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I don't know what's more interesting about Valkyrie of the Battlefield; the game's hybrid gameplay of a strategy RPG with third person shooter mechanics (conveniently known as BLITZ) or the game's sketch style cel-shaded graphics that highly resemble something you'd see out of a Miyazaki film. Regardless, no one can deny how visually impressive the game looks in motion as evidenced by the most recent trailer.
Japan's Playstation Store recently uploaded the latest trailer for Valkyrie of the Battlefield that shows you a little bit more of the game in motion and plays out more of Hitoshi Sakimoto's music, which actually suits the atmosphere for the game. I think the best part of the trailer, though, is when you actually see the Valkyrie deflect a bullet with her weapon and how good she looks doing it, followed immediately by the game's protagonists holding each other's hands amidst flames and explosions. If you weren't fortunate enough to have downloaded the trailer off the Japanese Playstation Store, it's here for your viewing pleasure!
Past the break you can find new images from Game Watch that just so happen to include the Valkyrie herself!
I’m not sure if this looks like Miyazaki/Ghibli’s style.. to me it’s similar to Eternal Sonata’s more than anything and I love it. I wonder if this or Operation Darkness is more fun, as I’m interested in both.
“And I’m unsure about the appropriateness of copying Miyazaki’s look and applying it to non-Miyazaki content.”
I don’t think it’s a direct rip of the Ghibli look. It instead draws on the same gently rendered pastoral element that shows up in a lot of Miyazaki films, though the trailer also seems perfectly in line with the violent warfare seen in Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
Still, if Valkyrie of the Battlefield has a direct anime counterpart, I’d say it’s closer to the not-quite-WWII-Europe atmosphere seen in series like Fullmetal Alchemist and Pumpkin Scissors.
@ Aoishi00 & John H.
If you read the November 2007 issue of Play and head to the Japanese section of the magazine, you’ll read an interview with the game’s producer (Ryutaro Nonaka) and director (Shuntaro Tanako) who both say that Miyazaki’s art style and visual aesthetic were a big influence in the game’s design (something Kid Fenris just pointed out). I don’t think it’s wrong to say the game looks like a Miyazaki film because it really does.
Regardless of visual influence(s) and pseudo-elitist diatribe, this will probably be the game to nudge me toward the purchase of a PS3.
PSN Exclusive, BOOO!! HISSS!!
(also, I’m with the above poster, does Noun know what pseudo, elitist, or diatribe means?)
Well, I definitely like the style. I don’t plan on dropping the cash for a PS3, but the game does look pretty cool.
December 21st, 2007 at 8:39 am
While, if one’s to copy something with one’s art design, there are lots of worse things to copy than Miyazaki, this does highlight how video game creation is a fundamentally derivative process these days.
And I’m unsure about the appropriateness of copying Miyazaki’s look and applying it to non-Miyazaki content.