Rumination Analysis on Valkyria Chronicles
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- čas přidán 26. 10. 2017
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11:07 Both Battle of the Bulge and Battle of Kursk happened during the Second World War, Arche :)
Ah, Valkyria Chronicles, what a delightful game. Really loved playing it through (for 5 or 6 months but I digress) and I am really happy to hear that you liked it too.
I'd say I like the game for the same points you brought up - it has strong characters, good world building and how it is very grounded, even the fantastical aspects of the lore. Just expressed much cleaner and better than I ever could.
I think the fake prejudice is what most naysayers of this game (and anime/manga in general) heve , because it is a fantastic and awesome game and I have seen it bashed for really , really dumb and stupid reasons: Its an animu allegory of WW2 so its bad , it has anime in it , so its bad etc. ... dumb idiotic reasons. Im glad that you gave it a fare chance and see why it is an appreciated game.
Hrotriks _ honestly I dislike when people dislike the idea of something being "anime". Like I get if you don't like the art style. But people attach plot and dialogue tropes to the word and that leads to the notion that something is lesser for being "anime" in its style.
@@lazysylph3312 I don't believe that people necessarily think less of it, but just a preference. Some people just don't like the JRPG/anime/manga ascetic, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Honestly I think this was a pretty special game. It is one of the few that pulled me in enough emotionally that it was actually tough to get through. When the story hits a certain point, I could relate to the characters in what they were feeling (at least a bit). Not that many stories get me in that way.
The gameplay itself is nice and the visuals still stand out nicely. It has a good style to it. I enjoyed the combat, how even smaller soldiers had character to them, and just the overall feel. It is a war story and I think they do a good job telling it.
I think I got this game in a humble bundle a couple years ago, I'd never heard of it before but the screenshots looked interesting. I picked it up and didn't put it down until I'd 100%'d it. Very surprising.
Gotta' agree with you on the combat system. It's a wonderful blend I haven't really experienced before, and it's probably the main reason I managed to stomach the anime-style feel of the whole thing (Though like you I will say the artstyle was surprisingly well done). I suppose the opportunity damage the enemy can deal out to you while you're taking your turn is a little irksome, though while you're in a defense position yourself, your soldiers can do the exact same thing and cheese them out, especially with good positioning. On repeat playthroughs this becomes very apparent, you can set up a few good soldiers on a defense objective and watch all the enemies running out you fall like dominoes. I justify it by taking into account that more often than not, you are on the offense, and just like with real tactics this fire raining down upon you while moving is something that should be taken into account, it's very much a natural disadvantage. Still I would be very open to some tweaking on that end.
As for the tank, at first I didn't like it. I enjoyed moving around my pawns and managing the AP/CP on that micro level, but when the tank becomes necessary, it felt like a big awkward drain on your points that could be better spent on two turns of micro management, "Why use the tank when I have a much more maneuverable Lancer"?. However, when you get the smoke ability in the latter part of the game that changed completely, I realized it was much more of a tool than a weapon, I started to use it as cover for my squishier soldiers, it became a distraction and something to draw fire etc. and it became a very valuable asset.
The grounded setting helped me stomach the very 'anime' tropes and jrpg-ness of the valkyria plotline. Like you I had that moment in the desert of "YUP, HERE IT COMES"! but even then I was sort of asking myself "Wait, is that it? Huh". The game gets points for that, though I think I can say that I would have preferred the game without it.
Lastly, the characters. It's been a while since I've played but I am astonished at how defined the pawns were. It might be a bit of a hyperbolic statement considering I can barely remember any of their names, but wow. By the end of my run I had formed an opinion on the character of most, if not all of the squad members, and only about 10% of them get any actual time in the spotlight. The advantages and disadvantages helped shape that, along with the way every character had a unique design; Unlike the enemy there are no faceless droogs in your squad. Some characters just seemed useless in most situations, but by the end every single one gets a chance to show some battle capability. It was really neat, and after a while losing characters for good felt like a gutpunch. I would recommend anyone who plays this game to try their best to keep everyone alive (I'm like this in most if not all games, so I had a lot of savescumming in my initial playthrough).
All in all, a very unique game. Don't let the 'Anime' tag scare you off, it's so much more.
I'll be honest, I was dreading this rumination. This is one of my favorite games of all time (easily in my top 10) but I admit I was happy to hear you liked it too. By the way I have to ask if you played Skies of Arcadia and if you did what you thought of both it and two of its main characters (Vyse and Aika) being recruit-able in this game
i'm way late to the party but it's probably worth mentioning that Rosie hates Darcsens due to her family getting killed by an imperial darcsen-hunter party when she was a child.
This was one of my favorite games on the PS3, so glad it came out on PC. Glad you enjoyed this Lore.
VC 2 was a PSP title, apparently fans prefer 3, but say the devs used 2 to get 3 working correctly, sort of like a sacrificial lamb. I heard this second hand though (reddit).
So, I am in Greece, heavily tired at 2 after midnight and putting Lore to let him rumble at the background and try to sleep...
The video caries on at the point I left it last time, around 43 min, where he talks about Maximilian and his pain...
And for some reason my mind (even though I know very well valkyria chronicles story) goes around "oh yeah like this facility they made experiments on them and he went out covered in fire"....
Then my mind makes a turn and says, wait was not that in trails of cold steel... (even though I know very well the CS story)...
And then my mind finally works properly and remember that the scene at the burning facility was from "V for Vendetta"...
And then I was thinking... Am I just that much tired and my mind playing tricks on me or my subconscious knows something about those 3 titles I said (VC, CS, V for...)...
Anyway I am to tired to think about it but not tired to type all this here... So tommorow I will not wonder if it was a dream... 😂
Since you brought it up I would like to hear your thoughts on Valkyrie Profile.
Just passing by to say that I really enjoy your analysis. Valkyria Chronicles is a great game :D
Very well done
Love this series and want to see what you think about the game!
You forget the Major General Radi Jaeger and Major General Berthold Gregor. The other Important Imperial Commander
Hey loved the video! Have you got a chance to play Valkyria Chronicles 4 yet? If you haven't it's basically the federation front of the war. So you don't need to pay 2 or 3 to get it.
The only thing I disliked about this game was some characters and character interaction was a bit too 'anime' for me. The rest was just excellent. The gameplay was great. The usage of different rolls, weapons and abilities, combined with the layouts of the maps and the fact that many missions had an objective other than 'kill all enemies' or at the very least had a gimmick made it feel much more like a puzzle game rather than a tactical shooter. And the setting was also very good. As you said, it felt very grounded without feeling dull or grimy. I also loved the WWI/II setting and technology. Although I would say it wasn't really analogous to the Second World War, but rather to a hypothetical conflict in the 1930's or so. Most tanks in-game, for example, were based on German, Czech or Soviet designs from the Interbellum.
Ahh XCom: Anime Edition
Not even close at all.
Where can I get that live video he has in background?
It's a Witcher 3 recording taken by Lorerunner himself. So you'd either have to ask him or record one yourself.
Thank for interesting time. One of games i like the most.
Also the _Valkiria Chronicles 4_ is just out. It ties straight to the first game unlike the 2 and 3 part.
Lyrical nano~ Valkyria 4 actually did what I was hoping it would do and fearing it wouldn’t - it exceeded 1. It was darker, though not as dark as it could have been; but it felt closer to wartime tone. It greatly increased the amount of side character story, and it balanced the combat a lot better without losing the feel of the first one. Great game.
R u going to try divinity original sin 2?
He did do an exploration of it on his streaming archive channel. Here is the link to it. czcams.com/video/oMKTuUp3eWc/video.html
The weird pseudo-alternate history of this game reminds me strongly of the (numbered) Ace Combat games. I would love to see a Ace Combat 4 and or 5 rumination, but the gameplay might not be your thing
I'm not sure what you are talking about here, Lore, this game is like at least 50% anime, worf barrages and all. It's just that english VA delivery saves a lot of the scenes from sounding too over the top. Although in some cases it causes inconsistences between what characters say and what they do. Most notably, the confrontation between the main character and his old friend near the end - in english it seems like a total overreaction to a, perhaps overly ruthless or rash, but otherwise calm and logical proposal, espcially after said old friend commits suicide over it, while in japanese he sounds unhealthily obssessed, if not outright unhinged in that scene.
In terms of maps, I've liked the urban maps much more than the rest of it; a little bit too much gimmicky rushing through a needle hole assaults happen in there for my liking. Also, endless enemy spawns until you shut down the point like it's commandoes again got aggravating very quickly. The enemy aren't allowed to use their numbers smartly and that is what saves the player, but it can often turn into outright corpse bombing a given advance, from both sides.
I feel special note needs to be made of the visual effects on screen along the lines of comic book sound visualisations and their proficient use. A tank cannon firing produces a nice and flashy 'KA-BOOM' that obscures vision for a moment, while your soldier stepping on a mine is followed by a little quiet unobtrusive *click* on the side of the screen.
[SPOILERS for VC 2 HERE] Contrasting ragnite to tiberium is a bit funny here since in the second game they pretty definitively show it to have anomalous properties when discovered 'in the wild'; miners working to extract it from underground veins are noted to be unusually healthy and long-lived (although it's not noted if it is in general or if only compared to a miner's average longevity and profession-acquired ailments), in gameplay all infantry units present in areas with exposed unrefined ore during the turns it 'pulses' heal a portion of their hp. That said, we'll see where they go with this in 4 when it releases outside Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if they exclude the PSP games out of the continuity. [SPOILER END]
I did like how in the dlc imperial scenarios the platoon under the player's command was suddenly hit with ragnite 'healing lamp' shortage when compared to their ubiquitous availability in the main campaign. Helps underscore the differences on logistical and strategical level between the different militaries and show in a gameplay and story segregation kind of way why and how the material is so important in the first place.
And while on the topic of magitech, valkyr's own super precursor civilisation magic is quite limited when not having the specifically crafted artifact tools on hand (or at least that is all that the characters have been able to figure out). Which was not something I was expecting, in a good way. A potential user shows some supernatural qualities otherwise, but it is altogether low-key, Selvaria being the exception with her partially activated state (the anime albino looks and catching ethereal fire if in contact with high enough concentration of ragnite, including most steel alloys used in the setting at the time) that was a result of extensive human experimintation. I think we need more jrpg (and just fiction works in general) like that.
I find it curious that the opposing side could've pulled out a win regardless of the unexpected resistance offered... if only Maximilian wasn't busy being Maximilian. As soon as the campaign ran into complications, every commander under him more or less went off to do their own thing, and thus were picked off one by one. Which, IMHO, is a strangely incompetent thing to do on his part. It'd be one thing if he tried to hold them together in a cohesive whole, but failed; him sitting and actively doing nothing to prevent failure, on the other hand, is much more suspect. Did he assume everyone at his command table were out to get him and had to be disposed of before the campaign ended?
In that case, the move with Selvaria makes even less sense. He had proof over the course of years, maybe longer, of personal loyalty from her by that point. Regardless of any feelings of devotion or whatever else, if only because she had no place to live in their society at the time outside of the one offered by being in his favour. Even when viewing it solely through the lens of cold calculus, throwing away loyal minions like changing gloves is just wasteful.
It could be interpreted as a gesture of honesty, at the very end, hypothetically. Pointedly refusing to do the expected play on emotion with intent to squeeze just a bit more fervent determination in the face of suicidal orders, refusing to mime an attempt to meet her attempts to connect halfway out of some sense of obligation or gratitude (a habitual cold fish like him suddenly becoming friendly would be a bit too hard to believe at that point, so hiding it inside something else would be required). But I don't think that was what they were going for. It perhaps was one last manipulation, fishing for the reaction that ended up happening, if anything. But even then, the resulting damage is much less than expected, since the general stupidface and his personal cohort of yesmen and bullies getting blown up only increases Galian military capability overall.
I have to admit, a lot of my 'eeeeh' comes from Selvaria having more character to herself than the rest of the opposing camp combined. Narratively speaking, it makes for a nice conclusion, showing that a valkyr cannot effectively channel their power above a certain threshold without the use of artefact tools without burning themselves out in the process. There was also nowhere for her to go. Unless she somehow managed to get lost in the wilderness, she would probably be either executed, tortured and executed, tortured and experimented upon or just tortured to death. Especially if the general stupidface was allowed to have his way, which he probably could push through, given his status and blatant stealing of victories won by other officers. Following the command regardless of personal and institutional betrayal from Maximilian could make sense for someone who could not bring themselves to be spiteful against him as well (although I have yet to see a story and a character that satisfied me with their execution of this; feels like an overly deliberate emotional gutpunch all too often).
It's just, well, writing out a character that could be used further down the line that early in the series seems like a waste from an out-of-universe perspective as well. There is something to be said for minding the now before the potential future can come to be - adding impact to the finale in return for having issues in the future games that might not ever get made - but after that they would have to write in suspciously similar subtitute(s) later on if they wish to explore the plot threads present in Selvaria's arc further.
The graphics is great and the gameplay is decent. But the story is just so weak. Farmers having a tank in their barn and such stuff.
that barn was owned by a former general it was his tank that is why it was there.
You say like the story of your life is worth a movie or something...