So I've been playing Valkyria Chronicles lately, and old release I've always been intrigued by. Now that I have a PS3, I finally bought it and have been thoroughly enjoying it. I'm at around chapter 7 or 8 I believe, and I was cruising through with no casualties (plenty of injuries, though. I can't count how many times poor Wavy has hit the floor.) But then, during the mission early on when you have to stop Maximillian's huge tank, it happened.
 
The battle was already frantic enough, and many of my characters had already fallen under fire from the many turrets along the tank. Luckily, I had been able to save them all before death could take them. Eventually I was down to around four or five troops with only one lancer left, not bothering to call in reinforcements because only lancers mattered anymore and they were all incapacitated except the aforementioned one. I was desperately trying to destroy the last radiator when Selvaria, one of the enemy commanders, burst on to the scene with a weapon like no other, capable of killing with a single glancing hit. At this point, I already knew it was too late.
 
I had left Coby the shock-trooper and Oscar the sniper sitting there near where Selvaria entered, and almost to quickly to fathom they had both dropped unconscious. I clinged to the hope that one of my troopers could make it over them before death embraced them, but Selvaria was too quick, running over to their bodies and putting them out for good. I balked at the screen. I thought I would never have to lose any troops, especially not like this. But the cold, impersonal message box that said they had died in action told me otherwise. I flashed back to all the other games in which every little soldier became something important to me, the clear standout being XCOM.
 
Giving each soldier you command a name and a personality unlocks some sort of deep caring that can't be shaken. It could be because that, unlike story characters, their lives are completely in your hands. If they die, they're gone forever. And for that reason, I felt a great sense of loss and Coby and Oscar breathed their last breath. I vowed to never let it happen again as I solemnly wrapped up the mission without another casualty. For now, all I can do is inscribe their names onto this blog post so they shall never be forgotten.
 
R.I.P. Coby and Oscar. They shall be missed, even though Oscar was kind of a crappy sniper anyways.