Valkyria Chronicles II: Difference between revisions

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EC 1937 - Two years after it barely managed to repel the East Europan Imperial Alliance, the Principality of Gallia is in disarray. As the Second Europan War rages beyond its borders between the Empire and the Atlantic Federation, its people struggle to repair the damage done by the invasion, and its military is undermanned. In addition, the revelation of the Darcsen bloodline of Princess—now Archduchess—Cordelia gi Randgriz and the entire House of Randgriz brings further confusion and turmoil. Several anti-Darcsen nobles unite under the banner of Count Gilbert Gassenarl, forming the Gallian Revolutionary Army, more commonly known as the Rebels. Intent to cleanse Gallia of Darcsens and restore order, they begin attacking Darscen settlements and soon successfully gain control of the south. Due to laws forbidding it from forming a militia to deal with internal conflict, the government is instead forced to send out cadets from the prestigious Royal Lanseal Military Academy to deal with them; here, 17-year-old Avan Hardins, who enrolled to discover what became of his supposedly-dead older brother Leon—and landed in Class G, dumping ground of Lanseal's underachievers—becomes swept up in what would be known as the Gallian Civil War...

Gameplay-wise, the meat of the improvements are in the pre-battle arrangements. Individual characters can now be changed into a variety of sub-classes using a class tree tailored to their primary class (except for Avan, [[Jack of All Trades|who can be changed into any class]]). In addition, the squad's vehicle can now be customized visually and performance-wise using a wide variety of add-ons. The innovative BLiTZ battle system remains intact, the primary change being dividing the battlefield into smaller zones where the squad must capture specific bases to open up paths to the other zones. There are also far more missions and skirmishes to take compared to the original, as well as ad-hoc co-op and versus modes.

 

 

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* [[Academy of Adventure]]: Lanseal, for sure. There's always something going on.

** [[One Hundred Percent Completion|Until you run out of events, that is.]]

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: Played straight with the House of Gassenarl. Averted with Cordelia.

* [[Artificial Stupidity]]: Enemy units will happily charge into suicidal amounts of interception fire, often dying without getting a shot off. They'll also rarely use grenades on crouching/crawling targets, even when multiple allies are bunched together. Enemy snipers will sometimes close in for a shot, opening themselves up to deadly counterattacks, despite having such a tremendous range advantage that they can hit from well out of their target's maximum range.

* [[Awesome Personnel Carrier]]: Hate how tanks use 2 CP a turn? You can make it this trope instead. It's also highly practical, as it can carry two units inside for long distances and offer support fire to anyone near it. The downside: enemy Lancers are likely to one-shot you, so you may need at least an Engineer at hand.

** Also, enemy Tanks can also drop the APC in one go as well, especially on a direct hit to the back (i.e. the Radiator)... something to think about when picking out a frame (a favorite of some players is the Utility APC frame: with a maximum capacity of 12, expect to carry a lot of equipment to battle)

** There are codes to unlock characters from the first game, the Anime, and from another Sega Game, ''[[Phantasy Star Portable]]'' 2. Highlights include the Edy Detachment, Selvaria, Maximillian, Faldio, and Isara. Welkin and Alicia can also be unlocked in [[New Game+]] (although they're already seen beforehand as academy residents), and additional unlock codes for the western version are still being released as of late September.

* [[Battle Butler]]: Heinz, who even brings tea into the classroom.

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Class G, with a few notable exceptions, is made up of very nice people. They include an [[Idiot Hero]], a sweet-tempered ditz, a [[Battle Butler]], a gambler, a [[Gun Nut]] and a [[Person of Mass Destruction|Valkyria]].

* [[BFS]]: The weapon of choice for the [[Mighty Glacier|Fencer]] class.

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Vario Kraatz is one of [[Elvis Presley]].

* [[Capture the Flag]]: The ''only'' way to progress through the game is to steal enemy camps.

* [[Character Development]]: A new major gameplay element involves revealing deeper aspects of your classmates' personalities by using them for extended periods of time, unlocking "Memories" skits, culminating in a Classmate Mission which, once completed, adds new Potentials or replaces negative Potentials with positive ones.

* [[Chewing the Scenery]]: Of all people, {{spoiler|Headmaster Laurence Kluivert}} at the end of the August mission.

** And then, there's 13-year-old Aliasse, recruited by September. Once more, [[Justified Trope|justified]], as she's a Valkyria.

* [[Church Militant]]: Yggdism, of which Audrey Gassenarl is a devout member, and teaches the extermination of Darcsens.

** Vicki Baytear, a weird [[Wild Child]] with an obsession for proving how tough she is, happens to be an Engineer, despite that they're the least beefy of all classes.

* [[Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are]]: Appears as an [[Enemy Chatter]] line.

* [[Cool Tank]]: Now highly customizable! You can even equip it with a constructor arm to build temporary bridges and ladders in some areas to create a handy [[Dungeon Bypass]]. Similarly, some tank parts let it cross through ice or smash boulders. You can also equip it with a variety of shoulder parts that negate some negative area effects, like a lantern to aid nighttime accuracy, a defogger to negate the range-impairing effects of fog, a heater to warm your troops up in snowy areas, and so on. Even better, enemies don't benefit from the tank's effect.

* [[Defrosting Ice Queen]]: {{spoiler|Julianna}} eventually eases up for {{spoiler|Zeri}}. She'd rather die than admit it, though. {{spoiler|So naturally, she doesn't admit her feelings for Zeri until she actually ''is'' dying.}}

** Sofia starts out hating all men, but through her classmate mission turns into this trope. {{spoiler|Plus she develops a [[All Love Is Unrequited|crush]] on Avan after her Classmate Mission.}}

* [[Defusing the Tykebomb]]: Avan and company almost immediately does this on Aliasse upon her full debut come April.

* [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells]]: Ragnite is used as the fuel for many weapons and explosives and it burns blue, hence why grenades, mortar fire and many other weapons in this series are ''blue'' rather than the standard yellow.

* [[Disk One Nuke]]: Captured tank turrets. They are easy to obtain with a little persistence (they drop off of enemy tank aces the second or third time you beat them), they do damaged unrivaled by anything you can possibly make until a [[New Game+]], and are light enough to put on the Light Tank B frame (which takes only 1 CP to move). And you can get one as early as ''March''.

* [[Event Flag]]: The [[Notice This|red !! marks]] are mandatory for getting the next mission.

* [[Expy]]: A few of them, actually. {{spoiler|Alexis Hilden}} is one of [[Rose of Versailles|Lady Oscar]], her background is exactly the same. And [[Shown Their Work|showing their work]], the programmers made it possible for you to turn her into a fencer.

** Not to mention the obvious similarities between Vario and [[Elvis Presley|a certain rocker]]

** Nahum Dryer is probably a parody of Akio Ohtori from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''. They definitely got the creepiness part right and plays it for laughs.

* [[Intrepid Reporter]]: Lotte Netzel. Miss Ellet would be so proud, [[Verbal Tic|dude]]!

* [[Jerkass Facade]]: Erik Kampmann. He's got a thing for feeding birds.

* [[Level Grinding]]: Given the random nature of Credit awards, be prepared to redo the same levels [[Overly Long Gag|over and over and over and over]] again if you want to unlock most advanced classes. Fortunately, the base-level upgrading using EXP applies evenly to all soldiers, so even underused characters can reap some of the benefits of your efforts.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: In comparison to VC1, the sequel is a lot more lighthearted in tone, despite the Rebels' stated mission of ''ethnic cleansing''.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: August started as a [[Hot Springs Episode|summer pool party]], with Class G rehearsing for a [[School Play]] for the [[School Festival]], even as they bask in the glory of their shocking victory over Class A during last month's Laevatein Cup finals. {{spoiler|It ended in tragedy for the entire school, with many students killed during the Rebels' surprise V2 attack, Class A Representative Julianna fatally shot (just when she's starting to mellow out to Class G) by Dirk Gassenarl, who is revealed to be a "zombified" Leon Hardins, and Headmaster Kluivert committing suicide upon learning that research papers on the creation of Artificial Valkyria - of which Leon and Julianna were test subjects - under his and Dr. Clementia Foerster's possession were also stolen.}}

* [[More Dakka]]: The Gunner sub-class for Shocktroopers doesn't even ''try'' to aim. Instead, they unleash a random torrent of bullets in a horizontal sweep. Of course, said bullets are pretty punishing on a hit anyway. There is nothing worse to face on interception fire than a Gunner (hence why it's a good idea to use them on defense - they can cut down just about anything).

* [[Not So Different]]: Gilbert and Baldren may frequently clash concerning their ideologies, methods and relations with the Federation, but both are, as noted by Audrey, hard-headed in their own way. {{spoiler|And even if Baldren ultimately killed his own father for what he perceived to be him selling out to the Federation, he has no qualms retreating into Federation territory once the war turned against him.}}

** One skit involving Avan studying under Zeri's tutelage reveals that the Empire and the Federation are both equally bent on claiming territories, though in different ways—the Empire prefers hostile takeovers, while the Federation uses table negotiations. Avan invokes this trope concerning them. Even Zeri is surprised that such an [[Idiot Hero]] like him could have his rare moments of intellectual epiphany.

* [[Oh My Gods]]: One of Avan's expressions is "To [[Norse Mythology|Hel]] with it!"

* [[Previous Player Character Cameo]]: Most obviously Welkin and Alicia. Edy Nelson cameos at the end of her younger sister Anisette's Memories skits and during an Everyday Matters skit at the Store. Jane Turner, Homer Peron and Largo Potter also get mentioned. It should be noted that, with the exception of Jane, you can get them all as bonus (non-canonical) playable characters via a [[New Game+]] or password (including {{spoiler|supposedly-dead characters like Isara, Faldio, Maximilian and Selvaria}}).

* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]]: Class G serves as the dumping ground for the lowest rung of Lanseal's cadets and is thus composed of a bunch of ''really'' eccentric and dysfunctional cadets.

** Subverted to a degree: all Darcsen cadets (Zeri, Jugin, Magari and Mischlitt, to be exact) are actually gifted in the arts of war, but are dumped in Class G [[Fantastic Racism|just because they're Darcsens]]. However, Class G basically accepts them without prejudice, and even those who can't stand them eventually warm up to them. This is even reflected in their Potentials, which upgrade from "Darcsen Hater" to "Reconciliation."

** Cosette screams out Avan's name after {{spoiler|he shoots himself and passes out from blood loss during his [[Deliberate Injury Gambit|gambit to force hematophobic Cosette into tending to the wounded]].}}

** {{spoiler|Zeri}} yells out {{spoiler|Julianna's}} at the end of the August mission. Similarly, {{spoiler|because of her racism, Juliana has trouble saying Zeri's name until her deathbed.}}

** Cosette also comments that Zeri's swimsuit was designed as such because he thinks "water resistance is huge".

** To great amusement, {{spoiler|Sofia is one too, towards Avan of all people, after her character mission.}}

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: Melissa, to the point where her default portrait is her sneaking around the side of the screen half out of view, just to scare the crap out of you.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: Anisette's English name references her Japanese one, "Licorice."

* [[Super Soldier]]: {{spoiler|Project Valhalla}} was intended to create artificial Valkyria to defend Gallia against both the Empire and the Alliance. The research data for this project gets stolen... {{spoiler|twice}}.

* [[Team Pet]]: Jarde, Avan's pet bird.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: ''Averted'', shockingly enough, for most of the game. Enemies no longer have supernatural accuracy at long ranges, cannot dodge attacks made from behind, and no longer single out crit areas (heads on infantry and radiators of vehicles). However, they will know if your camp is unoccupied and will run in to capture it even if its at night and there's no way in [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Hel]] they should be able to know that.

* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: Rene and Magari, respectively, with Rene being a short haired ginger[[Genki Girl|self proclaimed sports-nut]] and Magari being an introverted, shy bookworm. Some of the interactions between them (and other characters) may suggest a romantic relationship (Rene physically attacking a guy who approached Magari, thinking he was trying to hit on her. Followed by Magari saying she doesn't like guys. Followed by Rene saying how cute Magari is, while blushing. Followed by Magari saying she loves Rene...), but it's very clear that they are at the very least very good friends.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Oh, ''Avan''. {{spoiler|Find out that mental trauma from parents death has made friend afraid of blood and colorblind. ''Shoot yourself'' to force her to get over her fear of blood by operating on you.}} He survives and his plan worked, but a single mistake could have changed that.

* [[Unusable Enemy Equipment]]: V2s are a special class exclusive to the Revolutionary Army.

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: Early in the game, Squad G encounters Aliasse, a mysterious girl who possesses powers and abilities akin to the Valkyria, mythical godlike beings. When they realize that she lives in Lanseal, rather than trying to find out more about her power, or why she's here, they focus on the far more pressing concern of teaching her how to play soccer.

** Furthermore, you can only unlock potentials by fulfilling the normal requirement to activate them. Potentials such as Dud Mine and Clear Thought [[Stupidity Is the Only Option|require you to purposely endanger your characters by making them trip mines or sending them into the middle of enemy fire.]]

* [[Walk the Earth]]: {{spoiler|Avan decides to do this after graduation, to help with reconstruction.}}

** [[That One Boss|August. Dirk. *sob*]]

* [[Wham! Episode]]: August. {{spoiler|The Rebels directly attack Lanseal, hundreds of students are slaughtered, Dirk brutally murders Julianna shortly after its revealed she was part of an Artificial Valkyria project, Dirk turns out to be an apparently zombified Leon Hardins, and to top it all off, Headmaster Kluivert is revealed to have sponsored a project to create Artificial Valkyria (such as Leon and Julianna), then committed suicide when he finds the research papers stolen by the Rebels.}}

** Earlier is {{spoiler|the Yuell mission, in which we that Cossette's sunny demeanor is [[Stepford Smiler|all a mask]] and that she's really a horrifically traumatized (both mentally and emotionally) wreck due to the deaths of her family.}}

* [[Yandere]]: Melissa is willing to skirmish with the Zeri Fan Club for some pictures of him.

* [[You All Look Familiar]]: Except for class A and G, almost all of the male Lanseal students seen in the game have the same two looks.

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Dark-blue hair (and, less obviously, a pink-and-white patterned piece of cloth somewhere on their body) is the mark of a Darcsen, instantly singling them out for prejudice.

** Juliana has pink hair and Aliasse has light blue hair as well...

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Strategy RPG]]

[[Category:Eastern RPG]]

[[Category:Third-Person Shooter]]

[[Category:Real Time Strategy]]

[[Category:Video Game]]