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 LATEST VIDEO: HerePLEASE DON'T POST SPOILERS Also, Feel Free To BUILD YOUR OWN WANZER And Laugh As I Flail About In It.png) Front Mission What? Front Mission Evolved is a spin off from the popular tactical combat series Front Mission. Released in 2010 and designed by Square Enix and Double Helix, the game boasts an interesting customization system, fast paced gun battles against overwhelming forces, and the occasional sortie outside your Wanzer (Short for WanderPanzer or walking armour) in third person shooter sections. Unlike the rest of the series, Front Mission Evolved is a third person action game in the same vein as the Armoured Core series which has many of the same features. Sweet! So you must like the game then? Erm... well unlike Armoured Core the game is... sadly it feels like a complete mess, mostly thanks to its batshit crazy story, but we'll find out about that in due course. From a gameplay standpoint, the game has potential. But once I'd finished the game, I felt insulted. Ooookay... Anything else we should know? A few things, first this game has multiplayer and I intend to explore that side of it later into the game. If any of you wants to get involved with that (God help you) Then hit me up on Steam (http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198003959055) and we'll figure something out. Hell, if enough people are interested I'll make a group for it. Otherwise myself and Arthur D Wolfe will be going head to head in one on one matches. It's worth noting as well, that I'm approaching this from the angle of someone who's never played any of the tactical games before. However, I will be trying for a 100% run of this game, collecting all the sensors, emblems and various other junk that they leave lying around for you. This may take time and my update schedule may be erratic. Wait, if you don't know anything about the series, why should we listen to you? I need my trivia and reference fix! Because Arthur D Wolfe, who does know about the series will be providing that trivia and extra information. You can find links to his posts below in the info post. Sounds reasonable. Any Thread Participation? Well if you're up for it, suggest a wanzer build and I'll take it for a spin, either online or in a mission. Or I'll run a previous mission with it. But that's the best I got. Can we talk about things we haven't seen yet? 'fraid not. Do not spoil anything. I might have played through this game before, but others haven't. Please don't spoil what little plot there is to this game. Games that came before it in the series are fair game however. Thank you. --- In case you're interested, a few of the previous games have been let's played. They can be found here in the archive, but here's some links anyway. Front Mission by Bob Smith Front Mission 3 by Smasher Dynamo Front Mission: Gun Hazard by Opendork --- So join me friends as we delve into this insanity. VIDEOS  Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy Polsy  Polsy Polsy PolsyEXTRAS  Polsy - takes place between the Boss Fight - Marcus Seligman and the Percival's Fall vidoes Polsy - An alternate take on the Warhero mission, featuring kung fu master Rylan Damsy. Tin Tim gifts us with the cliff notes of Gloria 
JohnOfOrdo3 fucked around with this message at May 20, 2013 around 11:12 |
| # ? Dec 9, 2012 15:05 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 18:36 |
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CHARACTER BIOS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE (Clicking their portrait will take you to a larger full body image of them. Enjoy!) Dylan Ramsey  An engineer working for Diable Avionics, the largest Wanzer construction and design company in the USN (United States of the New Continent) who seem to have only assigned two people to work on their super special new prototype. I can only assume this is because they're rear end retarded and don't check on their staff. That's the only way I can see Dylan getting away with installing a AI which can hack into military databases into his Wanzer. Dylan is cocky, hot headed, incredibly bland and doesn't seem to get that his actions have consequences. I hate him so much I want to puke. Amy Kohen  Adella Seawell  A sergeant in the U.S.N army, 72nd mobile division. From our first meeting with her it seems she's a bitchy feisty girl who don't take no poo poo from anyone and is clearly supposed to be a love interest. How they will manage this in a game where no one has more than one character trait remains to be seen. Oh wait, no they throw that out the window and take all her badass points and put them into psychologically damaged woman in need of rescuing. Classy. Captain Russell Hamilton  The only other member of the 72nd mobile division and Adella's immediate superior. Seems to have a sense of humour which raises him pretty high on my likeability scale. Also has magic cut scene ninja powers while in a Wanzer. Expect him to lose these at the first convenient opportunity (As soon as the cutscene ends). His Wanzer of choice is a Grapple. Marcus Seligman  The leader of "the most dangerous mercenary group" in the world Apollo's Chariot, which is why a mechanic with one of the worst Wanzer configurations in the game beats him easily. Apparently he was employed by someone to attack the NSRL (National Strategy Research Laboratory) so maybe he's just a construction worker with a flair for eccentric wrecking ball machines? Only time will tell. Lieutenant Yung-Tae-Hwang  A member of a Da Hah Zhong special ops unit which apparently took out a squad of our units (Although I reckoned the helicopter just crashed and they decided to have a bit of a nosy) He likes to quote Sun Tzu's Art of War to make himself sound like he knows what he's doing (he doesn't  ) Sneers a lot. Works with his partner Lieutenant Jed Gordon although it's hard to say who runs the unit since they're both the same rank.Lieutenant Jed Taylor Gordon  A member of the same special ops unit as Yung. Since he gives the orders I reckon he commands the squad although that just could be because Yung is too busy sneering to get any work done. He likes to operate with a sense of honour and is generally a pretty cool guy just for that. Plus he's Australian so I imagine he's gone into battle hammered many a time. Likes to get stuck in to the fighting since he faces us on the ground while Yung snipes at us. He, likes everyone else apart from Dylan, has special bullshit ninja powers which allow him to jump absurdly high while in a Wanzer. Godwin "Moses" Mosley  A high ranking officer in the USN army. Apparently Hamilton knows of him and respects him greatly. He also seems to know us for some reason (Probably because Diable Avionics put a hit out on Dylan for theft of company property and deserting his post.). He's not afraid to get involved in a fight either, taking up a machine gun to help fight off attackers at Fort Mondis.  The second member of Apollo's Chariot. Must have terrible back problems due to how she sits in a Wanzer. Seems to also enjoy wearing clothes too small for her. She might be the star of a internet webcam show being filmed from her cockpit. We'll never know... Cornelius Werner... Jesus!  The guy employing Apollo's Chariot to do... whatever it is they're doing (trolling us?) Seems to know Adella from somewhere and the mere sight of which seems to sap her of all usefulness. Also knows about the E.D.G.E. system. Whenever I see him I think this is what Scar from the Lion King would look like as a human. My favourite character in the game for being completely batshit crazy. But we'll get to that later... JohnOfOrdo3 fucked around with this message at Mar 30, 2013 around 14:48 |
| # ? Dec 9, 2012 15:06 |
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I like Giant Robots and awful voice acting and story. Sounds like fun.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 15:12 |
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Noice. From the first two updates it'd seem they're going after FM 3 (front mission, not football manager). Does it features multiple story branches too? EDIT: It's just me doing the  accent.Audio is fine even if in some occasion it overpowers you but nothing you can't fix with Autoduck in Audacity. ruttivendolo fucked around with this message at Dec 9, 2012 around 21:05 |
| # ? Dec 9, 2012 16:53 |
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I wish, that would have been cool. I'm afraid the story is linear and it seems to often skip out the bits you would have actually liked to play to get to their levels. Out of interest, what do you mean by noice? Is that nice misspelt or noise? I'm aware the audio overpowers me at times and I'm working to fix it in later updates, unfortunately the game has an auto save feature and to fix it in the posted videos I'd need to uninstall the game and start from scratch (Or I wouldn't be able to show where the sensors are) But if it's bad enough I will do.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 19:45 |
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I picked this up a while back for about £3 and haven't actally played it. It does seem rather fun so far. Though the speed of the action seems far too high for the size and weight of the wanzers. I preffer the Chrome Hounds style of plodding power personally.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 21:03 |
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Oh God, this game... Just to keep things in perspective on how batshit this story is going to be, one of the writers happens to be a certain Toriyama of Square-Enix infamy. Yeah.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 21:36 |
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MechaX posted:Oh God, this game... Square Enix does good and bad stuff so let me correct you: Motomu Toriyama of Final Fantasy XIII infamy. So I look forward to the insane convoluted story that doesn't really go anywhere. Well, at least giant robots are cool.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 21:45 |
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Well, the character models and performances seem pretty good so far. Sad that the story apparently doesn't live up to that standard.
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| # ? Dec 9, 2012 22:51 |
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As an old Armored Core fan, I'm liking the actual gameplay elements. Seems like there's a lot more freedom of movement, even if you don't have the flight capability most of the AC mechs had. Looking forward to the actual customization options, if it looks good I may have to pick this up on Steam, terrible plot or no. That sensor mechanic looks annoying as gently caress though. Is there ever an in-game explanation for what the gently caress they are and why the gently caress you're blowing them up? One last thing: What the hell is up with Amy's jumpsuit? The top part is reminescent of some sort of off the shoulder sweater, but she's also got a latex body suit thing on under it that goes up to her neck. Maybe. It kind of looks like it may be all one piece. And then she's got flaps hanging off her waist that make it look like she's undone part of her cover-alls, but they aren't really big enough to cover the torso all the way up and I'm not sure how they'd attach anyway. And that is a stupid hat she has on in her bio picture.
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| # ? Dec 10, 2012 01:41 |
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RickVoid posted:That sensor mechanic looks annoying as gently caress though. Is there ever an in-game explanation for what the gently caress they are and why the gently caress you're blowing them up? Nope, no explanation is given, same as there's no explanation about why punching tanks gets you payed $200, although that gets a little clearer in a few missions time, until then  Whooping Toff posted:I picked this up a while back for about £3 and haven't actally played it. It does seem rather fun so far. Though the speed of the action seems far too high for the size and weight of the wanzers. I preffer the Chrome Hounds style of plodding power personally. Chrome Hounds is an excellent game, a little light on story, but it's got solid controls and an excellent customisation system. Hell, I'd half considered doing a lp of that but I don't have a capture card. Plus I'd feel bad for cheesing the Artillery path by using sniper rifles, never could get the hang of the howitzers Ah, wicked. 
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| # ? Dec 10, 2012 19:42 |
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RickVoid posted:As an old Armored Core fan, I'm liking the actual gameplay elements. Seems like there's a lot more freedom of movement, even if you don't have the flight capability most of the AC mechs had. Looking forward to the actual customization options, if it looks good I may have to pick this up on Steam, terrible plot or no. Honestly, a lot of the costume designs in this game lean on the side of kinda dumb. Amy is one of the biggest offenders- Far as I can tell she is waring a bodysuit (which seems to be standard uniform for basically everyone. Over that she is waring a loose off the shoulder jumper. Her pants are dungarees. And her hat and hair are completely stupid for a mechanic. Especially one which works on giant death robots. On top of that she doesn't even look like she's ever heard of oil. Given how spotless she is. But then again this is a game made by Japan about the future. They have a tendency to go with odd costume choices.
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| # ? Dec 10, 2012 20:10 |
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Feels quite a bit like Gun Hazard for the 3D era, at least so far. I imagine when we see the loadouts I'll get a better idea. Does Wiz get weapon experience or similar?
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 05:46 |
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I'm a huge fan of Front Mission, so I'll just take a seat here. Never checked out Evolved, seems pretty cool so far. Not so hot on the new limb system, but I guess the game would be painfully hard without it. I like the increased use of melee though. The VA sure is something and all those collectibles sound like hell. On a personal note, you might want to lower game audio a tiny bit more when there's shootin going on. Would make you easier to understand during those parts.
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 14:17 |
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Every time anyone says WANzers I die inside. I bought this game just to try to help convince Square-Enix to bring more Front Missions games over to the US but after I played it I regretted it. If this is what they think we want then I'm sorry I encouraged them.
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 19:08 |
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I have this game on steam, but I never got very far in it. Ill try to play along.
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 20:09 |
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Belzac posted:Every time anyone says WANzers I die inside. as opposed to what? It's from wanderpanzer, walking tank. What else would you call them 
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 20:15 |
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Psion posted:as opposed to what? It's from wanderpanzer, walking tank. What else would you call them Maybe he means when someone says WAYN-zer instead of wahn-zer?
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 20:17 |
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lokipunk posted:Maybe he means when someone says WAYN-zer instead of wahn-zer? Ah, I see. Like the scrub in the intro, who practically says "wonzers" (as in wonton). This is the problem with trying to write out pronunciation 
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 21:33 |
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Psion posted:Ah, I see. Like the scrub in the intro, who practically says "wonzers" (as in wonton). No actually it's pronounced the entire rest of the series as Vahn-zair (you know, cause German). It shows a clear lack of research on the VA director's part when doing this game. But it is only one of the many flaws this game has.
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 21:36 |
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Belzac posted:No actually it's pronounced the entire rest of the series as Vahn-zair (you know, cause German). It shows a clear lack of research on the VA director's part when doing this game. But it is only one of the many flaws this game has. Not like I did any better, fairly certain I've been calling it a "Wanzer" since the first cutscene. Probably not going to remember to pronounce it differently either, if it gets too bad I think I've got a way around it. We'll see. So how many of you are fans of the front mission series?
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 23:01 |
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JohnOfOrdo3 posted:Not like I did any better, fairly certain I've been calling it a "Wanzer" since the first cutscene. Probably not going to remember to pronounce it differently either, if it gets too bad I think I've got a way around it. We'll see. I'm a pretty big fan with the only games I haven't played being 2, Alternative, and Online. The only localized games are 1, 3, 4, and Evolved. Gun Hazard is easy to emulate and has a nice translation. 5 got a good translation but you either have to have a modded PS2 or a computer that can emulate PS2 which can be tough. I think the same guys who made the translation for 5 made one for 2 but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 23:22 |
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JohnOfOrdo3 posted:Not like I did any better, fairly certain I've been calling it a "Wanzer" since the first cutscene. Probably not going to remember to pronounce it differently either, if it gets too bad I think I've got a way around it. We'll see. FM1 and 3, yes. This game, not so far I really do need to get around to playing FM4 and 5, I have access to both, but 
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| # ? Dec 12, 2012 23:35 |
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Psion posted:FM1 and 3, yes. This game, not so far 4 is fun, although the story gets a bit all over the place. But at least they pronounce "wanzer" properly. Keeshhound fucked around with this message at Dec 13, 2012 around 00:58 |
| # ? Dec 13, 2012 00:54 |
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Front Mission 5 never getting an official localization, while Evolved was even released at all is something I don't think I'll ever quite stop being bitter about. In general, Square's treatment of the Front Mission franchise outside of Japan was abysmal, so it really shouldn't surprise me that 5 got canned for international release. Knowing that it was all but inevitable doesn't make it less upsetting to me though.  Godspeed, JohnOfOrdo3. I got this game as a birthday present from another buddy who also likes Front Mission. I think we managed to finish it in one sitting. We also managed to get the people at Gamestop to let us do an exchange for something else on the same day.
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| # ? Dec 13, 2012 01:40 |
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fivegears4reverse posted:Godspeed, JohnOfOrdo3. I got this game as a birthday present from another buddy who also likes Front Mission. I think we managed to finish it in one sitting. We also managed to get the people at Gamestop to let us do an exchange for something else on the same day. You poor bastard, you could have sued them for trauma
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| # ? Dec 13, 2012 19:43 |
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Whoo boy. Dis is gon' be a doozy, let me tell you that much.
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| # ? Dec 13, 2012 20:35 |
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JohnOfOrdo3 posted:So how many of you are fans of the front mission series? Aside from 1, I really liked 3 and had fun with 4. I even enjoyed Gun Hazard. One of these days I'm going to take a look at that translation patch for 2, or rather at what's done. Kind of bummed that not all the games made it over here. I always liked FM for being about big robots while not being anime. Like, not goofy or over the top. Never got to check this one, so I'm interested. Though some of the comments have made me a little less optimistic.
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| # ? Dec 13, 2012 20:54 |
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JohnOfOrdo3 posted:Not like I did any better, fairly certain I've been calling it a "Wanzer" since the first cutscene. Probably not going to remember to pronounce it differently either, if it gets too bad I think I've got a way around it. We'll see.
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 00:50 |
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Arashiofordo3 posted:Honestly, a lot of the costume designs in this game lean on the side of kinda dumb. Amy is one of the biggest offenders- Not to defend the costume design for this game, but being a mechanic myself not every job is a dirty one. Judging by the stage direction that they went for I'm guessing Amy is just there to calibrate the Fire Control System or run onboard diagnostics or some poo poo. Having jumped onto this series from 4, I need to see how Square Enix took another cool franchise and systematically ruined it.
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 01:17 |
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JohnOfOrdo3 posted:Not like I did any better, fairly certain I've been calling it a "Wanzer" since the first cutscene. Probably not going to remember to pronounce it differently either, if it gets too bad I think I've got a way around it. We'll see. That's less your fault than it is the developer's though, assuming this was your first brush with the series. And you can count me in as another series fan; I love me some tactical RPG. So, this one was kind of on my poo poo list from the beginning.
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 01:19 |
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Strap yourselves in, everyone.  This game is special.
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 01:25 |
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I love the 180 Adella's personality does: "Civilians shouldn't be in this area  "and when you're helping her: "Oooooh nice. You destroyed one  "Does she ever stop being a bitch or is she going to be our ~kawaii~sugoi~tsundere~ love interest?
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 02:08 |
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I couldn't even get past the third level, I just shut it off, traded it in, and dug out my old copy of Front Mission 5. The game's not that bad, but the voice acting? Yeesh.
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 02:28 |
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SSNeoman posted:I love the 180 Adella's personality does: I don't know what most of those words mean (Let's see... super cute... so cool... something to do with being angry? errr... minus the cute for sort of pretty and just minus the cool and you've got it), but she's certainly supposed to be the love interest. Otherwise why would they have started the first shot we see of her on her crotch and chest? Oh Japan... Of course love is a bit of a strong word... mutual guilt maybe?
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 17:16 |
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JohnOfOrdo3 posted:I don't know what most of those words mean (Let's see... super cute... so cool... something to do with being angry? errr... minus the cute for sort of pretty and just minus the cool and you've got it), but she's certainly supposed to be the love interest. Otherwise why would they have started the first shot we see of her on her crotch and chest? Oh Japan... Tsundere is THE most irritating character stereotype Japan has ever spawned. The encyclopedic definition Anyhow, the game looks intriguing enough, I've been a fan of the series ever since my first dabble with 3 (coincidentally I actually finished re-reading the LP of it just yesterday  ) and even if this game is as bad as people seem to think, I guess I'm going to enjoy this LP.
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 18:28 |
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DonTirri posted:Tsundere is THE most irritating character stereotype Japan has ever spawned. Oh wow, yeah that's pretty much her down to a T. We'll get to see exactly what sort of bullshit magic merry-go-round her  character gets put through as the lp continues. It'll be an experience, I can tell you that
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| # ? Dec 14, 2012 19:03 |
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Ah this game... I think the game is fine in terms of mechanics, but the game loves to force you to use legs you have no interest in equipping, which dictates the rest of the mech's design. I happen to be a fan of Front Mission 4 and Armored Core. The story is pretty anime. I heard the multi-player was pretty broken by missile shielding. I also never took of the starting backpack. flight mode forever! Shadowed Bacon fucked around with this message at Dec 15, 2012 around 09:18 |
| # ? Dec 15, 2012 09:11 |
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Shadowed Bacon posted:I also never took of the starting backpack. flight mode forever! I'm fairly certain that without it you can't skate at all. I didn't take it for the legs mission you mentioned, and suddenly I couldn't skate or boost dodge, this was on hard mode as well, so I got my rear end kicked so many times because I couldn't get out the way or chase anyone down. It was pretty bullshit. So yeah, I may never take it off either.
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| # ? Dec 15, 2012 10:09 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 18:36 |
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To be fair, watching you attempt to flee from their punchy guys without boost on hard mode was completely hilarious. Almost magical to watch!
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| # ? Dec 15, 2012 10:17 |
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