VC has a creative and emotional story,with great turn based strategy,RTS,RPG elements and lovely water c
Story
The story in VC is set in a fictional version of Europe in 1935.A tiny nation named Gallia is invaded by the Imperial Army.The story can be quite emotional as you'll see fleeing civilians getting shot and other story elements that are sad/heart breaking.The story has some big plot twists too,romance and uses mythology in a creative way.
There is a special type of crystal in their world known as 'ragnite' which can power machines,weapons and heal wounds.Gallia is very rich in ragnite(which makes it tempting for other nations to invade Gallia,despte Gallia being a neutral and peaceful little nation.
The main character in the story is named Welken Gunther who is a university student studying Animal Sociology and he's a nature lover and he has a good knowledge of the Gallian landscape and he becomes a tank commander and lieutenant.
Some of the other main characters include,Alicia,who just wanted to be a baker before the war started.Alicia is cute looking and wears a type of traditional clothing on her hair.She likes to help people but can be a but presumptious.
Welkin has an adopted sister named Isara who is very shy,but she knows a lot about tanks and her biological father designed the tank Welken uses.
Rosie talks tough and acts a bit cold,but she's a very good soldier and a valuable asset to have in your frontline.Rosie's past is very interesting,but she's a bit racist too.
Largo is an older soldier who has turned down promotion offers to remain on the front line.He is a great lancer(rocket launcher user)and he likes working on farms.
Zaka(I will let you learn about him for yourself,but his past is very horrid).
There's other characters,but I'll let you discover them for yourself.
Gameplay
Valkyria Chronicles is actually more of a turn based strategy game than an RPG.The gameplay relies heavily on you making good tactical decisions with unit placement to hold key positions and to capture positions to win missions.
Unit placement is important because when a unit is behind cover,they'll receive much less damage from enemy gunshots.Also,units that use guns who are in fixed positions can still shoot at enemies who approach them.So if your using units are behind cover,they can inflict a lot of damage on approaching units and the approaching units won't be able to damage your unit that's behind cover very much.
You can use higher ground or buildings to your advantage too(especially if you're using scouts or snipers).
You and the CPU will take turns using phases of turns.Each phase has so many turns that you can use to move your units around.You can use a unit more than one turn during a phase,but everytime you use them,that unit's action meter will be reduced and each unit can only travel a certain distance(represented by their action meter),so it stops you exploiting the gameplay mechanics.You only have 20 phases to win each mission though(except one that gives you only 10).
There types of units available are scouts(who can travel a long distance because they have a lot of action meter,but they have weaker fire power and armor but they can shoot long distances).Troopers have a lot of firepower and have good armor,but their weapons are only effective close up.Troopers have a medium amount of action meter.Lancers can only travel short distances and cannot shot their weapon from fixed positions.But Lancers can damage tanks (where as scouts and troopers can't).Lancers can destroy tanks with one shot if they shoot the ragnite powersource that's location on a small part on the back of tanks.Engineers have weak firepower and weak armor,but they can shoot their weapon a good distance.Engineer's main role is to repair tanks and disable mines.Snipers can shoot very long distances,but they can only shoot one shot each turn.Snipers have weak armor and snipers are good if you want to kill enemies from very far distances but are vulnerable for up close combat.
You can also use tanks and when you use tanks,it will use up two turns of your phase and tanks use the action meter too.Tanks are invulnberable to bullets and can shoot shells that create smoke cover if you want to move your enemies past turrets or can be used to shield your units and they can shoot powerful shells that inflict heavy damage to enemies within an area and they have powerful guns to cut down approaching units easily.
You can level up your units though(including the tanks)and you'll need to because the enemies will become stronger as you progress through the game.When you level up,you don't level up individual units but every unit of a certain occupation(for example if you choose to level up your troopers,every single trooper will be levelled up,whether they're a main character or just a squad member(militia).You can level grind by replaying missions and give your units a statistical advantage over the CPU units if you want,but unit place is still vital in the later missions(you can't just rely on having powerful units to win,you'll still need to make good decisions in battle).
Other RPG elements include weapon upgrades and weapon stats and character stats and luck being a factor during battles,because some units will occasionally dodge enemy weaponfire and lancers and tanks miss smaller targets quite often because they're weapons are inaccurate.
Unlike many other RPGs,you cannot freely travel from town to town,but you can revisit previous towns you've visited when you replay missions.
The CPU can call for unlimited reinforcements during missions,but you cannot.You can stop the CPU calling reinforcements by capturing and hold enemy encampments.The fact you only have 20 phases to win the missions can make the missions challenging because you'll need to use up turns/phases to remove enemies and capture territories.
Some mission objectives are to capture all the enemy encampments.Some mission objectives require you to destroy a high advanced enemy vehicle or to divert it from a town.But of course capturing the enemy encampments will make the mission easier.
Even though the AI for the game isn't very smart at times,I would like to say if the AI was as smart as a human,the AI would be too hard to beat or the game wouldn't be as fun(because the developers would have to change the rules for the game and the mission designs wouldn't be as fun to play).
The 3rd person shooter elements require you to manually aim your weapons when you shoot and head shots do more damage.
When any unit besides the main characters die,they die permanently.When a unit goes down in battle,you have a certain number of phases to save them by making a unit walk up to them so a medic can revive them.In your squad,you will have many characters who you can use for each mission(something like over 50 characters)and even though during each mission you'll only use around 10 characters,it's nice to be able to switch and change which characters you want to use for each battle.Each character looks like an individual and detailed and has their own personality and has a proper name(not just the main character,but every squad member).But remember,the squad members who are not main characters can die permanently.I actually felt a bit sad when some of my squad members died who I used in most of the missions for most of the game.
The game has long loading times,and often the missions rely too much on trial by error.
Graphics
The water color style graphics are great,they make the artstyle look unique and beautiful.I love the way the forest and the water looks because of the water color style.There is cinematic scenes that also use some of the water color style and combines it with realistic style and it looks stunning.
The environments can be lovely forest/countryside,or cute towns or in the desert or in places that look like caves or at nighttime.
I like how when there's gunshots,explosions,or moving units you'll see comic style writing with boom! or zoom!(for tanks driving around) or shuffle(when soldiers move around).
I like how certunit units grow bright blue.I like how when your units use special attacks/buffs you'll see a colorful screen and Japanese style charm.I like how when one of your units defeats an enemy,they'll hold their weapon up high to celebrate just like in a RPG.
The female characters are made to purposely look cute,by wearing pigtail hairstyles and wearing tight uniforms that have skirts.
The game doesn't have any blood,but I think blood wouldn't suit this game.
Sound
The voice acting suits the characters personalities very well and the situations very well.Welkin sounds easy going at first,but after dramatic events and as the war infensifies he sounds more serious and like a leader.Alicia sounds cute but she can be serious when she needs to be.Isara sounds very timid which suits her personality.Rosie sounds mean and tough but you'll see her talking with a caring tone at times too.
The music has a light hearted feel at times which suits the game,but it can become more intense during the emotional/dramatic moments.
My final say about this game
The creative,emotional and plot twisting story is great.The gameplay is innovative for RPGs/turn based strategy games.The artstyle is lovely and the voice acting is well done.