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

Durante

Member
El-Suave said:
BTW. while we're on the topic of dying units: Shamrock is the only unit you don't need to worry about. If it's defeated there is that grey dying animation but it's still there for the other missions.
It's the same for Rosie, Largo and Alicia actually (in other words, all the "story" characters).

On the topic of the Shamrock, I really love it for its small size and large movement range. I often use it to engage in "drive-by shooting", that is, I just drive around an enemy tank and then shoot its radiator once I get behind it. The advantage to using a Lancer is that you don't need to worry about the tanks' defensive fire or any other units in the area.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
RpgN said:
It's not necessary since you get them random after each chapter.
There's a handful of recruits that can only be gotten through specific ways. At least according to the GameFAQs cheats section for the game.
 

Baha

Member
Gah, got my ass kicked on chapter 13's mission. I know what to do now though but it'll be a pain in the ass to do it all over again.
 

Dyne

Member
Shodan said:
Have this unopened (want to finish Mirror's Edge first) waiting for me.

SO EXCITED!!!!!

Don't bother with Mirrors Edge. Go straight to VC. :D

Also, Vancouver people looking for this - Coquitlam Future Shop has copies.
 

Durante

Member
Good to see we're still getting some new people in this thread. Hopefully that is at least somewhat reflected in the games' overall sales. (Oh no I brought sales up again after we spent a few pages only talking about the game. Forget I said anything)
 

Shodan

Banned
Dyne said:
Don't bother with Mirrors Edge. Go straight to VC. :D

Also, Vancouver people looking for this - Coquitlam Future Shop has copies.

Only reason I'm playing is to support Rhianna Prachett lol
 

Barrett2

Member
Dyne said:
Don't bother with Mirrors Edge. Go straight to VC. :D

This. I was excited about both Mirror's Edge and VC, but VC's demo won me over, which is saying a lot, because I also thought Mirror's Edge had a great demo. :lol
 

Shodan

Banned
lawblob said:
This. I was excited about both Mirror's Edge and VC, but VC's demo won me over, which is saying a lot, because I also thought Mirror's Edge had a great demo. :lol

The Art book for VC has totally got me psyched! This game begs for a Miyazaki movie!

Looking forward to the Anime...suppose.
 

Dave1988

Member
Finished the game. Soooo good! Boy, am I glad that I bought this game :D

Now, Sega, give me DLC (and trophies pretty please).
 

Durante

Member
Robobandit said:
Is it wrong that I want this statue for my desk?

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

Not even available yet, though... I hate to pre-order something know I won't have it for a long time.
It's wrong, but not for the reason you'd think. I'd love a large Alicia statue and would pay major €/$/Yen/whatever for it, but that one simply doesn't seem very well made, especially the face. I think even the cheap Gashapon figures capture the characters better than that :/
 

Guled

Member
Got the final copy at my EB games (too bad it was a gutted one), since it came out Tuesday up here in Canada it must be selling well or it was really under shipped.
 

Big-E

Member
God damn this. Videogamesplus said it shipped last wednesday and it still ain't here. WTF! I know our country is large but come the fuck on.
 

kay

Member
Dave1988 said:
Holy shit!
Juiced up Maximillian
is kicking my butt. HARD. Any tips?
It's best to try to take him in one turn so he doesn't heal or even attack. This may take some tries but the best strategy is to combo him with 3 troopers right after you get the barrier off. When he goes to the back of stage, finish him off with scout grenades and a sniper.
 

Baha

Member
Made it to chapter 14, god I love elite classes. Once you get some grade A or B gear the scouts start kicking ass and taking down names. I love picking off shock troopers from afar without having to worry about interception or counter fire since their weapon range is pitiful compared to mine :D
 

kay

Member
Honestly, I think english fits the game better as it is more natural, it just seems odd hearing people from what is basically Europe speaking japanese. Maybe it is because I know where the characters are supposed to be from that it seems different from other games. Also, I think Welkin sounds better in english and you have to hear him all the time so..
 

jorma

is now taking requests
Well i am approaching the end now and yea this game is blowing me away. Pretty much guaranteed that i will buy all future DLC with gameplay. And a trophy patch would be awesome! I'd love grinding for a platinum with this gtame.

Also, I think Selvaria must have been gimped in my copy of the game, i have played two missions opposing her now and i S'ed both of those levels (i most often get a B) and she has yet to kill a single member of my company... =)
 

jorma

is now taking requests
By the way, how many copies sold is usually required to warrant a sequel for a game like this? The good reviews have to help as well...
 

Durante

Member
jorma said:
By the way, how many copies sold is usually required to warrant a sequel for a game like this? The good reviews have to help as well...
That really depends on its budget which is hard for us to guess.

I have a long post in my head on the subject of why it's probably lower than one would expect (they were really smart with a lot of decisions regarding assets and art) but it's still hard to say.
 

Defuser

Member
kay said:
Honestly, I think english fits the game better as it is more natural, it just seems odd hearing people from what is basically Europe speaking japanese. Maybe it is because I know where the characters are supposed to be from that it seems different from other games. Also, I think Welkin sounds better in english and you have to hear him all the time so..
Natural? Europeans don't talk like a American!
 

kay

Member
The game cost around $11 million so that is about 250000 copies to break even. Another game shouldn't cost that much since they have the engine already. The engine is outstanding and they really have to make a sequel regardless of sales because it is so beautiful.
 

Durante

Member
Defuser said:
Natural? Europeans don't talk like a American!
Especially during WWII and outside of Britain :lol

But anyway, it's Europa and not Europe so they could be talking Japanese just as well as American or Klingon.

kay said:
The game cost around $11 million so that is about 250000 copies to break even. Another game shouldn't cost that much since they have the engine already. The engine is outstanding and they really have to make a sequel regardless of sales because it is so beautiful.
Where did you get that number from? Very interesting if true.
 

kay

Member
The setting screams europe and world war 2 so english is most natural sounding of the two to me.

Durante: I don't remember what site but they said this back around Japan release.
 

Dyne

Member
kay said:
The game cost around $11 million so that is about 250000 copies to break even. Another game shouldn't cost that much since they have the engine already. The engine is outstanding and they really have to make a sequel regardless of sales because it is so beautiful.

Sweet.

The number I always hear for "sequel-worthy" is if it breaks 200,000. Since there's absolutely no other game like it on the PS3, and RPG fans waiting for FFXIII probably have nothing to do right now, I'm willing it'll make it over 200,000.

But yeah, if the $11 million includes Engine development I'm really impressed. It looks like Sega's learned from its mistakes in the past. (Shenmue budget, I'm looking at you.)
 

Durante

Member
$11 million is actually higher than I would have guessed, but in the right ballpark.

They sold 150k in Japan alone so I'd be extremely disappointed if it doesn't do at least 250k worldwide.
 

hteng

Banned
god dam the randomness in this game is fucking stupid, I can't fucking kill a tank with 2 tanks moves and 2 lancers wtf, what's worst was that I was friggin 10 meters from it, level 3 lancer and upgraded lance, it should be enough for chapter 2. I really hate these random accuracies, really ruins the game in critical situations, saving and loading takes so long even with the installs.

this reminds me of G Generations Neo all over again, but with longer loadings.

SRW > VC
 

kay

Member
hteng said:
god dam the randomness in this game is fucking stupid, I can't fucking kill a tank with 2 tanks moves and 2 lancers wtf, what's worst was that I was friggin 10 meters from it, level 3 lancer and upgraded lance, it should be enough for chapter 2. I really hate these random accuracies, really ruins the game in critical situations, saving and loading takes so long even with the installs.

this reminds me of G Generations Neo all over again, but with longer loadings.
Just aim for the blue radiator, one hit most of the time. Don't be afraid to run up to tanks with an anti-tank unit. Just make sure you can get behind it safely.
 

klee123

Member
Durante said:
$11 million is actually higher than I would have guessed, but in the right ballpark.

They sold 150k in Japan alone so I'd be extremely disappointed if it doesn't do at least 250k worldwide.


I dunno man, 10 mil this gen isn't really all that high when you factor in the engine development. I suspect the average fps being made nowadays would be around 15-20 million at least.
 

Durante

Member
@hteng: You shouldn't save or load during battle in Chapter 2 (in fact, you shouldn't abuse it in any battle, but in some of the harder ones it's defensible). You should instead improve your strategy. If you don't hit as often as you like then find a way to get closer (or use an aim enhancing order later in the game). The randomness isn't "fucking stupid", it's what makes it an RPG. If you remove it you remove all sense of character and equipment progression and make it a straight up strategy game.
 

Baha

Member
hteng said:
god dam the randomness in this game is fucking stupid, I can't fucking kill a tank with 2 tanks moves and 2 lancers wtf, what's worst was that I was friggin 10 meters from it, level 3 lancer and upgraded lance, it should be enough for chapter 2. I really hate these random accuracies, really ruins the game in critical situations, saving and loading takes so long even with the installs.

this reminds me of G Generations Neo all over again, but with longer loadings.

SRW > VC

Aim for the radiator to take out tanks, I rarely ever take them head on unless they're too far away or my lancer can't get close enough. As for the 'random accuracies', the game is an rpg at it's core, so there'll always be an accuracy % or hit % when attacking. I'll admit that lancers can be annoying sometimes. Sometimes they hit their targets when I least expect them to (hitting a radiator from a 100+ away or so) to missing targets less than 50 ft away. They do get better thankfully and become extremely useful later on.
 

Durante

Member
klee123 said:
I dunno man, 10 mil this gen isn't really all that high when you factor in the engine development. I suspect the average fps being made nowadays would be around 15-20 million at least.
Probably, but as I said before they were really smart with the assets in this game. In short, the art style allows them to use last-gen detail level on the models and environments, the setting (war => uniforms) means that there are, outside of the main characters, maybe 8 different character models in the game (except for their heads), and the genre allows them to only make a rather small number of relatively small-scale environments.

Just for the record, I'm not saying the game looks bad, in fact it's one of the most beautiful games so far this generation, just that they were very clever in terms of asset budget.
 
Dyne said:
As it's been said earlier in the thread, we Canadians have found it at small retail stores who received it well before the Big Box release date which was Nov. 12th. However, now that it's "officially" released, good luck finding it. I haven't seen a copy since. Stick to the small stores though (Rogers Plus, Blockbuster, ma and pa stores). I'm willing to bet the Big Box stores didn't buy very many copies.

Ya nothing at ebgames, futureshop or bestbuy.

Spotted at HMV and Walmart

Alberta area
 

Facism

Member
Durante said:
$11 million is actually higher than I would have guessed, but in the right ballpark.

They sold 150k in Japan alone so I'd be extremely disappointed if it doesn't do at least 250k worldwide.

As would I. Just polished off chapter 14.
 

kay

Member
A lot of the budget was definitely the engine I'm sure. And then the sound and the action cutscenes. I was surprised at how good the animated ones were and even the non-animated ones just seemed to fit. The game is very well done in presentation, almost like it was made from a really top tier developer. They went all out and it shows.
 

Baha

Member
For anybody who doesn't mind getting spoiled, this link has the list of all the medals you can earn in the game and their prerequisites: link
 

hteng

Banned
Durante said:
@hteng: You shouldn't save or load during battle in Chapter 2 (in fact, you shouldn't abuse it in any battle, but in some of the harder ones it's defensible). You should instead improve your strategy. If you don't hit as often as you like then find a way to get closer (or use an aim enhancing order later in the game). The randomness isn't "fucking stupid", it's what makes it an RPG. If you remove it you remove all sense of character and equipment progression and make it a straight up strategy game.

10 meters or so and I couldn't hit a tank from it's back, that's really bad randomness, i'm well aware of being strategic, hell i even crouch before shooting hoping this would help improve the accuracy but when you attempted and missed 4 times trying to hit a huge ass tank from close range, something is wrong.

The save/load thing takes so damn long, i sure as hell wouldn't use it unless it's a last resort. Even in front mission, the character's passive skills makes up for misses ie: double attack, direct hit...etc, I hope VC has this as well.
 

neight

Banned
Durante said:
But anyway, it's Europa and not Europe so they could be talking Japanese just as well as American or Klingon.
But it's heavily based on WW2 era Europe. This is confirmed if you read the interviews in the art book not that you would need to it's plainly obvious. The Empire is based on the Soviet Union from what was said in the interviews. The others weren't mentioned who they were based on but the Atlantic Federation is pretty obvious. Gallia to me is the Netherlands.

The voice acting in English isn't bad it's no worse than the Japanese VA I replayed the first part with both. I prefer the English VA.
 

jorma

is now taking requests
kay said:
The game cost around $11 million so that is about 250000 copies to break even. Another game shouldn't cost that much since they have the engine already. The engine is outstanding and they really have to make a sequel regardless of sales because it is so beautiful.

Thats great news i think. I'm pretty sure this game will sell a little more than that. Not much maybe, but 250k still seems very doable if it already sold 150k in Japan.
 

jorma

is now taking requests
neight said:
But it's heavily based on WW2 era Europe. This is confirmed if you read the interviews in the art book not that you would need to it's plainly obvious. The Empire is based on the Soviet Union from what was said in the interviews. The others weren't mentioned who they were based on but the Atlantic Federation is pretty obvious. Gallia to me is the Netherlands.

The voice acting in English isn't bad it's no worse than the Japanese VA I replayed the first part with both. I prefer the English VA.

I dont think the game at all feel like it's set in Europe. Much like Folklore did not feel like Ireland. I liked the settings of both these games, but european vibes they gave me none.
 

Durante

Member
neight said:
But it's heavily based on WW2 era Europe. This is confirmed if you read the interviews in the art book not that you would need to it's plainly obvious. The Empire is based on the Soviet Union from what was said in the interviews. The others weren't mentioned who they were based on but the Atlantic Federation is pretty obvious. Gallia to me is the Netherlands.
I don't need to read interviews to see the obvious historical allusions, Hcoregamer and me actually discussed them a bit back in a different context. But this is interesting, the Empire in its treatment of Jews Darcsens and military strength built on superior tank units (read the glossary) always seemed much closer to Nazi Germany to me than the USSR.

But despite that setting, the characters undeniably often behave like anime-stereotyped present-day Japanese teens.

neight said:
The voice acting in English isn't bad it's no worse than the Japanese VA
I agree with the first part but disagree with the second one. As I said around 1.5k posts back, the English VA isn't bad but the Japanese VA for this game is exceptional.
 

neight

Banned
Durante said:
I don't need to read interviews to see the obvious historical allusions, Hcoregamer and me actually discussed them a bit back in a different context. But this is interesting, the Empire in its treatment of Jews Darcsens and military strength built on superior tank units (read the glossary) always seemed much closer to Nazi Germany to me than the USSR.
It seems like an amalgamation between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. What was mentioned was the Empire using Soviet tactics in war with overwhelming the enemy with numbers. Plus the Empire has absorbed distinct regions just like the USSR(Jaegar fighting so that his kingdom within the Empire can gain autonomy and Jaegar was given asiatic characteristics according to his designer).
I agree with the first part but disagree with the second one. As I said around 1.5k posts back, the English VA isn't bad but the Japanese VA for this game is exceptional.
Meh I don't know they're of the same quality. I think some will always have their prejudice against dubs.
 

Durante

Member
Kagari said:
Hmm, I wonder why GameSpot has not reviewed this yet...
I also wonder about that. RPGamer as well.

The most recent review I know of that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is GameZone's 9.2/10,
"It’s games like Valkyria Chronicles that make me glad I’m a game reviewer. This is a game that weaves a deeply moving and powerful story while adding an action-packed strategy twist to the genre. In other words, this is a PlayStation 3 game destined to become a console favorite."

But I think I can stop adding review quotes to the OP now, it's pretty well established by now that the game is critically acclaimed!
 

JudgeN

Member
So 11 million is about 250,000 for break even? That doesn't make sense at $20 or so a copy it needs to sell 550k to break even. Thats in line with that developers have said the average PS3 game has to sell to break even.
 

Volcynika

Member
Durante said:
I also wonder about that. RPGamer as well.

The most recent review I know of that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is GameZone's 9.2/10,
"It’s games like Valkyria Chronicles that make me glad I’m a game reviewer. This is a game that weaves a deeply moving and powerful story while adding an action-packed strategy twist to the genre. In other words, this is a PlayStation 3 game destined to become a console favorite."

But I think I can stop adding review quotes to the OP now, it's pretty well established by now that the game is critically acclaimed!

I don't think very many (if any) of RPGamer's staff owns a PS3.
 
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