This guest post is written by Andrew Nickerson.
The JRPG “Valkyria Chronicles” is truly a modern classic. Centered on an alternate version of WWII, it features incredible tactical squad/tank-based combat, heartwarming romance, and plentiful drama as players help the Principality of Gallia fight off the invading Eastern Europan Empire.
Yet, when I look at its plot, I can’t help but notice something: Both sides constantly made terrible decisions that caused needless damage. Furthermore, victory came down to who made fewer mistakes. Even then, it was close. To fully understand, let’s look at the story, what everyone did right/wrong, and their relevant consequences.
The second European War initially started between the Empire and the Atlantic Federation, all fueled by their mutual need for the element ragnite. On paper, the Empire held every edge: it had more troops, more armor, and battle-hardened leaders. However, that’s also where the Empire’s made its first mistake: their initial attacks easily forced back the Federation, making their leaders arrogantly assume all other foes would be just as flimsy.
Soon, the war reached Gallia, a small nation on the Federation’s northwestern fringe. They openly proclaimed their neutrality, then made their first mistake by assuming the Federation and Empire would honor such. Tragically, Gallia was filled with ragnite, which both the Federation and Empire coveted, the latter even more so due to their second mistake: by pushing forward too quickly, they’d outrun their supply lines.
Unfortunately, that was only the tip of the iceberg bearing down on Gallia, thanks to one Imperial commander, Prince Maximillian. Due to his lower birth, he’d never inherit the crown. Moreover, he wanted revenge against the internal factions who’d murdered his mother. Seeing Gallia as an easy throne and power base for his vengeance, he eagerly invaded, those easy prior victories all the proof he needed that this would be just as simple.
Instead, he made mistakes. A lot of them. After some good initial progress (including taking Gallia’s primary eastern fortress, Ghirlandaio), Maximillian split his army into Northern, Central, and Southern Fronts, each of which took a different route from there. By doing this, he lost momentum, gave the latter breathing room, and prevented his forces from mutually supporting each other. Soon, the Southern Front ran into a massive, forested area, slowing it to a crawl.
Meanwhile, the Northern Front shamefully mistreated Gallia’s citizens, particularly local Darcsen residents (long despised due to false historical records), who were forced into concentration camps to mine ragnite, thus encouraging resistance and stalling their movements too.
Third, Maximillian changed the Central Front’s focus from Gallia’s capital, Randgriz, to investigating ruins of the Valkyrur, a race of legendary super beings. Fourth, he started relying on terror weapons, like a massive tank and an armored train, to antagonize foes, wasting still more time and resources.
Finally, he “awakened” the latent Valkyrian powers of one of his generals, Selvaria, and elevated her to frontline champion status before pushing forward again, aiming for a new target: A giant Valkyrian lance hidden within Randgriz.
Enter the game’s protagonist: Welkin Gunther. After taking command of Gallia’s Militia Squad 7, this goodhearted, nature-loving, unconventional fighter, his troops, and love interest Alicia (backed by his dad’s legendary tank, Edelweiss) launched a string of brilliant countermoves. First, they retook a bridge leading to Randgriz, halting the Central Front, then eliminated the Southern Front’s supply depot, forcing them back.
They then shifted north, where they exposed the Darcsen camps, freed most of the prisoners, and retook the mines, crippling the Imperial fuel supply; a follow-up attack on the coast ruined their remaining supply cache, forcing the Northern Front back too. As for the terror weapons, all were quickly destroyed/disabled, leaving Maximillian’s forces dangerously exposed, so the Central Front accordingly withdrew.
Sadly, this is where Gallia’s leaders started making mistakes of their own. Its young ruler, Princess Cordelia, was kind but meek, allowing her power mad regent, Prime Minister Von Borg, to constantly overrule her… Starting with ignoring Gallia’s neutrality proclamation so he could forge an independent alliance with the Federation; he then let the latter kidnap Cordelia to enable his own ascension. Thankfully, Squad 7 saved her, which turned the public against the Federation — so Von Borg sold out to the Empire instead.
Worse, Gallia’s Regular army commander, General Von Damon, was a hopelessly inept glory hound who, emboldened by Squad 7’s success, nearly lost everything by launching a frontal assault on the Empire’s consolidated forces. Despite being heavily outnumbered, facing deep defenses (including Selvaria), and incurring heavy losses, he refused to change tactics, causing still more needless bloodshed.
That’s where the situation took a crueler turn: Welkin’s friend, Faldio, discovered Alicia had Valkyrian blood. Thinking she was the only way to save Gallia, he shot her, “awakening” her power and enabling her to crush Selvaria; while this did end that battle, Faldio was charged with treason and lost Welkin’s friendship. Worse, it further emboldened General Von Damon, so he launched a daring attack on Ghirlandio, spearheaded by Militia, whom he planned to sacrifice so he and his regular troops could have the glory.
Ironically, it was his last mistake: the defeated Selvaria (newly deemed useless for losing) self-destructed, destroying him and all remaining regular Gallian forces, thus leaving almost nothing to stop Maximillian’s advance on Randgriz in his last superweapon—a giant tank. However, Alicia, mistakenly convinced destruction was her only destiny, wanted to use her self-destruct power to kill Maximillian; thankfully, Welkin’s love confession saved her, as well as rallied the remaining Militia.
Sadly, they couldn’t stop Maximillian from reaching Randgriz where a slew of new mistakes occurred. First, Maximillian wanted Cordelia as his bride due to her rumored Valkyrian blood, only to have her drop a huge bomb: she was actually Darcsen, descended from a clan that submitted to the Valkyrur to stop a war between their peoples.
Secondly, when Squad 7 approached Randgriz, the last Imperial commander, General Jaeger, tried to stop him, driven by his belief that Imperial might was the only way to save his homeland; however, Welkin’s goodness made him realize he’d been wrong, so he deserted, leaving Maximillian defenseless. Third, Von Borg hoped to rule Gallia in the latter’s name, but Maximillian knew better and executed him instead. Finally, after locating/loading the giant lance onto his tank, Maximillian gained great power, yet lost his mobility, allowing Squad 7 to easily approach/disable the vehicle.
Infuriated, the narcissistic prince made his last two mistakes. First, he tried to personally crush Squad 7 via an artificial Valkyrian system, only to fail miserably. Second, he tried to activate an artificial Valkyrian self-destruct, only to be stopped by Faldio’s escaping and knocking out his generators. At that point, Faldio ended the war by grabbing Maximillian and pulling him into the hold, killing them both as atonement for hurting Welkin and Alicia.
As we can see, this conflict was pure hell, with numerous errors committed by both sides. However, good triumphed, evil lost, and there was a happy ending, an eloquent conclusion to an exceptional tale.
Image Credit: “Valkyria Chronicles”
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