jarrod said:
Naw, the best part in the inherent hypocrisy in this sort of criticism. What's you're essentially saying here is "you're not proving it's a failure, that means it's a success". That's what we call a strawman, if I'm getting your position wrong, I apologize in advance. I'm arguing reasonable likelihoods and reading from what Sega's actually done (example: abandon PS3 for the sequel), meanwhile people seem to keep mindlessly chanting "SRPGs don't sell" or "SRPGs are cheap" in some sort of underhanded defense, devoid of any real context. Or more laughable, comparing worldwide sales (including budget pricedrops and reissues) to confirmed JP-only Sega successes like Yakuza 3. It's disingenous, sleazy rationalization, and it doesn't hold under any any real scruitny. And I'm arguing probable budget and rough expectation from (1) the game itself and (2) the coverage. Famitsu's little more than a PR mouthpiece, and Valkyria got more coverage there than any console RPG this gen has outside MH3 and FFXIII. It's in-store advertising rivaled the Yakuza games, it got a co-funded anime. It's a gorgeous HD game, loaded with quality voice-acting, a complex ground up shading engine, and decent sized development staff. This wasn't a low budget effort by any reasonable stretch. The RPG I think it's most comparable to it this gen is probably Tales of Vesperia actually (similar scope, similar promotion, also HD and effects heavy, subsequent anime), it's easily an upper mid-line RPG budget wise (not much outsourced CG, not a big western push), and well ahead of anything we've ever seen for a SRPG before. And that's the last I'm saying for Valkyria in this thread. Have fun. |
No, my stance is not that. I think Valkyria Chronicles was a success based on what little we had. If it was as vanilla as sales expectations or shipment forcast, then we'd some absolutes to work with. Alas, we do not. They've said they've been happy with their sales, and they went out on a limb to expand the brand. The anime wasn't in the works all along, as they waited to see if the game was popular enough. It was.
As far as advertising, I'm not sure what you were looking as I'd count four 360 JRPGs that got far more coverage than Valkyria Chronicles. (Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Star Ocean IV, and Tales of Vesperia).
Also, the graphics are quite basic. Remove the shaders and it really doesn't look at that impressive. Technically, the graphics are not impressive, but it's the beautiful art style that's amazing.
Lastly, I'll say this. SRPGs do not sell well and they are predominantly cheap to develop. That is a fact backed by the nature of the market and genre. I don't understand how you think it's ok to compare to games released over 10 years ago, yet be a relevant comparison or expectation.
Next Gen 
