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

zurra

Member
Llyranor said:
Is lvl 20 the max in the game?

If yes, then my interest is piqued. I just want a good challenge.
yes, that's the max. i did a lot of skirmish grinding and maxed out on like the 13th or 14th chapter, but you could probably go all the way without maxing. the potentials make a huge difference, though. i didn't find most of the main story all that challenging (didn't try to A rank it), but trying to A rank the second playthrough and the hard/expert skirmishes will more than make up for that.
 

Durante

Member
firehawk12 said:
Not saying that I need Welkin-san and Isara-chan, but I've heard that the plot differences between the two scripts is pretty substantial.
I played the whole game with Japanese audio and english text. At least the parts I understood I really wouldn't call a "plot difference". There are clear differences in phrasing, and some larger differences that might result in slightly different characterization, but really nothing that substantially affects the plot.

(Of course I agree its not ideal, but it will only be time to start fighting for separate dub/subtitle tracks once dual audio is standard for localized games :p)
 

Hobbun

Member
Llyranor said:
Is lvl 20 the max in the game?

If yes, then my interest is piqued. I just want a good challenge.

Well, 20 isn't 'low'. It is high for the game. I mean I beat the game in my mid to high teens and the last stage wasn't too hard.

So I am just saying, where it may sound like 20 may be low level compared to the '99 level max' RPG's out there, 20 is high for Valkyrie Chronicles.

But either way, the game is phenomenal and I highly recommend it.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Durante said:
I played the whole game with Japanese audio and english text. At least the parts I understood I really wouldn't call a "plot difference". There are clear differences in phrasing, and some larger differences that might result in slightly different characterization, but really nothing that substantially affects the plot.

(Of course I agree its not ideal, but it will only be time to start fighting for separate dub/subtitle tracks once dual audio is standard for localized games :p)

Maybe I'm just watching too much fan subbed anime, but I'd almost prefer Japanese dialog with a "semi localized" translation as opposed to a full localization in English.
But yeah, I guess you really can't complain too much since it's a minority of people that would even play the game in Japanese in the first place.

I was just hoping that some overzealous fan would have done their own script or something. :lol
 
Durante said:
I played the whole game with Japanese audio and english text. At least the parts I understood I really wouldn't call a "plot difference". There are clear differences in phrasing, and some larger differences that might result in slightly different characterization, but really nothing that substantially affects the plot.

(Of course I agree its not ideal, but it will only be time to start fighting for separate dub/subtitle tracks once dual audio is standard for localized games :p)

That brings an interesting point... it's like we'll never be happy. Once the whole "sub or dub" debate dies after dual audio becomes standard, we'll find something else to nitpick..

But if one can understand japanese fluently, why should one care if the subtitles are off? That is too much, imo.
 
Ok, I may be being thick here, but how the hell on the new Selvaria mission 1 do you get to the lower part of the map (where their main base is)? Just a hint. Everywhere is blocked off and the lift can't be accessed. WTF!

I feel so stupid :(
 

Paracelsus

Member
Katana_Strikes said:
Ok, I may be being thick here, but how the hell on the new Selvaria mission 1 do you get to the lower part of the map (where their main base is)? Just a hint. Everywhere is blocked off and the lift can't be accessed. WTF!

I feel so stupid :(

You need to use Johann. Have him blow the barricades up with some grenades.
 

ianp622

Member
Katana_Strikes said:
Oh boy, sounds really tough, I'm not suprised I couldn't think of it... :lol

Thanks!

It is hard, but if you want a hint:

Use the first turn to simply get your soldiers behind sandbags and take out the tank with two shots from a Lancer. Make sure that scout to the right of the base doesn't take it over. Then spend the rest of the turns using Johann and Selvaria to get to the base.
 

FredFish

Member
Well it seems I'm a little rusty. Just tried the Edy mission and whoops Edy got nailed by a surprise sniper on the first turn. Thought I had done reasonably well on my half but...welp :lol
 

Paracelsus

Member
FredFish said:
Well it seems I'm a little rusty. Just tried the Edy mission and whoops Edy got nailed by a surprise sniper on the first turn. Thought I had done reasonably well on my half but...welp :lol

Try to leave Lynn right down the spot where the sniper is. With a bit of luck when he'll try to snipe her, she'll kill him with the counter
 

Darkpen

Banned
the surprise sniper was a bitch :lol killed my marina my first turn :( after that, I just lobbed a grenade up there w/ the grenade attachment on my first turn thereafter :S
 

Darkpen

Banned
Shadow780 said:
saw this somewhere:lol

2ztj0g5.jpg
:lol :D
 

buffi

Banned
FredFish said:
Well it seems I'm a little rusty. Just tried the Edy mission and whoops Edy got nailed by a surprise sniper on the first turn. Thought I had done reasonably well on my half but...welp :lol

I sent Lynn up there to handle it. I used 3 CP for her the first turn.
1st CP: Kill the storm trooper to the right (the leader unit) and run towards the path to the sniper. Ignore the scout blocking the way.

2nd CP: Run towards the ladder to the sniper position. Kill the stormtrooper which stands in the way.

3rd CP: Run up to the sniper, kill it with flamethrower.
 

ianp622

Member
buffi said:
I sent Lynn up there to handle it. I used 3 CP for her the first turn.
1st CP: Kill the storm trooper to the right (the leader unit) and run towards the path to the sniper. Ignore the scout blocking the way.

2nd CP: Run towards the ladder to the sniper position. Kill the stormtrooper which stands in the way.

3rd CP: Run up to the sniper, kill it with flamethrower.

Or you can use only 1 CP to
fire a grenade into the grass. :)
 

FredFish

Member
I appreciate the tips but really fore-warned is fore-armed ;) Funny thing about the squad is it's mostly characters I wouldn't choose to deploy in a regular game which I guess is the point. Oh, thanks Susie for going "Humanitarian" on me and costing me another game! :lol
 

buffi

Banned
ianp622 said:
Or you can use only 1 CP to
fire a grenade into the grass. :)

Well, Lynn has a pretty sweet position from up there to auto-takeout scouts from the north :)
I had a whole bunch of CP left when I got A-rank with this approach anyways :)
 

Llyranor

Member
Hobbun said:
Well, 20 isn't 'low'. It is high for the game. I mean I beat the game in my mid to high teens and the last stage wasn't too hard.

So I am just saying, where it may sound like 20 may be low level compared to the '99 level max' RPG's out there, 20 is high for Valkyrie Chronicles.

But either way, the game is phenomenal and I highly recommend it.
Er...... interest in the HardEX DLC, not the actual game which I already have.
 

Darkpen

Banned
wow, okay

apparently, if you destroy Damon's tank in the first mission, the second mission totally changes from what it would have been if you just flanked them like the mission briefing says to.

And I don't know if its because I destroyed Damon's tank, or because I got a D rank for taking the time to take all of the enemy bases, but the dialogue between the engineer and Sylvaria at the end of the first mission is different as well.

edit: wow, that was really interesting.

Destroying Damon's tank in the first round totally changed up the second one, but what's funny is that I never actually beat the side story w/ just flanking, so I'll try that now. Go for that A rank :p

So glad that I have the Ruhm now :D
 

Darkpen

Banned
One of the coolest things about Behind Her Blue Flame is that you get to see the war play out from the eyes of the Empire. I thought this was a really nice touch, as it brings up the often-forgotten fact that the soldiers of the Empire are people too - they fight for their own beliefs, have their own families, and, at least in Johann’s case, suffer from the same ailments - namely, fainting.

Johann (pronounced Yo-han), the main character in Behind Her Blue Flame, is an engineer whose squad gets folded into Selvaria’s regiment. This is good news for you, because otherwise you’d have absolutely no hope of beating these missions. This is also bad news for the Gallian troops, because Selvaria - as anyone who has played the main story knows - can one-shot tanks and units alike.

You’ll have to work to unlock her full powers, but even in her shocktrooper-esque mode she can run further than any of your units, run straight past incoming tanks and pretty much kill anybody or anything that looks at you the wrong way. Yes, it’s just as much fun as it sounds.

However, Selvaria dislikes pretty much anything to do with ragnite - meaning she won’t carry anything to heal herself with. She also can’t get past barricades by herself since she has no grenades, meaning that Johann has to stick right by her side, both to heal her and clear the way for her to mow down some more Gallian troops. Especially in the first mission, make sure you keep Johann just behind her, or you’ll spend a lot of time later trying to have him catch up.
Unlockables, New Missions, and interesting situations with Selvaria

Here’s the lowdown on what you get in the Selvaria Pack:

* Four new missions, playing as the Empire
* New unlockable weapon in the main Gallian campaign
* Fan-freaking-tastic Voice acting (Serious props to the actors for Selvaria, Johann, and Otto)
* Bonus unlockable mission made of pure win

I’m not going to spoil what you get for completing all of the missions, but after I played it today I can wholeheartedly say it is awesome. You’ll probably be smiling the entire time you play the bonus mission, and for good reason.

Of the three, the Selvaria pack by far gives you the most new content in regards to storyline. You’ll get to see what Selvaria is like outside of battle - and, thanks in part to Johann’s fainting you’ll find yourself in one or two rather awkward situations: like waking up on Selvaria’s bed. I’ll let you guys discover how that one plays out…

WAT

Oh fuck, gotta go play it again D:

If I go into much more details we’ll hit spoilers, but it’s well worth noting that there are four different endings to this DLC pack, based on how well you do. Pull off the highest ranking and you’re in for a treat: Edy style. I’ll let you guys discover what that is…

Seriously? D: the Edy DLC too? D:
 

Koren

Member
Hobbun said:
Well, 20 isn't 'low'. It is high for the game. I mean I beat the game in my mid to high teens and the last stage wasn't too hard.[/Quotemsg]
Indeed. I think I finished the game with people barely elites (something like 12-13 at best). And I still got A/B on all maps. 20 is just über-powerful, because of the last abilities they get.

And still Alicia at 20 feels like 100 ;)

Hobbun said:
But either way, the game is phenomenal and I highly recommend it.
Definitely... But I guess anyone who has read a couple of pages here must have gotten the clue.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
It was said before, but I have to say it again.

Selvaria is a beast, and how she develops in the DLC is so great. It puts such a human face on a character that was so poorly developed in the game.

With that said, the other troops suck ass. So much for being an elite fighting force, it seems that General Selvaria is the only one remotely of the term.
 
Hcoregamer00 said:
With that said, the other troops suck ass. So much for being an elite fighting force, it seems that General Selvaria is the only one remotely of the term.

You truly expected anything other than that? Everyone got pwned by a lowly group commanded by a farmboy, remember?
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
radiantdreamer said:
You truly expected anything other than that? Everyone got pwned by a lowly group commanded by a farmboy, remember?

I kind of expected the big bad empire to have more than one elite warrior (Selvaria).

No wonder they got their ass kicked by Welkin and friends.
 

Shadow780

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
I kind of expected the big bad empire to have more than one elite warrior (Selvaria).

No wonder they got their ass kicked by Welkin and friends.

They're fighting against a bunch of lunatics including the one that gives a moeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee grin after each kill, of course they're gonna lose.
 

McLovin

Member
I picked this up recently.. I haven't really played it yet.. but it must be good since my brother hijacked the ps3 and has been playing it nonstop for the last week :/
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Shadow780 said:
They're fighting against a bunch of lunatics including the one that gives a moeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee grin after each kill, of course they're gonna lose.

Ahem, I need to brush up on my Otaku slang, but how does Moe apply to the situation?
 

Defuser

Member
levious said:
still need help? If you want, I could put funds on your US account if you could put some on my euro one... I'm trying to get Outrun. I'm assuming you're in europe, sorry if you're not.
South East Asia lol. Nvm,I guess I'll skip this dlc. Fucking Sony,why the fuck do you have region lock psn stores?!?
 

LordK

Member
Hmm. I just got prompted for an update for VC. Wonder what it is.

EDIT: Haha, nevermind, just realized this is the first time my ps3 has been connected online in a while.
 

Darkpen

Banned
So I finally got the A rank for doing Rout of the Gallian Forces (4 turns, was a total nightmare).

And I have to say, the ending was cute XD It was different from when I got B ranked on Silencing the Artillery, so I don't know if its based on which mission I ended up doing, or if it was based on rank, but I think it was more of the latter.

Sylvaria's so moe :lol
 

gokieks

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
I kind of expected the big bad empire to have more than one elite warrior (Selvaria).

No wonder they got their ass kicked by Welkin and friends.

Never heard of the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, eh?

Bought and downloaded all three yesterday as soon as the store got updated, but didn't get a chance to play it until today. Finished Edy DLC (
I don't want to imagine how bad her singing would be in English version, considering just her English speech makes me want to stab her with a rusty fork
), and finished the A-rank route of Selvaria DLC (
Musaad is a bastard. That is all.
). Definitely worth the money for me, but that wasn't really ever in doubt anyway.
 

Darkpen

Banned
Really? I don't actively use Edy like some people do, but her voice doesn't bother me at all. Her english voice is just fine D:

Also, an update on the second half of the blue flame mission: turns out there's a different ending based on your rank after all. I just A'd all 3, and the ending for the two different missions were the same. If you get less than an A, you're granted a slightly shorter ending.

Gonna go try the bonus mission now :D
 

ianp622

Member
It might just be me, but it seems like they improved the AI for Selvaria's missions, not just the Hard EX. The enemies seem to actively go for my camps now, and it's really annoying, especially with the second Selvaria mission if you destroy Damon's tank. Plus, my shocktroopers are so weak, it's practically useless to use them to defend.
 

Darkpen

Banned
ianp622 said:
It might just be me, but it seems like they improved the AI for Selvaria's missions, not just the Hard EX. The enemies seem to actively go for my camps now, and it's really annoying, especially with the second Selvaria mission if you destroy Damon's tank. Plus, my shocktroopers are so weak, it's practically useless to use them to defend.
They might have improved the enemy AI a little, but they still give you a little leeway.

Personally, I actually found the mission where you destroyed Damon's tank to be significantly easier than the one where you don't. I mean, seriously. Its sad that the only way to A-rank a mission is to save and load whenever you do something perfectly, and load when you miss or something fails :(

As for the shocktroopers, there's one guy w/ Ultimate Damage, which is awesome. I don't bother touching the red sniper, though. He might be an extra turn, but his weak aim is so not worth it. I hate imperial guns so much, though apparently you get some swank imperial weaponry in hard ex.
 

ianp622

Member
Darkpen said:
They might have improved the enemy AI a little, but they still give you a little leeway.

Personally, I actually found the mission where you destroyed Damon's tank to be significantly easier than the one where you don't. I mean, seriously. Its sad that the only way to A-rank a mission is to save and load whenever you do something perfectly, and load when you miss or something fails :(

As for the shocktroopers, there's one guy w/ Ultimate Damage, which is awesome. I don't bother touching the red sniper, though. He might be an extra turn, but his weak aim is so not worth it. I hate imperial guns so much, though apparently you get some swank imperial weaponry in hard ex.

That's strange, I found the one where you don't destroy the tank to be easier.
I used the tank to get Musaad out of crouching, then sniped him. Once I got my Johann to Selvaria, everything went pretty smoothly.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Darkpen said:
So I finally got the A rank for doing Rout of the Gallian Forces (4 turns, was a total nightmare).

And I have to say, the ending was cute XD It was different from when I got B ranked on Silencing the Artillery, so I don't know if its based on which mission I ended up doing, or if it was based on rank, but I think it was more of the latter.

Sylvaria's so moe :lol

Which is funny because it completely contradicts her personality in the game.

I guess they wanted to give Selvaria a personality, and ended up going a little overboard.
 

Darkpen

Banned
ianp622 said:
That's strange, I found the one where you don't destroy the tank to be easier.
I used the tank to get Musaad out of crouching, then sniped him. Once I got my Johann to Selvaria, everything went pretty smoothly.
I dare you to try using the tank to get musaad out perfectly 4 times in a row :| Oh, and then following that up with a snipe without either you missing his head, or him proning :|

Seriously... so lame.

But its funny because I did what you said perfectly on the one where you destroyed damon's tank :lol

Hcoregamer00 said:
Which is funny because it completely contradicts her personality in the game.

I guess they wanted to give Selvaria a personality, and ended up going a little overboard.
Well, Sylvaria's always had a softer side, and I think they just wanted to show that compassionate aspect of her.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Darkpen said:
Well, Sylvaria's always had a softer side, and I think they just wanted to show that compassionate aspect of her.

In the game her softer side was displayed in her profile and
just before she died
. Aside from that, she was pretty much a one dimensional character the whole way.

Playing the Selvaria DLC makes me wish that they would have put more of the her personality into the actual game.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
I'm playing through for the first time.

Grinding the hell out of skirmishes to be ridiculously overpowered. I'm in Chapter 7, haven't fought the boss yet, and I've got level 11 Scouts and level 11 Shocktroopers. Hahaha. It's getting pretty ridiculous.

I've also got around 150k in the bank and I've already bought every upgrade possible right now.
 

ianp622

Member
Darkpen said:
I dare you to try using the tank to get musaad out perfectly 4 times in a row :| Oh, and then following that up with a snipe without either you missing his head, or him proning :|

I've done it three times in a row actually (2 on the mission where you don't blow up the tank, 1 on the mission where you do). I mean that tank shell always got him out of the trench (or sandbag) for me, and if you have two snipers really far apart, even if the first misses, you can hit Musaad in the back so that he can't dodge.
 
firehawk12 said:
Maybe I'm just watching too much fan subbed anime, but I'd almost prefer Japanese dialog with a "semi localized" translation as opposed to a full localization in English.
But yeah, I guess you really can't complain too much since it's a minority of people that would even play the game in Japanese in the first place.

I was just hoping that some overzealous fan would have done their own script or something. :lol

I played through with Japanese voices and like Durante said, there's no real plot difference, but the script is quite different.

But frankly, this is a really good thing. The Japanese script is full of cliches and repetitive expressions. The English script is actually more expressive and varied; we get the better end of the deal by a mile.

As for the full vs. "semi" localized debate, I come down on the side of full every time. Frankly, Japanese generally sounds really awkward when translated directly in English, and vice versa. The point of a translation should be to preserve as much of the original meaning and intent as possible, but first and foremost has to be the quality of the writing for the intended audience.

If getting everything from the Japanese is really important to you, while it's a huge undertaking, learning to understand Japanese will pay off for you in the long run. There's just so much subtlety that can't be expressed in English no matter how "straight" the translation (and again, this goes equally for putting English stuff into Japanese). Really, no matter how good the "semi" translation, you'll ultimately end up with a choppy half-assed version of the original rhythms and meaning, imho.
 

ianp622

Member
LiveFromKyoto said:
I played through with Japanese voices and like Durante said, there's no real plot difference, but the script is quite different.

But frankly, this is a really good thing. The Japanese script is full of cliches and repetitive expressions. The English script is actually more expressive and varied; we get the better end of the deal by a mile.

As for the full vs. "semi" localized debate, I come down on the side of full every time. Frankly, Japanese generally sounds really awkward when translated directly in English, and vice versa. The point of a translation should be to preserve as much of the original meaning and intent as possible, but first and foremost has to be the quality of the writing for the intended audience.

If getting everything from the Japanese is really important to you, while it's a huge undertaking, learning to understand Japanese will pay off for you in the long run. There's just so much subtlety that can't be expressed in English no matter how "straight" the translation (and again, this goes equally for putting English stuff into Japanese). Really, no matter how good the "semi" translation, you'll ultimately end up with a choppy half-assed version of the original rhythms and meaning, imho.

On a related note, I don't understand people who prefer the Japanese dub even when the English dub is good. There is no way you can pick up the intonations of a different language if you haven't studied it (and sometimes even if you have), so really the only reason I see for watching in Japanese dub is if you can't stand the English dub. I guess when you hear the Japanese dub, you have no way of knowing whether the VAs are actually good, so that's one positive.

But I'm an anime noob anyway. I pretty much just watch Ghost in the Shell SAC (in english).
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
LiveFromKyoto said:
I played through with Japanese voices and like Durante said, there's no real plot difference, but the script is quite different.

But frankly, this is a really good thing. The Japanese script is full of cliches and repetitive expressions. The English script is actually more expressive and varied; we get the better end of the deal by a mile.

As for the full vs. "semi" localized debate, I come down on the side of full every time. Frankly, Japanese generally sounds really awkward when translated directly in English, and vice versa. The point of a translation should be to preserve as much of the original meaning and intent as possible, but first and foremost has to be the quality of the writing for the intended audience.

If getting everything from the Japanese is really important to you, while it's a huge undertaking, learning to understand Japanese will pay off for you in the long run. There's just so much subtlety that can't be expressed in English no matter how "straight" the translation (and again, this goes equally for putting English stuff into Japanese). Really, no matter how good the "semi" translation, you'll ultimately end up with a choppy half-assed version of the original rhythms and meaning, imho.

Well, yup, I think I'm going to make it a point to try to learn Japanese at some point in the near future. The city I'm in mostly sucks though. :lol


On the game itself, does anyone have A rank ending saves of the Edy and Selvaria missions? I can't manage to get them. :(
 

gokieks

Member
ianp622 said:
On a related note, I don't understand people who prefer the Japanese dub even when the English dub is good. There is no way you can pick up the intonations of a different language if you haven't studied it (and sometimes even if you have), so really the only reason I see for watching in Japanese dub is if you can't stand the English dub. I guess when you hear the Japanese dub, you have no way of knowing whether the VAs are actually good, so that's one positive.

But I'm an anime noob anyway. I pretty much just watch Ghost in the Shell SAC (in english).

Actually, the tone of delivery is one thing that someone *can* pick up even if he/she doesn't understand the language, and is something that is commonly lost in the dubbing process. That, more than anything else, is the main reason that I always prefer to hear everything (anime, film, games, ANYTHING) in its original language.
 
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