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 Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Space-Time Oscillation Bomb. What game is this? Super Robot Wars (SRW) Z was the last game of the series to be released on the Playstation 2 and, while the series has a couple of games released in the west (and a few others received English patches), it is completely understandable if you’ve never heard of it. SRW games are, essentially, massive crossovers of mecha anime that have been built around a solid strategy game – all the different stories are tied together by an original plot (the Z games are rather known for the specially great quality of their crossover). Such was this game’s success that Banpresto (the developer) created an expansion-esque Special Disk that included, among other things, 20 extra missions which will also be covered in this LP. Why LP this game? My first LP was of SRW W (which you can find in the LP Archives) and I can say that I really enjoyed it – it took a long while to get there but, when things finally clicked, it was good fun. As such, I’ve decided to go for another one and Z is one of my all-time favorites. Of course, like with W, this is both a labor of love and also an effort to give a more in-depth display of what this game has to offer! What series can be found here? SRW Z’s roster is quite large but there’s also an interesting tidbit about them: it was (at the time) the game that had the largest number of show debuts in the game series and it’s quite impressive that they created such a compelling story with shows that they hadn’t worked before. The shows you’ll find here are:
How will you play this game? Like a good bunch of other SRW games, this one had a story translation done by Mark Neidengard, though not word-for-word. As I did in W, I will be using that guide as a baseline and expanding upon it with a translation of my own. To assist with that, I’ll be joined by the wonderful Caphi (who LPed Z2.1 and provided great help in W) and Dr.Pepper; while most scenes will be summarized, particularly important or amusing moments will be directly translated by us.  One last thing: half of the fun in these games is the anticipation of what might come next. Series spoilers are allowed as long as they are tagged but original story spoilers are OFF LIMITS - it is a very interesting story and it should not be spoiled. What about those original characters? Z has two selectable characters: Rand Travis/Mel Beater and Setsuko Ohara/Toby Watson/Denzel Hammer. Both groups have huge amounts of exclusive missions (and the game itself is quite big), so I’ll be handling Rand’s path, as it already has that base translation, and Setsuko’s path will receive a fresh translation from Caphi, with Dr. Pepper creating the updates themselves. Now, let’s meet our protagonists:  Rand Travis is a “wandering repairman” who, together with Mel Beater, runs the “Beater Services” company: a kind-hearted, boisterous man that can, at often times, come across as a bit slower than most. Nevertheless, he is passionate about his job and always keeps an eye on Mel. You may call him THE HEAT. Voice Actor: Yoshihisa Kawahara (other known works: Kippei Tachibana in Prince of Tennis and Adams Tinel in Gundam AGE).  Mel Beater is the de facto owner of Beater Services, which was created by her father: her personality is very perky but she shows real dedication towards helping Rand and her company get along. She is certainly smarter than Rand on most aspects. Voice Actress: Mai Aizawa (other known works: Ayano Minegishi in Lucky Star and Mio Naganohara in Nichijou/Regular Life).  Setsuko Ohara is the rookie of the Glory Star team who make their living as test pilots for UC Gundam's Earth Federation: she’s very shy and insecure, often unable to stand for herself. Still, her team-mates take good care of her and, despite it all, she is more than willing to fight to prove herself and her team. Voice Actress: Yukiko Takaguchi (other known works: Hinata Miyakawa, also in Lucky Star and Mitsuko Isurugi in SRW OG: The Inspector).  Toby Watson is Setsuko’s superior officer and, in direct contrast to her, is an outgoing and cheerful man - he can get serious when push comes to shove, though. He is very encouraging to Setsuko and, alongside their captain, constantly tries to help her overcome her insecurities and grow. Voice Actor: Takashi Kondo (other known works: Faust in Guilty Gear, Suigetsu in Naruto and many others).  Finally, we have the captain of the Glory Star: Denzel Hammer! (  ).On top of having a badass name, Denzel is an overall cool older guy: he’s a great pilot, cares deeply for both his team-mates and knows when to relax or when to crack the whip. Alongside Toby, he does his best to help Setsuko come out of her shell and become a proud member of the squad. Voice Actor: Hiroaki Ishikawa (other known works: Ushiyama in Gaogaigar and Stoneman in various Megaman animes). Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Jul 12, 2016 |
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Ye Olde Super Robot Discoteque 1) Banpresto Original 
2) After-War Gundam X 
3) Overman King Gainer 
4) Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam 
5) Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny 
6) Combat Mecha Xabungle 
7) UFO Robot Grendizer 
8) Psalms of Planets Eureka Seven 
9) ∀ Gundam 
10)Invincible Superman Zambot 3 
11) Super Gravity God Gravion 
12) Space Emperor God Sigma 
13) Aquarion of the Genesis 
14) Super Dimension Century Orguss 
15) The Big O 
16) Space Warrior Baldios 
17) Getter Robo G 
18) Great Mazinger 
19) Mazinger Z 
20) Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3 
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Jul 7, 2016 |
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Before the title screen, the game treats you to an awesome cutscene to showcase all the series that are involved in the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr-Tf9HEjzE Very nice, indeed.  With that done, welcome to the world of Rand Travis and his awesome Super Robot, Gunleon. For those that are unfamiliar with the genre, a Super Robot is, essentially, any big, hulking power-based machine that carries ridiculous weapons – rocket punches, HUGE swords and planet-busting weapons are all a-given when you’re dealing with them. It’s among the oldest genre in anime and notable examples include Mazinger Z (the first, true-to-form Super Robot), Getter Robo (the first combine-able Super Robot) and Gaogaigar (the first  Super Robot).No, Tetsujin was not a Super Robot. Go away!  Like most console SRW games, it gives you the option to choose the birthday and blood type of your chosen protagonist and, while this may seem like a purely aesthetic choice, it does have an impact on your gameplay. You see, each different birthday/blood type permutation carries a list of Spirit Commands (“spells” that your character can cast during its turn), so you’d do well to choose one that would carry a list that offers good commands to your unit. Because I’m cheap like that, I’m gonna pick the 11/11 B set; this is the spirit command of the SRW series’ director, Takenobu Terada, and almost always carries an exclusive set that has a bunch of powerful spirits at lowered costs. You can set a different name for your main character, too, but I’ll keep it as is. Now, let’s get this show going! PROLOGUE It is an age where the old civilizations and environs of Earth have faded, in which different lands have given rise to different societies, different cultures. Though mankind has lost much throughout its history, it has always managed to build anew. The privileged "Innocent" society, which controlled most of the largest continent in the Northern hemisphere, has been laid low by a new breed of humanity of their own making: the "Civilians". The United Nations Earth (UNE) of the rest of the globe, nearly eradicated fifteen years prior in the Seventh Space War, has nearly regained its strength. The same can be said for the UNE's opponent, the Space Revolutionary Army. Their tribulations have also afforded the downtrodden "Moon Race" the chance to act. As the world approaches a time of change, the people are consumed with the struggle for their daily bread, unaware of what their future, or their past, holds...  Location: The Land of Zora  Mel is chatting with a Breaker, who's gotten a rare bit of buried treasure: a very special camera from Siberian Rail. This company's been busily unearthing pre-Cataclysm stuff in Siberia, repairing it, and selling it to the people. The Breaker reminds her that every so often they find something really hot, and although he won't say just how he came by this baby, he figured he'd offer it to her first before selling it at the bazaar. He asks for 200 Blue Stones, or 20k gold, and says it’s a major bargain - Mel's been needing a camera anyway and figures she shouldn’t let this chance pass.  That is, until Rand shows up and yells at her to wait a second, asking what is it that she’s planning on wasting their hard-earned money on. She says she’s not wasting it, she thought to use it to fill up her “memory notebook” with lots of pictures from their travels.  : Ehh, miss…who is he? : Sorry! This is my husband! : Who is your husband?!: ACTUALLY, the name's Rand Travis. Wandering repairman and Beater Services’ vice-leader… : People know me as THE HEAT! : Beater Services…?! Then aren’t you actually The Cru-: Hmmm?: N-no! Never mind!: Either way, show me this “bargain camera” of yours.: I tell ya, this here’s a real treasure. Scout's honor!: Hmph… You may be able to trick Mel but you ain’t gonna fool me. This guy’s a total crook! : Huh?! What?! : What’s up with this "Made in" brand? It’s written here as “SIBERIA”!: Siberia is spelled “CIVELIA”! You oughta know better than that!Rand’s mistake is due to the fact that, to the Japanese Katakana (the letters used in, among other things, the writing of international words), both Civelia and Siberia would be written the same way: シベリア. : H-hold on, mister!: You better get outta here right now or I'm gonna have my wrench do the rest of the talking!: E-EEEEEEEEEEEEK! *The Breaker runs away.* : Heh…did I scare that crook so much that he forgot his camera?: Mel, throw that piece of junk away already.: Darling…: What?: It is spelled “SIBERIA”. : Ah…! : … : …Oh, yeah! I found something I wanted to show you! Come on, Mel! This way!*Rand Leaves*  : Oh, brother…He always brute-forces his way through everything…: Sorry, Mr. Breaker… I promise I'll pay you for this camera the next time we meet. I might as well put it to use until then!Location: Zora Bazaar – Meeting Grounds  At the bazaar, Garrod is busily drumming up interest in a large object draped in a sheet behind him – Geraba and his gang are having a look at it. Its silhouette suggests a Walker Machine or Mobile Suit, and there's plenty of those rusting away on the The fall of the Innocent has created a thriving trade in "pre-owned" mecha… quote:
 Garrod freely admits to the “clever Breaker” that he's come from Ameria but his item is much more impressive: it’s a Gundam! All the Breakers gasp at this, remembering how these were known as the strongest of all mobile suits: there are people that say a Gundam once defeated 12 lesser MSs in 3 minutes and moved so fast as to even cut missiles in half! A Gundam is even suspected to be behind the pillar of fire that lit the southern skies fifteen years ago. Garrod is glad they’ve heard of them and Geraba asks for the price and Garrod tells them to make an offer – highest bid wins!  The opening bid is 2000 Blue Stones but Garrod says that’s hardly appropriate for a Gundam so the Breakers start offering cash: 300k, 330k, 400k… That’s still no good for Garrod, who demands at least 600k for his unit and won’t lower it by a penny. Geraba is quickly getting annoyed at the brat and a Breaker asks what they’ll do: Hola will be arriving soon and he won’t be happy with the current results...Geraba knows that and decides to take a different approach. As they leave, Garrod is still calling for buyers: a Gundam for a measly 600000 bucks!  Rand then shows up and starts checking the machine over. Garrod gets a bit startled, telling him to not touch his "GX". Rand sees that it is the genuine article, but in rather poor repair. As such, he offers to buy it for 500 bucks and, while Garrod is not amused and continues to demand 600k, Rand is prepared to throw in maintenance AND to take Garrod under his wing. Rand figured that Garrod has no friends or acquaintances in this area and, judging from his origins in another continent, figured he’s one of those people that got warped over here. He’s in the middle of introducing himself when an explosion rocks the area.  Mel runs over, yelling that the Breakers are storming the place with their Walker Machines. It seems they’ve decided to take the Gundam by force and Garrod is prepared to set out against them once Rand stops him. Watching the kid, he imagines it’s been two, three days since he’s eaten and it’s obvious that Garrod’s in no shape to fight. Rand tells him to leave matters to him: the Wandering Repairman – THE HEAT!  Mission 1 (Rand) – Wandering Repairman   Geraba and his men are bombarding the Bazaar, thinking he can scare the brat into abandoning the Gundam. Getting such a prize should earn him a major pat on the back from boss-man Hola. Their attack is interrupted when someone has the gall to get up on the mic for the town PA system: that someone has a public service announcement for this amazing repair service – the Wandering Repairmen of the Beater Service! They repair anything, from machines to landships, and adds that anyone who gets in their way will be politely beaten into teeny tiny little pieces by…    : By this Gunleon! : Oh, no, bro! It's HIM!! : What?! The guy’s famous or something?: Heh…My name is Rand Travis. People know me as--: It’s THE CRUSHER!! The biggest bad guy of them all!: You…I really don’t care for that name, alright?: W-what’re we gonna do if we're up against The Crusher?!: For the second time, I really don’t like that name!: Eek! The Crusher is getting angry! : Stop saying that name, then!!: I-it’s over…The Crusher is our enemy… : I'm begging you…please, stop with that name…: Aah…They don’t know. To my Darling, that name is-- : drat it! I don’t give a crap about knowing crap about The Crusher! He gets in our way, he gets a whoopin'!: Come on, The Crusher! I’m gonna get my hands on that Gundam once you're dealt with!: How…how dare ya say that name seven times…!: Wait, Darling! They said it eight times, I think!: Hold on a sec there, girl! It was six times!: Why are you even counting?!: I don’t even care anymore. Y'all went and called me by that name, so Imma just…: Dismantle all of you! 
Z’s Skill Points are often named as some of the hardest in the PS2 era; still, I’ll be trying to get them all. The only exception will be if focusing on the Skill Point would hinder a secret from being completed – in that case, I’ll prioritize the secret. Now, before anything, let’s have a look at THE HEAT:   Gunleon (Rand Travis/Mel Beater) Pilot Skills:
Rand:
Rand’s voice actor: Yoshihisa Kawahara (other known works: Kippei Tachibana in Prince of Tennis and Adams Tinel in Gundam AGE). Mel’s voice actress: Mai Aizawa (other known works: Ayano Minegishi in Lucky Star and Mio Naganohara in Nichijou/Regular Life). Gunleon is a Super Robot through and through: it’s bulky, has a lot of HP and Armor, can’t dodge worth a drat but packs a wallop with his weapons. Its biggest weakness is that most of its weapons lack both range (highest being 1-5, his TRI attack) and accuracy (only the strongest attack, Riot Wrench, has a good-ish accuracy rating) but, having chosen the 11/11 B set, Attune can be used to cover that weakness a bit. Also, as a true repair-bot, Gunleon is equipped with a Repair Module that gives its squadron a passive 10% HP Regen (at the start of the player’s phase) or can be used to heal a unit directly.  As I said, Gunleon isn’t the most accurate unit and, despite this being mission 1, you CAN easily lose this skill point if Rand gets too unlucky with his misses. Thankfully, it’s a short mission, which means we can spam Attune on him throughout the entire thing.   Geraba is standing waaaay far back so, for now, let’s have Rand move forward and target the nearest Breaker. : Let’s go, Gunleon! We’re gonna dismantle all of these thugs!: Do it, darling! Go, go!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ1dq5KFhLY Of course, right as I say Rand can’t dodge worth a drat, he pulls it off. Nothing else for us to do here, so we’ll end our turn.  Enemy Phase!     The Breakers start closing in and two Trads attack; Rand is hit by one but both of them get destroyed easily. Once you kill two mooks or turn 2 comes around…     : The “Blazing Mobile Suit Pilot”, Garrod Ran, is here and ready to rock!Geraba, of course, is a little surprised when the brat deploys in the same MS that he was trying to steal. When Rand asks if he’s OK to do that, Garrod tells the “old man” that his “wife” gave him some emergency rations – he’s all good to go. Rand has two things to tell Garrod before they begin: 1) he's an adult man, not an "old guy", and 2) Mel isn't his "wife" (not yet, she says).  That's cool with Garrod, provided Rand doesn't refer to him as "kid" or "boy" either. Garrod's plan starts with working off the price of the food he just ate, and with all the practice he's had taking out Vultures, he plans on giving the Breakers a taste of what he can do with this here Gundam. All other Breakers start closing in but Geraba is staying put.  Player Phase!  Now, for some “strategizin’”: the Skill Point requires us to wrap things up by the end of turn three but most mooks are on Garrod’s side – this means Rand needs to start moving there NOW or we won’t take Geraba out in time. Problem is, there’s still a mook on Rand’s side that needs killing; as such, we’re gonna scroll over the target and check his movement range, which is 5.  If you can’t be arsed to remember the limit of his range, you can press R3 over a square on the map to place a marker (pressing R3 over it again will remove it) – there’s a maximum of 6 markers you can place, I think.  You can’t always know what the AI will do but, since this is a small battle with only two units, it’s drat near certain that the Breaker will walk all the way forward to take a swing at Rand during his turn – once this happens, Rand will be in the clear to take him down. The Breaker’s attack range is 2, though, so Rand needs to move only slightly forward lest he get out of range.  I might as well show this now: this button is your best friend as it leads to the Spirit Command Menu.  The Circle button will cast the selected spirit while the Square button will allow you to mark as many spirit commands as you want to cast and use them all in one go when you press circle (provided you've enough Spirit Points, SP, that is). It’s a drat handy feature that started in the PS2 era and you WOULD miss it if you went back to the older games.  In any case, Garrod casts Invincible just to keep it as a safety net in case his lower-than-average evasion screws him over. Before we move along, let’s take a look at our newest friend:   Gundam X Divider (Garrod Ran) Pilot Skills:
Garrod’s voice actor: Wataru Takagi (other known works: Fernando Albark in SRW OG Gaiden, Zangief, Sodom, Adon, Birdie in many Street Fighters, Tobi in Naruto and many others). Garrod’s Gundam X Divider provides the Real Robot action on this mission; unlike Gunleon, it is way weaker but makes up for having longer-range, mobility and accuracy. Garrod is a bit odd of a pilot, though, and is much less dodgy than you’d expect (as evidenced by the fact that he knows Prevail and Invincible); still, he can handle his own and the X Divider is a great mook destroyer with both a TRI and ALL attack (more on those once we start facing enemy squads). It may get outclassed by much better real robots as the game goes along, though.   With that done, let’s have him go after a nearby Caprico with his Long Beam Saber. : I've no idea what dragged me all the way here but I’m getting back to Tifa, whatever it takes!: No way I'm getting dropped in a place like this!!        Capricos are made of sturdier stuff but they’re still not all that. Enemy Phase!    Just as planned, Rand’s Dagger charges right at him; Rand gets a critical hit, taking it down in one shot.    Garrod is jumped by another nearby Dagger, whose successful hit is blocked by Invincible, and the other two Capricos; one of those manages to get a clean hit on Garrod, dealing some 250 damage (Walker Machines are HORRIBLE against flying targets, so they get a big damage penalty). Sadly, even the weakened Caprico manages to hang on. Geraba starts coming over. Player Phase!  All weakened mooks can be killed during their turn but we NEED to deal some damage to Geraba now in order to get him to suicide against our troops (Garrod casts Invincible again, just to be safe). : Hey, boy! If you know what’s good for you, you’ll hand over that Gundam right now! : No way! This guy's what keeps me and Tifa together! : But you were trying to sell it!: Things are different now! I gotta get back to her, even if it means leaving the GX! But I would never hand it over to creeps like you, old man!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcjILA_NDeg Aye, that works nicely. Quickly now, let’s take a look at Geraba and his Promeus:   Promeus (Geraba Geraba – yes, that’s his name) Pilot Skills:
Geraba’s voice actor: Tomomichi Nishimura (other known works: Jamitov Hymem in Zeta Gundam (more on him in Setsuko’s route), Akuma and M. Bison in the Street Fighter series, Oonoki in Naruto and many others).   Rand positions himself exactly 6 tiles away from Geraba because, while the AI of most mooks was focusing on Garrod, Geraba will often charge straight after Rand. His longest attack is range 1-5, which means, at this position, he’ll be forced to come closer (close enough to be hit with Rand’s strongest attack). I’ll even take the time to open a clear path for Geraba to get in our face. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzhHqFOpdqg Enemy Phase!     As expected, both remaining mooks gun for Garrod, who takes them out.   Finally, Geraba takes my bait and charges straight at Rand, allow me to finish him off with Gunleon’s strongest attack: Riot Wrench. : You can't afford the thing, so you decide to just pillage the place? Now you're a real bad egg, guy!: Grr…The Crusher! I’m gonna make you regret poking your nose into our business!!: I am THE HEAT! Stop wit that name!: Shut it, The Crusher! You're in for a world o' hurt if you're set on messing with us! : Wait…are you only using that name to get a rise outta me?: Finally, you got it! Talk about a one-track mind!: Huuh?! That’s really all it was?!: You're just as stupid as he!: It looks like an everyday dismantling would be letting ya off easy…!: You’re gonna get my special BIG Dismantling! I’m gonna pick ya apart to the last screw! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7OOu7BeLrw Total loss.   Geraba gives us a Unit Part, Booster, and Rand gains a level – most levels are just stat increases, so I’ll just show them when there’s something big going on (like a new Skill or Spirit).  Also, completing Skill Points awards your entire group with 25 PP, which you can use to buy Pilot Skills.  Despite it all, Rand isn't inclined to actually finish off Geraba – he’s happy enough to just teach him a lesson. Mel is fawning over how cool he is and Rand tries to keep her from fangirling so much that other women get scared away, but Mel says that’s not something a “married man” should be saying.    During their mirth, Geraba gathers himself and decides to, at least, destroy the town bazaar as a lesson to those who oppose Hola.  However, a mysterious unit shows up on a nearby hill and quickly takes aim.          This gives Rand an opening to finish wrecking Geraba's mech. Geraba asks what kind of "repairman" is Rand – before blowing up, he yells out that Rand is more of a demolition man…The Crusher! Garrod is glad they put Geraba in his place but Rand is pissed that, even in defeat, the guy still had to insult him again. More importantly to Garrod, wonders about the sniper that helped us – someone so skilled to hit a bull’s-eye from such a distance.  The sniper is still hanging around and Mel seems to recognize him. Rand agrees: an incredibly skilled sniper, atop a Silhouette Machine – it has to be the “Black Southern Cross”.  Mr. Southern Cross, a.k.a. Gain Bijou, receives a hearty thanks from Mel for protecting the Bazaar but he says he couldn’t just have allowed those hooligans to trash the only saloon in town – this already makes him cool in Rand’s book. Rand introduces himself, and his nickname with the usual gusto, and Gain finds said nickname to be an appropriate match for Rand's stifling attitude. Mel also introduces herself, as both the head of Beater Services and “her darling’s honey”, making Rand sigh that he’s starting to lose the will to keep denying her childish jokes – Gain confesses to be “jealous” of Rand getting so much attention from such a lovely lady, making Mel blush.  Gain brings the conversation back on topic, wondering about the Breakers we just fought. Rand says bandits like them aren't such a rarity: lots of people got unemployed when the Innocent fell. Gain reckons that everywhere not controlled by Siberian Rail is in the same boat but, from that Rand heard, the Black Southern Cross has been very busy. Garrod asks about that nickname and Rand explains that it comes from the shape formed by his extremely accurate shots – as demonstrated on Geraba’s walker machine.  Names aside, Rand wonders why Gain is here: is it about an Exodus? Garrod doesn’t know what that is and his lack of knowledge about the custom, plus the Gundam, makes Gain figured he came from another continent – probably Ameria. The deserts of South Ameria to be precise; when Mel asks how he got here from so far away, he seems hesitant to explain as it all sounds impossible. quote:
 Garrod relates how he was in his GX in the desert one day, fighting, when he heard a strange ringing in his ears and watched the world begin to warp around him. This seems to strike a chord with Rand and Mel, who ask if he’s seen anyone or heard anything about other such warpings but Garrod doesn’t know anything else. Still, he figured out that he was taken to the Galia continent and needed money for the long trip back: ergo, he decided to sell his Gundam. Gain figured it was something like that, and is more than happy to lead Garrod close to his destination – provided Garrod agrees to lend a hand with a job or two, which he gladly does. For that matter, he could really use someone handy with repairs...of course, both Rand and Mel know that, if it’s a job with the Black Southern Cross, there must be an Exodus involved. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Dec 11, 2013 02:25
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Information corner – Topic: Innocents –
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BlitzBlast posted:Actually the image quality seems kind of iffy. All of Dr. Pepper's images have pretty noticeable fuzz all over them, and it's kind of present in Brunon's segment too. Mostly on the map. In my case, it's being taken straight off my ps2 via a S-video cable; however, Z is a bit notorious in that it's hard to take steady screenshots of it as the game as a bit of a motion blur to it (of course, you wouldn't even know it's there if you were playing on the console and it does smooth out the gameplay itself); I tested and it seems exclusive to Z as I didn't happen on a couple of tests I made in OGs. To get around it, I had to deinterlace the captured videos and that required a small dip in image quality from the natural PS2 - I figured it wouldn't be a big problem as it's nearly unnoticeable and it seemed like a fair price to pay in order to take clear screenshots. Addendum: As an example, if you check the video over here (careful, small Gundam X and King Gainer spoilers), you'll find that it plays just fine; however, if you're constantly pausing whenever there's movement on screen, you'll quickly see the motion blur - I particularly liked using Garrod's long beam saber as a benchmark because it has so many blurry moments. I trust this doesn't bother people too much? vvv Edit: Ho-hum, didn't even notice that. Well, both are accepted translations but I reckon we'll talk it over and decide which one we'll go with. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 16:28 on Dec 11, 2013 |
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Dec 11, 2013 10:30
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Hunter Noventa posted:I actually already have one for OG and Alpha 3, the hard part is justifying the cost. Yeah...I had to to mod my old PS2 because of that nonsensical restriction on the PS3 (although, my fat one crapped out soon after, so I guess it was for the best). I could never wrap my ahead around stuff as stupid as regional locks. Dr Pepper posted:Look man I need every edge I can get for every secret on a first run through. I'll hold you to this. Once we get close to the end-game, and you've driven yourself insane trying to get all secrets and Skill points, then we'll see if you'll give me sass!  I swear, during my first playthrough, there were a couple of missions that I had to restart (not reset, restart - all over) around 3-5 times because the timing on the secrets is so tight; I'm going in with every advantage I can get, even in NG+! loving Butcher...
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Dec 11, 2013 16:39
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Blaze Dragon posted:I hope you're able to fix your technical issues, because it'd just be a shame if some attacks that only appear on Setsuko's route weren't shown in their full glory (plus having to wait until several series appear on Rand's route to see their attacks). Z is just wonderful animations-wise, you can see they put real effort into it. It's beautiful, and one of the things the Z series as a whole shines at. Don't worry. We were talking about this today and we've plenty of ways of making videos for both our paths, either through the missions themselves or through the Special Disk battle viewer.  I reckon there just wasn't a whole lot of chances to use the Virgolas' strongest attacks as they all require 120 morale (the pilots don't build it up as quickly as Rand, either) and their weaker attacks don't really warrant videos to show off as they're very basic.
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Dec 13, 2013 02:44
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Alright, here we are at our first intermission; there are a whole lot of options and most of them are pretty important – if you’re playing this game, you’d do well to get acquainted with it as you’ll be here a LOT. At the main screen, you see a tally of your 5 pilots with the higher kill count (a.k.a. Top Aces) – just being in the top 5 gives the pilot +5 to his starting morale and the nº pilot gets +10. Of course, seeing how this is a NG+, my numbers are already pretty high (I believe Rand was my 3rd or 4th higher killer on the previous game); there isn’t really a point to keep track of our current top aces on my side but we can always leave it up to Doc! At the bottom, you’ll see a bunch of numbers and they represent, from left to right, your Skill Points, Money and Blue Stones – below those numbers, you’ll find the number of missions completed and the total turn count. Now, for the menu itself – let’s take a look at the options:
I’ll go over some of these options later when they’re more relevant; for now, let’s begin at the Unit Commands menu: 
Unit Upgrades:  There are six options where you can upgrade a unit and they are (from top to bottom):
 Gain’s Gatchiko needs less EN than the others (his best post-movement attack does use it, mind) so, for now, he’ll focus on Mobility, Accuracy and Weapons.  Finally, THE HEAT is a mighty Super and, of course, wants a bit of everything (except Mobility, of course). Fair warning: be very careful not to upgrade Gunleon too much – you WILL regret it. Unit Parts:  When you enter this menu, you’ll be presented with a list of your units: those circles next to each of them represent the number of “Parts’ Slots” available to these units – currently, everyone can equip two parts. We only have one Part available: a Booster (ブースター) taken from Geraba which boosts Movement by 1; Rand, being the person with the lowest range, takes it. Now, let’s take a quick jump over to the Pilot Commands menu; here’s what you’ll find here: 
Pilot Training:  Purchasing Skills should always take priority over boosting stats; there are dozens of skills available and most are quite useful (some more than others, of course); Rand, being stacked with Pilot Points, is able to buy a full set:
 Garrod also has plenty of points – enough for three new skills:
 Finally, we get to Gain – he needed some expensive skills, so he only takes two:
 Now that we’ve done our homework, let’s get going with the next mission:  Location: Siberia Domepolis - Wulgusk  Inside the city’s high school, the teacher Mamadou is lecturing the future generations about the ancient Cataclysm that prompted the construction of this, their home. Sara asks about the Innocent as she's heard they not only survived the Cataclysm as well but, also, set up shop somewhere in the center of the continent – Mamadou confirms and praises her insight. However, she doesn’t understand why they, who once claimed themselves to be the nobility of mankind, would limit themselves to that region; Mamadou says their self-proclaimed status dates back to before the Cataclysm, when they styled themselves as inheritors of all of Earth's civilization. Throughout the land they called Zora, they dominated the common man in the name of "guiding" them...and ended up being toppled by the very people they saw as their subjects, the Civilians. Mamadou tells his class that this is an immutable law of history at work: it's simply not possible to restrain the freedom of the people forever.  Bello figures that the rules with which the Innocent bound the common people weren't up to the task. One of those rules was avoiding contact with the Domepoli of Siberia, though it should be noted that most of the world's civilizations were isolated at the time anyway. None of the Innocents' subjects had even been properly informed of the disaster that struck the southern hemisphere some 15 years ago, and all of them grew up believing in the Three Day Rule - that crimes unpunished for three days were not crimes at all. Fortunately, the fall of the Innocent has allowed commerce between the peoples of Siberia and Zora to resume, and Bello figures that the Zorans have effectively achieved Exodus though Sara quickly shushes him.  The lecture is interrupted as a Siberia Railroad guard named Adette barges in, asking after Gainer Sanga. She then arrests him on the spot on suspicion of Exodus; he protests that he’s done nothing of the sort but she drags him out, telling to save it to the judge. Adette leaves, apologizing for the noise and telling everyone to go back to studying. Problem is, it's Mamadou, Bello and Sara who are part of the upcoming Exodus and they certainly didn’t expect Gainer to be caught in the crossfire. There isn’t time to do anything, though, as Mamadou remembers that their plan is going to happen tonight. quote:
 At the city, Rand and the crew, are marveling at what looks like preparations for a major festival. Rand reminds Mel that they’re not here to party, though. Garrod calls him out on his seriousness, though, seeing how Rand has just purchased a bromide of some singer. Rand protests that he couldn’t help himself, as he’s a HUGE fan of Meeya Laujin – his fanboying annoys Mel, who thinks it isn’t right for a man to act like this near his “wife”. Garrod doesn’t know this Meeya (understandable, seeing how he’s from Ameria) so the others explain: the Meeya family have been stars for generations, and it's rumored that the first Meeya was also the first person to successfully finish an Exodus. That makes them the patron saints of Exodus in some people's eyes.  Rand figures, if they’re lucky, they might even get to attend a live Meeya concert (if not for the job that the team has come to do, of course). Mel wonders if things will be fine, though, as Gain actually let himself be captured by the police, claiming that this will let him snag some sort of major treasure. Rand is sure the guy will come through, and plans on carrying out his part of the plan in the meantime. Location: Medayu Ducal Residence – Underground Jail  We find Gainer in a cell, mulling over how his day has taken a major turn for the worse. Only a few hours ago, he had bested Cynthia and claimed the title of King of the Overman Battle but, after his arrest, that accomplishment isn’t feeling very triumphant. quote:
 As he ponders his misfortune, the guards add another prisoner to his cell: it's Gain, none too happy at the rough handling he's received so far. He asks what a kid's doing shacked up with him, and the guard explains he's one of the large number of suspected Exodus sympathizers rounded up this morning. In fact, so many people have been arrested that the regular jail is full -- which explains why Gain and Gainer are being housed in the ducal residence. Gain likes hearing that everything’s according to his research and before the guard can react, quickly knocks him out.  Gain then turns to a confused Gainer and says he has has a choice to make: stay here or come with him. The Domepolitan default would be to stay in prison no matter how unfair his treatment has been. Gainer will be coming with him, though, as he isn’t the sort of person that belongs here. That works for Gain, who introduces himself and Gainer does the same – with that, Gain invites him to join the Exodus. Location: Wulgusk – Plaza   Outside, Rand is quite excited, yelling at Garrod and Mel to take a look his idol, Meeya, so close ahead. Garrod tries to get him to calm down, saying that it’s just a holographic projection but, of course, that doesn’t stop Rand from admiring her curves. This earns him a tongue-lashing from Mel, asking what happened to that professionalism from before. Rand, however, claims it is part of an act to blend in with the festival and shows he's actually a better observer than anyone credits him as, keeping a sharp eye out for the Siberia Rail guards' mecha. It seems the Guards have learned about the big Exodus plan in advance, which would explain the mass arrests.  Speaking of guards, two of them, Kejinan (the one on screen, we’ll see the other later) and Enge, have overheard their Exodus-centered talk and want to have words with our folk. Rand quickly simulates a stomachache, suggesting the two men to run if they value their noses and Enge hurriedly points towards the bathroom and tells him to go away. Kejinan is leaving as well but warns that they’ll be keeping an eye on us and we'd better behave. Garrod doesn’t get what that was about and Rand explains that if people were to simply move about freely, the Siberia Rail monopoly on transport, and the political power that confers, would be gone in an instant. That's reason enough for the company guards to be on their witch hunt. Either way, Mel tells them both to hurry with the rest of the preparations but Rand figures they still have a bit more time before they move with Gain’s plan…  Back in the ducal residence, Gain has lead Gainer into the duke's private museum, which is brimming with artifacts of all descriptions. The duke is said to treasure machines, artwork, books, technology... you name it.  What Gain is after is one of the duke's mecha: an Overman, and a special one at that. They don’t have time to keep talking, though, as they hear Silhouette Machines – Dogozzos, Gain figures - patrolling outside. Even this museum is protected by the Siberian Rail, and Gain orders the kid to boot the mech up.   Up above, princess Ana and her custodian Lioubov’s are preparing to go to the festival when Lioubov notices some sort of commotion below – Ana’s ferrets are also agitated. Suddenly, there’s a flash of a photon mat light, as Gainer activates the Overman. Very quickly, he busts through Ana’s wall and Gain, standing on the Overman’s hand, steps forward to speak to her.  He recognizes her as Ana Medayu and humbly offers to escort her to the festival (who very eagerly accepts) and won't take Lioubov's "no" for an answer. Gain says that he knew Ana wanted to leave the mansion, so he made a deal with “the devil” and came here to serve her. Ana figures Gain could let Lioubov go, then, and moves into the Overman Lioubov quickly introduces herself (which makes Gain stop to say it’s a lovely name) before an explosion outside informs that Rand and friends are holding up their end of the plan. Gain orders Gainer to drop him off at the station and, following that, to take Ana to the Five Wise Men directing the festival. He tells the startled Lioubov that this uproar is the start of the biggest festival this Domepolis has ever seen: one called Exodus.  Mission 2 (Rand) - Day of Departure   Outside, Rand and Garrod see that the Dome's residential unit is underway, with hundreds of people on board. This is certainly the largest mass Exodus Rand has ever heard of, and a major credit to Gain's reputation; another boatload of explosives are triggered to make their job easier, though the people left behind might not be so thrilled.    As the enemy troops deploy, commander Yassaba is very annoyed to hear from his aide, Jaboli, that Kejinan and Enge, ever the inept soldiers, are point men to try to stop this circus. Adette is tied up pursuing the Black Southern Cross, unfortunately.  Enge notices how their commander's pissed and Kejinan can only pity poor lieutenant Jaboli for having to bear the brunt of it. Kejinan thinks that stopping the insurrection will give him a big fat bonus instead of a lecture, though. Garrod sighs at how greedy the other side sounds, and Rand figures it falls on us to teach these guys some hard reality. He calls the Siberian Rail over, saying that we’re going on an Exodus too! 
Well, they’re keeping the Skill Point hidden for now, so we’ll focus on what’s ahead.  Kejinan and two Siberian mooks are waiting in front but Rand can only reach a mook.          2 HP! Are you kidding me, Rand?!  I could let him kill himself on a counterattack but there’s nothing else in range; ergo, Garrod takes him out right away.  Enemy Phase!    The other nearby Dogozzo charges at Rand who, with a bit of extra morale, is now able to take him out in one shot. Following that, Enge’s posse starts coming over and one of his mooks also goes for Rand, suffering similar fate.  The fight is interrupted when Mel notices something coming out of the Domepolis. It’s not Gain and his Gatchiko, though.   Do the monkey with me! C’mon!    It’s a dreadlocked Overman and Rand figures it’s the one Gain told him about! Ana is still inside the mech, asking Gainer what’s it called. He says it’s King Gainer, which she finds odd considering it’s his name but he figured it made sense as he IS the King of Overman Battle. Either way, Ana thinks it’s a fine name.   Enemy reinforcements soon arrive, led by an angry Adette who is hell bent arresting anyone attempting an Exodus. Gainer tries yelling that he's doing no such thing but Ana warns him that she’s already charging after them.  That is, until she’s stopped by a sniper shot.   : Gain! : Hey, kid! If you can’t fight, stand down – you’ll just get in the way! : I can and I will! That's why I'm piloting this! : Show us what you got, then. Words aren’t worth much without action.: You don’t have to tell me that!  : Captain Gauli! Is that dreadlocked mech an ally? : By the looks of things, the “contractor” knows him.  : And that Mobile Suit’s also part of his gang? Nice! : Well, they're still not going to one-up the Gauli Squad!: Do you hear me, Exodus contractor? I'm Hughes Gauli, commander of the Wulgusk militia. : The name’s Gain Bijou. Now, first things first: let’s smash these Siberian Rail Dogozzos!: Roger! : That Panther…is Sara Kodama in it? : Gainer! You said you’d fight, so don’t just stand there!: Y-yes!: Come on, kid! We're gunning for their commander!: Got it! And here’s the Skill Point: We have to shoot down Adette’s Dogozzo but she’ll retreat under 3000 HP – there’s no time limit.  It’s still the enemy phase, so Adette’s posse starts charging after Gainer and co.       Not bad (not great, either…)  The second Dogozzo isn’t in range but the first gets right in Gain’s face but our sniper has some melee tricks. : Only Silhouette Machines…? If Yassaba Jin hasn’t deployed his Overman, we’re in luck!: Let’s wrap this up before the big bad commander comes out…!    He’s got some guns other than his rifle!  No one else is in attacking range except Kejinan, who goes after Rand from afar (forcing me to hope that 66% is enough to hit).  : drat it! I didn’t know the Black Southern Cross had friends!: Oh, sorry! I’m known as THE HEAT! : And I’m the BLAZING MOBILE SUIT PILOT! : Bastards! Making fun of me with those ridiculous names, are you?! Cut it out!!     Thankfully, it was.  Player Phase! Before we take them out with extreme prejudice, let’s take a look at what Kejinan, Enge and Adette are packing making use of Mel’s Scan spirit (displays enemy units’ stats even if they haven’t entered in combat).     Dogozzo (Adette Kistler, Kejinan Datto, Enge Gam) Pilot Skills - Adette:
Squad Leader Bonus - Kejinan: Critical Chance +10% Squad Leader Bonus - Enge: Evasion Rate +10% Adette’s Voice Actress: Marika Hayashi (along several dubs for western shows, also voiced Mouar Pharaoh in Zeta Gundam New Translation) Enge’s Voice Actor: Tsuyoshi Koyama (also known as Dickson in Xenoblade, Bang Shishigami in Blazblue, Gensuru of Hunter X Hunter and many others) Kejinan’s Voice Actor: Hiroshi Kitazawa (no other major roles) All three pilots are using the Siberian equivalent of a Breaker’s Trad: the Dogozzo is one of the weakest mooks in the game and has no important features outside of being made out of paper-maché. More important are the pilots and you’ll find that Siberian enemies are some of the more annoying ones (not these ones, though): they all have the unique skill Oversense which boosts their accuracy and evasion (the bonus increases as the skill levels up). It doesn’t do much now but you’ll learn to HATE named Siberian enemies. Finally, Adette’s Commander skills applies an aura around her that boosts the accuracy and evasion of anyone inside (the closer the unit is to her, the stronger the buff); at level 1, it is a 3x3 wide aura which gives 12%/10%/5% buff depending on position.  Either way, Kejinan is sufficiently weakened that Garrod can take him out without issue.       One down!  Kejinan drops a Repair Kit, which is our first consumable part (it heals some HP on the user or on an adjacent unit).   Kejinan is smart enough not to lay down his life for this battle -- hard to get promoted if you’re dead. He quickly retreats.  Enge’s at full health but, as I said before, these Dogozzos are very fragile. So…  : I imagine there'd be a nice bonus if I took these guys out but can a Dogozzo actually pull it off…?: You better call it quits if you’re not sure, old man!: That’s right! The Gunleon and I don’t feel like doing any unnecessary dismantling!: D-drat iiit! A Siberian Rail guard can’t take such disrespect sitting down!!        Boosh!  Enge drops a Propellant Tank, which is also a consumable and can be used to fully recharge the user or adjacent target’s EN.   Enge figures getting yelled at by Yassaba would be preferable to continuing this fight and also retreats. Now, on the Gainer front, we got a whole lot of new units so let’s take a look at them (Gain as well); we’ll start with the Gauli squad:     Panther (Hughes Gauli, Sara Kodama, Bello Korossha) Pilot Skills - Gauli:
Pilot Skills – Bello:
Squad Leader Bonus – Sara: +20% attack power during Support Attack Squad Leader Bonus – Bello: Damage Taken -10% Gauli’s Voice Actor: Tohru Kusano (other known works: Shichiroji in Samurai 7 and some other minor roles Sara’s Voice Actress: Ai Kobayashi (other known works: Saya Krueger in SRW UX, Samus Aran in Metroid Other M, Lily Borjarno in ∀ Gundam and many others) Bello’s Voice Actor: Shuusaku Ohtake (no other major roles) Remember what I said about the Dogozzo’s? The Panthers are pretty much that. They are weak all around, have mediocre stats across the board and are only saved by having some semi-competent pilots (none too great, mind); a small plus is that their strongest attack, BB, carries the Accuracy Down debuff so that can help. Nevertheless, they’re squaddie-material through and through and, unless you can find them something better to pilot (hint hint), you should never let them lead. Next up, it’s time for Mr. Black Southern Cross:   Gatchiko (Gain Bijou) Pilot Skills:
Gain’s Voice Actor: Otoya Kawano (other knwn works: Mario Abe in Ryoko’s Case File, Seishirou Sakurazuka in X and some others) I like Gain. He’s competent, is a great pilot carrying excellent spirit commands and knows very well what he wants to do; his focus on ammo-based, long range attacks makes him a great mook hunter/supporter and the only thing that keeps him from the big leagues is a lack of power against bigger threats. Gain falls in that sad category of good units that get eclipsed by great ones and will, eventually, be turned into a squaddie, but he’ll always serve you well throughout a good chunk of the game. Only one more and it is King Gainer:   King Gainer (Gainer Sanga) Pilot Skills:
Gainer’s Voice Actor: Hirofumi Nojima (other known works: Gouenji Shuuya in Inazuma Eleven, Sobi Nakajima in Linebarrels of Iron, Yasaburo Saotome in Macross Frontier and many others) At first, you might dismiss Gainer: his stats are all lower then Gain (aside from Evasion), he only has two WEAK attacks and even his Leader Bonus isn’t all that; stick with him, though, because Gainer is GREAT! This kid exemplifies the “Magikarp Power” trope and he will grow to be incredibly reliable. Very important, though: buy him Morale+ (Dodge) ASAP because, eventually, King Gainer will need to reach 130 morale quickly and is one of the dodgiest units around; following that, take stock of that Gamer skill and consider saving up enough PP to buy Attack Again (more on this one later).    Now, Adette is far away and her maximum range is 5, so we’ll worry about the nearby Dogozzos while forcing her to come closer. That attack had 94% chance to hit, mind…  I guess we’ll have Bello give it a try.  : I’m part of the Gauli Squad, too, so it's time to provide some covering fire! : Sara! Take a look at this!      See what I meant with the Panthers being awful? At least he dodged…   Either way, Gain takes it upon himself to finish off his previous attacker.  Following that, Sara will go after another weakened Dogozzo. : We’re all going on an Exodus to Yapan! : And you’re not stopping us, Siberian Rail!    Only one left.  And Gauli’s going to take care of it.  : We’ve given up everything for this day!: Even if it takes my life, this Exodus WILL succeed!    Gauli’s got this whole motion blur going on for his cut-in; we’ll find out why later(it’s not an important plot point…just amusing). Enemy Phase!    The last mook runs after Rand, who pulls a surprising dodge before wrecking it to pieces.  And here comes Adette, going straight after Gainer.  : You there, Overman! I’m gonna have to yank all those dreadlocks off your head if you don’t behave!: That woman…! She’s the one who arrested me at school! : I am Adette Kistler of the Siberian Rail! And I might like strong men but you better kiss your life goodbye if you're going to fight us!: What a bully…! That’s really lame nowadays, you know!    God drat it, Gainer! I sang your praises and this is how you repay me?! Player Phase!    Time to wrap this up; first off, we’ll weaken Adette a little bit and get her closer to 3k HP.  Now, Rand could take her down without a problem but he’s a bit far away; so, we’re gonna have to kill her using Gainer while taking a Support Attack from Gain. One thing to note: a unit that’s BELOW the main attacker can’t Support Attack, which means Gain needs Gainer to be on the ground so he can do it – to do that, we select the “ground” option on the menu to make King Gainer touch down.  With that done, we have Gain and Gainer use, respectively, Sense and Focus to make sure they hit and call the attack. Now, I wanted to show off the Dynamic Finisher for Gain’s Black Southern Cross but, unfortunately, he’s 2 morale short.        However, with the power of the Special Disk's Battle Viewer, I AM able to magic up the attack whenever needed. The damage has to be set to fixed percentages but everything else is pretty much the same (except the UI, that is): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPmrTxnqtTg  Skill Point Get!    Adette doesn't want to flee but sees only one way to take on a Gundam and Overman at once: send out Yassaba himself. She promises to remember this and pay Gainer and the other back the next time.   With the guards beaten back for now, stage one of the Exodus is clear. Garrod wonders how we’re going to quickly transport those huge residential units but Gauli has though ahead and prepared a Silhouette Mammoth ship called Bachclone to supplement the unit's minimal propulsion systems. Gainer, Sara, Ana and the crew are now off on their big adventure with the Exodus...  Back in Wulgusk, Yassaba is VERY pissed off at this whole debacle. They just allowed one of the largest Exodus ever to happen on their watch. Kejinan insists that there was nothing they could’ve done – they weren’t expecting the Black Southern Cross to have help from THE HEAT and BLAZING MOBILE SUIT PILOT! Plus, there was that Overman to make things worse. Adette wonders if Duke Medayu may have been involved but he professed no knowledge that an Exodus was being planned. He does have the good alibi that his daughter has been, well, kidnapped, which would imply that the people, along with their Exodus contractor allies, planned this ridiculous stunt themselves.  Yassaba says the plan is simple: find and slaughter all the Exodizers. Kejinan and Enge think they won't be able to do this alone, seeing how there’s that giant robot and that Gundam escorting the residential unit. Yassaba tells the not to worry, though, as he’ll be going with his Rushrod. Furthermore, Jaboli enters to say that the “help” Yassaba requested for the hunt has just arrived. With that done, he orders everyone to prepare for immediate departure. Adette is glad Yassaba is shaping up to be the man she thought him to be. As he prepares to leave, he orders them to leave that dreadlocked Overman to him – he’ll personally destroy it with his Rushrod. Location: Bachclone – Bridge   Our crew gets to meet the Five Wise Men, the instigators of the whole Exodus incident and Gain's direct employers. They are, in order: Gach Winge, Pelhar Pey, Citran Vie, and Manman Doutton. Whispering to Mel, Rand thinks there’s no way he’ll remember all those names but she tells him not to worry – she’s writing it all down in the notebook. Garrod notices there's only four of them, but they deliberately named themselves after the legendary five first Exodizers (of which Meeya was one). Either way, Gain tells everyone that they've got to put as much distance between themselves and the Dome as possible ere the Siberia Railroad pursuers come. Manman seems surprised they would pursue them this far but Gain says that’s how the Siberian Rail works: no forgiveness for ANY Exodus as a matter of pride.  Gach knew this, though, which is why he gave Gain the task of kidnapping Ana. Having the daughter of the Duke as a “hostage” would make the Siberian Rail pause for a small while and she agrees to accompany their Exodus as such. Garrod wonders if the kid actually understands what's going on but Rand thinks this is actually better than if she were crying everyone’s ear off saying that she wanted to go home. Well, Ana doesn’t think Rand’s a bad man and he admits that, if anything, the only “bad” part of him would be his head. Mel likes that he openly admits it, though!  Ana then starts wondering where’s Gainer, the guy who gave her a lift. Gain figures he’d be at the Overman’s hangar and Mel offers to accompany her there. Ana accepts and leaves with her ferrets. Rand wonders if it’s OK to let the princess roam around free but Gain is confident enough in Ana's attitude to think that it’ll be no problem, which suits Rand very well. It's at about that moment that Gach reveals a major snag in this great Exodus plan and it’s not the looming threat of a Siberian Rail attack: the Bachclone's motor is due to give out any day now. Having the Wandering Repairman on our team won't be much good if Siberian Rail forces and bandits get to attack the stationary vehicle unabated.  Rand will do what he can to effect repairs while our ragtag fleet lurches forward. Meanwhile, he’ll also put in a call to some old friends of his for additional pulling power. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Dec 15, 2013 20:44
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Wounded Land posted:Personally, I gave all of my squad leader characters Attack Again and then pumped their Skill stats way up (after buying all their other skills) for maximum damage. Well, the Skills you give are all a matter of preference - personally, I only give Attack Again to people that I know have a base Skill stat high enough that they're able to double-attack endgame bosses with only a minor boost. However, this IS NG+ and I do have a big stockpile of points, so that'll give me more freedom (Rand, brutish as he is, has rather subpar Skill, though).
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Dec 15, 2013 22:16
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AradoBalanga posted:Like I said, wait and see. Trying to avoid spoilers here. Coincidentally, having all of Zeta Gundam, Turn A Gundam, Xabungle and King Gainer, all we need is Ideon to have all shades of Tomino. Also... Dr Pepper posted:Gainer has the best theme and I will brook no argument otherwise. I don't think I like you anymore, Doc! Eureka 7's BGMs are FAR superior! Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Dec 16, 2013 |
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Dec 16, 2013 02:02
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Hivac posted:Don't forget Zambot 3! Oh, and Daitarn 3 too! ImpAtom posted:I never knew it was possible to be objectively wrong but dissing King Gainer's song is it. Well, it's not that I don't like the song (I do like it plenty) but the Eureka 7 songs are just some of my favorites of all time! Blaze Dragon posted:Also I can believe Adette is meant to be weird by just looking at her hair. I mean, apart from her and Bello, Overman Gainer characters seem to have pretty normal hair, but what the hell is that meant to be? Going from the anime, she literally rolls up her long hair into those two cylinder-things.
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Dec 16, 2013 02:58
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Daler Mehndi posted:Gunleon spoilers. Sorry man but that second part of your post consists original spoilers and that's a no-no. Could you edit it out?
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Dec 16, 2013 20:36
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vibratingsheep posted:It's Super Robot Wars, you only hear the first 20 seconds or so and then the next character/show's song starts. Edit: problem fixed. Thanks. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Dec 16, 2013 |
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Dec 16, 2013 23:20
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So, I've thought about it a bit and I think there'll already be enough videos on mission 3 for me to worry about without having to add Gain's Black Southern Cross to the pile. As such, I went ahead and used the Special Disk to set-up that last attack with Adette with Gain using it; look below for Black Southern Cross's dynamic finisher (as well as King Gainer flowing locks of hair). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPmrTxnqtTg 
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Dec 17, 2013 02:26
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Hm, where'd Quattro go? He has to teach Athrun a thing or two about disguises. Also, Denzel totally missed an opportunity to go "Those are no Zakus, Toby! NO ZAKUS!".
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Dec 18, 2013 01:59
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ImpAtom posted:Basically the deal with Evidence 01 is this: Huh...I never knew about that. I find it especially odd that Banpresto didn't even care to reference it a bit in W, considering Astray's presence and Gaogaigar's major connection to Jupiter.
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Dec 18, 2013 02:30
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I’m gonna start splitting these updates into parts as they’re getting bigger by the day. Today, we'll just look at the prologue but, first, a quick intermission. Unit Upgrades:   King Gainer follows the same priorities as any attacking real in the game (he wants everything except HP and Armor), while the Panthers are too insignificant to be worthy of any meaningful upgrades. I give them a small boost in pretty much everything to give them a bit of extra survivability and that’s that. Pilot Training:  As I said before, you’ll want to buy Morale+ Dodge ASAP for Gainer (気力+(回避)) but he’ll also be the first pilot to get Attack Again (再攻撃). This is a pretty broken skill in that, if the attacking pilot’s Skill stat exceeds the enemy’s by 20, he gets to Support Attack himself – this, of course, fits Gainer like a glove with his naturally high Skill stat and that Gamer skill boosting it further.  Now, for the benchwarmers; Sara, Gauli and Bello will never amount to anything outside of squaddie fodder, so we’ll build them accordingly: Backup Attack and then SP Up (ＳＰアップ) all the way. SP Up does exactly what it says: it gives +5 SP for every level the pilot has (maxing out at 9) and it is especially useful when you give it to squadmates that are either support-oriented or that know Accelerate.  One final thing before we end. Why don’t we go over here and check out the Bazaar.   In the Bazaar you can buy or sell stuff in exchange for those Blue Stones you’ve been collecting from Breakers and Siberian Rail folks. Keep in mind, the Bazaar isn’t always open so always check it out when you see it’s there. At first, all that’ll be available are regular Unit Parts which take the top third of the list; below it you’ll find, respectively, Units and special Items – none of which are available right now. For the time being, we’ll just spend 120 Blue Stones to buy an Apogee Motor part for King Gainer (Movement+1, Mobility+5) to cover his small range. With that done, let’s get to the story!  Location: Siberia - Bachclone – Hangar  Sara and Bello are quite surprised at this turn of the events – to think that the same Gainer they knew in class was the one piloting the Overman. Bello had him pegged for a game-obsessed flunky but figures he’ll have to revise his opinion now. Gainer, however, tells him to shut up as he’s not happy with this situation at all. His teacher and classmates had all been in on this Exodus and because of them, he’s got wrapped up in this mess, forced to leave Wulgusk and made to wear this uniform! Sara says that it’s standard-issue for members of the Gauli squad.  The fact is, he never wanted anything to do with any Exodus, which causes Bello to ask why he got into the Overman in the first place. He mumbles that Gain tricked him into getting in it, claiming he'd never have gotten aboard the Overman had he known Gain was a Contractor (which he found out only too late). The truth is that he hates anyone involved in an Exodus. Bello suggests he leave the Overman and run back to that Siberian Rail he loves so much, but he insists that King Gainer is his mech and, as much as he’d like, he can’t go back home just yet.  Garrod isn't impressed, and Kona the mechanic reckons that dealing with Gainer is almost as hard as servicing Garrod's Gundam. She'll certainly do what she can, but warns Garrod that the right parts can be pretty hard to find on this continent. Still, she’s been asked by her bosses to do whatever she can, so she tells the “Gundam Boy” not to worry. Hearing that, Garrod stares at her for a second which flusters the girl, who warns him that he better not fall in love with her or anything. It’s not that, though, just that, the way she acts reminded Garrod of a friend – someone who also called him “Gundam Boy”. Regardless, Garrod figures he needs to talk some sense into Gainer before things get ugly (which actually annoys Kona that he’d leave so suddenly). Gainer is trying to argue that he never showed any indication of wanting to Exodize while in school. Sara asks what DID he show, then, but Gainer bristles and dodges the question.  Up comes Gain himself, having heard Gainer try to claim that he tricked him into the Overman. He seems sorry enough to hear that Gainer wants to split up their little team, and moreover disappointed that Gainer turned out to be one more domesticated sheep for THE MAN. Once again, Gainer says that he hates Exodus, which causes Bello to tell him to go back home to his games, then. Gainer yells that he’ll be more than happy to do so, once he’s paid his debt to Gain.  Before he can explain what debt that is, alarms herald the arrival of Siberian Rail pursuers –as expected. Sara and Bello prepare to deploy but Gainer isn’t budging. Bello figures, if he’s really that uninterested in Exodus, then he should just stay put – Sara and the others will fight to make sure it succeeds, though. Quickly, they leave…  : I’m… : You okay with this? Just staying in here all grumpy? : You…you’re one of Gain’s friends… : The name’s Garrod. I’m the pilot of that there Gundam.: Just leave me alone. I don’t want anything to do with an Exodus.: The Exodus ain't what's important right now. Really, I came from another continent, so I can’t even wrap my head around stuff like that.: Huh…?: Still, don’t you think this is your chance to put on a good show for that Sara chick?: …!: I can tell even without you outright saying it. You like that girl, don’t ya?: T-that’s…!: Then, lemme just give you a bit of advice: if a guy likes a girl, he oughta do anything he can to protect her.: Anyway, I’m gonna get out there! Then, it’ll be time for you to choose and make the right call!*Garrod leaves.*  : …If a guy likes a girl…hmmm…And that’s that. I’m already 65%-ish through the next mission, so I reckon I’ll have it all good to go by Sunday (at most, Monday). See you all then! Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Dec 21, 2013 03:13
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 Mission 3 (Rand) - Law-Breaking Saviors  Gauli reminds his men that failure here means that death will rain down on Yapan's Ceiling. Garrod asks and Sara says that’s the adopted name of the residential unit. Bello is still marveling over how, with Garrod and Gainer, their Contractors include such young kids: younger, in Garrod's case, than Sara herself. Garrod says that after the disaster of fifteen years ago, even little kids had to fend for themselves in South America. He’s not sure precisely how he ended up here in Zora, but he doubts it is mere coincidence.  In fact, figuring out the reason behind those kinds of incidents is Rand's main motivation for traveling in the first place, which tells Gain that it must also have something to do with Mel. It's as good an excuse as any to get out and see the world – still, there’s no time to talk about this as Rand notices the enemy incoming.   The Siberian Rail folks have hired help from the Breakers, including a Landship: at the helm is Kid Hola, who grandly announces the beginning of The Hunt. Adette smirks and tells him that if he keeps posing with the window open, he's going to freeze his snotty nose solid. Kejinan figures the desert-dwelling Breakers are in for a rude awakening of Siberian weather and, while Yassaba hired these folks, Jaboli is a bit hesitant to trust their skill.  Geraba asks his "bro" if he's gonna keep letting their employers talk about him like that, but Hola is more irritated that Geraba didn’t call him "Captain". Geraba apologizes (almost calling him “bro”, before correcting himself). Hola then starts ranting about how he, once a mighty instrument of the Innocent's will, has been reduced to utter poverty by that melonheaded buffoon and his posse! But here in Siberia, the battlefield belongs to him!  Geraba promises his bro that he'll work hard for their return to the top, earning him another tongue lashing and making both Garrod and Enge wonder just who the heck they're dealing with. Rand tells everyone that the Kid Hola posse has made a modest name for themselves in Zora, and that they've apparently gone fishing for new masters after the Innocents' downfall. Geraba recognizes the Gundam X and points it out to Hola as the one who they couldn’t swipe at the Bazaar. Hola thinks he can have revenge on the Gundam that so besmirched his family honor, which Adette finds amusing coming from a country bumpkin. Rand says he and Garrod will take on the Landship, leaving the rest of the goons for Gauli's men to tussle with. Gain notices that Yassaba is nowhere to be seen...and wonders where he could be. 
 We’re on a tight clock here – Hola is in the back row, between Geraba and a Breaker; as Rand said, he and Garrod can deal with him easily but they need to get there quickly or they’ll miss the time on the Skill Point. Before we move in, let’s take a quick look at Jaboli and, more importantly, Hola:  Dogozzo (Jaboli Mariela) Pilot Skills:
Jaboli’s Voice Actress: Maki Tamura (other known works: a few other small parts but the most significant one is dubbing Niki Sanders in Heroes) Nothing sets her apart from Enge or Kejinan, so let’s skip to the bigger enemy on the field.   Buffalo (Kid Hola) Pilot Skills:
Hola’s Voice Actor: Issei Futamata (other known works: Alan Gabriel in Big O (more on him later), General Helmut in Dancouga, Ohtaki-senpai in Ah! My Goddess and MANY others) Kid Hola is a surprisingly good pilot despite his wacky antics (though he’s not the biggest Xabungle-related annoyance…); it’s a good thing that his Buffalo sucks so much or this Skill Point could’ve been more difficult. None of his attacks are particularly powerful but, as you can see from the Leader Bonus, he can be decently accurate so keep Garrod protected with Invincible. Nothing’s in range, though, so we just charge straight ahead. Enemy Phase!       A Trad and a Dogozzo attack, respectively, Rand and Gain. Both make sure they don’t live to regret it.  One last Dogozzo attacks, this one going after Bello.      I tried to see if he had a cut-in like Sara and Gauli but nope. I guess he’s insignificant like that! Everyone else, except Hola, starts moving closer. Player Phase!  Garrod runs towards Hola, taking time to cut this Dagger down to size.       Good, good.   Meanwhile, Gain punches another Dagger.       I try to have Bello weaken Enge a bit but it blows up in his face; Sara proves herself to be more competent, though.    Gauli wouldn’t be able finish him off, so we moves over and takes Jaboli down a nice bit.  Rand can’t reach anything else, so we might as well have him take out Garrod’s buddy.       This attack has a unique “miss” animation, where Rand fails to grab the rebound on his wrench! I’ll try to show it off sometime. Enemy Phase!      A suicidal Trad guns for Rand, who happily obliges him. Furthermore, I overestimated the power of Gain’s weakest attack and he ends up leaving a Dagger barely alive.  A Siberian mook takes aim after Gauli.        Good man.    Another faceless mook and, this time, Bello plays ball.  And here’s Geraba, looking to get some payback from Garrod. : You’re that brat from before! Hand over that Gundam and we might left you keep your life!: Get real! Last time we kicked your rear end so hard, YOU had to run off for dear life!: Urk...!: We’re both just doing our jobs; so, if we have to fight, let's not hold grudges.: That said, I ain't about to die before getting back to Tifa!     Alright, that’s not bad. Hola moves a bit closer but just enough to seal his fate.    Jaboli tries to give Gain what-for but only succeeds in getting herself shot down.  She sees that, as expected, she’s not really suited for this sort of job. The only option left is to eject.  Squaddies receive less experience and PP than the leaders but this part helps mitigate that; the Strategy Manual (戦技マニュアル) allows the equipped unit’s pilot to receive exp/PP as if he was the leader.   Enge decides to get clever and snipe at Rand. Sadly for him, Rand’s absorbed some of Garrod’s luck and dodges!  Kejinan finally attacks something.      No problem for Gauli, though.  Eeeh…would this be a bad time to mention that I had completely forgotten that Adette was there and Gain doesn’t have focus?       Nice. Player Phase!     Sadly, Adette’s position is a bit of a bother: her being there stops Rand from getting in range of Hola. So, we need to take her out with both Gain and Sara (I would’ve liked to keep Gain around as an extra attack but Garrod and Rand should be enough to do the job).  Adette is very annoyed that a group like ours could defeat her. Still, she figures things are still going according to plan and retreats.  We’re almost out of time, so Garrod moves past the opposition and heads after Hola.  : Let’s do this…! I’ll make my comeback in Siberia and, someday, Zora itself will be mine for the taking!: And, for that, I'll use this job to get in good with the Siberian Rail!        Alright, that’s good enough!  Get in there, Rand.          Skill Point get!   Even Hola isn't so deluded as to believe that his ancient Buffalo can carry the day here. But since he's fulfilled his contract, it's time for a “strategic advance to the rear”. Sara starts celebrating our victory but Gain warns her not to relax – the Breakers were only trying to keep us in place.    Yassaba confirms Gain’s feeling and jumps our group from behind. He quickly grabs Sara and drags her far away, though he notices that the Overman stolen from the Medayu household isn’t here. Garrod doesn’t know who’s this machine that’s vastly superior to the other Siberian mooks and Gain explains: that’s Yassaba Jin, commander of the Siberian Rail Guard, and his Overman Rushrod. Yassaba gets in touch with the people of Yapan’s Ceiling and says that he’s personally come to see this Exodus stopped and everyone involved executed! Sara, isn’t about to sit there and let this happen; her attitude and beauty impresses Yassaba, who asks I she’d like to join his squad. She refuses, so Yassaba prepares to kill her first.    However, he’s blindsided by King Gainer and thrown away. Sara gets very happy, thinking Gainer came over to help her but he only say he still has a debt to repay to Gain (making Garrod shake his head that the kid’s still not being honest).   There’s another problem, though, in the form of Breaker reinforcements – a second stage in Yassaba’s plan with Hola. Hola will handle the rest of us, while Yassaba focuses on King Gainer. Gainer is a bit surprised when he realizes that his enemy is another Overman but Yassaba is already calling for an Overman Battle. Sara tries to stop Gainer, saying that he’s no match for a commander of the Siberian Rail but he tells her to stay back – if we're taking Overman Battles, there’s no way he and King Gainer are losing! Inwardly, Gain wonders how the kid’ll do and Yassaba yells that he’ll smash him up while Adette is watching!   Quickly now, Bello tags Kejinan with a crit and takes him out.  Kejinan promises to remember this, saying that he only lost because he wasn’t feeling too good. Either way, he ejects.   A BB from Gauli also takes out Enge.  As Enge retreats, moping that this broken machine is going to be deduced from his salary. Now, before we move on to deal with Hola’s new posse, let’s take a look at Yassaba.   Overman Rushrod (Yassaba Jin) Pilot Skills:
Voice Actor:Hisao Egawa (other known works: Hyuuma/Goldymarg in Gaogaigar, Killer Bee in Naruto, Falco Lombardi/Wolf O’Donnel in Star Fox games and a whole lot of other stuff) Yassaba’s pretty dangerous and is the first example of many Overman enemies that you’ll face in the game. Thankfully, he’s not the sturdiest enemy around but that Photon Mat paired with that Leader Bonus will make him the most resilient enemy we’ve faced thus far. His attacks are all post movement and have good power behind them and that Oversense will boost his accuracy, so watch it. Swarm him and take him out quickly. Enemy Phase!     The weakened Dagger suicides against Garrod and Gauli takes out the last Siberian mook on the southern side of the map.    Hola’s group is too far away to attack anything but Geraba trades blows with Garrod (who was protected).   Yassaba steps forward to attack Gainer and those numbers do NOT look good at all. The best thing to do here is just to have Gainer dodge.  : I’ll slaughter anyone who tries to do an Exodus! That’s my mission!: Whatever! I hate both those people and the Siberian Rail!      Yup. Yassaba’s got a giant bellows in his Overman. Player Phase! : This guy's strong…! : Not bad at all, kid! Then, I don’t think I have a choice but to get serious! : What is he doing?!: Take this!!  : What’s that?!: I’ve never seen a beam like that before… : AHAHAHAHA! DIIIEEE!!  : UWAAARGH!!: What happened, kid?! You didn’t even try to dodge!: I-It’s not like that! W-what happened to me…?: Gainer! You have to dodge those beams! That’s what stopped your movement!: How are those stopping his movement?!: It’s an OverSkill…: Huuuuuuuh?! : Over-what?!: That’s right! This is Rushrod’s OverSkill: Time Stop!: Time stop?! How the hell can he do stuff like that?! : No one knows how they work! But that’s his OverSkill!: Tch! Fighting an Overman is a huge pain in the rear end!: WAHAHAHAHAHA! No matter how you try to fight back, I can stop you in your tracks with the Rushrod’s OverSkill! : Here I come, Dreadlocks! You're going down!! : ! : The Stop Beam struck a direct hit! You can’t move anymore!!: Gainer!: It's OOOVEEER!!  : Wh-What?!   : Cease fire! I think that’s good enough for now. : Don’t you think we actually went a bit overboard, girl? : Well, we took our sweet time to arrive, so we need to get to work ASAP, right? : Rand, Mel! The Iron Gear is finally here!: Nice timing, Jiron!: It’s been too long, Jiron! And the Iron Gear crew, too!: Are those the friends Rand said he was going to call? : C-Commander Yassaba! They’re dangerous! Really, really dangerous!: What about them, Hola?! : These are the outlaws that defeated the Innocent! All violent freaks from Zora! : What are you doing here, Hola? : Seems his business ain’t been doing too good since the Innocent disappeared. : So he came all the way to Siberia to find some work? : Still, we can’t really say anything about him.: Yeah. We tried reopening Elchi’s courier business but we were always in the red.  : Man, talk about a depressing story!: The great Iron Gear crew, the ones who defeated the Innocent, are so poor that they can’t even afford decent units!: We’re almost out of gas for Xabungle and Galia, too. : Which is why, when Rand told us that there’s money to made over here, we came right over!: That’s right, Elchi! And you can start by helping us kick these guys’ asses!: You haven’t changed at all, Rand! Instead of a mechanic, you’re always more like—: Don't, Jiron! You know how Rand hates to be called The Crusher! : Y-you just said it, Chil…: Good helpers, as you can see, we’ve a bit of a situation here! Lend us a hand, would you! : Got it! We’ll do anything to go on living!!: And, Hola! If you don’t want to get hurt, I suggest you go back home to Zora!: Aargh! So you got some helpers? Big deal! This Exodus will still be crushed!! : But, first off, you with the dreads! I'll be ending you myself!: Gainer, run! Leave the rest to our new allies!: I won't!: Huh?!: I came here to save Sara! Not to be rescued by someone else again!: Well said, kid! : Brat! Then, I’ll grant your wish – right here, right now!: King Gainer is also an Overman!! : Then it should also have and OverSkill!! : Don't mess with meeeee! GO, RUSHROD!!: THIS IS THE KING GAAAAAAAINEEEEEER!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xePCNxm8Htc : W-what?! How is it fast enough to dodge all of Rushrod’s attacks?!: How’s that, Siberian Rail?!: Whoa, nice! That guy’s got some guts! : We better give it our all, too, or we’re gonna get fired quick-like.: B-bastard! I can't be defeated right in front of Adette!! : As you saw, the Overman completely turned the table by using his OverSkill.: Never forget to confirm the enemy Overman’s OverSkill!: Got it!That’s SRW speak for: check the enemy's status screen to avoid being blindsided. : …: Gainer…!: …They were killed…: Huh…: My parents were found dead with an anti-exodus flier in their hands!: But I just stayed in my room for 27 days, playing games! I didn’t even try looking for the killer!: …: That’s why I hate Exodus!: Then, I’ll send you to where your parents are – along with all other members of this Exodus!: However! I hate people dying more than anything!!
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Dec 22, 2013 17:58
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Now, I can go over OverSkill proper: as Yassaba said, each Overman contains an OverSkill and they’re all awful to deal with. In the Rushrod’s case, whenever its pilot is over 130 morale, he will auto-cast Zeal (this unit can move twice) at the start of every turn and gains a bonus to its mobility (10 + OverSense Level times 2, which adds to 16 in Yassaba’s case) – not pleasant at all, right? For King Gainer, his OverSkill adds a bonus to the unit’s mobility and accuracy (10 + Oversense Level) while also giving a flat 30% chance to outright dodge any incoming attack (Double Image effect).  Rand’s a bit too far to help against the other enemies but he can still take out Geraba. : Hey, you! The Cru-: Keep talking smack like that and you’re gonna get more than just my Big Dismantling! : Cram it! I've got my Galapagos today! No way I’m gonna lose with its raw power!: Heh...well, that’s actually some machine. I reckon it IS worthy of a dismantling!: I-I knew it! You ARE The Crusher!!       Boom.  Geraba’s sure that Hola’s going to give him a pummeling for losing again. He yells out to THE CRUSHER and BLAZING MOBILE SUIT PILOT that he’ll pay them back for this! After he leaves, Rand’s once again very annoyed that Geraba made use of all this mess to call him that name again. Garrod suggests he forget about it for now as Geraba’s surely going to come after them again. A pissed off Rand promises that, when he does, he’ll really dismantle him down to scrap (inwardly, Garrod figures that attitude is why he’s got that name…). Now, our next target is Hola’s group but let’s take a look at the new additions to the team:   Walker Galia (Jiron Amos/Chil) Pilot Skills: Jiron:
Jiron:
Squad Leader Bonus – Chil: +20% to money and experience Jiron’s Voice Actor: Shinya Ohtaki (other known works: Corbett in Tekkaman Blade, Blue Jet in Machine Robo and many others) Chil’s Voice Actress: Tarako Isono (other known works: Momoko Sakura in Chibi Maruko-chan, Taruruuto in Magical Taruruuto-kun shows/movies, and some others.) Jiron is notoriously resilient as shown by his high Prevail and Guts; Xabungle mechs aren’t exactly “top tier” stuff but Jiron is as good as it gets. He’s got range, good power and decent-ish accuracy (though, Walker Machines are, as expected, terrible against anything that isn’t on ground – you can fix that with some parts, though) and that lovely Boost spirit commands makes sure that, if you don’t care to deploy him as a leader, he’s got a safe spot as a squadmate. Either way you choose, Jiron can do his job nicely (not enough to give him a spot as a top unit but well enough).   Xabungle (Rag Uralo) Pilot Skills:
Rag’s Voice Actress: Saeko Shimazu (other known works: Four Murasame in Zeta Gundam, Emily in Baldios, Kodachi Kuno in Ranma ½ and several others) Xabungle was Jiron’s original mech and, as such, it’s pretty much Walker Galia but with less of everything; it does have the positive point of being LOADED with ammo-based attacks and they have good stats – the problem is that Rag isn’t a good enough pilot to be leader material (Jiron is better than her on everything). Xabungle can work well enough as a mook destroyer but it’s got no business being anything other than a squaddie when you’re deeper into the game (Rag’s accelerate also pushes her towards that).   Trad-11 (Burume/Dyke) Pilot Skills: Burume:
Burume:
Squad Leader Bonus – Burume:+1 Range to all non-MAP, non-point blank attacks Squad Leader Bonus – Dyke:-30% damage taken when Support Defending Burume’s Voice Actor: Toshio Furukawa (other known works: Piccolo in Dragon Ball, Kai Shiden in Mobile Suit Gundam, Shin in Fist of the North Star and many others)[/u] Dyke’s Voice Actor: Keisuke Yamashita(other known works: Adler Koch in SRW OGs, Dan Araiso in the original Raideen and several others)[/u] Burume and Dyke are another pair of squadmates – an attacker and a defender, respectively (neither are all that good, though). Build them accordingly and get them out of those horrible Trad’s as soon as possible and you might just get some use out of them.      Iron Gear (Elchi Cargo, Cotsett Memuma, Fatman Big) Pilot Skills: Elchi:
Elchi:
Elchi’s voice actress: Mari Yokoo (other known works: Tekkaman Sword in Tekkaman Blade, Julia Asuka in Layzner and many others.) Fatman’s voice actor: Banjou Ginga (other known works: Liquid Snake/Ocelot/Major Zero in Metal Gear Solid, Gihren Zabi in Mobile Suit Gundam, Jean Paul Rochina in VOTOMS and many, MANY other roles). Cotsett’s voice actor: Shingo Hiromori (other known works: Astonaige Medoz in several UC Gundam series, Beecha Oleg in ZZ Gundam and several other roles) The Iron Gear’s a pretty cool ship – it’s our first 2L sized unit which begs a small tangent into Size Modifiers. Each units have different sizes, ranging from S (Overmen, for instance), M (Gundam X is one of those), L (that’s Gunleon) all the way to 2L; sizes have a gameplay effect, though, in that they can affect a unit’s accuracy, evasion and the damage it deals and takes. There’s a whole mess of a formula that calculates it but the short version is this: if it’s a small unit versus a bigger one, the smaller will deal less damage but will have an easier time hitting and dodging its enemy and vice versa (this effect increases proportionally to the size difference). Back to the Iron Gear, it has two forms to choose: Landship and Walker Machine. The Landship has less attacking options (its attacks are all pre-movement, too) but it has longer attacking and movement range, while the Walker Machine drops a lot of movement range in exchange for higher power and two post-movement attacks. It’s going to have a hard time hitting stuff in here due to the size different but if you get around that (say, with Strike or Rand casting Attune), you’ll see that it can deal some pretty damage; do keep in mind that its armor is APPALLING for a ship (Gunleon, right out of the box, has way more) and that high HP count won't keep it safe very long if it gets swarmed.  Dyke needs something easy to take out with those Trads and this Caprico will suffice.  : Bah…Why do I have to pilot a Trad-11…?!: Complaining won't help, you know. Let’s just do our job and get enough cash and Blue Stones to buy a new machine. : Fine, fine! Sorry but you guys are our meal ticket!         Now, if he weren’t in this POS machine, it would’ve been a kill.     Burume takes care of the rest, while also moving out of the crossfire; following that, Gain moves in position to eventually snipe at Yassaba, while also taking out one of the new Dogozzos.  Time for the Iron Gear to strut its stuff. : Cotsett! Full speed ahead! Fire all weapons! : Hold on a sec, girl! We’re gonna go bankrupt if we fight like that!: Well, dealing with that is the crew's job!  : … : And don’t you just stand there doing nothing – man the guns!!       Aah…just a bit short. It should also be noted that the Iron Gear takes FOREVER to slowly walk all the way up to the enemy.  Rag, you’re up!  I never had much use for Rag but I kinda regret that now – listening to this BGM while uploading it has made me realize how good it is. : Alright…time to teach these Siberian folk a lesson! : These Sandrats ain’t got a problem with snow, ya know!   Attagirl.  Nothing else in range, so we might as well have Jiron say hello to Hola. : It’s been too long, Hola! How’ve you been?: Can’t you see, melonhead?! My life has gone down the crapper ever since I lost to you!: I was an instigator of the Innocents…and now, that beat-up landship is all I have left!: Don’t blame us! It’s your own fault that things turned out like this! : Shut up! I’ve had enough of you! Starting today, I’ll be the main character! : Our show ended ages ago! Jeez, you’re greedy!          Alright, I guess that works.   Gainer moves over to draw Yassaba closer and, in the meantime, he takes a potshot at Hola. Enemy Phase!  The last Dogozzo decides to gun for Rag but she’s more than capable of hitting him from that range.         There’s actually a slide whistle when Xabungle runs offscreen to grab its weapons.   Hola is still after Jiron and, while I could’ve risked taking him out now, I wanted to show off some attacks so I just have him dodge this.    Same deal with Yassaba but Gainer does a wee bit of extra damage. Player Phase!  First one to go will be Hola and, considering Rag will soon be demoted to a squaddie, I’ll show off Xabungle Full Power right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5dZ1BRYubU Boom!  Hola can only complain that, even after he moves to Siberia, he still runs into “melonhead”. After he explodes, Jiron is sure that Hola is too tough to die just yet.  Only Yassba’s left, so let’s have Gain weaken him a wee bit. : Here you are at last, Yassaba Jin! : Black Southern Cross! You’re as resourceful as they say if you can pull an Exodus of this size. : But even if you’ve got these helpers, I will still crush the lot of you! : Well, kudos to your professional zeal…! Shame that it’s all for the Siberian Rail's self-centered agenda!: That’s why I’m doing this Exodus!        Ow!  Normally, I would have Gainer do this but I want to show off Jiron’s strongest attack. Since Walker Machines are crap against airborne targets, Rand lends him a hand with an Attune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijsx5knVdxA  Yassaba leaves a Cobham Armor (チョバムアーマー) behind.  Jiron’s level up also boosts his Prevail to L4! As requested by Wounded Land, I've added a video for the Trad's melee attack against a flying enemy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvH5Oeg8BaE At least that's one positive point for them.  Yassaba is still up to keep fighting but Gainer seems to not be feeling too good. Gain figures it’s the strain of using his OverSkill too much and Yassaba sees this chance to finish him off.    Gain is keeping watch, though, and stops him in his tracks with some well-timed shots. With that, Yassaba has no choice but to retreat, vowing to remember this humiliation.  After things calm down, Sara asks if Gainer’s OK but he’s more worried about her. She’s fine, though, thanks to his protection – Garrod notices that things between them are doing much better now. Regardless, Gauli thanks Jiron and the others as we wouldn’t have won without them. Jiron says the only wanted to help and Rag figures this should’ve been enough to get them to hire the Sandrats. Sara figures they could be new members of the Gauli Squad and calls for a three cheers for this victory!  Gainer is a bit confused at all this Yapan-style chest-pounding, complaining that something this old fashioned is undignified for Sara! It’s uncivilized! Vulgar! Brutish! Sara shushes him, saying that this is how the squad rolls.  Nearby, a “hidden” Adette notices our distraction and takes this opening to fulfill her mission. Location: Iron Gear – Bridge  Gain and Elchi get straight to business, with the Iron Gear being able to easily tow Yapan’s Ceiling to its destination. Gain’s a bit surprised that such a beautiful girl is the landship’s captain, making Elchi swoon and annoying Cotsett, who figures they’re not going to get a head start on haggling a big reward with that attitude. Gain and Elchi quickly introduce themselves, and he thanks the Sandrats for taking this job. Cotsett is very thankful, too, as they were in pretty dire straights before finding this job; he also introduces himself but Gain is wondering: who is Rand talking to over there…? : …: …: ! : !: …I reckon it’s a tie today.: What are you doing, Darling?! And you, too, Fatman!: Heh…that’s just how we say "hi" to each other.Either way, Elchi vetoes further muscle-flexing and “Heat Smiles”, and won’t stand that kind of uncultured nonsense - especially out of her own bodyguard. She and Cotsett explain to Gain that they’ve been sailing in this Landship ever since she inherited it from her father, leading to them becoming the focal point of the anti-Innocent war. And when war grips the land, mechanics like the Beater Services will naturally get sucked in too, which is how they first met Elchi and the others – helping them fix some things and fighting with them in a few places. With introductions out of the way, Gain heads off for a little errand...  Gainer, meanwhile, has been hauled to sick bay after collapsing the moment he left his cockpit – he’s being watched over by Dr. Medic (no, really). Medic figures it was exhaustion derived of using its machine – he figures it must put a large strain on the pilot – but it’s nothing he can’t fix. Ana and Sara are here, too, quite worried about him. Bello asks what Gainer plans on doing and he wants to stick around to help the Exodus until his debt to Gain is repaid. This debt, as he tells Gain when he walks in, is Gain saving his life back in the prison and, as Rand points out, Gain also saved his life again in today's battle. Gainer is quite adamant that he's leaving once he somehow settles accounts, and Gain is looking forward to what Gainer can do with his mech.  Jiron says he’ll also be helping and Gainer recognizes him as “that melonhead with the walker machine”. He quickly apologizes, saying how he never got his name but Rag says it is fine for him to call it as he sees it. Jiron and the other Sandrats properly introduce themselves. Ana is especially impressed at Chil: a full-fledged Sandrat at the same age as her and they hit it off. Rand is glad to see that Jiron and company are as happy and healthy as the last time he saw them. Jiron is quite grateful to Rand for summoning their aid, lest their financial troubles make starvation a real possibility. With that done, the crowd stampedes off to take a full tour of their mobile city, leaving Sara and Gainer alone (with Medic).  After some hesitation, Sara apologizes for saying all that stuff without understanding about Gainer's parents. Regardless, she’s thankful that he came to help her today and figures those Breaker folk would be a fun group to hang out with – she drags Gainer off the infirmary to run after them and relax a bit. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 17:59 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Dec 22, 2013 17:59
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Wounded Land posted:oh, Xabungle. I love you so, so much. Here ya go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvH5Oeg8BaE I didn't even remember that they did that! Do let me know if there are any particularly amusing attacks that I forget to show (there are plenty of them, so I can't quite remember them all).
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Dec 22, 2013 19:58
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TwoPair posted:Denzel you drive a giant robot for a day job, you have forfeited your right to question weirdness. I was going to say that we could cut him some slack since he's from the UC universe but then I remembered from the intro that Mazinger and Getter are present and well known... I reckon dimensional shenanigans aren't too far off when you're dealing with magic energy sources all around.
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Dec 24, 2013 00:14
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Crummelhorn posted:There's an ongoing LP of the sequel to this game, as well as completed LPs of Alpha Gaiden and W in the archives (well, I assume W is archived, I haven't got around to reading it yet). I think someone did the GBA OG games years and years ago but all those screenshots are gone. I've already mailed the LP Archive so W's waiting in line to be added; it's still available on the forum itself, though.
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Dec 25, 2013 02:03
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Herr Tog posted:Thank you both. I will hold off on reading the sequel but GODDAMN VOLTRON. Don't worry, W goes through 80% of SEED with a focus on the much more awesome folk of SEED Astray - the other 20% consists on the team making a man (as much as possible) out of Kira.
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Dec 25, 2013 02:13
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Quattro and Durandal better get into some wacky shenanigans for having the same voice actor or I'll be really disappointed... Also, the Zaft kiddies' pride in their red coat has lost all meaning to me after the pummeling they usually take whenever they show up in SRW games.
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Dec 29, 2013 01:07
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Blaze Dragon posted:And remember that all of this started because Jerid thought that the name "Kamille" would belong to a girl, and Kamille, in a moment of absolute maturity, went and punched him, a military man who had done nothing to him personally (ignoring how the Titans are dicks anyways). Come now, look at this face:  This is the  -est face in UC and it deserves to be punched.AradoBalanga posted:Blame it on the rights to Zeta's proper opening and ending songs being tied up in legal red tape. Alpha Gaiden was the last time we ever got one of those songs (for the Waverider Crash, no less) thanks to the American composer who owns them throwing a hissy fit and sitting on the rights since 2001. I'm pretty sure "Zeta Activates" was the one that played with Waverider Crash in Alpha Gaiden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK-eacOuWqQ Did you mean this BGM? I think it also played in MX (can't say for sure, though).
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Dec 29, 2013 03:52
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BlitzBlast posted:Man I forgot how ridiculously literal the wiki's translations for Zeta's OPs are. "Zeta - Transcending Time" and "From the Aqueous Star with Love". Truth be told, I don't see how they could've translated 水の星へ愛をこめて and Z・刻をこえて differently. I suppose, if you simply wanted to simplify the vocabulary used in the title, it could've been "From the Water Planet With Love" or "Crossing Over Time". Either way, in the end, the meaning's still the same.
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Dec 29, 2013 19:21
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Back at the intermission, so let’s get through it quick-like: Unit Parts:  The most notable item we got was this Cobham Armor and it’s going straight for Jiron as he can’t really dodge or defend but is designed to be a front-line character.  Furthermore, like I said before, Rag will be a squaddie eventually so, for lack of a better option, she takes the Strategy Manual. Pilot Skills:  Jiron, for now, takes Guard and Break Morale Limit. I like to leave the last slot open until I decide what role he’ll play as the game goes along and then I’ll buy whatever fits.  Such is not the case with Rag, Burume and Dyke, who’ll always take the standard pair of squaddie skills; mind you, I never used Dyke so he’s got nearly nothing to spend. Also, while Chil COULD pilot a Walker Machine, she’s much better off as a spirit command battery for Jiron, so I’ll just load her with SP Up.  Finally, Elchi takes Guard to help with her survivability and that’s that. Unit Upgrades:   Walker Galia and Xabungle want pretty much everything so they can survive and I gave them a bit of extra firepower to extend their usefulness (less so on Xabungle, mind). The Iron Gear, as our main carrier, will be an auto-deployment on many missions, so I give it some love as well (everything except mobility, really). The Trads are crap, though, so I just give them a wee bit of HP and Armor to survive – the second I get something better (and the game stops locking me out of switching), they’re gone. And that’s that. Now, back to the story:  Location: Siberia – Iron Gear – Hangar  Cotsett is over with Rand and Kona as they’ve just finished repairing all units. Kona is quite impressed with Cotsett’s skill as a mechanic. He says it’s no big deal and, either way, there still isn’t much he can do about the Bachclone’s engine as he doesn’t really have any experience dealing with Silhouette Engines. He does volunteer to help Kona if she can think of anything and she asks Rand if he wants to tag along. Rand certainly will help, pretty confident that he can fix just about anything – such is the responsibility of the Beater Services! Still, Cotsett reminds him that he's still a baby compared to his master, a somewhat mysterious figure whom neither Cotsett or Rand seem inclined to discuss with Kona. In any case, defeating the enemy's commander has probably bought a little time, though everyone expects the commander to come back bearing a grudge. Of course, if that happens, Rand tells them that THE HEAT’s blazing attacks will take care of everything. Everyone prepares to leave and Cotsett calls Fatman over to guard the place.  Fatman doesn’t get to guard for long, as a hidden Yassaba knocks him out. He’s come in here to make sure Adette’s mission is a success.  At Yapan Ceiling’s high school, Garrod explains to the other kids how he came to Zora - a dimensional warp of some kind – and he’s been tagging along with Gain as a way to get back home. The good news is that the city is headed East, towards Yapan, and there ought to be a way back to Ameria from there. Chil asks Mel if she knows anything about this Yapan place. Mel says it’s an island off the East coast of the Galian continent and, before the Cataclysm, it was a place where the wealthy drove in mechanical giants and fought dragons, tigers, bears, sloths, spiny echidnas, and drat near everything else too. In any event, absent air travel, the trip to Yapan over land is going to take a long time, even without Siberian Rail interference.  Ana is very impressed at her insight and Mel says that she knows this because of the careful notes she's kept from all the places, people and mechs she's seen or heard about. Once again, Ana’s impressed that someone as young as her is already so impressive. On that subject, Mel slowly asks how old Ana think she is and Ana believes it’d be around her age – maybe one or two years older? Mel bristles at this but Bello thinks it’s not a bad thing, as going on a big trip like this at a young age means they can still be taken care of by the grown-ups. “I don’t want to be treated like a child! I’m 16 years old!" Mel yells. This certainly surprises everyone, who expected her to be, at most, 13. Mel says it’s no big deal as she’s used to the reaction but everyone apologizes nonetheless. She continues her story, saying that most of her time with Rand has been spent looking for clues as to where her father has gone. He was Rand's master and former leader of the Beater Services, and so far they’ve found nothing. Ana starts feeling sorry for her but Mel tells her not to as, regardless of her search, she lives each day very happily.  Back to Garrod, Burume asks if he’s sure about this since a trip back to America would certainly be tougher than most. Garrod understands that as, even if the Exodus reaches its destination, it’ll still be a long way to Ameria. Sara invites him to live in Yapan once the Exodus is finished but he politely refuses as there's a certain girl he wants to see again and he won’t stop until he does so. Inwardly, Gainer sees that everyone has a reason for making this journey and wonders what Gain's reason is. Before everyone splits up, Bello recommends they all swing by a certain fortune telling section of town since he figures one of them may provide a clue to Mel and Garrod’s issues. Burume agrees readily – anything to get out of staring at Cotsett’s grimace and Rand’s sweltering grin – and everyone else follows suit. Location: Siberian Railroad Station  The Siberian Rail officers let Hola in on Yassaba's little stunt. They all know how much their commander hates losing, and Jaboli figures Yassaba is trying to impress Adette. Kejinan would be just as happy if the commander never returned, in which case the job would fall to him instead. Hola is ready to report that as insurrection, but Kejinan says he’s got a plan and asks Hola to listen before making a decision. He wonders what Hola came here to obtain: money? Influence? Power? If he cooperates and Kejinan becomes the new captain of the guard, he would be very well rewarded…of course, that tickles Hola’s fancy and he agrees to hear him out. Jaboli is a bit hesitant if things will go as smoothly as planned but Kejinan tells her to shush, already envisioning himself as captain  Inside the city of Yapan’s ceiling, the only fortune teller without a line is Eifa, a young girl whose body bears the signs of some very harsh treatment. Garrod gets the ball rolling, and asks her to foretell if he'll be able to return to Tifa. As Eifa asks for his date and time of birth and preps her vision, Gainer asks about Tifa. Garrod tells him that not only is Tifa super-cute, but she's got the kind of eyes that would make anyone want to protect her... “You know what I mean, right, Gainer?” Garrod concludes. Gainer nods while quickly saying it’s nothing when Sara draws too close. The fortune comes back thus: "The person awaited shall come somewhere unforeseen" - Garrod will indeed see Tifa again, in some fashion he doesn't expect. Unfortunately, the forecast also calls for dark clouds at their destination: dangerous tidings for his and Tifa's futures. Still, that's good enough for Garrod, who's sure that he and Tifa together can overcome any conceivable danger.  Gainer can't understand Garrod's seemingly baseless confidence and unending optimism, and Jiron offers him one pearl of Zoran wisdom: if you don't know how something will turn out, why not try assuming the best? Gainer gets what Jiron’s trying to say but doesn’t think things are as simple as that. Mel is next up to bat, asking after the whereabouts of her father - Cielo Beater – but to do that, Eifa needs to know some information of the person so she can attune. Mel says that not only was he the true leader of the Beater Service, he was also the Gunleon's original pilot. He went missing some four years ago, while they were traveling from place to place looking for jobs, when space began to distort right where they were. From Mel's description, it sounds like he was caught in the same type of warp that Garrod was but she doesn’t know. When she came to, he wasn’t in Gunleon’s cockpit anymore and she’s been searching for him, with Rand, ever since. That’s also why she keeps that memory notebook, as a way to gather information on anything that could also lead to a clue about what happened to her father and why they were so interested in Garrod’s warp.  Eifa has to apologize for how the fortune turns out: "The future is what you make for yourself". Ambiguous, and like Jiron, Mel prefers to assume that she and her "darling" can do whatever it takes to find her father. Just then, everyone realizes that Ana and her three pets are missing. Considering her importance to this whole thing, the group quickly runs off to find her ASAP. Turns out that’s was mistake, as Eifa had a prediction as to where she might be…  Ana has been snatched by Adette, who's come to return the girl to her father. After all, so long as there's a hostage on the scene, the Railroad can't mount an all-out attack. She says Ana’s Exodus is over and won’t take any back-talk from the girl.  Just then help comes from an unexpected source: Lioubov! Ana is very surprised to see that she also came to Yapan’s Ceiling but she’s been frantically searching for Ana ever since her “kidnapping”. It’s her job to take care of the princess and, no matter where she goes, she will watch over her! Adette isn’t about to have this babysitter get in her way but What Adette wants to know first, though, is how they knew they’d find her here and it turns out they’ve been following Ana ever since they found Fatman knocked out. That’s the first Adette’s heard of this, though, as she wasn’t anywhere near the hangar. Regardless, things aren’t looking good for her.  : …Kill me!: What, you're ready to go that far now that your escape's cut off?!: Well, hey, how about, instead of dying, you become the mother of my children? : Oh, my! : Is this really the time to be saying that?!: Men always think like that.: We do. : ! : What does that mean? : Simple-minded men…: We’re just honest about what we want.  In any case, before Adette can get escorted anywhere, Yassaba runs to the rescue. Adette thanks him for being as strong as she expected and runs off. Gain yells for Rand to take Ana somewhere safe while he handles this goon, and lest Yassaba think he can somehow overpower Gain, Jiron and friends run up to help – just as capable of fighting on foot against a Siberian Rail soldier. With that, everyone jumps Yassaba in hopes of capturing him and his only choice is to run off. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Dec 29, 2013 21:25
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Randomzx posted:I tend to prefer giving all my pilots the 'morale gain on (destroyed)' [especially important for the hardest difficulty since morale gain is much harder to obtain normally]. Not all pilots could have a chance to dance with the enemy units (especially in squads) and they are often on opposites sides of the map especially in the later stages. It makes sure all pilots gain morale no matter where they are. And since the number of enemies on the maps are constantly increasing with each stage especially with the squad system, you'll basically reach max morale for everybody very easily. Well, all units still get 1 morale for every enemy squad that's killed, regardless of having the skill or not. I'll concede that Morale+ Destroy works if you plan on using a unit that's going to hang back until it's time to hit the boss but, personally, there's only one unit that I would consider using in such a way - and it's not a Super. For Supers, especially ones that have someone who knows Iron Wall, I'd rather get morale+ damage as I very often send them into the fray to hunt mooks and/or trip their Prevail a bit. Aside from that, morale+ destroy COULD help the squaddies' morale but, again, there are only a handful of units that I'd keep as a squaddie and still care about their morale - I prefer to give priority to other skills in that case.
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Dec 30, 2013 15:27
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Daler Mehndi posted:
Jamaican, it seems your face is slowly collapsing into a black hole...  veekie posted:Though really, in any Gundam, all the major factions are backed by assholes anyway. There just isn't a right side to choose. The side that has Bright is always the right side! And, in the SEED universe, it's the side that has Lowe and Gai Murakumo (and they aren't even present in the Z universe...sumbitch...).
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Dec 31, 2013 21:13
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 Mission 4 (Rand) – One’s Own Journey, One’s Own Circumstances  Outside, Rand has called everyone else to deploy and, when questioned by Gauli if he’s sure the enemy’s coming, Rand says it’s what his “instinct” telling him. Gainer offers a more concrete explanation: Yassaba's infiltration must mean the rest of his force will show up to finish the job amidst the confusion. Rand says Gainer took the words out of his mouth and, inwardly, Sara can't tell if Rand is brilliant or a complete moron.   The enemy soon arrives, comprised of the same Siberian and Breaker forces as before. Gauli, Sara and Bello are going to be fighting as a squad from here on out and, in case Bello forgot, Gauli offers a chance to see a tutorial on it (which I’ll skip and explain later). Regardless, Jiron and the others won’t be helping for now while they’re dealing with Yassaba – it’s up to us to hold the fort. Hola is on board with Kejinan’s plan and reminds Geraba that, if they win today, they’ll be very well rewarded by the new captain of the guard. Geraba agrees, calling Hola “bro” again, and Hola can’t even chew him on it since his landship was too trashed to be salvaged (ergo, he’s no longer able to call himself captain). At least this battle is his big chance at a brand new start in life. 
 Only a bunch of Breakers ahead of us – Hola and Geraba are hanging back in those trios of units down south. This is the point where the game starts trying to blindside you with its skill points – keeping them hidden for a while but still having a tight-ish timer for you to meet; so, I’ll just give a warning: this mission needs to end by the start of turn 5 or you’ll lose this point. Before anything, though, a tutorial!  Now that we have our first squad, the Formation option shows up in their menu.  In that menu, there are three formations you can have your squad assume (you can also switch it before attacking but only if it’s the player’s turn). Each one has something they excel in, so let’s take a look. In order, they are:
  I’ll have Garrod draw first blood but, sadly, he can only use his Vulcans and Dividers from that range and I’d rather not waste a lot of EN right at the start.  We’ll leave the kill to someone else; for now, Gainer guns for the other Trad.      These ones are made of sturdier stuff than most (they’re better than ours!!) but they’re still Trads.  There are no enemy squads on this mission and the bosses are far away, so I’ll be using Center Formation for now. : Sara, Bello! The key to fighting in formation is for all three people to act as one!: Got it, Captain! We’ll show the Siberian Rail just what the Gauli Squad can do!: Alright! I’m all pumped up!: Gauli Squad - CHARGE! : Yeah!      Gauli didn’t even need to attack.   Finally, Rand tosses a wrench and blows up the other Trad.  Enemy Phase!    Pretty much everything outside of Geraba, Hola and his two Promeus attack Gainer and eat a critical hit in the counterattack (the Skill stat boosts the pilot’s crit ratio and Gainer has all that video-gaming skill). Of course, these are the tougher Walker Machines so they all survive –we’re making good time on the skill point, though.  Player Phase!  This here Dagger is the only one that didn’t attack, so Rand will have words with him.         That had a 90% chance to hit, FYI. Rand is so lucky…    Garrod cuts one of the Capricos to ribbons and, following that, Gainer moves forward and finishes Rand’s job.  Geraba’s ALL attack had a nice hit % against Sara and Bello, so I had them switch to Wide Formation.        Seeing all units pull evasive maneuvers together is pretty cool.  Enemy Phase!   The weakened Caprico goes after Gauli and pays for it.  Rand is starting to wonder where Gain is. If this fight lasts much longer, things could turn sour…  Inside the Iron Gear, Eifa of all people has rescued the fleeing Yassaba and helped him get to the hangar, where he plans on stealing a mech to make his getaway. Yassaba apologizes for needing her help to get over here and wonders if she’ll be fine, hiding someone like him – a soldier of the Siberian Rail who’s trying to stop the Exodus. Eifa sees him as a fundamentally good person, though, noting that those who let themselves be led are far worse than the leader. When he finds out that she's a fortune teller (though, in her words, not a very good one), he asks her to tell his fortune. Of course, to do that she needs information and asks for his birthday and, normally, that piece of info would be top secret but he makes an exception here and whispers it to her, though he tells Eifa to ask his mother if she needs the exact time of his birth. He was only raised by his mother as, from what he heard, his father had joined an Exodus long before he was born. Yassaba figures his whole situation is laughable - he, a commander of the Siberian Rail was abandoned by his father who wanted to go on an Exodus – which is why he can’t forgive anyone who wants to follow the same path.  As for Eifa's parents, they both died long ago, and her current boss is given to beating her for her poor earnings as a fortune-teller. Yassaba would love to teach that boss a lesson or several, but Eifa has no other way to stay as part of the Exodus. Her biggest wish is to return to the Indus valley, where her distant ancestors dwelt, and after some thought Yassaba says he'll take care of everything. Gain, lurking in the shadows, heard it all and isn't buying it, though; he orders Yassaba to hand over the kid peacefully and he won’t be killed.  Jiron is also present and is very angry that a Siberian soldier would sink as low as to take a child hostage. Yassaba tries to explain but a Photon Mat noise is heard nearby, indicating that Overman has entered the Iron Gear and this gives Yassaba a chance to escape. Eifa shouts his fortune after him: "The path will open amidst an impasse”. Yassaba tells Eifa to come with him and he'll take her to Indus or wherever she wants, which she does. Chil and Rag don’t understand why the kid willingly went with him and Gain leads the others in hot pursuit.   The Iron Gear joins everyone on the field and, when asked by Rand, Elchi says Gain, Jiron and the others should already have taken care of the Siberian commander. However, Cotsett informs that there seems to be a bit of a mess going on in the hangar…   That’d be because the Rushrod has just left the place, surprising Sara to see a Siberian Rail mech inside it. Gauli realizes that they took advantage of our battle against the Breakers to get Yassaba out of there.   Gain and the others are following but Yassaba is already being taken away, with Kejinan controlling the Rushrod. However, Kejinan isn’t about to just let things go back to normal – he figures it’d be very simple for Yassaba to have been killed in a failed infiltration. Once he brings back his corpse, both the position of commander and Rushrod will be his! Yassaba asks him to wait as he always carries a lot of money with him and he can give him it all – enough to even buy an entire house. Furthermore, he promises to never show up again if he lets him and the girl leave in peace.  That works for Kejinan, who opens the cockpit and orders Yassaba to toss the money inside. It’s a whole lot of cash, all to cover random expenses during missions. However, during his drooling, Yassaba throws the money in the air and Kejinan, in panic, starts jumping all over the place to grab whatever he can.   He’s interrupted, though, when Rag, Burume and Dyke notice that “the Overman is giving out money” and drop-kick Kejinan away from their bounty. That’s all the opening Yassaba needs and he seizes control of his Overman back. Kejinan mopes at the loss of “his” Overman, prompting Yassaba to order him to remember who it actually belongs to – Overmen can only be used by strong men!   The remaining Siberian troops soon arrive and notice that Kejinan’s little coup didn’t work. Yassaba is just about ready to kill Kejinan for his betrayal but he accuses Hola of being the mastermind behind the whole thing. Hola says it was Kejinan who told him to keep us busy while he killed Yassaba. Yassaba tells them both to shut up and fight as if their lives depended on it – because it does. : I don’t get what's going on but it looks like everyone’s here now…!: Both sides are throwing everything they have at this, eh…?: That’s right! Dreadlocked Overman, Black Southern Cross, Gundam, The Crusher, Gauli Squad and Breakers! I’ll take on every single one of you!! : Mister…: Close your eyes for a bit, missy. It’ll be over soon.: Y-yes…: I’ll do this…! I will!! I’ll defeat anyone who gets in my way and prove my strength!!: My path will open amidst this impasse!!: Well, if you're looking for a fight, you got one!: Siberian Railroad…! Let’s end this! Here’s the skill point: destroy everything then destroy Yassaba by the start of turn 5.   It’s still the enemy’s phase and the other weakened Dagger also gets wrecked once he attacks Gauli.  One of Hola’s Promeus tries sniping at Gainer but he can, at least, fire back from that range.      Not very powerful but any damage helps.    The second Promeus is forced to come closer to Gainer before attacking, so he takes a bit more damage. Amazingly, he gets a 17% hit to stick but, after considering the Walker Machines’ weakness against airborne enemies and having part of the damage blocked by the Photon Mat barrier, the overall damage is almost nothing.  Here goes Geraba… : The Crusher! You’ll be the one that gets crushed today!!: You always try to piss me off but that ends here…! Open up those ears and listen!: My name is THE HEAT! If you don’t get that, I’m gonna turn you into scrap!: Shut up! It’s because of stuff like that why you’re called The Crusher!       Daaaamn, Rand! I guess we know where Doc’s RNG luck went.    Sadly, Rand’s lucky streak ends with Hola but he strikes a nice hit in return.  The newly-arrived Siberian troops start moving in.        loving 60 HP left…the next Dogozzo that attacked him also survived with 48.    Enge gets some decent numbers but misses – Garrod doesn’t want him feeling bad and mucks up an 82% hit…  As expected, Yassaba goes straight after Gainer who doesn’t have Focus cast. So, I figure it’s safer just to have him dodge. : Dreadlocked Overman! Defeating you will prove my strength!: That’s your motive? I'm not just a stepping stone for you!: Silence! The Exodus people and you vermin who got in my way, all of you will fall by my hand!!    Gonna have to do better than that, Yassaba. Player Phase!   The Iron Gear isn’t in range to do anything but Gain is just close enough to take a (weak) shot.  Rag, Burume and Dyke have also been set as a squad; I set them on Center Formation and send them right after Jaboli.         Once again, the Trad’s suckiness stops us from getting a kill.   It falls on Jiron to finish the job.  Jaboli isn’t willing to die in the middle of the Siberian boondocks and quickly ejects. Sara says everyone here feels the same, which is why they’re doing this Exodus. Gain tells her to stop, though, saying that, to the Siberian Rail, the people of the domes are merely there to work and give them money.  Garrod should be able to take out Geraba from over here. : You! The Gundam brat! I’ll be taking that unit today!: There’s no point in fighting me and my GX with that half-baked attitude!: As that fortune-teller said, I’ll be seeing Tifa again! No way I'm losing here!   Bye.  Geraba can only complain that, even after coming to Siberia, this is still how things play out for them. Garrod is a bit surprised that the “old man” was crying for a second there and Rand feels sorry for him – unlike Zora, crying like that in here is a sure-fire way to turn your runny nose into an icicle!      The Gauli squad switches back to Center and gangs up on one of the Promeus. Unfortunately, they’re still crummy Panthers and leave the target barely alive – he promptly smacks Gauli with a crit.   I figured this would be a good moment to show Rand’s repair function. Just stand next to the unit and it gets healed by a pretty decent amount (it can also be self-used, if needed).    Gainer softens Hola up a wee bit more and he should be killed when he attacks. Enemy Phase!   The farthest Promeus tries tagging Gauli but, outside of Hola’s command aura, his numbers don’t even get close. As for the other, Gauli gets his revenge on him.  This has the added effect of getting Gainer’s OverSkill running.   Hmmm, Hola decided to snipe his nemesis. The numbers aren’t the best but, hopefully, Rand’s luck has rubbed off on his buddies.        Yeah!  All Hola can do before exploding is resorting to the old bad guy standard of promising to come back and get revenge. If anything, Elchi is impressed that he always sticks around until the last second to deliver that speech. Makes sense to Jiron, seeing how Hola’s lost so many times that he’s sort-of become a master at this sort of thing.  Two of the Siberian mooks have decided to attack the Iron Gear but those Accuracy upgrades will come through.      Two kills for Elchi!  King Gainer is attacked by the last full health mook and I forgot to take a look at what attack he was using.         Oh, well. We’ll just have to end this before EN becomes a concern!    Jiron’s Prevail is boosting evasion a bit, allowing him to escape Enge’s attack.  Kejinan is gunning for Rag and, just in case, I have Dyke ready a support defend (looking back, this was a dangerous move as we lose if ANYONE gets wrecked and there are some people with ALL attacks on the field).        It’s not necessary, though, as Rag dodges and his Kejinan back nicely.    Yassaba wastes his move by going, again, after Gainer. Player Phase!  I reckon this’ll be a good chance to show off a TRI attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pLKnfmX-cE That’s as strong as you’ll get when dealing with Panthers; also, because they’re an actual squad, the Gauli Squad has a unique TRI attack. There are only a handful of other unique teams like this.   Gainer takes away what’s left of Enge’s HP.  He cries out to Yassaba, saying that he was fooled by Kejinan’s words and begs him not to demote him as punishment. Kejinan gets pissed at Enge selling him out like that and knows that he needs to bring a victory if he wants to keep his life.  Let’s do something about that – the Iron Gear has enough morale to Goomba stomp the poo poo out of him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyuhhsJZSsc “HAHAHA! This is an anime!”  Kejinan knows that, even if he ejects, Yassaba’s going to kill him anyway. He figures his only chance is if Yassaba never comes back and begs Yapan’s folk to take him out.  Yassaba’s Bellows are ALL targeting and I really don’t want to fail the mission because a Trad got wrecked. So, I have Rag switch to Wide Formation and get to work.  : We're dealing with a commander of the Siberian Rail here! I reckon taking him out'll give us a nice bonus!!: Argh! drat these greedy hicks!: And what’s wrong with that?! We fight for money…and for our lives!: Someone from the Siberian Rail, who only thinks about stealing other people’s money, has no right to say jack!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U_lofiSRgI I reckon I’ll show this attack off just to cover my bases.  Gain’s “Brunhilde’s Arm” attack isn’t the best against aerial enemies but he doesn’t have enough morale to snipe. : It seems things are quite different now, Yassaba Jin.: Black Southern Cross! You overheard my talk with her?!: …Still, I can’t offer any mercy. As a contractor, I must have this Exodus succeed!: I won’t let you! My spirit and my pride are on the line!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-c_leXGbdo Even if the damage is poo poo, the attack looks cool when used against aerial enemies!   We still need to take out one last Siberian mook before finishing off Yassaba and the job falls on Garrod.  Now, go get ‘im, Jiron! : Outta my way, Breaker! If you don’t, I’ll just smash you up!!: No way! I won’t let you walk by just like that!!: drat it, how much did they pay you?! It’s not worth throwing your life for some money!: Sure…I was hired to fight you.: But I really don’t feel like turning a blind eye to the Siberian Rail's shenanigans! That’s why I’m fighting with all I’ve got!: In that case, I won’t go easy on you! You’d best not regret this later, Breaker!! : UOOOOOH! I'm going on an Exodus too!         Jiron took a bit more damage than expected but we’re good.  Time to fix the poo poo out of this Overman!        “AAAADEEEETTE! DON’T LOOOOOOOOOOK…!”  Yassaba drops an Anti-Dust Module (防塵装置) – this is our first terrain adapter and it’ll give a rating of S to the equipped unit in the specified terrain (this one is for Ground).  Rand gains a level and learns Iron Wall(鉄壁) which reduces, for an entire turn, all incoming damage to 1/4th.   The Rushrod can’t fight any longer and, with the leader defeated, our victory is now secured. Yassaba, however, refuses to admit his weakness and wants to continue fighting. Eifa asks if he can’t stop time and Yassaba, now tearing up, says he’ll stop this entire reality! She pleads with him to stop and go home, but he no longer has anywhere to go home to. In that case, it should be fine for him to come on an Exodus with her, no? Indus has these really huge rivers, with bathing elephants and rhinos. Her hometown should also be there. Yassaba seems taken with the idea and starts moving his shambling Overman out of the battlefield…  His continued movement takes Elchi by surprise and Burume wants to finish him off when Gain stops them, saying that he still has that “hostage” aboard – plus, he no longer has the strength to be a threat to us.   Yassaba and Eifa leave, and Rand wonders if that wasn’t a bit naïve of Gain – which Gain admits may have been the case. Gainer asks if he let them escape on purpose and Gain says he didn’t have the heart to make that little girl cry – Gainer doesn’t understand it, though. Rand says they weren’t on the enemy’s side anymore but that still doesn’t satisfy the kid. Regardless, the battle is won and, once again, Sara calls for “three cheers” to celebrate but Gainer is too deep in thought to be able to join in.  Back inside the Iron Gear, Sara notices Gainer’s conundrum – still unable to understand Gain’s actions. He knows Yassaba had a hostage but wonders why Gain didn’t try to get her back. Burume points out that it seemed like the girl was going with Yassaba on her own free will. Jiron wonders if Gainer thinks Yassaba is really deserving of death but he says that’s not what he meant, and asks why Jiron’s taking the side of the Siberian Rail soldier. Jiron says that, while he DOES have a problem with the way the Siberian Rail does things, he does not have a problem with Yassaba himself. He knew Yassaba was an enemy of anyone who tried to do an Exodus but, after hearing what he went through in life, he couldn’t bring himself to hate him. Sara asks if he sympathized with Yassaba’s upbringing but that’s not it – he just thought that, in a way, Yassaba wasn’t so different from us. Besides, the fight was already over so there was no reason to kill him.  Gainer is STILL unconvinced, though Rag figures, since it’s Jiron doing the explanation, he shouldn’t even try to understand. The other Sandrats recommend that Gainer not try to filter everything in life through some sort of rationalization and try to relax. The discussion is interrupted when Cotsett orders them out of the hangar so he can start fixing their machines – Rand offers to help in order to offset the number of units he helped wreck today. Jiron is also leaving, saying his head starts feeling heavy when he starts thinking so much.  Gainer mumbles about how Jiron talks like things are so simple and Mamadou muses about how tough the Sandrats are. Rand says that the force of will behind the decisions they make, either through reason or through emotion, is their greatest asset. He explains that that's how that crew lived through the fall of the Innocent, which all started from Jiron breaking the Three Day Rule. At the time, a breach of Innocent law was unthinkable... but Jiron had parents to avenge, and the more people came in contact with him, the more people realized that the Innocents' rules were totally meaningless. The crusade to topple the Innocent might have claimed Jiron as its figurehead, but he certainly didn't start it deliberately. What Jiron did do over the course of the crusade was learn how to think certain things through, and Gainer asks if Rand also believes Yassaba should have been let off.  Rand offers this: "hate the sin, not the sinner". This vague answer makes Gainer sigh, figuring it was a mistake to ask him. Mamadou chips in that Yassaba is basically a victim of the Exodus system, which in its turn claims human lives. Lives like Charles – that is, Gain's - own parents...  Rand has heard the story and goes looking for Gain, aka Charles Felibe, scion of the Felibe duchy in Domepolis Ubbs. Said Dome tried and failed to do an Exodus, and this is how the first son ended up: an Exodus contractor. Rand says Mamadou told them the whole story as a way to explain to Gainer why Yassaba was allowed to live. Gain isn't surprised Gainer isn't satisfied with the explanations he's been given, though, and notes that both he and Rand are on journeys forced by someone else. But hey, live as long as they have, and you're bound to have a scar or two.  Neither is sure if Yassaba can actually pull of Exodus, but they're willing to lift a glass or two in honor of the attempt. This may be their only chance to go get genuinely drunk as adults, and not worry about looking after the kids...  Elsewhere in Siberia, Yassaba and Eifa are well under way though Rushrod’s cockpit hatch has been completely busted. Eifa is fine with it, though, thinking it’s best the enjoy the cold climate while it lasts – Indus’ summer is certainly warmer than this. Yassaba is committed to getting to their destination (preferably, before going numb). Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Jan 1, 2014 15:22
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Edit: Thanks.
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jan 1, 2014 |
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Jan 1, 2014 22:49
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Blaze Dragon posted:Brunom, I just want to tell you that your explanation of the TRI system actually taught me stuff I did not know (like that the leader's barrier could spread around the others, or that Support Defend only worked in a single formation), so I thank you. I love this game, yet I see I've still got stuff to learn! I confess that I never cared for the EVAs but adding an AT-Field to Gaogaigar, Mazinkaiser and Ideon was always lovely. Back on the King Gainer topic, Banpresto actually changed a whole lot of Yassaba's events in Yapan's Ceiling from the original source: in it, Yassaba was actually captured, escaped after duping Gainer, was on the run from all the Exodus population (who recognized his uniform and started mobbing him) and, after the bits with Eifa, was rescued by Kejinan in a new Overman (which we'll see later). Having him just charge inside the Iron Gear just to impress Adette is right up his alley, though. Onmi posted:I like the explanation of the Tri-System because I've been trying to explain it to people when I pitch it for Fire Emblem but could never put it into words. You can't throw boxes and wrenches at people in Fire Emblem - that's all the reason they should need! Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 16:51
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I've no issue with Grendizer but I find it very hard to take Emperor Vega seriously when his King of Vega battleship looks like a giant beer keg with a tiny umbrella on top... I've also been told that the Vegan mooks do a small Gaogaigar reference in their lines, saying something akin to "Courage won't avail you" or whatever; I'll keep an eye out once Rand starts running into the buggers!
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Jan 4, 2014 03:03
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vibratingsheep posted:Have you ever heard the whole story behind that mook? It's kind of amazing. I'm afraid I haven't - do tell!
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Jan 4, 2014 03:12
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Look at all you people, growing up with dubbed Mazinger, Grendizer and whatnot...didn't have any of that in '90s Brazil, ya know! I had to make do with Gundam Wing and Megas XLR because, at the time, both local and cable channels were all about DBZ, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu-yu Hakusho, Saint Seiya and the like (I did watch those religiously, though, so what can I say...) - I DIDN'T EVEN HAVE G GUNDAM ON MY TOONAMI! It took the release of the GBA OG games to pique my interest in mecha.
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Jan 4, 2014 16:48
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Blaze Dragon posted:This LP made me play through SRWZ again, and...I've totally forgotten what Setsuko could use. I gave her Attack Again and E Save, and now I have her with ~2000 PP there, waiting to learn stuff. Can anyone help me out? Morale Limit Break is always good for an attacker, Morale+ Dodge, Predict, SP Up are also good filler skills for her or you can just pump her Skill stat up some to let her trigger Attack Again on everything. Also, PSA: Famitsu has reported that Z1 will be available to download via the japanese PSN at February 19th for 1500 Yen (around 15 dollars), so anyone will get a chance to play it if they make a quick JP account.
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Jan 7, 2014 17:13
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Dr Pepper posted:
Look at this motherfucker...he's one of the most ridiculously evil anime villains ever made and he's as jolly as they come. This son of a bitch gave me a lot of grief during my first playthrough...
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Jan 9, 2014 20:26
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AradoBalanga posted:up to and including the word "Gundam" I had to look it up after seeing this:
SEED and Destiny, as expected, actually took the acronyms ever farther by giving GUNDAM several different definitions depending on the OS inside the Gundam; to avoid spoiling future units, I'll just point out the ones that we've seen:
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Jan 9, 2014 23:00
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Welcome back, folks. In today’s intermission, with the feature enabled, we’ll focus on the workings of the Squad Menu.  Once you get in, the first thing you should notice is that “NEXT” sign up top – that’s the number of squads you’ll be allowed to deploy in the next mission; the limit for the next one is four, which means we have some management to do. Mind you, the first five slots are saved for event deployment(read: units that have plot in the next mission and need to be there), so we’ll start working on the first four blue squads. Once you select a squad slot, you’ll be taken to a list of your units and you simply select up to three to fill it out; I like to begin by selecting the leaders first and, then, working on the squaddies.  This is the set-up I’ll be going with:
Jiron and Gain are both strong enough to lead (at this point) and, being ground units, are free to split the Gauli squad members amongst each other (not using those Trads ever again); mind you, Rag and Sara both know accelerate, so it’s wise to spread them around to equally boost each squads movement range. Speaking of movement range, a squad’s range is calculated by the average of each unit’s movement rounded DOWN, which means that, despite Jiron and Rag’s movement of 6, the squad can only move 5 due to Bello’s Panther. To get around that, I’ll purchase a Booster at the Bazaar to bring his movement to 6.  Finally, pressing the Square Button over a squad opens up the squad menu; starting at the top-left and moving down, they are:
 Location: Siberia – Bachclone – Bridge  Lioubov is now officially part of the entourage, far from home and determined to stick with Ana through thick and thin. Gain, for one, extends her a warm welcome aboard and, having heard that she was also Ana’s tutor, asks if she couldn't convince her to help with something. She agrees promptly. Ana is surprised at how much Lioubov was blushing and Rand can only wonder what is Gain's secret for being so popular. Garrod figures there’s nothing Rand can do as, personality-wise, he’s just too different from Gain. Rand sighs at the prospect of having to stop being so THE HEAT in order to get a lady; Mel says she’s not complaining, though, as that means she’s the only one who can appreciate him. Too bad for her, Rand tells the precocious kid that she’s around 10 years short of his striking range. Mel complains that, even if she waited those 10 years, he would be an even bigger old man – Rand sighs, figuring she means he’s just a “regular” old man now. Gain would rather Rand kept this THE HEAT persona and cuts their bickering short by telling he’s got Lioubov to help the both of them out in searching for clues regarding Mel’s father.  Everyone gets together and the search will start in the Yapan Ceiling's library, focused on learning more about those mysterious dimensional phenomenon. It turns out that Medaiyu's collector's instincts included books, and some of his collection was actually part of the public library. Sara came along with everyone else and quickly whips a sleeping Rand into shape seeing how this is all to find his boss. If anything, Lioubov would appreciate if he could stop drooling over the books while napping.  Jiron gets a laugh out of the mighty THE HEAT being brought to his knees by a mere book but Gainer points out that he hasn’t seen Jiron reading anything. That’s because he has another job, though: putting his muscles to good use hauling books around for the others. This fits nicely Elchi, who has just finished reading a batch of books and asks for another. Garrod is impressed at how much she likes reading, to which she says it’s part of her greatest mission. Being the Iron Gear’s captain is simple a means to an end, while her actual duty is bringing culture back to Zora in every conceivable medium – song, dance, acting, even cooking. Lioubov is very impressed and Elchi says that, for her mission, she always takes the chance to learn something new. Jiron remembers that she got said mission from Arthur Rank, former leader of the Innocents, who explained so many things to them during the conflict.  Either way, a few possible clues turn up quickly: the whole Dorothy/tornado/Kansas plot doesn't wash, and neither does a certain story about exiting a tunnel into a snowy nation, with one's parents turned to pigs – just some kind of Yapanese fairy tale. Lioubov will need more details about the dimensional phenomenon to help narrow the search. Garrod can’t tell her much as, before he even knew what was going on, he was already warped away. Rand says it’s the same for him and the only thing they remember is hearing some sort of “ringing” noise. It sounds a bit strange but Mel says they can’t really put it any other way.  Coincidentally, everyone hears the same noise right then. Jiron wonders if there’s a problem with the speaker but Rand and Mel know what it is and have already left to check outside. Garrod tells the confused group that there’s no doubt about it. It’s the same sound as before, which means another warp is happening nearby! Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Jul 9, 2016 |
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Jan 10, 2014 17:01
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