PART FOUR: The Overall Experience
Welcome to Part 4 and the final part of the Gaming Critique of Valkyria Revolution. Here we discuss how the previous three parts are supposed to come together and be cohesive as one; in other words, the Overall Experience. If this is your first entry, I highly recommend reading the Opening, Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 in that order before proceeding to this part.Coming Together
The greatest challenge any work of medium has is the ability to provide cohesion from several moving parts. This is due to having a team work together to create an experience that stays on message while engaging the audience to continue its interaction with it. For Valkyria Revolution, something always felt off. I've already made mention of specific aspect to the game in previous parts with links provided above. Now is the time to see if this game, Valkyria Revolution, has what it takes as a whole.
What Went Right
The style of the narrative. There's still the storybook aspect and a sense of reading a tale of the events leading up to the current situation. While it doesn't help with Valkyria Revolution standout, it DOES give players a sense of commonality with the Series staple (Valkriya Chronicles) and this game.
The next thing done right was basic elements of Ragnite, War, and the Struggle against overwhelming odds. Such struggles make our characters seem believable and thus you work hard to not only make them stronger but to also keep them alive an well.
The music holds the experience together with some riveting beats of triumph or tense moments of dread and defeat; again, befitting for the fluctuations of wartime.
What Went Wrong
The 'Traitors' motif. The execution of the premise of the five key members of the story as 'Traitors' is poor, to say the least. Their desire for revenge gets lost too; whether by choice or poor foresight of the narrative. It also doesn't help that this entire plot was hinged on an unimpressive turning point; sheer luck.
The other characters suffer too; none of them stand out other than the typical 'squadmates' routine seen in countless other strategies-based/wartime games.
No Darcsens. The one thing that made Valkyria Chronicles endearing is its attempt (whether people like it or not) to show the horrors of war and the oppressed. Without that narrative, it rings hollow for either side.
The gameplay suffers here as well as it's a poor man's Dynasty Warriors with some of the worst mech designs I have seen in recent memory. It also doesn't help that the leveling system to make characters stronger is more hazard than its worth. Level a character or group too far and it starts to hurt later on in the game.
My Thoughts on the Experience
While Valkyria Revolution was fun to play at first, the cracks started to form early on. Before I knew it, while I finished the game, I got no satisfaction that what I did was worthwhile. This is a problem that most gaming companies forget. It's not enough to just produce a game; to reach the heights of success you must create, guide, and provide an experience that has a beginning to hook us in, a middle to keep us invested, and an ending that not only satisfies the elements of the story, but one we can remember for years to come. Valkyria Revolution...did not do this.
With this said, the only thing left to mention is this is the conclusion of the Gaming Critique of Valkyria Revolution. BOY that took too long...but thank you all for your patience in this endeavor. I will work harder to be more timely on my next set of Critiques. But feel free to review this lengthy critique and if you have questions or concerns, leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you!
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