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  • Locked thread
GimmickMan
Dec 27, 2011

Despite being a 70's mecha show, I fully recommend Zambot to anyone interested in Super Robot Wars in general whenever it comes up. I don't think we'll see much of the reasons for that (What with its plot being over) but I'll just say those kids are legitimate badasses and they better get a chance to show off.

The powerup to the Moon Attack with a Full Moon out is an amusing gimmick though, but not much more than that.

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SaitoBatch
Jun 16, 2009
Doesn't Zambot 3 have that thing in Z1, where Keiko can kick the bucket if you don't do something? That....kinda irritated me, but at the same time was right in there with Tomino's kill em all mindset at the time.

SaitoBatch fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Mar 2, 2013

CaptainRat
Apr 18, 2003

It seems the secret to your success is a combination of boundless energy and enthusiastic insolence...

SaitoBatch posted:

Doesn't Zambot 3 have that thing in Z1, where Keiko can kick the bucket if you don't do something? That....kinda irritated me, but at the same time was right in there with Tomino's kill em all mindset at the time.

Keiko, the third sub-pilot, never dies, no. Aki, Kappei's girlfriend-insofar-as-12-year-olds-can-have-girlfriends, becomes a human bomb, because Butcher is a giant rear end in a top hat, and if you don't complete enough Zambot 3-related triggers in previous stages she blows up and dies like, I assume, in the anime. However, Aki is never a pilot/sub-pilot, and the only gameplay effect of saving her is getting an Ending Point (although you should save her anyway because it's the right thing to do and if you don't Kappei is so sad :smith: ).

Edit: forgot I wasn't in the general thread.

Daler Mehndi
Apr 10, 2005

Tunak Tunak Tun!

CaptainRat posted:

Aki, Kappei's girlfriend-insofar-as-12-year-olds-can-have-girlfriends, becomes a human bomb, because Butcher is a giant rear end in a top hat, and if you don't complete enough Zambot 3-related triggers in previous stages she blows up and dies like, I assume, in the anime.

You assume correctly.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


That secret is also a massive pain the rear to get sadly. It's nearly impossible for Rand to get and to reliably get it on Setsuko you need to give up on another secret. On all of my playthroughs of Z1 I've done sadly Kappei has had an unhappy ending :(

CaptainRat
Apr 18, 2003

It seems the secret to your success is a combination of boundless energy and enthusiastic insolence...

Omnicrom posted:

That secret is also a massive pain the rear to get sadly. It's nearly impossible for Rand to get and to reliably get it on Setsuko you need to give up on another secret. On all of my playthroughs of Z1 I've done sadly Kappei has had an unhappy ending :(

Setsuko has a pretty easy time of it, given that you get 5 points for destroying Butcher pretty early on (tough but not impossible).

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

CaptainRat posted:

Setsuko has a pretty easy time of it, given that you get 5 points for destroying Butcher pretty early on (tough but not impossible).

As cool as Gunleon was, I generally found myself enjoying my Setsuko runthrough more. Part of it is probably just that Mneidengard didn't translate any of Setsuko's route splits, so there were big chunks of the game where I'm just sort of projecting based on what I think would be cool and what I know from Rand's route, and part of it was I just really enjoy the dynamic that gets set up between her and the Gundam leads. It just feels like there's more interesting crossovery stuff there, which always tickles me.

Wounded Land
Nov 27, 2007
Living in a greenhouse, growing crops that we can't eat...
I love Rand far far more... at least until the upgrade, which is one of those upgrades I wish the game would take back.

Son Ryo
Jun 13, 2007
Excuse me, do you know where Saiyans hang out?

Wounded Land posted:

I love Rand far far more... at least until the upgrade, which is one of those upgrades I wish the game would take back.

Why? It's not like the unit looks (or even behaves, as far as I remember) any differently aside from the two new attacks you get. If you don't like them, nobody's forcing you to use them.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Son Ryo posted:

Why? It's not like the unit looks (or even behaves, as far as I remember) any differently aside from the two new attacks you get. If you don't like them, nobody's forcing you to use them.

Seconding this. The upgraded Gunleon gives it everything it needs, it has a Resupply unit so it regenerates energy, Mail gets SP Regeneration making her a great support pilot, it gets an ALL attack that also doubles as a long range counter attack, and it gains the ability to kill the poo poo out of things with fire like a good Super Robot. The upgraded Gunleon is minimal compared to the Virgola's upgrades but it's still a significant and welcome upgrade.

GilliamYaeger
Jan 10, 2012

Call Gespenst!
Well, I suppose you could make an argument that the one part of the upgrade thats really a downgrade is the theme. Its just not as catchy.

Daler Mehndi
Apr 10, 2005

Tunak Tunak Tun!
That's the one thing I wish they would have changed. The original theme for regular attacks, and the new theme for the new attacks, as the default setting.

TheBystander
Apr 28, 2011
I absolutely love the Gunleon (how could anyone not like it?), but I too prefer Setsuko and the Virgola. The way it picks up upgrades like Mega Man throughout is pretty cool, if a little morbid given the circumstances. The only thing I dislike is the doofy-looking cannon the Virgola gets after it upgrades... I would have preferred something a bit more, I don't know, mechanical-looking.

SaitoBatch
Jun 16, 2009
If I'm to be honest, I didn't really like Z1 all that much. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game, but I just for some reason I can't explain, don't like it as much as some of the other games like the portable ones and the Alpha series. I love Z2 though so I can't really explain it.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE


Shirota fills in Crushers Command on our new friends from a parallel universe. But when he gets to the part where they're from an organization called ZEUTH, Ohtsuka recognizes the name! It seems that other soldiers and robots purporting to be from ZEUTH have been folding in around the planet, and even a few out in space. It looks like Ime's trick cut holes in the dimensional fabric to more than just wherever Gaioh came from. The good news is that the ZEUTHers are on our side, and we could use all the help we can get against the Imperium. Well, Kappei did say that his team fights against evil, so that's a check for us. Going by the news around the world, Ohtsuka guesses that more of Kappei's allies will be falling in around the Dark Continent. We're ordered to pick them up if we find them in our investigations of the island.

Speaking of the Dark Continent, they have apparently sent us some extra soldiers of their own. There's just one catch...



Meanwhile, GOONZ is catching up on interdimensional events. It's also been about twenty years since the big quake in ZEUTH's universe. It was in the same situation as we were, but about a year ago, a lot of poo poo went down at once. ZEUTH cleaned it up, and it's been pretty quiet ever since. Watta in turn explains that the big threat for us is the DAMons, and their boss Gaioh, though there are plenty of other enemies to deal with too. Kappei promises he's behind Watta all the way.

Speaking of parallel universes, what's this about the alternate Gekko? The ZEUTH universe had a full complement of the alternate crew, and there were alternate versions of other GOONZ members. Kappei feels that each of them, despite having the same name and face, is like a completely different person here. Keiko and Uchuta stop him from going into any details, though. Doesn't he remember what happened to Setsuko?

Keiko explains that Setsuko was a fellow soldier in ZEUTH who lost comrades in the war. She later found alternate versions of her fallen fellows from a parallel universe and reformed the team with them, but ZEUTH laid down some ground rules about parallel selves. Mainly, no one could compare alternate versions to the versions they knew first, or let the alternates compare themselves. That's probably for the best, and Benkei muses that he wouldn't want to know if something horrible happened to an alternate version of himself anyway. Anyway, that's why Team Zambot isn't willing to talk about anyone from ZEUTH who has a doppelganger in GOONZ.

The Eureka Seven doppelgangers, by the way, have locked themselves behind closed doors for another cryptic meeting. The team players around here have all noticed how Holland reacted strangely to the sight of the Zambot team. Ryoma in particular is keeping his eye on Holland...



Aaaah!

This is Dr. Mishima, who is extremely pleased to be on the Dark Continent where "the aroma of battle wafts in from all directions! And the Imperium is on the move too! Hee hee hee! My scientist's blood is boiling!"



Also present: Professor Saotome's daughter and research assistant Michiru Saotome, and Getter's backup pilot Benkei Kuruma. Michiru does the introductions, and Benkei is proud to stand ready to keep Getter running in case something happens to Ryoma, Hayato, or Musashi (who doesn't think they've got anything to worry about). Saotome must have hand-picked Benkei, so he's cut from some sturdy cloth, at least.

Mishima is here to fix up the Getter, which hasn't been in for its tune-up since they joined Celestial Being. Also, he's supposed to tell the Getter Team to call back to the lab. What could old man Saotome have to say?



Well, as it turns out, he wanted to gloat at Ryoma for getting slapped around by the Imperium. Really, doc? But then he sees that Ryoma's eyes haven't given up hope yet, and exhorts Ryoma to draw out Getter's full power! "If you can do that, you will be invincible!" But according to him, they haven't even gotten halfway there yet. He's having Mishima shorten Getter's combination timing window by 0.2 seconds - he expects them to master that before they come back crying to him. Ryoma shouts back that soon, it'll be Getter whining because it can't keep up with him. Saotome replies that when that happens, he'll have a new Getter waiting for them - just try to get it done sometime in the next three years, yeah? "I don't think you have three years left to live, old man!" smirks Ryoma. "Ha ha ha! Foolish! I will not die until I perfect the power of the Getter rays!" bellows Saotome.



The other heroes are impressed by Saotome's force of will, strictness, and utter insanity - but Michiru assures them that Saotome really does believe in the team he picked. And though Ryoma grumbles, he has faith in the good doctor himself. Mishima's work is just about done, so it's time for Ryoma to direct his rage at the real enemies. They're heading out to test the new machines - and practice until they can use their full power!

Crowe, out on a scouting run, has picked up an ongoing battle several miles out. Perfect timing. Maybe it's the Imperium, maybe the Beastmen - but either way, it's an ideal opportunity to take the new Getter out for a spin!


Chapter 25: A Faraway World
(WPC route)



It's Beastmen. Headed by Viral in his new Enkidu!



Their opponents are Jiron Amos and his posse. The last thing they knew, they were chasing longtime nemesis Timp Shaloon, and suddenly, there are Beastmen everywhere!



Also sucked into this particular skirmish is Gainer Sanga, who was just sitting in a classroom. The rest of the Gainer cast had split up all over the world, but one sudden dimensional burst later, they're all together, and in their robots no less!



Cynthia here even locked her Overman away, so she's extra surprised to find herself piloting it.



Viral had heard Kamina was back in town and brought his men out for some human-hunting, but what he found was some much more entertaining prey.



By the way, nemesis Timp Shaloon got pulled through the rift too. It looks to him like there's nothing for it but to declare a truce. Jiron wants nothing to do with him, but to even Timp's chagrin, it's true - they can't afford to fight now.



So with these seven units, we have three turns to wipe out all the Beastmen, Viral last of all. But first, we have all those new robots to inspect!


Walker Gallia (Jiron Amos, Chil)
Skills
Prevail L7
Morale
Offensive Support L2
Spirits
(Jiron)
Guts
Accel
Sense
(Chil)
Luck
Focus
Alert
Traits
-
Weapons
Standard Rifle (8 ammo)
Bash (10 EN)
Boomerang Idiom (3 ammo)
Bazooka (6 ammo)
Sandrat Team Assault (2 ammo, 110 Will))
Walker Gallia Full Power (60 EN, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: If at 30% HP or below, casts Vigor at the beginning of the ally phase.

Jeez, what do I say about this gas-powered, steering wheel controlled oddity? Jiron is the angriest little hobbit you'll ever see. The Gallia moves all right and its pilot is tough as nails, so it has that going for it. On the other hand, its consumption is weird and it is truly awful at attacking flying enemies, and frankly, we already have one Dai-Guard.

The Gallia has, as I said, lost its most powerful attack, the famous ICBM Toss (one per battle, of course), though it still has its intermediate power attack. As a consolation prize, its squad filler units have been folded into a squad attack.


Xabungle (Elchi Cargo)
Skills
Command L1
Offensive Support L2
Prevail L5
Spirits
Vigor
Luck
Traits
-
Weapons
Bash (10 EN)
Standard Rifle (8 ammo)
Quad Launcher (6 ammo)
Sandrat Team Assault (2 ammo, 110 Will)
Xabungle Full Power (60 EN, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: +50% money gained.

Oh, Warmachine Xabungle. One of those mecha shows where the titular robot gets replaced (and, in fact, the main team ends up with multiple Xabungles). Elchi was the captain of the land battleship Iron Gear, so ending up in the robot sort of downgrades her to sidekick. Z2 is going to hand out a replacement Iron Gear anyway.


Brockary (Timp Shaloon)
Skills
Prevail L7
Counter L6
Predict
Guard
Spirits
Snipe
Accel
Sense
Fury
Traits
-
Weapons
Bash
Rifle (20 ammo)
Brockary Full Power (3 ammo, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: ???

He's here so I might as well show him off too.

I swear this robot's name is "Broccoli."

Anyway, I really like how you can tell from the skills that Timp is not a team player like the Sandrats are. And as he and Jiron said, this truce is strictly temporary - he's only around for this chapter, so I don't particularly care for his Ace Bonus. If you're curious, it's +1 movement and +20% evasion.

Also, I can't tell why none of the Xabungle units have Hit & Away. Their primary weapons are not the kind you can shoot on the move.



Anyway, we'll see how they perform before we move to King Gainer.

I can't imagine what Kotsett will let happen to the Iron Gear all by himself.
Let's take these people out and find a way back to our own universe!








Could have gone way worse.

Jiron! They're coming! It looks like this huge face!
I don't know who they are or where we are, but we've gotta fight our way out!
Follow Jiron's lead, men!
Yeah! We're not gonna bite it here!
We'll give 'em all we've got!
We've survived to get this far! We're going to keep surviving!







Teamwork!

Anyway, let's talk about Overmen.


King Gainer (Gainer Sanga)
Skills
Oversense L4
Game Champ
Block
Spirits
Focus
Drive
Accel
Sense
Traits
Photon Mat
Overskill
Blade
Weapons
Chaingun Shot (12 ammo)
Chaingun Slash (10 EN)
Overfreeze Bullet (8 ammo, Oversense L2, mobility down)
Overfreeze (35 EN, 130 Will, Oversense L2, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: The Gamer skill is replaced with Game Champ.

My reflexes have been honed by years of video games!

Every Overman pilot has the same Oversense skill, which boosts hit and evasion rates, much like Psychic, and also the damage-soaking ability of the Photon Mat barrier (1000 points, +100 for each Oversense level) and the power of weapons that list it as a prerequisite. Gainer further has the Gamer skill, which boosts his Skill stat by 10 when he's over 130 Will, and which he can upgrade through practice killing to the Game Champ, which boosts it by 30 instead. Can you say "Attack Again"?

Every Overman also has a unique Overskill which activates at 130 Will. King Gainer's is Acceleration, which does just what it sounds like. In gameplay terms, it increases King Gainer's movement, accuracy, and evasion, and gives him a 30% chance to autododge an attack in the same vein as the Jammer and Getter Vision.

King Gainer is missing his final plot attack, Overheat, and also his Overskill attack, where he uses his super-speed to overwhelm the enemy. (He's also missing his formation-leading attack, but it's useless in this game anyway.)

Even so, Gainer is extremely sensitive to ramping up to 130 Will as quickly as possible so he can make full use of his Overskill and Armored Core prowess (and the Photon Mat, for all that's worth, since it doesn't work below 110 Will). Skills will be assigned accordingly. Overmen are also universally Small, so Ignore Size can be a good idea when fighting armies.


Emperanza (Gain Bijou)
Skills
Oversense L3
Hit & Away
Offensive Support L3
Spirits
Sense
Snipe
Focus
Traits
Photon Mat
Overskill
Weapons
76mm Cannon (12 ammo)
Brunhilde's Arm (20 EN)
Black Southern Cross (5 ammo, 100 Will, Ignore Size)
Black Hole (60 EN, 130 Will, Oversense L3, mobility down, pierce barriers, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: Accuracy +15%. Range of weapons, other than MAP and range 1 weapons, +1.

Now that's a sniper, right?

Gain will be the latest addition to the ZEXIS Sniper Team, after Lockon and Michel. He's extremely good at it. Also, he's awesome.

Emperanza's Overskill, inherited from the monster Brunhilde whose left arm is grafted onto the Overman's body, is Gravity. It permanently Accels the machine, as in the Spirit, each round, and strengthens the Photon Mat by an additional 200 points.

Like King Gainer, Emperanza has had its TRI attack from Z quietly removed without adaptation.


Dominator (Cynthia Rain)
Skills
Oversense L4
Gamer
Attack Again
Spirits
Faith
Focus
Sense
Analyze
Traits
Photon Mat
Overskill
Weapons
Strike (5 EN)
Photon Mat (20 EN, Oversense L1)
Overskill Pummel (40 EN, 130 Will, Oversense L3, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: Evasion +15%, critical rate +15%.

Cynthia is Gainer's longtime rival in the game, and other than not having Game Champ, she easily gives him a run for his money in stats. She also has the Spirit originally known as Friendship (awww), which is an upgraded version of Trust that fully heals one unit.

The Dominator's pliant, stretchable body is its Overskill: Shapeshift, which gives it a boost to its mobility and a flat 50% chance to avoid any attack. This is on top of the machine's and Cynthia's natural quickness and the small size shared by all Overmen, making it really hard to kill.


Panzer (Sara Kodama, Adette Kessler)
Skills
Oversense L2
Will+ (hit)
Defensive Support L2
Spirits
(Sara)
Cheer
Focus
Vigor
(Adette)
Scan
Strike
Guard
Traits
Shield
Repair
Weapons
Strike (5 EN)
60mm Rivet Gun (12 ammo)
BB (3 ammo, accuracy down)
Gauli Squad Charge (3 ammo, 120 Will, accuracy down, pierce barrier, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: Gauli Squad Charge +400 attack.

Sigh.

Sara had an Overman, you know. It was good. Now she's back in the slow, groundbound, useless piece of poo poo Panzer so they have somewhere to put Adette, Gauli, and Bero.

gently caress it.

Haha woo, Dominator! We get to work together again!
Dunno why, but I don't care! Let's just have fun with it! You and I, we're the best!









Ow.





Attack #2 - the Photon Mat, OKG's answer to beam technology, I guess.

Anyway, let's heal Cynthia up and -



Oh wait.

Watch out, Sara!
Hold on, Ms. Adette! This cockpit doesn't fit two! Please stay still!
Not the time! Eyes on the enemy!
We've got your back, Sara!
Go all in, Sara! Show them the pride of the Gauli Squad!
Roger! Sara Kodama, striking with the Yapan spirit!






At least the BB blinds the enemy, reducing its accuracy. Like many things in Z2, it worked much better in a squad context.

(I've seen a lot of damage caused by dimension shocks, but I never thought I'd get swallowed by one myself...)
(This is too much to be a coincidence. Are we being gathered here for a reason?)

Gain knows what's up.







He's also in the one Overman that can apparently take a hit. I like these units, but they need upgrading.

Gainer! My life is in your hands!
That's great motivation to do this right!
I'm not going to die here either! Time to be men, King Gainer!








There's a "dreaded" joke to be made here.



Anyway, I doubt many enemies will go down this turn.



Oh, but Timp gets himself attacked.

drat. Last I knew, that melonhead fella and his gang were on my tail, and then I got dropped here.
Always knew that fella was bad news.








Yeah I didn't care for Timp doing anything either.



A few battles happen but many of the enemies go nowhere.



When the next turn starts, the Black Family and Yoko's villagemate Dayakka join in! They're the reinforcements Ohtsuka mentioned.

Gainer explains that not only are they not from around here, they're not from this plane of existence. Kitan doesn't exactly follow all the science, but we're under fire from the Beastmen, and that's good enough for Dayakka. Introductions go all around.

I'm Gain Bijou, the Black Southern Cross.
What a man!
I sense a keen intellect beneath primal vitality.
We're all black something but he's way cooler than our brother!
Come on, you guys!

Anyway, we have introductions of our own - they didn't show us their Ganmen!


King Kitan (Kitan)
Skills
Spiral Power L1
Defensive Support L3
Will+ (damage)
Prevail L5
Spirits
Guts
Drive
Invincible
Strike
Weapons
Hit (10 EN)
Kitan Stinger (20 EN, pierce barriers)
King Kitan DX (60 EN, 125 Will, pierce barriers, ignore size)
Ace Bonus: At 130 Will, casts Vigor at the beginning of every ally phase.

Kitan is pretty cool. He's near impossible to kill, but is a hella energy hog. King Kitan DX is a squad attack that combines with Kiyal's Kiyalunga (um, the Dark Continent residents aren't good at naming robots), but she's not a subpilot or anything.

Clear out! Black Family comin' through!
Get 'em, Kitan!
Go, King Kitan!
Don't forget about my Kiyalunga!
Oh yeah! I'm gonna finish this with style for my dear sisters!












Dayakkaiser
Skills
Spiral Power L1
Guard
Offensive Support L2
Prevail L4
Spirits
Vigor
Invincible
Strike
Weapons
Hit (10 EN)
Cannon (8 ammo)
Ace Bonus: At 130 Will, casts Assail at the beginning of every ally phase.

Assail, or Charge, is a Spirit that gives the (P) property to every weapon on the unit for one turn, so it basically means Dayakka can fire that cannon with abandon.

Once again, I don't know why he doesn't have Hit & Away. The Ace Bonus helps with that, though.

We may be individually weak, but when we're together, nothing can stop us!
Here we go, Dayakkaiser! We're fighting for everyone living on this land!






Anyway, I've got two turns to wrap this up and that includes however long it takes to knock down Enkidu.





More teamwork!



These Cannon Gannons (actual name), with their long range and bunch of HP, are particularly annoying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BimhcdAfpA

Fortunately, we have Gain loving Bijou.



With that kill, GOONZ arrives on the scene! A little late, I suppose, but.



Kappei, Gainer, and Jiron all recognize each other from ZEUTH. Jiron tastelessly asks Holland if his kid got born yet (whoops, Eureka Seven spoilers), and Gainer calls out to Renton, with whose other version he was pretty close. Uchuta and Keiko hurriedly shut them up. Dayakka and Kitan show off their new Ganmen. Leeron's glad to see that, and not for their tactical value: "Kamina and Simon are having an effect on the people of this continent."

Okay, Watta! We gotta show off our new tag attack!
You got it, Kappei! Let's clean up those Beastmen!
When did they...
Teamwork that crosses universal bounds, huh. This should be fun to watch.



Anyway, the units that can't be lost now are the mothership (of course), Getter... and Timp. Sure, okay.



Getter has the speed to dive right in.



The others, well, follow as best they can.



And that's the end of the turn, but at least I have a respectable amount of firepower now.




Soon, the Dominator's Overskill goes online. The other Overmen are probably soon to follow.



This is the only Ganza that moves.



The other ones are in the back and at full HP. Yaaay.









Enkidu is actually impressive with its blade, and has a shield just to make it more annoying.



Now it's the last turn to take out the rest of the Beastmen.



Here are the enemies left to finish off. I'm guessing I can count on Kamina and Simon to take down Viral with their Valor, though.






First we sweep these up. Akagi learns Drive.





Now there's just the one Ganza left.





But rather than lying down and dying, it charges Kiyou!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeldS3xQZzQ

King Gainer's Overskill activates, and Gainer zips in to save them! He uses the Overskill Attack, which has been added back to King Gainer's movelist.



Emperanza's Overskill also goes off from the kill.



Anyway, all there is left to do is take down Viral.







That is some impressive Prevail.



Oh. Guard, too. Even so...

It's you and me, Kaminaaa!
You're burning pretty hot, beastman! But my soul's on fire too!
A monkey like you couldn't comprehend how I've longed for this day to come!
I will destroy you and reclaim my honor!
All right, general! If that's how it is, I'll gladly fight you man to man!
It's a duel between men! A contest of wills and spirits!

Wow, Simon doesn't even get lines anymore.








Viral drops an Auto-Repair Machine.



Oh yeah, and that's the SR Point.



Timp decides to skedaddle, but it seems that Viral's mission was to take home a human from another dimension. He grabs Timp and drags him away, promising that he'll get Kamina next time.



And a new enemy chooses this moment to arrive - the new alliance between Dr. Hell and Emperor Zuul, led by Baron Ashura!

What the heck is that?
It's like a man and woman squished together!
That's how men and women are supposed to be, but not like this!



So anyway, Ashura is with one of Zuul's top commanders, Sagul. Sagul says that Zuul has decided that this planet could be of use to him after all. So I guess we're not going to be destroyed, just subjugated. Great. But still, Zuul has ordered GOONZ, who stand to oppose him, put to death! Ashura tells Sagul to leave it to him/her and go worry about his own mission, and he leaves to do just that. What is he up to, exactly?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ln2bvUEo0M

Ashura won't give us a chance to investigate. He/she sends her Vargas V5 at Getter Robo, a Mechabeast that can split into its component parts. But the Getter Team recovers and counters with their own new technique - mastery of the Getter combination sequence and the Getter Change Attack!



Vargas retreats and recovers. Looks like it's a fight!



As usual with Mechabeasts, we can ignore the Talos (and, in this case, the Gishin psychics) and just take down Vargas.



But for now, Sara heals up the Dominator and gains Invincible. Whee?

(That man, Sagul... why is he here on the Dark Continent?)
(Is it related to the reason Zuul is working with Dr. Hell?)



Yawn Talos.



Vargas' split attack has one advantage over Getter's - it has super long range.

You still wanna go, Mechabeast?
Unfortunately, your split attack is just a sleight of hand.
But ours is different! Because each of us is trying to crush you with all our might!
And if you didn't get it the first time, you can see what happens when all of us strike as one!




But Ryoma defends instead.



The Getter Change Attack can only be used once per map (or resupply, I suppose).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2snt6JJKmAk

And now for something completely unnecessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQflm0lMJt4

And something else completely unnecessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w_1OS56t3c

Hell, let's just keep doing this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On3PbLhm0eM

I don't even know the meaning of "necessary" anymore.






Oh right, it's actually paying attention to the stage goal.



Oh yeah, and I left Gainer way up there after his event.




Enemy phase: enemies die.



Oh, and Vargas finally deigns to attack his own nemesis.

Attack, Vargas V5! Crush Mazinger Z into scrap!
I already saw your attack when you used it on Ryoma!
Mazinger and I won't fall for a trick we already saw! We'll turn you into scrap!








This won't last much longer.





You know what screw it. He's done every interesting thing he's going to do. Kouji kills him. The end.



He drops a Repair Kit.



As usual, Ashura whines that s/he'll get you next time, Kouji, and retreats Vargas.

Gainer and Jiron are willing to come with us - they're confused, and we can't be bad if Kappei's with us. The fact that Gainer knew the alternate Renton well bothers this one, though...



Anyway, the new ZEUTHers get the parallel universe explanation. Renton asks whether Gainer's with Cynthia or Sara. "Or both of them?" Gainer splutters, but asks back if a Eureka exists in this universe, and Renton's blushing smile gives him his answer. Formal introductions are passed around, but one of them is missing - what are we going to do about the kidnapped Timp? Jiron explains that Timp, far from being one of his group, is his longtime nemesis and the murderer of his parents, and anyway he's a tenacious bastard, so he'll be okay. Probably.

So Shirota, as the WPC's representative, would like the new ZEUTHers to remain in the Gekko's custody, and they agree, since they're lost here and they also owe us for bailing them out - though Gain is quick to add that this only holds as long as we aren't evil. Obviously, Dayakka and the Black Family are also signing up with our team. They report that they're not the only ones following Kamina's example, either. "See, Simon!" laughs Kamina. "That drill of yours didn't stop at the cieling - it's drilled a hole into the whole wide world!"

Even Shirota is moved by Kamina passion. "He's almost glowing. Call it vitality if you want... but just watching him, you feel like you can do anything."



Mishima, Michiru, and Benkei are taking their leave to head back to Saotome's lab. Ryoma sends his warm regards ("Tell him not to underestimate us!"). Seeing their confidence, Mishima believes they'll be able to control "that" soon enough. "The question is, can humanity hold out until then..."



Viral has delivered Timp to his superior Thymilf, who has in turn brought him to the Spiral King. "Thought th' Beastman's king would have a tail or teeth or something," quips Timp. "This'n looks just like a human."



The other generals (these are the last two - Adene and Cytomander) shut him up, but Lordgenome is curious about what he said - and the balls he must have to be so at ease before the King. Timp smoothly offers his info on those who would stand in the way of Lordgenome's extermination of humanity, at least the ones that came from his universe, in exchange for Timp's own life. He orders Thymilf to take Timp into his own forces after he gives up all his data, but Timp just smirks. "Too easy to pull one over on these overgrown critters."

Moving on, Guame is concerned about the increasing number of Damons spawning on the Dark Continent, but Lordgenome isn't surprised. He orders his generals not to harm the Damons, and refuses to tell them way, only that they don't need to know.



Everybody joined.

ActionZero
Jan 22, 2011

I act once more in
imitation of light
The way you talk about it suggests that King Gainer had that Overskill attack in Z but it's actually new to his list in Z2 (he did have something a little similar in K but without the after-images/clones).

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE

ActionZero posted:

The way you talk about it suggests that King Gainer had that Overskill attack in Z but it's actually new to his list in Z2 (he did have something a little similar in K but without the after-images/clones).

He had the Overskill Attack in Z, though the animation was probably different. It was also an ALL attack, so that's probably related.

Basically he lost Overheat and Overskill, then gained back an altered Overskill.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

ActionZero posted:

The way you talk about it suggests that King Gainer had that Overskill attack in Z but it's actually new to his list in Z2 (he did have something a little similar in K but without the after-images/clones).

Yes, and it's a good addition - which Gainer sorely needed after losing Overheat, which I thought was a pretty rad finisher for a robot I wasn't crazy about.

Not too terribly crazy about any of our new additions. Gainer and company are fairly solid (though gently caress putting Sara back in a Panzer ugh), but not much about their mechs or plot really stood out to me other than the ever-useful sniper Gain provided and some neat crossover stuff they did with Turn A Gundam and the other series' Z1 incorporated into Black History. Xabungle is also fun, but I found its machines to be fairly useless from about Z1's midgame on, and it sounds like that hasn't really changed here - their generally poo poo damage output versus Airborne units (plus a relatively low Space ranking, if I recall correctly) hurt them really badly as Z1 started throwing both of the latter two situations at you more and more often.

Zambot and Trider's team up attack made me smile, though!

ActionZero
Jan 22, 2011

I act once more in
imitation of light

Caphi posted:

He had the Overskill Attack in Z, though the animation was probably different. It was also an ALL attack, so that's probably related.

Basically he lost Overheat and Overskill, then gained back an altered Overskill.

I'm afraid he did not. His ALL attack was Overfreeze.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE

ActionZero posted:

I'm afraid he did not. His ALL attack was Overfreeze.

What. I was lied to. It's been a couple years since I played Z so I went and looked it up. Japanese bastards.

e: Wait no, the animation is Overfreeze based but it's named the Overskill Attack?

e2: I just checked on my old Z file and this is exactly the case.

Caphi fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Mar 11, 2013

Alacron
Feb 15, 2007

-->Have tearful reunion with your son
-->Eh
Fun Shoe
Man, Kittan is so awesome, I don't know or care if he's a lovely unit, you need to use Kittan all the time :allears:

I'm not sure why I like him so much. Maybe it's the voice acting, or the animation but it makes him seem really enthusiastic and energetic.

TheBystander
Apr 28, 2011
I really liked King Gainer in Z1, and continued to like him here, but for reason I felt that he (and basically all but a few returning ZEUTHers) got a lot worse in the transition between games. The Overmen in particular seem way easier to hit than they used to, which hampers them greatly. Still, I used King Gainer and the Dominator a lot, and they're both pretty good. I miss Overheat though... that's a really badass attack.

As for the Xabungle crew, I actually didn't like them much even in Z1. Alpha Gaiden used Xabungle really well, and I felt that Z1 skipped through a lot of Xabungle's storyline, to its detriment (Jiron starting in the Gallia is a good example of that). Jiron was at least a pretty good squadmate back in Z1, but with squads gone, he just never found a place in my Z2 teams because, as was already said, I already had Dai-Guard. I really miss the Iron Gear though: that battleship is ridiculous.

Finally, we have Kittan and Dayakka joining up. I really tried to use Kittan, as that guy is awesome, but I felt the King Kittan was a bit too hard too use: it's too slow, and uses up way too much energy. He makes a great support defender though. As for Dayakka, he's not built like a sniper because he isn't meant to be one... Dayakka's a poor choice for the Dayakkaiser, frankly. If only there was something he was much better suited towards...

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

TheBystander posted:

As for the Xabungle crew, I actually didn't like them much even in Z1. Alpha Gaiden used Xabungle really well, and I felt that Z1 skipped through a lot of Xabungle's storyline

Well, you might already know this, but it did - Z1 is explicitly set after the climax of Xabungle. One of the more subtle crossovers between it and Gainer (which, from what I understand, is meant to be a little bit of a modern take on Xabungle's parody of Robot Shows of the time) is that the protagonists' rebellion against the oppressive Siberian Rail Company is meant to be part of a mass uprising against the Innocent inspired by Jiron's antics.

Or so Mneidengard informs me, at any rate - not like I can read a word of it. :shobon:

TheBystander
Apr 28, 2011

Spiritus Nox posted:

Well, you might already know this, but it did - Z1 is explicitly set after the climax of Xabungle. One of the more subtle crossovers between it and Gainer (which, from what I understand, is meant to be a little bit of a modern take on Xabungle's parody of Robot Shows of the time) is that the protagonists' rebellion against the oppressive Siberian Rail Company is meant to be part of a mass uprising against the Innocent inspired by Jiron's antics.

Or so Mneidengard informs me, at any rate - not like I can read a word of it. :shobon:

Huh, I did not know that. Most of the story in the non-translated games is lost on me... hence why I enjoy SRW LPs so much.

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

Spiritus Nox posted:

Well, you might already know this, but it did - Z1 is explicitly set after the climax of Xabungle.
Not the conclusion of Xabungle, but actually Xabungle Graffiti, the movie compliation (even though Z1 lists Xabungle TV). The biggest change is that Arthur Rank is still alive, and his survival is explicitly mentioned in Z1, but other than that, there's not much else changed.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


So time to once again to talk about how the units have changed.

Walker Gallia: Formerly it was a great early game unit that really needed an A-Adaptor because it was terrible against air units. It's goofy Boomerang Missile Launcher was an ALL attack and Jiron had Dash, an upgraded accelerate that boosted a squad's movement by 4 (Accelerate only increases move by 2 in Z1). He lost his ICBM toss which was in the top 5 strongest attacks and gained the Sandrat squad attack, it isn't a bad tradeoff actually because the Sandrat attack gives him a good ammo based attack.

Xabungle: Formerly good piece squad filler that could have a range of pilots. Now a mediocre unit. It didn't lose anything because it didn't have all that much, but it also got the Sandrat attack. The removal of ALL attacks naturally weakened the Missile launchers.

Broccoli/Brockary/Blackalley: Lost permanency. You could get this all for your own (though not Timp of course), and probably should because it was basically a better Xabungle in all the ways that count. It had a post-movement ALL attack which was a cheaper version of Xabungle/Gallia full power and overall had better stats. It was only available for purchase quite late in the game but it wasn't a bad unit to use.

King Gainer: A great mecha in Z1 for its speed and the fact it ramped up over time. Z2 removed its photon-mat attack (which would have been nice to have, a medium-power melee attack) and it's late-game finisher Overheat. In return it gets something in a little bit and makes Game Champ an Ace Bonus rather than only being gained after a point. King Gainer was a great unit that lacked power in a lot of Z1, getting Overfreeze and Overfreeze Bullets helped it out a lot in Z1 so it's actually a point in its favor it has both to start. Notably all the attacks are more expensive as they always are, and removing its ability as a squad sweeper with Photon Mat attacks and Overfreeze hurts it.

Emperanza: Another great mech in Z1 for versatility. It could sweep squads and do okay damage up close and great damage from afar. Gain was and is also a great pilot. It hasn't lost anything, not even Black Hole which was gained late in Z1. The TRI attack was actually just its rifle so it hasn't even lost that.

Dominator: Cynthia had amazing pilot stats in Z1 but not much in the way of power, the Dominator was still useful in a squad however. Not particularly great here as there are better options, but that's more of a casualty of not having squads. Also Cynthia and the Dominator are far better in K where their overskill gave them 100% Shield Block activation chance which on top of the Photon Mat let the no-sell an awful lot of regular attacks.

Panther: Crap. Sarah basically lost the ability to make her good by locking her in the Panther in this game, and as mentioned its very annoying because Sarah got her own Overman, the Jamba, in Z1. This isn't a secret at all, when you get her back after the Overdevil battle she's automatically assigned to the Jamba and keeps it for the rest of the game. I guess they wanted an excuse for the Gaury Squad attack, but they could have just dumped them like they did with the Iron Gear crew or put them in the other Overmen you get, in Z1 you can get a Mexbrute, the Rushrod, and a Golem so there's no excuse they also don't have Overmen.

Now that I'm done saying :words: about older mechs I'd like to point out that this mission confirms that we're actually before the events of Getter Robo Armageddon. The characters and their interaction make it clear that the instigating events of that OVA have yet to happen.

Brunom1
Sep 5, 2011

Ask me about being the best dad ever.
Oh, how I liked King Gainer and Emperanza in Z - their TRI attack made them both some of my top killers (then again, it did the same for Holland - the GOOD Holland!) and I always liked their BGMs:


All of King Gainer units have this song set, which is a TRAVESTY when you consider that they had to cut "Can You Feel My Soul?".


Come on, this song is too awesome to be cut and I need Gain to have it back!


As for Xabungle units...I don't have much to say. I kept a space for Jiron but, as Caphi said, it's a very weird robot that I could never get appreciate (he is resilient as gently caress, though).


I think its theme is actually better with the Z > Z2 transition as the guitar works better than Z's synth brass (in this case).

Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Mar 11, 2013

booksnake
May 4, 2009

we who are crowned with the crest of wisdom

Caphi posted:

And now for something completely unnecessary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQflm0lMJt4
That fistbump at the end. :allears:

SRW at its finest.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
They just bond right off the bat.

Wounded Land
Nov 27, 2007
Living in a greenhouse, growing crops that we can't eat...
Oh my lord, this update! :swoon:
Wasn't KG's Overskill Attack created for Z Special Disc, or am I completely off base?
Also, I like that they completely changed the Black Hole dynamic kill animation to actually show Brunhilde as opposed to Z1's version, where you could sort of almost see her if you were paying real good attention.

Alacron
Feb 15, 2007

-->Have tearful reunion with your son
-->Eh
Fun Shoe

booksnake posted:

That fistbump at the end. :allears:

SRW at its finest.

Right at the end of that video, when Trider and Zambot had their hands up I was literally going, "Fist bump. C'mon fist bump. You know you want to- Yessssssssss."

These games.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Wounded Land posted:

Oh my lord, this update! :swoon:
Wasn't KG's Overskill Attack created for Z Special Disc, or am I completely off base?
Also, I like that they completely changed the Black Hole dynamic kill animation to actually show Brunhilde as opposed to Z1's version, where you could sort of almost see her if you were paying real good attention.

Sort of, the Overskill attack that King Gainer has in Z2 is heavily derived from the Overman XAN boss from the Special Disc, but it was a move that Gainer tried (and failed) to pull off in the series. Though to my recollection the reason it failed was because he was fighting a dude who could read minds.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE


Kappei thinks Crowe would get along well with their hot-headed, but sometimes stuffy, pal Rand. Crowe objects that Rand sounds like the complete opposite of his ice-cool self, but Gain still feels like they should sit down for a beer sometime. (Crowe is a drinker, though he can't say much for his fortitude. Also, did you know he's only 22? I'm older than Crowe and that's terrible.)



Jiron and Chil, and the rest of the Sandrats, are loving the meat around here. They trade notes on the weird but tasty animals from their respective worlds (salamanders, Jiron?). It seems to the Sandrats that the two worlds are pretty good matches, but the Gurren Gang explains that the Dark Continent is actually an isolated oddity in a larger world stage that's much more advanced in both technology and bureaucracy.

Jiron and friends are well aware that it won't be easy to get back to their universe, so it's a good thing this planet has a lot of interesting sights to see. As long as they're stuck here, they might as well have fun! That eternally sunny attitude is what turned their setting upside-down, and Leeron is hoping that the same thing will happen here on the Dark Continent. Speaking of whom, Kamina's warmed up to Jiron too, and makes him his official little buddy.



Kitan returns from scouting to spoil the party. Remember how Kitan and Dayakka have been busy? Well, their network reaches across the island, and one of their contacts sighted a skirmish involving some unknown Ganmen. He didn't get all of it, but apparently, one of them has "a moustache."

The Sandrats recognize that characteristic description immediately...



Meanwhile, far away, another group of strangers is recovering from a battle with some strange big-faced robots that attacked out of nowhere and wouldn't respond to hails. And it's the same story as Jiron and Gainer - they were all doing their own thing in disparate places (some of them on the moon!) only to find themselves in their robots, on the Dark Continent, and under fire. Besides which, Loran Cehack's had buried his robot a year ago. Weird! Or did the dimensional flow deliberately choose former members of ZEUTH? In any case, it's no time to relax. Some of those overgrown face robots managed to escape, and there's no telling when they'll call reinforcements...



Tifa, resident psychic, catches the mental scent of hidden beastman spies. They show themselves, freaking out the party, and introduce themselves as human exterminators, and they're starting with the girl who so rudely gave them away!



Garrod Ran leaps to her rescue, but that just gets the Beastmen fighting mad. Realizing that these humans are as strong as the other warriors they've fought, they decide to come back with their Ganmen, but of course, we have robots too...


Chapter 26: Gathering Power
(WPC route)



The small squad of Beastmen approaches.



Witz sees the full moon and urges Garrod to wipe them out with his Gundam's Satellite Cannon (more on this in a bit), but since we all forgot, the moon's not the only thing that powers the strategic weapon. It's the microwave charging facility placed on the moon that transfers power to the mobile suit, and this being a different universe, it's sort of a different moon. It looks like we'll have to defend ourselves the old fashioned way.



Nothing interesting here, just a five turn stage clear.


Gundam DX (Garrod Ran)
Skills
Prevail L7
Will+ (hit)
Block
Fortune
Spirits
Invincible
Focus
Traits
Blade
Shield
Weapons
Head Vulcan (20 ammo, mobility down)
Breast Launcher (10 ammo)
Buster Rifle (8 ammo, beam)
Hyper Beam Sword (15 EN, beam)
Ace Bonus: At 120 Will, casts Luck at the beginning of every phase.

Yeah, yeah. You can unload now.

I know Garrod's fallen pretty far since Z, but I've always just found him a mediocre Gundam with the misfortune to share a team with a lot of great robots with functional gimmicks. Right now he has nothing to his name but standard Gundam weapons that are slightly stronger than baseline.

Anyway, I like him. He's a cool guy.


Gundam Leopard Destroy (Roybea Loy)
Skills
Prevail L4
Offensive Support L2
Chain Attack
Spirits
Alert
Snipe
Strike
Traits
-
Weapons
Head Beam Cannon (5 EN)
Wrist Beam Cannon (10 EN)
Shoulder Beam Cannon (15 EN)
11x Missile Pods (8 EN)
Twin Beam Cylinders (4 ammo)
Ace Bonus: Earns +20% money. Range of non-MAP/range 1 weapons +1.

The Gundam X sidekicks were really good squadmates, but in this game I have main characters to worry about. Anyway, Leopard is the bombardment Gundam, and (why am I still surprised by this) its pilot doesn't have Hit & Away. He is well built to support, though.


Gundam Airmaster Burst (Witz Sou)
Skills
Prevail L5
Resolve
Hit & Away
Spirits
Accel
Vigor
Focus
Traits
-
Weapons
Head Vulcan (10 ammo, mobility down)
Buster Rifle (8 ammo)
Booster Beam Cannon (20 EN)
Nose Beam Cannon (40 EN)
Ace Bonus: Earns +20% money. Movement +1.

The airborne forward assault Gundam. Naturally, this pilot has Hit & Away.

You know what was annoying in Z? I always wanted to put the Airmaster and Leopard in a nice squad, but Leopard is a walking Gundam and Airmaster is a high speed flyer.

That's all I have to say about sidekicks.

Garrod!
Don't worry, Tifa! I don't know who they are, but I won't let them lay a finger on you!
No matter where or when, I'll defend you, Tifa! You're what I'm fighting for!








"I'll tear off that stupid 'stache!"




Stuff gets warped around every other day in these multiworlds, but it still sucks to get tossed around yourself.
And we're fighting right out the gate. We just don't get a break!








drat it all! That stupid dimension shock sucked me in!
All right, I'll fight! I'm not gonna die out here away from my home universe!








Now for the Turn A guys.


∀ Gundam (Loran Cehack)
Skills
Offensive Support L3
Defensive Support L2
Block
SP Regen
Spirits
Sense
Focus
Mercy
Traits
I Field (barrier)
HP Regen S
Blade
Shield
Weapons
Knife Hand
Beam Rifle (8 ammo)
Gundam Hammer (4 ammo)
Beam Saber (15 EN, 105 Will)
Beam Drive System (30 EN)
Militia Charge (2 ammo, 100 EN)
Beam Rifle High Power (50 EN, 120 Will)
Ace Bonus: Regains 5 SP each ally phase.

So basically, Loran has super SP Regen because his Ace Bonus stacks. His Focus is 15 SP, so that means he can have it up all the time. There is no reason not to have Loran Focus every round he's not casting another Spirit (say, Sense against bosses).

He's also everybody's friend, with the ability to support everybody all the time and the Mercy Spirit. Has anyone had Mercy so far? It makes sure that the enemy survives your next attack, leaving them at 10 if they would be killed, but it only works on an enemy with a lower Skill than the user. It's for sharing kills, I guess. At least it's cheap. Loran's Skill rating isn't exactly stellar so it has limited usage. Ironically, Turn A is our first robot with enough weapons to go to a second page.

I guess the White Doll, as a combatant on its own, is supposed to be hard to kill with its magical future nanotechnology repairing it all the time, but I've never seen it actually have the fortitude to pull that off. Its I Field barrier only works against beam guns, absorbing 1000 damage from them. Like the Jiron and Sara, Loran has his supporting cast as an attack, in this case Miashei Kune and Sochie Heim in their little Kapools.

The Moustache Gundam has also fallen pretty far, though. It's missing its signature move, the extremely powerful and armor-stripping Moonlight Butterfly, and of course its wide-reaching and very destructive MAP version. In its place, Loran seems to have the Kapools and the ability to overload the Turn A's beam gun.


Sumo Gold (Harry Ord)
Skills
Block
Counter L6
Offensive Support L2
Predict
Spirits
Focus
Sense
Accel
Snipe
Traits
I Field (barrier)
EN Regen S
Blade
Weapons
Hand Beam Gun (10 ammo)
Heat Fan (5 EN)
IF Bunker (40 EN, 100 Will, pierce barriers)
Ace Bonus: Accuracy +15%. Critical rate +15%.

Harry is all business. Counter and Predict are the marks of a real ace pilot and his stats and spirits are good too. The Sumo, however, has only decent speed and really poor range.

That reminds me, I haven't been keeping dudes posted about who can share what mechs. Many of the Gundam pilots can switch around.

Get in there, Loran! We're ZEUTH! We saved the world! We can't let them beat us!
But m'lady, we don't know anything about our enemies. We should...
This is no time to hesitate! These are monsters who will jump on us if we show a hint of weakness!
All right... I'll try!
(But remember, m'lady Sochie, that I'll protect you no matter what!)











As m'lady Diana's bodyguard Harry Ord, I cannot perish here without her leave!
I will die by my lady's side, and not until I am there again!







"That one's gold! I bet I could sell his shards for a good price!"





So that's all our new ZEUTH robots.




Of the eight Ganmen, just one falls on the enemy phase.



I give them this turn, tops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHz3nHEjMqg

Let's waste some energy showing these guys in motion.





Anyway it's turn 2 and stuff is dying.






Witz gets piled on, but makes it out with Invincible.



Garrod does have Luck autocast, for all that's worth.



Last Ganmen down, and it's only turn 3. I wonder...



Yep, more Beastmen... and a familiar looking Xabungle knockoff! The ZEUTHdams recognize Timp's robot, and he lets them know that Gainer and Jiron came with him. Though he doesn't know or care where they are now.



Viral reminds Timp that he's in charge now, and willing to run a blade through him if he does any funny business. Well, Timp's on board with his new bosses, and he has is own beef with us too. All sides brace themselves for a fight...




But suddenly, Invaders!



Viral has orders not to interfere with the Invaders, but that doesn't mean he has to like having to let them crawl all over his land - nor be so dishonorable as to use them against his enemies. Timp is used to winning in any way he can, and chafes under a commander with outmoded ideals of honor. The Beastman force leaves.



That leaves us with the Invaders, but Tifa hears something psychically calling out to her. "Someone sleeping on the moon..." Whoever it is, it'll give us its power - specifically, power for the Satellite Cannon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-74pd4zLb8
Trusting Tifa, Garrod charges, fires, and blows a swath through the Invader swarm!

Despite the animation, Tifa insists that the thing on the moon isn't the DOME the Satellite Cannon needs, but it'll work just as well. Thanks, sleeping man on the moon!



There are still a lot of Invaders, but more help is on the way! I brought Zambot because this stage is about the moon. It seemed right.



Like Jiron, Garrod blurts out that he hopes Renton and Eureka are happy together. Watta identifies the new ZEUTH mecha as the other world's Gundams.



The map continues.




So here's the Satellite Cannon.

By base power, it's the most damaging attack in the game. And yes, that MAP attack has a range of infinity, though the actual area is somewhat limited. It's also very expensive (the MAP version costs 100 EN and requires 140 Will), but that's not the only thing holding it back.



The Satellite Cannon only works on stages with a full moon, outside of which Garrod falls back on his slightly powered-up sword and gun. And even when there's a full moon, the cannon takes three turns to charge, after which it can be fired once in either of its configurations before it has to charge up again.

Which brings us to what Garrod left behind in Earth-Z1. The DX may still have its Satellite Cannon, but when it was docked with its support unit, the G-Falcon, it could load up two charges of the Satellite Cannon at once, and each one only took two turns to charge. (It also came with a second pilot.)

So that's that.



Anyway, I figure I'll send a team to deal with that annoying pack up in the northwest, and otherwise just carve a path through the rest of the formation.



So here's the split team.



And here's the main team reaching out to take in the worn-out Gundams.



Now turn 3 part 2 begins.






Roybea is the target of the turn.





And these other top squads of Invaders run around pointlessly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=damXIhOVEwc
By the way, heads up, nothing else is happening this chapter so here's another video of me unnecessarily using powerful attacks.



Invaders suck so GOONZ summarily rips through the wall of them.




In the process, Kappei learns Accel. Aoyama learns Mercy.




These dudes don't put up any more of a fight. Garrod actually learns Luck, the Spirit he gets cast on him for free by his Ace bonus. Go figure.






On turn 5, just a few Invaders are left. A couple are even wounded.




I like throwing out some high numbers to take shots of every week if I can.



(Hayato learns Analyze. That's pretty good.)






Finishing with gold.



Jiron is surprised to hear Timp has signed on with the beastmen, and both sides are surprised to find Gundams in the other world. Which reminds Gainer that while the Turn A and Double-X are Gundams from his original world, other Gundams from still another world transferred in during Z, piloted by Shinn Asuka and Camille Bidan. And now even more Gundams here. What does the name "Gundam" mean, exactly?



Garrod's been filled in on the parallel worlds thing, but he's still shocked to see that this Renton looks exactly like his bud. But he says he wants this Renton to be his friend to - an entirely new friend, irrespective of Renton 1.



Tifa feels the same way about this Eureka. Yes, even though she knows what Eureka is, she assures her, but Eureka just runs away crying.

Renton assures her that Eureka has just been through a lot. He tells Tifa to leave her alone for a while and try again later. He really would like them to be friends. In return, she tells him to accept her "no matter what happens." Whatever that means, Renton promises.

But with each passing guest from ZEUTH, the mystery grows deeper. There's no way this is a coincidence, not at this point, especially since the dimension shocks very neatly seat each member in their robot of choice. Loran and Harry are more worried that their mistress, Diana Soleil, may have been drawn here as well. If she has, she's in great danger...



Elsewhere...

Heh heh heh. The descendents of aliens who fought for the same humanity that persecuted them.
The fugitives who quested for a home, and the free whose home showed them cruelty... and now the Gundams that destroyed the world.
All bearers of the Stigma... this is an interesting mix of ingredients.
He should be drawn here as well. I should go welcome him.
I will return you to your unending hell, Accursed Wanderer...



Lovely! See you next chapter.

Oh, and full disclosure: I've lost my fork save for this path, so the current file is locked in, but after next chapter the Space and 11 routes are picking up after I replay from the GOONZ reunion to the introduction of Gaioh. I doubt anyone is into this for the statistical continuity, so it shouldn't affect anything, but it doesn't hurt to be transparent.



Also, like I was saying, the X and Turn A pilots can all switch robots freely within their shows.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Uuugh, so many Gundams I genuinely enjoyed using in Z1, so little reason to use them in this one. :gonk:

Poor, poor loving Garrod. Even in Z1 and even when combined with the G-falcon, his base weapons and stats rank just above 'garbage' as far as main characters are concerned - I always stuck him in a squad behind the cool Nirvash and whipped him out when a pesky squad or boss needed a taste of the satellite cannon. Between the loss of the Squad system and nerfing his already poor stats, he really suffers. At least the Turn A is still decent and has some cool new animation.

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

You what I feel the most disappointed about Gundam X? Witz. Specifically, his voice actor Kazuya Nakai. His performances in the Z games are just...utterly underwhelming. He literally phones in Witz's lines and doesn't really put much behind them. I can forgive his limited performance in Alpha Gaiden due to the limitations of the time and when the game came out, but Z1 and the Z2 games have come out well after he's hit some big roles (Roronoa Zoro and Date Masamune, for instance) and become a recognizable voice actor. And yet, he treats Witz (one of his earliest roles) like it's something mundane. You'd think someone who has made it big would have fun coming back to old roles, but Nakai doesn't. I'm not asking for award-winning performances, but Nakai could at least throw in a little effort into the role.

Regardless, the only real reason that X is here is to throw in mystery surrounding the Z2 universe (the whole part about the Satellite Cannon working in a parallel universe). A role that could have been handled by just about anyone else. Seriously, it's at this point that the returning series become less fanservice and more akin to dead weight/stupidly pointless. I really wish that Z2 had stuck to just the new series added in for this game, but what we get instead is unnecessary cast bloating, something that producer Takanobu Terada said that Banpresto would work to avoid after the gargantuan cast size of Alpha 3.

Brunom1
Sep 5, 2011

Ask me about being the best dad ever.
One of the most frustrating part of Gundam DX (for me) is how it lost the G-Bits attack...after all the requirements for that secret, he has no right to simply forget the attack!



As for Turn A's BGM, I think I liked it slightly better with Z's synth brass but using a guitar works well enough.




On topic of Z BGMs, the Gundam X troupe lost Dreams. Why do you take away all my favorite songs, Banpresto?! :argh:

TheBystander
Apr 28, 2011
Regarding Gundam X, hopefully someone can answer this question: did the Satellite Cannon have such a long charge-up time in the show? It's been a while since I watched it, but I seem to remember that the only stipulation to using it was that the moon had to be out. Frankly, given the massive energy cost and morale requirement, the charge time is pointless: most stages don't last that long, and plenty of other robots have comparable attacks that don't have long charge-up times. Imagine if you had to wait three turns to use Giga Drill Breaker, or the Guren's radiation attack? It really makes no sense, and further weakens a lackluster unit.

Too bad, too, because I liked Gundam X.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

To be fair, the only attacks in Z1 I can think of that are that obviously better than the Satellite Cannon (particularly with a well-placed MAP attack) are the Seventh Swell and MAP Moonlight Butterfly. It's just that, yeah, it's hard to justify loading down the Cannon with extra baggage when you can throw those out almost whenever you like, especially since by the time you're 3/4 turns in you're likely to have scattered the enemy in a way that a linear attack like the cannon has a really hard time catching more than one or two units at a time. This is excaberated by the fact that removing the squad system means hitting two enemy squares means only two units as opposed to hitting up to six.

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn

TheBystander posted:

Regarding Gundam X, hopefully someone can answer this question: did the Satellite Cannon have such a long charge-up time in the show?

Kind of. You know the whole "Tiffa does Newtype things, Garrod sees the moon, satellite detects Gundam, laser hits gundam, microwaves come down"? AKA the entire attack animation? That was the charge-up time in the show.

The funny thing is, though, that the entire point of the Gundam DX is that it charged faster. At one point in the show it fires three blasts with almost no cooldown time in between, and it didn't even have the G-Falcon equipped.

EDIT: Also fun fact: the Gundam X is supposed to only need 4.03 seconds to get the beam ready. The DX is theoretically even faster. I guess SRW turns happen really fast. :v:

BlitzBlast fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Mar 25, 2013

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NotALizardman
Jun 5, 2011

BlitzBlast posted:

The funny thing is, though, that the entire point of the Gundam DX is that it charged faster.

I thought the point of the DX was having double the giant beam cannon? :v:

The way they implement the satellite cannon is stupid and has screwed the GX and DX in every game they've been in (except R), and yet Banpresto keeps using it. It's absolutely baffling. Why use such stupid balancing methods, when nothing else in the game is balanced? Even without the charging, the satellite cannon is only useable in like a third of the stages where you can deploy the DX, so it's not like you could break the game apart with it.

If they're really worried about balance, the three turn charge should be an optional replacement for the Moon requirement. I think there was a crappy Gundam X sidestory manga where the main characters used relay satellites that bounced the microwave beams from DOME to anywhere on the planet. Use that system as a secret so that the satellite cannon can be used even without the moon being visible, but it takes three turns for DOME to calculate the beam's trajectory or whatever. Then let us use the satellite cannon with no restrictions if the moon is out.

NotALizardman fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Mar 25, 2013

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