Valkyria Chronicles/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The game (may) provide examples of:

  • Alas, Poor Villain: Selvaria definitely. The writers probably intended for Maximilian to fall under this trope, but at that point, it's hard to feel sorry for him.
    • The DLC focusing on Selvaria only makes this worse, as she is depicted as a caring commander who leads from the front and treats the men serving under her as human beings. She even goes so far as to allow her engineer, Johann, to rest in her cot after he collapses after the first battle of her DLC -- though she does freak out for a moment and slap him when he points out that her breasts are pressing against his arm.
    • Also, if you listen carefully, it's revealed that Johann is actually Oswald the Iron, one of the enemy aces you encounter.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: See Designated Evil. Depending on the translation and the player's viewpoint, Faldio is either a scumbag who shot Alicia just because he wanted to win an arms race, or a militia captain who saw the survival of Gallia as being worth the risk of taking the one plan he believed was sure to work, when no one else knew what to do.
  • Cargo Ship: Salinas, in addition to liking the ladies, also likes tanks, and has been spotted in the hangar stroking them at night; on the plus side, this potential doesn't discriminate between friendly or enemy tanks during combat.
  • Creepy Awesome: Jane. Wendy. One is a blood-thirsty sadist with psychotic tendencies while the other is a bomb-obsessed recluse.
  • Complete Monster: In a game filled with sympathetic Anti Villains and Punch Clock Villains, we have Giorgios Geld in a side chapter, a war criminal responsible for torturing dozens of prisoners to death. Among his many victims was Eleanor's lover Frederick...
    • The Empire seems to hire a LOT of these guys. Notably also Berthold Gregor (who likes administering his Darcsen concentration camps very much), arguably Maximillian, and Gallian Chancellor Von Borg.
      • On the Gallian side, General Damon is so extreme a Jerkass that he crosses over into this territory.
    • The Darcsen Hunters in Rosie's side mission. Probably done to justify having to kill them all to win the mission.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Welkin drove his tank through the stinkin' RIVER to the enemy camp on the other side. The fact that he learned the appropriate spot where the water is the shallowest "by observing some weeds in the river" gives it a bonus multiplier.
    • The first launch of the Edelweiss. Many a fist was pumped into the air.
    • And Welkin again, in the ending. With the Marmota in flames and no way out for him and Alicia, and his troopers refuse to leave them and get to safety. His response?

"You're going to leave now. That's an order!"

    • Alicia vs. Selvaria, anyone?
    • Rosie singing at Isara's funeral. It doubles as a Tear Jerker, and fully redeems Rosie's character.
      • Her insistance on taking part in an op against a bunch of Darcsen Hunters afterwards hammers it home even more.
    • Alicia punching a hole in the Marmota's armor by throwing her Valkyrian lance while screaming, "I never wanted this!" It makes Welkin's Cooldown Hug and proposal of marriage all the more poignant.
    • Squad 7 defeating Maximilian gone One-Winged Angel qualifies as well.
    • In Selvaria's DLC; Johann running out into the battlefield under heavy fire to save Selvaria when she's been incapacitated by poison gas, in spite of his fears of being on the front lines. This action gets him promoted to an ace, and he becomes Oswald the Iron.
    • Edy in her DLC, first her decision to help defend the town, despite being outnumbered, and then later running from one side of the map to the other, through enemy lines, in order to save her "rival", Rosie, who's been injured.
      • In the same DLC, Homer actually pulls a subverted Cooldown Hug on her by slapping her in the face when she has one of her famous panic attacks] when she learns that Rosie's in a bad way. How does Edy repay him? Slugging him in the chin, and then thanking him. Absolute genius.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The game's full of 'em, particularly the "Squad 7 Dramas".
    • And practically any moment between Welkin and Alicia. Bonus points if they're alone.

Alicia: Once this war is all over... I have... there's something I want to tell you.

Welkin: "Why did you have to shoot her?!"
Faldio: "The people... Gallia needed her. Now let me ask you a question: how else do you think we could have won that battle? If not for Alicia's power, Gallia would have most certainly lost!"

  • Draco in Leather Pants: Selvaria. Maximillian doesn't love her back and she commits mass murder-suicide, so she's The Woobie instead of an unapologetic slayer of thousands who describes conquering Gallia with a rape metaphor.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Edy, who isn't even a main character, is surprisingly popular in Japan to the extent that she has her own side chapter available as downloadable content.
    • Has the potential to occur with many of the other recruits due to the fact that every last one of them has a unique appearance, personality and backstory. For example, Marina Wulfstan is quite popular as well, though it helps that she's Badass and the best sniper you can recruit for your squad.
    • All of the members of the Edy detachment in the DLC are Ensemble Darkhorses to some extent.
    • Vyse and Aika are also extremely popular characters to use. We can't imagine why. In all fairness, they also have by far some of the best stats for their respective classes in game.
    • Nadine's selfless, hardworking personality has won her a lot of fans.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Selvaria.
  • Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Just look the rest of Selvaria's tropes!
  • Freud Was Right:
    • The anti-tank lances seem larger and, umm, pointier than a rocket launcher would need to be. And the fact that those pointy heads are meant for penetrating tank armors isn't exactly helpful. Also, is it really necessary for them to be held at waist height? The Mortar lances aren't much better, given that they're still held at waist height, but at an angle, and they do splash damage.
      • Even worse, only males hold them at waist height. Females hold them over the shuolder.
    • Any Gallian weapon seems to have this effect: just look at how long and thick those barrels are on the rifles and machine guns when you have them modified for firepower, and the shape of the underslung flame throwers and grenade launchers...
    • All of which are dwarfed by the Valkof and its hiding place.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Wait, what? Alicia recovers from a nasty ankle sprain in one night? Boy, even for an optimistic game like VC, that's a stretch... it's actually her Valkyrian healing factor kicking in, and the second overt hint you get that Alicia is more than she appears.
  • Fashion Victim Villain: Borg looks like a cross between Liberace and the Pope. And Maximilian has oyster shell-themed shoulder pads...
  • Fridge Logic:
    • Cordelia is racist against Darcsens! Wait...
    • Concerning the same spoiler event, why the hell doesn't anyone scream for a medic? They're all right there in the camp they just took and moved everyone into. Isara's conscious for a good five minutes after being shot! You'd think Largo and Rosie, at least, would have enough sense to scream their heads off for a medic.
      • This is made even worse by two things: one, medics will enter the battlefield during gameplay regardless of the actual situation except in a VERY few specific missions (and situations they'll run into include incendiary rocket fire) and you can save everyone else; two, Welkin does scream for a medic after Alicia collapses following her awakening to Valkyria powers. Shit, Welks, you couldn't think to do that for your sister?
  • Game Breaker:
    • Alicia, lethally accurate, highly mobile, and eventually able to heal to full in a turn, and unleash her Valkyria powers when injured. She can solo many levels. Most orders given to other soldiers eventually exist to support her one woman war. Scout Rush in general is a Game Breaker (see Dungeon Bypass above). It's just that as the game progresses, "scout rush" becomes "Alicia rush" due to how powerful she is.
    • A straighter version of this trope is Selvaria in her DLC. She's got the movement speed, stamina and accuracy of a Scout, the firepower of a Shocktrooper and the defense of a Lancer. That she doesn't carry ragnaid is of little consequence as you're probably not going to need to use it on her.
    • Welkin Order: Penetrate (Ignore Armor), Order: Attack Weak Point (every hit is a critical hit, as long as it does any damage at all.) Takes 5 turns, but whoever that's ordered those two items will shred any tank or anything else in their vicinity.
  • Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: The negative potentials some characters have basically come in two varieties: mild annoyances, and those that render the character near useless. In the former category, [Environment] Allergy and [Name] Hater will never hurt you so long as you stay away from that environment/character. Desert Allergy is particularly minor, as only two chapters and one optional skirmish in the entire game take place in desert terrain. (Granted, one of them is That One Level, but still...) On the opposite side of the scale, you have things like Herbert's 'Moody' (occasionally flat out refuses to follow orders), Hermes' 'Chronic Fatigue' (even just moving can incapacitate him, and he's a scout!), Cezary's 'Acrophobia' (a Sniper who's afraid of heights??) Susie's 'Humanitarian' completley ruin those characters' ability to do thir jobs properly, rendering them Tier Induced Scrappys. It even works in reverse: some 'good' potentials aren't all that great. (Sure 'Dud Mine' is good an all but couldn't you have just, you know, not stepped on the mine in the first place...)
  • Harsher in Hindsight: The first time you see the aces, you'll work to gun them down for the extra points and equipment. Then you play the DLC and learn who Oswald the Iron is.
    • After you learn that the Darcsens were the victims of the Darcsen Calamity and not the instigators of it, it becomes even harder to tolerate those in your squad with the 'Darcsen Hater' potential.
  • Ho Yay / Les Yay: Dallas. It's as if the developers had gone through incredible lengths to let you know that she is totally obsessed with Alicia. Pretty much all of her potentials scream out this fact. And then there's Jann, and his massive crush on Largo. Squad 7 doesn't believe in "don't ask don't tell." Even more amazingly, Alicia and Largo have their respective admirers listed as friends. They even have special lines for the characters in question for getting them a medic. So . . . even if they don't return the affection outright, apparently they're cool with it.
  • It Was His Sled: Oh lordy. A ton of the game's twists are now thoroughly ruined and will likely be known by anyone going into the game for the first time. Hell, one of the biggest endgame reveals becomes a plot point in the opening of Valkyria Chronicles II, so it's basically impossible to avoid being spoiled on that one.
  • Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Completley inverted, enemies are FAR more accurate than you are.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Maximilian.
    • The Valkyrur are masters of Magnificent Bastardry. They conquered the Darcsen, oppressed the Darcsen, convinced one tribe of Darcsen to turn traitor and gave them the name Randgriz, ruined a large stretch of perfectly good land, and then blamed the whole thing on the Darcsen while elevating themselves as virtuous god-kings. You don't get more Magnificent than that.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The Big Bad Maximilian himself. After deciding that Selvaria isn't of any use to him anymore but one, he told her to use the the suicidal Valkyria's Flame while tying her to her own words that "she'll do anything for him". Knowing his brain isn't any less than a Chessmaster, he would have realized that Selvaria's serving him out of love. Which is why even after what he had to say about his past in the final showdown, it's too late to forgive.
  • Needs More Love: This game was one of IGN's recipients for their depressing "Best Game No One Played" award.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Maximilian on the last stage when he activates his pseudo Valkyrian weaponry, the way the veins bulge on his skin and his eyes being devoid of colour or irises... * shudders*
  • Player Punch: Isara
  • Ron the Death Eater: Cezary gets this treatment a lot in fanfiction, with some particularly extreme examples have him turning traitor.
  • The Scrappy: Gens. Gregor and Damon, though this is probably intentional. Also applies to pretty much every person with the Potential of "Darcsen Hater" in the game, notably Cezary and Theold - both are also disliked even more so because these two characters are rather low-standing members of their respective troop classes.
  • Tear Jerker: The Darcsens at the end of Fouzen mission. And, on a larger scale, Isara's death.
    • And in the ending, when Welkin asked Alicia "How's Isara been today?", and out came their daughter. This one isn't directly a Tear Jerker by itself but still, if you know why it's like this...
    • Some people also feel this way about Selvaria's using her Valkyria powers the last time.
    • The Imperial soldier's death in Chapter 8 also qualifies. It's not too difficult to see how hearing him cry out for his mother can trigger Vietnam flashbacks for some people...
    • And once you've played through Selvaria's DLC, you'll never feel the same way about shooting Oswald the Iron dead in Chapter 10.
  • That One Boss: Selvaria the third (and final) time you face her.
    • Also enemy ace Ty the Immortal kinda counts, if you don't know what you're doing when you first encounter him during chapter 8.
    • Selvaria, even with the Ruhm, doesn't hold a candle to Jaeger and the Lupus Regnum two chapters later. Chapter 17 is without a doubt the hardest operation in the game
  • That One Level: "Chapter 7: The Battle at Barious" is often looked upon as this as it's easy to get killed if you don't know what's going to happen. That's when the game suddenly jumps up from its seat and shoves a difficulty spike down your throat.
    • The next chapter is no slouch either if you are not prepared. You have to take down a giant tank which is only vulnerable at specific turns, not to mention it having anti-personnel turrets all over it to destroy anybody that tries to get close. To top it all off, once you get close to beating him, Selvaria shows up for the first time to aid him. She cannot be harmed and if she targets any of your units, they are as good as dead.
    • "Chapter 9: Kidnapping of Cordelia." You have to block an APC and shoot it down with bullets alone, no explosives as that would harm the princess. The city streets don't leave much room to maneuver, though, and if you're not careful, the APC can easily gun down one of your soldiers and then run them over.
      • ...Unless you know the trick to this level. If you let the APC make its first move unhindered, it places itself in a spot right near your highest placed troop. If it is a Shocktrooper, just move them behind the APC and destroy it. Basically, if you know the trick, it becomes one of the easiest missions in the entire game.
    • "Chapter 17: Breaching Jaeger's Blockade" is another incredibly difficult one; even if you know what's going to happen, you're under a lot of heavy tank fire and the enemy commander is incredibly strong.
  • The Woobie: Poor Claudia...eventually things get better for her.
  • Woolseyism: Dallas's idolization of Alicia is played towards a lesbian angle in the English release, to make the implication clear for a Western audience; in the original Japanese, it was less overt, but played all the traditional Yuri tropes to the hilt. A slightly more plot-significant alteration is the properties of Alicia's favourite flower; in English it's described along the lines of being "strong", whereas in the Japanese it's described along the lines of being "beautiful." Whether this change reflects upon the character of Alicia is up to the player's judgment.

The anime (may) provide examples of:

  • Americans Hate Tingle: Ramal, an anime original character for the anime is not well liked in the West, but in Japan, he's very popular and was voted as one of the top ten characters in the anime. This might have to do with his crush on Isara. Too bad that went nowhere.
  • Creator's Pet: Faldio gets dangerously close to this trope. When he first shows up, he was fine. Post Barious is where things really heat up.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: Welkin's submarine tank drive is repeated in Episode 3 (with water leaking worryingly into the passenger compartment), he and Isara then top it by driving the tank right up the incredibly steep embankment.
    • The events of Episode 11. Welkin, Faldio, Ramal, and Isara teaming up with Selvaria, Jaeger, and Karl who would rescue Alicia and Cordelia from the kidnappers. Take note that these groups are on the opposing sides of the war. And they're badass in their own rights so when they team up, you know epic beat down will ensue on the kidnappers.
    • Squad 1 taking out the Batomys at Naggiar. Sadly, it would be their sole moment of glory.
  • Designated Villain: This shouldn't have to be on the YMMV page, really. In the anime Faldio's 'villainhood' is very poorly executed. He saves everyone's lives with his desperate gamble in activating Alicia, but gets only grief and reproach from everyone, even himself - though nobody ever suggests a possible alternative to his course of action. That Alicia survives to live happily ever after, whereas Faldio has an ignominious death off-scene, compounds the problem. Of course, many fans of the game hate his prominence in the anime *anyway*, so they're likely not to care.
    • Largo later on gets a little closer, and almost manages to take out Selvaria with his lance. It sends her into a minor Villainous Breakdown, as she's visibly pissed off by the confirmation that she might be mortal.
    • Welkin slugging a officer in the regular army when he calls Alicia a monster; this is after breaking up a fight between Squad 7 and the regulars for the same reason.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny: The brawl between Squad 1 and Squad 7 in episode 6. Highlights include: a pissed off Jann grabbing Hebert and Mica by the backs of their necks yelling "do you want me to teach to teach you the joys of men?!" and Edy clubbing Salinas with a big stick.
    • Jann again, this time in episode 17 where he gives Largo a gift during the feelgood valentine-eqse celebration, said gift was quickly revealed to be a leopard print man thong. Largo's expression? Priceless.
  • Growing the Beard / Darker and Edgier: The series takes a dramatic turn at the battle of Fouzen, to the point where the two halves of the anime look like two entire different series.
  • Memetic Sex God: If Jaeger isn't in any scene, he's making out with everyone NOT in the same scene. EVERYONE.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We never actually get to see Maximillian annihilating the army of ninjas sent to assassinate him.
  • Romantic Plot Tumor: So Faldio gets romantically interested in Alicia. Okay, fine, this might be interesting. Bringing it up during battle and other inappropriate situations... Why was this guy appointed as a squad leader?
    • And of course the canonical Alicia-Welkin relationship, while initially fine, can be enough to turn the bowels of many a viewer, as it drags through the entire series with nothing but angst to show for itself. And they wait till the very last episode to kiss. In light of this, Faldio's playboy attitude could actually be a relief.
  • Shocking Swerve: Alicia and Selvaria knew each other? Wait, was that orphanage then in the Empire or in Gallia? Why were they experimenting on her? If they knew she was a Valkyria, how did they find out? Where are the other children that were involved? Who were those scientists? Where are they now? How did Alicia forget about it until she fought Selvaria? What is going on here? Stop trying to write your own story, dammit! It wouldn't have been bad if they actually followed it through, but like with the revelation that the Darcsen Calamity was actually the Valkyria's fault, it was dropped and we never heard about it again.
  • Tear Jerker: Welkin crying in Isara's room after they retake Bruhl.
    • Hell, everything from Isara's death to that point there is a major league tearer.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Some of the people cared less about whether changes were actually done well or not, but simply that something played out differently from the game.

The manga (may) contain examples of the following:

  • Crack Pairing: Fans went "Say What!?" when they learned that hardworking Darcsen Engineer Nadine was interested in Racist Sniper Cezary after the incident where she believed he saved her from an Imperial sniper.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Cezary
  • Tear Jerker:Isara's and Welkin's last moments together, Squad 7 mourning for their comrades who just died and Welkin crying over failing to protect Isara.
  • Too Good to Last: This manga only lasted for 4 volumes.
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