Valkyria Revolution Preview: A Fresh New Direction
May. 22, 2017Valkyria Revolution Preview: A Fresh New Direction
Valkryia Revolution is a spinoff to the Valkyria Chronicles series. It takes place in an alternate timeline and universe than the games that came before, but there are similarities woven through for the observant player such as the presence of the powerful mineral ragnite.
Rather than the WWII backdrop we’ve become accustomed to, the game takes its influence from the European industrial revolution. The central events involve a war for liberation between 2 nations. The small land of Jutland is suffering at the hands of economic sanctions from the Ruzi Empire, and as a result takes to arms to free themselves from the grasp of the empire.
Complicating the issue, is the presence of of the series’ iconic Valkyria, on the side of the Ruzi Empire. Valkyria are powerful beings capable of dealing devastation. In response, the Jutland forces have put together a team of ragnite fueld warriors called the Vanargand. There mission is to wreak havoc on the Valkryia, and they are led by Captain Amleth Gronkaer and Princess Ophelia. Beyond this, political and social intrigue abound and there are promises of dramatic twists and turns.
The general progression for gameplay involves making preparations at your base, heading to the battlefield to engage and complete objectives and then returning back to your base to regroup and make new preparations.
The turn-based combat that the series has been known for has been tweaked with a faster approach to battles that combines a few different elements together. You will be customizing how your squad handles in combat as well as their loadouts before battle and while in battle, there will be real time action. The result is a strategy action flow that should be more approachable to a broader palette of players. That’s always the trick with RPGs, and for many a deal breaker. Steps in this hybrid direction are dangerous in some respects because they risk satisfying no one but are positive advances towards grabbing more players and there’s no indication that the compromises in this case are detrimental.
Each character in your squad has their own specialization and orientation. Amleth wields a large sword and specializes in fire spells. Blum makes use of water abilities. Ophelia utilizes wind to damage foes or heal allies. Jordur uses earth abilities to attack or buff other allies. You can control any of the 4 characters on the fly, and the ones you don’t control will be handled by AI.
The real time action has its parameters in the form of an action gauge that dictates when a character is able to attack. Making attacks and actions will deplete this gauge and then you must wait until it fills up before acting again. This is one of those hybrid tweaks to the turn based formula we’ve seen games like the Final Fantasy series take to speed up and give players more control without allowing things devolve into button mashing and dodging madness. You are able to slow things down even further by bringing up a battle palette that pauses the game and lets you plan your tactics.
In addition to melee your squad can cast magic which the game terms as alchemy, by using Ragnite. When using spells the action pauses and a new interface comes up which allows you to select from one of the available types in addition to some side arms like ranged weaponry or projectiles. There are a variety of Ragnite choices to pick from and will give you plenty of toys to win battles.
Your foes on the field will consist of small squads of enemy soldiers. How you tackle them depends on the tactics that you prefer. You can take them out from a distance, flush them out of cover, or take the fight directly to them head on. There is a flexibility to these encounters that allows you to mix tactics to suit your orientation and playstyle.
While engaging in battle the game determines your effectiveness and applies advantages and disadvantages in the form of certain interesting debuffs. Qualities like fear and panic can spread through forces and players can use this knowledge to their tactical advantage by doing things like focusing on leaders to spread worry through their ranks. These elements are reflected via their own gauge which shifts in color depending on how they are affecting the enemy. This works both ways and if you lose the emotion of the battle, you run the risk of having your allies retreat. This character of battle is an interesting mechanic that considers momentum and shifting tides and captures a bit of the human and emotional element of war. An interesting mechanic that the game features is the possibility of permanent death for the characters. They can perish and the main story will continue, but without their events present. If this does occur, you are able to retry and not go forward without them.
Fans of both the Valkyria series of games as well as fans of more modern battle systems that blend real time with turn base actions will want to check out Valkyria Revolution. And if that sounds like a narrow focus, it’s certainly not, as there are many fans of Valkyria Chronicles out there. It’s one of the more unique series to come out in RPGs and it’s worth looking into even if this is your first knowledge of its existence. Many who try, become hooked and if Valkyria Revolution maintains the series’ strong narrative and setting while not fumbling the new combat system, it should take its place as a great entry in the series and in gaming as a whole.
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Emergence
Editor at Fextralife. I look for the substantial in gaming and I try to connect video games to the emotions and stories they elicit. I love all things culture and history and have an odd fondness for the planet Jupiter. I think my dogs are pretty awesome too.
Sounds cool. I really liked the first Valkyria Chronicles, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this.
