Valkyria Chronicles PS4 (17th May)

[Retro_Link]

[Emerald Emblem]

With Dark Chronicles re-release on PS4, Hyperdimension Neptunia VII, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and now this, I'm never going to catch up on my gaming backlog, still got Disgaea 5 and Tales of Zestiria to finish as well and this is just the JRPG's I've got to play, I even have Xenoblade Chronicles X to start as well. Life isn't fair.

Edited January 27, 2016 by Emerald Emblem

[Hero-of-Time]

With Dark Chronicles re-release on PS4, Hyperdimension Neptunia VII, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and now this, I'm never going to catch up, still got Disgaea 5 and Tales of Zestiria to finish as well. Life isn't fair.

 

You do realise you don't have to buy all of these things straight away, right? Just play and finish what you've got at the moment and then the newer games will be cheaper and you will actually be able to concentrate on a single game, rather than jumping between 5 or so.

[Emerald Emblem]

You do realise you don't have to buy all of these things straight away, right? Just play and finish what you've got at the moment and then the newer games will be cheaper and you will actually be able to concentrate on a single game, rather than jumping between 5 or so.

 

I'm a terribly organized gamer with his priorities all mixed up, when I know the next game comes out my interest in my current game sorta dies off. Sometimes i come back to it later and sometimes I don't. I've just got to realize there isn't the time to play every game I want anymore so I need to be more selective.

[Hero-of-Time]

17th May release date.

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Shopto have shipped this super early. I honestly forgot that I had the thing preordered or that it was coming out next Tuesday.

[Julius]

Hey, what's in here?

Not wanting to burn myself out on - and perhaps more importantly not being in the mood for - starting my next adventure with a certain bandana-wearing hero, and after playing a lot of action games as of late (some not especially great...or good. At all, really), I wanted a drastic change of pace, something a bit slower and more methodical. One of the games which would have fit the bill I ordered from CeX, but it still hasn't turned up; however, this did, so I started earlier this evening. 

Just under five hours in and having just finished the end of Chapter 5, I'm having a blast. Definitely the change of pace I was looking for. Love the painterly watercolour art style they've got going on, and the scrapbook look of it all too. Flipping through the book and being brought back out to it after a short cutscene or an intense battle just gives you a chance to breathe, and I reckon would make it ideal for shorter gameplay sessions.

The game has been great fun from a strategy perspective, the mix of SRPG tactics and basic third-person shooter mechanics make it pretty easy to get into but offers such a wide range of choice, and though I'm still just finding that I'm settling into it, it's proven a great time so far.

The music has been good so far (not quite great, but well, not every soundtrack has to be!), but I think what steals my attention here is the attention to the world. What is effectively World War II in an alternate Earth is interesting enough as it is, but the depth added to characters and events in some of the book notes and newspaper articles is way beyond what I was expecting from this game. It just never crossed my mind that they'd put it in, but it makes perfect sense. The characters so far have been interesting, though of course it's still early days, but there have been one or two hints at the exploration of racism with the "dark hairs" being frowned upon, and I'm curious to see how the game handles that, and potentially some other heavy topics associated with war. Choosing exactly what you invest your experience and money earned from battle into is also incredibly gratifying. 

Can't wait to put some more time into this tomorrow! 

[Dufniall]

Glad you're enjoying it @Julius! I have it on Switch and for some reason I play this at a glacial pace. I bought it in March 2019 and I'm currently at chapter 13. I play it for a couple of chapters and then I just leave it for a couple of weeks. And I can't figure out why because it is a great game haha. 

I hope to finish it soon and when I do I'll post the long version in the Gaming Diary thread. But it's cool to see someone else play this as well.

[Julius]

Continued with this tonight, getting through to the end of Chapter 7, the desert duel.

Holy smokes, I'm not sure if I would call it a difficulty spike necessarily (because once you figure out what you need to do it's manageable), but the game went from a fun little strategic time to hell on earth for my first few tries there. Makes sense in terms of who you're facing in the story, but in terms of gameplay, it felt like a lot being thrown at me with very little time to stick and getting destroyed as a result. I know this is only my second SRPG, but still, damn, that was pretty brutal until I figured out exactly how to handle it. Don't even talk to me about those pillars, and some of them not falling down...ahhhhhh. Really weird hit boxes at times in this game too.

Admittedly, I think some of the difficulty was added by myself, and other than some shakeups in gameplay, came down more to my Squad set-up - didn't have enough Lancers on the field, and it was definitely the first time so far in the game where I felt certain classes would be absolutely useless (here it was the Sniper). 

I knew that there was permadeath to some extent in the game, but I willingly sacrificed a member or two of Squad 7 at the end there to push through to the victory anyway, so was pleasantly surprised to see the guys I'd left for dead back in the barracks. Good to know that because they were still on the field at the end of the battle, they weren't gone for good - was hoping for this sort of logic to be followed, considering how similar things have been handled in the rest of the game. Hopefully they don't hold a grudge 

That weird experience of mine with Chapter 7 aside (and now that I'm mentally prepared for something like it, probably won't encounter a similar sort of surprise jump again), I'm still really enjoying my time with it. Story's starting to pick up, got a real focus on the main cast, and again, I love just how much effort has been put into fleshing out the world. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Julius

[Julius]

Played a few more hours of this this evening, got to the end of Chapter 9, still having a good time with it. Chapter 8 with the sneaking around in an SRPG was a welcome change of pace after Chapter 7 (particularly loved the character development in Ch. 8, with the treatment of the enemy soldier, Rosie and Largo starting to come around to Isara, etc.), and Chapter 9's battle was unique compared to the rest of the battles so far.

The variety in map layout, squad builds, and main objective in each battle is different almost every time, and it gives the game a good flow in this regard. Again, love just how much work has been put in outside of the battles, such as with the inclusion of the, Audience Hall, which lets be frank is wholly unnecessary, but a neat touch nonetheless. 

[Julius]

Finished Chapter 16 tonight. Not sure quite how much is left, but I feel like it's coming to a close, so I'm half expecting to see credits roll tomorrow. 

Weird hit boxes, some seriously temperamental enemy AI, and a couple of times where the solution isn't made as clear as it perhaps could be. Over 20 hours in and that's my full list of complaints for the game, alongside a few much smaller nitpicks. 

This game is a gem. Great cast. Incredibly detailed world and story. Politics and war being treated with the respect they deserve in a story like this, and no punches pulled in doing that. Lovely art style. A few moments where they use gameplay to convey an important story moment which I'm almost always an absolute sucker for. Maybe one of the more natural romances I've seen in a video game so far, too? 

Excited but sad at the thought of my time with this game being over tomorrow. You know that feeling when you have a certain type of mint which just suits where you're at in that moment, and you feel pleasantly refreshed? That's how I'd best try to describe my time with this game. 

Edited May 16, 2020 by Julius