In case you haven't kept up with the title previously, Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical RPG that mixes strategy gameplay with real-time combat. Set in an alternative version of 1930's Europe, Valkyria Chronicles follows the conflict waging between the Eastern Empire and the Atlantic Federation, who have, as Kaminski told us, incompatible views on how to unite Europe under one banner. Apparently, the real heart of the conflict centers around the small country of Gallia, which holds a rich abundance of Ragnite. This resource is critical to the war at hand and can be used for a variety of purposes, like powering machines and even being harnessed for medicinal use.
From what we've been told in the past, you'll be controlling a platoon on the Federation's side and fighting against the Empire. Although this story may seem like somewhat typical RPG fare, we can assure you that the presentation of the plot seems quite unique in Valkyria Chronicles. The game walks the line between fantasy and reality, pulling a lot of early 20th Century warfare aesthetics into the mix while still flaunting a whimsical anime influence. We were definitely intrigued.
The real beauty of the game, however, comes from the artistic style. As we reported previously, Valkyria Chronicles is powered by the CANVAS Engine, which looks like a beautiful cross between 3D anime character models and a watercolor painting. We were extremely impressed with how the game looked and the amount of detail present in the characters is truly admirable.
Valkyria Chronicles is organized entirely through a book, where both story segments and battles are pictured on the pages along with bits of text. When the demo finally started, we watched as the opening cutscene played out in an admittedly classy fashion. A Japanese narration, serious in tone, played over images of great struggle and war. These scenes faded in and out as the camera panned across an old-fashioned, intricately drawn map. A lot of the imagery in this opening cutscene was powerful, including a shot of a legion of dark knights with what appear to be jousting lances. Later in the cutscene, these lances actually turn out to be rocket launchers that are used to penetrate tank armor. Sweet.
As Kaminski started the first battle, we got to see Valkyria Chronicles' BLiTZ Battle System at work. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, Valkyria Chronicles features both strategy gameplay and a sort of real-time sequence. After you select what soldiers you'll bring into battle, a stylish map of the battlefield comes into view with various readouts dotting the sides of the screen. You have a set number of command points that can be spent to move one character of your platoon at a time. What's really fantastic is the moment you opt to move a unit on the map. As soon as you do so, the map seamlessly transforms into a fully rendered environment and the camera drops down from the sky to rest behind your character. You can than move around in real-time (though only your character is currently moving) and you can navigate the environment manually to set up strategies.
This first battle took place on a beautiful grassy field with a river cutting through the land and a windmill churning away in the distance. Kaminski started the minor engagement by moving a solider up the path and behind an unaware enemy unit. Again, you're in full control of your character and can move anywhere on the map as long as you do so within the allotted time. Once you finish moving, you can stop in place and pause time to select an action. From here, Kaminski freely moved his targeting reticule over the enemy solider and opened fire. When the solider got hit, he turned around and returned fire, forcing Kaminski to bring his unit behind cover.
Kaminski ended the battle by bringing a second soldier up the path and tossing a grenade over the cover. The resulting explosion promptly finished off his opponent. With that, Kaminski ended the battle and loaded a segment of the game that takes place much later in the campaign.
Taking place in a war-torn city, this second conflict was much larger in scale and not only featured a more intimidating battlefield but also a higher soldier count. Each side had both on-foot troops and armored tanks at their disposal. In this level, Kaminski showed off an additional number of features that Valkyria Chronicles will boast. For one, tanks look like a lot of fun. They're powerful and they can also roll right over certain environmental objects like lampposts. When Kaminski moved his tank into position, one anti-personnel projectile took out a whole group of enemy soldiers.
Kaminski also took a sniper unit up a nearby guard tower for some support fire. Once the unit was in position, the targeting reticule actually zooms in like an FPS and gives you the chance to make the long-distance shot yourself. From what we could see so far, battles seem to be based on line-of-sight. If you come into range of an enemy, they'll open fire on you while you move around the battlefield. Fortunately, your units will also open fire if an enemy runs into view. Thus, positioning your units will likely be critical to the game's overarching strategy.
There are a number of other elements to battle that will keep things interesting. If a friendly unit goes down, you'll have three turns to go to them before the enemy does. If a medic can reach them on time, they'll be revived. If you don't get there in time though, you'll lose that unit permanently for the rest of the game. If that unit happens to be a main character, you'll have to start the battle over again. Fiddlesticks.
Every character will also have "Potentials" to use during combat. These skills boost the soldier's ability to fight and are dependant on a number of factors. For example, if a character is more comfortable fighting in urban environments, he or she will become stronger when battles erupt on the streets of a city. This looks to add yet another layer of complexity to an already engaging system.
With over 50 customizable characters, sweeping music and the aforementioned gorgeous visuals, we're pretty excited about Valkyria Chronicles. We were also very happy to learn that both the original Japanese language track and the dubbed English track will be available when the game is released in the US. Hopefully that release comes soon, because we can't wait to get our hands on a copy of the game and jump right into this intriguing RPG.