• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

maskrider

Member
Metroidvania said:
Hmm...just picked this up, from the first battle, I imagine I'll be liking this quite a bit.

Out of curiosity, are the "yellow" and "red" sightlines really that close looking to each other? The only way I could REALLY tell the difference was the "arrow" next to the soldier I was about to combat.

And if it turns from yellow to red, that's the only time an enemy can counterattack after your attack as well as perform those potshots?

Related to that, (apologies, it's late, and I'm rather tired) when you're moving around in enemy sight lines when they are red, do those potshots actually hurt you? I forgot to look after I moved forward.

If the arrow on a head turns from yellow to red when you are looking at it, it means the enemy is in your firing range.

If you are within his/her range, he/she will be firing at you if you are in his/her line of sight.
 

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
maskrider said:
If the arrow on a head turns from yellow to red when you are looking at it, it means the enemy is in your firing range.

If you are within his/her range, he/she will be firing at you if you are in his/her line of sight.

Ah, I see. It's making more sense as I go through the first battle again for checking through.
 

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
Hcoregamer00 said:
Is that even possible? Selvaria is so bad ass and evil that you can't help but like her.

Although I do wish that Sega did a better job in handling her as a character and villain.

If Sega really cared about here they'd have had her battle in some kind of bikini.
 

kaizoku

I'm not as deluded as I make myself out to be
How much thought do you guys put into characters likes and potentials?

I find the options too extensive really. I try to have people who like each other in the same squad, but then I usually branch them off so its irrelevent? Do you guys bunch them all together so they both attack at the same time etc?

I think I'm approaching this game too much like Advance Wars, trying to position units according to terrain and enemy position, but it just doesn't work too well. I think I need to stop being so sensitive about people dying as well. Whenever someone is downed I generally get angry and restart rather than rescue and redeploy.
 

Volcynika

Member
I was going to post this last night, but my internet crapped out on me.

Just beat the
Battle for the Bridge
last night, and wow, I got through by the skin of my teeth.
I won the mission with just the tank, two scouts, and an engineer. My tank was nearly destroyed at the end, but I rolled over one of their scouts, used a mortar to take out the two guys by the enemy camp, and Aika ran like hell to the flag to capture it. Got a B, too! IT WAS SO AWESOME
 

maskrider

Member
Damn, cd-wow.com is giving me another delay on the UK version ! They said they might have the item on 10/Nov, but just may be, hah !

I have also ordered the US version, hopefully I can get it next Monday, this is the many few games that I bought all major regional releases (joining ICO, SOTC, Siren, Shadow Hearts and Silent Hill).
 

SpokkX

Member
maskrider said:
Damn, cd-wow.com is giving me another delay on the UK version ! They said they might have the item on 10/Nov, but just may be, hah !

I have also ordered the US version, hopefully I can get it next Monday, this is the many few games that I bought all major regional releases (joining ICO, SOTC, Siren, Shadow Hearts and Silent Hill).

uh.. why? please don´t say boxart
 

McBradders

NeoGAF: my new HOME
kaizoku said:
How much thought do you guys put into characters likes and potentials?

I find the options too extensive really. I try to have people who like each other in the same squad, but then I usually branch them off so its irrelevent? Do you guys bunch them all together so they both attack at the same time etc?

Yup, I pretty much mostly ignore it as it hampers my all girl squad of girlish glee.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
McBradders said:
If Sega really cared about here they'd have had her battle in some kind of bikini.

Nah, I will say something completely contrary to my tag (which some of you may find wierd), but I don't believe that showing more skin is sexy.

This applies to real life and in games.

Sega did it right to a certain extent in that they don't demean the female cast by making them wear unrealistic war clothes (like every damn RPG ever made), not only that, they managed to make them look quite good in full military attire. Maybe this may be attributed to the large female development team, but I like this quite a bit.

Selvaria is great the way she is, along with all of the Valkyria cast. The problem that some of the posters of the JPN version alluded to is that she doesn't get that (minor spoiler, hell most of you probably wont consider it a spoiler)
much screen time for character development. Which means that she will be be a cut and dry villain, as opposed to a highly developed nuanced one.
 

Durante

Member
kaizoku said:
How much thought do you guys put into characters likes and potentials?

I find the options too extensive really. I try to have people who like each other in the same squad, but then I usually branch them off so its irrelevent? Do you guys bunch them all together so they both attack at the same time etc?
To tell the complete truth I choose my squad solely based on aesthetics and voice. Maybe that makes it slightly harder than if I had chosen based on Potentials and Likes, but so far I never had any unsurmountable problems with any mission so it can't be too bad.
 

kiryogi

Banned
Durante said:
To tell the complete truth I choose my squad solely based on aesthetics and voice. Maybe that makes it slightly harder than if I had chosen based on Potentials and Likes, but so far I never had any unsurmountable problems with any mission so it can't be too bad.

Same here, I actually couldn't figure out some of the potentials :D No real issues here.
 
What a wonderful Friday. Just received my copy of Valkyria from Amazon. They were even nice enough to ship my brand new $60 game in a fucking envelope instead of a box! Oh well, everything is intact and I can't wait to spend some serious time with it tonight or tomorrow.
 

maskrider

Member
Dizzy-4U said:
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!

When I love a game (series) and it is within my affordability, I will try to support them.

And BTW, I lost count on how many hours I've spent on Japanese version of VC and its DLCs. The latest save file has 155hours, but I have too many intermediates that I tried a lot of strategies, I guess it is about 180-190 hours.
 

Baha

Member
So I finally made it to chapter 7. Chapter 6 was awesome,
I only had 3 soldiers die on me, and I failed to capture the base during the sandstorm but I still beat it
. I know that Alicia gives you an extra CP but I find her a lot weaker compared to my other scouts. I can't wait to level everybody up to lvl 10.
 

dallow_bg

nods at old men
Hcoregamer00 said:
Damn, I don't even think I have 4 Gamestops in my local area.

Good riddance, after the drama with the preorders I will not go there again.
Hehe, no joke, but in a certain 1 mile radius, there are 4 of them. Which is ridiculous, but ups my chances for certain bonuses.

I can't even count how many there are total here DFW.
I think their HQ is here too.
 
I do tend to swap my team around based on their potentials. Usually it's to avoid negative terrain based ones, like 'Desert Allergy'. I don't really bother with Likes though or the potentials along those lines, as I haven't noticed it having much effect on characters combo attacking.
 

maskrider

Member
Durante said:
And are you ever thorough! That SH pic is very impressive.

My Silent Hill series pic is more thorough, but still not thorough. I love them and I hope the series continues (Shadow Hearts series can be considered dead at the moment).

Anyway, I am still replaying the Japanese VC, seems I will never get tired of it after so many months.
 

Dyne

Member
I played this for a long time before the Gears of War 2 launch and I can happily say it's one of the best PS3 games I've played to date. So good! I'm so glad I came back to NeoGaf after months hiatus only to find out about this. :D
 

kay

Member
maskrider said:
My Silent Hill series pic is more thorough, but still not thorough. I love them and I hope the series continues (Shadow Hearts series can be considered dead at the moment).

Anyway, I am still replaying the Japanese VC, seems I will never get tired of it after so many months.
You have great taste.
 
kiryogi said:
On the otherside of the sea~

Valkyria bikini figures! :lol

Looks like they're based off the beach side chapter

http://www.shopncsx.com/srsenba.aspx

Although, can't say you ever see Edie or Selvaria in said outfits in the game.

valkbikini.jpg

Given that this is Sega, if this flies, we're gonna see A LOT more varying Sega Prize figures like Evangelion did.

edit: my mistake. these are SRDX figures...

Most SRDX figures are non-scale and fairly decent quality. Keep an eye out for these, guys.
 

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
Hmm....chapter 3, just killed
Ty the immortal and got his gun.

Don't mind being spoiled, but a) are these better than the gallian equivalent, and b) anyone have any other maps they show up on?
 

Dyne

Member
I don't know if this has been said before, but I just love how much you can level your guys and tank the first time you have access to any upgrades. It feels much better than other games where you walk in to upgrade, and all you can buy is one thing at the beginning.
 

rykomatsu

Member
kiryogi said:
What I mean is we shouldn't be comparing the two at all. Which Rykomatsu keeps doing since the JP valkyria thread. Comparing RPG/SRPG to Leaf, KEY and all that. They're totally different thiings.

I don't see why you can't compare one component that both types of games have in common (ie. story telling) between each other. Yes one is meant to tell a story, but that doesn't mean story telling on par in a visual novel cannot be incorporated into another game genre.

Venus&Braves has some of the best story telling that I've personally seen that goes above and beyond 90%+ of visual novels I've played and that was an SRPG to begin with. There's no reason why one component (story) of an SRPG can't be compared to another genre which excels at that particular component when it's been shown before that SRPGs can accomplish that at the same quality, or better than most in another genre.

Or by some technicality, do I have to compare VC story presentation to VB story presentation? I don't really see the difference either which way. I'm not comparing something unique to just the SRPG genre.
 

Baha

Member
Please tell me there are more missions like
the one in Largo's report where you have a party of 3, no medic or tank and if an ally dies you fail the mission. I thought it was gonna be tough at first but I had so much fun playing it. Also Welkin is an awesome scout, shame you don't get to use him often outside of the tank
.
 

rykomatsu

Member
Baha said:
Please tell me there are more missions like
the one in Largo's report where you have a party of 3, no medic or tank and if an ally dies you fail the mission. I thought it was gonna be tough at first but I had so much fun playing it. Also Welkin is an awesome scout, shame you don't get to use him often outside of the tank
.

The vegetable one? Eleanor Barlott's can be pretty challenging to the point where if you're so much as spotted, it's game over i think
 
Metroidvania said:
a) are these better than the gallian equivalent?
They are different, but not always better. IIRC the weapon you picked up has higher damage, but lower accuracy and range.

Metroidvania said:
b) anyone have any other maps they show up on?
You can find Ace units on most maps in the game.
 

icecream

Public Health Threat
rykomatsu said:
I don't see why you can't compare one component that both types of games have in common (ie. story telling) between each other. Yes one is meant to tell a story, but that doesn't mean story telling on par in a visual novel cannot be incorporated into another game genre.
Because 80% of the time it's never going to be on par. Sure, if you compare a crap ADV/Visual Novel with a game story like Valkyria, you're going to get some sense of accomplishment. But to compare the something in the height of a genre dedicated solely on storytelling and characterization with a story in a JRPG is just unrealistic and pointless.

You may think differently, and honestly stories by Key are in a niche that if you aren't in to, you're not going to get full enjoyment out of anyway, which is probably why you enjoy the more adventure/drama storyline in Valkyria.

But suggesting the two are comparable you are just going to confuse people who are aware or enjoy Key/Leaf works and fall into a trap based on such statements alone.
 

rykomatsu

Member
icecream said:
Because 80% of the time it's never going to be on par. Sure, if you compare a crap ADV/Visual Novel with a game story like Valkyria, you're going to get some sense of accomplishment. But to compare the something in the height of a genre dedicated solely on storytelling and characterization with a story in a JRPG is just unrealistic and pointless.

It's been done before, there's no reason why the bar shouldn't be placed higher.
 

icecream

Public Health Threat
Ask that again when you start seeing more people paying RPGs for their story rather than their role-playing game elements.
 

Durante

Member
icecream said:
Ask that again when you start seeing more people paying RPGs for their story rather than their role-playing game elements.
I'm always confused by statements like this: some people claim to play RPGs "for the gameplay", others "for the story". To me, story, characters, gameplay, visuals, music, and all the other components of a game make up a whole, and the quality of that whole determines how much I enjoy a game. Sure, different parts of it may be more or less important to different people, but I find it hard to imagine just disregarding some of them completely.

That said, I can think of a great many RPGs where the story added significantly to my enjoyment of the game, and Valkyria certainly is one of them.
 

icecream

Public Health Threat
I don't disagree with that at all. The synthesis of gameplay, cutscene, music, story, characters, and action are key to making a RPG enjoyable.

The point I was contesting to was taking solely the story of a JRPG, and compare it to ADVs/visual novels. Combined and linked with all the other factors mentioned above, a JRPG story can definitely be an enjoyable experience, but to think that most can hold their own in comparison is rather shortsighted.
 

rykomatsu

Member
icecream said:
The point I was contesting to was taking solely the story of a JRPG, and compare it to ADVs/visual novels. Combined and linked with all the other factors mentioned above, a JRPG story can definitely be an enjoyable experience, but to think that most can hold their own in comparison is rather shortsighted.

If they can't, that's not a problem with the genre, rather, it's a problem with the scenario writer on the development team (and the input or lack thereof they get). The presentation of the story may take on a different method between genres, but the quality of the content should not, and is not dictated by the genre itself.
 

Durante

Member
rykomatsu said:
If they can't, that's not a problem with the genre, rather, it's a problem with the scenario writer on the development team (and the input or lack thereof they get). The presentation of the story may take on a different method between genres, but the quality of the content should not, and is not dictated by the genre itself.
I agree.

I think icecream's point is that on average, visual novel stories are superior. Frankly that wouldn't be all that surprising since there wouldn't be much point in "playing" a game like that if it had a bad or middling story.
 
One of the problems with JRPG stories is that it does have to revolve around a game. It becomes very limited on how it develops, as it ultimately, has to lead into gameplay, such as gopher quests.

If you take a standard JRPG, and remove all the in-between gopher quests, you really don't have much left.

And if you switch it around, and turn a visual novel into a JRPG, it doesn't work either, because it doesn't actually "fit" around a game at all.
 

bathala

Banned
im on the second battle already and im in floored already. It felt like playing disgaea for the first time my 1st srpg

I thought fallout 3 will be my last purchase. I have to keep this from gamefly
 

kaizoku

I'm not as deluded as I make myself out to be
jesus christ @ mission 7. Sometimes the game is just too annoying.
It was like turn 9 or something, Selvaria had arrived and butchered my squad to pieces. The one turn where the big tank blew up a wall and had its radiator showing I had ZERO surviving members. I recalled some but then the tank moved forward in its turn and claimed the corpses of yoko and largo. fuck that. turned the thing off. I despise Selvaria I mean wtf! She seems to be able to see all around her and just shoots the shit out of everyone. AAARRGGHH

Now I have to start that mission from the beginning for the 3rd time. So utterly annoying.
 

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
Fuck, the
armored car escape
mission is getting the best of me. If someone gets caught it's all over, as I refuse to let anyone "die".

And twice in I've barely done any damage to the damn thing.
 
SnakeXs said:
Fuck, the
armored car escape
mission is getting the best of me. If someone gets caught it's all over, as I refuse to let anyone "die".

And twice in I've barely done any damage to the damn thing.

I found it really easy.
I used 3 shocktroopers in the north position and the base camp, then Largo and Alicia in the other positions for more CP per turn, but didn't bother moving them, or the tank. Place the shocktroopers behind the crates at the 1st junction to the east of the Eidelweiss starting position. Once the armoured car reaches that point run the shocktroopers behind it and attack the radiator, getting your shocktroopers to combo attack. Try not to stand too close, and the armoured cars turret machine gun shouldn't attack you before moving, or at least it didn't attack me. I took it down within 3 turns.
 

rykomatsu

Member
Die Squirrel Die said:
I found it really easy.
I used 3 shocktroopers in the north position and the base camp, then Largo and Alicia in the other positions for more CP per turn, but didn't bother moving them, or the tank. Place the shocktroopers behind the crates at the 1st junction to the east of the Eidelweiss starting position. Once the armoured car reaches that point run the shocktroopers behind it and attack the radiator, getting your shocktroopers to combo attack. Try not to stand too close, and the armoured cars turret machine gun shouldn't attack you before moving, or at least it didn't attack me. I took it down within 3 turns.

I intercepted the armored car 2 blocks from where it originally was, then chased it down with Edy every turn until my CP was exhausted....I managed to take down the vehicle on the last turn possible (it was sitting in front of the exit gate or w/e it was)
 

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
I used Rosie and Largo but
no matter what I only get 4CP per turn. Is that normal?
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
SnakeXs said:
Fuck, the
armored car escape
mission is getting the best of me. If someone gets caught it's all over, as I refuse to let anyone "die".

And twice in I've barely done any damage to the damn thing.

Other than the prologue that probably was the easiest mission once you know where the
armored car
will end up after the first turn.

Move up 3 shocktroopers to that junction, hugging the northern wall, 1 on one side, 2 on the other. Once the car is in position, swarm behind it, use combos,
and presto, done in 3 (2? can't remember) turns.
 
Top Bottom