
All of the shitty story stuff that plagues JRPGs is here: the really bad acting and writing and all.
I disagree. It's not amazing, but calling it "really bad" is not fair compared to the average level of JRPGs out there (unless your scale for them starts at "utterly atrocious" and goes up to "bad").
 
Durante said:
I disagree. It's not amazing, but calling it "really bad" is not fair compared to the average level of JRPGs out there (unless your scale for them starts at "utterly atrocious" and goes up to "bad").

I have a few undefined levels of shame below bad when it comes to classification of JRPG stories. :lol To call the writing and acting anything that someone might misconstrue as mediocre or above would doing them a disservice.

But yeah, it's nowhere near the bottom of that particular barrel and certainly the gameplay makes up for it.

EDIT: and I do like the backdrop for the story. It's just the writing/acting on top that I dislike.
 

Darkpen

Banned
radiantdreamer said:
I was still on the fence after playing the demo. I really liked the gameplay, but felt it wasn't enough to convince me that it would be the best thing ever. But I gave into it anyway. And seriously, the demo really fails in bringing out what VC TRULY is about.
...I thought it was really obvious that there would probably be more to the gameplay than the demo had to show :/

Seriously guys, do you go into demos expecting them to show what the entire game's like? I thought the skirmish in the demo was a pretty good example of what to expect, in terms of character potentials, relations, and job types.
 

Lain

Member
I personally liked the acting and writing in the game. It's nothing amazing, but I found it pretty enjoyable. Especially every time the journalist girl had a scene. She was probably my most liked character.
 

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
If you were an SRPG fan when you played the demo I'm sure you were as floored as I was. Being able to manually control your character, use cover, aim.. it was seriously a dream come true. If the demo, short and simple as it was, didn't immediately grab you it's probably because you're not an SRPG buff used to thinking about anything and everything grid-based. The demo is the reason I bought my PS3 and VC back in November. I'm sure if you're a normal JRPG or other genre fan the third-person perspective/controls didn't seem like anything revolutionary..but for us..
 
Darkpen said:
...I thought it was really obvious that there would probably be more to the gameplay than the demo had to show :/

Seriously guys, do you go into demos expecting them to show what the entire game's like? I thought the skirmish in the demo was a pretty good example of what to expect, in terms of character potentials, relations, and job types.

Most demos seem to show a good portion of what the game is about, even if it's not accessible. Killzone 2 for example, is a great showcase of the entire game within a small vertical slice.

I think that it would have been better if the demo instead covered half a chapter, such as the first bit of Chapter 3.

Not saying the demo wasn't effective. I just think it could have been more effective.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Lain said:
I personally liked the acting and writing in the game. It's nothing amazing, but I found it pretty enjoyable. Especially every time the journalist girl had a scene. She was probably my most liked character.

I'm only on Chapter 9, but same here. The dub doesn't hold a candle to some of the better recent US game dubs (Persona 3 and Persona 4 come to mind), but it does the job.

I love how unique all the characters are. SEGA didn't have to put any work into fleshing out the various non-story related characters in your party...but they did. Giving them voice work with a couple lines, unique animations, background info, all of this stuff is just icing on the cake. I've become so attached to some characters that I won't continue the mission if they die. I just can't lose them. Actually I haven't let anyone die, I just like them way too much.

This is Ring of Red for a new generation, and I'm loving every second of it.
 

Keikoku

Banned
I assume that the update was to prepare the DLC ?

Anyway I just beat the game, I enjoyed it. Plot and dialogues were embarassing, but the gameplay and the visuals were both great. I usually don't like TRPGs but this one convinced me, will buy Selvaria's DLC for sure. Would have liked Jaeger DLC though.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Keikoku said:
I assume that the update was to prepare the DLC ?

Anyway I just beat the game, I enjoyed it. Plot and dialogues were embarassing, but the gameplay and the visuals were both great. I usually don't like TRPGs but this one convinced me, will buy Selvaria's DLC for sure. Would have liked Jaeger DLC though.

If they are working of a new iteration of Valkyria Chronicles, odds are that the Selvaria DLC was the last one.
 

RpgN

Junior Member
Hey guys, I hope this isn't posted yet. But famitsu online announced that Sega is going to release Valkyria Chronicles anime on PSN starting on the 15th of April (which is today to some, yesterday to others). New episode will be added on each Wednesday. You pay 400 yen for each episode on HD, and 300 yen for SD version. This is a great way for further exploring the franchise, and great for fans wanting a high quality version.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1223515_1124.html
 
RpgN said:
Hey guys, I hope this isn't posted yet. But famitsu online announced that Sega is going to release Valkyria Chronicles anime on PSN starting on the 15th of April (which is today to some, yesterday to others). New episode will be added on each Wednesday. You pay 400 yen for each episode on HD, and 300 yen for SD version. This is a great way for further exploring the franchise, and great for fans wanting a high quality version.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1223515_1124.html
that's great
 

AKS

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
If they are working of a new iteration of Valkyria Chronicles, odds are that the Selvaria DLC was the last one.

I'm really hoping SEGA brings more of this stuff out in North America soon. I would buy their Yakuza games and anything related to Valkyria Chronicles in a heartbeat if they made it available here. I would certainly welcome another Valkyria Chronicles game.

Given that SEGA seems to have recently remembered how to make an elite RPG, I wonder if they are entertaining the idea of making a true Phantasy Star sequel someday? I would love a true sequel that was on par with Phantasy Star I, II, and IV. Memories...

SEGA has quietly put together among the most exciting lineups of games this generation in my opinion with Valkyria Chronicles, the Yakuza games, and publishing Platinum Games' (Clover's) awesome titles.
 
I'm on the brink of buying a PS3 because of this game. I watch the anime and I liked it. Has anyone watched it and is it close to the actual game?
 

RpgN

Junior Member
shykyoichi said:
I'm on the brink of buying a XBOX 360 because of this game. I watch the anime and I liked it. Has anyone watched it and is it close to the actual game?

You probably mean a ps3? As for the anime, I haven't watched it myself but heard that it isn't exactly like how the game goes.
 

AKS

Member
shykyoichi said:
I'm on the brink of buying a XBOX 360 because of this game. I watch the anime and I liked it. Has anyone watched it and is it close to the actual game?

I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about. Or, conversely, perhaps I'm sure you don't know what you're talking about. Either way, something is amiss here.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
The pacing is faster, maybe because it's going to be a shorter series?
But the anime is able to capture the story parts of the game pretty well.
 

Egg Shen

Member
shykyoichi said:
I'm on the brink of buying a PS3 because of this game. I watch the anime and I liked it. Has anyone watched it and is it close to the actual game?
The anime series, so far at least, has changed a few scenes (along with altering some of the character art) by either making them more dramatic or by stretching them out to pad the correspondingly short cuts from the game. It's still relatively faithful to the story, though.
 

Ponn

Banned
RpgN said:
Hey guys, I hope this isn't posted yet. But famitsu online announced that Sega is going to release Valkyria Chronicles anime on PSN starting on the 15th of April (which is today to some, yesterday to others). New episode will be added on each Wednesday. You pay 400 yen for each episode on HD, and 300 yen for SD version. This is a great way for further exploring the franchise, and great for fans wanting a high quality version.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1223515_1124.html

Are these rentals like Xam'd or actual purchases? I'm not down for paying 5 bucks for a half hour rental but would buy episodes for that much. And anyone know if they plan on releasing these on the US store with subtitles?
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
AKS said:
I'm really hoping SEGA brings more of this stuff out in North America soon. I would buy their Yakuza games and anything related to Valkyria Chronicles in a heartbeat if they made it available here. I would certainly welcome another Valkyria Chronicles game.

Given that SEGA seems to have recently remembered how to make an elite RPG, I wonder if they are entertaining the idea of making a true Phantasy Star sequel someday? I would love a true sequel that was on par with Phantasy Star I, II, and IV. Memories...

SEGA has quietly put together among the most exciting lineups of games this generation in my opinion with Valkyria Chronicles, the Yakuza games, and publishing Platinum Games' (Clover's) awesome titles.

Recently?

Skies of Arcadia and Panzer Dragoon Saga were excellent games.

The problem is that there was a 7 year difference between Skies of Arcadia and Valkyria Chronicles, the internally developed Japanese RPG's.

Sega has the potential to make great RPG's, but the RPG's they do internally develop have such a large timetable between them that they are not a force to be reckoned with. If they developed RPG's every year or every other year on the caliber of Skies and Valkyria then they would be an "elite RPG maker." Until that happens, they are just a game maker who just happens to make great RPG's every once in a while.
 

neight

Banned
Can I ask all of you a serious question without fear of me arguing it. How many of you think the game looks like an actual hand drawn painting? I've seen this perspective an embarrassingly amount of times. I mean I do think the game looks gorgeous with its sketch shading. But an actual hand drawn painting? No.

I mean it still looks like a digital videogame made up of polygons and textures to you, right?
 

Baha

Member
neight said:
Can I ask all of you a serious question without fear of me arguing it. How many of you think the game looks like an actual hand drawn painting? I've seen this perspective an embarrassingly amount of times. I mean I do think the game looks gorgeous with its sketch shading. But an actual hand drawn painting? No.

I'd say hand drawn sketch with a water color filter. Definitely not a painting since you can see the sketch lines. Looks gorgeous either way.
 

RpgN

Junior Member
Ponn01 said:
Are these rentals like Xam'd or actual purchases? I'm not down for paying 5 bucks for a half hour rental but would buy episodes for that much. And anyone know if they plan on releasing these on the US store with subtitles?

To my understanding this part (??????1????HD??400?[??]?SD??300?[??]??????) implies the price sale for each episode including tax, there's no mention of any form of rental. And the title ????????????????PlayStation Store??????mentions the distribution on the store. I tried to find the item on the Japanese store to see further explanation, but forgot that we can't access the video channel overseas :[ In a nutshell, I think you buy an episode and not rent it but you might want to ask Duckroll just to make sure.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
neight said:
Can I ask all of you a serious question without fear of me arguing it. How many of you think the game looks like an actual hand drawn painting? I've seen this perspective an embarrassingly amount of times. I mean I do think the game looks gorgeous with its sketch shading. But an actual hand drawn painting? No.

I mean it still looks like a digital videogame made up of polygons and textures to you, right?

I agree, the game does not look like a hand drawn painting because the jaggies kind of draws the users out.

Valkyria Chronicles would look more like a painting if they had 4x AA. The PS3 should be able to handle it, so a VC2 should be able to look more like a hand drawn painting if they had more Anti-Aliasing.
 

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Okay, we're into hours now. I'm counting the hours until DLC.

Thank Michael I get out of work at 5 tomorrow.
 

DMeisterJ

Banned
RpgN said:
To my understanding this part (??????1????HD??400?[??]?SD??300?[??]??????) implies the price sale for each episode including tax, there's no mention of any form of rental. And the title ????????????????PlayStation Store??????mentions the distribution on the store. I tried to find the item on the Japanese store to see further explanation, but forgot that we can't access the video channel overseas :[ In a nutshell, I think you buy an episode and not rent it but you might want to ask Duckroll just to make sure.

Confused????????????????????
 

Llyranor

Member
Hmm, now that I think about it, if the HardEX missions are balanced for maxed-out class levels, I suppose it might be a good challenge. Guess I'll be waiting on impressions.
 

Hobbun

Member
RpgN said:
Hey guys, I hope this isn't posted yet. But famitsu online announced that Sega is going to release Valkyria Chronicles anime on PSN starting on the 15th of April (which is today to some, yesterday to others). New episode will be added on each Wednesday. You pay 400 yen for each episode on HD, and 300 yen for SD version. This is a great way for further exploring the franchise, and great for fans wanting a high quality version.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1223515_1124.html


That's good. :)

But is it subbed?

Edit: Oh wait, you found it on Famitsu. It probably is only coming to the Japan PSN right now. So obviously it won't be subbed.

I hope it makes it here. I'll buy them if they sub them. Although it would be even better if they dubbed them.
 

Hellion

Member
I'm getting back into the game after motorstorm and killzone 2.

Im in chapter 11 now and...shit I had no idea you level up for flamethrowers and granade launchers =P
 

FatalT

Banned
Guuhhhhh chapter 7 is insane. This is like the first mission that's actually introduced an actual need for a plan. All the missions before I just rushed with my tank and used my scouts to cap off some headshots but now, oh man.
 

Lindsay

Dot Hacked
I read over on gamefaqs theres going to be a 30mb update for the game to allow dlc? I know 30mb isn't alot but its still kinda wasteful since I'm not getting the dlc. But having it harass me to update every time I load the game would be lame to... >.<;


edit: btw anyone know what the federations anthem is? they were only in one battle yet had their own logo and everything. oh and if there is a sequel they should totally use them more.
 

AKS

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
Recently?

Skies of Arcadia and Panzer Dragoon Saga were excellent games.

The problem is that there was a 7 year difference between Skies of Arcadia and Valkyria Chronicles, the internally developed Japanese RPG's.

Sega has the potential to make great RPG's, but the RPG's they do internally develop have such a large timetable between them that they are not a force to be reckoned with. If they developed RPG's every year or every other year on the caliber of Skies and Valkyria then they would be an "elite RPG maker." Until that happens, they are just a game maker who just happens to make great RPG's every once in a while.


I didn't mean that SEGA hasn't made a good RPG since PS IV, but it's just been such a long time since we got one as good as Valkyria Chronicles. I want a sequel to Valkyria Chronicles and would be thrilled to have a proper Phantasy Star sequel that is of that level of quality. Maybe even use the CANVAS engine? Wonder what an HD watercolor Myau would look like in motion?
 

AKS

Member
FatalT said:
Guuhhhhh chapter 7 is insane. This is like the first mission that's actually introduced an actual need for a plan. All the missions before I just rushed with my tank and used my scouts to cap off some headshots but now, oh man.

You will need to use cover and hide vulnerable allies or a very dangerous adversary will show up and straight pwn you.
 
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