Has deep strategy,nice presentation,charming characters,a story that's emotional at times.Great strategy/RPGame.
The story for Valkyria Chronicles 2 is set 2 years after the conclusion of the first Valkyria Chronicles game.Even though the second European War has come to an end,Gallia still cannot enjoy peace because a rebel army consisting of Gallian aristocrats and soldiers go on a mission of genocide because they want to exterminate all Darcsens.This ignites a civil war within Gallia.Gallia's army was greatly depleted from fighting in the second European War and there's a law that prevents conscripting civilians to form an army,so Gallian military academy cadets are used to fight the Gallian rebels,even though many of the Gallian military cadets are teenagers.
I like the characters in the game because they're often funny and have charm.Since much of the story takes place in a military school,most of the characters are teenagers and act like goofy teenage characters that you'll see in other JRPGs.The adult characters are very funny too,even when they're trying to act serious.However,the story for for Valkyria Chronicles 2 can be emotional at times too.
Valkyria Chronicles 2 also has sex appeal and a much more lighthearted feel to it's characters/story than the first Valkyria Chronicles game has.
For people who haven't played the first Valkyria Chronicles game and are wondering how does the gameplay for the Valkyria Chronicles series work,I'll try to explain the basics quickly.Please keep in mind I haven't played the multiplayer mode for Valkyria Chronicles 2,so when I explain the gameplay basics,I'm talking about the gameplay for the first Valkyria Chronicles and the story mode for Valkyria Chronicles 2.
1.The player has a certain amount of turns each phase to move their units around,to eliminate enemy units and to capture camps.Your units have a movement guage which determines how far they can move each turn.
2.When you're moving units around,some of the enemy units in fixed positions can still shoot at you.
3.You can capture enemy camps.The CPU can call for an unlimited number of reinforcement units from it's camps.A human player can only call for a limited number of reinforcements from camps.
4.Unit placement is important,becaue some enemy units can inflict great damage to or eliminate your units with one or two attacks.You can use bunkers to reduce the amount of damage inflicted to your infantry or to even block enemy attacks.
5.The units you can use include:-
Scouts-Scouts can move a great distance each turn but they have weak armor.The weaponpower of the scouts isn't great unless their bullets hit an enemy in the head.
Troopers-They can inflict a lot of damage with their gunfire no matter where their bullets land on an enemy.However,the gunfire of troopers is only effective at a close distance and troopers cannot travel far each turn.Troopers have good armor.
Lancers can inflict a good amount of damage to tanks and turrets/towers,especially if they shoot the ragnite on the back of them.Lancers cannot shoot their weapon from a fixed position to defend an area during an enemy's turn where as troopers/scouts can.Lancer's rockets can also inflict a lot of damage to infantry,but Lancers are a bit inaccurate when they shoot their rockets.Lancers are heavily armored.
Snipers-They can shoot bullets that inflict enormous amounts of damage to infantry over a great distance.Snipers cannot move far each turn and they have weak armor.
Engineers-They can repair vehicles.They have weak armor and a weak weapon.
Medics-They heal your units.
Vehicles-You can use APCs to transport infantry safely.You can use tanks that have heavy armor and enormous firepower.However,APCs and tanks use up 2 turns every phase,they cannot capture an enemy camp,and if they get destroyed they cannot be used again for the rest of the mission(unlike fallen infantry which can be).
6.You can level up your units and upgrade their weapons.
7.Because the game has RPG elements,it means there's a dice roll element to the gameplay.Sometimes units will miss when they shoot at enemies or units will automatically duck to dodge enemy gunfire.Status effects can cause units to be unable to shoot their weapon for a turn or can weaken them or can make them stronger for a turn.Status effects can depend on surroundings(some units don't like particular types of environment such as desert)or some units become stronger if they're surrounded by nature if they're a nature lover.Some units don't like particular squad members and it will weaken their stats.
As for the new multiple map/network system that Valkyria Chronicles 2 introduces,in Valkyria Chronicles,most of the missions are fought on multiple maps.Everytime you capture a camp,it doesn't only give you control of the camp you captured,it gives you control of 2 camps(the camp you captured and another camp on another map and that's far away).Even if one of the far away camps on another map you gain control of is full of enemies,you can easily gain a foothold in that area if you have many turns left in your phase because you can make your units instantly appear at that camp and inflict a lot of damage to enemy units or eliminate them.However,the CPU can do the same to you too.Also,because you can only have a maximum of 6 units on all the maps at any one time,it means you will have to leave some camps unguarded and if the CPU captures one of your camps(which means it will gain control of 2 of your camps)the CPU will try to send scouts to unguarded camps,so losing one camp could mean you will lose control of multiple camps.
The new multiple map/network system makes the strategy for Valkyria Chronicles 2 even more intricate than in the first Valkyria Chronicles game,even though the first Valkyria Chronicles game has very deep strategy already.
Besides scouts,troopers,snipers,lancers,tanks and all the units you can use,the CPU can also use units that you cannot such as V2's.V2's are infantry that shoot powerful energy weapons that can easily eliminate your infantry(even if your infantry are wearing the best armor and are highly levelled).V2's also can shoot their energy weapon over a long distance and they are shielded by an energy shield which you can disable by destroying a certain vehicle that powers the V2's shields and these vehicles can be found deep in enemy territory.
The CPU will use V2's in later missions and will use them for both camp defense and to attack your camps with and to try to capture your camps with.The CPU will even call for V2's as reinforcements and in some missions can call for an unlimited number of V2 reinforcements.But,if you keep your infantry behind a bunker,they can withstand a barrage of V2 weaponfire but they will easily kill your infantry if they catch your infantry in the open.
That's why it's in some missions it's important to quickly find the vehicle that powers the V2's shields,even if the vehicle is deep in enemy territory,which means you'll need to be efficient when you capture camps so you can gain control of camps deep in enemy territory and close to where the vehicle that powers the V2's shields will be.But it's possible to wear down the health of a V2 without disabling it's shield by hitting it with a rocket or tank shell as a last resort.
The game took me 40 hours to beat it's story,and there was still lots more optional missions I could have done.Also,after you beat the game,new characters and story events are unlocked and you can replay through the story and skip to whichever month you want to and try to get an A ranking for all the missions.
The graphics for the game don't have the same beautiful watercolor/brushstroke effects of the first Valkyria Chronicles game,but the graphics look clean,smooth,colorful.The game uses visual novel style screens and anime footage to tell story scenes and they look great.Besides seeing battlefields and classrooms for the visual novel/anime scenes,you'll see anime scenes with girls in bikinis around a swimming pool and very busty women wearing ridiculously small bikini tops.
When the months past in the story,you'll see screens that show leaves blowing through the air and snow forming around the school to represent winter or snow disappearing and grass coming back to represent warmer seasons and it looks beautiful.
Valkyria Chroncicles 2 still has the gentle music from the first Valkyria Chronicles game,plus some new beautiful music for when a new month starts and the same intense music for missions.
The voice acting is mixed.Some of the character voices match their personalities well and I like some of the things Anisette says during battle that relate to singing/dancing on the stage because it's charming and kinda funny she would say those things during a battle where people are shooting are eachother.But some of the voice acting is not so good,such as horrible sounding,fake English accents.
When an enemy is shot dead,you'll hear other enemy units upset and saying something similiar to ''he was such a good guy'' which adds atmosphere,but they say the same lines over and over again and it becomes annoying.
Also,the game has a few surprised because some characters from the first Valkyria Chronicles game will make an appearance or will be playing in Valkyria Chronicles 2.Also,some of the characters in Valkyria Chronicles 2 are relatives of the characters in the first Valkyria Chronicles game.
Overall,the game is a wonderful experience,has a deep use of strategy,entertaining characters and is nicely presented and is a must play for PSP owners.