Brian,
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with your review. I fought Rex on our opinion of this game. I thought the demo was a blast and we are buying it. It's much better than LOTR, DUF, and Resistance.
Jeff
I felt Jeanne d'Arc was horrible. Aside from the bad characters, the gameplay was really bad for an SRPG. Limited turns per battle, who came up with that idea? Each battle ended up being a puzzle for you to figure out how best to use your magical girl transformation sequence most efficiently rather than building up a party with skills to take on challenges.
As an SRPG fan who bought a PSP with Jeanne D'Arc as a game to buy the system for, I was very disappointed with it.
I completely disagree with you. You don't need to use the transforms to win the game; like any SRPG, every battle is a puzzle. While I agree that some characters were less than useful and overall there were too many characters, I still really had a great run with this game and will probably revisit it in the future.
Games like Final Fantasy Tactics did not have the battles as puzzles. In FFT you were free to build your party however you chose, and get past battles however you chose. There was no magical solution to solve it. Ditto with Tactics Ogre -- the old Team Quest knew how to make SRPGs.
I completely disagree that every SRPG has battles which are puzzles. This is true for lesser tier SRPGs like Disgaea and Jeanne D'Arc but for the best SRPGs like FFT, TO, and even Front Mission 3 they were not puzzles but walls for you to overcome with all your power.
BTW Primesuspect, regarding VC: I was really amped to get VC and buy a PS3 just for it -- make no mistake this game is a system seller for me, I just haven't gotten around to getting a PS3 yet.
But I read some reviews where the battle mechanics of the game felt "canned" instead of free flowing. The rock-paper-sword mechanic was relied on a little too much. For instance tank shells are designed to be anti-tank, so if they hit an infantry soldier they don't get damaged much -- which of course is ludicrous.
How was your experience of the game's damage model in relation to that?
Games like Final Fantasy Tactics did not have the battles as puzzles. In FFT you were free to build your party however you chose, and get past battles however you chose. There was no magical solution to solve it. Ditto with Tactics Ogre -- the old Team Quest knew how to make SRPGs.
I completely disagree that every SRPG has battles which are puzzles. This is true for lesser tier SRPGs like Disgaea and Jeanne D'Arc but for the best SRPGs like FFT, TO, and even Front Mission 3 they were not puzzles but walls for you to overcome with all your power.
Perhaps we're getting into a semantic argument about what the term "puzzle" means; I believe that the battles in FFT are puzzles; there is an objective, you are given a set of tools and rules, and you have to complete the objective. There are certainly many different ways to solve the puzzle, but a puzzle it is.
You can indeed build your party however you choose in Jeanne d'Arc, I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
Anyways, we clearly have a difference of opinion; no point in arguing, one can't make another "like" something via words, so I'll just leave it at: I really enjoyed Jeanne D'Arc, I think it was a great game, and this thread is about Valkyria Chronicles
The customization of your party in Jeanne D'Arc is nowhere near as robust as it is in other SRPGs, not even as robust as in Disgaea. But again the real deal breaker in JDA is the turn-limited battles which severely cut your options in battle down.
But anyway yes let's agree to disagree on this one. Going back to Valkyrie of the Battlefield, I had a question on the damage model...
BTW Primesuspect, regarding VC: I was really amped to get VC and buy a PS3 just for it -- make no mistake this game is a system seller for me, I just haven't gotten around to getting a PS3 yet.
But I read some reviews where the battle mechanics of the game felt "canned" instead of free flowing. The rock-paper-sword mechanic was relied on a little too much. For instance tank shells are designed to be anti-tank, so if they hit an infantry soldier they don't get damaged much -- which of course is ludicrous.
How was your experience of the game's damage model in relation to that?
Ah, missed this post. Sorry.
That part is true; you have to be careful to choose your weapons appropriately for whatever you're facing; a lancer (anti-tank foot soldier) is next to useless against infantry. You can damage a foot soldier with an RPG but it's usually not a one-hit kill. It is slightly ludicrous. The tank shells are the same. Your tank has different kinds of shells, anti-tank and anti-personnel, as well as large-caliber machine gun. The machine gun would be used for picking off individuals (like high level commander personnel), the anti-personnel area grenade would be good for a cluster of lower-level foot soldiers, and the anti-tank would be used against other vehicles, armored gun placements, structures, etc.
It's a minor problem in my opinion. It didn't bother me that much. I certainly wouldn't consider it a dealbreaker, but you seem to be pretty strict on your SRPG requirements
i never had a problem killing infintry with an rpg shell in this game i only had that problem against lancers and thats because there designed to fight tanks. but a couple of times i did hit a shock trooper dead on and i survived but barely.
Just bought VC last week and i must say this is the best game i've played since a long time. No its not perfect, but for a STR lover who like to "get closer" to the caracters in a game, its a very great game ! Story is nice. The graphic style is also awesome, very cartoon without looking "unreal". But what i like the most is the you get to like some caracter more than other, like the trooper Hannes, everytime i get to control him i was smiling, he's a "i have no fear" and "die at everycost" kind of guy, loved it Each of the personnel available have its own personality, its a great addition to a great game.
For me too there's no question, if you like japanease style, good caracters and storytelling, and are a STR fan (if you're not you might find this game too difficult), this game is a MUST.
Pre-purchased with no hesitation (hopefully it's a good port). Thanks @mertesn!
I never did get a PS3, but the only games I really wanted to play were this and 3D Dot Game Heroes. Between this PC port and Voxatron, maybe I don't need a PS3 after all.
Comments
-drasnor
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree with your review. I fought Rex on our opinion of this game. I thought the demo was a blast and we are buying it. It's much better than LOTR, DUF, and Resistance.
Jeff
As an SRPG fan who bought a PSP with Jeanne D'Arc as a game to buy the system for, I was very disappointed with it.
I completely disagree that every SRPG has battles which are puzzles. This is true for lesser tier SRPGs like Disgaea and Jeanne D'Arc but for the best SRPGs like FFT, TO, and even Front Mission 3 they were not puzzles but walls for you to overcome with all your power.
But I read some reviews where the battle mechanics of the game felt "canned" instead of free flowing. The rock-paper-sword mechanic was relied on a little too much. For instance tank shells are designed to be anti-tank, so if they hit an infantry soldier they don't get damaged much -- which of course is ludicrous.
How was your experience of the game's damage model in relation to that?
Perhaps we're getting into a semantic argument about what the term "puzzle" means; I believe that the battles in FFT are puzzles; there is an objective, you are given a set of tools and rules, and you have to complete the objective. There are certainly many different ways to solve the puzzle, but a puzzle it is.
You can indeed build your party however you choose in Jeanne d'Arc, I'm not sure where you're getting that from.
Anyways, we clearly have a difference of opinion; no point in arguing, one can't make another "like" something via words, so I'll just leave it at: I really enjoyed Jeanne D'Arc, I think it was a great game, and this thread is about Valkyria Chronicles
But anyway yes let's agree to disagree on this one. Going back to Valkyrie of the Battlefield, I had a question on the damage model...
Ah, missed this post. Sorry.
That part is true; you have to be careful to choose your weapons appropriately for whatever you're facing; a lancer (anti-tank foot soldier) is next to useless against infantry. You can damage a foot soldier with an RPG but it's usually not a one-hit kill. It is slightly ludicrous. The tank shells are the same. Your tank has different kinds of shells, anti-tank and anti-personnel, as well as large-caliber machine gun. The machine gun would be used for picking off individuals (like high level commander personnel), the anti-personnel area grenade would be good for a cluster of lower-level foot soldiers, and the anti-tank would be used against other vehicles, armored gun placements, structures, etc.
It's a minor problem in my opinion. It didn't bother me that much. I certainly wouldn't consider it a dealbreaker, but you seem to be pretty strict on your SRPG requirements
For me too there's no question, if you like japanease style, good caracters and storytelling, and are a STR fan (if you're not you might find this game too difficult), this game is a MUST.
Valkyria Chronicles arrives on PC November 11 with all DLC included. $19.99.
ShutUpAndTakeMyMoney
Preorder is $17.99 on Steam
Pre-purchased with no hesitation (hopefully it's a good port). Thanks @mertesn!
I never did get a PS3, but the only games I really wanted to play were this and 3D Dot Game Heroes. Between this PC port and Voxatron, maybe I don't need a PS3 after all.
I also purchased it immediately. I can't wait!
I bought my PS3 just to play Valkyria Chronicles.
Preloaded last night (WTF 16+GB). Played it today. Am not disappoint.
Forgot it came out. Crap. I had things to do this weekend.
Looks like an anime WW2 kinda interested though I'm hesitant as it's a port.
It's a good port.