We Want YOU for the Gallian Liberation Front!

Giuseppe Nelva October 5, 2011 12:00 PM EST

A few days ago I wrote an open letter to Sega, suggesting a couple ways they could use to localize games like Valkyria Chronicles III keeping the risks down and the profits up. In that letter, I promised that whoever started a group similar to Operation Rainfall to promote the localization of Valkyria III in the west, would have received my ax… ahem, my full support.

Little did I know that such a group already existed. The name is aptly chosen as Gallian Liberation Front, and you can find and like their rapidly growing facebook fan page here. Did I say “you can”? Let me rephrase that. You should. Or better, you must. They also have a blog, that can be reached following this link.

Speaking about things that you can/should/must do, there’s also a petition in place, steadily growing past the 1,800 signatures at the moment of this writing. I’m quite sure you’re already itching to sign it as well. I did.

What struck me positively when the admins of the Gallian Liberation Front contacted me, was their attitude towards Sega. When a developer doesn’t localize a game you really want, it’s easy to go overboard with the drama, or to take an antagonizing stance towards the “evil corporation”. We’ve seen it again and again since the internet has become widespread. The guys at the GLF refrain from that kind of attitude and keep a more level-headed and supportive stance, refusing any kind of boycott and support to piracy as means to achieve their goals.

When dealing with developers and publishers, no matter how much their choices may not be pleasing, constructiveness is a boon, and the Gallian Liberation Front nailed that kind of attitude to a T. That’s why I encourage you to support them. Their cause may look like a difficult goal to achieve, but they’re definitely approaching it in the right way.

If you don’t know about the Valkyria Chronicles franchise, let me enlighten you a little. The first two chapters of the series are both very solid games, sporting a lovely art style and a metric ton of content in a period in which games tend to be excessively short. An awesome storyline, deep and complex characters and one of the best war-torn settings I’ve seen in the last decade don’t hurt as well. Valkyria Chronicles is beyond any reasonable doubt one of the best RPGs on the PS3, and the same can be said about Valkyria Chronicles II on the PSP (even if it didn’t shine quite as much as it’s predecessor).

Valkyria Chronicles III returns to the same time frame of Valkyria Chronicles, featuring again the epic struggle between the immense power of the Empire and the small principality of Gallia. The game doesn’t only share the same period with the first one, but also the same quality (some say it’s even better), adding to it the enormous quantity of content that Valkyria II got us used to and mixing it with a very healthy amount of romance and plot twists.

The Extra Edition of the game will be released in Japan on November the 23rd, including three new episodes and all the preorder and downloadable content. What better occasion for a localization, or even more conveniently, an HD port of the game to the PS3 (maybe bundled with Valkyria II, since so many people obviously love bundles of PS2 and PSP games in HD, and fans of the series have wanted a new PS3 release for years), solving Sega’s worries about the unpopularity of the PSP platform and piracy in one stroke?

In a market that is trending towards stagnation on content that seem more and more shallow, a deep and rich game like Valkyria Chronicles III really deserves an English localization. That’s why DualShockers officially endorses the Gallian Liberation Front (and you’ll see how quite soon). In the meanwhile you can go join their facebook page and sign the petition. If you can, don’t stop there. Tweet about it, write on your own facebook or your own blog/website. Hell, you can even go as far as posting videos on Youtube. Be original and creative, everyone is welcome to help. On this we’re all on the same side.

The more you help, the more chances there will be to eventually see this gem translated in a language that we all can easily understand and enjoy.

And now, to wrap this up, I’ll leave you with the opening of the game to water your mouth (or your eyes, depending on how sensitive you are to a great song). For Gallia!