At TGS 2016, Sega demonstrated the latest build of Valkyria: Azure Revolution, and we put together a little guide on how everything works, from controls to emotions on the battlefield.
Controls
L2 – Not in use
L1 – Change formation
Up & Down Key – Switch player character
Left & Right Key – Change Role Order
Options – Mission Menu
Left Stick – Character Movement, Cursor Movement
Right Stick – Camera Controls, Change Target (While locked-on)
R2 – Lock-on, Lock-off
R1 – Map Action (crouch, hide, climb, rescue)
Triangle – Battle Palette
Circle – Combo, Confirm
X – Evade, Cancel
Square – Guard
How to Play
The Battle Palette is where you’ll stop the time in order to make some selections such selecting Rune Arts or a rifle to aim a shot. The menu can also use it as a means to strategize, as the action takes place mostly in real-time.
Battle Palette
Using the power of Ragnite (consumes RP), you can deal heavy damage. In addition to damage, you can also cause various emotional effects on the enemies. Side Arms and Items are displayed in red on the right. Its uses are limited to the corresponding numbers.
Emotions
Since the enemies are also human, they’ll feel emotions just like anyone else, and they come into play for the battle system in Valkyria: Azure Revolution. Some of the Emotion effects include “Surprised” (cannot act for a short while), when you catch an enemy soldier off guard. A soldier that gets shot might get hit with a “Flustered” (minor status down) effect.
When an enemy leader gets defeated, remaining soldier might feel “Fear” (major status down). Or on the other hand, you could defeat all enemy units, where the remaining leader can go into an “Anger” (major attack increase) status.
There are various other Emotions out there that you’ll get to learn about while playing through the game.
Battle Situation
The goal is to push the blue in the “Battle Situation Gauge.” This can be done through nice plays and other means. Having the Battle Situation more in your favor has extra benefits, such as making it easier for the enemy to be hit with Emotion effects, or by having a chance to boost your own party’s speed and other benefits.
We can check out the gameplay starting at the 3:10 mark of the video. The yellow meter that goes around the character’s status icon is the Action Gauge, or you can see it as “turns,” as they’re able to take actions once it fills up. As shown in the footage, they bring out the Battle Palette and decide to for the leader, which made the other enemies panic.
When he tosses the grenade at the group of enemies, it shows how they entered a state of Fear, and they were able to finish it up and captured the base with ease. The next part shows how the enemy has a ranged shooter, so you’ll need to use your own snipers to take them out, which is demonstrated in the footage. It also mentions how using smoke bombs, for example with Ophelia, to throw on tougher enemies to make them easier to handle. We get to see Ophelia follow up with a “Cyclone” Rune Art to take them out while they’re frozen with Fear.
This demonstration tells you what actions you should take in these situations, but you’ll need to figure it out for yourself in the actual game, so it’ll be important to learn about Emotions and items and how they can help you out. You can also use your environment, such as hitting explosives near enemies to do extra damage.
At 9:55, they take on the scorpion, which is the current objective of the demo stage. You might not need to use the guard action against regular enemies, but boss fights are the times you’ll need them most. Guard and evasion will help you out while waiting on the Action Gauge to fill up.
In this fight, they offer the advice of using Opehlia’s water attack to break its leg and put it into a “Down” status, making it possible to deal heavy damage to its core. Don’t forget to use items when your health falls. You can also switch around characters at any time. This will be crucial when you’re looking to find enemy weaknesses.
The build shown during the Tokyo Game Show 2016 is Valkyria: Azure Revolution’s Battle Demo Ver. 2.0., which is expected to be available for download in Japan in October.
Valkyria: Azure Revolution releases in Japan on January 19, 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
