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Eeepies posted:I still don't see what's wrong with Dancougar Nova so far, contrary to all the complains about them? For example, a significant part of the running time was spent on the Dancouga Nova team fighting regular soldiers, albeit ones armed with their own mechas. Which were nevertheless completely outmatched. Team D's M.O. was to attack a strong aggressor, weakening them. But if the defenders became too strong and tried to counter-attack, Dancouga Nova would turn on them. This was ultimately pointless because, surprise, the real enemy had nothing to do with Earth's armies. Also, the characters seem to come across better in the playthrough than they did in the actual TV series. The producers didn't exactly fall over themselves to give them proper character development.
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Feb 13, 2014 23:40
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 There's a repeat of this scene, in which Carlos tells Shioni to stop being ruled by her rage - but darkly hints that they've got a game-changing secret weapon up Gaioh's sleeve. This time, though, rather than Ime cooking up a scheme in Japan, he's making his move up on the moon.  Mars's mercy is still weighing on Rose's mind, and this is, of course, not lost on Zuul. Bereft of purpose, she begs Zuul to tell her what to do. "The only purpose to your life is to bring about Mars' downfall," replies the Emperor. Her next chance will be her last.  He knows that won't be enough to quell the doubts that Mars planted in her mind, though, so he calls in an old friend. Zagul is assigned to watch Rose, and if she makes any false moves... well, he doesn't have to say. Zagul has already had the necessary "preparations" made to her mecha. After all, Rose is from Planet 8, and her sister remains there fighting for the rebellion. She was never out of his sights. Zuul now believes Mars is doomed. Even if Rose can't kill him, he won't be able to kill her either, and that will be his undoing. It must be; Mars may be small and weak, but his potential to effect change in Zuul's empire, even indirectly, is too great.  Zagul and Wahl know how right he is. As long as Mars is alive, he will put a fire in the resistance movements all over the galaxy. He must die - and Rose's life is a small price to pay. Unlike them, she's only a battle robot...  The Ptolemaios has made it to the moon. The WPC has ordered them to investigate this Moon WILL, but it's pretty obvious that there's no way they can get close to investigate without being forced to engage. Elgan probably knew they'd know that, so the order is tantamount to one to destroy the alien. That guy's still using the authority of the Council to make us his personal armed gofers, huh? That said, the WPC and the UN Forces are busy trying to keep the Imperium's damage to a minimum; while they hold the fort on Earth, we GOONZ are tasked to clean up the Gishin and Moon WILL (and the beastmen, of course). Aoi's fine with this, since Team D exists to destroy Moon WILL. This makes Allelujah give away the game and point out that the Getter Team fights the Invaders, Team D fights Moon WILL, and Godmars fights the Gishin. Takeru feels the same way as Aoi, though - he intends to crush Zuul and anyone who gets in his way, including Rose. But if Rose doesn't want to fight, on the other hand, he'll do all he can to help her. That's a decision he made after hearing WILL talk, after all that about humans and their potential. That inspires Crowe to pledge his support if he tries to help Rose. The girls of GOONZ are surprised he'd do that for her, and while he brushes them off, only he knows his real reason - somehow, she reminds him of Marguerite...  Setsuna is listening in silence; Amuro admits that mercy may seem like a weakness in battle, but only if you're fighting to win. But if you're fighting for peace, it's always better to try to understand each other. Setsuna is trying to figure out if he thinks he's read his mind. "People aren't that good," chuckles Amuro. "Not even psychics, and not even Newtypes." Though, Amuro adds, it doesn't even take Newtypes to understand each other. Look at all the GOONZ trying to help Takeru. Look at how he, Amuro, understood Setsuna a little bit just now. That's all it should take. "Is that the answer you found piloting the Gundam?" asks Setsuna. Amuro answers that he didn't even have as much purpose as Setsuna when he first piloted the Gundam. Crowe and Lockon are glad to see Setsuna hear it from another Gundam pilot, even one from another universe. Amuro wasn't trying to put on airs, though; he's just like everyone else, trying to figure out what he can do as a citizen of this world. Lockon accepts that; "You, Camille, Shinn and Kira and Athrun, Garrod and Loran... I think Setsuna would say you're all Gundam." This is where Crowe has to pipe up: "What about that golden Hyaku-Shiki?" Amuro remembers the doubts that crept into Quattro's mind after talking to Treize. He doesn't want to fight Treize either, of course, but he has doubts of his own about that man...  Anyway, we've got trouble. Not Moon WILL's forces - a Gishin strike force. It's almost certainly Rose, and that means Takeru's up.  Chapter 43: Rose's Decision (Space route)  Since Alto's out, Michel taunts him about his ability to handle the Super Pack. Ozma, who hasn't deployed, would be using the Armor Pack instead, a heavier pack with increased firepower, but more sluggish controls. That makes it harder to use, requiring far more experience, and as a result, it's only given to skilled pilots, a.k.a. not Alto. (Actually, Ozma thinks Alto's a good enough pilot, and could be a great one with a little more flight experience.)  Rose has brought her Ganymede, of course, and the usual contingent of Gishin battlemechs, including their worthless jets. She's still claiming to Takeru that she's as good as a battle robot who follows the Emperor's orders; the other GOONZ write her off, but Takeru still thinks he can get through to her. If they can just disable her mech, he'll try to talk to her.  We do have to shoot her down, but you know how it goes.   The Super Pack is a straightforward upgrade to the basic VF-25. It replaces the homing missile launchers with micromissile bays, which are a bit stronger and usable in Battleroid mode. Its specs are also a little stronger.  This being our first ever mission on the lunar surface, I should point out the special thing about lunar terrain. Units can be on or off the ground, just like on terra firma, but "flying" squares are considered to be in space rather than in air. Since the Ptolemaios does much better in space than in atmosphere, this is good for it. It's also weirdly good for Apollo and the other Elements, who have a B in atmosphere but an A in space (Aquarion itself has an A in both). Finally, it's the other difference between the basic VF-25 and its Super Packed version - while the normal one is excellent with wind under its wings and passable in a vacuum, the Super Pack sacrifices its performance in air (a D rank!) for an S rank in space. The other robots with differences in air and space can't fly to begin with, which is why their ranks in air are so bad and they're average in space (to function in open-space maps). They can just bounce along the moon rocks.  Remember when I said the more Panics, the better?  Setsuna gets Soul.     And Alto shows what Macross missiles are supposed to look like.  At least Rose's forces move.   If you were wondering, yes, you can absolutely still punch a mecha to the moon from the moon.  And by the way, Rose has some crazy Prevail (level 6, which is painful from a boss).     Like, seriously.    Seriously.  Rose! I'll sink that ship if I have to, to break you out of your lie! How do you do it, Mars? How can you be like this? This isn't just me. Everyone has the ability to be true to themselves! Zuul's the one that did this to you! But I'm going to save you!      Ugh.  Rose drops a Precision Lens...  And remember when Simon learned Courage, and I said it was one of the two ultimate Spirits in the game? Well, Takeru has the other one: Love. That's right, the raw power of love, and like Courage, it includes the magic of Accel, Strike, Valor, and Spirit in a discount package. Rather than Invincible and Fury, though, Love gives its wielder Alert to defend against an attack and the twin bonuses of Gain and Luck. Say, doesn't the Class A Takeru regenerate his SP? He'll rarely be in want of it. (For the record, there are also two other Spirits which are expensive and incredibly powerful, but Courage and Love are almighty and versatile self-buffs that go in their own category.)  Rose begs Mars to finish her, but Takeru tells her that her life belongs to her now. If she wants to battle him of her own free well, he'll oblige, but he refuses to let her fight him on Zuul's orders alone. How... how? After your parents and your brother were killed, how do you keep your spirits so high? I'm far from alone. I fight with many people behind me, giving me their support and love. Love gives you strength... But I fought because I was afraid of Zuul, following his orders... I left behind my home... my sister... Rose... Tell me, Mars. What... what do I do with my life? Personally, I would suggest you die. Ime! Goddammit. But this time, just like on that Heterodyne, Crowe knows that Ime's come for his Sphere, and Ime explains about the twelve "keys." Asakim's been going around trying to kill Sphere holders to claim their Spheres, and it seems Sphere holders can do the same to each other. Ime promises he'll return to take Crowe's soul when his power fully awakens. In the meantime, he's giving Marguerite the chance to wipe her honor clean, and his Damons will destroy half of GOONZ. "The remaining half will be more than sufficient to lead Crowe Brust astray." This time, the Imperium forces are attacking both GOONZ and the Gishin, so Takeru should get Rose out of the battlefield, but...  Zagul orders her to hold onto Mars while he activates the self-destruct mechanism installed on her robot! GOONZ can't believe Zuul would stoop so low, and Takeru urges Rose to eject. Rose gasps out that she wants to live, but Zagul has already done the deed. "Farewell, Mars... I wish we had met sooner..."  Mars! Takeru managed to pull Rose out of her cockpit just in time. Rose asks why he'd risk himself so; he smiles and says it was worth it to protect her. "Just like you protected Marg..." Take a good look, Marguerite. Rose was just like you taking orders from Ime. Be silent! I will fight you of my own volition! For my brother, you will fall! You are one thickheaded woman. So I guess I have four turns and change to wipe out all the Gishin, all the Damons, and Pearlnail? Or do I remember what happened on the Imperium side from last time?  At least, I remember that the nasty part was the regular Damons (possibly the last time we'll see them in the game) sandbagging. And Crowe's going to chat with Marguerite again. And after that...  By the way, the Gishin are tough, if not as threatening as they could be, and I think a lot more of my star warriors are currently dealing with the Do-Ten-Kai-Zan.  One thing I've been forgetting is that Aoi gets an extra turn from her Ace Bonus when she Goes Wild. In this game, if she doesn't use it, she gets to keep it. I usually save it for a rush turn.  Oh, goodie, enemies fighting each other.   We do have Gishin dying off, but the stronger Ganymedes are still buzzying around.   Other than moving, have everything that happens on the Yellow turn.  Zagul and his ship are going to be annoying, but we can save them for after dealing with the Imperium.  And it's always better to stick together, right?    Actually, I changed my mind. The more these fuckers kill each other, the happier I'll be.    And if you wanted an update, I do still hate Dinodamons. Prepare yourself, Crowe Brust! (I'm not in the habit of defending myself from revenge for something I don't even know.) (And I've gotta know... I can tell something's holding her back...) (Dammit, I can't fight like this! I've gotta talk to her!)    Despite all the tits flying around, I do really like the Valkyria Spinners as a weapon. Marguerite! We need to talk! How dare you address me so! What are you to Ime? What are you following him for? ! I thought you were a knight! You know, honorable and proud! What are you doing taking orders from a liar? It's not your business... Then tell me what happened to Chene! How do you... know my brother's... If you hate me for killing your brother, you are absolutely my business! Tell me! You came from another universe, so when would I have even met your brother? That... You tell me or I can't fight you! Ugh... aaaaaagh! Marguerite! Marguerite. Why are you so reluctant to give yourself up? Ime... I don't know what's going on here, but I can tell it's not clean. The burden of conquest is on the conquered. I shall call someone who actually realizes that.  Did you summon me, My Lord Ime? Marguerite is no longer useful. Cheval, I leave her duties to you. With pride, my lord! I will strike down your foes in place of that worthless she-dog! So you brought out your lapdog? Indeed! I am a dog! A loyal hooooooooound! A faithful servant of my lords Ime and Gaioh! The hunting dog of the Imperium - Cheval Repteil! And with your total and utter defeat, I will wipe clean this stain on the Archsabre's honor on Marguerite's behaaaaalf! Sure. I don't have to hold back against you. If you're a born-again soldier of the Imperium, I won't leave enough of you left to wipe.The nice thing about this sequence is that you don't actually have to fight Marguerite at any point, only Cheval.  And look at this, one of the other super-powerful Spirits: Hope, which gives an ally 50 SP (the lead pilot only, if the unit has more than one). Obviously, it costs significantly more than that for the caster - in Sumeragi's case, 75 SP.  By the way, Command fields have gotten tremendous at this point in the game (this is a level 4 aura).  Well, it's turn 4 of 6, so I figure I can just pick off the Dinodamon, Emeraldan, and Zagul's warship (I was trying to remember if it had a weird name, but it's actually just "Gishin Battle Ship") at a steady pace. I'm pretty sure there were two Dinodamons in the Heterodyne chapter, but now there's just one. I guess the game realizes that all the heavy hitters are elsewhere.           For this particular finish, I'd like to point out that we do, technically, have a new unit this chapter: the VF-25 Messiah SP and its remixed ISC Maneuver... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJjRUy9Qm5I Say what you want about Macross units, but they move very well. (Though, gently caress the Damon music.)  And it drops a DM Unit, which you seem to get whichever route you take.   A couple of Gundams are left on Damon-countering duty, though it remains to be seen whether those Damons will cooperate.  This is going well, I think. We're nicely grouped up, cleaning up Damons, and I'm pretty sure I can take down Cheval and Zagul in good time.  There's like, one live Gishin, too. Prick.    Come on.  Mars! I'm well aware of the extent of your psychic powers! But they will not save you against me, advisor to Emperor Zuul himself! I can sense Zuul's powers even from inside his craft... he's more powerful than anyone I've faced yet! Can you hear me, Rose? Know that after accepting sanctuary from the enemy, you are no longer a soldier of Zuul! You will die here, along with Mars! ... I won't let you, Zagul! Not when Rose is taking the first steps into her new life! I'll defend Rose! I won't let you take control of her again!    Zagul attacks from out of range.       Damons, in summary.  Crowe Brust, know that I will not be as pathetic an opponent as Marguerite! I have no idea what's going on between you and Marguerite, but let me stop you right there. What Marguerite's fighting is in her own head. If you can't see that, I'm not taking this from you!       The only hard part about this is that he refuses to move, keeping his distance from the GOONZ-body.  This ends now, though.  Because with the 10 SP he would gain, Takeru can use Love twice this battle. One's got Cheval's name on it, and the second is marked for Zagul.  Just look at the line of indicators lit up under Godmars. Isn't that beautiful?    This is not going to be a good day for Cheval Repteil.           300k HP isn't gonna cut it anymore, Cheval, pal.  Again, Cheval drops a DM Armor, for what it's worth, and leaves, whimpering. This is going very well, so there are a couple of things I want to throw out, since these two haven't been deployed for a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eihbrJs69r8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHIpCtin1qM Personally, I think Tieria's is cooler.  While cleaning up the Damons, Amuro gets Valor.  Once they're all gone, Ime sniffs and says he'll have to try a different tack before sulking off.  And with this rear end in a top hat exploded, it's just Zagul.         This should be plenty for Takeru.  In fact, Zagul goes straight for Takeru without stopping or attacking (he doesn't even have any P attacks).  This is going to be totally worth it, though.    Hey, Love gives you Alert.       Zagul drops an item I barely noticed he had: a Barrier Field, which sucks 5 EN when the equipped unit is hit to reduce incoming damage by 1000 points. Takeru begs Zagul to eject, but Zagul has no patience for his mercy. Is he really willing to fight so hard for Zuul, who thinks of his subordinates as mere machines? Zagul insists that he's different - he is loyal to his Emperor!  Wahl has come for Zagul, but not to help him -  To destroy his ship and take Mars out in the explosion! "These are Emperor Zuul's orders," he says as he turns his back on his colleague. "It's nothing personal." With his last breath, Zagul calls himself a fool for believing he was anything more to the Emperor than Rose ever was...   With one of his closest generals dead, Zuul will have to regroup. In the meantime, we're free to carry out our real mission - to confront, and destroy, Moon WILL. Rose is left without a place to be; Takeru invites her to come with GOONZ. Not just for her sake, but because he wants her to see what he and his friends are fighting for. Rose wants to see Takeru fight, too - "to learn of your strength and your compassion."  She's still coming to terms with Takeru's ability to draw strength from his compassion - and still sorry that if she had come this far sooner, Marg would still be alive. Takeru tells her that Marg is still alive in her heart - and he would be glad to see her here now.  The rest of GOONZ would be glad to have her by their side when the time comes to do battle with Zuul (Naoto points out that she'd bring valuable tactical insight against him). Mika thought the Crushers would be more opposed to this idea, but they have no objections if Takeru doesn't. Besides, we do have to show Moon WILL that we can forgive and coexist. Well, the last people who should have the right to say that are Raita and Oliver of Blue Fixer, but - well, that's a tale you'll want to wait for the Z thread to tell. Suffice to say that they and Marin alike learned this lesson the hard way, but that's all behind them now. The battles in their world showed all of ZEUTH the value of forgiveness and acceptance, and above all, that it's not out of the power of human hearts. Moon WILL doesn't believe it - says Rose. What does she know about the WILLs? Emperor Zuul has lived for unimaginably long, she says, and there are records of his battles with beings calling themselves WILL, guardian of the universe. She has no intention of letting him destroy this planet either, though, and to that end, she'll fight alongside us in the Cosmo Crusher, in the seat Takeru vacated long, long ago. (Marg... I managed to save a single life. I... no, we got through to Rose.) (I have to unite all the hearts in the universe and create a world of peace...) "MAAAAAARGUERIIIIIIIIIITE!" Ime himself says Marguerite isn't worth offering to Gaioh, though, since this time, the King isn't here to mention it himself. He was just at the Dark Continent, and now he's headed to the moon. Maybe to confront GOONZ, maybe not, but Ime did hear that there's someone up there who knows him.  Next week: Wakamoto time and the exciting finale of Dancouga Nova. Oh, and lots of those moon bunny robots. Also, I hope you're watching the Z thread, because everything is about to get wrecked.
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Feb 27, 2014 03:29
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As annoying as it is to deal with the various DAMONS, I have to admit that the next mission was worse for me. It's a good thing Wakamoto is there to even it out a bit because I did NOT enjoy dealing with all those bunny-bots. Also, Crowe, the Hyaku Shiki doesn't even deserve to be in the same ship as ACTUAL Gundams - dump that thing off the airlock and make Quattro conjure up his Sazabi!
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Feb 27, 2014 03:59
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I like it when Amuro gets to play mentor to other Gundam characters. You know what, actually I just like Amuro in general. Kind of a shame that he's usually relegated to side character in these games since they're probably not gonna do the One-Year War again.
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Feb 28, 2014 19:19
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Alacron posted:I like it when Amuro gets to play mentor to other Gundam characters. They're going to eventually put Gundam: The Origin in one.
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Feb 28, 2014 19:31
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Alacron posted:I like it when Amuro gets to play mentor to other Gundam characters. They just did the OYW in OE. It actually got more plot than a lot of series and a bunch of dedicated missions and even goofy good-ends for certain characters like Garma.
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Feb 28, 2014 19:36
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 Moon WILL, of course, looks just like WILL. As Gaioh suspected, WILL knows him, and something stirs in his own mind looking at WILL. WILL says it's because they're "comrades... and enemies." But Gaioh doesn't want to hear the spoilers from him. He says the same thing he said to Lordgenome, that he wants to reclaim his memories himself, and Lordgenome gave him a clue: the key to everything is on the second moon. WILL says Gaioh won't get his memories if he has anything to say about it; that would make Gaioh remember his true mission, as well, and he can't have that. Nor will he bother to fight Gaioh himself, though. "With the humans extinct, it will all be over. Your mission will fail, and you can sleep once more." Gaioh likes the cut of this alien's jib, and now he wants to leave WILL alone and watch him fight GOONZ. Whichever one wins will be worth his time to fight.  Chapter 44: Flight into the Future (space route)  Rose has taken a seat on the Cosmo Crusher, bringing support Spirits Attune and Bless to the table. If you deploy the jet, the crew mentions this.  GOONZ stands before the crevasse Moon WILL calls his fortress. The trip here was suspiciously quiet, but reports from the Dragon's Hive say that those white unknowns are attacking all over the world, and even crossing with the Imperium. The CBF wonders if their successors are nervous.  Instead, Team D is looking at the Earth, thinking how small it is for people to be fighting over. Meanwhile, it's Dancouga Nova's responsibility to save it. All five members of the elder Dancouga agree that they can't let Nova show it up.  Something's bothering Faye: Moon WILL knows that we're backed by Earth WILL. If he's still willing to fight, that must mean he has something extreme up his sleeve, something that can overcome Dancouga's might. Even so, the fate of the world rides on our ability to rise to the challenge.  Reguluses pour out of the trench - there's 24 of them, outnumbering all the GOONZ present. And for all we know, Moon WILL still has a trump card. For now, we need to wreck the welcome wagon as quickly as we can.  Okay, Moon WILL! Why don't you see what us pathetic humans can do! I'm given four turns to destroy all the Regulus Alphas; there's, without a doubt, more coming.  They're tough, they're fast, and they have us surrounded. Oh, they all have jammers, and they stack.  They're also too nimble for a pilot of Amuro's calibre to hit twice.  Even if they stack their jammers, it would probably be best to let them come to us.  Oh, wait, not only that, they support each other!  And some of them are just rude. Do I need to send someone up there?      At least I have supports too.  And they defend each other. This has always been true, but there's never been a stage with this many of them all at once. At least they only have one of those, but my strategy is mostly to ignore them until they reposition. (This is probably a bad strategy.) Don't worry about Takeru. He'll pull through.  At least Crowe can double-strike these things (his Skill's been trained to several points over Amuro's, but it takes many, many points of training to make Attack Again work on guys like this).  THIS WAS A TERRIBLE STRATEGY.    In spite of which, this is actually going all right.  The thing about MAP weapons, though, is that they don't come online until long after you need them. (I've been replaying Z, of course, and this isn't true in Z. The Argama's Mega Particle Cannon tends to become available right when I want it.)  Against these things is a perfect time to cause some Panic, though!       Supports are one of the best ways to respond to supports. The defender will take the main hit, but the original target will be forced to absorb the second strike.   End of turn 3: we're almost down to one page of bunnies! There's something to be written about how SRW stages curve as Will and other things advance. This was looking really hopeless back in turn 1.   Whereas by turn 3, GOONZ' damage output is through the roof. (Also, without Panic, there would have been, uh, a lot more deaths just now.) But as before, the real fight is just getting started...  With Moon WILL himself, in a robot everyone can tell is intensely powerful - a robot Moon WILL calls Original Dancouga.  Excuse me, we're right here. Dancouga. Its power fascinated me. I believed in humanity... And I found only despair instead. The people of your blue world drove me to despair. So I made a new Dancouga. A new power, modeled after its majesty. My very own, original Dancouga. Oh, that kind of "original."Moon WILL really didn't expect us to reach him, though, but Team D doesn't need his praise. Once again, Moon WILL says that the natural state of life is to grow, spread, and ultimately, kill other life for resources. What kind of entity has to destroy others to survive? And these creatures are trying to reach out into space? I cannot comprehend how you creatures, who cannot control yourselves, wield such power! But this is the horrible truth... Is that all? You spurn the truth? But you must comprehend... What a threat to the universe you are! But behold the proof for yourself! You see? The galactic travelers, too, see that you are a blight upon the universe. They have come to this world to exterminate you. That's not... That's not true? Can you say that? Look at the endless battle taking place on this speck of a world! The strong take from the weak. The weak kill the weaker still! What future do you have, then? Oh, shut it, already! Hm? We don't have to listen to you lecture us! Generalizing the whole from a small part. Your judgment is biased and flawed. You're not looking hard enough! You judge us through your prejudice and have the nerve to call yourself a guardian of the universe? Inorganic life or whatever, we're not going to sit here while you kill us on your stupid whims! Fools! Can you not comprehend my point? No chance we can comprehend your scrambled logic. Maybe we're a threat, but we're living creatures! It's our responsibility to fix ourselves! That's what I... that's what we've been fighting for! We'll fight... against anyone who thinks they can just drop the death sentence on us! We'll fight you and the Vajra and anyone else! We'll fight to protect what's important to us! You hear that, Moon WILL? This planet doesn't need you! I am the guardian of the universe! I maintain peace across its domain! Enough with the guardian thing! You're the one who started this war! All units, engage the Vajra and destroy Original Dancouga! Our objective is to defeat Moon WILL! Neutralize him and this battle is over! Moon WILL! You'll see our power now! The unlimited potential in each of us! Let's destroy Original Dancouga!  Wait, it's their turn.  So it's worth destroying the Earth to "maintain peace in the universe"? Some sacrifice is necessary to preserve the whole. And the liberty and happiness of those sacrifices doesn't mean anything? I don't believe that! You're just killing people for your own ends! You're my enemy... humanity's enemy! I won't let you destroy mankind!      This'll be interesting.  Oh, and there are some Vajra, too.  Apollo learns Valor.  Hey, I might actually get to use the Satellite Cannon at some point.      Original Dancouga (Moon WILL) Skills Double Action Counter L9 Perfection Will+ (Damage) EN Save Guard Spirits Scan Analyze Mercy Fury Attune Panic Traits HP Regen (S) EN Regen (M) S-Adapter Weapons Tormented Self (32 EN, MAP, size) Clear Self - Perfected (8 EN, will) Ace Bonus: -5 Will to opponent in combat. This is not going to be healthy on the Will (ha, ha). The Ace Bonus triggers whether it hits or not and it triggers if you're in the range of his MAP when he uses it! Oh, and his attacks both have the "kuuga" from "Dancouga," which represent a clear and empty mind. The good news is that I am not obligated to care about the Vajra. I'm aware of you, Gundam. What you have done itself is proof of mankind's foolishness. Think of the mole in your ranks, twisting your world into chaos. Then I will destroy that distortion. It is not your duty. It is the duty of Gundams and Celestial Being!     Actually, this probably won't be that bad. Just accept it. Mankind's history is a history of warfare. Maybe it's been that way... but the future won't necessarily be the same! That's why we've been fighting to change it! Allow me to correct you. Mankind's future does not exist. It does if we fight you to protect it! This world isn't ready to end yet!    Maybe humans are as foolish as you say... But they also have the ability to overcome their foolishness! That is all you have to say in your own defense? Sophistry! Hypocrisy! Humanity does not deserve to continue! Fine, Moon WILL! Here's another ability we have! The ability to stand up against oppression! That's the power that will end you!     I can feel the great energy inside your machine. If I allow you to live, you will use that energy to bring war out into the universe. That's exactly what the Eldar said! There may be some universe out there where we used Trinity Energy for that... But that's not us! We promised Professor Kazami we'd use this power for peace! That's why we fight with Godsigma! Against people just like you! Whoops. The Zentran used to say the universe isn't big enough for two races... They were right. You are a cancer that will spread violence throughout the universe. You don't know that! How many lives are you going to take with that excuse? You reaped your sentence with your own imperfection. This is your own doing. Where do you get off judging us when you don't believe in us? I'll fight you to the end to protect what's important to me!   Foolish organics. Your procreation is a blight upon the universe! You think we're foolish? You think falling in love, getting married, and making a family is a blight? Precisely. I cannot allow you to multiply further. Well, tough! I don't need your approval to feel what I feel for Tifa! You're no guardian of the universe in my book! I'll live my life my way!       A holder of a fragment... what are you doing in this world? A fragment? What? It was shattered into twelve souls and countless revelations and fell across the cosmos. And those twelve souls are...! A threat! Before it can fully awaken, I will destroy you and send it to another universe! So you know something about the Spheres... Too bad, but if you're still trying to exterminate humanity, I'll resist with all I've got! You've got your great mission, and I've got a lot of debt I'm not skipping out on!     Maybe you're right, and humans are foolish creatures who will never cease their fighting... So you understand. Then accept your-- But no matter how many wars there are, there are always those who are trying to fix things! I won't let you take the chance to do that away from us! I believe in the future of mankind! I won't let you cut our history short!    We're approaching the end of this round of assault, which is a shame, because all the best attackers are the ones left behind out of reach. Before the end of the turn, a couple of points:  Camille learned Soul.  Since WILL and the Vajra spawned after the last cast of Panic, they weren't subject to it. This turn, it'll be active. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTrmxqbfwU8 Finally, while the Armor Pack's new move has a proper name, I prefer to call it "All The Missiles."  I might be begging to get MAPped, but I think he'll only do that on his first turn...     Not bad. Not too much damage done. Physically, anyway.  I've seen many encounters end in fighting. Exactly. That's why I must destroy humanity before it encounters another race. But I also know that encounters bring growth! If we let you do your job, the world would become a lifeless wasteland! And peace would flourish throughout the universe. That's ridiculous! By your logic, we should destroy all life in the whole universe! I'll fight anyone who doesn't recognize the preciousness of life! I believe this world can get past its war and reach an era of growth!   Time to wrap this up.  Did I miss Eiji having Valor? Crap. Eiji has Valor. This is actually completely accurate to his role in Gravion and his relationship with Touga. The power to forge worlds! Too great for humans to wield! Maybe! But we're not taking that from a guy so arrogant he thinks he can just end humanity! We're going to use Gravion's power for good! That's the duty Master Sandman entrusted his Gran Knights with! Duty? Humans who cannot even control themselves have no right to speak of such a concept! None of us asked you. We're fighting because we decided to ourselves. Touga! Use our power to defend the Earth and all its people! Sol Gravion is a scarlet fang that bites in defense of the fangless! It's time to unleash its power!      Why... why don't you accept your sins? I've always fought my hardest to survive. Working with my friends, giving food to the little ones when we were hungry! So don't give me this deadly organism crap! I've never lived with anyone like that! Then you simply don't know humanity. Are you saying my friends weren't humanity? Then I don't have to listen to you anymore! Get ready for a taste of the power of the humans you're trying to destroy!      Earth WILL believes in humanity! That we can have peace and harmony! He is an optimist. And an obsolete creature who has forgotten the role of a WILL. You don't think the WILL who's trying to destroy humanity is no longer a "guardian of the universe"? I am WILL. Therefore, my judgment is flawless. If you're going to enforce your will with might, then we'll meet you in kind! Because we believe in humans' potential too!      That was fast, wasn't it?  Takeru learns one of the other best Spirits in the game: Zeal. Like all the best Spirits, it has a simple but potent effect: it gives him another turn. (It's what Aoi gets when she hits 130 Will, but this is the first time someone's been able to activate it at will.) Dancouga! Your grace, your beauty, your form of a god itself brought me hope! What do you mean, "brought"? Dancouga's still mankind's hope! It's the power to protect our world and humanity... in this or any universe! Then as a guardian of the universe, I will sever my ties with Dancouga! Your Dancouga and the Dancouga bestowed us by Ross Igor... ours will win! Shinobu! Show him how wild humans can get when we're fighting for our lives! Moon WILL! You forgot what potential humans have... and this is it! Let's go wild!   Sorry, gotta save it for Aoi. Earth WILL's Dancouga! Accept your powerlessness! There we go! Bad guys always resort to force when they don't get their way! Forget it, Kurara. He was never interested in talking. You won't destroy the Earth! My friends and loved ones are there! Hey! Isn't your loved one right here fighting with you? That's right, Sakuya. And so is mine. Aww, that's sweet, Johnny... What is this? You stand before Original Dancouga, yet I sense no fear in you... I guess it's pretty strong. Maybe we can't beat it... But we've got hope! Hope to fly into the future! And you're in our way, so all we've got for you is our anger! And what can you do, organics? Our answer's always going to be the same... We're going wild!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nklgTINcMcE  She gets the S-Adapter, a preposterous amount of money (which, regrettably, we will not be keeping)...   And both Aoi and Sakuya gain Valor (this is a pretty good reason to use Nova, I think). Impossible! I am the guardian of the universe... Don't worry about it, Moon WILL! If humans are the bad guys in the universe, we'll beat them up ourselves! So get outta here! We don't need a self-made god who doesn't believe in us! You will regret this... if humanity continues to grow, they will come! And when they do, this universe... Oh, just give it up already! This universe... this universe will... wwrrrrraaaaaagggh!  The Vajra just wander off; "They didn't see humanity's potential themselves, did they?" quips Michel. Eida's glad their battle is over, but the others in Team D know it's just begun. They have to make good on their promise to both WILLs, and demonstrate humanity's potential.  Happily, the moon robots all over spontaneously exploded, presumably when Moon WILL fell. But F. S. says that Moon WILL was just one of the "oncoming threats" he's so worried about. And the fights here aren't over either, so we're all headed to the Gishin base.  To Vladimir, too, F. S. repeats that the world is not out of danger. Dancouga has one this one, but sooner or later, a new enemy will come that will force them to use the full power of the Dragon's Hive itself.  They will all have to stay sharp for the trials ahead, but for now, humans have won. They pray that they will continue until peace truly comes at last.  Moon WILL seemed to know something about the Vajra, but unfortunately, Earth WILL has no such knowledge. Still, we know the Vajra are on the move; we'll have to deal with them as well to protect the Earth, and the sooner, the better.  An emergency transmission comes in from Mishima. He's here to pass on a mission to the Quarter; the crew has not forgotten that he drove them out of the Frontier fleet, but he's got Chairman Roddick's authorization. That mission is the destruction of the Vajra hive in this solar system. The Other Chapter 44 posted:
 And we're back on the joint path, the last leg of the game! And to look ahead, the thing about the finale is that there are 33 "main characters" in it, and you can only take 24 into the final stage. I intend to fully upgrade exactly twenty-four of the main character units before that stage (and as many more as I can afford to, I guess, to showcase their unique bonuses) and send them up against it.
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Mar 10, 2014 18:30
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Obviously you need to bring nothing but the sidekicks to the last stage. 
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Mar 10, 2014 20:05
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Urgh, this mission is a pain during a first playthrough...you really need to spam Panic to avoid getting swarmed. I do remember that I spread my troops out 50/50, though, to avoid having to deal with all those supports. That didn't stop Moon WILL from taking me by surprise with a double MAP, though. Of course, this still isn't the most annoying battle in the game...but we'll see that soon enough. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Mar 10, 2014 |
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Mar 10, 2014 22:11
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While this game could get frustrating at times, that's also what makes missions like this really satisfying. You put the last nail in the coffin of an annoying enemy faction and send them packing with only half your force. It feels pretty sweet. I'm loving that the Dancouga team calls 
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Mar 10, 2014 22:30
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Brunom1 posted:Urgh, this mission is a pain during a first playthrough...you really need to spam Panic to avoid getting swarmed. You mean the one coming up in a few chapters in which you fight a bunch of fat, annoying enemies scattered across the map and literally nothing else happens?
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Mar 10, 2014 22:40
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Caphi posted:You mean the one coming up in a few chapters in which you fight a bunch of fat, annoying enemies scattered across the map and literally nothing else happens? Maybe... 
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Mar 10, 2014 22:44
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Was the skull in the dynamic kill from the actual attack or does Moon WILL do that when it dies regardless?
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Mar 11, 2014 06:32
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Before I start this week, I'd like to do what I promised and go over a few hero units so we can see how far they've come - and finish upgrading them for the battle still ahead. Personally, I feel that the best place to begin is the new versions of the classics that ZEXIS offers to the franchise.   Mazinger Z (Kouji Kabuto) Skills Prevail L6+3 Morale Will+ (Damage) EN Save Off. Support L+4 Chain Attack Spirits Strike - 20 Accel - 15 Invincible - 15 Guard - 15 Valor - 35 Assail - 30 Traits EN Regen (M) Weapons Strike (8 EN) Rocket Punch (6 ammo) Rust Hurricane (20 EN, armor) Scrander Cutter (12 EN) Breast Fire (32 EN, 110 Will) Photon Beam (56 EN, 120 Will, barrier, size) Ace Bonus: Deals 1.2x damage above 130 Will. Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Range +1. Custom Bonus: The EN Regen (S) trait becomes EN Regen (M). Way back when, I said you can pick a full upgrade bonus and each machine gets its own custom one; the custom ones are the interesting ones. Mazinger gets enhanced EN regen, making him even more able to shoot things over and over again. In this playthrough, this is definitely true, as he's become a photonic death platform that can hit enemies multiple times a turn.   Omega Getter (Ryoma Nagare, Hayato Jin, Musashi Tomoe) Skills (Ryoma) Prevail L7+2 Break Will Limit Will+ (Destroy) EN Save (Hayato) Prevail L3+6 Predict Counter L6 EN Save Dash (Musashi) Prevail L8 Will+ (Damage) Def. Support L1 SP Up L9 Spirits (Ryoma) Vigor - 20 Strike - 15 Trust - 25 Invincible - 15 Valor - 40 (Hayato) Mercy - 10 Alert - 15 Accel - 15 Analyze - 30 Sense - 25 Fury - 30 (Musashi) Guts - 30 Gain - 20 Drive - 40 Luck - 35 Guard - 25 Faith - 50 Traits Varies Weapons Varies Ace Bonus (Ryoma): Deals 1.3x damage above 150 Will. Ace Bonus (Hayato): Trigger rate of Getter Vision-like traits increased by +20%. Ace Bonus (Musashi): The "Spirit" Spirit is replaced by "Drive." Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Range +1. Custom Bonus: Can Transform after moving. The traits and weapons don't interest me too much right now, but Getter-1 does have some range issues. I think it's pretty good that Getter's custom bonus just makes Getter-2 as likely to get in a fight as Getter-3, though. It's the same thing Alto has with his Ace Bonus - rush in with the quick form and then switch to battle mode, getting the benefits of both. Moving on to the Gundams!    Gundam Exia (Setsuna F. Seiei) Skills Block Counter L5 Chain Actions EN Save Resolve Spirits Focus - 15 Strike - 20 Alert - 10 Spirit - 35 Soul - 50 Traits Jammer EN Regen (S) Blade Shield Weapons GN Vulcan (8 ammo) GN Sword Rifle Mode (6 ammo) GN Sword (8 EN) GN Beam Saber (16 EN, 110 Will) Seven Sword Combination (32 EN, 120 Will, barrier) Trans-Am (64 EN, 140 Will, size) Ace Bonus: 1.5x damage to Gundams or mechs equipped with solar furnaces. Full Upgrade Bonus: Jammer Unit. Custom Bonus: +400 attack to all melee weapons. In case you thought Setsuna needed to cut harder, I guess. In general, I feel that jammers and range upgrades are useful on any robot, so I'll probably favor them unless someone has a particular call for one (for instance, Chirico and critical rate). Jammers are better on the ones that depend on dodging.    Wing Gundam (Heero Yuy) Skills Prevail L7 Hit & Away Block EN Save Attack Again Spirits Accel - 10 Focus - 15 Sense - 20 Assail - 30 Drive - 50 Traits Transform Blade Shield - Ace Bonus: Evasion +20%. Movement +1. Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Range. Custom Bonus: +2 ammo to the Buster Rifle (MAP). This puts the MAP buster's ammo up to 5 shots per map. Heero's gimmick is a cannon, so I thought the range was more appropriate. Besides, Wing's Gundams are tanky, though since Heero has maxed ranks in both evasion and armor... There's one more unit I want to finish upgrading, since its his chapter coming up now.    VF-25F Messiah SP (Alto Saotome) Skills Prevail L6 Morale Dash Fortune Spirits Focus - 15 Vigor - 20 Luck - 30 Sense - 20 Assail - 25 Traits Jammer Transform Shield (Battleroid) Weapons Beam Machine Gun (5 EN) Assault Knife (20 EN, barrier) Gunpod (10 ammo) Micro Missiles (8 ammo) ISC Maneuver (4 ammo, 120 Will, size) Ace Bonus: Can Transform after moving. Full Upgrade Bonus: Jammer Unit. Custom Bonus: +300 attack to all weapons. Another straight damage upgrade! But at this stage, I think personally, a welcome one. That's all the upgrading for now. There's still about five million G to spend, several more chapters to earn more in, and a lot more robots to spend it on.   One last thing before the chapter begins, though. The game knows we're going into space, so if you don't have the ISS Scopedog secret, you'll still always go into this stage with a backup plan in the form of the Round Mover expansion for the normal Scopedog. It's as good as the LRS apart from being extremely lightly armed, but I prefer the ISS for space missions either way.  Gaioh has returned to the place of his birth (of calamity) to meditate.  Ime finds him and reports on the success of the Imperium's campaign of global destruction. But Gaioh doesn't care about that anymore. He's realized what his real target is. "Have your memories returned to you, my lord?" simpers Ime.   Gaioh grins wickedly. "Ime, I don't know what you were trying to do by taking advantage of my power. But if you get in my way, you're dead meat." As for GOONZ, Gaioh knows that we defeated WILL and the Spiral Warrior. But how will we fare against the galactic wanderers and the herald of darkness? And if we do return victorious... well, that's when the fun starts.  Ribbons has returned from the show he helped Grace put on. It's a masterpiece, even for her, but Ribbons says that only the chosen can even attempt such a feat of manipulation. He believes Alejandro is up to it, though. Alejandro replies that despite all his skill and influence, his greatest asset is Ribbons himself. It was thanks to Ribbons that he was able to take command of Veda and clip Celestial Beings' wings, and even now, the flood of information everything happening in the world is still invaluable. All the great movers in the world - Treize Kushrinada, Schneizel el Britannia, Leon Mishima, and even Elgan Roddick - are in the palm of his hand. The only remaining obstacles are the Vajra hive and the Gishin invaders. As for the Imperium, he just needs to reach Shioni Regis. The Damons are mere force and, not being infinite, can be met in kind. And there's always the strategic weapon he knows Treize and Schneizel already have. If he has it in hand, no one will oppose him. The final obstacle to his plan is GOONZ and Celestial Being. But then, the U. N. Forces serve him personally, don't they? They'll pay the GOONZ a visit once they're done doing his dirty work. "And then the curtain will rise on a new world." Ribbons chuckles under his breath.  Once again, the GOONZ catch each other up on the story of Final, Nova, and Moon WILL; ours are surprised to see Eida Rossa and more surprised to learn she was the Daigun's pilot all along. Rose is also with us now, and Takeru has to defend her from the anger of Kouji, who wasn't there to see how tortured she was at the end. Rose affirms her decision to fight beside Takeru for peace across the galaxy.  And there's the Super and Armor Packs, but Ozma isn't in the mood to talk about them. He's back from a meeting with Cathy, where he learned from a message from Grace that Ranka and Sheryl have been kidnapped by mysterious assailants! They're demanding some outrageous sum in ransom from the Frontier's government.  Right now, however, we have to brief for the assault on the Vajra hive, with a special introduction from President Leon Mishima. Apollo doesn't like his hair, or the rest of him for that matter. Silvia agrees; she loves his voice, but there's something off about him. Athena says she's heard that he's engaged to Cathy; at the very least, that explains the weird vibe Kei got between her and Ozma.  Now we can move to the actual briefing. Cathy explains that it seems the Vajra's Fold abilities aren't limited to mere spatial travel, as the Frontier's fold system is, but can actually break through the dimensional veil to an extent. The Birth of Calamity weakened the barrier in and around this solar system, which is how the Vajra have been Folding through since then. An angry organism that can travel between planes of existence doesn't sound good, but there's more. The Vajra are hive creatures, like bees or ants, who move as a unit and share information between them. What? Cathy continues that it's not clear how intelligent the Vajra are, but they communicate with each other somehow and it's clear that they can learn. Whatever any one of them experiences is sent back to the hive; in the case of the ones we've fought, this applies to their combat ability and the techniques we use against them. The more we fight, the stronger they get; if we don't do something soon, their advancement will outpace our ability to adapt, and humanity itself will be doomed. If we want to have any hope of defending ourselves, we have to strike at the heart of their bug society - the queen. And that's where Leon comes in. The Frontier believes they have discovered the Vajra's equivalent of a hive in outer space, not that far from where the Gishin base resides. They believe the creature that controls all the Vajra of the hive, what you'd call the queen, is hiding there. If they defeat that Vajra, the rest of them will be simple to handle.  Surprisingly, Ozma seems to be reassuring Alto that Sheryl and Ranka will be just fine; the Frontier will take care of them. He's obviously concerned too, but right now he's trying as hard as he can to pour all of his focus into the mission at hand. In fact, Leon Mishima says that they have another, top secret mission - rescuing the fleet ambassador Sheryl Nome and her companion. He claims that the group that kidnapped them for ransom was attacked by Vajra as they fled the planet, and the Vajra kidnapped Sheryl and Ranka for themselves. The companion, of course, to Alto and Ozma's worst fears, is Ranka Lee. Now, the witness who escaped claims that the Vajra are keeping the two women captive, and Mishima suspects they're being held in the hive itself. As we carry out our attack, we are tasked with their rescue.  And that's the story. Someone's going to have to dive into the hive and rescue Ranka and Sheryl. Ozma would love to do it, but Sumeragi reminds him that he has to command the squadron. On the other hand, Alto is also eager to carry out this mission, knowing the great danger it will place him in. If anything happens to Ranka, Ozma swears he'll kill him, but that's also a risk Alto's willing to take...  Chapter 45: Little Queen  Incidentally, did you know that Karen isn't considered a main character unit? That would be Zero's Gawain. Of the thirty-three main machines featured in the last episode, only thirty star in this one, and there are only twenty actual deploy slots in this particular stage. Add Alto, subtract Chirico (who speaks in the last stage, but not this one, for some reason) and Karen, and... boy, this game does not like my sanity. Oh, and Chirico is occupying the ISS for now for all the reasons you'll expect.  Anyway, the Vajra hive is occupying this asteroid. Somewhere inside that rock is the queen, but also Sheryl and Ranka.  The Vajra come out in numbers we've never seen before, along with one of the big ones we fought last time, the so-called Knight. This doesn't change the plan, though. Alto's going on, and we have to cover him. (Ranka, the captain's putting his life on the line for you.) (Sheryl, I swear on your good-luck charm that I won't fail.)7 Five turns to wipe out all the enemies and complete the victory conditions? How bad could it be?  ...huh.   This might take a while.   I mean, the main thing is that the Vajra are incredibly tough for their level, especially for enemies meant to fight VF units. They've got Prevail, they support (though the AI is probably not smart enough to use it correctly), and, well, all that talk about them learning and getting stronger? That was not empty. Vajra have hidden evolution levels that make them quietly stronger over the course of the game and they're an extra leg up if you're on Hard mode. Normal mode Vajra have much lower stats including HP, attack with lower range and power, come with a lower level of Prevail, and lack the supports. Half of the smaller Vajra are also going to go straight for Alto's VF-25, of course.  The first wave of Vajra are getting thinned out pretty effectively.  But there are a lot more where they came from...  And that's just the little ones. (Ryoma's just going around doing 11000 damage, though, which is nice. Getter's energy consumption is going to become a problem, though.)  Defending himself from the onslaught of Vajra that are definitely focused on him personally, Alto learns Soul.  And look, the Knights are actually closing in! I appreciate it.  Once Alto begins to close in on the hive, though...  Another Knight Vajra appears right where he was supposed to break through and fires on him.   And suddenly, he hears Ranka's song through the earring.   The giant Vajra is about to fire again, but another shot intercepts it from the side. Brela says he's here to help; the Skull Squad recognizes his machine, at least. We don't know whether he's trustworthy, but we could certainly do with a hand.  We are still tasked with getting Alto to that spot, but the Knight's in the way. Guess we'll have to clear it out!  Who put like six of these things here, though?      With Getter's new ability to move as Getter-2, Ryoma's the first one to get a shot at the problem Knight.  Heero also learns Soul. (Soul is more common with the machines that don't have ridiculous base damage output, like Reals, to make up for it.)   Since I missed it in the last split, Eiji gets Valor. (This seems to be happening a lot this chapter?) Eina also learns Exhaust, which will be useful.      Next is Chirico, whose ISS is extremely fast...     He gets hit, which is nice, but gets Immobilized as a result. Because Knight class Vajra can do that.   Also gotta work on ALL THESE OTHER KNIGHTS ARGH  It's basically this story for all the large Vajra, though. They're on their way out.  The Knights have a habit of serious sniping.  Let's get this one over with please.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BtQ_J19sOU Wait a minute, that was different! It's good to see Simon getting into the Macross spirit, I guess.  Alto dives into the asteroid, and Brela goes in after him.  It's an interesting place inside; Sheryl is trying to keep Ranka from freaking out. She reminds Ranka of the one thing either of them can do to help us win our battle: sing.  Alto flies in, but before he can load the girls into his jet, the huge Vajra notices his Valkyrie.  Brela brings his own Valkyrie into cover their escape. Ranka, too, remembers him from the Bird-Human shoot, when he saved her on the cliff. Alto tries to get both Ranka and Sheryl on board again, but Ranka's having a panic attack, remembering that fateful day at last - the Vajra, her mother... her song...  Alto makes it out with both of them, and Brela's Lucifer, but...  An even bigger Vajra rises out of the asteroid! This one has to be the queen.  Like all the other Vajra, it shoots at Alto. Ranka's panicking again, and...  Alto! Listen to my song!!  Sheryl... (Alto, you have to fly! Fly to protect whatever's precious to you!) Sheryl... (Ranka... all you and I can do... is sing!) All right, Sheryl! Hold on tight! Alto docks with the Quarter to drop off Sheryl and Ranka, and Jeffrey orders him to deploy again immediately - this time in the Valkyrie of a true ace, the Armor Pack!  Did I say the Armor Pack? Because having picked the same singer twice, Alto receives authorization from Captain Jeffrey to use the Tornado Pack! It's an enhanced firepower pack, but rather than being heavy armor, the Tornado Pack is a mobility upgrade, far swifter than the Super Pack while packing even more explosives. It's just out of the prototype phase, and Ozma warns Alto that it'll take all his focus to keep control of. Ranka! Sheryl! Here I go! I'll fly to protect you two! Now we just have to knock out the Bishop Vajra (not much of a queen after all, as it turns out), but again, after taking down all the other Vajra first.       VF-25F Messiah TP (Alto Saotome) Skills Prevail L6 Morale Dash Fortune Spirits Focus - 15 Vigor - 20 Luck - 30 Sense - 20 Assail - 25 Soul - 55 Traits Jammer Transform Shield (Battleroid) Weapons Beam Machine Gun (5 EN) Assault Knife (20 EN, barrier) Gunpod (10 ammo) Micro Missiles (8 ammo) Beam Cannon (30 EN) ISC Maneuver (4 ammo, 125 Will, size) Ace Bonus: Can Transform after moving. Full Upgrade Bonus: Jammer Unit. Custom Bonus: +300 attack to all weapons. Being the same mech as the VF-25 with a different pack, much like the SP, it's got all the same customizations and everything. In practice, it is only slightly faster than the Super Pack and trades a sliver of armor for it, but I still like it more than the Armor Pack. Largely due to swiveling wingtip thrusters  .I have some tastes. Being a Super Pack upgrade, neither the Tornado Pack nor the Armor Pack function in atmosphere. (Alto's VF should be able to switch between all three packs after the mission. In case you even wanted the Super Pack anymore; both the Armor Pack and Tornado Pack are straight upgrades over it.)  Alto's turn has been reset, and his SP has been refilled, as well as his VF being completely refreshed.  I should also mention that Brela's VF-27 shares all of its customizations with Alto's VF-25, including the same jamming system. However, its unique bonus is a massive boost to its Maneuverability rather than Alto's increase to weapon power.   The Bishop is quite powerful, with Prevail L9, Guard, over 100k of regenerating HP, a MAP attack, a bigger version of the Knights' immobilizing Vajra Swarm, an S rank in space, and of course, an Ace bonus. This one gives every Vajra on the field a +30% bonus to both accuracy and evasion. Oh boy.  Speaking of accuracy and evasion, we do have quite a few Panics available. It would probably be a good time to start using them. I'll put the Bishop itself off this turn, though. As usual with regenerating enemies, it's best to pile on that damage all at once.  With the Vajra shooting with a range of 9, it would probably be most efficient to let this one come to me. And since they, well, have a shooting range of 9, they're the ones I can't count on being able to counter, so the ones in range are the ones to focus on during the player turn.  And just to remind all of us, Gurren-Lagann can use Valor seven times in one stage if it wants to. Simon's SP is being used on Strike (and probably, at some point, on Courage), but Rossiu alone still has enough Valor to pound away at those Knights just about every round.  Actually, one more rude thing to do. The highlighted squares are the ones at the maximum cannon range of this Knight here. All of GOONZ has evacuated so it has no choice to move. But if one were to get near it...  Say, a Getter Robo with Guard and Valor...    It'd probably have to attack that Getter on its turn.   This is really just to add insult to injury.  End of turn 3.    Apollo learns Valor. Just in time.  And I guess Gurren-Lagann is immobilized now. drat.  Those Knights continue being mean and shooting as far away as they can...    While Operation Getter pays dividends. Phew... what's going on here? It's like I... it's like Aquarion knows the Vajra... But who cares? If they're attacking people, we'll fight them off!   Uh oh.    On the plus side, Pierre also gains Valor. As long as Aquarion's not shot down, it can still fight!    (Keep fighting, Alto. We'll sing so you can hear.) I can hear Sheryl's song... I couldn't face her if I got shot down with her lucky charm on me.   One down.     Two (Rossiu uses his third Valor).    One left.  (Getter is running out of power, of course, but if there's always the Change Attack, and that's got its own energy reserve - one made of fellowship, cameraderie, and shared indignation.)    Knocking out the last Knight is Chirico's job. There are some large Vajra drones left, but let's start on the Bishop!  This Vajra is definitely sending orders to the ones around it, but... Something's not quite right. Do the Vajra have a completely different concept of communication from us?   The Gran Knights are a fang that bites in defense of humanity! No matter what we must face! Vajra Queen! You face Sol Gravion!   And I still don't have its HP?   Its immobilization move summons big Vajra instead of little ones. Luckily, Touga has sense. I mean, Touga has Sense. If the Vajra keep evolving, humanity won't be able to fight them off forever! Before that happens, we have to defeat the queen and exterminate them!   Finally.  Of course, after he'd use it, Camille learns Soul.  It's kill or be killed... we can't afford to doubt ourselves! We have to destroy the queen and stop the Vajra's invasion of Earth!    It may be a tremendous swarm, but it will cease if we destroy its leader. Locked on. Target - Vajra queen!   It doesn't matter what it is. If it's a threat to humanity, we will fight against it. Exia, eliminating the enemy queen!   Anyone who causes violence has to deal with us, whether they're human or bug! Vajra queen, we'll take you down and stop the Vajra!    If we take out the queen, the war with the Vajra's over. Meaning all this data turns useless. Still... That doesn't matter to me! I'll find somewhere to sell footage of this crazy battle!   We're not the type to squeal and hide when we see a bug! We'll fight anything that comes at us, whether it's evil or not!    It's our wildness against your instincts! If it's humans versus Vajra in a fight for survival, we're not backing down, Vajra queen!   I'm gonna have to start holding back to finish off the conversations, huh. Not by that much, though.   It always uses the swarm on the ones with Alert! Honestly.  You may be struggling to survive, but so are we! If you attack humans, we'll fight with everything we've got!   Well, that wasn't with Valor, but I think it's still impressive.  Seriously, though, Rossiu has Alert too.  Just some last minute cleanup.    Lots of damage, but not many destroyed. Just...  ...!   (Alto... listen to my song.) Now it's Ranka singing? Just hold on... I'll keep my promise! I'll come back alive! That's a lot of regeneration!  Vajra queen! If destroying you will stop this war, there are no doubts in my mind! Daitarn 3 and I will fight you for humanity's future!     Mom's made me kill bugs lots of times! Get ready, Vajra queen! Today's pesticide is Zambot 3!    Pest control is one of our duties as a security company! Here we go! Wait! This isn't anything like knocking down a wasp's nest! I don't know why you bother, Ibuki. As far as he's concerned, they're the same thing. They both make peoples' lives harder. That's right, Aoyama! Nothing personal with the Vajra, but we've got a job to do!  That was with Soul...  The Bishop itself finally sticks a stun on something, but it doesn't matter anymore, does it?  It's elementary to target the commander. We aim for the Vajra queen! We'll take you down quickly and exterminate all the Vajra around the planet!    We've fought the Invaders, so we're used to freaks like you! I'll smash your face in, Vajra queen!   So we have to take out the queen to stop you? Just like an ant or a bee! So it's us or you! We'll take you out and put a stop to this war!   One more, I mean it this time. We have people waiting for us to return victorious! You won't defeat us humans, Vajra!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK2k2-CmxdA  The Vajra queen is worth a lot. The money comes from Luck, but it also drops CDs from both Sheryl and Ranka.  And that's it for the chapter. My GOONZ are still pretty overpowered, I guess.  But just when Alto is about to go for the kill, Ranka screams for him to stop.  But it's too late. The Quarter crew hopes they're right that this will end the invasion. But Ranka felt something inside her the moment that Vajra died...  Brela introduces himself as a member of the Macross Galaxy Fleet's Antares Squadron, Brela Stern. He must have been carried with the Frontier Fleet on that warp. But he has only one thing to say to Alto: "You aren't worthy of her. Of Ranka Lee."  He flies away. What a jerk.  Roger wasn't in this one, but the Scopedog is still cheap to repair.  Oh, look who else knows about the "galactic travelers." V. V. envies them, but Charles is sure they, too, will soon be able to inhabit "a world without lies." That's the promise they share...  Alto warns Sheryl not to push herself, but what did he do in the operation, again? Anyway, she says he should be with Ranka instead. Something happened to her back there. Alto insists on taking her with him, on his shoulder if necessary - just to get her checked up by Canaria, of course.  Amuro hates to interrupt the moment, but he has an important message from Ozma to Sheryl. "If you want an autograph," says Sheryl breezily, "you'll have to wait." It's a good thing she's in a good mood for Amuro, though, since the news isn't going to be nice. We're headed to the Gishin outpost directly, and they won't be able to send her back to the Frontier before they leave. In short, she'll be with GOONZ. Sheryl's not too worried, though. She's sure Alto will protect her... or doesn't he think he can? "Of course I can," says Alto. "That's why I fly."  And if all those other rewards weren't enough, the chapter also rewards us with Nyan-Nyan's Famous Tuna Bun and a Fire Bomber CD.  Next week: the final showdown with the Gishin! Caphi fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Apr 7, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 04:23
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Wait, Alto also gets the Armor Pack? I didn't even notice as I also liked the Tornado Pack so much. Now, anyone want to tell me what was the goddamn point of that kidnapping? It wasn't to draw us there as we were going to take on the nest anyway...or is that a Saisei-hen plot point that I'm not recalling?
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Mar 18, 2014 11:44
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It's too bad the Fire Bomber CD doesn't set the BGM of whoever equips it to Planet Dance or Holy Lonely Night.
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Mar 18, 2014 16:51
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Brunom1 posted:Now, anyone want to tell me what was the goddamn point of that kidnapping? It wasn't to draw us there as we were going to take on the nest anyway...or is that a Saisei-hen plot point that I'm not recalling? I think, though my familiarity with Macross F is not the highest, the answer has to do with the fact that the Vajra Bishop was neither little nor a queen.
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Mar 18, 2014 21:11
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This part is a loose adaptation of Macross Frontier episodes 13 and 14. How it goes down in the show: Alto and Ranka are flying home after some poo poo's happened, but they are shot down by someone. Ranka is kidnapped and brought to a Macross-class ship, which she finds eerily familiar despite having no memory of ever being there. Alto goes to the rescue, but Ranka is carried away by Vajra to their hive. A rescue is mounted, and Alto is almost able to rescue Ranka thanks to her singing making the Vajra stop in their tracks. Brela swoops in, carries Ranka away, and announces that Alto is not worthy of her. In the show Sheryl is nowhere near the action. Why exactly the Vajra kidnapped Ranka, specifically, is a spoiler which we'll probably have answered in later missions. Mikl fucked around with this message at 21:48 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 21:46
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Actually I believe that plot is handled on part two. Everyone comments on how weird it is and then it is dropped for the rest of the game.
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Mar 20, 2014 12:05
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I love the completely insane way the villains of different series interact. Like, why the gently caress would V.V. and Emperor Chuck know about the space wasps from another dimensions? Because reasons I guess.
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Mar 20, 2014 18:55
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Rodyle posted:I love the completely insane way the villains of different series interact. Like, why the gently caress would V.V. and Emperor Chuck know about the space wasps from another dimensions? Because reasons I guess. I can think of a reason involving the Vajra hive mind and the lunacy of Emperor Chuck's actual plan.
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Mar 20, 2014 19:42
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Since it's the Godmars finale, let's throw money at Takeru.   Godmars (Takeru Myojin) Skills A-Class Psychic Prevail L4+5 Spirit Block EN Save Guard Spirits Vigor - 20 Sense - 20 Spirit - 30 Fury - 20 Love - 60 Traits Antiproton Bomb Weapons Hit (8 EN, 100 Will) God Fire (16 EN, 110 Will) Mars Flash (24 EN, 120 Will) Final Godmars (64 EN, 135 Will) Ace Bonus: The Psychic Skill is replaced by A-Class Psychic. Full Upgrade Bonus: Movement +1. Custom Bonus: Can use Six Gods Combination with no Will requirement. Takeru will get the Zeal Spirit we got a preview of on the Space route back soon enough. Godmars is a robot whose boss-crushing attack has a range of 1, so increasing range doesn't help quite as much as it does other robots; meanwhile, in Gaia mode, the Six Gods Attack's middling range of 4 has generally been enough. On the other hand, Godmars' movement is average and Takeru can only access Accel by using Love, which is not exactly efficient. Godmars' custom bonus isn't stellar; Takeru casts Spirit at the beginning of every map to take advantage of his SP Regen, so he's not exactly short on Will, and I still prefer using up Gaia's energy before converting it into Godmars. I've always found burning through Six Gods better than using God Fire for shredding the first wave of enemies anyway. Still, Godmars is good enough that it didn't really need another broken passive on top of that. Anyway, going on with the theme of Godmars, I'll also upgrade the remaining super robots added by ZEXIS whose plots are, at least for now, complete.       Dai-Guard (Shunsuke Akagi, Ibuki Momoi, Keiichiro Aoyama) Skills Salaryman (all) Prevail L6+3 Morale Supply Ammo Save Dash Spirits (Akagi) Gain - 15 Guts - 30 Invincible - 15 Spirit - 30 Soul - 40 (Ibuki) Vigor - 20 Strike - 20 Guard - 25 Spirit - 35 Rouse - 50 (Aoyama) Vigor - 20 Accel - 25 Focus - 15 Mercy - 10 Spirit - 35 Faith - 45 Traits Resupply Weapons Slam (10 EN) Punch (15 EN) Finger Net Arm (6 EN, mobility) Drill Arm (40 EN, 110 Will, barrier) Knot Buster (7 ammo, 120 Will, barrier, size) Knot Punisher (4 ammo, 130 Will, barrier, size) Great Knot Punisher (3 ammo, 140 Will, barrier, size) Ace Bonus: The Spirit command Valor becomes Soul. Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Range +1. Custom Bonus: +1 ammo to counter-Fractal Knot weaponry. Dai-Guard, on the other hand, will love additional range. It doesn't apply to the Drill Arm (remember when that was Dai-Guard's best shot?), but when the basic Knot Buster has seven strikes in it, who cares? Oh, and the Great Knot Punisher came with a single use per chapter, but when you combine the ultimate Dai-Guard with Ammo Save, it shoots up to three. Dai-Guard can probably fight effectively now using counter-Knot attacks alone.    Final Dancouga (Shinobu Fujiwara, Sara Yuuki, Ryo Shiba, Masato Shikibu, Alan Igor) Skills Go Wild Prevail L5 Morale Spirits (Shinobu) Guts - 30 Accel - 15 Invincible - 15 Spirit - 30 Valor - 35 (Sara) Focus - 15 Snipe - 20 Spirit - 30 (Masato) Gain - 20 Trust - 30 Spirit - 30 Luck - 40 (Ryo) Alert - 15 Strike - 20 Spirit - 30 Fury - 30 (Alan) Scan - 1 Analyze - 30 Guard - 25 Drive - 50 Weapons Pulse Laser (10 ammo) Iron Fist (8 EN) Daigun (6 ammo) Severance Cannon Formation (24 EN, 110 Will) Severance Sword (40 EN) Final Severance Cannon (64N, 130 Will) Ace Bonus: When "Go Wild" is active, +30% critical rate. Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Crit +10. Custom Bonus: +100 EN. A custom bonus that's simple and sweet. I think Shinobu's Ace Bonus is well worth trying to stack extra with the critical custom bonus, and Final's range is fine.  Dancouga Nova Max God Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Range +1. Custom Bonus: Weapon accuracy/crit +10. Don't take the lack of stats personally; I like Nova as a unit (and, honestly, Team D as a cast), but it hasn't changed since the robot was formed just a few chapters ago. Anyway, the custom bonus is all right, I guess. I'm not convinced Aoi has the Skill to make it worth my while trying to raise her crit rates, and I usually default to range. Anyway, one more upgrade, honest.     Gurren-Lagann (Simon, Rossiu) Skills (Simon) Spiral Power L4 Prevail L6+3 Break Will Limit EN Save Chain Actions (Rossiu) Spiral Power L1 Prevail L4 Defensive Support L3 Spirit Block SP Up L9 Spirits (Simon) Gain - 20 Guts - 30 Strike - 20 Spirit - 35 Valor - 40 Courage - 60 (Rossiu) Vigor - 20 Trust - 25 Alert - 10 Analyze - 25 Spirit - 40 Valor - 40 Weapons Toroidal Burst (56 EN, 140 Will, size, MAP) Kick (8 EN) Gurren Boomerang (12 EN) Glassun Cutter (16 EN) Skull Break (24 EN, 110 Will) Full Drillize (40 EN, 120 Will, barrier) Giga Drill Break (60 EN, 130 Will, barrier) Ace Bonus (Simon): Deploys at +30 Will. Ace Bonus (Rossiu): At 130 Will, casts Invincible at the beginning of each phase. Full Upgrade Bonus: Weapon Range +1. Custom Bonus: Once, when its HP would be reduced to 0 by an attack, survive with 10 HP instead. Gurren-Lagann is one of those robots where I don't really know what it needs. Its custom bonus, likewise, is not when I see ever coming into play with Spiral Power and Prevail and its just plain tremendous strength. Like Takeru, Simon doesn't have easy access to Accel, but he gets two turns almost all the time it's relevant. Also like Takeru, Giga Drill Break's range is 1. Where range helps, though, is using the basic Cutter attack and countering with the Gurren Boomerang. And that's still a preposterous amount of potential Valor. We're up to eleven fully-upgraded robots, and that should be enough for now.  Ranka finally wakes up on the Quarter, where Eida and Ozma give her the same bad news Sheryl got: she's coming with them to the battle with the Gishin. Ranka has utter faith that her brother, and the S. M. S., and all of GOONZ, will be able to keep her safe.  Alto's been quit, still thinking about Ranka's strange reaction in the hive. If she did get her memories back, Canaria says it was only temporary.  Cathy's sent Johnny to get Ozma. That probably means the briefing for the battle is - actually, that wasn't true at all. Johnny just wanted to get Ozma out of Alto's way, and now he and Eida are leaving too. Leaving Alto alone with Ranka, that is. Eida whispers to Ranka so Alto can't hear - "good luck!"  Unfortunately, Ranka's thinking about how Sheryl showed her up by singing her heart out even in the middle of pitched battle. In what I can only assume is an attempt to cheer her up, Alto tells her what Sheryl said to him once: "Birds live to fly... and she sings like birds fly. That goes for you too, doesn't it? It wasn't quite like hers, because she's got no shame... but you sang too." It does cheer Ranka up, which is good, because Alto won't be able to fight out there if he's worried about her. He makes the same promise as Ozma, to defend her with his life, and another one - "I'll come back alive."  It wasn't just Alto and Ranka Johnny was trying to get together. He also wanted to push Ozma and Cathy together as well. He's quick to explain that he's not trying to support any particular side of the love triangle (which one?), but he can see that if someone doesn't do something, it's not going to get resolved either way. Aoyama and Ibuki think Sheryl's stability would complement Alto's flightiness, but Pierre and Sirius argue that a "little sister" type would fit with Alto's intensity.  Love is in the air, but Takeru's mind is on a different kind of love: love that drives them to fight for all humanity, and everyone in the whole galaxy. Rose sadly says that Zuul is the opposite of that kind of love - an incarnation of hatred. Meaning, the universe won't have peace until he's destroyed. What does he want, though? At first, he wanted to destroy the Earth because it was too dangerous to exist, but now he wants to possess it. Unfortunately, he never spoke of his thoughts to any of his soldiers, even his innermost circle; to him, they're merely machines to wage war at his command, like Rose herself and Zagul. All she knows is that the Earth is central to his plot to rule the galaxy. He's formed an alliance with Dr. Hell, he's been digging on the Dark Continent... but all the answers lie with the Emperor himself.  Zuul knows that we Earthlings have escaped destruction at the hands of the Spiral Warrior, WILL, and now the galactic travelers as well. Now they're coming for him. But he was the one who informed us secretly about the hive, and it's fine with him that we dealt with the "pests" for him. Though the Vajra he once knew and fought are a different swarm from the ones that were in this solar system... Anyway, Zuul orders Wahl to meet GOONZ, and stop them at all costs - including his own life. Wahl has no intention of dying here, but if he has any hope, it's arranging a showdown between Mars and Zuul...  Chapter 46: The Incarnation of Hatred  Remember, if Mars dies, the antiproton bomb goes off. Emperor Zuul will certainly be caught in the blast. So if Mars and Zuul fight each other, it will destroy them both and leave Wahl, the victor - or at least alive to say so.  Not knowing any of this, Takeru and the Crushers just see Wahl as a foe they must defeat on the way to Zuul.  SR point: take out all the other Gishin before destroying Wahl's warship, and do it in three turns.  Yawn.  Jets? Out in a turn.  Shinn learns Soul.  Wahl's ships don't move, though, which may be the only annoying part of this rush.  There are a couple of jets left, but eh.   I wish there was a way to show enemy status on the map. It would make summarizing these things much easier. Anyway, all it'll really take is tagging the stronger Vaccuums, Ganymedes, and rushing into the ships.  Oh, supports. Good.    The ships aren't even that strong, though.  Aoi learns Valor.   End of turn 2? The psychics are having serious headaches, apart from Wahl (the third warship) and this one dumb jet.  Oh m- Sara Yuuki learns Love. You know how stupid it is to have Courage or Love on a multipilot machine? Final is going to start wrecking. She may only have one per fight, but it's still way more than a machine like Nova or Sol Gravion has. Well, yet.   Anyway, the point of all that was that we're already down to just Wahl.  (Heh heh heh. What fortune. I can make these fools hand me Zuul's seat as ruler of Gishin.) (I must not die before then...)  Outranged, though.  But that's quite all right.        Because, just like with Lordgenome and Moon WILL, this battle hasn't even started yet.   Though Takeru does officially gain Zeal.  Wahl pleads for mercy and offers to turn to our side. No one's buying it, but Takeru asks the GOONZ to at least hear him out. If we kill him now, we're no better than Zuul. It's a low blow, but it works. Takeru asks Wahl why he would turn coat now. Wahl snivels that he's been moved by the sight of us laying down our lives for our world. He now believes that Zuul is leading Gishin to ruin, and he wants peace and prosperity for his own planet. Rose knows Wahl too well to swallow that, but Takeru says that Wahl has given up the fight, whether he's got something up his sleeve or not. He won't shoot down a foe who's surrendered... just as Wahl was hoping for. Now all Wahl has to do is engineer a battle between GOONZ and the Emperor.  Zuul, of course, saw through his cowardly little game long ago. [IMG]http://lpix.org/1641110/20140330110805.avi_snapshot_00.00_[2014.03.30_11.08.41].jpg[/IMG] With his cosmic psychic power, he destroys Wahl's warship and gloats that Rose will meet the same end. He waves his hand again, and everyone hears a high-pitched noise...   Space folds around Zuul and GOONZ, and they find themselves in a strange pocket of space between the dimensions.  Along with many monsters we know well - mechabeasts, Gol and Burai, Heterodynes and Vajra, moon warriors, Damons, and even two Zuuls! The Zuuls, in unison, declare that this is just a fraction of his power. Takeru can tell that both Zuuls are copies, just like the one we fought long ago, but the real one is watching somewhere. But if we destroy the copies, we might be able to draw the real one out!  So yeah, no rush, just destroy both Zuuls.  Surrounded by an "all-star cast" of our enemies (Lockon's words)...   The two Zuuls are hefty, but not exactly boss-class at that. They do have all his moves, including the MAP attack.  Ibuki learns Hope, but using it will drain almost all of her SP.  Dayakka learns Valor. This is actually useful; the Great Gurren is nothing if not a gunboat and it's worth throwing it at bosses to enable the Giga Drill Break Great Gurren Gang Special. (Unfortunately, the move itself can only be started by Simon, so there aren't any double-Valor shenanigans here.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3UAAMwGjts It takes about the rest of the turn to focus one of the Zuuls down without burning any Valor (gotta save it).  Mwahahaha! You will never succeed! Even a Zuul copy is highly valuable though.  It should take just another turn to finish off the second one, and, cliche as it's getting, that's when the real challenge begins. Still, there's no time pressure or anything, so I'm free to wait and recoup.  Zuul's actually brought some heavy firepower. It's probably not worth worrying about them too much. (The Regulus and Rhinodamons are the weakest among them, by far.)  Unless, I suppose, you've got a lot of time on your hands waiting for Zuul to plod along over, and you've brought along a really weak unit for conversation purposes that needs some levels fast.  Really fast.  Rose gets Hope, and it's not even her last Spirit. I hope it's good. (I'm probably not going to use the Cosmo Crusher again, more's the pity, so I'll just tell you right now: it's Awaken, which is, indeed, stupidly good. It will also take all of her SP, though, and subpilots can't buy SP Up - the same issue Sara will have.)  Zuul 2 moves into range - directly at Takeru, it seems - but is just a little too far to do anything about it.  Then he's destroyed, saying the same thing again...  And at last, the real one comes out. Mars. Earthlings. In recognition of your performance, I will grant you the honor of fighting me personally. Zuul! Mars. You have let your time on Earth corrupt you. That was my one mistake. Sending you to this world! Because you did, my family and the Earth's future are in ruins! Irrelevant! One man's life, one little world are insignificant compared to my conquest of the Galaxy! Then what's so important about the Earth to you? You teamed up with Dr. Hell to take over the Earth? Humans have no need to know. That's the attitude you're going with when we have a problem with you attacking our planet? Bearer of a fragment. You yourself are among the reasons I must have this planet. What?! He's after the Sphere too? ...it was shattered into twelve souls and countless revelations and fell across the cosmos. Twelve! So he is talking about the Spheres! This world is a singularity in all the universe. The fragments gather there, and those who have glimpsed the Black Revelations are led there. And so the Dimension Master was brought there, and now begins to awaken. Dimension Master? And that world's inhabitants are awakening to the power of life. ! (He's... looking at me...) They bathe in the light of evolution. Tracing a spiral, they pierce the heavens. Evolution... Spiral... He who controls the Earth, the singularity of the Galaxy, controls the power of Creation! The power of Creation... the Origin Law.... dimensional energy... That's just what The Edel Bernar said! Earthlings, hand your world to me! I am the rightful ruler of the Galaxy! That's enough, Zuul! Do you know how many lives have been sacrificed for your ambition? My Gishin mother and father, my Earth father, all the people on all the worlds you rule... and Marg! Don't you feel one single ounce of regret? Feel? Irrelevant! Such feelings are the greatest danger of all! That which most I must destroy! Love, courage, compassion... if you refuse those, you are my enemy! Ours as well! Not just ours! All of humanity's! Not even that! The enemy of all life! Even now you would fight me? Then you will die here! Get us if you can! We'll fight anyone who refuses to see the preciousness of life! Zuul! You're the one who isn't getting out of here in one piece! Come at us, Zuul! We'll lay down our lives to defeat you! Destroy Zuul!     Emperor Zuul Skills Prevail L9 Perfection Morale Counter L7 Guard Double Action Spirits Sense - 20 Mercy - 10 Guard - 30 Panic - 40 Soul - 60 Zeal - 60 Traits HP Regen (S) EN Regen (M) Full Block Items Sign of a Hero (+25 Mobility, +25 Accuracy, +25 Critical, +200 Armor) Weapons Spread Beam (40 EN, 120 Will, Will down, size) Shock (5 EN) Energy Wave (10 EN, stats halved, barrier) Ace Bonus: Casts Panic once when reduced below 20% HP. Prevail L9. Perfection. Two turns. Guard. An S in space. A Sign of a Hero (another one). Some of the worst statuses out there. Oh, and Panic. This'll be fun. I'm kidding myself, though, this'll take like one round. (I hope.)  He will, of course, go straight for Takeru. I'm putting a Defensive Supporter by him, just in case.  Now we wait.  poo poo.  Evading doesn't help! Get out of my way, little insect. You cannot raise a hand against me. I'm staying right here! I promised those girls on the Quarter I'd protect them! A promise? Humans certainly are petty, I see. Maybe it seems petty to you, but I swore on my life that I'd keep them safe! So I will protect them... and I'll go back alive!     Ow. Mars, this is your final warning. Join me and take the place of Wahl and Zagul. Never! And I'm not the only one that sees you're evil! We'll destroy you for all your subjects you've sacrificed and free all the planest suffering under your rule! Ridiculous. I am the ruler of all the universe, and I will decide its laws. You are merely a stone on my path. I will destroy you and show the universe what becomes of those who defy me. Then I'll destroy you and show the universe the light of hope! That's what I swore with Marg! To fight to bring peace to the universe!  Time to counterattack. Rose. You would dare compound your treachery by raising your own hand against me? I'm not one of your soldiers anymore! I fight for what I believe in: peace and liberty! Prepare yourself, Zuul! I will fight along with Mars to carry on Marg's will!      We can't fight any longer! All hands, eject!Well, it was a good try. Man of the spiral. Your continued existence is a threat to the whole universe. That's exactly what the Spiral King said! He, too, knew. That is why he sealed humanity underground. But because of that, you were born to rise up against him. What do you mean? Please explain, Zuul! Don't beg to this guy, Rossiu! A real man's head is always held high and looking forward, even with a boot pressing down on it! That itself is the power of the Spiral... I have no idea what you're takling about, but we don't let anyone take our planet by force and tell us what to do! I'm Simon the Digger! My drill is for drilling right through people like you who try to hold us down!      Uh oh.  Followers of delusion, led astray by the promise of evolution... Evolution? Zuul... you know what Getter Radiation is, don't you? It is power beyond your station. It will bring ruin to all the galaxy. That's not going to work on us! Get ready, boss man! Whatever this ruin is you say's coming someday, you're our problem right here and now! And we'll deal with you with what old man Saotome left us - Omega Getter!      Oh, there we go. ...am I going to have to just let him live to get all this in? This only confirms that this world is a singularity in the Galaxy. Otherwise I would never have found one like you here. ... I see you do not yet know what you are. Interesting. I have a chance to destroy one who can warp causality! This will be the true proof of my power! You're another pathetic dead man obsessed with a pointless delusion.   Photon power? So you are the wielder of the power of the traitor god. The power of Mazinger Z is the power I was left by my grandpa! The power I use to destroy bad guys just like you! Ignorance is your sin. To raise your power against me, unknowing of its true purpose... Then I will destroy you before Dr. Hell gets the chance and take your photonic power for myself.  You can make all the long-winded speeches you want, but you'll always be the bad guy! I am the villain? Then are you setting yourselves up as the heroes? I haven't even thought that far! I'm just fighting everyone who makes me mad! And you're here treating people like insignificant bugs! You're the worst guy around! Warriors who fight like wild beasts... then come! See that your life energy means nothing before my might!   It may be Earth WILL's power, it may have defeated Moon WILL, but it will be useless against me! We won't know until we see, will we? I have glimpsed the Black Revelations. Humanity's only potential is ruin. You must be destroyed here! I was waiting for you to come out and say it! Now we can really go wild! Come on, Emperor Zuul! It's time for your serving of humanity's potential!   I see his Prevail is kicking in.  And I seem to have let his Will get high.  Let's fix that.   Much nicer. It is the Gran Knights' duty to fight villains like you! Duty? There is a limit to the power one can wield when bound by the chains of duty. Such as the ones who took on the title "guardians of the universe", the WILLs. Whatever! At least they were guardians of something, but you're calling yourself the ruler of the galaxy! We Gran Knights take pride in our duty! That's the heart of Sol Gravion, and it will not be defeated! Come, Emperor Zuul! The fires of our indignation will incinerate you!    There goes the Panic. I was going to use Strike on everything anyway, though. I admire your pluck. You hate me, don't you? You're right. I hate anyone who tries to spread war and violence. But I'm not just fighting out of hatred. I'm fighting to stop you and bring peace back to this world! Peace? From the perspective of the whole universe, peace is but an illusion. Because you're in control of all those other planets! I'll fight you and anyone else who wants war!    Okay, so... we're done? Those particles your machine emits... are they...? He's talking about the GN particles? I don't know what they are, but they're having a dangerous effect. And humans play with it not knowing what it will lead to? I don't know what you're talking about, but I will fight anyone who spreads the flames of war. Exia, eliminating the target. You dare stand against me? Know your place. Your destruction is my mission. I will eliminate you. Locked on. Target: Emperor Zuul... I can feel the power of evolution blossoming within you. Does he mean that I'm a Newtype? There is no place for that power in the universe. It will only bring ruin. I'm not here to debate with you whether Newtypes are the future of humanity or not. But you refuse to see that people can understand each other. You're the only one here bringing ruin! If you can't feel the weight of a life, we won't let you have our planet! I see the marks of evolution are within your body as well. Truly, this world is a singularity of great power. I'm sick of listening to you! If you keep trying to take our world, we'll resist with all our strength! Why does a human sit in command of the black Megadeus? So he knows about Big O. Don't concern yourself with him, Dorothy. A Negotiator is in no position to listen to villains. Foolish. You have forgotten your purpose and become a vagrant. I cannot suffer anyone to deny another freedom. I refuse to exchange words with you. Emperor Zuul! This is not how I prefer to do things, but I'll engage you on your own terms and settle this with force! The Machine Angel! Even this found its way to this planet? What... what do you know about Aquarion? Heh heh heh. The Dark Angels... caged in their endless prison. I have no idea what you're takling about, but I'm really sick of your know-it-all attitude! Keep up your little god complex act, treating humans like pests, and I'll crush you! A mere human dares raise his hand against me? We're not just any humans! We're salarymen! What are you talking about? You know that doesn't mean anything, Akagi? It means that keeping the peace is our livelihood! If we let him beat us, our lives as we know them are over! It's up to us as workers to take him down! You're the shadow cast over all the people of all the worlds of the galaxy! Daitarn 3 and I will oppose you! Arrogant vermin! You believe you can cast aside my darkness? I can try! The light of the sun will part any shadow of evil! And shine its light on the future of this universe! Looks like the whole universe knows about the Spheres, huh? Their power is too much for human hands. It is not for you vermin to possess. I just bumped into the Brasta one day. And thanks to that Sphere, I've got all kinds of bastards after my head. But now that I've come this far, I'm kind of curious about this Sphere thing! So I'm holding onto it! Foolish! If that power cannot be mine, I will send it to another universe! Sorry, not happening! I'm going to need my life and my Brasta to pay back my debt!Is that it? I think so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft3KKsJCHYY  That's a lot of money and some insane levels for Takeru. But Zuul, with his last breath, gloats that we will be trapped in this space for the rest of eternity.  As he tries to escape, Takeru goes after him. Suddenly, a message plays within Godmars, from...  Can you hear me, Mars? I am your father, Idea. Father? I always knew the time would come. When I was forced to send you to Earth, I hid this video away. You are now in a desperate place, but Mars... you are thinking only of living. ! But to live is to know the meaning of death and risk losing your own life. Mars. Fight for peace across the whole universe, without exception. Zuul's defeat is the first step. Put your life on the line, and a miracle will occur. I... know what to do, Father. Mars! Wander this space between dimensions with your friends forever! Zuul! We're going to die together! What?! Everyone! I'm going to trigger Godmars' antiproton bomb! But that's... You'll die for sure! It's the only way to defeat Zuul! Idiot! Don't you dare throw your life away! We can't win by sacrificing one of our own! The antiproton bomb's energy will also break this space open! You can go back to normal space! And you're willing to die for that? Hold on! We'll come and help! Don't come any closer! I already started the countdown! Mars! ...dumbass. All units, retreat. But...! That's an order! Don't let his sacrifice go to waste! Risking his life for his mission... ... All units, retreat. Hurry. We're running out of time. Takeru... I'm sorry... I... Don't cry, you two. You have to take care of the Earth. Takeru... We'll never forget your courage... It's in your hands now. Let go of me, Mars! Marg... I'll see you again soon... Mars! I can't die! I won't! My cells are all over the universe! Somewhere out there, I will be reborn! What? Bwahahahaha! Emperor Zuul of Gishin is only a shell occupied by one of my cells! Zuul! Good... mission?  We're back in our universe, right where we were swallowed into Zuul's pocket universe. All of our robots are safely recovered... except for Godmars. But Eureka and Tifa feel something...  But how? Takeru explains that the antiproton bomb ripped a hole in space when it exploded and blasted Zuul's body through it. The bomb itself must have gone through the warp as well; it's certainly no longer within Godmars. Takeru can't explain it, but his father did say that when he put his own life on the line, a miracle would occur. It seems that one really did. That spells the effective end of the war against the Gishin; with both them and the Vajra out of the way, only the Imperium remains. Once they're gone, the Earth will finally be at peace. Our next stop is back home - back to Earth. (Marg... Father, Mother... now that Zuul is gone, maybe planet Gishin can change.) (I'll keep fighting. Until the Earth, and the rest of the universe, have peace.) (With the power you left me... Godmars.) Dr. Hell has heard the news of Zuul's defeat. Ashura again has a feeling in him/her s/he can't explain, as if s/he knew Zuul once long, long ago. Why would a once citizen of Mycene know of the alien? Dr. Hell orders his servants back to work. The investigation into the depths of Bardos Island is key to his plan... and the future of the world itself. They are about to open the forbidden door.  Now that we've handled the Vajra and Gishin, it's time for Alejandro to make his move using the UNF. "Operation Daybreak, to bring a new dawn to this planet."  Alejandro thinks Operation Daybreak is the end, but Treize and Schneizel know that's a sign of his shortsightedness; it's only just the beginning.  Their special guest today is Elgan Roddick; Schneizel wonders what he's thinking keeping Alejandro's movements a secret. "Do you mean as Chairman of the World Peacekeeping Council?" says Elgan. "Or as a supporter of Celestial Being?" Whichever they mean (and they mean both), the answer is the same. If GOONZ cannot respond to this, they were never of any use to begin with. That's why he's helping them, it seems. And he agrees with them: Alejandro intends to end things with Operation Daybreak, but it is only the beginning of mankind's fight. "The fight that lasts," he thinks to himself, "from the birth of the universe to the end of days."  Next up is the worst chapter in the game. Caphi fucked around with this message at 03:28 on Mar 31, 2014 |
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Mar 30, 2014 23:31
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drat, Earth may be a singularity of the universe but Zuul is an avatar of foreshadowing - I wouldn't be surprised if it was Terada under that mask.Caphi posted:
Chirico is still awesome, mind
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Mar 31, 2014 00:06
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Caphi posted:
How long have you two been piloting Dai-Guard with Akagi? You'd think you would have gotten used to this after the first two sorties.
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Mar 31, 2014 00:09
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Brunom1 posted:drat, Earth may be a singularity of the universe but Zuul is an avatar of foreshadowing - I wouldn't be surprised if it was Terada under that mask. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just another mask underneath, myself.
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Mar 31, 2014 00:56
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GilliamYaeger posted:I wouldn't be surprised if it was just another mask underneath, myself. Plot twist: at the end of the Z series, Euzeth will Rider Kick the Taiji into submission and absorb it. Origin Law? Dimensional Energy? That was also meeeeeeeee!
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Mar 31, 2014 01:06
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Brunom1 posted:Chirico is still awesome, mind Flying a tiny metal death trap into battle against a godlike giant? Zero fucks given. Chirico loving Cuuvie is not impressed with you, mr emperor of Space.
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Mar 31, 2014 01:19
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I still can't see Zuul as anything but a giant Darth Vader shooting Force Lightning.
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Mar 31, 2014 02:08
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Spiritus Nox posted:Flying a tiny metal death trap into battle against a godlike giant? Zero fucks given. Chirico loving Cuuvie is not impressed with you, mr emperor of Space. Chirico fuckin Cuuvie is never impressed. Only person that comes close is his bestest bro ever, Kallen.
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Mar 31, 2014 02:31
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Caphi posted:
You mean The Edel Bernal? Because I sure haven't heard of this "Ji" person (and probably shouldn't say any more about him considering the Z LP). Man, I kind of feel sad for never using Chirico, that final attack looked awesome. And Zuul dropped some heavy amount of foreshadowing there, and with a lot of series to boot. I'm guessing the Black Revelations he saw were Turn A's Black History, but still, wow. Guy's got a lot of knowledge of what's going on...so of course he won't give us that information straight. It'd be too boring otherwise. At least he's alive (if we believe his (not-)last words), so he can tell us later, right?
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Mar 31, 2014 02:56
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Blaze Dragon posted:You mean The Edel Bernal? Because I sure haven't heard of this "Ji" person (and probably shouldn't say any more about him considering the Z LP). Oh, you're right, it is supposed to be a... you're right. Let's leave it at that. That is completely hosed in English, though, if it really does mean what you're suggesting it means.
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Mar 31, 2014 03:27
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Chirico's animations look disappointingly normal. I figured a robot that runs on wheels would look pretty different in space, but nah. I guess that'd be a lot of unnecessary work and I'm expecting far too much. Oh well, it's at least nice to see him doing such an insane amount of damage.
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Mar 31, 2014 04:35
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Darn, I was hoping to see what The Singularity and the Invincible Brats had to say to him. Good show nonetheless!
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Apr 1, 2014 17:11
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That was some serious badassery there from Chirico. The man calls it like he sees it!Caphi posted:Oh, you're right, it is supposed to be a... you're right. Let's leave it at that. I remember reading internet arguments about this very subject when that game came out, so yes that's what he is saying. 
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Apr 1, 2014 18:57
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Wounded Land posted:Darn, I was hoping to see what The Singularity and the Invincible Brats had to say to him. Good show nonetheless! I took a quick look and found Kei and Kappei's (if that's OK with you, Caphi):  : You’re a sad man, Emperor Zuul. Even if I had the whole universe, I wouldn’t want to live hating love.: Ridiculous. A human who’s indulged in pointless affection would pity me?: Then, I’ll take you down and enjoy life to its fullest!: To live in a peaceful world with the people I love – what more could I want?!: You bad guys, with your selfish reasons, are always trying to roll over everyone’s happiness!: Yell as you wish, boy. I’ll show how insignificant your cries of justice and love are before my power.: Shaddup! I might not understand love like Garrod and Gainer…: But I won’t put up with you looking down on people that have someone important to them!Didn't have enough time to go over Watta, though. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Apr 1, 2014 |
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Apr 1, 2014 19:58
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It's time to finish upgrading ZEXIS, I think.  Scopedog (Chirico Cuvie) Skills ??? Precise Attack Prevail L9 Ammo Save Attack Again Dash Spirits Focus - 15 Sense - 20 Snipe - 20 Fury - 20 Soul - 50 Traits - Weapons Varies Ace Bonus: +300 attack at 130 Will. Full Upgrade Bonus: +10 crit rate. Custom Bonus: +30 crit rate to all weapons. I'm not convinced Chirico is capable of not scoring criticals at this point. Anyway, he'll be using the RM for this chapter; the key to winning it is as shallow a Will ramp as you can get, and while the RM has no Assault Combat (!), its Solid Shooter is more powerful to make up for it and has no Will requirement. If you want to be really rude about Chirico, attach a Sniper Kit for another 20% critical. You can get the LRS pack's Assault Combat up to a base chance of 85%, before Chirico's own Skill stat and Prevail. "Fury" is a worse name every time I see it, since it's mostly used on pilots who are the very opposite of "fury."    Gawain (Zero, C. C.) Skills Tactics Command L2 Morale Break Will Limit Hit & Away EN Save Spirits (Zero) Analyze - 20 Strike - 20 Invincible - 15 Panic - 50 (C. C. - SP Regen) Scan - 1 Bless - 50 Focus - 20 Mercy - 10 Exhaust - 45 Traits Jamming Unit Weapons Slash Haken (12 ammo) Hadron Cannon (40 NE, 110 Will) Hadron Cannon (MAP) (60 EN, 130 Will, size) Ace Bonus: Radius of Tactics effect +2. Full Upgrade Bonus: +1 weapon range. Custom Bonus: +100 EN. I'm never sure what Gawain is in need of, but as a cannon machine, as usual, range is a good default. There's a different bonus for Zero's new robot in the next game that just breaks it in half, though.    Brasta (Crowe Brust) Skills Offensive Support L2 Chain Attack Fortune Hit & Away Attack Again Spirits Focus - 15 Sense - 20 Snipe - 20 Assail - 25 Valor - 35 Traits Shield EN Regen (S) Weapons Bunker Break (15 EN) Eagle Shot (10 ammo) Bayonet Spiker (30 EN, 105 Will, mobility) Clutch Sniper (6 ammo, 105 Will, barrier) ACP Phi (4 ammo, 115 Will, size) SPIGOT VX (70 EN, 130 Will, barrier, size) Ace Bonus: +25% earned money, 1.1x damage dealt at 130 Will. Full Upgrade Bonus: +1 weapon range. Custom Bonus: +1 movement. Gain EN Regen (S). Finally, we come all the way back around to our old friend Crowe Brust. This right here shows how far he's come, and to be honest, how far I've come as well. Anyway, range aids Crowe on every level, and the Brasta's own bonus makes him faster already. I'll do the same for ZEUTH in the next couple of chapters; fourteen "main" units from ZEXIS are now fully upgraded (leaving out Renton and Watta). This is leaving out a lot of non-main units, including several sidekicks, but notably and unfortunately also Celestial Being, the Colony Gundams, the S. M. S. squad, and the Black Knights (well, mostly Karen).  Takeru is still worried about Zuul's last words.  But he can't tell Rose, or anyone else. Besides, he believes Zuul died. Right? We've cleaned up the Earth Sphere and now we've taken care of the threats in space. All that's left is to return to Earth as heroes and deal with the last threats there - the puppetmaster and the Imperium.  Crowe's actually getting nostalgic. If you think about it, it's actually a long series of coincidences that all of us are fighting together. This would never have happened if only space hadn't shattered. If only Simon hadn't dug up out of his village, if Nia hadn't been disowned. If Kouji hadn't stumbled into his grandfather's legacy. If another twist of space and time hadn't summoned the Frontier fleet, or ZEUTH. For that matter, it's a miracle of its own that Celestial Being, the Black Knights, and Dancouga Nova managed to get together instead of waging war on each other. (In another future, Celestial Being may easily have targetted Dai-Guard, too.) Loran says that it's because we all have the same noble goal, but we all know very well that it's not that easy to get people to put aside their differences. In fact, practically speaking, you would have to engineer a common enemy. It's fair to say GOONZ exists because humanity has no lack of common enemies. The beastmen, the Gishin, the Vajra and the Invaders... and finally, the Imperium. Loran still doesn't believe that people can't work together without something to fight against, and neither does Simon. Jiron and Akagi admit it may be true, but it doesn't matter what brought them together as long as they stay together, working for good. It would be nice if Zero and Sumeragi felt the same way and don't start their own war when this one's over. Not because they don't believe in peace, though, points out Crowe. "Because peace, and good, mean different things to different people. They'll fight for their own definition of peace." Right now, though, we should worry about the Imperium. What comes after, we can deal with after.  And the bogey siren goes off. We're still pretty far out from the Earth, though? Whoever it is means business, and that means only one thing: the Imperium.  Chapter 47: Welcoming the Victors Home  We're jumping right into it; there's a cluster of Damons coming at us.  Oh boy. For the first time, the King of Destruction, as we still know him, asks us to call him Gaioh. It seems like a bad arena for a final battle, though...  Nah. Just satisfying my own curiosity. What? I'm here to congratulate you for winning the games and making it to the finals. What are you talking about? We wouldn't understand anything the King of Damons says anyway! So the final round of this tournament of yours is our battle with the Imperium, right? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You only just won the semifinals. The finals are coming up, but first, I'm here to put you in an exhibition match. That's stupid! We'll fight you right now if you're ready! You have three minutes. Three minutes? My buddies here will fight you for three minutes. Show me what you can do. No way! We don't have time to play along with your stupid games! Just so you know, I'm pretty busy myself. That's actually why I came out here for you guys. What do you mean by that, Gaioh? I don't care for answering your questions. Just for fighting. Why, you... Yeah, unload that anger on these things. See you in three minutes. I can't wait. Gaioh leaves, and his Damons begin to charge...  But GOONZ is all too ready to respond! The Damons will only engage for three minutes, so we're free to pass if we can hold out until the fourth turn - but actually defeating them within Gaioh's little time limit is worth an SR Point and intact pride.  Correspondingly, the enemy force is a pack of Rhinodamons. And for the record, nothing is going to happen this chapter. No talking, no reinforcements, just playing Gaioh's ridiculous little game. It's actually to my advantage to allow them to come to me for at least a turn.    With strong enemies and a short time limit, Will is at a tremendous premium and low-Will weapons are valuable.  And so GOONZ takes up a formation I like to describe as "come and get us".    And so they do.  I was wrong about the Rouse Spirit, by the way.  In this game, it adds +5 Will to every unit in the four immediately surrounding squares.  It's mainly for support pilots and subpilots, of course.  Crowe learns Courage, his last Spirit. It's a fairly cheap version at 55 SP, too.  And it really sucks that I won't be taking Karen into endgame, because she learns her own last Spirit, Soul. It doesn't stack with Valor, by the way.  Akagi also learns Courage, filling in the last of Dai-Guard's Spirit slots.  Anyway, the Rhinodamons up here are not faring well against the bulk of GOONZ, but...  The team dealing with the bottom half of the map need reinforcements, I think.  Cathy has Trust now. We've brought 20 units and we're down to nine Rhinodamons with turn 2 ending.  Three up here, moderately wounded. Maybe two attacks each.  Two here, moderately wounded.  Same.  And finally, this idiot.  All in all, I probably imbalanced my forces, but I'm pretty sure I can deal.  After all, this is the kind of stage Assail was made for, letting units hit enemies from nearly 20 (or, in Aquarion's case, easily over 20) squares away.   One more enemy phase, and crunch time. This is when all the Valor and the last few Drives come out.    Raaaaaaaagh!    I guess this stage is kinda fun.    If the idea was to just crush the hell out of what were once the most annoying enemies in the game, I guess it's working.   It helps that my units are like 100%/7 upgraded, of course. On a first play through, this stage is just a slog.    But this doesn't seem like nearly as much of a pain now that I remember how much SP I have lying around.    I guess even Chirico can't always get criticals on enemies as nasty as Damons, though.   That's enough of me babbling. Gaioh doesn't even come back to congratulate us. What a jerk! He must have only come to taunt us - to let us know what's waiting for us when we come back to Earth. He thinks he we can't handle it? We'll have to show him.  The guys from ZEUTH haven't fought him like GOONZ did, just the once; they don't realize he's got the bite to back up his douchery. When we fought him in the ruins of Limonesia, he kicked our asses. But that was a long time ago; we've fought a long series of powerful enemies since then, and we have more friends by our side, too. Gaioh's arrogance may once have been deserved, but now we've got the power to take him down a few pegs.  To celebrate our victory and our safe return, Runa suggests throwing a party! It'll help raise our spirits and affirm our teamhood for the battles yet to come. Kouji and Eiji go to let the commanders know, while Runa, Karen, and Leele get planning. 21st Century is pitching in too - the younger GOONZ aren't wrong...  But Crowe's too pensive to be excited along with them. Gaioh seemed to imply that the finals of his "tournament" wouldn't be with the Imperium, but then...
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Apr 7, 2014 00:59
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Hmmm, I actually don't mind this mission as much as I did the Zuul fight. As you said, you've a full pack of big DAMONs to beat but that's all - no annoying reinforcements, no incoming big bosses or anything else. Just an "simple" cleanup for you to let loose and fire everything without worrying about micro-managing (it totally feels like a filler episode, though)! 
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Apr 7, 2014 01:10
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Yeah this looks like a short breather stage. Basically an excuse to get a bit extra money and exp.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:06
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Yeah, I can't see why else it would be here. I mean, Gaioh just shows up, says 'Hey the game's nearly over! I'll see you dopes soon!', then you blow up a bunch of Damons. You could easily cut the stage out, so it really doesn't serve any purpose beyond grinding.
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Apr 7, 2014 02:11
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I figure it's worth mentioning that Z3 chapter 1 comes out this week so I wouldn't be shocked if both the SRWZ threads are slow to update for a bit!
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Apr 7, 2014 02:37
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