Valkyria Chronicles III

Plot

The game is set during the Second Europan War. Gallian Army Squad 422, known as the Nameless, is a penal unit of criminals, foreign deserters, and military offenders whose real names are erased and replaced by numbers. They are ordered to perform the most dangerous missions the Regular Army and Militia will not undertake, living by their motto Altaha Abilia (Always Ready).

The three main characters are No.7 Kurt Irving, an officer falsely accused of treason; No.1 Imca, a Darcsen heavy weapons specialist seeking revenge against a Valkyria; and No.13 Riela Marcellis, a jinxed young woman who is unknowingly a Valkyria. They fight against a mysterious Darcsen Imperial unit called Calamity Raven. Because the Nameless officially do not exist, Gallian Army command uses plausible deniability to send them on missions that would otherwise harm Gallia's reputation.

This causes distress among members, such as Gusurg, who defects to Calamity Raven. Meanwhile, elements within Gallian command move to eliminate the Nameless. Hounded by allies and enemies, and with a traitor among them, the 422nd struggles to survive while aiding the war effort, until their commanding officer Ramsey Crowe is escorted to Randgriz to present evidence exonerating them and expose the traitor general.

Development

After finishing Valkyria Chronicles II in early 2010, the team started conceptual work on the third game, moving into full development soon after. Takeshi Ozawa, who directed the second game, returned as director, and the project took about a year to complete. They decided to keep the game on the PlayStation Portable to polish the mechanics from the previous title, since they hadn't come up with a groundbreaking concept for a PlayStation 3 version. Because the PSP was very popular in Japan, the game was made specifically for that audience, which led to more fantastical characters than the original game.

The developers saw this as the series' first proper sequel, as the second game required a lot of trial and error due to the platform change, while the third let them build on what worked best. Media.Vision worked on development alongside Sega staff. Kazuki Yamanobe wrote the original scenario, and the script was handled by Hiroyuki Fujii, Koichi Majima, Kishiko Miyagi, Seiki Nagakawa, and Takayuki Shouji. The story was darker and more somber than the one in the previous game.

Reception

On its release day in Japan, Valkyria Chronicles III topped both platform-exclusive and multi-platform sales charts. By early February, it had sold 102,779 units, ranking second overall to The Last Story. By year's end, sales exceeded 152,500 units.

Famitsu praised the story and gameplay improvements. Game Watch Impress noted pacing issues and recycled elements but was positive about the story, characters, and gameplay despite difficulty spikes. 4Gamer.net's Naohiko Misuosame felt the game provided a profound sense of closure for the series, praising gameplay while noting limitations with special abilities. PlayStation Official Magazine - UK praised the story's blurring of Gallia's moral standing, art style, and gameplay tweaks, but criticized difficulty spikes.

PlayStation Lifestyle's Heath Hindman praised non-linear elements and improvements over Valkyria Chronicles II, along with the serious tone, but noted recycled elements, awkward cutscenes, pacing issues, and AI problems. IGN's Ryan Geddes was excited by the TGS demo, enjoying improved visuals over the second game. Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis was highly positive, citing the story as a return to form and the best gameplay in the series, but criticized length, repetition, and the lack of localization.

Did You Know?

• Two manga adaptations were produced, one illustrated by Naoyuki Fujisawa and one by Mizuki Tsuge, both published by Kadokawa Shoten in 2012.