Valkyria Chronicles III
Valkyria Chronicles III is the third game of the Valkyria Chronicles series, released in Japan on the PlayStation Portable on January 27, 2011. Despite the previous two games getting localized, SEGA announced no localization would be made for this title outside of Japan. Unlike previous titles, this game was developed by Media Vision and published by Sega.
Taking place during the 2nd Europan war during the events of Valkyria Chronicles, the game focuses on Gallian Army Squad 442, nicknamed "The Nameless", a Meaningful Name since most of their members are criminals, deserters and military offenders who all have their names erased from the records and given numbers instead. Their job (if you can call it that) is to do the most dangerous missions and "dirty work" for the Gallian army, which basically means they are the Cannon Fodder.
The Nameless will be fighting against an mysterious Imperial unit known as Calamity Raven lead by Dahau, a Darcsen.
Tropes used in Valkyria Chronicles III include:
- Action Girl: Riela and Imca seem to be shaping up into this. Seeing as this is Valkyria Chronicles, most of the other female characters will also probably end up as Action Girls too.
- Alike and Antithetical Adversaries: This is the first game in the series not to use Heterogenous Heroes vs. Homogenous Villains, instead using Heterogenous Heroes vs. Heterogenous Villains.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Finishing post-Clear Fragments of supporting characters[1] gives you alternate uniforms: Gallian Militia (Squad 7), Gallian Army (Leon / Baldren), and Lanseal Students (Avan).
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Up to 9 units can be deployed at a time, with a maximum of 5 per zone. This is up from the VC2 limit of 6 units, and nearly equals the original game's limit of 9 or 10 (depending on whether a tank is available).
- Arc Number: 7 is once again a prominent number. In this particular case, Kurt is saddled with this number.
- Army of Thieves and Whores: The Nameless includes repeat arsonist, convicted murderer, brothel madame, con artist, draft-dodger, sadistic dominatrix, trigger-happy alcoholic, and money-grubbing mechanic. The leader is charged with treason. What a merry band of undesirables!
- Averse Adept: Several potentials are setup this way to reinforce what a dysfunctional bunch the penal brigade is. It seems it's also targeted to nerf Scouts since they were overpowered in the first game.
- Riela Marcellis, who has Survivor Guilt from repeatedly being the Sole Survivor due to her initially unexplained Healing Factor. This manifests as "Angel of Death" (the title she has been given for her supposedly cursed nature) which lowers her stats when taking inception fire. Her default and favored class is Scout, which naturally takes inception fire, and said healing factor gives her a chance to heal the wounds taken from it at the end of a turn. Midgame, it gets even worse and is replaced with Uncertain Future, which gives a random chance to lose all remaining action points after using half. This is really bad in general but especially so for a Scout since Scout's main ability is using their higher than average action points to go long distance, and you can't even plan for it. Only during the final four chapters is this replaced with an ability that boosts her stats when taking inception fire.
- Amy Apple has the "Loneliness" potential, which lowers her Evasion (ability to avoid counter attack) when no allies are nearby. Amy's default and favored class is also Scout, which is all about running ahead of allies.
- Valerie Aynsley has "Curiosity", which lowers Evasion upon spotting an enemy unit. Scouts have the highest vision radius and distance.
- Big Freaking Gun: Lances and some of the later weapons in the game for scouts and shocktroopers.
- Blade of Fearsome Size: The fencer's swords.
- Broad Strokes: For the most part Squad 422 (and their Empire counterpart, Calamity Raven) stays away from the spotlight of war, but the bits about Selvaria can be downright ludicrous, especially if you have played her VC 1 DLC.
- Well, this trope is bound to show up, since at least the first game is read from an in-universe book.
- Boom! Headshot!: Headshots make a reappearance as an important game mechanic: snipers can frequently perform a One-Hit Kill with them, and all gun-toting units can dramatically increase their damage with them.
- Brutal Bonus Level: The aptly-named Hard Mission Fragments. Expect to be gangbanged with tanks and armored infantries in the first turn.
- Cannon Fodder: The Nameless are the Cannon Fodder to the other Cannon Fodder, the Militia.
- Cool Tank / Awesome Personnel Carrier: Like Valkyria Chronicles II, you can customize your tank in a wide variety of ways, from the nearly invincible but slow to the lightweight APC that can move your troops around fast and far but falls to a well-placed blow.
- Custom Uniform: Most of The Nameless uniforms are very Mildly Military.
- Cutscene Power to the Max: Apparently, Imca can duel a Valkyria to a Blade Lock with her bazooka-blade thing in cutscenes. She can't do that in the game, though she does have a Super Mode.
- Dangerous Deserter: Squad 422 "The Nameless" becomes one after they fail in the attempt to assassinate Maximilian, thanks to Selvaria's Valkyrie power. Then Riela puts the "dangerous" in Dangerous Deserter after she's awaken to the Valkyrie power of her own.
- Darker and Edgier: This game is darker then the first two Valkyria Chronicles games since it focus on an unwanted unit doing the Gallian army's Dirty Business.
- It also reveals a bit of Gray and Gray Morality with the Darscens which some will go to desperate states to gain independence. Previous games shown them as being victims, as it shows however, some are willing to become a Complete Monster if it helped invigorate the Darscens to stand up for themselves.
- Death Notification: Not only Kurt must bring the news[2] of Gusurg's death to the dead guy's big sister, but he must also explain that Gusurg died as a traitor to Gallia, having chosen to defect to the invading Empire's Calamity Raven for the sake of a chance for his ostracized people to found their own country. And that Kurt killed Gusurg by his own hands. The big sister faces the news solemnly, stating that Gusurg died for what he believed. This is the last straw for Kurt's psyche, and Riela and Imca must talk him to his senses.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: If you studied your American military history, you would know where the official name of the Nameless came from.
- Downloadable Content: Like the previous two games, this game will have DLC. In addition to DLC missions, there are downloadable "episodes", which contain both episodes and cutscenes.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: The Nameless don't have any of this as they're meant to do the dirty work of the Gallian Army.
- The Enemy Weapons Are Better: While captured weapons were largely side-grades in the original, here they're significant power boosts. Of particular note is enemy tank guns, which far outclass those you can purchase.
- Equal Opportunity Evil: The near entirety of Calamity Raven are a Darcsen, a race that is widely hated in the Empire.
- Face Heel Turn: Guess the use of bio-weapons was the final straw for Gusurg before defecting to the Calamity Ravens
- Fantastic Racism: On both sides of the war against Darcsen, as always.
- Gaiden Game: The events of this game take place concurrently with Valkyria Chronicles rather than being a sequel or prequel.
- Give the Villain a Hero's Funeral: The Nameless privately give traitor Gusurg a funeral after they kill him because its members understand (though not necessarily agree with) with his reasons for betraying Gallia, and still genuinely respect his mentorship/leadership and the friendships they had before his betrayal.
- God Mode: Not a cheat so much as Riela's special ability. She essentially gets to spend one action immune to bullets, as well as getting a laser blast.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: All that The Nameless ever do will remain in the darkness of history. Even the narrator points this out.
- Hero of Another Story: Squad 422 gets to meet and fight along Welkin Gunther and his Squad 7, Avan Hardins and the civil defense, as well as Baldren and Audrey Gassenarl. The last two are probably inversion, they are the Big Bad in their story.
- Supporting Leader: Welkin Gunther. You see another Gallian forces on the map fighting the main forces of The Empire; while you're on your way doing things that will not be recorded in history, and the ones you fight are the Calamity Ravens.
- Irony: Gallia's trash (The Nameless which is comprised of criminals) fighting against the Empire's trash (the Calamity Ravens, who have Darcsens in their ranks).
- Idiot Ball: Carl Isler and his obsession about killing Kurt. The very moment Kurt became a Nameless for treason his word stopped having any worth, but his constant tries to kill the Nameless To the point of using both calamity raven and the Gallian army ended with Kurt being certain that someone wanted them dead. If he just had tried to gain his trust, or executed him on the spot, instead of letting him enter the nameless, he could have avoided a lot of trouble.
- Job System: All units can be changed to any class, like Avan from Valkyria Chronicles II, although most have one or two preferred classes that they are better at.
- Kirk Summation: Kurt delivers one to Gusurg at the end of Chapter 19, the Battle of Randgriz.
- Limit Break: Kurt, Imca and Riela each have a special attack when an SP point is used which are:
- Kurt is able to get two nearby allies to follow him and attack together while using a higher AP pool.
- Imca can use her weapon to target multiple enemies and launch a Macross Missile Massacre. Generally the most useful of the three due to being the only way to reliably kill multiple enemies with a single command point and being the only attack in the game that totally ignores distance.
- Riela and Aliasse goes into Valkyria mode where she becomes invincible and can perform a one shot kill with her lance.
- Also, all of them regain health and AP for their special action.
- Love Triangle: Imca and Riela both fall in love with Kurt. The player gets to choose who should Kurt hook up with.
- Meaningful Name: Would you expect a high-ranking religious figure named "Borgia" to be a wholesome person...
- More Dakka: OPEN FIRE!!! Also, combination attacks in general.
- More Friends, More Benefits: Finishing your team members' Fragment missions unlock their Potential, some of which are tremendously useful. And you get to see that they aren't as bad as people think of them.
- Motive Rant: Lots of them. Except Lydia, she just hates everyone.
- No Export for You: SEGA has repeatedly and bluntly stated they are done releasing PSP titles outside of Japan and will not release this one overseas.
- Old Save Bonus: Having Valkyria Chronicles II Save Data earns you Anisette as a playable character, but she can be unlocked with a password as well. Other Sega games also give rewards.
- People of Hair Color: Darcsens. See the Fantastic Racism entry.
- Previous Player Character Cameo: Characters from Valkyria Chronicles and Valkyria Chronicles II make cameo appearances and will join Squad 442 in some of their missions (and permanently for non-canonical appearances in post-game content).
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Nameless are composed of criminals, deserters and military offenders. This trope is practically a Valkyria Chronicles tradition now.
- The Remnant: After the peace accord is signed between The Empire and the Principality of Gallia, the Imperium's all-Darcsen Calamity Ravens legion become this.
- Required Party Member: Only half the time in Story missions. You can even choose not to deploy Kurt. Of those who are required, Riela and Imca get the slot most often. In the final battle, whoever you romance become the Required Party Member.
- Each character is the Required Party Member in their respective Fragment mission(s).
- Sequel Hook: The End of a Battle, Beginning of a Journey DLC has a, so far, unused one of Jaeger working to start a rebellion in his home country.
- Shaggy Dog Story: Calamity Raven's members sacrifice everything for an attempt to create a Darcsen utopia. Only after they are wiped out does Gallia's princess reveal the royal family were always Darcsens and the historical event Darcsens were hated for was a lie, resulting in their goal being accomplished without any of their sacrifices having mattered, and if they had succeed they would have actually prevented this from occurring.
- Doomed by Canon: This reveal is already known by those who beat the first game or played the second.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Several battles, but the most awesome is when you begin to gain foothold in Randgriz, as you force your way into the military tribunal to present the evidence of your (relative) innocence. Considering that that mission is That One Level, an uplifting music is much needed.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Hope that Reila being a Valkyria wasn't meant to be a surprise...
- Interface Spoiler: Given her potential of Mysterious Body, it wouldn't be for anyone who played the first game even if this weren't the case. Really it doesn't appear to ever have been intended as a twist to the player, merely the characters.
- The Unfought: Selvaria Bles. You would think that Imca would have an epic rematch with her now that your squad has your own Valkyria(s), but apparently she must fight in another battlefield and die there.
- We Are Team Cannon Fodder: Your unit. Which is rather ironic, because...
- What the Hell Are You?: The Gallian unit reaction upon seeing Riela goes Valkyria.
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Soldier: "Fire! Fire!" *hail of bullets that Riela's force field immaculately blocks* |
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- The Worf Effect: Welkin and the gang. Apparently, when enemy leader outsmart Welkin, it's time for Kurt to save the day. Especially true in the OVA.
- You Are Number Six: The nameless are referred to by numbers.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: The Darcsens are back with their (trademark) hair color.
- Riela has an odd gradient of red at the top but silver near the end, a result of Valkrian blood.
- You Killed My Father: Imca, except it didn't stop at her father. Her entire village was destroyed by a Valkyria and led to her joining Squad 422 to seek revenge