Developed/Published by: Sega
Released: November 4th, 2008
Completed: 9th August, 2015
Completion: Finished the story mode, including the bonus missions.
Trophies / Achievements: n/a
Negativity is rubbish, isn’t it? I feel bad that the previous review topped the page for an extra week (I’m trying to stick to one update a week, every Tuesday, unless I ever have a huge, huge backlog) so I’m quite happy I now get to gush endlessly about Valkyria Chronicles. Because I loved it.
Valkyria Chronicles isn’t a perfect game—there are some issues with its tactical battle system, and I’ll get to that—but it’s a deeply surprising one. Set in an alternate universe going through a vague approximation of World War II (drawing design elements from WWI for good measure) it crosses real-time movement with turn-based tactics that removes grids and simplifies things like overwatch (as enemies and you just shoot on the opponent’s turn if they happen to be running past.) Oh, and it’s all done with a heavy coating of “anime”, with loads of cut-scenes and stuff that keep you up with the goings on of your militia troop. It’s not quite anime XCOM, but it’s close.
It’s an odd one this, readers. On one hand it was largely developed by the team that worked on the never-translated Sakura Wars series (the originator of anime x tactics, as a cross between robot battles and dating simulation) and you can tell—there are plenty of pretty anime ladies, the game is mostly seen from the lens of a “will they, won’t they” love story between the protagonists and it’s often light and even funny. On the other, it’s more mature than I’d generally expect from any video game. Being an allegory (of sorts) for World War II, it deals with racism against a specific group, goes as far as representing concentration camps, and even reflects upon the use of nuclear weapons (in an abstracted fashion, but it’s quite obvious what they’re showing.)
Indeed, Valkyria Chronicles managed something which I didn’t think I’d be susceptible to, which is that I was genuinely surprised when a main character died. In fact, I was stunned, couldn’t believe they’d do it. It’s the closest I can imagine to experiencing the “Aeris” moment (which I felt nothing for, like all cool video game dudes) and unlike that one it did actually make sense (as characters can die in Valkyria Chronicles).
Not to mention that by the “militia” nature of the player’s squad, the characters you use are a fair mix of gender and sexuality (if not race, as such, unless you count the game’s made up Darcsen race) all of whom are as capable as the other. To some extent it was probably to allow male players the “harem anime” feel of something like Sakura Wars, but for me it was… nice (?) to see men and women fighting in a war together as equals.
(Although, I do admit sniper Marina Wulfstan was 100% my waifu. Pretty much nothing better than selecting her and using her amazing sniper skills to wipe out most of the enemies on the map in the space of a turn if you can keep feeding her ammo. Maybe even better than using Banshee in Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars. And anyway, I fancied her because of her amazing capability, not her nice hair and cold attitude. I think.)
(Although, to be honest, the game does include some bonus segments like a “Squad R&R” that’s absolutely, totally one of those “beach episodes” from an anime, in that it’s mostly an excuse to see the girls wear swimsuits.)
(Although, the one character that’s clearly coded as gay, Jann, is, let me say… stereotypical. I loved him and used him every mission, but I can totally understand people having difficulties with this.)
Basically what I’m saying is that there are definitely some things about Valkyria Chronicles that aren’t totally defendable, but there are also loads of things about it that make it more thoughtful than most other games out there, even if I’m pretty sure that’s sometimes entirely accidental. The game really does try and make you think about the cost of war, even when one of the character is, like, ranting about how much they love vegetables or something. It can be broad, but the characters and world draw you into it.
And it is great to play! The real-time/turn-based mix keeps you close to your troops rather than a distant overlord which increases your engagement, and upgrading your squad and tanks is rewarding (even if it is a little slower than I’d like.) If there are problems, it’s that certain game mechanics, like “potentials” (bonuses based on certain conditions) trigger so infrequently when they beg to be planned around, accuracy is too low across the board (outside of snipers, expect some frequent reloading if you need to hit something) and I’d have preferred more, shorter missions than the 20-odd often epic missions (expect them to take about 2 hours a piece). But those are all pretty quibbly, to be honest.
Valkyria Chronicles took me a while to beat—I took a big break in the middle for some reason, I can’t remember why—but I loved it and wouldn’t change anything. In fact I’m raring to play the sequel now. Couldn’t recommend it more if you have any interest in tactics games with a side of anime. Which I realise now is, uh, specific.
Will I ever play it again? Valkyria Chronicles has one of those classic, epilogue heavy Japanese endings where everything is wrapped up as tightly as possible (including, confusingly, telling the futures of a few characters who weren’t even that involved?) but which, as far as the main characters were concerned, made me go “ah, that’s nice” in a way where I’d put it down and just enjoy the memories. But I can see coming back to this as it’s got a “New Game+” mode and I didn’t actually fully level everyone up. So yeah, maybe, when I’m an old man.
Final Thought: I liked this enough I’m going to buy the art book, because apparently it’s got lots of stuff about the development in it. I have literally never done this before. Anyway, Valkyria Chronicles is regularly like $5 on Steam or whatever, you should buy it.
