For the past few days, I've been really hooked on Valkyria Chronicles. It's actually the first game in a really, really long time that I actually, genuinely enjoyed playing. Which is really surprising, considering I didn't even know it was coming out on Steam. Well, I'm not that huge of a JRPG fan to begin with, so I guess my ignorance is excusable for now. The number of Japanese games with cutesy anime faces (barring OELVNS) are, by the way, increasing rather quickly on Steam. Trails in the Sky came out not so long ago, and Valkyria Chronicles certainly won't be the last on the list. Which is quite nice, I guess. Also I don't own a console, so this mini-review will solely be on the PC version.

A lot of people on Steam have been comparing Valkyria Chronicles to XCOM. I haven't actually played XCOM, so my closest comparison would be something like Company of Heroes. I imagine that if a Japanese game developer got his hands on Company of Heroes in a fantasy setting, he'd make something like Valkyria Chronicles. It's a mix of third-person combat, strategy, visual novel style storytelling, and cute girls, one of whom ends up being your wife. Basically, the game is right up my alley. And I liked just about every aspect of it.

Unlike most of things I'm into, the presence of cute girls isn't the only thing good about this game. The art style is, I think, the real selling point. The plot seems to be loosely based around Germany's invasion of Belgium in '40. But the character design is more of a mix between medieval fashion and World War II weaponry, which is quite charming in its on way. Edelweiss, for example, looks rather similar to a King Tiger (when you upgrade it fully) while the enemy tanks resembled the early war French designs. Unless you are a history nerd you probably won't notice much of this. Or unless you are a Girls und Panzer fan.

In Valkyria Chronicles you get to hand-pick your own squad.

My one shouldn't really be called a squad. It's more like a Chloe harem.

My first foray into HR. Everyone have their key competencies and employee relations.

Unfortunately I'm a terrible manager and I pick people exclusively on their gender and looks. So sexist!

The combat system is really well made. As a turn-based game, the combat actually feels moderately realistic, and even though it's a third person shooter the game doesn't feel too awkward. Of course, Valkyria Chronicles is hardly a realistic combat simulator. Strategy is what makes the game tick, and they did a good job not making the tank, Edelweiss, from becoming overly overpowered. In fact, some of the missions required multiple playthroughs because the AI was just that competent! Or maybe because I'm just that incompetent of a leader. Probably the latter.

Valkyria Chronicle unfolds, quite literally, like chapters in a book. So there's a lot stories, a lot of dialogue and even some skippable side chapters (although no one actually skips them, r-right?), which gave the game's setting a lot of extra depth and richness. The quality of writing is comparable to that of an above-average VN. Of course, it's nothing like A Farewell to Arms, but the drama did make the story a bit more 3-dimensional. Valkyria Chronicles tells both side of the story with a human touch, so that you can actually sympathize even with the Empire's soldiers.

I'm pretty sure that Darcsens are supposed to stand for the WWII Jews.

Valkyria Chronicles is actually a lot darker than it might seem.

I really enjoy watching little girls with twin tails running with a rifle.

It sounds perverted, but you have to try it out to feel it for yourself.

That's about it, really. I usually like to criticize and nitpick things when I run out of things to say, but this time, I don't have any criticisms at all. Valkyria Chronicles is just that good of a game. Well, I guess you could have more cute girls carrying rifles and driving tanks, I suppose, although that might make the game kind of creepy. In any case, the reception Valkyria Chronicles has received should tell Sega that JRPGs do have a big market in the West. So we might see more JRPGs being ported over and translated and put on Steam. Which is really nice.