There are a number of RPG series that have gone missing over the years, the victims of studio closures, disappointing sales, changing tastes, and so on. Every now and again I'll shine a light on some of these dead or dormant series by way of summary of the reasons why the games were ever interesting in the first place, followed by as much detail as I can manage regarding where the series left off and what has become its legacy.
My first pick is Valkyria Chronicles, a relatively recent example of a series being built and abandoned in the span of only a few years. It debuted in all territories during 2008, to be last seen in North America during late summer 2010, and late 2011 in Japan.
Why it's Interesting
Even before knowing anything of substance about Valkyria Chronicles, it's easy to be drawn in simply by how good it looks. This is the result of the CANVAS Engine, which creates an unusually attractive water-colory-cel-shaded, paper-textured, edges-sketched-in style. It did an excellent job of imitating the style of 2D animation with 3D models, especially for the time when it was released for the PS3. The anime-styled JRPG as a genre was off to a slow start during that generation, with many of the higher profile titles going instead to handheld systems, or holding out on the previous hardware as long as possible. To see a game in this style looking as good as Valkyria Chronicles on a then-modern system definitely grabbed attention.
Pleasantly, the actual game is as good as its visuals. It is essentially an SRPG in that the player and AI opponent take turns moving units around a battlefield, engaging with enemy units and leveling up while doing so. What makes it unique to the genre is in the way it integrates the idea of tactical planning with third-person action. This is expressed by alternating views of the battlefield from the detached perspective of a tactical map, and the immediacy of directly controlling individual ground troops at their level.
As a result of this system, the player is both general and infantry, with access to different sorts of incomplete information while inhabiting each role. The tactical map shows where all known enemy and friendly units are positioned, along with the location of buildings, cover, and other structures, but doesn't always communicate topography clearly or reveal exactly where unseen enemies are lurking. To get this detail, it's necessary to drop down to the viewpoint of an allied unit. From there, the immediate surroundings are perfectly clear, though the detailed tactical map is replaced with a mini-map that is so small and simplified that it really only functions as a reminder of what the big map looked like.
Limiting access to information in this way introduces potentially frustrating gaps in intelligence leading to foolish decisions made by the player who can only see from one perspective a time. Though this may seem like poor design, I believe it was a conscious choice, made with the intention of simulating in some way the differences in viewpoint between the people giving orders and the people carrying them out. If the systems seems limited and incomplete, I would argue that it's because it is based on a real system that can be limited and incomplete, given that the theme of this game is -- in it's most understated form -- "war is problematic". Unfortunately, I can't find a place where narrative addresses the specific point regarding perspective, so I have to admit that I'm merely theorizing that this is what they were going for.
Getting back to more concrete information, Valkyria Chronicles further distinguishes itself from its peers is with the implementation of crossfire. Whenever a unit is in motion, it can be fired upon by certain opposing unit types who are within range. This makes it possible to set up traps and choke-points to halt enemy progress, and make it much easier to get enemy kills even when it is the AI's turn. It's also one of the only ways that the 3rd-person control scheme could ever work without looking silly. In a game like Fire Emblem, where all movement is performed by moving units around a map, the fact that a swordsman can walk right past two other melee fighters to take down an archer is fine because it's never seen from those units' perspective. I can only imagine that a similar scene would look bizarrely and recklessly un-warlike if played out in Valkyria Chronicles' third-person view.
Where is it now?
There have been two sequels, both for the PSP -- a move that has meant dropping the CANVAS engine and other aspects of the presentation and scale of the game. Even so, the core game has remained roughly the same as far as alternating between map and movement, with the addition of new character classes and other refinements and complications to the relatively simple mechanics of the original.
Thematically, however, Valkyria Chronicles II takes a hard turn from the original. Set several years after the events of the first game, it focuses on a group of military academy students who are unexpectedly called on to fight in a civil war. As might be expected given the setting, the characters are pulled from the shallow pool of high school anime tropes, tingeing the plot with a lighter, sillier tone.
The series returns to form with Valkyria Chronicles 3, this time following a secret unit of nameless soldiers who take on the most dangerous missions, in a timeline that runs parallel to that of the first game. Unfortunately, this one never made it to America, though I understand there is a fan translation patch for those who have access to the Japanese game.
Aside from these direct sequels, Sega has also used a Valkyria-like battle system for the otherwise not-particularly-remarkable RPGs, Shining Blade, and Shining Ark, also for the PSP. Incidentally, there's no doubt a "Where is it Now?"-style article to be written about the Shining series, which continues to exist by hopping genre every so often, leaving fans to wonder if they'll ever get a sequel to a Shining game they might enjoy.
In this same vein, Valkyria Chronicles does sort of live on in the form of an online customizable card game called Valkyria Chronicles Duel. I haven't played it at all, but nevertheless condemn it in my ignorance.
My first pick is Valkyria Chronicles, a relatively recent example of a series being built and abandoned in the span of only a few years. It debuted in all territories during 2008, to be last seen in North America during late summer 2010, and late 2011 in Japan.
Why it's Interesting
Even before knowing anything of substance about Valkyria Chronicles, it's easy to be drawn in simply by how good it looks. This is the result of the CANVAS Engine, which creates an unusually attractive water-colory-cel-shaded, paper-textured, edges-sketched-in style. It did an excellent job of imitating the style of 2D animation with 3D models, especially for the time when it was released for the PS3. The anime-styled JRPG as a genre was off to a slow start during that generation, with many of the higher profile titles going instead to handheld systems, or holding out on the previous hardware as long as possible. To see a game in this style looking as good as Valkyria Chronicles on a then-modern system definitely grabbed attention.
Pleasantly, the actual game is as good as its visuals. It is essentially an SRPG in that the player and AI opponent take turns moving units around a battlefield, engaging with enemy units and leveling up while doing so. What makes it unique to the genre is in the way it integrates the idea of tactical planning with third-person action. This is expressed by alternating views of the battlefield from the detached perspective of a tactical map, and the immediacy of directly controlling individual ground troops at their level.
 |
| The tactical map view |
 |
| The 3rd person action view |
As a result of this system, the player is both general and infantry, with access to different sorts of incomplete information while inhabiting each role. The tactical map shows where all known enemy and friendly units are positioned, along with the location of buildings, cover, and other structures, but doesn't always communicate topography clearly or reveal exactly where unseen enemies are lurking. To get this detail, it's necessary to drop down to the viewpoint of an allied unit. From there, the immediate surroundings are perfectly clear, though the detailed tactical map is replaced with a mini-map that is so small and simplified that it really only functions as a reminder of what the big map looked like.
Limiting access to information in this way introduces potentially frustrating gaps in intelligence leading to foolish decisions made by the player who can only see from one perspective a time. Though this may seem like poor design, I believe it was a conscious choice, made with the intention of simulating in some way the differences in viewpoint between the people giving orders and the people carrying them out. If the systems seems limited and incomplete, I would argue that it's because it is based on a real system that can be limited and incomplete, given that the theme of this game is -- in it's most understated form -- "war is problematic". Unfortunately, I can't find a place where narrative addresses the specific point regarding perspective, so I have to admit that I'm merely theorizing that this is what they were going for.
Getting back to more concrete information, Valkyria Chronicles further distinguishes itself from its peers is with the implementation of crossfire. Whenever a unit is in motion, it can be fired upon by certain opposing unit types who are within range. This makes it possible to set up traps and choke-points to halt enemy progress, and make it much easier to get enemy kills even when it is the AI's turn. It's also one of the only ways that the 3rd-person control scheme could ever work without looking silly. In a game like Fire Emblem, where all movement is performed by moving units around a map, the fact that a swordsman can walk right past two other melee fighters to take down an archer is fine because it's never seen from those units' perspective. I can only imagine that a similar scene would look bizarrely and recklessly un-warlike if played out in Valkyria Chronicles' third-person view.
Where is it now?
There have been two sequels, both for the PSP -- a move that has meant dropping the CANVAS engine and other aspects of the presentation and scale of the game. Even so, the core game has remained roughly the same as far as alternating between map and movement, with the addition of new character classes and other refinements and complications to the relatively simple mechanics of the original.
Thematically, however, Valkyria Chronicles II takes a hard turn from the original. Set several years after the events of the first game, it focuses on a group of military academy students who are unexpectedly called on to fight in a civil war. As might be expected given the setting, the characters are pulled from the shallow pool of high school anime tropes, tingeing the plot with a lighter, sillier tone.
The series returns to form with Valkyria Chronicles 3, this time following a secret unit of nameless soldiers who take on the most dangerous missions, in a timeline that runs parallel to that of the first game. Unfortunately, this one never made it to America, though I understand there is a fan translation patch for those who have access to the Japanese game.
Aside from these direct sequels, Sega has also used a Valkyria-like battle system for the otherwise not-particularly-remarkable RPGs, Shining Blade, and Shining Ark, also for the PSP. Incidentally, there's no doubt a "Where is it Now?"-style article to be written about the Shining series, which continues to exist by hopping genre every so often, leaving fans to wonder if they'll ever get a sequel to a Shining game they might enjoy.
In this same vein, Valkyria Chronicles does sort of live on in the form of an online customizable card game called Valkyria Chronicles Duel. I haven't played it at all, but nevertheless condemn it in my ignorance.
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