Zero Punctuation: Valkyria Chronicles

[nroejb]

Following the reviews I´ve seen so far there are very few games he likes, but with numbering Halflife, Portal and Monkey Island 1+2, In my point of view he made some good choises.

Just like him I don´t think about many games as good ones (I can enjoy bad games none the less), but though I would rather slice my throat than playing Halflife (or any other ego shooter) I can completely Agree to the other 3 (not counting Portal as Ego Shooter).

But I really enjoyed this particular game and have to say, If you like turn based strategy games, don´t mind a story that reached a cliche level, which puts new, seemingly unsurpassable cliche standarts and if you can overlook the necessity to rapitly click the abort button after every turn to avoid crossfire, you should chek this one out.

And it is not a JRPG, it has the possibility to upgrade soldier classes (not individuels)and main characters with a developping personel plot, but that doensn´t make it an RPG.
VC is at a strategy game with RPG elements, which is presently rather standart (Spellforce and Warcraft 3 are non turn based versions)
Of course I can understand that some people might want to see every overly cliched game as JRPG and usually they will be right. But this one is an exeption.
It rather resembles (the by far better and despite its age more complex) Ufo: Enemy Unknown then an JRPG (which also featured weapon/armor reaserch, mixed human/tank troops, reaction fire outside of your own turns and upgradeable soldiers)

 

[Autocracy]

Why is this one an exception? Why is this not a JRPG? Whenever people argue that it's not, it always comes down to semantics and opinion/bias rather than any concrete fact.

What's the harm or terrible shame in calling it a Japanese RPG because, let's be honest, that's what it is. It's Japanese made and it's an RPG. So why not a Japanese RPG.

And to say it is a "strategy game with RPG elements" really is just an exercise in semantics. Where is the line drawn? Why isn't it an RPG with strategy game elements? After all, it has just as many hallmarks of an RPG if not more than a strategy game.

It strikes me as terribly pretentious to speak down to people and to tell them what it is or isn't when none of us here are experts or authorities on the matter. We're all merely "fans".

In any case, to me it may as well be just a Japanese Role Playing Game setup so that conflict is resolved in turn-based strategy/tactics. So maybe then it is a Japanese Turn-based Strategy Role Playing Game. There. I gave you pompous "connoisseurs" a compromise.

 

[nroejb]

It´s not like I really care which genre a game is from, as long as I enjoy it (well the genre of games I dislike matters even less to me)

But the terms are a good thing for categorisation, to help people find something to their liking. But if they serve for this, there have to be borders and honestly, if I bought this one while looking for an RPG, I would have gotten pissed towards whoever tried to sell me this game here. (play Gothic, than Ufo and tell me which one it resembles more, seriously now, no questions there)

Of course there are genre mix games, but I just don´t get much of an RPG feeling from this one, thats why I can´t accept it as such, I played hundreds of RPG´s and strategy games (proud of it? Yes!) and while playing this one I think "strategy game".

If we start titling games like this as RPGs, next will be racing games for having the possibility to earn money, upgrade the car and sometimes offering a personel plot of the driver. (sometimes the drivers even have stats, defenetly an RPG element here)

 

[Andreas55k]

*looks at the part about the evil empire in the east and sees his country (Denmark) being on the wrong side*

OI! ! XD

Ok maybe it isent.. but shut up! i have to complain about something!! the rest RULEZZ!! XD

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

I think Mr. Croshaw woul enjoy a bit of Fire Emblem

 

[DEEtox]

A--U--T--O--S--A--V--E

 

[Attelia]

Though I've probably seen this episode about 12 times in the last year or so, I still nearly explode with laughter in this one. NEar the end the complaints about the cutscenes was beautiful! I still can't get enough!

 

[dmcc85]

yahzee you schmazi!
lol
very funny
auto shave would be usefull as well indeed.

 

[Brad Parsons]

awesome Indiana Jones reference

 

[MrGalactus]

HE LIKES CRISPS
and grew up in swindon.
I like to pause it at that bit to piss myself laughing at it.

 

[de5gravity]

I just find it interesting that he holds up a picture of Ben Laden in retrospective. Also surprisingly hilarious episode.

 

[yaoinut]

Loved some of the jokes here. The garbled noise in summing up his feelings for JRPGs and the the changing of Hitlers name were great.

The game wasn't something that held a lot of interest for me. I will admit, this is primarily because its turn-based, a form of gameplay I have become a lot less fond of over the years. The second is that, while its true, many games love borrowing from big ol' buckets of cliche, I always seem to find traditional JRPGs do this the most. I will say this, it looked nice. Slightly different art style is appealing to me.

 

[PizzaSHARK]

Valkyria Chronicles

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews Valkryia Chronicles.

Watch Video

Necroing this old review because I do have a FREE suggestion for those looking for a solid turn-based strategy game that doesn't involve building a civilization (if that's what you want, it simply does not get better than Alpha Centauri.)

Battle of Wesnoth is an open source turn-based strategy game for the PC. It's free. And I mean, 100% free, not "free as long as you watch these ads while playing the game" or "free as long as you donate to us." Sounds, art, the gameplay itself... all done for free, by various people on their own free time.

And, despite that, it actually looks and sounds pretty decent, and plays amazingly well. There are numerous single-player campaigns, as well as a full-fledged multiplayer mode. The graphics are entirely sprite-based, but in spite of that, they actually look pretty well done, and the gameplay is very refined.

I'd recommend Battle for Wesnoth if you're looking to get into turn-based strategy games. If you end up liking Wesnoth and wouldn't mind shelling out about $10 for a game, I very strongly recommend you give Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (it's old, but it's still the best TBS ever made, as far as I'm concerned) a try.

 

[The__Doctor]

Rewatching all these Zero Punctuation videos made me realise how much Yahtzee actually rags on the Republicans... this game... inFamous.

 

[gtvnetwork]

It even has Valkyrie (almost) in its name, HOW MUCH MORE GERMANY DO YOU NEED?