I'd like to mention however, that while I haven't fully played neither VC or VC4, anyone who plans on playing both should start with the original. As is common with alternate perspective stories, VC4 likely assumes you played the first game alreadg so any plot points or twists that happen in the original might be treated really casually in 4.
Not saying that you are wrong because I haven't play Valkyria Chronicles on my end as well and I am only at chapter 3 of Valkyria Chronicles 4. From the breif plots I have seen on Valkyria Chronicles Wikipedia page I can safely say that there is no problem with going either of these two games due to the fact that Valkyria Chronicles 4 is basically going back to the same gameplay as the first but with new stories and characters. As for VC2 and VC3 is a whole other thing to discuss, but for gameplay I can say the same too.
Here's a Region Locked video of Valkyria Chronicles 3, I really want this to be remastered, and it better be on Switch.
Both are on the Switch anyways thankfully, though I don't know if they have physical releases.
Though with how much I'm enjoying the original, I'll be sure to buy VC4 when I finish it. Let's just say playing on a laptop isn't the most optimal way to go about it(and it's a miracl my computer even runs it lol)
Nope, Valkyria Chronicles currently has no physical release yet on Switch, but buying it digitally isn't a bad thing since it's only around 7GB.
If you have a Switch, go and download VC4 Demo right now, the demo is so good that it basically gives you the full gameplay experience and let's you progress up to chapter 2. You can even grind in the demo on the story and skirmish maps before getting the game, that's what I did and I currently have no problem when playing story and skirmishes when I finally got the full game.
I also tried the Bonus Mission after you complete the demo, didn't get anything good though... the mission was moderate difficult due to the Grenadiers...
And no offense but man I guess your laptop is a potato like mine? The game requires at least 2GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForece GTS 240, I bet the game will only poorer than on my Switch... then again I can see why you get VC1 on Steam since it's 10 dollars cheaper than the Switch version for now.
As for VC4 though, yeah it has more higher spec requirements... I wouldn't bother to buy this game on Steam, Switch version is enough for me.