I've often said that the first entries in Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are the most important RPGs to me, because they were my two firsts. I mean, I don't think I'm unique among gamers of my age. And while I still hold both series in very high regard, when I was a kid those 8-bit NES RPGs eventually gave way to Sega's 16-bit series.
In the days of ye olde console wars, I quickly jumped camps to Sega's side. I admit that their advertising just hit my young mind at the perfect time. There was blast processing, and Sonic's tude and all. And the RPGs on the Genesis just seemed so badass. As such, I'm a pretty big sucker for Phantasy Star and the Shining games. I bring this up because in the later years Sega rolled out two more RPG series that really don't get the same kind of love as the Square Enix stuff. First there was Sakura Wars, which was huge in Japan. I'll admit that there was a time in my life where I owned all of the Sakura Wars games on Dreamcast mostly because I thought the limited editions were cool looking. I mean, I couldn't actually play them considering I can't read Japanese. Even though there's six mainline Sakura Wars games, to date only the last two even made their way to the US. And neither really seemed to make a dent in either the press or in sales, unfortunately. After that there was Valkyria Chronicles, a series that started on PS3, then made way to PSP before its fourth entry finally saw another console release on PS4. These games are critical darlings. But I honestly don't think they bring in the kind of dollars that Sega would like to see. I mean, the third entry never even left Japan, sadly. So that's got to tell you something. The Valkyria Chronicles games seem to pick up where Sakura Wars left off. Only their set in a (kind of) more modern setting. Gameplay-wise, they feel a bit like XCOM. But they're even deeper. But they also have a very European flair to them, though it's through the filter of a Japanese developer. Valkyria Chronicles 4 was released in 2018 and it felt like a big deal. It was the first mainline game in the series to be released on all of the current consoles. That's a big deal given that the last two games had been relegated to a portable system, and the third title was never even localized. It seemed like Sega wanted to make a grander push for the fourth game. There was even a big collector's edition release, which I almost pulled the trigger on multiple times, but I was already drifting towards a more minimalist digital-only game collection by then. The art and tone and style of Valkyria Chronicles 4 is incredible, though. While it tells the story of a fictional European war with tanks and guns, it does so in a very anime way. Although everything has a really pretty pastel color pallet. Oh, and then there's comic book style lettering to indicated onomatopoeia. And the soldiers tend to swear a lot. I guess what I'm saying is that the juxtaposition of basically everything in this game is unique, and should maybe even come off as jarring but instead is just charming. It should ultimately come as no surprise that the Valkyria Chronicles series is for me, though. I mean, I love anime games and I love turn-based tactics games. It's pretty much a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. The flow of the game is excellent. It's linear, sure. But when it comes to strategy games, that's what I want. I don't want to explore an overworld or anything. I just want to go from mission to mission. But between missions here you'll get lots of story cutscenes. And y'know what? Normally that might bother me. Plenty of games have worn out their welcome with me because off too much story between the action. I don't know what it is, but I actually find the story and voice acting here so compelling that it just works for me. As far as anime games go, the characters here feel really well written. I enjoy watching the story unfold. I feel for the characters. I understand their motivations. It's all really good stuff. I also find the tone immensely interesting. I mean you've got these beautiful watercolor visuals, and yet there's a total darkness to the story. This is a game about war, and as such there's plenty of sadness and despair about. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is miles away from your typical western military game, that's for sure. The underlying message here seems to be that war is hell. Even when you're victorious, there's a certain sisyphus vibe to it all. A certain sadness. Things do get truly dark as well. Like any good tactical strategy game, death actually means something. And the story is just as heavy. The horrors of war unfold both within the campaign itself, and through flashbacks. And it's important to remember that our squad is made up of young folks. There's plenty of death, even outside the actual gameplay. There was a moment where a neighboring city was bombed with napalm, and it felt really rough because Riley exhibited signs of PTSD. But that's the kind of weight that this game throws at you. Whereas something like Fire Emblem can feel brutal, it's still pretty fantasy themed. Valkyria Chronicles feels even darker because it's more grounded. Yeah, sure it's an anime game. But it's one that tells the story of the devastation of war. Of course the meat of a game like this is its battles. My goodness, the battles are fantastic. You position your squad on the map. You move each one based on how many turns you've earned in your player phase. An important difference here versus most games like this is that if you've got five turns, you could technically choose to just move the same character five times. Though they will have less stamina each successive turn. It's a small penalty for the added freedom of something like, well, every other strategy game which forces you to move each and every character, but only once. There's no grid to adhere to for movement. So again, it breaks the mold. Shining Force, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics... they all stick to grid movement. This game allows for free movement and one attack per turn. You can move, shoot and then move some more until your energy is used up. There's just a ton of freedom and I love it because it allows for some interesting play styles, and also because it gets away from hand holding. Instead, it gives you a set of rules and allows you to handle a situation as you see fit. Another big difference from my beloved XCOM is the lack of manual overwatch. In XCOM, I often end most character turns by setting them up strategically and triggering overwatch instead of taking a shot. Here, instead it's all about positioning. Even after you've taken a shot, if you leave a character in a spot and they get closed in on, they will do some reaction fire once an enemy gets within a certain range. It simplifies things, sure. But it also means you can do more in a single turn this way. Which again, feels like it creates a more open system. Between missions you'll want to visit the headquarters which is where you spend all your points. You've got experience to put into character classes. Upgrading classes opens up more passive skills and direct orders that your commander can make during play. You'll spend money on researching new weapons and armor, or new upgrades for your tank. You'll assign awarded gear to specific characters. There's a real deepness to all of this, and again I just love it all. As for the classes, you've got... Scout - These are your pawns of war. They can move great distances, but have pretty basic attacks. They are great for opening up the fog of war on a map. Shocktrooper - Like Scouts but upgraded. These are your heavy hitters. They go in loud and hard. Lancer - They move slowly and in short distance, but are key at taking out tanks and strongholds. Sniper - My favorite class. Self-explanatory. They can take shots from far away and are absolutely lethal. Engineer - The support class. They're there to fix tanks and reconstruct cover and heal. Grenadier - The new class added to this sequel, Grenadier is awesome. They set up mobile rocket launchers and send out death from above. ...This might not seem like a lot of classes, but again there's a lot of upgrading and customization to be done, so that each of your characters feels unique within these templates. The more you play, the more you'll find an affinity to specific characters, not unlike what you might get from playing the Fire Emblem games. I can honestly say I've had some rather stressful missions because I really didn't want to end with a victory that saw the death of a soldier I'd become attached to. After a week of being completely enthralled, I can say that Valkyria Chronicles 4 is an absolutely brilliant game. I love everything about it - the gameplay, the strategy, the characters, the story, the art style, the setting and tone. It's honestly just such a unique and incredible game that I'm actually baffled why I didn't get around to playing it earlier. I mean, I've meant to play it since release, but it turns out that it's just such a game that's suited for me. I really think that this is one of the best games of 2018.
0 Comments
|
Games
All
Archives
February 2024
|