REQUEST: I ask that you do not devolve this thread into whining about Sega, whining about how this game is not a Chronicles game (something it was never claimed to be), complaining that Sega didn't make a Chronicles game, begging for HD remakes of VC2 and VC3, or posting assumed woe-is-us fantasies about how the Valkyria series is "dead" or "finished".
PLATFORMS:
PS4
PS Vita (Digital Only)
Xbox One
RELEASE DATE:
June 27th, 2017
STORY:
The recent discovery of the power of ragnite and ragnite magic has ignited a technological revolution across the continent. As a result of the tumultous times, Jutland Kingdom came under an economic blockade from the mighty Ruzi Empire, starving their ragnite supply and limiting their ragnite research potential. The Circle of Five take advantage of the Empire's aggression and lead Jutland into war against the Empire. However, the Five are aiming for a secret, secondary goal... to find out the location of Miss Maria, and to seek revenge against those who dared to abduct her years ago.
Included with their revenge plans is to eliminate all of the Empire's main enemy commanders who orchestrated the burning down of the orphanage that was their home many years ago while pretending to be focusing solely on the war against the Empire. The question the game puts forth is whether the Sinners were heroes who saved Jutland, or manipulators that steered Jutland into bloody war for personal gain.
GAMEPLAY:
ARPG. You can take a squad up to four members onto the battlefield. Attack button does an autocombo. You have a roll and a guard button. The menu button, which will be signature to the gameplay, is a "timestop" mechanic where you can choose many actions while time is frozen, such as throw grenades, fire your rifle, use an item, use magic, or give your teammate a direct order.
This game has character leveling and magic upgrading. Each character has a magic-type affinity, meaning that you'll get bonuses for using the proper elemental magic with certain characters. This game contains a central hub in Jutland where you can buy and upgrade magic, purchase equipment, work with materials, and more. In addition to the hub it also has a magic factory, command center and graveyard you can visit.
The potential system makes a return in this game. If you fulfill certain field conditions, such as having certain teammates nearby, characters will activate their potential, which can affect them in positive and negative ways. It's best to keep in mind each character's negative potentials before assigning them on a mission.
DLC SCHEDULE:
Sega is releasing free DLC in weekly sets (typical marketing technique to keep interest in the game up over time). I highly recommend using this Gematsu link to keep track of everything, since it's very neatly organized here in tables.
QUICK CHARACTER REFERENCE IMAGES:
In the event you need to look up the names of characters, this will serve as a nice reference sheet. The characters are ordered like this: Circle of Five, Royals, Vanargard, Villains.
SCREENSHOTS:
FAQ:
Q: Reviews?
A: You can read the Import OT for comments from people who bought the Japanese game.
Q: I love my Vita more than I love my family and peanut butter. Should I buy this game to support the Vita?
A: Vita diehards should purchase Tokyo Xanadu, coming out on June 30th.
Q: What relation does this game have to Valkyria Chronicles?
A: Very little outside of the name. There's a few hallmarks like some of the visual styling, ragnite medicine, and a few of the guns used, but how each game plays and their storytelling style are completely different. Also, the games are set in separate universes and do not share any story elements or characters.
Q: So why did Sega make an action RPG rather than a strategy RPG?
A: Please read these two interview threads. The creators wanted to create something brand new, and they wanted to make a big, new expanded world with a continuous timeline.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1270939
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1277368
Q: Dual audio?
A: Yes.
Q: Wait! Wasn't this game called "Azure Revolution"?
A: That was our translation of the Japanese title. Sega America/Atlus dropped the "Azure". Personally, I recommend using whichever title you like.
Q: The music in this game is very good! Who is the composer?
A: Yasunori Mitsuda, who many people know as the composer of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.
Q: Wait a minute! Where is the PC version of the game?
A: Some questions are better off unanswered. In the meanwhile go ahead and buy Valkyria Chronicles on Steam here.
