History VideoGame / ValkyriaChronicles

* ZettaiRyouiki: Just about every Squad 7 girl who isn't in pants dresses in skirts and knee socks. This includes Alicia, Rosie, and Isara.

** Johann of the Selvaria DLC is promoted into Oswald the Iron, one of the EliteMooks of the main game, at the end of his story, implying that chances are that he's fated to eventually die by the protagonists' hands. Though considering he appears at least twice in the game, (he appears a further two times in the Challenges of the Edy Detachment and Expert Skirmishes DLCs) it's likely that the Imperials also have a habit of only falling unconscious when grievously wounded.

** Johann of the Selvaria DLC is promoted into Oswald the Iron, one of the EliteMooks of the main game, at the end of his story, implying that chances are that he's fated to eventually die by the protagonists' hands. Though considering he appears at least twice in the game, (three if you have the Challenges DLC) it's likely that the Imperials also have a habit of only falling unconscious when grievously wounded.

** Alicia's full powers are activated after she nearly dies in a story event. If she nearly dies during combat before then, the only consequence is that she needs more healing to fully recover.

* LullDestruction: Utilized in the English dub, usually when the camera looks elsewhere (though occasionally when the speaker's noticeably unmoving lips are visible).

** 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'', [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] referred to Gallia as: "a small, idyllic country that resembles a mashup of Holland, Belgium and Switzerland as depicted by Franchise/WinnieThePooh".)

* BiTheWay: Ted, a scout, has both 'Fancies Women' and 'Fancies Men' as potentials.

[[caption-width-right:300:Bottom left, [[TheLancer Alicia]] [[ActionGirl Melchiott]]; bottom right, [[TheHero Welkin]] [[AFatherToHisMen Gunther]]; above, [[TheDragon Selvaria]] [[OneWomanArmy Bles]].]]

* ActionGirl:
** Pretty much every girl in the game, with Alicia, Rosie and Edy being particular standouts plot-wise.
** Susie is the only real exception to this trope, thanks to her super pacifistic nature and "Humanitarian" potential.

* BadassGrandpa: Coby is the oldest soldier in the squad at 65.

* GenderRestrictedAbility: Only female Valkyria are able to utilize Ragnite's energy psionically, resulting in a HealingFactor and an invulnerable OneWingedAngel form. However, MugglesDoItBetter. Despite these advantages, there's only two left in the entire world, one of which is a ReluctantMonster who swears never to use her power, and the other [[spoiler: [[ActionBomb literally goes ballistic at being captured]]]] while regular humans just use ragnite to power machinery externally. The closest men get is NighInvulnerable PoweredArmor and a [[{{BFG}} massive laser cannon]] that replicates their magic through technology. Judging by how... drained [[spoiler: Emperor Maximillian]] looks during his boss battle, it might even slowly kill them.

* GrenadeLauncher: Elite Scouts gain access to a grenade launcher attachment for their rifles that shoot grenades much further than they can be thrown by hand.

%%* CatchAFallingStar: [[spoiler:Welkin and Alicia]] are rescued this way via [[spoiler:getting hit by Isara's prototype plane.]]

** 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. [[spoiler: In fact, she later unlocks a potential that's virtually the ''exact opposite.'']]

* SelfDestructMechanism: The Marmota has a self-destruction mechanism on it, which Maximilian triggered when he was defeated. [[spoiler: Because it had the Valkof on it, the resulting explosion is comparable to a mini-Valkyrian final flame.]]

* ShoutOut: Given that this is the same team who made ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'', the reference are present aside from Vyse, Aika and Fina being present. For example, the generic Imperial shocktroopers wear essentially square versions of the round Valuan soldier helmets and [[spoiler:there's a worshipped civilisation that were in fact, responsible for millions of deaths and mass destruction.]]

* WithThisHerring: Alicia and Welkin are thrown into a full Imperial takeover of Bruhl in the beginning with only very basic firearms training and small rifles pretty much only intended for small disturbances. Then Welkin finds out about the Edelweiss...

* WhamShot: When Welkin and Alicia are separated from Squad 7 and are resting in a cabin in the woods, an Imperial soldier walking in menacingly... then he flops to the floor with a huge wound on his back.

** Selvaria is Maximilliam's most reliable and formidable general.

* FantasticNuke: [[spoiler:The Valkyria's final flame is ''very'' reminiscent of a nuclear bomb, complete with a mushroom cloud.]]

** Selvaria uses [[LightEmUp the power of the Valkyrur]] against her enemies. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the entirety of the Valkyrur were assholes to begin with.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: 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, [[spoiler: Isara's comes out of the blue]].

** 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 shocktrooper 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.

%%* CatchAFallingStar: [[spoiler: Welkin and Alicia]] are rescued this way.

* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: Chapter 11 ends with Squad 7 succeeding their objective of taking the enemy base, but shortly after, Isara is killed by an Imperial rifle shot, which deals an emotional blow to Squad 7, rendering the victory fruitless]].
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The Gallia Militia in general, with Squad 7 standing out moreso.

* SecretCharacter: There are five (one per class): Musaad (Scout), Lynn (Shocktrooper), Audrey (Lancer), Knute (Engineer), and Emile (Sniper). They only get unlocked by certain means, two of which involve certain characters getting KO'ed.

* SoProudOfYou: DrillSergeantNasty gets teary-eyed and genuinely compliments the squad when every class reaches level 20.
** He also offers genuine congratulations when each class reaches Elite status.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Cordelia; notable in that she's the daughter of an Archduke and Archduchess and the only heir to the throne, but is not crowned due to her young age, and cedes control of the country to her Prime Minister. Even after she matures, has her big reveal, and said Prime Minister [[spoiler:gets killed]], her title remains Princess. [[JustifiedTrope Since Gallia is a principality and not a kingdom, this actually makes a bit of sense. The ruler is meant to be a prince(ss) and not a king or queen]].

* NicknamingTheEnemy: Gallian troops sometimes call their Imperial enemies "imps", often as a pejorative. "Imp Hater" is a trait some soldiers have that grants them a damage boost towards enemies.

* NoNameGiven: TheMedic, unless you know that she's a cameo character from [[VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia one of the earlier games]] from the same developers. There are actually three medics who are all [[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals identical siblings]]. [[AllThereInTheManual 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.

** If you look carefully, some of the characters, especially the main ones, have noticeable variations in their uniforms. Gallia's military has a rather relaxed dress code for the Militia. Because they're all volunteers, and not part of the official army, nobody really cares much about personal effects. Alicia and Yoko's kerchiefs in their hair, Jann's makeup, Edy's matching camo bows in her hair, Rosie's earrings, Walter's sunglasses, the cultural shawls that Darcsens wear, etc.

** Susie's Skirmish mission. While it is DLC, this fairly short skirmish has only 8 enemy scouts to kill, including an ace scout. Beating the mission, even with a D rank, guarantees at least 23000 XP. An A-rank gives you over 60000 XP and 120000 ducat. A-rank requires beating it within 8 turns, and can be completed in as little as 3. With enough farming, you can level up all 5 classes to 20 as soon as the Skirmish tab opens up to you shortly after the start of the game. The Ace soldier also provides a ZM Mk.8 rifle for scouts to use. It provides a significant attack boost in exchange for shortened range. The trade-off is worth it.

** One major mission Captain Varrot sends Squad 7 on is to take back Ruhl. After [[spoiler:Isara's death]], she practically ''begged'' her superiors to let her try to take back Welkin's hometown to get Squad 7's spirits up.

* PuttingOnTheReich: Both Gallia and the Empire have varying degrees of this. For example, Gallians persecute the Darcsens. On the other hand, the Empire is a mix between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union with a bit of Romanov Russia thrown in for good measure. In the Empire, Darcsens captured in Gallia are sent to death camps/concentration camps to work under inhumane conditions. Yet, many Darcsens do serve in high ranks of the Imperial military, which is unthinkable in Gallia. The Empire also promised Darcsens a nation of their own upon the war's end.

%%* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Most of the female characters with a male LoveInterest fall under this, thankfully.

** The Ruhm (Selvaria's SignatureWeapon), and the game's sole automatic rifle (the rest of the shocktrooper weapons are merely sub-machine guns).
** Everyone in the Lancer class carries a lance-shaped RocketLauncher which seems to be an attempt to at least replicate a Valkyur's main weapon in a realistic and physical manner. [[spoiler:Maximillian has a man-made one which acts even closer to a Valkyrian lance to the point where he has near-identical powers through artificial methods.]

*** In terms of organization, Gallia is unmistakingly based on Finland. A small country locked between two major rivaling factions with a population of no more than 5 million, a country that lacks significant heavy industry, but nonetheless possess a proud militia that fought against great odds and prevailed.

** Everyone in the Lancer class carries a lance-shaped RocketLauncher which seems to be an attempt to at least replicate a Valkyur's main weapon in a realistic and physical manner. [[spoiler:Maximillian has a man-made one which acts even closer to a Valkyrian lance to the point where he has near-identical powers through artificial methods.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:The Valkyur are religiously worshipped across Europa, even though they attacked the Darcsens, razed the land and blamed it on them.]]
* BiTheWay: Ted, a scout, has both 'Fancies Women' and 'Fancies Men' as potentials.

* CelShading: Rather notably, the entire game's is rendered in a unique art style that made it look like it was drawn in watercolor.

** When Rosie goes on a tirade against Darcsens directed at Isara about the "Darcsen Calamity", Isara points out that there is no archeological evidence supporting this. [[spoiler:She’s right. That’s the one thing the Valkyur ''couldn’t'' fabricate.]]

* MilitaryMaverick: Welkin usually comes up with incredibly unorthodox strategies to win his battles. Varrot also embodies this trope to some extent.

** A less dramatic one occurs near the end of the game where Ms. Ellet plans to publish one last story under her maiden name before she loses it after getting married, then she’ll be known as Irene [[spoiler:Koller, AKA: The narrator for the game and author of the book detailing what happened in [=EW2=].]]

* OneHitKill: Unless a unit is crouching behind cover, or just has an absurd amount of HP and or defense, one headshot from a sniper is enough to kill them. One solid hit to a tank's radiator (again, discounting powerful boss tanks) with a tank gun or a lancer rocket is similarly enough to waste it in one shot, and endgame Lancers with the Ultimate Anti-Armor potential don't even need to hit the radiator to destroy most tanks in one hit.