Valkyria Chronicles came to be a surprise hit in back in 2008 when SEGA gave us a turn-based, strategy, Japanese role-playing game on the PS3. General reception was very high with many praising it's interesting mix of genres and beautiful aesthetics. Unfortunately it title didn't sell very well despite the high scores it received and so it's sequels where reduced to the PSP platform, an even smaller audience before it's third sequel, didn't even get a Western release. From past history it would seem that it would forever be lost to the rich archives as SEGA release another terrible Sonic game internationally. But SEGA once more surprised us when they decided to release the original title to Steam, which is apparently an excellent port for the most part (which is even more surprising given how ports of Japanese games go.) Furthermore, a group of freelance translators (the Gallian Liberation Front) have released another update to the translation patch for Valkyria Chronicles 3 which I've just recently finished just shy of 90 hours.

Having immensely enjoyed all three titles it's kind of a wonder why many haven't played the titles due it's aforementioned excellent gameplay, attractive aesthetics and story driven narrative about many an interesting subjects regarding war, camaraderie and friendship. What I find most interesting about Valkyria Chronicles is that it is essentially a World War 2 game. That's sounds perfectly normal but this is a WW2 game developed and published by a Japanese company and given Japan's history at the period it does give an interesting angle to it's existence.

The general set up is set in a fictional 1930's Europe, called Europa. The war is waged by two major world powers, the Atlantic Federation (most likely a representation of the Allied powers) and the Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance (commonly referred to as the "The Empire" and very obviously based on Nazi Germany) over the precious resource, Ragnite, a sort of magical mineral that can be used in harnessing power, provide healing or weapons manufacturing. In all three games you fight for the country of Gallia, a neutral nation also rich in Ragnite as it defends itself from the invading Empire hungry for it's rich deposits of the mineral. But those aren't the only targets in this war for the Empire are also actively hunting and killing Darcsens, a race of dark haired humans heavily discriminated everywhere as they are blamed for causing the Darcsen Calamity, a conflict which destroyed many lives and cities all over the continent.

Already we can see that strong resemblance and inspiration of World War 2. One wonders if the fictionalised version of World War 2 is a deliberate choice on SEGA's part as a means of sidestepping Japan's own actions during the conflict (though at no point does the series makes any allusions to it.) Did they have any plans at any point? Did they try only to be denied by the higher ups? In some ways I can't entirely blame them for not trying to address the issues as Chinese-Japanese relations have always been rather tense to this day unlike Europe where such matters of the war are openly talked about and accepted as fact. Japanese nationals and extremists have been known to commonly claim atrocities caused by Japanese soldiers in China as either highly exaggerated or straight up denied they ever happened becoming a sort of Asian equivalent of Holocaust deniers despite overwhelming evidence purporting so. For SEGA to bring more attention to the atrocities would have likely annoyed many back home. Such is the reason why I find the world of Valkyria Chronicles so interesting as a Japanese game or any medium addressing World War 2 in a serious sense is relatively uncommon.

Generally speaking, the Empire as considered the "bad guys" in the series with their motive to slaughter the Darcsens and aggressively take over nations for their Ragnite deposits. Valkyria Chronicles is however, an anti-war game. Despite the actions of the Empire, every side of the conflict has their dark side be it the Atlantic Federation or even those within Gallia. Even those wishing peace must stand up and fight against it's attackers but everyone on all sides have things they lose from family, friends and countries. The sentiment shows in the game play as all the characters in your squad are expendable (at least, only in the first game.) Each and every one of them has a unique back story, voice actor, potentials (which can aid or hinder combat effectiveness) and have friends within the squad that they like. As you play along with them, developing them individually and fighting battles together it's hard not to grow attached to almost all of them. But should they fall in battle, they're gone for the rest of the game. Naturally, there is an incentive to keep them alive as well as the fact that losing soldiers means losing combat effectiveness as they can't be replaced.

If any of this sounds familiar chances are pretty good that you've played an X-COM game before, another turn-based, strategy series that many often make comparisons to (though I personally think Jagged Allliance is a better fit given how similar that game handles it's characters.) I don't know if the developers were inspired by these games but they certainly handle the genre better than any game I know. After all, you're not tied to a grid system and when using weapons you're allowed to take manual aim before firing off the shot. It's a good balance of handling player skill while still maintaining some random number generation (this entire system referred to as the BLiTZ System or "Battle of Live Tactical Zones".) It feels very fair, organic, and fast paced. A problem that often stops me from playing games of a similar genre in the long term.

The series also benefits from a class system. Each character is assigned a different role from Scouts with their high movement ability to Lancers, a slow lumbering class that carries anti-armour weaponry. What's really elegant however is how they handle overall progression. Instead of individually levelling each character you level up the character classes and research new weapons that become standard issue so even soldiers that are rarely used can still benefit from your battles. The sequels do add individual skill levels that require investing but they still retain the global experience you get from training character classes. It's a very streamlined system that fixes a lot of problems with RPGs and considering the large cast it's almost essential to enjoying it.

That isn't to say the series is perfect. Being a JRPG is does suffer from anime clichés and occasional tonal dissonance. It's certainly not the worst offender out there but there are one or two scenes in which you can't help but roll your eyes at. Most of the characters are very young as well as they range from their early teens to early twenties (somewhat justified by the fact that Gallia has conscription starting at the age of 16.) Even Valkyria Chronicles 2 takes place in a high school setting, something that Japanese anime/manga has an obsession with when it comes to youth and school life (it's actually a Militia Academy but for their intents and purposes it might as well be a high school.) Regardless, the writing for the most part is enjoyable without getting too ham-fisted in it's anti-war sentiment and in it's characters.

That aside, if you haven't noticed the screenshots by now, Valkyria Chronicles is a beautiful series thanks to the CANVAS Engine with it's watercolour painting aesthetics. It compliments the storybook motif that original has with it's idyllic view on a fictional Europe or the raging conflict with gunfire and weapons sounding off with a visual "RATTA TATTA" and "BOOM!" that is highly reminiscent comic books. It looks gorgeous and it looks better in motion. Sadly, the PSP sequels lose much of the engine's fidelities due to power differences but it does try to retain it's aesthetics with reasonable success.

All in all it's still a wonder to me why the series hasn't sold so well despite high praise in almost all of it's aspects. Despite moving onto a smaller install base of the PSP they've still scored very well (but not sold enough apparently.) Still, with the recent surprise port of the original onto the PC and SEGA's being more active in the PC space one can hope that it can gain more momentum and spark interest in the series. While unlikely, it'll be amazing if they were to localise and port the PSP sequels to PC or any other platform really. In any case, the original is now on Steam and unsurprisingly I can't recommend you hard enough that you go and play it, even more so that the PC port is better version of the original PS3 version with it's 60 FPS, better resolution settings and other bells and whistles. It is after all, one of the more interesting, beautiful and memorable series I've encountered in a long time and I'd love to see more. Be it another sequel, an RTS in the universe (Relic Entertainment and Creative Assembly are owned by SEGA so HINT HINT LADS) or even a Crimson Skies sort of game.

Have I mentioned the soundtrack yet? It's great!

(Considering that I rarely post here some of the older members might be wondering why I am and to answer that I'm on the ol' Twitterverse a lot so find me there if you need me or if you just want to hurl abuse, whatever floats your boat.)

Real Lives

One of the more interesting educational games that's floating about the interwebz, Real Lives is, as the name implies, a life simulator developed by the chaps over at Educational Simulations. Considering the nature of the "game", there's no proper end goal to it, rather you just live life as best (or worse) as you can and see where it takes you. It's quite similar to other life simulation games such as Alter Ego, but unlike Alter Ego, Real Lives aims to accurately simulate your character development depending on a large number of factors like your country of origin, religion, language, socio-economic background and so fourth. With this, you really are in the character's shoes and that's what educates you as go through the hardships of that particular person in that one country you've known so little about. So a "game" like this is worth a look, no?

With this we're going with the Trial Version of Real Lives 2010 (the previous one being Real Lives 2007), the full version gives us access to a character creator that should drastically change our outcome but for now the Trial Version gives us one preset character to play with. So meet; Ketema Sarsa.

YEAR 1

So here's the our current breakdown as we're brought into the world;

• So far my current stats are pretty good though our wisdom is non-existent but hey, what did you expect from a new born?
• My dad, Melesse is 23 years of age and works as a logger earning birr 912 (the currency) a month. He suffers from epilepsy and schistosomiasis.
• My mother, Elshday is 18 years old and does domestic chores and suffers from clinical depression, goiter and like dad, schistosomiasis as well.
• We speak Oromo and are Muslim. Which labels us a minority group thus attracting some level of discrimination.
• We're completely deprived of clean water, medical care and other important needs but surprisingly we're doing well with our simple adobe, sufficient food and a single radio. Furthermore, in relation to the rest of the nation we have a good income with our total net worth of 1,130 birr.
• Unsurprisingly, government corruption is incredibly rampant so we don't have much in terms of civil liberties and rights.

I suppose it could be worse really. We may be sick and living in a country run by foul people but on the flipside we're living a relatively happy and comfortable life. We do however, hit our first stumbling block;

Fortunately, that doesn't prevent me from learning how to crawl and walk like any other healthy baby and hey, I also get our first baby tooth at 8 months! Awesome!

Well, on the other hand my mother has been cured of her depression (odd given that I've caught a deadly killer disease at around the same time.)

YEARS 2-3

Our second year is uneventful (for which I'm rather thankful in all honesty) except the year after when things take a hard left turn for nearly everyone.

Miraculously we've not been directly affected and furthermore my parents have somehow found the resources to breed thus giving birth to my baby brother, Ikangaa. Despite the deadly cocktail of diseases in our family Ikangaa is surprisingly free of all maladies. Still, hopefully this doesn't put too much a strain on our finances and time.

YEARS 4-5

• My mother catches Hookworm and father get's injured at work but luckily for him it's nothing permanent. Me and Ikangaa seem rather happy so far though he does catch food poisoning but recovers eventually. Luckily, I don't seem to have malaria any more too.

YEAR 6

Another bloody famine but again we're not affected. Better still, we're starting to attend school which is a real luxury for us!

YEAR 7-8

I catch hookworm AND the whooping cough. In other news, a famine kills thousands more people but by some stroke of luck we're not affected again. Having said that, I get removed from school for whatever reason but our brother Ikangaa starts his education in turn. Since we're not in education and not qualified for anything I begin work as a beggar (earning 27 birr per month.) With more free time in my hands I play to my strengths and spend it reading/studying and performing religious/outdoor activities.

YEAR 9-10

Fourth famine in my life. I barely notice and so does my family. We truck on and in the process my brother can't attend school any more and mother catches ancylostomiasis thanks to that hookworm of hers. Somehow I've got a feeling I'll be getting that too...as for father, I'm a little worried about his condition as well...

More in the near future.

Mainichi

Another interesting un-game that's been floating about in interwebz is Mainichi by Mattie Brice. I'm not familiar with Brice but from I've searched on Google here's what I know about her, she's a) a transgender and b) a game critic/designer. Those two elements already give Brice a rather unique perspective in life, particularly the former and with the understanding of the latter, Brice comes out with Mainichi (produced in the RPG Maker XV engine) whereupon you play a short role in Brice's daily routine. The activities themselves are mundane but the process of doing them in a social environment highlight the potential problems that people like Brice suffer from day to day.

It's incredibly short and it doesn't have a strong, political message underneath it but that's perfectly fine because that's not what it wants to do. At the very most, it just wants you do see things from her perspective and understand the unnecessary problems and hardships of a transgender person, or even people who are just different in general. It won't change your life but it's worth a look if you're the type to be interested in the LGBT scene and possibly, it's relation to games too.

If you've got five minutes of your time grab it off Brice's site here.

Anyone who has me on PSN may have noticed that I've been online a lot lately. More specifically, I've been playing Dark Souls. That one game (other then Persona 4) that seems to get a lot of attention on these forums so one would hope that you're not sick of reading about it. Of all the people, it should've been me considering the fact that I've just Platinum-ed it the other day. It's also the only game to date which I've bothered to get all the achievements in and perhaps the last one in which I will. Long story short, I really enjoyed it.

More Than A Game

To put things into perspective I have played it's predecessor, Demon's Souls. Conceptually, it sounded really interesting it me given the strong contrast of linearity and hand-holding in most video games developed today but on the other hand it's almost like walking on a tight rope. How much is too much and how little is too little? Some of the more intriguing parts of Demon's Souls was the little nuggets of information you'd pick up from item descriptions to the sparse dialogue but it was also a little frustrating when certain game mechanics are poorly explained (or not explained at all for one matter). Either way, it always felt that you inhabited a world which felt like it had history to it. It's sequel, Dark Souls not only does this a little better but it also retains what made Demon's Souls great whilst improving other key aspects of gameplay and production.

On a subconscious level I must've found Dark Souls to be incredibly attractive since it echoes a lot of sentiments to the classic PS1 title, Castlevania: Symphony of The Night (one of my all time favourites). A realisation that only clicked to me during my first playthrough. They both tick the same boxes more or less, a dark, Gothic art style, varied monster designs, distinguishable environments, and fun combat mechanics. But what really defines the Soul series from just about any game is the element of death. Quite fitting for a game whose tagline is "PREPARE TO DIE". Quite frankly, it's a little scary how upfront From Software are about it. But I just don't mind because nearly everything about Dark Souls is an absolute pleasure to take in. On a visual, audio and conceptual level.

At it's core, Dark Souls is very game-y. It knows it's a game and it doesn't hide that fact. They are challenges to overcome, bosses to defeat and stats to comb over. Despite the high level of challenge it always tries to be fair. Apart from the odd event or two, every death is meaningful in some way or another. Get too cocky? You'll die. Too impatient? You'll die. Again and again. But death itself is a learning experience. It sucks since you lose all your souls but at the very least you'll understand the why you died and when you'll run into the problem next time, you'll know better. Stats are still important but skill is even better, as an hour and half speed run of it will tell you and that's one thing Dark Souls does well. It trains you be a better player. Moving into new areas is always a slow, cautious process but given enough experience, you'll fly right through them. Dodging traps, dispatching enemies and generally playing well. It makes you feel smart. Sure, it wasn't exactly an easy process but the difficulty makes the rewards all the sweeter.

The combat is simple but oh so satisfying to use. Even more so when you come across the special weapons from boss encounters and the such. The animations are fairly deliberate and fun to watch but it's also designed to be balanced. Every weapon has it's strong/weak points but no one weapon/spell is perfect which is an essential part to the multiplayer so it really comes down to user experience with each individual weapon. Fighting monsters is one thing (given the A.I.'s odd behaviour) but fighting another player is another. Some are trained murderers who knows how to kill their quarry while others are as green as grass and would prefer to spend their time running away from you (which is always amusing). But the odd one will occasionally do some of the more bizarre things, like running up to a tower and wave to you for an hour or start attacking you...using just shields.

The multiplayer aspect is perhaps one of the most interesting mechanics to come out of a game in a long, long time. It's a little ambiguous but it can be divided into two sides. PvP and Co-Op. The objectives and perquisites for invading/being invaded are performing co-op varies depending on the covenants you join (which can greatly influence your online experience). It's all very unique and somewhat overwhelming for beginners but very engaging once you've gotten a good grasp on how it works. The community is what really makes it stand out however. Not only are they responsible for filling in the massively helpful wikis but everyone to some degree, follow a set of unwritten rules. Summoning two other players into my world was met with all parties greeting each other by a simple act of bowing. There's no voice chat in game but for the most part it seems to work better without it. Actions do speak louder then words. It's not often you come across a game whose players engage in such quirks. It's also the small attention to detail that really makes it for me. Characters who suffer from the horrible form of petrification are transformed into stone and they'll appear in your world as statues frozen in the last remaining seconds of their life. It's a rather ominous and creepy ass way of reminding of what could possibly happen to you if you're not careful. It's these concepts that make Dark Souls feel not only like a game but an interesting experience like no other.

The World And It's Oddities

From Software have crafted themselves quite world to get constantly murdered in. Like Symphony of the Night, it is open-world but it's designed in such a way that it feels fairly focused and linear but at the same time it feels fairly spacious. You'll move from area to area and find yourself unable to progress until you've done something or another but it never feels like you're funnelled down a specific path. The geography itself is probably the most bizarre but it somehow believable as the paths between them makes logical sense. To some degree anyway. Considering how the starting area, Firelink Shrine is just a small outcrop by a ruined church but just underneath that is an entire flooded city. If go up you'll find yourself in a city, go further up and look down and you'll find that the entire face of the mountain is covered in more cities and it goes for miles. Go even further up and there's Anor Londo. An extravagant city with it's tall, Gothic architecture and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Contrary, when you go down there's Blighttown which is the equivalent of the slums. It's wretched and frankly rather gruelling and unpleasant to be around (to the point that even the framerate can't keep up). At the same time I can't help but admire how well it manages to evoke that atmosphere of dread within me. At the bottom lies a disease-ridden swamp whilst it's (violent and deformed) inhabitants make do with their rickety make-shift huts that hugs the wall of the cities underground foundation. Nearby, there's the Catacombs. A dark and dangerous tomb. Keep going down and there's Demon Ruins which is essentially Hell. Go deeper and you'll find another city full of dangerous creatures. But if back up a little you'll find a large tree in Blighttown and with a little exploration you'll find yourself traversing down it's massive, hollow core. Reach the bottom and you'll be greeted by...a beach?

It doesn't make much sense but in a way I just don't care. It looks too good to make a major fuss over this Yggdrasil-like environment. The thought of the entire surface being held by a forest of giant trees standing in an endless ocean just feel plain awesome. I stood for a while before being pummelled to death by an equally massive hydra. That's another thing that I love about the series. They can really make monsters that are worth being called monsters. More often then not I find new enemies to be rather unnerving at first. "Just what are you?!" is the first thought that comes to mind. Identifying most enemies in games as simple goblins or skeletons is easy enough but when it comes a legion of spear wielding masses of flesh it evokes various emotions of stress, disgust and fear. Though having another player invade your world with full intention of murdering you never gets dull.

There's no plot to Dark Souls. Or at least that's the impression you get early on in the game when you're simply told to ring two bells. Instead, From Software relies on non-traditional methods of story telling. Just about every nugget of information is scavenged from item descriptions and the sparse (but excellently delivered) dialogue. Once you sit back and dwell on it a bit more things begin to make a lot of sense. But they don't you everything. It's up to the player to put the pieces together. You may not be right or wrong but it makes for great discussion and thought which is admirable considering how little they're willing to tell you upfront. The characters you'll come across share one thing though, despair. Conversations with just about anyone display a shade of dark humour but as the story progresses so do their grasp on reality. There's a constant element of exhaustion. They don't say much but I've always found myself to be very attached to the characters. But there's no hope for them. Only despair. And there's nothing I can do to help them.

Dark Souls is by far one of the most innovative games in recent years. In a time where sequels like CoD are constant anomaly I can only appreciate it a lot more. It's just pure fun to play despite how much it hates you but most of all it does what it does extremely well. Demon's Souls was excellent but Dark Souls really refines what made it so good. The multiplayer being one the more interesting aspects of any game. Wheter it's indirectly or directly, you're constantly interacting with the people around you. For your benefit or theirs. Moreover, the series feels incredibly unique. There's just nothing quite like it in the industry. The audio, visual and conceptual elements come together so wonderfully it's no wonder why Dark Souls is one of my favourite games of all time. And that's no title I tend to give away quite easily.

The Future

Mechanically speaking, Dark Souls is almost perfect. With a bit more balance tweaks and a better camera it would've been better. Naturally, everything can be improved one way or another but realistically it's probably impossible. So what would I want from a sequel? It's hard to tell. For now, I would be more then happy to consume more content. New environments, new enemies, new loot are good enough for me. The online mechanics are interesting and complex but I can't think of any way of improving it. But for a game that's so innovative and experimental, a straight sequel would satisfy me for the time being. Better yet, I want it released on PC. Better graphics and no framerate issues. Surely it can't be asking too much?

I was originally going to make a list but given the amount I've already written that may get rather messy. So it begins! A new series of blogs from the same creator of the long, seasonal, smash-hit VIDEOGAME BLOG comes "I want I want I want I want I want I want...") 
 
No. Change that to "I NEED". I need, I need, I NEED! Needs are what the instincts of living beings hope to achieve. Food, water, shelter, etc. But as a gamer I've developed another one. Sequels. Preferably, a good/better sequels to a myriad of games I've played in my entire life because some of them are plain great or just have some amazing potential to be better. Of course, how a game does in the eyes the publishers depends solely on the amount of money it rakes in. As a result some great ideas get swept under the market, hopefully to be resurrected in some way or another, a HD version or a spiritual successor. Anything to get it out in the chaotic stream of mainstream media. But enough tongue wagging; I need these sequels to these games. 
 

Outcast

What We Got

Watch ya been playin' dawg?!

• Vanquish
• Assassin's Creed 2
• Demon's Souls
• Mass Effect 2
• Ghost Trick
• Bioshock 2

Vanquish

Assassin's Creed 2

Yeah not the most imaginative title but it's the content that counts (that's not to imply that it'll be good but fuck it.)

Watcha ya been playin' dawg?! 

• Gran Turismo 5
• Vanquish
• Assassin's Creed 2
• Demon's Souls
• Mass Effect 2
• Ghost Trick
• Bioshock 2

I generally don't do petitions since most of them are either a little silly or just rather pointless given how most corporations generally just don't care what their customers say so "lol internet petitions" comments aside, here's the gist of it (courtesy of Tom Senior from PCGamer.com) 
 

Source

Like Medals?

Too poor to pay subscription fees?! 
 
LOVE GIANTBOMB?! 
 
Worry no more for you may not be able to give GiantBomb your money but you can give it...your love... 
 

I generally don't blog a lot since I really doubt anyone gives a flying shit about what I think but what the hell, seeing how I haven't done this in a while I might as well do it. 
 

What's down and dirty today?

•  Ace Combat!
• Some other PS2 games!
• Visual Novels!    
• More bugs to complain about!

Other PS2 Shenanigans!

Visual Novels!

Bugs and Bitchin' about 'em.

• Inbox bug is STILL here. Why is it taking so long to fix it?
• Copy and pasting stuff into the search bar doesn't work.
• Guides are still buggy so I still can't continue working on my P3P guide. :'(
• The "Appears in X Games" bug in the wiki is still there.
• The ranking in your profile is still stuck at zero.
• And many, many more bugs.