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Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE


The Game
The game is the first half of the second chapter of Super Robot Wars Z. Super Robot Wars is a tactics game franchise about giant robot anime series crossing over, teaming up, and beating the hell out of every villain.

In Super Robot Wars Z, an interdimensional disturbance caused the barriers between parallel universes to weaken. These universes began to fuse and overlap together, throwing countries and armies into chaos and causing instabilities in the fabric of existence. One such amalgamation was the setting of Super Robot Wars Z; another is the stage for Z2.

This alternate Earth is beset from within by political turmoil from within and alien invaders from without. A rebellion threatens to overthrow the vast Britannian Union, a mad scientist wants his hands on a revolutionary new technology, alien attackers are cutting swaths of destruction across the globe, and the dimensional eddies are constantly throwing up strange and dangerous new entities.

Down-on-his-luck ex-soldier Crowe Brust finds himself dragged into this pandemonium, but he's soon to find himself at the forefront of a battle with a terrible threat from beyond the dimensional veil, and caught in the middle of a vast power play that spans the multiverse. All he and his comrades have to resist with is giant robots and burning passion. Will it be enough to save the world from the coming era of destruction?

The Format
This LP will be screenshot-based. Particularly important/dramatic events will be recorded and posted by video.

The Rules
I'm starting from a third playthrough. This means a very large amount of starting cash, experience for most pilots, and an Ace Bonus for most pilots. As a result, I intend to do a 100% SR Point/Battle Mastery playthrough. That said, spending money and PP is optional and I may choose to use the money fully, moderately, or even very little.

The Language
This game is in Japanese. I will translate particularly amusing, amazing, or important scenes, and summarize the bulk of the game so that what's happening can be understood. I won't be doing a line by line translation of every scene in the game. Where possible I'll stay consistent with Atlus' Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation for gameplay elements.

The Spoilers
By its nature, any Super Robot Wars game is going to include heavy spoilers for several of the anime series it contains. Most series in this game start at their beginnings, so there should be plenty of warning should anyone realize that they want to watch a series that's spinning up in the game world without spoiling themselves on anything important.

Also this game is a semi-sequel, so even though it's new characters in a new chapter of the story, plot points from Super Robot Wars Z will eventually arise.

The Choices
There are several moments in the game where the crossover characters split up to do different jobs, and the main character Crowe (and the player) are given the choice which path they want to experience. All of these choices will be left to the thread. However, since the splits are parallel, I'll also briefly summarize whatever was happening in the alternate routes go down each of the alternate routes too.

There's an awful lot of room in Super Robot Wars Z2 to pick and choose which units will be primarily used in missions. These will also be generally left to the thread, I expect to the extent of "That robot's really cool! Use him more!".

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The One Million G Man
Chapter 1 Intermission
Chapter 2: The World Changes

-Japan Route-☆
Chapter 3: Launch! Mazinger Z!
Chapter 4: The Disaster Arrives
-Celestial Being Route-
Chapter 3: The Meteor That Started A War
Chapter 4: Chaotic Battlefield

-Japan Route-☆
Chapter 5: We're the Space Handymen
Chapter 6: A Power Awakens
Chapter 7: The Incredible Six Gods Combination
Chapter 8: Resolve Tested
-Celestial Being Route-
Chapter 5: Beast Formation!
Chapter 6: Towards A Faraway Peace
Chapter 7: Take Off!! Getter Robo!
Chapter 8: For Whom Would You Pull The Trigger?
-Area 11 Route-
Chapter 5: Battling
Chapter 6: A Demon is Born
Chapter 7: His Name is Zero
Chapter 8: The Princess and the Witch

Chapter 9: Dimension Shock

-Dark Continent Route-☆
Chapter 10: Pierce the Heavens With Your Drill!
Chapter 11: All High An' Mighty With Your Two Faces!
Chapter 12: That Makes No drat Sense!
-Space Route-
Chapter 10: Close Encounter
Chapter 11: On Your Marks
Chapter 12: First Attack

Chapter 13: The Black Knights
Chapter 14: Trust and Conviction
Chapter 15: A Shadow Over the World

-Public Route-☆
Chapter 16: Bird-Human
Chapter 17: Night Battle at Shinjuku
Chapter 18: Opening Stage
-Shadow Route-
Chapter 16: Contact
Chapter 17: The Dream Continues
Chapter 18: Crossing Futures

Chapter 19: Shared Ideals
Chapter 20: Malice in the Sands
Chapter 21: The Truth Revealed
Chapter 22: The Siege of Limonesia
Chapter 23: The Curtain Rises on a New World

-WPC Route-☆
Chapter 24: A Visit From Afar
Chapter 25: A Faraway World
Chapter 26: Gathering Power
Chapter 27: Accursed Wanderers
-Space Route-
Chapter 24: Irreconcilable Methods
Chapter 25: New Visitors
Chapter 26: The Way Back Shut
Chapter 27: The Hunter in Black
-Area 11 Route-
Chapter 24: The Battle of Narita
Chapter 25: Connections
Chapter 26: Geass vs. Geass
Chapter 27: The Island of God

Chapter 28: Wanderers of ZEUTH
Chapter 29: The Beacon of Resistance
Chapter 30: Straight Fulcrum
Chapter 31: The Battle of Mars and Marg!
Chapter 32: So Long, Little Buddy...
Chapter 33: A Life to Pierce the Heavens

-Japan Route-
Chapter 34: The Father I Remember
Chapter 35: Onslaught! The Mechabeast Stratagem!
Chapter 36: At The End of a Life
-Celestial Being Route-☆
Chapter 34: Memorial Debut
Chapter 35: The Gunpoint of Evil
Chapter 36: Mission Entrusted
-Area 11 Route-
Chapter 34: Imprisoned Mind
Chapter 35: Flames
Chapter 36: Euphie, Stained with Blood

Chapter 37: Noble, and Beautiful
Chapter 38: A Promise Fulfilled
Chapter 39: The Last Red Shoulder
Chapter 40: The Advent of the Omega!! (Translator notes on "Omega")
Chapter 41: The Life of Marg

-Dark Continent Route-☆
Chapter 42: A Song of Victory for Tomorrow
Chapter 43: To The Royal Capitol, Teppelin
Chapter 44: The Spiral King, Enraged
-Space Route-
Chapter 42: To Space, Together
Chapter 43: Rose's Decision
Chapter 44: Flight into the Future

Chapter 45: Little Queen
Chapter 46: The Incarnation of Hatred
Chapter 47: Welcoming the Victors Home
Chapter 48: Daybreak's Bell (part 2, 3)
Chapter 49: Rainbow (part 2) (additional dialogue)
FINAL Chapter: Era of Destruction Part 2
Epilogue

Caphi fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Dec 1, 2014

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Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE
Songs (BGM versions from Brunom1, animation links pulled blindly from Youtube)
-Invincible Superman Zambot 3-
Go! Zambot 3
Animation


-Invincible Man of Steel Daitarn 3-
Come Here! Daitarn 3


-Invincible Robot Trider G7-
Theme of Trider G7
Animation


-Space Emperor Godsigma-
Fight! Space Warrior!
Animation
Italian


-Space Warrior Baldios-
Baldios, Live To Tomorrow
Animation


-Six Gods Combination Godmars-
Ruler of Space Godmars
Animation


-Warmachine Xabungle-
Xabungle the Gale
Animation


-Armored Trooper Votoms-
Fate in Flames
Animation


The Universe End M-14


-Super Dimension Century Orguss-
Drifting - Sky Hurricane
Animation


-Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam-
MS in the Flash


-Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack-
Main Title


-New Mobile Report Gundam Wing-
Just Communication
Animation


Wings of a Boy who Killed Adolescence


-After War Gundam X-
Resolution


-Turn A Gundam-
Turn A Turn
Animation


-Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY-
Vestige
Animation


-Mobile Suit Gundam 00 S1-
Daybreak's Bell
Animation


FIGHT


-Super Beast Machine God Dancouga-
Burning Rage


-Beast Machine Assault Dancouga Nova-
A Bird's Song
Animation


Main Theme


-Getter Robo Armageddon-
HEATS
Animation


Now is the Time!
Animation


-New Mazinger: Crash! Z-
Feel the Knight1
Animation


-Saving the World, Inc. Dai-Guard-
Back-Alley Space Boy
Animation


21st Century Security Anthem


-The Big O-
Sure Promise


-Overman King Gainer-
King Gainer Over!
Animation (warning: giant robots dancing the monkey)


-Grand God of Gravity Gravion Zwei-
Scarlet Fang
Animation


-Genesis of Aquaroin-
Genesis of Aquarion
Animation


-Code Geass: Lelouche of the Rebellion-
COLORS
Animation


Previous Notice


-Pierce the Heavens! Gurren-Lagann-
Sky Blue Days
Animation


-Macross F-
Triangular
Animation


9 PM at Sagittarius (Don't Be Late)


Aimo


Interstellar Flight


What 'bout my star?


-Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN: Pocket Full of Rainbows-
A Man's Battle


Birth of the Saint


-SRWZ Original-
Close Game Life


DAMon


World Encroaching Alert


Untrue Crystal


Tears of Pearl


Impenetrable Emerald


Black Stranger


Battle Choir


(Links to game and original versions forthcoming someday, will add over time)

1 The song is a remix of an earlier song with a title you can translate as "Feel the Night" ("I can feel the night with you, I can do it all with you"), with the lyrics changed from love and sex to kicking rear end. Fun fact!

Caphi fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Sep 10, 2014

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE
Super Robot Wars Z 2: Chapter of Destruction is the first half of the latest game in the Super Robot Wars metaseries. It is a semi-direct sequel to Super Robot Wars Z for the PS2, in that it takes place in a new world with mostly new characters but builds on the same overarching plot with recurring central characters and themes. Rather than dumping all that information now, I will explain elements of Z as they arise.



The first thing we see when we start the game is our hero, Crowe Brust. In a nutshell, he kind of reminds me of Kyosuke Nanbu from OG, a guy with a cool persona, weird luck, and nothing to lose.

I can set his name, birthday, and blood type. The last two determine what "Spirit" powers he'll learn over the course of the game. I've picked some I think will be useful.



This enormous wall of text fills us in on the background. Basically, there was a Great Dimensional Quake (the transdimensional bomb from Super Dimension Century Orguss) which scrambled all the universes and slammed them together randomly into Multiworlds. The particular Multiworld that Z2 takes place on is about 20 years old, and it has two moons and two Japans. It also has an orbital elevator and an orbital ring, and a series of space colonies placed at Lagrange points.

The planet is divided into three major powers. In North America, there's the Britannia Union, a combination of the Holy Britannian Empire and the Federation Union. In Europe, there's the AEU, an amalgamation of European powers. Finally, Asia is controlled by the Human Reformation Federation, which is basically the Chinese Federation plus the rest of Asia and Russia. These three, plus the Space Colonies, are the main political forces native to this setting.

The three earth powers are locked in a cold war, peppered with small wars, rebellions, and terrorism. Compounding the problem, two years ago, another universe rammed into this one and dumped soldiers from the Astragius Galaxy in. These soldiers scattered across Earth and are being used as mercenaries by whoever gets their hands on them.

Oh, and on top of everything else, monsters called the Image have been attacking humanity since the Great Dimensional Quake, and strange creatures called Damons (a very Engrishy contraction of Dimensional Armed MONster) have been appearing randomly from another dimension altogether. This Multiworld is a real nice place.

(For those of you keeping track at home, this backstory already includes Gundam Wing, Gundam 00, Code Geass, Armored Trooper VOTOMS, and Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbows.)



But for now, let's focus on our protagonist, Crowe. He has nothing in the world, except for a single G (yeah, that's the currency) and a million Gs in debt that he's been running from for a while.



Crowe was in the military for unspecified reasons, and he's considering going back in. He decides to flip a coin for it: heads he goes back, tails he doesn't.



Oh snap, this guy Zennitori is one of Crowe's many creditors, and he catches the G right out of the air!

This douchebag explains for our benefit that Crowe inherited his enormous debt from his late father, and that he knows Crowe's military service was in a special ops squadron called Firebug. He offers Crowe a job, and when Crowe tells him he refuses to do anything illegal, he reminds Crowe that he's a deadbeat. What he wants is Crowe's piloting technique.

Suddenly, explosions and gunfire! Which brings us to chapter 1:



CHAPTER 1: THE ONE MILLION G MAN

The enemies are terrorists from the "WLF," which I believe stands for "World Liberation Front," attacking a nearby Axion laboratory. They say it's because Axion is an evil weapons manufacturer, but Crowe correctly points out that the terrorists are piloting Axion robots themselves! He ditches baldy and heads to the laboratory to volunteer.



The lady in charge, Traia, lends him an experimental, untested robot to play with. It's called the Number 0, nicknamed Blaster.



The goal of this stage is simply to wipe out the baddies. The SR Point (Battle Mastery if you're following the OG LP) is to clear the map in three turns.

Let's check out our robot!



When you look at a unit, this screen is the first thing you see. It's an overview of the stats of both the robot and the pilot.

The machine's stats are in the upper left: its movement (and what terrains it can be on, out of air, land, and water); armor, which reduces incoming damage; mobility, which helps the unit dodge; and targetting, which helps land hits.

To their right are pilot stats. 気力 stands for Will, a per-combat stat that starts at 100 and rises over the course of combat, acting as a modifier to the pilot's performance and a prerequisite to various powers we'll see over the course of the game. SP serves as a sort of fuel tank for a very important piece of resource management I'll explain in a little while. That A emblem shows that Crowe has more than 70 kills (expected, since he's been carrying them over two playthroughs). Underneath are the six basic pilot stats:

Melee Skill Evasion
Ranged Defense Accuracy

All but Skill are self-explanatory. Skill has several special roles that will become clear when pilot skills become a factor.

The chart in the bottom left shows the unit's Terrain Adaptability ranks for Air, Ground, Water, and Space. These go from C (really bad) to S (extra good), with A being average. Pilots and machines can have them individually, and they average rounding down. Once the game takes to space, it'll become a good idea to pay attention to who's stuck with a B (maybe even C) score.



Pressing Select on any unit status screen calls up a screen-specific purple help box like this. Since this is the help screen for the unit overview, it presents a nice central place to look at all the (left to right) Skills, Spirits, robot Traits, and equipped Parts. It's also where you can see descriptions for all of them. Crowe's Blaster doesn't have any Traits of note. The Shield emblem means that the Blaster has a shield to reduce incoming damage, but unfortunately, Crowe doesn't have the pilot skill to use it.



This is one screen, but you can switch the box on the left between Spirits and Skills. To see what they actually do, you have to open the help screen, but this is a good quick reference.

The numbers here are the same as on the overview, except that it also shows Experience Points and Pilot Points and total number of kills. The big thing right here is the Ace Bonus. Having it (again, unlocked at 70 kills) gives all pilots a flat +5 Will at deploy, which is why Crowe has 105 instead of 100, and an extra 20% money from all kills they make. Each pilot has their own unique Ace bonus on top of this. Crowe's is another 25% money, and at 130 Will or more, an extra 10% to all damage he deals.



The basic robot info screen is the robot's numbers again: HP and Energy, armor, mobility, targetting, terrain modifiers, and movement. Many robots have a series of Traits on the right side, but the Blaster's is just its poor useless shield.

The main new thing here is the Blaster's size, in this case M for Medium. Size goes from Small to 3-Large in Z2; smaller units hit larger units more often but for less damage, and vice versa.



Switching this screen with Square turns the statistics into a series of pip rows. These show how much the robot has been upgraded using earned money in each of the five machine stats. The 0% above it will go up by 2 for each pip filled in, and 100% will unlock extra bonuses. Thanks to my New Game + inheritance, I probably have enough money to max about 20 robots right now, but we'll see if I actually do.

Meanwhile, the right-side box has flipped to show equipped Parts. These come in equipment (extra armor, speed, etc.) and consumable (refill HP or EN) varieties. I don't have any right now.



The help screen for the unit and the robot screens are just subsets of the overview help screen.



Finally, weapons! The Blaster only has two right now: the Bunker Break, which uses its shield (the Bunker) has a cutting blade, and the Eagle Shot, using its gun (called the Eagle). The chart shows:
    Whether the weapon is melee or ranged (by a fist or a crosshair).
    The weapon's name.
    A box to show whether or not the weapon has the MAP property.
    Three more boxes to fit S, P, and B. S and B we will meet on later robots, but P means the weapon can be used after the unit moves. Weapons without the (P) property can't be used while moving without a special pilot skill.
    The weapon's attack rating.
    The weapon's range in squares. The first number can be greater than 1; the second goes up as far as 15, and in one case even infinite.
    Finally, the weapon's specific accuracy and critical rate modifiers.
Below the list is a display that shows the weapons' costs, requirements, and special properties. Bunker Break has an Energy cost, while the Eagle Shot has an ammunition clip. Many robots are heavy on either ammo weapons or energy weapons, but the Blaster is balanced between the two. Neither of them require Crowe to be above any Will level or have a skill, and they're both vanilla damage attacks.



Flipping this page with the square button just gives us a lot of the above information in long form. It also shows another row of pips - a unit's weapon damage can be upgraded as well as its HP, armor, etc. Finally, it shows the Eagle Shot's full name; a few weapons have longer names that get shown here, but most just repeat the attack's listed name.



Weapon help screen. None of Crowe's weapons are associated with a skill or have an extra effect. If they did, this help screen would describe them, but for now it's super boring.

From now on, new robots will be introduced like this:


Blaster (Crowe Brust)
Skills
Offensive Support 2
Chain Attack
Fortune
Spirits
Focus
Traits
Shield
Ace Bonus: +25% earned money, 1.1x damage dealt.

Crowe's a fairly good pilot. He's got decent stats, including a high Skill rating which will come in handy later. He comes with the combo of Offensive Support 2, which lets him step in and add his own attack to an ally's action if he's adjacent and hasn't moved, and Combo Attack, which makes all of his Support Attacks sure to critical. His single Spirit command is Fortune, a staple power which increases his hit and dodge chances by 30% for a single round.

Crowe has the Fortune skill, which earns him 20% extra money from kills, and a huge final cash bonus from being an Ace, letting him earn almost double money from every kill he makes without any extra investment.

Whew. I promise never to make that kind of enormous wall again. There are lots of other mechanics and several I know I said I'd "get to later," but at least they will show up bit by bit over the next several chapters.



Here's our starting board. Everyone's along the right edge of the map. Crowe is at the top, and the terrorists are scattered to the south.



Let's just charge one for now.



Here we see a preview of Crowe's move and the terrorist's, and what chance each has of hitting. I don't like the looks of that 42%. Luckily, with the touch of a button, I can quickly duck out...



and find a quick menu for Crowe's Spirit commands, an iconic SRW mechanic. Every pilot has a set of these that they learn as they level, and they consume SP to do all sorts of things: modifying combats, healing units, and generating extra rewards. I cast Crowe's only current Spirit, Focus, to raise his hit and dodge by 30% for the entire round at the low low cost of 15 SP. He has more than enough points in his SP pool to cast it every turn for four rounds, and we want this stage to be over in three for the SR Point.



Whoosh!



Much better. Now Crowe can't miss and will almost surely dodge.



As Crowe takes his first attack, he comments that he tries not to bother anybody as a rule and curses out the terrorists for being dicks.






Kaboom.



I don't have a turn left, so I let the terrorists move.



This guy stomps up to take a shot.



Check out that hitrate! It's still not great, but a lot better than the first guy. Part of it is that the terrorist is using a much more accurate weapon this time. But also, the Super Robot Wars Z series has something called "hit correction." Put simply, a unit's dodge rate falls off as it dodges attacks repeatedly each turn. The penalty resets every round, so it's there to stop dodgy robots from wading into piles of mooks and destroying them all. This won't be an issue until later stages with gobs and gobs of enemies.



A special feature introduced in the first Super Robot Wars Z: Battle animations change depending on whether someone is attacking air to ground, ground to air, or on the same level. The Blaster shoots down, and the Axio shoots up.



The Bunker is a razor-edged shield attached to a wire. It's more than enough to take out the terrorist's crappy Axio.



The last terrorist can't reach Crowe, and just ends his turn.



On Crowe's turn, he dies.



Crowe's all ready to pack up and leave, but before he can...



a Dimension Shock occurs, and Damons start piling out of the rift.



Traia is pleased as punch, and overrides the Blaster's controls to throw Crowe into the fray. She reveals the Blaster's full codename: the DM Buster Number 0, the world's first machine developed specially to fight against the Damons.



These Damons don't have a (P) attack, which means they can't move and attack in the same turn, so Crowe has to get within range of them (in this case, between 2 and 5 squares) to get any counterattacks. Otherwise, they'll just move towards him, but not attack.



One of them is already in range. Another couple are going to spend the turn charging, but the last is a lost cause. Unfortunately, we've only got one player phase and two enemy phases left, because Crowe's actions are over for the turn. This is the end of turn 2.



The good news is that the Blaster has a new attack, Assault Combat Pattern Faiz.



Predictably, one Damon just moves and ends, and the second decides it wants a piece of ACP Faiz. Let's give it to him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDDHRWSBT5Q



Crowe levels up from destroying the Damon, but only gains stats.

Anyway, once the first Damon bumps off to where it came from (the ugly dimension?)...



It's Wufei Chang from Gundam Wing! He's come to help us out, grumbling the whole time about how weak and pathetic Crowe is. But this is good, because Crowe won't be able to take out both Damons in time to score the SR point.



It's still the enemy's turn. The Damon that was probably going to chase down Crowe decides to charge at Wufei instead. The last one is already in range of Wufei and decides to try its luck.




Wufei dodges and counterattacks...




But doesn't quite finish the Damon off.



It's now the top of turn 3 and there are three Damons left. We only have this turn left to finish them off, but this turn includes the enemy's phase, which includes Crowe's and Wufei's counterattacks.



Crowe cuts down his last enemy with Faiz. Now it's up to Wufei to kill his last two Damons in one turn. Let's see if Wufei's Shenlong Gundam is up to the job.



Shenlong Gundam (Wufei Chang)
Skills
Prevail 5
Block
Predict
Spirits
Vigor
Sense
Traits
Blade
Shield
Ace Bonus: At 130+ Will, casts Fury at the beginning of each turn.

Well, it can certainly attack and counter at range 5 with its Flamethrower, perfect for taking on the Damons. Wufei's skills are Prevail, which powers him up as he takes damage; Block, which lets him use shields and cut down projectiles (both of which Shenlong is compatible with); and Predict, which increases his accuracy and evasion at 130 Will. Speaking of Will, his Ace Bonus lets one attack of his per round break through any barriers and defenses at 130 of it. He's not going to get up to that this stage, but it's handy to know.

Oh, and did I say I'd explain the S and B tags when they came up?



The S stands for Special, or maybe Status. It means that when the weapon deals damage, it also inflicts some kind of effect on the enemy. In the case of Shenlong, the weapon is the Vulcan, and it slows the enemy slightly for a turn when it hits, reducing their Mobility and consequently their ability to dodge. Reducing Mobility is not the only status out there. In fact, it's probably one of the tamest.



The B stands for Beam. A weapon with the Beam property interacts differently with certain traits and equipment. There are certain shields, for example, that only block Beam weapons, and other shields that are only penetrated by Beam weapons. Usually, Beam weapons are also garbage when used underwater.

His first Spirit is Vigor, which restores his HP by 30%. His second (he has a second! bastard!) is Sense, which duplicates both Strike (100% accuracy for a turn) and Alert (100% dodge for one attack).




Remember that one of Wufei's Damons is badly hurt and the other one is totally healthy. To counter both to death on their turn, we want to weaken the healthy one.



Wufei uses Sense, just to be safe. The Alert component is nice, but the Strike part is important, since it means Wufei will never miss for the rest of the turn.



After the attack, they're set up to break themselves against Shenlong.



The symbol on the bar at the bottom shows that Strike is still active. It also doesn't show that Alert is, because it was spent.



Turn over.



Monster one goes...



Since its tail blade is a projectile, Wufei can use Block to negate it. This is one of many, many skills with a success rate that's based on the pilot's Skill stat.



Then it gets roasted.




Its brother meets a similar end.



Just in time to score the SR Point.

Wufei leaves in a huff.

Crowe returns to the laboratory to negotiate his pay for testing the Blaster. He wants a mil, but Traia's price is a single G.



Zennitori interrupts, and wouldn't you know, he's not going to write off Crowe's debt just because we saved his life or anything. He still wants his money and he wants it right now.



Traia offers to pay Crowe's debt for him! But only as a loan, in exchange for continuing to be the Blaster's test pilot. Crowe can't argue with that,



You get to choose whether you want the Blaster to be range focused or melee focused. I'd leave it up to the board, but I played my last couple games with melee and I kind of want to try ranged.



Crowe's million G debt, minus the single G he got back from Zennitori (since Traia did pay off his entire debt, after all), is now 999,999 G. No, you can't pay it off from your in-game funds.

NEXT: BETTER, STRONGER, FASTER
or, the basics of upgrading robots and training pilots

A question before I continue, though: go over every learnable pilot skill in the game (there are a lot), or just the fun ones and then show off the rest as they show up on new friendly and enemy pilots?

Hikarusa
Sep 8, 2011
Man, I love this game and can't wait for Z2-2, I've played it through in its entirety like seven times. It's nice to see someone doing it like this so I can finally understand what's going on in the original plot and how characters respond to events in other series.

You should just go over the fun pilot skills, it seems pretty pointless to dump information on a ton of skills you'll never see doing that much. Also, go Ranged because, one, it looks like Z2-2 is using it as the canon choice, and two, you're already playing on New Game + and Melee is a lot better (or easier to use, at least) than Ranged (Edit: Oh, looks like it isn't a choice anyways :v:). Finally, why aren't you going to be showing off all the alternate paths?

Hikarusa fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Mar 25, 2012

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE
Is there precedent for an SRW LP showing all the path splits? I mean, it kind of messes with the canon a little bit (since Crowe is in all two/three places at once and Crowe-specific events happen in multiple places simultaneously). With the OG games you're really watching separate, but canonically simultaneous, events. I guess I felt like this game, and the other SRW games like it, were more of a players' choice than a split route, if that makes sense?

(I guess I'll do it if it's really really wanted but you'll have to tell me how to deal with the weird 3.5-way route split at the beginning of the game. If the rest of the continuity is kind of snarled, that's going to be a nightmare.)

Hikarusa
Sep 8, 2011
As I recall, other SRW lps had people select a route split and then they showed off the chosen route in its entirety first, then went back and showed off the other(s). I understand that the early-game route split stuff is kind of a nightmare, but there are places where you could split it apart.

Taoto
Oct 22, 2010

Hehehe... Everything's going according to plan, right?

Caphi posted:

Is there precedent for an SRW LP showing all the path splits?

The Alpha Gaiden LP showed off all the alternate paths. Tobias Grant let the audience vote which path people wanted to see first, then showed off the second after and continued from where he had left off in the first one.

Mercury Crusader
Apr 20, 2005

You know they say that all demons are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Pyro Jack and you can see that statement is not true, hee-ho!
I finished my third playthrough of this game about a month ago, and went only partway into the fourth to finish off the Scenario Chart, in preparation for SRW Z2-2. Fun game, and I can't wait until I get my copy of the next game in the mail.

Doing an LP of an all-Japanese game seems like it'd be a headache. I have a hard enough time explaining to my brother what the hell is going on plot-wise in these games, what with all the crazy bullshit that happens with the cross-series interactions and all. As for the whole "different routes coverage", I say do what you think you can handle.

One more thing, not sure which routes you are going to cover, but the Best Route is obviously the Super Robot-dominate routes. And yet, I also love the early VOTOMS stuff. Decisions, decisions...

PILDER ON! MAZIN GO!

BlitzBlast
Jul 30, 2011

some people just wanna watch the world burn
That attack animation went from hilariously long to just plain "is it over yet."

Is this going to be typical of all of Z2's finishing moves?

Mercury Crusader
Apr 20, 2005

You know they say that all demons are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Pyro Jack and you can see that statement is not true, hee-ho!

BlitzBlast posted:

That attack animation went from hilariously long to just plain "is it over yet."

Is this going to be typical of all of Z2's finishing moves?

Just all of the Banpresto original characters. It's one of the biggest issues I have with their original characters, and why Crowe ends up getting benched a majority of the time.

Tobias Grant
May 16, 2009

Lucky for you, I'm a dog lover.

BlitzBlast posted:

That attack animation went from hilariously long to just plain "is it over yet."

Is this going to be typical of all of Z2's finishing moves?

Like Mercury Crusader said, the overly long attack animations of the Brasta is what makes most people dislike it. I love everything else about it, but gently caress it's attack animations. I still watch them from time to time though, if only so I can listen to Untrue Crystal :v:

Taoto posted:

The Alpha Gaiden LP showed off all the alternate paths. Tobias Grant let the audience vote which path people wanted to see first, then showed off the second after and continued from where he had left off in the first one.

Eh, not always. Once it got to the point where I had to go down the Gundam X routes in order to get the G-Bits, I stuck with those ones despite how the vote went.

Tobias Grant fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Mar 25, 2012

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE
I like the Blaster, but even I wouldn't say I watch all its animations more than a few times.

Let me explain the deal with the upcoming route split quickly in case anyone isn't aware.

In Alpha Gaiden, the split routes were two splits and maybe four or five chapters long. Fairly straightforward. In Z2, right out the gate, the game splits, then splits again into three parallel routes, then recombines into two routes, before coming back together ten chapters later. There are 22 stages in those ten chapters and most of them are parallel. The scenario chart for this segment is a sight and I'll upload it if the above description wasn't clear enough.

As much as I'd like to show all those stages off, and it wouldn't be impossible, I'm not sure I could keep it all straight or properly paced.

(The split routes later in the game are, comparatively speaking, short and simple but half of them are three-ways.)

What I was planning to do was have a "Meanwhile" section at the bottom of every split stage to the effect of "our friends meet this robot and defend him from monsters" or "same thing but instead of aliens it was." I mean, with considerably more detail, obviously, but summarizing the parallel stages, the developments, the new joinees, and so on, and moving on with the game.

I don't want to say I will absolutely not show all the routes, just explain why I was initially wary of doing so and what I'm afraid could happen if I tried. If lots of people still want to see a bunch of parallel stages and let half the game go by in triple-take, I'll try. Just wanted to get all the info out.

(There is one stage I really really want to show no matter what, actually, but depending on what happens in the thread now I'll figure it out as it approaches.)

Silentman0
Jul 11, 2005

I have a new neighbor. Heard he comes from far away
This is probably tied with W for being my favorite SRW game.

Hikarusa
Sep 8, 2011
I don't think you explained the early game route split very well. It splits twice, and those two go into three and then after a single stage they all have in common two of the routes keep going and the third can choose between which of the two you want to follow. When I read it I initially thought you were saying that after the three route split it combined for ten stages then re-split automatically.

Yes, it is kind of a mess, but since there are no secrets in this game that are route split dependent except one late-game, I can't help but question why which route split we stay on from after the fact even matters. Maybe after you do the first set of two you question which of the two you want to use for two routes in the next route of three, and choose which two routes from the set of three you want to use for the next set of two?

I'm not saying that you have to do this, by the way, I just think that it would be better to show off the game in its entirety instead of showing off 3/5 and telling about the other two fifths.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE

Hikarusa posted:

I don't think you explained the early game route split very well. It splits twice, and those two go into three and then after a single stage they all have in common two of the routes keep going and the third can choose between which of the two you want to follow.

Pedantic: after the middle route, you rejoin the route you were originally on before you hopped on the middle route. You don't get to choose.

(Rest of your post noted, I didn't ignore it.)

EDIT: The chart.

Caphi fucked around with this message at 05:29 on Mar 25, 2012

Hikarusa
Sep 8, 2011
No, as I recall you can choose whichever one you want at that point from the middle route.

Broken Loose
Dec 25, 2002

PROGRAM
A > - - -
LR > > - -
LL > - - -
Regardless of which decision you make, you have a drat long road ahead of you.


By the by, if you hate unnecessarily long animations, you'll really hate Gun Blasta's sniper rifle animation. Voted Gun because we may as well go whole hog (and it's not like we'll be using Crowe for his amazing damage output).

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Godspeed, son. If you get all the way through this you'll be a drat hero.

TwoPair
Mar 28, 2010

Pandamn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta
Grimey Drawer
Man, if they only had the G Gundam cast in, this would be like, my dream game. Good luck with this! May hot-bloodedness guide your way.

Archaotic
Aug 12, 2008

TwoPair posted:

Man, if they only had the G Gundam cast in, this would be like, my dream game. Good luck with this! May hot-bloodedness guide your way.
The utter lack of G Gundam in modern SRW games is part of the reason I've abandoned the main series entirely and only play Original Generation games now. If I have to put up with crap like Eureka Seven and don't get G Gundam, it's just not worth playing, haha...

Mercury Crusader
Apr 20, 2005

You know they say that all demons are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Pyro Jack and you can see that statement is not true, hee-ho!

Archaotic posted:

The utter lack of G Gundam in modern SRW games is part of the reason I've abandoned the main series entirely and only play Original Generation games now. If I have to put up with crap like Eureka Seven and don't get G Gundam, it's just not worth playing, haha...

But then you miss out on other God-ly series. Like God Sigma. And Godmars.

Oh man, is Godmars awesome. :allears:

chibi
Feb 11, 2004

Godmars, just so badass I had to use it's support unit too, which turned out surprisingly well. As far as the ranged/melee versions of the main guy, I always choose melee, and forget that he starts with offensive support 2 with guaranteed crits, it just feels like he's better suited to range.

Bob Smith
Jan 5, 2006
Well Then, What Shall We Start With?
Seeing as you've mentioned office workers in the thread title I hope we'll be seeing them in all their glory.

The unit in question isn't that bad at all really despite everything indicating it should be rubbish.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE
Haha. You guys win. Here's how this is going to happen:

First I'm going to show both versions of chapters 3 and 4. Then the thread's going to pick one of those to be the primary line, and I'm going to show all three versions of 5-8, using the primary to lead into the center. Finally, the thread's going to choose which of the primary's two branches will bring it into the featured version of chapter 9, which is four different chapters that are identical except that the robots you get to use for it come from the above two choices. Finally I'll join up to both versions of chapters 10-12.

That was awful. I'll explain it better as it comes.

In the meantime, let's go over the upgrading.



This is the intermission screen. Note how it's conveniently divided into three columns.

The first column, Pilot, lets you see pilot data, train pilots to learn new skills by spending their PP, switch pilots around in compatible robots, and... well, the last option there is a new Z2 thing that won't be unlocked for a long time.

Unlike OG, mainline SRW games don't let you switch robots freely. Usually, it's only within a series - any UC Gundam character can pilot any UC Gundam mecha, the Wing boys can trade with each other, and so on. Right now it doesn't matter because not only do we have no switchable pilots, we only have one pilot and one robot.

The Robot column is very similar. It starts with options to see your robots and their stats, then throw money at them to make them kill better. The third option is where we'll see equippable parts start to show up. The last one involves robot-specific upgrade parts - again, those will come in much later, and there aren't that many in this game.

"Support" is probably a bad name - it just links you to the glossary/game search mechanics, game options, and save/load menus.

The bit at the bottom tells us what chapter we've finished, how many total turns this playthrough has taken, how many of those magical SR Points we have, and how filthy rich I am (we'll fix that, though). Later, when we have enough of an army to actually choose what robots join the fight, the number in the corner will show us how many free deploy slots are available in the next mission. But for now it's just Crowe blowing in the wind.



Our friend the Blaster has gotten a bit of a powerup; comparing it to that very first shot shows it's gained some energy, speed, and agility since Crowe stumbled into Traia's laboratory.

It's gained two new attachments for its Eagle, too. The melee Bayonet Spiker comes with shock rods and nets to kill the enemy's mobility, much like the Gundam's vulcans. The long-range Clutch Sniper is a powerful penetrating barrel that cuts through shields. (Ignore Barrier is apparently a weapon property that doesn't quite get an S emblem. ACP Faiz has another such property - it ignores damage reduction due to size difference.)

The melee version of the Blaster (I could have gone back and changed to it, actually, but it sounds like this one is favored so far anyway) has the same weapons. The differences are the Break and Spiker are a little more powerful than the Eagle and Sniper; the Spiker pierces barriers, and the Sniper doesn't; the melee attacks take less energy and the guns' ammo clips are smaller; and ACP Faiz is a melee attack with shorter range, the Post-Move property, and mostly the same long-rear end animation.

So, upgrading robots:

Hit points

Energy pool

Armor

Mobility

Targetting


I'm used to HP and EN in SRW games costing much less per pip than the equivalents in Armor or Evasion. In Z they're all on similar rails, with EN and Targetting costing a bit less than the others. I even had to show three ranks because they all start at 2000 for the first one.



Needless to say, getting a robot to 100% is incredibly expensive.



But it can be worth it - filling in all 50 boxes gets you a robot-specific bonus ability. The Blaster gets +1 movement, which puts it into the realm of "very fast" (as fast as a lot of robots with Accel cast), and on top of that, regenerates 10% of its max energy per turn.



On top of that, you can choose a second bonus from a universal list. These are things like an extra 10% to one of the robot's stats, extra movement, the Jamming Field trait, an S rank in any one terrain, free barriers (which normally drain your EN when they trigger), or extra range or critical for all the machine's weapons.



Can't decide? You can leave the menu, and the box will simply say "not selected" and wait patiently for you to choose the bonus whenever you want. Once you've picked it though, it's there to stay.



You've probably noticed how much I haven't talked about the bottom row. That's weapon damage, and it exists outside the normal scheme of percentages and custom bonuses. This is because it's really expensive. A single pip costs as much as or more than three of any of the others or one in each of the others. Also, it modifies all the unit's weapons at once - no individual upgrading, just a bonus to all your damage ratings.



Anyway, let's not blow a fortune quite yet. This will be plenty for now.



Next we turn to Pilot Training. Crowe has an awful lot of PP, slightly more than he'd normally earn in one playthrough. There are an awful lot of things to spend it on.

Here's the first one one: raising the pilot's stats, for the price of a flat 10 PP per stat point. The stats are Melee, Ranged, Skill (no wait, it's called Maneuverability in OG. Oops.), Defense, Evasion, and Accuracy. I'm going to suggest doing a few things to take advantage of Crowe's fair Man rating - okay, sorry, can't take that seriously - take advantage of Crowe's fair Skill rating, at which point putting points into it will become not a bad idea.



Skipping lightly over the long list of pilot skills for the moment, we come to Terrain Adaptability. This is fairly expensive and gets more expensive the more you want to do with it - raising a pilot's terrain rank from A to S costs 250 PP. The thing is, there are a few ways to raise a machine's rank, but this is the way to raise a pilot's - and if either outstrips the other, it's like wasted points. An S pilot in an A machine rounds down to A, and same for an A pilot in an S-class machine.

As for the skills I'm interested in for Crowe...



One of my favorites: Chain Actions. Once per turn, any pilot with this and over 120 Will can destroy an enemy and get another turn. I like getting this on all my attackers; it's not vital, exactly, but it does wonders for tempo, mobility, damage output, and it's fun to rip through an army. Since Crowe is a strong supporter, I can also use it to position him while keeping him awake for those two extra attacks per turn.



Attack Again isn't for everyone. If the attacker's Skill is at least 20 more than the target's, he gets to make a second attack before the action ends. This attack is treated kind of like an Offensive Support: it deals reduced damage, but in Crowe's case, it also benefits from Chain Attack and will critical to make up for it.

This is what I meant when I said we can take advantage of pumping Crowe's Skill. If it triggers, it pretty much lets him take out weak-to-mid enemies and even works on a few bosses.



With five slots potentially filled (although, to be honest, I'm not too attached to his Fortune), I've got some options. A few ranks in SP Up never hurt anyone, especially not a solo pilot like Crowe, but you get only 5 points to your pool for each rank, and the cost rises to the point where it costs 900 PP for 45 extra SP.



Break Will Limit is never a bad idea exactly; it gives pilots a not-insignificant boost at the endgame of most stages by letting their Will go up to 170 instead of 150. That said, there are better pilots to make use of it than Crowe, who has reasonable Will gains and no extra Will skills to ramp him up.



A sniper's best friend, Hit and Away. This skill lets you make an attack before moving, and then move after the attack instead of ending your turn. Crowe isn't a pure sniper, since the ranged Blaster can still cut something if it needs to (and use the Eagle Shot while charging), so he may benefit less from this than certain other shooters in the game.

A few honorable mentions:
A third rank in Offensive Support sets Crowe back 140 PP, but won't take up its own slot and lets him Support Attack three times per turn instead of twice.
Will, Morale, and the Will+ series are good if you have the room.
Ammo Save and/or Energy Save can extend Crowe's lifetime, but so can a resupply unit.
Counter would also use that Skill rating but I've always thought of it as a nice-to-have thing.

Thoughts on Skills? I can list all of them if necessary.

Bob Smith
Jan 5, 2006
Well Then, What Shall We Start With?
I've had great fun in this game on a fifth playthrough giving really bizarre units 400 Skill and Attack Again. There's one unit where this is a must-do (it's Aquarion, where giving it max Skill, Hit And Away, max Melee and Attack Again means you can snipe bosses on turn 1) but even rubbish support units can do a lot of damage with full upgrades and high stats.

As to what Crowe wants, give him Counter, Hit and Away, Support Attack and the skill that increases his speed. You should be able to afford all of that and it means he'll be ridiculously speedy.

Broken Loose
Dec 25, 2002

PROGRAM
A > - - -
LR > > - -
LL > - - -
Crowe gets Hit & Away, Attack Again, and Blocking. We're going to armor this motherfucker up and turn him into a ghetto Lockon Stratos.

Silentman0
Jul 11, 2005

I have a new neighbor. Heard he comes from far away

Broken Loose posted:

Crowe gets Hit & Away, Attack Again, and Blocking. We're going to armor this motherfucker up and turn him into a ghetto Lockon Stratos.

It loving killed me when (I don't know if this is a spoiler but what the hell) there was only one Gundam Meister that starts with Hit & Away, and it sure as hell wasn't Lockon.

KoB
May 1, 2009
Hit and Away, Attack Again, Chain Attack.

All damage all the time.

Cernunnos
Sep 2, 2011

ppbbbbttttthhhhh~
Does this game feature Brygar/Braiger and/or Xabungle? Those two series really got my attention during the Alpha Gaiden LP and I'd love to see more of them.

Hunter Noventa
Apr 21, 2010

Cernunnos posted:

Does this game feature Brygar/Braiger and/or Xabungle? Those two series really got my attention during the Alpha Gaiden LP and I'd love to see more of them.

Only Xabungle, I think.

MarsDragon
Apr 27, 2010

"You've all learned something very important here: there are things in this world you just can't change!"
You're actually doing this? Godspeed.

I'm almost done with my first playthrough of this, and it's a great amount of fun. I'm not super attached to Crowe, but maybe that's not being able to read what he says. I'm looking forward to finding out what's been going on!

Dr Pepper
Feb 4, 2012

Don't like it? well...

Well now I have to step up my game.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE

Dr Pepper posted:

Well now I have to step up my game.

You inspired me. Besides, you're doing full transcripts, which is way out of my league.

Mercury Crusader
Apr 20, 2005

You know they say that all demons are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Pyro Jack and you can see that statement is not true, hee-ho!

Cernunnos posted:

Does this game feature Brygar/Braiger and/or Xabungle? Those two series really got my attention during the Alpha Gaiden LP and I'd love to see more of them.

As was mentioned earlier, Xabungle made it, but not Brygar. In the SRW Z, Xabungle was pretty much just there to set up the beginning of Overman King Gainer, with the end of Xabungle being one of the major inspirations for the whole "Exodus" movements in Gainer, plot-wise. In Z2-1, much like with all the other series making a return from Z1, it doesn't have much going on in here, but unlike the other series, it does give one of the newcomer series a little bit of extra flavor in the form of something, but that'll come soon enough.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

MarsDragon posted:

You're actually doing this? Godspeed.

I'm almost done with my first playthrough of this, and it's a great amount of fun. I'm not super attached to Crowe, but maybe that's not being able to read what he says. I'm looking forward to finding out what's been going on!

Are there any decent story guides or anything out there, just by the by? If not, and if this gets finished, this would make a decent guide if/when I decide to do a playthrough.

Blhue
Apr 22, 2008

Fallen Rib
Man, Aquarion is in this? If Fudo is a character and you skip the crazy poo poo he's sure to say I won't forgive you.

Finlander
Feb 21, 2011

Spiritus Nox posted:

Are there any decent story guides or anything out there, just by the by? If not, and if this gets finished, this would make a decent guide if/when I decide to do a playthrough.

Incidentally, yes!
Here you'll find a complete story summary of the game, with every route split. The only thing better than this would be a script translation, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon, I think.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Finlander posted:

Incidentally, yes!
Here you'll find a complete story summary of the game, with every route split. The only thing better than this would be a script translation, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon, I think.

Awesome. I didn't think Mneidengard had finished this yet.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE

Finlander posted:

Incidentally, yes!
Here you'll find a complete story summary of the game, with every route split. The only thing better than this would be a script translation, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon, I think.

poo poo, from the first few that's almost a line by line. I'm not sure why it isn't a line by line. Can I just link it and give broad strokes? I did almost that much work on chapter 2 and that thing is already done and probably better presented so I'm not quite sure what I'm getting all worked up for.

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Mercury Crusader
Apr 20, 2005

You know they say that all demons are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Pyro Jack and you can see that statement is not true, hee-ho!

Finlander posted:

Incidentally, yes!
Here you'll find a complete story summary of the game, with every route split. The only thing better than this would be a script translation, but that's not gonna happen anytime soon, I think.

Glad he spent the first three paragraphs explaining why he romanized some of the names like he did. I don't know what's worse, that or fans that complain that the romanization is "wrong". I know Mneidengard sometimes gets poo poo on by folks because of that, but he really doesn't need to explain why he romanized the stuff like he did. Semantics and all that. His stuff is still completely understandable.

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