Valkyria Chronicles Comments by Rob Fahey

I cannot wait.

In the delude of upcoming games this is the one that stands out really really clearly above everything else. Please consider buying this over and above the latest car game or shooty gun game. Sega need to be rewarded for trying something like this and actually bringing it across for us to play.

I know purse straps are going to be tight but please keep Valkyria in mind :p

Yeah does look good, and sounds like it has a bit of meat behind the visuals.

Fingers crossed.

Good grief. It's late (I'm 38 now - not what I was 10 years ago). And yet Eurogamer continues well into the night. Excellent.

Mmmm.

The aesthetic looks beautiful. Unfortunately, I can't abide SRPGs. Shame really.

This isn't quite like other SRPGs luckyjim, it has a realtime elements as well.

Cel-shaded 3D? Fine, thanks, but I'm still waiting for some kind of reinvention of true 2D in HD. Not just upscaling & filtering. All major developers seem to avoid this task. I consider Capcom's new Street Fighter as a cowardice. Please let me know if I'm wrong and some current-gen, high-profile 2D game rendered entirely in HD is in development, or even already done. C'mon, developers, give us something like 21st Century Metal Slug. Such in your face 2D blast of beauty from HDTV screen would left no man standing. Anime in HD looks good. Anime on cinema screen looks good either. Time's up for the Great 2D Counter-Revolution in this so called HD Era.
Postscriptum. If you don't believe it's worth taking a risk, just go play Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (FOR FREE on GameTap; you don't even need to register) in high resolution (up to 1280x1024, at least in my own, boxed version). I've never ever after seen such lovely looking game, until Odin Sphere came along.

"great turn-based game"

An oxymoron surely?

Does look nice at least - I was almost overcome by my first bout of PS3-jealousy until you mentioned big eyes, spiky hair and turn-based. Oh well, maybe next year ...

Took no real notice before this preview. Will keep a watchful eye but will still buy my 'shooty gun' games.

Looks awesome!

Oh I'm glad this is looking good!

"Outside the battlefield, the game follows a cut-scene-heavy storyline"

I LOVE CUT SCENE HEAVY GAMES

This is probably the first PS3 game that I really, really want to play. It looks splendid.

Unlike most turn-based games, just because it isn't a unit's turn doesn't mean it's a lifeless statue.

Surely this is a bit of a stretch? Opportunity fire is in a lot of turn based games afaik.

This looks great! I want!

I was going to post what Martin said, the opportunity fire has been around a long time. What springs to mind is Fallout (sequel or original, can't remember) and the customizable Linked Fire feature that Front Mission 4 had.

Colour me interested.

Woo. Excited by this one.

Beautiful. And turn-based as well. What's not to love? IMO turn based is the best approximation of strategy into video games. RTS games have nothing to do with strategy during the game but are all about memorizing keyboard shortcuts and being able to perform them maddeningly fast. They're games of skill, not of intellect.

I've been wanting to get this since it was announced for Japan.

Wow, that looks awesome :)

That sounds fantastic. Do want!

@Obiwanshinobi


What?

He wants sprites. Something like Guilty Gear.

@shotgun44

@Obiwanshinobi

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!!

there ya go fixed.

on a side note the game looks fantastic.

@Obiwanshinobi: 2D for games in HD actually costs a huge amount more than 3D. Additionally it's a skillset which is increasingly rare among game artists, which is sad. Personally I kind of agree with you and would love to see, say, Vanillaware do a game in HD, but I'm also quite happy to play stuff that uses 3D and shaders to give the impression of 2D, eg this and Okami.

"@Obiwanshinobi: 2D for games in HD actually costs a huge amount more than 3D."

Yeah, true. Personally I don't mind if the drawings are not in HD TBH. Odin Sphere, the PS2 Disgaeas and Grim Grimmoire have more personality than anything released in HD so far. We need less generic looking video games. But with the development cost rising with each cycle, junk like UE will get used more and more and games will look even more and more alike.

Maybe in "AAA" land, but thanks to cut price games and small sized devs hitting the likes of PSN, there is a good wadge of fresh stylised content on offer.

@Obiwanshinobi

Man thats exactly what i have been telling to everyone. 2D graphics in HD would be awesome, I really want a nice looking 2D game. The problem with that is animating that stuff, it will take forever. I am a 3D animator and if you want to have total control of your mesh, then 2D shaders is the only way. You can't have true 2D graphics with a none static camera. So you are stuck with just side scrollers, and puzzle games.

Valkyria Chronicles and Infamous are the only games I'm wishing I had a PS3 for.

Damn same day as fallout 3, and if you dont like turn based why bother commenting on an SRPG. Lego Batman too this is going to be another expensive autumn and winter.

@ Widge

Yeah, you're right. There are artistically interesting games these days on the PSN (or other online stores). And AAA just gets more boring and boring. So boring in fact that an artistically challenged game like BioShock (seriously, the character designs are just terrible) gets praised for art design.

He wants sprites. Something like Guilty Gear.
Well, I'm not quite sure what I want. I mean, revolution. Something never seen before. I believe that people making games prefer 3D for good reason. It's not only matter of competition, as full 3D itself is hardly impressive these days. I just don't regard full 3D as an ultimate necessity. I want to live in a world not utterly devoided of new 2D games.

Personally I don't mind if the drawings are not in HD TBH. Odin Sphere, the PS2 Disgaeas and Grim Grimmoire have more personality than anything released in HD so far.
Maybe they have, but display-wise there's no turning back. People just won't keep their old, huge CRTs. Full 3D may not be necessary, HD seems to be. You can scale 2D graphics up to higher resolution and soften squares the pixels became, like emulators do, but it's always half-measure. That's why I consider finding new ways of developing 2D games to exploit HD capabilities as a matter of great importance.

The problem with that is animating that stuff, it will take forever. I am a 3D animator and if you want to have total control of your mesh, then 2D shaders is the only way. You can't have true 2D graphics with a none static camera. So you are stuck with just side scrollers, and puzzle games.
I don't ask for pushing any platform to its limit. I don't ask for Canaletto's painting animated at all costs. The thing I ask for could be somehow minimalistic. Proper implementation of some old gimmicks (like parallax scrolling) on a larger scale than old hardware allowed should do the trick. That and artistic value, and playability, and so on. First of all I ask for some new ideas. Which is one hell of an asking, I konw.

Personally I kind of agree with you and would love to see, say, Vanillaware do a game in HD, but I'm also quite happy to play stuff that uses 3D and shaders to give the impression of 2D, eg this and Okami.
Sure, it's hard to be not impressed by the Valkyria Chronicles' artistic style. Maybe not as bold as MadWorld and Ōkami, but still this kind of Japanese oddity I admire. Every console need such gems to win my heart. By the way, I can't remember any complaints about Ōkami's 2D vegetation. Almost forgotten trick, yet it have proved itself worthy once again.
As for the cel-shaded 3D graphics, I must admit it ages extremely well, so I'm all for it.

cant wait for this.

shame that it'll probably only sell about 20 copies.

@ steveturner: I'm not sure that is going to be the case. I've personally got this on pre-order already because I've been excited about it since it first appeared, and I have a punch of friends who are also planning on picking this up. It might not be blockbuster level of sales, but I think this might do well for itself. And even if not, at least I'll have a copy. :p

Chalk one up for me as well. That'll make at least 24-25 copies :)

A week after Fable II and the same day as Fallout 3.

Both of which I've already pre-ordered. But I'll still be getting this. I've waited too long for it...

The premise and certain mechanics put me vaguely in mind of Ring of Red. Anybody remember Ring of Red? Now there's an IP which deserves a second shot.

@dirigiblebill - Ring of Red rules!

Can see myself getting Valkyria Chronicles, though I'm trying to have a 'sensible gaming autumn' we have to support these kinds of games, if PS3 sales in Japan are anything to go by, they'll be very few and far between.

@Obiwanshinobi:

The new King of Fighters game is the usual multilayer 2D, with each frame of (HD) animation hand-drawn.

Trailer here: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/40505...

Then there's also SSF2HD, if that ever sees a release :D

Oh, Ring Of Red, now that was a great little game!

Guys, don't forget that a demo of this will be available on PSN next week (9th).

"Anybody remember Ring of Red? Now there's an IP which deserves a second shot."

I picked it up a while ago for 4 euro but haven't come around to playing it yet. It didn't appear to work with BC on the PS3 though I haven't checked it with any of the recent firmware. Maybe I should give it another go and if it doesn't work, dig up my PS2...

/is cheered by all the love directed at Ring of Red

I think it would work extremely well on the PSP...

@Les:
Obviously you've never played Company of Heroes. Or the Total War series. Online, most strategy games might be all about shortcuts, but CoH has an excellent, excellent formula and balance that really rewards planning ahead rather than spamming.

If you want turn based tactics, I recommend Silent Storm (seems like Eurogamer didn't deign to review it). Despite being evidently non-Japanese PC game, artistically nowhere near Valkyria Chronicles, it's this kind of entertainment which sooner or later makes you come back for more. I've just uninstalled Silent Storm to make some space on HD, and I'm allready missing it. Controlling action in full 3D is a little bit trickier than in Commandos or Fallout Tactics, but in this case 3D make perfect sense, considering advanced physics, destructible environment and all (still you need to climb the bench to cut the enemy already standig on it with a knife, oh dear). Both SS and SS: Sentinels should be available on one DVD by now, and the lack of optimisation isn't such a dealbraker these days as it could have been back then. After all, SS's engine is pretty scalable and the game's selling point is gameplay rather than flashy visuals.

@Zastai:

If only Capcom and SNK join forces once again...

Eurogamer did review Silent Storm. The good thing about this game is that it's one of the few SRPGs for consoles that actually try to do some of the things they did there (with watch areas and shooting when something comes into your LOF).

It's a shame they followed Silent Storm up with a frigging Vampire tactics game... urgh.

@ Davemanz

I love the Total War series! But the strategy comes from the turn based bits. Once it comes to the battles, it's a tacticle game. I played CoH at a friend's place once. Looked very nice but saw only the SP.

This is delicious!
Been looking forward to playing Valkyria since I downloaded the vid from the japanese PSN early this year.
Visually it's like looking at a Studio Ghibli sketchbook, the backgrounds at least,
plus it's got TANKS!!!!

Still got my copy of RoR, brilliant game.

This has just gone top of my most wanted list, ddin't realise it was going to make it out here so soon.