Valkyria Chronicles is a video game made by Sega for the Playstation 3 and released in 2008.The story is set in an alternate 1935 Europa, where two large blocs, the Atlantic Federation and the East Europan Imperial Alliance, are at war over control of the continent of Europa in what is called the Second Great War.Caught in the middle of the warring alliances is the Principality of Gallia, a small neutral nation famed for its rich Ragnite mines. Gallia is also known for its policy of Universal Conscription: in lieu of a standing army, every citizen is required to undergo basic military training with the provision that they can be drafted into the army at any time to defend Gallia against an external threat.When the Imperial Alliance launches a surprise attack against Gallia, the policy of Universal Conscription is activated and every able-bodied man and woman is drafted into military service. Three of these new recruits are Welkin Gunther, an animal sociologist and son of a famous general; Isara Gunther, his Darcsen foster sister; and Alicia Melchiott, a young girl who dreams of becoming a baker.Along with a wide and eclectic cast of other civilians, they are organised into Militia Squad 7 and put on the front lines to defend their home against the Imperial offensive. Together they must face not only the advance of the Imperial army- including the dreaded "War Witch" known as Selvaria Bles- but their own internal disputes as those in the Gallian military seek to manipulate or use Squad 7 for their own ends.Like many JRPGs, Valkyria Chronicles is very story heavy and contains many themes. The most evident are the tragedies of war, racism (of the hair color variety), fighting to defend one's homeland, friendship, family bonds, and love. Every character you can control (and a good deal of NPCs, too) has their own personal biography, special traits, likes and dislikes, and personality quirks, making it feel like you are actually controlling real people in an actual war. However, unlike many JRPGs, Valkyria Chronicles chooses to avoid a high fantasy setting and instead opts for a very World War II themed world with light fantasy elements.Gameplay-wise, Valkyria Chronicles is unique, as it is a mix of turn based strategy, Real Time Strategy, Eastern RPG, and Third Person Shooter. During battle, players use a pool of Command Points to directly take control of individual units so they can move and attack. While the player is controlling a unit, other units not being directly controlled will automatically fire on them if they pass through their line of sight, making cover and strategy in approaching your target much more important. All characters the player controls are separated into five classes: Scouts, Shocktroopers, Lancers, Engineers, and Snipers each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In between battles, players can use experience and money earned from battles to level up specific classes and purchase new weapons and upgrades for their troops. There are also tanks, which do not level up but can be upgraded.Valkyria Chronicles has received generally positive reviews from critics. The main selling points are its beautiful graphic design, engaging story, and unique gameplay based on a unique blend of elements from various video game genres.In addition to the game, there is also an anime adaptation produced by A 1 Pictures, simply called Valkyria Chronicles which first aired on April 4, 2009. There are also two concurrent manga series in print as well. Extra downloadable content was released in Japan after release, and is now available for download in North America as well and Europe. Available are a mission where you play as Edy, 4 missions playing as Selvaria & controlling Imperial forces, an extra hard skirmish setting and "Challenge of the Edy Detachment", a set of seven skirmishes tailored to the various classes, as well as the tank unit and a final, specially-designed skirmish bringing them all together.There is a sequel for the PSP, called Valkyria Chronicles 2: Gallia Military Academy. It is set two years after the first game and involves civil turmoil as students are drafted in to fight the threats within the country.A third game, Valkyria Chronicles III: Unrecorded Chronicles, has been released in Japan. It is a Gaiden Game on the PSP, taking place at the same time as the first game. This game has also gotten a anime adaptation.A web-based online card game, Valkyria Chronicles D*
The 'D' stands for "DUEL"
went live at 19 July 2012.This series is not to be confused with Valkyrie Profile.
Action Girl: Pretty much every girl in the game. Alicia, Marina, Rosie, Edy, Lynn, Jane, Catherine, Freesia, Rosina, Wendy, Audrey, and Aika, however, are particular standouts. Susie, however, is the only real exception to this trope. Poor little thing, she should be one of these, but thanks to her super pacifistic nature and "Humanitarian" potential...
AKA47: The Ruhm, a high-powered Imperial machine gun, is basically the real-life MG-34 used by Germany chambered for 7.62mm instead of 7.92mm. The Gallian basic infantry rifle, indicated by the game's encyclopedia, is based on the G43. The Edelweiss is based on the Panzerkampfwagen E-50 series prototype with specs copied almost word by word. In fact, most weapons sport by the Gallian forces match WWII German weapon caliber sizes & specifications.
Alas, Poor Villain: Selvaria definitely. The writers probably intended for Maximilian to fall under this trope, but at that point, it's hard to feel sorry for him.
The DLC focusing on Selvaria only makes this worse, as she is depicted as a caring commander who leads from the front and treats the men serving under her as human beings. She even goes so far as to allow her engineer, Johann, to rest in her cot after he collapses after the first battle of her DLC — though she does freak out for a moment and slap him when he points out that her breasts are pressing against his arm.
Anti Armor: Lancers are soldiers carrying rocket launchers, which are so heavy that slows them, making them unpractical against other soldiers. However, they're the most useful units against tanks and other armored enemies.
Anyone Can Die: Downed units can die permanently if they aren't rescued in time, or if an enemy reaches them before one of your able units can. In the case of the storyline, Isara's comes out of the blue.
Applied Phlebotinum: Ragnite is a multi-purpose mineral, useful for making fuel, weapons, and even medicine; arguably a case of Truth in Television, as oil can be used for all these purposes.
Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Typically, you can only take about nine or ten members of your twenty-member squad into combat. Some missions, depending on circumstance, cut it down to even fewer. On top of this, while you can choose to leave out any of the main characters except for Welkin, you are punished for not deploying them by getting one less command point for each character. So in reality, unless you want the handicap, you've already got four slots filled.
Arc Number: The number seven seem to play a role in this universe, Squad 7, Class G (seventh letter of the alphabet), Number 7 is the main character of the third game, etc.
The Gallian generals, and especially Prime Minister Borg. Princess Cordelia is the only exception.
The Imperial High Command (particularly Maximillian) often do this as well.
Armor Is Useless: In an early cutscene an imperial is shot by an ordinary rifle straight through his armor.
Averted in gameplay, the more armored the class the more hits they can take. Tanks cannot be damaged by conventional guns unless hit in the heat sink. Selvaria makes do through sheer Valkyria touphness. Isara was likely shot for being the only person without protection.
Artificial Stupidity: The computer will often waste turns moving units back and forth, send wave after wave of their own infantry to certain death by interception fire, will almost always fail to make proper use of cover, and is completely unable to coordinate its units in a meaningful way. Much of the game's actual difficulty comes from having to face far larger numbers of units occasionally supplemented by powerful elite units and obstacles like fortified bunkers or mortar fire. And the fact that they can make shots from halfway across the map.
Tanks have a radiator exposed on their backs that, if hit with an armor-piercing round, will blow them up in one shot. At higher levels, a burst of fire from a shocktroopr into the radiator will do it. At very high levels, a scout, engineer, or sniper can blow up the radiator with a single burst as well.
Squad 7 also uses the hole caused by Alicia's Valkyria lance to successfully attack and disable the Marmota.
The Atoner: Faldio, even so far as to kill himself together with Maximilian out of guilt.
Alicia seems to be a subversion though. She's only second-in-command in Squad 7 and she still owned Selvaria effortlessly. Although, to be fair, she's a Valkyria.
Definitely applies to the leaders of the Imperial invasion; defeating each one is among the hardest tasks in the game. Selvaria, even when she isn't a Valkyria, has a Big Friggin' Machine Gun with huge range; Jaeger has an incredibly powerful tank with a sheet of armor that needs to be blown off before you can even Attack Its Weak Point; defeating Maximilian's Batomys is ridiculously long and involved, and Maximilian himself goes One-Winged Angel and absorbs all the powers of the Valkyria and then some.
Awesome, but Impractical: Compared to the World War II style tanks of the period, the Edelweiss has the appearance and capabilities of a modern battle tank. However, its construction and engineering is incredibly complicated and there is currently no way to mass produce it. Background material, however, makes clear that as it was initially built, the Edelweiss was, in fact, practical for mass production—-it simply did not jibe with the overall strategic thrust of Gallian defense spending. By the time the player gets ahold of it, though, Isara's modified it enough that it's rather improbable that they manage to keep it repaired between battles. By game's end, it's a damnable mystery how the thing can move under its own weight.
Extra ammunition magazines for tanks may seem like a good idea at first, but become considerably less desirable later on, when mortar shells don't always pull off one hit kills on enemies and are more useful for dislodging them from cover. Radiator plates aren't that useful either, since they only really affect how much damage you can take from gunfire to your radiator, and any regular tank shell or lance rocket is capable of blowing you up in one hit.
Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Karl and Lynn. So much that their (in-game) death quotes are entirely of one of them calling out to another...in a really sad way. Welkin and Alicia get several of these moments as well, especially in side chapters.
Selvaria, yes. When you first encounter her on the battlefield, she's powerful enough to own EVERY unit singlehandedly except the Edelweiss, and fast enough to deflect a tank shell with her weapon. That goes double for the time you meet her again, where she shows that she can now destroy TANKS as well. Good thing you didn't have to fight her then.
And an even bigger one (YES, there IS one) would be Alicia, on the stage following Selvaria's second appearance on the battlefield. Just after Selvaria exhibited her powers in the last stage that she can decimate practically ANYTHING, Alicia (just having awakened her latent powers) walked out into the battlefield (staggering) with her own Valkyrian spear and shield intact. She then proceeded to: dodge Selvaria's attacks effortlessly without taking a scratch; deflect her in a weapon deadlock; evade an energy attack from her; AND disarm her in ONE SINGLE THRUST; all the while acting subconsciously (meaning she's neither conscious NOR even know what she's doing). It would be worth mentioning that most of the enemy forces in that stage was taken out (in-battle) by Alicia as well, in the same tranced, awakened state. Well, the early half, at least. Although, in that battle, she's temporarily an NPC who'll attack anyone in range, friend or foe, except the Edelweiss. So long as it doesn't block her attacks...
In fact, it's probably easier just to say that Squad 7 is an entire regiment of badasses. Invading Gallia was a mistake. Heck, even Isara has her moments!
Badass Army: Squad 7 may be a bunch of misfits from all walks of life, but put them in the battlefield and wait a few hours...
Badass Grandpa: Coby, the oldest soldier in the squad at 65.
Bash Brothers: Incorporated into the combat system. If squadmates are near your selected character when you attack, they add supporting fire too, and some of the potentials give bonuses depending on the type of person the selected character is around. Furthermore your troops also have favourites which they prefer to have around them - though some of them also have potentials that specify people they hate.
The Gallian officers have some pretty classy dress uniforms to wear with whatever medals they've earned. General Damon wears his all the time, which probably serves to highlight his vanity and military incompetence. Welkin can also earn medals and weapons from the royal armoury as rewards for in-game accomplishments.
On the Imperial side of things, most Imperial generals and officers are soberly dressed in a dark gray uniform, with some gold trimmings. The exception is Maximilian, who pretty much holds the title for having the most bling of all.
Blond Guys Are Evil: Maximilian encore! Also Gregor, though he usually wears a hat.
Boom, Headshot: The preferred way of dealing with most enemy troops.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Edy does this in the add-on if you get a D on the mission, calling the player "sloth fingers". Homer, next to her, wonders who she is talking to. The nature of this mission makes it very hard to do this badly without getting a gameover, making this something of an Easter Egg.
Breast Plate: Literal ones. Some of the troopers have them, and they cover exactly what they say they do on both men and women.
Granted while everyone is still in shock at the explosion, news comes of a giant tank making a beeline to the capital. One of the main themes is unity, no one is better than any other, and that fighting as one is the key to victory. Completely disregarding that the most efficient ways to win involve heavily investing in Alicia to do a Dungeon Bypass or get the Eidelweiss into position, or that Alicia's Valkyria powers saved Gallia at least twice when everyone else was at a complete loss.
Silly Faldio, power isn't what wins wars! It's teamwork! But it helps if your enemy's strongest soldier conveniently turns traitor just enough to spare the only unit in your entire army that has a snowball's chance in Hell of succeeding, and takes herself out.
The story goes to great lengths to show that racism is bad, but then it characterizes the Valkyrur as bloodthirsty, scheming monsters who are responsible for everything people blame on the Darcsen, and Alicia abandons her powers due to Internalized Categorism. So racism is okay, as long as you hate the right race.
Valkyria powers are bad because they're a rough parallel to weapons of mass destruction; Welkin makes an impassioned speech about teamwork and how Squad 7 doesn't need to rely on them! ... Except they do. Twice. Once when Alicia coldcocks Selvaria in a one-on-one fight, and again when she blows off the Marmotah's armor plating.
The Captain: Captain Eleanor Varrot, obviously. Although of lower rank, it also applies to Welkin; he's the one in charge of Squad 7, and although he's easygoing and amicable, do NOT question his orders. He's in charge for a reason.
Chekhov's Gun: Isara, Leon, and Kreis' flying machine.
Child Soldiers: Due to Gallia's policy of universal conscription, military training is a part of general education and citizens as young as fifteen may be conscripted. Then there's twelve-year-old Aisha Neumann, a Shocktrooper in your Squad, who apparently begged to serve and had it granted if her bio in the game is to be believed.
Marina, not the only sniper, but by far the best because of her potential "Ultimate Accuracy" which is always activated. Ultimately subverted if you purchase the add-on content: her potentials imply she is a sociopath, but the Edy's Brigade reveals that she has a soft side. Apparently she just doesn't like being around other people.
Cezary plays this trope a little straighter, though in his case it's less cold sniper and more selfish asshole sniper.
Color-Coded Armies: The good guys are blue, the bad guys are dark gray and red, especially the officers.
Enemy tanks, in particular, appear to have freakishly good accuracy and can make pinpoint shots with their shells from halfway across the map. Good luck making equally-impressive shots without Save Scumming.
Enemy Aces are also incredibly annoying in their ability to dodge long-range sniper shots - from behind - as well as point-blank barrages.
There's also the Lancers. If your tank's radiator is visible at all, it's likely to take a shot. It doesn't matter if they can only see 1 cm of it, and they're firing from the other end of the map; they will hit that radiator. This is especially painful because losing your tank means game over.
Cooldown Hug: Preceded by a speech and followed by a kiss. Welkin to Alicia when she decided she'll go kamikaze on the Big Bad's land battleship.
Crippling Overspecialization: Every class is restricted to certain types of weapons. This means that Lancers can't carry a carbine as a back-up weapon for dealing with infantry. Later on, Lancers can have the option of taking mortar lances that are more effective against infantry, with the obvious tradeoff in mortars being less effective against tanks.
More to the point, Lancers and Snipers don't carry any weapon besides AT Lances and Sniper Rifles respectively — not even a handgun. This means that during the enemy's turn, they don't lay down interception fire or return fire when shot at.
Critical Hit Class: The Sniper class can only shoot once per turn, but has very high accuracy and range, making them ideal for headshots.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Squad 7 pretty much does this every level, especially once you learn to correctly utilize each class and their strengths/weaknesses.
Selvaria does this on almost every map she shows up on.
Alicia delivers one to Selvaria later on as well, while in a half-weakened state no less.
A Day in the Limelight: In one of the downloadable content packs, Edy gets a mission that is entirely focused on her. Also included are a slew of secondary characters you may or may not have used in the main game.
A Death in the Limelight: Isara certainly gets a lot of focus in Chapter 11, just before her death.
David Versus Goliath: More like David versus two Goliaths, if you count the Atlantic Federation.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Squad 7's defeat of Maximilian. He had equipment that mimicked the powers of the Valkyria and unlike the fight with Selvaria, Squad 7 decided not to rely on Alicia's Valkyria powers.
Didn't See That Coming : Maximilian's plan to hold Europa hostage with the power of the Valkyrian bloodline was kind of derailed by the minor detail of Cordelia and her ancestors actually being Darcsen. He rolls with the punches, though.
Downloadable Content: The Edy Brigade mission, Behind Her Blue Flame (a pair of missions featuring Selvaria), and the Edy Brigade challenges, which are missions tailored to a specific job class.
The Dragon: Selvaria. Or Jaeger, gameplay-wise, since he's the last of the Drei Stern you face in a real showdown.
The drill sergeant NPC's existence hinges on his ability to insult you as you level up your troops. He's the epitome of the trope, really.
Drill Sergeant: Good job maggots! You're one step closer to being human!
Jane also becomes a drill instructor at the end of the game, and is even stricter than the NPC one.
Dubtitle: While hardly unusual for a game with a bilingual soundtrack, the English script used for the subtitles only matches the English dub. While it hardly alters the game's plot in any way and the English script and dub is faithful to the plot and the characters, it can create a strange dissonance with the Japanese track on. Most notable is a moment in which Welkin simply says "Faldio", and the script reads "I don't know what to tell you, Faldio."
While it is true that the overall plot is, on face value, faithful, the differences in the minor details can lead to a very different impression from the characters, which may or may not change the resulting flavour of the ending. The best example would be Faldio in the fully unlocked (New Game Plus) scene "Awakening"; in the Japanese audio, he comes off as far more sinister, and his words are a few notches more brutal than what the subtitles actually say.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite beating back the Imperials pretty much by themselves, Squad 7 is constantly given the insanely dangerous missions while the main army gets the fairly easy jobs. If not for the actual callousness of the high command, this would actually make sense because Squad 7 is by far the most capable formation in the Gallian military, and with their proven track of astounding successes, it would only make sense to give them the more difficult jobs. This is Lampshaded in the briefing for the assault on Ghirlandio.
Dungeon Bypass: The best (sometimes only) way to get A ranks on missions. Easy to do in New Game Plus when your units are way overpowered.
As the game progresses, you'll eventually start facing tougher enemies, who aptly have the title "Elite". By reaching a certain level, your own soldiers can also attain this status, which confers new potentials and subweapons for particular classes.
Also in the spirit of the trope are black-armored Imperial units, who are stronger than ordinary soldiers, and aces, who have preternaturally good accuracy and dodging skills. An ace will frequently duck bullets from a sniper stationed half a mile away, before the rifle actually goes off.
The Engineer: Loads of them, but Isara, Leon and Kries are the most prominent, storywise. Leon fits the young engineer stereotype to a tee: enthusiastic, hot-blooded and with a little bit of an inventor stripe. Sometimes borders on Mad Scientist territory. In battle, engineers are essential for building and breaking fortifications, repairing tanks, disarming land mines and resupplying fellow soldiers.
Encyclopedia Exposita: For all the weapons, characters, major world events and landmarks.
Even Evil Has Standards: In one of the side chapters, an Imperial war criminal who is infamous for taking civilian hostages in battle is court-marshaled by his own superiors. Maximilian may be a bit of a royal bastard who treats even his most loyal subordinates as pawns, but even he expects his troops to stick to the rules of war.
Eyes Always Shut: Leon the Mechanic rarely, if ever, opens his eyes. Even when he's flying a plane!
Faceless Goons: Generally speaking, the Imperial Army. Played with a bit between mission 8 and 9, though, wherein Alicia and Welks comfort a dying Imperial grunt (removing his helmet in the process) and then have a civil chat with his commanding officer; more obviously played with in the Selvaria DLC.
Fan Disservice: The breastplates on the shocktroopers. Just... it's not strictly for women. Welkin's old-timey swimsuit can count as this, especially as out of place as it looks when the other women around him are wearing extremely modern and Fanservice friendly swimsuits.
Many of the girls of Squad 7. If they're not in pants, they wear skirts and REALLY HIGH knee socks. Rosie tops all the others by having a gap around her midriff (and having a much shorter skirt). The girls with skirts are prone to what looks like Panty Shots at first glance (although it's really Skirt OverShort Shorts) as the their evasive manoeuvre is to drop to the ground. Guess where the camera points. And then there's the Beach Episode. In particular, Alicia has a very revealing bikini.
Fantastic Racism: Darcsens, although they are a clear analogue for the Jews/Gypsies in World War II and their experiences; this is perhaps muddied by how the Darcsens◊ are visualized◊ in Anime/Manga style◊. Technically, they are human but what sets them apart is their dark blue hair.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The following could be said of the countries and peoples that appear in the game:
Gallia is loosely based on the nations geographically associated with Gaul (or Gallia in Latin) and more specifically the Rhineland, including a mix of Dutch, French, Belgian and German traits.
In his review of Valkyria Chronicles, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw referred to Gallia as: "a small, idyllic country that resembles a mashup of Holland, Belgium and Switzerland as depicted by Winnie the Pooh".
The Atlantic Federation is essentially akin to NATO and the Western Allies of the world wars.
The Imperials are a mishmash of Imperial Russia, Austria-Hungary, Imperial Germany, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany.
If Jaeger's any indication, his homeland within the Empire bears at least a passing semblance to Hungary.
The Darcsens, meanwhile, are basically European Jews with some cultural elements of the Gypsies.
The map is almost the real world map with the borders redrawn. If you look closely, Europa is still surrounded by the Norwegian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
A Father to His Men: Welkin sees himself this way, as does the commander of the Imperials he and Alicia meet in Chapter 8. Selvaria is also like this towards her subordinates.
Scouts go down easy. The trade-off is that their insane movement range makes them one of the most valuable units in the game, especially when going for A ranks.
Zaka's tank, the Shamrock. While not as tough as the Edelweiss, it has a higher movement range and can choose between three different primary weapons: the standard mortar/cannon, a gatling gun, or a flamethrower.
Framing Device: The game proceeds as if you're reading through the history book Irene Koller/Ms. Ellet wrote about the events of the war; cutscenes and battles are played by selecting them in the book's chapters and most of the game's extra content can be accessed through "tabs" to other sections.
Friendly Sniper: Catherine O'Hara, and the Bielert brothers (Oscar and Emile).
See "Cutscene Incompetence". Dang, that one was irritating.
A squad is awarded the Splintered Horn when one of their own falls in the line of duty. You don't get it automatically when Isara dies, though, since it happens in a cutscene rather than in gameplay.
You level up the classes level rather than the characters themselves. This results in seasoned vets and Child Soldiers being the same level.
Gender Is No Object: In Gallia at least, men and women alike seem to share the same rights and opportunities. In fact, no one seems to mind the idea of female soldiers.
General Ripper: And quite literal ones at that. One on each side.
Generation Xerox: Played with, everyone thinks Welkin is following in his father's footsteps while the only thing he wants is to become a teacher.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Certain characters, especially in the side chapters and DLC, start to go a little crazy before their Love Interest snaps them out of it.
Glass Cannon: Snipers; they can kill most opponents with one hit, at ranges far beyond what any other unit can manage, but they have very low health and ridiculously little movement range.
Good Flaws, Bad Flaws: The negative potentials some characters have basically come in two varieties: mild annoyances, and those that render the character near useless. In the former category, [Environment] Allergy and [Name] Hater will never hurt you so long as you stay away from that environment/character. Desert Allergy is particularly minor, as only two chapters and one optional skirmish in the entire game take place in desert terrain. (Granted, one of them is That One Level, but still...) On the opposite side of the scale, you have things like Herbert's 'Moody' (occasionally flat out refuses to follow orders), Hermes' 'Chronic Fatigue' (even just moving can incapacitate him, and he's a scout!), Cezary's 'Acrophobia' (a Sniper who's afraid of heights??) Susie's 'Humanitarian' completley ruin those characters' ability to do thir jobs properly, rendering them Tier Induced Scrappys. It even works in reverse: some 'good' potentials aren't all that great. (Sure 'Dud Mine' is good an all but couldn't you have just, you know, not stepped on the mine in the first place...)
Green Rocks: Ragnite. Used in anything humanly possible from first-aid kits to ammunition, including, but not limited to, street lamps and engine fuel. Apparently, the Valkyrian weapons are made of Ragnite as well.
Happily Married: Welkin and Alicia, in the end. Also Largo and Eleanor. Karl and Lynn, two of the otherwise faceless units, are lovers by the time the game has started and get married after the war ends.
Harder Than Hard: EX Hard Mode. As an example, the first mission pits a tiny squad smack-dab in the center of a huge Imperial ambush.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: None of Squad 7 wears a helmet. In fact, the armor they do wear is highly impractical in general. They have protection on their shoulders, hips, knees and (in the case of the shocktroopers) pectorals, but leave the rest of their center-mass, neck, head and groin protected only by cloth uniforms. This may be justified in the fact that they are a civilian militia, which is often undersupplied and considered cannon fodder by the military brass, rather than army regulars.
Heroic BSOD: Welkin, and all of Squad 7 really, experience this when Isara dies and when Alicia is shot.
Heroic Sacrifice: Averted when Alicia decided that she'll take down Maximilian's ship together with her, only to be stopped by Welkin. Then played completely straight by Faldio.
Hidden Depths: Turns out Nadine is quite the writer, Largo is highly knowledgeable about agriculture, Jann is good with kids, and Walter enjoys cooking and gardening.
The first tank you encounter is impossible to destroy with any gun, even in New Game Plus. Selvaria in all but her last battle is pretty much "run away and get the stage goal accomplished before she kills everyone."
You can, interestingly, defeat Jaeger's Tank when it first appears in the forest stage. Beating him sends all other enemies running with their tails between their legs, and Jaeger himself comments on your skill. Although curiously you get no experience credit for it.
Ill Boy: Oscar and his brother, Emile. Homer sort of qualifies with his frail body, but he seems to enjoy the suffering.
Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence: Not everywhere, but particularly bridge handrails. Kinda subverted: while Snipers can easily shoot over them, Lancers apparently can't (because they're literally waist-height; a sniper rifle is held to the shoulder, and snipers don't crouch in this game unless they're in grass — but lancers hold their lances near the hip.)
When you first meet Rosie, she's prejudiced against Darcsens, but doesn't have the "Darcsen Hater" potential, hinting that she'll get over her prejudice eventually. In fact, she later unlocks a potential that's virtually the exact opposite.
Internalized Categorism: Alicia's character arc, in a nutshell. Her thoughts on her Valkyria powers are only informed from the most extremely negative outside sources. She ''is'' the nail that sticks up.And in the end, she hammers herself back down to earth.
Interservice Rivalry: There is a lot of friction between the soldiers of the militia and the high echelon officers of the regular military.
General Damon, who views the militia as expendable canon fodder.
Cezary. Just... Cezary. At one point in the manga he is shown telling Oscar not to give the Darcsens fighting alongside them backup (thankfully Oscar refuse to obey him) and lets an Imperial Sniper take aim at Nadine without bothering to help, and she probably would've been shot if Marina hadn't killed the sniper before he had the chance. Cezary is considered such a Jerkass that he's often portrayed as a downright evil character, or even a traitor, in fanfictions.
Ironically, the only person that does like Cezary in the manga is not other than Nadine herself, who mistook Cezary as the one who saved her from the Imperial Sniper.
Theold, although he apparently gets better after the war, when he falls in love.
Jumped at the Call: When Isara dies, Kries instantly volunteers as the Edelweiss's pilot to honor her memory. He proves just as skilled and courageous as her, and Welkin is honored to have him in her place.
Karmic Death: Most of the morally corrupt characters on both sides suffer a well-deserved demise. When not literally it comes symbolically, through loss of status or motivation.
The Federation and Prime Minister Borg with their plan to kidnap the Princess.
In Selvaria's side chapter, Damon kicks the dog when he uses poisonous ragnite gas against the Imperials even though both sides are under a treaty that specifically forbids the use of such weapons. Not only that, but after he loses the battle, Damon covers for his failure by accusing the Imperials of illegally using chemical/biological weapons!
Your very first encounter with Imperial troops starts with them gunning down unarmed fleeing civilians.
Killed Off for Real: Isara. Also, if any of your soldiers are downed in combat and are not rescued before an enemy soldier touches them, you lose them permanently. Except for plot-critical characters who will "retreat" instead, despite the fact that they were unconscious seconds before and have an enemy standing over them.
The Kingdom: Gallia. Even though the country is actually a Principality and ruled by a Archduke/Archduchess, it fits the archetype to a tee.
Lady of War: Selvaria, obviously. Also, Captain Varrot is one to a lesser degree.
Land Mine Goes Click: Not a noise you want to hear - the only units that won't be immediately caught in a fiery explosion after that click are the engineers, the only ones capable of disarming them. Sustaining the trope, the mine never blows up until you step/roll off of it. If you end turn as soon as you hear the click, an engineer can still disarm the mine.
In Real Life, RPGs have little to no recoil. On the other hand, the degree of steadiness with which Shocktroopers can hold the Ruhm beggars belief.
The lances do not have a rear exhaust for the back blast, so recoil is expected.
Lighter and Softer: Despite the fact that Anyone Can Die and that virtually every horrible war-related trope comes into play, the whimsical art style and the numerous light-hearted moments manage to make this a lot less depressing than most war stories. Averted in the manga, which is brutal.
Little Hero, Big War: The Gallian conflict is a small part of the second Europan War; the Empire and the Federation are still at war with each other after Gallia drives out the fragment that invaded them, having convinced them that it's not worth it.
Love Martyr: Selvaria to Maximilian, although she has little, if any, interest about changing him.
Lower Deck Episode: The downloadable chapters featuring Selvaria are focused around Johann, an Imperial soldier who is saved from mook status by the fact that he is assigned to be Selvaria's personal aide. Selvaria's personality is expanded upon through Johann's experiences with her.
Luminescent Blush: Let's see here. Japanese RPG: check. Anime-style: double check. Romance plot: check, check, check. Nope. No reason not to see this trope in it.
The Medic: When one of your soldiers is down and another one manages to get to him on time, the cute little medic will pop up to get them back in shape!
The Men First: Welkin's first priority in every single mission, beyond its completion, is the safety of his soldiers.
Mighty Glacier: Lancers; they're great against tanks and can weather most incoming fire like it's nothing. Unfortunately they have trouble keeping up with everyone else.
Military Mashup Machine: The Marmota. Think "Battleship on wheels" or "insanely armed and armoured hovercraft".
Military Maverick: Welkin usually comes up with incredibly unorthodox strategies to win his battles. Varrot also embodies this trope to some extent.
Mook Maker: Enemy camps. In later stages, they'll spawn one unit per camp every turn, on average, if not always. Better be glad they can't spawn tanks...
Morality Pet: Oddly, Selvaria is this to Maximillian for much of the story. His respect and kindness toward her, and her devotion to him, are the primary signs that he's not all bad. Especially since it turns out her obsessive loyalty is for a really good reason: he saved her from an agonizing life as a scientific test subject. Near the end of the game, he decides that she needs to take the "I value you more than my life" thing more literally. This action doubles as his Moral Event Horizon.
More Dakka: Most Stormtrooper weapons. Selvaria's Ruhm in particular.
New Game Plus: You get a bonus character during New Game Plus, some cut scenes are extended, and you can also unlock some exposition only chapters that would have been totally Spoileriffic if seen on the first play through.
New Meat: Some of the characters' potentials exemplify traits of this.
No Name Given: The Medic, unless you know that she's a cameo character from one of the earlier games from the same developers. There are actually three medics who are all identical siblings. Their names are Fina, Hina, and Mina. More direct examples would be the Drill Instructor and the Aged Gentleman in the War Cemetery, though you can eventually get their names and bios after unlocking all the orders and leveling every class to level 20.
Nonuniform Uniform: If you look carefully, some of the characters, especially the main ones, have noticeable variations in their uniforms.
Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: You can still rescue squadmates even after they get shot in the face with a tank shell. With a little luck, tougher classes such as Lancers and Shocktroopers can even take a direct hit from an explosive round and get back up to return the favor.
Oh Crap: Chapter 4, when Welkin's tank just appeared out of the water in front of two Imperial soldiers. Even though their faces can't be seen because of the helmets, their voices alone are just priceless. Hell, Alicia's reaction is basically this, even though the tank is on HER side!
Old Soldier: While most of Squad 7 are teenagers, you get the odd one of these. Largo is the most prominent example and he has the personality of one, even going so far as to initially view Welkin as New Meat and refuse to take orders from him. Other Old Soldier squad members include Musaad, Catherine and Wavy. The king of this trope, however, is Coby: the previously listed characters are mostly in their 30's and 40's, but Coby is 65 years old and still out kicking ass and taking names.
One-Man Army: Selvaria and Alicia do this in one level. It can also be played straight if you use one character almost exclusively throughout the mission.
Only One Name: Darcsens do not have last names, as part of the punishment by the Valkyrur since ancient times. Isara is an exception because she's adopted.
Optional Party Member: While this applies in a sense to all of the game's recruitable soldiers, there are also five hidden ones (one per class): Musaad (Scout), Lynn (Shocktrooper), Audrey (Lancer), Knute (Engineer), and Emile (Sniper), that only get unlocked by certain means, two of which involve certain characters getting KO'ed.
Pause Scumming: The unit you are controlling, (and only the unit you are controlling) will be exposed to suppression fire, whether he or she is stationary, behind cover, or moving. However, enemies will mysteriously cease fire the moment you take aim. This leads to one or two different playstyles. The player will usually either run fast, shoot, and stop controlling the character; or walk, aim, walk, aim, walk, aim....
Pendulum War: In the absence of Squad 7, the rest of the Gallian military doesn't seem to be able to achieve much of anything and generally get their butts handed to them by the Empire. However, once Squad 7 arrives on the field, expect to see Imperials flying across the Gallian-Imperial border in droves.
Power Trio: Hannes (Id), Oscar (Superego) and Jane (Ego)
Player Mooks: More of a You Suck than anything else, but if the player loses enough squad members permanently, they get replaced with an endless series of faceless, one-size-fits-all mooks.
Plotline Death: Isara. And later, Selvaria.Gregor too, but everyone hates him anyway.
Punch Clock Villain: Not all Imperial soldiers are Magnificent Bastards or Jerkasses. A large majority of them are just regular joes just like the Gallians and this fact is heavily emphasized during one of the game's chapters. The Selvaria DLC expounds on this a bit more. Radi Jaeger also has signs of this, as he's only fighting for the Empire to free his homeland. He (and Selvaria, except she's truly dedicated to the cause) is easily the most likable of the villains.
Putting on the Reich: The Empire loves this. Though they'd probably look more at home in early World War I. They're very Prussian.
Red Baron: Various characters have names attached to them, most noticeably the enemy aces. They have monikers like "the Iron", "the Immortal", "the Heavy". The Selvaria DLC showed that Musaad was in the military with the name "the Mole", which he apparently had since the previous war, also according to her bio at the end of the game, Jane, in addition to becomming a drill instructor is referred to as "Sadistic Jane" with reverence.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: All activated Valkyria appear to have red eyes, though it seems to be Selvaria's natural eye color.
Seen It All: Largo and Rosie get this way really quick. "Yeah, you sorta get used to this." "Huh.....so it really is a giant land battleship."
Senseless Sacrifice: Attempted by Alicia when she attempts to destroy the Marmota. Deterred by Welkin's proposal. Borders on Stupid Sacrifice depending on how you view the character development at the end of the game.
Short Range Long Range Weapon: Gunfights in Valkyria Chronicles tend to take place at extremely close ranges, particularly in the early game when everyone's accuracy is fairly low.
Shout Out: Major cameos by Vyse, Aika, and Fina of Skies Of Arcadia. Vyse and Aika appear as two playable soldiers while Fina appears as a medic along with her two sisters, Gina and Mina.
Small Girl, Big Gun: Most female Lancers are this, walking around with a weapon that's usually longer than they are tall. Applies to Aisha too, the 12-year-old Shocktrooper later on, where she can hold something about the size of a typical light-machine gun, or if you get the Ruhm via DLC.
Smug Snake: Prime Minister Borg. He tries to come up with dastardly plots, but all end up horribly backfiring on him.
Jane. One of her potentials describes her as a sadist, and her Catch Phrase when it activates does not help at all, nor does the fact that the animation shows her rubbing her face in something close to ectacsy.
When you first recruit Wendy, she says "Ha ha...kaboom! Ha ha..." According to the biographical material, she accidentally blew up her house making homemade explosives before joining the militia.
Wendy: "Hehe, I upped the power!" "I seeeee yoooou!" "Here I coooommmme!"
Marina is initially implied to be a silent version this but is averted in the fact that she is not sociopathic but just extremely anti-social.
In Edy's DLC, Edy herself seems to enjoy using Homer as her own personal punching bag. However, he seems to enjoy it as well, perhaps too much.
Splash Damage: Grenades deal splash damage, which makes them one of the only weapons that can easily hit more than one target. Their main use, however, is taking out sandbags so you can get headshots on the exposed troops.
Stealth-Based Mission: The first operation of Chapter 8, where Welkin and Alicia must dodge Imperial troops and make it to the other side of a forest at night. The Bonus Report "Largo's Passion" tries to be this but arguably fails — it's too easy to attack it head-on.
The side chapter "What Lies Beyond Hate" is a straighter version, as the mission fails instantly if your units are sighted at the end of your phase.
Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: After establishing themselves as a Badass Army, half the missions Squad 7 gets sent on are insanely dangerous suicide missions, courtesy of a jealous General Damon.
Taking You with Me: Selvaria took down the whole Gallian army, save the militia, in her final effort. Averted with Alicia, since Welkin stopped her before she could actually do it. Kinda subverted when Faldio took down Maximilian together with him, since this is more of an atonement/apology than a desperate effort. Maximilian, on the other hand, was trying to invoke the trope himself at the time.
Tank Goodness: Appears to be standard operating procedure in the Empire.
Team Mom: Welkin sees Alicia this way. Also helps that one of Alicia's abilities is called 'Maternal.'
Team Pet: Hans, the insufferably cutesy winged pig.
That Woman Is Dead: Alicia feels this way about being Valkyria. She's convinced otherwise.
There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Using mortars to kill scouts or engineers, using anti-tank lances to kill anyone but tanks...
Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: One of the chapters is based on this, where Welkin and Alicia are cut off from their squad during an ambush and spend two missions trying to reunite with them, the Edy Detachment dlc is also based on this premise.
Unexplained Recovery: If you can rescue your fallen soldiers with the medic, you can bring them back into combat in the same battle using a base. It doesn't matter if they got shot in the head, blown up with a grenade, or blasted to smithereens by a tank shell. They get better (and fast!).
Juno. As crazy as she is about Welkin, we all know whom he'll end up with... Poor lass.
Noce for Alicia would qualify as well.
Valley Girl: Cherry is like, such a totally awesome example of this trope, and.. hey! Are you, like, listening?!
Verbal Tic: There are many of these to distinguish characters in the Japanese track. Hermes and his "-yo"s. Hannes likes to end his sentences with "-ssu" like a Prinny... Elysse doesn't really have one in particular, but talks slowly and drags out her words. (Maybe because she's a "Slow Starter?")
Urban Warfare: While many stages feature World War I-type trench warfare, there's also quite a few that happen in the ruins of cities, especially during the first chapters.
Video Game Caring Potential: Sometimes, your troopers are just too darn adorable! Really! You will go to save your squad members when they're downed.
You can send your troops on suicide missions deliberately.
Also, you can run your own soldiers over with your tank. It won't harm them at all, and you get to hear their hilarious reaction to being hit by a tank.
You can even use your soldiers to provide cover for other soldiers; yes, interception fire will hit another soldier if you hide your "active" soldier behind one. In certain cases, you can actually use this to your advantage against the AI. You Bastard.
One medal requies a memeber of your unit to die permenantly during combat (Not saved by a medic in three turns, has an enemy soldier touch their unconcious form etc). The player will most likely develop a retinue of troops they always use and couldn't bare to be without, so for 100% completionists they have to look at their roster, decide which of their unused men they like least, put them in a battle, control them by hand into enemy fire, and sit there for three turns (more than enough to save them) while they lay there dying, before listening to their final words.
Villain Episode: One of the DLC packs includes chapters that are focused around Selvaria and the Imperial army.
Wave Motion Gun: The Valkyria's ultimate weapon, Valkof, is essentially a gigantic laser cannon capable of blowing up mountains. On a smaller scale, the Valkyrian lance.
Weak, but Skilled: Engineers; sure, they have bugger-all health, but the fact they can move almost as far as scouts, defuse mines (even after stepping on one), refill any unit's ammo to full just by touching them, carry three grenades as opposed to one, use healing items that are twice as effective, and are the only ones capable of fixing your tank(s) make them one of the most versatile units around. It's generally an unwritten rule to have at least one in your squad at all times.
Welkin's death is a losing condition on pretty much every map in the game.
Alicia is subject to this on occasion as well.
We Do The Impossible: Pretty much Squad 7's motto. They are almost always given missions deemed suicidal, or at least ones the deemed unfit for the regular Gallian army to undertake. And despite the odds, they manage to succeed each time, or at the very least delay the enemy forces.
We Have Reserves: The Gallian Militia is almost always given the most suicidal missions with minimal support from the main army.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: The Valkyrur can blow themselves and everything within a mile's radius up, startlingly similar to the mushroom cloud created by nuclear bombs. In cutscenes at the beginning of the final chapter, Maximilian also wears a suit of armor with several Roman emperor motifs.
White-Haired Pretty Girl: Selvaria and Alicia when her Valkyria powers are active. Edy as well, although hers is a darker silver and it doesn't come from being a Vakyrur.
World War II: The game cribs its setting heavily from World War II; Gallia is essentially "Belgium with the military policies of Finland and Switzerland in the mix", the East Europan Empire is basically the Axis powers of Europe (though their territory includes where Russia should be, interestingly enough), the Federation is obviously the Allied powers (sans the U.S.) and there's even a persecuted ethnic minority whom the East Europans particularly hate. The actual visual and mechanical design ends up being a bit of an Anachronism Stew between both real life World Wars, though.
Woolseyism: Dark Hair was made up as a slur for the Darcsens in the English version. They were simply called "Darcsens" in the original.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Darcsens have either dark blue or dark purple hair. Dark-hair is a racial slur.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Maximilian does this to Selvaria when realizes her Valkyria powers won't give his forces an advantage anymore. It may apply to Borg too, in a sense.
You Have Failed Me: Coincides with the above entry, as Maximilian also does this to Selvaria for losing a critical battle to the Gallians.
Zettai Ryouiki: Hmm... where to start? Alicia, Rosie, Isara... Pretty much any Squad 7 girl who isn't in pants, in which case, they're in skirts and knee socks.
The Manga provides examples of:
Adaptation Distillation: Tha manga is better than the anime in its story telling. It helps that the extras are now integrated into the story, meaning someone's Ensemble Darkhorse now gets more characterization and stuff.
Accidental Hero: Nadine mistakes Cezary as the one who saved her from an enemy sniper. But what really happened was that it was actually Marina who shot the sniper while Cezary was going to let it happen. He tries to explain the truth it to Nadine but Marina gives him a Death Glare to make him shut up and not talk about it.
Ascended Extra: All of the Militia members in the game get their own scenes or an extra role in the manga.
Bloodier and Gorier: Seeing people bleeding getting shot and injured in the manga makes the anime look like child's play. But nothing compare seeing Alicia saving an injured farmer only to learn the other half of his body has been blown off.
Cloudcuckoolander: Welkin (again), even more so than in the anime or the game. Having forgotten that the schedule for a strategy meeting was changed, he went off to watch an ant colony and collect spotted leeches.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cezary tells Nadine to stay with him to be safe during a battle in the forest. Whether it means he's becoming less of a jerk or really does have feelings for her is up for you to decide.
Leeroy Jenkins: Spoofed; during the vasel engagement Jane is shown charging towards the Imperial lines (much to Rosie's annoyance), frothing at the mouth and yelling obscenities whilst firing her machine gun...only to get clotheslined accidentally by Largo's anti-tank lance when he turns around to see what Jann wants.
Love Square: A very interesting, complicated one which is better than in the anime: Welkin might have feelings for Juno and Alicia and know his best friend Faldio has feelings for Alicia. Alicia has feelings for Welkin but feels conflicted because her good friend Juno has feelings for Welkin too which in turn makes Alicia fall for Welkin's best friend Faldio. Juno has feelings for Welkin but is unaware that her good friend Alicia also has feelings with Welkin too as she thinks Alicia has feelings for Faldio. Faldio has feelings for Alicia who may have feeling for him but feels conflicted as Welkin may have feelings for Alicia but Juno too.
Shown Their Work: The manga author thankfully averts doing Hollywood Tactics and instead did some research on WW 2 and modern combat tactics and made most of the chracters do accurate and practical battle tactics like giving covering fire, taking cover, snipers working in pairs using camouflage, teamwork, etc.
The Rival: Edy's one-sided rivalry with Rosie is finally become two-sided with Rosie seeing Edy as an idiot attention seeker that might put the squad in danger.
War Is Hell: The manga doesn't shy away on how war affects everyone from civilians to soldiers on both sides.
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