Yes, this is the box art – but the game looks just like this
The genre of video games known as “SRPG”, or Strategy Role Playing Games, is sort of an odd duck. The traditions of normal RPGs seem to lend themselves well to the strategy genre, but there have been many games that have failed to accomplish being good enough at one or the other genre to be entertaining as an overall product. I have played SRPGs in the past that have made me say, “Okay, just pick one or the other and go with it, because you’re failing on both counts.”
The game that set the bar pretty high for the genre is the classic Final Fantasy Tactics (FFT). One of the problems with SRPGs is that they can get repetitive if the story isn’t compelling enough to drive the game in between battles. The usual exploration/map phase of standard role playing games is replaced with cutscenes that drive the story along and move your characters from one city to another, one dungeon to the next, or across enemy lines. You don’t actually “play” the in-between time, you just read or watch along. Therefore, the story, characters, and cutscenes are not secondary to the experience. The game leans on them heavily to drive the excitement. Without them, the game would just be a series of battles, floating in a universe with no context.
Let’s pause for a moment and talk about alternate history. Wikipedia describes alternate history as a subgenre of fiction that is set in a world in which history has diverged from the actual history of the Earth. Jeanne D’Arc is a great example of alternate history; I’m pretty sure the real Jeanne D’Arc did not use bracers granted by God to transform into a robot-looking holy warrior with glowing armor and call lightning down upon her monster enemies.
Tanks are a big part of the game
I wouldn’t call Valkyria Chronicles true alternate history, but the resemblance to World War II is fully intentional (the game takes place in “Europa”). Essentially, you have a regime that very much resembles the Third Reich, and a group of smaller nations that are having their independence threatened by invasion from the Empire. The weapons, vehicles, architecture, culture, and even clothing in the game all look pretty much like they were pulled from late 1930’s Europe. At a glance, it would be very easy to confuse this with a game set on our planet, in Europe, during World War II.
I can’t talk about Valkyria Chronicles without talking about the graphics. In a word, they are stunning. The art style is unique, in that everything has a hand-sketched look, yet retains a cel-shaded feel. The sketching style is similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, in a sort of animated-pencil-sketch way.
Alright, so we’ve got a game with a rich historical setting and amazing graphics. Is it fun?
The battle overview interface (image courtesy GamesPress.com)
The game is divided into story-driving cutscenes, a headquarters area where you customize, level up, choose weapons and assemble your team, and the actual battles. The beauty of Chronicles is that different types of players can play the game their way. If you a completionist who wants to know the history and personal backstory of every minor supporting character, you can do that. If you don’t care about the characters and plot and just want to play the battles, you can do that too.
The amount of writing that went into this game is astonishing. There is an encyclopedia’s worth of content to be discovered here. Every character in the game, from the Emperor to the protagonist’s pet pig is covered in full biographical fashion. You can unlock each character’s history, page-by-page, as you play along. You also get access to the full writeup for every vehicle, weapon, battle location, and event in the entire game. I have spent entire play sessions just reading; again, you don’t have to do any of this if it bores you, but for people who appreciate depth of content, this game truly delivers.
The first-person action phase of combat
The battle system is revolutionary. You start a round in a top-down overview of the battle map, but then switch into a first-person shooter view of the action when each character takes a turn. During the overview part of the turn, you can see an aerial view of the map; you can select units, swap them out, radio in reinforcements, and check status of units. Once you select a unit, you move into the action phase; that is to say, you control it like a first person shooter: you move, aim, shoot, or perform other actions. You have an action bar that counts down during each character’s turn, and in that time you can walk anywhere, aim, fire, plant mines, disarm traps, repair vehicles, capture flags, or any of the other actions that take place during a combat turn. The mix between turn-based actions and actual first person control makes for a totally unique SRPG experience.
The story is probably the only weak point of this game. It is contrived grandiosity, which is a hallmark of Japanese RPGs. The mighty blah-blah is crushing the tiny such-and-such; the scrappy band of heroes must get the blah-blah and do the thing to kill the mighty ultimate evil. It’s very, very tried and true; don’t look for anything deeper than a slight romance sidestory that would only be exciting to a 13 year old girl. You will find, however, that the story is the last thing you’ll be worried about; playing the game is where it’s at.
Sales numbers show that this game is very under-appreciated. While Sony PR keeps pushing blockbuster AAA titles like LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4, this is a game that should be sharing a pedestal with those names. This game should be a system seller.
I know this is already sounding like a complete fapfest, but I can’t lie. This is the best game I own for the Playstation 3. The combat system is unique and revolutionary, the voice acting is well done, the visuals are amazing and beautiful, the missions are challenging, and the entire experience is deep enough to provide a great deal of replayability.
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