Topic: Valkyria Chronicles 4 Coming to Nintendo Switch!

So yeah. Play the demo, people. It's brilliant, and gives you a great idea of what to expect from the full game.

@Ralizah Guess I'm buying the game then. (And I haven't even got the chance to play the demo yet)

Playing the demo in handheld mode. Runs like a dream. This game is stellar. Just preordered my copy from Amazon.

I just downloaded the demo and played through the whole prologue and first two chapters in one sitting! I only stopped because I was starving. There is still a demo exclusive bonus level and at least one more skirmish I can do. The game runs beautifully! The game-play is exciting and strategic at the same time!

Can I say just how awesome it is to get such a meaty demo like this? It's just full on the prologue and first two chapters! Seemingly nothing held back! And the save data will transfer to the full game! What's not to love? The demo is a great value just by itself! Stand alone it's better than 99% of mobile games and it's only a demo!

Absolute day 1, no doubt! NintendoLife really needs to highlight this as an eshop demo done right! This game in general warrants more discussion. If only people could shut up about SSB for 5 minutes...

I played through all the demo except the 2nd Skirmish and it was fun. Not good enough to skip my backlog plans but good enough to be high up on my post-backlog purchases. For context the only content that skips my backlog plans are DLC for existing games (e.g. Torna), games which eliminate the need to play a game on my Wii U (e.g. Smash Ultimate, Freedom Planet) and must have day 1 games.

So I'll probably get it around December/January if Smash Ultimate's single player content is limited.

So, looking at screenshot comparisons between this and other versions, the differences are incredibly minimal. Slightly worse shading in spots. Slightly less foliage in some places. It's pretty much impossible to see the difference without comparison screenshots side-by-side.

It also seems to run at the same framerate as the other console versions!

SEGA outdid themselves with this port.

All I need to do to complete the demo now is play the bonus mission. I think I'll save that for tomorrow.

I wonder what the S-rank requirements for this game are? I beat the first skirmish in one round while eliminating every visible enemy and still only got an "A."

This game is truly fantastic. There's nothing revolutionary about it, but it's big thrill is that it returns to the gameplay and storytelling that made the first one on PS3 fantastic. The PSP sequels can die in a hole for destroying a perfectly good series. Revolution looks interesting, but is purely an ARPG spinoff (I own it...haven't played it yet.) This, to me, is the first Valkyria game since the PS3 original. And it's everything I remember it being, except, hopefully this time, without the obscene difficulty spike

@Tsurii sigh SEGA does what SEGA should have learned from.

That really was obnoxious when that spike happened.

@NEStalgia I played the Remastered version of VC this year and don't remember a huge difficulty spike. There are a few cheap-ish missions where they throw a curveball at you halfway through that messes you up if you don't know to expect it, but that's about it. Given you're able to grind missions for EXP and save anywhere in a mission, I can't imagine people finding this game to be too difficult.

@Ralizah It's been a long time, and I never played any remastered version (And I'm pretty sure it was a wholly unpatched game when I played it at launch, so who knows maybe it got better later on than what I dealt with).

It was chapter 13 or 14 I think. It went from this well paced nice SRPG into this obnoxious "nothing you do will work" kind of thing

Max's tank was obnoxious too, but it was sill less awful than those late chapters.

@NEStalgia I hope this game doesn't have any of the stupidly powerful bosses like the first game did. Selvaria dodged everything thrown at her and was a royal pain in the butt to fight.

To be fair, I hate the bosses in FE games, too. Having to keep restarting because the stupidly powerful boss keeps critting my characters is just annoying.

I love SRPGs, but outside of Mario + Rabbids, I've yet to find one where I liked fighting bosses.

@Ralizah Yeah, that was crazy awful. The stupid tank and Selvaria are all I can think about when I remember VC1 (which makes me wonder why I'm hyped for VC4 and why I bought VC2 and 3 at all ) But the rest of the game was just so darned amazing. If I consider it a 12 chapter game and forget the final few chapters it was a great run.

Not sure if you tried VC2 or 3 but they were such a step back from the amazing first game in almost every way. I thought the series was consigned to the dustbin after that and then the multiplat ARPG (it actually looks fun, though I've yet to start it) so I was stunned at finding out there is a 4.

What I don't get is that II and III sold amazingly well in Japan and were critically praised out the wazoo. I kept thinking "did any of these people even play the original?" In addition to reducing things to school tropes because Japan Reasons (TM), it was an overwhelmingly menu-heavy game where half the game was navigating menus and allocating resources, and spreadsheet based gameplay in the base before going into the field with different zonal areas ala Peacewalker/MH and a sort of overhead-map driven movement system (but the classic first/third person action shooting.) It was boring and awful and lost most of what made VC1 great. VC4 is finally a return to VC1.

@NEStalgia The first game definitely has some quirks and frustrating design choices (some of which weren't addressed in VC4, I see: why can't I fast-forward through enemy turns, Sega?!), but the core gameplay is so fun, and the game itself had so much heart that I can easily see past those flaws.

I've not played Valkyria Chronicles 2 or 3 yet. I might have picked up 2 on PSN after finishing the first game, but I knew VC4 was coming out to satiate my desire for a portable game in this series.

3 never even released over here, so that'll have to wait until I go to the trouble of finding an ISO and setting up a PSP emulator to play it.

I've definitely heard they're a step down from the first game, though. I really hope VC4 does well enough in the West to convince Sega not to change or kill the formula again. And does well enough on Switch to justify developing future games in the series for the platform.

@Ralizah That's weird...if memory serves II on PSP let you fast forward enemy turns. That's actually a step back in a sense (if you can consider the PSP games a step forward... ) And I remember the uproar on Codename STEAM when Nintendo didn't let you fast forward yet Valkyria never got that guff.

Also, 2 is a very anime art style rather than the pencil sketch style. That kind of gets under the skin too. The game was very much pandering to the Japanese PSP bases' interests, which were fairly narrow. I still don't get the praise it earned as a worthy sequel, blah blah. And seriously...."battle school"....and Alicia reduced to being a menu interface.... "OHAI, I'm a war hero and an latent godlike.....I'm here in your school to introduce you to menu options....click me, senpai!"

Well the game is skipping X1, so you can guess their sales expectations are sufficiently set on niche, which is good. I daresay this is a series that will sell best in the West on Switch like so many other Japanese games. Playstation has a huge install base and the original was an exclusive, but the Western PS4 audience isn't so much an SRPG type audience, which is why the game went to PSP to begin with. Switch seems to be the magnet for the Western JRPG/SRPG audience, looking at Disgaea. I'd wager if it doesn't do well on Switch, it's simply not going to do well in the West in general. I do think FE:TH being delayed to 2019 gives this a big Switch bump for those itching for an SRPG for Q4. It might not just help Switch's success for the game but migt help the game overall.

Maybe in Japan. It's getting a full retail release on Xbox One in the States, at least.

Which judging by the Amazon preorder rank #6,500 (compared to Switch with #250 and PS4 at #500) was yet another poor investment choice for the Xbox. Amazing that Wii U didn't get support like that. Cause I'm pretty sure 3rd party games on Wii U sold far better than these Japanese titles are selling on Xbox One. Just perplexes me games can consistently tank so hard on that system and yet they keep em coming. But even so much as a whiff of lower sales on Nintendo and it's a generational boycott.

I've now done everything that can be done in the demo with an A rank in each mission. That's the highest rank you can get, right?

Anyway, this demo was an awesome introduction to the game and the series as a whole. This was my first time playing a Valkyria Chronicles game and I truly enjoyed my time. The demo was quite meaty as well. Can't wait for the full release.

And one last thing, one of the sniper units, Aladdin, looks just like Saitama from One Punch Man. Just thought it was funny.

@JaxonH Those pre-order numbers seem pretty abysmal, even on the Switch. Hopefully it at least cracks the top 100 closer to release...

@Ralizah
Given how close we are to release, I am concerned about the numbers.

But, I am also breathing a sigh of relief knowing that Switch seems to be taking a leadership role here.

Idk why more people arent hyped for this game. Dont they know this is a legit sequel to a timeless classic?

So, I played the first battle in the demo. Part of me, the "RPGamer" part, is like WHOA, this is pretty freaking cool for a console game. And this is going to be portable? Buy now!!

And then there is the "tabletop wargamer and former actual tank driver" part of me, and that part is like SERIOUSLY, did you just destroy a tank by hitting its magical weak spot with four bursts of small arms fire? LMFAO

Probably still gonna buy it, though. I'll play through the rest of the demo as soon as I can stop laughing.