michaelius
Banned
Anyone downloading to check it ? Please share some impressions
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Valkyria Chronicle 4 demo released on Japanise PSN store
- Thread starter michaelius
- Start date
Anyone downloading to check it ? Please share some impressions
plasmawave
Banned
It's the first 2 chapters of the game as a demo and the save data carries over to the retail version. But if you're not buying the JP version then stay away from this.
JohannCK
Member
I'm not sure if I should be linking to this but since it seems that my posts are being vetted by moderators before they're published anyway: My play report of the demo is up on Frontline Gaming Japan.
I'm fluent in Japanese and did clear 2. I got halfway through and quit 3 several times as it didn't really click with me gameplay-wise (I did find it to be better than 2 though), and cleared Azure Revolution.
4 is nothing like them. Like I wrote in that article: From what's in the demo, it feels like this is a straight up extension of 1's gameplay. There's a bunch of balance changes that make it so that the old scout tactics don't work as well too (not that they don't work at all, just not as well). The new grenadier class is great fun too.
I'm fluent in Japanese and did clear 2. I got halfway through and quit 3 several times as it didn't really click with me gameplay-wise (I did find it to be better than 2 though), and cleared Azure Revolution.
4 is nothing like them. Like I wrote in that article: From what's in the demo, it feels like this is a straight up extension of 1's gameplay. There's a bunch of balance changes that make it so that the old scout tactics don't work as well too (not that they don't work at all, just not as well). The new grenadier class is great fun too.
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CloudStrife_ca
Member
I can't wait for this game, I'm a huge fan of the series and personally find this to be the "go too" series for Sega even though it hasn't been handled the way it should be. Still hoping for a VC3 remaster/ localization one day although I know it can be done on the PSP through a fan localization but heres to hoping for a North American release date soon for VC4.
My pre-order arrived today!
Played the first few minutes and this game looks beautiful... right back to the roots and the 2008 original hasn't aged a bit. Never thought we'd see the Atlantic Federation taking center stage! (Actually I never thought we'd see a fourth main entry!)
Is there an OT yet? I'll post impressions there if we have one.
Played the first few minutes and this game looks beautiful... right back to the roots and the 2008 original hasn't aged a bit. Never thought we'd see the Atlantic Federation taking center stage! (Actually I never thought we'd see a fourth main entry!)
Is there an OT yet? I'll post impressions there if we have one.
ThatStupidLion
Member
I dont think theres an import ot yet - please make one though - id love to read your detailed impressions and see screenshots if possible
Danjin44
The nicest person on this forum
I'm soooooo jealous, I want to undrestan story when I'm playing the game so I have to wait Untill gets released here.
upgraded system**
Started constructing an OT; should have it ready over the weekend!
(What degree of spoilers is acceptable in an OT? Anything seen in trailers? Up to what is seen in a demo?)
Gameplay so far has brought the VC1 vibes right back in almost every way -- the art; the UI, the soldiers's personalities. There's a lot of anime cliche-ness (the "friends from early childhood" trope has already reared its head) but somehow it's not annoying, and
And the Empire doesn't fool around in the battles! I don't remember them being this vicious in VC1, but this time, I had a soldier injured on the battlefield and calling for help, and the enemy's turn came up. One of their scouts came from off the visible area of the map, ran all the way to where that soldier was, and "touched" her, (by which the game, without showing it, implies: bayoneted her and killed her) despite having no action to take, and then jogged back a few meters. Stone cold vicious. (I wish there were a way to walk near downed enemies and not do this. I used to intentionally avoig getting close to them for this reason.)
This death was the result of me misunderstanding the "rules" this time around: in VC1, tanks could knock down small barricades to open a path for foot soldiers, so in an area guarded by turrets, I was planning to have the tank come in and block the turrets while my soldiers ran alongside. But a tiny, knee-high fence blocked my tank's movement. There was no "No Tank" icon like there usually is, so I feel cheated a bit.
(What degree of spoilers is acceptable in an OT? Anything seen in trailers? Up to what is seen in a demo?)
Gameplay so far has brought the VC1 vibes right back in almost every way -- the art; the UI, the soldiers's personalities. There's a lot of anime cliche-ness (the "friends from early childhood" trope has already reared its head) but somehow it's not annoying, and
And the Empire doesn't fool around in the battles! I don't remember them being this vicious in VC1, but this time, I had a soldier injured on the battlefield and calling for help, and the enemy's turn came up. One of their scouts came from off the visible area of the map, ran all the way to where that soldier was, and "touched" her, (by which the game, without showing it, implies: bayoneted her and killed her) despite having no action to take, and then jogged back a few meters. Stone cold vicious. (I wish there were a way to walk near downed enemies and not do this. I used to intentionally avoig getting close to them for this reason.)
This death was the result of me misunderstanding the "rules" this time around: in VC1, tanks could knock down small barricades to open a path for foot soldiers, so in an area guarded by turrets, I was planning to have the tank come in and block the turrets while my soldiers ran alongside. But a tiny, knee-high fence blocked my tank's movement. There was no "No Tank" icon like there usually is, so I feel cheated a bit.
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Bolivar687
Banned
Can't believe I'm hearing it's really a return to VC1. I gave up hope of that years ago. Thanks so much for the impressions, looking forward to the import OT.
JohannCK
Member
Playing on normal. I've had enemy assaults run up and shoot at my people point blank a few times, but otherwise the AI seems like it actually be dumber than usual; On one stage I threw a single character into the APC and drove him to the mission objective but missed being able to capture it by a tiny bit and was so left with one APC and one guy deep into enemy territory, and for some reason the enemy spent its entire turn moving tanks around trying to shoot at the guy from miles away and missing even though he was literally standing right next to a bunch of troops.
Might be a bit TOO similar to 1. Siegwall is a battle they hype up super hard- The empire is gathering all of its forces there, there are pillboxes all over, there are new mechanics intended to make the game harder, the map is gigantic and filled with enemies- and I cleared Siegwall 1 in one turn with the usual APC shenanigans.
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JohannCK
Member
My Valkyria 4 review is up on Frontline Gaming Japan, FYI.
JohannCK
Member
The time limit to edit my post expired so...
I'm 12 hours in and it turns out that EVERY skirmish battle so far can be cleared in one turn with scouts and the APC, and a lot of story missions are trivialised too (I've gotten stages where the story goes "oh no the enemy has this new scary weapon" which had me just run past and clear the stage with no problem twice at this point).
I think some people might be dissatisfied with how this isn't "fixed" but I personally feel that silly APC/scout shenanigans are part of the series' identity by this point.
I'm 12 hours in and it turns out that EVERY skirmish battle so far can be cleared in one turn with scouts and the APC, and a lot of story missions are trivialised too (I've gotten stages where the story goes "oh no the enemy has this new scary weapon" which had me just run past and clear the stage with no problem twice at this point).
I think some people might be dissatisfied with how this isn't "fixed" but I personally feel that silly APC/scout shenanigans are part of the series' identity by this point.
Koala Driving a Ferrari
Member
Thanks for posting a link to your review; it sounds fantastic. I can't wait to pick this one up
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OT Progress: I've got a big logo for the game, and about six or eight screenshots (no scans; are scans still banned?) of gameplay in the first two or three chapters. Is this enough these days? I know that in the past people went wildly overboard with OTs and were told to scale back. Mine will be pretty pedestrian by those standards.
I just did my first skirmish and that's basically how it was; I was surprised at how easy it was. The first turn of the first mission of the game, in which you sneak up on an enemy soldier from behind and shoot him, is also a little too easy; maybe people playing the first game were turned off by having bullets fly at them from the very start in VC1's intro mission?
But I'm loving everything else about the game -- they even got to finally use a tower with signal numbers, developed a decade ago for the first game; it appears in a mission and the mission works pretty well. I'm enjoying the weather effects like mist and day/night differences. Looking forward to the snow! Sublimit, the maps are big to begin with and eventually get huge: remember how the maps are divided with vertical and horizontal lines, with the points labeled 11, 12, 13..., 21, 22, 23... as you go to the right and downward? Now, we get more than ten gridlines in both directions, and we have map points labelled 910 and 108 and even 1211. (The grid lines bisect the numbers, so they aren't confusing on the actual maps.) I actually watched the trailer loop twice when picking the game up at Yodobashi Camera to confirm this. Huge.
Also, Johann, very minor nitpick in your excellent review: "Edinburgh" is not England; it is the United Kingdom. "Dokkum" appears to be England/Scotland/Wales and "Delfzijl" is Ireland, and Delfzijn seems not to have gained independence as it has for us. VC1's map of Europa never gave us a name for this "United Kingdom".
I'm really digging the updated map: we finally get to see the equivalent of Scandinavia, and there are two other small countries in a position similar to Gallia (Nemur and Emmen) which I hope we get to interact with.
I just did my first skirmish and that's basically how it was; I was surprised at how easy it was. The first turn of the first mission of the game, in which you sneak up on an enemy soldier from behind and shoot him, is also a little too easy; maybe people playing the first game were turned off by having bullets fly at them from the very start in VC1's intro mission?
But I'm loving everything else about the game -- they even got to finally use a tower with signal numbers, developed a decade ago for the first game; it appears in a mission and the mission works pretty well. I'm enjoying the weather effects like mist and day/night differences. Looking forward to the snow! Sublimit, the maps are big to begin with and eventually get huge: remember how the maps are divided with vertical and horizontal lines, with the points labeled 11, 12, 13..., 21, 22, 23... as you go to the right and downward? Now, we get more than ten gridlines in both directions, and we have map points labelled 910 and 108 and even 1211. (The grid lines bisect the numbers, so they aren't confusing on the actual maps.) I actually watched the trailer loop twice when picking the game up at Yodobashi Camera to confirm this. Huge.
Also, Johann, very minor nitpick in your excellent review: "Edinburgh" is not England; it is the United Kingdom. "Dokkum" appears to be England/Scotland/Wales and "Delfzijl" is Ireland, and Delfzijn seems not to have gained independence as it has for us. VC1's map of Europa never gave us a name for this "United Kingdom".
I'm really digging the updated map: we finally get to see the equivalent of Scandinavia, and there are two other small countries in a position similar to Gallia (Nemur and Emmen) which I hope we get to interact with.
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JohannCK
Member
Whoops, thanks for pointing that out, fixed it.
JohannCK
Member
I've cleared the game and updated that review accordingly.
I'm of the opinion that this is straight up the best game in the series.
Some of the later stages (and one midway through) do have some bullshit that feels straight up unfair, but aside from that one midway one (defending the ship from bombs) none of them are actually all that bad once you figure out the gimmick.
The story felt better written than usual as well.