A bold innovation in turn-based tactical role-playing games 8/10 There has never been a single excellent wargame or tactical role-playing game on the market that lacks fun, depth, or playability. Players are often kept away by issues such as complex and hardcore game rules, overly concise game tutorials, randomness that cannot be linked to the actual condition, etc. On this level, Valkyria Chronicles has achieved limited but bold targeted innovation in the original PS3 version, which was released in 2008. While retaining the fun of its genre to the maximum extent, it perfectly integrated relatively freely controllable third-person shooter gameplay into it. Even today, it has already been almost 10 years after the remastered version based on the Valkyrie Chronicles 4's engine was released, this one could still stand out among several tactical role-playing games with its unique gameplay. The story takes place in a fictional Europe during the early years of WWII, all related background, character details, and other worldview information have been comprehensive and detailed supplemented in the game. The plot that focuses on anti-war may only be described as neither good nor bad, but the moderate length, easy-to-understand narrative style, and full voice acting are perfectly coordinated with the tactical part of the game, making it feel surprisingly comfortable both in terms of gaming and reading experience. In terms of gameplay, Valkyrie Chronicles combines 2D top-view maps with 3D real-time TPS battles. Although the same unit can be moved multiple times, which is very different from its genre, the action point and limited ammunition for certain weapons could prevent excessive reliance on single-soldier combat to a certain extent. Including various strategic elements such as cover, field of view, weapon range, units, weather, reinforcements, and terrain environments such as cities, forests, grasslands, deserts, and barriers, the game is unparalleled in terms of playability, randomness, strategy, and fun. Whether you prefer infantry-tank coordination, want to push the front steady, or want to execute surprise attacks by infiltrating enemy lines, the game offers multiple strategies for players to explore. The sense of immersion, fulfillment, and achievement brought by winning through tactical layout and actual operation is unmatched by any traditional tactical game. The step-by-step, rich, and solid tutorial content in the game is enough for anyone to get started quickly, and the appropriate role-playing elements will not let players fall into repetitive and monotonous resource farming. As the pioneering work in the series, Valkyrie Chronicles fully demonstrates its bold and innovative game design, but it is undeniable that there are also various problems in the game, some of which significantly influence the gaming experience. The typical Japanese plot construction itself is inevitably narrow and superficial, lacking profound depth, and the descriptions of conflicts and the portrayal of villains are extremely stereotyped and sloppy, the ending of the story also feels too hasty. When it comes to gameplay, aside from common issues in early tactical games, such as poor AI logic and performance and long player waiting times, the extreme imbalance between units and unreasonable level ranking systems cannot be simply ignored. The Scout's exceptionally long movement distance makes it the main force in most situations, and the ranking system is only bound to the number of turns taken. On some moderately sized maps, you need to finish it in just one turn to get the highest rank. This indirectly encourages the Scout Rush strategy as the most cost-effective, simplest, and brainless strategy, which subtly affects the player's tactical choice and deviates from the game's intended design. On high-difficulty skirmish battlegrounds, it is nearly impossible to complete them perfectly on the first attempt. Players often need to rely on a large number of S/L for exploration and trial, which ultimately makes the game a bit like a puzzle game rather than a tactical one. In addition to the cumbersome chapter selection process, extremely poor tank control, and low-precision, mosaics-filled scene models, the PC version also suffers from issues such as extremely low cutscene volume and poor mouse adaptation. It may also crash without any warning, which will have a devastating impact on the gaming experience since there is no automatic save function. If the player does not have the habit of saving at will, their hard work may be wasted at any time. For fans of tactical role-playing games, Valkyrie Chronicles is definitely worth trying for its unique and entertaining gameplay. However, the unbalanced strength of the units and the unreasonable flawed ranking system make the strategic choices in this one different from those of most others. This level design, which to a certain extent encourages cutting corners, may not appeal to hardcore wargame players. Due to the poor compatibility of the PC version nowadays, it is recommended that players who have the condition to play the more stable Switch port version. If you decide it on the PC, just don't forget to save it frequently to avoid losing your process. Also, there is an adapted anime series that focuses more on the relationships between characters and the expansion of the worldview, if you really love this one then maybe you shouldn't miss it. Find my reviews valuable? [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/justgamecurator]Click here to join my curator group. Your support is my greatest motivation!
Read more