I’ve been spending the past two weeks burning my way through a long list of backlogged games I want to clear before school starts and I lose my NEET badge, including Shadow of the Colossus, Red Dead Redemption, Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 2 and L.A. Noire.

Valkyria Chronicles 3 is one of them. And this time I am actually reviewing it in an almost timely fashion and nowhere close to the release date of the next game. Go me.

Story

VC3 takes place at the same time as the original VC, during the war between Gallia and the Empire. It’s a side story about a black ops Gallian military unit that was secretly responsible for many of the greatest blows dealt against the Empire that were never made known; this kind of makes you wonder just how much good Welkin and friends really did if so much important shit went on behind the scenes without them knowing. This is the problem with side stories.

Conscripts and cadets, I could understand. But war criminals? Really?

The unit, known as Nameless, is basically a place where the army sends misbehaving soldiers to die in futile suicide missions. But many (i.e. all) of these criminals were actually misunderstood victims of military politics or corruption and all they really needed was the competent leadership of Kurt Irving, the main character, to lead to them to great untold glory. What a heart-warming story.

Silver hair and red eyes…

The squad members consist of the usual assortment of anime stereotypes who definitely do not look like they belong to such a sinister secret military unit of ill repute. Breaking with the franchise’s tradition, there are two heroines this time: Imca, an unfriendly emo Darcsen girl who ends all her sentences in negatives, and Riela, a long-haired red-eyed girl who somehow survived the total annihilation of all the units she had ever been assigned. (Can you guess who is the Valkyria in this game?)

Imca is an adorable tsundere with a giant ahoge

The writing is okay. It’s definitely a huge improvement from VC2, but that’s not saying much. The missions are much more story-driven this time, but overall the epic feeling of the original VC is just not quite there.

Interestingly, the Calamity Ravens, the main antagonists in the game, are a secret Imperial military unit consisting entirely of Darscen soldiers who are fighting for an independent Darscen state. This sounds insane when you consider that the Darscens are supposed to be the Jewish people and the Empire they are working for is based on Nazi Germany.

Calamity Ravens

That is until you realize that this was exactly what the Zionist militant group Lehi tried to do during WW2 when they asked to be included in the Axis team in return for Nazi assistance in expelling Britain from the Palestine Mandate. And of course the real hilarious part is where former Lehi leader Yitzhak Shamir later became the Prime Minister of Israel. Oh nationalists, you so silly. But I digress.

Gameplay

Valkyria Chronicles 2 was quite a huge departure from the original VC; pretty much the entire battle system was revamped in order to accommodate PSP’s technical limitations.

The changes from VC2 to VC3 are however more evolutionary than revolutionary, which is unfortunate in my opinion as I had expected a bigger shift back towards the feel of the original. I suppose it can’t really be helped.

Strategic map showing cutscenes and missions along the way

There is a long list of small changes, but they don’t really add up to much. For example, you can now have 9 units on the map compared to 6 in VC2, but you still can only have a maximum of 5 per area so the tactical considerations aren’t that different. In fact, many of the area designs are copied wholesale from VC2 with some cosmetic changes added to make things look darker and grittier. There are some new area designs that look bigger at first, but are really the same size stretched thinner; imagine if the original areas in VC2 were 4×4 units big and in VC3, you get some that are 2×8 and 1×16. Big whoop.

One of the reused mission areas from VC2

One of the new longer areas

There are some new types of mission objectives but they aren’t that different. Also, all vehicle chassis only consume 1 CP now, so the trade-off between heavy and light tank is now limited to speed. This makes the heavier chassis viable options for those tough missions with tight S-Rank requirements.

Revamped Classes

VC2’s horrible, horrible branching class system that forces you to train four of every class in order to get all the elite class types has been completely abolished and replaced with something that more closely resembles the original VC.

The list of classes in VC3 is: Scout, Shocktrooper, Sniper, Support, Lancer, Machine Gunner, Armour Tech, Fencer.

Imca doesn’t give a shit about using class-appropriate weapon

The veteran and elite statuses unlock access to new equipment like in VC; variants such as grenade-launcher scouts, anti-tank snipers and anti-infantry mortarers are back to being weapon options instead of class options.

There are some minor adjustments done to the retained classes, some good and some horrible.

There are many, many cameos in VC3

Scouts have been nerfed and die a lot faster now so they can’t do point rushes like they used to, at least not until you train them to elites and upgrade their HP enough. This actually makes some of the earlier missions quite difficult if you are used to the weak damage enemies dished out in VC2.

Armour Tech deploying shield

Armour Techs now deploy their shields in front of them at the end of their turn, forming a barrier that other characters can hide behind. This makes them a heck lot more useful than in VC2. Also, their hammer attack is needed to deal insane damages to a new type of mission objective that you have to destroy.

Armour Tech shield protecting my sniper from boss rape

Fencers are no longer bulletproof like they used to be when they were an upgrade from Armour Tech. They basically take damage from bullets like Shocktroopers now. They still move as slowly. I have no idea why they were nerfed so horribly in this way as they were already highly situational in VC2. Now they are utterly useless and you are almost always better off with a Shocktrooper instead.

Battle Potentials

For the perfectionist gamer out there hell-bent on maximizing his characters’ Potentials, VC3 introduces a new system that allows every character to become any class in the game. A new class-specific Potential is unlocked with each level of class progression.

Many cameos…

For example, you can turn your elite Scout into a newbie Lancer and retain the Scout-specific Potentials that it has earned, such as “Power Scout”. This creates many cross-training combos where certain Potentials work best with a class they do not belong to.

The game keeps track of the level attained by every character in each class and it is possible to train a single character to be an elite in every class and gain all the Battle Potentials in the game. (But you can only have four active at a time so that would be a really dumb idea.)

Special Attacks

The three main characters, Kurt, Imca and Riela, also have access to personalized special attacks after certain points in the story are reached. Using special attacks consumes 1 CP and 1 SP (Special Point). Unlike CP, the number of SP is restricted per battle and does not regenerate between turns. You usually get anywhere from 1 to 3 SP per battle.

Direct Command

Kurt’s special attack, called “Direct Command”, allows him to have any two squad members to “group up” with him and assume direct command of them. They will move together with him for that turn and shoot at whatever he shoots at, excluding classes that do not normally perform suppressing fire, such as Lancer and Fencer.

Assuming direct control. o_o

This is a possible way to kill some enemy named elites or to have slow-moving units like Fencers move forward quickly. However, once you unlock Imca’s special attack, Kurt’s becomes just a complete waste of SP.

Also known as the Pew Pew mode

Imca’s special attack is called “Open Fire” and it’s basically like one of those multi-target-missile-lock-on thing that mechas in sci-fi do. You have to get all her targets into one single screen, so the angle and position matters, but if you do it right you can wipe out the whole area in one cluster shot. Tanks hit by her Open Fire attack take damage as if they were attacked from the back.

Everyone of them is dead

I’ll leave it to your imagination what Riela’s special attack entails…

Consuming an SP also causes the character to ignore the diminishing returns of AP and he/she can move for a full AP bar for that turn. This can be used tactically to great effect, especially if the character is a Scout.

Thoughts

The problem with me and Valkyria Chronicles 3 is that I played the first game. On its own, VC3 is an amazing PSP game and a fine improvement over VC2. The in-game art and atmosphere are so much more stylized and detailed compared to VC2. Unfortunately, it does not ever quite manage to recreate the same feeling of epic-ness of the original PS3 classic. It’s just too immersion-breaking when battles are confined to tiny claustrophobic rooms masquerading as villages or valleys.

The difficulty curve and balance in VC3 are also much, much better than facerolling VC2 and many of the fights pose a genuine challenge.

At the end of the day, VC3 is really not that different from VC2. The improvements are mostly cosmetic and the combat and class changes do not alter the basic feel of the gameplay.

I could not remember if this was a VC2 or VC3 screenshot…

So yeah, definitely pick up VC3 if you loved VC2 or if you are just a Valkyria fan boy like me. But if you hated VC2 and hoped for a shift back to the original, you will be sorely disappointed. Even with the tweaks to the class system and a better story, VC3 is ultimately just VC2 in a fresh coat of paint.

More Screencaps

A crap load of extra screencaps because I overdid it as usual.

Character portrait placements during dialogues are more interesting and varied than in VC2

Look away and say no. Classic tsundere

Oh hey another cameo

Of course

Eddy is here too

Wait a minute…

…

Apparently the whole damn cast of VC and VC2 has met Kurt but no one mentioned a thing in the past two games

There are two different romantic endings for VC3

One of the Calamity Raven commanders

Not quite the giant boss fights from VC

All Nameless “uniforms” are customized by one of the girls

On second thought, maybe this whole game was just an excuse to give Selvaria another chance to shine :D

I am really itching for Mass Effect 3 after finishing the second game. Damn it. I just want to see Tali’s face…

So I finished the new Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai game for PSP. Well, I didn’t 100% it but I saw all the “true” endings except for Manami’s and that’s good enough. It’s not a bad game if you are into AVG but its primary purpose is basically fan service.

Story

The game takes place about one year after the start of the anime. I have no idea what is its place in the novel timeline. There are two major changes that I think probably took place in the light novels: Kuroneko is now a highschool freshman in Kyousuke’s school and calls him “senpai” and Ayase is somehow acquainted with Manami and calls her “oneesan”. (She still calls Kyousuke “oniisan”.)

Kyousuke’s kawaii kouhai

The story is divided into two portions. The first part is common to all the characters and is relatively short. It consists of two major events: Kirino and gang taking part in a Siscalypse competition and Kyousuke going on a school trip to Kyoto.

The story branching depends on whom Kyousuke teams up with for the competition (or if he takes part in it at all) and the souvenir he decides to buy in Kyoto (every girl wants a different thing).

Kirino and Saori vs. Kyousuke and Kuroneko

After Kyousuke returns from Kyoto, the story branches into the respective character paths. The main branches are for Kirino, Kuroneko, Saori, Ayase and Manami. Each character has around 3-4 endings, usually with one true ending, one good/normal ending and some bad/weird endings in between.

Paths

Plenty of spoilers. Continue at your own peril or skip to the next header.

Kirino: In a subconscious bid for Kyousuke’s attention, Kirino loses all her otaku-related memories, including those of Saori and Kuroneko. Kyousuke has to convince Kirino, a fashionable girl with good grades and a modelling career, that she is actually an otaku. Hilarity ensues.

True ending involves a semi-kokuhaku from Kirino at Comiket. Bad endings include Kirino forgetting about her true self and her otaku friends forever.

Isn’t this from Tsukuyomi Moon Phase?

Kuroneko: Kuroneko is working on a new doujinshi for the upcoming Comiket. She sees herself as the tragic creator whose source of creativity is her suffering and loneliness. Although she is falling behind the deadline, she refuses to ask for help from the others and actively avoids Kyousuke. It is up to Kyousuke to smack some sense into her if you know what I mean — I don’t.

True ending involves Kyousuke pledging eternal allegiance to the fallen angel.

Saori ＠ω＠

Saori: Saori, who is actually the ojousama of a rich family, is pushed into an arranged marriage with a 40-year-old paedophile princeling of a large conglomerate who wants her to stop her childish hobbies. Not an assertive person and obedient to her parents’ wishes, Saori gives all her precious otaku goods to Kyousuke for safe-keeping and bids everyone farewell. Kyousuke has to convince her that her wishes are just as important and she should stand up for herself.

True ending involves Kyousuke and Saori getting married out of the blue. Seriously.

It’s cuter than a cat in a box

Ayase: She has arguably the most romantic path in the game, though still kind of weak by most AVG standards. She seeks Kyousuke’s help in her attempts to understand Kirino better but ends up falling for Kyousuke. She is afraid of revealing her feelings because she thinks that Kyousuke is only teasing her when he does things like calling her “Lovely My Angel Ayase-tan”. Unlike the other girls, Ayase gets a proper kokuhaku scene.

True ending involves Ayase getting knocked up and living happily ever after with Kyousuke. Bad ending is yandere ending with off-screen stabbing action. There is also a weird ending named the “Forbidden Yuri Ending”… I leave that to your imagination.

Manami: Did not play her path. Meh.

Kanako: There is an ending for her that branches out towards the end of Ayase’s path. It is actually somewhat interesting. Heh.

End of spoilers. Continue from here.

Gameplay

The gameplay is hard work if you don’t use a walkthrough. There are two main mechanics involved.

The first is collecting titbits of information called O.R.E. (I can’t remember what it stands for) and deciding whether to use them when prompted to change the direction of the story. The second is a system called Two Shot where you have a face-to-face conversation with a girl and have to decide whether to tsukkomi her via quick-time event or not at certain points of the conversation.

Example of an O.R.E.

O.R.E.s are high-lighted in yellow

The O.R.E. (silly acronym is silly) system is persistent across replays so you get to use information you obtained in previous playthroughs to change the direction of the story. For example, Ayase’s true ending can only be obtained if you have an O.R.E. obtained from Kirino’s true ending.

Two Shot

Press square to give her a piece of your mind

The Two Shot system is kind of arbitrary. It is more trial and error than anything. Sometimes an obvious tsukkomi produces a negative reaction for no apparent reason and sometimes an apparently hurtful tsukkomi is exactly what the girl wants. I suppose it’s like real-life except that there is a quick load button that lets you jump back to any of the last thirty scene changes or gameplay decisions.

These modern AVGs have it good. Back in our days we had to walk uphill both ways just to find a save button and we were happy with our three measly save slots.

Thoughts

There are some genuinely hilarious moments in the game, particularly if you get the otaku-related allusions and occasional 2ch lingo. The dialogues are witty at times and live up to expectations set by the anime.

The gameplay is somewhat reminiscent of Really? Really! which in turn is a derivative of Ace Attorney, except that it is not as fun. You will fail repeatedly at the Two Shot system until you learn the true meaning of hate and just wiki the solution.

Lovely My Angel Ayase-tan

The endings are kind of lacklustre. As mentioned, I feel that Ayase is the only one who gets the proper heroine treatment. I suppose this is why she calls herself the “hidden heroine” at some point in Kirino’s path. Saori looks really gorgeous without her ＠ω＠ glasses though.

Character ranking:

1. Ayase
2. Kirino
3. Kuroneko
4. Saori
5. Kanako
6. Minami

Ending ranking:

1. Ayase
2. Saori
3. Kanako
4. Kuroneko
5. Kirino

Yeah I really can’t motivate myself to play though Minami’s path.

I like Kuroneko as a character but her path is probably the least interesting one. Kirino’s path is more entertaining and emotional, but the ending is one huuuuuuge cop-out. Not that this is unexpected, but I was hoping for a more…unorthodox resolution.

Spoiler ahead.

I find the final scene in Ayase’s true ending strangely thought-provoking. (Click on the button to see it.)

Ayase married Kyousuke and is pregnant with his daughter. Kirino returns to Japan from her modelling career in Paris to visit them and to witness the birth of her niece.

In a way, Ayase is a proxy for Kirino’s love for Kyousuke. Ayase and Kirino both love Kyousuke and at the same time they also love each other, but only Ayase can cross the last barrier. The last scene feels almost touchingly poignant in a zen-like way, if you can remove your worldly preconceptions and that feeling of creepiness lurking at the back of your mind long enough to ponder over it free from prejudices.

Okay, maybe I am reading too much into this shit as usual.

If only…

When Kyousuke spills the beans about his relationship with Ayase to Kirino in the true ending, Kirino is initially upset and asks him if things would’ve still been the same if they weren’t siblings.

This is probably the most overt acknowledgement of the unspoken nature of their mutual love that can be found in the game, and of course it’s not even in Kirino’s own true ending.

Unrelated but amusing: in Kuroneko’s true ending, where Kuroneko and Kyousuke get together, Kuroneko proclaims herself the older sister of Kirino and teases her about it. Her closing line is, “watashi no imouto ga konna ni kawaii wake ga nai.”

End spoiler.

The game also comes a Breakout-clone mini-game, a short in-character voiced commentary for every single unlocked CG in the album and a full plot diagram to show you the paths/endings you are missing. Not too shabby in terms of extras.

Breakout clone

CG album

Screencaps

I took way too many screencaps so I’m just going to dump everything here. Some of them may be considered spoilerish even without context.

You can…almost…

Kirino’s channelling Konata

The bad bad ending is where you end up with him

A common sight at Comiket

The weird supernatural ending…

Obligatory scene in all AVGs

Come to think of it, there’s a swimsuit CG for every girl

;_;

AVIO

:O

ಠ_ಠ

Ayase emails this to Kyousuke as a “reward”

(*´д`*)ﾊｧﾊｧ

Train ride to Comiket

The only other proper kiss scene in the game

Kirino confronts Ayase and fights over Kyousuke

Sweet scene, still something sinister slumbers silently

Kuroneko places a curse on Kyousuke

Kuroneko speaks fluent geek

Obligatory sukumizu

Kuroneko collapses

Kuroneko R.I.P. 2011

(´・ω・｀)ハァ？

Ruri-ruri

Saori emails this to Kyousuke as a “reward”……

Saori just won the game

uguuu…

You can actually see her eyes if you look hard

Saori removes her limiter and goes over 9000

The glasses were there to protect your sanity

(*´д`*)ﾊｧﾊｧﾊｧﾊｧキターー

pettan pettan tsuru pettan

The only other kiss scene in the game what is this I don’t even

Phew. Most screenshots ever?

Now back to Valkyria Chronicles 3…

Sony just announced PSP2. Dubbed the Next Generation PlayStation Portable (NGP), it looks like a slightly-tweaked version of the original PSP design. The most obvious change is the inclusion of two analogue sticks — actual analogue sticks similar to the DualShock’s and not whatever nub thingy the original PSP had.

Additional specifications include 960×544 5-inch OLED (4 times the resolution of the PSP), 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, front and rear cameras, front and rear touch pads, and accelerometers and gyroscopic sensors based on the PS3 Move. Games will be sold on flash-based storage cards and UMD is gone forever. RIP.

The rear touch pad is basically a touch screen behind the NGP but without the screen part. I can’t really imagine what that is good for. Maybe I am just not a huge fan of touch-based gaming.

Rear touch pad

The hardware sounds like it is basically capable of all the augmented reality, location-based, motion-controlled, social, networked multiplayer, touchscreen gaming any developer can ever come up with. Sounds quite insane frankly. Detailed specs here.

I wonder if the NGP will be breaking any new grounds for console launch prices…

Also, this crazy fusion of human interface technology will certainly make the NGP an enticing target for hardware hackers and homebrew developers.

According to MGS-creator Kojima, the NGP’s graphics are just as good as the PS3’s. Given that the screen size is smaller, I find this entirely plausible. He showcased MGS4 (which at the time was supposed to be the pinnacle of PS3’s HD graphics) running on the NGP.

Sony also brought in Capcom and Sega to show off NGP running Lost Planet 2 and Yakuza: Of The End that were originally developed for PS3. Joystiq quotes Capcom representation saying that the NGP can handle the “full specification” of the PS3, whatever that really means.

The game showcases demonstrating PS3 ports running on the NGP seem somewhat ambiguous as to whether they are merely demonstrating the fact that the NGP is capable of running PS3 games with minimum tweaking, or whether those ports represent actual commercial NGP releases that are in development.

Kojima sounds like he wants to make games that run exactly the same on the PS3 and NGP and can be played on either, but this does not appear to be the official purpose of the NGP. I suppose more will be revealed in the near future.

The NGP is only coming out at the end of the year, so it’s quite clear that Sony chose to unveil it now to steal some thunder from Nintendo 3DS’ impending release, as it had done in the past against the Dreamcast and the Xbox 360.

Frankly, I’ll buy whatever next/this-gen console that gets Valkyria Chronicles 4. Let’s just hope it’s not the original PSP. Come on Sega WOW!

And oh. Official PlayStation emulation is coming for Android. The PlayStation Suite support many mobile platforms, no doubt with the leaked Xperia Play as the flagship device.

It’s not clear what exactly are the titles supported. PS1 is a given, but apparently there will be PSP titles too. Is PS2 too much to hope for?

With the release date of Valkyria Chronicles 3 for PSP less than two weeks away, I figure this is the perfect time (by my usual standard of procrastination) for me to write up my thoughts on VC2, a game which I had only recently completed.

In my defence, I only got to play the original VC three months ago after finally caving and buying a secondhand PS3. Also, Valkyria Chronicles 2 is the most amazing game ever created for the PSP and everyone with two opposable thumbs should play it.

Gallia’s Lanceal Military Academy

The original Valkyria Chronicles is in my opinion the game that made good my PS3 purchase. This was completely unexpected because I bought the console primarily for FFXIII, which I threw into the rubbish chute after 10 hours, and VC is pretty much obscure and under the radar for most people.

I found the art style absolutely amazing and the combat system pure genius. This makes sense because the game was developed by the part of Sega WOW formerly known as Overworks who were responsible for fan-favourite Sakura Taisen series, so they really know what they are doing. (Incidentally, I learnt how to play Koi Koi not because of Summer Wars but because of the mini-game in Sakura Taisen…)

The first VC stood out in two aspects. The first is a cel-shaded 3D graphics engine that I think outclassed all previous attempts to simulate manga-style art with 3D models. The second is the hybrid combat system evolved from a combination of third-person shooters and classic turn-based tactical RPGs like Front Mission and Sakura Taisen.

Not that the drawn CGs are bad

Unfortunately, only the latter survived the sequel’s transition to the PSP, obviously due to technical limitations. In VC2, character portraits and cut scenes are sadly all standard drawn CGs. The battle system is also tweaked to accommodate smaller and close-quarter level designs involving fewer soldiers, but I won’t say that the game has become worse than the original — merely different.

Gameplay

Pre-mission briefing

The VC series employs a pretty unique combat system. Basically instead of moving units in a grid like in traditional tactical RPGs, you have a limited number of moves every turn with which you can take direct control of individual soldiers in a third-person view. The enemies will lay suppressing fire on your units but are otherwise immobile during your turn. Moving your troops across the battlefield while dodging enemy fire is hence a far more active and engaging process than in traditional turn-based strategy. This works out incredibly well and the gameplay is very addictive.

Battle map

Controlling a scout

Your units can only move a set distance and carry out one action (e.g. attack) each time you select them, so you have to think of how to maximize your limited actions per turn while killing enemies and achieving objectives such as capturing points.

Performing an attack

So for example, you can start your turn with a Scout rush by using its high movement range to storm the enemy’s command point and capture it. Then you spend your next move calling in a Gunner using the captured point to obliterate multiple enemies surrounding you. This is a more efficient use of moves than trying to use the Scout’s feeble peashooter to kill the enemies one by one or taking multiple moves to bring the slow-moving Gunner over to the enemy base.

Crouching behind a sandbag to take cover

Similarly, if there’s a tank in front of a command point, it is usually more efficient to capture the point by running pass the tank with a Scout or Shocktrooper and then calling in a Lancer (anti-tank infantry) to attack the tank’s weak spot from behind, than to slowly chip away its armour from the well-protected front.

Sneaking behind the enemy tank with my Heavy Lancer…

The indicator tells me it takes 2 hits to the weak spot to kill this heavy tank. Would probably take 6-7 hits from the front

There are many ways to reduce the number of moves you need to achieve the same result and pulling off a perfect combo gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. That sense of satisfaction is the essence of this game. The battle system creates natural synergies you can exploit simply by thinking tactically and does not rely on hard combos that have to be memorized. It’s like poetry. You can watch it in action in this VC3 promo video.

Victory

With enough min-maxing, it is sometimes possible to win a mission by capturing all the command points within one turn even though the mission’s limit for S Rank is five turns.

Classes

One huge mechanics change in the shift from VC to VC2 is the class system. VC employs a very bare-bone system with 5 basic classes (Scout, Sniper, Engineer, Shocktrooper, Lancer) and an elite version of each class that slightly modifies the gameplay (e.g. Shocktroopers get flamethrowers).

Class upgrade tree for Engineer/Medic

In VC2, the 5 classes basic classes (Scout, Shocktrooper, Lancer, Engineer, Armour Technician) can each be further upgraded into 2 veteren classes (veteran versions of every class, plus Sniper, Gunner, Mortarer, Musician, Swordsman) which in turn can each be upgraded into 2 elite classes (e.g. Anti-Tank Sniper, Heavy Gunner, Medic, Explosive Swordsman) making a grand total of 20 elite classes to play with.

Of course upgrading involves a hell lot of grinding for a variety of random drops (or “credits” since the game setting is a school) that differ for each class… But it’s actually not that hard to get everyone to elite by the end of the game if you diligently play though every mission. You don’t really have to grind (i.e. replay missions).

Armour Tech, a new class in VC2, is a melee unit with a bulletproof shield that can disarm/plant land mines

According to the saved file, I logged 64 hours into VC2, excluding the few dozen reloads it took to perfect some non-repeatable story missions. In 64 hours, I managed to complete all the missions at S Rank (mostly in one playthrough), excluding character-specific missions belonging to characters I don’t use in my main squad, and upgraded all my squad members to elites (with at least one unit of every elite class).

My squad setup

There is a lot more replayability in VC2 compared to the first game. Some of it is grindy, but generally it is thoroughly enjoyable.

Annoyances

If you play through VC, there’s a part during the tutorial where the game proudly informs you that there is no need to grind levels with individual units because all units of the same class share the same class level. You merely have to collect generic EXP to upgrade entire classes. What a thoughtful system, you think to yourself…

Class levels

In VC2, generic EXP and class levels still exist, but elite status is no longer linked to levels. Instead you have to fulfil specific credit requirements for individual units and manually upgrade them one-by-one to elites. This renders the class-level system completely redundant as anything but a linear stat boost. Sigh…

Credits are granted only to units that perform well in missions and each mission grants a specific category of credits (out of four; e.g. Attack credits, Support credits) and each category contains four different grades (e.g. Attack, Attack II, Attack X, Attack II X).

Credits issued after a mission

These credits are granted somewhat randomly, so you can imagine the frustration when you only need one single Attack II to upgrade your Veteran Scout but the mission keeps giving him Attack II X and wasting Attack II on a Shocktrooper that doesn’t need it.

Objection!

Also, the original VC was fully voiced throughout but VC2 has voice-overs only for select scenes. This is a rather huge annoyance in my opinion because partial voice-over is lame and reminiscence of the Nintendo DS.

And I can’t help but feel sad that the awesome cel-shaded engine Sega made for VC is going to waste now that VC has permanently abandoned the PS3 for the PSP…

Capturing a point with my scout. Her character-specific ability also happens to activate, healing her to full

Gameplay balance is also not that great. It’s not so bad if you play against another human player, but certain strategies such as Scout rush are powerful to the point of being broken against the retarded computer AI.

The mission-ranking system determines rank by the number of turns taken. This mandates an offensive play-style going for fast efficient wins, which is further disincentive against using support classes such as Engineer/Musician and slow-moving classes such as Armour Tech in most situations, making the Scout even more overpowered.

S is Japanese for A

Of course, getting S Rank using other classes is perfectly doable and there are very few cases where a Scout rush is absolutely essential. But it often makes things too easy.

Improvements

The weapon/tank upgrade and research options are a huge step up from the original.

In the original game, the upgrades are largely linear stat boosts that, while helpful for progression, do not alter the style of gameplay with few exceptions. The “elite” gimmicky weapons that named NPCs drop are largely useless compared to your default stat boosters. Your tank stays in the base for most fights because it is costly to move and there are very few cases where it is necessary, or even more convenient, to use it.

Submachinegun upgrade tree

In VC2, your tank can be customized for a large variety of purposes, from heavy-armour tank that costs multiple movement points to use and can deal massive damage to enemy bosses to low-cast light-armour personnel carriers that can rapidly transport your troops right to the enemy command point while building bridges and clearing obstacles. This makes the tank useful in nearly every mission.

Similarly, there are numerous weapon sidegrades and special enemy drops that are actually vastly superior to your default upgrades and it actually makes sense to keep an eye out for them.

Heavy tank with heavy armour-piercing rounds, rear armour and enemy camouflage

Light tank with desert camo and water sprinkler (removes heat ray debuff on desert maps)

VC2 also does a much better job of developing side characters. In the original game, each of your squad members supposedly has a unique personality and back story, but none of it is covered in the game itself. You only get to infer them from the one-line voice-overs and the in-game encyclopaedia.

Story scene for one of the Lancer side characters

Lycoris/Anisette, the younger sister of Edy from the original game

In VC2, there is a series of cut scenes and a character-specific mission for every squad member. Sure, the back stories are all cliché-fests, but it’s still nice to have them at all. That said, some of the original VC supporting characters such as Edy are strangely popular with the fans despite having zero presence in the game’s story…

Guess the cliché

Another side character’s story mission

There’s also a decent multiplayer option now that lets you play ad-hoc wireless co-op and versus games with your friends. It’s hard to describe how co-op works, but it is quite fun. Versus mode can be slightly broken if the two players are at very different tech levels in their respective games, but it’s still possible for the disadvantaged player to win if he plays his classes right.

Overall

I think Sega has found itself an incredible game franchise in Valkyria Chronicles and there’s a lot of innovation going on in the two games published so far. Unfortunately, the games do not seem to be doing very well commercially and the move to the PSP, a dead platform in North America, certainly does not help.

Welkin and Alicia from the original game

VC2 is a very fun game, but it is also flawed. Most of its flaws can be attributed to either the technical limitations of the PSP or the strange Japanese notion that all games made for the PSP must be incredibly “replayable”…or grindy (see: Dissidia, Crisis Core, Monster Hunter). The former is made glaringly obvious by the glorious masterpiece that is the original VC on PS3.

The beautiful enemy commander, voiced by Ayako Kawasumi, issues an order

VC of course has its own share of flaws. The story is much grander and more immersive, but the gameplay is slightly too simplistic. On the other hand, VC2 has a much lighter cookie-cutter story but improves the gameplay mechanics in some aspects. It’s a two-step-forward-one-step-back deal.

Becoming the bad guy alters your sense of fashion

Still, in spite of its flaws and limitations, VC2 is by far the most enjoyable PSP experience I have had. It really is disheartening to see that such a brilliant game is apparently not popular enough to warrant even one proper walkthrough on GameFAQs…

More screenshots because I took too many.

Mission shop

There is always a hard-ass drill sergeant

There is always a mascot animal of unknown species

Mission selection screen

You can tell they are bad by the colours

The tank driver/technician is a hawt oneesan who says, “Don’t break it next time, kay?” everytime you bring your tank in for repairs

Arranging your characters before a battle

Blowing up an enemy supply vehicle

Enemy moving in to capture my point during the opponent’s turn

The academy’s scenery changes with the seasons

A total tsundere in a bromance with the main character

It’s like Pikachu with wings

For Queen and country; That is your Queen (voiced by Mamiko Noto)

I eagerly await the release of Valkyria Chronicles 3 on 27th Jan. ^^

Valkyria Chronicles inspired me to attempt to play through all five Sakura Taisen in order.

The 8GiB iPod touch is brand new and completely shrink wrapped. This is not my current iPod touch but a completely new set. My friend has one from the same batch and it came with firmware version 1.1.1, so it is highly likely that this one does too, but I can’t say for sure since it’s sealed. I am asking for S$420. I can jailbreak it, upgrade the firmware and apply a patch to unlock the 1.1.3 applications if required.

The PSP Slim is also brand new and a local set. It has not been touched at all and I only booted it up once to check the firmware, which is version 3.72. I do not have a Pandora battery so I cannot install any custom firmware for you. But since it is untouched, this means that it is probably still covered by Sony’s local warranty. I am asking for S$250.

Please e-mail me if you are interested. (Sorry, Singaporeans only.)

EDIT: Both items have been sold.

Apparently some time during the past few months, I found it within me the sudden urge to preorder both the PS2 and PSP Haruhi game releases, despite the fact that I didn’t actually own a PSP at that point of time. (I do now.) Wow, this is sort of like receiving a belated birthday present from an unknown stranger who broke into my bank account to pay for it.

More pictures after the break.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi

Box front

Box back

Box side

DVD case front

DVD case back (crappy photography alert)

The figurine that comes with Suzumiya Haruhi no Tomadoi (PS2) is pretty damn crappy. I’ve seen better gachapon then this sad pathetic excuse for a collectible. Okay, so it’s not that bad, and I’m keeping it in its packaging anyway so it makes no difference. Feh.

Special preorder disc front

Special preorder disc back

The preorder-only disc that comes with the PS2 game is pretty cool. It’s basically the Hare Hare Yukai dance done in full three dee. It’s not long now before cel-shading filters supersede 2D completely. I had of course already seen the dance video on YouTube beforehand, but whatever.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku

Box front

Box back

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku (PSP) comes in a packaging that totally looks like there’s a PSP inside, but there isn’t. It’s just a bunch of useless trinkets made by underpaid labour that will break within five seconds if you ever attempt to ever use them. I just keep mine in their bubble wraps.

UMD case and useless junk

UMD case back

Gundam 00 Singles

Surprsingly, it seems that I actually bought the new Gundam 00 first press singles even though, according to some, I hate the show and shouldn’t be blogging about it. This must be some kind of terrible mistake!

Ash Like Snow – CD case front

Ash Like Snow – CD case back

Friends – CD case front

Friends – CD case back

Ash Like Snow first press comes with Allelujah’s ID card and Friends first press comes with Tieria’s ID card. Unfortunately (or perhaps thankfully) you won’t get to see how they look like here, because I have a policy of not opening my CDs. Japanese labels could sell me nicely-packaged blank CD-Rs and I wouldn’t ever find out. Then again, not pressing the CD probably doesn’t save Sony that much money, so I’ll trust them on this.

Friends also comes with a B2 poster that uses the same illustration of Setsuna as the back of the jewel case.

I guess I’ll just go set the CDs on fire now since apparently I hate G00 very much.

Apparently it’s a sample of some content that Bandai is planning for Suzumiya Haruhi no Yakusoku‘s (the PSP game) homepage. It’s hard to do nice-looking cel-shaded 3D models and I think this one is pretty damn good. It uses MotionPortrait technology from a company by the same name. (I guess they don’t do much else.)

According to the place-holder page on the official site, more details will be revealled in the upcoming issues of The Sneaker (30/6), Comptiq (10/7), Newtype (10/7), Gekkan Shounen Ace Assault (10/7) and Degenki PlayStation (13/7).

[ Sources: Famitsu | Impress Watch | Kotaku ]

So… what do you think it’s gonna be? AVG? Rhythm? (i.e. Hare Hare Revoluton) Platform? Detective? Ren’ai? My bet is on a puzzler. They are easy to make and good for exploiting fanboys.

That said, I just recently sold off my import PSP. Still, being an easily-exploitable fanboy, I will probably be getting this game. I mean, it’s not like I don’t have a stack of other useless UMD games left on my shelf… One more won’t hurt. And who knows, maybe I’ll get myself a second generation PSP when it eventually arrives.

All you have to do is to upgrade your firmware 1.5 to the hacked 3.02 OE-B firmware and convert the ISO image of your PS1 game into a PSP-bootable EBOOT.PBP file using the bundled tool.

3.02 OE-B also allows you to boot UMD ISOs directly from the Memory Stick folder under Games, bypassing the need for Devhook. And of course, it also identifies itself as 3.02 and thus supports all PSP games that are currently on the market.

The first game I tried out was FFVIII because I happened to have it lying around.

Basically the official 3.00 firmware introduced the Playstation Network feature that allows you to download emulated PS1 games through your PS3 and play them on your PSP. The catch is that the selection is very tiny right now and the games cost 5.99 USD each.

Someone realized that the official PS1 downloads are actually the compressed ISO images wrapped with a fully functional emulator and cracked a copy of Hot Shots 2 to accept other ISO images. And It worked.

So now you can emulate any PS1 games on your PSP with the hacked firmware. Of course you need the downloaded copy of Hot Shots 2 from the Playstation Network in order to extract the required emulation files, but there are ways…

Basically what this means is that, licensing issues aside, Sony is trying to charge people 5.99 USD for every single PS1 game downloaded, even though no extra work is required on their part to release more emulated PS1 games for the PSP since they have already created a fully functional PS1 emulator that works with all games.

Free money?

But of course we are all dirty pirates with no PS3s so it doesn’t matter. Ironically, I probably own more original UMD games than most PSP owners in this pirate-happy country. (The average being close to zero…)

To Sony’s credit, the emulator works very well. (Well duh, they were the ones who made both consoles…) R2 and L2 functions are assigned to either the d-pad or the analogue stick depending on your preference, which is sufficient for most games but not all. (e.g. fighting and maybe FPS?) Can’t be helped I guess.

Screen size is of course not ideal. You can choose to play at the original 320 x 240 resolution (leaving lots of ugly black space), stretch to maximum while maintaining aspect ratio (leaving two ugly black bars) or stretch to fill (ugly distorted graphics). Then again, so many PSP games are ports from other consoles that I’m sure that PSP gamers are all used to this dilemma by now.

Here’s a video of the emulator in action.

Why wait for Sony to release PSP ports at full retail price when you can play your old PS1 games on the go for free?

PSP-Hacks has everything you need.

I need to get myself a 4gb MS DUO so that I can carry all four discs of FFVIII and four discs of Tokimeki Memorial 2 around with me.

The sad thing is that this requires 2.50 firmware minimum, which means that the time has come for me to upgrade my PSP and give up the benefits of piracy homebrews. Well, hopefully 2.50 gets cracked soon, since piracy game-backuping is pretty much dying anyway now that all the new and cool releases are starting to require 2.50 firmware.

The happy thing is that it’s a good game that’ll last me for some time and Ruri is in it!

I really want to get Comic Party Portable and Boku no Watashi Katamari Damacy too, but they will have to wait… (like, maybe months)

On another note, the shop was also selling Xbox 360 premium bundle with one game for S$860. The DOA4 demo running on HDTV resolution looked ZOMFG good. Holy shit. Too bad I’m not interested in a 360 and I lack a HDTV.