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SEGA Valkyria Interview: Thoughts about potential VC2 and VC3 Remasters and more

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N

Nyoro SF

Member
Hello GAF,

When Valkyria Chronicles Remastered was announced in Japan alongside the new Valkyria: Azure Revolution, two SEGA employees who are helming the projects had an interview with GAMER, a Japanese gaming news site. They discussed subjects such as the recent reveals, the possibility of VC2 and VC3 remasters, the best parts about RPGs, the internal systems of Azure Revolution and other subjects.
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The interview was super long, so I thought I'd try my hand at translating it, despite my JP skill not being advanced. I finished part one for now and I hope the fans of this niche series can enjoy it. This is part one, I'll post part two next week if I can.
As a small sidenote, please keep in mind that Ozawa has a weird way of talking sometimes (as confirmed from a native Japanese buddy of mine).
GAMER:
On February 10th, 2016, we spoke to SEGA for an interview on the same day Valkyria Chronicles Remaster released for the PS4. Interviewing with us today is Katsura Mikami (Producer) and Takeshi Ozawa (Director).

On April 4th, 2008, SEGA released the original Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3 (VC1). VC1 unites the worlds of strategy games and RPGs with a unique battle system, an unmatched new-generation watercolor visual style and a story of a country that must strive in-between two mighty powers.

Afterwards the sequels entered development and the Valkyria Chronicles anime began broadcasting in April 2009. The popularity of the franchise extended internationally and in 2010 won "Best Simulation RPG for the Playstation 3" from the Guinness Book of World Records. Its impact on gamers as a next-generation title has not been forgotten and endures today.

The year is now 2016, 8 years from VC1's release. Valkyria: Azure Revolution (VAR), a new title in the Valkyria franchise, has been announced for the PS4 alongside the VC1 Remaster. SEGA can keep quiet no longer! As such, we sat down with both Ozawa and Mikami to chat about these two titles and more.
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Why was Valkyria Chronicles Remastered created?
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GAMER: To start things off, please let everyone know what your roles are in the Valkyria series.

Mikami: I was the assistant producer on Valkyria Chronicles 3 (VC3) and developed the concept for Valkyria Chronicles DUEL (Now defunct) and also offered my input on secondary elements of both games. When it came to understanding the ins and outs of the franchise I relied heavily on the original staff and Ozawa for assistance.

Ozawa: I was the main planner for VC1 and managed the particulars of the BLiTZ system. For VC2 onwards I became the director of the franchise and for VC3 in particular I was in charge of its world-building aspect.

Mikami: For VC1 Remaster I'm acting as a general supervisor because as a port its creation falls more under the purview of a technical director. We're not changing the core of VC1, so we'll be focusing more on what we end up enhancing with the remaster.

GAMER: Tell us the whole story about how the remaster came to be.

Mikami: The remaster came about due to a gap in development within the franchise itself and to provide an easy entry point for gamers unfamiliar with the Valkyria series. There were a bunch of additional reasons including popularity of the Valkyria brand overseas along with Media Vision's desire to develop a PS4 title and build up their PS4 development experience.

GAMER: Would you say the workflow for PS4 title development is noticeably different than for PS3?

Ozawa: Compared to when we initially launched VC1 for the PS3, the differences are pretty significant. For instance back then trophies were becoming ubiquitous so we received messages such as "What do you mean Valkyria Chronicles has no trophies?". Before we could implement these trophies, however, we had already shifted development to the PSP, which was much easier to develop for.

GAMER: Regarding trophies, what form did they take in VC1 Remastered?

Mikami: Originally in VC1 in order to appease those who like to speedrun or perform difficult strategies the original staff created a medal system based around the assumptions of what people would like to challenge themselves with. In the remaster, trophies are now activated alongside medals.

GAMER: I see! So unlocking a medal and a trophy at the same time will feel like a 2-in-1 deal!

Mikami: That's the way it turned out. We don't want to betray our fans by asking them to do impossible tasks [for trophies]. The platinum trophy for this game is merely "unlock all the other trophies". We've been very careful during development of the remaster to respect the original team's wishes for items like this.

GAMER: After you announced the remaster and the new title, what was the player reaction like?

Mikami: We heard quite a variety of reactions from Twitter. "There's a lot of games I want to play on PS4 but I'm buying THIS one!" and "I've only played VC2 and VC3, but since I never played the first in the series so I'm interested." We've offered quite a few preorder bonuses and the preorders are starting to trickle in.

GAMER: Do each of you have your own theories for a player's reason to buy the remaster?

Mikami: We've heard rumblings throughout our playerbase that they had missed out on the fun of the PS3 generation. The original release date of VC1 might be a little too recent for "nostalgia" to be a reason, but we're really happy that all of these players can now get a chance to enjoy the franchise on the PS4 regardless of why they want to play.

Ozawa: When portable gaming was at the height of its explosive popularity, we had shifted our development to the PSP for VC2, aiming the game squarely at middle schoolers. Many of these VC2 players said things like "Valkyria originally started on the PS3, right?" and "I remember watching the Valkyria anime". Now, 8 years later, we are trying to resonate with those thoughts and emotions with the release of Valkyria Chronicles: Remastered.

Mikami: For those invested heavily in the Valkyria franchise, we wonder "how does the new title Azure resonate with these people?" It's a point we are concerned about even now.

GAMER: Speaking of which, the Valkyria series is ridiculously popular overseas, isn't it?

Ozawa: A surprising thing about that... when we revealed the first YouTube trailer for Azure Revolution in November last year, all of the comments on the video were in English! (Laughs) We had each line translated for us, one by one.
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What's changed for the PS4 remaster?
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GAMER: So what parts changed exactly for the remaster?

Ozawa: The truth is we didn't do much to change the "face" of the game. The game has always looked amazing from the beginning, and we thought it would be best not to make any strange alterations. Thanks to the PS4's better specs we have achieved 1080p resolution and 60 frame per second gameplay, but we haven't done anything to the original graphical work.

GAMER: Certainly, trying to alter VC1’s graphics to reach the very high standards of today’s high definition would cause visual disconnect with the CANVAS’s blue color tones...

Ozawa: When it comes to CANVAS and BLiTZ we view those things as "already completed for HD". With VAR's graphics we altered some things while maintaining some similarities to the VC games.

During development of the new graphics, we initially recommended names like CANVAS 2 and NEO CANVAS, but during this time we came to the conclusion that at the rate that VAR's graphics were evolving it wouldn’t apply the same visual strengths as CANVAS in the end. So we decided to continue our graphical struggle under the new name GOUACHE.

GAMER: Has the sound design of the original Valkyria Chronicles been kept the same as before?

Mikami: That's right. The original dev team created a so-called "Doppler effect" of whizzing gunfire during missions that utilized 5.1 surround audio that we're using once again. The PS4 middleware for handling the same sound is much different than before though.

GAMER: Changing tack, has any corrections or adjustments been made to any part of the game?

Mikami: The first thing that comes to mind is the physics engine. When we tested the PS3 version out on the PS4 we noticed tanks not being able to climb hills properly among other problematic things.

Ozawa: VC1's physics engine allowed for easy parameter adjustment, but the toolset became totally unusable when shifted to PS4. To make the remaster possible, a lot of painstaking work took place to ensure that no one would uncomfortably feel that anything is off when playing.

Mikami: We fixed "tanks not being able to ascend hills" and "shooting an enemy soldier causes him to fly a huge distance", stuff like that.

Ozawa: During VC1's original development while tweaking the physics engine the tanks would suddenly catapult into the stratosphere, and the camera would stare at the ground while the tank careened out of orbit until we could see only total darkness. I remember that the phenomenon was nicknamed "Laputa" as it continuously tortured us. Every time this problem occurred staff would say "Laputa has appeared once again!"

GAMER: It's a pretty funny story in retrospect but it sounds like it wasn't the most amusing thing at the time...

Mikami: Changing the framerate from 30 to 60 caused all sorts of little problems but on a different note loading times are extremely fast now.

GAMER: Ooh, that's nice... because I'm the kind of player that saves and reloads like crazy.

Mikami: You'll probably be shouting "Mr. PS4 is AMAZING!" then. It's all thanks to the PS4.
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Perhaps this means a remaster of VC2 and VC3 is possible...?
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GAMER: While we're on the topic of the VC1 remaster, has the original series staff convened for these new projects?

Ozawa: The main staff has already split up and changed positions and roles over the years and because of that the current teams are largely different. The main staff that's stayed together since the original release of VC1 to VAR today would be me, Daisuke Tabayashi (Art/Setting Director), Mikami (from VC3 on), and several designers and programmers here and there. And if we include outside work, of course Media Vision (development group of VC3, and currently working on VAR).

Mikami: I rely on the longtime internal staff at SEGA for quite a few things even now.

GAMER: At the rate of the momentum the series is getting is a remaster or such of VC2 and VC3 possible?

Mikami: You say "remaster", but it would end up being a "remake", wouldn't it? (Laughs). Regarding porting them over from the PSP... fixing up the resulting unsatisfactory parts would be a herculean effort. Whether it's actually practical to do, that in itself is tough to digest.

Ozawa: Because VC2 was my directorial debut and because I helped create VC3’s world both of those games have a lot of meaning to me. If we could remake them that would be fantastic but right now we're focusing all of our efforts on VAR.

Mikami: We've only given it thought for now. Remaking the entire series will be quite difficult, so we're going to talk about that possibility after Azure Revolution has been released.

GAMER: By the way, there have recently been various crossovers and collaborations with the Valkyria series recently, who is the person in charge of that?

Ozawa: That would be Mikami. He came to me for approval each time. Before the crossover was allowed we had to make sure it aligned with the games and their scenarios.

Mikami: Right now the collaboration with Chain Chronicle is in effect. I decided that the premise of Chain Chronicle matched up with Valkyria, but I had to seek out approval for some of the more finer details. Naturally I am very familiar with the Valkyria series and its themes myself, but when it came to the final decisions I always came to Ozawa asking him for his thoughts.

GAMER: If it's like that, you're basically comrades-in-arms, right?

Mikami: In my current position that sounds about right. (Laughs)
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If you made it this far, congratulations. This is page 1-4 of 12. I don't know if such interviews lengths are standard for a Japanese gaming website but boy am I tired.
 
P

purseowner

Member
Great work, OP. God I'd love remasters of 2 & 3, especially to see the latter get an official English-language release.
 
T

Tagyhag

Member
So I guess there's at least a chance.

Inb4 Azure gets mediocre reviews, commercially flops, and we don't get jack.
 
Y

Ydelnae

Member
Great work, OP. I still haven't played the remaster, but having played none of the original games, I'd rather have VC4 instead of remakes of the PSP games.
 
C

chrominance

Member
Not surprised. It doesn't quite close the door but it doesn't exactly inspire hope. I'd love if they could at least do VC3 so they could bring it over to the west. I do agree it would have to be a remake, though, since the heavy map reuse (and fragmentation to a lesser extent) would probably be frowned upon by the potential console/PC audience. Surprised to see there were a bunch of people who entered the series with VC2, though.

we had shifted our development to the PSP for VC2, aiming the game squarely at middle schoolers
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Well, that explains a hell of a lot. Christ.
 
M

Mr. Nice_Guy

Member
Thanks so much OP. I would love a remaster/remake of 3. 2 was fine but if they had to choose one of them I really hope they go with 3. Such a great game.
 
N

Nyoro SF

Member
chrominance said:
Not surprised. It doesn't quite close the door but it doesn't exactly inspire hope. I'd love if they could at least do VC3 so they could bring it over to the west. I do agree it would have to be a remake, though, since the heavy map reuse (and fragmentation to a lesser extent) would probably be frowned upon by the potential console/PC audience. Surprised to see there were a bunch of people who entered the series with VC2, though.



Well, that explains a hell of a lot. Christ.
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Yeah, though I don't think that response regarding middle schoolers was entirely truthful. Before VC2's release, there was a lot of posts and news from SEGA (on an almost fanatical level) about attracting a female audience for the VC games. While I think it was noble, war games with guns and tanks really do serve a male market primarily and that's not going to change in our lifetimes.

They should've just said they were making it for middle schoolers to begin with, then I'd believe them now. :p
 
N

Nyoro SF

Member
CertifiedFP said:
Nice to see the international popularity of the series being acknowledged for once.
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They actually acknowledge us twice. Once as you can see, another later on that I will post in the future. Progress! lol

By the way, this interview was done prior to any of the changes to the demo made, so I think some of the later answers discussing VAR systems may be null and void, so we'll see.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
K.Jack said:
Path to success:

Put 2 and 3 on Steam -> Enjoy your free buckets of money.
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2 and 3 have really tiny areas which you have to move team members between laboriously. Also the graphics were heavily cut down. You can easily play 2 and 3 on a PSP emulator today and get the same effect, which is pretty bad. I don't really want to play 2 and 3 again unless they are remade, they are pale shadows of the PS3 original.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
I still really want VC3 but I can't imagine them bothering beyond a possible JPN remaster release since they never translated it (but hey they translated the art book so....that's a start)
VC2 I enjoyed enough for the one run but I can't imagine going through it again and enduring Avan's bloody laugh soundbite.
 
sublimit

sublimit

Banned
Mikami: The remaster came about due to a gap in development within the franchise itself and to provide an easy entry point for gamers unfamiliar with the Valkyria series. There were a bunch of additional reasons including popularity of the Valkyria brand overseas along with Media Vision's desire to develop a PS4 title and build up their PS4 development experience.
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Please Sega i beg you make Valkyria Chronicles 4 for PS4!!
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
There were a bunch of additional reasons including popularity of the Valkyria brand overseas along with Media Vision's desire to develop a PS4 title and build up their PS4 development experience.
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Hmm...

A certain company who has not publicly revealed their name on the recruitment page is recruiting for a 3D character modeler for the development of a PS4 RPG that blends Sci-Fi with the Wild West.

The specified company is located in Tokyo city, Koto district, Kiba, which just so happens to be where Media Vision is located. Brand new Wild Arms game coming?
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http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1196948

“So. I’m back from the Wild Arms meeting,” Kaneko said in the tweet. “Participants included myself, [series composer Michiko] Naruke, SCE producer [Kentaro] Motomura, and promotion’s [Taku] Nishijima, who everybody loves. Tonight, we emphasized that “this year, it’s the series’s 20th annivesray!” It’s cold outside, but we were undoubtedly hot.”
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http://gematsu.com/2016/01/wild-arms-creator-teases-20th-anniversary-meeting
 
I

iconoclast

Member
when we revealed the first YouTube trailer for Azure Revolution in November last year, all of the comments on the video were in English! (Laughs) We had each line translated for us, one by one.
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This was probably a bad idea.
 
T

The Praiseworthy

Member
Oh Heeeeeeey !!

You gave me a sneak peak on the interview back in may :D !

The Sneak Peak!

Thanks mate for the full interview... I can't wait to get my hands on V:AR.. and if they worked on another new VC I rather they use a side title than number 4.

We needs a new VC game build from the ground up for a home console.
 
S

Shahed

Member
I'll repeat what I've said in the past. Remastering 2 isn't worth it. It's frankly a shit game with practically no redeeming qualities all around. If someone has a high opinion of Valkyria Chronicles as a franchise having played the first game, then you don't want to play the sequel since it will only lower your opinion of the franchise.

I've heard the third game is better. From it's tone, story, setting, style and structure. However if it retains the same sort of map design as the second game and unnecessarily grindy elements that I don't particularly want that game either. They're not wrong in admitting Remasters won't cut it. These games will need full on Remakes for them to be worthwhile.
 
K

Korigama

Member
chrominance said:
Well, that explains a hell of a lot. Christ.
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It really does (with them being aware of the franchise having a sizable overseas fanbase, I'm going to guess that they have no idea just how damning such an admission is). Pity that no one wanting that dud led to VC3 never leaving Japan.
Aters said:
I'd spend 100 hours on a VC3 remaster rather than the piece of shit they are cooking right now.
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Totally agreed.
 
E

EmiPrime

Member
Unknown Soldier said:
2 and 3 have really tiny areas which you have to move team members between laboriously. Also the graphics were heavily cut down. You can easily play 2 and 3 on a PSP emulator today and get the same effect, which is pretty bad. I don't really want to play 2 and 3 again unless they are remade, they are pale shadows of the PS3 original.
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Yeah areas are really small and get reused a lot. Only the music, story and character designs could be carried over, almost everything else would need to be rebuilt from scratch.

Hopefully now that VC1's engine has been ported to PS4 and PC we'll get a real VC game, whether it's VC4 or a VC3 remake I don't mind.
 
Celcius

Celcius

°Temp. member
I've only played the original on PS3 so I'd definitely be interested if 2 and 3 came to Steam at some point.
 
V

Vashzaron

Member
Shahed said:
I'll repeat what I've said in the past. Remastering 2 isn't worth it. It's frankly a shit game with no redeeming qualities all around. If someone has a high opinion of Valkyria Chronicles as a franchise having played the first game, then you don't want to play the sequel since it will only lower your opinion of the franchise.
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I must have some really weird tastes then.

Then again I must be one of the five people who even played this game through coop, a feature they seemingly heavily invested in two to then be completely dropped in 3, which was actually pretty disappointing for me.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Co-op in VC 2 was hilariously broken but a fun novelty.

For what it's worth I remembered thinking that the base gameplay of VC2 was a bit more refined than the more abusable original game and that really it suffered more due to PSP limitations and banking on lots of filler.
On the other hand, Flamethrower APC>>>Tank which was silly.
 
X

Xav

Member
Sega really dropped the ball with this series as far as I'm concerned.

Valkyria 1: Awesome. Sequel please.

Valkyria 2: The fuck? Handheld! System limitations scale back vision, urgh.

Valkyria 3: Handheld again? Not even released outside Japan. Semi out sourced to Media Vision.

Valkyria Azure Revolution: PS4? YES, finally! Wait, fully developed by Media Vision? Oh well, maybe it will be good?

... demo sucked. Urgh!

All you had to do Sega was make a sequel. The original didn't sell amazingly well but it had a good word of mouth reception. That reception is why people gave a shit about a 6 year late port of Valkyria on PC.

I don't care about remakes of the handheld games nor Azure Revolution. I'm still waiting for a proper Sega developed Valkyria 2 on consoles/PC.
 
D

Dragoon En Regalia

Member
A remake of 3 would be awesome. Even better, though? Let's see a combo of the old team + Media Vision make a sequel set in Fhirald. Both 3 and the original VC built up promises of a certain military legend returning to his homeland with a do-or-die mission.

I'll take Wild Arms 6, too.
 
K

Killthee

helped a brotha out on multiple separate occasions!
Unknown Soldier said:
2 and 3 have really tiny areas which you have to move team members between laboriously. Also the graphics were heavily cut down. You can easily play 2 and 3 on a PSP emulator today and get the same effect, which is pretty bad. I don't really want to play 2 and 3 again unless they are remade, they are pale shadows of the PS3 original.
Click to expand...
Yup, the areas are tiny cause of PSP limitations and it completely changes the flow of the game (haven't played 3, but I assume it's the same). On top of that theyre designed so you have to replay the same maps over and over praying you get lucky with drops so you can level up your squad. Devs are right, the games would have to be remade cause straight ports would just piss off people who have only played 1.

VC 2 said:
2GZFOih.jpg
NFxoX2Z.jpg

oUeYUQH.jpg
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VC said:
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7Ng9W8K.jpg
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D

Drilbit777

Member
A remake would definitiely be much more preferrable instead of a straight port. Imagine would sega could do if the psp limitations werent there
 
S

sense

Member
Please tell me the second part addresses why they are not making a mainline turn based strategy game like the original games which is what people want and instead making a spinoff game with action combat..... I was so excited when I found out a new Valkyria game was announced with hd graphics and then very upset finding out the combat system changed....
 
X

XxSlasherMcGirkxX

Member
I was always shocked that VC2 wasn't a game based on the first European War. I feel like the ground work was already there. It's also a shame not a lot of people got the chance to play VC3 as it was amazing even with the PSP technical limitations.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
Xav said:
Sega really dropped the ball with this series as far as I'm concerned.

Valkyria 1: Awesome. Sequel please.

Valkyria 2: The fuck? Handheld! System limitations scale back vision, urgh.

Valkyria 3: Handheld again? Not even released outside Japan. Semi out sourced to Media Vision.

Valkyria Azure Revolution: PS4? YES, finally! Wait, fully developed by Media Vision? Oh well, maybe it will be good?

... demo sucked. Urgh!

All you had to do Sega was make a sequel. The original didn't sell amazingly well but it had a good word of mouth reception. That reception is why people gave a shit about a 6 year late port of Valkyria on PC.

I don't care about remakes of the handheld games nor Azure Revolution. I'm still waiting for a proper Sega developed Valkyria 2 on consoles/PC.
Click to expand...

Classic SEGA.
 
N

Nyoro SF

Member
sense said:
Please tell me the second part addresses why they are not making a mainline turn based strategy game like the original games which is what people want and instead making a spinoff game with action combat..... I was so excited when I found out a new Valkyria game was announced with hd graphics and then very upset finding out the combat system changed....
Click to expand...

Given how much of the history of this series I know (and I know a lot of it) the gist of it is, the original game just sold awfully in Japan, and the SEGA higher-ups had an obsession with equalizing the game's purchasing gender split and being obsessed with Capcom's success with Monster Hunter (along with a few other companies)

Combine that with the PS3's initial abhorrent performance both in Japan and America, the game bombing in the USA for a long time, it's not like it's incredibly strange to see why they scaled back everything and went to the PSP. It was just a reaction to how VC1 sold at the time and the climate of the PS3 underperforming and the PSP dominating.
 
V

Vashzaron

Member
Nocturnowl said:
Co-op in VC 2 was hilariously broken but a fun novelty.

For what it's worth I remembered thinking that the base gameplay of VC2 was a bit more refined than the more abusable original game and that really it suffered more due to PSP limitations and banking on lots of filler.
On the other hand, Flamethrower APC>>>Tank which was silly.
Click to expand...

Broken as in you could do "OP" stuff right? Stuff like Tech/Tank absorbing intercept fire while other people ran around? Never had any other problem with it otherwise.

And yeah Flamethwoer APC was too good. Even if you were to use a Tank over an APC you'd prob be picking the one only really usable one being the 1CP costing Light Body.
Wonder if some of the balance decisions were based with the PVP in mind as well as I hardly even touched that, I imagine heavier tanks were prob useful at intercepting fire at camps there.
 
N

Nocturnowl

Member
Vashzaron said:
Broken as in you could do "OP" stuff right? Stuff like Tech/Tank absorbing intercept fire while other people ran around? Never had any other problem with it otherwise.

And yeah Flamethwoer APC was too good. Even if you were to use a Tank over an APC you'd prob be picking the one only really usable one being the 1CP costing Light Body.
Wonder if some of the balance decisions were based with the PVP in mind as well as I hardly even touched that, I imagine heavier tanks were prob useful at intercepting fire at camps there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the OP variety of broken since you could move around simultaneously if I recall which led to all kinds of shenanigans.
 
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