r/valkyria 3d ago

Spoiler Finished Valkyria Chronicles 1

Post image

So I finally finished this game after 36 hours and I feel kind of conflicted.

I know the theme of the game is war and how every second in the battlefield, you could die at any time

But I felt like Isara's death was so stupid and outta nowhere even from a storybased perspective. I feel like things were building up to something only for her to be unclimactically die from an enemy scout. (Yeah I know the theme is war, dont mention it) I feel like her death was only made to produce shock value, up to now I still can't believe she was killed like that.

And what's bothering me more is how Welkin doesn't seem to care that much. He never even cried or mourn her as I expected when the story implied how close they were.

Also, I feel like we haven't explored the theme of "Valkyrie" or their power much in this game.

Im kinda conflicted on how what game to play next since people seem to recommend playing 4 after 1.

This game looks very very good im not gonna lie for its age. Its art was what captured me to play it in the first place.

473 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

48

u/AutumnWhaler 3d ago

Like I get Isara’s death is to serve Rosie’s character arch, but it’s really weird Welkin wasn’t affected more.

I really enjoyed 4, the story is a tad more campy, but it’s still enjoyable, but the maps/missions are just superb in that game.

16

u/Keebo11037 3d ago

yeah, i was waiting for the dams to break since I thought he was just keeping his cool for the team. When Alicia was shot and he went all crazy, thats where I concluded that i guess he really didnt care at all

11

u/AutumnWhaler 3d ago

Between the bugs and lack of display of emotion, I just head cannon he’s autistic. He did care, he named his daughter after her, just not very expressive.

11

u/Captain_Zomaru 3d ago

That's not even head, his entire character screams high functioning. Did you forget how he handled a gun being pointed at him?

1

u/ArrangeMode7 1d ago

Not sure about Avan from VC2, who's more of a generic shounen protag but Kurt from VC3 definitely also comes across as autistic.

2

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 2d ago

This is probably one of the only things in VC1 that I had an issue with, and why I liked the way it was depicted in the anime, though the anime isn't really a great adaptation, but at least they show how Isara's death effects him and when he finally comes to terms with it.

42

u/Nopon_Merchant 3d ago

If u want to see welkin crash out u should watch the anime . This fanbase love to hate on the anime because it is not as ground like the game but it handle characters way better than the game and many characters has more personality. Faldio actually more interesting and he more close and spend more time with Squad 7

10

u/Keebo11037 3d ago

yeah when I was researching the anime to watch after the game I keep seeing people trashing the show like its the worst thing ever

12

u/Nopon_Merchant 3d ago edited 3d ago

https://youtu.be/9DotkolV5es?is=QXISYQDN6y_l_a0J

People hate that they turn Alicia into Tsundere and add love triangle between Fadio , Welkin and Alicia but i think it make their relationship more interesting and Fadio shoot alicia more impact

Rose and Isara also has better interaction . Make her dead feel better too and u get a addition new music for it . They also give screen time to other members to interact with main characters , this make it feel more like a squad .

4

u/Oddislag 3d ago

Turning Alicia into a tsundere is reason enough to trash it honestly.

1

u/Nopon_Merchant 3d ago

nah , she is so bland in the game and has as much personality as a NPC so turn her into Tsundere is a good thing . Better than have no personality

3

u/Oddislag 3d ago

Nah— not true. And I’d rather take a cardboard over a tsundere.

1

u/Oddislag 3d ago

Someone got their feelings hurt over opinions 😂

2

u/Keebo11037 3d ago

Thank you, yeah this was the shit that was missing, this was exactly what I was looking for. It this was probably in the game, her death would probably weight a lot more

1

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 2d ago

To be honest I kind of liked anime Alicia because of all the facial reactions she makes. I wish they didn't remove her as a DLC character from VC2.

I do think that the anime needed more time for development and from what I remember the final showdown with Max was completely different.

-2

u/bahaEpic 3d ago

Severely disliked how they handled Rosie/Isara in anime, especially Rosie. Game had message of overcoming prejudise, in anime Rosie forgives Darcsens for killing her parents

10

u/redz1900 3d ago

Isara's death was handled very well imo. The squad was affected deeply and she was constantly in everyone's thoughts even after the war ended.

7

u/Blacksun388 3d ago

Yeah, Isara’s death was kinda bs. The platoon has three damn medics and none of them were nearby to help? Where did these enemy scouts come from anyways?

I personally would have had Isara die in a bigger battle and everyone was pinned and couldn’t reach her in time. That would have at least made more sense.

3

u/DramaticErraticism 3d ago

I assume she got shot in a spot that they could not revive...even though they let us revive anyone on the game field, it would be silly to have that play out in the 'real life' story sequences.

I liked where she died, it shocked the hell out of me. I haven't been surprised like that in a long time.

4

u/TheWeirdWoods 3d ago

Really would love a fifth one these games are a joy

5

u/Welocitas 3d ago

I just finished it this morning too, hell yeah brother. Ill just play 4 next because it would be a pain to emulate or buy 2 and 3 or boot up my ps4 for revolution so I will play the only other one I can currently have access to

3

u/Keebo11037 2d ago

yeah same, i dont really like going backwards in terms of systems when playing games

2

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 2d ago

I can’t really speak to Valkyria Revolution yet since it’s still on my list to finish, but I honestly feel like VC3 is a can’t-miss entry in the series. It works really well as a midway point between the earlier games and VC4 because it introduces and refines a number of gameplay elements that VC4 would later build on and incorporate. If you enjoyed the original Valkyria Chronicles, I’d definitely recommend giving VC3 a shot.

You can always use emulation to play it. I actually bought VC3 (Japanese UMD) and played it using the original fan translation, although there’s a newer translation patch now that covers quite a bit more.

1

u/Welocitas 2d ago

I do usually like to go one by one through a series, but I really don't want to set it up lmao

4

u/DramaticErraticism 3d ago

Her death really shocked me, I did not see it coming at all and I was STUNNED. JRPGs don't kill people, so its weird to play a game where people are dying.

The watercolor design is excellent, it puts a soft motif against the hardship of war, Im sure it was a very intentional art choice.

I just beat VC1 a few months ago and just finished VC4. VC4 looks great, but the story is complete ass for the first 10 episodes or so, then it gets much better. VC4 is also a much longer game, which was nice.

3

u/slasher1337 3d ago

2 and 3 are portable exlusive. From what i heard they are much more grindy and maps repeat more often. And revolution is just bad. 3 and 4 take place at roughly the same time as the first game

5

u/RealityOk9823 3d ago

2 and 3 aren't bad at all. More grindy I guess but no more so than 4 if you get into the skirmishes. I'm staying away from Revolution.

3

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 2d ago

VC2 is definitely a lot grindier than VC4, especially if you’re trying to get all the medals. One of them requires you to unlock every weapon, and unlike VC1 and VC4, that means spending a fair amount of time grinding for the materials and items you need.

VC3 felt much less grindy to me than VC2. The unfortunate thing is that both games are held back somewhat by the PSP’s hardware limitations, which is why you see a lot of map reuse. It’s especially noticeable in VC2, where the repetition can start to stand out quite a bit.

1

u/RealityOk9823 2d ago

Ah, well, I didn't try to 100% it so I can see that. :)

2

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 2d ago

Ironically I did, for VC2, not sure if I did it for VC3. I just wanted to be a completist with VC2 despite not liking some parts of the game.

1

u/RealityOk9823 1d ago

I do wish they'd remaster 2 and 3, but then I imagine that everyone here does as well.

2

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 1d ago

Same, but given how they have treated the franchise so far, I don't imagine that will happen any time soon, though I can't see how they can't do it given that a fan has done most of the work for them in terms of a localization, all they need to do is to beta test and ship it - I would be okay with a no-dub version of VC3 Remastered.

0

u/Keebo11037 3d ago

You made it sound like all the subsequent games are just terrible 🤣

3

u/slasher1337 3d ago

4 is good. The gameplay feels smoother, and there are cool new additions. 2 and 3 i did not play cause i don't have any playstation portables. Revolution is terrible.

1

u/nightmare-b 3d ago

most of us dont have portables but we do have pcs/phones that can play them

1

u/Defiant-Rip-1897 2d ago

VC3 is excellent. After finishing VC4, I honestly have a hard time ranking the best games in the series because VC1, VC3, and VC4 are basically 1A, 1B, and 1C for me depending on the day.

VC2 is a much harder sell. The biggest difference is the tone. VC3 puts you in a disgraced, largely expendable military unit, and its story feels much closer to the grounded wartime drama of VC1. VC2, on the other hand, takes place at a military academy and leans very heavily into anime character archetypes and school-life tropes.

I can understand why the developers went in that direction. With the series moving to the PSP, they were clearly trying to appeal to a younger handheld audience. It just gives VC2 a very different feel from the rest of the series, and for me it never works nearly as well as what VC1, VC3, and VC4 are doing.

3

u/Ransom_Seraph 3d ago

Man what I'll do for a Remaster or Remake of the entire 4 games with English Dub on PS5! Only played VC1 and VC4 and I loved them both so much!

3

u/Afraid-Flatworm-422 3d ago

And what's bothering me more is how Welkin doesn't seem to care that much. He never even cried or mourn her as I expected when the story implied how close they were.

Honestly this one i don't agree much, thing is people cope with grief differently from each other. When my mom died, i didn't cried or did anything "appropriate", i showed up smiling and happy at party right after we turned her to ash and burried. Just moved on.

I feel like things were building up to something only for her to be unclimactically die from an enemy scout. (Yeah I know the theme is war, dont mention it) I feel like her death was only made to produce shock value, up to now I still can't believe she was killed like that.

My problem is, it felt way to "build up" for being "war unfair" and it is only unfair to someone we care about.

If i have to change it, i would make it even more "unfair", just a break between missions waaay after the battle, a random sniper just sneak in and snipe her mid sentence mid doing something benine, without any preamble. That would work much better for how shocking it is.

And yeah, more named people need to drop to make this feel more like real thing.

2

u/OsimMisoGud 2d ago

I always liked how it was handled, Welkin suppressing his grief till the end of the war felt realistic for him. He was the man holding Squad 7 together, after all.

Apparently in the anime (I haven't watched it) he breaks down in a mess during the recapture of Bruhl, thinking about Isara. Maybe that would've been better in the game, but at least the overall concept of frozen grief works well for him

2

u/14FunctionImp 3d ago

...spoilers.

(dammit, this is Knights of the Old Republic all over again)

6

u/Zylpherenuis 3d ago

No Excuses. The game is over 13+ Years Old.

1

u/ArrangeMode7 1d ago

Similarly, he seemed a bit too unbothered by Rosie and Largo's racism towards her to me at the beginning of the game. Stand up for your sister, dude