Valkyria Chronicles

[anchan218]

Since we didn't make it anywhere interesting for Christmas due to icky weather, I rented a video game instead. Namely, Valkyria Chronicles, a PS3 RPG that got glowing reviews from game websites, but hasn't done too well sales-wise so far

Comments

[dwchang]

Ooh! I've been meaning to buy this and I'm glad to see someone I trust reviewing it. I played the demo awhile back and was really impressed by the cel shading (it's probably the best cel shading next to Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm) and was curious if the story would hold up.

Is Chapter 10 far? How long is the game? I know you didn't beat it, but were you close? I hate to say it, but I don't like when a game is *too* long and drags. I hope this is not the case and the story is tight and fluid.

But yeah, looks like something to pick up once I'm done with Chrono Trigger DS.

Oh and if you're curious, the game was actually developed by Sega. Well the good side of Sega (i.e. they've made a lot of really bad games this year -_-). It's really sad that one of their better games isn't selling very well. I figured the non-stop good reviews would mean something, but I guess not. I hope this doesn't discourage them away from trying new things and making new IP.

[anchan218]

Skimming through a game FAQ (without reading any hints) indicates there are 19 chapters, so I guess I was about 1/2 of the way through. However, also keep in mind there was only 1-2 battles a chapter in the chapters that I played. So I wouldn't say it's overly long.

It's hard to miss that the game is done by Sega since the Sega logo's shown right after the PS3 one. I don't keep track of what all Sega has done this year, but the 2 games I know of have both been quite good (Valkyria Chronicles and Ryuu ga Gotoku! Kenzan, which is a Japanese-only release).

[dwchang]

If you don't mind me asking, but how much time did you invest into the game? Is it one of those HARD CORE games where you gotta do a ton of stuff for completion % and good items? Do you have to grind levels and junk?

But yeah, I'll most likely buy it next week with my best buy coupon :).

And yeah, Sega has been Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this year. Some games are great like Valkyria Chronicles and then others are terrible like the latest Sonic. It's actually kinda sad to see, but Valkyria Chronicles gives me hope. Damn shame about the sales though :(.

[anchan218]

You don't have to grind that much. I only did 1-2 skirmishes (sort of like a random battle except you can chose to fight it) between plot battles at most and I don't think I had difficulties in battle due to low character levels. However, I don't think leveling characters is nearly as important in Valkyria as it is in say a Final Fantasy game. The only real character stat is HP - all other statistics are more a function of the weapon (since the weapons are all guns/bazookas/tanks) or the class. The only other thing you gain from leveling is "potentials" which are special traits that will randomly apply themselves during battle. These can be both good and bad (a good one is being stronger against certain types of enemies, while a bad one is being moody and not wanting to do any actions.) I also suspect the max level is fairly low. My characters were either level 8 or 9 depending on their class when I stopped playing