If your always looking for a differrent way to play RPGs in turn-based play

Started by gameleaper, July 19, 2017, 11:32:16 AM

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gameleaper

If your always looking for a differrent way to play RPGs in turn-based gameplay, you may like to look at this game, its unusual as it plays like an RPG but puts you in first person to fire & aim etc... its a wargame so you will like that, its an rpg and you wll like that, its turn based I like that, its diffrrent we all like that.

I only just bought it downloading now, watch the video here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQt3z4Wipw&t=477s

here is the steam page
http://store.steampowered.com/app/294860/Valkyria_Chronicles/

its not new, but I never looked at this before because it looked like manga, but watch the video, if you are looking for a really different RPG you will like it

JasonPratt

I've played it twice, though not on PC. I wouldn't call it an RPG, at all. It's a turn-based tactical plotter with some minor squad management, and a decent amount of story. It's pretty good for a tactical plotter, but not a role-playing game.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

(I also own the substantially worse sequel released for the PSP, and the anime based on the game which, much to my surprise, I thought was thuddingly bad compared to the game.)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

gameleaper

It said 100 customisable charectors and lots of upgradable weapons , the steam tag says RPG, aswell as the steam description csaying "conventional RPG gameplay"and I think I heard the reviewers call it an RPG with squad based turn based combat, so you surprised me I not disputing what you say as you have it ., but it looks good enough for a play.

HoodedHorseJoe

This is the game that made buying my Playstation 3 worthwhile.

Love it to bits, although I'm ashamed to say I never finished it (mainly because I stopped using my PS3 in favour of my Xbox 360). Bought it the moment it came to Steam (sale), haven't played it yet (I'm a terrible person), and I was almost tempted to buy the PS4 edition in some mad theory that I'm more likely to play it on PS4 than PC because I originally played it on PS3. Didn't do it though.

With regards to classification... the main meat of the gameplay is turn-based tactical battles. You take control of your units, move them in real-time (with a limit on how far etc.), and then fire if you're able to. I can't remember if it's IGOUGO at the unit level, or whether you do ALL of your units, and then they do ALL of theirs (team level). I really should fire it up again.

It's a narrative driven game though - the battles are linked by a central story, with some characters being 'important' (in the sense that if they die mid mission, it's game over) with the others being perma-death fodder. You manage your units in terms of gear and a few other things, do some light story elements, and then do the next mission. There are skirmish maps available as well. The 'RPG' is a bit misleading, although consistent with how Japanese studios design RPG game play (think Final Fantasy etc...)

If anyone has played any of the Fire Emblem games, this has more in common with those than anything else, and is typical of the Japanese-style of turn-based strategy games.

Hope that helps.

*Goes to Install PC Version*
Communications Director
Hooded Horse

We are a publisher of indie games with strategic and tactical depth. 28 projects and counting, come check out our portfolio on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store!

You may have seen me around in previous roles such as editor of Wargamer.com and Strategy Gamer.

gameleaper

thx WJ that really tells us about it, I can say after what you wrote I'm looking forward to it, it reminds me of the sid mayers plain games where you move then see the action, but this looks more options to do

jomni

It's more like steampunk anime X-Com. 
Very good game. My Steam avatar comes from this game.

JasonPratt

Quote from: gameleaper on July 19, 2017, 11:52:11 AM
It said 100 customisable charectors and lots of upgradable weapons

That's... well, kind of a marketing lie.

One hundred characters, yes. The main tank is far more customizable than any of them. Heck, the minor secondary tank is more customizable if I recall correctly. (I mean vehicles, not a damage soaking character type.) I'm trying to remember how to customize characters per se, and kind of failing.

Lots of upgradable weapons... every class has its own few or singular weapon types. You can buy upgrades for the weapon types which will get applied for every character of every class who uses that weapon type. It's significantly less flexible in this regard than vanilla XCOM. (And much less so than even the original old X-Com.) The comparison a with standard JRPG is apt: this character has boxing gloves, and you can get better boxing gloves for her throughout the game, and even add gems onto the gloves to give them various boosts or allow her to summon Arthur's Knights of the Round Table to hit all your enemies with. This game is like that, but much less so: these 20 characters all use this weapon and you can make their weapon hit better or other basic upgrades every once in a while. You cannot summon a near-naked ice woman to mess up everyone on the field using a tchotchke you put on one of the weapons.  :coolsmiley:


Regarding turns, the turns are definitely team-based: all your crew goes first, then theirs. Each side gets reaction fire opportunities. When it comes time to move your troops (and a few vehicles), you zoom into a sort of first person mode where you can run around the field and deal with obstacles, according to a limit of movement points; meanwhile the enemy gets to shoot freely at you. You are allowed to manually aim your weapon and shoot back while this is happening, but doing so uses up lots of your ability to keep moving. And the aiming process is a little kludgy, not like in a true FPS. However, like in an FPS, if you botch your aiming you'll miss. It's also possible to miss even when you've got your targeting recticule right where you want to shoot (unlike most FPSes. To be fair, the game does allow the proportional possibility of accidental hits if you mis-aim, but those are naturally rarer based on how the shooting mechanics work.) Most targets do have distinct damage areas with effects proper to hits there. So headshots are really important, and you should gear up with that in mind. (I would say "train", but training is simply class-based: you put effort between missions into training these or those types of class, and they all level up together.)


It's more fun than I'm making it sound! -- but it isn't an RPG like, let's say, the Balder's Gate and related series; or the Gold Box series; or the Neverwinter series. (Or the Vampire:Masquerade games to pull something different out of the hat.) You won't be using most of those 100 characters either (assuming that's the count for your side and not a convenient total for marketing purposes. ;) I remember a lot, but not a hundred.) You'll be picking a few handfulls to make up rotating squads based around how well their personal characteristics work with each other, and especially in relation to the main characters since as leaders they generate action points for you to activate your pieces on the board to scoot and shoot: the more MCs you can bring on a mission, the more active your squads will be. Basically there's little reason not to load up on as many MCs as any given mission will allow, and then add a few supporting troops who happen to work well with the MCs and with each other. In my two plays, one to completion (and the game gets harrrrrrrd without a guide to help max your opportunities and abilities), I'd be a little surprised if I used more than 15 characters total, and very surprised if that was more than 20. The roster kind of exists to give you a little flexibility in building some squad support, and for replacements if you decide not to save scum and lose your chosen redshirts to the occasional bad luck. ;) They can also get injured and be out of action for a few missions, if I recall correctly, which a deeper bench can help with.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

gameleaper

well I suppose that steam should not say its an RPG, but it seems like it save itself because its a good game. and I should of known jomni if it was japaneese you would have something to do with it. thankyou JasonPratt for that full description. and WargamerJoe I can tell you liked it too.


JasonPratt

Don't feel bad; I'm annoyed at their marketing, but it's a fine game to play.  O:-)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

jomni

This has been discussed on Steam.  Consensus is that it is a tactical game.  I know it's not an RPG because I was able to go far into the game (but not finish for some reason).  It it's were a real RPG, I will never go really far.  RPG is not my preferred genre.

https://steamcommunity.com/app/294860/discussions/0/620703493329626540/


HoodedHorseJoe

Japanese-style RPG's are a complicated classification anyway because they don't really follow many western-held conventions about what makes an 'RPG', which I'm pretty sure is a genre that's basically derived from things like D&D etc... If you look at games like The Witcher 3, Dragon Age etc... these are all full-blood RPGs, and not many JRPGs follow the same formulae (and yet they are still considered RPGs).

Years and years ago, when I was a freelancer, I remember interviewing a developer from BioWare. He was a writer for Star Wars: The Old Republic and I was using Final Fantasy XIII as an example for whatever the question was. He gave me the funniest quote ever:

"You can put a 'J' in front of it, but it's not an RPG. You don't make any choices, you don't create a character, you don't live your character... I don't know what those are - adventure games maybe? But they're not RPG's"

But yeah, Valkyria Chronicles is definitely a tactical strategy game first, RPG second, and even then it's a very Japanese interpretation of the RPG. Exactly like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics etc...

BTW this conversation has made me re-install VC and fire it up again - Imma going to complete it this time!
Communications Director
Hooded Horse

We are a publisher of indie games with strategic and tactical depth. 28 projects and counting, come check out our portfolio on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store!

You may have seen me around in previous roles such as editor of Wargamer.com and Strategy Gamer.

jomni


JasonPratt

I strongly recommend going to gamefaqs and getting a tactical run-through aid, if you want to beat the game. If you don't max your scores out early and often, you're going to be running too far behind in skilz and tech to win the late game.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!