It sorta pains me to make that title, because I grew up on Final Fantasy Tactics, and for the longest it reigned surpreme in my sRPG record book. Besting the likes of Tactics Ogre, Fire Emblem (that's not hard to do), and even standing strong through the gauntlet of Disgaeas and the rest of the Nippon Ichi series (Don't ask me to compare it to Soul Nomad, on some days I'll say Soul Nomad is better).
But then I finally got my hands on Valkyria Chronicles.
That game is arguably the best strategy RPG ever. (tactical rpg, whatever you call the genre).
Like, even if I give FFT the "test of time benefit of the doubt", it barely gets edged out by VC in my books.
It's scary.
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Gameplay: The gameplay is obviously the main selling point to this game.
RPG/Third Person Shooter, and I put it in that order for a reason. The TPS is the gimmick to the game and oh Lord I don't think anybody in their right mind will EVER try to imitate/duplicate it.
But the reason why I like it so much is that Sega uses it tastefully enough to not let the shooter outweight the rpg.
See, it's important to be able to find good positioning and all, but it's not like you have to be able to actually SHOOT. When you go into firing mode, all the hail of bullets and whatnot stop coming and you're free to line up your shot at your leisure. It may sound corny, but again, this isn't Modern Brofare.
Speaking of firing stopping, that has to be the most logical game mechanic ever put into a modern/futuristic rpg ever. Intercepting fire. Simply put, on your turn, if you're in the sight and range of an enemy unit... they shoot at you. It's really simple when you read it, but it makes battles a lot more indepth than just "run up in their face, blast, rinse, repeat" Don't matter if you got first turn or not, you can't just stream roll everybody and be done.
The rest of the gameplay aspects kind of tie in to story, which I will talk about next.
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Story:
The story is pretty beast. I won't go as far as to say it's the best story ever, cause I'm convinced that it's damn-near impossible to come up with a unique story and make it work. However, the way everything is presented and paced in Valkyria Chronicles helps round everything into an instant classic.
Honestly, I don't even have to talk about the actual narrative to talk about the good parts. Lemme tell you how far the story travels in the game.
When you form your squad, unlike most sRPGs, your squad is not filled with random "nameless" people. No, you actually select from a roster of specific individuals, each with their own traits, stats, and voice acting ^_^. (And actually, a few people from Skies of Arcadia are in there, too). Ok, so how far does it go? The "traits", better known as potentials, not only serve as buffs and debuffs in certian criteria, but a lot of them straight up give character to each of the units. (I could give you examples, but I'm trying not to spoil ANYTHING.)
All in all, the story and everything revolving around a story element is amazing in the game. If I had to flat out compare story-to-story vs FFT, It'd be a hard decision that I probably couldn't make at gunpoint. But VC goes beyond the narrative. And we're in a day and age where everything has to meld in rpgs.
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Music:
Now, this is the one part of the game that isn't S-Rank like the rest of the game, imo. And it's not because the music is bad. Cause believe me, the music be goin' hard, but it really isn't as well rounded as everything else.
I dunno, maybe I'm speaking biasedly about this cause FFT has been out for over 10 years and I've played through VC once.
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Graphics:
"Graphics don't make a game good, they make a good game better." -Dogysamich
I've lived by that quote for years, and I will defend it forever. And guess what? VC definitely milks that for all it's worth.
The graphics aren't specifically NEW or anything; they're cel-shaded, with written sound effects (the KABOOMS and vrooms and whatnot). The reason why they're so good is, again, it completes the package.
It's like they wanted you to take everything seriously when you looked at it, but realize that they weren't going for a "standard historical feel."
Yes, we got guns, people hiding in bushes, and death poppin' off. But we also have tanks that cover an entire zip code cruisin through the country. ....-ponders how to continue the comparision-
I don't want to just say "it's one of those things you have to see to understand", cause that's a cop-out. But that's the best way for me to describe it. It's obvious they weren't going for the high-end, reflection-off-the-tanks graphics that most people expect from a "good-graphics-game", but it's still very nice to look at.
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In the end, it still kinda hurts me to say this, cause I've got all sorts of unfair bias for FFT, but VC beats it fair and square. The game is just, beast. The only way I can honestly see somebody not liking the game is if they straight up did not like RPGs (which is possible), or if they had absolutely no clue what they were buying.
I'll go as far as to say Valkyria Chronicles is a good reason to own a ps3.
I honestly think it's that f'n good.
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sidenote: I started on this review about two weeks ago, but got sidetracked. It's rushed, I'm sorry, but I really need to sit down and look at review formats again, because I feel like I'm just mindlessly ranting when I do these.
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