First off I want to address Mass Effect.  I still think Valkyria is better then Mass Effect but it is a really tough call between the two.  An argument can be made for either (especially the PC version of Mass Effect where the better interface, graphics and companion controls made a world of difference) but I still think Valkyria is better.

   As to Valkyria, I bought it and Resistance 2 at the same time.  After playing a few hours of 8 play Co-op and 60 player competitive, which is decidedly awesome, probably the best FPS multiplayer experience I've ever found (I mean the objective based 60 person games in squads, not the 60 person death match Free for alls which are not much better then any other FPS deathmatch is), I switched to VC and was just blown away.

   Yes it is very much a JRPG, yes compared to a cinematic game like Mass Effect done in a Western style some of the dialogue seems a little cheesy, but it is REALLY well done and a lot of the characters are innately quite likable which is really really rare for JRPGs I've found.  In most JRPGs the dialogue is rather forced, at least a few characters are excessively silly and there are endless comments that get a bit lost in translation but not in VC.  The characters all are distinct and interesting with great interactions that develop throughout the game.  You start as a member of a tiny village defense force and eventually put together your own squad of 20 from a huge list of potentials.  In the end there are a Suikoden like number of recruits mixed with an epic World War 2 style story.

   The setting is quite unique, in fact it is unlike any game I've ever played including hundreds of other JRPGs.  Basicly it is the story of a small nation caught in a war between opposing super powers.  One is the Empire (which is located roughly where Russia was in the pseudo European map) and the other is the democratic European federation.  You play neither, instead you are from the small nation of Galia caught in the middle when the Empire invades.  At once the world is Europe (the geography is more or less the same, the names, people and settings have a decidedly European look) but it is an interesting distortion of Europe and World War 2 in general in a lot of very cool ways.

    First a lot of the units are designed with a great mix of new and old (which is more or less what Europe is if you travel there, a really interesting mix of new and old side by side).  My favorite example is the Lancer, the anti tank soldier.  They are armored on the Imperial side and carry a lance like device where the end fires off to become a rocket.  It looks very interesting and at the same time reasonably functional.  The battles, armaments and characters are all very believable with great work done all around.

   It doesn't hurt that the setting is wonderful to look at.  Europe is rendered with by far the best example of video game cell shading I have ever seen.  It looks even better then Eternal Sonata, Dark Cloud 2 and other great cell shading examples.  It is like a beautiful moving sketch of fine lines colored in with pencil.  It works very well with the setting and is quite capable of creating a feeling of deep involvement with the characters.

   The actual gameplay in the battles is surprisingly challenging as well, especially due to the grading system.  I would put the challenge level somewhere in the neighborhood of the harder fights in Final Fantasy Tactics.  The best part is that the fights are really only as challenging as you want to make them though, without the need for a difficulty slider.

   Basically you get a grade (and thus rewards) for how fast you complete a mission.  If you want to take big risks, move your scouts into harms way and run and gun you can get an A for winning in one or two turns.  There's a good chance of the plan backfiring though and losing a few units (which can die permanently if not properly cared for and retrieved, similar to the FFT system).  Alternately you can take things slow advancing behind your tank, using sniper support and issolating pockets of enemies.  If doing that an impossible battle can become quite easy, but of course for taking 10 turns instead of 2 a D is more likely then an A (meaning far smaller bonuses).

   The best system though, is the individualization system.  Every recruit (there are eventually over 100 you can pick) has different quirks.  Some are good, some are bad.  Some examples of good are big sister (gains bonuses around the same unit type) or ladies man (gains bonuses around female characters) contrasted with desert allergies (loses health in desert conditions) or fatalist (panics at low health and fights VERY poorly).  On top of personality traits there are special skills like undodgable shots, health pack use bonuses and the like which are given through training.  It is a great system where you have to balance the good with the bad and figure out which bonuses are worth accepting the certain liabilities that almost all characters come with.

   On top of all that there are friendships between certain characters that can lead to super powerful combo attacks and extra bonuses, support orders which let you do everything from call in sniper support to give bonuses to allies and tank customization that gives you a lot of leadway in how you design your mobile artillery.  

   Now yes, I'm sure a lot will say "but its not an RPG its an SRPG those are TOTALLY different" but I would disagree in this case.  I find Valkyria Chronicles to be very much like FFT where it transcends simply being a strategy game to being a game that offers just about every RPG fan something.  From the active gameplay system to the setting and characters to the development of your team, everything is done so well that anyone who enjoys RPGs of any sort will almost certainly find it to be one of the best RPGs out there if not the best (as I see it).  It is by far my favorite game of the year, yes even above Little Big Planet, MGS4, Resistance 2 and tons more, and the RPG experience on the PS3 I have been waiting for.  It isn't perfect, but damn is it close.

Nah, I disagree. I've played it completely through, and I think that not only is it not the best jrpg this gen, it's not a jrpg at all. It's a sjrpg.

Not only that, but it's not even the best sjrpg on the PS3, Disgaea 3 is.

On the 360, Lost Odyssey and Tales of Vesperia edge it out.

On the Wii, it's about equal to Super Paper Mario, and worse than Radiant Dawn.

One thing I couldn't get over was the "innovation" aspects of battle. I wished for a more traditional experience. The story was powerful, but the setting was a little bland, and I couldn't get over wishing that this wasn't set during some "innovative" war scenerio.

That said, it still is probably the only game to attempt to move the genre forward since Disgaea 1, and it is a very good game. I give it an 8.4/10 and look forward to a sequel.

Also, FFVII:CC, FFIV, and TWEWY are all better games, on the handhelds.

...and Persona 3, and probably Persona 4 on the PS2.

...now if you're talking about Metacritic, then I bow to your superior game, but I'm not a big believer in the site.

Oh, just wanted to add...

In your title, you have it listed as best console "console RPG" of this generation.(What PC rpg this gen do you think is better, The Witcher Enhanced Edition? IMO, you'd be correct.)

I thought you said "JRPG."

It was my mistake.

I find it hard to believe that anyone would think Valkyria Chronicles(after actually playing the games) was better than Mass Effect, Fable 2, or Fallout 3.

To each his own, though, so forgive my mistake in my last post.

IMO, Valkyria Chronicles is a great game. Don't get me wrong. Much, much, much better than Eternal Sonata, and one of the best jrpgs on the PS3. I highly recommend purchase.

yes the Witcher is exactly precisely why I didn't include PC in the equation.

I also would give the nod to the PC Fallout 3 which was substantially better then the console versions (the controls, the graphics...everything is just vastly superior on the PC version, the console versions are both so so, the PS3 version in particular).

Like oblivion though, Fallout 3 is more action then anything else. It is really a FPS game with RPG elements more then anything else.


I found it VASTLY superior to Fable 2 which was a warmed over version of the also overrated Fable 1. After 4 more years can they STILL not add a friggin voice to the main character? I don't know who decided maintaining the non talking character thing which was kind of interesting when it was novel and new (say...around the time of Crono Trigger) is a good idea to keep even in social games, but its just crap. I don't want to befriend people by farting, acting excited and making laughing noises. Is it too much to ask for Fable to add some dialogue options or something similar ala the vastly superior Western RPGs like Jade Empire, Mass Effect, KOTOR (1 not 2), the Witcher and others?

Choice is good, a character too stupid to talk is bad.  I also REALLY didn't expect the game to be over as fast as it was.  I finished it in 2 nights playing only a few hour each night.  That was good for returning it in a timely manner, but I mean come on, for the supposed "best game ever" that certain studio folks kept playing it up as, it should certainly be more then a dozen hours.  I haven't even finished Fallout 3 and I've logged over 40 hours in that.

As to mass effect, like I said, hard choice, I just like Valk Chronicles better because it didn't drag like Mass Effect did sometimes. I mean the 4 main planets in Mass Effect were GREAT but I REALLY hated grinding around hundreds of meaningless planets to check them for resources, explore to find 1 downed satalite and 2 bits of ore and the like. The game could really have used more actual content (more real developed planets) and less drive around in that god awful buggy filler. KOTOR was a better game in that respect, it had at least 7 or 8 fully developed planets going on.

As to the 360 Tales is close but Lost Odyssey is just a horrible game. Everything I said about JRPGs having badly translated stilted dialogue and weird characters I just don't give a rats ass about, that was in reference to Lost Odyssey in particular. The character animation alone was just unforgivably bad (my wife watching me play laughed out loud and asked what the hell was wrong with the characters during the first leadership counsel meeting scene for instance). Lost Odyssey was just a sorry excuse for a Final Fantasy Rip off with good ideas from Legend of Dragoon and Shadow hearts (the active battle elements) poorly executed.

As to Disgaea 3, which I did REALLY like, I have to say I appreciated Valks more adult take on things and its decided lack of grind (as opposed to Disgaea where most of the cool stuff is very grind centric). It was really a taste thing though, it only took a few minutes to start to really like Valk, while Disgaea needs at least a few hours to grow on you (the first time you play any of the three Disgaea games).


Fire Emblem though? After all the hype I finally tried two of those games (Dawn on Wii, another on DS) and was really underwhelmed. I mean maybe it wasn't fair to compare it to FFT directly (which I was also playing for the 2nd time, this time on the PSP) but still...


I still don't get the big deal between SRPG and JRPG though. I mean they seem pretty similar to me, just that in an SRPG you have 9 people at once instead of 3 as in most traditional JRPGs (or 4 as it used to be). I made the reference to Suikoden because that was another genre bending game (it had RPG elements along with strategy sections).

As to your other point about the setting, I'm really into European History and early 20th century Europe in particular, so it was quite refreshing to have a World War Two style setting to me. It was also why I liked Shadow Hearts a lot (it took place from the end of the 19th century to just before World War 1 , same time period more or less), I find that period in history to be a fascinating and highly underused. Lost Odyssey made pseudo medieval setting game number what....500? It was cool and original when Final Fantasy 4 and 6 did it, but that is really wearing thin...

Even better then more European setting games, I would LOVE another Jade Empire type game, Jade Empire 2 would easily take the best RPG of the gen crown, yes even if it was 360 only.

Well, I'm sold. I'll be picking it up soon, but not actually getting it until my birthday in December, when I'm also getting Mass Effect. Boo, hiss, and similar.

We'll see which of the two dominates my time.

Valkyria is one of the few PS3 games that I would love to see on the 360. After playing Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, I've been itching for some more SRPG goodness, but so far the selection of "Atlus" SRPG's released have left me unimpressed.

It sounds bad, but I'm hoping this game does flop so that it comes to the 360.

I agree, I'd love to see VC on PC, or even 360. I'd like to actually buy it.

Also, @impulsivity, yeah man, I loved Radiant Dawn. A lot of reviewers agree with you, but it's just my opinion, and it's one of my favorite games this gen. :P

You really think it will sell much ? Let me tell you something. It won't.

Good Japanese sales, but it will bomb in EU and in NA.

VC is a fantastic game; though I honestly find it impossible to compare it to fallout for example, notin terms of quality but the games are just far too different.

I do hope it succeeds as SJRPG's are such a niche genre that does not get the respect it deserves. Disgaea 3 and VC are both examples of how brilliant the genre can be.

On another topic, Im not sure which is better of D3 and VC. D3 has ridiculous replay value, and I mean ridiculous. I've played 40 hours and im probably 10% through the game as a whole in terms of characters, skills and ive barely touched the story but it lacks the polish of VC. I'd perhaps give it D3 given the sheer depth of character development.

I don't think so. It's still a SRPG and it will be lucky to break 400k.