Valkyria Chronicles Comments by Dan Whitehead

Shame really - it looks excellent, but guess it's doomed because it's being released into the maelstrom of monster releases in the next few weeks. Not much chance of getting beyond the existing hardcore genre fans, and even some of those will be dropping cash onto LBP, Bioshock, Mirror's Edge and the like. Drop it into the January wilderness and it might have got a few more curiosity seekers.

I'm picking it up without delay! Pre-ordered so hoping to see this drop for next Thurs. Expecting Eternal Sonata to turn up tomorrow.

This is the actual first must-buy for me on the PS3.

Love the look and atmosphere coming off this title - reminds me of the old PS2 game Ring of Red, which was flawed as well, but highly enjoyable.

No, give me quirky, imperfect games with a certain je-ne-sais-quoi, instead of long-running, overmilked IP's or genres that bring you more of the same, again and again.

yeah I'll be having some of this

Personally, this sits much higher on my personal list of wants... way above the likes of FarCry 2, Fallout 3 etc...
I would hope this picks up some support and we see more games from these guys.

This game is one of the reasons I caved in and got a PS3. Demo didn't disappoint at all, looking forward to it greatly.

I wasn't aware that your characters could permanently die. Does that mean that if you screw up and lose someone it can result in seeing different plot scenes and missing out on or gaining different characters, a la Fire Emblem?

"Love the look and atmosphere coming off this title - reminds me of the old PS2 game Ring of Red, which was flawed as well, but highly enjoyable."

Tried that game out again the other week on my BC PS3 and now it works. Nice indeed. Pre-ordered Valkyria from the US so it will arrive mid November, giving me some room for RoR and LBP which I'm expecting any day now (though the postal system could play a cruel trick again and take 3 months to deliver it). Though, basically I have no room with Digital Devil Saga 2 not finished and plenty PS2 games not even started (let alone the PS3 ones).

Loved the art style in the demo so I'll have to get this eventually. Too many other games to go through for now though and with LBP coming up this will have to wait.

will pick this up bargain bucket style. Does this game have trophies?

Don't think so... but more concerned with playing this for the pleasure than the shinies!
I've dumped a load of games off my schedule to make room for this, reckon it deserves it more than all the others coming out (bar LBP I suppose, but that can slow burn for ages!). Hopefully I'll get through Bioshock before this arrives next week.

Anyway all praise Dan and his 6am posting, I've been waiting all week to hear about this!

On and potential for DLC on this too:

http://www.eurogamer.net/tv_video.php?pl...

Good score and nice to see a title that "stand out" from all release right now. Will pick it up in december when I (hopefully) have time to play it :)

i agree Widge, stupid of me to say that, but recently Ive become a whore of the shinies for some reason.

Too bad it isnt even close to being as good as Fable 2. Oh well.

Poor review, you spent far too much time complaining about rock paper scissors class differences

lol@valiant attempt by muscleblade

oh and LOL at your posting history! Bleating away in PS3 threads as much as you can. Some people might even think you're RELEVANT. Your "please mark Bioshock down for already being out for a year" plea was a work of genius.

Can't wait for this game. I'm so excited I've even gone to the trouble of preordering it and I haven't preordered a game since Mission Impossible came out for N64. I do hope it's not as big a disappointment.

If this is enjoyable as Ring of Red, then I'll be very happy.

How on earth can you play all these game in a such a short space of time, digest them, and then write about them, Dan?

Unbelievable. There's this, Bioshock PS3 and something else I can't remember - all in 2 weeks.

Same with Donlan and Far Cry 2 and Fable 2. How?

(not challenging, btw, just asking)

@Widge

"Your "please mark Bioshock down for already being out for a year" plea was a work of genius. "

I never wrote that.

I just think its funny that the best PS3 game is a over a year old 360 port. If it got 10/10 back then its fine by me that it gets 10/10 now. I personally never thouth it deserved more than 8/10 anyway.

This looks like a game I would really enjoy.

I've got a PS3 on order to play this one.

I was hooked as soon as i saw this. Downloading the demo didnt disappoint either.

This comes way above alot of the other "big" releases for me.

"The cover system needs work as well, allowing you to crouch behind piles of sandbags or in trenches, but not offering the same protection when standing next to what would seem to be equally effective sources of protection."

Not sure if this is really a flaw rather than a design decision. They could have removed all the cover-like elements but than the levels would be terribly empty. Or they could have everything work as full cover but then there's so much cover in a level that it essentially becomes meaningless or very annoying as a gameplay mechanic. The fact that it's risky to travel from point to point and that sometimes you need multiple turns to reach the next bit of cover is an essential part of the game balancing. Let's not forget that despite its gorgeous 3D engine, this still is a turn-based strategy game.

No need to say 'oh well not as good as..', this game interested me from the start and yes quite similar to Ring of Red. I m damn looking forward to this and even though I m also getting Fable 2 etc. This will be one of the top PS3 games other than LBP, whichwill keep my PS3 warm this side of Christmas!

8 is still a good score, please CHECK EG scoring policy as 8 out of 10 may mean 5/10 to some people but not here!

@GamesConnoisseur

8/10 is very good no doubth.

This actually looks and sounds very interesting, if I had a PS3 I would definitely consider it. I had hoped that one of the three SRPGs Atlus brought to the 360 (Operation Darkness, Spectral Force 3, Zoids Assault) would be decent, but they've all been savaged by the critics and the Operation Darkness demo was so awful I couldn't bear to play it for more than 5 minutes.

I was disappointed with the demo, had hoped for much more. Will get this when its much cheaper and I've cleared the backlog of 360 games that are upcoming

No 1 game on my Christmas list this year along with Fallout 3 and LBP. Shame I am working though Christmas this year.

@Gnort

Operation Darkness is the worst 360 game to date.

Good review, it brings up most of the flaws I saw in the demo. I'm not sure I'll buy this now, I'll might just get Fire Emblem instead.

Day one!

Excellent game getting great reviews across the board.

I predict that I will buy this in around Feb 2010 for ten pounds along with most other games released this year. Too many other games to finish. Way too many other games...

This has been on my radar for quite some time now. Definitely my most anticipated game since...............well I can't remember when!

muscleblade - Too bad it isnt even close to being as good as Fable 2. Oh well.

Stealth 'I'm gay' post?

How on earth can you play all these game in a such a short space of time, digest them, and then write about them, Dan?

Reviews don't always get uploaded in the order they're written, and they'll sometimes bunch together so it looks like they were all done around the same time. Kind of like how an actor can have three films released in cinemas in the space of a few months, even though they were made months apart.

@ SleepyMagpie: Couldn't agree more. I loved Ring of Red and this looks like it's just as good, if not better. This is the one game that really makes me want to buy a PS3. Very, very tempted to buy one with a copy this next week.

@muscleblade: You are an idiot. Please go away.

They could have removed all the cover-like elements but than the levels would be terribly empty. Or they could have everything work as full cover but then there's so much cover in a level that it essentially becomes meaningless or very annoying as a gameplay mechanic. The fact that it's risky to travel from point to point and that sometimes you need multiple turns to reach the next bit of cover is an essential part of the game balancing. Let's not forget that despite its gorgeous 3D engine, this still is a turn-based strategy game.

Not sure I agree with that. Cover doesn't make you invincible, it just makes your character more likely to evade shots and removes the insta-death possibility of head shots. You can still be flanked while in cover, or lose a lot of health, or be hit by grenades, so its not like having more cover would lessen the strategy. It just feels very strange and arbitrary to only allow a character to duck behind a few selected objects. I don't see how letting them crouch at will would seriously upset the balance of the game.

In fact, I'd go back to the Full Spectrum Warrior comparison. That's a turn based strategy game where the freedom to choose your cover actually deepens your strategic options. No reason why the same shouldn't be true here.

It's the one element that I'd say really fails to take advantage of the real-time control/turn-based strategy crossover.

This is definitely top of my list at the moment.

I do like the non-generic setting. One gripe I have against strategy RPGs is the lack of a "world map" to roam around because I kind of like that journey of discovery that you get with jRPGs. I seem to remember the preview said that this is actually quite story heavy, so looking forward to diving into some that immerses you more than a straight line romp around a static map. I suppose this goes back to my first sRPG being Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and that was just a little light on story.

I love the way the battles can be huge long tense affairs though. I remember hammering away on a Jeanne D'Arc battle for a good 40 mins and getting concerned as the turn counter was counting right down. Like it when you get scenarios to test your skill too, especially after being disappointed that I effectively X button mashed through Crisis Core.

"I love the way the battles can be huge long tense affairs though."

+1

Though it gets annoying if the only reason battles take ages is the slowness of the game engine/host system. E.g. I'll probably never finish FF Tactics Advance because even regular skirmishes in which I overpower the opposition take about 30 minutes to play out. I've reached the final boss but am a bit too underpowered so need some extra levels. But the thought of fighting boring skirmishes for 5 to 10 hours to get there makes me lose interest.

FF Tactics on PSP is better, though in that game as well you can't skip the battle animations (unless I missed something) which lengthens the battles unnecessary.

"You can still be flanked while in cover, or lose a lot of health, or be hit by grenades, so its not like having more cover would lessen the strategy."

But it probably would lengthen the battles quite a bit and make playing on defense less of an option (though some would consider that a good thing probably).

"It just feels very strange and arbitrary to only allow a character to duck behind a few selected objects. I don't see how letting them crouch at will would seriously upset the balance of the game."

Yeah, the not being able to crouch thing is strange. Bothers me more than that not every object works as cover.

Sorry, but i hate these games.

No way I can stand strategy RPG, and this is filled of japanazis.

The moment I saw the demo of Operation Darkness I promised myself i'd never play a game like that again.

I think more cover options would actually speed the game up. As it stands, you have to carefully pick off any enemies between your troops and the next "official" cover spot before advancing. If you were able to make better use of the environment then you could advance your troops in a much more fluid and realistic way.

It's especially strange given that cover is absolutely integral to the gameplay. Any troops left undefended at the end of a turn are pretty much dead meat, unless you get really lucky. It's also that the game has a clear distinction between a character being in a safe place and "being in cover". You can stand behind a high wall, and obviously bullets can't hit you. But you're not "in cover". You're just standing behind a wall. You don't get the status benefits of being officially "in cover".

It just doesn't make sense that they can improve their defence stats by crouching behind sandbags, but not a stone wall or pile of crates. Especially since the maps feature lots of items that have clearly been positioned to look like cover. In your first proper mission, one of your two teams comes around a corner to face an embedded enemy force in a town square. There are some stone benches facing them, so you naturally run over to them to set up a position from which you can mount an attack. But you can't. You just stand behind the bench. I must have wasted five Command Points running around every item in that town square looking for something - other than the heavily guarded sandbags - that I could use to cover my troops. There's nothing.

You soon learn to work around the problem, but it doesn't really allow for deep strategy - and it never stops feeling weird.

"Personally, this sits much higher on my personal list of wants... way above the likes of FarCry 2, Fallout 3 etc... "

Same. Pre-ordered this last night on the strength of the demo. Glad to see it got a good review, although I suspect I'll be enjoying this a lot more than a lot of games that have got 9 and 10 recently...

"I predict that I will buy this in around Feb 2010 for ten pounds along with most other games released this year"

I predict that Sega will underestimate the demand for this niche game and woefully under supply stores. By 2010 it'll be worth twice what you could have paid for it now. Serisouly, maybe not, but I've regretted not buying this type of game before. Stuff like Far Cry 2 and Fable 2 is much more likely to be in the bargain bins next year IMO.

Thanks for the review, although those problems sound serious enough that I might wait a bit before picking this up.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was reminded of Ring of Red BTW, probably my favourite PS2 game of all time.

wants
/needs PS3 first though

maybe Seven Seas Cod Liver Oil hasn't made it to 1935 Gallia and everyone is unable to crouch due to having knackered knees?

I just could not get into the demo at all, not for want of trying though. I still have the demo on my PS3 HDD with the intention of having another go at some point to see if it "grows" on me. It's the kind of game I should like, the visuals and audio are lovely but the gameplay left me a bit cold. :(

I remember the demo had a "skirmish" option... wonder if that is a set of plot-free "I just want to have a battle" challenges?

"I think more cover options would actually speed the game up."

Depends on the play style I guess. If both armies prefer the saftey of cover over trying to outflank but then being exposed you'd waste a lot of turns of slowly chipping away at each other's health.

With cover being relatively sparse, the defender has more benefit, as it should be unless the defender is really stupid and doesn't take advantage of being on the battlefield first of course.

"You can stand behind a high wall, and obviously bullets can't hit you. But you're not "in cover". You're just standing behind a wall. You don't get the status benefits of being officially "in cover"."

What's the difference between the two? Also, don't the other objects have any impact? I mean, I can imagine that bullets would travel through wooden crates and thus they would be less useful as cover. But if the crates make sure the enemy can't see you, it would be rather strange if the enemy didn't at least get a penalty for the chance of actually hitting you. From the demo I remember using a tree for cover and the enemy didn't hit me while I was moving or in the next turn. Maybe just a coincidence.

I was definitely going to pick this up anyway - just will have to wait til I actually have some time to play it!