Welcome Back! And my apologies for such a lengthy delay. For those looking to start off right, here are some links to the previous two installments of this critique: The Opener and Part One. Now that you have a chance to catch up, it's important to not that this topic is one that I have a lot of concerns; that is, the Story and Lore is the one thing I have incredibly sour feelings for in dealing with Valkyria Revolution. As such, there will be spoilers in regards to the story, so those that have not played the game, it is advised you skip this section. That said, let's begin with how this Story develops.
From the Future, We Look to the Past
The Lore of the game starts in the future after the city (and you'll get very familiar with it) celebrates 100 years of the end of a war (possibly the Europan War at the time). You meet two characters, one a 'student' (no name is given) and a 'professor' (her name escapes me as of this writing for the moment). They are the narrative insert for the story as a whole. But also, this is where I have some concerns. First, there are too many 'Book Modes' to sort between. I get that it's a spin-off game so it's not going to have a beat for beat relation to the Original Series, but having to jump from the "Main" book to the "Character" book, to the "Glossary" book, and going through this back and forth is taxing to say the least. In the immortal words of Supreme Commander of the Angry Army, during his Review of the "Destiny Campaign," Supreme General José Antonio Vargas states: "External Material Should Enrich The Lore." While you don't leave the ENTIRE game to learn about the world and characters within, leaving the core aspects while in game is just as bad. It's a immersion-breaking aspect that hinders the experience overall.
The Discrepancies from Character to Character
Essentially, the game breaks its character down into four distinct groups:
- The 'Traitors'
- The Vanargand
- The Ruzi Empire (aka the Ruks)
- The "Valkyria"
To give a short description, the 'Traitors' are the main characters that act as the leaders of their respective fields; The Vanargand are the 'elite team' that you take into battle for most of the game with the goal of stopping the Ruzi Empire and ultimately, the Valkyria; The Ruzi Empire, who are the bad guys, and...ugh...the Valkyria (which I will go into detail later).
The Lackluster Progression to a Lackluster End
The story progression is incredibly slow for a game based on times of war. There will be moments that baffle the mind in that any other normal military would not have tolerated (for example: one member of the group abandoning the squad to settle a personal matter), to outright dead ends (the Princess near a Valkyrian Ruins...and then it ends). Another problem with this progression is how we are presented with how the Vanargand deal with the main set of villains in an extremely haphazard fashion. For example, the opening chapter shows the leader end a General's life in cold blood...only to get to the SECOND General's death 8 chapters later. There are 10 chapters total and 5 Generals (including the Emperor) in the story that would needed to be killed to complete their 'revenge.' A simple fact that could have been explained from the get-go and would have made this less of a burden to watch unfold. Finally, when all is said and done, they make the LAZIEST excuse imaginable to label the 'Traitors' AS TRAITORS. It was ridiculously executed poorly. Now that we've discussed the Story Aspects of this Game, we must deal with a mishandling of Lore; even in its own context. We begin with the very core issue I have with this game in its entirety:
The Mishandled Lore of the Valkyria
Oh boy...before we begin, we must discuss the lore of the Valkyria. Once revered as godlike beings, they are mainly folks from the north of Europa, these warriors had INCREDIBLE sensitivity to Ragnite, and thus were given powers and abilities beyond imagination. They created artifices and sanctuaries that would further enhance their power. The spiral design of their spears and shields were unique for both unfathomable defense and attack capability. They also conquered and enslaved indigenous natives through overwhelming might, and then vanished from history. Instead, for this spin-off they are believed to be 'literal' gods, with one of them breaking an unknown 'taboo' about meeting a 'man' and thus allowing this 'man' to give birth to a 'child' in the process. Apparently, this is forbidden because reasons, and thus the ring rule comes into play. Before we continue to that aspect, I have to address this one major mishandling of the Valkyrian Lore. In order for the "Valkyria" to exist, they have to have a special pendant worn which would react to those with a high aptitude of Ragnite. Seems simple enough on paper. The problem I have with this is that once such aptitude is discovered and the subject has the pendant put on them, the 'Valkyria' takes over the host's body and her own body manifests......WHAT? WHY? So you mean to tell me that we're dealing with ghosts, or to be more accurate Banshees, here? Not an ACTUAL LIVING VALKYRIA? Also, the Valkyria is only good at NIGHT, not all the time. The moment day breaks, she's weaker? That glaring weakness means all you need to do is to avoid all attacks before dusk and you'll never see the Valkyria and never have to worry about her. Worse is what is responsible for 'reigning in' the Valkyria...
The "Ring" to Rule
I get the feeling that this whole 'Ring' motif is nothing short of a blatantly poor interpretation of the Lord of the Rings 'One Ring' which is to hold Sauron in check. And we as the players are to believe this mighty force of nature, the Valkyria, can be brought to heel by an accessory...and a bland accessory at that. Also, considering the crazy tech at the Ruzi Empire's disposal, there is no real reason to have the Valkyria when it can overpower
The Princess having ANY connection with ANYTHING in game
Finally, I want to touch base with a topic that few people fail to notice. The Princess, Ophelia, all of a sudden wants to join up and fight alongside the main cast...because reasons. She is also half-Jutland, half-Brumwell (The U.K. equivalent as far as the game is concerned) because reasons. And she can somehow COUNTER the Valkyria in this game...because REASONS. Reasons, mind you, that make little to no sense whatsoever. What little information you have about the Princess has to be scavenged from the bits and pieces barely available. But let us not forget a VERY important aspect of this game that I have saved for last...
Where are the Darcsens?
The dynamic of the overly powerful Valkyria with the technically sound yet humble Darcsens was synonymous with that of the conquerors and conquered of wars' pasts. They also brought about the inhumane treatment of prisoners of war, as well as the displacement and disparagment of its creulty. Without them, there is no real consequence in how people are suffering. There is no war. Only national disputes; ones that honestly do not require any act of violence and simply focus on acquiring NEW TRADE ROUTES AND RESOURCES. It also makes the efforts of Jutland no different than Ruzi in how both sides are just trying to control and defeat the other. All for what? An economic blockade dispute? Other Valkyrian Games have fought bloodier encounters for reasons far superior than this. More can be said but it's best to witness better writers/reviewers than I in regards to this topic.
To conclude this part, first and foremost this has been delayed long enough. There is much and more to be said on this topic alone; I may revisit it upon the release of Valkyria Chronicles 4 or some point much later. As for the next part, the focus will be on the Music used to this particular game. Thank you all for your patience in reading this piece and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in Volume 3. If you would like to see this in a more reasonable time-frame, don't be afraid to comment as such!
To conclude this part, first and foremost this has been delayed long enough. There is much and more to be said on this topic alone; I may revisit it upon the release of Valkyria Chronicles 4 or some point much later. As for the next part, the focus will be on the Music used to this particular game. Thank you all for your patience in reading this piece and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in Volume 3. If you would like to see this in a more reasonable time-frame, don't be afraid to comment as such!
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