Valkyria Chronicles -- Final Opinion.

And to think, I hesitated. I did not start Valkyria Chronicles day-one for fear of the game not being able to meet my high expectations. Not so much for what I thought the game was, but for what it could be based on which SEGA team had made the game. As I stated in my previous post forever ago, Valkyria Chronicles comes from a mix of people who've had their hands in the creation of numerous entries into my all-time top twenty video game list. I completed Valkyria Chronicles with a time of forty-nine and a half hours. That's from me extending the playthrough wherever possible. And that fact alone sort of sums up things already. It was for me the kind of game you truly don't want to end. Valkyria Chronicles is a strategy or tactical RPG. So let's start with what one would naturally think to be the heart of a tactical RPG, the actual battles. It's the standard turned based system. There is a player phase and an enemy phase. You begin by placing your units into their starting positions on a map of the battlefield. You can select units from a pool of twenty that can be rotated in and out between battles. The number of units varies for each battle. You can choose between five classes of units. Most battles require the main character who happens to be a tank commander. Beyond that you have scouts, shocktroopers, lancers, snipers, and engineers. Scouts are your general soldiers, they have long range movement and mid range rifles. Shocktroopers are your close combat units, they have mid range movement and short range weapons like machine guns and flamethrowers. Lancers are your anti-tank and anti-emplacement units. Lancers have low to mid range movement. Snipers are obviously your long range attackers, but they have the shortest movement range of all the classes. Engineers are essentially scouts with special abilities. They have slightly lower movement range and less accuracy than the scouts, but they can disarm mines, and repair tanks and barricades. Once all units are in place you start the movement phase of the battle. You have so many command points and every action in the game requires command points to execute. It costs one command point to move a unit. But within that one point usage you get to move that unit up to the full allotment of their movement and complete one action such as attacking or healing. It's not limited to just moving and an action. You can move, fire, and then move some more permitted you still haven't depleted your movement meter. And you can use the same unit repeatedly, although each time you move a unit within the same phase their movement bar gets shorter. Once you've used up your command points in the player phase, you end your turn and the enemy phase begins. A round consists of one player phase and one enemy phase. Most battles have a twenty round limit among other conditions of defeat. As you progress through the game you're able to train your classes. They train as classes and not individual units. So when you're leveling up the sniper class, all your snipers level. You're also able to upgrade your tanks and weaponry. And it's actually quite deep. The rifles for example spilt into three categories. You're able to increase power, accuracy, and special features. Would you rather have a rifle that hits harder but is less accurate, or a more accurate but less powerful rifle, or would you want a rifle that would put some sort of status effect on the enemy like lowered defense or attack power? What sets Valkyria Chronicles apart in its battles is the use of action. When you go to move your character you'll select them on the sepia toned map. The camera pans down into the battlefield that suddenly springs to life with vibrant color. It's a cool effect. You then control the character's actions. You move out from the sandbags you're crouched behind and run down the field to take up position around the corner with bullets whizzing by. You actually aim your rifle and fire. You run and duck for cover behind more sandbags. You move each unit, you fire each shot, you run that gauntlet under a hail of gunfire. It's great stuff and it looks absolutely beautiful while you're doing it. The battles themselves are also extremely impressive. Each battle has you doing or introduces something new to the point where each and every battle feels unique. The strategy element is very well done. The AI can be dominated, but they'll also walk all over you if you given them any opportunity. The game has considerable depth in the strategy and weapon development aspects. Which is great considering most of your time will be spent in battle. But I wouldn't actually call the great battle system the heart of the game. No, it's actually the characters and story here that are the real winners. Shining Force surprised the hell out of me back in the 16-bit era with its charming characters and story. Something you just weren't expecting out of a strategy RPG at the time, or today for that matter. Valkyria Chronicles is that same reaction, only infinitely more powerful. Valkyria Chronicles is story intensive. And the story here is great, with awesome characters. Real characters, with depth and arcs to travel. There's something about the mix of truly adult themes and the beautiful graphics that helps to further surprise you with where the story is willing to go. I was expecting a good strategy RPG. I wasn't expecting to be introduced to a large cast of impressive characters that I would come to care for and root for. I wasn't expecting to become emotionally invested in the story. A story that will hit a few cliches along its route but that is so impressively well told that it ranks up as easily one of the best ever told in gaming. I found just about every aspect of this game to be perfect. The graphics are amazingly beautiful. The soundtrack by Hitoshi Sakimoto is great. It features all the bombast you'd expect with a game centered on war, but the character specific stuff will catch you by surprise. The voice work is excellent. And the cast is large with no repeat voices. The translation is about as good as they come. The story is one of the best I've seen. It's smart and funny and emotionally moving and just so well done. I'm giving Valkyria Chronicles for the PlayStation 3 a 10. This game has cracked my all-time top ten list. It's up there with games like Shinobi and The Legend of Zelda III: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid and Snatcher and Panzer Dragoon Saga. I could not be more impressed.