Valkyria Chronicles

[angelox]

Agreed. I love to have the option to listen to the original dubbing but Japanese dubbing seems to have two main voice modes: extremely young or extremely old, with very few steps between the two. As long the translation doesn't lose itself too much and the dubbing isn't terrible I'm happy companies try to fully localize products.

I feel the opposite about this, looking at Kingdom Hears for example - while neither games are terribly dubbed - the japanese audio track feels so much more sincere in its delivery. I have a fondness of the MGS english dub, but at the same time I felt that in MGS3 Akio Ohtsuka displayed Naked Snake as a different person than Solid Snake, but David Hayter was just more of the same. But hey - a lot of my friends love the english dub because it reminds them of the dub on Marvel cartoons when we grew up - so each to his own.

Back on topic, It can go either way. Yakuza 2 isnt dubbed I believe, but since they believe this might be comercial enough it could be dubbed. I pray for a good one.

[NeoStuey]

I'm back, I called these troops grenadiers earlier but they are more like Sappers.



Now that I have used them I know a bit more about them.

They'll automatically replenish ammo to troops they come into contact with, great for supporting sniper and anti tank troops who carry limited ammo. They're also equipped with bolt cutters (symbolize engineer work?). I'm guessing that land mines will make an appearance in the game too as there are tanks and these sappers could be deployed to tackle them, I hope.

There is a skirmish mode that has opened up.

You can fight battles that can earn EXP and DCT and are not directly linked to the main storyline. Useful for leveling up.

So far, I've only had the one skirmish I got to select nine troops from my pool of twenty to fight along side Welkin's Edelweiss tank and was victorious. Despite that the next skirmish battle has remained greyed out, I suspect I need to progress the storyline to open it up even though the battle I was in does not directly reference to where I am in the story.

This game just keeps expanding.

[hudson]

Does the game feature an online mode at all or any multiplayer?

[Hunk]

Nice work on starting this thread, NeoStuey, and really nice job taking all those pictures! This game is one of the reasons I picked up a PS3 (the other being DMC4), and I actually dropped GTAIV to play this. Finished it in 5 days and I'm currently on my second playthrough.

It's definitely the best game I've played so far this year, but that's also because it's the perfect mix of WWII-era inspired equipment, turn-based strategy mixed with third-person action, and just the right amount of anime cliché [for me]!

You've done a great job covering all the game mechanics so far, but I'm just gonna clarify a few tiny bits.

- When attacking, the red number is the number of shots needed to take down an enemy, and the black one right next to it is your weapon's clip size. Headshots count for a lot more, but you already knew that.

- The Sapper's bolt cutters/pliers are used for both disarming mines (you'll encounter 2 types!) and repairing your tank. You don't have to select them for disarming a mine, just approach and the option will appear for you to do so with O. For repairing though, you need to get up close to your tank and target it like with the Ragnite heal kit.


- Skirmishes are all based on story maps, so yeah, the others open up as you progress further into the story.

- As you correctly surmised, the P you see on the character stats page are their Potentials; this is basically their personal quirks and can be both beneficial or detrimental. Some people enjoy being around their comrades and get a boost in accuracy/defense/attack power, while others are the lone-wolf type and actually get a reduction! Then there are the one who likes men/women and their opposites or the ones who are allergic to flowers/fauna and start to sneeze and lose HP. It's all quite amusing, especially if you know the anime character archetypes they're having fun with. It's also here that you can see some people are particularly good at attacking enemies of a certain class (Anti-Tank killer, Rifleman/Scout killer, etc).


- The B ones are also potentials, but think of them as being Battle Potentials; these are prone to activating while you initiate an attack order, or right after one. Some of them replenish your ammo by 1 (or fully later on), increase your attack range for the current attack, provide increased healing when you use your Ragnite kit, and so on. There are a lot more, but I don't want to spoil them for you; suffice to say, your troops can become mighty powerful later on thanks to these.

- You will notice that only Welkin has three pages worth of O entries; these are actual Orders you can give in-game. They take up CPs ranging from 1 to 6, and they provide you with buffs (defense up, attack against soft/armour targets up, evasion up, etc) to more specific things like telling a unit to immediately retreat or having all their shots hit the targeted area. You unlock these as you play, but if you want more specifics, I can give them to you.

- Your units also have a compatibility chart on their stats page; some individuals work better with others (Alicia is good with Welkin, Rosie is good with Largo, but he's Anti-Tank...). I thought this was meant for support attacks (when you initiate an attack with a unit nearby, they will join in, unless they're sniper/Anti-Tank), but it seems that even those not listed as compatible will work together. Maybe it gives an improved support attack... I'll keep looking on the Japanese Wiki until I find out.

- Your priority targets should be those with a little star next to their name. Early on, these are almost always red infantry or certain tanks; by destroying them, you deprive the enemy of 1 CP on all future turns. The same applies to your story characters though; if you lose Alicia/Rosie/Largo, you also get 1 CP deducted on future turns.

- Except for story characters, the unit deaths in here are permanent. When an ally falls, if you don't get to their body before an enemy unit does, they're gone forever.

- Mission rank is purely based on number of turns used, so don't worry about anything else if you're going for better ranks.

- If possible, keep an eye out for uniquely named enemy units; they confer a certain bonus when defeated.


I think I've babbled long enough, sorry for the wall of text!

As for how it plays, I played it on an SDTV, but I wouldn't recommend it to others; it's not a very good way to experience the game. I saw a screenshot of it from a good LCD monitor and was surprised at the sharpness I was missing out on. Going to get me that LCD monitor this summer!

hoolak: There is no online mode at all nor any hotseat multiplayer, unfortunately. It's not a big loss to me though because I find just replaying the storyline and skirmishes exciting enough. You also unlock Hard mode for the skirmishes once you beat the game.

The Japanese dubbing is quite nice, and a couple of big names are included in the ensemble cast. Overall, I quite enjoyed the story, even if it was predictable enough. You don't play this game for the story though, you play it for the awesome turn-based, WWII-flavoured, [thinking man's] action-fest.

[NeoStuey]

@Hunk

Thanks for clearing up on a few points and adding more detailed info.

I'm still finding the game opening up even more now. Two more areas in the HQ menu to visit. Also discovered Welkin's ordering abilities earlier today when I was playing. Also got to experience some of those battle potentials as well.

Do you mind pointing me to the Japanese wiki page as I would like to have a peek?

[Hunk]

Here is the Wiki.

Watch out for spoilers though! Just the top page will reveal how many episodes the game has. I only visited the place after I'd finished.

Those two new areas in the HQ screen are for the Newspaper & the Graveyard. You'll eventually be able to get side-stories (some with missions) as well as read up on your latest victory from Ellet that flesh out the main characters (and their Potentials). You can buy new orders from the Mystery Man in the Graveyard with experience, so be sure to visit him after every episode/chapter.

[NeoStuey]

Cheers, yes I will avoid the wiki for a while then but good to have the link for going over missed opportunities on a second run through.

Yep, it was the newspaper and graveyard that became available.

[NeoStuey]

Another thing that I've found in the bigger battles with the flag points is that for 1 CP you can return a soldier from the battlefield and then for 1 CP more bring in the at the same flag point or at any other position that you have captured. Great for moving soldiers attributed with low AP or changing tactics .

No-ones died yet, had one of my Sappers get shot down but I got to them first, love the sequence showing the medic being called for and then showing up.

Still haven't been/needed to visit the wiki yet.

[SuperBeatBoy]

My uk version arrived. You'll be happy to hear that it has english and japanese audio track. I stuck it on Japanese as i wasn't too happy with the english dub on the demo.

[briareos_kerensky]

Sega confirm dual audio tracks more than once...it's good to see that Europe gets a few games before the US, but I have the US copy preordered at VG+ and I still have to wait two long weeks.

[Dazzyman]

Good to hear as I played the demo and liked it but the english audio put me off buying it. Might have to pick it up in a few weeks when backlog of games has died down again.

[honeymustard]

Valkyria Chronicles

Finished the prologue last night and I'm really enjoying it so far. It has a visual style quite similar to Okami and looks really beautiful, though some polygons are a bit jagged.

It plays to me like how a modern Fire Emblem should be (albeit with guns). You're not confined to a grid so you can run around freely, though you have a bar of movement that goes down through the turn.

The story is told through chapters in a book which works really well and means you can easily flip back to previous chapters and watch cutscenes or replay segments. Also the load times seemed really really quick and I hadn't even installed it (4GBish optional install).

More thoughts when I get a bit further in

[3x3cut10n3r]

Was going to add my thoughts but most of the praises I could sing have been sung.

There are some things that I want to say though, the game is amazing. The CANVAS engine, BLiTZ system and the sounds and audio track.

Finally a game that keeps its Japanese voice track, unlike some *cough* ToV *cough*.

Only niggle that I have is the same as I have with most other translated games with original audio, that sometimes the text does not match the audio. The Jap audio track will be talking about something but the english text will be something totally different. Meh, nothing is perfect though, I only mention it as there was a few key words, part of the story that weren't translated for some reason.

I am really loving the game and played it for 10hrs when I got it on Thursday and nearly 20hrs in now.

[briareos_kerensky]

Just played the demo for the third time now.
As much as I can go deep with a demo, I can say it's a good game, but not perfect.

In multiple occasions I was able to lead the AI in firing at its own units...in the skirmish map included (Bhrul, I think the village where the main characters live and tutorial map) it's quite easy to have the lancer destroy the light tank and scouts seem more than happy to fire at their allied stormtroopers.
Also if a unit is forced into the river crossing the map (grenades and mortars work wonders), it's teleported back on land...however the AI in the demo can not even described as defensive, so I'll leave my comments on how it works when I get the game.

I have noticed that charactes gain levels...I just hope the game won't turn into a grindfest for just a couple of units.
Speaking of which, I hope that a properly trained sniper will do his/her work, sweet-looking Yoko in the demo was able to kill a guy with just one HP left.

Something else I hope is that once you get the Edelweiss it won't just be a mortar-fest against enemy units and lancers taking care of tanks...I mean, it's good to have powerful weapons but since it's a strategy game I'd prefer to have something strategically balanced rather than overusing the same tactic over and over again.

That said, I'm still excited for the game. The style is gorgeous and it's quite addicting, with enough options to keep the system more interesting than the rock-paper-scissor system previewed by the original introductory video.

[Largo]

Got the uk version on release and really enjoying it,
Very challenging in parts too and much scope for player improvement which is nice, bit to many cutscenes but the story is good and sweet in parts, also some new DLC already out in japan so hopefully can see that coming our way (you play as the empire in DLC i believe)