Valkyria Chronicles

 Selvaria's Mission: Behind Her Blue Flame
 

This piece of DLC for Valkryria Chronicles see’s the return of everyone’s most impractically dressed general Selvaria Bles. The missions serve to show you more back-story from the Empire’s perspective before the events of the main game itself. For those that have completed the main campaign the surroundings in this new content will be instantly recognisable as you lay siege to the Gallian fortress Ghirlandaio before driving out the occupying forces in a series of battles.

The story is presented through the eyes of a Engineer by the name of Johann, he gets drafted into Selvaria’s squad and is joined by his friend Otto. Although there are only a handful of missions to complete, there is still a decent amount of dialogue and interaction between the main characters, Selvaria and Johann that is, Otto’s only real reason for being seems to be another character who Johann can talk to during cut scenes. The main antagonist of these missions also sees another familiar face return in the form of General Damon who steps in an attempt to drive out the invaders in the way only he can. Rather surprisingly all of the dialogue is fully voiced in both English and Japanese, which is a nice touch that could of easily been overlooked for a piece of additional content such as this.

The structure is similar to that of the main game in that each mission is bookended with dia logue between the main chara cters and information on your next mission. What is interesting about this content however is that it seems to hint at something more, between the characters themselves as well as the overall story. Without giving anything away it’s a shame to see the DLC come to an abrupt end just as it seems to hit its stride narrative wise ,whether or not this is intentional I don’t know, but as its unlikely there will be anymore new content at this point it’s unfortunate too see the squandered potential here.

The first thing most will want to do is assume control of the hugely powerful Salvaria and it an experience that doesn’t disappoint, she is definitely fallible but controllin g her is unlike anything else you have at your disposal, she is a mix of various classes and for the most part can bulldoze any thing that stands in her path, as veterans of the game will already know. This is a good thing as beyond her and Johann your remaining forces are not very useful, they are m uch weaker than their Gallian counterparts and as such almost exclusively operate as cannon fodder. The main strategy of these missions comes in how and when you use Selvaria.

In the context of the story Selvaria’s true ‘power’ is sca led back for the duration of the new missions, it’s a concession that is made in order to keep the difficulty levels up and it works well as it presents a unique challenge and forces you to use tackle challenges in a way not seen in the main campaign. What quickly becomes apparent is that these missions are structured in such a way that success is only possible when using Selvaria in tandem with Johann; this is alluded to almost instantly as Selvaria carries no provisions of her own meaning she loses the ability to heal herself or u se grenades. Most of the obstacles are overcome by having Selvaria first destroy any resistance in your way so Johann can then pass through and clear the way in order to continue, he is incredibly weak but its not really a problem when Selvaria’s rifle can decima te tanks in only a few hits! The main choices often come at trying not to spread yourself too thin with overusing Selvaria, as powerful as she is it’s not too hard to have your hp quickly be whittled down by an ill timed attack, much the same goes for Johann as either unit being killed in combat will instantly result in failure.

The difficulty of this content is similar to that of the main game; to simply complete the new missions won’t be too much of a stretch although it may make you reconsider your old strategies that have worked in the past. The tag team type play between your main units as you work to overcome each of their limitations is a nice change of pace and helps to keep these missions feeling unique. One of the more obstuse elements of the DLC is that there is in fact 4 missions, although your first play through will most likely reveal only 2 of these to you. One of these missions is an alternate to the second map you encounter and is a different challenge only presented you by meeting certain requirements in the first, the other is only unlocked by earning an A rank in these three. It’s a confusing element that is never really explained, it is only when glancing the stats in the menu that I noticed that there were extra missions that weren’t highlighted and therefore unavailable to me. Only after searching around on was I able to work out how I could access these. This adds an unnecessary layer of confusion to the proceedings’ and may indirectly shut off players for content that they have paid for.

The content will at least take most a few hours to play through, this time could be doubled if you want to achieve the A ranks to unlock the final mission. At the price of $5 this works out as very good value in comparison to most DLC for other games as well as the other packs available for Valkryria Chronicles itself. For fans of the game this is essential as it pulls back the curtain a little bit more on a character who is a fan favourite, in that aspect it definitely doesn’t disappoint. However As mentioned the abrupt ending leaves something of a bitter taste as it leaves you wanting more almost as if it’s holding off for a conclusion we never get to see.