Sadly, The Most Overlooked JRPG
by McFini May 3, 2009, 5:22 PM PDT
People who say video games aren't out clearly never envisioned Valkyria Chronicles and it's unique artistic blend of free hand sketching and water colour. Beyond the awe-inspiring graphics lies a game with a great story and gameplay to match.
It's always unfortunate when a game this great fails to catch the attention of the masses even with the great reviews, line of toys and even an anime based off it. The game has hype and it lives up to it but it seems no one is listening... I'll probably never understand why either.
You start each chapter watching the story unfold before deploying select troops from an impressive and colourful selection. From there, you go into a semi-turn based combat where you move one soldier at a time and fire at an enemy when you get to a desired spot. The "semi" part comes in when, as you move, your soldier can get shot at by interception fire as they get close enough to the enemy. This also works in reverse so you can make effective ambushes or pincers against an advancing foe. Combat continues until you either fulfill your objectives or get wiped out (or too many turns go by).
You gain experience by killing enemy Aces (plus you get their weapons which can be a real help in some circumstances) as well as getting better ranks in each mission. Experience can be spent to level up not individual characters but rather whole classes (of which there are five: scouts, stormtroopers, lancers, engineers and snipers) which means you don't need to level grind for hours just to keep your entire army up to snuff (and with the number of characters, you'll be glad they thought of this).
There's a whole host of optional missions, awards (no trophy support currently) and, at the time of this publication, DLC which includes a hard EX mode plus two side missions.
It's heartening to see that SEGA hasn't given up on this game despite the poor sales from the rest of the gaming community. They could have just as easily given up and moved on... I for one am glad they didn't.
If you love JRPGs, tactical games or are longing for something fresh, you really owe it to yourself to try this game out. You won't be disappointed!
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