 = Valkyria Chronicles III = 
 
 Senjō no Valkyria 3 : Unrecorded Chronicles ( Japanese : 戦場のヴァルキュリア3 , lit . Valkyria of the Battlefield 3 ) , commonly referred to as Valkyria Chronicles III outside Japan , is a tactical role @-@ playing video game developed by Sega and Media.Vision for the PlayStation Portable . Released in January 2011 in Japan , it is the third game in the Valkyria series . Employing the same fusion of tactical and real @-@ time gameplay as its predecessors , the story runs parallel to the first game and follows the " Nameless " , a penal military unit serving the nation of Gallia during the Second Europan War who perform secret black operations and are pitted against the Imperial unit " Calamaty Raven " . 
 The game began development in 2010 , carrying over a large portion of the work done on Valkyria Chronicles II . While it retained the standard features of the series , it also underwent multiple adjustments , such as making the game more forgiving for series newcomers . Character designer Raita Honjou and composer Hitoshi Sakimoto both returned from previous entries , along with Valkyria Chronicles II director Takeshi Ozawa . A large team of writers handled the script . The game 's opening theme was sung by May 'n . 
 It met with positive sales in Japan , and was praised by both Japanese and western critics . After release , it received downloadable content , along with an expanded edition in November of that year . It was also adapted into manga and an original video animation series . Due to low sales of Valkyria Chronicles II , Valkyria Chronicles III was not localized , but a fan translation compatible with the game 's expanded edition was released in 2014 . Media.Vision would return to the franchise with the development of Valkyria : Azure Revolution for the PlayStation 4 . 
 
 = = Gameplay = = 
 
 As with previous Valkyira Chronicles games , Valkyria Chronicles III is a tactical role @-@ playing game where players take control of a military unit and take part in missions against enemy forces . Stories are told through comic book @-@ like panels with animated character portraits , with characters speaking partially through voiced speech bubbles and partially through unvoiced text . The player progresses through a series of linear missions , gradually unlocked as maps that can be freely scanned through and replayed as they are unlocked . The route to each story location on the map varies depending on an individual player 's approach : when one option is selected , the other is sealed off to the player . Outside missions , the player characters rest in a camp , where units can be customized and character growth occurs . Alongside the main story missions are character @-@ specific sub missions relating to different squad members . After the game 's completion , additional episodes are unlocked , some of them having a higher difficulty than those found in the rest of the game . There are also love simulation elements related to the game 's two main heroines , although they take a very minor role . 
 The game 's battle system , the BliTZ system , is carried over directly from Valkyira Chronicles . During missions , players select each unit using a top @-@ down perspective of the battlefield map : once a character is selected , the player moves the character around the battlefield in third @-@ person . A character can only act once per @-@ turn , but characters can be granted multiple turns at the expense of other characters ' turns . Each character has a field and distance of movement limited by their Action Gauge . Up to nine characters can be assigned to a single mission . During gameplay , characters will call out if something happens to them , such as their health points ( HP ) getting low or being knocked out by enemy attacks . Each character has specific " Potentials " , skills unique to each character . They are divided into " Personal Potential " , which are innate skills that remain unaltered unless otherwise dictated by the story and can either help or impede a character , and " Battle Potentials " , which are grown throughout the game and always grant boons to a character . To learn Battle Potentials , each character has a unique " Masters Table " , a grid @-@ based skill table that can be used to acquire and link different skills . Characters also have Special Abilities that grant them temporary boosts on the battlefield : Kurt can activate " Direct Command " and move around the battlefield without depleting his Action Point gauge , the character Reila can shift into her " Valkyria Form " and become invincible , while Imca can target multiple enemy units with her heavy weapon . 
 Troops are divided into five classes : Scouts , Shocktroopers , Engineers , Lancers and Armored Soldier . Troopers can switch classes by changing their assigned weapon . Changing class does not greatly affect the stats gained while in a previous class . With victory in battle , experience points are awarded to the squad , which are distributed into five different attributes shared by the entire squad , a feature differing from early games ' method of distributing to different unit types . 
 
 = = Plot = = 
 
 The game takes place during the Second Europan War . Gallian Army Squad 422 , also known as " The Nameless " , are a penal military unit composed of criminals , foreign deserters , and military offenders whose real names are erased from the records and thereon officially referred to by numbers . Ordered by the Gallian military to perform the most dangerous missions that the Regular Army and Militia will not do , they are nevertheless up to the task , exemplified by their motto , Altaha Abilia , meaning " Always Ready . " The three main characters are No.7 Kurt Irving , an army officer falsely accused of treason who wishes to redeem himself ; Ace No.1 Imca , a female Darcsen heavy weapons specialist who seeks revenge against the Valkyria who destroyed her home ; and No.13 Riela Marcellis , a seemingly jinxed young woman who is unknowingly a descendant of the Valkyria . Together with their fellow squad members , these three are tasked to fight against a mysterious Imperial unit known as Calamity Raven , consisting of mostly Darcsen soldiers . 
 As the Nameless officially do not exist , the upper echelons of the Gallian Army exploit the concept of plausible deniability in order to send them on missions that would otherwise make Gallia lose face in the war . While at times this works to their advantage , such as a successful incursion into Imperial territory , other orders cause certain members of the 422nd great distress . One such member , Gusurg , becomes so enraged that he abandons his post and defects into the ranks of Calamity Raven , attached to the ideal of Darcsen independence proposed by their leader , Dahau . At the same time , elements within Gallian Army Command move to erase the Nameless in order to protect their own interests . Hounded by both allies and enemies , and combined with the presence of a traitor within their ranks , the 422nd desperately move to keep themselves alive while at the same time fight to help the Gallian war effort . This continues until the Nameless 's commanding officer , Ramsey Crowe , who had been kept under house arrest , is escorted to the capital city of Randgriz in order to present evidence exonerating the weary soldiers and expose the real traitor , the Gallian General that had accused Kurt of Treason . 
 Partly due to these events , and partly due to the major losses in manpower Gallia suffers towards the end of the war with the Empire , the Nameless are offered a formal position as a squad in the Gallian Army rather than serve as an anonymous shadow force . This is short @-@ lived , however , as following Maximilian 's defeat , Dahau and Calamity Raven move to activate an ancient Valkyrian super weapon within the Empire , kept secret by their benefactor . Without the support of Maximilian or the chance to prove themselves in the war with Gallia , it is Dahau 's last trump card in creating a new Darcsen nation . As an armed Gallian force invading the Empire just following the two nations ' cease @-@ fire would certainly wreck their newfound peace , Kurt decides to once again make his squad the Nameless , asking Crowe to list himself and all under his command as killed @-@ in @-@ action . Now owing allegiance to none other than themselves , the 422nd confronts Dahau and destroys the Valkyrian weapon . Each member then goes their separate ways in order to begin their lives anew . 
 
 = = Development = = 
 
 Concept work for Valkyria Chronicles III began after development finished on Valkyria Chronicles II in early 2010 , with full development beginning shortly after this . The director of Valkyria Chronicles II , Takeshi Ozawa , returned to that role for Valkyria Chronicles III . Development work took approximately one year . After the release of Valkyria Chronicles II , the staff took a look at both the popular response for the game and what they wanted to do next for the series . Like its predecessor , Valkyria Chronicles III was developed for PlayStation Portable : this was due to the team wanting to refine the mechanics created for Valkyria Chronicles II , and they had not come up with the " revolutionary " idea that would warrant a new entry for the PlayStation 3 . Speaking in an interview , it was stated that the development team considered Valkyria Chronicles III to be the series ' first true sequel : while Valkyria Chronicles II had required a large amount of trial and error during development due to the platform move , the third game gave them a chance to improve upon the best parts of Valkyria Chronicles II due to being on the same platform . In addition to Sega staff from the previous games , development work was also handled by Media.Vision. The original scenario was written Kazuki Yamanobe , while the script was written by Hiroyuki Fujii , Koichi Majima , Kishiko Miyagi , Seiki Nagakawa and Takayuki Shouji . Its story was darker and more somber than that of its predecessor . 
 The majority of material created for previous games , such as the BLiTZ system and the design of maps , was carried over . Alongside this , improvements were made to the game 's graphics and some elements were expanded , such as map layouts , mission structure , and the number of playable units per mission . A part of this upgrade involved creating unique polygon models for each character 's body . In order to achieve this , the cooperative elements incorporated into the second game were removed , as they took up a large portion of memory space needed for the improvements . They also adjusted the difficulty settings and ease of play so they could appeal to new players while retaining the essential components of the series ' gameplay . The newer systems were decided upon early in development . The character designs were done by Raita Honjou , who had worked on the previous Valkyria Chronicles games . When creating the Nameless Squad , Honjou was faced with the same problem he had had during the first game : the military uniforms essentially destroyed character individuality , despite him needing to create unique characters the player could identify while maintaining a sense of reality within the Valkyria Chronicles world . The main color of the Nameless was black . As with the previous Valkyria games , Valkyria Chronicles III used the CANVAS graphics engine . The anime opening was produced by Production I.G. 
 
 = = = Music = = = 
 
 The music was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto , who had also worked on the previous Valkyria Chronicles games . When he originally heard about the project , he thought it would be a light tone similar to other Valkyria Chronicles games , but found the themes much darker than expected . An early theme he designed around his original vision of the project was rejected . He redid the main theme about seven times through the music production due to this need to reassess the game . The main theme was initially recorded using orchestra , then Sakimoto removed elements such as the guitar and bass , then adjusted the theme using a synthesizer before redoing segments such as the guitar piece on their own before incorporating them into the theme . The rejected main theme was used as a hopeful tune that played during the game 's ending . The battle themes were designed around the concept of a " modern battle " divorced from a fantasy scenario by using modern musical instruments , constructed to create a sense of atonality . While Sakimoto was most used to working with synthesized music , he felt that he needed to incorporate live instruments such as orchestra and guitar . The guitar was played by Mitsuhiro Ohta , who also arranged several of the later tracks . The game 's opening theme song , " If You Wish for ... " ( もしも君が願うのなら , Moshimo Kimi ga Negauno Nara ) , was sung by Japanese singer May 'n . Its theme was the reason soldiers fought , in particular their wish to protect what was precious to them rather than a sense of responsibility or duty . Its lyrics were written by Seiko Fujibayashi , who had worked on May 'n on previous singles . 
 
 = = = Release = = = 
 
 In September 2010 , a teaser website was revealed by Sega , hinting at a new Valkyria Chronicles game . In its September issue , Famitsu listed that Senjō no Valkyria 3 would be arriving on the PlayStation Portable . Its first public appearance was at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show ( TGS ) , where a demo was made available for journalists and attendees . During the publicity , story details were kept scant so as not to spoil too much for potential players , along with some of its content still being in flux at the time of its reveal . To promote the game and detail the story leading into the game 's events , an episodic Flash visual novel written by Fujii began release in January 2011 . The game was released January 27 , 2011 . During an interview , the development team said that the game had the capacity for downloadable content ( DLC ) , but that no plans were finalized . Multiple DLC maps , featuring additional missions and recruitable characters , were released between February and April 2011 . An expanded edition of the game , Valkyria Chronicles III Extra Edition , released on November 23 , 2011 . Packaged and sold at a lower price than the original , Extra Edition game with seven additional episodes : three new , three chosen by staff from the game 's DLC , and one made available as a pre @-@ order bonus . People who also owned the original game could transfer their save data between versions . 
 Unlike its two predecessors , Valkyria Chronicles III was not released in the west . According to Sega , this was due to poor sales of Valkyria Chronicles II and the general unpopularity of the PSP in the west . An unofficial fan translation patch began development in February 2012 : players with a copy of Valkyria Chronicles III could download and apply the patch , which translated the game 's text into English . Compatible with the Extra Edition , the patch was released in January 2014 . 
 
 = = Reception = = 
 
 On its day of release in Japan , Valkyria Chronicles III topped both platform @-@ exclusive and multi @-@ platform sales charts . By early February , the game sold 102 @,@ 779 units , coming in second overall to The Last Story for the Wii . By the end of the year , the game had sold just over 152 @,@ 500 units . 
 Famitsu enjoyed the story , and were particularly pleased with the improvements to gameplay . Japanese gaming site Game Watch Impress , despite negatively noting its pacing and elements recycled from previous games , was generally positive about its story and characters , and found its gameplay entertaining despite off @-@ putting difficulty spikes . 4Gamer.net writer Naohiko Misuosame , in a " Play Test " article based on the game 's PSN demo , felt that Valkyria Chronicles III provided a " profound feeling of closure " for the Valkyria Chronicles series . He praised its gameplay despite annoying limitations to aspects such as special abilities , and positively noted its shift in story to a tone similar to the first game . 
 PlayStation Official Magazine - UK praised the story 's blurring of Gallia 's moral standing , art style , and most points about its gameplay , positively noting the latter for both its continued quality and the tweaks to balance and content . Its one major criticism were multiple difficulty spikes , something that had affected the previous games . Heath Hindman of gaming website PlayStation Lifestyle praised the addition of non @-@ linear elements and improvements or removal of mechanics from Valkyria Chronicles II in addition to praising the returning gameplay style of previous games . He also positively noted the story 's serious tone . Points criticized in the review were recycled elements , awkward cutscenes that seemed to include all characters in a scene for no good reason , pacing issues , and occasional problems with the game 's AI . 
 In a preview of the TGS demo , Ryan Geddes of IGN was left excited as to where the game would go after completing the demo , along with enjoying the improved visuals over Valkyria Chronicles II . Kotaku 's Richard Eisenbeis was highly positive about the game , citing is story as a return to form after Valkyria Chronicles II and its gameplay being the best in the series . His main criticisms were its length and gameplay repetition , along with expressing regret that it would not be localized . 
 
 = = Legacy = = 
 
 Kurt and Riela were featured in the Nintendo 3DS crossover Project X Zone , representing the Valkyria series . Media.Vision would return to the series to develop Valkyria : Azure Revolution , with Ozawa returning as director . Azure Revolution is a role @-@ playing video game for the PlayStation 4 that forms the beginning of a new series within the Valkyria franchise . 
 
 = = = Adaptations = = = 
 
 Valkyria Chronicles 3 was adapted into a two @-@ episode original video animation series in the same year of its release . Titled Senjō no Valkyria 3 : Taga Tame no Jūsō ( 戦場のヴァルキュリア３ 誰がための銃瘡 , lit . Valkyria of the Battlefield 3 : The Wound Taken for Someone 's Sake ) , it was originally released through PlayStation Network and Qriocity between April and May 2011 . The initially @-@ planned release and availability period needed to be extended due to a stoppage to PSN during the early summer of that year . It later released for DVD on June 29 and August 31 , 2011 , with separate " Black " and " Blue " editions being available for purchase . The anime is set during the latter half of Valkyria Chronicles III , detailing a mission by the Nameless against their Imperial rivals Calamity Raven . The anime was first announced in November 2010 . It was developed by A @-@ 1 Pictures , produced by Shinji Motoyama , directed by Nobuhiro Kondō , and written by Hiroshi Ōnogi . Sakimoto 's music for the game was used in the anime . 
 The anime 's title was inspired by the principle purpose of the Nameless : to suffer in battle for the goals of others . A subtitle attached to the project during development was " The Road to Kubinka " , which referenced the Kubinka Tank Museum in Moscow . The game 's main theme was how the characters regained their sense of self when stripped of their names and identities , along with general themes focused on war and its consequences . While making the anime , the production team were told by Sega to make it as realistic as possible , with the consequence that the team did extensive research into aspects such as what happened when vehicles like tanks were overturned or damaged . Due to it being along the same timeline as the original game and its television anime adaptation , the cast of Valkyria Chronicles could make appearances , which pleased the team . The opening theme , " Akari ( Light ) -Tomoshibi- " ( 灯 @-@ TOMOSHIBI- ) , was sung by Japanese singer Faylan . The ending theme , " Someday the Flowers of Light Will Bloom " ( いつか咲く光の花 , Itsuka Saku Hikari no Hana ) , was sung by Minami Kuribayashi . Both songs ' lyrics were written by their respective artists . 
 Two manga adaptations were produced , following each of the game 's main female protagonists Imca and Riela . They were Senjō no Valkyria 3 : Namo naki Chikai no Hana ( 戦場のヴァルキュリア3 名もなき誓いの花 , lit . Valkyria of the Battlefield 3 : The Flower of the Nameless Oath ) , illustrated by Naoyuki Fujisawa and eventually released in two volumes after being serialized in Dengeki Maoh between 2011 and 2012 ; and Senjō no Valkyria 3 : -Akaki Unmei no Ikusa Otome- ( 戦場のヴァルキュリア3 -赤き運命の戦乙女- , lit . Valkyria of the Battlefield 3 -The Valkyrie of the Crimson Fate ) , illustrated by Mizuki Tsuge and eventually released in a single volume by Kadokawa Shoten in 2012 . 
 
 