Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical role-playing video game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3 in 2008. A Windows version was released on November 11, 2014. A remastered version for PlayStation 4 was released in Japan on February 10, 2016, with a Western release on May 17, 2016. The game was released digitally for the Nintendo Switch on September 27, 2018, in Japan and on October 16, 2018, in North America and Europe. The later versions include previously released downloadable content.
The game is set in Europa, a fictional region loosely based on Europe during the early years of World War II. Because of its abundance of Ragnite ore, which takes the place of petroleum in the game setting, the neutral nation of Gallia comes under attack from the East Europan Imperial Alliance, which is itself engaged in war with the Atlantic Federation. Players take control of a unit of the Gallian Militia, dedicated to repelling the invasion. The game's visuals, which use Sega's CANVAS graphics engine, resemble pencil drawings in motion.
Valkyria Chronicles earned numerous awards from several notable video game publications and has been cited as one of the greatest video games of all time. The success of the title spawned a media franchise, including several manga titles and an anime series. Two sequels were released for PlayStation Portable: Valkyria Chronicles II in 2010, and Valkyria Chronicles III in 2011. A spin-off, Valkyria Revolution, was released in 2017 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One. The fourth entry, Valkyria Chronicles 4 was released in 2018 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Xbox One.
Gameplay
Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical role-playing game in which the player uses a unique turn-based battle system called BLiTZ (Battle of Live Tactical Zones). During their turn the player views an overhead map in Command Mode, but zooms in to control each individual unit on the battlefield in Action Mode. Movement and other actions are handled in real time during Action Mode, though limited in movement by an action point (AP) gauge that varies for each type of character. During Target Mode, the player is in direct control of characters' aim while the action freezes, allowing for head shots and other maneuvers. Taking command of individual units during the player's phase costs Command Points, which can be used dynamically to grant movement to many different units or the same unit consecutively with diminishing AP reserve, depending on what the player wants to accomplish. By using their troops the player must fulfill various conditions depending on the mission in order to achieve victory, most often the capture of a major enemy encampment. Upon completing missions, the player is awarded money and experience with which to upgrade their materiel and character classes, respectively, and the game's story is advanced. Missions can be failed if the player's forces are wholly incapacitated or killed, the squad's main battle tank is destroyed, or the player's main base camp is captured by the enemy.
Each character in the game fulfills a specific role — for instance, Alicia is a mid-range rifle-toting Scout, while Welkin is a Tank Commander. Other roles include Shocktroopers (assault infantry); Lancers, who specialize in anti-tank warfare; Engineers, who have poor combat skills but can repair tanks, remove landmines, and replenish the ammunition of allied soldiers; and Snipers. These various units form a rock-paper-scissors dynamic of strength and weakness. The foot soldiers (Scout, Shocktrooper, and Sniper) are effective against slower anti-tank units, anti-tank units can quickly destroy tanks with a well-aimed shot, and tanks are generally devastating against infantry, whose anti-personnel weapons are unable to inflict any significant frontal damage. While each character within a class is basically similar in terms of weaponry and statistics, each individual has a distinguishing set of Potentials: special abilities or stat modifiers triggered by various psychological or environmental factors in battle.
The environment also factors heavily in combat. In an urban level, for example, snipers can be sent onto rooftops to eliminate unsuspecting enemies below. Tanks can knock down walls and other obstacles to open new paths. Buildings and other structures offer hard cover around which to maneuver. Foliage offers soft cover to reduce the chance of being spotted by the enemy and to confound their aim when seen. As the Gallian forces advance across the battlefield, control points can be captured, giving the player a tactical advantage and offering additional locations in which to call reinforcements. As Welkin, the player can issue various Orders for the purpose of things such as artillery strikes, supervising medics, and improving offensive or defensive capabilities of various characters.
Plot
In 1935 E.C., the continent of Europa is dominated by two superpowers: The Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance in the east and a commonwealth of loosely allied democracies known as the Atlantic Federation in the west. The economies of both powers depend on a precious multipurpose mineral called Ragnite. Its growing scarcity results in the Empire declaring war on the Federation, sparking the Second Europan War. The Empire uses its military superiority to quickly put the Federation on the defensive. Emboldened by their progress and momentum, the Empire decides to invade the neutral Principality of Gallia to seize its rich Ragnite deposits.
When Imperial forces launch an attack on the Gallian border town of Bruhl, Welkin Gunther (Dave Wittenberg/Susumu Chiba), son of the country's hero General Belgen Gunther, is forced to fight for his life alongside the town watch captain, Alicia Melchiott (Colleen O'Shaughnessey/Marina Inoue). Together with Welkin's adopted sister Isara (Laura Bailey/Houko Kuwashima) and using Belgen's prototype tank from the first war, the Edelweiss, they escape to the capital city of Randgriz and join the Gallian militia. Welkin is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and assumes command of the newly formed Squad 7, with Alicia acting as his non-commissioned officer. Members of the squad initially question Welkin's qualifications due to a lack of combat experience. He quickly gains their trust and loyalty, however, with his brilliant tactics. Welkin and Alicia soon become romantically engaged, but Isara is tragically killed by an Imperial sniper.
After Squad 7 wages a successful campaign against Imperial forces, the crown prince Maximilian (Matthew Yang King/Jun Fukuyama) deploys one of his commanders, Selvaria Bles (April Stewart/Sayaka Ohara), a rare descendant of the Valkyrians who are believed to have saved the ancient world from the Darcsen race. Using innate magic powers and equipped with a legendary Ragnite lance and shield, Selvaria destroys the Gallian army. Alicia is shot by Welkin's archaeologist colleague Faldio Landzaat (Robin Atkin Downes/Takahiro Sakurai) to awaken her own latent Valkyrian powers. Alicia is able to drive Selvaria back, allowing the Gallians to advance to the border. At the cost of her own life, Selvaria uses the "final flame" after the capture of the Ghirlandaio fortress, killing the entire core of Gallian military and leaving only the militia, including Squad 7, remaining.
In an attempt to create his own empire, Maximilian uses a "land dreadnought", the Marmota, to break through Gallia's defenses and steal a giant Valkyrian lance from inside Randgriz Castle. Princess Cordelia gi Randgriz (Kate Higgins/Mamiko Noto) reveals herself to be Darcsen - the Valkyrians rewrote history to make themselves into heroes, while an allied Darcsen tribe gained Randgriz as the spoils. With Alicia's help, Squad 7 is able to board the Marmota and send Maximilian to his demise, destroying the dreadnought and ending the conflict between the two factions. Alicia and Welkin return to Bruhl, where they marry and raise a daughter named Isara together.
Development The earliest concept for Valkyria Chronicles was created in 2003, during discussions between director Shuntaro Tanaka and producer Ryutaro Nonaka. The two were part of neighboring teams working on different games; Nonaka was leading production on Nightshade, while Tanaka was completing the GameCube port of Skies of Arcadia. The two wanted to work on something new, with Tanaka suggesting a game based around a dramatic war story. Both had worked on the Sakura Wars series, but knew they would face restrictions if they created something within that series, so they created a new concept. Nonaka and Tanaka later said the many similarities to Sakura Wars were mainly because of shared development teams and gameplay styles rather than conscious choices. A key aspect of the project was to go against market trends, which were focusing on specific genre archetypes that did not allow for much creativity on the team's part. The initial pitch was titled "Gallian Panzers". The pitch artwork was created by Daisuke Tabayashi, who would stay as part of the game's art and modelling team. After the concept was approved, the team made a movie pitch using its new official title. During its early concept stages, no platform had been decided; Nonaka vaguely thought the game would be produced for the PlayStation 2, for which the team had been principally developing. He also considered developing the game for the PlayStation Portable. When the PS3 was revealed and internal discussions began about its use by the company, Nonaka suggested that Valkyria Chronicles could be produced for the platform. The production team was based in Sega's GE2 R&D division. The staff had worked on a wide variety of titles for Sega, including Sakura Wars and Skies of Arcadia. Production for the PS3 was both liberating thanks to the increased hardware specifications, and challenging due to working out how to best use the console's CPU. Its final Japanese title represented the focus on war, with the term "Valkyria" symbolising its fantasy elements.
In its earliest form, the gameplay was a traditional tactical simulation game played from an overhead view. After considering this, Nonaka—comparing it to a game of shogi—realised players would feel little emotional investment in characters if they continued with this gameplay style. Much of the early development was devoted to creating a working system that would combine tactical elements with real-time action. The concept of the BLiTZ battle system was to encourage player freedom. When creating the battle system around firearms rather than swords and magic, the team needed to abandon many of the logical RPG standards. The team chose to have players control individual units to further emphasise the game's themes. The AP system was designed around the concept of emulating the fear of soldiers in combat, afraid to take a step in case of hidden enemies or making a fatal move. The class-based leveling was a response to the large number of playable characters. If they went with traditional character-based leveling, the team knew players would likely stick to a few favorites. This leveling system also played into the permadeath systems and the focus on turn numbers determining how players did on a map rather than unit survival. The emphasis was getting the players emotionally invested by picking party members based on personality, making their loss in battle more noticeable. A sixth character class, the Medic, was originally planned. The only remnant of its inclusion was the rescue mechanic for downed units. Nonaka attributed his ability to handle the dual-natured gameplay from his work on both the tactics-based Sakura Wars and the action game Nightshade.
Design