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

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Gamer @ Heart said:
Wrong. They do.

Also, did anyone see a single commercial or ad for this game?

I have seen a ton of ads in gaming magazines.

If you bought a gaming magazine in the past 3 months, it probably had a Valkyria Chronciles advertisement.

ixix said:
NPD has tracked Amazon sales since some time in the last year or so.

They don't track Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, but they have some manner of arcane mathematical model with which to estimate their sales volume.

And for those of you hinging on those two to save Valkyria, just remember that the people shopping there typically would not go for a game like Valkyria Chronicles.

Baha said:
It's awesome, if you liked the demo I'd suggest getting the game since it only gets better from there.

Yup, the game is leagues better than what the demo portrays.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Hcoregamer00 said:
I have seen a ton of ads in gaming magazines.

If you bought a gaming magazine in the past 3 months, it probably had a Valkyria Chronciles advertisement.

This.

So, looking at the sales... Americans have pretty poor taste :/ I'm disappointed.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Kagari said:
This.

So, looking at the sales... Americans have pretty poor taste :/ I'm disappointed.

Thanks Kagari, only you would succinctly properly present how I feel in so short a post.

Guymelef said:
People are stupid for the los USA sales.
but also Sega is stupid bringing the game to Europe in english only, they lost a lot of sales for this.

I don't believe that localizing it to the native European languages would have made much difference.

Not to mention that you would have to wait 6 months for the game, do you really want that?
 

Guymelef

Member
People are stupid for the low USA sales.
but also Sega is stupid bringing the game to Europe in english only, they lost a lot of sales for this.
 

kinn

Member
BlueTsunami said:
Port this bitch to the 360 Sega. It'll get the Sales it deserves.

Who knows if it will even on 360. I would definitely buy the game again if it ever was released on other systems. LOL maybe that's what we all here should to do from now on with (good) Sega games - Buy 2 copies each.

But the game really needs to be on multiple consoles. Heck even on PSP/DS/IPhone would have been good IMHO. I mean the Advance Wars games sell loads don't they?

Maybe they could do smaller projects with the engine to recoup the costs? Like releasing something in episodic form. A Chapter here and there on PSN perhaps? Wouldn't cost as much as a full blown game and they could throw a Chapter out whenever until it was no longer feasible/profitable.

Maybe that sounds like DLC for the game but I'm thinking more like how Siren was released in chunks.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Hcoregamer00 said:
Thanks Kagari, only you would succinctly properly present how I feel in so short a post.

For reference-sake, how did TLR do? I'm too lazy to search the NPD thread.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Kagari said:
For reference-sake, how did TLR do? I'm too lazy to search the NPD thread.

It probably did pretty damn bad, although I could imagine that Valkyria sold more.

Of course, it is all speculation.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Hcoregamer00 said:
It probably did pretty damn bad, although I could imagine that Valkyria sold more.

Of course, it is all speculation.

Hmm, slightly redeemed, Valkyria is if true. But then again, I think the US as a whole has shunned Japanese games as of late. Pretty sad, if you ask me, considering they make some of the best ones out there. Yet, Americans would rather buy more shooters and Wii ________ games than a beautiful game like Valkyria.
 

Durante

Member
BlueTsunami said:
Port this bitch to the 360 Sega. It'll get the Sales it deserves.
Hah! Yeah right. I don't think VC would have gotten the sales it deserves even if it was on every single platform out there.

Facism said:
i still think a sequel is possible. Depends on how successful the periphery VC products perform (Action figures, Manga, Anime) alongside the WW totals for the software.
I agree. Regardless of its amazing quality, I'm now almost done with VC and I think many things make it clear that it was developed on a budget appropriate to an SRPG.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Kagari said:
Hmm, slightly redeemed, Valkyria is if true. But then again, I think the US as a whole has shunned Japanese games as of late. Pretty sad, if you ask me, considering they make some of the best ones out there. Yet, Americans would rather buy more shooters and Wii ________ games than a beautiful game like Valkyria.

As Radiantdreamer put it so beautifully earlier, the market has changed.

America has rejected the Japanese RPG. We could speculate a myriad of reasons why, but this changing market has some fairly large consequences. The ultimate consequence of this changing market is pretty bad, it means that there will be less Japanese RPG's localized for the American market. It was starting to become obvious when the flood of amazing DS RPG's never got localized to the USA, but it will become more and more evident as time goes on.

Sure, it is a little hyperbole, but I can't help but feel a little helpless seeing my favorite genre fall by the wayside.
 

Pachael

Member
33k, huh? Did worse than I expected. WW sales should go to about 250k and that about wraps it up. More Iron Man and Shadow the Hedgehog 2 please, Sega.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
Hcoregamer00 said:
As Radiantdreamer put it so beautifully earlier, the market has changed.

America has rejected the Japanese RPG. We could speculate a myriad of reasons why, but this changing market has some fairly large consequences. The ultimate consequence of this changing market is pretty bad, it means that there will be less Japanese RPG's localized for the American market. It was starting to become obvious when the flood of amazing DS RPG's never got localized to the USA, but it will become more and more evident as time goes on.

Sure, it is a little hyperbole, but I can't help but feel a little helpless seeing my favorite genre fall by the wayside.

:( Guess that means more imports.
 
whats with all the crying about porting this bomba over to 360?

Katamari/Ace Combat 360 bombed....wheres the ps3 ports to recoup losses?
boom blox/no more heroes bombed on wii.....wheres the 360 or ps3 ports?
 

ezekial45

Banned
frAntic_Frog said:
whats with all the crying about porting this bomba over to 360?

Katamari/Ace Combat 360 bombed....wheres the ps3 ports to recoup losses?
boom blox/no more heroes bombed on wii.....wheres the 360 or ps3 ports?

NMH didn't bomb. It did decent sales WW from what i understand.
 

eznark

Banned
FUCK YEAH!

My dope ass fiance just got me this for Christmas. I've been chomping at the bit to play the thing and I came home today to see it sitting under our tree.

I can now know what all the fuss is about.
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
eznark said:
FUCK YEAH!

My dope ass fiance just got me this for Christmas. I've been chomping at the bit to play the thing and I came home today to see it sitting under our tree.

I can now know what all the fuss is about.

Congratulations, hopefully it will engross you as much as it did with us.
 

Xisiqomelir

Member
BlueTsunami said:
Port this bitch to the 360 Sega. It'll get the Sales it deserves.

In this country? Don't think so.

Also, for the record (because it honestly befuddles me): WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR WHOM TROPHY SUPPORT IS A DEALBREAKER?! Honestly, this is something I never care about, did care about, or probably ever will care about. There is ZERO gameplay impact either way, and in fact I much prefer the unlockable content in the game to some inane gamerpoints (sic?) aping on PSN.
 

Pachael

Member
Xisiqomelir said:
In this country? Don't think so.

Also, for the record (because it honestly befuddles me): WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR WHOM TROPHY SUPPORT IS A DEALBREAKER?! Honestly, this is something I never care about, did care about, or probably ever will care about. There is ZERO gameplay impact either way, and in fact I much prefer the unlockable content in the game to some inane gamerpoints (sic?) aping on PSN.

I read that post somewhere and I was astounded. It's like I won't buy the game because it doesn't have Japanese voices, or I won't buy the game because there's no gallery. No wonder the game isn't selling!

PS A 360 port won't sell well at all. Look at what happened to VF5, it was a bigger bomba on the 360 6 months later. The Valkyria team would need lots of people buying anime DVDs to prop the franchise (yes, it's gotten this bad)
 

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
After cogitating about it for a while, here are some of my thoughts on the situation.

Looking at the previous posts on this thread, and this forum, we expected this game to bomb. We did not have sanguine expectations regarding sales numbers. Much of the previous discussion was on the focus on whether the sales would justify creating multiple iterations in this franchise. Looking at the sales numbers, this possibility is looking dimmer. We took into account the horrific date placement, which all but guaranteed that this game would undersell. What I did not expect was that higher budget games that have more buzz in the gaming community, such as Little Big Planet and Mirror's Edge would also fall below sales expectations.

Valkyria's poor sales could be attributed to many factors, but after careful thought, it occurred to me that Valkyria was essentially in a perfect storm that ensured failure. First off, we are in a recession and household purchases have tightened. This because very apparent in the last NPD where the Playstation 3 sold less year over year. It was at a competitive disadvantage that priced it $100-200 over competitors. The second was the rise of western development that shifted the expectations and tastes of gamers in the United States. This change in expectations created an environment where the Japanese are at a strong disadvantage. We strong focus on graphics, where the Japanese are at a disadvantage due to the development atmosphere where they do not share graphical assets and developments to the entire gaming community. Not only that, we have a market that is loyal to handheld consoles. The third, and probably the most important was the poor release date that put it in conflict with every game under the sun. Had the game been pushed back 2-3 months into 2009, it would have had a whole market for itself. Instead, Sega stupidly released the game in a time period where it would be overlooked. Sega was not the only one that made this mistake, Electronic Arts chose a terrible date to place Mirror's Edge, a game of excellent quality that was as equally misunderstood by the core gaming market.

There are a myriad of other reasons, but I tend to forget that GAF hates walls of text. I also tend to be a little verbose when going into intellectual mode, but it is probably the only way I could deal with such a tragedy.
 

lorddct

Member
Darn, I wanted this game to do good. If it could have continuous legs and sell that average of 33k it would be alright. But I highly doubt that will happen. The PS3 are just not going to sell this season due to the price.

And blow :( it includes Amazon. I guess the $10 gc or the $10 temporary drop didn't help it as much as I thought it would.

Feeling sad for the fate the PS3 is getting :(. I love my machine.
 

Durante

Member
Too bad it's only on PS3 or we could at least blame piracy instead of facing the fact that making an amazingly innovative and polished, beautiful game is by no means enough to guarantee decent sales.
 

djkimothy

Member
Shadow780 said:
At this rate we're NEVER gonna see Kenzan, nevermind Yakuza 3!

:((

I will sorely be disappointed if Yakuza 3 isn't localized. And all they have to do is subtitle it and ship it and I'm happy.
 
Hcoregamer00 said:
After cogitating about it for a while, here are some of my thoughts on the situation...[well-reasoned post].
I definitely agree about the release timing, but I'm not as sure about the other reasons. Being exclusive to the console with the lowest installed base certainly couldn't have helped, but it might not have hurt much either--look at Tales of Vesperia and The Last Remnant.

And I'm even less convinced by the "shifting tastes" argument. SRPGs, no matter how pretty, have never been a big market. Valkyria tries very hard to refresh the concept for more visceral appeal (TPS view, etc.), but even a revolution can go unnoticed if it happens somewhere no one's looking to begin with.

It's just a sad fact: great games sometimes don't connect with a big audience. It may be small consolation, but I bet Valkyria Chronicles eventually becomes a niche legend a la Panzer Dragoon Saga (though not quite that mythical). By then it'll be too late for the franchise's prospects, unfortunately. Guess having Vyse and Co. in the game was sadly prophetic....
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
djkimothy said:
I will sorely be disappointed if Yakuza 3 isn't localized. And all they have to do is subtitle it and ship it and I'm happy.

They localized Yakuza 2 after 1's abysmal sales, so there is hope for Kenzan/3.
 
Hcoregamer00 said:
After cogitating about it for a while, here are some of my thoughts on the situation.

[...]There are a myriad of other reasons, but I tend to forget that GAF hates walls of text. I also tend to be a little verbose when going into intellectual mode, but it is probably the only way I could deal with such a tragedy.

I 100% agree with on this post...

When it comes to video game sales around this time frame, timing is everything, especially when it involves a new IP. (Since consumers don't like to take chances on them, even if the team has made some awesome games like "Skies of Arcadia".)

This is one of the games, along with "Mirror's Edge", that should have been released around January or March of next year.

And I think it is so stupid of SEGA to push forward the game's release a week early against the likes of "Resistance 2" and "Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm" both PS3 exclusives. At least on November 11th it will be the only PS3 exclusive for that week.

Such a bad hand was dealt to this game (and even "Mirror's Edge")...and it's really such a shame.

A "diamond in the rough" is relatively lost in the pits of established franchises and sequels.
 

AlexM

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
As Radiantdreamer put it so beautifully earlier, the market has changed.

America has rejected the Japanese RPG. We could speculate a myriad of reasons why, but this changing market has some fairly large consequences. The ultimate consequence of this changing market is pretty bad, it means that there will be less Japanese RPG's localized for the American market. It was starting to become obvious when the flood of amazing DS RPG's never got localized to the USA, but it will become more and more evident as time goes on.

Sure, it is a little hyperbole, but I can't help but feel a little helpless seeing my favorite genre fall by the wayside.

you certainly paint a grim picture :(
 

Pachael

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
After cogitating about it for a while, here are some of my thoughts on the situation.

Looking at the previous posts on this thread, and this forum, we expected this game to bomb. We did not have sanguine expectations regarding sales numbers. Much of the previous discussion was on the focus on whether the sales would justify creating multiple iterations in this franchise. Looking at the sales numbers, this possibility is looking dimmer. We took into account the horrific date placement, which all but guaranteed that this game would undersell. What I did not expect was that higher budget games that have more buzz in the gaming community, such as Little Big Planet and Mirror's Edge would also fall below sales expectations.

Valkyria's poor sales could be attributed to many factors, but after careful thought, it occurred to me that Valkyria was essentially in a perfect storm that ensured failure. First off, we are in a recession and household purchases have tightened. This because very apparent in the last NPD where the Playstation 3 sold less year over year. It was at a competitive disadvantage that priced it $100-200 over competitors. The second was the rise of western development that shifted the expectations and tastes of gamers in the United States. This change in expectations created an environment where the Japanese are at a strong disadvantage. We strong focus on graphics, where the Japanese are at a disadvantage due to the development atmosphere where they do not share graphical assets and developments to the entire gaming community. Not only that, we have a market that is loyal to handheld consoles. The third, and probably the most important was the poor release date that put it in conflict with every game under the sun. Had the game been pushed back 2-3 months into 2009, it would have had a whole market for itself. Instead, Sega stupidly released the game in a time period where it would be overlooked. Sega was not the only one that made this mistake, Electronic Arts chose a terrible date to place Mirror's Edge, a game of excellent quality that was as equally misunderstood by the core gaming market.

There are a myriad of other reasons, but I tend to forget that GAF hates walls of text. I also tend to be a little verbose when going into intellectual mode, but it is probably the only way I could deal with such a tragedy.

I'm sure I covered this before, ;p

Not quite, but remember when I said it bombed in Japan? In comparison to this figure, VC did wonderfully well in Japan.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=330234

Didn't post HY results for Sega Sammy yet, but I'm no Sega watcher: (Look for FY 2009 Interim results)
http://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/ir/library/meeting.html

(Y90 = US$1)
Net sales US$2.23 billion, Operating loss $83 million, Net loss $105 million
- At least Sega's got about even since Q1 (heh)
- Amusement Machines turned in a $51 million profit (Arcades save the day again!)
- Amusement Facilities turned in $30 million loss (Not arcade venues, suckers)
- Consumer Business turned in a $67 million loss (Loser in console market again!)
- Mario and Sonic sells 8.5 million (good job, but leveraging on Mario these days is a winner)
- Beijing 2008 sells about 1 million
- Iron Man 2.07 million
- Hulk 1.3 million
- Phantasy Star Portable 620,000

Look at those sales numbers, and tell me that Sega should be focusing on new IP. None of their best sellers are!
 
Wow, I'm sad to read the posts in this topic. I didn't realize the game crashed so hard :( I really enjoyed the demo, and I do plan on purchasing the game. There's just been so many games it's been tough, ya know? It's definitely the market change, there's no doubt about it. Many people I know hardly concern themselves with jRPG and that's a shame IMO. At this point, is it a good idea to grab this game at full price considering stock could start dwindling without replenishment?
 
Hcoregamer00 said:
As Radiantdreamer put it so beautifully earlier, the market has changed.

America has rejected the Japanese RPG. We could speculate a myriad of reasons why, but this changing market has some fairly large consequences. The ultimate consequence of this changing market is pretty bad, it means that there will be less Japanese RPG's localized for the American market. It was starting to become obvious when the flood of amazing DS RPG's never got localized to the USA, but it will become more and more evident as time goes on.

Sure, it is a little hyperbole, but I can't help but feel a little helpless seeing my favorite genre fall by the wayside.
I think you need to put away the jump to conclusions mat.

IMO, the (awful) sales figures of Valkryia are due to two simple factors:

1) no publicity
2) it's on the PS3!

I'd argue that if it was on the Wii, sales would not be a problem. But if pigs could fly what would we do with the pigpens
 
Baha said:
Did you have the 2nd paragraph for every troop in your squad under personnel? It won't fill in their 3rd paragraph detailing their post-war ending if you didn't have their 2nd paragraph filled in. You can fill it in by having them capture a base (2nd skirmish for troopers/engies/snipers/lancers or 6th skirmish for scouts) or killing enemy commanders or rescuing downed allies.
Oh, really? I didn't know that. But I was expecting something when
the credits were rolling
.
 
Hcoregamer00 said:
As Radiantdreamer put it so beautifully earlier, the market has changed.

America has rejected the Japanese RPG. We could speculate a myriad of reasons why, but this changing market has some fairly large consequences. The ultimate consequence of this changing market is pretty bad, it means that there will be less Japanese RPG's localized for the American market. It was starting to become obvious when the flood of amazing DS RPG's never got localized to the USA, but it will become more and more evident as time goes on.

Sure, it is a little hyperbole, but I can't help but feel a little helpless seeing my favorite genre fall by the wayside.

Maybe learning to read Japanese isn't such a bad idea after all... I've been putting it off for the last decade... I might have been very fluent now, and this whole thing would be a non-issue for me.

Elfforkusu said:
I think you need to put away the jump to conclusions mat.

IMO, the (awful) sales figures of Valkryia are due to two simple factors:

1) no publicity
2) it's on the PS3!

I'd argue that if it was on the Wii, sales would not be a problem. But if pigs could fly what would we do with the pigpens

Please read and pay attention to the reasons why. I don't think we're jumping to conclusions at all... (unfortunately)
 

Chris R

Member
Liabe Brave said:
SRPGs, no matter how pretty, have never been a big market. Valkyria tries very hard to refresh the concept for more visceral appeal (TPS view, etc.), but even a revolution can go unnoticed if it happens somewhere no one's looking to begin with.
This is why the game did not sell well. I enjoyed the demo quite a bit, but I generally hate SRPGs. I might buy this game down the road one day, but not until the price drops.

As for Americans not wanting JRPGs, in my opinion there hasn't been a good JRPG to come out on the PS3/360 yet. Every game to come out has been in a 5-7 out of 10 range, when there are constant 9s and 10s coming around every corner. FFXIII might change this, but I hope the lack of success for the RPG crowd in general doesn't stop developers from making them, because I really do want to find a RPG to love on my PS3 or 360 :(
 

grandjedi6

Master of the Google Search
Trying to rationalize VC's sales by claiming the American market suddenly doesn't like Japanese games or RPGs anymore? Oh com'n now. Games bomb all the time (sadly), and VC is a niche game on a console with a small userbase with even lower attachment ratios. There is no need to reason out a genre failure to answer the question of why VC did poorly. 33k is to be expected and is around the level of 1st month sales alot of RPGs got on the PS2.
 
grandjedi6 said:
Games bomb all the time (sadly), and VC is a niche game on a console with a small userbase with even lower attachment ratios.
Most of your reasons are sound, but the PS3 does not have a low attach ratio. Since its launch, it has sold about as many third-party games per console as the 360 has.
 

Paracelsus

Member
...How in the world am I supposed to beat first skirmish in Hard mode in one turn? ._.

Even if I buff Alicia and all that, there's no way she can't get past the bridge without getting blown up by the mine, and even if I manage to get to the other side, I haven't enough CP to take down both the tanks and the Elite Trooper Ace. Besides, I hadn't enough CP to give her demolition boost, only damage boost, so I'm not even sure I can take the tanks down in one turn each by aiming at the radiator.
.______.

Seriously, if strategies to beat hard skirmishes are detailed into the strategy guide, I'm going to get one as soon as possible. >_>
 

Shadow780

Member
Paracelsus said:
Seriously, if strategies to beat hard skirmishes are detailed into the strategy guide, I'm going to get one as soon as possible. >_>

No it's not in the guide. But you can check gamefaqs.
 

Llyranor

Member
INDIGO_CYCLOPS said:
Wow, I'm sad to read the posts in this topic. I didn't realize the game crashed so hard :( I really enjoyed the demo, and I do plan on purchasing the game. There's just been so many games it's been tough, ya know? It's definitely the market change, there's no doubt about it. Many people I know hardly concern themselves with jRPG and that's a shame IMO. At this point, is it a good idea to grab this game at full price considering stock could start dwindling without replenishment?
Game's already out of stock in many places. Grab it while you still can.
 

Shadow780

Member
Basically...

2j5ir6.jpg
 
Paracelsus said:
...How in the world am I supposed to beat first skirmish in Hard mode in one turn? ._.

Even if I buff Alicia and all that, there's no way she can't get past the bridge without getting blown up by the mine, and even if I manage to get to the other side, I haven't enough CP to take down both the tanks and the Elite Trooper Ace. Besides, I hadn't enough CP to give her demolition boost, only damage boost, so I'm not even sure I can take the tanks down in one turn each by aiming at the radiator.
.______.

Seriously, if strategies to beat hard skirmishes are detailed into the strategy guide, I'm going to get one as soon as possible. >_>

You have to aim a smoke round just in the right spot so that it cover the LoS of the two mounted machine guns on the west side of the bridge, and the fronts of the two tanks at the base. Have an engineer quickly run into the smoke, but then very slowly move forward, looking for mines to disarm. Once they get to the otherside wait in the smoke. Then send a lancer through the same path as the engineer, which should now be mine free. Run the lancer behind the tanks and hit their radiators. I'd recommend going for the south tank first, and running around its south side. I tried hitting the radiator from north of its position but it was protected by the wall.
 
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