Now Playing: Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

I was looking around for this, slightly baffled. It wasn't anywhere in your typical stores (at least locally) right now as I speak, well over at least a week past launch. I know its more of a cult hit from japan that doesn't hold a lot of ground in America, but still I'd imagine it'd at least get freakin' stocked somewhere. I wasn't in a major rush to run and grab it, but it was still on my list among Overwatch and Starfox Zero (and kind of Uncharted 4, but I think I'd be happy just renting and playing it some more like that). Then I finally got to run by and check gamestop, and surprisingly, I found it on the bottom shelf in a funky looking case.... the limited edition tin case.

Worth waiting for

I've got to say, over the years I've come to strangely become more attached to the idea of collectibles. Its not going to get to that point where I'm dashing on ebay to buy that rare awful SNES game, but you damn well better believe that if I see a limited editions bundle with actual tangible goods like a soundtrack, special artwork, etc then that definitely holds merit over my opinion of a game's value. I mean I don't entirely get it, since its just a dang case, not even a paper slip on the inside and even a little unexplainable dent, but still I found myself just proud of finding this thing and looking back at it to study it as the game went along.

Oh right, about the game... its pretty great! For about as long as I had a PS3 and was searching away and playing demos, this was among those I put on my buy list. I loved the mix of strategy, and 3rd person shooter angles, as well as the awesome art style with a sort of fantasy steampunk vibe. The cinematic piece told me there was something epic behind this game, the art style told me I'd love the world that epic stuff was set in, and the gameplay told me that I still wanted something like Future Tactics (look it up if you've never heard of it, its awesome) in my life. However... the stingy money side of me told me there was always something better for my money, and I'd get around to this when it fell into the $15 or lower area. It always hung around $20-27. So as next gen rolled in, this was a casualty that I never bought and felt I no longer actually needed... until a remaster rolled around and told me, heck yeah I still did, and with a half-there job in hand I had the money to not be so stingy about this gem. Still don't dismiss the demo as doing anything wrong, because despite how late I was I would have simply never been here if it weren't for playing the demo. ...and I still haven't gotten to my true first impressions, but you came here where I spew my opinions, so you'll darn well hear my distracted rambling stories too. This is better than being angry at something, so consider it a blessing.

The simple fun times of demoing PS3 stuff, and putting it a "buy later" black hole

Well this game is simply, probably everything it lives up to be. There's something special there and in place, but... at the end of the day, its nothing super duper fantastic. It fits that hole of being in a position of cult fan fame. Its a lot of fun to experiment, learn the units, figure out everything, has a light Xcom aspect of selecting individual troops, and then some light risk management through accuracy. In between missions there are sessions of scenes mixed with your typical Japanese game text boxes, both of which form to tell an anime soap opera story set in the backdrop of a great empire taking on an underdog region mostly made up of villages. Here you are, a rookie general that gets to unite a ragtag team under the name of Squad 7, and become a mighty force against the Imperial war machine.

There's something about all of this that doesn't consciously resonate well with me, but subconsciously is just incredible. I think its all about that risk. I don't feel like its fun to be sitting there managing through a full team of 20 people, only to then get a mission that only allows me 8 or 9, stressing over who makes it and if my class balance is right, suddenly being blind to all their shortcomings when you need to know them the most, not knowing what the enemy has, and then only to find that when I think I have a plan it all goes wrong when my anti-tank unit has a deceiving accuracy deficiency and misses his limited ammo shots at the worst times just because the tank's body doesn't fill up the entire aim circle. There's a lot of work, a lot of stress, and no promise of a good enough pay off with you just beating a linear level structure, and yet what really happens is I'm watching my time go into a vortex. I'm actually smiling and cheering as I pull of that amazing victory on the very last turn I had, I'm wondering what will happen next, I'm constantly working to consider all the awesome possibilities I have at any given time, and just how strangely serene the game manages to be through its music, visuals, and placing a commitment to your team.

Oh and about that team, its awesome that they somehow designed a game system in place where you've got over 20 characters right as the game is warming up, and yet each have a name, voice, problems, advantages, distinct faces, and most even have friends. That's some dedications from the developers end, and that channels right into the player's dedication to keeping his team well and alive. Not only that, but because of their distincitve trais, I'm almost role-playing half of these characters and actually making actions not just on their rolls and stats, but also the impression they give off. I think there's two shocktroopers named Jane and Hannes who both have this black hair, semi-goth look going on and constantly mutter about how much they despise the imperials, so I always have them race around the front lines and pulling off the most shots. Meanwhile old man Coby holds back as a protected senior, and engineer Karl timidly turtles around the tanks and sandbags to maintain them, only taking shots when he's pushed to his limits to do so. Meanwhile when it comes to upgrading troops, all the hassle out of individuals is taken completely off your back. In a rather humorous way, the drill instructor basically informs you that the entire troop style undergoes simultaneous training... which boils down to your upgrades coming in by type. Basically you don't have to grind people for skills, or do something out of place like force Coby to score 10 headshots for an accuracy upgrade while breaking his back at cover. You just buy the gear you need, and train the type you need to do better, and its done for that entire type. Oh and speaking of characters, story-wise I got to say its kind of cool to have an almost relatable protagonist. He's almost like a more mellowed out and anime version of myself (including that at the current time of writing, he's even the same age).  Loves nature and adopts his philosophy around it, isn't so experienced but is expected to do great things anyways, and even has the last name my middle name is based off of. I'm not exactly pretending he's my virtual twin, but he's got a simple personality that strangely reflects me in a few ways, and its interesting to see that.

So I'm definitely enjoying my time, and I'm probably going to continue to keep playing this. Also probably still going to be playing some Doom as well, because that game is still incredible to no end, Even right when I feel like I'm winding down on it, I just need to go and have a quick check on the latest best rated snapmap levels, and then I'm all good and ready to remember why its the best shooter to come out in years. But this game will also be a great diversion, and return to something I haven't had in a while. I grew up around strategy as practically my 3rd central pillar in gaming alongside Shooters and 3D platformers, but unlike them I lacked the urgency to keep up with it. Hours upon hours spent within RTS, worms, and Future tactics, but over the years I kind of looked to the mechanical depth in other genres as a sort of strategy instead. Meanwhile whenever I got a taste of something new in pure strategy, it was sometimes a bit... ugh. Like Dawn of war 2's repetitive squad tactic style, or Xcom just being so bland and slow. But this... this is kind of what I remember. No its not replicating anything specific or nostalgic, but its just damn good strategy mixed in with options and experimentation alongside a great art style. All of that is kind of what made stuff like Worms, and Future Tactics so good to begin with, but this is still very much its own thing, and its good fun. Well... okay, so it still feels a bit like Future Tactics done japan style, but that still brings enough new things to the table. I'm sorry I was so late to the show VC, but everything is all good now on the PS4 side of things.