Beating a game is always an awesome experience, except when it's not. Welcome to part 2 of my blog for this subject. If not follow the link here.
Assuming you actually read it (or just saw the picture) you'd know that I'm talking about my favorite PS3 game, Valkyria Chronicles. I love just about everything in the game: the music, the art style, the game play, and most importantly, the end game.
The final 3 battles in the game were just plain awesome (all though the tank duel with Jager was pretty frustrating.) For a Final boss battle, it's kind of hard to top driving a Tank on the top of an even larger Tank and killing the Steam-Punk version of Adolf Hitler.
The Marmota, it's pretty darn big... Also, the Sky is Blue
Anyway, I just like Valkyria Chronicles more than Fire Emblem for 3 reasons.
First, there's a lot more risks involved, and just bear with me on this. Fire Emblem is known for its difficulty, perma-death can be scary; but it can be conquered with a good grind. Valkyria chronicles is different. Due to the nature of its game play (see below), it's easier to get yourself killed. Now granted you have 3 turns to rescue your fallen ally, but the point is that they can die if you stop paying attention. Also, the advantages you get from grinding are much more subtle, so a map can still be challenging (so long as you have the intelligence of walrus.)
(Please visit the site to view this media)
The prep goes on for about a minute and a half, if you don't want to watch it skip to 1:45
Secondly, I feel like I had more freedom in managing my army. Awakening made me Micromanage the number of uses a weapon had, I liked that, but at times if felt clunky. Valkyria Chronicles on the other hand just gave me a much more simple system. Also while they may have a similar number of characters on their roster, V.C. allowed you to pick and choose which ones you got from the very beginning; while awakening gave you no choice with the characters. Also you have to wonder about some of your characters when this can happen:
I admit, this is exactly what happened in my army in my played
*Disclaimer* because they gave you no choice in who you got, Awakening had more room to make the characters develop and interact with each other. It's an amazing mechanic and allows for a lot of replay value, but having the option to boot someone from your ranks at any time is comforting somehow.
Finally, Valkyria chronicles lets you decide what you want to do in battle. This may seem weird, but I can explain. In Awakening, the goal is (pretty much) always "kill the commander" and that's all you do. V.C. doesn't limit itself to that, usually allowing its players more paths to victory and more variety in mission goals.
I think you can tell what's happening here
These 3 things in combination just make it an awesome experience that doesn't tire very easily even if you grind. (Exhales) I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love both of them, but I CAN pick a favorite (wouldn't I be a great father?)
Thanks for reading, and tell me your thoughts in the comments below.