Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles is a Tactical Action RPG with First Person Shooter elements, developed by Sega for the PlayStation 3 and released in 2008.

Plot
The game is set in a fictional world of Europa based on Europe during the events of World War II.

Two vast nations are at war, but due to running low on a super fuel substance known as Ragnite ore, the once neutral and peaceful country of Gallia is being invaded by a desperate Imperial Alliance hoping to claim this useful resource to advance their take over of Europa and overcome their enemies, the Atlantic Federation.

The Gallian town of Bruhl is invaded at the same time Welkin Gunther is visiting his adoptive sister, Isara. Soon Welkin finds himself joining forces with the town watch captain Alicia Melchiott as they attempt to put up a resistance against the Imperial forces attacking their peaceful home.

Gameplay
Players take control of their units on their turn.

Units are split into the following classes:


 * Scouts: Can travel long distances without their stamina running out, but have limited ammo capacity per shot. When they hit 'Elite' rank they have access to a grenade launcher which is useful for taking out enemies from behind cover. Alicia Melchiott and Aika Thompson are good examples of Scouts.
 * Shocktroopers: The all arounders. Armed with machine guns they can shred through most infantry units health far easier than Scouts can, at the cost of not being able to travel as far, although still further than Lancers and Snipers. When they hit 'Elite' rank they have access to close range flamethrowers which are very powerful if used correctly. Brigitte "Rosie" Stark and Vyse Inglebard are good examples of Shocktroopers.
 * Lancers: Anti-tank and anti-armour specialists. They have low running stamina, cannot return fire cannot intercept opponents, have limited ammo reserves unlike Scouts, Shocktroopers and Engineers and the poorest accuracy of any class, but they can shred through tank armour unlike Scouts and Shocktroopers and their own anti-blast armour allows them to survive mortar blasts easier than other units. They can also be used to clear landmines safely. When they hit 'Elite' the class gets access to mortar lances allowing them to be more effective against infantry units, at the cost of being less efficient against tanks and armour. Largo Potter is a good example of a Lancer unit.
 * Engineers: Engineers are good at almost everything. They can run almost as far as scouts, they can clear landmines by walking over to them and deactivating them, they can rebuild walls, resupply other units and can even fix up tanks. They're the weakest overall in combat however, and are mostly used for support, although they can still intercept and return fire at enemies.
 * Snipers: Headshot specialists able to hit targets from longer distances than most. Snipers are deadly at a distance and have some of the best accuracy in the game, although they have the least amount of stamina, low defence, cannot return fire on enemies or intercept them, and have a limited ammo capacity making them the worst choice in close range battles.

During battle players can select their unit on the map which allows the player to take control of them, and manuever them across the battlefield. During this free roaming turn, enemies will continuously shoot at the player's soldiers. Once a player is in a good position, they can line up a shot on the enemy. The enemies will stop shooting at the player during this time, and retaliate if they survive the encounter. There is a counter that reveals how many bullets are needed to kill an enemy, with headshots doing far more damage, but at long distances are much more likely to miss.

Players can interact with the environment such as hiding behind sandbags that will make their soldiers immune to headshots and take less damage overall, blowing up Ragnaid reserves to create large explosions or causing rockslides to occur in certain levels.

On the player's turn, each character has a stamina bar which dictates how far the player can move. If they are out in the open when the stamina bar hits 0, they will be likely be targetted by enemy units when it's the CPU's turns.

Players will be awarded high rankings for taking the least amount of turns to beat a stage.

Each soldier also has their own unique attributes and 'potentials' that give perks when certain conditions on the battlefield are fulfilled. Some potentials grant buffs such as 'Resist Crossfire' that makes your unit take less damage when hit with bullets fired at them whilst they move, whilst others are less useful such as 'Pollen Allergy' which slowly drains the unit of health for every moment they're stuck in the grass.

Trivia

 * Skies of Arcadia's Vyse, Aika and Fina all appear as allied troops in this title, albeit with slightly altered personalities and looks. Fina is one of a set of triplets for example.
 * Welkin Gunther, Alicia Melchiott, Largo Potter and Selvaria Bles from this title all appeared in SEGA Heroes.
 * Selvaria Bles also appears in Project x Zone as an antagonist.
 * Selvaria Bles was also due to appear in the cancelled title Sega Blast Heroes.
 * Welkin Gunther, Alicia Melchiott, Edy Nelson and Selvaria Bles all appear in Chain Chronicle.
 * Unlike later titles getting A rank is only decided by the amount of turns taken. For this reason, Alicia Melchiott when she unlocks her potentials can become a one woman army for getting A ranks.