Sega just delivered its Christmas gift in the form of a new batch of direct-feed screenshots and info of its upcoming strategy JRPG Senjou no Valkyria 4: Eastern Front, or Valkyria Chronicles 4, as it’ll be called in the west. This follows the reveal on Weekly Famitsu last week and goes a bit more in-depth.
Angelica Farnaby is a cheerful and healthy civilian girl who was welcomed among Squad E. When they found her, she had lost all of her memories beside her name, and she didn’t know much about how she ended up in that situation. She is neither selfish or childish, and she has a gentle personality that pushes her to care about others.
Although the military doctor placed her under her wing, she offered to help her, serving meals, doing laundry, cleaning, and more. She is a bright presence who helps the soldiers and quickly became popular among them. They call her with the nickname “Angie.”
Minerva Viktor is the leader of Squad F, 32nd Armored Ranger Batallion, 1st Battle Brigade, 101st Division of the Edinburgh Army. She attended the Edinburgh military academy with Claude, but she ranked second. She was aiming to graduate with the top score, and she spared no effort in training and studying, yet she was not able to beat Claude.
Since then, she has felt strong feelings of rivalry about him. It was a mistake that Claude was selected as top of the class, and she continues to insist on doubting his ability. Influenced by her father, she is actually very mature, and she respects the chivalrous spirit that pushes her to look for fair fights.
On the other hand, she often nitpicks a bit too much on the small details, but there is no doubt that she is an excellent officer. Minerva is actually ahead of Claude in her career and she is the senior officer. She is also sociable and gentle to everyone else, excluding her old rival.
Karen Switchcoat is the medical soldier of Squad E, 32nd Armored Ranger Batallion, 1st Battle Brigade, 101st Division of the Edinburgh Army. Her rank is corporal. She is popular among the soldiers due to her personality and the fact that she heals their souls with a friendly smile alongside their bodies.
Since she grew up in a family of men she is good at handling males. Anyone that gets injured and carried in on a stretcher has his wound sutured with a smile. She was aiming to enter medical college, but she ended up volunteering for the army to support her family.
Ragnarok is the medical dog of Squad E and the mascot of the platoon. He was a stray dog picked up by Claude, and he has become a member of the squad since. He’s very brave, and runs around the battlefield without being afraid of bullets or bombs to rescue injured soldiers.
His instinct is to help the weak and he cannot abandon them. Proud and stubborn, he is relatively friendly with the soldiers (especially women), who feed him. He behaves with Claude almost as he was a person, and he would help him no matter the danger involved. But Claude cannot, of course, understand such thoughts, and sees Ragnarok just as a friendly, silly dog.
We also learn about the progression system. The drill grounds are located in the front line base, and Minerva, who is the senior officer, is in command. The player can allocate experience to each class, which levels up as a whole. Leveling up might make you learn new orders and unlock potentials.
When each class reaches level 11, they will be promoted to “elite.” They will be able to use new weapons, and employ a wider range of tactics. Scout Elite can use a rifle-mounted grenade launcher. Elite gain the use of a flamethrower that can nullify the protection of sandbags. Sniper Elite have automatic sniper rifles with three shots, they anti-tank sniper rifle, they can even counter-attack and intercept contrary to previous games of the series. Lancer Elite can use an anti-personnel mortar lance that affects an area. Engineer Elite user repair kits that allow the recovery of more energy for vehicles. Lastly, Grenadier Elite receive an overall improvement of their basic abilities.
Like in previous games of the series, orders are abilities that the hero and enemy bosses can use by consuming CP (command points) during the command mode. The effects are many, including increasing stats, reinforcements and withdrawing. In addition to gaining them with level progression, they can be learned by talking with colleagues at the cantina in the base.
Potentials are divided in personal potentials that depend on the personality of each character, and battle potentials that come from leveling up a class. There are both positive and negative ones, and battle potentials basically improve stats. Negative potentials might be replaced by positive ones through completion of certain story missions.
We then get an explanation of the character screens.
- Character name.
- Class.
- Level.
- HP: the soldier’s energy.
- AP: the soldier’s ability to move.
- Shooting and evasion ability.
- Battle potentials (B) and Personal potential (P)
- Compatible characters. High compatibility means a higher chance of cooperative attacks.
- Weapon Name.
- Accuracy (from high to low the ranks are S, A, B, C, D)
- Effective range.
- Attack power against infantry.
- Attack power against vehicles and fortifications.
- Number of bullets fired in one attack.
- Number of attacks before needing resupply.
- Area of effect (circle is yes, X is no).
- Special effects.
- Name of armor.
- Armor’s defensive power.
We also hear about the “Joint Operation with Squad 7” mission that is included as a bonus in the Japanese Collector’s Edition. Claude and his soldiers visit Gallia by order of the plenipotentiary ambassador Jean Townshend. As a result, they will fight side-by-side with the first game’s heroes, Squad 7. We’ll meet Wekin Gunther, Alicia Melchiott, Isara Gunther, Bigitte “Rosie” Stark, and Largo Potter. the Edelweiss tank will also appear.
You can check out the screenshots below. If you want to see more about the game, you can check out the first trailer, some recent screenshots, more artwork and info, and the first screenshots. If you’re eager to see the first gameplay, it will be livestreamed on December 27th.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 will launch both in North America and Europe for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in 2018. In Japan, it will launch for PS4 on March 21st, 2018 and for Nintendo Switch later in the summer.
