Spent most of the weekend with Valkyria Chronicles.
Despite having a few misgivings at first, the gameplay quickly won me over and I'm now a complete convert. I've got to say, it's certainly one of the best reasons to own a PlayStation 3, and after having made it through a little less than half of the main campaign, I'm shocked that Sony didn't give it more of a push. It's far better than the majority of what's available for the PS3, it's a system exclusive, and it's got loads of both both style and substance.
Although Strat RPGs are still kinda niche, methinks the PR folks totally missed the boat on this one… maybe if they'd STFU about LittleBigPlanet for a few minutes, some other deserving titles like Valkyria could get a little press.
Now that the game's been lowered to $30 brand-new, do yourself a favor and go pick up a copy. It's the most exciting and well-done SRPG I've seen in quite some time, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
(And if you get a copy of Valkyria and like it, do yourself another favor and track down Konami's Ring of Red on PS2.
Last I checked, it could be had for $6-$10. Although it's a little more high-maintenance than Valkyria, it's still damned good and there are some definite similarities in the combat system.)
I may have to
I may have to pick this up at some point. I haven't dedicated the time to a console RPG in ages.