Valkyria Chronicles 4 announced for every console

[Tuvy]

What? Where did you hear this information?

Spoiler

Is there a video showing Raz's death?

 

 

[The DanMan]

11 minutes ago, Tuvy said:

What? Where did you hear this information?

  Reveal hidden contents

Is there a video showing Raz's death?

 

 

Some guy blitzed through the entire game and streamed it. Can't say I've seen anything for myself yet, just going off of what I've read. 

[Shrimpica]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/790820/Valkyria_Chronicles_4/

[Ertrick36]

N o...

They actually are doing it?

Sega, you magnificent bastards... you may not always hit the mark, but you're hitting it right on the head this time.

[Ertrick36]

Should've posted this stuff earlier, but...

Recent trailers...

Spoiler

 

 

and gameplay...

Spoiler

 

 

For us filthy casuals who prefer hearing/reading English.

Probably other stuff out there, and if I get the time, I might break some of this stuff down for those too lazy to watch videos.  Not like any gameplay stuff wouldn't be known, since it's been out in Japan for a while, but not everyone wants to snipe every little piece of information, especially since so many like to sprinkle spoilers all over the place without warning.

[The DanMan]

September 25th. Three days before Code Vein. Whyyyyyyyyyyyy

Edited June 19, 2018 by The DanMan

[Ertrick36]

That's actually sooner than I was thinking.  I'd have thought it'd be coming out in October or November.  That release date's only three months out.

I hope they start cranking up the marketing from here on out for the game's sake.  I know it's not Sega's biggest franchise, but given the first game's success on and PS4, they could do to support this franchise.  Also hope the Steam version opens up preorders soon.

I'm glad it's coming out the same date for all platforms.  Now I don't have to worry about everyone spoiling the game before I have it if I were to go for the Switch or PC versions.  Though now I'm wondering where the Alexa and Etch-a-Sketch versions are.  Thanks, Bethesda.

[Interdimensional Observer]

This game will make a fine Christmas gift!

 

But first, playing the original to completion this time! Hope no system death makes me lose it all over halfway in again. I decided to skip all the plot scenes to speed things up until I get back to Naggiar, where I got cut off last time. Then I can replay the scenes I want to see at my leisure plus watch all of the subsequent plot I had never seen before. My memories of the gist of things is still good. Not like that much really happens in the story- it is a slow mover.

So far, I'm up to Chapter 6 again, which I remember is just about skirting the east edge of the desert for a capture, maybe some Lancer use. That and a RNG-frustrating bit of countersniping at the beginning in the process of taking the camp halfway on the map. Sniping can be so frustrating.

After this, it is the infamous Chapter 7 again. *Sigh* Not like it is actually that hard since I'm not worried about ranks (they were real mean limiting A to LTC strats), I can grind if I need to. Just have the Edelweiss with an Engineer behind it block the Maxitank until all initial infantry are dead and the side machine guns disabled. After this, Welkin moves out the way, Maxi gets hot under the radiators smashing some ruins. My Scouts go semi-kaze with plopping grenades in those radiators, everyone hides behind a indestructible wall when Selvaria shows up, and I plop the last grenade in. Now if only I remembered which side of the Maxitank Selvaria likes to stay on so she won't kill my semi-kaze Scout before they get to their target....

After C7, it is back to easy battles, and I get a second tank I didn't need nor ever found a use for. C4 by the way was as tight as I remember- that Chapter is definitely misplaced in terms of difficulty- it messed with my noob self before.

[Ertrick36]

Chapter 7 is ease...  Where Selvaria plops herself is the left side of the Batomys, towards the front; if you have someone run along the northern flank from cover to cover, they'll be easily able to throw that final grenade into the Batomys without having to worry about Selvaria destroying them.  Chapter 8b, though... that'll kick your butt.  At least with the Gallian Crossfire mod installed.  That's the chapter where you have to deal with the squad being split up and you have to protect the tank until Welkin reaches it.  You practically need to kill a certain number of lancers and one of the tanks, or else the Edelweiss will not survive.

Ch 13, Ch 17, and Ch 18a are the most difficult ones after that, I think.  And the Fouzen ones are just difficult to A-rank in because of the winding paths you need to take.  Chapter 15 (both parts) might've been difficult as well, but the second part can be easily cheesed if you know what to do.

[Ertrick36]

Since we know the date for VC4, perhaps some of you would appreciate knowing what exactly is different between it and the previous games; this is the best, most comprehensive list I could find:

Spoiler

Hopefully, the game will run at 60 FPS on at least one of the platforms.  Even on PC, it's not a guaranteed thing because some companies like to cap the FPS at 30 or tie it to the game logic (meaning anything faster than 30 FPS would actually speed up the game ridiculously), usually when they're ported over.

All in all, VC4 seems to be fairly different from VC1.  Enough anyway that it'll play differently.

Also, is it too late to say that Kai literally stole SSBU Snake's... "graphics"?

Spoiler

I hope Sega steals MGS from Konami next.

That'd be nice.

EDIT:

Also, Busard over on GameFAQs released sheets a while back detailing potentials and stats for all the characters, including their profile pics except for the characters in the Squad 7 DLC.  Definitely spoilers abound:

Scouts:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ago5IuS5NPatApHHFly126uhFMy7DnHW

Shocktroopers:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PTRjUqx57ypTbcc9PvNRsQ7Ew3iOjs0_

Lancers:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gGpCcRWfln4l0X9ArNA_Rne0tfCMf7cJ

Engineers:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/130HDi2AA_sbroGd96YgieO_xNHowpKxR

Snipers:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QMU4XqmUqNqyvFhOHo67r9Drb-qtkU-2

Grenadiers:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZUV-K4gWRVFUjj7VQqsoJ4m441D08lNE

Tanks:

Spoiler

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1I40YbbSJ9seukI08Ch3Fz_0XfDL6WXl-

It seems that once again, scouts and shocktroopers will make up the bulk of the playable cast, with the rest only making up smaller percentages.  There are a few very obviously OP characters, some characters who fit certain metas well, and most others don't seem overly terrible.  They got rid of Ultimate Potentials, but some characters can still obtain ridiculous stat boosts under certain conditions (e.g. Kai can obtain a vs. pers damage bonus of +150%, Lily the shocktrooper can obtain an accuracy bonus of +150%, etc.).

Also, depending on how you set up your team, you may get Generic soldiers who will join your roster in missions.  You need fewer than 20 non-leader/non-DLC units, or fewer than 2 in a class of such units to receive them; the game will always ensure you have at least two non-leader/non-DLC units per class, although the Generic units have no personal potentials (only battle potentials).

Edited June 22, 2018 by Ertrick36

[Ertrick36]

Forgot to mention (sorry for the triple post, btw), but a demo for the West is coming at some point.  Probably just before the release (like a week or a few days out from it).  No idea if it's coming to the XBone or PC, but given that it was offered on the Switch in Japan, I can see it happening for at least one of those platforms.

Still no word on special preorders for the PC version.  Come on Sega, I want my Grenadier Isara in glorious 4K resolution and 120+ FPS.

[The DanMan]

I already skimmed that reddit changelist when it first went up, but looking through it again it outright missatributes several things that were introduced in 2 to 3 (Classmate/Squadmate missions, tank camouflage, being able to retreat units within camp boundaries for no CP cost, being able to use an APC yourself instead of it being limited to escort missions, being able to assign another Commander after a certain point in the game) or outright claims that they are new (tanks no longer having separate tread HP, potential activation not taking up the full screen, looted accessories)-- probably missed a bunch, but I'm not going to go over and find every single thing wrong with it.

It's kinda sad that some people have such a hatred for 2 that they'd do this, especially since I've found 2 a lot more enjoyable and polished than 3 (which has only further established my opinion that 3 feels like a tryhard edgy romhack).

On 7/5/2018 at 8:09 AM, Ertrick36 said:

Forgot to mention (sorry for the triple post, btw), but a demo for the West is coming at some point.  Probably just before the release (like a week or a few days out from it).  No idea if it's coming to the XBone or PC, but given that it was offered on the Switch in Japan, I can see it happening for at least one of those platforms.

Still no word on special preorders for the PC version.  Come on Sega, I want my Grenadier Isara in glorious 4K resolution and 120+ FPS.

I'd hope they'd release it on XONe and PC; then again, I believe the Shining Resonance Demo is Switch exclusive (and also Sega), so who knows.

[Ertrick36]

58 minutes ago, The DanMan said:

I already skimmed that reddit changelist when it first went up, but looking through it again it outright missatributes several things that were introduced in 2 to 3 (Classmate/Squadmate missions, tank camouflage, being able to retreat units within camp boundaries for no CP cost, being able to use an APC yourself instead of it being limited to escort missions, being able to assign another Commander after a certain point in the game) or outright claims that they are new (tanks no longer having separate tread HP, potential activation not taking up the full screen, looted accessories)-- probably missed a bunch, but I'm not going to go over and find every single thing wrong with it.

I actually have been playing through VC3 and liking it well enough, but I get what you mean about them false attributing a lot of stuff to VC3 when most gameplay elements were ripped straight from VC2.  Hell, I think they even rehashed some of the VC2 maps.  That's what a financial failure can do to a sequel, unfortunately.

I just don't like the deviations VC2 took tone-wise from what I came to expect after playing VC1, but it has solid enough gameplay, some characters I can actually like (I'm personally a fan of Mr. Rock n' Roll Man Vario Kraatz, and I liked the interactions Magari had with Welks), and there are even some elements within the story (usually the stuff outside the academy) that I enjoyed.  I think the hate is a little unwarranted; I saw some idiot on GameFAQs who, not once, but twice just had to post about how he wished VC4 would've just been labeled VC2 and the PSP games left forgotten.

Anyway, aside from the false attributions, I haven't noticed anything else wrong with that list.

1 hour ago, The DanMan said:

I'd hope they'd release it on XONe and PC; then again, I believe the Shining Resonance Demo is Switch exclusive (and also Sega), so who knows.

Stuff like that just makes me shake my head at Sega.  For all the good games and franchises they've put out, they sure have made just as many weird and stupid decisions.  I actually read that the DLC mission with Squad 7 was exclusively part of a 10th anniversary edition of the PS4 version, but on the Switch you just need to purchase the Season Pass.  I just don't understand why there needs to be that inconsistency.

[The DanMan]

3 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

I actually have been playing through VC3 and liking it well enough, but I get what you mean about them false attributing a lot of stuff to VC3 when most gameplay elements were ripped straight from VC2.  Hell, I think they even rehashed some of the VC2 maps.  That's what a financial failure can do to a sequel, unfortunately.

I just don't like the deviations VC2 took tone-wise from what I came to expect after playing VC1, but it has solid enough gameplay, some characters I can actually like (I'm personally a fan of Mr. Rock n' Roll Man Vario Kraatz, and I liked the interactions Magari had with Welks), and there are even some elements within the story (usually the stuff outside the academy) that I enjoyed.  I think the hate is a little unwarranted; I saw some idiot on GameFAQs who, not once, but twice just had to post about how he wished VC4 would've just been labeled VC2 and the PSP games left forgotten.

Anyway, aside from the false attributions, I haven't noticed anything else wrong with that list.

Stuff like that just makes me shake my head at Sega.  For all the good games and franchises they've put out, they sure have made just as many weird and stupid decisions.  I actually read that the DLC mission with Squad 7 was exclusively part of a 10th anniversary edition of the PS4 version, but on the Switch you just need to purchase the Season Pass.  I just don't understand why there needs to be that inconsistency.

Yep, 3 carried over 90% of the maps from 2.

The fact I started with 3 probably didn't help things, but I've looked back and messed around a bit with it since and it's helped solidify my opinions on it. Both 2 and 3 (and seemingly the series in general) have super hokey writing, so I hardly even consider that aspect. Riela's the best MC of the six, but conversely Kurt (who I hesitate to even call a character) and Imca are at the bottom. Gameplay wise, 2's definitely a lot easier but it lets you mess around a lot more and experiment with stuff; 3, especially past the halfway point, dives into frankly BS difficulty like enemies with nearly twice the HP of playable characters and the good ol' Armored Hunters. Yeah, the credits system in 2 being randomized is dumb, but thanks to the far easier difficulty overall and emulator savescumming, which in 3 I had to indulge for with basically every shot I took because of how often enemies straight up dodge stuff I don't find 2 to be as much of a straight-up slog as 3 is. On top of the obvious deal of one being professionally translated while the other is fan translated with wildly inconsistent quality (stilted wording, typos and run-on sentences galore).

...That DLC deal makes no sense if true. And now I'm reminded of it and how there's nothing like it for Class G and Nameless.

[Affinity]

@Ertrick36 so that we do not derail my own thread, I suppose we can resume discussion here. :P

Edited July 11, 2018 by Affinity

[Ertrick36]

@Affinity I'm glad to take it to this thread in particular, as then I can have this be a sort of informative post for people looking into this game or the series in general.

 

So Valkyria Chronicles is the story of the Second Europan War (EWII), which is pretty much a historical parallel to World War 2.  The first game follows the story of Welkin Gunther, Alicia Melchiott, and their "Squad 7" (more like a platoon, but translation errors are what they are) of the Gallian (basically Switzerland) Militia as they have to defend themselves in a war they want nothing to do with.

It's essentially an anime take on World War 2, but that certainly doesn't mean it's very light-hearted.  There are a few slice-of-life moments and hijinks, but in equal measure are there scenes of racial persecution (of a race known as Darcsens - something of a mix between Jewish and Gypsy, and one such person is one of the subjects of my profile picture, and pictured below this paragraph), senseless civilian slaughter (without visible blood/child deaths; it's rated T for teens), and other such brutal scenes one might expect in a story about war.

Isara is best girl.  Aside from maybe Lynn.  I head-canon her as a dictator; just look at that evil "They'll Never Find the Body" smile.

It straddles the line between optimism and grim, and the result is a neatly leveled depiction of war that is quite immersive and approachable to many tastes.  I would compare the writing quality to Genealogy of the Holy War, that's how good I think the story is.  Except this game doesn't have incest.  Or cults.

 

In terms of gameplay, I'll have a more in-depth (spoiler free, mind you) explanation of the mechanics in the spoiler below, but here I'll broadly describe the game and what it features.  It is a strategy shooter game that is turn-based, yet has a real-time element as well.  You control a platoon of close to a dozen infantry men (or women, as the name of the game would imply) and a tank in a series of operations to beat back an imperial invasion.

Having access to a boot camp for training soldiers up (sort of like PoR's bonus EXP, except it's the primary way to raise levels instead), an R&D department to develop weapons and parts for your tank, a variety of infantry classes that all play very differently, and a very diverse roster of units that each have their own quirks and traits (known as "potentials" that can effect their performance significantly), you are tasked with building your platoon to be ready for the right situations.  As with any turn-based strategy game, you take turns with the enemy moving units around on a map, working towards certain objectives while keeping the enemy from fulfilling their's.

Though they say a picture speaks a thousand words, so how about I demonstrate how the game works through a series of screenshots/gifs from my VC LP.  This will be for if you still aren't sure what to expect from the game; it's spoiler-free, don't worry.  Minus the fact that I show a couple "hidden units", but that's barely even a spoiler since they are just as relevant as any other old unit that you can recruit.

Spoiler

As I've said before, you take turns with the enemy moving units around and giving them orders.

This is the "Command Mode" screen (and the enemy's variant on the right).  You select your units here, and can see enemies as well so long as your units have a line of sight on them.  Instead of every unit taking a turn to move and fight within a phase, you have CPs (displayed at the top as badges) that you can spend either on several different units or all on one unit.  You only spend one to select a unit; you don't spend any more to have them attack or do anything else until you've ended their turn.  One CP = the unit gets to move, take a single primary action, and end their turn.

There are also Orders that can be issued from the Command Mode screen for certain CP costs once you get to a certain point in the game (fairly early on, but not right from the very beginning).  These include buffs for your units and more direct orders such as Sniper Support.

The other primary mode is Action Mode, which happens when you've selected a unit (this usually costs a single CP) and is where most of the game is played.  You move the unit around freely in this mode so long as they have AP to spare (the orange bar at the bottom represents this).

There are a number of primary actions you can do in this mode besides moving.

Obviously, you can shoot enemies (there's an orange aiming circle that represents generally how accurate they're gonna be, displayed in the third picture).

You can heal allies with a first-aid device known as "Ragnaid" (engineers get a more potent form of the stuff than everyone else).

Engineers can repair tanks.  B L E

And most units can throw grenades, which typically can destroy cover as well as blow your enemies away.

Sometimes, certain units can also perform special actions that don't cost their primary action, such as disarming mines or repairing sandbags; they can perform such actions as many times as they want.

And yes, you get to control a tank as well.  It has Anti-Armor shells (for destroying armored targets), mortars (basically large grenades), and machine guns, and is practically impervious to regular gunfire.  In the first game, it costs not one, but two CPs to use the tank, but the cost was cut down to one in later games (including VC4).

The main counterweight to being able to move and attack freely is the enemy's ability to counterattack (and your allies' ability to do the same).  They can either counterattack after being attacked, or while their enemies are moving (that's called interception).  If you've ever played XCOM, it's basically a constant Overwatch effect.  Except in regards to interception, a unit can only a fire a certain number of times before they need to "reload" which results in a break in fire that you can exploit, and they can't intercept from a certain distance away.  Tanks are capable of interception with the machine gun.

Lancers and snipers have traditionally not been able to counterattack or intercept.  Though in VC4, it has become a possibility for the latter.

Roughly as soon as you are able to form your squad, you will see five different classes that each serve very different roles.  Varrot's explanations sum them up fairly well, so I won't go much more in-depth about them.  Scouts are scouts, shocktroopers are the main combat units, lancers are anti-tank infantry units, snipers are long-range combatants, and engineers mostly support the team.

And with a variety of classes, you also get a variety of characters to use with their own traits called potentials (yes, the girl in the picture with "Fancies Women" under her is, in fact, gay; there's also a gay man called Jann who is fab as fuck) as well as their own set of friends (under "Likes").  When with their friends, their team attacks become significantly more powerful, and their potentials can either benefit them or harm them.

Although a sort of support system akin to FE does not exist, I believe this and the ad-lib quips from each of the characters is enough to make the less plot-involved characters stand out.  Though if that's not enough for you, there's a DLC (which comes free for the PC version) that stars Edy and several other popular characters, and VC4 will have side missions dedicated to all the recruitable characters.  And even in the base game, the main characters (Welkin, Alicia, Isara, Rosie, and Largo) get fleshed out stories, so it isn't like there's no character development at all.

And as this is a strategy game, there are objectives for both your army and the enemy army to fulfill, as well as there is the possibility for your units to die.

However, unlike in FE, units whose HP has been dropped down to zero can still be saved if you reach them before the enemy does or complete the mission before they pass away (that takes three turns); if you reach them, your unit will call a medic, and they'll be brought to safety and be ready to redeploy the next turn.  But if an enemy touches them while they're down, they die permanently until new game +.

You complete your objectives, you get to see your rank and rewards, and move on to the next mission.  If you fulfill any of the failure conditions, you get a Game Over.  Pretty self-explanatory.

Outside of combat, you have another key element of the game; building your squad.

The Command Room for adding and removing units from your squad...

The Training Field to level your classes up (everyone, even unrecruited units, shares levels with their classes) to make them stronger and occasionally unlock Battle Potentials or Orders...

And the R&D department, where you can develop more weapons and equipment, beef up your tank, and customize your tank parts.

Both the Training Field and R&D are your progression system, essentially, and are tied to EXP and DCT (the currency of this game's universe).  Both resources are used for certain other things, but those are slightly spoilery, so I'll just let you figure that one out.

The last thing I can think of to mention are the Skirmishes.  Basically, they take place on maps you've beaten before, and they can be repeated.  In other words, they're places to grind in case you don't have enough EXP or DCTs to level up or get that one rifle upgrade you really want.  That can happen if you don't beat the missions fast enough, as the turns taken to beat them determine your rank, which decides the most significant portion of rewards you get.  Don't be surprised if you get constant D-ranks your first time through, even if you're good at strategy games.

You get access to more Skirmishes as you continue through the main story, and there are some DLC Skirmishes that serve more as fun little challenges, so feel free to play them.  Just not too much; you can break the game if you level too much.

Also, you can save and load game data straight from the battlefield.  Very useful, as missions take a while to beat, and as a sort of series vet (can I use that term yet?), I will say that it's very, very annoying to redo an entire mission from the beginning.

Also... have you ever played Skies of Arcadia?

Because...

Thar be Skies characters in this game.  The medic, too.  Or rather, medics.

In terms of how long it takes to beat, it usually takes at least 30 hours.  Probably around 40-60 hours for an average, first-time playthrough of the game, and likely 90 hours if you're trying to 100% it.  Same would go for the sequels I'd say, but a lot of that might come from the more grindy elements of those games.

Lastly, VC1 is available on PS3, PS4, and PC (via Steam and probably GOG), while both VC2 and VC3 are only available on PSP.  Not only that, but VC3 was only released in Japan; much like any FE game before 7, you'll need a translation patch for VC3 if you can't play it in Japanese.  I would most recommend getting VC1 on PC; the port is really good, it can play on practically any modern computer (even toaster PCs), and you can install mods.  I would most recommend you get the Gallian Crossfire mod if you do go for the modding scene after beating the game, as it makes the game much harder.

If you want more info about VC4 that hasn't been mentioned in this thread, ping kaidoi.  kaidoi seems to know more about the game than I do.  VC4 doesn't take place in Gallia, and focuses on one of the two major superpowers of the war, the Atlantic Federation (real world equivalent: NATO/allied forces in WW2).  As such, prior experience with the series is not required to play VC4.  However, I still recommend playing VC1 just by virtue of it being a damn good game.

I hope my descriptions of the game helped you decide if you want it or not.  Hope I didn't bore you with my long post.

[The DanMan]

Welp, Code Vein got delayed from September 28th into "2019" so I no longer have to feel guilty about skipping it for this.

[Ertrick36]

Yo, the opening's been revealed

For the western release, just like with VC1, the opening for this game has a light classical instrumental song that gradually crescendos.

 

Nothing else new, but supposedly the opening in Japan's version has a very different song.  I wouldn't know myself.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 6/19/2018 at 9:13 PM, Ertrick36 said:

Ch 13, Ch 17, and Ch 18a are the most difficult ones after that, I think.

C13 wasn't really that hard to me. (A play log with various musing up to before C15 if you're interested, includes real SPOILERS for those who haven't played the game and might want to give it a try.)

Spoiler

Having returned to VC1, I will say that up to Chapter 12, the last battle where I first left off, things were none too bad, actually on the easy side with the A-B Ranks I started getting around the princess kidnapping mission. Once you understand how defensive and pathetic the AI is, and how few enemies can be in some circumstances, things are fairly easy. There were a few messy moments, namely chapter 11 and the last bend right before I got behind the enemy tanks at their base, I saw nothing, which was strange since I though I recalled an Ace being there, then Alicia walks around the corner as opposed to me just looking at it via turning the camera, she lasted all of one second. Worry not, Rosie got Order stacked, saved and then avenged her.

Chapter 13, which was totally new to me, I got an A on first time, well after a few retries at some points (well minor mid-battle saves besides one full restart, what I did was simple enough I could replicate it without needing luck on a full reset), but nothing too severe. I didn't even have to worry about the mid-battle surprise, I took the enemy's base on the second turn after triggering the surprise, there was just enough room around the buildings for the good old Damage Boost+Shocktrooper+radiator tank destruction method, and then everything else, not crouching mostly surprisingly, fell quickly to Rosie, Jane, Ted, and Alicia (it's boring, but yes, only the best).

The Rosie report battle was different. I think I got an A, no worse than B with it, despite my approach being a little crude.

Chapter 14 though, that I was not expecting, it was hard. They finally realized the Shocktrooper's anti-tank potential was too great, and invented a tank whose radiators were immune to it. Learning this the hard way doomed my first try. Second try, Edelweiss died 1st turn due to cannon bunker hitting the radiator, oops! Third try I got a B rank in 6 turns, which I settled with. I finally found a use for the Shamrock, moving it on Turn 1 to where the south tank would show up. Ted on turn 2 took the base, the Shamrock smashed the south tank in 3 hits, and I summoned for a Shock, Marina (probably didn't need her), and Yoko for a Lancer to take out the northern tank. Ted also picked off the nearby Snipers. As I spend the next turns getting Yoko behind the northern tank to smash it, a sandbag crouched Rosie (one of which the cannon bunker smashed- why didn't you kill it Alicia?), getting into double digit HP, held off the southern reinforcements, which were maddening, I thought they'd stop with the destruction of the southern tank. They didn't, thus explaining how Rosie nearly died, and more importantly, how the Shamrock came within one Lancer shot of death, all Tread HP gone (and no, the radiator was never exposed). This battle appears to be a nightmare on your first try, on your second, if you're willing to act like you know what is coming (which would be real funny for Welkin to have to explain ingame- "Largo, get to that big empty space waaaaaayyyyyy north of our position, nevermind the enemy's camp which you will be passing by en route is totally undefended and that is our present objective!"), it's very easy. I opted for a halfway route, not patient enough to get somebody to the north zone before spawning the north tank.

Was there an Ace in the Alicia flashback report? I 2-turned this for an A, so if there was, I missed it. I'm not concerned though, Imperial weapons are generally not worth it as I see it, and I remember hearing the best Flamethrower was in the Rosie battle, which you are thankfully forced to get. Not sure what in the world they were going with here. All the enemies revert to their weak not-elite status for this one, making them very flimsy. The battle even features Engineers, the only other time I saw one was back in Vasel IIRC, they're worthless to the enemy. You can ignore the climb via the ladders they put right there, and the old Shocktrooper can take out the tank in the camp in a blink. 

The Varrot report had good characterization, but the idea of stealth killing, and the map itself, are two ends of the universe. I was expecting a challenge, three Scouts painlessly bitten on turn 2, how did this get through game design/testing? And how was 2 turns an A rank here when it looks 1 turnable?

The Welkin report was a good challenge. It took me a few tries, the first was a blind run, the second got cut short by a Scout I let live too long when it and a Sniper were the only enemies left, and thus it made me lose. My third did succeed, wiping out everything by turn 5 for an A rank. I did use a turn 2 battle save, but how could I not when Jane and Rosie were in a prime position to kill two Shocks with their combined firepower using only 1 CP?

Now that Alicia had all her Potentials (my Scouts got to 17), decided on 15-1 to try 1-turning the battle, which is something she is supposed to be good at in most chapters. After 3 tries, I did successfully, barely due to machine gun fire, do it. I felt guilty, and thus made the save separate. My few failed attempts to blitz the next fight told me I was being impatient, and to be hasty with a game like VC which demands calm and patience, was a sign I wasn't in the right mood to play. I had already played a few battles that day, and thus I had exhausted my energy for strategizing. Hence I put the game down, and I'll the unblitzed save later to redo 15-1, and then take on 15-2 at standard, normal army paces.

If the plot meanders gradually until the Chapter 7 Barious Batomys Brawl, focuses at Fouzen, returns to unexpected seriousness with the aftermath of Marberry, it doesn't really pick up until Chapter 13/14. Not to criticize it too much in this regard, it is still better pacing than some JRPGs, and a full fledged war can't proceed that quickly, or with so much clear direction.

Faldio's actions were unexpected, but well written-ish. And ironically, one random fanfic idea I had one day sort of aligns with it. Namely I had the idea of a pseudo mid-late 1700s Poland that invests heavily in experimental fantasy magic technology to avoid being gobbled up by its neighbors.

How did Selvaria lose so easily to trance Alicia though? Trance means no hesitation yes, but shouldn't human thinking be able to predict robotic reactions and take advantage of that? Selvaria's loss seems contrived, it should have been a draw, there would have been better ways to defeat Selvaria without having to have her suddenly shed her blue aura from losing to Alicia.

Also, VC as a whole has only had female members of the Valkyrur right? No males? Makes sense as Valkyrie were mythologically only females, but at the same time I'd like a male or two, unless VC outright says it was a female-only race. Otherwise why does the term "Valkyrur" exist? Why not just say Valkyria all the time? I'm not asking for full on blue glow and bluish-white hair (which I've just noticed is the opposite of the Darcsen- dark blue), and I certainly don't want a terribly cliched figure named Wodan/Odin. I'm fine with them saying the Valkyrur power was much stronger in the women of the race than the males, hence it has survived more in females, but this shouldn't exclude men entirely from inheriting traces, even just some minor extrasensory power, from it.

The truth of the Darcsen Calamity mentioning the Valkyrur came from the north, the north has to be a place. To be precise, Fake Scandinavia in all likelihood. I don't recall the region getting caught up in WWI, and WWII had Sweden neutral, Denmark at Germany's mercy, Norway occupied by the Germans after a quick fending off of the Brits, and Finland fought for the Germans before pulling out when the Soviets started winning. Finland also had fought a little war with the Soviet Union, which they ultimately lost after an early win (which humiliated the USSR), before Germany declared invaded Russia. So really Scandinavia had little to directly do with both World Wars, but nonetheless having it show up in a VC game to show the ancient ruins of the former Valkyrur civilization (complete with a power thingamajig that evil wants to possess), would be an idea.

In a week from now at most, I should probably have VC1 finished, and thus I could move on to VC4 when I get it with a clear conscience.

[Ertrick36]

The English prologue's been released, aaaaaannnnnnd...

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2018/07/31/interview-localizing-the-voice-acting-of-valkyria-chronicles-4/

There's an interview between Sega Associate PR Manager Jonathan Stebel and Associate Localization Producer and lead for VC4 Andrew Davis.  It's generally about VC4's localization, and offers some insight and little trivial tidbits (such as how the dog Ragnarok is voiced, what voice actors have to go through to make their audio match with lip flaps, and a little bit about the characterization of Claude).  Transcript contained within the spoiler:

Spoiler

Jonathon Stebel: About how long was the English VO recording process for the game?

Andrew Davis: We spent about 10 weeks total in the studio, starting with the untimed lines – VO with no timing restrictions – and then moving on to the Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR), the scenes where we match voices to characters’ lip-flap. We also had some re-recordings to fine-tune parts of the localization we wanted to improve. We kept the exact same team members present throughout the recording process to ensure consistency in the VO’s direction.

JS: This prologue cutscene starts with a black screen while Claude, the game’s lead character, talks over it. Since you record to match lip flaps, is it kind of a nice break for the team when you have a scene like this without any animation?

AD: In most cases yes, it’s nice to not worry about matching animations. However, Claude’s Japanese VO for this opening scene had so many extended pauses that it took a lot of work to match the English script and VO to the Japanese even without animation to worry about. We also had to consider the length of the subtitles for each spoken phrase; each line needed to be short enough in subtitles to look presentable, but the audio needed to be as long and drawn out as possible to match the heavy, deflated tone in the scene.

JS: So, from what I can tell, this is a pretty extensive process. How does a Japanese script turn into an English VO?

AD: In general, we’ll provide translations for the English voice director, then the director has to slightly alter the lines in order to match them to character lip flaps. If we just used a direct translation or our first pass at a localized script, we’d likely end up with a script that’s very difficult to match to character animations. We want this to look as natural as possible, so we’d rather avoid the old English-dubbing trope of character animations being completely mismatched to their English VO.

JS: What criteria does the team use in casting English voice talent? Do the actors’ voices have to sound like their Japanese counterparts?

AD: We’ll do our best in matching English voice talent with their character. Sometimes that means the English and Japanese voices will sound very similar – Claude is a great example of that – but other times the English analogue to a Japanese voice or personality won’t sound exactly the same. For example, Raz’s Japanese voice actor has a kind of deep growl to his voice – he’s a delinquent with some swagger. Trying to match this effect exactly in English might have come across as a bit too affected or ‘tryhard’, so instead we kept close to the actor’s natural range while making him sound like an American delinquent; he uses more ‘naughty’ words and a more aggressive tone to support his attitude. For reference, the original Japanese doesn’t explicitly have the phrase ‘Sack up, Commander,’ but it fit both his English characterization and (just as important) the lip-flaps.

JS: Claude seems to have an interesting split in his personality; throughout this prologue cutscene he’s brimming with confidence and ability, but towards the end he whispers “We can do this” under his breath, almost like he needs to reassure himself. What was the direction here?

AD: That’s actually a huge part of Claude’s personality! This is Squad E’s first *real* engagement – they’ve been training for a while, but they haven’t been a part of an actual battle until now. You’ll learn throughout the story that Claude has had to train himself to speak with confidence to rally his squad. Potentially a minor spoiler: you learn very early on that, just a few years prior, he was a massive coward. We really wanted his tone and lines reflect his growth mixed with his uncertainty in this scene.

JS: This is something I’m morbidly curious about – how much method acting is done in the studio? Did you actually throw a pen at Raz’s voice actor to spur his surprised groan in this cutscene?

AD: No. (laugh) We don’t abuse our actors. Sometimes, though, they spontaneously do movement or poses to get into character. Voice actors have to be careful, though, because professional mics are super-sensitive and can even pick up clothing movement. Or stomach gurgles!

JS: In this scene, Claude and Raz seem to have a really good rapport, like they trust and understand each other completely. Do actors record scenes together to make it sound more natural?

AD: Actually, no, all voice recording was done in isolation for this game, which is more common in the industry than players might realize. But thanks to the talent of our actors and director, the conversations flow together very naturally! We also went in for a few re-recordings to focus the tone in some scenes. There was one where the performance the first time through a was a bit too broad, so the next time the actor came in, we redid it to dial it back and make the effect much more subtle.

JS: I doubt this is the case, but is Ragnarok (the adorable medic Shiba Inu) voiced by different actors for the English and Japanese tracks?

AD: No, Ragnarok has the same voice actor for both English and Japanese. Funny story – we did actually record an English track for Ragnarok, but the feedback from our Japanese team was that even with additional post-processing, he sounded too much like a small dog – Ragnarok is more of a medium-sized dog. The English actor’s growls were really well-received, but the barks weren’t quite there, so we stuck with the Japanese actor. It’s unfortunate, it would have been my big break in a voice acting role…

JS: You did the English voice for Ragnarok? Are animals often recorded by human actors for roles like this?

AD: I did indeed, but when my role got pulled I was very professional and definitelydidn’t cry for hours and hours. Sometimes studios will use pre-recorded animal noises, but Ragnarok has lines (barks and growls) that need to match the emotion of certain scenes, so we needed to use a human actor. There’s another canine in the game that’s also human-voiced and actually does have a different voice track for English and Japanese – listen to it yourself in the full game to hear the difference!

JS: I know that in addition to an English localization and VO track, you also added French, Italian, German, and Spanish (“FIGS”) text. What was behind the decision to do that?

AD: We’re always exploring ways to bring new audiences to our games. In the case of VC4, I know we’ve had a lot of fans of VC1 in Europe even though the first game was only translated into English. For this new one, we thought it might be a good opportunity to make the additional investment in a quality FIGS localization to expand the reach of the Valkyria series! We hope this chance to experience the drama of the story in their native language encourages more people to try out the game.

JS: Thanks so much for your time Andrew, any final comments?

AD: I just want to thank everyone on the Sega localization team for this project, as well as our recording studio. These are some of the top professionals in the business, and with their help we were able craft a beautifully natural English script, complemented by wildly entertaining and dramatic voice performances. This is one of the best localizations I’ve had the privilege of working on, and I can’t wait for everyone to experience it this September!

It should also be noted that the Atlus Official page on Reddit (u/atlusprime) actually shared the interview on the r/valkyria subreddit and has said they'll be interviewing Mikami-san, the producer developer.

A lot of the stuff detailed in the interview is fairly common for voice over work and translations, such as the timed voice clips and actors working alone in the studio, but it's interesting if you didn't know about it.  The biggest takeaway for me is the characterizations of Raz and Claude.  I don't think Valkyria Chronicles ever had a protagonist doubt himself, nor have we really seen a Darcsen delinquent (usually they're some kind of intellectual or recluse or they're Steve Blum).

Edited August 1, 2018 by Ertrick36

[kaidoi]

Neat, looks like the VC4 demo is available on the European PS4 store 

https://www.dualshockers.com/valkyria-chronicles-4-ps4-demo-released-european-playstation-store/

Edited August 7, 2018 by kaidoi

[The DanMan]

http://www.siliconera.com/2018/08/07/valkyria-chronicles-4-demo-released-and-digital-pre-orders-bonuses-announced/

Available everywhere on all 3 main consoles. Thank goodness they didn't make it PS4 exclusive as I first feared (what with Shining Resonance Refrain releasing on the same platforms yet 90% of the marketing was towards the Switch version with the demo ending up exclusive to it).

EDIT:

Kinda unreal.

Edited August 7, 2018 by The DanMan

[Ertrick36]

No demo on PC...

Buuuuuut that's okay because I was planning on playing the Switch demo anyway.  I might do a quick n' dirty screenshot LP of the demo just to share my thoughts on the Switch version and let everyone know how it runs there.

[The DanMan]

2 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

No demo on PC...

Buuuuuut that's okay because I was planning on playing the Switch demo anyway.  I might do a quick n' dirty screenshot LP of the demo just to share my thoughts on the Switch version and let everyone know how it runs there.

I'll probably post a few screens in here and give my overall thoughts on the Xbox version as well as a bit of Xbox VS Switch.

EDIT: Said comparisions (Xbox on top, Switch on the bottom-- Xbox version likely being pretty much identical to the PS4 and PC versions, for y'all interested).
In general, the Xbox version has slightly better load times, more natural lighting, and slightly better aliasing-- as well as more background objects (really noticable in the last pic where the Switch version has half as many trees in the backgroud). Also, the Switch version has blockier and less detailed sandbags. Minor differences overall, but they're differences.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by The DanMan

[Ertrick36]

I just wanted to post this because I find it stupidly hilarious.

It seems like the player isn't the only one who gets to view the potentials list.