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Some of you might have noticed the buttons on the side for awhile now, Sega is again running a campagin for one of their games Senjou no Valkyria (I want those signed prizes!). Thanks to Senjou no Valkyria (I refuse to call it by the English name), my Playstation 3 had got dusted off for reasons other than playing Blu-ray disks.

A brief background on the game - Senjou no Valkyria is a strategy game developed by Sega. The game quickly caught the attention of the gaming world due to its unique graphic style and Sega themselves drummed up this point - that despite being fully rendered in 3D polygons, it has a hand-drawn, water-coloured like quality which the industry had never seen before. Coupled with the fact that the game was handled by the team that brought us the infamous Sakura Taisen series, this game seems to have the ingredients to be a winner. So the big question is - did it manage to deliver on the premise and live up to the expectations?

Set in a fictional alternate 1930s Europe where war broke out between the Atlantic Federation and the East European Imperial Alliance, the game focuses on a small independent country named Gallia confronted with invasion by the East European Imperial Alliance for Gallia’s rich deposit of a mineral called Ragnite - which is your typical miracle energy source in works of fiction. The hero of the story is Welkin Gunther, a 22-year old university biology student aiming to become a teacher that just happened to be caught in the heat when his hometown was invaded and he ended up enlisting in the militia in order to bring his hometown back to peace. It’s your overused cliché heroic war story setting, but just like the Sakura Taisen series, where the story lacks originality it more than makes up for the deficit in its near flawless presentation.

Hero and heroine - Welkin and Alicia

The story is unfolded in a retrospective story book fashion - the narration told the player straight up that this is a chronology of the miraculous triumph of Gallia over the evil invaders and how the militia fought a brave war over a 7 month period, so immediately they subtly conditions you to the right mindset - to expect a straight forward good triumph over evil storyline. The main characters are easy to like - Welkin is a bright young man with a love for nature and peace, Alicia Melchiott - the heroine who is strong, caring, capable and responsible, Largo Potter - your typical big guy with a big heart, Brigotte “Rosie” Stark - flamboyant with both her looks and personality, and Isara Guther - Welkin’s adopted sister who’s a gentle and intelligent engineer. All these presented in the unique graphic style and you can’t help but be immediately sucked into the illustrated children book like atmosphere. The story of Senjou no Valkyria is totally linear and there is no renai element to it - unlike the Sakura Taisen series, and nothing in the story is ground breaking and is quite predictable - but again, because of the way they presented the overall package, you can just let go of your inner cynical side for a bit and let yourself be immersed in the simple story.

It really does look like this.

On the gameplay side, the semi-realtime battle engine lends itself to some pretty in-depth strategic, though in times frustrating, battles. Borrowing heavily from Sakura Taisen 3’s ARMS gridless, action point-based system, Welkin has at his disposal a small platoon of infantry of 5 different functions - fast moving and far reaching scouts, assault troops carrying machine gun, bazooka wielding anti-tank troops, fix-it-all engineers, and long range snipers - and finally a tank for good measure. You have a limited amount of “command points” which you spend 1 point at a time to move a unit, or 2 points to move the tank, and each unit has its own “action points” which determines how far you can move. For each time you move a unit you can also select to perform a particular action once - to attack, heal, or do nothing. Each troop, individually chosen by the player, has their own buddies and potentials which affects their effectiveness. Buddies means that some troops performs better when placed in close proximity of other characters he/she likes, and potentials are special status modifiers which triggers randomly or under special conditions. Some are your standard attack up/defence up, while others are more specific such as “lone wolf” (gets status boost when working alone), “panic” (opposite of lone wolf), and some are comical/bizarre like status boost when surrounded by the opposite sex, or even the same sex for that matter. After each successful battle you earn a certain amount of money and experience depending on how well you did, which is rated by a rank between S to D. The experience points are then spent on levelling up your troops while the money is used to upgrade your weapons and tank. There are also extra goodies in the form of side episodes to unlock outside of the 18 main chapters etc but I won’t go into the details. When you beat the game you can also use the cleared save data to restart the game from the beginning where you inherit all your troops level and weapon research to encourage the player to play a second run, and since you won’t be able to unlock everything the first time round it’s worth playing again. The map designs are fairly challenging in that it will punish you for mistakes and that you are likely going to be replaying some stages a few times before you can pass it, but it’s also not impossibly hard such that it disheartens you to the point of throwing the controller on the ground and stop playing the game. If you’re on the second run with all the upgraded weapons and high level troops at your command then you can try to better your score or try different tactics - and what’s good is that the game is actually fun enough that you are quite likely to play it through a second run.

The battle screen

Now how would this game impression be complete (and worthy of being mentioned on this blog) without a mentioning of the cast? Sega knows full well the attraction of having famous seiyuu in their games, and for this game the main draw comes in the form of Inoue Marina playing the heroine Alicia. The character of Alicia can be said to be going against some of the common traits designed to induce the moe feeling of which a lot of us had became used to in the recent anime/manga/game entertainment world - as she doesn’t have any sort of personality short-comings or quirks, she’s not clumsy, airheaded, dreamy, short-tempered, preachy, tsundere (despite having twintails and Sega claiming her to be on several occasions), bad at cooking etc. Alicia just has her feet firmly planted on the ground and does the right things at the right time. In some ways you could even say that she’s boring, but being normal in an entertainment world currently so full of abnormalities can just be the right quality to make her stand out, which is probably why Alicia is so easily likeable since she won’t be hitting on any sensitive nerves. By this Inoue Marina, probably thanks to her own level-headed personality (despite her trying so hard to not be), is a perfect fit for the character of Alicia. From displaying Alicia’s gentler feminie but not overtly girly side when away from the battlefield, to portraying a capable and responsible soldier looking to protect her homeland, all delivered in just the right normal voice pitch without any sort of peculiarity.

There are other big names in the game such as Kuwashima Houko playing as the quiet Isara, Toyoguchi Megumi as Rosie, and even Noto Mamiko as Princess Cordelia of Gallia. But arguably the other big attraction - or LULZ factor, depending on your view point which I’ll get to now - comes in the form of Fukuyama Jun playing as Maximilian, the prince of the East European Imperial Alliance who leads the invasion. Maximilian is reminisce of Lelouch in so many ways that you can’t help but think that the people at Sega had probably watched a little too much Code Geass in their spare time and hired Fukuyama Jun just to satisfy their inner otaku. Even us here at seiyuu3 can’t help but dish out a few “Yes! Your Highness!” whenever Maximilian issues a command in the cut scenes.

In conclusion, Senjou no Valkyria is a highly polished game that you can spend many fun hours on. Highly recommended.

Omake: The TGS event on nico nico douga.

Announced at the Tokyo Game Show in 2006, Bandai Namco’s next generation RPG offering, Trusty Bell ～ショパンの夢～ was a tantalising prospect. Even more enticing was finding out that Hirano Aya had been cast as the female lead character, Polka. But that was then and this is now. Fast forward 9 months, Trusty Bell is out and we, here at seiyuu3, have seen and heard more than enough of Hirano Aya.

There are some roles that Hirano Aya is very suited to. Haruhi springs instantly to mind. However there are roles that she clearly cannot do right now. And Polka is one of those.

Polka is of the tragic archetype. Struggling to be accepted, “make herself useful” as she puts it and most heart-wrenchingly, she’s dying from an incurable disease.  You want to feel for her and empathise knowing her situation. But early on in the game Aya’s characterisation, which is to say her “default voice”, starts to become at odds with Polka’s character. Now all those people who love her breathy, throaty, Hirano Aya specific noises will adore this game because that is exactly what Polka sounds like for the entire game. But that’s issue here. We’ve all heard it before. It doesn’t always suit the role she’s given. And after all, we want to hear acting. The hallmark of great voice acting is only realising who played that role when reading the credits at the end. And I’m afraid Aya just isn’t there yet.

This is not to say Aya won’t ever get there. In the earlier parts of Trusty Bell there are glimpses, moments where she hits the mark and shows potential. However, disappointingly, those were few and far between. And so her performance ends up serving as much more of a distraction from the game experience and takes away from an otherwise solid cast.

I wouldn’t say this is entirely her fault. Bear in mind the recording for Trusty Bell was probably done more than 6 months ago and possibly in amongst her many other roles she was cast in. After witnessing most of those over the last few months, I can say this: Aya is getting the variety of roles she needs to develop her acting, but I believe she’s just doing too many at the same time. She simply can’t give enough time developing her voice for a particular role before she’s whisked away to another studio and yet another character. Her schedule is insane. And her hospitalisation earlier this year can probably be largely attributed to that. I blame Kadokawa and Lantis.

She needs a break. I need a break. Some recent moves by Lantis may suggest that they actually realise this and we might all get some much deserved relief. And this will be good because despite the fact that Aya really grates right now, I do want to see her develop her acting and amaze me again. Time will tell.

As for Trusty Bell the game, it has it’s own problems.

Above all else, the music is excellent and the art and character designs are simply beautiful. Other highlights include appearances from Kuwashima Houko and Orikasa Fumiko in the form of Voila and Serenade. Their character designs quickly becoming my favourites.

Beyond that it’s hard to stay positive about this game. The biggest mistake you can make about Trusty Bell is expecting too much. A lot of people rail against this Tri-Crescendo game for being too short and too easy. They do have valid points but I firmly believe that NBGI are targeting a much younger audience than your seasoned RPG gamer. This is reinforced by the ending cutscenes where there is an obvious “message” and “moral to the story”. In that light, the execution makes a lot more sense. The battle system is action based and simple. The world is small and practically guides you where you need to go next. You can pick and choose your encounters and the best equipment is usually given to you. It’s child’s play.

All in all, it’s still an entertaining way to kill 30 odd hours but the story may leave you wanting for substance. The hardcores should definitely look elsewhere.

Sega’s latest addition to the “Shining” series - Shining Wind - just went on sale on Thursday last week. Some of you probably also know that there is currently an anime in the spring season line up called Shining Tears X Wind, the names are no coincidence as the two titles are in fact closely related. While the anime tells the story from the point of view of the hot-blooded Souma (Hoshi Souichiro), the game tells the story from the slightly more timid Kiriya (Ishida Akira). Although some minor execution of the story from the different perspectives do not entirely agree in continuity, the two do seem to be designed from the ground up to compliment each other in painting the entire scope of the plot. While these types of simultaneous cross-media promotion had always happened in the forms of anime/manga/drama CD, a cross promotion between anime and game is an interesting evolution to this formula as no doubt they have realised that there is major cross-over between the two demographic of anime watchers and gamers. It’s a hook that worked on us at seiyuu3, as we have found ourselves putting the mediocre anime back on our watch list, and finding the experience much more enjoyable then when the two works were taken separately.

For the gameplay, the real time action-based battle system of the game is fairly straight forward and is easy enough to not punish the casual players, which is a logical move as the point of the game is really about moving the plot forward rather than dwelling in the RPG battle mechanics. There is a visual novel like element which let the player engage in unlocking mini story-arcs of the characters in the team in order to level up the character’s “Soul Blade”, which are said to be a materialisation of the owner’s emotions. The mini-arcs are not even limited to females, so some fangirls who are into pairings will no doubt get a kick out of it as well (though I’m bothered by the beastialities). It’s not an entirely new concept game design wise mixing strategy with adventure, personally I find it like they took some Langrisser and tone down the battle system and topped it off with a little Sakura Taisen. The result is a game that’s neither hardcore battle nor hardcore adventure.

Of course, this franchise first came on the seiyuu3 radar in no small part due to the extravagant seiyuu cast. Practically all of our top favourite names are here – Mizuki Nana, Horie Yui, Kawasumi Ayako, Kuwashima Houko, etc., the list goes on and on. The opening theme song Heart-shaped Chant by Nana-chan (available on the Secret Ambition single), a great song as it is, had now found a permanent spot on the daily playlist. It had also became a ritual to sit through the opening animation whenever the game is fired up for play.

For those wondering about the banner art, it’s a campaign run by Sega which gives sites hosting the banner art a chance to win some seiyuu goodies. Yes, we want those, badly. ;)

Kuwashima Houko （桑島法子） will be voicing one of the lead roles in the japanese dub of a korean drama. The japanese title is 「ごめん、愛している」 (Sorry, I love you).

Houko will be voicing Im Su-jeong’s character, Song Eun-chae. The cast list is here. It will be broadcast later this year on TV Tokyo.

I’m actually interested to see how she would do in this role. Houko has shown great versatility in her acting before and that might be enough motivation to sit through a couple of episodes.