Valkyria Chronicles 4 introduces story premise, characters, classes, and gameplay in new screenshots and character art
Sega has updated the official website for Valkyria Chronicles 4, which has more than 40 new screenshots for the upcoming tactical RPG. Much of the information on the site was previously detailed in our Famitsu translation, which introduced the game's villain characters and new 'Brave' gameplay system.
We've highlighted the primary details below.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 Story Prologue
That day, we used to believe that there was something we could hang our lives on. Without even knowing what kind of compensation it would have. That war was really our springtime of life.
-from Claude Wallace's diary
This title takes place in a fictional European continent; the western region of the largest continent in the northern hemisphere. This land has seen repeated conflicts of hegemony for uniting its entirety since the ancient times.
After the 1800s, the continent was split into two big countries to the east and west: the East European Empire, an alliance state ruled by an emperor, and the Atlantic Federation, a republic state which has abolished monarchy. Before long, the two factions went into a conflict for the Ragnite mineral resource.
In the year 1935, the Empire army broke the non-aggression pact and began advancing to an ally nation of the Federation. This started the Second European War, which would be the largest war in European history that would engulf the entire continent.
Claude, who participated in the war as the captain of the Federation army's Squad E, had a narrow victory in the first battle. However, three months into the war, the Federation army was put in a painful situation as they kept getting defeated by the Empire's overwhelming amount of resources.
After his battle ended, Claude who has just returned to his base was ordered by his superior to launch a large-scale strategy, to overturn the Federation's inferiority and raid the Empire's capital - this major counteroffensive tactic would be known as Operation Northern Cross.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 Villains
Previously detailed in Famitsu, here are the game's villain characters:
(in order of images above)
- Climaria Levin (voiced by Yukana)
The Valkyria who is also known as the Blizzard Witch. She is a special captain in the X-O squad. As she is forced to live as an experimental subject in the Valkyria Experimental Facility, she has a strong inferiority complex. She moves together with a wolf named Fenrir, which is also her friend. - Klaus Voltz (voiced by Hiroki Touchi)
The leader of Ausbruch, an independent hooligan squad in the Empire army. An experienced famous general who goes into battles with his own tank, holding a strong belief to "protect people living in the Empire." - Forse (voiced by Kaito Ishikawa)
The handsome strategic commander of the X-O squad. Because his legs are impaired, he cannot directly participate in battles. However, he has great confidence in himself and is able to stay calm under any situations. - Belger (voiced by Sho Hayami)
The X-O squad manager. He comes from a noble family and holds the highest authority in the Empire's science institute. He has the authority to enjoy a general's livelihood, and he uses the X-0 squad as his pawns. - Nicola Greff (voiced by Naomi Ozora)
The white-skinned girl is a special member in X-O She and Kiara act like Belger's bodyguards. She is also a sadist, but unlike Kiara, she is even more malicious. Currently, it doesn't seem like Nicola and Kiara are getting along well. - Kiara Rosino (voiced by Yukiyo Fujii)
The dark-skinned girl is also a special member in X-O. She was raised together with Nicola like they are siblings in the Empire's research institute. She undertakes missions to obliterate Belger's enemies, and she has a sadistic personality.
Brave System
One of the new systems in Valkyria Chronicles 4 is the Brave System, which has a chance to activate when an ally loses all their HP. Valkyria Chronicles 4 largely still has the same permadeath system as the first game, where a character who has their HP depleted to 0 will be in a dying state. Unless they are rescued by another ally character before 3 turns are up or they get tagged by an enemy, they will die and cannot be revived.
However, there's a new twist on this permadeath system. When the Brave System activates, the player will be given a limited time to choose between Entrust, which raises a stat - that depends on the dying character's class - of the nearest ally character and recover 1 Command Point, or Stand Up, which gives them one last chance to move and attack with invulnerability before falling down again.
New Class - Grenadier
One new class to Valkyria Chronicles 4 is the Grenadier, which seems similar to the Elite Scout upgrade in the original Valkyria Chronicles in that these units can fire grenades from afar. When launched, the grenades will hit a blast radius, can destroy sandbags, and will force kneeling units to stand if they are hit.
For example, if a scout spots an enemy behind a wall, a grenadier will then know where to launch a grenade in order to attack them without being seen.
Other screenshots on the website show off the watercolor stylings of the CANVAS engine, images of the original four protagonists, the other 5 classes Valkyria veterans are familiar with, and the 'BLiTZ' style battle system that Valkyria Chronicles is known for. Check out the all the new screenshots and artwork in the gallery below.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is set to release in Japan for PlayStation 4 on March 21, followed by a Nintendo Switch version later in Summer 2018. The localized release, which will include an Xbox One version, is also set for an undated time in 2018.
