Valkyria Chronicles 3 combat is gud

[SCO]

The phase based / realtime reacting fire combat is great as usual, allowing creating a multi-stage plan that makes it really rewarding to look at the tactical map (my one annoyance is that you can't see or even 'buy' parts of the map before hand, like those bridges/stairs may or not be set etc). The time attack mode is only really made satisfying because of this, since the maps ranks appear to be perfectly playtested, meeting rank S is not something where you can turn off your brain (in some missions at least, the strategy of taking all the camps ASAP usually works well).

Unlike turn-based combat, where these plans usually go down by the wayside mid-way, because the AI can do what the AI will do in their turn, so forget about meticulous coordination and time attack modes.

The special abilities that some characters can gain are a great mechanic (although Imca one is overpowered, but that is compensated by the brain engagement of finding the right angle and hard missions).

And you can never disregard interception fire completely, and this is one of the main things keeping your brain engaged and adrenaline flowing. It IS rather like a real-time game on the actually moving parts and all the better for it.

Clone this shit on a full fledged crpg game, right fucking now. I don't care if you have to abstract away enemy npcs so they have incoming reinforcements. DO IT DEVS.

 

[spekkio]

OLOLOLO stupid wapanese games. I've seen my gurlfriend playing FF7, and I can safely say thay all jRPG systems are shit. OMG, hueg eyes and childish protags turn me off.
Plus, Infinity Engine's implementation of RTwP is the best thing ever, because PST has good writing.

If most Codexers are like this, why should any western dev be any different?

 

[crufty]

I agree; just to make sure, there is only one game, or did a sequel sneak out?

 

[Athelas]

OLOLOLO stupid wapanese games. I've seen my gurlfriend playing FF7, and I can safely say thay all jRPG systems are shit. OMG, hueg eyes and childish protags turn me off.
Plus, Infinity Engine's implementation of RTwP is the best thing ever, because PST has good writing.

If most Codexers are like this, why should any western dev be any different?

It's a good thing there are four other Infinity Engine games with better combat than most jRPG's (which is saying a lot, considering the IE games were a bastardization of a turn-based rule set). Speaking of bastardization of turn-based combat, I tried the second Valkyria Chronicles after hearing all the praise and I have to ask who thought it was a good idea to introduce real-time third person twitch shooter segments in the middle of turn-based combat (with shitty camera so you get hit just trying to get around, not that it matters since damage seemed trivial). The game's aesthetics are great though, almost like a watercolor painting.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

IE combat is garbage compared to Valkyria Chronicles. Then again IE combat was always garbage.

 

[Athelas]

Learnhow2read. I said 'most jRPG's', I wasn't referring to Valkyria Chronicles at all. Well, not explicitly.

 

[Crooked Bee]

You could've as well said IE games have "better combat than most WRPGs", which isn't saying anything at all.

 

[Athelas]

It isn't saying anything, just pointing out the dumbness of the post I was replying to. Judging an entire genre's combat by a game where combat was so much of an afterthought that it was impossible to die is dumb as hell.

That being said, I would agree with the claim that wRPG's have historically always focused on simulation/role-playing to the detriment of combat. But that's pretty obvious.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

IE games don't really measure up as a good example of combat by any means, and certainly not against a genre that still uses challenging turn-based combat regularly. An entirely different subject is that Valkyria Chronicles isn't even RTwP, but genuine turn-based, only with a real-time overwatch to keep you on your toes when you make your move.

PS: You may want to avoid Mondblut for a while. He doesn't take kindly to saying WRPGs have historically focused on role-playing instead of roll-playing.

 

[Athelas]

IE games don't really measure up as a good example of combat by any means, and certainly not against a genre that still uses challenging turn-based combat regularly.

Again, learnhow2read. I described IE games as a bastardization of turn-based, which isn't exactly high praise. Still better than most turn-based jRPG's ever made, which don't even let you move, have no concept of friendly fire, no permadeath, etc. Even the ones that do have (some of) those elements I wouldn't exactly call challenging, and/or otherwise suffer from huge systemic flaws. Considering turn-based jRPG's probably outnumber wRPG's by about 1000:1 and generally only focus on combat without any other systems or simulationist baggage, it says a lot about the poor state of the jRPG genre that they can't even be said to unequivocally have better combat than wRPG's. And I haven't even mentioned stuff like Jagged Alliance 2.

On the other hand, Japanese devs seem to be a lot more competent at making action-RPG's than the westerners.

PS: You may want to avoid Mondblut for a while. He doesn't take kindly to saying WRPGs have historically focused on role-playing instead of roll-playing.

It's the cold harsh truth, which I'm sure he's well aware of.