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Shaezerus posted:I hope we get an eventual LP of OGs2 just so everyone at large can "appreciate" the Clusterfuckebein in all its Do Not Steal glory. Isn't OGs 2 the one with Kenshiro, giant mecha version amongst other things? Also, can I have the proper name for the Clusterfuckebein so I can do an image search? You got me curious.
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Oct 18, 2014 12:02
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Omobono posted:Isn't OGs 2 the one with Kenshiro, giant mecha version amongst other things? Burnkwaran, burn burn burn-burn-buuuuurn.
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Oct 18, 2014 12:16
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Omobono posted:Also, can I have the proper name for the Clusterfuckebein so I can do an image search? You got me curious. I'm pretty sure they're referring to the EX Exbein there. (The G-Burnkwaran is the Kenshiro Mecha, if you wanted to look that up, too.)
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Oct 18, 2014 12:45
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KataraniSword posted:(The G-Burnkwaran is the Kenshiro Mecha, if you wanted to look that up, too.) Hm? G-Burnkwaran is much more a "Banchō" mech so, if anything, an anime example would be closer to Jotaro Kujo. Folka is Kenshiro and he's in OG Gaiden.
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Oct 18, 2014 13:32
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Omobono posted:Isn't OGs 2 the one with Kenshiro, giant mecha version amongst other things? You might be thinking of Ialdabaoth, from OG Gaiden. The proper name for Original Hückebein Do Not Steal is EX Exbein. A couple people I know prefer "Excessbein" and I can't quite argue with that. Gyra_Solune posted:I do like its previous unupgraded form, though, it's one of the most effective patchwork mechs yet is so stylish in how it just looks like it has superweapons hastily bolted on it. Sadly it then gets cleaned up and upgraded and loses a lot of its charm. I love the Ashe and its silly Diend visor, I love 22nd Child with its ominous buttrock guitar, the dude's upgrades are just so disheartening. Shaezerus fucked around with this message at 13:43 on Oct 18, 2014 |
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Oct 18, 2014 13:41
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The Ex exbein makes me sad because like many, I liked the Ashe, and it's just... really drat ugly. And it's literally the most overpowered mary sue suit in a series of overpowered self-insert suits. That being said, apparently that's the point. IT's just that the point sucks Also a certain set of pilots get hosed by it, but hey I'm thinking next Ryusei mission is going to make us all smile Grungust Zan!
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Oct 18, 2014 18:18
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The Excessbein is piloted by the most Original Character Do Not Steal kind of guy in the entire series. Which is really saying something considering that almost the entire cast is made of that sort of the character. Having a completely stupid mech pushes him past stupid and into just hilariously ridiculous.
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Oct 18, 2014 18:44
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The best part about Excessbein is that all of the junk on it was intended to be installed onto the unit in some form or fashion. What we get in-game is essentially a Plot-Induced Rush Job by its pilot that everyone shrugs at and goes along with.Shaezerus posted:I love the Ashe and its silly Diend visor, I love 22nd Child with its ominous buttrock guitar, the dude's upgrades are just so disheartening.
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Oct 18, 2014 23:37
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AradoBalanga posted:Both are good tracks, don't get me wrong. Is there really ANY character song in the OG games that is actually "bad"?
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Oct 19, 2014 10:32
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KataraniSword posted:Is there really ANY character song in the OG games that is actually "bad"? I absolutely despise Suzuka's theme in Endless Frontier. Does that count?
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Oct 19, 2014 17:33
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Kyosuke Route, Mission 11  We have a little cash and a new mech, so let's see what we can do with it. The Giganscudo, as you might have noticed last mission, is a tank through and through, and that's true even when it's not operating on cutscene power, so we're going to make it as tanky as we can. I max out HP and Energy and then get a start on maxing its armor.  Kyosuke's hogged a dozen or so kills since last time, so we put the Pilot Points to work by giving him an S rank in space.   On the skills front, Excellen gets Attacker and Bullet picks up the requisite Support Attack skill.   Kyosuke gets called to the bridge to discuss the unit's organization, which is long overdue given the additions (and loss) that the group has had. Tasuku's getting promoted to sergeant and assigned to Katina's squad; he may have failed the physical exam, but after the last mission he deserves a chance.   Meanwhile, Kyosuke's being appointed leader of the ATX team. Kyosuke tries to protest, but Sean points out that Bullet doesn't have the experience and Excellen... is Excellen. Sean suggests he think of himself as the second lieutenant taking over for the captain in an emergency, if it'll make it easier for him. He'll also be inheriting Sanger's old designation of Assault 1 - it's standard procedure in situations like this, but Sean also hopes that Kyosuke will rise to surpass the title's former holder.   In the simulator room, Katina is giving Tasuku the traditional Octo Squadron welcome. He's already begging for a break, but she's not letting him out of there until he's gone at least another ten rounds against her. Tasuku realizes that he needs to take drastic measures. Katina tells Russell to queue up the next exercise - only to discover that Tasuku has slipped out of the simulator pod without her notice. She yells at Russell to track him down, or he'll be going two hundred rounds with her next.   The escapee runs into Excellen in the briefing room, but soon discovers that there's no refuge to be had anywhere on the ship; saying that she has to do her part as an upstanding member of the team, she rats him out to Russell. "Katina might be part demon, but she's doing it all for your own good..."   "...I think." "You think?!"    Sean informs Lefina that the Hiryu Kai will be reaching the lunar sector in another hour. Her acknowledgement is subdued; the strain of the past few days is taking its toll on her. She's painfully aware that it's obvious to everyone, and knows she needs she needs to try harder to keep it hidden, like Kyosuke does.   Then Eun reports an incoming distress call. There's no indication of who the caller is, but there is a code... "ARGAN."  Mission 11: Moonlit Gun   Piloting the Look everyone, it's Space Hans!    Viletta thinks she should've taken the H2 like the director suggested. Siebel Mistral orders the Barrelions (twitch) to bring in the runaway PT at all costs - but don't worry about sparing the pilot. At the very least, Viletta can get some combat data for the enemies' new machine and her own.   Viletta vs. the world, 5 turns to make everything dead for the battle mastery. There's a couple new enemy toys on this mission. In the middle we have the Peregrine capital ship. On the outer edges we have Cosmolions, but they're generic models with 4200 health instead of the extra-beefy Treue models from the last mission.   Then we have these guys.  Viletta and Aya shop at the same pilot suit retailer, evidently.   The Barrelion has 7800 health, pretty good armor...    ...and a whopping 8-square range with a railgun the size of its entire body.  Also, here's Viletta's theme,   Enemy phase. The Peregrine is basically the Killer Whale of space...   ...with almost twice as much health. Also, these guys have the best accuracy on the map, pulling a natural ~40% on Viletta with Focus cast. How often does that happen?    Case in point, this is one of the Barrelions way in the back.   The guys right next to her fare a little better. They still miss.   One of the Cosmolions does manage to hit her, though. Luckily, their homing missiles don't hurt too much.   Turn 2, I keep moving up. There's asteroid cover all around the enemy forces here, which gives you a 20% bonus to defense and evasion. This is pretty important here, since the Barrelions' range means they can all shoot at you, and a 20%-ish hitrate (plus the more accurate attacks from the Peregrines) means that they will get lucky sooner or later.  And then you'll see this screen.   So stake yourself out in a spot like this instead.   Enemy phase, everybody goes after her again. Amusingly, Siebel has worse accuracy than the generic Peregrine captains. Viletta gets morale whenever she dodges, which means that before long...  ...she can use this baby.         The Metal Destroyer has the same range as the Barrelions and does great damage. Plus your mech turns into a giant gun just so that it can shoot things with itself. The Japanese name for it is Metal Genocider, which sounds like something a kid came up with to make his fantasy weapon sound super awesome. Which is probably appropriate for this series.  It's also appropriate because once you start using it, you have no choice but to use it against EVERYTHING  EVERYTHING  not you, even overkill has standards  EVERYTHING  EVERYwhat the gently caress do you mean i'm out of energy So yeah. The Metal Destroyer sucks up 50 energy every time you fire it, and the R-GUN doesn't actually have all that much energy out of the gate. Since you also need energy to move in space (at the rate of one unit per square), and since you only regenerate 5 units per turn, we're pretty much done playing with our toy for this mission.   Turn 3, one of Siebel's underlings tells him that the Hiryu's approaching. Deciding that there's no need to worry about sinking the Hiryu yet, Siebel orders his ships down to the lunar surface, while the remainder stay behind to engage our people. But don't worry too much about destroying the ship, he says, because he wants to do it himself. then why do you tell them to fight the hiryu  The Peregrines withdraw. Viletta deduces that they're most likely bound for the Moon Cradle, but the nearby enemies are the more immediate concern.   And then the cavalry arrives!  Radha yells at Viletta straight off that the R-GUN isn't combat-ready yet. (She knows.) We get a brief introduction, and Tasuku comments that she's certainly keeping her cool under the circumstances. Viletta merely says that emotions aren't much use in fighting the enemy (Excellen: "Wow! Hey Kyosuke, is she a relative of yours?"). Stepping into his new leadership role, Kyosuke orders everybody out to help her. Here's the lay of the map at this point. The enemy wing near our people is completely untouched, while Viletta mostly cleaned up her end during the blood-crazed orgy of violence last turn.  Mostly. We've got a bit of a problem... I already mentioned that her energy tank is now dry, but it turns out that her beam rifle was a 6-shooter, so she's down to an attack range of 1 for the remainder of the mission. I leave her be for the moment while I figure out what everybody else will do.  Viletta's obviously going to need help over there, so speed is of the essence; aggravatingly, only Kyosuke and Tasuku have Accelerate now.   On the other hand, I'm quite pleased with how Kyosuke's upgrades have been paying off.   Tasuku also has Strike, which he'll probably need. One thing about the Giganscudo is that most of its attacks have morale requirements. We're reduced to punching things at the moment, until those morale gains kick in.   The Gigan can punch pretty drat hard, though.   Oh, quit crying, you baby. You'll see a lot of this, too. Ploink!   Excellen softens up a second one. Everybody else ignores the Cosmolions and angles over diagonally, towards the lone Barrelion.   I didn't pick the best spot for Viletta. A thing about the Barrelions is that they have a blind spot at range 1; they can't hit you, which is nice, but you don't get to counter them on your turn either. If I'd sent her after the Cosmolion she'd be finishing it off now, even just using her beam sword.   I don't think Tasuku can dodge the Barrelions like Viletta can.  I don't think he needs to either. This is the bigass Barrelion gun that can kill other units in two or three hits, for reference.   This guy's three spaces away and Tasuku can't counter him.   I vent my frustrations on this poor bastard.  And now we have enough morale to use Sheath Thunder.     It's not noticeably stronger than punching, but at least it has some range.   Turn 4. Excellen moves up to provide some shooting-things support for the energy-challenged.   Kyosuke reaches the Barrelions and the carnage begins. Behind him, Bullet and Radha finish off the Cosmolions.   I couldn't let Katina go a mission without killing anything.  Yes, I used Valor to kill a guy with a thousand health. Because Katina.  Tasuku moves up and kills another Barrelion.   Finally, Viletta gets up in the remaining Cosmo's face. She should be just far enough away that the southern Barrelion goes for Excellen instead.   Enemy phase, things start off as planned.   Don't remember if I mentioned this, but now that we're in space, Kyosuke and Excellen have proper pilot suits in their attack cutins. Her suit is a little better than the SRX ones, although they still decided to fit it with a bustier for some reason.     Barrelion armor plus asteroids =    Ow. The dinky little hits from the Cosmos add up after a while. The R-GUN actually is a bit more heavily-armored than your typical real - not that there are a lot of "typical" reals in tis game.   Viletta retaliates by humiliating the enemy, killing him in turn with the dinkiest weapon imaginable.   Turn Last. Kyosuke kills one Barrel, and for the last...   Oh, let's show off another Giganscudo attack. Tasuku casts Luck first, because why not.         The Giga Wide Blaster has an massive range, so you'll want to use it all the drat time - but it's also an energy vacuum, so you can find yourself in the R-GUN's situation very quickly if you're not careful.   Here, there's no harm in playing around. Battle mastery get!   Back on the bridge, Lefina comments that things seem to have settled down, but Viletta can't agree with that assessment. Sean, too, noticed the enemy ships' descent to the moon - as Viletta says, they're most likely headed for the Moon Cradle. Radha asks what's become of Mao Industries, and her coworker gives her the bad news that the colonial forces have seized it. Allegedly, she didn't send the message sooner because she didn't want them making any rash decisions.   Tasuku says that this cool beauty is like the polar opposite of Katina, inviting promises of violence around the face and head. ("B... but I said 'beauty,' did you miss that part?" "If you're gonna grovel like a bug, don't say it in the first place!")   Radha ignores the idiocy and asks about the Mao staff. The colonial troops spared their workers in return for the prototype of the Huckebein Mk. II - and they want the technical staff's know-how for something big, so there's no immediate danger that they'll be harmed. The company president and director, meanwhile, escaped and headed for the Moon Cradle. Looks like our next destination is set... Next mission: 
Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 23:03 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 22:17
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Let me get this out of the way first: gently caress BARRELIONS FOR ALL ENTERNITY! Welcome to the most annoying recurring unit the OG games have to date. Oh yes, folks, you read that right: recurring. They still are kicking around in 2nd OGs, so get used to the Barrelions. And to top it off, the remake gave it an alternate model just for the extra gently caress you to the player much like how the Lions got stuff like the Landlion and Cosmolion. We'll be seeing those alts later on. In less annoying news, we now have the largest and heaviest unit deployable that's not a battleship on hand, the Giganscudo. As Seyser said, it's a bigass ball of HP and defense made for tanking hits. Unfortunately, Tasuku isn't quite the best pilot for it because he's a pilot that wants to be in something else. But for now, Tasuku having Accelerate is a boon to the Gigan because of how slow it is.
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Oct 19, 2014 22:55
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Your use of PP is weird and confusing to me, Seyser Koze. Not going for SP Regen first for everyone is a weird, weird thing...getting terrain ranks when you haven't gotten every skill you need even more. At least for my playstyle. And let me add another "gently caress Barrelions". Because seriously, those things are really, really annoying.
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Oct 19, 2014 23:12
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AradoBalanga posted:gently caress BARRELIONS FOR ALL ETERNITY! This, this right here. Barrelions are the literal worst, and it doesn't help in the slightest that they have the most HP of any non-custom Lion.
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Oct 19, 2014 23:13
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Blaze Dragon posted:Your use of PP is weird and confusing to me, Seyser Koze. Not going for SP Regen first for everyone is a weird, weird thing...getting terrain ranks when you haven't gotten every skill you need even more. At least for my playstyle. SP Regen isn't nearly as big a deal in OG1. You don't really have any boss marathons like you get at the end of the second game. Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 23:21
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Yeah, SP Regen in OG1 is really only for dedicated support. It's a crutch you really don't need most of the time. I tend to go for Attacker and Revenge first, but sometimes you just need a terrain ranking.
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Oct 19, 2014 23:44
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AradoBalanga posted:gently caress BARRELIONS FOR ALL ENTERNITY! Goddamn gently caress BARRELIONS. EDIT: but I'll say something, they warp so much a map that they make planning a Battle Mastery strategy easier: as long as you have a plan on how to deal with the fuckers efficiently all the other mooks fall in place quite naturally. Omobono fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 23:45
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MarsDragon posted:Yeah, SP Regen in OG1 is really only for dedicated support. It's a crutch you really don't need most of the time. I tend to go for Attacker and Revenge first, but sometimes you just need a terrain ranking. Mostly I was underwhelmed by how the Thruster Module worked out for Kyosuke on the previous mission and then remembered that S mech rank + A pilot rank still averages out to an A. Omobono posted:I see nothing wrong with a tanky enemy that can still have some dodge on anyone but the most precise of your pilots, that outranges all (ok, only most) your good weapons, that has miniboss-level HP, that spawns in flocks (murders maybe) of 10 to 15. They're mitigated in OGs by how stupid the AI is (at least in OG1), but there is still (twitch) that one mission. (twitch) Three missions from now on Ryusei's route. (twitch) (Don't spoil it.) Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 23:51 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 23:48
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Boy, I didn't notice until now how wrong this map is. The Earth is apparently less than 1000 km across, and there are now only two lagrangian points, both of which are on the wrong side. Brilliant.
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Oct 19, 2014 23:58
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Seyser Koze posted:They're mitigated in OGs by how stupid the AI is (at least in OG1), but there is still (twitch) that one mission. 
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Oct 20, 2014 00:40
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critical hit for the damage minimum posted:giganscudo.jpg
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Oct 20, 2014 00:55
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MarsDragon posted:Yeah, SP Regen in OG1 is really only for dedicated support. It's a crutch you really don't need most of the time. I tend to go for Attacker and Revenge first, but sometimes you just need a terrain ranking. Inspired by this thread, I did a runthrough of both routes in OG1, and decided not to buy SP Regen like I normally do. I didn't notice the difference. There were a couple missions where I ran dry on a couple characters because I was gunning for a skill point, but I had enough upgrades and a deep enough bench that it didn't matter. This freed me up to play a little more to each pilot's strengths.
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Oct 20, 2014 01:11
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I love the R-Gun because it's such a silly goddamn PT idea, yet the first time I used Metal Destroyer I had to pick my jaw up off the floor because goddamn an accurate description with a cool as hell transformation. Of course I say it's silly but it's not the silliest, and the sillier the idea the more amazing it seems to be in SRW so no complaints from me! At first I found the Barrelions intimidating when they arrive in numbers but now I don't mind so much, unless I'm mistaken they do tend to pay off with decent enough money for the blood sweat and anguish required to bring one down.
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Oct 20, 2014 01:39
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Metal Destroyer is cool because it makes the Barrelion look flaccid and incompetent in comparison. And for another
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Oct 20, 2014 01:43
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CaptainRat posted:Inspired by this thread, I did a runthrough of both routes in OG1, and decided not to buy SP Regen like I normally do. I didn't notice the difference. There were a couple missions where I ran dry on a couple characters because I was gunning for a skill point, but I had enough upgrades and a deep enough bench that it didn't matter. This freed me up to play a little more to each pilot's strengths. Yeah, OG2 is where they start doing things like throwing four bosses at you back-to-back or giving you a boss fight where the only grunt enemies are a dozen copies of the boss you killed the previous mission. TheLastRoboKy posted:At first I found the Barrelions intimidating when they arrive in numbers but now I don't mind so much, unless I'm mistaken they do tend to pay off with decent enough money for the blood sweat and anguish required to bring one down. Actually it's 2500 Space Era Bitcoins instead of, say, 2000 for a Cosmolion that Kyosuke or Katina could one-shot. Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 01:44
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Seyser Koze posted:Mostly I was underwhelmed by how the Thruster Module worked out for Kyosuke on the previous mission and then remembered that S mech rank + A pilot rank still averages out to an A. This isn't true, by the way. Try that Thruster Module on someone else and check your status screen-- it pretty clearly says S + A= S, unless things are different between the OG1 and OG2 half of OGs (I had to load an OG2 save to check). Son Ryo fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 02:08
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Seyser Koze posted:Yeah, OG2 is where they start doing things like throwing four bosses at you back-to-back or giving you a boss fight where the only grunt enemies are a dozen copies of the boss you killed the previous mission. Really when we get to OG2 the differences between it and OG1, and why I think OG1, for all intents and purposes is a better designed GAME even if the features in said game were inferior to 2. Not to mention all of those boses retreating like a bunch of Guffawing morons, hope you're on Special Mode and a third playthrough.
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Oct 20, 2014 11:33
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Have to admit, I had no idea you'd run out of energy so fast with the R-Gun. I liked the setup for it too.
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Oct 20, 2014 16:38
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Glazius posted:Have to admit, I had no idea you'd run out of energy so fast with the R-Gun. I liked the setup for it too. In OG1, you've only really got three huge EN sinks that you have to worry about : Metal Destroyer, the Hagane's cannon, and Excellen's loving beam rifle. It's infuriating how frequently I seemed to run out of steam with Excellen and had to resort to the shorter-ranged ammo shot. EDIT: Well, no. Combination attacks are the last huge EN drain, I think. KataraniSword fucked around with this message at 21:36 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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Oct 20, 2014 21:33
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KataraniSword posted:In OG1, you've only really got three huge EN sinks that you have to worry about : Metal Destroyer, the Hagane's cannon, and Excellen's loving beam rifle. It's infuriating how frequently I seemed to run out of steam with Excellen and had to resort to the shorter-ranged ammo shot. It's not just the big things, actually. A couple tanky machines have barriers that help absorb/nullify damage at around 10 EN a pop. So you sit back while Kusuha laughs at an entire army while their attacks bounce off harmlessly, then your turn rolls around and you have 150 morale and 5 energy left.
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Oct 21, 2014 02:49
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Ryusei Route, Mission 12 We have too much money, so we'll start off by getting rid of some. We just had a new addition to the team, so it's time to blow some cash on it. Cybuster (okay fine, I'll spell it with a C) needs to not get hit by stuff, ever, so we dump the money into maxing out its mobility - and since its Akashic Buster attack uses energy, the rest goes there.   We also throw on a Servomotor for a negligible increase to mobility and a Dualsensor for some increased accuracy. Then we stick an Apogee Motor on the Hucky 009 for a little more movement. (Due to circumstances we're not actually going to use the 009 this mission.  )  Rai's just been called to Daitetsu's quarters. He can already guess what the captain wants to talk about, but Daitetsu doesn't doubt his loyalty, only his resolve; can he really fight against his own family? It would be a lie to say that Rai has never thought about this, but he joined the Federation to cut his ties with his family, and thus he can't hesitate to fight. That will have to be his proof of his resolve. Satisfied, Daitetsu tells Rai that he's dismissed.   No sooner does Rai step out the door than he runs into Aya, who's arrived at the conclusion that he might be forced to leave the ship. He tells him that no, he fights for his own beliefs, and the captain saw no reason to put him off the ship for that - and Aya can just relay the message to that guy skulking in the corner when she sees him next. (Ryusei is bad at hiding.) Also, Rai says, if that black mech of his brother's should put in another appearance, he doesn't intend to hold anything back; if one of them should happen to shoot it down instead, he won't hold it against them.   He leaves, and Ryusei exits his not-hiding place to talk with Aya. As he just heard, Rai's in a rather... complicated state at the moment. By now Ryusei realizes that Rai doesn't talk about himself - like with the story of the Huckebein's accident, which he had to hear from somebody else. One way or the other, whether he wants it or not, Aya says, the two of them need to be there to offer their support; they're a team, after all. Ryusei readily agrees.  Rai getting called to Daitetsu's quarters is in the original, but this scene out in the hall is new.  Rio goes to see Kusuha in her room, having a favor to ask her. She'd mentioned three hours ago that she was going to be taking a bath, but she's still not answering the door. Rio walks in anyway, and is immediately stunned by the profusion of health products in the room. Turns out Kusuha was in there after all, having only just gotten out of the bath - she'd been reading a book in there for the past three hours. With her bridge duties, Rio doesn't have the luxury of anything like that - and even if she did, it'd just cut into her sleep time.   Eager to change the subject, Rio asks about all the other stuff in the room, blissfully unaware of the doom that is soon to befall the Hagane. Apparently Kusuha saw all this from a mail-order catalog before joining the military, and has a bit of an impulse buying problem. She tries to get Rio to partake of the Hyper Muscle Blade Special, some kind of massage device...   Eager to change the subject again, Rio asks Kusuha if she can help him find Masaki. While she was guiding him around the ship, he somehow got lost. During a guided tour. Elsewhere...   "Seriously? Figures, Masaki's sense of direction getting us in trouble now. Or lack thereof." "How did we get lost in the middle of the ship?" "And Rio was leading us around, too. Is this even possible?" "You could put up signposts and it still wouldn't make any difference with him."   Masaki has had enough abuse and tells them to shut up, wondering who the hell designs a ship as a maze of twisty passages, all alike. Shiro suggests that they should at least be able to find their way to Cybuster...   Speaking of which, Ryusei and Aya are checking out said mech right now. Ryusei's doing his usual, and Aya's starting to have a hard time figuring out what's special about any given robot, seeing as how he has the exact same reaction to all of them. Ryusei protests that he actually has very high standards in robot awesomeness. Aya challenges him to name one that didn't meet those standards. He racks his brains, and...     Robert has just finished his examination of Cybuster, and he's pretty much ecstatic; the structure and joints are right up there with Tesla-Reich's standards, but the drive system and power source are out of this world. Perhaps literally, but in any case they're completely beyond his expertise, and this Masaki must be some kind of genius to be able to handle it. Still, there's no trace of recognizable EOT in its systems, so it's probably not an alien mech - yet it's so different from the Federation and DC design conventions that it's unlikely to a secret weapon of theirs, either. It looks like we'll have to ask Masaki for the full explanation...   Speaking of secret weapons, Ryusei's heard that Tesla's Grungust series are honest-to-God super robots. Why aren't they using them? According to Rob, all of their R&D is in North America - which is now firmly under DC control. Ryusei always wanted to pilot a mech like that, even if he understands the circumstances they're facing. Don't lose hope, Rob says; he'll get his chance. The original includes a short little blurb on all of the Grungust machines and where they are currently, which is omitted here.  For the moment, things are relatively quiet for the Hagane. Ever since the ship took the base at Wake Island, the enemies haven't been harassing them. Neither Tetsuya nor Eita is foolish enough to think that that's the end of it; the enemy won't underestimate them again, and is doubtless planning to meet them with something bigger next.   "By the way, where did that Masaki boy go?" "I heard from Rio... that she can't find him." "She can't? Did he leave the ship?" "No, sir, she was pretty sure that he's lost somewhere on the ship." " "Much as we'd all love to mock Masaki some more, there's an alarm bell to worry about.   There's a distress call from unit T3 - a Tausendfussler from Langley. The base has fallen to the DCs, meaning that this is either an escapee... or a trap. They do have an incoming transmission, though, and it's requesting that Lt. Kazahara be sent to meet the approaching transport at once.   In the hangar, Irm's forgoing his mech in favor of one of the Messers - to the befuddlement of Giado, who figures he'll be a sitting duck out there. Irm barely seems to hear the other pilot's complaints, though; he's too busy fuming over how these ridiculous demands are "just like him." He runs off to hop in a plane, and neither Giado nor Ryusei nor Rai can make any sense of what's come over him. They could catch up to him if they took jets of their own, but they'd still be no match for the DCs' armored modules.   At that moment Masaki runs in and volunteers to go. It seems he's stumbled upon the hangar in the nick of time, although when he's asked where the hell he's been, his attempts to play it cool don't go over well with the cats. Figuring that if there are DC enemies, one of them may know where Shu is, he orders the cats into his machine and takes off.  Mission 12: Grungust, the Supreme Warrior   Elzam's had a stroke of luck, running across such prized game on his way back from another mission in Japan. If this transport is the one Sanger told him of, it contains one of the new "super warrior" machines like the Type-0 - a great boon to the Divine Crusaders' military forces, if they can capture it. One of the DC mooks warns of an enemy craft entering the local airspace.   Of course it was Irm's father Jonathan who requested his son's deployment. Irm isn't in the mood for his casual banter at a time like this, so he gets right to the point - he wants Irm to land on the transport. He's got something for him; a present, he says. Irm is dubious, to say the least. Jonathan tries to point out that this is hardly the first time Irm's gotten a present from him. Irm certainly hasn't forgotten the rocket-booster-equipped three-wheeler that transformed into a bicycle - it nearly got him killed, more than once! Still, it looks like there's no choice - he's at a disadvantage flying around in this jet.   Masaki catches up to Irm a moment later. Irm has to apologize for dragging him into trouble like this, but he'll need Masaki to keep the enemy off him until he's managed to land on the transport. If he has any complaints, he can direct them to his dad.   Elzam recognizes this new machine as the one Professor Shirakawa described. A weapon from another world... he'll just have to see how Trombe fares against it.  Objectives. We need to get Irm to the Tausendfussler. The battle mastery requirement is to take Elzam out within 6 turns.   And here's our typically waterlogged map. Irm and Masaki are to the west, while the Tausendfussler is way over on the right. Nothing new to see here - a few Lions, Schwert jets, and Sealions, with two Killer Whales and Elzam's Guarlion Trombe blocking our path.   I guess we should get started. Cybuster has the ability to transform into the Cybird, a form with increased movement range and mobility but reduced offensive power. In the interests of getting over there quickly, that's what we're using for the moment. Masaki begins with Focus and Alert; on a hunch I'm starting off with Alert and not attacking this turn.  I have Irm do the same and move forward, but we'll be relying pretty heavily on luck to keep him alive.   On our first enemy phase my hunch pays off; Elzam goes first and goes after Cybuster. The Guarlion Trombe is equipped with Spider Nets, which are quite accurate and greatly reduce your movement if they hit you (a slight problem on this map), but since Masaki's Alert is still in effect he just sticks to basic machine guns instead.   Elzam wants to see what Cybuster can do; Masaki is surprised that he recognizes him.   No surprises there.   Afterward, Elzam readily tells Masaki that Shu was the one he heard about Cybuster from; the Granzon's pilot warned him that a mech piloted by a boy would be pursuing him at some point. Masaki is pissed that Shu is still toying with him, even up here. Seeing the depth of his hatred for the man, Elzam says that his family has a motto. Fury can be a source of strength, but at the same time can cause one to lose oneself; therefore, one's heart must always be as ice. Like his brother, Masaki could stand to learn this. Masaki doesn't care about his preaching, and just wants to know where Shu is. Elzam simply tells him to remain with the Hagane, and he'll have his answer soon enough.   These are the numbers people will pull against Masaki for the rest of the mission. In Cybird mode he's stuck using his weak Caloric Missile attack against anything that's more than three spaces away, but we'll be at this for a couple of turns, so there's plenty of time to finish enemies off.   Enemies on Irm's side mostly come after him from out of range. Those dodge rates aren't very promising, especially since he's in a fragile Messer, but choosing to evade during combat can bring them down to ~10 percent. Thankfully, nothing of real note happens this turn.   Turn 2. We're closing in now, so Masaki changes back into humanoid mode - which, unfortunately, leaves him with no post-movement attacks aside from his sword (and a couple of others that are morale-dependent). Irm moves up as well and takes out a jet.       Turn 2 enemy phase, the carnage begins. The nearby Lions go for Masaki, and now he can bring his High Familiars (read: catguns) to bear on the enemies, doing a much nicer chunk of damage. In Cybird mode they have a range of 3, but can be used after movement, whereas in Cybuster mode they have a longer range but can only be used pre-movement. Go figure.  In any case, he kills one Lion and damages two more.   Irm dodges a couple shots from out of range and pings a Sealion for minimal damage.   And the three jets go after the transport and take off some health.   Turn 3, Irm goes for the transport (and fails to shoot down a jet on the way ).  "I'm here, old man. As you requested." "That's my boy! Now, feast your eyes... on THIS." "  ""Your present." "This... this is..."     It looks like Sanger's warning to Elzam was right on the money - this is the Grungust, which was supposedly stationed at Langley. Irm wonders why the hell his father didn't just come out and say this was his cargo; Jonathan brushes it off, telling his son to show everyone the power of the Grungust. Oh, and just one more thing --- the brainwave interface on the mech's flight control system isn't working properly, so it's been turned off. Irm isn't too happy about having to handle the thing manually, but Jonathan fires back "Would Ring Mao complain about a little thing like this?" Unexpectedly, this gets Irm to focus, and Elzam steels himself for battle...   With the first objective completed, we now just have to kill everything. So. The Grungust. It's big, it's beefy, it hits like a freight train transporting genetically-enhanced Chuck Norris clones.   And it transforms! Here's the Wing Gust, which is what you'll be using to get around during most of Ryusei's route because the Grungust doesn't handle so great underwater. Also there's a nice little screenshot confirming that S robot rank plus A pilot rank does equal S terrain rank after all.     I move Irm over to the south side of the Tausendfussler to handle the enemies there, while Masaki cleans up the north side.   Enemy phase. A bunch of guys go for Masaki and end up dead. Irm pewpews everybody around him. The Grungust can't really show its stuff until it has some morale under its belt, but luckily the jets fold up like nothing.  The Wing Gust's main attack is called the Big Missile. Creative Jonathan ain't.       It's not quite as destructive as I would like, but it does work out for us in the long run. The enemy phase ends with a bunch of dead jets and a bunch of low-health lions around Irm.   Turn 4, the Hagane shows up and launches its machines (after Ryusei's inevitable OMG A REAL SUPER ROBOT  outburst). Rai spots Elzam's mech at once, while for his part, Elzam hadn't expected to meet the Hagane again quite so soon. Now that the Hagane's here, the battle mastery changes - we get to choose between taking out Elzam or taking out everybody but Elzam within 6 turns. It says something about Elzam that killing the rest of his army is more realistic than fighting him.  The Wing Gust's performance is suffering a bit due to it not really being optimized for killing stuff that's underwater, so I transform it into the Grungust's third form: the Gust Lander. Unlike the machine's humanoid form, it handles great underwater, so I'm driving it right up to those Killer Whales and letting them have it.  This is the drill that pierces the ocean!      Not bad. Not the Grungy's best attack by a long shot, but it gets the job done for now.   Everybody else is a long, long way away from the action. Since the Hagane is closer to the targets than they are, I have them all pile in, essentially giving them two moves for the price of one.      The Hagane may not have a drill, but it has plenty of other weapons.  Masaki notices all those low-health Lions that Irm left behind and decides to do something about it. Garnet casts Bless, he casts Focus...   And then we let loose with a Cyflash.        We saw this in the cutscene last mission, but now it's ours. All ours. Cyflash is our first (technically second, but we didn't show off the Giganscudo's yet so it doesn't count) MAP weapon, and it's probably the best one in the game. It takes 120 morale to use and a big whack of energy, but it hits EVERYTHING within four squares of Cybuster, doesn't hit allies, and can be used after moving. It's pretty awesome, and you can bet I'll be upgrading the crap out of it. Eventually.  And Bless/Luck/Cheer/Gain affect everything you kill with it. 11200 spacebucks for killing three Lions isn't too shabby.   Enemy phase. Killer Whale #1 just can't get enough of that drill. (Also, the last surviving Sealion went after Irm even though Masaki was closer, so this mission has smarter-than-average AI. Not smart enough though, since it still died.)       Killer Whale #2 is out of drill range and gets cannon fire instead. And Elzam isn't attacking at all.   Turn 5, we've just got the two Killer Whales left. Like when he attacked us back at the Far East base, Elzam is probably technically killable here, but he gets Elzam-quality dodge rates and we realistically only get a turn or two to beat on him. Plus the Killer Whales are worth more cash.     Rai (who has Accelerate and doesn't need to ride the Hagane) gets another Blessing from Garnet and finishes off sub #1.         Masaki breaks out the Akashic Buster for sub #2. Aside from the High Familiars, this is Cybuster's other main workhorse attack - it has a morale requirement, but does good damage and has a reasonable energy cost, so it can be used a number of times before going dry.   And then Irm gets another Garnet-Blessing and changes back to the Grungust to show off another attack.       This is the Keitoragouken, whose kanji I cannot parse for the life of me so I'm just going to go with the Atlus "Calamity Sword" translation. You'd think it would be a dynamic kill, but no, not this time.   Elzam acknowledges our success, but says that we're still no match for the Divine Crusaders. His duty has not yet been discharged. He asks his fallen comrades' forgiveness, vowing that their sacrifice will not be forgotten. He leaves, and with the area clear of enemies, T3 is clear to receive landing clearance for the Hagane.   Robert and Jonathan exchange relieved greetings. Garnet wants to know who she's looking at, and Rio fills her in - he's the Grungust's developer at Tesla-Reich and Irm's father. Hearing this, she sizes him up approvingly.   Kusuha asks if Jonathan has injuries, and he tells her not to worry - her beautiful smile is all he needs right now. Rio has to warn her not to fall for his pick-up lines. Robert comments that Jonathan never changes, but Jonathan's just jealous that Robert gets to share a ship with all these lovely ladies; if only he could stay...   The family resemblance is becoming clearer and clearer to Rio and Garnet. Irm has just walked in and takes issue with that comparison. He goes straight up to his father, wanting to know why he didn't tell them about the Grungust earlier. Jonathan just says that every super robot needs a dramatic entrance, then proceeds to lecture Irm about how he's not getting the Grungust to show its full potential yet - at this rate all Master Rishu's hard work will go to waste! Irm tells him to make with the adjustments already, in that case, sparking another unfavorable comparison between him and Ring Mao. Rio's ears perk up at this, as Ring is a bit of a personal idol to her due to her reputation as an ace pilot. Given that she's now a company president, Irm can't really disagree with the praise.   This is Robert's first chance to ask about Langley's capture, so Jonathan gives us the news of the base's fall and the Federation defections - including that of Major Sanger Zonvolt. By Garnet's count, that means all the Aggressors but Major Kitamura have joined the Divine Crusaders! (Poor Gilliam.) As for Kyosuke, Excellen, and Master Rishu, their fates are unknown - but they're talented pilots and Jonathan doubts they'd go down so easily.   Evidently Jonathan has had enough of the somber discussion, and briskly asks the lovely lady if she'd be kind enough to show him to the bridge. By that he means Rio, and when she realizes it she's only too eager to agree. Looks like she's not immune to pick-up lines herself...   Stopping in briefly on the bridge, Jonathan lets Daitetsu know that he's dropping off two Gespenst Mk. II units (oh boy) in addition to the Grungust. After this he'll be on his way to the Far East Base, where they're working on the Grungust Type-2; hopefully he can lend some of his own expertise to their efforts, since Robert has things well in hand around here. He and Daitetsu bid each other farewell.  We get some more stuff, including another shotgun! Now I don't know what to spend my money on. Next mission: More Barrelions! 
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Oct 25, 2014 02:49
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It's actually pretty feasible to shoot down Elzam here. It's a well-designed mission, you get the tense first part, then you get the Grungust and Masaki and Irm probably have enough will to start tearing poo poo up. Irm should easily have enough will for Keitoragouken, and that plus a 10 SP Strike (and a little help from the Hagane folks) mean that Elzam's going down. ...if only the Killer Whales weren't worth more cash. Ask daddy for a bigger allowance, Elzam.
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Oct 25, 2014 03:37
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The trick is to leave a plane alive, take out everything but the plane and Elzam (including both Killer Whales), then take out Elzam for the skill point. Of course, it's rough to do on a first playthrough unless you plan ahead really well and get some lucky hits in on Elzam with Masaki early on.
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Oct 25, 2014 03:44
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Original Origins: The Lord of Elemental Debuting in Super Robot Wars 2, Masaki was the first Banpresto Original. We met him there pretty much as we meet him here: as some guy who randomly pops up during a mission, nukes half the map, rages about how much he wants to kill a guy named Shu, and then disappears again, only to pop up again later and join the team. The talking cats came later, but even at that early stage it was pretty clear that Masaki and Cybuster were the developers' babies; he could fly, he could transform, he had ranged weapons (reserved to a few units in SRW2), and Cyflash was the only MAP weapon in the game, even if the NES made it looks more like Cy-Gaseous-Eruption than anything. Masaki remained part of the team during SRW3. Then, in SRW EX, he finally got some exploration of his backstory, as all of our heroes traveled (involuntarily) to the fantasy kingdom of Langran in the subterranean world of La Gias. There they discovered that there were others like Masaki - gifted individuals from Earth, summoned to pilot magical machines called Elemental Lords in a battle across the fantasy world. As a couple of posters have already pointed out, this takes heavy inspiration from the 1983 series Aura Battler Dunbine, a series in which individuals possessing a large amount of Masaki remained a fixture of the original series through its conclusion in SRW 4. Then in '96, a dedicated Lord of Elemental game was released on the SNES. Since his role in Super Robot Wars began in medias res, this game filled in the rest of Masaki's story, beginning with his initial arrival in La Gias and proceeding through his return to the surface during SRW2, then skipping forward in time to the end of SRW4 and showing the resolution. (As mentioned a while back, this is also where Thomas Platt made his first appearance, as an ex-DC officer who had somehow made his own way to La Gias.) The Alpha timeline saw Masaki reprising his original-series role, which he played more-or-less faithfully through the end of Alpha Gaiden. Then he sort of faded out of the story by Alpha 2, much like the Divine Crusaders and PTX pilots did. Aside from a couple of appearances in crossover games, Masaki's other main source of screentime is the revived Lord of Elemental franchise (all five? games of it), mixing mecha action and wacky harem-anime "comedy" in a thoroughly way. One of these days I'll play them. Maybe.Masaki is voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, who's been a lot of characters and is also famously one of the biggest Super Robot Wars geeks on earth, to the point that he helps Banpresto to playtest their games. Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Oct 25, 2014 |
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Oct 25, 2014 03:48
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MarsDragon posted:It's actually pretty feasible to shoot down Elzam here. It's a well-designed mission, you get the tense first part, then you get the Grungust and Masaki and Irm probably have enough will to start tearing poo poo up. Irm should easily have enough will for Keitoragouken, and that plus a 10 SP Strike (and a little help from the Hagane folks) mean that Elzam's going down. It's certainly feasible to bring him down, I have enough people with Strike to probably do it, but it was late and I was like no.
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Oct 25, 2014 03:52
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Actually, thanks to the Lord of Elemental series (I think there's only 4...1,2,3 and F. I could be wrong), Masaki and Shu have perhaps the most complex rivalry and characterization of all the Banpresto originals.
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Oct 25, 2014 03:54
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Seyser Koze posted:Elzam says that his family has a motto. Fury can be a source of strength Oh boy, can it  This is the first time I see an use for the Gust Lander, I'll have to remember it. To be honest, every time I played OG1 I just stuck with the Wing Gust for movement and the Grungust for fighting (which it does awesomely, hell yeah Grungust). It's like Getter in other games, Getter-2 for movement, Getter-1 for fighting, Getter-3 gets ignored. Calamity Sword is somewhat more boring in the PS2 version than it was in the GBA one. In the GBA it was summoned from the sky by lightning and it was truly "super", now we learn it was just stored in the Grungust itself, and it's just not as cool.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:21
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Digital Jello posted:Actually, thanks to the Lord of Elemental series (I think there's only 4...1,2,3 and F. I could be wrong), Masaki and Shu have perhaps the most complex rivalry and characterization of all the Banpresto originals. I would love if someone could summarize the Masaki & Shu thing, in that I'm never going to play Lord of Elemental and I'm never sure how the storylines change when they move the mainline SRW arcs into OGs.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:37
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Blaze Dragon posted:This is the first time I see an use for the Gust Lander, I'll have to remember it. To be honest, every time I played OG1 I just stuck with the Wing Gust for movement and the Grungust for fighting (which it does awesomely, hell yeah Grungust). It's like Getter in other games, Getter-2 for movement, Getter-1 for fighting, Getter-3 gets ignored. Yeah, the Wing Gust gets a longer movement range, so given that the default strategy in SRW is "get to the enemies as fast as possible so that you can kill them in time to get the mastery point" it's going to get more use in general. On the other hand, you'll notice that the drill attack did more damage (in this instance) than Calamity Blade. The Gust Lander doesn't get too many chances to shine, so I may as well show it off while I can. There aren't exactly an abundance of aquatic enemies in the game - even on Ryusei's route, most enemies fly over the water instead of under it.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:45
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I think the Gust Lander also has the most defense of Grungust's 3 forms, so it's also useful when you really don't want the Grungust to die-- fittingly, mirroring the Daitank's use in other SRW games.
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Oct 25, 2014 06:56
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