In the midst of the PlayStation 3’s dearth of “Must have/Only on PS3” titles, an unexpected gem of a tactical RPG appeared by the name of Valkyria Chronicles, and thanks to positive reviews, word of mouth, and Sega having just plain made a damn fine game, the title continued to sell units to the point where it warranted a sequel in the eyes of the publisher.  The announcement made a lot of people happy, however the move to put the proper sequel on PSP, well, that stung a little bit for (some) fans and PS3 owners.

‘Tis the way of the world it seems, for many Japanese developers and publishers.  With development costs soaring, the young gaming population in Japan rapidly shrinking, and portable hardware booming, the move is a logical one.  We might as well accept that this is likely to be a trend to continue at least into the near future.  If we can do that, then we can redirect our attention toward more important matters:

There’s a Valkyria Chronicles sequel coming, and based on what’s offered in the demo, that’s certainly nothing to complain about. 

Japanese box artTitle:  Valkyria Chronicles 2

Developer:  Sega

Publisher:  Sega (NA), Sega (JPN)

Release Date:  Summer 2010 (NA), January 21, 2010 (JPN)

Moving the title over to the PSP means finding a new audience, particularly in Japan, where the primary hindrance to most of the crowd’s Monster Hunting is actually overcoming real-time pubescent battles.  This most likely explains the logic behind basing the story around young military cadets at the training academy as opposed to the war-torn mercenaries that took center stage in the first game.  The general appearance of the characters is overall slightly more juvenile (for obvious reasons), with the voicing and style of banter following suit.  It was difficult to tell from the demo (one tutorial mission and one regular mission), but hopefully this won’t hinder the older crowd’s ability to connect with the story in characters, or downplay the fact that the game is essentially about war, a balance that the original struck quite nicely even with the colorful anime cast.  

The other element that contributed to the first game’s ability to support that balance, as well as gave it that “next-gen” flavor, was the art direction.  The game looked stunning in high definition and was a major factor in drawing the player into the game world.  To expect equal performance out of the PSP would be unreasonable, but Sega seems to have recognized that the visuals were one of the original’s major selling points and addressed that by putting every effort into recreating the game’s unique style on the handheld.  No, its not PS3 quality, but given the hardware that its on, it doesn’t have to be, and what’s there certainly satisfies.   

Slight revisions have been made to the control scheme in order to get the game to perform on the handheld, such as mapping camera control to the shoulder buttons for horizontal movement and the ▲ and × face buttons for vertical control, as well as making some of the buttons more multifunctional based on characters’ proximity to different things in the environment.  I fumbled around a little to begin with, but by the time I had completed the tutorial (a short, three man skirmish) I had settled into the controls and was briskly commanding my characters from the onset of the main mission. 

The only real stand-out difference in the single player demo mission (1 tank unit and 4 additional units selected by the player) was that the map was actually divided into two separate areas, and in order to access the second, a unit from the player’s faction has to secure the enemy bunker on the opposite end of the map, accomplished by clearing out the surrounding enemies and raising the their flag, the same as in the PS3 counterpart.  Whether this design decision is due to limitations in the PSP hardware, or in order to give the player more of a sense of being able to tackle the missions in “short bursts,” is unclear (they both may very well be factors).  Regardless, its definitely going to impact player strategy. 

Once this “access point” bunker has been captured, that unit can then be transferred to a pre-positioned ally bunker on the next map.  However, once the next area opens up, the player can use a “CP” point in order to transfer any unit from the previous map into the new area, regardless of their position, however only a limited number of transfers can be made per turn.  The result is a structure that forces the player to rethink their unit progression.  One mistake that I often made in the original was neglecting to move certain units early on and then not being able to access their abilities when I needed them on the far end of the map.  I’m sure that I’ll manage to birth entirely new personal problems within this new structure as well, but for now, it poses some intriguing new tactical possibilities.  What will be interesting to see is how many times the maps fragment further into the campaign.  Should a single mission contain three, four, five or more separate areas, and should the player be able to transfer units between any of the accessed maps once reached, regardless of unit position, things could get rather hectic.  It could also become somewhat cumbersome trying to manage units across several maps as well.  We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

The demo included one multiplayer mission as well, however I wasn’t able to test it out due to limited resources; aka: Not having any other players.  (If there are any PSP owning NMGB readers in the Tokyo area, drop me a line; we’ll grab a cold beverage and get to work).        

With the original Valkyria Chronicles, it was really the composition of the entire package that sold the product, making it easy to overlook minor shortcomings in the battle system, pacing, or storytelling.  Whether watching the story play out through cutscenes, managing equipment and upgrades, or engaging fiercely on the battlefield, I personally found it all equally enjoyable as part of the whole experience.  With the PSP version however, given the smaller screen and that the game seemingly being geared more toward “short bursts” and multiplayer rather than a drawn out single player experience, the real test will be whether or not the gameplay in and of itself is enjoyable enough to support the title on its own.  Since Sega isn’t likely to alter the multiplayer component for U.S. release by adding online functionality, so the feature probably won’t be much of a selling point for a lot of PSP owners.  Rather, it’ll be mostly be fans of the original looking to extend the experience from the original.  Judging by the build provided in the demo, it may not quite satiate the needs of those particular gamers, but the title seems to be shaping up to be an enjoyable experience on its own merits.

And remember, if you don’t go out and spend your hard earned dollars this time around, you probably won’t see the game appear on any platform again . . . ever.