Enlisting for Anime Military School Hijinks: Valkyria Chronicles 2

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Enlisting for Anime Military School Hijinks: Valkyria Chronicles 2

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Psycho Knight posted:

gently caress this game. gently caress it so hard. gently caress its loli Valkyria and especially gently caress the V2s.

2 years! 2 goddamn years to go from Maximilian requiring an entire power plant built into a battleship and possibly permanently loving up his body just to barely wield the power; to full production model field-deployed mobile Artificial Valkyria. This was done by a loving backwoods rebel faction (and whatever clandestine helpers they had) in the midst of rebuilding in the aftermath of a continent-wide war. Also, Maxi's prototype was destroyed. I want to remind people that (based on what we see throughout the VC games) Europa has yet to master the concept of flight.

Flight is weird in VC. Like, you have the ISARA as this special, one-of-a-kind thing, but in the same game the in-universe notes by reporter lady on the VC1 enemy units note that the Tank Destroyer's main gun was based on anti-aircraft weaponry, which is ??? if they don't, you know, have aircraft.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2020 22:42

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:33

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

I like the idea that the reason why Orders are bad and overcosted in VC2 is because Avan is dumb and bad at commanding, which is kinda what Orders are supposed to represent.
Eg: Welkin's, Kurt's and Claude's "Attack Boost" order are all 1 CP, while Avan's is 4.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2020 15:12

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Jesus Christ the "Avan shooting himself" scene is as stupid as I remembered.
I thought my memories of specifically it were being tainted by the rest of the stupid of VC2 but nope, it is basically what I remembered.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2020 06:23

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Poil posted:

Such a kind gesture to do for someone. Amazing she didn't get even more traumatized.

Was this game made before or after the kinda crappy anime?

Anime was 2009, this was 2010.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2020 09:59

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Psycho Knight posted:

This is what I was referring to earlier when I mentioned that they wasted a plot line. They stuck Juliana in this game to be the sacrificial lamb that every VC game has (and this might have been the one to establish the trend). You know, the one character on the heroes side that has to die at some point in order to try and get a cheap emotional response from the players.

I remember who that is in VC4, but who was the sacrificial lamb character in VC3? There's the one who leaves your party, but them leaving isn't because they die at that point in the story. Unless Isara counts twice, I guess, given how VC1 and 3 are parallel and the casts run into each other and react to each other's stories.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2020 13:41

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Psycho Knight posted:

That character still counts. Leaving the party is sort of the "hero's death" in the sense that they've turned their back on the "good guys". But despite leaving the party, they are still counted as a "friend." Just look at how their death is treated in comparison to the villains.

VC3 is a little more nuanced in that regard though. That character pulls a heel turn due to atrocities committed by the supposed "good guys". Either way, they are still marked for death for no other reason than "we need someone to die". Besides, I never said it wasn't more effective in VC3. Isara's succeeded in bring tears to the old PK eyes. VC3's wasn't quite that powerful. VC4's was fairly effective. VC2's is just completely hollow.

I mean, AFAIR all the Calamity Raven Bosses get pretty somber death treatments by the narrative. Gusurg has a longer, more character-dialoguey death, but Dahau's death is treated entirely respectfully, while even someone like Lydia gets a "good/noble" death. Out of all the VC3 villains, I would say that from memory that only Borgia's death is treated disrespectfully by the narrative. All the others are treated fairly lightly (in some cases, arguably too lightly given what they died trying to do), probably cause the VC3 is trying to be less black and white than VC1 or (especially) 2.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2020 14:53

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Lord Koth posted:

Oh hey, I played this game a long time ago, and it's just as dumb as I remember.

In complete fairness, full-blown Valkyria with their lance/shield are presented as so far beyond what the V2s, or other artificial projects like Max had, can do it's not even funny. Like, Selvaria annihilates an entire line of tanks in seconds, and encounters with her just have her immune to everything (as helpfully cinematically illustrated by her just casually deflecting a tank round). And that's to say nothing about their insane speed too. You... can't realistically incorporate someone operating under those rules into standard gameplay alongside all the other troops you get and still make a reasonably balanced challenge. Maybe they could make some special one-off solo mission where you just get to stomp everything while controlling a Valkyria, but that's about it (actually, didn't you get to play as Valkyria Selvaria in the bonus mission of Behind Her Blue Flame?).

You do, and she�s absurd. Scout movement range, ridiculous interception fire, a toggleable firing mode between �accurate, infinitely piercing beam dealing 999 anti-Armor damage� and something like �20x 99 damage� laser burst.

You can also get Valks in VC3 non-canon bonus missions (discounting the halfbreed Valk you get in the squad who is strong but not WTF Selvy/Alicia/VC4Valk strong), and the Selvy and the VC4 Valk in VC4 postgame if you get the VC4 Valk v Selvy DLC. They�re all obviously hilariously broken, even in VC4 where IIRC they use 2 ap to move.

Shinji117 fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Feb 28, 2020

# ¿ Feb 28, 2020 08:03

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:33

Shinji117: Jul 14, 2013

Psycho Knight posted:

It's been a few years since I played VC3, but I don't think Reila is a "halfbreed". It's not like Selvaria/Alicia/Crymaria are full-blooded, since the Valkyrur disappeared over a thousand years ago due to good old genetics and interbreeding. Reila just has a mutation that causes her Valkyria attributes to be outwardly visible, like her half-white hair (which is probably the idea behind Selvaria's hair. Although I've always had a theory that Selvaria's hair was dyed that colour permanently as a propaganda thing for Maximilian).

The gameplay conceit behind Reila is that her transformation puts more strain on her body than it does on others, so she can't hold it as long (which is about the only way you can include her Valkyria form in-game while maintaining some semblance of challenge). Outside of that, her Valkyria form is basically a free turn of "do whatever you want because nothing can stop her". The risky thing about using her to take on tanks is that the transformation only lasts until the next turn, so you could wind up stranding her in the middle of enemies if you aren't mindful of CP or those Special Attack Points.

You are right though. The point is that it has been done, though it's typically as part of a "taste of power" mission.

Halfbreed isn't accurate, but I can't remember the exact term Scientist Lady calls Reila. IIRC, Riela is a much worse Valk descendant than the others (though I don't believe why she's not as great is explain), and once Scientist Lady sees Riela's valk form (by giving her the spear+shield) she dismisses her as a failure, as her Valk mode is on a timer even in-story and she isn't in the "I laser armies" power rank of Selvy/Alicia.

That, and another reason Riela's Valk mode isn't that great (gameplay-wise this time) is that Imca+Var is hilariously broken.

The Flying Twybil posted:

I never really bothered with the DLC and I've only played this game and VC1, so the most I've ever gotten in being able to have control of a Valkyria is the AI controlled Alicia from that one mission. This part always felt like a low blow to me, but I suppose it's nice to hear the later games give you the chance, at least.

VC1's Selvy DLC is actually pretty great (besides unfortunate minor animeisms, but nothing compared to VC2's mess).

# ¿ Feb 28, 2020 16:37

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Enlisting for Anime Military School Hijinks: Valkyria Chronicles 2