VC3 was a great experience and to be honest, I enjoyed this type of game more on a portable than a console. Since my PSP has been sitting idle for a while, I decided to play VC2 in the mean time. Now I'm really playing the series in reverse order and hopefully that won't be an issue as the 3 games are loosely connected. It does mess up the timeline quite a bit though.
Valkyria Chronicles on the PS3 is like the big-budget brother to the PSP siblings. In VC1, every dialogue was voiced and the character models were used even in the non-animated cutscenes. VC3 made some small compromises but the strong character design and artwork made up for the loss.
VC2 seems to be using a different art director compared with VC1 and VC3. The new style of character design is hard to get into after being so used to the original artist. The new characters pale in comparisons to the cast of VC1 and VC3. To top it off, their personality isn't great either. The lead character is supposed to be some underdog slacker but it's pretty hard to root for him.
As for the gameplay, in VC1 and VC3 you get to view your enemy's action as it unfolds during their turn. It may be boring for some players but I tend to use the time to put down the controller and take a quick break. It's always a nice surprise if you come back to find half your squad wiped off because of some poor decisions (lol). In VC2, you don't get to see your opponent turn at all as everything is simulated on the battle map (it doesn't zoom in on the characters). This speeds things up considerably but it's hard to improve and learn from mistakes when you don't get to see how the AI plays.
It's clear even from this point that VC2 isn't the best in the series. In fact it could have very well torpedo the series potential if it wasn't for VC3 righting the ship.
