Finished Valkyria Chronicles 2....

I bought Valkyria Chronicles 2 a week after its release. Being a huge fan of the original, when the news that a new Valkyria Chronicles was coming I was ecstatic. Initially I was kinda bummed out the game would be coming on the PSP and not the PS3, but once good reviews started rolling in and when I watched the video review on GameTrailers all my anxiety vanished. And once I fired up the game and started playing, I instantly knew I was playing a pretty special game.

What impressed me the most throughout my playtime is how polished and deep the battle system had become from the original with its varied missions and the customization options. The core battle mechanics (called the BLITZ) are the same as before and so were the different classes, but this time around new classes have been added, and that turned the whole experience on it head. I now had control over elites and specialized units such as the Gunners, the Fencer unit or the support unit in the Anthem Corps. Every class can be outfitted with modern day weaponry according to their respective class so the shock trooper can equip machine guns, scouts can equip rifles and lancer can use rocket launchers. Due to the increase in classes the level of tactics change dynamically in every battle which paved a way for exciting scenarios and strategies. So maybe for the next Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3, the fleshed out system used in VC 2 can be adopted, which will definitely equate to some awesome game play.

On the presentation front, VC 2 gets the job done and in style. The graphics doesn’t strain the PSP hardware in any way, but the game still looks really solid. The character designs, animations, background art and the manga style cut-scenes shine quite nicely on the PSP screen and makes for some good eye candy. A handful of anime cut-scenes are also present and they are rendered quite well. All on all Valkyria Chronicles 2 makes a strong showing in the graphical department.

The game has a lot of voice acting as all the important cut-scenes are voiced, but the game is not fully voiced as many of the expositions are text based supported by voice clips; hearing Avan Hardins dumb laughs got really grating at times. But still the quality of the voice work is commendable and unlike normal JRPGs many of the voice actors have done a great job in sounding convincing and natural. Sure there are a few performances which were spotty but Avan Hardins (Jason Spisak) and Zeri (Crispin Freeman) were the real standouts.

Another strong aspect of the game are the characters. Don’t get me wrong as many of the characters are your run of the mill anime clichés, but there are more than a handful of well developed characters in the main characters roster as well as the supporting cast. Avan Hardins and Zeri were easily the best ones and here’s how: Avan Hardins quality as the leader of the pack and his undying determination against unnerving odds gave the character real depth. Although on first impression Avan’s character came off as callous, but as the game progressed I got swept up in his enthusiasm and the trust he had in his comrades. Zeri is the no nonsense and strong headed Darcsen (a minority and a discriminated race), but his struggle to bring good name to his reviled race was quite inspiring and I could not help but root on his character, coupled with a few awesome moments in the game made Zeri a very good main character. But on the other spectrum some of the main characters were not as impressive especially the character of Cosette Coalhearth, the demure damsel in distress archetype. Oh and talking about characters a welcome addition to VC 2 are the Classmate missions, small bite sized mission which help unlock new skills as well as conclude some personal bits for the characters, this made my get really close to many of the team members.

Anyways now to the some of the things I didn’t like in the game: First off was the story which was just decent and no where on the level or scale of the original. The saga of a rebellion after the Europan War had a lot of potential while the whole concept of genocide against the Darcens was also quite intriguing but in the end it kind off petered. Valkyria Chronicles had a great plot with some truly outstanding twists and turns and the non-preachy anti-war approach, the plot was tightly woven and had some amazing heart wrenching moments as well as the satisfying ending. In comparison VC 2 plot came off as pretty weak, although the story revolved around a rebellion and the ensuing civil war, it wasn’t as bold and hard hitting as the original. And while I didn’t mind the whole high school/military cadet college setting of the game, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something more edgy would had been much more appreciated.


In my opinion the biggest criticism I had with VC 2 was the plot narrative. In the original every battle, every skirmish, every cut-scene had some weight to it, where the epic scale of war was felt in every action I took. The narrative was told through a book show casing the struggles of Squad 7. In VC 2 the story is told via small snippets of random class banter along with story related segments which muddled the story telling process. Even in the mission structure I would have to play through 3-4 meaningless missions to get to the next story mission which just didn’t go down well with me. I mean I couldn’t feel connected to Class G’s aspirations and because of that I was more than a little annoyed at VC 2’s approach

Another aspect of VC 2 which I did not agree to was the change of the graphical style from the original. Valkyria Chronicles’s water colour like aesthetics were quite incredible and such visual splendour still has not been replicated. At first I would think that due to the hardware limitations such aesthetics would be nigh impossible for the sequel, but as Valkyria Chronicles 3 for the PSP shares the water colour look of the original, I cant help but be disappointed by the graphical style of VC 2. Although there is nothing wrong with the anime aesthetics of game, but if your compare it with original it just looks very jarring.

I could had played this game a lot longer as after the game ends, new missions open up to gain extra mileage, but I didn't even bother as once I finish the story mode of any game I lose incentive to keep on playing.


In conclusion despite a few misgivings I found Valkyria Chronicles 2 a really addictive game, and in that essence a quintessential game for the PSP. The deep battle mechanics, variety of mission structure, good graphics makes Valkyria Chronicles 2 is fine achievement for the PSP and fans of the series will really dig the game. My play time: 50 hours, 2 minutes and 26 secs. My rating: 8.8.

My most anticipated RPGs of 2011: Day 4

Valkyria Chronicles 3 - PSP - TBA:

Valkyria Chronicles 3 came out in Japan earlier this year to good reviews, and although an official release date has not been given for an English version, but I still think the game will come out this year eventually.

Valkyria Chronicles series may well be one of the most under appreciated RPGs ever made. And too think that this is a series made by Sega, it more heart rendering that Valkyria Chronicles games never got much attention. The original game on the PS3 was a beast of a game, with action oriented mechanics, a great story line and expectational production values. But the attention it garnered was down right criminal as the sales of the game in the West was pretty low. Even in Pakistan not many RPG players invested in this gem. Same can be said about the sequel on the PSP with low sales despite very solid reviews. If you though the original had it bad, for the sequel it got kinda worse as many of my PSP onwing friends didn't play it at all!. But as the games ended up getting cult status, the people at Sega still found it in themselves to support the series.

Valkyria Chronicles 3 point of interest is the plot as it occurs during the events of the original game, but this game deals with the Gallian Army Squad 445, or the 'Nameless': a squad made up for criminals and military offenders i.e. a black sheep squad, that was involved in black ops, hence their story went unnoticed, until now. Now I totally fell in love with the characters of Valkyria Chronicles, but now with a chance to see how the 'Nameless' made the victories of the heroes of Squad 7 a reality I can't help but being excited about it. And I can bet the game play will be fleshed out and more strategic. That said I would had loved Valkyria Chronicles 3 to be on the PS3 as a game of such a stature required a console release but I am happy that the series is still on going.

As I said earlier that the game has not being announced for an English release, everything points to a E3 announcement! Fingers crossed!

The War Machine

My last update hinged around my stance against mindless war video games like Medal of Honor or Call of Duty. It also highlighted how video games can be used to flesh out the concept of war and its complexities and how games can be as powerful as movies. So around a year ago I wrote an article pertaining to the aforementioned topic for a web site but unfortunately that article never saw the light of day (some major technical problems occurred on the web site). So as I guess now is the perfect time to 'publish' that article. (The name of the web site has been blotted out)

“War! that mad game the world so loves to play.” ~Jonathan Swift

We live in a world that is rife with war, conflict and utter discord. Everywhere we look we have escalated conflicts and issues spinning outta hand, innocents lives being snuffed out while the world leaders are pulling the strings. War has been tackled in video games dealing from war against sentient beings or depicting the violent edge of the World Wars in form of action games with emphasis on action on the battlefield. As such we have seen some brilliantly paced games from the likes Call of Duty to the Medal of Honor franchises where the player is dropped right in the middle of the action and quick reflexes and the run and guns tactics being the player best friend. As much as these games are high in the playability, you always feel there is a distinct lack of a cohesive storyline, engaging characters or a message of some sort and this is where I think action war games have lacked. The genre which has packed up a bit of the slack is the RPG genre.

RPGs tend to tell an epic tale of a band of heroes who are out and about trying to stop the evil tyrant from destroying the world, but once ever few moons a game company chomps the bit and bring about an RPG which deals with the issues of war. They make huge rosters of characters, an epic scale of the situations and of course an army. A rag tag team of characters are replaced by a huge army focusing on one goal while the story makes every battle, every skirmish deep with repercussions and undeniable tension.

In following paragraphs we have jotted down names of a few RPGs which revolves around wars and poignant stories about the people and soldiers involved in war.

For us at (xxxxxxxxx) we have always been a fan of the Suikoden series for its decidedly different approach to games story and flow along with tried and test RPG mechanics. What started out as a niche game franchise has exploded among RPG elites for the new features the series adds: for starters Suikoden games incorporates 108 stars from the Chinese scribes of Shui Hu Zhuan, which in terms comes down to recruiting characters for a common cause. What separates Suikoden recruitment designs from other RPGs is the staggering number of character which can be bought down under one banner i.e. 108 stars. Sure not all of them are playable but quite a of few of them act as NPCs or having significance to the story. And as such Suikoden stories have a lot of political wrangling, allies, treaties, POW situations that ties in together with the major story theme and that in turn leads to the game having the "war atmosphere".



Another feature that lends to the war ‘factor’ in the Suikoden series are the full scale battles which take place at sporadic times in the game. These are usually pretty simple take on the SRPG genre and are quite easy but when taken as a whole these battles really add to the war situation and really drive the theme home. The impending doom sort of situations or the fighting for survival are the themes which make these battles quite impressive in scope. And if you add in the base camps, eclectic cast of character in the players burgeoning army you end up with a pretty impressive war themed franchise.

War is a pretty complex theme to showcase in an RPG as the game developers have to carefully tread themes which are usually quite lofty to discuss in any case. Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise often prides it selves on crafting impressive story lines, complex theme coupled with the supporting game play properties, but in the Final Fantasy cannon there have been two games which have directly presented a pretense and background of war. Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII have walked a path usually not reserved for a high end franchise (risk over bizness jargon), but as these games have ended up being really awesome, the risk was worthwhile. Final Fantasy Tactics was an ambitious game to start off with as this was a very different approach taken by the developers with its really strong narrative. The behind the scenes look at the politics, the ambiguity of allies and enemies, the deep background of history, a sordid and complex cast of characters and the epic main plot made Final Fantasy Tactics a stand out amongst its RPG peers and become a work of legend. Sure the level of depth found in the battle mechanics and job system coupled with its notoriously brutal difficulty and an awfully translated script has been talked about in full detail but it’s the game world’s history and the intellectual story that was the real standout.



In this regard Final Fantasy XII is an odd choice considering the character driven story but the whole atmosphere of war and invasion gave this iteration of the venerable series its distinct vibe. The world of Ivalice is steep in conflict and that hold true in Final Fantasy XII with the war between the mighty Arcadia and Rozarria and the small kingdom of Dalmasca. It’s this background that lays the ground work for the story which follows the exploits of a deposed princess. One of the basic theme of the story and the world of Ivalice was of alliance and that is how the main plot became much larger than the characters themselves. The epic nature of Final Fantasy XII politics and war really stood out on its own.

War themed RPG also has gotten a bit attention on the portable systems with notable entries of the Fire Emblem series on the GBA and DS or the remake of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PSP but one thing’s for sure, war on the go is a whole lotta fun. While one the subject there is one game series which technically isn’t an RPG but garners our attention due to the insane number of war mechanics in the game: The Advance War series. This military theme strategy series may not be a RPG but when dealing with so much detail in game play, one can only be impressed. The meat of the games are the battles which are filled with military terms and mechanics like Fog of War, troop placements, warring on different terrains or laying siege on a city or industrial compounds, it’s all there. The look of the game is really modern so expect to see units like submarines, APC, armored tanks, ground infantry or even fighter planes. This series showed how military themed games can easily be done a handheld, and if the game play is as addictive as Advance Wars, then you've got a killer combo.



If pointed out the aforementioned games have a few war angles but not the full war experience at it were, hence our last choice is Valkyria Chronicles. The game is the entire embodiment of the war machine with its reliance on an emotionally charged storyline rife with patriotic elements, back door politics and many fleshed out characters who have different reason to take up arms and of course military theme game play mechanics. This little gem was an easy choice for us as the amount love exhibited by Sega on this game is quite astounding. Let’s takes the story first: An fictional take on World War II; as the plot takes place on the continent of Europa where a massive war has broken out between the Imperial Alliance and the Atlantic Federation and caught in between is the small country of Galia. The story follows the exploits of not the army but of a local militia and it is this aspect which really is heart rending as the combatants mostly consists of regular people such as a baker, a bar maid, a farmer or a student. Some the exchanges of the main characters or how all the characters react differently to the conflict is quite inspiring as emotions are flying high and it all culminates into a moving narrative.



The war motif ventures much beyond the plot as the depth of the game play mechanics makes use of the said theme quite well. The players amass a large number of militiamen each having their own strengths and weakness, furthermore the solders are categorized into different of jobs ranging from infantrymen, elites foot soldiers to the snipers and engineers, hell the players even gets to use of a full size tank. There are terrain positions to think about, different strategy to partake in a given battle right down to requesting backup at the right time. Even during the non battle scenario there are recruitment centers to visit, training grounds for practice (i.e. used for leveling individual job category) and R&D facilities to go and perform upgrades on weapons and tanks.

Therefore Valkyria Chronicles become quite the odd beast as the whole game revolves around war: be it the story or the game mechanics. Personally Valkyria Chronicles has moved the RPG genre in the right as based on the game play but this game will linger in my mind for its plot, emotions and its characters. If Sega realizes the potential of this series it will surely give some of the big name RPG franchises a run for their money.



Tackling the issues of wars is a tough job at the best of times but some of the games mentioned in this rant do more than a commendable job in handling this sensitive matter. "War is Hell" as noted by the celebrated American Civil War hero William Sherman as it becomes a part of a nation psyche and party of a country difficult past. Most of the time RPGS tend to relies on a well worn track but if there are more bold developers who willing enough to explore the war business then most of us gamers will have a ball for sure.