Valkyria Chronicles 4 Review
Valkyria Chronicles 4, the series returnsWas it just a bad dream? In 2017, Valkyria Revolution came to tarnish the image of a series hitherto used to the highest praise. The much-loved series had completely missed its return. Years after a Valkyria Chronicles 3 never located by Sega and the closure of the official website by the publisher, the dark hours continued for fans of the saga. However, the success of the original Valkyria Chronicles on Steam, then in its PlayStation 4 reissue, makes the firm say that the Strategy / RPG genre was not forgotten, until the announcement in late 2017 of a fourth episode almost already ready. The real return of Valkyria Chronicles was about to begin.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 plunges us back into the same conflict as the first Valkyria Chronicles, but seen from a different angle. The story of Valkyria Chronicles was just a small part of a large-scale war between the Imperial Alliance and the Atlantic Federation, your side in this new episode. The Empire having already penetrated far into its lands, the Federation is organizing a last-ditch operation to avoid collapse: launch a lightning campaign towards the imperial capital and suddenly knock down the chain of command of the enemy. Lieutenant Claude Wallace is part of this expedition, and it is his unit, Section E, that you will lead through a war of movement without mercy.
THE GREAT INVASION
Regulars of Valkyria Chronicles will find their marks immediately. Valkyria Chronicles follows exactly the strategy / RPG gameplay of the first: each side acts turn by turn, with a limited number of units to move and act on the map. As usual in the main series, each character moved costs a Command Point, the number of which varies depending on the missions and the number of leaders at the front. Small appreciable novelty, the tank now requires only one Command Point. Handy when you remember that the heavy tank of Valkyria Chronicles 3 cost three!Where Valkyria Chronicles always outperforms other Japanese S-RPGs is in its unique combat system which combines distance, verticality and depth of field, making the gameplay even more complex than a Disgaea or a Summon Night for example. . You have to take into account the range of weapons, the many types of units, the weather and an extremely complex terrain in 3D since it is much more difficult to assess the danger and plan its advance than in a "simple" grid game. Even ten years later, the system remains exceptional in terms of simulation. In other words, Valkyria Chronicles was ahead of its time.
It will always be necessary to distribute its units well according to the types of soldiers available, which all have their particularity. The very mobile scout is ideal for taking the basics, the very powerful melee shocktrooper is perfect in defense, the engineer is used to repair the tank if necessary, and the sniper can eliminate threats from very far. Being in an RPG, all these units have their own HP, attack and defense statistics that must be taken into account in the deployment. The many parameters and abilities of the characters mean that there are lots of ways to defeat in Valkyria Chronicles 4. The player is free to find his own style of play with his favorite heroes.
Role play obliges, your classes will progress with the experience acquired during battles, itself proportional to the speed of your stratagem. Units acquire new weapons and skills, such as the flame thrower for the shocktrooper or the grenade launcher for the scout. Great news, high-level snipers can now respond if they are targeted, and even shoot during the enemy's turn, also harassing the imperials who try to approach your lines! Orders are of course always in the game, and Claude can therefore focus on attack or defense, in addition to new directives such as requesting immediate reinforcements (and not a turn later). At the same time, you will also improve your equipment with your war chest, including and above all the tank which serves as a pivot for progression, in attack as in defense. Its role is obviously crucial and it is very versatile, further adding to the possibilities of gameplay.
HERE COMES THE NAVY
In Valkyria Chronicles 4 you will also have a new type of order and a new war machine to invest in. Without saying too much, let us specify that your section will have the support of the Navy of the Federation. The battleship has some very useful equipment such as radar, long-range artillery, and grants you the considerable privilege of bringing a destroyed tank back onto the map! A very good idea, because in this episode, the enemy AI targets tanks very well. Your armored vehicle will not pass the turn if you leave the radiator (its weak point) within reach of opponents.But the big novelty remains the brand new class of this episode, the gunner. This unit carries a state-of-the-art mortar as well as a limited number of shells, and can fire a bell over very long distances. It is therefore able to reach targets that snipers cannot reach. Better yet, a variation of this equipment is capable of slowing down enemy tanks, a key option to reduce the threat from enemy tanks. By default, the artilleryman shells enemy soldiers during the imperial round, and then becomes an essential defender. However, like the sniper, this soldier has very little HP and above all must not remain uncovered. Opening new and numerous strategic possibilities, this type of unit is a wonder that makes you addicted from the first second. On the other hand, you will like it a lot less when it is used against you: taking a shell in the middle of a pear completely confuses the character, the screen blurs and the feeling of panic is multiplied!
No mission in Valkryia Chronicles 4 is like any other. Each chapter is a complete renewal of the way of proceeding and of conquering, impossible to get tired throughout the eighteen chapters. First, the maps in this section are both unique and extremely well structured. Geographically, topographically, the plans of conquest change each time. The objectives are also varied and sometimes… very original: you will be asked to shoot at signposts, to detonate bombs before they fall, to break an encirclement, to defend bases, and of course to face completely outsized boss.
You will once again be confronted with the mad weapons of the empire, like the armored train in the supply base, more dangerous than ever. There is obviously more, and tough rudiments that require a lot of ingenuity in order to overcome it. These bosses are all ultra-difficult to tackle, another reason why the gameplay is constantly renewed. We will obviously quote here the almost invincible and disproportionately powerful Valkyrie, which makes you bite the dust for three chapters. More generally, Valkyria Chronicles 4 is always this game that puts everything against you, launches you into desperate missions at the end of which the enjoyment of victory is all the greater. The enemy's weaponry is so impressive, the imperial forces so numerous, the bosses so tough ... The title of Sega constantly gives the feeling of having achieved the impossible by his efforts. The player gives everything, all the time.
Another strong feature of the series, death in Valkyria Chronicles 4 is final. A KO character must be rescued in the next four turns, otherwise you will not see him again for the rest of the adventure. This period is sometimes reduced to two laps, and sometimes evacuation will simply be ... impossible! All of this greatly influences the deployment and stretching of communication lines. In this episode, a KO unit will have a small chance of triggering what is called the Last Stand: the character can either replay one last time, or boost the stats of a neighboring unit.
Comforted by the positive echo vis-à-vis the original, Sega puts the resources back in order to offer both a great narrative and an ambitious staging. The PSP episodes were very good, but necessarily less impressive, portable console requires. So we are happily witnessing the return of fabulous cinematics in real time punctuating the most epic confrontations and the most heartbreaking moments. Breathtaking scenes are not uncommon, whether it's an imminent threat to the heroes or the sacrifice of one of them. The story also brings its share of suspense, among others concerning Kai, the mysterious sniper with double identity. Valkyria Chronicles 4 is also and again this war game which not only shows war, but which also prompts the player to think about it. Seeing further than the agreed Manichaeism, the title clearly puts forward the responsibility, as well as the excesses of the war regardless of the "good guys" or the "bad guys".
ODD SQUAD
In this beautiful set, we will nonetheless find fault with two or three points. The end is less grandiose than that of Valkyria Chronicles, the conclusion being a bit far-fetched. It was difficult, however, to do so well. The antagonists are also much less credible: their motivations are rather bizarre and the tone is much less compelling. General Walz, tireless Don Juan, is symptomatic of this state of affairs. There is no character like Berthold Gregor in the first, who was an almost perfect reflection of the immoral and unforgiving commander. Willingness to humanize the whole or to soften the course of the scenario, the orientation of this fourth part is to be discussed.
The realization is quite similar to that of the PS4 remaster. We will therefore find partly dull decorations as well as some animations from another age, even if the whole remains quite good, in particular thanks to the Canvas game engine and its pictorial rendering taken up there too for the first time in 10 years. . The soundtrack is always so great that we would almost shake the PC so that it appears faster on iTunes: the term "epic" takes on its full meaning, from the start screen to the end credits .
Another great strength of Valkyria Chronicles 4 is that it manages to offer around sixty characters with each a real personality, well detailed by the various "potentials" and the additional missions entirely devoted to your men. Each of these secondary chapters shows us the character of three characters and how relationships evolve between them. Often very funny, we see the surprising richness of the game in terms of humor: between Scott who answers "yes sir!" for all the questions, Vanti still drunk and Viola refusing to obey orders, there were hours of frank laughs. All this additional content, like the so-called skirmishes cards (a sort of arcade mode to gain experience and funds), brings the lifespan to at least 60-70 hours.
These missions are nevertheless demanding, because the number of Allied units is sometimes very small. For example, you will be asked to finish a card with only three snipers, the least mobile and most fragile unit. At the end of the chapter, each speaker sees one of his negative potentials transformed into positive potential, and thus maximizes his chances of survival on a mission. Triggering under certain conditions, the potentials have a certain strategic importance since they can boost the stats temporarily, save ammunition, or in very rare cases fully heal the character.
The notes
+ Positive points
Great wealth of gameplay
Game-changing novelties
Damn intense challenge
Impressive staging
Many very successful characters
Good lifespan
Sublime soundtrack
DLC worth it
-Negative points
No graphical progression
Unbelievable villains
When the novelty effect disappears, the experience is often not the same. This is not the case with Valkyria Chronicles 4, which brings back to life the immeasurable pleasure felt by fans of Valkyria Chronicles 10 years ago. The limitless gameplay, the richness of the characters, the excellence of the game system, the breathtaking atmosphere, everything comes back to the glorious beginnings of the franchise. With an enticing season pass, only a few minor flaws keep it from perfection. What do the series' errors matter, Valkyria Chronicles 4 is an exceptional Strategy / RPG as we see every ... 10 years!
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