I’m glad Valkyria Chronicles is back, I didn’t think Valkyria Chronicles 4 was actually going to happen, it’s still great despite having some flaws and not evolving much from the first game.
The first thing I want to write about is the look of this game. I loved this style back on the PS3 and I still love it now. It’s like a hand painted, water colour story book come to life, which is mixed with an anime/manga style. It’s charming, timeless, colourful and full of personality. This style is carried through into every part of the game; from the UI to the little sound effect words that pop up during gameplay. It perfectly suits the games fantasy World War 2 setting. The environments and characters look excellent too but it’s a shame a lot of characters and enemies don’t get a unique look or at least some variation. The weapons and tanks got plenty of attention and look great as well. The game could use more varied animations and in general the gameplay needs work to look smoother. A lot of the game is presented in a stilted way with only some moments getting fully animated scenes. I also had this weird issue at times during gameplay where things would pause for a second during a turn change or after I selected an action which just added to the overall stilted feeling of the game. So I would sum up the look of the game as cosy and beautiful but stiff and at times a bit awkward.
When it comes to gameplay Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a good strategy RPG. You run your characters and tanks around small maps and then stop to take actions against the enemies or heal. But you need to be careful as the enemies will fire upon you if you are in range. Of course your side will do the same during the enemy turn too. So positioning your characters is vital to ensure both good offence and defence. There is cover to crouch behind and grass to hide in. You can take advantage of the environment and your own tanks. You have a small variety of classes at your disposal with their own purpose and strengths and weaknesses. Figuring out what to do and in what order to do it is satisfying. You have limited movement, actions per turn, health, some ammo types and range. Some units can command and bring another unit with them. Characters get benefits if they fight alongside other characters they like and you can also give out orders for buffs or other benefits. On the whole there is a decent amount to be considering each turn and when picking your team. It’s really enjoyable when it all comes together and rewarding when your plans work out. Even when you are careless and things go wrong trying to plan your way out of your own mistakes is fun too. The game does a thorough job of teaching you how to play and there is plenty of post game content as well.
As much as I do enjoy the combat it does have some issues and it just doesn’t feel like much of a step up from the first game. I wish the maps were bigger with more epic battles and more units. A lot of the battles have like a gimmick or specific way they should be played which got a bit annoying. I would have liked more open battles with a lot of freedom in how to tackle it. Don’t get me wrong though there is usually still a good amount of freedom within these ‘gimmick’ battles. The other thing is jank/awkwardness. Your characters will often get stuck running at cover for a moment before jumping it. Characters also can’t move through small spaces even if they look plenty big enough. So for example if you put your tank near a wall but leave a gap, you need to make sure it’s a really big gap for characters to fit through. It looks awful and is very frustrating when you try to move a character through a space that appears big enough but you just get stuck. There are awkward times when aiming too. Sometimes bits of the environment will be in the way even when you don’t think it will be when positioning your character and what makes it worse is that occasionally enemy fire will pass through and hit when you thought it was safe.
Outside of the main battles you’ll find yourself watching the story and side stories, visiting the headquarters and doing skirmishes. The way the story is played is in little chunks. So you have to keep clicking on the next bit to watch which means seeing more loading screens and wasting time. But I guess that also means you are never stuck in long bits of story. The headquarters is where you organise and upgrade your squad and equipment. You upgrade classes and get new orders with experience and buy upgrades to uniforms, tanks, weapons, etc. with currency. It is a bit simple and has you hearing the same dialogue over and over. It would have been cool if it was like a hub you could walk around in and hang out with the squad. In the headquarters you will also find a wealth of information to keep you up with the story, terms, weapons, world and characters and how to play as well. Not much really needs to be said about skirmishes; they are side battles to test your skills and get more experience and money.
So how is the story? Well it’s not too bad. I enjoyed the journey and there were many good moments but is has its problems. There are times when it feels like there is needless padding. It’s a bit too contrived and Squad E has some ridiculous luck too often. I lost count of how many times they were saved by the weather. It is a bit predictable too and has an underwhelming ending, even when you put in the extra effort for the true ending. Despite the visuals it’s still about war and has no problem going into darker themes but doesn’t do a whole lot with it. I didn’t have an issue with the goofiness or tone changes and actually think that’s part of the games charm. The characters do a lot of the lifting here and they are a diverse, fun bunch to spend time with. Each character, even the side characters, gets just enough development to push them past merely being the stereotypes they start off as. This ties back into the gameplay as well. The characters potentials and preferences change after using them and going through their stories which makes them better. It would have been great to see this pushed even further. The voice actors do a great job and the soundtrack is good but many tracks are repeated a bit too much. The major bad guys are a bit of a letdown though. When comes to story and characters I prefer the first game but this isn’t a bad time.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a solid, enjoyable game, that is easily worth playing and it is fantastic to see this series continue. However this isn’t much of a step forward from the original PS3 game and I still prefer that original too. It feels like there’s so much untapped potential here. Valkyria Chronicles could be a top shelf series if given a bigger push, bigger budget, more polish and a bolder story. I’m hopeful it continues and I am keen to see a Valkyria Chronicles 5. I would recommend Valkyria Chronicles 4 to everyone that played any of the previous games and enjoyed them but you’ve probably already played this. So to everyone new to Valkyria Chronicles I would recommend getting the remaster of the original first but you could jump into this one if you like without a problem.
8.1/10
The first thing I want to write about is the look of this game. I loved this style back on the PS3 and I still love it now. It’s like a hand painted, water colour story book come to life, which is mixed with an anime/manga style. It’s charming, timeless, colourful and full of personality. This style is carried through into every part of the game; from the UI to the little sound effect words that pop up during gameplay. It perfectly suits the games fantasy World War 2 setting. The environments and characters look excellent too but it’s a shame a lot of characters and enemies don’t get a unique look or at least some variation. The weapons and tanks got plenty of attention and look great as well. The game could use more varied animations and in general the gameplay needs work to look smoother. A lot of the game is presented in a stilted way with only some moments getting fully animated scenes. I also had this weird issue at times during gameplay where things would pause for a second during a turn change or after I selected an action which just added to the overall stilted feeling of the game. So I would sum up the look of the game as cosy and beautiful but stiff and at times a bit awkward.
When it comes to gameplay Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a good strategy RPG. You run your characters and tanks around small maps and then stop to take actions against the enemies or heal. But you need to be careful as the enemies will fire upon you if you are in range. Of course your side will do the same during the enemy turn too. So positioning your characters is vital to ensure both good offence and defence. There is cover to crouch behind and grass to hide in. You can take advantage of the environment and your own tanks. You have a small variety of classes at your disposal with their own purpose and strengths and weaknesses. Figuring out what to do and in what order to do it is satisfying. You have limited movement, actions per turn, health, some ammo types and range. Some units can command and bring another unit with them. Characters get benefits if they fight alongside other characters they like and you can also give out orders for buffs or other benefits. On the whole there is a decent amount to be considering each turn and when picking your team. It’s really enjoyable when it all comes together and rewarding when your plans work out. Even when you are careless and things go wrong trying to plan your way out of your own mistakes is fun too. The game does a thorough job of teaching you how to play and there is plenty of post game content as well.
As much as I do enjoy the combat it does have some issues and it just doesn’t feel like much of a step up from the first game. I wish the maps were bigger with more epic battles and more units. A lot of the battles have like a gimmick or specific way they should be played which got a bit annoying. I would have liked more open battles with a lot of freedom in how to tackle it. Don’t get me wrong though there is usually still a good amount of freedom within these ‘gimmick’ battles. The other thing is jank/awkwardness. Your characters will often get stuck running at cover for a moment before jumping it. Characters also can’t move through small spaces even if they look plenty big enough. So for example if you put your tank near a wall but leave a gap, you need to make sure it’s a really big gap for characters to fit through. It looks awful and is very frustrating when you try to move a character through a space that appears big enough but you just get stuck. There are awkward times when aiming too. Sometimes bits of the environment will be in the way even when you don’t think it will be when positioning your character and what makes it worse is that occasionally enemy fire will pass through and hit when you thought it was safe.
Outside of the main battles you’ll find yourself watching the story and side stories, visiting the headquarters and doing skirmishes. The way the story is played is in little chunks. So you have to keep clicking on the next bit to watch which means seeing more loading screens and wasting time. But I guess that also means you are never stuck in long bits of story. The headquarters is where you organise and upgrade your squad and equipment. You upgrade classes and get new orders with experience and buy upgrades to uniforms, tanks, weapons, etc. with currency. It is a bit simple and has you hearing the same dialogue over and over. It would have been cool if it was like a hub you could walk around in and hang out with the squad. In the headquarters you will also find a wealth of information to keep you up with the story, terms, weapons, world and characters and how to play as well. Not much really needs to be said about skirmishes; they are side battles to test your skills and get more experience and money.
So how is the story? Well it’s not too bad. I enjoyed the journey and there were many good moments but is has its problems. There are times when it feels like there is needless padding. It’s a bit too contrived and Squad E has some ridiculous luck too often. I lost count of how many times they were saved by the weather. It is a bit predictable too and has an underwhelming ending, even when you put in the extra effort for the true ending. Despite the visuals it’s still about war and has no problem going into darker themes but doesn’t do a whole lot with it. I didn’t have an issue with the goofiness or tone changes and actually think that’s part of the games charm. The characters do a lot of the lifting here and they are a diverse, fun bunch to spend time with. Each character, even the side characters, gets just enough development to push them past merely being the stereotypes they start off as. This ties back into the gameplay as well. The characters potentials and preferences change after using them and going through their stories which makes them better. It would have been great to see this pushed even further. The voice actors do a great job and the soundtrack is good but many tracks are repeated a bit too much. The major bad guys are a bit of a letdown though. When comes to story and characters I prefer the first game but this isn’t a bad time.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a solid, enjoyable game, that is easily worth playing and it is fantastic to see this series continue. However this isn’t much of a step forward from the original PS3 game and I still prefer that original too. It feels like there’s so much untapped potential here. Valkyria Chronicles could be a top shelf series if given a bigger push, bigger budget, more polish and a bolder story. I’m hopeful it continues and I am keen to see a Valkyria Chronicles 5. I would recommend Valkyria Chronicles 4 to everyone that played any of the previous games and enjoyed them but you’ve probably already played this. So to everyone new to Valkyria Chronicles I would recommend getting the remaster of the original first but you could jump into this one if you like without a problem.
8.1/10