Games: Valkyria Chronicles Impressions

Sega Party, Go! There was a really fun event for the new game held at the Metreon's Playstation Store on 09/26/08. It was my first gaming press event, well, ever, and I had a great time. Lots of swag, some cool and eBay-able, some completely random-but-entertaining. The coolest part I thought, was the special edition blu-ray jacket that was signed in front of you by the game's Producer/Designer, Ryutaro Nonaka.

Or, at least, that's what I thought until I realized an hour later that the silly little raffle tickets that we got for standing in line had a WINNER! Totally won a giant mounted Promo Poster featuring the game's protagonists in a cool action-pose. And got it signed. Nonaka-sama signed that shit hard.

They took a bunch of pictures of us, so it's a shame that they chose this one, but hey. Can't really complain, right?

Game Impressions: To business, right. Valkyria seems pretty intriguing, as JRPGs struggle to redefine themselves in the international market, usually copping out as becoming more "actiony". The game employs an interesting compromise by giving everyone guns (for the americans) while still keeping the very classic turn-based strategic elements (for the japanese). For the most part, this marriage of styles works well, though running around the field before starting your primary action each turn feels very plodding, and the cover system could really use some work.

The demo build was naturally short, so I can't really speak for the girth of the game, but the cutscene at the beginning was adequately pretty, and the battle was lengthy with each of the character classes feeling useful. My only real complaint about the game from the small portion I did play, is just a story/character bias. The male protagonist, Welkin, seems like the character that we 18-25 year old guys are supposed to relate to, but, he spends damn near all of his time during battle inside the team's tank at the rear, and only becomes useful after fighting grunts for 10 minutes, when you use a few big shells to end the sortie. He seems very distant and detached from the player, and most of the action. Sucks.

All-in-all, I'm still very excited about the game. It's one of those games that really could turn out awesome, but could just as easily be tragically mediocre. Here's hopin'.