Valkyria Chronicles

[frogbeastegg]

At last a PS3 game which makes me say "I've got to get it!"

The game looks incredible with its unique art style, and deserves to be seen in motion.

[Kekvit Irae]

White hair everywhere? Check.
"Alternate history"? Check.
Bad voice acting? "Let's go kick this war in the teeth!" "Squad Seven, move out!" Check.
Plot revolving around "war, love, and revenge"? Check.

This game completes my checklist for your standard JRPG. And I only got 2 and a half minutes into the video.
I do like the transition between strategy and FPS modes, so I may give it a try sometime.

[johnhughthom]

Demo was quite fun though reviews were mixed, seemingly it has almost MGS4 level cut scenes which is what has put me off up to now. I may give it a go after Christmas, only PS3 game I'm even vaguely interested in.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I quite enjoyed the demo on my friend's PS3, might try and pick it up used or cheap in the future.

Of course, I liked the corny fictional countries in Ace Combat, so the "alternate history" bothers me not at all...

[Husar]

The demo wasn't bad, for a JRPG anyway(I'm not a fan of that genre).
Might give it a try sometime but if the english translation is so bad, maybe I should see whether I can get the german one cheap.

[frogbeastegg]

Strategy RPG =/= JRPG. There's quite a bit of difference between the two.

The review doesn't make me think SRPG much, TBH. It puts me in mind of squad tactics games like Commandos and Desperados, but with less of the stealthy-stealthy sneak-sneak and more of the Weeee, rockets!

I'm still waiting for the PS3 to release a decent exclusive RPG. :thinks: Or indeed any exclusive RPG. The ones I know of are all work in progress.

Think I will give it a go this weekend.

[Xiahou]

Think I will give it a go this weekend.

Do advise. I've got my eye on this one as well.

[frogbeastegg]

I got a copy but I haven't played it yet. I locked gazes with my fancy collector's edition version of Fallout 3 and determined I would finish the main quest and the named side quests before shelving it. Some crazy idea about giving the game more time to prove that it's good, as if it's not already had more hours spent on it than it takes to complete other games. Maybe it's the vault tec lunchbox. I know I'm a sucker for it - it's the main reason I purchased the collector's edition I'm nearly done. Only a few sidequests left, and about half of the main quest, according to the achievements.

As Fallout isn't well suited to an evening's play after work I'll be dabbling with Valkryia Chronicles. I'll post some impressions when I'm next online.

[Xiahou]

I finally got around to trying the demo this weekend. Based on that, it's definitely going to be one I'm getting. Seems like a very innovative take on the turn-based tactics genre.

[TB666]

Only gotten to the 4th mission and I like it.
The graphics are charming enough and quite pretty as well.
Oh yeah, do not have english voices on.
The japanese are so much better.

[johnhughthom]

Only gotten to the 4th mission and I like it.
The graphics are charming enough and quite pretty as well.
Oh yeah, do not have english voices on.
The japanese are so much better.

You need to tell us more than that, I've been waiting for someone who's actually played to let me know their thoughts. What's the difficulty like, too many cutscenes? etc etc...

[TB666]

You need to tell us more than that, I've been waiting for someone who's actually played to let me know their thoughts. What's the difficulty like, too many cutscenes? etc etc...

yeah the cutscenes so far is a bit much but the story is good enough and the characters are also good so I think it gets away with it.
Kinda like MGS4 only nicer characters(I hate when snake has to repeat what people just said
Otacon: This is metal gear
Snake: Metal gear
Otacon: this is a gun
Snake: gun).
As I said, I just passed mission 4 which was a bit of a challenge so I can imagine the challenge will increase.
I had to go try like 4 times before beating it and on the last turn as well.

[johnhughthom]

What about RPG elements, do characters level up, do they have stats you can adjust? Is it totally linear or can you choose when to play a level?

Sorry to grill you, it's just that I'm pretty skint and going out to buy this will mean one less night out before the new year. So it's a big decision.

[TB666]

Yes you get experience points and research points(I call it that) after each mission.
You can use this to upgrade your equipment and train your squad.
Can point out that you train their classes, not the actual characters.
And no you can't adjust any of their stats.
Their stats depend on what type of character they are.
Some characters are important to the plot and are those that give you extra command points not to mention are more powerful then the rest of the people within the same class.
Seems like there is one "main" character for each class.
So when you put XP points into that class they naturally level up with it and become even stronger.

And it is like reading a book(actually the game is a book) and you follow chapters.
Each chapter has a certain number of cutscenes and a battle.
You kinda have to read it in order otherwise you will miss the whole point.
Like in a book, you don't jump to the middle of the page since you will miss the rest.
So in that way, it is linear.

Just ask questions and I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

[johnhughthom]

What happens if one of these important characters dies?

[TB666]

Well you have a few turns to get a engineer(I think) to that character and heal them.
They will then be escorted off the map and ready to fight the next battle.
If you fail to save them then the battle is over.

[Husar]

Well you have a few turns to get a engineer(I think) to that character and heal them.
They will then be escorted off the map and ready to fight the next battle.
If you fail to save them then the battle is over.

You have three turns to get any character there and an off-map medic will come and transport them away. Or that's how it worked in the demo anyway.

[TB666]

You have three turns to get any character there and an off-map medic will come and transport them away. Or that's how it worked in the demo anyway.

Really ??
I tried a shocktrooper and it didn't work.
Maybe will try it again next time one goes down.

[Kekvit Irae]

I think Penny Arcade summed it up quite nicely. It's put in a spoiler tag for the obvious reason.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/11/21/

[johnhughthom]

Not sure how many here played this but I'll mention it anyway. There is some downloadable content available now, new missions for Selveria and Edy (one of the squad 7 members) and a new hard mode. They are £3.19 each, not bad for new missions (unsure how long they are, if anyones interested I'll let you know when I've played) but a bit (OK, a lot) steep for a new difficulty level. I got all of them anyway as I had planned another playthrough and would rather have more of a challenge.

edit: played a bit of "Edys detachment" and it was quite fun. Unfortunately the extra difficulty mode is only skirmishes rather than a new campaign mode, even more of a rip off then.