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 Valkyria Chronicles is a series published by SEGA that’s mostly stayed on Playstation consoles throughout the years and makes a name for itself in its interesting art style and rather unique tactical combat. The first game, Valkyria Chronicles 1 was a PS3 exclusive for quite a long time until it wasn’t, but then got remade again later. The first game was about a scrappy militia defending their homeland from the invading empire in a dramatic war that mirrors both World Wars. So, what’s the game we’re playing? Valkyria Chronicles 2 is recreational software about a school with guns and wacky students. No, really, what is it? Valkyria Chronicles 2 also takes place after the events of the first game where a racist rebellion is gaining power and is threatening to undermine the whole country. Instead of a scrappy militia on the gruesome frontlines of war, we have a wildly irresponsible academy that sends out our ragtag group of quirky anime dudes and gals to handle the uprising. Oh, but that happens while we’re not having our wacky high school hijinks, because anime. Due to the memory limits of a UMD disc (it’s a PSP exclusive this time,) it doesn’t have a wide variety of unique maps and constantly stages battles in the same areas instead of unique maps like the first game. It plays very smoothly though, its controls are mapped well, and it’s visually okay for a PSP game. I nearly finished it years ago but had to stop when my bargain bin PSP decided it was going to fry itself. I should've realized that my PSP died for a reason: keeping me away from this terrible drat thing. What’s it like as a game/ compared to the first? What I would say before I began this tortured journey: At the base level, it’s still mostly the same game (a third-person shooter crossed with turn based tactical warfare) but a few things set it apart. Firstly, it makes some changes compared to the original’s balance by adding another base unit class and dividing them all into sub-classes through its promotion system. Units have many traits, with their most glaring flaws/personality issues being curable through side missions unlocked in a way similar to Fire Emblem supports. Damage tends to be more polarized with many things doing only chip damage and other things that do gruesome amounts of damage per hit. The AI is usually not very smart and only has an advantage in sheer numbers and the capability to be a cheating bastard. From what I’ve gathered, there’s a bit of a divide where some folks seem to really hate this game, and others really seem to like it. I’m somewhat in the middle of those two extremes- parts of this game I really don’t like, and other parts I find nice enough. (I haven’t played VC1 in years and I also haven’t finished this game, so take that into consideration if you have an opinion on it.) Whether you hate or love this game, feel free to weigh in with your opinion on it, as I’d like to hear it at least. Edit From Later Twybil, only 10 Updates in: I'm still kinda on the fence, but I'm leaning a lot more to the hate side now. I forgot how dumb this game was. What I can say about it now: This game is a trash fire filled with an endless grind, a terrible story, and a never-ending uphill battle against both mediocrity and it's overwhelming cheating. Unlike other awful games, such as White Knight Chronicles, this game lacks any truly terrible aspect and instead remains a level of bad that is uninteresting and devoid of anything to really poke fun at. Well until the end, really, where the development took a huge turn into  Read this thing from start to finish to see the spirit of a fresh, new LPer become increasingly more broken until I relapse into pure apathy. I tried to maintain a neutral stance, to have fun with this, and it tore me apart. This game is "aggressively mediocre", and infinitely draining to play on an in-depth level, and ruined any desire for me to even inspect the other games in the series despite multiple assurances that the others aren't this bad. Regardless, the resulting LP could be better given I run out of effort to give halfway through, but I think it's more than enough for this awful thing. If you think you like this game, then I can only believe you're either delusional or that you don't truly remember what this game is like. If you don't want to see me bashing it, then I don't suggest staying. What about spoilers? Do I need to know the story of the first game? This game is a sequel, thus it spoils parts of Valkyria Chronicles 1. As result, feel free to discuss VC1 in the thread freely, I don’t mind. If you don’t know anything about VC1, you’ll probably be fine as there’s only a bit to the previous plot that matters. This game hardly gives a gently caress about the previous one anyhow.  Spoilers for this game are off-limits, so please don’t. It has a story, What’s the LP going to be like? Any chance for thread participation? This will be a Screenshot LP. The battles in this game are much shorter than they were in the first (A-rank is usually 3-4 rounds), and I think I can explain everything enough. I'm no longer doing battles as per thread vote. Trust me, you're not missing anything. It's the same boring routine repeated over and over again. Oh, and there's lots and lots of  , I had thread participation once, but really now its just voting for which character's awful story you want to see so that the awful main story can be spaced out. But of course, that too was in the past and it really just atrophied into me doing all the updates and saving a vote for the final update. As a final note, don’t be a creep. This game is anime by nature and does fall into the seemingly perpetual trap of having skeevy moments. There's not that many, but this game sure loves its fanservice when it has it. I'll put up warnings that way you don't have to lose as many brain cells as I do dealing with this. (The graphical fidelity of the first two updates will be a bit low, but this is swiftly remedied!) Updates: In Which I Try to Remain Positive About This Game: Update 1: "I'm coming for you Leon!" Update 2: Get Schooled Update 3: A Merry Band of Personality Issues Update 4: Move and Shoot Exercises Update 5: It's For Real This Time Update 6: That (Depressing) Anime High School Lifestyle Update 7: In Which Things Are Done, Not Unlike Last Time Update 8: Avan Gets Attacked By A 13 Year Old Update 9: Marion, In the Armory, With a Gun Update 10: The One I Forgot to Give a Title Update 11 - Avan Doesn't Do Anything, Yet Again Update 12: Friends, Knitting, and Fascism - Story Update 12: Friends, Knitting, and Fascism - Combat Update 13: (Now And Then) There's A Gun Such As I - Story Update 13: (Now And Then) There's A Gun Such As I - Combat In Which I become Increasingly More Tired of This Game: Update 14: In Which Everyone Does A Terrible Job - Story Update 14: In Which Everyone Does A Terrible Job - Combat Update 15: It's Christmas in March - Story Update 15: It's Christmas in March - Combat Update 16: "There are no items of note." - Story Update 16: "There are no items of note."- Combat Update 17: Food Talk, Femme Fatales, and Shipping Material; We've Got it All - Story Update 17: Food Talk, Femme Fatales, and Shipping Material; We've Got it All - Combat In Which This Game Breaks My Spirit: Update 18: Special Especially Long Post-Hiatus Update Special Update 19: Winter Whiplash Update 20: (Not A) Beautiful Noise Update 21: Night Maneuvers Update 22: Mega Update, Giant Sci-Fi Lasers, Maximum Anime In Which I Stop Giving A Flying gently caress: Update 23: You Can Stand Me Up at the Gates of Anime Update 24: War and Art Update 25: Mega Muscle Man Medic Moen Update 26: The Indigenous Hunting Culture of Pseudo Poland Update 27: In Which Diebal Village Gets Attacked Again Update 28: You Hurt Captain Anime's Feelings Update 29: Avan Gropes A Lady Update 30: 4/10 Could Be Dryer In Which The Game Takes A Steady Decline: Update 31: Avan Gets Owned By A 13 Year Old Again Update 32: Avan Gets Cutscene Killed Update 33: The One Nobody Was Looking Forward To Update 34: Leon, Valhalla, Oh, and Zeri's Tsundere Waifu Too Update 35: Shots Fired and Laser Lady Talk Update 36: Kodachrome In Which The Game Runs Out of Material And Sputters to A Finish: Update 37: Operation Didn't We Do This Already? Update 38: The Finale of Captain Anime Update 39: The Nightmare Ends (It Was Just A Bad Version of VC1 After All) Extra Updates: Bonus Update 1: I Got an A in Blitzkrieg Class (Entrance Exam A Rank) Bonus Update 2: A Merry Band of Personality Issues - Character Details Bonus Update 3: Character Details List, Somewhat Updated Bonus Update 4: The Beach Scene (As Part of Update 33) The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Mar 14, 2020 |
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Oct 25, 2019 22:23
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Reserved!
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Oct 25, 2019 22:24
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Update 1: "I'm coming for you, Leon!" A short note: All original text from the game is in print and any comments I have to make will be in italics unless we’re out of a cutscene, marked by a line of dashes: -- -- The game has an animated opening video, but it spoils a lot of plot points like VC1 did. You can watch it if you want, but I’d suggest you don’t. It’s not bad, it’s just filled with spoilers. I’ll likely show it at the very end though. Music: Valkyria Chronicles 2 Main Theme The composer is also the same person who did Final Fantasy Tactics apparently. The music in this series tends to be pretty good, so I’d recommend a listen if you get the time. VC2’s music isn’t as great as some of VC1’s, but I think it matches the theme overall pretty well. I'll make all of these links to the soundtrack.   I just have to note that selecting options on the main screen actually makes a gunshot noise. I guess it goes with the military theme, but I always thought it a bit odd. I’m used to it by now, just like a great many things in this game. We’ll be starting a new game, of course.  Easy mode just makes your units take less damage. I’m picking Normal just because I’m used to it. Bullets don’t usually do as much damage as you’d think they would for quite a long time.  After I choose a save slot, the game goes to loading. It’s a nice little animation of each bit on the page fading in as if it was being written. We’ll see it a decent bit, but not nearly as often as we would if I was playing this on the console itself and not the emulator. -- Music: Valkyria Chronicles Series Main Theme This is all narrated by a character we’ll meet soon enough. I’ll point it out when we get there.   Welcome to Pseudo-Europe, basically.   The two big names on the continent of Europa. We’re not part of either of these, though.  Narrator: As they vied for control of the continent,  Some footage of the Imperial Army charging in. This is brought over from VC 1.    If you look above the flag, you’ll see a faded blue splotch. That’s Gallia. That’s us.  Here’s a closer look. Randgriz is Gallia’s capital. Don’t ask me why the other capitals are in lowercase though.   Narrator: -a valuable energy source. Ragnite is basically a miracle material and is probably magic or something. We use it for both medical kits and grenades. The empire attacked us because of this stuff.    A bomb drops for a massive explosion while these two civilians flee.  Pictured: Ridiculously huge Empire landship slamming through the main walls of Randgriz.  A tower familiar to those who’ve played VC1 starts falling down…   The filter clears as we begin covering the modern day: EC 1937.   The pieces meet up, signaling military encounters.     Music: Unknown Remixed Theme from VC1 It’s a calm piano, similar to VC1's "Quiet Chat". It only lasts about 5 seconds though.   The speaker here is the same as the narrator from before…  Pictured: Avan Hardins, our protagonist, speaking this line.. Avan here is apparently one of the most hated parts of this game, which is bad because he’s the guy you’re stuck with 24/7 in this game. I can say I partially get this; he’s definitely got some annoying aspects we’ll see as time goes on, but I think they do work towards trying to give him some likable bits too in the process.  I won’t lie, this screenshot looks kinda off, but it’s not my fault. That’s just how he looks in this animated bit- he looks better nearly everywhere else though. This one’s just particularly off. Music: Royal Military Academy *All dialogue is voiced for the following scene.  Here is the narrator, Brixham. This is the in-game art that we’ll be seeing often in comparison to that four second long cutscene from a second ago. In fact, most art is better than that last cutscene. That was probably done as a last second rush or something, judging by the fact it could've easily be done with this art.  The art style for this game is a bit different than what you'd typically see, but you get used to it quickly. Meanwhile, we learn that Avan’s brother is in a military school.  Uh oh. This doesn’t seem good.    : I realize this is sudden, and it pains me to be the bearer of sad tidings…  Music: None  : I offer you my sincerest condolences.Music: Conflict  : All that goes on at the academy is classified for national security.: I am afraid I cannot tell you any of the details surrounding his death. I’d be angry too, honestly. I’d imagine most people would be ticked off to hear this.  Avan then immediately goes into denial.   *A loud explosion can be heard.* Music: Unknown Track (Substitute: Return Battle) : That was close.Gunshots start ringing out in the distance. They keep coming after every bit of dialogue as well.    One of Avan’s better character traits is his tendency for heroism. He’s also a bit reckless, though, and hardly ever stops to think. A pretty typical combination, really.  O-okay! : Just remember what we learned in training, and we’ll be fine! : Now let’s go!-- Music: Briefing  Now we’re met with our first mission of the game. You can’t back out of this because, well, rebels are attacking. This is a minimum grade mission and at a difficulty of LV 1. It really doesn’t mean anything right now, so feel free to ignore it.  Going to the next screen takes us to unit deployment. This is all still tutorials-ville stuff so I’m not really able to change anything meaningful here.  Music: Exciting Battle I think it’s perhaps a bit too upbeat for this moment, but then again, a lot of the early tracks will be.  Every map opens with a voiced exclamation from Avan. In a few special cases, someone else will do these, but we won’t see that for a long while either.  So here’s the map view-  Soundbite: "Listen up, now." -Well, how about I just summarize what the game gives me. Tutorial- Unit Actions: When we begin a mission, we get a map view of all the units. Here we look at what we have to deal with, and select a unit to move forward with.  All those binoculars icons you see are Scout class units. They move fast, have decent accuracy, and have average firepower. The blue ones are mine, and the red are the enemies. The yellow lines indicates which enemies I can presently see. The other two units on my side are identical:  You’ll note that Avan has nearly double their HP value. This is because he’s the main character, naturally.  Here’s Avan’s stats. HP is exactly what you think it is, AP is basically stamina for moving, Shoot determines accuracy and damage, and Evade is our percentage chance to completely dodge an enemy attack. Those three items off to his side are his equipment. Gallian-1 is a 5 shot rifle (all guns have unlimited ammo), the grenade is a grenade, and the Field Suit is just body armor. Those stats will make more of a difference when I get more units, so I’ll just go ahead and select Avan and move forward.  : “Okay, let’s go!”Every character also has specific lines for selecting them, attacking with them, rescuing, etc. I’ll list’em as they come. Later on, there's also some neat radio chatter which I'll list out, but that won't be for a while.  Tutorial- Moving It costs AP to move. When it runs out, you’re left standing in place. This is what the game looks like in action mode. We now get to run around freely with Avan just like it’s an over the shoulder shooter, provided we still have AP left over. Nobody else actively moves, but enemies will still shoot at us from where they’re standing, provided they can see us.  Tutorial- Targeting: Enemies won’t make suppressive fire while in this mode. Line up your target with the aiming crosshairs. Once you fire at an enemy, if they’re still alive, they’ll counterattack. I move up to the sandbags and tell Avan to crouch. Crouching reduces the damage we take and makes us harder to hit, but can only be done at sandbags. It also nullifies headshot damage. At any point we can enter targeting mode by using the square button. I’ve already done this, so Avan here shoulders his gun and now we get an aiming reticule. There’s a crosshairs in there somewhere, but JPG compression isn’t nice to it. Those orange dots in a circle represent our accuracy deviation, and it’s pretty bad early on. While we’re aiming, enemies won’t make suppression fire but we can’t move from our place either. We’re given all the time in the world to precisely line up our shot, usually to go for headshots.  The game is helpful enough to give you an estimate of how many shots need to land to kill at your current damage output. Because this fool here has his back turned away, it gives us bonus damage and counts as a surprise shot (he won’t counterattack).  I adjust my aim towards his head, and the shots needed to down him go to 2. At this poor of accuracy, it’s more likely I’ll take him out this way. Now let’s shoot this man because he shot at our mans.  : “Comin’ at ya!”  : “Enemy down!”Every headshot makes a louder ringing noise, just to let you know that you hit them. It’s actually kind of rewarding to hear it when you pull off a long-range shot. Tutorial- Ending Actions: A unit can only attack/use equipment once per action. After acting, you can still move if you have AP left.  Avan’s still got plenty of AP left, so I run him up to this next line of sandbags. I eat a few bullets on the way there, but they do hilariously low damage at this point in the game. A good thing to also note is that suppression fire does use rounds out of an enemy’s clip, so when they use every shot in their gun, they’ve got to stop for a moment to reload. Also, Avan only takes 3 damage from these rebels' bullets.   Your units visually reload when you end their action. Units without guns have a different little animation.  Tutorial- Command Points: Making an action with a character costs one Command Point (CP), represented by the medals at the top of the screen. When you run out, there’s not much else to do from end your turn. You’ll now note that Avan’s AP bar has restored, but not fully. Every consecutive action with a unit has them starting with less AP than before, up to the point of nearly nothing. All AP is fully restored when you end your turn, so this is mostly to keep you from blazing across the map with only a few units (which we’ll get away with later, anyways).  Let’s give one of these town guards a chance. “Y-yes, sir!”Tutorial- Sandbags I already covered this, so I’ll note that grenades knock enemies from cover.   Watchman B here goes for the head. It’s worth noting that since this guard is looking at us, we won’t get bonus damage on our shots. Doesn’t really matter, since these guys are complete pushovers anyhow.  This screenshot makes the game look more gruesome than it is.  I’ll move him over a bit and end this guy’s action. Not much else we can do right now.  I use my last CP on Avan. Watchman A down there is too far to get a comfortable shot on this last guy, and we only get one turn for an A rank on this mission. With three enemies to kill, you cannot afford to spend more than one turn fighting any of these guys. Yet, the stakes are pretty low on this mission. It rewards nearly nothing anyways.  Oh, and you can also vault over sandbags. This doesn’t use any AP, so it marginally increases the range you can move provided you don’t waste that saved AP shuffling back and forth behind the bags.  I get Avan to move over to the sandbags farthest ahead so he can take a shot at this last guy. Using the sandbags so much on this map is uneccessary because these rebels do so little damage. The quick strat for this map is to just march Avan right up to all 3 of their faces and headshot them point blank. A strategy which we will use quite commonly later on.  I line up the shot… At this range and accuracy, I’d actually be questioning this decision a lot in the late game if I wanted to make this shot. Doesn’t matter here as much though.  And he’s down as the first two shots hit true. Avan fires his last three bullets in the same direction, likely taking out the window on that house for no reason. (All units will fire every bullet from their clip before stopping, as to provide a way to take out more than one enemy in the same action.)  Yep, that was all!  I can’t remember if he says either of these intro/outro lines later, but they’re all similar to this. Music: Reward  Bam, A rank. I’ll go ahead and explains some stuff about this screen. Dct is money, Exp is exactly what you think it is. The first row is our base value for the mission, the amount we’d get for a minimum rank. As you can see, A rank tends to give you double, which is really handy as the battles go on in this game. The “Defeated” table lists out how many enemies of a specific type we took out. Generic mooks like the guys we just took down reward nothing. Leaders are special units that add bonus CP on the enemy’s turn, provided they’re still alive. Aces are just particularly powerful units. Tanks are literal tanks. Key targets are any unit specified by the map as needing to be taken out, which is sometimes all of them. We get bonus exp and money for each one we take out. Lastly is “Allies Defeated”. Having nobody go down on your side is nice but remains an incredibly pitiful reward throughout the game. You get nothing if one person goes down, and it turns into a penalty if more than one goes down. The penalty only gets bad when maybe six or so units go down, but we likely won’t see it ever go that far down (until late game). -- Music: Days With Classmates *All dialogue is voiced in the following scene.*   : (A fine bit of leadership, gathering those men in the face of surprise attack.): (Apparently it’s a family trait.)  : You really won’t tell me how my brother died? : That is correct. It’s classified information, I’m afraid. Yep, that’s it. You know how I kept referring to a late game and how I got most of the way through this? I was bluffing. This game was a tech demo-  -Yeah, this is what we’re going with instead. Avan is going to enroll at a military school so he can try and get information out of the government. It’s not a bad start to a plot, but… well, this doesn't seem like a smart way to get answers. He’s actually incredibly calm when he says this, which makes me think this portrait was used by accident. : What? You want to enroll?Yep. : Leon can’t be dead. My brother wouldn’t go down that easy. Period.That's, uh, some kind of logic. Also, this portrait reminds me of a piranha, but I don’t know why.   : Spare me the paperwork!*Ripping noises* Dude, I don’t think you can just tear up government documents like that. : I’m telling you, I don’t buy it. Not until I see the proof with my own eyes!To be fair, I’d be denying it too. I wouldn’t be running off to join a military academy and ripping documents up in front of officials, but still. : Hm.: Then I suppose you’ll be needing this.  : An application for new enrollment at Lanseal.I’d question why he’s just carrying this around, but then again it’s a private school and he’s a teacher so I suppose it makes sense.  Uh…It is a private school, man. So private in fact they’ve already established that the stuff they do is classified by the government, remember that part?  *Insert witty comment about this whole thing seeming like it was probably scouted out in the first place.* : If you still wish to apply, I won’t stop you. All are at liberty to try. : But if you think just anyone can get in, well… You’ll learn soon enough.Shouldn’t you be encouraging this kid? I mean, you said to yourself that he’s a born leader, and you just saw him take out 3 rebels without breaking a sweat. …Perhaps he’s already realized what a mess this is going to be. : Now, if you’ll excuse me. Perhaps we’ll meet again. Good day.*He walks off* Music: Valkyria Chronicles Series Theme   : If Gallia's ever gonna be at peace again, guys like us have to fight for it.: Application for student enrollment? Fine, I'll pass your stupid test.  -- Next Update: Entrance exams!  (…and I make more fun of the game than I did this update, because a death in the family really ain’t funny.)
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Oct 25, 2019 22:25
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Oh, boy. This game. This game was my first VC game. It has a lot of fun and enjoyable parts, and more than its fair share of baffling design decisions and awful anime standbys. I'll enjoy following this. One of the things the series as a whole has always done well is voice acting. There's a decent amount of it in VC2 for a PSP game, and it's mostly very, very good. Brixham is a favorite. Avan, unfortunately... the laugh Also one other thing about surprise attacks: units cannot dodge if they're surprised. This becomes incredibly relevant later on...
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Oct 25, 2019 22:48
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Hoo boy, this game, I remember there being some stuff in it I liked but a lot I really hated at the time, it'll be interesting to see it again.
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Oct 25, 2019 22:50
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theshim posted:Brixham is a favorite. Brixham is  , hands down.theshim posted:
Oh, but did you want a reminder?   : Baha-aha-hahah!
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Oct 25, 2019 23:13
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Well, this was random. Yeah, this is a game that took some really silly choices in relation to VC1. I highly suspect that many of the restrictions were trying to adapt the game to a portable system; not just map design, but promotion system to pad out game time in relation to the small amount of maps, etc. Also, it was pretty clear that they had no idea where to take the story after the sudden success of VC1 (honestly, I think they STILL struggle with how to write the story after VC1 considering the directions that VC3/4 took, although at least those games still have pretty good stories despite that). Still, this game shows just how solid the VC1 combat system was because this game is still kind of fun despite the one step-forward, two steps back design.
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Oct 26, 2019 16:32
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Promotion system  The player's reactions to getting a lategame unit should not be "drat, they are still in their base class and I gotta grind medals and promotion items". Omobono fucked around with this message at 12:32 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 26, 2019 18:05
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Omobono posted:Promotion Talk Regarding promotions, though, I'm already dreading the grind because I don't even know if there's a way to manipulate which credits a person gets. Last I ever played my main file I was having to farm credits for my best characters because the game was swarming me with 3rd Rank promotion units and I wasn't able to wait for the credits on my units to come naturally. The final tier of credits, the ----IIX ones are awful but necessary to farm. Anyways, next update will be up tomorrow morning, and it's bonus update will probably be put up tomorrow afternoon depending on how things go on my side. ...I was wondering, since I can do some brute-force recording like I did with Avan's laugh, would the readers like me to record at least one line from each character so they can get a feel for how they sound? I know those who have posted so far have played this before, but it's for those who haven't heard the voice acting before. If so, it'll all be put into the third update, which will be quite large once it's done.
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Oct 27, 2019 00:52
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In all honesty if it's as much of a grind as it sounds to be from what I've heard, just cheat the spoiler in. It's not like it would hurt your enjoyment of the lp/game.
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Oct 27, 2019 02:06
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FoolyCharged posted:In all honesty if it's as much of a grind as it sounds to be from what I've heard, just cheat the spoiler in. It's not like it would hurt your enjoyment of the lp/game. It's a bad grind, but it seems really up to RNG more than anything. I never had to grind until chapter 9 of the game, which will be a long time away. Considering I'll have the thread picking our units, it may get screwy, but I can manage. I unfortunately don't know a thing about cheating on a PSP, but I'll wait until we get the spoiler character as part of the main story. I personally never got them in my gameplay and only know about them because I was briefly spoiled by the wiki when trying to find portraits to make my job easier. There's a unit we'll get much earlier that will let me breeze through the game after a certain point because this game has poor balancing. (I'm also replying a lot because two of the next three posts are really wordy and each have about 150+ images as well, so I gotta help run these to the next page quicker. Can't help the length due to still being in the tutorial.)
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Oct 27, 2019 03:31
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Sorry, fixed. Scout supremacy is still in effect, but shocktrooper are decent in this one. Scouts get enough firepower through headshotsand their massive movement allows them multiple effective moves. Add grenades and they can take care of key infantry targets while zipping around the map capturing objectives. Shocktroopers in 1 were hobbled by low movement, but with smaller maps and a slight change in how captures work you can get two or three effective turns because they have enough movement to get into position with their first move and then simply clear a camp out. Snipers are a tad less useful, again because of smaller maps, but ventilating an rear end in a top hat while standing on another continent still has its uses.
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Oct 27, 2019 12:43
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AncientSpark posted:Well, this was random. They did really well with adapting the system to handhelds, especially with the multi-map idea that maintained a sense of scale while getting around the roadblock of not being able to implement one huge map. I applaud the VC team for the ideas they came up with, because honestly this could have been a complete disaster as far as gameplay was concerned. It could have been nothing but a hollow shell of the original game. That being said, they also hosed up royally on a lot of other things. The Promotion system is a neat idea, because it gives people some flexibility when it comes to their favourite characters. However, tying that system to god awful RNG drops was unbelievably stupid. The tone and story are also a mess. VC1 was a paper thin allusion to WWII and the Holocaust. It may have Anime'd the hell out of that, but it mostly restrained itself to a serious tone and approach to the topic (beach episode notwithstanding). VC2 took the anime aspects way too far and made everything a goofy highschool story where everyone has to stop and occasionally take a field trip to deal with war crimes. Let's not even get in to how bad Avan is as a choice for main character. This series did not need a bargain barrel shonen protagonist as a lead. The saving grace of VC2 is that it set down a foundation of gameplay functions on portable systems that VC3 could later fine tune, which would prevent VC3's better story/characters/setting from being dragged down by frustrating gameplay. VC2 also thankfully didn't do something else, but it's probably spoilers to mention it this early. Omobono posted:Sorry, fixed. This is something I really wish they could find an answer to. Scout supremacy seems almost impossible to break. No matter what this series does, the way that victory conditions and rank work make movement range the only clear choice. It doesn't matter what you do to try and have the AI captilize on Scouts weak defence either, because the game can always be manipulated to bypass it (Defense/Anti-Armor orders for example, also rag doll manipulating for camp captures). Despite smaller map sizes, I got a lot of use out of Snipers in this game because of the Anti-Tank rifles. Way better than leaving a Lancer out in the middle of nowhere, and accuracy is better for long shots. Plus, refilling ammo for boss attacking is less dangerous for Engineers. AA boost orders made up for any drop in attack power compared to Lancers. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 27, 2019 13:06
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Frankly, I think it's a matter of map design more than class design. Shocktroopers are great on defense, where movement doesn't matter and their increased health and damage do. It's just that most of the time the player is on the offensive, and scouts can clear entrenched positions on their own just fine. Change capture objectives into capture and hold for X turns and shocktroopers would become far more useful: push and capture with scouts, deploy troopers to hold.
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Oct 27, 2019 14:22
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Omobono posted:Frankly, I think it's a matter of map design more than class design. I'd agree with this. A lot of the game and going for A-rank from what I've found is carefully knowing what distance you can safely push. In the early game it's very easy to run past enemies or take them down with headshots, and you usually have to run very far to cap any bases. Shocks really benefit from the later, smaller areas where you don't have to go far but you have to push through packs of enemies. Their defense is invaluable on maps with non-stop reinforcements since they can actually retaliate against everyone who shoots at them unlike the fifth class. Shocks are also a lot better at removing crouched enemies from the field since they do tons of point-blank damage, and don't even get me started on their promotions. Oh, and I'll have Update 2 up in just a minute. It's a long one.
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Oct 27, 2019 15:28
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Update 2: Get Schooled Last time on Military School Musical we were introduced to Avan Hardins, our protagonist and a brave but foolhardy kid. His brother’s death was classified by the military, so he decided to join the military to get the answers the hard way. Now the plot stops becoming so serious! But first, an intermission from the Gallia History Channel: Music: Desert Battle  Narrator: Still reeling from the recent invasion, Gallia now faces new troubles from within.   *I’ll briefly cover who the Darcsen are after this. Just know for know they’re discriminated against. Headlines Flash Onto the Screen: Cordelia Makes Surprise Confession Citzens Support Cordelia Cordelia Not Valkyrur *I’ll cover Valkyrur as well, don’t worry.  Narrator: United by their hatred of the Darcsens, a group of nobles forms the Gallian Revolutionary Army.     It does a big flourish with the music here. I suppose this should've been the end of the last update. So, small lore lesson: Darcsens: The Darcsen are an ethnic group that are often treated badly by others because it is believed that they invaded and nearly destroyed the continent of Europa in ancient history (they didn’t). Even thousands of years later, many people still carry this prejudice and believe Darcsens bring with them nothing but destruction and bad luck. The Darcsen, for their own part, refuse to retaliate to any sort of attack on them because they believe that returning violence for violence will tarnish their pride as a people and will confirm the notion that they are a violent race. - A good enough explanation taken from the IGN wiki. Valkyrur: Basically, this was an ancient race with what amounts to be magical technology made from ragnite, and they primarily used it in the form of giant gently caress-off lances that shoot lasers. Their race exists in small, hidden quantities to this day, and there were two notable ones in the last game. They’re anime as hell, and this is an anime game, so what did you expect? They also left behind a crap ton of propaganda that inspired the belief for hating Darcsens. Music: Royal Military Academy   : Your school—the Lanseal Royal Military Academy!His soundbite for his laugh plays here. I've already actually linked to a clip of his laugh, but I'll do it again, just so those only reading the updates get a chance: https://lpix.org/3567462/Avan_Laugh.mp3  : My butt’s still numb from the train ride. Soundbite: “Hm…” : It’s pretty cool to see it for myself after hearing all about it from you.: Leon… Soundbite: “I’ll do it!”  I captured this mid blinking frame so he looks incredibly smug.  Narrator: Lanseal Royal Military Academy: Curse you, Brixy- not more of your History Channel advertisements!     Some dudes shoot guns with surprisingly low recoil. It’s also not even using a sound effect moderately close to the same gun; for shame Sega, for shame.  A tank drives over whatever this is while a bunch of people stand stock still. They all seem to be lancers (a unit we havent seen yet) or scouts, judging by the symbols on their backs.  -- Music: Winter in Lanseal  Hey, recognize this place from the title screen? Well, this is where we're going to be for a long while.  The entire school is modeled on this screen, though it won’t let me scroll around and give you folks the tour yet. Double exclamation marks are an indication it’s a story event we have to see in order to progress the game. --  : But what kind of school requires you to wear a uniform to be on campus?Lots of them, actually.   : National security and blah blah blah, outsiders arrested on sight. Brutal!Avan, if you knew this, why did you even question the school not telling you about your brother’s death? They’re obviously paranoid as all get out! Anyways, I personally think this pose makes him look more like his brother. : Well, that’s the military for you. At least I got this loaner for the exams.I wonder if the military is this way now because they got shown up so badly in the first game by the militia. They were honestly pretty useless, and pretty much treated you like cannon fodder from what I remember.* Edit: I have just been reminded that the military was mostly wiped out, and the militia often took the stupidly hard missions anyways. Still, they ended up doing better than the army in the end.  This sprite. That face. It won’t be the last you see of it. : I think this calls for a dip into the Leon Files.Ah, here we go. One of Avan’s center pieces of his character…  : “Your greatest adversary lies within. Wage war with the weakness in yourself.” So, Avan carries this journal around with him that’s filled to the brim with Leon’s quotes that he refers to often. I think this might be another of the reasons people don’t like Avan, but it's not that great of an annoyance. It reminds me a bit of the Dwarven sayings from Tales of Symphonia, but instead of comedy, it's just for re-iterating Leon being “the bestest, bro” more than anything else. Not to say I don’t get it. I’m a younger child, and I understand the feeling of looking up to an older sibling. : All right, Leon. I’m gonna go do this! Wish me luck!--  Avan still has some really good expressions. I know I’ve made that face before at a test. It’s also a worthy bit of visual characterization that Avan never buttons his jacket even though most of everyone else we’ll see does. Also that one guy with the crossed arms never changes position at any point.  A girl walks up and Avan starts scratching his head. Because anime, the skirt is very short, because they always are on schoolgirl uniforms in these games. I don’t like short skirts, so I don’t really get it. It’s also the middle of January in northern Europa. Her legs have to be freezing off.  She leans over and speaks to him. The camera angle is unfortunate. There are more unfortunate angles, however.  It pans upwards, because of course it does. Leaving out the skirt shot.  She does this little bow thing, probably because her hands are full.  I doubt he's actually looking there since his head actually never moves from here to the next frame. This is probably another unfortunate angle.  I stopped on this frame in particular because it looked odd enough to and these cutscenes use a lot of in-between frame fading, so there’s a lot of blur when viewing it frame by frame. I also like how this makes it look like he hasn’t closed his mouth since he started talking.   Here is Cosette. If you couldn’t guess from her prevalence in this cutscene, she’s story relevant. She was also, y'know, on the cover. Also, where is the tip on that pen!?  *Someone coughs in their direction.*    His glasses reflect over with light. I’m sure you’ve caught wind of his personality already. Music: Everyday Life of the Class  Soundbite: “Honestly…” Wait, test? I thought they were studying. Anyways, this guy is a Darcsen. All their hair colors are like this dude’s.   : What’s your problem, man? You don’t have to be all rude about it!  : Supportive? Look, I came here because I was scouted.Soundbite: “Hmph!” : Thanks, but I don’t need support from some starry-eyed applicant. *Avan slams his desk and the screen shakes*  : Ngh!: Nnnnnngh!Cosette, you okay?  : C-Cosette? Are you okay? Hey, what’s wrong?!This is Avan's best portrait in my opinion.  *Cosette shakes, moving up and down slightly.*   Yep, this is Cosette’s main personality bit. She’s not that bad as a character, though. She just wants everyone to be friends, really.  : Wha--? How did that seem like a good idea to you?! Here is this dude’s best portrait. I’m withholding his name until the game tells us. Also, yes, but what a glorious train wreck this will be.  *Avan’s portrait shoves the other dude’s over.* : Hey! She was only doing it because of your jerk comment! *He shoves back.* Oh, dear. Cosette, this screenshot catching you mid-blink doesn’t do you much good.  : I don’t recall asking her to asphyxiate. Though it’s sounding more appealing-Whoa, dude, loving harsh. He, uh, gets somewhat better later. But, drat, I forgot how much of a jerk he was this early on.  Wait, I thought it already started? Whatever, random teacher lady. : Hmph.  At least Cosette is nice. This back and forth fighting will be a common reoccurence, by the way. *They get back to their seats.*  …Yeah, these two random dudes can be heard across the room. Quite a good many people suck in this game. This mostly serves to show that even here, some people are still prejudiced against Darcsens.  …But I suppose you can see why he acts like he does. Even if he is jerk for a while, I feel sorry for him. (Regardless, that one comment was still uncalled for, dude.)  Most of the time when this teacher lady shows up, her soundbite of “Hey!” goes with it. *The school bell can be heard. It’s a low melody coming from large bells in a tower across campus*   : Bleagh. I managed to get to all the questions, but I was mostly guessing.I’ve had tests like that. Especially when they don’t give you enough time to think.  Soundbite: “Ngh!” or something like that. Kinda sounds more like “Nyugh!” -- Music: Royal Military Academy  We’re back here after a tutorial on how to save. Yep, we’re still in the tutorial! --  I’m pretty sure this guy was in VC1, but they just called him Drill Instructor. He actually has a name in this game, though.  : You will now form teams of three and participate in simulated combat.Teams of three, huh? I wonder where they’re going with this… : Answer when called. Cosette Coalhearth! : Next is… Zeri! Yep, his name is Zeri. One of the sad things about Darcsens is that they’re typically stripped of last names as well. This isn’t always the case, but it applies for most of the time. Girls also tend to have names beginning with M while guys tend to begin with Z. Again, not 100% from what I know, but its still a common thing. : Last up… Avan Hardins!  Wow, all three of us? Who could’ve guessed this would happen!? It’s not like it was telegraphed or anything! : You are Team A!Wait, we’re the A-Team? Now that’s a surprise!   : Hey, we’re on the same team, Avan! Let’s give it or best shot!: You bet! All set to go, Zeri? : Just my luck I get the two of you dumped on me. Technically a valid sentence, I think, but it’s a bit odd. : Excuse me?! You care to repeat that, tough guy? : H-hey, guys, stop it! We should focus on the test now!  Are these the same bullets the Rebels use? Because this is basically how their bullets work. “We’re using BB guns folks, but they might still be lethal.” …This also isn’t really reassuring. : Don’t go dropping your guard just because this is a simulation.: As if! I’ve got plans, and none of ‘em involve dying here. : Hoo… I’m all nervous. I hope this goes well. See, I told you that you’d be seeing the book pretty often.  I have to seriously wonder if they did write all of these, or if they only stole them from a motivational book. There’s quite a few. : We’re going to win this! In a landslide! For sure!Yes, it’s spaced out just like that.  : All right, let’s go you two! Move out! : Okay! -- Music: Briefing  Finally! These cutscenes seem so much longer when you do them in text form. Anyways, here’s some actual combat to end today with. We’ll see more than three turns this time, and I doubt I’ll need to explain as much last as last time. All we’ve gotta do is get someone to capture the enemy base camp this time around, unlike last time which was an elimination mission. We’ll see more base camp missions, and unfortunately for the game, they’re much easier to cheese. I’ll be playing this one somewhat sensibly though.  If you look to the squad list, you’ll see that Zeri and Cosette have a different symbol than Avan, since they’re not scouts like we are. Zeri is a shocktrooper, and Cosette is an engineer. I’ll show you what that means when we get into the actual fight. I’ll deploy with what we have, since changing our units around right now makes no real difference (we can't even do that, actually.). Music: Practice Battle  I sure hope so, because otherwise I’ve wasted my time making portraits for all these characters we’ll never meet.  Jeez, dude. We’re not going to kill each other out here. It’s just another tutorial, but this time includes one of the more significant changes from VC1. Tutorial: Camps- Both sides have base camps marked by flags with stars on the map screen, and a long banner in the action mode. If your camp is captured, you lose immediately. Reinforcements can be spawned at any camp you own, and units standing within their range gain an HP regen bonus and a Defense bonus. You can also recall any unit for free instead of having to pay 1 CP to do so. Enemy bases with the swirl icon next to them connect to a camp in a different area and let you deploy there.* I added a lot to that tutorial, but those are all crucial details it’ll either tell us in installments, or never inform us of that I found out on my own. That last note is the new part worth keeping in mind. It’ll be a bit easier to understand in practice, but learning how to abuse the camp mechanics is how you breeze through a majority of the game. I’ll show some of it off in a bonus update that goes up with this update, but for now I'll play this like you'd be expected to.  Ugh, still 3 CP? I’m used to the near lategame where I have 10. Ah, well, let’s take a look at our stats first. We’re still missing a crucial mechanic that won’t appear until the end of this update, and we won’t even see it in action until the next update, but it’s worth looking now.  Ignore the fact that it says turn 2 in the corner. I pulled this from later in the recording. Zeri here has 40 less HP than Avan, 5 less shooting ability, and 100 less AP. Sounds pretty bad, right? (Well, ignoring the fact that Avan has nearly double HP from what he should have. If you asked me while I was playing VC1, I would’ve said that shocktroopers weren't that great as I didn’t find them to be much use there. In this game, they're a lot better. Shocktroopers differ from scouts in that they carry 3 grenades, and a sub-machine gun that sprays 20 bullets instead of 10. Early game, they hit like trains provided you’re not standing, and they provide amazing cover fire. Zeri is a bit beefier than some shocktroopers, but shocktroopers also have a high natural defense against bullets so it doesn’t really matter much in the end.  Compared to Avan, Cosette has nearly half the HP that Avan does, but 4 more evade. Her gear is a bit different though, since she’s an Engineer. Engineers now carry pistols instead of the same rifles as the scouts like they did in VC1. Pistols are less accurate than rifles, but deal a chunk more damage and have one extra shot. Ragnaid is field medicine stored in these little light bulb like thingies, and allows us to heal units. Engineers can also do it from a good distance away as well. (Missing is the Spanner, which only appears once a tank is present.) As a weird twist of fate however, Engineers no longer have the ability to repair sandbags or disarm mines. That was given to a different class we’ll see later. They can restock the ammo of anyone they touch though. Cosette is an alright Engineer, but later in the game she becomes really difficult to make use of for reasons I can't talk about yet. Here’s Avan’s stats from the first mission for reference- they haven’t changed at all regardless. Now that you’ve seen that, let’s get going!  : “Watch and learn.” Hm, you can see the waypoint flag in the distance. Zeri won’t be able to make it there in one round by himself, so let’s take out that guy behind those sandbags. Tutorial- Grenades Grenades and other explosives knock down sandbags. They’ll also launch people out of cover as well. However, their ammo is always limited, so be careful!  Grenades have a different aiming guide that shows the arc of the grenade. Unfortunately, nobody in this game throws impressively far, but then again, the grenade explosion is surprisingly short ranged. : “You’re through!”  Well, it didn’t take ‘em down, (he survived with 6 HP) but whatever, he was a shocktrooper and therefore beefier. I usually adjust my grenade throws a little bit inwards so that the enemies go flying away like you see here. Also, how is using grenades against each other in practice supposed to be safe even in the slightest? Anyways, let’s head for this sandbag with the last of our AP.  As you can tell from Zeri’s health, eating interception fire from both a scout and a shocktrooper at the same time can do a bit of a number on ya. Yet, it’s still so low it’s not that threatening for the time being. Tutorial: Capturing- If there are no enemy units in a camp, you can capture it. Enemies can capture it back if you're not defending it, though. That’s all you really need to know about it. Let’s get Avan moved up now. : “Moving out!”  I ate some bullets on the way there, and you can see how much a shocktrooper can do on their own. It still really isn’t that much, though.  This was just rude, but I did it anyways.  Legitimately, there is a reason to aim for the crotch or the foot in this game, and that’s if you have a weak enemy that you really don’t want dodging your attack. When someone’s evade procs they drop prone and usually make you whiff your whole attack, but if you run point-blank and aim low, you’ll still hit them while they’re laying down…You’ll see what I mean when it happens in the future.  I then run all the way to those sandbags in front of the flag and crouch on the other side. For some reason, this enemy scout isn’t doing that.  Lastly, let’s send Cosette in to deal with him. : “I got it covered!”  Since engineers have the same AP as scouts, she’s easily able to reach the flag. It’s also worth noting that engineer models are some of the most distinct given all the extra pouches and stuff. Cosette eats a few bullets, but they don’t really hurt as bad as the shocktrooper would've. I’m also trying to vault over the bags here, but I left Avan in the way, and I can’t vault past this enemy. I’m a goof sometimes.  There’s nothing special about the animation on the engineer guns, so I didn’t bother with a gif. I would like to note that this is the first shot on this guy, nearly point blank,and I whiff into his shoulder. Pistols have hilarously bad accuracy. Poor sap eats the next one right to the face though.   : “S-sorry…!”The delivery on this line is actually really great, despite just being one word. She really sounds like she’s wincing in reaction to seeing them go down. Kinda sad in a way, but also kinda hilarious in the “oh, that’s gotta hurt” it implies. With basically no AP left, I manage to vault the sandbags and just barely enter capture range on the flag. Cosette is standing at nearly at the edge of its capture range.  Easy.  The enemy gets their turn, but makes literally no action. The difficulty of the AI right now is incredibly low. As designated on the bottom, the rest of the enemies are all in area 2. I mentioned it in the first post, but the maps in this game are divided into different areas due to space requirements. It ends up having some fun uses though.  Tutorial: Transferring Maps- I won’t put any of this in bold considering it’s mostly my words anyhow. At any of our camps we can recall one of our units from the field using the “Standby” command without any CP cost. Away from a camp, it costs one CP to do so. Standing next to a flag also lets you input the command to standby immediately. The unit is then put in our reserves, which we can deploy from at any of the camps we own. Camps like the one we just took correspond to a camp in another map, giving us control of both and providing a method to change maps. Units put in standby also get an ammo refill, which is nice.  I’ve mentioned this already, but from the map screen you can use the “triangle” button to open up commands, and standby away from a flag. Since Cosette here is already within the range of the camp, I can put her on Standby for free. Let’s do that.  Welp, we deleted her. Sorry Cosette.  No, but really, if you look at the bottom of the screen you’ll see where we have one unit in our reserves now. Also note the Unit Max and Area Max. Unit Max is how many units we can have on the field overall, and area max is how many we can have in one area at a maximum. It’s a balancing limitation, but the enemy never really seems bothered by it and it never really goes higher than Unit Max 6 and Area Max 5 which is incredibly annoying on large maps.  Since Avan isn’t in the area range, (he’s just inches away), it’ll cost me 1 CP to put him on standby.  I actually opt to move Zeri up to the flag and put him on standby as instead.  This game loves its onomatopoeia effects.  Bringing Avan over would almost entirely waste our turn and I think I can manage with just these two for now.  I opt to send Zeri even though his AP is reduced from already taking action this turn. Tutorial: Downed Units- If your units hit 0 HP, they’ll go down. Run up to them with another teammate to automatically withdraw the fallen unit. After 2 turns, they’ll be ready for action again. If your unit is captured by the enemy or lies unconscious too long in bad weather conditions, they’ll have to be hospitalized. We’ll avoid fallen units, but it’s going to happen at some point. For now, let’s keep downing these enemies to pass our entrance exam.  I move Zeri on forward. There’s a lot of sandbags here, which means I might have to drop a grenade or two. To go easy on us though, none of them seem to be crouching thus far. Tutorial: Engineers- I already told you about these.  : “Enemy sighted!”You see that line off to the side? The enemy team was hiding a scout behind that first storage crate.  Zeri ran out of AP, so I can’t really go any further. Shooting this guy would be a bit of a waste, though. Range and damage falloff is really killer on shocktroopers as you can see by the 75 shots required to kill.  This dude is much closer, however…  Yeah, he didn’t stand much of chance. : “Enemy silent!” Let’s bring out Cosette now. She should be able to handle that scout giving us that mean look.   As she passes by Zeri, that little box icon floats up from him making a charging noise. It means we restocked his ammo, and since he didn’t use any grenades after coming to this area, that doesn’t mean anything. Woo!  The power difference on pistols is more noticeable later on, but we’ve got an extra shot to take this guy out than if we were using a scout rifle.  She then proceeds to land the first two shots for 25 damage a piece, and whiffs the last four off the left.  This scout then gets to do something we haven’t let any enemies do yet: counterattack. He lands 4 out of 5 shots on Cosette and brings her down to 116 HP. Ouch.  I move her over here and end my turn. That didn’t go as planned.   The enemy takes an action this time around, but seems to be moving a unit to the north around. Because we can’t see them, they just show up as *shuffle*s for their steps.  Oh, it’s a scout.  …A scout who promptly shoved off somewhere else though my units are acting as if they can still see him. Huh. Normally, if an enemy unit is moving in sight, it’ll cut to the POV of the nearest unit with line of sight to it like this.  He ends his move and the camera focuses on the scout, giving away his position. Yay for bugs!  This is one of the few bugs I know of in this game, and it’s only ever beneficial to you. It just seems to happen on a few maps where line of sight is questionable.  That question mark represents where we last saw him, even though the camera kept tracking. Anyways, the visible scout took his turn now.  : A-ah!He lands one shot that hits her in the noggin, hits one on the shoulder, and whiffs the rest. Luckily for us, being crouched prevents headshot damage, so she only took four HP for that.  : “Hah!”We get counterattacks too, by the way.  It doesn’t end well for the dude. Him going down sends our morale value up to 4. I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember what morale even does, aside from maybe increasing the chance to trigger potentials, that mechanic we haven’t seen yet. I usually never have it fall lower than 4, and it usually stays max when I play thanks to camp capturing shenanigans.   Let’s get this done with. The update’s taking long enough as is. Zeri, you're up.   : “I see you there!” I go to point blank the guy, only to find another scout hiding back here. Huh. You know what, I think I’ll try something out…  If you hit the “triangle” button while aiming, it switches shoulders while adjusting your aim a bit. The game doesn’t recognize me as being able to hit this, but I’m aiming using the models, not the reticule…  When you hit someone without a reticule on them, it shows a healthbar instead. The healthbar is a bit slow to update though, so this guy goes down with it showing half his health left.  That’s what I wanted!  Two for one! Oh yeah! Getting twofers is pretty hard to set up, and it really only happens often with one of the promotion classes designed for hitting in arcs. The enemies in this game hate to bunch up so that you can’t wipe them easily with mortar fire or grenades, making this exact scenario rare in my experience.  Low on AP, Zeri only gets to move a bit forward to end this action. He’s already done more than enough this round.  ...But he’s not done yet. That shocktrooper is within the flag’s range, meaning I won’t be able to capture it unless he’s gone. He’s crouched and he has a defense boost, so Cosette won’t be able to really outmatch him with her damage output.   I ended up a bit too close, so I blasted him from the other side of the sandbags. It’s not that great of a move, considering I could’ve just knocked him out of the camp’s range and captured it right from underneath his feet. I’ll show that off later since I did this for the sake of example.  Y’know, these guys are fellow students. Perhaps I shouldn’t be dropping grenades at their feet. …Nah. If the school allows it, it’s all fine, right?   Yep, he’s still in range, so I can’t capture it from him. Ah, well, I’ve still got another CP point thanks to the double KO earlier.  Let’s send in Cosette to finish this off. (Avan is fine where he is, doing nothing, don’t worry about him.) : “Here I go…!”   Yeah, why not? I won’t get to do this often in the late game.  : “Enemy down!” Cap that flag!  Avan, you shot one dude in the crotch. That’s all. (To be fair, that’s all I made him do because it would’ve wasted CP trying to bring him here.) Music: Reward  drat it.  ...I mean, yay, we passed! But still, drat. Didn’t even ace the entrance exam, easy as it was. You only have 2 turns for A rank on this mission, which is kinda harsh for new players as even wasting a bit of time is impossible. Welp, that’ll be a bonus update to look forward to in the very near future. -- Music: Days With Classmates  : I have all of you three of you on Team A as having passed the written exam.Wait, already? How short was it? I mean, I figure there’s a lot of applicants and this battle didn’t take that long, so that must’ve been some quick grading! : Guess that means you’re in. : It’s because you guys helped push me along.I haven’t noted it, but I know one showed up in a screen cap earlier in the update, but occasionally you’ll have little anime emotion signs pop up. Cosette’s got a sparkle effect when she says this. : No worries. Heh, the field examm was the only part I wasn’t worried about.Which is fair, you’ve had actual combat experience back in Mellvere.  : What aptitude are they screening?: Eh, guess we’ll find out soon enough.*The three head off*  Hey, this line is actually fully voiced by her. Normally it’s just soundbites for “Hey!” and “Quiet!”  : What does this thing tell you? I don’t get it.Using ragnite to test aptitude screenings? Huh. Apparently the stuff must really be a miracle material or something. Who knows, this might come up again later. *Time passes* Music: Everyday Life of the Class : I did it, Avan! I got placed as an engineer!: Is that what you wanted?  I’d like to note that she’s apparently so excited to be an engineer that she didn’t even change out of the engineer’s field uniform from earlier.  He kinda comes off as a bit condescending in his voice acting, but judging by the expression I think he’s just a bit more intimidated than anything. : What did you get, Zeri?: I placed as a shocktrooper. And you?He sounds so exhausted and fed up here in his voice acting. I don’t actually know if he was aiming for anything else though. : I’m not really sure. They told me I could be any unit class I wanted.How about that for plot contrivances! Yeah! As I hinted in the opening post, this is actually a mechanical choice. We can have Avan be any of the 5 classes: Scout, Shocktrooper, Lancer, Engineer, or Armor Tech. I won’t poll that choice yet until we’ve seen all the units in action. : Oh, does that mean you have an aptitude for all of them? That’s amazing! You know what Zeri? That was actually a pretty good burn right there. Do that more often than telling people to asphyxiate. : You jerk! You gonna be like this all the time?For a while, yeah. Can’t remember how long it’s gonna be, though. : Don’t you two start again! We all just made it in. Let’s try to get along.Cosette’s going to be breaking these two up for a while, have I told you that already? : Yeah. I guess you’re right. We’re in this together now, guys. This little voice line is so happy that it’s kinda hard to not  , even for a overly serious, hard-hearted person like me. : I came here with a purpose.: And I’ll tell you now, it isn’t to pal around with clowns like you.Why do you have to be such a jerk this early on, man? : I’m going to the headmaster’s office now for my class placement.*Zeri walks off.*   : Um…I kind of doubt it’s because of his glasses.There’s a bit of sass in this remark that’s hard to explain, but it’s actually kinda funny. Cosette’s better than I remember, actually.  : Ooh, but I should head off now, too. I’ll see you later, Avan.*She moves on as well.* : All right. Next stop, the headmaster’s office. Oh, wait, that’s why we were here. Hard to remember after all the we’ve been through.I’d forgotten how much dialogue this game has. At the point where I was at, I was getting about maybe one cutscene per mission while I was farming for commendations. -- Next Update: Even more , and only in our military strategy game.…But don’t worry, we’ll get to meet our class next time. And you’ll get to vote for stuff! (Bonus update up in a couple of hours, with improved graphics!) Extras:  Zeri has a frame on his anime glasses shine where it ends up like this. Must be why he thinks he’s too cool for this bunch of clowns.
The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 19:34 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 27, 2019 15:31
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You should do a second pass through this update if you haven't already started on it. There's a lot of broken italics and bold tags.The Flying Twybil posted:
Especially, you know, Military Academies. For god's sake, Avan, do you not pay attention to the History Channel narrator? This place is kind of prestigious. It isn't a schoolhouse out in the sticks. The Flying Twybil posted:It’s also the middle of January in northern Europa. Her legs have to be freezing off. Gallia is located roughly where The Netherlands/Denmark is in our world (VC's version of Europe is stretched out a bit lengthwise). So it is probably chilly, but not to a crazy extent. Pretty sure the typical temperature for January in the Netherlands hovers above 0. That being said, Valkyria Chronicles is weird about the weather/climate of the world in the different games. VC4 is built around fighting in the area of the Crystal Sea (similar to the Baltic Sea) which is only a little further North from where Gallia is, but this sea freezes over completely in the winter months to the point where tanks can freely drive around on the ice and the Imperial Navy is rendered useless due to their inability to break through it. The Flying Twybil posted:
He was in VC1. Calvaro Rodriguez was the drill instructor from VC1 for the Gallian Militia. He's only referred to as "Drill Instructor" during gameplay, but I believe his name has existed since the first game. At the very least it shows up in the Valkyria Chronicles Design Works (although my copy is a second printing from 2011, so I guess it's possible that his name was retconned in during republishing). Either way, he is a veteran of EWI and was a lancer during that war. He got the nickname "Ramrod" because apparently he was one of those Leeroy Jenkins type of guys that would rush forward into danger. He lost his eye during the war, which is probably why he didn't return to the front lines of EWII and wound up getting stuck as a militia drill instructor instead.
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Oct 27, 2019 16:40
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I remember people hated how Lanseal looks; you have a pretty star fortress that's at the bottom of a cliff
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Oct 27, 2019 17:30
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Psycho Knight posted:Gallia is located roughly where The Netherlands/Denmark is in our world (VC's version of Europe is stretched out a bit lengthwise). So it is probably chilly, but not to a crazy extent. Pretty sure the typical temperature for January in the Netherlands hovers above 0. Also Gallia has a full-on desert in the roughly center of its territory. I really wouldn't worry about weather/climate in this series.
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Oct 27, 2019 17:33
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HardDiskD posted:Also Gallia has a full-on desert in the roughly center of its territory. I really wouldn't worry about weather/climate in this series. That isn't an indicator of climate, though. At least not Gallia's as a whole. The Barious Desert isn't a naturally formed desert. It's mostly made up of rock, not sand. It's basically a big-rear end crater formed from the aftermath of the  "Darcsen" Calamity.
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 27, 2019 17:40
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HardDiskD posted:Also Gallia has a full-on desert in the roughly center of its territory. I really wouldn't worry about weather/climate in this series. Yeah, honestly. We'll come to find out later that Gallia is host to some strange things, including an indigenous hunting culture, of all things. (Not really much of a spoiler, but I'll leave it in blackbars. It's related to someone we'll meet. I'm only really worried about major plot spoilers.) e: Also, thanks for the heads-up, Psycho Knight. I could've sworn I fixed all of this, but whatever- I'll get to it. I've got a much more efficient style of doing this now that seems to reduce how much I have to patch these errors. e2: FoolyCharged posted:Hard truths, from below Yeah, I haven' t played VC1 in eight years at this point, so the plot is still vague in my head. I remember some of that, I just forgot that Welkin was part of the throwing themselves at the empire thing. I'll reference that in the edits as well, thanks for reminding me. The LP is intended to be informational, so if anyone reading notes a mistake, feel free to correct me- it's appreciated.. The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 27, 2019 18:29
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You actually had it backwards. The militia were just used as meat fodder, it's just that welkin kept not just surviving suicide missions but also winning them profoundly. The regular army got wiped out in a nuclear explosion equivalent and then the big super tank at the end kills off drat near the entire remainder of the militia, so the empire canning the invasion is hilarious because welkin's squad was the only thing left in the gallian forces after maximillian bit it.
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Oct 27, 2019 18:37
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FoolyCharged posted:so the empire canning the invasion is hilarious because welkin's squad was the only thing left in the gallian forces after maximillian bit it. To be fair, the Empire is also fighting a major war against the Atlantic Federation that is currently locked in a bit of a stalemate. Also, around the same time that the Gallia invasion starts going pear-shaped, the Atlantic Federation kicks off Operation Northern Cross with the intention of marching straight to the Imperial Capital and laying waste to it. One month after the Empire loses Prince Maximillian (and a Valkyria) and an entire invasion force, (VC4 spoilers follow!!!!) the Atlantic Federation parks a nuke right in the middle of the Imperial Capital. The only reason it doesn't wipe out the entire city is because of Claude not pulling the trigger. At this point, the death toll for EWII is like, 10 million people. So even though Gallia has pretty much no fighting ability left except Welkin/the Royal Guard/a few militia remnants, the Empire also has nobody left that can fight. They canned the invasion after Maxi because they were knee deep in poo poo with the Atlantic Federation pushing deep into their territory (the Empire had already lost the Siegval Line by the time the Gallia invasion falls apart). But yes, Welkin wasn't the one chomping at the bit to fight the Empire. General Moron just kept throwing the militia at problems in the hopes that they would soften things up for the regular army so that they could roll in and claim all the glory. A big recurring theme with Valkyria Chronicles, at least in the Gallia games, is that the regular army thinks they're hot poo poo and that every other branch sucks. The Gallian officers also have this thing where they keep stealing credit to try and make the regular army look good (such as in VC3). Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Oct 27, 2019 |
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Oct 27, 2019 19:17
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Yeah, small countries don't win a war against notFrance/notGermany by actually winning. They win by making the military cost for the other side way too high. Real life exhibit A: Vietnam. Real life exhibit B: Switzerland has been perpetually neutral (as a side effect, all of Europe agreed nobody but the Pope could employ Swiss mercenaries).
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Oct 27, 2019 19:48
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Bonus Update 1: I got an A in Blitzkrieg Class (Entrance Exam) Welcome back folks, in new and improved clearer visuals!   Now that we can see better, we’re going to make up for that sorry display from before and ace this mission. Knowing that I likely won’t get a chance to re-do the entrance exam, I used my time manipulation abilities (read: savestates) so we can get it right the first time.  The mission is the same as it was the last time, we can’t change unit placement, so let’s get on with it. Our main strategy will simply be hauling rear end across the training field, because ranking is based on the time it took to do the mission- not how efficiently you did it. A-Rank for the exam is 2 rounds at most, but I’ll show you how to do it in 1 round using an adaptable cheese strat. Music: VC 1 – Desperate Fight I figured since this was a bonus update and rather short, I’d link to some Valkyria Chronicles 1 music so you could get a sampling of it if you’ve never heard it before.  That we will, Avan.  First action is me immediately selecting Cosette. I noted before that the engineer units start with the same AP as scouts, and that's our key to beating this mission so quickly.  Ah, doesn't that look much better? Anyways, we're going to charge forwards.  Running over the hill without taking care of the shocktrooper has Cosette eat quite a few bullets, but since none hit her in the head, she'll be fine. Using her mobility now is crucial as her frailty will be a hindrance to the next step of this mission.  As you can see here, bullets can manage to do a lot of damage in this game if you keep taking hits. Since this scout isn't crouching, he's going to take a lot of damage as well.   : “Enemy down!”Point blank damage hurts a lot, folks. Cosette is nearly down after charging in, and if she'd taken a stray bullet to the head, she probably would have gone down.   Either way, we got what we came for. I go ahead and put Cosette on standby, though she's done for this update anyhow.  Now we put Avan on standby. Again, since he's within range of a flag I own, this doesn't cost anything. We need him now because he runs fast and has a grenade.   : "Okay, let's go!"And now we can just pop him into the next map. Later on in the game, playing "Standby Pinball" as I call this, is very useful. Constantly hopping fresh units across maps allows you to cover great distances and constantly thwart enemy assaults. You can also call it "Base popping" if you want, it's also a snazzy name. (I'm sure I'm not the first to arrive at this strategy, this is just what I call it.) Heck, when their AI priorities improve just a bit later in the game, we can use this to manipulate them into wasting their turns as they try and reclaim control of their bases. For now, let's press the advantage with Avan.   The amount of AP we have left is crucial here, so I make sure to save it by cutting corners as close as possible. We're not going to bother fighting these two guys, so Avan's going to take a few bullets.  As we run out of AP, we meet up with this guy. You'll need to take him down in this action, otherwise you'll end up taking too much damage running past him. The Gallian-1's marginally better accuracy needs to pull through here for me.  Here's to hoping this works!    : "All-right!"On the first two shots, too! drat, good on you Avan. That's what we needed.   We take another turn with Avan, the end right ahead of us.    On the way there, I need to make sure I jump at least two sandbags to save AP. Now it's time for the master strat.  Grenades have incredibly short range.   As for you, shocktrooper...       Long story short? Just blast 'em out of range.  Easy. (For later missions when you'll need to hold the base, just pop in a shocktrooper and sit them next to a remaining sandbag (if-existing). If not, just pop an armor tech instead, fix the sandbags, and block the camp with them. This is strategy is generally effective on most maps, especially any maps that include reinforcements if you include the above defensive technique.) The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Oct 28, 2019 |
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Oct 28, 2019 00:09
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Through my entire playthrough, Zeri was my go-to murder machine. And Cossette was 
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Oct 28, 2019 00:37
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I still need to finish the old LP of the first Valkyria Chronicles.
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Oct 28, 2019 01:35
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Grenades are great for gently encouraging enemies to get out of your way. Tanks are a more effective alternative, as they can repeatedly nudge guys all over the place. I honestly can't remember what characters I relied on in VC2. Avan was positively not one of them and neither was Cosette. I don't think I used Zeri either. I know of one shocktrooper that I used a lot, but we haven't been introduced to her yet. I don't really remember a lot of characters from this entry actually. None of them made much of an impression, except for a handful that each has a different reason for being memorable (none of which involve their actual strength as a character). We haven't been introduced to any of them yet so I can't say much, but I know the tank commander is a loving beast in terms of gameplay, just as an example.
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Oct 28, 2019 01:51
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Solitair posted:I still need to finish the old LP of the first Valkyria Chronicles. I'd go and do that when you get some time if you're worried about spoilers. I don't have any spoiler restrictions on VC1 for this thread, so it may get spoiled as time goes on. You don't have to worry about missing out on this LP either, since we'll be here for quite a long time. This is a long game, especially when you don't know exactly everything you're doing. My original file still has 46.5 hours clocked in on it, and I never reached the end of it. Psycho Knight posted:I honestly can't remember what characters I relied on in VC2. Avan was positively not one of them and neither was Cosette. I don't think I used Zeri either. I know of one shocktrooper that I used a lot, but we haven't been introduced to her yet. I only ever used Avan out of the necessity of him being able to be the tankiest scout alive and him being the commander unit. Zeri has potentials to be an absolute defensive beast (I still didn't use him that much), but I'll be covering that in our next update when we truly meet everyone. Cosette is unfortunately very as a unit for reasons I will keep concealed until later. She's nice and it makes me sad I don't use her all that much personally, but it'll be up to the thread when I start the voting.As for the shocktrooper you're alluding to, I think I know exactly who you're talking about. She's great when you first get her, and only gets more ridiculous with promotion. Psycho Knight posted:I know the tank commander is a loving beast in terms of gameplay, just as an example. I'd go out of the way to say that they're the best unit in the game for reasons we'll see later, mostly once we reach a particular chapter. Tank type B + Captured AT cannon, here we come!
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Oct 28, 2019 02:13
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I honestly really like some of the background around VC2's story, it is generally more lighthearted than the first game but is still very much the same setting, I also have a high tolerance for anime hijinks as well so that helps. Pretty much all aspects of gameplay were improved in VC3 though. Very minor spoilers ahead so black bars just in case. I think it is in one of the newspapers, but the gallian constitution says the gallian militia can only be called up in the event of invasion. The army is also wrecked after the war, so what does Gallia do to fight the civil war? They start recruiting very heavily through Lanseal and using it in a military base in the south. It also allows them to field soldiers younger than they might otherwise be able to. It is pretty reckless and of dubious judgement long term but it is a solution to the desperate situation of not having much of an army left after VC1. I've probably spent way too much time thinking about the VC series setting and lore. 
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Oct 28, 2019 02:33
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Mathwyn posted:Things to say, many of them Tolerance for anime hijinks, a preference for lighthearted/slice of life stories, and more focus on character driven story rather than plot driven story is why end up with a rather mild opinion of the game. VC1 had a good amount of character development, but it was mostly on the five, then four main characters plus the villains. It makes for a tighter story, sure, but you end up with all of these units who you only really get story in the form of their character bios. VC2 has its problems in places, and being a negative person I'll probably harp on them a lot, but I try to point out the parts of the game I do like. (Some of that coming up with the next update as well.) If I have time after this LP, I may take up VC3, but that's a long time from now. Never played it, never seen anything about it or VC4. All I know is that it plays better than this one. Keeping that under spoiler bars is fine enough. I never really thought about it too much, but that really does make sense, now that you say it. Doesn't improve my opinion of the school any though. I don't know if it's ever mentioned when Lanseal was actually established, but given World War technology, the size and prestige of the campus suggests it's been around for a while. I forget, did any of the battles we see in VC1 take place in southern Gallia anywhere near the Lanseal region? I think most of it was up north due to the desert and the ragnite mines until it migrated towards the capital when the Empire started making the final push on Randgriz.
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Oct 28, 2019 03:06
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Interception fire in VC2 mostly just tickles for almost the entirety of the game. That was one of things that really caught me off guard when playing VC3, enemies actually hurt again there Zeri is a perfectly fine Shocktrooper who does Shocktrooper things. Avan, despite being the main character, is pretty darn mediocre, and Cosette has Issues that we'll get to. Our main trio are not terribly overpowered units or anything, at least.
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Oct 28, 2019 03:50
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The Flying Twybil posted:I forget, did any of the battles we see in VC1 take place in southern Gallia anywhere near the Lanseal region? I think most of it was up north due to the desert and the ragnite mines until it migrated towards the capital when the Empire started making the final push on Randgriz. If memory serves it's home to the kloden wildwood where you take on jager for the first time and capture the imperial supply base. I would very much recommend vc4. It takes a few things from the PSP games, but by far plays like more vc1. Never played the PSP games because I'm too lazy for :files: but I've heard 3 is really good from a variety of sources. FoolyCharged fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Oct 28, 2019 |
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Oct 28, 2019 04:25
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Solitair posted:I still need to finish the old LP of the first Valkyria Chronicles. Speaking of, is there any particular LP that you recommend? The one in the LP archive has mostly been eaten by blip.tv getting shut down.
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Oct 28, 2019 05:15
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theshim posted:Interception fire in VC2 mostly just tickles for almost the entirety of the game. That was one of things that really caught me off guard when playing VC3, enemies actually hurt again there Interception fire does get real bad later with Machine Gunners and Gatling Bunkers, but yeah, for most of the game it's basically a tickle. Especially when we're talking about armor techs and their promotions. They can eat most of anything to the face without taking damage and are basically required for a story mission in the late game, at the end of chapter 8. Avan's only advantage is his health and commander benefits. He can be a capable member of any class, but he hardly ever shines. FoolyCharged posted:If memory serves it's home to the kloden wildwood where you take on jager for the first time and capture the imperial supply base. Ah, jeez, I remember the Kloden Wildwood now, bombing all those trees and especially Jager and his surprises. Jager was a pain all the way until the end- I remember being stuck on the last mission involving him for quite a while. I'd take a look at VC4, but my pockets are a bit empty these days. I'll probably give it a look sometime if I can find a nice LP of it somewhere. HardDiskD posted:Speaking of, is there any particular LP that you recommend? The one in the LP archive has mostly been eaten by blip.tv getting shut down. I didn't know the archive one had been down, but I suppose I should have figured that since it was done in 2008 or something on the original release of the game. I don't know of any, so I'd also be interested in knowing if there's a good LP of it out there somewhere, perhaps just to jog my memory about it a bit more. Checking on the Master List, it seems like there was a finished one about 4 years ago here, don't know if it's any good or not: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3698184. (Hey look, we've almost managed to push this to the next page! After update 3 and its supplementary update with all the relevant character info, most updates should be a good bit shorter than this, hopefully, but they'll take a bit longer because I don't already have them nearly done. Update 3 and all that goes with it will be up sometime midday tomorrow!) The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 05:43 on Oct 28, 2019 |
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Oct 28, 2019 05:33
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Mathwyn posted:I honestly really like some of the background around VC2's story, it is generally more lighthearted than the first game but is still very much the same setting, I also have a high tolerance for anime hijinks as well so that helps. Pretty much all aspects of gameplay were improved in VC3 though. As far as the spoiler, the game will get to that in a bit, but the reason behind it is the militia can't be called on to fight a war against fellow Gallians. So the militia can't be used for civil wars, basically. This does make sense in a certain way (you don't want your citizens killing each other on orders from the government and adding fuel to the rebellion fire), but it's also still a stupid reason given for why we need to rely on a bunch of highschoolers. The Flying Twybil posted:I forget, did any of the battles we see in VC1 take place in southern Gallia anywhere near the Lanseal region? I think most of it was up north due to the desert and the ragnite mines until it migrated towards the capital when the Empire started making the final push on Randgriz. Kloden Wildwood is the major one for South Gallia. The south doesn't see many battles specifically because of Kloden, which acts as a natural barrier. It's also closer to the Atlantic Federation borders, so getting troops further south and around Kloden is a dangerous prospect for the Empire. Several missions in VC3 also happen in the south. Both Gallia and the Empire have black ops squadrons operating down there. It isn't an attractive route to take for invasion, unless you want to try and pincer attack. FoolyCharged posted:I would very much recommend vc4. It takes a few things from the PSP games, but by far plays like more vc1. Never played the PSP games because I'm too lazy for :files: but I've heard 3 is really good from a variety of sources. 3 is very good. It has an interesting premise (a penal squad that's used for black ops missions), characters (all the characters are in a penal squad, so they got sent there for some reason or another. One old lady ran a prostitution house/ring, another guy is a gangster, I think one dude is an arsonist), and gameplay (which has already been mentioned). It's one of my favourites of the entire series, more so than 4 (although 4 is really good in its own right). My only complaint with 3 is that special abilities can be ridiculously overpowered (there is a scout that can trigger Valkyria mode once per turn, for example).
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Oct 28, 2019 12:09
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Apepresident's VC1 LP looks good except that all images are dead. Should still be good since the text and videos are still up. He also made a LP of VC3 but it's not on the archive...
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Oct 28, 2019 13:56
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Update 3: A Merry Band of Personality Issues Music: Autumn in Lanseal  Cripes, these money rewards are awesome. So last time, we were- …Wait, wrong file. Music: Winter in Lanseal  Yeah, that looks more like it. Anyways, last time we went through a lot of to meet a nice girl who wants to be a doctor and a jerk named Zeri who called us a bunch of clowns (also some other stuff). We passed our entry exam and Avan was determined to have the power of free choice.Now we get to go meet the principal and endure even more before we get to do tactical things again. This whole update shall be , but there’s going to be a good bit of mechanical stuff towards the end.But first, anime. --  Hey, look, the game did the sound effects for me this time.  That haircut is an odd one. I’ll forgive it because you have good facial hair.  We aced it with as perfect a score as you can get, by the way.   : I am the headmaster here, Laurence Kluivert. It’s nice to meet you, Avan.: Hmm. It seems your exam results place you in Class G. He sounds rather disappointed in a way. We’ll probably see why later. : I hope you’ll make the best of your time here at Lanseal, my boy. Right, we were here to interrogate him after all. Better get to that part. : Is there something else, son?   This place is pretty irresponsible in all honesty. We’ll see, later. : Your brother was a student of great promise, and a true patriot.: He stood out amongst his peers in intelligence, strength, and leadership. This line sounds very rehearsed. Makes you wonder how often Laurence here has been in this situation before.  So...the government is paranoid, but I suppose it makes logistical sense. : But just before his death, he was appointed to a special mission.: A special mission? Wait, you already knew he was on a special mission? This seems dumb, but I’m having trouble pointing out exactly where.   …Was that it? Really? Anyways, this doesn’t tell us much since we don’t know how long it was between these two events. Figuring out anything about Leon right now aside from “he was the bestest” doesn’t seem likely.  Just the one? I mean, Gallia’s like the size of the Netherlands, but I’d figure you’d at least have two since you’ve got so much ragnite. : The students here study and train tirelessly to keep their nation safe.: That was Leon’s aim in accepting the mission that cost him his life as well.Well, it’s been confirmed that Leon died on the “special mission”, but we easily could’ve figured that. I figured Avan would’ve, but his surprise reaction suggests otherwise.  I want info!  Maudlin? So either it means sentimental or drunk. I’m going with drunk, just because. : …: Gallia’s people are living in fear and anguish in the face of rebel atrocities.: I pray you will grow to become a powerful force for justice, Avan.I mean, he’s already got twice the HP of a standard unit plus the power of free choice.  Avan’s not particularly excited about this. I wouldn’t be either.  Outside the dorms…  …Now we’re inside the dorms. I don’t know why he’s already got trophies sitting up, but whatever.  For my first crack at dorm living, it’s not so bad!It’s still quite messy. Also, why the heck do you have a soccer ball with you? I could also nitpick the anachronism of it having the black and white style, but it’s anime, so I’m not going to bother at this point.   Yeah, I would be too- wait, that was all during the same day? Sheesh, that’s rough. Better get a good night’s sleep in before classes start up tomorrow!--  Well, there’s not much to say here right now. After a mission from now on, we’ll usually end up here. We get access to some more options later, but for right now we just sleep to progress the story. --  Better be careful not to screw it up on day one. Leon if you please… I told you we’d be seeing these a lot.  That…uh, “king”? Hm. This one sounds really self-important.  : I came here to find out, but so far it’s all still a big blank.Well, it’s not nothing. We were pretty definitively told that he got taken out in the “secret mission”, but then again, that was pretty easy to figure out on our own.  Hey, now this actually sounds like a reasonable approach! I like it! : Maybe he’ll tell me more about that mission once I’ve earned a rep.: Now that that’s settled, I’m stoked to get started! Next stop, Classroom G!Soundbite: “I’ll do it!” One vertical fade later…    : Who shows up late to class on the first day?! Dude, didn’t you say that you weren’t “going to screw it up on day one?”  Hey, look, a random guy! I’ll have to remember to make him a portrait at some point.  Easy enough. : Got it. Thanks man!Thanks, stranger dude!  *Avan is trying to catch his breath-* This distortion is part of the ROM, not my recording. I’ll have to go check if it was this way on the physical version.  He nearly runs into these dudes, managing to keep balance as he swerves out of the way.  He hardly stops when saying this. It’s hard to get a non-faded frame.  : Wooo hoo!   Oh, hey, it’s some girl now? She’s out of breath too, by the way.  Well, at least its not an attempt at a skirt-shot like it usually does.    Avan_bwuh: Woaah, ugh! Avan barely manages to catch onto the door to stop from running past it.  Well, he’s out of AP for the round.  *The tower bells are ringing.*  *Someone comes up behind him, also out of breath.*  (Ignoring a skirt shot that came before this )On that note, hey, Cosette!  …Because anime.   Sounds smart. : But then I was so full, I kind of nodded off. I got here just under the wire.That’s why I don’t eat that much for breakfast- I get full really easily. I’d also complain that the bell had rung before she made it here, but she’s nice and I’m not going to be mean. My teachers were strict enough to shut the door in your face if you were right on the bell.  Speaking of nice, here’s someone who isn’t. : Oh hey, it’s Zeri. What do you mean what are we doing here? We got put in Class G.: What?! Ungh, of course I HAD to be placed with you.I’m sure some of the readers sympathize with this statement.  Well, we should’ve seen this coming considering both of you had cutscenes and your both on the box alongside Avan.  Huh? *There’s a bit of mumbling amongst the people in the room.*   Oh, no, not you. Imagine the one of the most haugty, rich girl voices you can think of.   I’ll be up front, I like Avan more than this lady. : Me? I’m Avan Hardins. I’m in Class G, starting today.At least he tries to make a good impression.  This encounter partially makes no sense, and we’ll see why a lot later on. Also that “hmph” is as filled with contempt as you get. I can’t deny her voice acting at least.   Before you ask, yes this did start with another scroll-up and skirt shot.  Hey, we aced that entrance exam!   : It’s the unalloyed truth. You haven’t even produced a class chair.: Your sustaned presence at this academy shames me. You stain Lanseal’s name! Same here.  Shy girl’s voice: Um… Shy guy’s voice: Hm…  : Hmph. Not a one. You see? Just as I said, Class G is a— Music: Are We a Spoiled Class?   : I just got so angry listening to her talk, my hand just shot up! I repeat,  She’s actually quite wrong in this regard- Avan does manage to be a good enough leader. Though I do wish Cosette was our leader. : What? What’s your problem, talking down to everybody like you own the place? : Please. You’re barely fit to follow, let alone lead. That takes an elite.What is this, Fire Emblem?  : There are few things more pathetic than the pedigree of a self-styled elite.Hey, Zeri stepped in for us! See, I knew you weren’t that bad. : Y-You impertinent beast! A Darcsen, presuming to mock ME! I’ll have your—*Footsteps show up from behind.*  Oh, hey, it’s Brixy again.  The way he says this is almost like its out of a MGS game. : Juliana. Is there a reason you’ve chosen to visit us today? *She walks off.* Finally. *The tower bells ring again.* : All right, let’s begin today’s lesson, shall we?Yeah, he’s our teacher. Just wait. Music: Theme of Class G   I think that counts as a burn. Let me look that up. Oh, it just means “to enroll”? Huh. Brixy, why would you be surprised? Avan is an obvious anime protagonist- of course he would’ve enrolled. Whatever, I’ve actually learned something today.  Here, Brixham introduces all three of them in their full view, letting you see the height differences. I skipped his one-at-a-time introduction because you already know who they are, hopefully.  Ah, yes, the true nature of Avan. : I’m glad to be here, and I’m sure we’ll all get on great.That’s some odd phrasing.  …And again begins the Leon fan-wagon.  Soundbite: “Hmm…” An incredibly androgynous one at that.  Soundbite: “Hmm.” These are both characters we’ll meet soon. I like both of them. : What, you all knew him? We’ll never hear the end of it, will we? : Let’s return to your introductions. Cosette? Hey, I do that too! Huh, I explicitly remember not liking Cosette that much, but I’m having trouble remembering why. (Well, aside from one thing I won’t tell you yet.)  At least he’s to the point about it.   I have no loving clue why this little bit is here because it makes very little goddamn sense to me, if any. You’ll see why in a bit. : Avan will serve as class chair. You signed up for it, dude. Honestly, this sounds more like Cosette’s line than it does Avan’s- it feels off.  drat, Brixy. This line is quite rude, but I can’t help but laugh at how up front he is. The semi-patronizing smile is what really makes it, though. He's really wrong in saying this, though. Most of the class members are actually good at what they do. : An ambivalent newcomer is a vast improvement.I don’t know if ambivalent describes Avan well. : Isn’t that kind of harsh? How does a teacher say that about his own class?!: It’s the truth. Lanseal has no need for those cadets unwilling to try.I’d honestly say most of the kids here are trying their best, but it’s their personality issues that becomes the problem. : Organizing and outfitting the squad for training exercises will be your job.: You’ll have to learn the ropes between classes. You get no special allowances.…So what you’re saying is that Avan is royally screwed. Yeah, this sucks, but I guess a hero type like him would put up with it.  This is one of Avan’s positive qualities. The guy, though gullible, oblivious, and rash as he may be, the guy will stand up for others. How well he handles this, is up in the air though. : You can start right now.: The class needs a squad name. : Here a Lanseal, each class is also considered to be a single squad. Me neither, dude. Well, I get it, but it’s not really used for much. I think it’s for online information or something, but who actually plays this online?  Well, that’s immersion breaking. Either way, we can name our whole squad, with a six letter cap. This time, I opted to go with a creative name, “Squad”, but in the end, I leave the choice up to you, thread readers. Six letters, no profanity or anything really obnoxious. Silly names are still fine though- I’d name it Awful (which is appropriate), or Squat, Squid, or even something in Cyrillic, I don’t care. (I’ve got the Cyrillic option because it’s a EU copy of the game.) We can also add titles to our name as well, one before and one after, though I never bothered before. We get a few starting ones, so wait to see those in a minute if you want to try and make a joke name. My first playthrough, I went with "Sevens" after the team from VC1, because I’d just come off of playing it when I picked this up.   Luckily, we don’t have to do any of this. There’s no class simulation or anything, just missions and events.   Yeah, they really want you to use him, so I can’t really pass this deal up. He has to be on the battlefield for this, so we’re never going to stop seeing Avan. Music: Winter in Lanseal  Gah, finally. Sometimes this game thinks it’s a visual novel. Normally I don’t mind, but that results in a lot of work on my end.  : These are today’s items of note.Soundbite: To begin, here is today’s news. Hello, Homeroom. We’ll see this screen every single day we wake up from bed, so get used to seeing it. For most updates from now on, this will be what we open with. System: You earned the title “Promising” - “Dream” - “Light” - “Holy” - “Fairplay” …? - “Elite” …Take that, Juliana? I guess? The hell did I do for that? I don’t even have that on my main file...?– “Sprinters” I don’t even know what all of those were for. Seriously. I was never able to figure out how to access them until yesterday, and I made it 45 hours into this game.  Ah, well, I’ll put up a list at the end of the update. If anyone wants to know what they’re for, ask and I’ll look. Tutorial: Game Progress- You do missions. Once you do enough Key Missions, you’ll move onto the next month. Extra missions don’t progress the story. There’s also some events on the maps too- only the ones with double exclamation marks are required to progress.  Alright! We’ve got a lot going on it seems. Here’s the Briefing Room. We take our missions from here. We’re missing three other locations right now because we’re still kinda in tutorial mode, but we’ll get them soon. For now, we’ve got some events to see, designated by the exclamation marks, and some tutorials to view, designated by the books at the training grounds. I’ll quickly get the tutorials out of the way, mostly word for word: Tutorial: The Hospital- Units that have fallen in battle and been hospitalized (captured or left too long) cannot be deployed for the next 3 missions. Be sure to aid fallen units to avoid losing key squad members for a crucial upcoming mission. Twybil’s Note: This has only ever happened to me once outside of savescumming. Tutorial: Potentials- Sometimes special abilities known as “potentials” are awakened in units during battle. These reflect their personality and provide bonuses or negatives based on certain conditions. Twybil’s Note: These are really more important than base stats, so you’ve got to watch out. By completing a character’s storyline, you’ll usually improve their potentials in some way or another. I’ll list all of these in a separate post so that this update doesn’t end up being so long on its own. Tutorial: Orders- As class chair, Avan can spend CP to give commands known as “orders”. These have effects upon the battlefield, often providing beneficial buffs to your units.  Twybil’s Note: From experience, most are useless. It rescues a downed unit for 2 CP. I don’t think it even has one of these flashy animations. Yeah. I’ll show you what I mean later. Alright, time to meet the rest of our crew so you thread readin’ folks can decide which of these folks we bring along. To the Mess Hall we go! Music: Everyday Life of the Class  --   It’s unfortunate what time will do to a word.   : I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced yet, dude.  : Wherever there’s news, there’s Netzel!Lotte runs her own newspaper, says “dude”, a lot, and has hilarious voice lines based on newsline headings. She's got a snaggletooth and her storyline is fun. She also makes a good sniper from my experience.   : Um… My sister is a shocktrooper here, too. Nice to meet you.Nichol is a good kid and a good scout, even if he’s a bit shy. He reminds me of myself in high school before I became a hard-hearted jerk. I’ve used him a lot in the past, and I’m not adverse to having him on the team again. He's a cool guy.   : The thought of serving under your command is… Bah.Was part of my reserve team, mostly because his potentials are hard to work with. He’s from the Empire, actually, and he’s seemed an interesting character. Wouldn’t mind giving him more of a chance since he hits hard, for a scout.   : Hee hee… Your back’s wide open, Hardins. You could get shot…Oh, and her portrait is always off screen like that. Get used to it, I guess? *Edit: I have been informed that Melissa is not, in fact, a Darcsen. Apparently I had it wrong all these years. Still, most of the other characters don't have issues with Darcsens, so I still don't get that scene. Thanks goes to resident forum poster theshim.*  : Don’t let her get to you, dude. That’s just her way of saying hi.*See above edit.  : Us scouts are super mobile and we’re good at sighting enemies, too.: I’ll remember that. It’s good to know that I’ve got you guys with me!-- One down, four more to go. Yeah, this’ll be a long one.    : You’re Hardins, yes? A moment, please.: Huh? You look familiar… Are you in--? : But I though I still ought to introduce the class shocktroopers.  Yep. Anisette is related to Edy Nelson from VC1, and follows suit in being bubbly, upbeat, and a shocktrooper. Her voice lines are actually pretty funny and her potentials make her possibly the best shocktrooper available. No complaints with her, really.   : I trust we’ll get along famously.Marion’s a noble. I can’t really say too much about her without going into her storyline, but she’s a useful shocktrooper with some potential. She was mostly a base-defender in my playthrough, given her tendencies. She talks very fancy and uses sophisticated words.   : Hmph.*He walks off.*  : And there he goes. That was typical Erik. Erik Kampmann. : He can’t even spell the word teamwork, and he’s always getting in fights.Huh.  : We shocktroopers’ stamina and firepower make us the nemeses of foot soldiers.: Try to remember that if you have any intention of commanding this squad.Right, for some reason, Franca doesn’t even introduce herself fully. She’s Nichol’s sister and a pretty useful shocktrooper if my records tell the truth. Her schtick is her strictness and her voice lines are somewhat fun as well. : Heh, leave it to me, and I’ll leave the firefights to you!--  Moving onto the Grounds. --   : Getting there! You guys are all in my class, right?  : These guys are Class G’s lancers.Uh, you do realize the others are girls, right? “Guys” is relatively neutral at this point, but still.  Tristan is basically your Largo from VC1, except he’s not a special unit. He only has one negative potential from what I’ve seen, but I just didn’t use him all that much...?  : I want this war to end so we can all get back to playing ball already.Rene’s a tomboy, and also a cool person. All the lancers are cool, really. Her voice lines are sports based, specifically soccer. She was my backup lancer, but I remember her accuracy never being the best. She picked up a lot of armorslaying potentials, though.   : I look forward to serving with you!Noel’s into the idea of being a soldier, and she holds her own as a good lancer. I found her voice lines to be pretty fun and upbeat while her story's nice too. Her model even comes with the beret. Again, all the lancers are cool.   : If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m always around.Coleen, like all the lancers, is good people. She somehow ended up becoming a mortarer, which meant I never got to see all of her story because I tend to ignore mortar weaponry over old fashioned bullets. Her soundbite here is “Got a second?”, but I don’t know why. She’s nice in general.  Actually, they aren’t. Well, they are, but not for long. Lancers are unfortunately not as useful as you’d figure in this game, given that they’re people carrying giant, spear shaped rocket launchers. Still, when you’re low on other options and you need a tank or gatling bunker down, they’re the ones for the job.  : We also wear heavier armor to shield us from explosions.Yeah, but it also has less defense in the back, if I'm remembering right. Either way, lancers are pretty beefy in health and defense, but there’s another class better than them at that. : Good to know. And good to know I’ve got you guys in my corner!--  To the hospital we go! If you noticed from the screenshot at the grounds, the hospital has the engineer symbol on the roof- that’s who we’ll find here. --   : Mm? Hey, it’s the new kid. Over here, Avan!: Yo! You guys are, er… : We’re Class G’s squad of engineers.  : I look forward to great things from you, Avan!Randy’s an interesting engineer. Stat-wise, most of the engineers aren’t much to talk about, but I used him as a reserve engineer and somehow managed to see his whole story though I don’t use engineers too often. He’s interesting- that’s all I can really say for now.   : I-I’ll try my best not to get in the way!Raymond’s the gentle giant type. He’s big, he could hurt people, but he chooses to help instead. He’s a cool guy though, and I never saw his whole story. Not much else to say, considering most engineers are rarely different.   : And I have to say, I’m not impressed. Hayseeds like you aren’t my type.I’m sure quite a few people don’t like Sofia for reasons we might see, but I suppose the case is similar for a lot of the characters. She’s got  : Ha ha! Poor Magari is terribly shy, but she’ll warm up to you soon.: I hope so, because that was more than a little awkward.Magari was my main engineer until her promotions put her in a different role- Sofia took over from there. Magari’s neat, but one of her potentials is a bit straining on her usability and her max health is really low. Still, I tended to like using the Darcsens when available, and she also reminds me of my younger self in a way.  : We can use ragnaid to heal people from afar.With promotions, they can heal from stupidly long distances. They’re always in a support role, though. : I’ll bank on that! Thanks in advance for keeping us all alive!-- One more, and we can put a lid on this update filled with . We go to the courtyard! Ignore the fact that I did these out of order and tried to fix that without you noticing my editing! --   : Yo, Avan! What’s up, man?: Hey, you guys are from my class. You’re… Who are you again?  : I’m Joachim Osen, man! These guys here are all Class G’s armored techs.  : It’d be great if you remembered me. Or at least just the name.I feel real bad for Morris because I’m the kind of person who gets forgotten easily, and I uh… never used him. Like, ever. drat, that makes me feel like a jackass. Not much to say about him, aside from that his initial potentials are awful. Sorry, dude.   : I look forward to seeing you prove yourself worthy of command.Alexis is an incredibly androgynous guy, be not fooled. His voice acting is actually pretty good in this respect. Alexis is mostly a serious person, and I didn’t really give him much of a shot until halfway through the game where he turned awesome with potentials. I owe a few map victories to him, and his story is nice as well.   : Pay no mind to me. …I’m a Darcsen.Mischlitt was my primary armor tech, primarily because I like using the Darcsen characters. Her potentials are actually great, her story is good enough, and, well… her useful potential procs often. She does her job well, and when push comes to shove, that’s really what I need. She’s also the only girl on the AT team that we’ll have for a long time, if you were wanting to run an all female squad.  He means this in the literal sense. They have shields and wield warpicks in a game with rocket launchers. Yep. Their shields block most of anything for 100% protection, and they get mind-bogglingly tough throughout their promotion trees. Hell, just wait to see what weapons they get later, because it's ridiculous. : We’re also trained to safely disarm land-mines.Yeah, the techs stole that and sandbag repair from engineers for whatever reason. It makes the techs marginally more adaptable, but also hurts the usage of engineers. Regardless, I’ll need at least one, if not two AT’s for later in the game because, ye gods, do they make sure that you need them.  Oh, right, Joachim. I, uh, never used him, really. What I saw of his story wasn’t enough to convince me to use him, but judging the characters at first glance is usually bad so we’ll see where he fitts in later. His potentials aren’t bad, but I never liked him enough to use over my other units. : Hah, I think I got it. Thanks for the intros. It’s good to meet you!-- Ah, we’re finally done with today’s update, almost. This update ends here for now, since I’ll need to give my viewers a chance to pick out their favorite units to use first. Those who get used first, get their stories seen the earliest, so keep that in mind. I’ve already weighed in with my progressively biased opinions on the matter, so I’ll leave it to the thread. Participation: Cast up to 6 votes total, positive or negative, towards any of the characters in our class. Keep in mind that Avan, Cosette, and Zeri’s stories are tied to the main story, so they don’t matter. Also, Avan will always be part of the group unless I’m met with incredibly overwhelming opposition because he’s too good mechanically not to use. I will also always have at least one of each unit class, so also that’s an override if necessary. For example vote: Nichol, Anisette, Marion + 2, Randy -1, Joachim -1. Group Name + up to 2 titles chosen from. Six character limit, nothing explicit. See the below test post for list of all currently owned titles and character info. But wait, there’s more! Potentials have been mentioned a lot, and there’s also that list of available titles I promised. I have a list of both that I’ll put up in this separate update because this one has gone on too long, but be sure to check it if you’re voting for characters. Our next two missions are only training missions, but one is based on mobility, the other on clearing all enemies. The next update will be both of them, back to back, and perhaps more. Updates this long will be rare from here on out, just saying. --> Character Info and Titles <-- The Flying Twybil fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Oct 29, 2019 |
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Oct 28, 2019 19:07
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Helmut x2, franca, noel x2, Sofia Team Bad
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Oct 28, 2019 21:04
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That was a bit of character and information overload, but that's just how the game is early on. There's time enough to get to all these people, good and bad. One thing - I'm pretty sure Melissa is not, in fact, a Darcsen. She's just weird. Anyway, let's give you some of the actually good units, or at least some of the less desperately obnoxious ones. Melissa, Erik, Reiner, Mischlitt x3 mischlitt is very good
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Oct 29, 2019 01:11
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