Quick Look: Solo: Valkyria Chronicles (PC)

Playing through for the first time as well, loving it so far.

But no one was asking for this quick look! It came out of nowhere

I love this game. The PC port is fantastic.

Alicia = waifu.

Great to see so many new people are being introduced to this game.

It even reached the #1 spot on steam for a while! TAKE NOTE, Japanese developers/publishers!

And no, you really do not need to stop playing this to play Assassin's Creed Unity. Hell even Far Cry 4 is only an iterative sequel.

I love Valkyria Chronicles! I will not watch this video.

I for one, welcome the fact that GB has some VC coverage. Maybe it will persuade people to try it out as it's a pretty neat game.

This game is great.

Dave and Brad did the quick look of the ps3 version. Too bad Dave is not around!

@analogfocus said:

Haha, so mean!

Gaming for me is a religion, and Valkyria Chronciles is the shit !

Awesome to see this. Great game, great port, and its $20! Steam, y'all!

I did. Therefore you are wrong.

I was hoping for him to play Chapter 7 :D

Edit: great skip look.....

I thoroughly enjoy this game, it was my primary motivation for picking up a PS3 last generation, if there is anything else like this I'd love to know about it.

Not to say that I dont have issues with it, Im not put off by the Anime elements but I dont revel in them. I'd survive without Porkavians, but most of the time it achieves an Advance Wars level of levity.

However I'm less enthused by the way the late stages of the campaign are Boss oriented rather than the game expanding the tactical elements, and the killer for me in that the sequels - limited by the PSP - only reduced the number of units on screen - for all that they took the class system deeper.

The franchise survives as an online TCG, and that makes me sad. Im here for tanks, positioning and some upgrade trees, not a foil Selvaria.

That Codename: S.T.E.A.M. game for 3DS seems like it plays pretty much identically.

I was going to watch this, then I realized it was a solo quick look.

War never changes, onii-san.

Characters can die so keep that in mind. Oh and their traits evolve over time to much more meaningful differences. Patrick is still very early in the game.

They did a QL for the PS3 release.

This is still my favorite strategy game of the last decade. Glad it got a (stellar) PC re-release!

Soooooooooo goooooooooood.

If you're at all interested in this genre/game, it's better this way.

I literally just watched the original PS3 quick look of this yesterday since I figured there wouldn't be an updated one...

@mnzy: And that's buried under years of videos that only an enthusiast/fan of the site would look up. It was pre-Patrick, and was also on the short side for the breadth/depth of the game.

The Steam release makes perfect sense for Patrick to take a look at, and he does a fantastic job of summing up the nitty gritty of the game.

AISHA POWAA AAPPUUUUUU

I really wish they could have done something about the game balance. The A rank requirements on "capture the enemy camp" missions (which seems to be almost all of them) are too strict to the point that scout rushing is almost encouraged.

Still, a great port and I'm really happy to have a chance to play this again after not having a chance to finish it on the PS3.

Really loved this game back in the day, I just hope that the success of the PC port will prompt them to make a new one for the current console generation.

Creepy "aged gentleman" who is only 54 years old according to the personnel tab... (lol)

Awesome game though, wasn't sure if i was gonna like it but im really enjoying it so far!

this game is so damned charming.

Cheerful? Yeah that doesn't last terribly long, be happy there is some cheerfulness in the early parts of the game because it gets much darker very quickly.

About the anime style... I'm also not the biggest fan of anime, but I actually think the art is one of this game's greatest assets. The character designs are tasteful and unique, and do a good job of evoking personality. This has gameplay implications too, serving as an elegant way to immediately understand characters' roles on the battlefield and gauge the enemy threat.

The "painterly" filters are unobtrusive and help make the environments seem more vivid and appealing than the otherwise relatively flat textures typically would allow.

And the melding of plausible WWII technology with fantastic/futuristic elements provides an exciting and mysterious visual palette for the player to uncover and explore.

Some pretty odd, unsubstantiated points of criticism ("it's anime")

Anyway, one thing I feel like mentioning for people who play this for the first time on the PC (good on you, guys), the orange targeting circle is the actual area where your hits will land, so if you cover an enemy with it, every shot is gonna hit 100%, no dice rolls.)

Also, Patrick is extremely early, the story and character development barely started at this point.

Ugh... Totally forgot about that stuff. I remember that I reluctantly had to look at a guide for some missions, and STILL found some of it nearly impossible, and often found myself getting angry at how obtuse the solutions seemed. Like "is this really what the devs expect of the player?" Thankfully the mainline experience is pretty manageable.

Seems like a perfect game for me to play during the summer release drought.

I only lost one soldier. The older Darcsen man and I really felt it.

I remember having to go from store to store without luck when I tried to find the PS3 version here in Australia. Took me two weeks and across two capital cities but I found it in the end! (I just happened to be travelling so I didn't drive for hours just to find a copy although it probably would have been worth the effort since it's a great game)

Always wanted to control my xmedia bar with my 360 controller. Awesome!

Aw man, scouts are SO GOOD when upgraded. Alicia one-woman army. Don't give up on their combat potential!!

Thanks Patrick

I'm surprised the anime stuff is a turn-off. I've bought Fire Emblem Awakening. Haven't played it yet, but from what video I've seen, that is one anime-ass looking game.

The creepy old dude is Raiden's voice actor from MGS trying horribly to sound old and grizzled. God, I hate that guy's voice acting so much, and he still manages to get cast in pretty decent games. Oh well.

@patrickklepek Yup! Once your scouts get a grenade launcher (not sure what it's called in game, but that is what it is), they are highly mobile infantry/artillery and unstoppable.

Ah yes, the Aged Gentleman AKA Raiden from Metal Gear.

Psst, Patrick...

Maybe you really should just play this instead of AC:Unity and Far Cry 4.

To be honest it would probably make for more interesting discussion than both those Ubisoft games which just seem like the same game from last year again re-skinned with a different setting.

I've only ever played this with Japanese audio on and subtitles. Some of the english VA work seems.... not great. It also sounds a lot more.... plucky saturday morning cartoonish while the original VA is more somber and serious.