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How come there's all this stuff in the OP? For a lot of reasons I had to take a long hiatus from my previous attempt at finishing this LP, and I've now resurrected it from the archives to polish off the final stretch. For those of you who watched the old series, thank you! For those new to this LP, welcome!  What is Front Mission? Front Mission is a near-future mecha themed strategy role-playing game for the Nintendo DS. It focuses on build customization and medium-scale turn-based combat between teams of wanzers (The in-game name for mecha). The game is also known for its focus on a "realistic" story set in a future earth in which super-states vie for domination of the globe, and shadowy organizations develop new weapons using morally questionable means. Front Mission was developed originally by Toshiro Tsuchida and the team at G-CRAFT, a small developer that was responsible for the Front Mission and Arc the Lad SRPG series before being purchased and integrated into Square in 1997. Development on Front Mission began in 1994 and the game was published by Square in 1995. The Front Mission series was conceived of as a grand project by Tsuchida and his colleagues from the start, with a series story plan being devised that was largely realized in six games: Front Mission 1-5, and Front Mission Alternative. The series story was also told in manga and short novels. Front Mission laid the ground work for the series, and because of its central role in the series it was revisited and added to twice over the years. The first additions to the game were made in Front Mission 1st, a game on the Sony PlayStation that was released in 2003 in conjunction with Front Mission 4. Front Mission 1st added an entirely new campaign featuring the perspective of a member of the opposing USN side of the Second Huffman Conflict. This new campaign added new details to the story of Front Mission, and also filled in linkages between Front Mission and Front Mission 4. Like the original Front Mission on SNES, Front Mission 1st never saw a release outside Japan. Front Mission for the Nintendo DS (Also called Front Mission 1st in Japan) was the second remake of the game, and was released in 2007, two years after the final numbered entry in the series Front Mission 5. It was the first time that Front Mission was officially localized for overseas markets (There was a fan translation of the SNES version released in 2001). The DS version of the game added nine secret missions and various other minor plot points that tied it to the other games in the series. It also features UI optimizations for the DS, and various weapons and parts from other Front Mission games. The DS version can therefore be considered the definitive version of Front Mission, which is why I will be playing it for this LP. How does this game compare to the others in the series? Front Mission is, with a few exceptional levels, a fairly easy game. It is much easier than the truly epic Front Mission 2, and considerably easier than Front Mission 5. It is maybe roughly around the same level of difficulty as Front Mission 3. Being the first entry in the series, *Front Mission* has some rough edges to its game systems, but like Final Fantasy Tactics it is a game that is fun to break. Being fairly forgiving, it is a good game to get into the series with. Unlike Front Mission 5, FM1 has no link system, so the tactical considerations in this game are in many ways simpler. It does however have some battles with more units on larger maps, so maneuvering around the map is often tactically important. Consumables also really shine in this game, and we will see them put to good use. Who are you? I was the lead translator on the Front Mission Fan Translation Project, and you can find my complete video LP of Front Mission 5: Scars of the War here at the LP Archive. What's the concept for this LP? My intention is to follow up on my FM5 LP in terms of thoroughness and bring a more complete picture of the Front Mission universe to western viewers. The first Chapter of FM5 takes place during the events of Front Mission, which itself contains two concurrent campaigns. Therefore in addition to playing through the two Front Mission campaigns in chronological order, I will provide hyperlinks to episodes of my Front Mission 5 LP that happen before, during, or after the episodes of this LP, as well as hyperlinks between the OCU and USN campaigns of this game. Once this is done, we will have a complete chronology of the events of the Second Huffman Conflict, spanning both Front Mission and Front Mission 5. Where possible, I will also provide links to the "wanzer roundup" episodes of my FM5 LP, that go into detail about the wanzer models that appear in that game. There is a considerable amount of overlap in wanzer models between FM1 and FM5, but some models in FM1 do not appear in FM5, so they will unfortunately be left out. 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 fan translation project. Episodes: Introduction 2089 Episode 01 - Tutorial/Royd 0 Episode 02 - Kevin 1 Episode 03 - Kevin 1 Redux Episode 04 - Kevin Event 1 Episode 05 - Kevin 2 2090 March FM5 Tutorial/Walter 0 May Episode 06 - Kevin Event 2 Episode 07 - Kevin 3 June Episode 08 - Kevin 4 Episode 09 - Royd 1 Walter Event 1 Episode 10 - Kevin Event 3 Episode 11 - Kevin Secret Mission 1 Walter Mission 1 Episode 12 - Kevin 5 Episode 13 - Kevin 6 Episode 14 - Kevin 7 Episode 15 - Kevin 8 Episode 15.1 - Addendum Episode 16 - Kevin 9 Walter Event 2 Walter Mission 2 Episode 17 - Kevin Event 4 Walter Event 3 Walter Event 4 Episode 18 - Kevin Secret Mission 2 Episode 19 - Kevin Secret Mission 3 Episode 19.1 - Addendum 2 Episode 20 - Kevin 10 Walter Event 5 Episode 21 - Kevin Event 5 2091 June Episode 22 - Royd 2 Episode 23 - Royd 3 Episode 24 - Royd 4 July Episode 25 - Kevin 11 Episode 26 - Royd 5 Episode 27 - Royd 5 Redux Episode 28 - Kevin Event 6 Walter Mission 3 Walter Event 6 Episode 29 - Royd Event 1 Episode 30 - Royd 6 Episode 31 - Royd Secret Mission 1 Episode 32 - Kevin 12 Episode 33 - Kevin 13 August Episode 34 - Kevin Event 7 Episode 35 - Royd 7 Episode 36 - Kevin 14 Walter Mission 4 Episode 37 - Kevin Event 8 Episode 38 - Royd 8 Episode 39 - Royd Secret Mission 2 Episode 40 - Royd 9 Episode 41 - Royd 10 Episode 42 - Kevin 15 Episode 43 - Kevin 16 Episode 44 - Kevin Secret Mission 4 Episode 45 - Royd 11 Episode 46 - Royd 12 Episode 47 - Kevin 17 Walter Event 7 Walter Mission 5 Walter Event 8 Episode 48 - Royd 13 Episode 49 - Kevin 18 Episode 50 - Royd 14 Walter Event 9 Episode 51 - Royd 15 Episode 52 - Royd 16 Walter Event 10 Walter Mission 6 Walter Event 11 Walter Mission 7 Episode 53 - Royd Secret Mission 3 Walter Event 12 Episode 54 - Royd 17 Episode 55 - Royd 18 Walter Event 13 Walter Event 14 September Walter Event 15 Walter Event 16 October Episode 56 - Royd 19 Episode 57 - Royd 20 Episode 58 - Royd 21 Episode 59 - Royd 22 Episode 60 - Royd Secret Mission 4 Episode 61 - Royd 23 Episode 62 - Royd 24 Episode 63 - Royd 25 MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 14:58 on Sep 10, 2017 |
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Jul 14, 2017 16:59
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Here is the first batch of new episodes to check out! Let's go! Walter Event 7 Walter Mission 5 Walter Event 8 Episode 48 - Royd 13 Episode 49 - Kevin 18 Episode 50 - Royd 14 Walter Event 9 Episode 51 - Royd 14 MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jul 14, 2017 |
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Jul 14, 2017 17:00
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This is one of my favorite games of all time. My 2nd Donegal Guard company is nicknamed "Hell's Wall." My memory's a little fuzzy but isn't China the DHZ in Front Mission?
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Jul 14, 2017 23:34
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Defiance Industries posted:This is one of my favorite games of all time. My 2nd Donegal Guard company is nicknamed "Hell's Wall." Nice! I used to name my team in mecha games Barghest after the unit in Front Mission 5. You're right about China being the DHZ, but they only really show up in Front Mission 3.
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Jul 15, 2017 01:13
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Yeah, my Hell's Wall unit has a Barghest in it. So that's on brand for us.
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Jul 15, 2017 02:19
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Okay we're getting through the really complicated intertwining of events around the invasion of Fort Monus, and we'll soon be through all the Front Mission 5 stuff that is related to this game! Episode 52 - Royd 16 Walter Event 10 Walter Mission 6 Walter Event 11 Walter Mission 7 Royd Secret Mission 3 Walter Event 12 EDIT: RIP Randy MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 12:26 on Jul 17, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 11:49
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C'mon man Spoilers!
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Jul 17, 2017 05:08
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Sjs00 posted:C'mon man Spoilers! Sorry...that was a heartfelt thing after watching that part too late at night. I always get choked up watching that bit... However, we have to move on! Episode 54 - Royd 17 Episode 55 - Royd 18 Walter Event 13 Walter Event 14 Walter Event 15 Walter Event 16 This wraps up all the FM5 connections to FM1! Walter will carry on his exploits after Royd and Kevin are done with Huffman Island.
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Jul 17, 2017 12:25
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Nothing too fancy this time around, just a few new OCU missions! Episode 56 - Royd 19 Episode 57 - Royd 20 Episode 58 - Royd 21
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Jul 21, 2017 14:47
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Wow. Glad to see you're getting the time to finish this, I'd better get catching up. That reminds me, I'm partway through 4 and should get back on that too...
Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 12:58 on Jul 23, 2017 |
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Jul 23, 2017 12:47
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Crazy Achmed posted:Wow. Glad to see you're getting the time to finish this, I'd better get catching up. That reminds me, I'm partway through 4 and should get back on that too... Thanks! Glad to see you're still around and playing Front Mission! We'll be getting to the FM4 tie-in in this game soonish... Here's another episode from the OCU campaign to start off the week! Episode 59 - Royd 22
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Jul 23, 2017 16:20
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I must say that the art style for the pics used in the title cards and so on always makes me happy, it's so out of place for the game.
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Jul 30, 2017 16:56
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SIGSEGV posted:I must say that the art style for the pics used in the title cards and so on always makes me happy, it's so out of place for the game. Yeah I agree, although Amano's art for Front Mission Online is actually kind of cool:  In any case, I'm back from vacation and the series continues! Episode 60 - Royd Secret Mission 4 MaterialConceptual fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Sep 10, 2017 |
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Sep 9, 2017 02:28
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Here we are with the second to last batch of OCU missions! Apologies for the commentary cutting out in Episode 63... Episode 61 - Royd 23 Episode 62 - Royd 24 Episode 63 - Royd 25
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Sep 10, 2017 14:58
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The whole "lovers marveling at a natural wonder" scene is kinda (very) cliché but if you imagine it as shown with them stomping all over it with their giant mech feet it becomes pretty funny. And maybe those USN dudes just decided that the OCU wasn't getting any of their beautiful little lake in a peace deal or status quo ante bellum or something like that.
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Sep 10, 2017 18:12
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SIGSEGV posted:The whole "lovers marveling at a natural wonder" scene is kinda (very) cliché but if you imagine it as shown with them stomping all over it with their giant mech feet it becomes pretty funny. The inability to show any characters not in a vehicle does lead to some pretty good unintentional comedy.
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Sep 16, 2017 13:50
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Welp, it's been a pretty brutal story so far and certainly doesn't let up.
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Sep 19, 2017 11:22
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