[ENG] Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Review
(Minor spoilers ahead - you have been warned!)
(Polska Wersja Dostępna Tu! - [PL] Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Recenzja)
Valkyria Chronicles 4 was released relatively not-so-long ago in 2018. It's available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. We are once again thrown in the middle of war. Second Europan (Reminder – it's not Europe. It's Europa and thus – not European, but Europan) War, but this time we are going to have a much bigger impact on war, what do I mean? Well...
(Squad E with the good rescue boi - Ragnarok!)
In VC4, our main protagonist is Lieutenant Claude Wallace, commander of Squad E of the elite soldiers known as Ranger Corps. Although Claude is 'main' protagonist as the commander, the huge chunk of Squad E could be easily called protagonists. As the story goes, we learn that Claude now fights with his old, childhood friends by his side. One would think that it's amazing, that they know each other better than anyone else... Well – it is true, but as we all know, sometimes reality can be much more harsh.
There is also a main tank like in VC1. Whereas Welkin was commanding his Squad 7 and Edelweiss, Claude commands Squad E and Hafen, which is named after Claude's (and his friends') hometown!
Welkin had his 'bug fascination' where he would have immense knowledge of bugs and would compare literally anything to a bug. Yeah, it was weird, but both the Squad and the player have grown accustomed to this. Well, Claude has a similar 'thing', namely 'wind talk' – by the changes in the wind, he is able to predict the weather precisely. One could tell that Welkin was fascinated by the ground and Claude by the sky.
(As the story progresses, each character gets more and more description - here is the basic description of good boi Ragnarok!)
Story of Valkyria Chronicles 4 plays simultaneously to the first installment. And here's where the 'scale difference' comes. In Valkyria Chronicles 1 we were fighting to protect Gallia, homeland of the protagonists; in VC4 we are taking the fight deep into enemy territory in a last-ditch desperate effort to end the Second Europan War. Aaand I won't tell anything more since I really encourage you to experience this story.
The story once again is about a war between Atlantic Federation and The Empire. One could say that it's an alternate Second World War, but... It would be quite a stretch if you ask me.
One could say that story of Valkyria Chronicles 1 is more 'casual' where as VC4 is much more massive as it spans almost over the entire continent.
The story is told through the eyes of Claude Wallace or rather – his journal, where he recorded everything that happened during their war efforts.
The story is once again presented in the form of chapters in a book, and there usually is at least 1 combat episode.
It's once again story about loss, betrayal, hope, love in the flames of war, sacrifices taken to win the war at any cost, the bitter truth and sweet lies... And much more!
(After successful shot, our characters sometimes pose to the camera)
Combat. It practically hasn't changed since the first installment, but was improved in many aspects. Long story short – the combat is divided into two parts – Command Phase and Action Phase. In the former we choose a unit or issue an order and in the latter we take control of said unit and traverse the map, fighting enemies and trying to complete the goal. I talked a bit more about combat in my Valkyria Chronicles 1 review so... I don't see a point of repeating the same words here.
If there is a thing that annoys me in Valkyria Chronicles, it must be that game ranks you depending on how fast you complete the mission. I mean, look – You can lose almost every soldier you deployed in a mission, but as long as you reach the goal within few turns? You'll be granted Rank A. Highest. And if you take your time with mission, decide to capture every enemy camp and deal with every single enemy... You will get B if you're fast enough.
The true challenge starts really late in the game, in the last few chapters where you are sometimes tasked with something else than 'capture enemy base camp'.
(HQ. We will be coming back here pretty regularly)
About the improvements and add-ons in the combat system. There is an entirely new class – Grenadier – that uses long-range mortars to obliterate either enemies or their defenses (or both, go wild!). It is slow in comparison to other units, but their firepower easily makes up for it. Oh, and there is a new type of vehicle. APC (Armored Personel Carrier) – faster than tanks, have less firepower BUT capable of transporting ground units much further than usual foot soldier.
Then there are also quality of life improvements like Last Stand or Direct Commands. The former sometimes allow your soldier who would normally fall into a critical condition to do one of few things – Inspire (give a bonus Command Point), Counter (attack back at the enemy who dropped last of their health) or Stand Up (which allows to move with the rest of Action Points which... In effect allows to attack or take an enemy camp) – after either of these, the soldier falls into critical condition nonetheless.
The latter allows Leader Units (Units that give CP) to take two other team members with them, what does it mean? Basically – if you have a Scout Leader then you can take Lancer or Grenadier much further than they would be able to go on their own.
With all of these – Direct Commands, Grenadiers, APC... I think it's even easier to just rush the enemy base camp and finish huge majority of the missions with the best rank.
(The two sides of conflict)
A fine add-on is something called 'Squad Stories' – these are mini-chapters unlocked by deploying certain soldiers together (usually soldiers that like each other – after few missions together – Squad Story is unlocked). I really enjoyed them, it was nice to look at how certain squad members treat each other or how do they feel and... Quite honestly it was a nice break from the main story. In addition – completing these Squad Stories could unlock new, sometimes quite interesting and powerful potentials in certain soldiers.
What are potentials? Well, in other games they could be called perks. Both positive and negative. Few quick examples – one soldier can receive an accuracy or damage boost when deployed with OR standing next to other squad member; on the opposite – if some soldier for example hates opposite gender – placing them next to such squad member will result in worse accuracy and defense... And so on, and so on – there are a lot of them.
(United Front with Squad 7 is a nice surprise for players of VC1!)
Because I purchased Complete Edition – I received all DLCs together with the base game. In the game they are called as 'Extra Stories' and they are accessible depending on how far you get in the main story. I really enjoyed them AND one of the first that is available to you – A United Front with Squad 7 – allows you to fight side-by-side with Squad 7 from the first installment... And even use them in normal gameplay after finishing this DLC! It's amazing!
I won't describe every single DLC here, but I enjoyed all of them – if not for the decent challenge then for the nice rewards afterwards!
Another DLC is strictly a fan-service and even another (though available only after finishing the base game) allows you to take control of a Valkyria and stand against another Valkyria in a duel... I won't spoil who these Valkyrias are, but let me say this – this fight was probably one of the best I ever had in both VC1 and 4!
(As I said - one of the DLCs is a pure fan-service)
After you finish the main story, there is quite a bit of post-game content for you to explore, discover and experience – new fights, weapons, development, class upgrades and so on (One of which as I already said is one of the DLCs). The main story takes around 30-40 hours to finish (That's including the DLCs and Squad Stories you may unlock. Without them, I think it can be completed in 25 to 30 hours). I highly encourage you to give post-game content a shot!
To unlock the post-game content though, you have to finish the game first. And... Well, the final combat mission is interesting, but I really think Valkyria Chronicles 1 did it a bit better – which doesn't mean the VC4's final clash is bad or anything, it's just... I dunno, it took me a while but honestly it was a bit boring after first few turns.
(Potentials look pretty awesome)
The graphical side as you see on attached screens practically didn't change from the first installment. The same could be said about the sound design – don't get me wrong, they are really good and help enhance the overall feeling of the game and story, but if you expected some tremendous changes in audiovisual side... You may get a tad bit disappointed.
The only thing I think I can talk about is dubbing. I played half the game in Japanese and another half in English, and... Lemme tell you, the English one is not half bad. I genuinely felt a bigger emotional attachment to characters and I kinda regret I didn't change the language sooner!
The one thing I haven't mentioned is development and upgrade system... It's literally the same as in the first installment – by using money we can develop stronger weapons, tank parts, armor and so on and by using experience we can either learn new orders or upgrade our classes so they can have new tools and be a bit harder to kill (for example Shocktroopers at a certain level gain access to flamethrowers that... Can be perfect to obliterating groups of enemies standing next to each other or enemies hiding behind a cover).
(As you can see - the game took me a bit over 35 hours to complete + another 2-3 hours I played for post-game content)
So, to summarize – I enjoyed the story and plot twists of Valkyria Chronicles 1 more, but in terms of combat, characters, their relations and scale of the story – I enjoyed Valkyria Chronicles 4 much more. I don't regret any single buck spend on both VC1 and 4, to be honest – I silently hope that one day Valkyria Chronicles 2 and 3 will get either ported or hell – even remastered/remaked and ported to PC because... I am quite interested!
Just as with the first installment, I highly recommend Valkyria Chronicles 4, you can even jump straight into it without the knowledge of events from VC1 (You will miss some references in DLCs but... That's all!) The story and it's twists, unusual combat system, characters, audiovisual side – all of them are pretty decent to say the least! Now, if you felt interested by either the review or solely the graphics – go ahead and dive into the world of war-torn Europa!
Kind Regards,
Wing.
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