Valkyria Chronicles 4 (2018)

Just 100% the game, so now I'm in the Valkyria Chronicles 5 waiting room. I just want to ramble about the game now and I don't think I'm going to come across as coherent.

Quality of life changes This game kind of feels like VC1 with its larger maps, but with some added QoL from the PSP games. It's easier to tell if a unit is crouching/lying prone and units within camps can be recalled without any CP. Some other QoL features include the ability to skip cinematics and making it easier to retry maps. Even with the added QoL features, I found myself missing features the PSP games had. The squad setup menu is pretty awful because it feels like it withholds information from you. In the PSP games, you can tell where camps are and the locations of enemies near ally camps. In this game, you can't even tell if you're organizing your units on a camp or in an open field. This makes it hard to decide what units to take unless you already have an idea of what to expect on the map. There is also no way to check which aces you've already defeated, which is a feature that was found in VC3, so it's weird that it was removed.

Story and characters This game has interesting ideas, but I feel like it's expected so poorly. I found myself disinterested in the romance and the characters in general. There are strong moments, but they're hindered by how weak the surrounding moments are. One thing that I found strange is the lack of racism in the game. Racism against Darcsens is a prominent theme in 1-3, so the absence of this theme is a bit jarring. I get that they would want to explore other themes because I don't think you could take it any further than how they did in 3, not having it at all seems strange because it makes the game feel as though it takes place in a completely different world. I think Raz being the first Darcsen that's depicted brash and crude kind of exacerbates that feeling. Although the sacrifice he made actually got to me. It is at least on par with losing Isara in VC1 to me, but the difference is that losing Raz actually has a gameplay difference alongside its story significance, which makes it feel like a big deal. I think the antagonists are my least favorite in the series. Farseti's motivations did not make sense to me at all. I think they were trying to make him similar to Dahau in VC3 in that they're a bit of an outsider in their organization and they're motivated by some grand ideal, but they just did a worse job. I could at least see where Dahau was coming from, where I couldn't understand Farseti at all. He defects to the empire because of the awful things that the Federation does to Valkyrian children, but he is willing to disregard the atrocities the empire is responsible for. He even causes a ton of suffering to innocent people for this cause, which is where there was a disconnect for me. Also, they highlight the unethical actions of the Federation, but there’s no resolution to that even at the end of the game. The characters must take it as a necessary evil and move on. I like the squad missions, they flesh out the squad more than the original VC1, but less than they did for 2 and 3.

Gameplay I like the inclusion of the Grenadier class. They're fun to use, but they're also infuriating to fight against. Some chapters are infuriating in their difficulty. I found myself enjoying them more by cheesing them rather than playing them how they were intended. Just like in VC1, orders are super powerful and I took full advantage of them. It was also nice having access to orders even on maps where the tank isn't deployed. I will say that I wasn't into the new Ship Orders and I found myself not using them very much. I think I would have preferred the Ship Orders to just be integrated the same way the standard Orders are so that they're available more consistently. The return of SP is a welcome, although it's disappointing that every leader uses it in the same way. The postgame content is much better than in VC1. Also, the swimsuit DLC is awesome.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I feel like I've rambled enough for now. I might try Valkyria Revolution, I'm not sure yet.