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

D

~Devil Trigger~

In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
On Chapt 11..or 12(i forgot)
Isara just died, Rosie sings

This game has conssumed my holiday brake, and i am NO fan of RPGs at all SPECIALLY turn-base JRPGs. Last JRPG i played was FF10-2(did'nt even beat it, did'nt care for it). But VC is the shit. SEGA REDEEMED!!!!!:lol
 
V

Volcynika

Member
Syntek said:
Time to import it since it includes DLC on disc. I don't have much faith that I'll ever get to play the DLC on the NA version.
Click to expand...

As said above, they announced we're getting DLC at least over a month ago.
 
Dave1988

Dave1988

Member
Syntek said:
Time to import it since it includes DLC on disc. I don't have much faith that I'll ever get to play the DLC on the NA version.
Click to expand...


...

It has been confirmed that US/EU will receive DLC (at least the first two packs).
 
B

Baha

Member
Well I finally saw a used copy of VC at my local EB Games. It was on sale for $69.99 though which is nice to see since some people were all saying 'BOMBA' back in November :lol .

I think that this game will have legs just like Uncharted did. More and more people will recommend it to their friends and more and more people will 'discover' it.
 
L

LiveFromKyoto

Member
gokieks said:
Practically every review of it that I've read (and I've made it a point to read every single one that I come across) has been positive, and a 86 average score on Metacritic is quite good. No, it didn't get many "of the year" mentions, but that's to be expected for such a niche game in a year of so many high-profile releases.
Click to expand...

And there are the magic words - they skipped this over for things that were marketed better, with bigger budgets. I don't mean to knock games like Mirror's Edge or GTA or even Fallout 3 because that's unfair, but are they honestly so much better than Valkyria Chronicles that they deserve 20x as much press and podcast time? How about Prince of Persia?

VC looks as good or better than they do. It has an orchestral score done by a major gaming composer. Its gameplay is Final Fantasy Tactics meets Gears of War. And as you point out, pretty much every review has been positive.

In other words, the only thing that isn't 'major' about this game is its marketing budget. I don't even accept that this is a niche product, because plenty of other strategy games get press (I read plenty about Sins of a Solar Empire and Civ and many others this year - and is this game any less accessible than the multitude of RTSes that get hype?).

I think it's kind of sad for the gaming press to divide things into major & minor releases - and thereby become defacto extensions of marketing departments. Even if their reviews aren't influenced, the amount of airtime seems to be.
 
G

gokieks

Member
LiveFromKyoto said:
And there are the magic words - they skipped this over for things that were marketed better, with bigger budgets. I don't mean to knock games like Mirror's Edge or GTA or even Fallout 3 because that's unfair, but are they honestly so much better than Valkyria Chronicles that they deserve 20x as much press and podcast time? How about Prince of Persia?

VC looks as good or better than they do. It has an orchestral score done by a major gaming composer. Its gameplay is Final Fantasy Tactics meets Gears of War. And as you point out, pretty much every review has been positive.

In other words, the only thing that isn't 'major' about this game is its marketing budget. I don't even accept that this is a niche product, because plenty of other strategy games get press (I read plenty about Sins of a Solar Empire and Civ and many others this year - and is this game any less accessible than the multitude of RTSes that get hype?).

I think it's kind of sad for the gaming press to divide things into major & minor releases - and thereby become defacto extensions of marketing departments. Even if their reviews aren't influenced, the amount of airtime seems to be.
Click to expand...

I love this game to death - it's my favorite game from 2008, by far my favorite game on the PS3, and the game that I've probably spent the most time on in the past 3 years (not counting WoW...). But if you think that the game had anywhere near the mainstream appeal that Fallout 3, Fable 2, GTAIV, MGS4, GoW2, Resistance 2, or even LBP did, you're deluding yourself. In North America, Japanese RPGs (those which aren't named Final Fantasy, at any rate) are niche. Strategy RPGs are niche. Anime visual styled games are niche. This game combines all 3 - as far as genre goes, I honestly couldn't think of anything that would be more niche in the US, except maybe visual novels/dating sims, but those would never have gotten localized in the first place.

And no, despite the 3rd person real-time action sequences, the gameplay is nowhere near being similar to Gears of War.

RTS games, especially on PC, are not nearly as niche as SRPGs on console. I hate that fact because I love the SRPG genre, but it is what it is. And again, the media covers things that they think people are interested in, and the unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of the gaming public simply does not have any interest in this type of game.
 
S

Saiyar

Unconfirmed Member
Durante said:
So it sold over 200k in Japan? I'll take back everything bad I said about Japanese gamers' taste in the past few years, this proves they are still well ahead of the west.
Click to expand...

Over 200k is amazing for an SRPG. Doesn't this make it one of the best selling RPGS in Japan this generation? I can only think of DQ swords and (soon) WKC that will be ahead of it.
 
S

slaughterking

Member
It would be one of the better selling RPGs if you're excluding handhelds and if it really did 200k units. The last time it appeared in the Famitsu charts it was only at 130.000, though.
 
D

Danielsan

Member
I've finally properly started on Valkyria Chronicles today. I'm at chapter 5 and so far I'm loving it. I have one gripe though. It appears that the game only rewards the player for rushing to the enemy base as fast as possible.
 
I

ianp622

Member
Danielsan said:
I've finally properly started on Valkyria Chronicles today. I'm at chapter 5 and so far I'm loving it. I have one gripe though. It appears that the game only rewards the player for rushing to the enemy base as fast as possible.
Click to expand...

It also rewards you for finding the enemy ace's and destroying tanks. I think I would prefer it to also take into account damage taken or KO's, enemies killed (although trying to kill all of the enemies goes against the message of the game), and camps captured.
 
S

SabinFigaro

Member
Well, I just finished my first playthrough with just over 19 hours on the clock. Now it's time to finish all the missions with A ranks, and amass all the medals.

I assume most of you already consider VC a fantastic game, but I'd like to elaborate why I enjoy it so. At two points in my "gaming career", I considered stopping due to lack of time, funds and interest. The first was after my heaviest gaming period (the SNES/PSX RPG era), and the second in the middle of the PS2/NGC/Xbox era. Right before I traded in my gamer card, one single game brought me back into the fold each time. These games were Vagrant Story and Metroid Prime respectively, and now Valkyria Chronicles.

Sure, VC isn't perfect (nor were VS or MP), but that's not the point. Here is a game that can be considered the complete package: graphics, gameplay, music, story and characterization. The atmosphere, much like the aforementioned VS and MP, sucked me straight in and never let up. Having been home alone for the past three days, I proceeded to play VC for over 20 hours (including losses and restarts) and I haven't even noticed the time pass. I haven't done that in a long, long time (since FFVII). There are certainly a lot of games out there that appeal to different people, but VC seems to hit all the right notes for me. Once again, I'm looking forward to more console gaming.

/end rant
 
C

comedian

Member
Don't forget if you kill an enemy and "collect" their bodies you get more exp not a mention of finding weapons, so you have a reason of finding "ace"(those with a crest)enemy soldiers and picking up their bodies for added exp and possibly better weapons.
 
I

ianp622

Member
comedian said:
Don't forget if you kill an enemy and "collect" their bodies you get more exp not a mention of finding weapons, so you have a reason of finding "ace"(those with a crest)enemy soldiers and picking up their bodies for added exp and possibly better weapons.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, you get the better weapons simply for killing aces, you don't have to touch them.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
So I just got a PS3 recently and decided to make an American Playstation Store account to see if there was any unique content and sure enough there was a demo for Valkyria Chronicles that was not available in the Japanese store. I had been looking forward to trying this out so I quickly downloaded the demo and gave it a try.

Wow! I have always loved SRPGs, but this game is just fantastic from the short amount of time I got to spend on the demo. The system is really unique and easy to use. I have a ton of games on my backlog right now, but I am tempted to just put them on hold and go buy this today.
 
K

klee123

Member
Zefah said:
So I just got a PS3 recently and decided to make an American Playstation Store account to see if there was any unique content and sure enough there was a demo for Valkyria Chronicles that was not available in the Japanese store. I had been looking forward to trying this out so I quickly downloaded the demo and gave it a try.

Wow! I have always loved SRPGs, but this game is just fantastic from the short amount of time I got to spend on the demo. The system is really unique and easy to use. I have a ton of games on my backlog right now, but I am tempted to just put them on hold and go buy this today.
Click to expand...

DO IT!
 
RpgN

RpgN

Junior Member
slaughterking said:
It would be one of the better selling RPGs if you're excluding handhelds and if it really did 200k units. The last time it appeared in the Famitsu charts it was only at 130.000, though.
Click to expand...

You mean 141k (Check media create sales 12/15-12/21 thread), so that leaves us with 59k of copies untracked on famitsu. Though Sega did ship 150k according to their last report. Are we sure that a best re-release means the game have sold 200k? The only last explanation would be those are shipped copies to online stores (are not tracked by famitsu).

Regardless, I'm very happy to see the game doing well and people are given another opportunity to try it out for a lower price :D
 
D

Die Squirrel Die

Member
RpgN said:
You mean 141k (Check media create sales 12/15-12/21 thread), so that leaves us with 59k of copies untracked on famitsu. Though Sega did ship 150k according to their last report. Are we sure that a best re-release means the game have sold 200k? The only last explanation would be those are shipped copies to online stores (are not tracked by famitsu).

Regardless, I'm very happy to see the game doing well and people are given another opportunity to try it out for a lower price :D
Click to expand...

We'll probably have to wait until Media-Create and Famitsu do their 2008 top 500, to know for sure where VC stands. It has happened in the past that games that haven't charted for months have been gathering sales under the radar, but then there are games that haven't, there's no real pattern to it.

Also I don't think Sony are as rigid with their sales criteria for The Best/GH/Platinum rereleases as people make them out to be, or as they were when they first introduced it. I wouldn't be suprised if Sony let Sega fudge it a little bit because of the cult following and impending anime, which debuts in April IIRC.

Still we shall see when the 2008 numbers come in. I hope for the best.
 
K

kinn

Member
I finally completed VC just before XMAS. Took just under 40 hours and I lost Catherine and someone else (Ramona I think).

Game is just awesome. I loved every minute of it.

Someone please tell me what the team is now working on!
 
A

agm2502

Member
Just picked this game up today, Never played an RPG before so hopefully I won't struggle with it. Liked the demo though so should be ok. Is there difficulty settings in the game? if so am I best off starting out on easy?
 
I

ianp622

Member
agm2502 said:
Just picked this game up today, Never played an RPG before so hopefully I won't struggle with it. Liked the demo though so should be ok. Is there difficulty settings in the game? if so am I best off starting out on easy?
Click to expand...

RPG experience isn't really required, but turn-based strategy experience might help you out. Either way, it starts out slowly (difficulty-wise) so you probably won't feel like it's getting ahead of you.
 
S

SiegfriedFM

Member
Until chapter 7...

Anyway, great to see a cheap reissue. With the general buzz, it will most likely go way beyond 200k at that price. Unless something marvellous happens (like, 2 million gamers suddenly aquiring taste), it's pretty much doomed in the west though.

It's not strange to see it in a Best Of release though. Even with only 140k, it's still among the top ten sellers in Japan. You can't have a Best Of lineup consisting of only MinGol and MGS4 :)
 
P

patsu

Member
Kinda makes me proud that I have a copy on Day 1 though.

It's like I have this plaque that says "You have true gamer taste". ^_^
 
RpgN

RpgN

Junior Member
Die Squirrel Die said:
We'll probably have to wait until Media-Create and Famitsu do their 2008 top 500, to know for sure where VC stands. It has happened in the past that games that haven't charted for months have been gathering sales under the radar, but then there are games that haven't, there's no real pattern to it.

Also I don't think Sony are as rigid with their sales criteria for The Best/GH/Platinum rereleases as people make them out to be, or as they were when they first introduced it. I wouldn't be suprised if Sony let Sega fudge it a little bit because of the cult following and impending anime, which debuts in April IIRC.

Still we shall see when the 2008 numbers come in. I hope for the best.
Click to expand...

I didn't think of that. When will these rankings get published?
 
I

Issun23

Member
~Devil Trigger~ said:
This is good news:D
Click to expand...

Depends on how big was the print run. It could be that it wasn't big enough to meet demand, or quantity stocked by retailers was small.

The fact that more people are looking into buying this game is good news though. :D
 
R

radiantdreamer

Member
gokieks said:
I love this game to death - it's my favorite game from 2008, by far my favorite game on the PS3, and the game that I've probably spent the most time on in the past 3 years (not counting WoW...). But if you think that the game had anywhere near the mainstream appeal that Fallout 3, Fable 2, GTAIV, MGS4, GoW2, Resistance 2, or even LBP did, you're deluding yourself. In North America, Japanese RPGs (those which aren't named Final Fantasy, at any rate) are niche. Strategy RPGs are niche. Anime visual styled games are niche. This game combines all 3 - as far as genre goes, I honestly couldn't think of anything that would be more niche in the US, except maybe visual novels/dating sims, but those would never have gotten localized in the first place.

And no, despite the 3rd person real-time action sequences, the gameplay is nowhere near being similar to Gears of War.

RTS games, especially on PC, are not nearly as niche as SRPGs on console. I hate that fact because I love the SRPG genre, but it is what it is. And again, the media covers things that they think people are interested in, and the unfortunate truth is that the vast majority of the gaming public simply does not have any interest in this type of game.
Click to expand...

It's because people are mindless sheep that will buy whatever people tell them to buy. People who bought VC I would consider as the exception. ;)
 
T

The_Inquisitor

Member
It's completely sold out in my area, and my city has a population of at least 330,000 people. I guess I am going to have to order it online somewhere.
 
Vdragoon

Vdragoon

Member
I believe when a product is sold out on VideoGamesPlus, it is "removed" from the site until it comes back in stock or someone trades it in. In this case, some lucky guy bought the last copy.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Why is this game so damn hard to find? Is it going to be worth a couple hundred bucks like the original Valkyrie Profile is?
 
H

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Diablos said:
Why is this game so damn hard to find? Is it going to be worth a couple hundred bucks like the original Valkyrie Profile is?
Click to expand...

Yup, a small print run along with low initial demand means that this will be an EXPENSIVE game to buy second hand in the future.
 
M

Metalic Sand

who is Emo-Beas?
I got the last copy at my Gamestop when i bought it last week. So it does seem to be selling...

Im on chapter 13-14 or whatever. How far am i? Hours to go?


I dont want this game to end :(
 
R

radiantdreamer

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
Yup, a small print run along with low initial demand means that this will be an EXPENSIVE game to buy second hand in the future.
Click to expand...

Maybe I should have bought a second copy, and pull a Valkyrie Profile. :lol
 
Haunted

Haunted

Member
Hcoregamer00 said:
Yup, a small print run along with low initial demand means that this will be an EXPENSIVE game to buy second hand in the future.
Click to expand...
Really? It's readily available everywhere here (UK/Germany).


Maybe I shouldn't sell it after finishing the main story after all. :D
 
L

LiveFromKyoto

Member
Metalic Sand said:
I got the last copy at my Gamestop when i bought it last week. So it does seem to be selling...

Im on chapter 13-14 or whatever. How far am i? Hours to go?


I dont want this game to end :(
Click to expand...

There are 18 chapters altogether. Can't say how long that'll take you though. Depends on your style of play and how much time you spend doing things other than the main missions.
 
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