Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
Mikl
Nov 8, 2009

Vote shit sandwich or the shit sandwich gets it!
Ali :allears: You're a terrible person but a wonderful villain :allears:


e: oh snap, page snipe. :siren: Update is near the bottom of the previous page! :siren:

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Wounded Land
Nov 27, 2007
Living in a greenhouse, growing crops that we can't eat...
Wait, does Turn-A have a new cut-in for the beam rifle?

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
Yeah, Z2 added full body portraits for all of the Gundams. It's actually the first SRW game to do so IIRC.

Brunom1
Sep 5, 2011

Ask me about being the best dad ever.
I believe that's not the Turn A's regular Beam Rifle attack but a new strongest attack to compensate for his lack of Moonlight Butterfly.

If my memory doesn't fail me, I think it's called "Beam Rifle Full Power Blast" or whatever?

vibratingsheep
Nov 2, 2013

Fudou, Gunzou. The Face of the Franchise Killer. 2004.
I really do like this next scene, and really wish they'd left Lockon on this note instead of bringing in Lockoff in the second part. :(

Dr Pepper
Feb 4, 2012

Don't like it? well...

BlitzBlast posted:

Yeah, Z2 added full body portraits for all of the Gundams. It's actually the first SRW game to do so IIRC.

Wasn't this the first SRW developed after Banpresto became a part of Namco-Bandai?

Basically it was more expensive to get licences for non SD versions of Gundams, so they weren't ever put in cutins. But once they became part of the company that owns the Gundam IP this became a non issue.

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

Dr Pepper posted:

Wasn't this the first SRW developed after Banpresto became a part of Namco-Bandai?

Basically it was more expensive to get licences for non SD versions of Gundams, so they weren't ever put in cutins. But once they became part of the company that owns the Gundam IP this became a non issue.
No, the rejoining with Bandai-Namco happened in 2008, right around the time Z1 was in development. So technically Z1 was the first to be released under Bamco's control.

Unless you want to consider their first SRW after returning the Bamco fold in 2009.....which was K.

Rody One Half
Feb 18, 2011

AradoBalanga posted:

No, the rejoining with Bandai-Namco happened in 2008, right around the time Z1 was in development. So technically Z1 was the first to be released under Bamco's control.

Unless you want to consider their first SRW after returning the Bamco fold in 2009.....which was K.
I've heard a lot of people complain about K, what exactly was so bad about it?

Also I just realized why Zero probably isn't going to the endgame:downs:

Montegoraon
Aug 22, 2013

Rodyle posted:

I've heard a lot of people complain about K, what exactly was so bad about it?

Take everything that people liked about W. The likeable original characters. The superb inter-series integration. The difficulty level that lets you play how you like without it getting frustrating. Invert all of that, then take a giant dump on the result. Add a useless partner battle system, and a lack of respect (and plot) for any of the classical series that were included. That's K. Now remember that K is the handheld game that followed W.

TARDISman
Oct 28, 2011



Montegoraon posted:

Take everything that people liked about W. The likeable original characters. The superb inter-series integration. The difficulty level that lets you play how you like without it getting frustrating. Invert all of that, then take a giant dump on the result. Add a useless partner battle system, and a lack of respect (and plot) for any of the classical series that were included. That's K. Now remember that K is the handheld game that followed W.

Don't forget about the plagiarised music. Two of the Banpresto Original tracks were plagiarised from Chrono Trigger and Lufia II.

GimmickMan
Dec 27, 2011

W had a track from Warcraft 2 though. :v: Which also appeared in K, but still.

Gyra_Solune
Apr 24, 2014

Kyun kyun
Kyun kyun
Watashi no kare wa louse
K did have a pretty unique cast list, most of which were new or rarely-seen shows in the franchise. Pretty much the only two frequent ones in it were SEED Destiny and Mazinger Z, everyone else by that point was mostly a newcomer. It had the Kotetsu Jeeg and Gaiking remakes fistbumping with Godannar very much in an old-school spirit, alongside the always excellent Gun X Sword and King Gainer. It also probably drew a bit more attention to Fafner in the Azure which I really liked a lot and probably wouldn't have known about if not for this game. And well, Zoids was something drat near nobody expected. Also I think Dangaioh is one of the raddest-looking robots around. Shame it couldn't merge all of them into a more cohesive story, because taken at face value, its component shows are one of my favorite line-ups in the franchise.

The three super robot shows aforementioned did gratefully get a better deal in L, though.

TARDISman
Oct 28, 2011



Gyra_Solune posted:

K did have a pretty unique cast list, most of which were new or rarely-seen shows in the franchise. Pretty much the only two frequent ones in it were SEED Destiny and Mazinger Z, everyone else by that point was mostly a newcomer. It had the Kotetsu Jeeg and Gaiking remakes fistbumping with Godannar very much in an old-school spirit, alongside the always excellent Gun X Sword and King Gainer. It also probably drew a bit more attention to Fafner in the Azure which I really liked a lot and probably wouldn't have known about if not for this game. And well, Zoids was something drat near nobody expected. Also I think Dangaioh is one of the raddest-looking robots around. Shame it couldn't merge all of them into a more cohesive story, because taken at face value, its component shows are one of my favorite line-ups in the franchise.

The three super robot shows aforementioned did gratefully get a better deal in L, though.

Didn't it also have Iczer-1 or was that L? I can't remember which one had it but it raised a fair amount of poo poo for being another series that had powered armor instead of proper giant robots.

Hellioning
Jun 27, 2008

TARDISman posted:

Didn't it also have Iczer-1 or was that L? I can't remember which one had it but it raised a fair amount of poo poo for being another series that had powered armor instead of proper giant robots.


Iczer was in L, yes.

Gyra_Solune
Apr 24, 2014

Kyun kyun
Kyun kyun
Watashi no kare wa louse
Iczer does have proper giant robots, though. They appear...like, twice in their respective shows, but they veritably are the size of skyscrapers. Iczer's controversy should be something else entirely, given that they're piloted by android space lesbians who kidnap girls with identical names and make them get naked in their mecha because ???

J and W are the ones with powered armor type things - Tekkaman Blade and Detonator Orgun respectively. K's issue with the fanbase was more 'there's still no Getter? and Mazinger doesn't do anything in the game? and actually none of the shows relevant came before like 2004? heresy!' Of course when it came out the issue was more 'I would very much like to dropkick Mist Rex repeatedly'.

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

Rodyle posted:

I've heard a lot of people complain about K, what exactly was so bad about it?
As others have mentioned, it takes what worked in W and trashes it completely. But the worst thing is that you have a protagonist so despised by fanbase, he's become a meme used to piss people off. No other Banpresto Original has reached that level of hatred within the fanbase.

Which leads into probably my biggest complaint with the game: the very poor writing and pacing. The game jumps from series introduction to series introduction (especially in the early game) and you have very little time to rest and take in everything. In the mid-game, youh have a lot of two-part stages that could easily have been trimmed to a single stage and only exist to pad out the game. Then, there's Mist. Mist Rex is built as the typical "rear end in a top hat protagonist who gets better over time due to experiences" archetype. Except, around midway through the game, the plot drops the "getting better" part and leaves Mist's character unchanged. He stays a hypocritical rear end in a top hat all the way to the end and, most importantly, never gets called out for his actions or insults. Some of the things Mist says in-game are downright insulting to the people he berates, which then becomes hypocrisy since many of his insults also are about character traits he himself has. And when the final boss of the game, who destroyed Mist's home planet, is finally sealed away....Mist's response is to straight-up gloss over the fact that someone else gave their life to seal the boss away (Fafner's own Soushi Minashiro). Do note that one of Mist's driving forces in-game is to avenge his planet's demise. And when that happens, he's literally "Meh, whatever. It was a fun journey." to everyone else. Soushi's death registers as nothing to him.

I'd almost take it upon myself to LP the game, but I'd rather not spend 75% the thread pointing out continuity issues and complaints. Even if the remaining 25% of the thread would be the "Dann of Thursday Murders Everything Show".

Endorph
Jul 22, 2009

It'd be hilarious if they used Mist as a villain in the OG games.

Broken Loose
Dec 25, 2002

PROGRAM
A > - - -
LR > > - -
LL > - - -
In addition to all the mentioned problems, K was shafted in the animation department. It (and L) relied very heavily on static images ripped directly from shows that were then shaken or simply panned over. It got to the point where I was GLAD to see units without full-body cut-ins in later games because it meant those units were actually animated.

ActionZero
Jan 22, 2011

I act once more in
imitation of light

AradoBalanga posted:

I'd almost take it upon myself to LP the game, but I'd rather not spend 75% the thread pointing out continuity issues and complaints. Even if the remaining 25% of the thread would be the "Dann of Thursday Murders Everything Show".

That LP would be better on Atreem.

Gyra_Solune
Apr 24, 2014

Kyun kyun
Kyun kyun
Watashi no kare wa louse

AradoBalanga posted:

As others have mentioned, it takes what worked in W and trashes it completely. But the worst thing is that you have a protagonist so despised by fanbase, he's become a meme used to piss people off. No other Banpresto Original has reached that level of hatred within the fanbase.

Which leads into probably my biggest complaint with the game: the very poor writing and pacing. The game jumps from series introduction to series introduction (especially in the early game) and you have very little time to rest and take in everything. In the mid-game, youh have a lot of two-part stages that could easily have been trimmed to a single stage and only exist to pad out the game. Then, there's Mist. Mist Rex is built as the typical "rear end in a top hat protagonist who gets better over time due to experiences" archetype. Except, around midway through the game, the plot drops the "getting better" part and leaves Mist's character unchanged. He stays a hypocritical rear end in a top hat all the way to the end and, most importantly, never gets called out for his actions or insults. Some of the things Mist says in-game are downright insulting to the people he berates, which then becomes hypocrisy since many of his insults also are about character traits he himself has. And when the final boss of the game, who destroyed Mist's home planet, is finally sealed away....Mist's response is to straight-up gloss over the fact that someone else gave their life to seal the boss away (Fafner's own Soushi Minashiro). Do note that one of Mist's driving forces in-game is to avenge his planet's demise. And when that happens, he's literally "Meh, whatever. It was a fun journey." to everyone else. Soushi's death registers as nothing to him.

I'd almost take it upon myself to LP the game, but I'd rather not spend 75% the thread pointing out continuity issues and complaints. Even if the remaining 25% of the thread would be the "Dann of Thursday Murders Everything Show".

Hold. Up. Are you goddamn kidding, he let Soushi sacrifice himself to seal the final boss? And not, like...himself? When he was /there/ when Soushi was being all absorbed probably super painfully by the Festum? ...FFS, Soushi was the best though. :( I will never forgive him.

On note of LPs, I think I might go for doing one of J, complete with made-up battle masteries so there's a sense of urgency to things. I'm surprised to find there hasn't been one yet here, to my knowledge.

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

Gyra_Solune posted:

Hold. Up. Are you goddamn kidding, he let Soushi sacrifice himself to seal the final boss? And not, like...himself? When he was /there/ when Soushi was being all absorbed probably super painfully by the Festum? ...FFS, Soushi was the best though. :( I will never forgive him.
Yes. Mist really just lets Soushi do that (even if the whole sacrifice was to kind of tease Heaven and Earth's plot), and then straight up doesn't give a poo poo about the whole act during the epilogue. Mind you, he has seen multiple times where people selflessly sacrifice themselves for the team, up to and including Mist participating in rescuing Angelica's father and Sheldia's sister. And those two were either possessed by Gastum, Ru Cobol's top lieutenant, or by Ru Cobol himself (depending on your choices). It's why I criticize the writing in K the most; Mist rescues someone very important to him from Ru Cobol's possession not even an hour before Soushi sacrifices himself to seal Ru Cobol, and Mist doesn't show any grief? That is bad writing at its finest.

Thankfully, nearly all of K's debuts get to shine in later, much better games. Well, except for Zoids Genesis, GunxSword and Stargazer.

Gyra_Solune
Apr 24, 2014

Kyun kyun
Kyun kyun
Watashi no kare wa louse
I am personally in support of a weird game that uses all the shows that have only appeared once in any game before. Excluding ones from the Z series (because those are all in a weird state where they've /kinda/ appeared twice), the GC/NEO/OE line (because mostly unmemorable super robot shows, though New Getter would be nice), and UX as it's too recent, that gives us Acrobunch, Betterman, Crossbone Gundam, Escaflowne, GoLion (I am hella not counting Gakuen), Gun X Sword, Gundam SEED Astray/Stargazer, Iczer (...though i would be okay with cheating and leaving that out), Mechander Robo, Megazone 23, Orgun, RahXephon, and Tekkaman Blade II. I have no idea what Banpresto would cook up with that kind of cast list honestly. There is a decently good real/super ratio in there though.

CaptainRat
Apr 18, 2003

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

ActionZero posted:

That LP would be better on Atreem.

I laughed way too hard at this.

The hell of all of this is that Mist has one of the dopest theme songs in addition to being a huge rear end in a top hat.

Gyra_Solune
Apr 24, 2014

Kyun kyun
Kyun kyun
Watashi no kare wa louse
Oh yeah, all the music in K is pretty great, plagiarism aside. Autumn Loneliness is super rad and one of my favorite OG songs, and Shangri-La was done way better than I thought it would've been. I really really hope that come OG time, Mist either gets what's coming to him or shapes up to not be such an rear end in a top hat, because yeaaah.

...his robot is kind of generic and unmemorable. The upgrade is like the Forte Gigas but not as awesome and weirder proportioned.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Gyra_Solune posted:

I am personally in support of a weird game that uses all the shows that have only appeared once in any game before. Excluding ones from the Z series (because those are all in a weird state where they've /kinda/ appeared twice), the GC/NEO/OE line (because mostly unmemorable super robot shows, though New Getter would be nice), and UX as it's too recent, that gives us Acrobunch, Betterman, Crossbone Gundam, Escaflowne, GoLion (I am hella not counting Gakuen), Gun X Sword, Gundam SEED Astray/Stargazer, Iczer (...though i would be okay with cheating and leaving that out), Mechander Robo, Megazone 23, Orgun, RahXephon, and Tekkaman Blade II. I have no idea what Banpresto would cook up with that kind of cast list honestly. There is a decently good real/super ratio in there though.

Man, what? GC/NEO/OE had some loving amazing shows. The entire J9 line (aside from Brygar which showed up in AG) and Iron Leaguer alone

GimmickMan
Dec 27, 2011

NEO OE had Patlabor.

Even Terada himself wants more Patlabor in SRW.

edit: all 3d SRW gaems r same 2 me :downs:

GimmickMan fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Apr 28, 2014

Brunom1
Sep 5, 2011

Ask me about being the best dad ever.

GimmickMan posted:

NEO had Patlabor.

Even Terada himself wants more Patlabor in SRW.

Patlabor needs to be in Z3.2 to team up with Daiguard and Gunbuster.

Materant
Jul 22, 2010

see, what you don't understand is he now has

THE MANLIEST MUSTACHE

it defies physics


GimmickMan posted:

NEO had Patlabor.

Even Terada himself wants more Patlabor in SRW.

I don't recall Patlabor in Neo :confused:

Maybe you're thinking of OE?

TARDISman
Oct 28, 2011



Materant posted:

I don't recall Patlabor in Neo :confused:

Maybe you're thinking of OE?

Yeah, the only Real Robot series in Neo was G Gundam, everything else was a Super.

Infinity Gaia
Feb 27, 2011

a storm is coming...

TARDISman posted:

Yeah, the only Real Robot series in Neo was G Gundam, everything else was a Super.

And let's be honest here, G Gundam is pretty much a Super too.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE


We join our chapter already in progress as the four Meisters catch up to the Ptolemy. They seem to have made it...



just in time. Or did they? Ali says he was laying in wait for the Gundams. His employer, you see, would very much like them out of the picture. "Prioritize them," he quotes, "over all else, even GOONZ."

Sounds like his employer is the Celestial Being traitor himself. He wants to see the Gundams wrecked so bad he'll send the entire U. N. Forces against all of GOONZ.

And the Ptolemy is sound, but its maneuvering is knocked out; it's dead in the water. Sumeragi orders the Meisters to defend the Ptolemy and focus on the Gundam Throne. Let's shoot this warmonger down!



(Hallelujah's back to lend a hand again.)



So yeah, it's just the four Gundams against all of Ali's soldiers - and it's Setsuna and Lockon I need to keep safe.



It's a good thing the Gundams start on all four sides of the Ptolemaios, the optimal arrangement for a cast of Rouse; they've been started with some Will, but every advantage helps.



It's also worth pointing out that the Ptolemy can't move, but it can execute repairs on adjacent units.



That heal was worth a ton of experience, but the important thing is that Sumeragi learns Awaken, completing the ship's Spirit list.

Ali al-Sachez! Leader of the KPSA!
Heh! So you heard the story from that Kurzhisi kid!
You orchestrated those suicide bombings in Ireland! Why?
I'm a mercenary! Besides, can you blame the Middle East for trying to stop the construction of the AEU's orbital elevator?
So you let innocent people get hurt?
And what makes you different? Terrorists trying to stop all war, right?
And I'll accept whatever's coming to me... after I shoot you down!
Talk as big as you want, but you're just like me!
You're the one starting wars! I won't let you leave here in one piece!








Lockon's Haro learns Panic...

We go all the way back, don't we, little Kurzhisi boy?
Ali al-Sachez! The one spreading war... the distortion in the world!
You're one to talk! You Celestial Being guys are distorting the hell out of everything yourselves!
We are fighting for peace... and if our fight has distorted the world, we will take responsibility for it!
With our Gundams!
Don't make me laugh! Your fight ends right here! Because I'm going to end it!








Thanks, Setsuna! Ali drops an Autorepair Machine.

It's over, Ali al-Sachez!
He... beat me... me...
Or did you?
What?
You've gone soft, little Kurzhisi!



Fall back, Setsuna!



You wanna mess with me? Your right side is wide open!
I'll kill you!











How... did...



Lockon!
I'm fine... Setsuna... I avenged my family...
(Dad, Mom, Amy... that's one less regret...)



Lockon passes out and the Dynames drifts away... but there's something else on approach!



A tremendous golden craft with Alejandro at the helm, and very impressed that we managed to fight off Ali even with the odds stacked against us. Chris reports that the thing is equipped with multiple knockoff solar furnaces. All thirty the U.N. had are accounted for, so whoever's in that one has his own source - in fact, he's probably their source.

So that's...
The person who has hijacked Aeolia Schhenberg's plan!
Hah hah hah hah hah! Celestial Being... the phantoms of Aeolia Schhenberg!
I, Alejandro Corner, will take you into the new world order!

A quick lookup shows that Mr. Corner is an ambassador to the U. N. So this is the man who pulls the strings of the UNF from the shadows...



Feldt has been calling for Lockon this entire time, but unfortunately, Sumeragi needs her attention on the battlefield right now. Alejandro demands that we power down our weapons and pledge loyalty to him - "the one who is carrying on the will of Aeolia Schhenberg.

Or do you claim you can carry out his plan?
Face reality. The world is in my grasp.
...
I command the might to challenge the Imperium. I alone have the ability to unite humanity.
I can do all that you, who have made enemies of the world, cannot!
Wrong.
Why not? The proof is the absolute force you see before you!
You cannot win! Not against the Imperium, not against me... not against this world!
Wrong!
Admit it, Celestial Being! I alone am--
Oh, give it a goddamn rest.



Alejandro cannot believe we made it through all that firepower, and GOONZ cannot believe he's such a poo poo. He may be U. N., but we know that Celestial Being wants peace, just like GOONZ does. And even if they started out like terrorists, they changed in their pursuit of world peace.

Well, that's a shame, because Alejandro was going to induct GOONZ into the UNF for our heroism.

Crowe asks after Lockon; Sumeragi says we have to shoot that thing down if we want a chance to recover him in time.

Then come, GOONZ! And Celestial Being!
As the ruler of the new world, I will send you away to your end! The world no longer needs you!



So all I need to do is shoot down the "Alvatore."



Coming off of bosses like Zuul, Alejandro has nothing going for him other than brute force. He has a lot of HP (that doesn't regenerate) and no interesting skills, not even Genius. None of his weapons inflicts so much as Mobility Down.



He sits at the west end of the map, right where GOONZ is and where Setsuna can be pretty quickly.



GOONZ comes in with a good amount of Will as well, and you may have noticed it's an uncharacteristic Gundam party in here.



No rush, though, so I'm going to get them to try to rendezvous with the Ptolemy. It's not like the Taurus put up any resistance of note.




Setsuna's damage bonus against GN-Xs is still stupid, though.



This dumb machine isn't even super fast.



Can't you tell when I'm trying to drag you towards my ship because it can't move? Rude.



Come on.

The Alvatore is the incarnation of my power. The output of its seven imitation GN Drives is more than a match for a Gundam.
With this victory, I will ascend to my rightful place as ruler of the new world and guide mankind into the future.



Not with that firepower you won't.



Yet another turn, and he's just one square out of the Ptolemy's range, this is dumb. I'm actually impressed he has dialogue for Sumeragi given that I have to work this hard to see it. (I kind of thought Rasse would have Snipe. Nope.)



And now he's just going to fire on Sumeragi from nine squares away.

I appreciate all you've done, Celestial Being.
It's all thanks to you that the UNF exists. Allow me to show my appreciation.
Yes, Aeolia Schhenberg's plan called for global unification.
But you've twisted that goal to justify taking power for yourself.
It is my belief that this is the best path for humanity.
That is not any one person's choice to make! It belongs to the whole world!
Alejandro Corner! I will not let you spoil everything we've fought to achieve!






No damage.

Now I can actually start on him. Don't say I never did anything for you.

A Gundam from ZEUTH. Let me see if you have the power to deserve that name.
Don't you pop out at the very end and act like you're better than us!
I don't think a coward like you can guide the world to anything!
Impertinent child! Rue your isolence in Hell!
And I'm not gonna get shot down by anybody who can pull off a perfect villain line like that!





There's one thing about the Alvatore: it has a supercharged GN Field that neutralizes attacks that do less than 5000 damage.

We could fight the Imperium if we and the UNF joined forces!
The world will be saved by my U. N. Forces. You'll only be trouble afterwards, so I'm getting rid of you now.
You... don't understand what's going on at all!
We can't give the world to someone like you! The world and its people don't need you!



I reject all by the name of Gundam!




You're the commander of the UNF, right? Make them stop this fight!
We have to work together to defeat the Imperium!
A soldier like yourself has no right to judge me.
To determine the world's future is the right of the chosen alone.
You don't see lives, do you? Then you have no right to lead!
You don't realize how precious life is, so you'll never lead anyone to happiness!





I think that's everybody who is just too underused to have any hope of cracking that thing.

What are you trying to do, ordering this pointless war?
This is an operation to sound the bell that signals a new daybreak for the world. One that has no need for rebels like you.
All you're doing is fueling the world's wars!
You sound very much like Celestial Being, boy.
They've been fighting for peace, and so have I... and I'll fight you, too!
You're the cause of all this! And I'm going to stop you!






Pulling the strings from the shadows, trying to take all the power for yourself... and you call yourself a leader?
That's exactly why I've come to see the very end through personally.
So you're not just a coward, you're a fool as well.
What?
You won't defeat us... and we will stop you!










The world is buckling under the weight of this man's selfishness...
Please, don't group me with the tyrants of the old world.
I will change the world into something better. I will bring it light.
If you could do that, you wouldn't have to do this!
You're ignoring the threat of the Imperium to defend yourself! You have no right to lead anything!








Colony Gundam, your fight will not have been in vain.
...
I will guide the Earth and the colonies together to a brighter future.
Your future is not the one I want, nor is it hers.
Locked on. Target... Alejandro Corner!






If it isn't Zero of the Black Knights. I will free Area 11, just as you've always wished.
A low-minded fool such as yourself has no right to speak of that.
What?
The way you rule is tainted by greed and egotism.
I will not allow it!
Hear the decree of Zero, leader of the Black Knights! Alejandro Corner! Begone from this world and from this era!






That big golden machine is so ostentatious I want to puke.
But GOONZ has machines like this, doesn't it?
You did not just compare yourself to Lt. Shades. At least he has the skill to back it up.
Buckle up, Mr. Traitor. You're in for a harsh lesson in how nothing in the world comes easy!
And in the process, I'll blow off some debt by scrapping your mech's plating!





I should point out that every pilot who has Attack Again has had the opportunity to Attack Again. Come on, Alejandro.

And finally...

Gundam Exia... I believe its Meister's codename is Setsuna F. Seiei.
So you are the traitor!
Traitor? I merely corrected Aeolia Schhenberg's plan to fit the current era.
Who gave you the right?
The Corner family's dream this past two hundred years.
You started this fight. So I'll fight you!
As a member of Celestial Being, and of GOONZ!
Struggle all you like, Gundam! A relic of the ending age!
Exia! Setsuna F. Seiei! Eliminating the target!






And, even though the bulk of the Alvatore's reward comes from its carried treasure of 50000 G - don't leave home without Bless.



I really don't have enough money, do I?

Alejandro can't believe that he stacked the deck against GOONZ so thoroughly and they've foiled him at every turn. Even now, though, he insists that he has merely taken over Aeolia's plan, not changed it - in the name of "destruction and reconstruction." Celestial Being's plan to destroy all arms would only lead the world to destruction, he claims. It happened to be at the hands of the Imperium, but their rampage of destruction also brought forth growth in the form of unification. Under his watch, of course. The only thing we can say is wrong with his vision for the new world is that we have no place in it! He is already effectively commanding the world through his control of Veda, and that includes a plan to fight the Imperium, though he refuses to say what that card could be...



He tries to fly away, faster than any GOONZ can keep up with (where was this speed when I was trying to bait him, anyway?), but...



Lockon's awake!



He shoots down a solar furnace...



Giving Setsuna the chance to go after him. Alejandro continues fleeing, and Lockon yells at Setsuna, the pilot of their one counter-Gundam Gundam, to go after him.

It's up to you... Setsuna...
No UNF reinforcements detected...
Lockon! Come in, Lockon!
I'll... be fine... go after Setsuna...
Come on...
Hurry. That Christmas ornament might still have backup.
I'm not sure if Setsuna can handle it alone...
Lockon...
You can't lose him... go...
I've got my Haro with me. Don't worry about me.
Fine. We'll be waiting for you, Lockon.
Roger.



Whew...
Haro... after the battle's over, take Dynames to the Ptolemy.
Lockon! Lockon!
That's an order.
Lockon! Lockon!
Sorry... I'm turning in.
Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon! Lockon!
Heh. I just didn't want them to see me like this.
Watch the solar furnace for me... so long, partner...
Lockon!
I did what I had to do...
I fought with everything I had... I avenged my family...
I guess it's time to pay. But there's worse places to die... than looking at the Earth...



Dad... Mom... Amy...
I always knew... that maybe we were never going to change anything... we were never going to bring anything back...
But still... there's another day... a future for Lyle...
The Earth is beautiful... you can't see the violence from out here...
So... are you... happy with this world...?
I... I'm not...



Alejandro still thinks he can escape and regroup while we're distracted by reinforcements.



He's pretty wrong.

Alejandro insists that Setsuna is in the wrong here, for trying to destroy while the world is healing. Setsuna knows that Lockon was right, that he can only destroy... but at least he can try to destroy what's wrong with the world!




He wrecks the Alvatore, but that only reveals what Alejandro had hidden inside it: the Alvaaron, an ace in the hole Alejandro didn't expect to have to play. And with GOONZ tied up by his reinforcements, all he has to do is take down Exia to escape. How hard can that be?

Don't bother! The Alvaaron is equipped with the same type of GN Field as the Alvatore!
Lockon... I understand what you were trying to tell me now!
I will fight! I will destroy the distortions of this world! As Gundam!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtdG3kOq9T0

Funny story about that.



And that's another 50k bounty.

I-impossible! It's just one Gundam!



: Whoooooah!





Seen it.



And at the very end, Ribbons calls to let Alejandro know before he goes that this was all according to plan - not Aeolia's Plan, but Ribbons'. He does appreciate the world being nicely wrapped up for him.



And that's the end of Alejandro Corner.



GOONZ' ships arrive just in time for the aftermath; the other Meisters explain that while the other Gundams were equipped with GN weaponry, only Exia had a physical blade of metal - just in case the Plan went off its rails and something was needed to fight against another Gundam with a GN Field. That's why Lockon sent Setsuna to follow Alejandro.



Dynames flies in, but only the Haro responds to the others, repeating Lockon's name over and over again. No one needs to be told what it means...

Drawing the short straw right to the end! How stupid can you get!
Ah... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
Lockoooooooooooooooooon!



Treize has come to pick us up, and he's got someone else with him we might want to talk to...



Well.



Meanwhile, in Azadistan, Setsuna's letter has made it to...

"Marina Ismail. I send this message as our battle draws to its close. To end war by force of arms... all I could do was fight for Celestial Being, but you gave me a reason to fight. Just like when... when I was a young boy in Kurzhistan and I saw that Gundam. I wanted to know... why was the world so twisted? Where did that distortion come from? Why can people not help but do evil? Why must people rule and be ruled, hurt and be hurt... and why do they struggle to live on? I wanted to know, and I thought you could tell me. I thought you, who follows the same goal by a different path, could tell me how people could understand one another. And afterwards, I kept searching with the Gundam."



Relena is listening too, and she thinks she knows just how Marina feels. A boy she knows is probably going through the same struggle as Marina's Celestial Being friend.

All the world's governments have joined hands, and humanity's enemies are soon to be banished. But after that, will there really be peace? Relena doesn't have an answer, but she knows it's their duty to keep searching. And she herself believes that because of Heero Yuy.



Sirin is going to introduce the new U. N. ambassador, and Marina asks Relena to stay. She'll need her help to save her country, and Relena can't say no.

Oh, but the ambassador?



She introduces herself as Diana Soleil...



Lockon... he's been talking about his penance for a long time, but it still feels like too soon. They're this close to saving the world, and he won't be there with them...



Elgan and Treize spill everything about how Alejandro played Celestial Being and the U. N., and that Treize and Schneizel el Britannia were working with him. Aeolia's plan was to unite the world against Celestial Being, but when the Imperium showed up, Alejandro chose to take advantage of it - though it's still not clear whether he was ever following the original spirit of the plan. Anyway, Alejandro betrayed his co-conspirators, Treize and Schneizel, who really were trying to bring the world together, setting off a chain of events that culminated in the battle that just ended.

Elgan admits that he only became aware of the trio recently; Treize and Schneizel were on his side, but they didn't want to risk openly backing up GOONZ and losing their own standings to Alejandro. Now that he's out of the picture, the Chairman will once again help us bring about a proper new world.



Sumeragi slaps him. Hard.

She may agree with his judgment and his actions, but those actions still cost GOONZ one of their own. Zero, meanwhile, can't figure out what's still bothering him about Elgan. All the actions that had GOONZ suspicious of him have just been explained, but he can't shake a nagging doubt. "Elgan Roddick... his vision is not of a unified world. His sight is cast much further out... what is it? Something more than peace..."



Rasse runs in to call Sumeragi urgently to the bridge. The Quarter has detected a huge swarm of Imáge has appeared at the south pole. "So it's begun," mutters Elgan. "Beware, GOONZ. Where the Imáge are, they will come. The Imperium is about to move."



I'm sorry, but the last thing to come on screen is a new equippable Haro.

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
It really says something about Z2 that killing a boss in one turn, if not one attack, is neither difficult nor all that special.

In any case, Lockon's death felt really shoehorned in this game. I mean poo poo, everyone else was right there, and Setsuna could do things by himself. Could have at least tried to save him.

AradoBalanga
Jan 3, 2013

I'd show off how 00 handled Lockon's death. If nearly every search for video featuring the death scene didn't link back to AMVs using random stupid songs over the actual death, among which includes that one goddamn Simple Plan song (you know the one).

Brunom1
Sep 5, 2011

Ask me about being the best dad ever.

BlitzBlast posted:

It really says something about Z2 that killing a boss in one turn, if not one attack, is neither difficult nor all that special.

In any case, Lockon's death felt really shoehorned in this game. I mean poo poo, everyone else was right there, and Setsuna could do things by himself. Could have at least tried to save him.

It's kinda like Kamina's death - Lockon dying here is essential to the rest of the plot of the series.

Of course, whether it was something that the producers of the original anime needed to include is a whole different story (especially considering what happens in season 2...).


On a side note, I always get a laugh out of the actual plot-powered attack doing less damage than the regular attack. :v:

GimmickMan
Dec 27, 2011

I once stopped using Setsuna around level 30 or so and he still curbstomped Alejandro during that final battle. The game has its moments of difficulty but Alejandro is, I think, deliberately set up as a punching bag even if his super GN Field is annoying. Not that I mind, it is a pretty exciting stage in all even if it is not a difficult one.

I like that at least one person (Crowe) calls Alejandro out on not having the style to pull off the BLING mecha look.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Yeah, I kind of think making Alejandro a pussy was intentional. It's basically how he was in the show, too. Celestial Being's been absolutely hammered by wave after wave of GN-Xs, Hallelujah and Tieria's Gundams are little more than a pair of torsos with an arm attached, Lockon dies fighting Ali to a draw, and then Alejandro shows up in his overpowered god-mech thinking he's just going to brush Setsuna aside, and Setsuna's so pissed and Alejandro's such a goddamn terrible pilot that Setsuna and Lasse (in a fancy mobile armor backing Setsuna up) still manage to kick his rear end.

I like that Crowe's getting visibly cut up by Lockon's death - I hope they keep rolling with that, it'd be pretty lame for them to be one of the big non-canon friendships and then Crowe only has a few lines in remembrance.

Montegoraon
Aug 22, 2013
The most inexcusable contrivance of Lockon's death here is that he was even in the battle at all after losing his eye. Their medical technology was advanced enough that they could have regrown his eye, they just didn't have the weeks needed to do it. They needed him to pilot because the four Gundams were really all they had. But at this stage, even story-wise, GOONZ is so large that a single pilot out of commission to heal isn't going to be missed in battle.

Hellioning
Jun 27, 2008

Montegoraon posted:

The most inexcusable contrivance of Lockon's death here is that he was even in the battle at all after losing his eye. Their medical technology was advanced enough that they could have regrown his eye, they just didn't have the weeks needed to do it. They needed him to pilot because the four Gundams were really all they had. But at this stage, even story-wise, GOONZ is so large that a single pilot out of commission to heal isn't going to be missed in battle.

It's the same thing as 'of course Mu has to tank that shot for the Archangel. There's no way Mazinkaiser could do it!' in J. Super Robot Wars likes their dramatic deaths, even if they usually can be prevented.

Onmi
Jul 12, 2013

If someone says it one more time I'm having Florina show up as a corpse. I'm not even kidding, I was pissed off with people doing that shit back in 2010, and I'm not dealing with it now in 2016.

Hellioning posted:

It's the same thing as 'of course Mu has to tank that shot for the Archangel. There's no way Mazinkaiser could do it!' in J. Super Robot Wars likes their dramatic deaths, even if they usually can be prevented.

No in J it was just dumb because I'm fairly certain multiple other SRWs, including Alpha 3, all make that avoidable.

J just basically let Seed do whatever it wanted without interacting any series with it. which is why "Oh no, Mobile Suits" are such a big thing... despite all the Super Robots, Arm slaves, and Mobile fighters that exist. Or "Naturals can't pilot Mobile Suits" and then George's butler pilots one with a steering wheel.

And don't even try to suss out anything with G gundam and the rest, first no one recognizes the Gundam Fighters, then they have them on record, then the Neo Colonies exist.

J was really poorly thought out.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Onmi posted:

No in J it was just dumb because I'm fairly certain multiple other SRWs, including Alpha 3, all make that avoidable.

No, Alpha 3 does it too. he just shows up after the stage and is like "man, that was a close one."

  • Locked thread