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MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"
Let's Play Front Mission 5: Scars of the War!



What's this game?

Front Mission 5 is a military/mecha SRPG released in 2005 by Square Enix, and developed by their Project Development Division 6 (PDD6) headed by Toshiro Tsuchida.
PDD6 was originally a separate company called G-CRAFT, who after producing Front Mission 2 were acquired by Square, where they made the majority of the Front Mission series games.
Like the Ogre Battle series, Front Mission was conceived of with a grand scope in mind, and unlike the Ogre Battle series, it was actually finished (For the most part).
Front Mission 5 is the game that caps off the series and draws together its different narratives into a cohesive whole.
After playing Front Mission 5, all the previous games in the series come to be seen in a different light given the new information it provides.
Essentially, Front Mission 5 tells the hidden story of the Front Mission universe. There will be many spoilers!

Cool story bro, but how does it play?

Front Mission 5 has the most refined combat system in the FM series,
and consists of turn-based combat that focuses heavily on class-based specialization and teamwork through the use of the link system developed first in FM2 and FM4,
but finally realized to its full potential in FM5. While FM5 does not feature the huge battles of FM2, it does have some fairly large-scale fights that rival most other SRPGs,
and unlike FM3 it is no cakewalk. Like all the FM games, FM5 also focuses heavily on unit customization through the acquisition and equipping of wanzer (mecha) parts.
Between missions are brief cinematics and a base exploration mode that allows the player to interact with NPCs via text-based dialog.
Finally, the game includes an arena mode, and a survival simulator that will cause me to pull my hair out that allows the player to acquire rare parts for their wanzers.

But wasn't this game only released in moonspeak?

Yes, the game was never localized for the English-language market,
but I translated it with some friends and released a translation patch available at http://frontmission.info.
DO NOT ASK FOR A PATCHED ISO, ONLY THE TRANSLATION PATCH IS PROVIDED.

Wanzers are neat! Where can I find some info on them?

For a listing of wanzer photos divided by manufacturer check out this page.
For a comprehensive listing of wanzer parts in the game check out this FAQ.

I feel like I'm missing a lot not knowing the rich lore of front mission universe. What are all these factions, what is the state of the world?

Here is a very rough world map of the game world:



The USN is in fact a union of North and South America. At the time the series was first created there was some talk of moving towards such a union, and it reached its zenith during the Clinton years before the whole thing fell apart and was forgotten. As we will see later in the game, the USN is very much a union of unequals, and the USA maintains a basically colonial relationship towards South America. If you want to learn more about it check out FM4.

The OCU is a union of Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea. Again, there has been from time to time talk of forming some kind of umbrella organization like this (deliberately excluding China) but nothing much has come of it in reality. It also never has really been about independence from the US in the way that the EU was in the time of its formation. And talk about them going to war with the USA has never even remotely been on the table.

The EC is basically just the EU.

All the big super states are facing separatist struggles. The EC also has a rough relationship with Africa because of the colonial exploitation they tried to maintain there, as covered in Front Mission Alternative (Chronologically the first game in the series). The USN more or less muddles through things, but the OCU is in a state of near constant crisis. The apex of their power was when they defeated the USN in the First Huffman Conflict, but ever since then they have had to deal with separatism, corruption, infighting among members, and generally poor organization. This gets covered quite a lot in Front Mission 2 and to some extent in Front Mission 3. The OCU is dominated by Japan and Australia, and their colonial hinterland in SE Asia is very rebellious. The only organization they have that really is strong and unified is the Central Intelligence Service of the Union (CISU). In this way I think of them as somewhat similar to Pakistan, which has a similarly powerful intelligence agency and a similarly weak government. The EC has troubles not only with Africa, but also with Zaftra (Russia) as well. This gets covered in FM4.

For more information, check out the Wikipedia entry, which was largely written by leader of the translation project.

Video Playlist:

Introduction

The Second Huffman Conflict

Episode 01 - Fort Monus Base
Episode 02 - Mission 1
Episode 03 - Mission 2
Episode 04 - Wanzer Roundup I
Episode 05 - Freedom Garrison
Episode 06 - Wanzer Roundup II
Episode 07 - Mission 3
Episode 08 - Freedom Garrison II
Episode 09 - Mission 4
Episode 10 - Peseta Garrison
Episode 11 - Mission 5
Episode 12 - Fort Monus Base II
Episode 13 - Mission 6
Episode 14 - Mission 6 Redux
Episode 15 - Wanzer Roundup III
Episode 16 - Mission 7
Episode 17 - B Device Plot Summary

The Strike Wyverns

Episode 18 - CVN-112 Eclipse
Episode 19 - Mission 8B
Episode 20 - Mission 9
Episode 21 - Mission 10
Episode 22 - Mission 10 Redux
Episode 23 - CVN-112 Eclipse II
Episode 24 - Survival Simulator
Episode 25 - Survival Simulator II
Episode 26 - Survival Simulator III
Episode 27 - Mission 11
Episode 28 - CVN-112 Eclipse III
Episode 29 - Mission 12 B
Episode 30 - Mission 13 B
Episode 31 - Mission 14
Episode 32 - Mission 15 B
Episode 33 - Wanzer Roundup IV
Episode 34 - CVN-112 Eclipse IV
Episode 35 - Mission 16
Episode 36 - Mission 17

Barghest

Episode 37 - Fort Monus III
Episode 38 - Mission 18
Episode 39 - Mission 19
Episode 40 - Wanzer Roundup V
Episode 41 - Fort Monus IV
Episode 42 - Arena I
Episode 43 - Battle Simulator 11
Episode 44 - Mission 20
Episode 45 - Mission 21
Episode 46 - Mission 22
Episode 47 - Fort Monus V
Episode 48 - Wanzer Roundup VI
Episode 49 - Mission 23
Episode 50 - Alaska Radiation Research Complex
Episode 51 - Mission 24/25
Episode 52 - Mission 26
Episode 53 - Wanzer Roundup VII
Episode 54 - Story Wrap Up
Episode 55 - Mission 27 pt. 1
Episode 56 - Mission 27 pt. 2 / Ending

Bonus Episode - Mission 27 Hacked Save

If you have any other questions I will will try to post the answers to the OP.

MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Sep 3, 2015

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WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.
You dear sir, have a great taste in games. Did they ever solve the emulations issues with glitchy textures and stuff?

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

WaltherFeng posted:

You dear sir, have a great taste in games. Did they ever solve the emulations issues with glitchy textures and stuff?

So far it looks good. The intro video doesn't play properly using hardware acceleration, and there is some pop-in but the rest is fine.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Neat! I had an eye on the page for the patch a few years back, but at some point there was some difficulty or something and the project seemed lost. Cool that it still got finished :v:

Was the patch for FM2 completed as well?

Oh, and you may wanna timg your op pic because tables

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Mar 7, 2015

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Tin Tim posted:

Neat! I had an eye on the page for the patch a few years back, but at some point there was some difficulty or something and the project seemed lost. Cool that it still got finished :v:

Was the patch for FM2 completed as well?

Oh, and you may wanna timg your op pic because tables

Thanks for the heads up, the image should be fixed now. The patch for FM2 was completed, but unfortunately we couldn't insert all the text because of some of the files were locked up, so only some of the text is in English. Sad because I actually did translate the whole thing. I talk about it a bit in the intro.

Tin Tim
Jun 4, 2012

Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Oh well, having the menus and stuff is usually the more important thing to make it playable, as you usually can find some text translations to read alongside. I'll check it out eventually, since I was always curious about FM2. Only played the old snes FM, and FM3, but I'm a sucker for the series.

Tin Tim fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Mar 7, 2015

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Oh hell yeah! I've always wanted to see what happened in this one, but you know, moonspeak.

I've always loved Front Mission and what happened with Evolved was just a tragedy.

WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.

Night10194 posted:

Oh hell yeah! I've always wanted to see what happened in this one, but you know, moonspeak.

I've always loved Front Mission and what happened with Evolved was just a tragedy.

It should be noted that every single developer responsible for Front Mission series left Square Enix before Evolved, so there's at least comfort in knowing that the original creators ended their franchise on a high note.

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Also, in Front Mission 4, they're called the UCS, the United Continental States.

Koorisch
Mar 29, 2009
Hell yes, it's Wanzer time everyone!

I want to see more of this game, there aren't really any LP's of it that are of any good quality or that give any information on skills and the like.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Tin Tim posted:

Oh well, having the menus and stuff is usually the more important thing to make it playable, as you usually can find some text translations to read alongside. I'll check it out eventually, since I was always curious about FM2. Only played the old snes FM, and FM3, but I'm a sucker for the series.

Glad to hear it, there is an event script included with the FM2 patch so you can read along with that for the parts in Japanese.

WaltherFeng posted:

It should be noted that every single developer responsible for Front Mission series left Square Enix before Evolved, so there's at least comfort in knowing that the original creators ended their franchise on a high note.

That's not technically true. Shinji Hashimoto, Tsuchida's right hand man, was left over and tried to salvage Evolved but it was a losing battle fighting against the stupidity of management. He left after Evolved's total failure. I believe Tsuchida left after finishing his work on FFXIII's battle system. Some of the other PDD6 crew went to From Software and worked on Armored Core V, which borrowed most of its design ideas from Front Mission Online.

Night10194 posted:

Also, in Front Mission 4, they're called the UCS, the United Continental States.

Right! I used to have an encyclopedic knowledge of these games but I've forgotten a lot in the mean time.

Koorisch
Mar 29, 2009
So what kind of wanzers are in the intro anyways, are they USN or OCU?

They look a bit like the Cheyenne wanzer.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Koorisch posted:

So what kind of wanzers are in the intro anyways, are they USN or OCU?

They look a bit like the Cheyenne wanzer.

That's a good question. They aren't clearly marked so it's a bit hard to tell. They look like they might be Zedam wanzers made by Jade Metal, in which case I would guess they were OCU units.

EDIT: No, on second inspection they're clearly Cheyenne wanzers made by Freyman (USN). You were right.

MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Mar 7, 2015

Tae
Oct 24, 2010

Hello? Can you hear me? ...Perhaps if I shout? AAAAAAAAAH!
I was just thinking about doing a FM5 LP but my logistical nightmare was that so much of the story is tied to FM2 which I never played before. Still loved the game though, finished it twice and light years better than FM4 gameplay wise. The character model quality is also absurd for PS2, like they borrowed the team that did FF12 and shined the poo poo out of them.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Tae posted:

I was just thinking about doing a FM5 LP but my logistical nightmare was that so much of the story is tied to FM2 which I never played before. Still loved the game though, finished it twice and light years better than FM4 gameplay wise. The character model quality is also absurd for PS2, like they borrowed the team that did FF12 and shined the poo poo out of them.

Absolutely. FM5 is one of the best looking PS2 games, which is even more impressive considering that the FM games were always made on a modest budget (And were some of the few SE games to consistently be delivered on schedule).

Koorisch
Mar 29, 2009

MaterialConceptual posted:

Absolutely. FM5 is one of the best looking PS2 games, which is even more impressive considering that the FM games were always made on a modest budget (And were some of the few SE games to consistently be delivered on schedule).

My favorites include the classic Zenith(Zenislev for you FM3 players:v:) and the Frost, they just look so good in this game!

Koorisch fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Mar 7, 2015

Kaboom Dragoon
May 7, 2010

The greatest of feasts

Tae posted:

I was just thinking about doing a FM5 LP but my logistical nightmare was that so much of the story is tied to FM2 which I never played before. Still loved the game though, finished it twice and light years better than FM4 gameplay wise. The character model quality is also absurd for PS2, like they borrowed the team that did FF12 and shined the poo poo out of them.

FM5 ties up lingering plot threads from the entire series to date, so you'd have your work cut out for you either way. I'd like to see someone take a stab at some of the older games at least. The FM1 LP in the archives is light on gameplay and lore and heavy on the fanfiction.

Koorisch
Mar 29, 2009

Kaboom Dragoon posted:

FM5 ties up lingering plot threads from the entire series to date, so you'd have your work cut out for you either way. I'd like to see someone take a stab at some of the older games at least. The FM1 LP in the archives is light on gameplay and lore and heavy on the fanfiction.

Should be easier to LP the first game now that it's on the DS, also an entire other story arc is always nice.

Inferior
Oct 19, 2012

I've completed all the Front Missions that were released in the West, so I'm pretty interested in finally seeing what FM5's about.

It's sad that Squeenix seems to have given up on turn based strategy. Front Mission's dead, Final Fantasy Tactics is done, and there doesn't seem to be any replacements on the horizon.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Koorisch posted:

My favorites include the classic Zenith(Zenislev for you FM3 players:v:) and the Frost, they just look so good in this game!

Those are the classics, and with the way the upgrade system is set up in FM5 they are both viable into the late game!

Koorisch posted:

Should be easier to LP the first game now that it's on the DS, also an entire other story arc is always nice.

Not to mention that it's just a very easy game. FM1 starts out a bit on the challenging side but once you know what you are doing and have access to the right items it is an absolute cakewalk. However that's kind of part of its charm. Front Mission 5 isn't as hard as Front Mission 2 (Which will make you cry and beg for mercy) but its in a different world from FM1.

Inferior posted:

I've completed all the Front Missions that were released in the West, so I'm pretty interested in finally seeing what FM5's about.

It's sad that Squeenix seems to have given up on turn based strategy. Front Mission's dead, Final Fantasy Tactics is done, and there doesn't seem to be any replacements on the horizon.

It is sad, but all the talent from G-CRAFT and Quest is gone, so it's not like they really have the people to carry on those series. I used to get really worked up hoping that the company would collapse and they would sell the Ogre Battle, Ivalice, and Front Mission IPs off to the series creators, but I try to focus on the positives in gaming these days.

Koorisch
Mar 29, 2009

MaterialConceptual posted:

It is sad, but all the talent from G-CRAFT and Quest is gone, so it's not like they really have the people to carry on those series. I used to get really worked up hoping that the company would collapse and they would sell the Ogre Battle, Ivalice, and Front Mission IPs off to the series creators, but I try to focus on the positives in gaming these days.

Yeah, thankfully we can say that there aren't actually any bad games in the series. (Front Mission Evolved isn't what i call a FM game, it's more like a shittier Armored Core or something. :colbert:)

Koorisch fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Mar 8, 2015

ModeWondershot
Dec 30, 2014

Portu-geezer
Nice! Good on you for going through one of my favourite SRPGs, and of course, thank you very much for putting so much effort into translating this for the English FM community.

I remember that I picked up a disc copy while I was in Japan back in 2012, knowing that the patch was available and it was easily one of the best games I played that year.

Looking forward to the gameplay!

WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.
FM5 has an incredibly realistic aesthetic for a Square title. One of my favorite features is the aerial "War cam".

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Koorisch posted:

Yeah, thankfully we can say that there aren't actually any bad games in the series. (Front Mission Evolved isn't what i call a FM game, it's more like a shittier Armored Core or something. :colbert:)

I know it's vastly beloved by a lot of people but I've always hated FM3. The tiny skirmish maps, the terrible, terrible characters, the insane plot about evil Belarus, the total lack of Actual Wily Russians, it just feels very off.

Zanzibar Ham
Mar 17, 2009

You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.


Grimey Drawer

Night10194 posted:

I know it's vastly beloved by a lot of people but I've always hated FM3. The tiny skirmish maps, the terrible, terrible characters, the insane plot about evil Belarus, the total lack of Actual Wily Russians, it just feels very off.

On the other hand the gameplay itself is fun and it's not Evolved (or that loving rear end in a top hat ripoff for the PS2 that I bought because I thought it would be cool like FM but was total poo poo). Also I'm not sure I'd enjoy big maps that take forever. Certainly not as I am now.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Night10194 posted:

I know it's vastly beloved by a lot of people but I've always hated FM3. The tiny skirmish maps, the terrible, terrible characters, the insane plot about evil Belarus, the total lack of Actual Wily Russians, it just feels very off.

You are not alone in that. FM3 is probably the most divisive game in the series. It was made more or less under duress from the Square management who wanted a game that would appeal more to casual gamers and fall into digestible anime tropes. The reason why there are two campaigns in the game was so that the FM team could make one campaign that would fulfill the management's demands (Emma's campaign) and another that would be closer to what the team wanted to do (Elisa's campaign). I loved it as a teenager, but I don't think it has aged very well. On the other hand the game is more approachable than FM2, which was so ambitious that it basically would scare off a lot of the FM1 players that were used to something fairly accessible. Certainly FM2 has the best plot out of all the games and the most epic scope, but the game engine was clearly straining what the PS1 could do, and the battles are long and punishing. It was very much an avant garde game that wasn't afraid to risk having flaws. FM3 was much safer and consistent.

EDIT: First Video is up!

MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Mar 8, 2015

Koorisch
Mar 29, 2009
I was just wondering if you could make like a gallery of Wanzers, a bunch of pictures with some info?

It would show us the differences between them and how they look, it's always fun to see the designs since they're pretty cool.

Tae
Oct 24, 2010

Hello? Can you hear me? ...Perhaps if I shout? AAAAAAAAAH!
The amount of dialogue in what is essentially very small spaces of area, and changing every single mission, is absurd. Obviously not Trails of the Sky absurd, but it could've easily designated a bunch of NPC's to repeat lines.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Koorisch posted:

I was just wondering if you could make like a gallery of Wanzers, a bunch of pictures with some info?

It would show us the differences between them and how they look, it's always fun to see the designs since they're pretty cool.

Actually there's already a pretty nice site that does this: http://xfm2015.web.fc2.com/xfm2/fmwap05e.html

I'll add it to the OP. For the specs of each wanzer check out this FAQ created by the project lead of the translation project:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/924653-front-mission-5-scars-of-the-war/faqs/48366

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

Also, I want to thank you for doing this LP and this translation. I have no idea how to run the translation patch myself or acquire the game, but Front Mission struck a chord with me when I first played 4 and 1 and I've always loved the series. Seeing how it 'ends' will be a lot of fun for me and I'm really glad to get the chance.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
Holy poo poo, I thought I would never see a translated LP of this game. You're doing god's work, sir.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"
Thanks for all the positive feedback! I will try to get at least a couple episodes up each week.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
What was the reason behind the decision not to release this outside of Japan, by the by? It always seemed really strange to be that they released FM3 and 4, went back and did a DS port of FM1, but one of the better looking, better playing (ostensibly) games in the series and the one that I guess wraps up the whole story and it's like "nnnnnnahhhhh, better not." I remember when I found out that this wasn't getting localized and I was really kinda pissed about it. Then Front Mission: Evolved came out and that was like the extra little "gently caress you" to go on top of things.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Kai Tave posted:

What was the reason behind the decision not to release this outside of Japan, by the by? It always seemed really strange to be that they released FM3 and 4, went back and did a DS port of FM1, but one of the better looking, better playing (ostensibly) games in the series and the one that I guess wraps up the whole story and it's like "nnnnnnahhhhh, better not." I remember when I found out that this wasn't getting localized and I was really kinda pissed about it. Then Front Mission: Evolved came out and that was like the extra little "gently caress you" to go on top of things.

I believe it was the fact that FM2 was never released in the US and if it WAS released it would stand no chance of being profitable. The story of FM5 is heavily based on that of FM2, so that would make FM5 quite confusing. Furthermore a localization of FM5 would be a lot more expensive than the subsequent localization of Front Mission for the DS because it included voice acting and FAR more text (because of the base sections). Basically FM5 is a weird extravagance based on the overall development of the series, and the repeated attempts by the FM team over the years to get the series a large US audience (To the point of making the original FM menus in English so as to make localization easier) didn't pay off in the face of constant opposition from management. The game couldn't really stand on its own and it was too expensive to bring over as a passion project.

What happened with FME was FAR more infuriating, but I'll get into that later in the LP.

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib
I feel like if US audiences were willing to put up with things like FM3's story (and I say this as someone who enjoyed playing FM3) then they'd probably put up with something like FM5 referencing a game that never made it stateside. Or they could have included some kind of text-only "history of FM2" thing like they used to do with the Metal Gear Solid games to bring people up to speed. But from what I'm gathering it sounds like there were some office politics involved so welp.

Like Inferior said, it's a shame that Square seems to have abandoned the turn-based tactics genre (not that that's the only shameful thing about Square these days but, y'know, trying to stay on topic here).

Crazy Achmed
Mar 13, 2001

Welp, I was about to ask how this game compares to FM3, the only title in the series I've played - I went through Alisa's campaign and thought it was a pretty fun game. The main character was an rear end in a top hat, but most of the others were pretty likeable, I enjoyed the general pretense of being a bunch of whistleblower guerilla mercenary types on the run from the law, and I'm pretty terrible at strategy games so it was about on my level. Plus the fake internet thing was pretty cool, too.
I got some way through Emma's campaign (once I learned it existed - doesn't it hinge on you deciding whether or not to go shopping with your buddy right back near the start or something similarly trivial?) before some kind of recurring glitch in the emulation got me frustrated enough to drop it (random crash during 3d sequences) - the disc is pretty old and scratchy.
Should I try and play 5 or just sit back and watch the LP?

Also, I really like the mech aesthetic in this series; they're juuust blocky and tanky enough without being too utilitarian-looking, and they also occupy that nice early gen armored core space of being in the sweet spot between being satisfyingly heavy and stompy, and being fast and agile enough to justify actually having arms and legs.

MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"

Kai Tave posted:

I feel like if US audiences were willing to put up with things like FM3's story (and I say this as someone who enjoyed playing FM3) then they'd probably put up with something like FM5 referencing a game that never made it stateside. Or they could have included some kind of text-only "history of FM2" thing like they used to do with the Metal Gear Solid games to bring people up to speed. But from what I'm gathering it sounds like there were some office politics involved so welp.

Like Inferior said, it's a shame that Square seems to have abandoned the turn-based tactics genre (not that that's the only shameful thing about Square these days but, y'know, trying to stay on topic here).

Yeah, it's a shame, but at least the files were open enough that we could do the translation properly.


Crazy Achmed posted:

Welp, I was about to ask how this game compares to FM3, the only title in the series I've played - I went through Alisa's campaign and thought it was a pretty fun game. The main character was an rear end in a top hat, but most of the others were pretty likeable, I enjoyed the general pretense of being a bunch of whistleblower guerilla mercenary types on the run from the law, and I'm pretty terrible at strategy games so it was about on my level. Plus the fake internet thing was pretty cool, too.
I got some way through Emma's campaign (once I learned it existed - doesn't it hinge on you deciding whether or not to go shopping with your buddy right back near the start or something similarly trivial?) before some kind of recurring glitch in the emulation got me frustrated enough to drop it (random crash during 3d sequences) - the disc is pretty old and scratchy.
Should I try and play 5 or just sit back and watch the LP?

Also, I really like the mech aesthetic in this series; they're juuust blocky and tanky enough without being too utilitarian-looking, and they also occupy that nice early gen armored core space of being in the sweet spot between being satisfyingly heavy and stompy, and being fast and agile enough to justify actually having arms and legs.

Oh yeah I was so enthralled by the network in FM3. It was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid. You're right about the divergence in the game, it depends on what you say to Ryogo, which is a strange Sliding Doors type plot device. As for FM5, I would recommend playing it just for the battle system, which is the most polished in the whole series.

I love the FM wanzer designs too. Most mecha games seem to have different design aesthetics they use for different manufacturers, but the FM designers did a great job of making tons of interesting varieties.

ExiledTinkerer
Nov 4, 2009
Loving it so far---no surprise given how well your FFT: Rebirth LP turned out. Definitely tuning in for all of this to come!

Night10194
Feb 13, 2012

We'll start,
like many good things,
with a bear.

I think the reason FM3 put my knickers in a twist as much as it did is that I like FM primarily for, for once, being a mecha series without goddamn space wizards. There's some transhumanist stuff in FM1 especially, but it's depicted as weirdly dehumanizing instead of making anyone special.

I've also always loved that Mecha aren't the only weapon in FM. Even in that intro in 5, we see gunships wasting a couple wanzers. Armies still field plenty of infantry, tanks, aircraft; the wanzer's just a new branch of war and while it's still a bipedal walking robit that makes no goddamn sense, I can suspend disbelief easily about them. It's a mecha series where mecha are just another weapon and where the story is focused much more on how small your characters are (but ultimately, also how significant) in a world of massive geopolitical struggles, brushfire wars, and technothriller intrigues, and that feels pretty unique.

Plus, I just goddamn love Strat RPGs.

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MaterialConceptual
Jan 18, 2011

"It is rather that precisely in that which is newest the face of the world never alters, that this newest remains, in every aspect, the same. - This constitutes the eternity of hell."

-Walter Benjamin, "The Arcades Project"
The new episode is up. I'm still getting used to playing the game again but hopefully it comes back to me soon enough. I'll try to study the FAQ a bit more before the next mission so I can talk about the game systems.

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