VALKYRIA CHRONICLES

ambmicheal (60)in #gaming • 7 years ago

Hey steemians, good morning to you from the depth of my heart. Its a brand new day here and a wonderful mid week here in the city of Lagos. Today is another day to rejoice and be glad in, it is equally another opportunity to do another superb game review and as always, I promise you will sure enjoy this review. Today's review will be titled:

Valkyria Chronicles

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So do me the honour of sitting back, relax and enjoy this auspicious review, but before we proceed, let us quickly go over yesterday's game review briefly, I mean the game called Contra III: The Alien War below:

The game's tentative title in North America was Super Contra IV.
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This was presumably because Contra Force, an unrelated NES game by Konami, was originally intended to be the series' third console installment.
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The packaging artwork for the North American version was created by Tom duBois, who also designed the packaging for many other Konami titles outside Japan.

Set in the futuristic year 2636, the alien invaders that were defeated during the previous installments have decided to launch a full-scale war against mankind on Earth, starting the "Alien Wars".
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Unlike the previous Contra games for the NES and Game Boy, the futuristic setting was kept for the American version.
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However, the identities of "Bill" and "Lance", the original Contra heroes, were changed to their descendants "Jimbo" and "Sully", maintaining the continuity of the previous localizations.
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Likewise, the alien invader was once again changed to "Red Falcon".

Gameplay

Taking advantage of the technology provided by the Super NES, the graphics in Contra III improved upon the NES versions of the first two installments, bringing it closer to the quality of their arcade counterparts.
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The level design is more complex, and provides more opportunity for interaction.
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For instance, players can grab on to poles or ceilings and navigate them in a monkey bar fashion, climb walls and ladders, destroy buildings and scenery, and commandeer tanks.

New styles of levels in The Alien Wars involve motorcycle chases, riding on missiles, and two Mode 7 enabled top-view levels. Players can carry and switch between two weapons at any time, only losing the one they are currently using if they die.
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They can also fire these two weapons simultaneously in a spin-jump circular fire pattern that hit enemies on all sides: however, being hit while doing so results in the player losing both of their weapons.
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The player can also lock their character's mobility, allowing the player to shoot at all eight possible directions (including downwards and at angles) without moving or jumping.

There are three levels of difficulty in the game - Easy, Normal, and Hard. Each increase in difficulty setting also alters several aspects of the game.
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For example, enemy bosses, when fought on harder difficulties, will have new attacks or modifications to their already-existing attacks patterns.
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Also, some situations in the game, such as flying in the air on missiles, become more difficult, as the missiles will travel much faster on higher difficulties.

In addition, some objects and boss weak points that were destructible on easier difficulty levels will become indestructible on Normal or Hard mode.
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If the player completes the game on Easy or Normal, then he will start at the very first stage on the next difficulty with their current weapon configuration, lives, and score intact.
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On the Hard setting, the final boss will have an additional form that the player must defeat as they escape from the Alien Lair.

After defeating this form, the true ending will be shown, followed by the credits and then the player's final score.
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There are two top-view stages in the game: Stage 2 (the Collapsed Highway) and Stage 5 (the Steep Cliffs).
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The controls in the top-view stages differ from those in Super Contra and Operation C. The player's character always faces the same direction when moved with the control pad and must be rotated with the shoulder buttons (L and R).

The perspective differs depending on which game mode is played. When these stages are played in 1-Player Mode, the character always faces up and the area rotates around him.
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In 2 Players A Mode, these stages uses a horizontal split-screen format, with Player 1's half of the screen on the top and Player 2's half on the bottom.
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Both characters face right in this mode. In 2-Players B Mode, both players share the same screen and their characters rotate while the perspective remains fixed for both players.

The objective in these stages is also different from the standard side-view stages. Rather than moving into a linear path towards the end of the stage to face a stage boss, the player must first destroy a series of targets situated at fixed locations.
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The player may select their landing point at the start of the stage, while on-screen arrows help the player lead their character to the nearest target (a map can also be used that pinpoints the player's current location while showing the remaining targets).
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After all targets are destroyed, the player is transported to a new area to face the boss.

Valkyria Chronicles earned numerous awards from a couple of exceptional online game publications.

The success of the sport spawned a media franchise, together with a number of manga titles and an anime sequence.

Two sequels were launched for psportable, Sony's handheld gaming console: Valkyria Chronicles II in 2010, and Valkyria Chronicles III in 2011.

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A spin-off, Valkyria Revolution, was released on January 19, 2017, for the playstation four and playstation Vita. The fourth entry within the primary Valkyria Chronicles sequence, Valkyria Chronicles 4, is slated for a Japan unlock on March 21, 2018, for the psfour, and an unconfirmed date of summer of 2018, for the Nintendo switch.

An English unencumber has been validated, however for unconfirmed dates in 2018 on the playstation 4, the Nintendo switch, and the Xbox One.

The game is about in Europa, a fictional neighborhood loosely based on Europe during the early years of World battle II.

Considering that of its abundance of Ragnite ore, which takes the situation of petroleum within the recreation setting, the neutral nation of Gallia comes below assault from the East Europan Imperial Alliance, which is itself engaged in conflict with the Atlantic Federation.

Gamers take manage of a unit of the Gallian Militia, committed to repelling the invasion. The game's visuals, which use Sega's CANVAS photographs engine, resemble pencil drawn artwork in movement.

Gameplay

Valkyria Chronicles is a tactical position-enjoying sport wherein the player makes use of a specified turn-headquartered combat approach known as BLiTZ (combat of are living Tactical Zones).

For the period of their flip the player views an overhead map in Command Mode, but zooms in to manage every man or woman unit on the battlefield in action Mode.

Very similar to the Growlanser series, movement and other movements are handled in actual time throughout action Mode, though confined in action via an action factor (AP) gauge that varies for every sort of character.

For the period of target Mode, the player is in direct manage of characters' purpose even as the action freezes, enabling for head photographs and different maneuvers.

Taking command of man or woman items during the player's segment costs Command features, which can be used dynamically to provide motion to many specific units or the same unit consecutively with diminishing AP reserve, depending on what the player wishes to accomplish.

With the aid of utilizing their troops the participant must fulfill more than a few conditions depending on the mission with a purpose to acquire victory, most typically the capture of a most important enemy encampment.

Upon completing missions, the player is awarded money and experience with which to upgrade their materiel and character courses, respectively, and the sport's story is developed.

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Missions will also be failed if the participant's forces are completely incapacitated or killed, the squad's most important fight tank is destroyed, or the player's predominant base camp is captured by means of the enemy.

Homer Peron assaults Imperial troops with a hand grenade in action Mode. Onomatopoeia is ordinarily used to beef up the game's visual kind.

Each character within the game fulfills a specified role, for instance, Alicia is a mid-range rifle-toting scout, while Welkin is a tank commander.

Different roles comprise Shocktroopers (assault infantry), "Lancers" specializing in anti-tank struggle, snipers, and engineers.

These quite a lot of units form a rock-paper-scissors dynamic of force and weakness.

The foot soldiers (Scout, Shocktrooper, and Sniper) are effective towards slower anti-tank items, anti-tank units can speedily spoil tanks with a well-aimed shot, and tanks are typically devastating towards infantry, whose anti-personnel weapons are unable to inflict any enormous frontal injury.

Even as each and every persona inside a class is truly identical in phrases of weaponry and information, each and every character has a distinguishing set of Potentials: specific potential or stat modifiers caused by using quite a lot of psychological or environmental motives in battle.

The atmosphere additionally factors heavily in fight. In an city level, for example, snipers can also be sent onto rooftops to eliminate unsuspecting enemies beneath.

Tanks can knock down partitions and different barriers to open new paths. Constructions and other buildings offer hard cover round which to maneuver.

Foliage presents soft quilt to minimize the danger of being noticed via the enemy and to confound their goal when seen.

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As the Gallian forces boost across the battlefield, manage aspects will also be captured, giving the participant a tactical abilities and providing additional areas where to call reinforcements.

As Welkin, the player can hassle quite a lot of Orders for the rationale of things equivalent to artillery strikes, supervising medics, and improving offensive or shielding capabilities of quite a lot of characters.

The game's progress crew consisted customarily of staff that had been worried within the Sakura Wars sequence, led through producer Ryutaro Nonaka and director Shuntaro Tanaka.

Together, they preferred to create a game that mixed facets of their prior works: strategy elements from the Sakura Wars sequence, 1/3-character motion factors from Nonaka's Nightshade, and role-taking part in influence from Tanaka's Skies of Arcadia.

At the beginning under the working title Gallian Panzers, the workforce targeting making the strategic and motion parts of the sport of equal significance.

Planning points of game play had been emphasized through the advantage talent procedure that distinguishes members beneath the participant's command, giving them affinities for targeted environments, conditions, and each other.

Contrasting the constant pacing of alternative flip-established technique titles, the 0.33-person component of the BLiTZ process used to be to have an surroundings of immediacy and anxiety, done partially by way of enabling enemy squaddies to actively shield themselves throughout the player's flip, and vice versa.

Additionally essential was once the incorporation of fight scenarios and map designs that mimic circumstances from World battle II technology combat, reminiscent of storming beachheads, stalking through forests, or breaking via barricades within the streets of an enemy-occupied city.

That they had also watched various war movies and sequence akin to Band of Brothers, Saving exclusive Ryan and fight!.

to enrich the gameplay, distinguished, stylistic visuals have been made up our minds upon and carried out by way of the CANVAS photographs engine.

Adding a touch of fantasy to the mix, the progress staff hoped to be equipped to garner attention from gamers who didn't play video games with similar settings but extra practical fight.

The usage of a warm colour palette took emphasis away from the "grotesque, sensible nature of warfare itself," as Nonaka had recounted, and targeted as an alternative on the characters and story.

Tanaka added that, "we desired to exhibit that realism isn't the only thing you can do with 3D snap shots."

The character designs for the sport have been created through Raita Honjou, who, along with the relaxation of the development staff, aimed for a appear that was once described by 1UP.Com's Jeremy Parish as "rustic."

In early stages designs drew more immediately on examples from World war II, however they proved to be too contemporary for what the staff wanted to acquire.

For that reason, Raita aimed for a motif closer to that discovered in World struggle I, first creating Alicia and Welkin's suggestion illustrations and utilizing them as a groundwork for the relaxation of the Gallian solid.

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World conflict II influence can nonetheless be seen within the designs of Imperial characters reminiscent of Gregor, whose uniform is closely established on German officers' uniforms from that period.

The outcome of these efforts used to be described by japanese director Mamoru Oshii as giving him "an influence much like the Nausica manga," and Nonaka admits to aiming for the style observed in World Masterpiece Theater.

The music of Valkyria Chronicles used to be composed via Hitoshi Sakimoto, who defined that the complete process of composing, recording and enhancing the sport's tracks took a total of eight months.

The game's "important Theme" was firstly composed in a variety of arrangements with the aid of Sakimoto, who then integrated those preparations into other portions with contrasting tones.

Like those answerable for the sport's visuals, Sakimoto stated the game's story as its core and largest idea for him, including a "army colour" to the ranking after this consideration.

Different primary topics written into the ranking are the contrast between the game's two most prominent feminine characters, Alicia and Selvaria, and the relationship between Alicia and Welkin.

In 1935 E.C., the continent of Europa is dominated with the aid of two superpowers: The Autocratic East Europan Imperial Alliance within the east and a commonwealth of loosely allied democracies often called the Atlantic Federation in the west.

The economies of each powers rely on a important multipurpose mineral called Ragnite. Its growing scarcity outcome in the Empire declaring conflict on the Federation, sparking the 2d Europan struggle.

The Empire makes use of its military superiority to rapidly put the Federation on the defensive. Emboldened by means of their development and momentum, the Empire decides to invade the neutral Principality of Gallia to seize its wealthy Ragnite deposits.

When Imperial forces launch an assault on the Gallian border town of Bruhl, Welkin Gunther, son of the country's hero normal Belgen Gunther, is pressured to battle for his lifestyles alongside the city watch captain, Alicia Melchiott.

In conjunction with Welkin's adopted sister Isara and using Belgen's prototype tank from the first struggle, the Edelweiss, they get away to the capital metropolis of Randgriz and become a member of the Gallian militia.

Welkin is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and assumes command of the newly formed Squad 7, with Alicia performing as his non-commissioned officer.

Members of the squad at the beginning query Welkin's skills due to a lack of combat expertise. He rapidly good points their believe and loyalty, however, together with his extremely good methods.

Welkin and Alicia quickly come to be romantically engaged, but tragically, Isara is killed through an Imperial sniper.

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After Squad 7 wages a effective campaign towards Imperial forces, the crown prince Maximilian deploys one in every of his commanders, Selvaria Bles, a rare descendant of the Valkyrians who're believed to have saved the ancient world from the Darcsen race.

Using innate magic powers and equipped with a legendary Ragnite lance and preserve, Selvaria destroys the Gallian military. Alicia is shot by means of Welkin's archaeologist colleague Faldio Landzaat to evoke her own latent Valkyrian powers.

Alicia is equipped to drive Selvaria again, allowing the Gallians to develop to the border.

On the fee of her own lifestyles, Selvaria uses the "ultimate flame" after the seize of the Ghirlandaio fortress, killing the complete core of Gallian army and leaving best the militia, such as Squad 7, remaining.

In an attempt to create his possess empire, Maximilian uses a "land dreadnought", the Marmota, to break through Gallia's defenses and steal a tremendous Valkyrian lance from inside Randgriz castle.

The princess reveals herself to be Darcsen - the Valkyrians rewrote history to make themselves into heroes, whilst an allied Darcsen tribe received Randgriz as the spoils.

With Alicia's aid, Squad 7 is equipped to board the Marmota and ship Maximilian to his dying, destroying the dreadnought and ending the clash between the 2 factions.

Alicia and Welkin return to Bruhl, where they marry and lift a daughter named Isara collectively.

On September 29, 2008, Sega of the us held an unusual Valkyria Chronicles Pre-Launch occasion at the Sony Metreon in San Francisco.

Press and public were both invited, and Sega used a raffle to provide away soundtracks, jap figurines of the characters, matted artwork posters signed with the aid of Nonaka, and an 80 GB PS3.

Sega let the neighborhood send in questions earlier than the event, and posted these to Nonaka in an interview for the period of the occasion.

Snap shots and a comply with-up of the occasion had been posted on the Sega of the usa blog.

Supplemental downloadable content material pertaining to the sport used to be made on the market via playstation Network.

First is the inclusion of a hard EX Mode, additional challenging types of present skirmish missions the place the Edelweiss is unavailable.

Two facet story chapters, "Edys Mission: Enter the Edy Detachment" and "Selvaria's Mission: in the back of Her Blue Flame," introduce Squad 7's motliest crew led by way of Edy Nelson and Homer Pieron, and the early component to the invasion into Gallia as noticeable from the Imperial standpoint.

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Rough EX Mode and Edy's Mission had been firstly released for the japanese variation on August 8, 2008, at the same time Selvaria's Mission used to be released on October 31 of the same yr.

All three had been made available in North the united states on April 16, 2009. A fourth DLC, titled "Edy Detachment's Formal undertaking!" used to be made to be had in Japan on June 26, 2009, and in North america on February 25, 2010.

Integrated are a set of six project missions, each and every focusing on probably the most sport's unit courses.

The addition of Trophy support has but to occur, nevertheless, there has been some indication of viable help one day.

Valkyria Chronicles used to be re-launched in japanese retails stores below its The best label on March 5, 2009 with a retail rate of Â¥three,900.

This variation of the sport entails Edy's Mission without need of down load.

Valkyria Chronicles was ported to home windows and released on Steam on November 11, 2014 with a retail price of 20 USD. This variation of the game involves all downloadable content.

The computer unlock points performance enhancements, together with the potential to play the sport at 60 frames per 2nd and on resolutions bigger than 1080p, in addition to customised manage mapping.

A remastered variation, titled Valkyria Chronicles Remastered, was announced by way of Sega and launched on may just 17, 2016 for playstation four in North the united states and Europe.

The remastered console version runs at 1080p and 60 frames per 2d and involves both japanese and English audio as well as all downloadable content.

Outlet Crash Landed praised the remastered versions visuals and still stellar gameplay in their assessment, however criticized the lack of playstation four performance implemented.