Valkyria Chronicles: A Retrospective
Valkyria Chronicles is one of the most memorable titles from the PlayStation 3 era. Its release in 2008 brought a unique take on the tactical RPG genre, with its World War II-inspired setting encouraging the designers to figure out how to combine turn-based strategy with the danger of moving under fire. While its commercial performance on release was a bit underwhelming, it benefitted greatly from word of mouth and is very fondly looked back upon by those who have played it over the years.
The main series takes place in a fictional continent heavily inspired by Europe, simply called Europa, during a conflict between its two main powers: the Atlantic Federation and the East Europan Imperial Alliance. Technology is roughly equivalent to the first half of the 20th century, with the main differentiator being the existence of Ragnite ore, which effectively takes the place of petroleum. Rather than trying to emulate the full-scale conflict, the games primarily focus on events in the neutral Principality of Gallia, which is mostly analogous to the position of Belgium. Rich in Ragnite, it soon finds itself invaded by the Imperial Alliance, and it’s up to the plucky Gallian militia to fight back. Subsequent entries also focused on Gallia, before the fourth game finally looked into the wider war and its conclusion.
Part of what has endeared the series to so many is its presentation. Valkyria Chronicles uses a watercolour-inspired graphical style that works wonders and makes players feel like they’re diving into history. The soft palette that fades into line sketches at the edges is joined by era-appropriate presentational menus, with the first game chronicling players’ progress through newspaper reportings on the Gallian invasion, and the fourth game looking at snippets from protagonist Claude’s journal. The presentation combines with the fascinating approach to gameplay that Valkyria Chronicles offers: combat utilizes battlefield maps for players to plan their strategy before switching to third-person running and aiming when undertaking actions during each turn, imparting a sense of both eyes in the sky and boots on the ground that few others have been able to. Combining this with a vast cast of hugely endearing characters — both main and minor — and music from Hitoshi Sakimoto ensured that many of those who did enlist were enraptured.
By Alex Fuller, Joshua Carpenter, Jervon Perkins, and Paul Shkreli
Valkyria Chronicles
Available on: PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
For newcomers, there’s no better place than the start. Valkyria Chronicles introduces the series’ signature blend of turn-based strategy with real-time tactics known as the BLiTZ system that continues to be used throughout the mainline series with little change to its foundations. Players must juggle multiple unit types, leveraging strengths and weaknesses to maintain the upper hand while expending Action Points in combat to move through the field and execute commands. It can be a bit messy and frantic in certain situations, but it remains a pleasant experience thanks to a gorgeous cel-shaded watercolor art style and beautiful soundtrack.
Combat rewards quick thinking, expecting savvy and flexible combat strategies to succeed through the story, though many of the encounters can feel more like puzzles to be figured out. There are some aspects where it’s clear that the system is cutting its teeth: the overwhelming importance of scouts for one, but there’s no better feeling than coming into sight of completing an encounter’s objectives without casualties after a perfectly executed turn.
Valkyria Chronicles wavers between being a story of romance, atonement, loyalty, and discrimination. It introduces some complex themes and makes full use of rich cinematics for tense moments of action and deep emotion. Welkin Gunther and the rest of the main cast are a huge driving force behind getting players doing what they can to help the Gallian effort and the war-torn backdrop makes getting to know the central cast all the more poignant.
The extensive and deep combat system truly sings in unison with the masterful presentation. Nearly twenty years later, the game still looks and plays great, yet another reason to start the series with this game. With Sega following its 2008 PlayStation 3 debut with a PC release and Remastered releases for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch making it widely available, there’s strong incentive to begin one’s experience with the series here.
Valkyria Chronicles II
Available on: PlayStation Portable
After the eventual success of Valkyria Chronicles, news of a sequel wasn’t surprising. However, the direction of the sequel did perhaps diverge from what many players were hoping for. Given the popularity of handheld gaming in Japan, Sega decided to bring Valkyria Chronicles II to the PlayStation Portable. This understandably necessitated a few design trade-offs, but the game returns with most of its key gameplay elements intact.
The biggest sticking points with Valkyria Chronicles II for many are its story direction and changes in focus. Set two years after the events of the first game, it loses a bit of the threat and underlying urgency of its predecessor. The game is set around the Lanseal Military Academy, with players taking on the role of student Avan Hardins as the nation of Gallia looks to rebuild under the shadow of a rebel group. Unlike the first game, the nature of the story is wholly forgettable and much less mature; the main characters simply aren’t as likeable and many of their antics just don’t fit with the main subject matter.
Meanwhile, while the combat is still incredibly engaging, Valkyria Chronicles II’s progression and structure is quite different. With the game using a calendar system and divided into in-game months rather than chapters, players are tasked with completing filler missions between the main story missions, really slowing the pacing down. Unfortunately, there’s little variety to these filler missions, which undercuts much of what was attractive about the first game. To account for the hardware change, maps are made much smaller and split into different sections, which at least allows for more strategies and flexibility than the previous title. The game’s visual style manages to translate well to the PSP, and everything is still unmistakably Valkyria Chronicles.
Valkyria Chronicles II is still a decent game, and those who were more interested in the combat than the other elements will get plenty out of it. However, those hoping for it to pick up where the first game left off will likely find its change in direction a bit off-putting. Unfortunately, its lack of commercial success in the west – combined with less success for the PSP in the west overall – meant a considerably longer wait for a follow-up to appear in English. It’s generally considered to be the weakest of the mainline games, and not appearing on any other platforms makes opportunities to play it now quite limited anyway.
Valkyria Chronicles 3
Available on: PlayStation Portable (Japan-only)
After a more lighthearted school setting for the first sequel, Valkyria Chronicles 3: Unrecorded Chronicles takes the complete opposite tack with the darkest tone in the entire series. Valkyria Chronicles 3 takes place in Gallia concurrently with the events of the original game and centers around a Gallian penal brigade: Squad 422. The squad is reminiscent of a Soviet penal brigade from WWII as the majority of the members have not been taken from Gallia’s prisons, but have merely been unfortunate enough to earn the ire of someone in power and been sentenced to the squad. All the members of the squad have been given numbers, stripped of their names, and their exploits stricken from all official records. Also, much like its Soviet inspiration, Squad 422 is continually assigned suicidal missions as no one in command cares if a penal brigade makes it back alive.
Valkyria Chronicles 3 features a somewhat smaller number of potential squad members than previous entries, but every character gets their own side story to flesh out their narrative and personality rather than just the main characters. Given this new focus on narrative, permadeath has been removed so players don’t miss out on any of the characters. You get a sense of what the characters are like and the unfortunate circumstances that have led them to end up in Squad 422. The greater depth that the characters have makes players feel more strongly for the squad and makes the story more impactful. The squad also often faces Calamity Raven, a squad of Imperial Darcsen soldiers, and learning why a group of Darcsens is fighting for the notoriously racist Imperials makes for both an interesting and heartbreaking story.
Combat still uses the BLiTZ system and is very similar to the second game, with smaller maps that are stitched together by certain camps where units can warp between different maps. There are lots of assets and maps that are reused wholesale, which can leave a feeling of déjà vu if Valkyria Chronicles 2 and 3 are played back-to-back. However, Valkyria Chronicles 3 made a number of improvements that include allowing all characters to change their class, though each character retains the highest affinity for one particular class. While practice maps and side missions have always been a necessity in the series to fully level a player’s party, Valkyria Chronicles 3 easily has the best implementation of these non-story battles. Now each chapter has optional missions that allow the player to attack an enemy mortar position or destroy a supply depot, in turn impacting the main story missions by disabling things like projectiles or reinforcements. It’s a small change that makes the side content much more satisfying than that of its forebears.
While Valkyria Chronicles 3 has a great cast and compelling story, there’s a lot of impediments to this being a good place to pick up the series. As a PSP game, the maps just don’t have the grand scale of the console entries. As it runs concurrently with the events of the first game, there are a lot of references to characters and events that will fall flat for new entrants. Then there’s the fact that Valkyria Chronicles 3 never got a western localization – though strangely its Complete Artworks book was published in English by Udon Entertainment, including a fairly in-depth summary of the story – so players will have to resort to the realm of fan translations and emulators to experience it. While it’s a terrible place to jump into the series, it’s certainly worth the effort for existing fans to experience.
Valkyria Chronicles 4
Available on: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
It took seven years after the release of Valkyria Chronicles 3 for there to be a new mainline Valkyria Chronicles title. Valkyria Chronicles 4 finally takes the series outside of Gallia into the “main” conflict of the Second Europan War between the Federation and the Empire. Given actually portraying a full continent-scale WWII-esque war in a RPG may be a bit too ambitious, the game elects to focus on a top-secret mission designed to bring an end to the war, following the exploits of the Federation Army’s Squad E as it joins the mission, where a specially designed warship travels over the ice to attack the Empire’s capital and force a surrender.
The actual plan is, frankly, insane. However, the game just about manages to get players to suspend their disbelief as it gleefully throws in a hefty variety of twists and obstacles for Squad E to face. Ultimately, the plot ends up being a little simplistic; it doesn’t afford much opportunity to explore some of the more interesting and open areas of the setting, essentially abandoning the exploration of Darcsens and their treatment despite this being a key factor in much of the rest of the series, and something known to be an issue across the whole continent. That said, the characters are strong, and the game does a fine job offering smaller vignettes starring the less prominent characters.
Returning the series to consoles (and PC) allowed Valkyria Chronicles 4 to go back to a singular large-scale map for each mission. Mission design is very much Valkyria Chronicles 4’s strongest point, and is arguably the best in the series, aided by some tweaks and additions to the combat system. Some devilishly difficult designs make use of pillboxes and machine gun emplacements to discourage leisurely strolling, while anti-tank guns engage in interception fire to prevent players freely driving where they want. There’s a much greater amount of variety to the mission objectives as well, reining in of the previously overpowered nature of the Scouts is accompanied by the new Grenadier class, which also makes Lancers more useful.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 shows the series’ gameplay at its most polished and creative. While the story doesn’t quite grab the attention and pack the same emotional punches as the original game, it at least offers a satisfactory way for the series to go out, with another entry looking unlikely at this time. Being readily available on modern consoles and PC, it makes a fine one-two following on from the original’s remaster.
Valkyria Revolution
Available on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One
Shortly before the announcement of Valkyria Chronicles 4, there was the curious release of Valkyira Revolution. Valkyria Revolution is often regarded as the black sheep of the Valkyria Chronicles series. Departing from the tactical roots that defined its predecessors, Valkyria Revolution takes on the form of an action RPG. While the concept of blending action and strategy could have offered a fresh take on the series, the execution falls short, leaving the game struggling to satisfy both established fans and newcomers.
The gameplay itself, while moderately enjoyable, also suffers from a lack of cohesion. The strategy elements that are a mainstay of the Valkyria Chronicles series are present in name only. Players find themselves running up to enemies, spamming attacks until their action gauge is depleted, and then waiting to repeat the process. While magic plays a more prominent role in combat, allowing for some strategic choices, it ultimately does little to elevate the overall experience.
The most intriguing aspect of Valkyria Revolution is its narrative premise. It is set in a different version of Europa to the main series and introduces players to a story set in the midst of a revolution, with themes of revenge, political intrigue, and the tragic consequences of war. The tale is told through the lens of a professor recounting the “true” story behind the historical events. Valkyria Revolution has moments where its story shines. The narrative’s tragic elements, particularly the backstory of the “five traitors” who orchestrated the revolution, pulls at the heartstrings. Each of them have interesting connections with the world around them, and rose to power in intriguing ways. It mimics historical, tragic figure stories in interesting ways. However, this potential is undermined by overlong, poorly animated cutscenes. These cutscenes, plagued by frequent loading screens, often drag on for fifteen minutes or more.
Valkyria Revolution stands as a cautionary tale of a series straying too far from its strengths. The game had the potential to be a fascinating addition to the Valkyria Chronicles universe, offering a different perspective on the series’ world and themes. However, its missteps in both gameplay and storytelling prevented it from achieving greatness.
We hope you enjoyed our retrospective looking back at the Valkyria Chronicles series. We would like to invite our readers to express your thoughts and memories of the games!
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