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I'd hardly call this getting "damseled" when she only gets captured due to having just taken a hit saving her idiot squadmate's life.
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Apr 1, 2015 19:50
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Seyser Koze posted:I'd hardly call this getting "damseled" when she only gets captured due to having just taken a hit saving her idiot squadmate's life. I think the point is, it's always the girl who gets captured and has to be rescued by "her guy" (or another girl). It's a such a common trope and it's dumb to see it get played straight back-to-back like this.
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Apr 1, 2015 20:33
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Seyser Koze posted:I'd hardly call this getting "damseled" when she only gets captured due to having just taken a hit saving her idiot squadmate's life. She's still the one who gets kidnapped and has to be rescued. How is that not putting Excellen in the damsel in distress position?
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Apr 1, 2015 21:01
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I think ever since the route merge Ryusei's route has been pretty much consistently better than Kyosuke's. Especially now that one of the best parts of Kyosuke's route is probably not going to be appearing too much for the next few maps. Ryusei has a better connection to the events going on and has more interesting development happening, as up until this point Kyosuke's been pretty static and now it seems his opportunity for growth is just to save his kidnapped girlfriend, which is rather generic.
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Apr 1, 2015 22:08
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MarsDragon posted:She's still the one who gets kidnapped and has to be rescued. How is that not putting Excellen in the damsel in distress position? I don't consider getting captured synonymous with being a damsel-in-distress. Damsel-in-distress defines a character's role in the story. They get captured in order to give the hero somebody to rescue. It's why they're there, to be a Macguffin with tits. Excellen, on the other hand, has a firmly-established character built up over thirty missions that had nothing to do with her getting captured, and when the team rescues her she will go right back to it. Even the event that leads to her capture is in line with that established character, as a member of a closely-knit team who cares deeply about her junior (even if she relentlessly teases him) and is willing to put her life on the line for his sake. If it were Kyosuke who rushed in to the rescue, got ganked, and then got carried off by bugs, it would also be entirely in character, because the two of them are basically Mama and Papa Bear protecting their cub. Rescuing somebody else at great personal cost makes you a hero, not a damsel. It's a better fit with Kusuha, considering that Ingram's reason for kidnapping her was literally to get Ryusei all fired up to come rescue her. (Though the remake is doing better with things by actually giving her motivations beyond wanting to get into Ryusei's pants.) But it's ridiculously reductive to take something like what happened with Excellen and boil it down to a trope. Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Apr 1, 2015 |
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Apr 1, 2015 23:13
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Regardless of what you want to call it, SRW absolutely overuses the 'female lead gets captured and the male lead gets fired up over it' thing. doubly so with brainwashing.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:03
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ImpAtom posted:Regardless of what you want to call it, SRW absolutely overuses the 'female lead gets captured and the male lead gets fired up over it' thing. doubly so with brainwashing. And then Kyosuke lets them take Excellen away, forever demonstrating that his love for her will always come second to his love of  .Sorry, Excellen.  Also now I'm disappointed because I imagined the aftermath of Kyosuke getting captured instead and I want to see Excellen having to step up and fill his shoes as leader. Dr Pepper posted:You do get rewarded for shooting Kira out of the sky, repeatedly, so it's not that bad! Nothing will never put out my fires of  for that series...
Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Apr 2, 2015 |
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Apr 2, 2015 00:26
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I do think it would have been cooler to have Bullet get captured and Kushua saving him like they did originally.
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Apr 2, 2015 00:58
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Seyser Koze posted:And I figure Kyosuke needs to work out some aggression, so he twins up with Katina and (finally) uses his new attack from way back in Mission 24: Trump Card. But oh my god, that attack animation, though! 
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Apr 2, 2015 02:04
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Seyser Koze posted:I don't consider getting captured synonymous with being a damsel-in-distress. Damsel-in-distress defines a character's role in the story. They get captured in order to give the hero somebody to rescue. It's why they're there, to be a Macguffin with tits. Excellen, on the other hand, has a firmly-established character built up over thirty missions that had nothing to do with her getting captured, and when the team rescues her she will go right back to it. Yeah, I can't buy that. You're dressing it up nicely, but Excellen and Kusuha still get captured solely to fuel male character's storylines. Like ImpAtom pointed out, this is a really consistent thing across the OG games, and it's one of their glaring weak points. In a vacuum, I could see your point. But it's not just this one thing, it's the pattern. Coming right off Kusuha's kidnapping and knowing what happens in OG2 and OGG? Excellen just got turned into a damsel-in-distress for the purpose of making Kyosuke angry. It's not about the Areogators stated intentions for taking her (which right now are ????), it's about the choices the writers made. If the writers wanted to show how Excellen and Kyosuke care for Bullet, they'd have Bullet get captured here. Or they'd just have Excellen get hurt and have to ground the Weissritter for a bit. But no, she gets kidnapped. (I also disagree that established characters can't be turned into damsels. It's not the totality of their characters, no, but yes they can still be put in danger entirely so a man can come rescue them and yes that's being a damsel-in-distress.) I would pay a whole lot of money for a SRW where Kyosuke got kidnapped and Excellen became the leader for awhile. That would actually be pretty interesting, and could tell you a lot about what she's like when she's not just being goofy. We have Alpha Kusuha, after all.
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Apr 2, 2015 02:31
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Mission 33, Ryusei Route   Gaza gripes at Atad about the headache he experienced on the last mission. She offers no real explanation beyond that he's just awakened; but if the headache was triggered by those particular enemies, no doubt he can make it subside by eliminating them as quickly as possible. Surprisingly, Gaza refuses; the game's just getting started, and it's no fun to finish things off early. You know, this guy sounds awfully familiar.   To take his mind off the pain he wants to sortie again, this time without the doll slowing him down. Atad, however, intends to go to battle herself this time. There's a most exquisite sample that she intends to collect...    Gilliam and Radha begin digging into the Institute's classified files on Subject #5, Mai Kobayashi. Admitted SE 164; date of birth, June 17 SE 159 - making her six years older than Aya. This brings Radha up short, as Aya had told her Mai was four years younger.   Radha had been told that Mai died in a laboratory explosion in SE 181, but this doesn't add up with Ingram's records. They state that she underwent repeated experiments between 165 and 180, and that she was cryogenically preserved after the accident - until she was discarded along with Subject #4, one Jennifer Fonda.   In other words, if Ingram's records are correct, there's the possibility that Mai is still alive, in direct contradiction to everything that Aya has believed. For all they know, the two of them may not even have been sisters in the first place... Professor Kobayashi may know more about all of this, but with the ongoing inquiry into the SRX Team's activities it will be impossible to ask him.   And that leaves the question of the data's source. Ingram had to know that these files would be accessed after his departure. Is the information he left behind a hint... or a ruse?   The inquiry has cleared Rai to fly again, after some initial suspicion over his family history. However, Ryusei and Aya are both still under investigation, and nobody can really figure out the reason. Especially in Ryusei's case, since they can't think of anybody less suited to being a spy. (When everybody agrees, Kuro thinks they shouldn't pick on him so much.)  Atlus has Excellen respond to the news about Rai by quipping "better steak than calamari, right?" which Rai corrects to "better safe than sorry." In the Japanese version she says doku wo motte dokusou su (毒を盛って独走す) or poisoning people to get ahead, when she means doku wo motte doku wo seisu (毒を以て毒を制す), literally to counteract poison with poison (i.e. "it takes a thief to catch a thief.")  Masaki comes in looking for Lune; they're both up to sortie in a little while. After what happened at Beijing, Daitetsu suspects that there are certain targets that the Aerogaters are after. To confirm this, Cybuster and the Valsione are being sent out as decoys; they're fast enough that they should be able to hold their own until backup can arrive, should things go amiss. Excellen gets all excited at the prospect of Lune and Masaki off spending time together, but then gets told that she's going along as well - and no, she can't bring Kyosuke with her and make it into a double date. She resigns herself to her role as chaperone instead...   The interrogations of Ryusei and Aya are finished, but Ryusei has been acting depressed and distracted ever since. Giado thinks it's understandable, after the shock he had.   After a moment Latooni asks what she can do to support him. Garnet is silent for a minute, then suggests that she not worry about saying anything; just be there for him. Hearing this, Latooni leaves. Garnet thinks that this is probably better, in the long run, than either of them trying to cheer Ryusei up themselves.   Ryusei thinks about the revelation he received regarding his mother and the Institute - are the experiments why she's always been sick? Has he really just been dancing in Ingram's palm from the beginning? Latooni comes by and can guess immediately that he's thinking about Ingram (it's only been three missions, that's probably a safe bet in any case). Ryusei confesses that he doesn't know what to do now; he came all this way in part because of Ingram, but everything that he's done so far has been part of his deception, and neither Ryusei nor Aya ever realized.   Latooni: "Major Ingram did betray us... that's a fact. No matter how hard it gets, I don't think it helps to pretend otherwise..." Ryusei: "....." Latooni: "Hey, Ryusei... it's always better to hold your head up." Ryusei: "....." Latooni: "Everybody has something in their past to overcome. Do you regret what you've done until now? If you think about that... you can decide on your own future." Ryusei: (That's the same thing my mom told me...) Latooni: "...At least, that's what I had to do."  Mission 33: False Shadows   Masaki, Excellen, and Lune are patrolling near an old base that's been abandoned since the start of the DC war; even if the Aerogaters attack, that should keep civilian casualties to a minimum.   Excellen takes the opportunity to open a private link with Lune and ask how her pursuit of Masaki is going. Lune's immediate response is to go into denial mode, and Excellen delights at having found a replacement for Bullet. Lune angrily fires back that she can't think of anybody who'd want anything to do with somebody as dull as Masaki! That lasts until Excellen warns her that he's the type older women will go for; if she doesn't make her move first...   Masaki cuts them both off; enemy contacts are inbound.      one of these things is not like the other   Masaki: "!!" Lune: "Th-that's...!? Masaki: "The Granzon and Valsion!" Lune: "But... that's my dad's personal unit! Wh... what's going on!?"  Excellen: "Wait a minute, what are you two talking about?"   Masaki suspects some kind of trick; the Granzon aside, they all know that Bian is dead. Still, they have to make sure, so he and Lune make an approach...  Excellen: "H-hey, hang on! Guys!? What are you looking at?"  Objectives. Kill everything, finish the mission within 7 turns for the mastery.  Bizarrely, I'm pretty sure this is the same map from Ryusei 3 - which took place inside of a combat simulator.  For enemies, we have ourselves a very real-looking Valsion and Granzon, and a ordinary Megillot.  A rule of thumb in SRW is that if you're given a generous time limit, you're going to spend half of that time either crossing the map or waiting for event triggers. In this mission we get to do both!  On the enemy phase, Shu does what he does.    : "Heh heh heh... as always, you are a fool, Masaki."Masaki: "Shu!!" : "Haven't you realized yet that you can't win against me?"Masaki: "You bastard... were you lying to me, last time we met!?" : "At the White Star? To think you believed me... so gullible."  Masaki: (I can't let him get to me like usual... wait, could it actually be him? But... he never shows up anywhere without a purpose. And Cybuster isn't reacting to the Granzon!)   Bian: "Lune... why do you raise your blade against me?" Lune: "D... Dad!? Is it really you!?" Bian: "Of course. You should know better than anyone that I wouldn't die so easily." Lune: "But... your goal was to fight the aliens!" Bian: "I spoke no lies. I would have you join with me." Lune: "What!?"   Bian: "You can surpass the Guests and the Aerogaters. Cast aside your past and serve me..." Lune: "No. My dad would never say that to me!"   Excellen: "Lune, Masaki! Who are you talking to!?" Masaki: "Real or fake, if you want a fight, you've got it!" Lune: "You're not my dad! I'm gonna rip that face off and see what you really are!!" Excellen: "Masaki! Lune! Can't you hear me!?" The things going on here are basically planting seeds for events in OG2. They're referenced more heavily in Kyosuke's route; on Ryusei's side, this mission is basically all you get to indicate that something is a bit different about Excellen.   On turn 2, Masaki gets close enough to engage the Granzon. He has upgrades out the wazoo by now, so Shu only has a chance to hit him with his status weapons, and it's a slim chance at that.    If you expected the Granzon to fold up like paper, too bad. It's as beefy as it was back at DC headquarters.   As is the Valsion. Lune and Masaki are not taking these two down by themselves.   I had Lune take a shot on Turn 3 anyway, just to see if she had any special combat dialogue versus her dad. No such luck.  Meanwhile, Excellen's just wondering what the hell is going on. She happens to go do it over here because that looks like a good spot to do it.   ...And because that's where Atad appears on the enemy phase of Turn 3, thinking that her trap has worked exactly as she had hoped. If she can collect Cybuster as a sample, her standing will be beyond reproach.   Excellen is still trying in vain to get the others to respond to her, and Atad notes with some irritation that the mind-control doesn't seem to be working on her - nor can she see the Trauma Shadows.   Nonetheless, that makes her intriguing in her own right, and Atad looks forward to examining her more closely. Excellen deduces that doing something about Atad will snap the other two out of it and gets ready to rumble.  We have a new objective: damage Atad's mech. Actually it specifies that you have to do so with Excellen. This is one of those cases where foreknowledge is pretty important to getting the mastery, because if you put Excellen in the wrong spot it could take a full turn, or longer, to get her close enough to attack Atad. I've never actually tried having Masaki and Lune peel off to fight her, so who knows what happens if you do that.   It's the enemy phase, so we get our chance soon enough. These odds aren't the best, but I want to move things along.   "You... there's something wrong with your body."     Thankfully it works out; Atad misses, Excellen hits.   Excellen's first shot knocks the Trauma Shadow's controller offline, and the illusion is dispelled; Masaki and Lune were fighting bugs all along.   They're both dumbfounded, and Excellen breezily tells them not to worry; the fair Princess Excellen has freed them from the wicked witch's foul sorcery!  Atad doesn't react well to being called that, and vows to make her suffer.   Reinforcements arrive - but a moment later, so do our own. You have to manually assign the R-GUN's old pilot to it again. Last time I played I was on mission 38 or so before I caught it.   Kyosuke confirms that the three decoys are all right, but Excellen's explanations involve stories about wild heartthrob time between Masaki and Lune (which both deny) and her own glorious idol debut, he ends up more confused than before.   Ryusei: "......" Kyosuke: "Ensign Ryusei... I understand how you feel." Ryusei: "Kyosuke..." Kyosuke: "But now you have to decide what matters to you. I can't tell you that." Ryusei: (What matters... to me...)   Ryusei: (There's no time for me to mope around. If I don't fight Ingram and the Aerogaters... then more people are gonna end up like me, and Aya, and Kusuha, and Bullet...) Ryusei: "Roger that, Kyosuke. I'll get right on it." Kyosuke: "Good. All units, attack!"   Masaki gives the ex-Granzon and ex-Valsion some payback for tricking him.  And we have a problem: it's still the enemy phase of Turn 3, and Excellen is completely surrounded by the enemy force, including a bunch of ( ) Yirmeyahs.  The Zechariahs aren't all that dangerous to her; she trades a few shots with them, but I want to save most of her ammo and energy for a bit later.   The Yirmeyahs, on the other hand, have much better hitrates. Luckily, some of them are closer to my main force and go for Rai instead. Excellen manages to get through it while only getting hit once, but a second could easily finish her. We lucked out.  Anyway, with that done it's now turn 4, meaning we have a full four turns left to take the enemies out before time runs out. It shouldn't be a problem, I think - but even our reinforcements are still a full turn away from the main enemy force.   Daitetsu starts off by knocking out a Yirmeyah and leveling up to 35, meeting the requirement for his secret on this route.   Killing off the Yirmeyahs is really our first priority here, since they're far and away the most accurate enemies. They're in two groups, one by Excellen and one closer to the Hagane. The Hagane's group ends up mostly wiped out (and would be wiped out completely except that I decided to not to spend SP on Strike this turn, and then three people in a row whiffed on 70% chances).   Excellen's group of spiders will be sticking around. Lune picks off one and Excellen gets the hell out of there, so that hopefully they'll go for somebody else.   This works out all right, except that one of them hits Latooni. I hate Yirmeyahs.   Most of them go for Rai, who cleans them out pretty effectively.   Meanwhile, Masaki is keeping the Habakkuks busy (they have enough health to take a couple hits, but none of them can hit him), and the main force plows into the Zechariahs.   Atad will always attack Excellen; Excellen's just dodging for the moment.    On Turn 5 Masaki Cyflashes the Habakkuks and kills most of them...   ...While the main force finishes steamrolling the Zechariahs. Considering how much more trouble these same enemies were giving us just a couple missions ago, a couple levels seems to make a big difference.   The last couple stragglers die on the enemy phase of Turn 5, leaving only Atad.  Speaking of which, I should probably have a look at her mech: the Ezekiel Sagol. Offensively it's not notably different from Gaza's Ezekiel Adom. Defensively it has a TK Field that nullifies damage below 1500... and After-Image. Thankfully we've been saving our SP, so we can use Strike to bypass it.  Atad herself has a pretty high-level TK skill (lv. 6), supports, Counter, a command aura, and SP Regen. Her mech is more fearsome (read: annoying) than she is, overall, and with only 40,000 health (minus what Excellen knocked off at the beginning) the fight won't last long. Atad does have a great evil-villainess voice, though.      Whoever mentioned Rita Repulsa upon seeing her a couple updates ago was spot-on.   Rampage Ghost has been hogging the spotlight for long enough, so it's time we had a look at OG1's other combination attack: R-Formation. Logistically it's little different from the Kyosuke/Excellen attack, except that you have three units to get in close proximity instead of two. Each SRX unit has a different range on the attack, so Rai and Aya can use it from farther away than Ryusei.     The team uses its attacks in succession.    Aya does Strike Shield...   Rai fires away with the Hi-ZOL Launchers...     And then after they hit...        ...Ryusei gets all showy and tries out a T-LINK Double Knuckle, which isn't actually a real attack that can be used. What a doof.           And he finishes with T-LINK Sword, which is much bigger and swordier now than when he's just using it by himself.    They don't stick around, because they know the job's done.  It doesn't do quite as much damage as Rampage Ghost here, but there are three attacks contributing to its total damage and two of them haven't received much in the way of upgrades yet. It also has a lower energy cost and can be fired off more times per turn.   Atad: "Tch! To think they could do this to me... but even without the samples, this excursion was fruitful. I look forward to our next encounter... Hmhmhmm..."     This operation served to confirm our suspicions once and for all; the Aerogaters are here for the crews of the Hiryu Kai and Hagane specifically. By Gilliam's analysis, to the Aerogaters, we are "the ultimate sample." This means rough days are in store, but it's also an opportunity - knowing what they're after gives us some small control over what they do. The ships and the SRX and ATX teams, all highly advanced and specialized weapons, are the most effective lure on Earth. We just need to ensure that the lure conceals a very sharp hook.   *door opens* Excellen: "Heeey... um, are you guys finished?" Daitetsu: "We are. What did you need?" Excellen: "Well, I don't want to be all presumptuous or anything, but... don't I deserve a reward for being so helpful last mission? Like some of the Captain's prized sake, maybe?" Tetsuya: (Ugh...!)   Excellen: "I heard Fushimi-ku sake is delicious..." Daitetsu: "One moment, Lieutenant. From whom did you hear about this?" Excellen: "Wouldn't it be that guy right behind you?" Daitetsu: "Tetsuya..." Tetsuya: "I'm sorry! When we were on leave at Izu, the lieutenant dragged me to a bar with her... and I let it slip."   Daitetsu: "Mgh... I see it cannot be helped. By the way, Excellen... I trust you can hold your liquor?" Excellen: "What do you take me for! I can put Kyosuke and Bullet under the table." Lefina: (Wh... what's going on?) Excellen: "Yeah, you can count on me." Daitetsu: "Good. Then once we return to base, you may come by my quarters." Excellen: "Wow, really!? Thank you, sir!"   Lefina: "Um... Captain Daitetsu... did you just say you drink sake aboard the ship?" Sean: "That simply won't do. Scotch is far more appropriate." Lefina: "...Huh?" Sean: "Lieutenant, I went so far as to share my reserve with you..." Lefina: "...What?" Sean: "And now I find you being led astray by an inferior liquor?" Excellen: "Well, that was then, and this is now, right?"   Daitetsu: "I won't stand for this, Sean. You do not come onto my bridge and insult my sake." Sean: "Hmph. I see we'll have to settle this like gentlemen." Daitetsu: "So we will. When we get back to base, you will be joining Lt. Excellen and me." Excellen: "Wow! Lucky me!"  Lefina: (...Since I'm a captain... should I start drinking too?)  At the close of the mission we get a Hyper Jammer, which grants the After-Image ability to any unit we choose. It occupies a smaller niche than you might expect, actually. Extra-tanky units don't need it, nor do extra-dodgy units; meanwhile, putting it on a merely semi-tanky or semi-dodgy unit means you're taking up an equipment slot that could be used by something else, like more armor and mobility (neither of which requires 130 morale to use). Still, there's something therapeutic about watching bullets harmlessly phase through your units, so I'll probably find a use for it somewhere.
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Apr 6, 2015 01:17
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Man, even Excellen gets to be cooler in Ryusei's route even though she's a much more important character in Kyosuke's.
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Apr 6, 2015 01:29
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I always give one of those to the R-2 just for Rai to be extra smug.
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Apr 6, 2015 01:49
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I've been saved many times by putting a Hyper Jammer on units that can't quite dodge or tank well enough. Alteisen in OG2, that one time I put Elzam in a Grungust... It's also really fun to put it on battleships.
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Apr 6, 2015 01:53
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I may put it on the Hiryu. The Hagane's already using the A-Adapter so that it can fling torpedoes through the sky.
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Apr 6, 2015 04:15
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I always give my Hyper Jammers to the Alteisen, whatever Katina is piloting, and other hybrids that can weather regular grunts but crumble under pressure.
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Apr 6, 2015 04:18
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I love that after all that Daitetsu's been through so far, having sake be insulted on his bridge is the one thing he really takes offense to. Anyhew, this mission is a bit of dull one. They give away that something is not quite right from the start, and the shock of the Valsion and Granzon reappearing loses its value thanks to the lone Megilot. Although, I do have to wonder what the Trauma Shadow (which sounds like a rejected Final Fantasy attack name) Excellen was intended to see. We never do find that out.
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Apr 6, 2015 04:28
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Picking up on those Rita Repulsa comments, Atad is wearing a hat that Rita wouldn't touch. She's got no place being upset at Excellen's name calling
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Apr 6, 2015 05:38
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Just figure out what the game's equivalent of Getter 2 is and put it on that. And if that unit just so happens to already have afterimage... 
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Apr 6, 2015 05:41
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Seyser Koze posted:I've never actually tried having Masaki and Lune peel off to fight her, so who knows what happens if you do that I tried that once. To the best of my recollection, she says "I'm not your intended opponent" or a variation thereof, and heals back to full health. So it's just not worth doing in the least.
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Apr 6, 2015 05:58
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SyntheticPolygon posted:Man, even Excellen gets to be cooler in Ryusei's route even though she's a much more important character in Kyosuke's. That's because Kyosuke is like a blackhole on his route, everything exists to serve Kyosuke. Up to and including what we witnessed before, dropping Kusuha off and ending Bullets arc in a stage so we can kidnap Excellen instead! Ryusei may be the star of his route, but even on his route he's Kyosuke's subordinate as well as Aya's subordinate, everyone gets a chance to do stuff.
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Apr 6, 2015 06:37
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Wounded Land posted:Just figure out what the game's equivalent of Getter 2 is and put it on that. And if that unit just so happens to already have afterimage... I'm pretty sure after image abilities don't stack.
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Apr 6, 2015 06:52
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Wounded Land posted:Just figure out what the game's equivalent of Getter 2 is and put it on that. And if that unit just so happens to already have afterimage... but we don't get the kurogane for another 5 missions or so
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Apr 6, 2015 07:34
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I think it's kind of funny that after the talk of Excellen being "damseled" on the other route, this last mission basically does that right. Excellen is drawn away from her peers due to a special ability of hers, (some kind of immunity to mind control?) and when her headstrong attitude causes her to pick a fight enemy reinforcements jump in and surround her. Her teammates show up, and rush to her side. Thankfully, she's able to defend herself until they get there, and turns the tables on the enemy. Heck, if anything it's even more effective than the actual "damseling" of the other route. When they take Excellen away the other time, it's by writer-fiat. It all happens outside of the player's control, and all they're left thinking is "Goddamnit, now I can't use Rampage Ghost anymore." When it happens here, the first thing a player is thinking is Oh gently caress, Excellen is cut off and surrounded, how am I going to save her? It's better at making the player think what the designers want them to think, it also doesn't remove Excellen's agency, and makes more sense for her as a character. Best of all, t's loving done in two turns instead of dragging things out mission-after-mission with bullshit. The only thing I wonder is if the writers and game designers realize how out-of-the-park they hit it here, or if they ignore this success and continue with their mistakes.
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Apr 6, 2015 11:29
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Captain Bravo posted:I think it's kind of funny that after the talk of Excellen being "damseled" on the other route, this last mission basically does that right. while not technically a player character until you recruit here, wait until we meet Seolla!
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Apr 6, 2015 11:40
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Onmi posted:while not technically a player character until you recruit here, wait until we meet Seolla! 
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Apr 6, 2015 21:17
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Onmi posted:wait until we meet  I'll probably have more to say when the game actually gets to the point where it's not a spoiler, but seriously, gently caress OG2's writing at times.
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Apr 6, 2015 21:45
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I forgive OG2 a lot on the strength of it's villains. Well, most of them anyway. But this is OG1, so let's talk about how swag Gilliam is. I surmise he is the James Bond/Batman of the OGverse.
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Apr 7, 2015 06:04
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MonsieurChoc posted:I forgive OG2 a lot on the strength of it's villains. Well, most of them anyway. Oh he is, he is. Even in OG2. We'll have to pull up the proper scene from the anime when the games catch up. That could be said of a lot of the scenes from the anime though, the OG2 anime is so much better than Divine Wars. Hunter Noventa fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Apr 7, 2015 |
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Apr 7, 2015 11:07
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MonsieurChoc posted:I forgive OG2 a lot on the strength of it's villains. Well, most of them anyway. Gilliam is the swagmaster. It's almost stated outright that he has a seemingly bottomless source of political capital to make sure our band of misfits doesn't get hindered by petty bureaucracy and the like, and afterwards he still has enough time and skill to pilot giant mechas with the best.
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Apr 7, 2015 11:50
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MonsieurChoc posted:I forgive OG2 a lot on the strength of it's villains. Well, most of them anyway. His voice actor did in fact do James Bond for the Japanese dubs of the Pierce Brosnan movies. The more you know! He was also Ash in Army of Darkness, D in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and uh....Otacon. For OG he's a bit like Haran Banjou in regular SRW, as the guy who has the connections to get the brass off the heroes' backs, but with less open bankrolling than Banjou. And anyone you can say 'they're like Banjou' is automatically the coolest person in the room. Gilliam za besto 
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Apr 7, 2015 16:12
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MarsDragon posted:His voice actor did in fact do James Bond for the Japanese dubs of the Pierce Brosnan movies. The more you know! Would Irm's connections with Tesla Leicht and Mao qualify him to the bankrolling aspect? I know that Irm more or less has the "Experienced veteran who acts like a big brother to the younger cast" part down pat, also he and the Grungust are more or less the de facto muscle of the team.
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Apr 7, 2015 16:32
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Well, OG really doesn't need a Banjou bankrolling everything because everyone's being backed by the EFA. OG is incredibly military compared to normal SRW - you can count the non-military folks on one hand and there's no one running around with a robot their grandpa built in the basement. (okay, Lune, but Bian presumably built that in an EOTI lab, backed by the Federation government. Imagine that grant proposal) All but two of the robots you get are either grunt suits, prototype/test bed models for future grunt suits, or attempts at super weapons. In regular SRW you need someone to provide organization and funding for all the random scientists with super robots, rag-tag rebels, and official military folks, in OG that's all handled by the army. There is the Kurogane and crew, but all their equipment's been "liberated" from the EFA and I guess they're just keeping themselves fed out of the fat Swiss bank account Bian and Maier left behind. (supplemented by any endangered species Elzam can find on those tropical islands they're hanging around) The lines do get blurred later on as the heroes pick up more civilian volunteers, but that's way later. Multiple games later. But Irm does provide the vital cool big bro/mentor role, plus he's rolling a Daitarn-Mazinger. Irm's cool.
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Apr 7, 2015 18:38
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Captain Bravo posted:I think it's kind of funny that after the talk of Excellen being "damseled" on the other route, this last mission basically does that right. The reason is also a little more intriguing than a regular attack - she's the only one who possibly can do it, not just the one who chose to.
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Apr 10, 2015 02:07
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You've got to wonder just what Excellen was supposed to see in that situation. Sanger? Maier? Her evil twin?
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Apr 10, 2015 02:59
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Alacron posted:You've got to wonder just what Excellen was supposed to see in that situation. Sanger? Maier? Her evil twin?
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Apr 10, 2015 03:33
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AradoBalanga posted:Harlequin Romance Novel Kyosuke. Yes, even including the Fabio hair.
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Apr 10, 2015 03:36
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Well, given the matter, its possible what Excellen was meant to see is something related to that factor that makes her immune to it. Depends on if they directly brain-analyzed the peeps on the fly or if they'd set the three up in advance.
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Apr 10, 2015 03:37
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Mission 33, Kyosuke Route   Levi: "So Atad has obtained a new sample." Viletta: "...Yes." Viletta: (She's clearly trying to undermine us...)   Levi: "And the sample's status?" Viletta: "Atad is studying it now." Ingram: "The sample we sent was lost because her adjustments were incomplete. I'll need to go out next time." Levi: "There is no need." Ingram: "What?"   Levi: "Your last specimen caught my attention. This time, I will go personally." Viletta: "Milady!?" Levi: "Yes. Something about this troubles me." Ingram: (Their telekinetic senses attract one another. The T-LINK System may prove useful...)   A couple of scenes were left out of the remake here. In one, Rio asks Radha about Kusuha and is told that she probably won't remember what happened while she was controlled. The next has Ryusei coming by the infirmary to ask Bullet about how Kusuha's doing (now that his interrogation is over). Bullet's still beating himself up over Excellen, and Ryusei has to tell him to chin up and think about what Kyosuke said. Kusuha starts to wake up, and Ryusei makes a quick exit, leaving her to Bullet. Then Ryusei gets ambushed by Giado and Garnet, who want to know if he's okay with just walking out like this. He rationalizes it by saying that he only seems to hurt her these days anyway, and is rewarded with a lecture about it's important to have loved ones to come back to - if he thinks he can get by just by taking the burden of stopping Ingram on himself, he's wrong. It doesn't really need to be said that this is the ongoing theme of RyuXKusu shipping being stripped from the remake.   Kusuha: "Bul... let?" Bullet: "Kusuha! How are you feeling?" Kusuha: "In Beijing... the Aerogaters captured me... and then..." Bullet: "Don't remind yourself of that. We rescued you. You're safe now."   Kusuha: "But, then I did something... to Excellen..." Bullet: "...!"   Kusuha: "What? What did I do?" Bullet: "Y-you didn't do anything! The Lieutenant's just fine. She hasn't been captured by the enemy or anything!"   Kusuha: "You're not a very good liar, Bullet." Bullet: "Ugh...!" Kusuha: "What happened? What happened to Excellen!?" Bullet: "The Aerogaters... took her."   Kusuha: "N-no...! Because of me!?" Bullet: "No, not because of you. Casting blame won't fix anything. Kyosuke said the same thing to me. If we hit the Aerogaters hard, we might be able to rescue Excellen. All we can do is bet on that..."   The inquiry into Aya and Ryusei's activities is over, and Aya requests another exercise for the SRX team, though she knows it might be an imposition at a time like this. Kyosuke says that she seems a bit different than usual, and she acknowledges that that's probably true; if she keeps focusing on the past, Excellen will laugh at her.   In any case, Excellen's words helped to bring Aya around, so now she wants to offer what support she can in getting Excellen back. After a moment, Kyosuke simply warns her that the Aerogaters may target her again, and to be careful. The same basic content was here in the original, but the tone is completely different. The remake establishes Aya as having renewed confidence in herself: she steps up, takes the reins of the SRX team, and starts making the decisions that had been up to Ingram. The original, by contrast, focuses on her lack of confidence. There, she's taking the SRX team away for the exercise because she's afraid that everybody else will be hurt again, and is ashamed that she's being pessimistic after everything Excellen said to her. Mission 33: Crimson Battlefield  The SRX team has reached the test site - out in the desert this time, an ideal location.  Ryusei: "Y'know, I was wondering something... why can't we just launch combined at the beginning?" Yeah! Good question!  Robert concedes that it's technically possible, but not for us and not at this moment; it would be like starting a car at top speed without acceleration. I'm not buying that, Robert. Combattler V and Voltes V have machines made out of silly putty and tissue paper, and they almost always launch combined in this series.   Ryusei isn't really satisfied with this, but Robert is saved from having to answer the tough questions by Aya, who says it's time for the operation to begin.   The R-1 launches first, followed shortly thereafter by the R-2 and R-3.   Aya: "Once we've caught up with Ryu, we'll perform Variable Formation." Rai: "It's called Formation OOC... are you really going to use Ryusei's name for it?" Aya: "I don't see a problem. Doesn't ONLY ONE CRASH sound like bad luck?" Rai: "I suppose you've got a point." Ingram vastly preferred his first choice for the maneuver's name, but eventually even he had to admit that OBLITERATED OVER CHINA would probably give his plans away too early. The game can't seem to make up its mind whether it's CRASH or CLASH, so I'm going with the former.   Plans for the test are derailed when Ryusei reports bogeys all around. Robert wants to cancel completely, but Aya orders Ryusei and Rai ahead to keep the enemies busy while she escorts the techs' transport to a safe distance. Robert reluctantly agrees to leave, but warns them not to attempt combination during combat.   Aya: "I'll track the enemies' movements. Both of you, listen up!" Ryusei: "Heh! You're all fired up now, aren't you Aya?" Aya: "Cut the chatter and intercept!" Ryusei: "You got it!"  As usual, our objective is just to kill things, with the mastery requirement hidden for the moment.   This is the same desert map where we finished off Siebel back in Mission 26. It's just the R-Series versus a handful of Mishleis at the start. Ryusei's separated from the others, but close enough for them to reach in one turn.   Well, for Rai to reach him, anyway. Aya isn't able to move on the first turn.  The overall lack of upgrades to the R-Series on Kyosuke's route makes this mission a bit hairier than it otherwise would. Ryusei's numbers are decent, but Rai needs to use Focus just to pull a 30% dodge rate.   The RNG gods are on my side for a change, though; we get through this entire early section largely unscathed. Ryusei can trash Mishleis in one hit with T-Link Knuckle, though Rai takes two.   For some reason the enemies are ignoring Ryusei (to his annoyance - and mine).   It wouldn't be surprising if they were going after the transport, but they don't seem to be doing that either. Aya picks up a gravity signature at three o'clock and warns of more enemies inbound, thirty seconds out. She's getting an inkling of what the Aerogaters are after, and tells the others that she'll be joining in and to take care.  The drones are going to focus exlusively on the R-3. Aya does better in the hitting and dodging department than Rai, with the enemies only getting 20% hitrates against her, but even though she's now able to move, she's still effectively rooted in place due to not having the PP to buy Hit & Away yet.   The promised enemy reinforcements arrive on the next enemy phase, but it's just more drones; Aya can still feel something coming, but what?   The newcomers are Megillots, so I'm hardly concerned. Meanwhile, Aya has the Mishleis well in hand without any help from her teammates, so they'll be ready to move on to the bugs.   By turn 3, Rai has realized that it's as they feared; the enemies are going after the R-3 - like they're being drawn to it, Ryusei suggests. As they move to cover her, Aya guesses that the T-LINK System is attracting the enemies, but that still doesn't explain this reaction she's feeling...   In the process of killing off the Mishleis, Aya takes a hit. Her TK barrier absorbs most of the impact, thankfully.   Meanwhile, the Megillots kill themselves running into Ryusei and Rai. Well, except for one, that stops just out of range.   On Turn 4, Rai requests Aya's status, but Aya's preoccupied - this feeling she's getting is the same one from before...    This is Levi's theme, although it's not actually boss music on this map and you won't hear it when you're fighting. As if in confirmation, the large enemy mech that attacked Geneva appears, and Aya knows at once that this is what the R-3 was detecting. There are far too many enemies for the three of them to deal with - their only chance is to try and break through their lines together, and go straight for the leader.  (That red machine is resonating with the Vayyikra... What is it? These Earthlings, are weak, powerless... yet they have the insolence to trouble me so?)  (Although these are the ones of whom Ingram spoke. Very well. Here, I will make clear the difference between us.)  Now that Levi (shh, it's a secret) is here, we get the mastery requirement: destroy all the grunt units (not the Vayyikra) before the end of Turn 7.  This... could actually be tough. If I'd been planning ahead I would've had everybody moving towards where Levi appears, but I haven't actually played the final act of Kyosuke's route before and I'm going in blind. So you get the unvarnished approach for this LP. In any case, this means that there's a long distance between us and them, and it's already Turn 4.   Making things even worse is that on the next enemy phase, only the Zechariahs and Vayyikra move. All those Habakkuks stay where they are. Habakkuks are dicks.   Then on Turn 5, Ryusei kills one Zechariah. Rai knocks another down to half health. Aya just moves. Gotta say, folks. This isn't looking good.   Levi moves first on the enemy phase and goes straight for Aya.    Ow.  The R-3 is in bad shape after that last attack. There seems to be no end to the battle, and Rai is almost out of ammunition. There's no choice; he'll hold the enemy off while Ryusei and Aya withdraw to safety.   Ryusei isn't having it, and Aya has another option in mind: combine into SRX. The last time, she wasn't able to maintain the TK field, but this time things will be different - she knows Excellen and Radha and Lune's support is riding on her! Ryusei doesn't see any other option, and after a moment Rai agrees as well.    Aya: "TK Field, on! Tronium Engine, full drive! Units, commence transformation!" Rai: "Roger! Commencing transformation; detaching auxiliary parts!" Ryusei: "This time we've got it! VARIABLE FORMATION!"  The camera does a couple of slow but underwhelming orbits at maximum distance.  Ryusei: "BEHOLD! THE ULTIMATE SUPER ROBOOOOOT!"  Unbelievably, in a game where "lovely training-wheels Gespenst stands up" and "Kyosuke and Sanger stare at each other while doing nothing" both got their own rendered videos, SRX's combination just involves a flash of light and the fully-formed robot poofing into existence. Here's the combination video from SRW Alpha. Thank me later.  Ryusei checks the team's status. Aya's holding up fine, but Rai is more concerned about the strain on the unit's motors; he's not giving it more than three minutes of safe operation, which means they'll have to separate again when that time comes. Ryusei resolves to kick that monster's rear end before time runs out.  (In a time of adversity, they become more powerful. Hmhmhmm... interesting... then I'll release the barrier and see what they do in a fight.) If we'd actually attacked Levi, which we might have done had I moved the SRX crew closer, we would've discovered that the Vayyikra had a barrier that pretty much nullified any damage we did to it. Well, actually it takes damage and then heals right back up to 65k again.  So, at long last, we have SRX. It's big and goofy-looking, and it has the Banpresto logo for a face.  It has a ton of weapons, but a pretty limited supply of ammo for most of them, while its best attacks are a regular energy vacuum. We won't even get to use the strongest one for a while, because Ryusei needs level 8 Telekinesis to use it (he's at level 6 now), but its ultimate attack uses well over 100 EN a pop.  But we're facing grunts, so we'll be using its weakest attack, the Hi-Finger Launchers, which have plenty of ammo, decent damage, and are an ALL weapon to boot.         I guess the R-2 is SRX's arms.  Its other main ammo-based ranged weapon is Dominion Ball.             It's quite a bit stronger and involves Ryusei doing a one-handed Hadoken, but unfortunately it only gets three shots. These are still going to be your main workhorses with SRX because you'll be saving your energy for the big finishers most of the time.   On the next player phase (turn 6, out of the 7 that we have) the friendly reinforcements arrive to find Ryusei having the time of his life in his new toy. Everybody's duly impressed - most of all Kyosuke, who can see the effect that Excellen's pep talk had on Aya. Thinking of Excellen distracts him momentarily, but Irm brings him back to reality and he orders everyone in to action. There was a bit of serendipity when Aya got clobbered by the Vayyikra (although given that Levi and the Zechariahs will only attack her, it was probably inevitable). The R-3's health falling below a certain level triggers the SRX combination; if she doesn't get hit, SRX will combine on turn 7, and the rest of your mechs won't arrive until after the deadline has passed.  We still have that legion of Habakkuks to worry about, and thankfully our reinforcements popped up right next to them. You can guess what they'll be doing. Masaki goes straight into the middle of them all; he doesn't have the morale for Cyflash yet, but a turn of dodging them will change that.   Everybody else starts chipping away at the near flank. Remember, two or three hits per kill. This is why you love MAP weapons.   Lune basically has a choice between moving or shooting, so I have her Valor up and take the first shot at Levi. It's a promising start. Despite her boss status, Levi's hit/dodge rates aren't nearly as formidable as you might expect.  Anyway, the Habakkuks should be pretty much in hand, though it'll be a bit tight. How about the Zechariahs?  There's a little good news: Ryusei, Rai, and Aya all got their SP refilled when SRX formed up. Having three different people who can cast Focus or Valor makes a huge difference to a mech's endurance (although there's only a couple turns left now).   Then the bad news: SRX occupies a weird sort-of-Real-sort-of-Super niche, where it doesn't dodge as well as one and doesn't take hits as well as the other. We can work on both of those with some cash and upgrades, but this time it's just SRX vs. an army of little green men.  An army of little green men, and Levi.      Who knocks off quite a bit of SRX's health and then dodges.   On the enemy phase there are multiple exchanges like this. SRX is giving as good as it gets, but that may not be good enough to pull it off before SRX gets destroyed.   In fact, after getting shot about three times, this is where our health is at. Keep in mind that losing SRX is a failure condition on this mission.  Then, like magic, the enemies' attacks stop getting through SRX's TK field. It's a miracle! Or it's Ryusei's Prevail skill kicking in, giving him a much-needed boost to his armor now that he's at critical health. About time that worked out in our favor.  On turn 7, Rai sees that the strain is taking its toll on SRX's joints; at the same time, Aya is approaching her own limit. The team has one minute of action left before they have to separate.  The Habakkuk line looks mostly intact, but we wore them down pretty significantly with our first turn of counterattacks.   Masaki gained tons of morale, as expected, so he lets a Cyflash rip and tears them apart.   A couple of expendables (Katina, Russell) take out the last couple of stragglers.   SRX's barrier worked wonders last turn, but it doesn't have the energy to last out another. They get the hell out of the way so that the Giganscudo can fire off another MAP weapon.    It leaves a few Zechariahs alive, but I'm hoping that Tasuku can clear them out on the enemy phase.   ...Or they can just ignore the Gigan and continue chasing after SRX. Ryusei cleans them up either way.   Aya gained six levels this mission, incidentally.   On Turn 8, SRX decombines completely without fanfare. Its HP and EN levels carry over to the individual R-Series, meaning that they're all at critical health and almost completely out of energy.   Luckily, everybody else is ready to roll against Levi, and Aya has plenty of SP left to cast Attune on anybody who doesn't have Strike, allowing them to bypass the Vayyikra's After-Image ability.   65k health is still the record-holder for enemy health, but with hits like these it's not going to take long.    Cybuster dishes out the third hit...      And Kyosuke and Leona twin up to do the fourth and fifth.     The Vayyikra has a melee attack, actually. The game calls it the Kanaf Slasher, but with all those tons of tiny blades, Kanaf Julienne or Kanaf Puree seems a bit more appropriate.  Good thing Grit was active.Levi flees at around 17k health, and her TK barrier is putting a damper (around 3k) on any damage I try to do. If the R-Series still had energy left I'd move in and do an R-Formation, but that's out.   Instead Radha casts Enable on Kyosuke and Leona, giving them another shot, and Leona casts Fury to bypass the barrier.  Trump Card can't be used against flying targets. Another strike against it.     Luckily, Revolver Stake is more than adequate to the task.  (Hmhmm... this was worth giving up a Vayyikra.)   Ryusei is in awe of SRX's power. Aya is more concerned about the Vayyikra's pilot; why did they seem so familiar? Meanwhile, Radha recognizes the alien mech's maneuver data clearly - it's the same data used by Viletta and Ingram for the R-GUN's adjustments.   Rai and Robert come to Ryusei with bad news. SRX can't be used again; the attrition rate on its components is much higher than anticipated, most likely due to the way they rushed the final adjustments on the R-Series. There's no choice but for the team to fight in their individual units.   Ryusei: "......!" Ryusei: "......" Ryusei: "So that's it, then... well, nothing we can do about it." Rai: "...You're okay with this?"   Ryusei: "Yeah. From that last fight, I can see what a danger it could be to everybody else." Robert: "....." Ryusei: "And it's not like we're out there alone. We've got Masaki, and Kyosuke, and... I mean, the real secret weapon against the Aerogaters is all of us. Right?" Rai: "Right." Awww.   Like in Ryusei 32, Radha asks Gilliam for help with reading Ingram's classified files.  Meanwhile...   Levi: "Quite a fascinating sample. I wish I could have fought them in person, rather than controlling a Vayyikra remotely." Viletta: "You are the heart of Neviim, and the one who must control the Judecca. Please, leave the Earth to us." Levi: "Hmph. Do not worry. We will never face a situation where the Judecca must be activated."   *TK pulse* Levi: "Uh? Ah..." Viletta: "What's wrong?" Levi: "It's... nothing. You are dismissed." Viletta: "....."   Ingram: "So they've succeeded." Viletta: "According to Levi, they performed the SRX combination on their own." Ingram: "Heh... we've had some results, at least." Viletta: "I have... a concern. Telekinetic influence doesn't seem likely... but there may be a problem with Levi's compatibility with the Judecca." Ingram: "So even she could lose control..."   Viletta: "If that happens, the Adjudicator may be activated. It would strike everyone on the planet, to say nothing of ourselves." Ingram: "The Balmar devised a very reckless failsafe." Viletta: "Have you learned anything about Neviim's creators?"   Ingram: "...No, the protection is still in place. We have the name 'Balmar,' strategies, related information... little else." Viletta: "We were the only two Balshem in the chamber. It doesn't make sense." Ingram: "As things progress, we may have our answer." Viletta: "....."   Ingram: "Our missing memories... the creator... Balmar... I understand them... I think." Viletta: "...Ingram. Do you remember the first order you gave me? My true mission?" Ingram: "True... mission? What was it?" Viletta: "....."   Viletta: "I am your other self. And I am your kindred." Ingram: "Did I say that..." Viletta: "And I will carry out that duty, without fail."  Significant difference here at the end. Instead of Viletta asking Ingram about her orders to him (and realizing that he doesn't remember), we see Ingram giving her those orders, as he doesn't have much time left. She doesn't want to leave him, but finally agrees. Both versions indicate that there's something wrong with Ingram, but handle it in different ways; the original has the focus on Ingram making preparations for it, while the remake focuses instead on Viletta having to watch while it takes hold of him. Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 08:39 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Apr 12, 2015 08:15
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Yeah you get the SRX for one mission on Kyosuke's route for frankly arbitrary reasons. Of course the real reason is "Because the SRX with Ryusei, Aya and Rai is a veirtable one man wrecking crew and the Aerogaters really can't step to that. so Kyosuke would be completely eclipsed"
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Apr 12, 2015 09:37
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