Dear Internet,
I guess
it is time to talk about the gameplay in "Valkyria Chronicles." The game is categorized as a Real-Time
Tactics game, which is different apparently from the Real-Time Strategy
genre. The difference being that in RTS
games you deliver the bullets to the troops, and in RTT you are the troops
shooting. I am still somewhat fuzzy on
the details, but I will go with it. Intermixed
with the strategy elements are Third-person Shooter components when you take
over a specific soldier. But I am
getting ahead of myself like usual. Let
us begin with just before the mission briefings.
Before
selecting a mission to undergo, the player has to select his squad of
twenty. Not all twenty will be able to
fight in each mission, but the non-acting members will behave as the reserve should
one member fall in battle. When
selecting soldiers to include in the squad, it is important to note the various
characteristics that each soldier has.
Known as "Potentials," these traits will add or decrease the
soldier's abilities when fighting in certain conditions. Some individuals will have their health
drained when fighting near heavy flora due to allergies. Some others will have better attacking capabilities
when near another specific character.
Each of these Potentials will determine their capabilities when fighting
and should be weighed for each specific mission. It is foolish to throw in a bunch of troops
into a battlefield in the dessert when they will have their accuracy diminished
because of the terrain.
After
all twenty spots are filled with some being reserved due to plot, the player
can select a mission or a skirmish. The
difference is that skirmishes are repeatable battles that the player can do to
gain Experience points and money while missions can only be done once. When a mission or skirmish is selected, the
player assigns positions. So far, there
are only nine available positions per battle with the tank taking one. If later battles use more, I cannot say. After the positions are filled, the battle
starts. The player uses Command Points,
CP, to act. CP regenerate at the beginning
of each turn, with extra points being given depending on how many troop
commanders there are. Using a soldier
cost 1CP and a tank costs 2CP. The
tradeoff here is of course being power.
The player selects a soldier to move and then takes direct control of
that person.
When
the player assumes control of a soldier, things get really interesting. The camera switches from looking at a map to
a behind the shoulder view. The player
can move the soldier freely up to a point.
Each troop class has a specific limit to how much they are allowed to
move. Scouts can pretty much move
halfway across the map before stopping.
Snipers can barely go a stone's throw before getting too tired. You can almost directly see a balance between
movement and power. Anytime when the
character is moving, they can enter Target Mode. During such time, the character can fire their
weapon, use a grenade, or use a healing item on another character for the most
part. Time freezes so the player can
fine tune the shot or throw of the grenade.
Well, the only thing that really freezes is the enemy, considering that
if you get in their eyesight, they will start to fire at you. What happens is a somewhat comical effect
where the player is pointing a gun at an enemy soldier with no retaliation from
the soon to be dead soldier. Once the
attack is completed and if there is still some movement points available to
spend, the player can move the character around. Those extra movement points can allow for hit
and run tactics. Do not tarry choosing
to end the character's turn since the enemy will start to fire once the Target
Mode is finished. It should be noted
that if the enemy soldier is alive after the attack, they will be able to
counterattack. It should also be noted
that repeated use of a specific soldier will decrease available movement
potential until the next turn resets it to the maximum amount. This is to prevent a single person or tank to
travel clear across the map and back on the first turn. What will instead happen is they will find
themselves stuck deep in enemy territory.
 |
| Sending a scout to fight a tank is a very bad idea. |
The
turn ends when the player uses up the entire available CP or chooses to end the
turn prematurely. Doing so will rollover
the unused CP to the next turn. After
this, the enemy will have their turn with the same abilities and limitations
that the player has. All the mechanics
are there for the enemy except for maybe the Potential part. The player and the enemy military go back and
forth until either a win condition or a lose condition is met.
What do
I think of the battle system? I think it
is pretty darn good. It fits that old
description: "Easy to learn, difficult to master." From the scant description I gave, it might
seem like the first tactic would be to just move the troops upon the enemy and
make straight forward attacks, but that is only a basic method of attack. Using scouts to look ahead to identify enemy
combatants is a basic tactic. To make a
complex tactic, make the scouts then hide in alcoves between buildings to
ambush enemies that wander past. Instead
of making a sniper take his position immediately, have him travel with the
scouts and use his scope to see if the enemies are taking defensive positions
or offensive ones. On top of that, you
have mines, destructible obstacles, sandbag covering, and a few other game
mechanics that complicate things as the game continues. Eventually, the game allowed nearby squad
member to join in attacking an enemy.
With this, I started to seriously plan out two man teams to gang up on
positions with only a single enemy.
Once
you add the different troop types, you gain a rock-paper-scissors
mechanic. Tanks beat infantry, infantry
beat lancers, and lancers beat tanks. This
is somewhat a simplification of how the game works considering that I am
leaving off snipers and shocktroopers, but I do not want to merely retype the
game's manual. The battle mechanic is of
course weighed against the leveling method the game creates. After winning a battle, the player can
upgrade the abilities of a troop class using experience or upgrade the
equipment by spending money on R&D.
Until I get to the point that the game has a variety of weapons for me
to upgrade and choose, I cannot speak much about this methodology. Right now, it is a simple straight line for
upgrading troops. If you spend enough
EXP, the troops type goes up a level and receives skill bonuses and extra Potential
skills. The weapons have yet to splint
into different types, so I cannot comment about how well the game balances them
out. So far, the game is going in a
steady incline of difficulty in regards to these non-combat mechanics. If the player spends a little time in doing
skirmishes, they can gain extra EXP and cash to gain an edge on the enemy. I do not want to use the word
"grind" since the game does not require it so far. Not like in "Revelations: Persona"
where one had to grind to meet the game's challenges instead of using tactics.
 |
| At least the drill instructor is entertaining to make up for the simplistic leveling system. |
"Valkyria
Chronicles" is a nice blend of thinking out an overall strategy while
adding brief moments of excitement when switching to controlling a single soldier. You approach the battle from the top-down and
from the -bottom-out. It is fun and
challenging at the same time. I have
failed missions already enough to begin thinking about combat strategies and
more complex techniques. It is good for
a game to get the player to think.
Yours in digital,
BeepBoop
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