Valkyria Chronicles Series Discussion Thread

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

This thread serves as discussion for the four parts of the Valkyria Chronicles series. Use it to discuss or ask for information or impressions, if you are new or have you not played this series yet but want. 

 

I have started Valkyria Chronicles mainly for two reasons:

1. The genre feels unique to me. It is basically XCOM but not static. 
2. The story takes place in the area of the Benelux-States, French and western Germany whilst the NS-regime was established. The map of Europe is changed, but some bigger and smaller towns made it in the game without a name change. And yes, my hometown made it in too. I have not seen the exact connections to the real plot of this time yet, but I expect the story to be rather dark cruel. 

As for the gameplay I definitely have to get used to it, but I think and hope it is nothing I will not overcome. I am really excited for the further story. 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Rosalina

[Zihark11]

My biggest complaint whit the series is if you get one of the main guys killed you gotta start the whole mission over and since the gameplay is not quick and takes time its a real pain in the ass, especially when you dont have all the time in the world. I plan on picking up 4 again at some point cause i like the games but not till summer probably. But then Three houses comes out so ill probably just play that for the summer if it doesnt suck.

[Ertrick36]

2 hours ago, Zihark11 said:

My biggest complaint whit the series is if you get one of the main guys killed you gotta start the whole mission over and since the gameplay is not quick and takes time its a real pain in the ass, especially when you dont have all the time in the world.

But you can save in the middle of a mission and go back to the point you saved if you failed.

3 hours ago, Rosalina said:

1. The genre feels unique to me. It is basically XCOM but not static. 
2. The story takes place in the area of the Benelux-States, French and western Germany whilst the NS-regime was established. The map of Europe is changed, but some bigger and smaller towns made it in the game without a name change. And yes, my hometown made it in too. I have not seen the exact connections to the real plot of this time yet, but I expect the story to be rather dark cruel. 

As for the gameplay I definitely have to get used to it, but I think and hope it is nothing I will not overcome. I am really excited for the further story. 

• It is fairly XCOM-esque, except it has tanks that take, like, 0 damage from most things.
• Eh...  Don't expect it to be supreme darkness, cruelty, and edginess.  There are quite a few moments of levity (what I'd call anime slice-of-life moments), including a beach scene that has all the main heroes donning swimsuits, some of which may not be accurate to the times they're emulating, as well as a moment where they "induct" a pig with wings into their platoon.  That said, there's also a scene where you watch a man screaming in excruciating pain as he's losing blood from a severe wound (oddly enough, not really related to the war, and you don't actually see the blood loss, but still), an implied massacre of this game's equivalent of Jewish people (the Darcsens), and scenes where you actually see innocent civilians being gunned down by soldiers.  It's not the kind of severe tonal whiplash you can expect from Fates: Conquest, but just don't expect it to be super serious and dark the entire time because that's not what this game is.
• The gameplay isn't too tricky unless you're trying to control the tank with a keyboard and mouse on PC.  VC was actually the first strategy game I played apart from that little side mode on Soul Calibur 3.  I will say that the perceived weakness of scouts is the biggest deception in this game - if used right, they're OP as all hell.  VC1 in particular isn't very well balanced.  I think if you can beat a FE game, you can beat this game as well.

Overall, I definitely think you should try and push through the entire story.

Also, this is my favorite of the main VC1 cast:

And my favorites among the rest are Team Darcsen.  Wavy the Boy Scout, Lynn the OP Shocktrooper (one of the hidden characters, unlocked by getting Karl Landzaat to unlock his hidden potential and then getting him downed [but not killed off]), Nadine the actually successful novelist who is an engineer for some reason, and Zaka the Steve Bloom.

[Lau]

Assuming you're talking about the first game...

Ooh, I've just recently started this myself. It was on sale, and I remember listening to the anime's opening song and being enamoured, so I thought, why not?

I'm on chapter 7 right now, and I'm really enjoying it. The gameplay isn't what I expected. I thought it would be something like FE, I definitely wasn't expecting having to aim and shoot the enemies and dodge bullets and whatnot. Also, each chapter takes a longggg time, but it's not too bad once you get absorbed into it. I thought that once your unit died, that was it, they were gone for good, but nope, as long as you get to them in time, you can call them back the next turn.

The story seems to be rather interesting so far. They do a good job establishing the lore and the characters. Welkin is a bit generic so far, but I have a soft spot for his type. Alicia is really endearing, and I love her design. I already have my favourite units, notably Susie, Vyse and Ramona.

I'm really excited to continue on with it, it's just, I have so many other games to catch up with, hahah. Sorry this turned into a waffling mess.

[Armagon]

Reminds me i still need to finish the game. I'm practically near the end, i'm on the last two chapters. I just need to grind some skirmishs because it turns out i'm severally underleveled (all my classes are like Lv.11 when they should be at around Lv.18). Not that the game is undoable and some chapters are extremely cheesable tactics but i probably should make it easier on myself.

I like the game but i don't know if i like the game enough to get Valkyria Chronicles 4. Not really a fan of constant turn limits and fog-of-war (i know that's what Scouts are for but still) and i wish the non-important characters had more personality. I don't really have any attachment to anyone that isn't in the story. The villains are also meh. I'm also not a fan of enemy reinforcements every turn.

It's a good game but again, i don't know if i like it enough to keep playing the series after i'm done with this one.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

9 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

But you can save in the middle of a mission and go back to the point you saved if you failed.

• The gameplay isn't too tricky unless you're trying to control the tank with a keyboard and mouse on PC.  VC was actually the first strategy game I played apart from that little side mode on Soul Calibur 3.  I will say that the perceived weakness of scouts is the biggest deception in this game - if used right, they're OP as all hell.  VC1 in particular isn't very well balanced.  I think if you can beat a FE game, you can beat this game as well.

My biggest "issue" which also the main difference to XCOM is that all the moves are not done automatically after a command.

Like in the part of the second mission when the tank was introduced I had to run, but also think where to go and where to hide. The game seems to punish the player hard, if you have not planned your move of direction for 100% sure or press a wrong button while the run. It happened to me a few times that I pressed A instead or R first for targeting. It ended that I wasted time and the opponent could use it to attack me. The tank could basically twoshot everyone, so damn scary. I barely survived this mission. 

From what I have seen permadeath does not exist which means by implication that all story relevant characters must be carried through (except of the town guys?) which will become tricky, especially combined with the turncount limit. 

Comparing to FE seems a bit far-fetched because the battles are technically only RNG-based. In VC the player is also forced to press the right buttons at the right time which is the thing I just have to get used on it. 

[Armagon]

28 minutes ago, Rosalina said:

From what I have seen permadeath does not exist which means by implication that all story relevant characters must be carried through (except of the town guys?) which will become tricky, especially combined with the turncount limit. 

Permadeath exists for everyone who isn't a story character, though there is a three turn grace period that lets you safely evacuate someone and bring the back to the field like two turns later. If a story character "dies" and the grace period has passed, they're only out for the battle. Basically, it's Casual Mode for story characters and Classic Mode for everyone else (though if Welkin dies, that's just game over).

[Ertrick36]

5 hours ago, Armagon said:

I like the game but i don't know if i like the game enough to get Valkyria Chronicles 4. Not really a fan of constant turn limits and fog-of-war (i know that's what Scouts are for but still) and i wish the non-important characters had more personality. I don't really have any attachment to anyone that isn't in the story. The villains are also meh. I'm also not a fan of enemy reinforcements every turn.

While VC4 still has turn limits, the requirements for A-rank aren't quite as stringent - you can afford to mull about for a couple extra turns more than usual.  And it also actually gives little side missions that allow you to explore more of the minor characters.  Not to mention both this game and VC1 have a DLC each dedicated to several minor characters in their respective games (VC1 has the Edy Detachment which follows Edy, Homer, Lynn, Jann, Susie, and Marina, and VC4 has Captainless Squad which follows more characters than I can remember).

There's probably one villain of interest in VC4 imo (a guy who incidentally shares his name with a very important Jugdral character), but I haven't beaten the game yet.  There's one DLC which expands upon Selvaria in VC1, and that's well appreciated.  I don't know what I think about Crymaria yet.

How far are you into VC1 exactly?

[Cysx]

The story... isn't bad. If I'm being honest it's mostly carried by its presentation, though there definitely are some great moments that stick with you.

I'd have quite a lot to say about this game, but I wouldn't want to spoil things. It's definitely pretty good, hope you have fun. As for the gameplay, enemy fire is a bit less scary than it seems at first I'd say, so it's generally not a huge deal if you take a few seconds to adjust or correct a missed input. Just, the moment you drop under 20% health, you need to aim to save yourself, and make do with what you get.

Edited April 13, 2019 by Cysx

[Armagon]

10 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

How far are you into VC1 exactly?

Almost near the end.

Spoiler

Just gotta do the last fight with Jaeger and then do the final fight against Maximillian and his behemoth battleship in Randgriz.

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by Armagon

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

There's probably one villain of interest in VC4 imo (a guy who incidentally shares his name with a very important Jugdral character), but I haven't beaten the game yet.  There's one DLC which expands upon Selvaria in VC1, and that's well appreciated.  I don't know what I think about Crymaria yet.

 

You got it months before me and you still haven't cleared the game? I finished it maybe two weeks ago.

Albeit I only the main game, the postgame challenge battles I didn't touch on. I also admittedly tended to save once a turn, not always, but rather frequently. I won't consider myself a perfect genius therefore, I mostly used saves to avoid the tedium of having to redo every battle from the start despite me likely repeating my old actions. Got mostly As this way, although a few battles have eluded that rank for me.

I also admit that I saved myself a lot of time by not doing Squad Stories or watching a single scene of the plot. (Although I did play each skirmish once.) I intend to go back sometime and just watch the whole thing at once.

 

And despite VC4 making improvements on VC1, I somehow saw that like with that game, the A rank approach very often differs heavily from the "intended" gradualist approach. Scout rushing isn't quite as good as it used to be, but it's still great sometimes. Lancers continue to be left in the dust, and the inability to swap between anti-tank lances and mortars hurts their uses still. Engineers are still limited too, and the new Grenadiers were fairly situational as well. And I was surprised to learn a certain old combo still worked and let me breeze through a different battle that would have otherwise been nightmarish. To be precise...

Spoiler

Penetration + Demolition Boost + Shocktrooper. Got Penetration just in time for the Vulcan dude's last stand- Raz just barely 1-turned him gone. How did they not correct this blunder?

By comparison, I don't think a "typical" player on average will play as differently from an "efficiency" or LTC player. Individual chapters may show a greater degree of difference, but on the whole, I think it would be smaller than in VC.

[vanguard333]

I've played VC4, I've nearly finished it, and I've really enjoyed it so far. I like the story and characters, I like the gameplay for the most part. I haven't found lancers to be outright useless, but they are rather situational. 

I've been considering getting VC1. Should I?

[Ertrick36]

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

You got it months before me and you still haven't cleared the game? I finished it maybe two weeks ago.

The fact that I've been LPing it has been a major factor in how slowly I've been playing through it.  When you only play a game two hours a week, you'll find the time between when you get the game and when you finish it greatly increases.  Not to mention all the times I've neglected to even play it for a number of weeks...

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I also admit that I saved myself a lot of time by not doing Squad Stories or watching a single scene of the plot. (Although I did play each skirmish once.) I intend to go back sometime and just watch the whole thing at once.

To me, that is a very strange way to play through a game for the first time, but different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

2 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

I've been considering getting VC1. Should I?

I'd personally recommend it.

Although going from VC4 to VC1, you'll definitely feel a bit of a downgrade in terms of game mechanics and balance, along with a sudden lack of character development/side stories for all characters except the main ones (Welkin, Isara, Alicia, Largo, and Rosie).  However, I'd strongly vouch for the story, and the gameplay is overall still the same just without some of the bells and whistles that VC4 has.

[Interdimensional Observer]

11 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

To me, that is a very strange way to play through a game for the first time, but different strokes for different folks, I suppose.

I'm not quite sure why I did it, it's just a reflex I've been sorta developing recently. Started with FE Fates, has since spread elsewhere, but not everywhere. Still enjoyed VC4 though.

This said, the Angie girl, from reading her glossary profile after the game was finished, doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

And was it ever stated why Darcsen don't have last names listed? Random question.

[Ertrick36]

31 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

And was it ever stated why Darcsen don't have last names listed? Random question.

It was a punishment for nuking Valkyrur-protected territories with "Darcsen black magic" - they had their surnames removed and were forced out of their homes and jobs.

Spoiler

Though the reality of that war is that the Valkyrur were conquesting asshats who struck a deal with a two-faced noble Darcsen family in Gallia to invade and acquire all the Darcsen lands and blame the Darcsens for the resulting conflict while giving the throne to the traitor Darcsen family and disguising them as Valkyrur for generations to come (until in the Second Europan War) to hide the truth.  Kind of like if colonials to America blamed Native Americans for their own massacre.

 

31 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'm not quite sure why I did it, it's just a reflex I've been sorta developing recently. Started with FE Fates, has since spread elsewhere, but not everywhere.

So it's a nasty habit you picked up from a game with a nasty story?

I often will skip cutscenes of games myself, but only after I've beaten them once.  Not even necessarily because I dislike their stories - sometimes I just want to play through the game all the way without interruptions.

[vanguard333]

5 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

I'd personally recommend it.

Although going from VC4 to VC1, you'll definitely feel a bit of a downgrade in terms of game mechanics and balance, along with a sudden lack of character development/side stories for all characters except the main ones (Welkin, Isara, Alicia, Largo, and Rosie).  However, I'd strongly vouch for the story, and the gameplay is overall still the same just without some of the bells and whistles that VC4 has.

Thanks.

Okay, so it's kind-of like going back and playing a Fire Emblem game from before support conversations (or playing Shadow Dragon)?

[Ertrick36]

12 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Thanks.

Okay, so it's kind-of like going back and playing a Fire Emblem game from before support conversations (or playing Shadow Dragon)?

Yeah, it'd be like going back to Mystery of the Emblem, I'd say, if there could be a comparison.  Essentially the same mechanically, but not as fleshed out.

The biggest difference is the lack of Grenadiers.

[vanguard333]

2 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

Yeah, it'd be like going back to Mystery of the Emblem, I'd say, if there could be a comparison.  Essentially the same mechanically, but not as fleshed out.

The biggest difference is the lack of Grenadiers.

Ah. Thanks again. 

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Jeez, I already failed in the third mission because the gate was taken over. 

The two guards died way too early because I let them attack too often by pressing the wrong button (forgot to target).