I'm in a good mood today, having finally beaten Valkyria Chronicles, and what an epic game that is! If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'd know that I've been raving about this game since the moment I got it. Though I was very reluctant at first, since the demo didn't really show off what the game can actually do, there wasn't anything that really connected with me, since it was just a skirmish battle. It did however give me a basic idea of how the game played. I picked this up along with DeadSpace, at the time I was actually planning to get Far Cry 2, but it wasn't in the store yet, so it was pretty much an impulse purchase. I'm happy to say that this game was well worth the time and money I spent on it.
The game starts you off easy, then it slowly gets tougher and tougher, and you get used to a certain style of tactical gameplay and planning, but then, out of nowhere the game throws a spanner into the works, and you're forced to totally rethink your entire strategy and execution, a good example of this is Chapter 7, now I won't go and post any spoilers, but anyone who's gotten that far knows exactly what I'm talking about. That part threw me off so badly, that I stopped playing the game for a few weeks, but eventually I managed to get through it with a little help from a walkthrough(it's good to have one handy if you get stuck!), and I plowed through the next few chapters. Until, again, another spanner is thrown into the works, and I was forced to rethink the way I play again. It's not a bad thing actually, as it spices up the gameplay, and stops it from becoming monotonous, as some battles(especially in the later chapters) could last up to an hour or more to beat. Now don't go thinking that you can't save mid-battle, as the game doesn't actually tell you that you can save mid-battle, but you can save the game at any point during your turn in battle.
Another thing I'd like to talk about is the story and the characters. There are a few main characters like Welkin, Alicia, Largo and Rosie, which are crucial to the story's pregression and therefore will not really "die" in battle, they'd just pull out, but you won't be able to select them again, apart from that, any of the militia that you draft into your squad, after a set number of turns, or if an enemy unit touches them while they're down. They die. You won't be able to ever select them again. Now you may think "so what?" but really, if you've got a character that you've really gotten attached to, and that character kicks some serious ass, to have them die because of some stupid mistake is, well quite devastating to say the least. The story itself may start out slow, but you slowly become more attached to the main characters, they change over the course of the game, and some plot twists made my jaw drop, as I was never expecting it to happen, I was expecting something, but not what actually happened.
Now like the way the menu and chapter selection is set up like a book, and like a very good book, you can't wait to turn the page and see whats coming next, the game's personality is infectious and pretty soon you won't be able to put the game down-well until an exeptionally hard battle throws you off-but soon enough you'll be back to playing it again.
A little note though, do not expect this game to be easy, it's far from easy, in fact, it's probably one of the most challenging game's I've played this generation, and by challenging, I don't mean the "tear-you-hair-out" frustrating, you really have to plan out your moves in advance, and be very careful with how you place units. Because one tiny mistake could cost you the whole battle, and you don't want that if you've been playing for about two hours without saving-it's happened to me more than once-especially when you're so close to winning.
Now I bet that if you've seen the game in action, or seen pictures, you'd know that the game has a distinct water color artstyle, and I think that this type of artstyle is absolutely stunning, especially in some of the fancier cutscenes, some of which I think are some of the best I've ever seen-in terms of sheer artistry- as it looks like a fairytale storybook scene come to life. I love how the color bleeds out at the edges of the screen, and all that you see is the outlines of the environment, I think it's a nice, subtle touch to the visual style.
Now, would I reccomend this game to anyone? Not really, no, this game definetly isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for a long(it took me around 45 hours to finish), challenging, beautiful, addictive, and engrossing tactical JRPG, then I say that this is a definite must-buy. Even though it's a single player game, I think it's totally worth a $60 dollar price tag, and I think it's even cheaper now, this game definetly didn't get the attention it deserves, and I think that it's the biggest sleeper hit of 08, and one of the best games of this generation.
5/5 stars!!!
Another one down!
I'm in a good mood today, having finally beaten Valkyria Chronicles, and what an epic game that is! If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'd know that I've been raving about this game since the moment I got it. Though I was very reluctant at first, since the demo didn't really show off what the game can actually do, there wasn't anything that really connected with me, since it was just a skirmish battle. It did however give me a basic idea of how the game played. I picked this up along with DeadSpace, at the time I was actually planning to get Far Cry 2, but it wasn't in the store yet, so it was pretty much an impulse purchase. I'm happy to say that this game was well worth the time and money I spent on it.
The game starts you off easy, then it slowly gets tougher and tougher, and you get used to a certain style of tactical gameplay and planning, but then, out of nowhere the game throws a spanner into the works, and you're forced to totally rethink your entire strategy and execution, a good example of this is Chapter 7, now I won't go and post any spoilers, but anyone who's gotten that far knows exactly what I'm talking about. That part threw me off so badly, that I stopped playing the game for a few weeks, but eventually I managed to get through it with a little help from a walkthrough(it's good to have one handy if you get stuck!), and I plowed through the next few chapters. Until, again, another spanner is thrown into the works, and I was forced to rethink the way I play again. It's not a bad thing actually, as it spices up the gameplay, and stops it from becoming monotonous, as some battles(especially in the later chapters) could last up to an hour or more to beat. Now don't go thinking that you can't save mid-battle, as the game doesn't actually tell you that you can save mid-battle, but you can save the game at any point during your turn in battle.
Another thing I'd like to talk about is the story and the characters. There are a few main characters like Welkin, Alicia, Largo and Rosie, which are crucial to the story's pregression and therefore will not really "die" in battle, they'd just pull out, but you won't be able to select them again, apart from that, any of the militia that you draft into your squad, after a set number of turns, or if an enemy unit touches them while they're down. They die. You won't be able to ever select them again. Now you may think "so what?" but really, if you've got a character that you've really gotten attached to, and that character kicks some serious ass, to have them die because of some stupid mistake is, well quite devastating to say the least. The story itself may start out slow, but you slowly become more attached to the main characters, they change over the course of the game, and some plot twists made my jaw drop, as I was never expecting it to happen, I was expecting something, but not what actually happened.
Now like the way the menu and chapter selection is set up like a book, and like a very good book, you can't wait to turn the page and see whats coming next, the game's personality is infectious and pretty soon you won't be able to put the game down-well until an exeptionally hard battle throws you off-but soon enough you'll be back to playing it again.
A little note though, do not expect this game to be easy, it's far from easy, in fact, it's probably one of the most challenging game's I've played this generation, and by challenging, I don't mean the "tear-you-hair-out" frustrating, you really have to plan out your moves in advance, and be very careful with how you place units. Because one tiny mistake could cost you the whole battle, and you don't want that if you've been playing for about two hours without saving-it's happened to me more than once-especially when you're so close to winning.
Now I bet that if you've seen the game in action, or seen pictures, you'd know that the game has a distinct water color artstyle, and I think that this type of artstyle is absolutely stunning, especially in some of the fancier cutscenes, some of which I think are some of the best I've ever seen-in terms of sheer artistry- as it looks like a fairytale storybook scene come to life. I love how the color bleeds out at the edges of the screen, and all that you see is the outlines of the environment, I think it's a nice, subtle touch to the visual style.
Now, would I reccomend this game to anyone? Not really, no, this game definetly isn't for everyone, but if you're looking for a long(it took me around 45 hours to finish), challenging, beautiful, addictive, and engrossing tactical JRPG, then I say that this is a definite must-buy. Even though it's a single player game, I think it's totally worth a $60 dollar price tag, and I think it's even cheaper now, this game definetly didn't get the attention it deserves, and I think that it's the biggest sleeper hit of 08, and one of the best games of this generation.
5/5 stars!!!
Congratulations on beating Valkyria Chronicles. I've heard good things.
congrats on finally beating it! I actually haven't seen much of anything of the game but after reading this I think i will hunt down some videos of this game.
I agree with what Diamond said, it's not really a JRPG in the traditional sense, its more of a Japanese Strategy Game, with real-time and turn based combat.
Vortex you should download the game's demo to get a taste of how the game will play. It won't do much to explain how things work, so it might be a little overwhelming, but in the real game it slowly teaches you how to play.
I've got VC in my current collection but have been too distracted by Persona 3 and KZ2 to really sink my teeth into it. Ah, well...only so much time in the day. Good to see you enjoyed it and I'm happy to hear about the 45 hour time frame. I've got more than 50 into FES and I am not half way through, so 45 seems very reasonable to me, right now.
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