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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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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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: But what kind of school requires you to wear a uniform to be on campus?
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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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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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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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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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I'm tempted to dump all six votes on Marion, because she is one of the very few characters in this game tha I like. I guess I should try and diversify a little though, so: Marion x4, Coleen, and I guess Sofia, because I do indeed hate Avan. Team Avan Sucks won't fit, so I have no vote for team name.
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Oct 29, 2019 02:43
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Unit voting should definitely be per chapter or every few chapters/game months. Every mission is way too much. I think there are 15 or 16 main story missions in VC2, plus 30 or 40 "free" missions which sometimes may as well be story. Not to mention extra and character missions. I'm not sure how many missions you intend to show in LP form.The Flying Twybil posted:Quite a lot of scouts in this group, but I'm not complaining- this will be a great offensive team. Scout supremacy! 
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Oct 30, 2019 |
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Oct 30, 2019 03:57
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The Flying Twybil posted:I've never had problems making money, but something is telling me that this achievement is probably some ridiculous amount, right? The Graduation Album medal (not the Graduation Medal, which is different) requires you to get 20 Medals and 10 million Dct. Farming missions that can be completed in 1 turn only pay out about 18k I think. There may be faster money making methods involving farming equipment/rewards and selling those, but you are still looking at trying to grind to 10 mil at a pace of maybe 20-30k every 5 or 10 minutes. gently caress VC2 and it's grind heavy bullshit. VC3 unfortunately retains some of that with mastery grinding medals, but VC3 has no money medal.
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Oct 30, 2019 20:56
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The Flying Twybil posted:
It's rarely a good idea to fill every deploy slot. Your home base is usually out of the way or is easily defendable by a Heavy Gunner or a Trooper. Your usual strat for this game is blitzing enemy camps with a single unit and then deploying units from them. If you fill every slot at the start then you can't deploy new units without retreating others (which might cost you CP if they are not near a friendly camp). You will also waste a ton of CP if you try and move up every unit from home base. There are a handful of maps where deploying all that you can is helpful, but for the most part the AI doesn't prioritize home base capture (unless it's wide open and also can be reached in 1 unit movement), so just leaving a token defence force is enough to ward off instant fail.
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Oct 31, 2019 23:30
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The Flying Twybil posted:Normally I wouldn't ask this, but do we want to bother voting for new units? Yes or no? I say no. Nobody has failed us yet (except almost Helmut. Shameful.), so they should stick around. This is one of the big reasons I hate VC2 so much. This is not a series that lends itself to a school setting. It's goofy "Avan is a moron" style anime hijinks (as well as other 'wacky' anime tropes we'll see later) one moment, and then we're watching civilians being shot dead in the street as part of an ethnic cleansing. You also have command of an entire squad being determined at random. There are lives at stake and this trash bin of a military academy just throws command over to a moron that only passed the entrance exam through dumb luck. What's worse is that this makes the antagonists look laughably unthreatening. This is a well armed rebel faction with experienced battle tested commanders being outclassed by a bunch of loving high schoolers who piss their pants at the word "tank". The militia is made up of young conscripts as well, but the big difference there is that the squad leaders actually received officer training. They also had veterans of the first war taking part. There was at least someone of general competence holding the reigns. VC2 gives us Avan.
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Nov 5, 2019 17:52
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The Flying Twybil posted:The biggest issue with this game plot-wise is simply this right here, I'll admit. The game jumps back and forth tonally so much to the point I really struggle to take it seriously. The intro to the game puts Avan as a heroic kid trying to follow in the footsteps of his brother as he protects his hometown. And then it just goes progressively downhill in seriousness from there. Progressively downhill is putting it lightly. We just heard that the militia can only be called on against invasions. I mentioned it before that trying to use a militia in a civil war is problematic. With that said, it is still stupid in this case, although the reason why is story spoilers at the moment (assuming I am remembering the details of the VC2 late game correctly). People are being gunned down in the streets and villages burned to the ground, that seems worthy of a militia employment in the name of peace keeping. The Flying Twybil posted:I mean, the militia was nearly the only competent people in the entire military in VC1, so yeah. It's amazing that Gallia has managed to last this long. Ratoslov posted:I got the impression that Gallia, prior to VC 1, had been hanging out in Not-Europe relying almost entirely on trade, diplomacy, naturally defensible geography, and not having anything worth taking in order to stay independent. So the Gallian military was there largely to protect against the specter of a peasant uprising and to take the failsons of the aristocracy. Then it turned out Ragnite was useful, and suddenly the Gallian military actually had to be good for something. Hwurmp posted:This fits perfectly with everything else I've seen of the Gallian Army. The Gallian Military of EW1 was commanded by strong leaders and apparently kicked a lot of rear end during that war, so they at least used to be good. EW1 had leaders like Belgan Gunther and General Kankkunen (Welkin's war hero dad and the mysterious old gentleman in the cemetary, respectively). Hell, according to the design works, General Damon's grandfather was an accomplished general back when Gallia was an empire. The only reason for the shittiness of Gallia's military during VC1/3 seems to be because of Borg getting elected as Prime Minister. Borg is the one that makes Damon a general, despite the fact that he was only a militia squad commander in EW1 and was a failure even at that. VC1 spoilers which may have been the point all along. Borg sabotaging Gallia's military was probably part of his plan to usurp rulership of Gallia. Squad 7 pushing things back is when he turns to cutting a deal with the Empire or the Atlantic Federation. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Nov 6, 2019 |
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Nov 6, 2019 01:26
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HardDiskD posted:Is it ever explained how the rebels got their hands on an Imperial tank? Although it wouldn't be hard to believe they just found abandoned Imperial materiel... There is a fairly good reason for where they got their material support. One reason is a very minor story spoiler: the rebels are getting support from the Atlantic Federation. Another reason is that the nobles leading the rebels are based in South-East Gallia, near the Kloden forest. As mentioned in a previous lore dump, Gallia's Southern front was relatively quiet due to the difficult terrain and proximity to the Atlantic Federation border. Chances are that the noble forces in that area didn't suffer as many losses as the Central and Northern forces of Gallia's army, so they probably had a small stockpile of guns and ammo. There's also an incredibly anime/stupid reason for the rebels strength. Finally, there is some confusion about tanks. The rebels aren't using Imperial tanks, they are using Gallian. They have the same color pattern as the Imperial tanks did, but if you take a second look you'll see that the design of the tank in the last update is closer to Gallia's Light/Medium tanks. It also doesn't have the front armour "plow" that Imperial tanks are known for. I think the rebel tank in the last update is the Gallian Type 36, which went into mass production after the war and uses elements of the Edelweiss in its design. Gallia started making a lot of those after the war, although there still aren't many heavy types at this point. Now, as for how the rebels got their hands on state-of-the-art tanks that only entered production maybe 18 months ago, I have no loving clue. Gallia's industrial zone is in the north of the country and newly built tanks would definitely be deployed to the North and Central divisions first since that's where the heaviest losses were. It's hard to believe that very many new tanks would have worked their way down south that quickly. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Nov 7, 2019 |
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Nov 7, 2019 17:43
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chiasaur11 posted:Just correcting a little. Avan's pretty Shonen 101 in general, and it's a really odd fit for the genre. Like Andy in Advance Wars, you have someone acting as the greatest military leader alive show the IQ of tapwater in every situation where the player isn't making choices. This is why I love characters like Robin from FE: Awakening, or literally every other Valkyria Chronicles protagonist. The player only advances in the game by winning battles, so the protagonist should be shown to possess some prowess as a commander in the story itself. Avan doesn't have that. He's not fit for being given command of anyone. He's barely above "faceless grunt". The absolute only reason he doesn't get himself and the entire squad killed is because he is the protagonist/hero of this game. There's a moment way later in the game where the strength of his hero protection is even more ridiculous, but it'll be awhile before we see it. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 15:05 on Nov 8, 2019 |
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Nov 8, 2019 15:02
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APC is a good little helper, but the escort missions will definitely erase a lot of the goodwill you might gain for it. VC2 has horrible escort missions, which are already bad as it is just as a gameplay function. I don't fault Welkin and Alicia staying out. Both of them sacrificed a lot for Gallia and deserve to live their lives as they wish. What's more, they both have a responsibility to their new family. As for Alicia specifically, her powers wouldn't solve anything. Part of it is story spoilers, like The Flying Twybil mentioned. Valkyria are definitely strong, but a lot of their power seems to come from shock and awe. Selvaria seemed unstoppable, until she got her rear end kicked by an unconscious barely awakened Alicia, or that time that the top idiot of the Gallian Army nearly managed to cap her. Not to mention that Alicia would definitely have concerns about misuse of her power. Those of you that played VC4 may know of the myriad of ways that governments found to utilize mentally fragile walking bombs.
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Nov 15, 2019 02:18
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Doctor Reynolds posted:I agree that Welkin and Alicia wouldn't sit by like this, but its such an absurd scenario that it might as well be an alternative universe or something. Nice to see the two of them again, though! I quite enjoyed those two, pretty rare for anime characters to actually end up together! They're usually stuck in will they/won't they purgatory! The will they/won't they status was thankfully resolved back in VC1. Them getting married wasn't something that VC2 came up with. Which is good, because it protected them from VC2's writers. I'm convinced that VC2 would have killed at least one of them off if they could, for emotional impact.Also, I hate Aliasse. That is all I have to say about this update. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 14:07 on Nov 18, 2019 |
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Nov 18, 2019 14:05
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The Flying Twybil posted:Aliasse brings with her much of the bad plot and design decisions, as well as being a good show of how this game can't keep it's tone straight at any point. Needless to say, I agree with this sentiment. I mean, that too. I additionally hate her because I don't like kids and I don't like loli-bait characters. The tonal divide in this game may have been an attempt to redirect the series to be more lighthearted, but either way the people responsible for the goofy slice of life stuff in VC2 clearly lost that battle. VC3 and VC4 went straight back to more serious tones. Revolution, despite being crap, also went with a serious tone. VC2 is the odd one out in this franchise, despite the framework it provided for the gameplay of future titles. I am happy with this, because there's enough goofy anime high school stuff around. I just started another LP of it. VC didn't need that kind if thing.
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Nov 18, 2019 20:48
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FoolyCharged posted:Now, now. While we're not going to escape this without blatant fan service of children, surely the pre pubescent one won't be included, right? Right, guys? Search your heart, you know the answer. The Flying Twybil posted:Oh, and just wait until we get to summer. You'll get your answer. Summer? You don't have to wait that long. We'll get the answer as soon as the game reveals the "secret" about her. That cloak she's wearing is not long for this world.
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Nov 19, 2019 17:24
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Doctor Reynolds posted:I meant more as in the "story". The rebel army makes some questionable decisions. Well if you're talking story, then deploying Lancers is just good sense. Waiting to deploy Anti-Tank units until you find out that enemy forces actually have a tank would be pretty stupid, since it would be too late. Your AT would never make it in time from whatever operating base you send them out from. In terms of them shooting at troops: If there is no tank to shoot at, then you may as well shoot at something. You're a sitting duck either way, so you might as well throw a Hail Mary (and luck out like that enemy Lancer did against Marion). If this was looked at purely through a story lens, then Marion would be dead and that Lancer would have gotten a medal and the nickname "The Sniper" because holy poo poo, he struck somebody in the head with a notoriously inaccurate rocket while they were behind sandbags.
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Nov 23, 2019 10:59
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Doctor Reynolds posted:So, you keep saying you never use orders. Were they super nerfed in this game? Because they're absolutely bonkers overpowered in VC1 and VC4. The Flying Twybil posted:Most of them cost 4-5 CP when you only have 6 in the early game, and 10 in the later game. They might be useful, but paying 4 CP to increase the attack of a unit temporarily is severely sub-par to simply being able to attack 4 times. The only ones I ever use is Medic Request (2 cost) which bails out a fallen unit, and Request Heal, which is 1 CP for a moderate heal on a unit (1 CP, basically a long range, weak engineer heal). As The Flying Twybil highlights, orders are far too expensive to bother using in this game. It's something that VC2 really fucks up badly. 4-5 CP is almost never worth it and the cheaper 2-3 CP orders are largely useless, especially with the smaller map sizes. Some of them do still have their uses in certain situations, but not nearly as much as in every other game. For example: Area Recon is one of the most useful orders across all games. We can't compare VC1's version of it because it functions differently than 2/3, but 3's versions cost 1 CP for a single map, and 3 CP for all maps. VC2's cost 3 for a single map and 6 for all maps, which is just stupid. If you burn 6CP on it, then you likely won't have a lot left to actually take advantage of it. The VC team clearly wanted to try and balance Orders, because some of them were pretty broken in VC1 (Area Recon, Attack Weak Spot, Demolition Boost-Oh LORD, Demolition Boost). Unfortunately, they went way too far in trying to reduce their effectiveness. They also made acquiring the orders really expensive (it costs 50k+ EXP to learn the order that boosts resistance to status ailments) or time consuming (Resupply requires you to get Engineers to Level 37 out of 50). Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Nov 24, 2019 |
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Nov 24, 2019 21:44
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The Flying Twybil posted:Yeah, so that was some harsh stuff. It's not fair to judge people on the actions of the people they're related to- I've dealt with enough of it, and it's awful. Ehhh, not saying it's cool to do that, but Helmut is not a saint. It's easy to forget because there are so many teenagers around, but Helmut is in his late 20's, he was a soldier of the Imperial Army, and he does indeed have prejudice against Darcsens. The Flying Twybil posted:
The church doesn't play any roles in VC1, but the idea of the Yggdist Church did exist before VC2. VC1 has statues of the Valkyrur that make reference to Ygg teachings. VC3 makes more references to the religious stuff and has a few characters that are more involved in it.
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Nov 29, 2019 22:18
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SSNeoman posted:I mean when you need to have someone under your command and they're being ostracized, getting to know them and making a connection is an important first step. How is doing what Zeri is doing helping anyone? And for the record I completely agree with Zeri's criticism. Oh, I'm not making a comment on that one way or another. Zeri's attacks aren't going to help the team morale that is desperately needed for everyone to survive Avan's incompetence. Helmut clearly doesn't like this arrangement either, but his whole thing is "I'm a soldier, so I will follow orders." I'm just saying don't be so quick to shed tears for the harrassment that Helmut is getting. He is definitely not an innocent man of the Empire that is being unfairly lumped in with others. He's a grown man responsible for his own views and actions, which include supporting at least some of what the Empire stands for. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Nov 29, 2019 |
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Nov 29, 2019 22:42
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I don't care if Marion is kind of creepy about guns. I still love her. I don't really have an opinion on the current crop of characters. I do agree with Doctor Reynolds on avoiding Status Guns though. The only use I've found for Status Weapons are as base defence. Better accuracy and better damage are almost always more useful for these games, because you should be striving to make sure everything dies in one or two attacks at most (with the exception of bosses). The Flying Twybil posted:
Just to be "that guy", but Theimer didn't work on Edelweiss (if you are using "worked on" to refer to maintenance). He designed and built it (with input from Belgan Gunther) from scratch. He actually didn't even get to see it put into action, because the war was over by the time it was completed and he died before the outbreak of EWII. As for Marion's bust, at least it isn't as ridiculous as... other characters that also appear in this game. No, I am not referring to Alicia.
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Dec 2, 2019 19:22
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The Flying Twybil posted:
My favourite description of this guy was when the game was first shown off. Someone on... I think it was Kotaku, was like "This dude looks like someone that has a song by 'The Who' playing every time he enters a room." I'm not going to lie, I love his design for its goofiness. FoolyCharged posted:Fun things the game leaves out: said federation ambassador also attempted a failed coup in the last game in order to make Gallia a federation vassal. This coup featured among other things kidnapping the ruler of the country and for whatever reason was so swept under the rug he was allowed to keep his job by the locals. This guy is a total shitstarter. He shows up in VC4 as well and (incredibly minor spoiler) tries to recruit Claude's squad for the Cordelia kidnapping mission. As for why the kidnapping mission gets swept under the rug, that was likely done by Borg. Borg was trying to ally with whatever major power would give him control over Gallia. The kidnapping mission was also very top secret, so there's some deniability there. Also keep in mind that he was the Ambassador to Gallia from the Federation. Gallian citizens don't have a say as to whether he keeps his job or not. Plus, Gallia has a lot on its plate during all 4 main games. Calling out the Federation for a secret failed coup could easily swing public support towards the Empire or away from the Federation, which makes things harder for Gallia (Townshend supports the legitimacy of Archduchess Cordelia's rule in public, even though he's working against her in private). Politics is garbage. I actually like Juliana as a character a little for how her arc progresses, even if it is really cliche (I generally like pink haired characters). The game badly fumbles her though. We won't see how for quite some time though. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Dec 6, 2019 |
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Dec 6, 2019 01:00
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SSNeoman posted:I think any place outside of the school is a real fight vs the rebels. It's the one thing about VC that I really hate in terms of gameplay. It wouldn't be so bad if ranking was just a bragging rights thing, but it's not. Rank determines payouts and some equipment acquisitions, so you constantly feel pressured to speedrun. Feels less like a tactical game and more like an overly serious capture the flag. The Flying Twybil posted:
Our
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Dec 9, 2019 16:05
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: Your answers earned you a zero, then I took off ten points for illegibility.
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Andyzero posted:The Japanese LOVE "Small Country Between Two Bigger Ones Caught in the Crosshairs." I doubt they are nervous about tackling that idea. As much as I love the series, the VC devs are incredibly safe when it comes to the larger geopolitics of the VC world and they stick way too close to actual WWII history (They have a country called The United States of Vinland that is essentially identical to the real world US during this time period, right down to not getting involved in the war right away and just sending military equipment). 9 chances out of 10 if they ever move beyond VC2 in the timeline, Gallia will just be part of Fantasy NATO. That way they are still independent from Not-EU but also keeps the Empire at bay, which is essentially the position they are in in VC2. It's an easy handwave. Alternatively they just end up getting ancient fantasy ICBMs. VC3 establishes those as being totally a thing in this world. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Dec 13, 2019 |
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Dec 12, 2019 23:59
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The Flying Twybil posted:Truth be told, over the hiatus I was looking over my older updates during my spare time and noticed a giant decline in both attitude and quality. The realistic fact is that this game isn't fun for me anymore, and I'm not the type to find it fun to wade on through for another few months to a year. I hate Avan. That's my only comment on the update. As for the ending bit: This is usually what happens when you LP a long game (or sometimes just games in general). SSLPs are particularly bad for this because you spend so much time analyzing a game, a lot more than you probably did when you actually played it for fun. You start honing in on the routines, the cracks, and all the imperfections that every game has. If you choose to do a game that you like, then it's best if you are very familiar with it going in. TheGreatEvilKing posted:What the hell is it with Japanese media and boob measuring? Japan just seems to have a love of statistics. They really love their blood types too. Real answer: It's an easy excuse for fan service and titillation. 
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Jan 8, 2020 |
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Jan 8, 2020 19:45
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The Flying Twybil posted:Given that I hadn't played this game in years and remembered it as vastly better than it is, this made for an unfortunate choice for an LP in general. I think internally, length was part of what hurt with this LP. At the rate it's been going, I'd go up against doing another 130+ updates for about 16 months and given that I'm no longer enjoying the game itself, it's a dreary outlook. If it was, say, only 15 more updates, it'd be a lot more bearable considering we'd have actually gotten somewhere. To be perfectly frank with you, if you're getting this burned out already, then I think you may want to consider restructuring the LP. My recommendation would be to cut out side missions unless you need them for filler. Other than that, you may want to cut Character Events down to only a few characters (such as the most popular ones). I can't speak for everyone reading the LP, but I would assume that most people would rather see the LP completed, even if it's focused entirely on story content, rather than dropped partway through. Just a suggestion. If you feel like you can power through it, then all the best to you. But if you're struggling with the motivation to work on each update, then I think you'd be better off just mainlining the story content. Like you said, this was a learning experience. It's why the Sandcastle users recommend that you not tackle a JRPG or other 40+ hour games in your first attempt. Keep in mind that I'm a crazy person that did just that with Conception II... and then again with World of Final Fantasy Maxima... and now for a third time with Conception Plus... and was recently thinking of Arc Rise Fantasia... I don't have a life, is what I'm saying. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jan 8, 2020 |
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Jan 8, 2020 23:11
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The Flying Twybil posted:I hear ya. Unfortunately, I'm horribly burned out on the game itself, not in doing LPs. It's detracting a whole lot from the experience having the subject matter be entirely uninteresting to me, and that's been backfiring hard given I do this to help with my depression. Helping (or at least distracting from) depression is why I started, so I understand where you are coming from. You have to be having fun with it or getting some kind of accomplishment from it in order for that to work though. I think you're doing a good job, personally. Where you seem to have stumbled is in your choice of game. Even the staunchest of VC2 defenders can't deny that the game is a slog compared to the others. It's like 90% side missions and grinding for various parts or class certificates. You're looking at 185 side missions compared to just 17 story missions. Again, I'm not an expert. I've only been at this for a year and I only have 2 and a quarter LPs to my name. I'm a newbie. But you’re here telling us that you are burned out and enjoying this less as time goes on, so I feel like I have to give you some kind of out or help, otherwise you're going to try and force yourself through it and sour the LP experience for yourself. -So if you just feel like you need time, then take it. LPs have gone on hiatus before. No big deal. -If you don't want to drop this and just feel like getting through it one way or another, then mainline the story missions. Grind off screen when needed and just show the thread the important stuff. It may not be your vision of what the LP was going to be, but at least you can say it's done. Then you take what you learned and you'll be in a better position if you feel like trying again. You can try a shorter game, or one that's more focused and less open to distractions (like optional missions), or simply one that you know you enjoy and that an LP wouldn't ruin for you. But for god’s sake, whatever you feel like doing, don't do this as a chore. Like TheGreatEvilKing just said, this game isn't bad enough for constant mockery which could make up for boring gameplay. It's not a "so bad it's good" game. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Jan 9, 2020 |
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Jan 9, 2020 04:19
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The Flying Twybil posted:I suppose that means she has clearance. She led a squad of her own during the last war for a while or something. I've never been clear on it, given it was DLC and Edy's not particularly a favorite character. She only led it in the sense that she acted like she was in command and all the other soldiers with her either don't care or are Homer. Edy didn't actually hold rank over anyone in that group. They were all Private rank. It was called the "Edy Detachment" and the reason for their existence is because Edy is a dumbass that mistakenly followed an Imperial detachment and got her and some other soldiers separated and lost from Squad 7. Then they run across a village that's under attack and Edy marches everyone right into it because they find out that Rosie was captured or some poo poo and Edy has a one-sided "rivalry" with Rosie. It's a stupid mission and it reuses the map from Largo's character mission (very tight quarters with a lot of buildings and alleys and blind corners). Edy was very popular in Japan because of course she was. She's a loving Tsundere with pigtails that acts kind of like an idol, so of course Japanese fans went ballistic for her. That's why she got a DLC mission centered on her as well as cameo appearances in the other VC games and also this off-brand Edy (Anisette) we're saddled with in VC2. This is all despite the fact that Edy is a lovely Shocktrooper. She has the Panicky potential, which lowers attack power when being fired at (which is an incredibly common situation for a Shocktrooper), and she also has Rosie Hater which lowers attack power whenever Rosie is nearby. In other words, she is a Shocktrooper that can't close the distance on enemies and also doesn't work well with one of the best Shocktroopers in the game. Most of her potentials are accuracy related, so she would have been great as an early-mid game Scout (she also has Phoenix, so there's a chance she will revive when her HP hits 0), but I guess that bad Class match is part of her backstory as a jealous rival that's desperately trying to one-up Rosie regardless of their gap in talent. I hate Edy and I hate Anisette because I hate Tsunderes. Both of them are irritating characters. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Jan 15, 2020 |
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Jan 15, 2020 12:48
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The character models don't reflect it because VC2 mostly uses a generic male and female body for each class, then just swaps a character head on to it, which makes everybody look nearly identical. I think there are only a few exceptions, such as Juliana (since the disappaearance of her gigantic tits would be too noticeable), but I could be wrong. It's really noticeable if you take a good look at guys like Raymond. His head is way too big for the scrawny generic body model and it looks really goofy. In terms of Morris, he is sort of small. He's 5 foot 5, I think. Colleen is still shorter though (5' 4). They were probably referring to physical bulk in this scene, since Morris is supposedly kind of weak in that department. Granted, we're talking about anime and VC2 here, so it's not like Avan or Zeri look that much stronger. Raymond and Reiner are some of the only guys that look like they've got power in them. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Jan 19, 2020 |
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Jan 19, 2020 13:21
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The Flying Twybil posted:Also, there's a spoiler in there, but at this point I'm not sure if it even matters, really. Most people would be able to guess it. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Jan 19, 2020 |
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Jan 19, 2020 16:14
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The Flying Twybil 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. The worst part is, this isn't even the as bad as this game gets with that unbelievable garbage. Don't even get me started on this dumpster fire of a mission. APC Escort combined with tank-killer class enemies. Oh yeah, and I agree with cutting combat. Show highlight moments or cool stuff, but you don't need to focus so much on turn-by-turn stuff. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 20:15
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: Competent.
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DelilahFlowers posted:I don't know much about this game besides it being an unexpected hit. I only watched VC1 and played and bit and didn't stick around. Heck the rest of my connection to the game series was skins in Company of Heroes 2 (oh God that games story too is a doozy) I don't know if deadline and rushed sequel were the main causes. I think it was more a case of direction. They wanted VC2 on the PSP because the PSP was doing really well in Japan at the time. Because the PSP was way more popular in Japan, they decided to make VC2 cater to the Japanese as heavily as possible. That's what led to this "kitchen-sink" approach of "Okay, we need to add multiplayer, also a poo poo-ton of barely different missions, also material grinding, also a loli, oh but we can't leave out the signature big boobed girl so let's make her the 'rival' instead, and then you've got to put in more lasers and an idiot as the hero and an Edy clone for the idol fans, and oh yeah: set it in a high school. Very important that it's set in a high school." Possibly because of this heavy catering, VC2 generally sold like garbage in the west. This resulted in us not getting VC3, which was a far superior game. I had to import a copy in order to play it. I'm not sure if any of the writers from the first game were brought over. They did bring in the producer, character designer, and main composer. Not sure about the director or lead writer though. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 21:35
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SSNeoman posted:The previous LP had the art book and I can confirm that the character who had the most thought put into him was Avan That's sad. It really does act as a commentary on this entire game. I refuse to spend money on anything else for this game. I have: VC1 on PS3 Steelbook VC1 on PS4 VC1 Design Works VC1 PS3 Skin (the PS3 it was on died at one point, but I pulled the faceplate off to save the skin) VC3 Extra Edition VC3 Complete Artwork VC4 PS4 Collector's Edition VC4 for Switch I have 1 copy of VC2 and that's the way it will stay, forever. I have no plans of replacing it if something were to ever happen to it.  Ratoslov posted:Also, more thought got put into the female cast's chest sizes than Avan. This is also incredibly sad because of how true it is. Julianna was originally a dude, but the developers changed the character to be a girl because they didn't want Cosette to be the busty one and their Valkyria was a loli, so they apparently figured "Let's just change the rival character and give her the massive chest. Somebody's got to have it. We'll figure out the character after." Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 22:28
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Shinji117 posted: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. Actually, there is a reason for this. The Empire/Federation do have dirigibles that they use (the Empire actually has an "Airforce" division of their forces). However, much like in World War I, airships aren't super useful for battles over the front lines. That's probably why they don't appear much in the VC games. It's also probably why they re-purposed Anti-Air guns for use as Tank Destroyers/Artillery. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Jan 22, 2020 |
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Jan 22, 2020 22:56
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The Flying Twybil posted:Huh. Didn't know they had airships in this game world, I figured they'd have forgotten about them in the time period. I'm still trying to figure out how the tiny nation of pseudo Poland has an indigenous hunting culture.  This is a section from my copy of the design works for VC1 (the chart showing the Imperial Navy, Army, Airforce structure is just above this one in the book). As of EWII, the Empire had at least 1 Airborne Infantry battalion (pretty sure these numbers are only referring to the soldiers under Gustav's command. The Empire has way more soldiers than this). The design works does talk about several countries outside of Gallia that have been researching flight. The notes on the ISARA Biplane say that Gallia fell behind in flight research and therefore "It is rare to see a plane over Gallia". But I can't think of any moment in any of the games where planes are seen or even mentioned other than the ISARA. It's possible that the Empire or countries in the Federation (or Edinburgh/Vinland) have planes, but it doesn't appear that they had managed to perfect it to the point that they could field them in a war. The anti-aircraft guns that the Tank-Destroyer's main gun was built from seems designed to shoot down airships, not airplanes. We don't see any flak weapons during the games. So all signs point to Airships being the only widespread means of flight in this universe. Anyway, all of this is just me highlighting the stupidity of the anime-Confederacy having access to second generation artificial Valkyria. Not even purely in terms of technology. I mean, where the gently caress are the rebels getting all the excess Ragnite needed to power the V2s? Fouzen (the main Ragnite mining area of the country) is in the north of Gallia and the rebels are based in the south.
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Jan 26, 2020 00:21
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Senerio posted:I really like Helmuts story. He is still racist, but he's not letting personal feelings stop him from doing his job. It's more than a lot of characters in this get. I like this as well, but I also like the fact that his side story doesn't end with a big moment where he goes "I see now that I was wrong and I will instantly change my entire worldview because the JRPG protagonist talked at me for a little bit." Don't get me wrong, racism=bad, but I'm tired of characters like this dropping everything they've been indoctrinated to believe over the course of a few lines of dialogue with the protagonist. It normally takes time to get through people like this. You don't just walk up to someone and go "Hey! Stop that! Your opinion is wrong!" and then have them turn everything around. I like this idea that Helmut is still a racist boot-licker, but his time in Gallia has maybe given him a bit of pause and is leading him to reconsider his stance. Rosie and Isara had the same dynamic, except they had an entire game to carry out that character arc.
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Feb 2, 2020 21:29
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Don't let VC2 spoil this series for you. VC3 and VC4 are much much better in terms of characters and tone and everything. They also don't have the stupid grinding or high school crap. The worst I can say about VC3 is one of the main characters has a hypocritical reasoning for his/her actions. I think the worst I can say about VC4 is that I hate two of the side antagonists because they're try hard edge lords.
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Feb 4, 2020 23:28
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Lunethex posted:you know, in the art book for VC1 they talked about the original idea of Darcsens, wherein they weren't Darcsens but a whole other race, which were beastlike. Had tails and ears. DelilahFlowers posted:Love my minority ethnicity allegories being actual seperate species. Yeah, that was the original idea. Even with the finished game, Raita Honjou (character artist) suggests that this design are the ancient ancestors of the Darcsens (although this is likely just his wishful thinking. It's doubtful that the Producer/Director/Writers have made this part of the lore).  This is the page in question, from the VC1 Design Works. Apologies for the cellphone picture. This is a large 400 page book, so I can't open it enough to scan it properly. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 00:33 on Feb 8, 2020 |
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Feb 8, 2020 00:30
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