Going into Valkyria Chronicles, I expected this experience to be no
different than all the other critically acclaimed sRPGs I've tried to
enjoy and just wound up being bored out of my mind. These types of games
tend to lay the drama and sentimentality on extra thick, like any
proper JRPG, coupled with tedious combat systems and repetitive game
mechanics. So it's with great relief I can finally point to a hyped sRPG
and say, "YES. This lives up to the billing."
The first thing that caught my attention in VC, besides the gorgeous art
direction, was the writing. Japanese games tend to be riddled with
cliches, and while you'll definitely see your share of familiar World
War II "moments," I found the overall storyline, world lore, and
character development in VC to be extremely well crafted, mature and
thoughtful. You'll fight alongside dozens of personalties, and the
developers do a great job of bringing these faces to life and making you
care who dies and who survives. The parallels to real-world events also
lend the game some gravitas in the same way Metal Gear Solid games can
feel ripped from reality despite all the sci-fi or fantasy
underpinnings.
The combat and leveling systems are also fun to tinker around with. VC
does a decent job gradually unveiling core mechanics to the player as
you move along, and mission levels are some of the best I've seen in the
strategy genre ... Story-based and consistently creative and
challenging. This is a long game, so you can expect to tire out a bit as
you wind up the game's final third or so, but it's impressive that game
fatigue rarely sets in, even when you're repeatedly loading mission
progress in particularly tough maps. The first-person viewpoint on the
combat field does a great job of keeping you engaged with each mission,
and never feel like you're just shuffling chess board pieces around a
table.
Even if you've never gotten into turn-based strategy games before, Valkyria Chronicles is easy to recommend.
