Incline The Valkyria Chronicles Thread

[damicore]

Too bad this game came out for the PS3 and VC2 is supposedly a decline. It seems really interesting.
Also there seems to be a game under the same engine, alas set in a (final) fantasy setting and only in japanese. It's called Shining Blade and it runs almost flawlessly on JPCSP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfbnriuOv1Y
Uhm, youtube video is not showing up?

 

[Ulminati]

Uhm, youtube video is not showing up?

 

[felipepepe]

Wow, that looks great! The characters look like generic anime, but the combat seems relly worthy it.

 

[deuxhero]

Trying to find further info about it told me the game is sadly piss easy. Would still like to see it in English.

Someone seems to have translated a good portion of the text alreddy

http://cyberakuma.livejournal.com/tag/shining blade

 

[TyTheImmortal]

VC2 is a great game. Perhaps not quite the equal to the original, which yes I do think is the best turn-based tactics game of all-time, but not far off. It did take massive steps backwards with regards characters and story. Ok the original was not perfect in that regard, but each battle had more purpose in the original, and for a Japanese narrative it is really quite a charming little story. The sequel's pacing is totally thrown off by the monthly mission requirements nonsense of repeating stages ad naueseum and the story itself is just horrible anyway.

But once you have a powerful and versatile squad, stages can become the great excercises in CP efficiency they were in the first game. I love the APC, some of the new classes like sniper elites (exactly what the class needed), and the sound production values are still very high (even though the character quotes are not quite as good as the original).

Oh... if you guys don't mind me plugging my Youtube channel here? It's www.youtube.com/valchronification if you love the game head on over, there are playthroughs with commentary for all 3 VC games (well, the VC3 demo at least).

Edit: "Also, Valkyria Chronicles is a puzzle game, not a tactical combat game."

All tactical situations are, in a sense, like puzzles to be solved (to find the "best" move). VC is definitely more tactical than strategic, following roughly the definitions you'd find in chess.

 

[TyTheImmortal]

Instead of thinking, the game encourages you to :

• rush your units past Gatlings-equipped tanks to "capture" flags for the win

Not on 100% kill mission criteria it doesn't. However I do agree they messed up some of the numbers. I think the game is better if you equip the weakest anti-status effect armour for all missions.

warp your units in and out near your own camps, making them virtually impregnable

The game is more about winning quickly than just winning, and yes bases are very central to that. You need to think across multiple maps, no use warping in and out of the wrong bases.

ignore most of your units, since, barring some rare exceptions, you'll only ever want to deploy shock-troopers and their variations.

Commandos are the best units, it's true. They are a bit OP. I often use lancers, APC, scouts and sometimes snipers because also remember you're only going to have so many commandos. Fencers have their fans too.

ignore most features of your hard-earned upgrades, since 99% of the time they're basically useless (orders, armor upgrades of the tank, bought missions, etc.)
Engineers are useless, since you never run out of ammo with conventional weaponry, which is sufficient to "win at the game", and your units magically auto-heal at the end of any turn.

Engineers are handy for reloading lancers in the original, but I do agree that with base-warping now in place, they are quite redundant.

Lancers are useless

Nonsense.

Scouts have one useful unit at the end of the game (the sniper girl), but till then, you can just forget about them. The little you gain with their enhanced movement, you lose with their laughable pew-pew rifle.

They also have a grenade, and if you only need to knock an enemy out of a base camp to capture it, you can save yourself CPs by using a scout. Yes the maps are smaller in VC2, and scouts' guns were nerfed, but they are still useful. Heavy Scouts can also be a situational middleground between a scout and a shock (they have the range of a scout and power closer to a shock).

Your units will somehow survive enemy gunners unloading their clips, while standing right in front of them. Enemy units seem able of the same dumb feats, since some of them can dodge incoming tank shells, mortar and/or Gatling fire.

Use that AA-1 armour. And the AI is just wacky. They did make it worse from VC1, which is saying something, but a big part of the enjoyment of VC games is that the enemy is dangerous even on your own turn. Only thing is in VC2 they really messed up the numbers so you have to correct for that by using AA-1 armour.

 

[StaticSpine]

I've played through VC 2 on a PSP, and it was one of the best games for the console IMO.

When I got PS3, I've bought the original game. I still didn't manage to walk it through, it seems much more hard and punishing than the second part. I mean I was totally into the battle/gameplay system of the game, but still it's rather difficult, because most of the missions have details which can change the course of mission and get you to surprise. Also it's pretty impossible to understand from the pre-mission briefings what kind of troops will you need. So I'm playing the game like...going to work, I really love it, but I'm sometimes afraid to play it when I'm tired and can't think about tactics properly. So I walk through 1-2 missions in a week.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

Son, your tactical-fu is weak, you need to train more.

 

[StaticSpine]

Son, your tactical-fu is weak, you need to train more.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Yea, it's always helpful to practise with the skirmishes (which are essentially combat-only versions of previous story missions) until you can ace them reliably with top rank. Generally speaking you need a solid core strategy to use (ie, I myself used a pronged blitz attack with Welkin and an Engineer and Scout in the middle, with Shocktroopers on the other side and Alicia on the other). Also, remember that the game WANTS you to take Alicia (not that she wasn't the most powerful Scout in the game by a huge margin anyway), Rosie and Largo along, since each of them also grants an extra command point whenever on the field. Besides them the must-have unit to get later is Marie, the best sniper who can eventually reliably get 100% accuracy for her shots.

Couple of tricks to know:

1) Welkin's mortar is good for clearing cover, you can then use a Shocktrooper or Scout to mop up the enemy.
2) Always position sniper support so they need to move minimally or not at all for rest of the mission.
3) Welkin can also crush cover with his tank, which is also useful for flushing out the enemy.
4) Aces can't dodge as well if they're unaware of the character.
5) Always bring along at least one Engineer.
6) Any unit can destroy an enemy tank with a Command active. Just rush behind it and have the Shocktrooper fire with Demolition buff at the radiator.

 

[StaticSpine]

Yea, it's always helpful to practise with the skirmishes (which are essentially combat-only versions of previous story missions) until you can ace them reliably with top rank. Generally speaking you need a solid core strategy to use (ie, I myself used a pronged blitz attack with Welkin and an Engineer and Scout in the middle, with Shocktroopers on the other side and Alicia on the other). Also, remember that the game WANTS you to take Alicia (not that she wasn't the most powerful Scout in the game by a huge margin anyway), Rosie and Largo along, since each of them also grants an extra command point whenever on the field. Besides them the must-have unit to get later is Marie, the best sniper who can eventually reliably get 100% accuracy for her shots.

Couple of tricks to know:

1) Welkin's mortar is good for clearing cover, you can then use a Shocktrooper or Scout to mop up the enemy.
2) Always position sniper support so they need to move minimally or not at all for rest of the mission.
3) Welkin can also crush cover with his tank, which is also useful for flushing out the enemy.
4) Aces can't dodge as well if they're unaware of the character.
5) Always bring along at least one Engineer.
6) Any unit can destroy an enemy tank with a Command active. Just rush behind it and have the Shocktrooper fire with Demolition buff at the radiator.

Actually, I know/use most of these tips. I just need to play more and do more skirmishes.

 

[laclongquan]

And a late answer to an objection to VC1:

VC doesnt use the limited ammo conservation feature because it's absolutely not logical to do so. They are regulars in a regular army with access to bases, for god sake. Their tank can work, which tell you that access to enough supply is no problem.

--JA2 has that feature but only noobs lack ammo. it got reinforced much strongly with 1.13 MOD, but even that doesnt prevent you pack enough ammo for many battles if you care. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

--SS and SSS also incorporate it but you can get infinite ammo by using your base' stock cabinets. You lack ammo only if you are careless. hammer and sickle try to reinforce it better, but the lack is enough engineer items to fix your gun, not the lacks of ammo. You dont want to bring too much ammo so that you have space to carry loots back, not because you have too little. An ideal battle is that after scavenging you have enough bullets for the next fight, not more.

--fallout tactics use that feature and get heavy criticism for that. because of limited supplies, which mean they have to buy the limited supplies from sole-provider, quartermasters of their army. The fan grumble is continuous and nonstop.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

In the end it all comes down to is if you like micromanagementmotherfuckery, which I do.

 

[StaticSpine]

Oh well, I discovered that Alicia being an elite with some of orders can deal with a small army all alone. That makes the game much easier. Also there are potential tons of money and EXP in skirmishes being completed in the same way.

 

[deuxhero]

VC3 patch should be coming any day now

http://vc3translationproject.wordpress.com/

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

In the end it all comes down to is if you like micromanagementmotherfuckery, which I do.

Ammo is barely a footnote in micromanagementfuckery in my opinion. Even in Fallout Tactics I never had issues with ammunition. In JA2 it's such a non-issue after you get the ball rolling that I usually set up some rather unorthodox dual team approaches in the capital assault, like mortar batteries.

 

[Tripicus]

I found bumbling through VC was quite enjoyable. I generally took on the longer end of number of game turns to complete a battle, but there were only a handful of occasions when I couldn't pull through.

As long as you make sure no one is too far from an ally for a medic, you can always call in reinforcements. Sure you won't get a high rank this way, but for first play through it's fine.

Just to add to Vaarna's tips, Welkin makes great mobile cover. You can get your troops past dangerous crossfire with decent placement. Just be careful about distance, enemy troops don't have much reluctance when it comes to running around the tank to shoot your guys.

 

[SCO]

I occasionally had to restart a mission on VC2 to get A or S rank (whatever was the highest) but it's not especially hard once you focus on mobility and making sure to deploy your aces (+ command points) and making sure not to deploy everyone at the start (capturing a advanced base allows you to save much time by calling the reinforcements there).
The repeated scenarios is the real problem on that game, although it manages to become slightly fresher after a mid game slump even with the same maps surprisingly, because of the different tactical situations.
However, in missions with V2s, you better bring on the pain to them before they can bring it to you.

 

[StaticSpine]

Finished the game yesterday at last.

Well, one of the best games I've ever played and one of the best PS3 exclusives.

Hopefully someday I'll manage to play VC 3.

 

[Blackguard]

So fucking annyoing how Sega ran the VC series to the ground. It's probably the best JRPG to grace this generation of consoles, but first Sega moves it to the PSP and then doesn't even publish the 3rd one here in the west. Judging from the lack of news since VC3 pretty sure we ain't ever going to see another VC game.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'm sort of glad about it. Since on the other hand it leaves VC1 unsullied forever.

 

[Morality Games]

I'm sort of glad about it. Since on the other hand it leaves VC1 unsullied forever.

... so would not playing additional entries in the series.

 

[TigerKnee]

So fucking annyoing how Sega ran the VC series to the ground. It's probably the best JRPG to grace this generation of consoles, but first Sega moves it to the PSP and then doesn't even publish the 3rd one here in the west. Judging from the lack of news since VC3 pretty sure we ain't ever going to see another VC game.

VC2 on the PSP would make sense in a Japanese context, because handhelds sell much better over there and VC is a niche game anyway.

VC3 not being localized is just collateral damage from Sony of America's decision to pull the plug on the PSP early compared to Japan.

Is there really something they could do there?

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I'm sort of glad about it. Since on the other hand it leaves VC1 unsullied forever.

... so would not playing additional entries in the series.

True, true. And to give credit to the following entries, characters from the first one appear only as hidden bonus characters (as far as I know).

 

[SCO]

Well, you're wrong. The mains from VC1 appear as 'visitors' (events) to the academy on some days of VC2.