Valkyria Chronicles Official Strategy Guide (Official Strategy Guides (Bradygames)) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

By way of introduction, Valkyria Chronicles (VC) is an excellent fast-paced real-time RPG from Sega. Set in what appears to be a fictional Europe, it chronicles the adventure of Welkin Gunther and his platoon of officers and soldiers as they try to fend off an invasion by the Empire.

The VC Guide by Bradygames is a good complement to the game itself. It offers the reader valuable insights into the game and its secrets, and sets out useful strategies which can be deployed in-game. Like all other Bradygames guides, it also provides detailed information on the characters (including their stats on a per-level basis) and the enemies. There is also a wealth of information on the items, weapons, armor etc. in the game. So for those of you who love stats, this Guide is for you.

The Guide is also packed with excellent screen shots which are very useful when trying to understand certain maneuvers and it helps gives the Guide a very thorough feel. It also contains area maps (with enemy locations etc) which allows the reader to have a better understanding of a particular area should he/she choose not to use the strategy suggested by the Guide.

In summary:

Pros
+ Packed with data (incl. strategies, stats and secrets).
+ Contains maps & enemy locations.
+ Contains screen shots (it's easier to understand something visually).
+ All images etc are in color (the same cell-shading approach is adopted to make the Guide look authentic).

Cons
- May be too "wordy", i.e. it requires reading several paragraphs for a particular strategy. (I should say that this is important though since a good strategy needs to be well understood in order for it to work effectively.)
- A few errors though nothing major or significant in my opinion.
- The font size in the stats sections is a little small but manageable.

Overall
In my opinion, this Guide is very comprehensive and would certainly be of use to both VC newbies as well as veterans.

When it comes to strategy guides, gamers oftentimes invest in them to know the secrets of the game more so than the basic walkthrough itself. With Valkyria Chronicles, you'll find you might be investing in this guide for actual strategy rather than simply just a simple breakdown of each level. This is especially true when you consider that Valkyria Chronicles is actually a strategy RPG that puts an emphasis on strategy over the simple strength of your characters. Therefore, investing in this guide might not be the worst idea in the world if you're looking for a boost in your strategy, or if you're looking to get an A-Ranking.

The guide begins by introducing you to the characters you'll meet before it jumps into the basics. These are short, simple biographies that just introduce you to a character. The guide presents it without spoiling much (if anything) in the main storyline. The basics, however, is a treat for those who are new to the game. While most of it is covered in the instruction manual, there are some things here that you won't find in the booklet. Much more of the basics is spent talking more about the classes and how to use them as well as more advanced combat tactics. These are more than just random tips. They can actually be viable to anyone having problem understanding the system of Valkyria Chronicles.

Afterwards we get into the meat and potatoes of the guide. The walkthrough. As mentioned, Valkyria Chronicles is a game where simply having strong characters isn't enough. You need to know how to utilize your units and this is where you'll get the most out of this guide. Each mission begins by showing you the enemies you'll find in an area and a map that displays them all. There's also a route drawn on the map to show you the fastest (and often safest) way to reach your objective. The detail of each mission is presented in a step by step walkthrough, usually with some incredibly detailed text to go along with it. There are also some really detailed screenshots that can really help most players out. Following this walkthrough it's pretty simple to see who you should be going after and who is safe to pass up. In most cases, you'll find yourself getting a lot of B rankings should you go about it that way, but that doesn't mean the guide won't help you get an A.

Without question, some of the best snippets of information the walkthrough has to offer comes from their A-Rank strategies. They're often told in a quicker fashion than what you'll find in the main text. The A-Rank strategies assume you know the mission well enough to go for it, but if you don't, the guide often reminds you to look at the main text.

There can be a lot of reading involved when it comes to the walkthrough because there's so much detail, but at least you'll come from most battles without any hassles. It also includes reports which are laid out in the same way. The guide is able to do all this without spoiling the plot.

After all that, the guide goes into the recruits where it shows a table of what their stats look like as their class levels. It'll also tell you who their friends are and potentials but it doesn't really go any further than that. In truth, you won't get to know much more about each recruit other than what the game tells you. On the other hand, it's not so easy to into such vast detail on each and every character.

Next up is an equipment chart on all kinds of weapons for each class and all the vehicles you'll get along the way. There's also a whole list of potentials and how they'll affect each and every recruit. There can be some page flipping between the two, but it's not that big a deal. Lastly, the guide goes into all the medals and a couple of secrets found within the game.

The only major issue with the Valkyria Chronicles guide is that it does nothing to help you out with skirmishes. Skirmishes are some of those optional battles you can partake in over and over again on certain terrains. Unfortunately, the guide doesn't do anything to help the player out in that regard at all. Nothing on how to get the best rankings, no suggestions on deployment or even what you could expect. In fact, the guide doesn't really even mention the skirmishes at all. With how detailed the walkthrough was on the main missions, it's a shame there could be no similar rundown of skirmishes. At least most skirmishes are all based on the mission the map took place on.

The only really big problem with this guide is some of the writing, which can be confusing at times. There are many grammatical errors strewn throughout. Worse than the grammar mistakes, however, is how the guide gets a little confused with the directions it gives you. It'll say go west when it really means for you to go east. Other times its directions on what you need to do can be a little vague. The guide isn't consistent with when you need to use a turn and when you need to use an action (CP, in other words). It goes between both terms but at some points it's never consistent. It might say "On Turn 1 send the Shamrock forward," and then say, "Use Turn 2 to send Largo forward." For some gamers this may mean that after sending the Shamrock forward you end the phase and send Largo forward. This wouldn't be such a big problem if the guide didn't muddle the terms so much. For the most part it's easy to tell when they mean "turn" and when they mean "action" but a little consistency would've made the guide far easier to use.

Putting aside those issues, the guide is excellent for those looking to get through the story and looking to get through it with all A's. The strategies here are gold and should see you through the game with little problems whatsoever. It's a guide that helps out and doesn't ruin the experience of the game while it does.

The guide's information is invaluable to complete all maps with an 'A' rank. However, the information conveyed is not easily understood and still takes a lot of trial and error to correctly follow its direction. More maps and pictures are needed to make this guide perfect.

Skirmish strategies are not in the guide. Even though the skirmishes are the same maps used in the story, they're not exactly the same. e.g. in the main story, one enemy needs to be killed for a Victory, however, that same map in skirmish mode, the enemy's camp must be taken instead.

I do suggest buying this because without it, you're going to be pulling your hair out in certain areas due to difficulty.