It Is a Game You Can Play: Valkyria Chronicles

So, I managed to find some time between games and Tumblr for a little bit of Blogspot. I keep thinking I'll get back to doing HSOTW, but I think if I do we will be dropping the "W" and just blogging individual discoveries as they come.

There are so many great looking titles lined up to come out this year. If this isn't the best year for gaming since 2006, well, fuck it. The roster is so promising that it has made me painfully aware of all of the titles I have missed in the past couple of years. Here is to hoping to catch up while still fighting Tumblr addiction.

With Valkyria Chronicles 2 set to come out this Summer for PSP, I wanted to review the original game since I finished it a couple of days ago. I have not gotten the DLC expansions yet, but I certainly plan to. Reviewing games is difficult, and my goal in starting this "It Is a Game You Can Play" feature on SWML is to take queues from some of the better gaming sites. I will not be "rating" games. I will be assessing them, clearly differentiating fact from opinion, and passing judgement with a simple criteria:

• Own It - This game is definitely worth owning if it sounds like the type of game you enjoy.
• Try It - This game might be worth owning, but you should probably hold off on sinking the full investment in a new copy until you do some more research and demo it, rent it, or borrow it from a friend.
• Pan It - This game is probably not worth owning. Trying it out may not hurt, but don't expect much.

So with that in your pocket, let's look at Valkyria Chronicles.

My first impression of this game from preview trailers was that it was very heavily Anime influenced, and was probably trying to capitalize on traditional JRPG values. There is entirely too much JRPG-esque material out there. Fortunately Valkyria Chronicles brings enough originality to the table to deserve more than a casual consideration. For the most part, the game platforms off the better attributes of JPRG but do be prepared for some cliche. There is, in fact, a full season anime based on the game. US rights have not been picked up yet. Funimation was among the companies considering localization but so far no word on it.

Not cliche, anime...

Visually, the game is pretty, but does not come close to taxing the PS3. Despite this, there seems to be some lazy coders at Sega WOW. The only time I noticed significant frame lag was when too much tall grass came on screen, so clearly there was room for optimization. Fortunately this is a completely minor flaw since real-time action isn't the main focus of game play. The rendering engine features a neat shadowing effect. Combined with the crisp, clean cell shaded graphics Valkyria Chronicles produces the best executed comic style graphics I have seen to date. 

Assuming you are a fan of anime, there is nothing much to complain about in the way of visuals. Valkyria Chronicles relies heavily on the comic metaphor. There is a significant amount of animation, but there are skimpy spots. While the game does not (thankfully) stoop to using actual comic panels, there are many scenes where action is limited to talking heads and off-screen sound effects. This is especially true in the side quest sections, a couple of which feel very lazily thrown together. Aside from this skimping there are plenty of spectacular real-time action cut scenes and pre-rendered cut scenes. For the first game from a new IP, this game has significant production values.

Tying into the comic book style, there is visual onomatopoeia all over the game. It is quirky and it works. Hearing and reading the "Boom" when your heavy artillery p0wns the enemy is very visually rewarding. Instead of over doing the comic book metaphor, photography and books are also used. The main navigation system of the game's features is a neat and effective book interface. The controller bumpers flip pages and sections. My number one complaint of the game, design wise, is the failure to stick with this metaphor which worked. When you go into the "Headquarters" section you are suddenly dumped into a non-book interface and this was entirely unnecessary. Not the kind of thing that ruins the game experience, just a missed opportunity.

The US voice acting is very good. There are a couple of places where the text translation was off, and the voice acting matches the error, but these are minor. Only two small mistakes stick in my mind, and I tend to be fairly critical of such things. I was very pleased to find that the original Japanese dialog is included too, so true anime fans can experience the Japanese audio and English subtitles.

For the most part, Valkyria Chronicles is a musical treat. There are some less memorable scores. The music is evocative, and appropriate. I tend not to dwell too much on music for a game. Either it is great, OK, or horrible. In the case of this game it is definitely somewhere on the great end of the spectrum.

The controls are mostly good. The analog detection could stand to be better because some actions require very fine movement and each step costs action points. Camera controls and movement get a little trickier for tanks, but are consistent once you get the hang of it. Valkyria Chronicles does a good job of mixing real time and turn based play. Each side in a conflict takes turns, but during each turn the opponent has certain opportunities to automatically react. This is reminiscent of AD&D's "attack of opportunity" mechanic. So long as you don't move into range of enemy fire, you have plenty of time to stop, look around, and plan your moves. This facility more than makes up for the limitation of a third person camera (which I prefer, I hate first person cameras).

Aside from being more historical-science fiction in theme than most fantasy JPRGs; there are classes, levels, experience points, equipment upgrades, and a lot of other JRPG staples in Valkyria Chronicles. All of these elements work well. None seem shoe horned. The game does a nice job of balancing diverse options for customizing your group without going overboard. There is a strong mechanical reason to always include certain main characters in your squad, and in some scenarios certain characters are not optional, but for the most part deployment is at the player's whim.

The classes feel well designed, though it can take some time before the value of each is apparent. It wasn't until the very end of the game that I learned (read, was forced to learn) the real strength of one class. A nice feature of Valkyria Chronicles though is that most battle scenarios can be beaten in a number of different ways, utilizing the strengths of different classes.

This bish is going to punish you.

My final thought on game play, while I would not call anything that the computer does "cheap", there are definitely some glitchy features in the game which can be frustrating. The scenarios can be punishingly hard at times. Most scenarios feel designed to be lost the first time you play through unless you fully know what to expect. In all fairness, I feel like the designers did a reasonable job building on the player's knowledge of what is possible. There will be WTF moments, expect these and just fucking deal with it.

It is a story about a war after all, just grit your teeth and bear through it.

If nothing else, you can save in the middle of a battle if you really don't like surprises. I never did this, but sometimes I wished I had. For the most part I feel like the game helped me learn from my mistakes which is good in a tactical game. One thing I have mixed feeling about was the fact that there seemed to be just as many player exploitable glitches in Valkyria Chronicles as computer triggered glitches. In retrospect it was actually fun to discover the shortcomings of the computer AI, sometimes glaringly stupid limitations.

Storywise this game shines, mostly. There are some moments that take some getting used to. Alicia's monologue early in the game didn't really work for me until it was revisited later in the game. It seemed very two-dimensional from the onset, but once I got to know the character it was just a reflection of her simple (but not flat) nature. For the most part the story is predictable, but unless you read spoilers there should be a few surprises along the way. I finished the game with a sense of closure and a slight desire to keep playing the after-game, the later of which is rare for me.

On the first play through I was not very happy to find out that most story missions cannot be replayed, but the limitation is removed on a player's second time through and levels and equipment are retained. The second go round is an extra special treat, which is nice fan service.

I also really liked some of the side-quest material. Mediocre JRPGs throw meaningless tasks into the mix, but most of the optional material in Valkyria Chronicles really added to the experience.

Given the features discussed for the sequel (such as more class branching/specialization) I'm really excited for the PSP installation to come out. I feel like Valkyria Chronicles would have made a better PSP title, but on the other hand there is a lot to be said for the clear and crisp high definition rendering that you just won't get out of the PSP. Even attached to a large screen, I don't think the PSP visuals are going to pack the same punch. They will probably be excellent for the PSP screen, and as long as it delivers more of the same fun to-go that is all I can really ask for.

So for Valkyria Chronicles, I can whole heartedly say Own It.