Valkyria Chronicles - Gen. Discussion & Info

Chapter 7 is absurdly difficult only for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully the later mission's definitions of "challenging" don't devolve into
destroy X invulnerable enemy who you could've destroyed three turns ago if not for his moronic invincibility mechanic while Y invulerable enemy appears with no warning and kills all your units.
Quite disappointing, really; I was enjoying the game up until this.
 
[quote name='Magus8472']Chapter 7 is absurdly difficult only for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully the later mission's definitions of "challenging" don't devolve into
destroy X invulnerable enemy who you could've destroyed three turns ago if not for his moronic invincibility mechanic while Y invulerable enemy appears with no warning and kills all your units.
Quite disappointing, really; I was enjoying the game up until this.[/quote]

Don't worry, Chapter 7 was definitely the low point for me. A few later battles are a little frustrating for similar reasons but it's nowhere near as bad. You're completely right about the fake difficulty.

Also it's incredible how much people have written on the wiki you linked to, just within the "fake difficulty" category. The Internet is a scary place.
 
[quote name='The Mana Knight']Although I probably should post this in the deals section also, those who want to get a deal on Valkyria Chronicles, might want to check their local Wal-Mart. Mine had the game marked down to $30 and had 4 copies. [/quote]

Anyone else know of a deal besides this one? I've checked two WM's in STL and no go so far. I guess I'm stuck waiting for a GS price drop or Target clearance? Or for Sega to get their heads on straight and realize JRPG's are on the 360 now and not the PS3?
 
I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as I want to. The battles just feel tedious. I just finished chapter 6, the desert one, and it felt like the enemy snipers hit way too often from too far of a distance. My snipers aren't anywhere near that good.
 
[quote name='ChibiJosh']I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as I want to. The battles just feel tedious. I just finished chapter 6, the desert one, and it felt like the enemy snipers hit way too often from too far of a distance. My snipers aren't anywhere near that good.[/QUOTE]

That chapter definitely required lots of trial-and-error on my part to find an optimal strategy. Taking out the snipers was top priority, then hiding behind cover/crouching in trenches to minimize damage.

Try watching some videos to get ideas of what you could have done, and apply it to future missions, like the one below (it's a bit sloppy, IMO, but will do the trick).

Good luck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5taZOK2MPA
 
[quote name='metaly']Also it's incredible how much people have written on the wiki you linked to, just within the "fake difficulty" category. The Internet is a scary place.[/QUOTE]

Tvtropes combines the best parts of nostalgia and whining.

But yeah, the next few missions after Chapter 7 are much better, so my faith is restored. Mostly.
 
Are the medals trophies? I haven't got the game yet... It's not listed under the trophy thread, but i know that list is incomplete.
 
There was a rumor that they were going to add trophies, and that is why they made a second printing in Japan, but I don't think it's actually coming.
 
[quote name='SeanNOLA']There was a rumor that they were going to add trophies, and that is why they made a second printing in Japan, but I don't think it's actually coming.[/QUOTE]

If they do release a trophy patch, it'd wager it'd come to America first (since we Yankees love to collect shiny pieces of digital bling) and most likely coincide with the release of the first DLC (hopefully end of January/early February).
 
I finally beat the battle in Chapter 7. It's a real doozy. The only way I was able to beat it was to watch an A-rank strategy video. And you know what? It totally worked. A rank and everything. I tried to do the next mission after that but I died. I got blindsided so that wasn't really fair I think. I'll definitely be able to get it next time, though.
 
I think that's the main problem with this game, and why people aren't as interested in it as they could be. Too many JRPG-isms. They go and make a very cool new way of playing strategy games, but saddle it with all these JRPG-like conventions that make it more of a puzzle "die and repeat" type experience.
 
Die & Repeat isn't exclusive to JRPG's you know. In fact, more Western games are prone to doing that now than Japanese style games.

At least in this game you don't have a whole lot of dialogue, which is good considering JRPG's are filled with a lot of dialogue with a lot of Japanese-style quips about them, including quick head nodding when answering yes/no and apologizing up the ass for doing something stupid.

As far as Strategy games go (I guess Fire Emblem and FFTA/FFT are as far as I got), this one gives you a nice close-up 3rd person perspective, which most Western gamers should be used to by now, making it familiar territory to them.

But as for most people not buying it, it's 2 things. One, the timing of its' release was bad. Two, it's not Final Fantasy, and in the US/Europe, if you aren't Final Fantasy, you aren't selling jackshit.
 
VC DLC Coming soon, according to Silicon Era

[quote name='Silicon Era.com']How soon? Not sure, but the first batch the episode with Edie is coming “soon”. The first downloadble episode came out in Japan four months after the game released. If Sega sticks to the same schedule we’re talking February/March-ish “soon”.



This message was tucked away in a Sega Blog post where they also announced a Valkyria Chronicles Cosplay at NYC Comic Con. If you dress up as one of Gallia’s finest or a member of the Imperial Alliance and show up at Sega’s booth you’ll get a limited edition Valkyria Chronicles art book. Sega plans to hold books for Friday and Saturday, but it’s still first come first serve. As of now Sega looks to have the strongest gaming presence at the event with games like MadWorld, the Conduit, Sonic and the Black Knight, and House of the Dead: Overkill on display.[/quote]

I'm glad to hear that they're bringing over the Edie chapter!!! :applause::applause::applause:
 
[quote name='Vanigan']I think that's the main problem with this game, and why people aren't as interested in it as they could be. Too many JRPG-isms. They go and make a very cool new way of playing strategy games, but saddle it with all these JRPG-like conventions that make it more of a puzzle "die and repeat" type experience.[/quote]

You know, I never felt like Valkyria Chronicles was a die and repeat type of game. I attribute most of my failures—if not all—to my poor strategy and tactics. I am horrible at strategy games, so when I failed I felt like it was my fault. Which means to me that I barely got frustrated with the game—those frustrating parts being Chapter 9 and the final battle.

Another thing is that I find it very strange that so many people are having trouble with Chapter 7 because I was able to complete it in one try—I am not gloating, I just thought the mission was challenging, yet manageable. I thought Chapter 9 was a lot harder than Chapter 7 and I am surprised that that chapter is not more talked about.
 
[quote name='Razzuel']Another thing is that I find it very strange that so many people are having trouble with Chapter 7 because I was able to complete it in one try—I am not gloating, I just thought the mission was challenging, yet manageable. I thought Chapter 9 was a lot harder than Chapter 7 and I am surprised that that chapter is not more talked about.[/QUOTE]

Oddly I found that one extremely easy for the same reason Chapter 7 was so hard -- strange enemy mechanics that the player is given no reason to anticipate.
I was lucky enough to have put a Shocktrooper at the far N spawn point and once they explained the whole tank stopping mechanic I just moved him to where I assumed the truck would stop on the second turn. Sure enough, it did, and I just had him shoot it in the weak point about 8 times to end the fight. Two turns total.

Their strange penchant for gimmick missions is perplexing since the combat system doesn't lend itself to them very well at all.
 
Lot of SPOILERS!!!!
ya chapter 7 was such a bitch, the super being comes out of nowhere and annilates every1, especially when i had rosie still up there where she spawns. Also, i destroyed everything and had to hide my lancers behind stuff so she wouldnt shoot them. Had to wait like 3 turns just for it to stop, and couldnt use my tank because i had no engineer and it had like 500 hp left. Long story short, I retried a bunch of times on this 1. Definitely the hardest chapter in the game.

Chapter 9 was very easy for me, i dont like to start out not knowing what to do, so i retried once after playing two turns. So what i did was just bring a shocktrooper all the way to the top and wait behind a crate where the tank moves. So i kill all the people up there, and wait out a turn and second turn i just had enough cp to kill the tank. I also did the same thing on chapter 14, just move my lancers behind the tanks after a retry and finished it quickly.

I just dont like dying so i often retry and not finish everything, ya this is kinda cheating but i just dont like to have massive casualties even on the first playthrough.

Also, I thought the last chapter was so hard, like your gonna fight a strong ass dude like chapter 7 but he barely hurt me. He was tough as nails though, I was spraying him with bullets on the head and it barely hurt him. Then i finally found out that the flamethrower killed him so easily. Sadly disappointed on last chapter.

Great game though, just wish they would make it so you cant control the same unit twice, because most of the time i only used 2 or 3 units per chapter.
 
You can control the same unit as many times as you want.

Anyways, I'm no expert but I think you guys are missing the point. The game was really fun for me because I had to balance between A) rushing to finish each battle as quickly as I could, and B) still having my units positioned so I don't get owned if enemy reinforcements suddenly arrive or something. I don't blame you guys for being a little disappointed in the game if you played each chapter with the intention of seeing what happens, then retrying. This must have gotten boring really fast as it takes all the surprise, and the fun, out of playing each new chapter.
 
FYI the Gamestop in-store coupon for Jan. 16-22 is 20% off used PS3 games, and with the Edge card that becomes 30% off. If you can find a used copy anywhere, VC would be $38.50 plus tax.
 
[quote name='Razzuel']You know, I never felt like Valkyria Chronicles was a die and repeat type of game. I attribute most of my failures—if not all—to my poor strategy and tactics. I am horrible at strategy games, so when I failed I felt like it was my fault. Which means to me that I barely got frustrated with the game—those frustrating parts being Chapter 9 and the final battle.

Another thing is that I find it very strange that so many people are having trouble with Chapter 7 because I was able to complete it in one try—I am not gloating, I just thought the mission was challenging, yet manageable. I thought Chapter 9 was a lot harder than Chapter 7 and I am surprised that that chapter is not more talked about.[/quote]

They need to let you fly around the 3d map before each battle or at least give you enemy locations on the map where you choose to position which units where.

I can definitely attribute a rough start to a mission because I just didn't know if I needed lancers here and snipers there or viceversa. By no means a game breaker, but they should have thought of this.
 
[quote name='RichMeisterMan']They need to let you fly around the 3d map before each battle or at least give you enemy locations on the map where you choose to position which units where.

I can definitely attribute a rough start to a mission because I just didn't know if I needed lancers here and snipers there or viceversa. By no means a game breaker, but they should have thought of this.[/QUOTE]

Uh, in a war situation, you don't know exactly what the other side is going to have.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Uh, in a war situation, you don't know exactly what the other side is going to have.[/QUOTE]

You also don't have infinite do-overs and equally innumerable non-fatal gunshot wounds. This is a game; it'd be nice to have something besides totally blind unit selection in most circumstances. Even just an approximate tally of the opposing forces and their classes would be fine and still suitably "realistic."
 
I would have liked some idea of what to expect, too. Not a complete map or anything, but the proportion of classes or even just something like "expect a lot of armored units" in the briefing would have been nice.

Eventually I got into the habit of putting down all the story characters plus one or two more, then leaving the rest of the positions empty so I could call in appropriate reinforcements as I figured out what was going on. The only time that screwed me up was in one of the missions where you don't get a home base and I didn't notice.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't ask for a complete run-down of the map, but at the very least context of your immediate deployment area would've been nice. Perhaps just the units within sight of your tank or something. I also wouldn't mind knowing where the enemy's bases were, either. It's something we know as soon as we start the mission, but is hidden while we choose where to put people.

Course, by the end of the game, I learned it made much more sense to start off with very few people, and use the scout to take a base closer to the action. It's a lot easier to get men on the front lines that way than it is to march em forward.
 
Eh, I think information like that might spoil the mission. The way the game was already set up feels more right to me than disclosing extra information like you guys are suggesting.

I never had a problem with the missions in the sense that I was not prepared because I always entered a mission with a diverse selection of units. I usually brought at least one character of each class and I would usually have a standard set of characters to bring, but I used different permutations depending on the mission briefing.
 
Also they could at least give you a warning, like " we have sighted the enemy coming at the northwest sector, incoming eta 2 turns." Something like that would be greatly appreciated.
 
Wow, I'm surprised at number of complaints regarding the fog of war(not able to see enemy units within your range) or incoming trigger units when you complete a certain objective. Most of these game play elements are found in typical strategy game or maybe I'm too used to playing strategy games. Trigger units shouldn't be problem if you pay full attention to objectives. And Fog of War is generally added to make you think twice before you make your strategy. You can easily beat Fog of war with scouts, snipers, recon skill or simple save/load trick.
 
Exactly. If you complaint fog of war then SRPG is just not for you.

[quote name='fatbeer']Wow, I'm surprised at number of complaints regarding the fog of war(not able to see enemy units within your range) or incoming trigger units when you complete a certain objective. Most of these game play elements are found in typical strategy game or maybe I'm too used to playing strategy games. Trigger units shouldn't be problem if you pay full attention to objectives. And Fog of War is generally added to make you think twice before you make your strategy. You can easily beat Fog of war with scouts, snipers, recon skill or simple save/load trick.[/quote]
 
[quote name='fatbeer']And Fog of War is generally added to make you think twice before you make your strategy. You can easily beat Fog of war with . . . simple save/load trick.[/QUOTE]

That's just it. If the element is implemented in such a fashion that you end up cheesing your away around it simply because it's inconvienient (rather than actually adding anything to the difficulty) there's no "strategy" involed. You're just manipulating the system to get around an artificial problem that system itself has created that's completely external to difficulty.

In brief, the complaint is not that fog of war exists, it's that the player has no idea where nearby enemy units are when he's deploying his own, but then immediately does once actual combat starts. The only influence this has on strategy is by forcing you to craft a default one with regards to unit deployment unless you're willing to check and reload at the beginning of every fight.

That said, it's just a minor annoyance in the long run.
 
I haven't started the game yet, but it's decidedly un-strategic to make the player completely guess what they're going to be up against. I had the same complaint about FFT.
 
[quote name='pete5883']I haven't started the game yet, but it's decidedly un-strategic to make the player completely guess what they're going to be up against. I had the same complaint about FFT.[/QUOTE]

I'm not very far in, but it doesn't appear to be a complete guess.
I'm still able to view the whole map and see a number of enemy locations, just not all of them.
It seems pretty standard for a strategy game.
 
[quote name='pete5883']I haven't started the game yet, but it's decidedly un-strategic to make the player completely guess what they're going to be up against. I had the same complaint about FFT.[/QUOTE]

There is a mission briefing, where your squad's Commanding Officer will give you some general intelligence "Enemy is amassed in this area, with long range artillery coming in so be careful. There are also reports of tanks..." etc. This is a WWII-era strategy game. There were no satellites or unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance in that time, so give the game brownie points for historical accuracy.

You're definitely not going in blind, but you won't know where the enemy bases are while placing your troops. Either plan accordingly, or do trial & error.
 
why are people complaining about fog of war or line of sight or whatever? An enemy is hiding behind a building and you're on the other side. You shouldn't be able to see what he's doing. Isn't that common sense? lol

I'm pretty sure when that happens, the computer can't see what you're doing either, so It's not some kind of unfair gameplay element for the player.
 
There are only a couple of missions I've been through so far that make you choose a specific type of character in order to beat it. In almost every mission I've taken a rounded team of Shocktroopers, Scouts, Lancers and either a Sniper or an Engineer, mostly the latter.
 
Played the demo due to the amount of praise I heard on this game, it seems pretty cool. But is there anything "more" to it? What puts it over the top? Is there a good story/cool level up system? Would like to hear a little more before purchasing and I don't want to be tainted by online reviews!

Just would like to know how the demo relates to the actual game. Thanks, look forward to playing it!
 
[quote name='imascrub']why are people complaining about fog of war or line of sight or whatever? An enemy is hiding behind a building and you're on the other side. You shouldn't be able to see what he's doing. Isn't that common sense? lol

I'm pretty sure when that happens, the computer can't see what you're doing either, so It's not some kind of unfair gameplay element for the player.[/QUOTE]
No one here is complaining about that.
 
[quote name='DarkNessBear']Played the demo due to the amount of praise I heard on this game, it seems pretty cool. But is there anything "more" to it? What puts it over the top? Is there a good story/cool level up system? Would like to hear a little more before purchasing and I don't want to be tainted by online reviews!

Just would like to know how the demo relates to the actual game. Thanks, look forward to playing it![/QUOTE]

Here's some information that hopefully will help put you over the top and pick up this game.

Game Mechanics
Upon completion of a mission or skirmish maps, you are awarded experience and money depending on how fast you complete the mission, and the number of tanks you destroy and enemy captains you kill.

You then can return to the "Headquarters" which is a hub for researching new weapons and training your troops (along with organizing your squad, looking at news, etc)...

Training Your Troops - The beauty of VC's leveling system is that you invest the XP you earned into one of the four classes, rather than individual characters. So when you invest enough points for your scouts to level up, every one of your scouts level; thereby reducing the tedium of leveling individual classes like more traditional SRPGs. Each progressive level requires more XP to level up, but that's understandable.

Researching New Weapons - Your primary means of getting better weapons is through an upgrade similar to that used in training your troops. Each weapon (rifle, submachine gun, lancer, etc.) has its own tech tree and you buy upgraded versions with the money you earned from missions and skirmishes. As the game progresses, several weapons gain additional tech trees to further specialize their characteristics (eg. rifles can specialize in accuracy, power, or status ailments).

You can also gain new weapons by killing enemy Aces, or earning them from the princess by scoring an A ranking (highest ranking) on a mission after Mission 11.

Hope that helps push you over fence and you pick this up! Let us know if you have any more questions
 
[quote name='pete5883']No one here is complaining about that.[/quote]

must be my bad for not reading the previous pages but just a few posts up from mine there are a few people talking about not being able to see or know what units they're up against or whatever, other than the short briefing which should give you a hint on what kind of units to bring. Later on in the game, most of the time it would be probably be more beneficial to bring a well rounded group with you to every battle.

There's no real use to knowing what units and where the enemy starts out with, since throughout the battle the enemy will request reinforcements and also move their units to areas where your line of sight cannot reach. So whatever advantage you may have had at the beginning might not mean a thing later on in the battle. If you bring the wrong units to a battle, the more challenging solution would be to modify your team by retreating and requesting your own reinforcements, rather than taking the easy out and reloading your game once you figure out where everything is (which I'll admit I've done a couple times lol). In some missions it's easier to advance by starting with just a couple units to take over a forward base, then requesting backup there anyway. That's about the best you can do to get a basic layout of the map and enemy positions to start you off so you can build your team accordingly.
 
You can also tell invisible guys are moving throughout the battle, and can usually guess where they are after they move.
 
I really like this game! Played the demo around 2-3 times. Although it's a little too easy...

Anyone know where to get the best deal on this at? I'd probably spend around $30 for it. Nothing more!
 
So far I'm not disappointed, but I'm let down by this game. Too much raving about it. There is nothing innovative about it's gameplay. It's just a THIRD PERSON squad tactics game as opposed to isometric ala Silent Storm, X-COM, Fallout (et al), FFT.

The game play doesn't flow well because you end up leaving half of your squad behind due to lack of command points and certain classes slow ass move speed. You'll run ahead with your tank, a scout, an engineer, soldier/rocket or two and then you'll have that lone sniper or soldier stuck between FLAGS where he couldn't make it to either to retreat without wasting several turns.

Then third person shooting...Sniping is a great idea. One of the few reasons the 3rd person perspective isn't a gimmick. BUT, because you can't shoot through walls, most likely you'll aim at a guy and think you've got a clear shot but jeez, the hit detection on that building is farther out than it's actual edge. Or jeez, your character might be taller than that foot bridge's railing but he can't shoot over it? Characters have about a 5-foot grenade throwing distance...they can throw farther from up top on a building, thankfully...but the camera angle doesn't show where your throwing.

Class design is just silly. Engineer?-walk behind the tank the whole map and chomp it with your healing pliers! Sniper?-shoot maybe one or two guys at the beginning of the map and retreat, never to be used again. Scout?-go "scout" around and be left to die because you can't even sneak shot a poor guy in the head from 5ft. Tank?-tank is great. He's the best of all the character design decisions. But the machine gun is worthless.

These are some of my impressions of my limited experience with the game. But as a seasoned gamer I notice gameplay flaws and there ain't much you can do about it. Not sure how much time I'll put into this before a trade.
 
TRADING/overall WORTH:

OK, I have some questions that require a little speculation. Obviously this game is very sought out after right now since it's at the $59 price point and doesn't seem to go on sale. I don't think the game has sold well up to this point but what I'm wondering is, what do you guys think the long term trading value/worth of this game will be? Worth hanging on to? Or trading off soon?
 
Right now I'm in Chapter 7 and I haven't even got a B rank. I just learned that most of missions I've played can be completed in 2 or 3 turns to earn the highest S rank. If you just want to complete the mission and don't care about how many turns you use, then some of the characters might be boring. But if you want to complete a mission as soon as possible, you got to have all the charaters do their jobs, for example, use sniper to kill a enemy trooper in critical position then dash your lancer to the back of enemy tank to kill it in one shot.

This game is not without its flaws, but I can't imagine any SRPG fans would not like it. It combines the good parts of Disgaea and Advanced Wars, plus action elements (movement, cover, handling of distance, etc) and a good story. For now I'm asking for more.

[quote name='ChernobylCow']So far I'm not disappointed, but I'm let down by this game. Too much raving about it. There is nothing innovative about it's gameplay. It's just a THIRD PERSON squad tactics game as opposed to isometric ala Silent Storm, X-COM, Fallout (et al), FFT.

The game play doesn't flow well because you end up leaving half of your squad behind due to lack of command points and certain classes slow ass move speed. You'll run ahead with your tank, a scout, an engineer, soldier/rocket or two and then you'll have that lone sniper or soldier stuck between FLAGS where he couldn't make it to either to retreat without wasting several turns.

Then third person shooting...Sniping is a great idea. One of the few reasons the 3rd person perspective isn't a gimmick. BUT, because you can't shoot through walls, most likely you'll aim at a guy and think you've got a clear shot but jeez, the hit detection on that building is farther out than it's actual edge. Or jeez, your character might be taller than that foot bridge's railing but he can't shoot over it? Characters have about a 5-foot grenade throwing distance...they can throw farther from up top on a building, thankfully...but the camera angle doesn't show where your throwing.

Class design is just silly. Engineer?-walk behind the tank the whole map and chomp it with your healing pliers! Sniper?-shoot maybe one or two guys at the beginning of the map and retreat, never to be used again. Scout?-go "scout" around and be left to die because you can't even sneak shot a poor guy in the head from 5ft. Tank?-tank is great. He's the best of all the character design decisions. But the machine gun is worthless.

These are some of my impressions of my limited experience with the game. But as a seasoned gamer I notice gameplay flaws and there ain't much you can do about it. Not sure how much time I'll put into this before a trade.[/quote]
 
[quote name='ChernobylCow']TRADING/overall WORTH:

OK, I have some questions that require a little speculation. Obviously this game is very sought out after right now since it's at the $59 price point and doesn't seem to go on sale. I don't think the game has sold well up to this point but what I'm wondering is, what do you guys think the long term trading value/worth of this game will be? Worth hanging on to? Or trading off soon?[/quote]
I definitely think it's worth hanging onto. I think that, in the future, when people are collecting old PS3 games, this one will be one of the harder-to-come-by games, the same way that Earthbound or Panzer Dragoon Saga are now. There will come a time when you will see a bin full of $20 VC's at your local Toys-R-Us, and then you'll never see one again outside of eBay.

Psychic Sean has spoken.
 
I think Valkyria, LBP and R2 are the only three realeased PS3 games will definitely not see a price drop in 2009. Console exclusive games with unique features always hold their values before becoming GH, and we all know Valkyria will never become a GH. With that being said, It's hard to imagine it could become another FF7 or Marvel vs Capcom 2.

[quote name='ChernobylCow']TRADING/overall WORTH:

OK, I have some questions that require a little speculation. Obviously this game is very sought out after right now since it's at the $59 price point and doesn't seem to go on sale. I don't think the game has sold well up to this point but what I'm wondering is, what do you guys think the long term trading value/worth of this game will be? Worth hanging on to? Or trading off soon?[/quote]
 
I finally beat the game last night, after playing it for over 30 hours. I can't wait to go through on hard mode now.

Any one have thoughts on the difficulty of the last level. I was a little disappointed after the massive 17 turn fight with Jaeger to beat Maximillian in 2 turns
 
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Game seems really overpriced. Seems like a great Downloadable title, but from what I heard it only has like 10 levels or something? And thats it? For 60 bucks that's insane.
 
There are...at least from what I've played so far, 2 battles per chapter. Each battle takes between 20-90 minutes depending on what you're doing.
 
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