It's just a shame we don't many good RPG's thses days, that look great as Valkyria Chronicles. #Real Scor
But I wrong that one back around 2008 when it was first released I didn't even knew about it before the demo appeared on the Playstation Network, I was actually stunned and surprised how good it was and temped to buy it if I saw it online or in retail stores.
The story is set around 1935 E.C which does have a World-War II effect set in the world of Europa, which is more like a fantasy world set in Europe. However a war breaks out where The Empire want to gain power and try to weaken and gain control of Gallia, The Empire starts invade a small town called Bruhl and that's where the story takes off.
Meanwhile Welkin Gunther who is the main character who is also the son of late Gallian national hero General Belgen Gunther, he returns to Bruhl where he sees his childhood friend Alicia who is the captain of the small patrol in the town. While The Empire start to invade the town and gaining control, Alicia, Welkin and his adopted sister Isara escape the town using the Edelweiss which was a tank that was used in the first war. And this where the story really starts to kick where Welkin has been giving the rank of lieutenant and command the newly-formed Squad 7 and try put an end to The Empire's threat and control over Gallia.
Gameplay: After completing the first chapter you'll have to choose and recruit up to twenty members to join your team. There are only 5 classes to choose from to add to your team, there are Scouts, Shocktroopers, Sniper, Lancers and Engineers. There are multiple ways and tactics to taking out enemies, like Scouts, Shocktroopers and Snipers could take out lancers. And Lancers could take out Tanks and large vehicles, but a Tank could also take almost anything if you aim at the right distance. Whoever you are recruiting to your team each character will have the own strengths and weaknesses in any battle, during gameplay you can move anywhere you like but you would have to be careful of the stamina bar on the bottom middle screen telling you how far you can run to.
You can use the R1 to aim and press X to fire your weapon at enemies, snipers can use the right analog stick to zoom-in for a closer range if there far away or on a high building. If you use a Shocktroopers or Scout you can do more damage if you aim and fire on the enemies head which can do critical damage to them, if you solider gets wounded you can rescue them and a Medic will come to take them away or Request one, but if you don't rescue them in 3 turns or captured by enemies troops they will die and not come back.
It will also be Game Over for you if Welkin dies or the Edelweiss is destroyed or the enemy takes control of the camp, so you'll have to think and where the best way to take out your enemies, however each turn you'll be using command points which play a role for each battle where you have to choose which solider you want to attack or try and capture an enemy command post. You can also go to the Training field to level up your troop classes which also plays an important part if you don't level up your troops, you'll be easily be outnumbered and defeated. During your progress in Valkyria Chronicles you'll earn new command skills, new weapons and upgrades for the Edelweiss.
Graphics and Sound: If you think the story is good, you'll defiantly be amazed by its graphics which are really well done for an RPG game for the PS3, with a mix of watercolour strokes and visuals added to Valkyria Chronicles. Plus it would give you an idea what life must have been like around the 1930's but instead it's set in a fantasy world without any monsters or random battles.
Cutscenes are all animated look amazing almost close to watching the Anime series but Valkyria Chronicles really does a nice touch to the game with a tone of brushwork effects along the way. Most cutscenes will be in a comic-book form and being presented with dialog interaction with other charcters and main charcters in the story are being presented by an on-screen portraits.
You have got the option to use Data Install which can take up to 3344 MB on your PS3 if you want faster loading times, but if you are running out of MB for your PS3 and wanting to play this game with faster loading times you'll have to sort out your MB on your PS3. I didn't think I'd spotted any problems for its camera control you can easily use the right analog stick to move the camera around.
Voicing does a nice job too on its charcters including the members you choice to join your squad, but you've got the option to changed voicing to Japanese or English which ever suits you best. The soundtrack to Valkyria Chronicles is really well done and does a nice touch to the game; you would never hear a good soundtrack coming out of the SEGA franchise.
Overall: If you found Final Fantasy 13 disappointing or looking for a good RPG game for you PS3, beating Valkyria Chronicles first time round could take you up to 30-40 hours but you'll easily spend more hours on side-quests. There is also Downloadable quests you can download of the Playstation Network for under £5/$5 cheap, so you will get the most out of this game.
There is no trophies support for this title but could get trophies support sooner or later if that does happen, what would most surprise about you about Valkyria Chronicles would be its graphics and brushstroke animation poured into an RPG game.
Story and soundtrack is another thing you'll like about Valkyria Chronicles it's just a shame we don't see many RPG games that have the same idea, but is highly recommend worth checking out if you do see this game cheap anywhere or you are fan of Anime and RPG games.