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

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

The Combo/Tag system honestly does a lot to make the gameplay more fun since you have valid reasons to think about your attack order and such.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

KoB posted:

Can you/someone go into detail about that stuff for us feeble non-japanese readers? Worst part about new systems is that I have no idea what to do for weeks.

The combo system is fairly simple: Kill enemies and you build a combo which increases your damage and post-battle rewards. However any action you take without killing an enemy (including just moving units) lowers your combo by 1 instead.


Tag Tension is fairly straightfoward:
Killing enemies (and I believe leveling up) builds up a Tag Tension meter. You can spend this meter in five ways:

Activate Continuous Movement (no longer a skill)
Increase your PP for your next kill
Increase your Z-Chip gain for your next kill.
Restore your SP.
Activate a Maximum Break. (Increased damage, both pilots can attack at the same range, ignores barriers, uses the entire tension gauge.)

So the ideal way to do stages is to plan out long combo chains and then hit a boss character with either a Maximum Break or a Bonus PP/Bonus Z-Chip for maximum prizes.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Policenaut posted:

Okay, this sounds interesting. Can you explain why you put units into tag teams to begin with? I've never really liked tag team mechanics in SRPGs but I guess I'm going to have to in this game. Can you move one tag team and choose to have both units attack independently, like having two separate units in one icon, or all at once like a normal assist?

It's basically a partner system. You get two slots per deploy and there is absolutely no reason not to partner people up. You can choose to have both units attack the same target, both units attack separate targets, or just one unit attack (usually with an ALL attack.)

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Rascyc posted:

I guess! It's no continuous movement that's for sure. I just used it to get any skill points where the boss flees.

I pretty much use continuous movement or z-chip bonus (no good reason for this last one).

The thing that is easy to miss about Maximum Break is that it breaks all barriers and defensive bonuses, which makes it absolutely hilarious against, say, a certain early-game shithead who uses a Lambda Driver.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Rascyc posted:

Yeah I just ran into this and had a feeling it would do this.

I'm also starting to feel z-chip bonus is better used on grunts and pp-bonus is better used on bosses. The bosses don't seem to give much more z-chips.

Some of the z-chip items feel so far away, but I guess it makes sense considering some of them are straight up pilot skills it seems?

Yeah, but a lot of 'em have to be unlocked anyway. I've only got the first page completed so far.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Charles Get-Out posted:

So I found the PS3 version on the PSN after some searching and it seems to be listed as a Disc Only release. This is probably why people have had to back-track to it from the DLC entries. You can still purchase and download it from the PSN just fine, but I'm guessing someone somewhere forgot to switch the Disc/DL tag.

That's weird. When I got it it was just there. I didn't have to backtrack anything.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

I love that SRW puts me in the position to go "Amuro, you take Riddhe's Knockoff Zeta Gundam, Kamille, you get Amuro's Knockoff Zeta Gundam. Katz, you get Kamille's Knockoff Zeta Gundam. Riddhe, you get to keep your old Knockoff Zeta Gundam. I may change this when I get an actual Zeta Gundam."

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Jesus. Stage 14 is the stage where they give you ALL the candy.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

KoB posted:

Has anyone translated the D-Trader stuff yet?

A lot of it is locked so it has to be unlocked before it can even be translated.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Rascyc posted:

Well you can read the descriptions before the item name unlocks for some reason, at least I think you can from what I can recall

Maybe I missed it but it looked like it was the unlock requirements, not the item description. I'll check later when I'm at my system.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Rascyc posted:

There's an in game menu for this too. It looks like they're planning on releasing like 20 DLC missions or something insane like that.

The DLC missions appear to be already up. I got two free and neither is particularly impressive. They're basically gimmick missions where you get pre-defined units that can't power up/level up and fight easy enemies with a little plot. There's one that explains why Chirico was working with Mythril and such but they appear to be mostly there for some tiny extra plot + free items.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

In case anyone is curious, here are the D-items I've gotten so far beyond the basically free ones:

"Love can be used once a map" (Get over 2000 Z-Chips)

"At 130 morale, damage is boosted to 1.2 times." (get a MAX combo gauge)

"Gives equipped unit Repair/Resupply" (Get all three types of repair items)

"Sword Cut rate 100%, ignore successive damage adjustment" (Friendly unit below 20% HP)

This one I'm iffy on my translation of but: "HP Damage % divided by 3 added to attack damage." (Ace a single unit.)

"Attack Damage +300, ignore barriers and size" (Do over 15,000 damage with a single attack.)

"EN Restored at start of turn" (Kill five units with a single MAP)

"Bunshin, D-Fault and Jammer added to unit." (Custom-boost 5 units.)

Movement +4, ignore Terrain. (A pilot gets more than 500 PP)

I'd try to translate the names but I *always* get that poo poo wrong.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Rascyc posted:

Is Max combo gauge just the +5 level on combos?

Yes, it says "max" when you do it.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Someone on the staff really, really, really loving likes Kallen. Jesus, that Endless Waltz stage.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Brunom1 posted:

I heard that Suzune has something of a split personality (there was a picture with her speaking and her face was very different - with sort of a femme fatale grin).

I'm guessing she called for the outfit because shes starts manifesting when Suzune tags in as the sub-pilot).


That's from the DLC mission.

So I've unlocked basically all the D-Trader parts and they are loving ridiculous.

My Guren Seiten currently regenerates all its EN every turn, does 1.2x damage at 130 morale (in addition to Kallen's own 1.1 ace bonus) and gains x2 money, PP and Z-Chips once it hits 150 morale.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Man, some of the crossover stuff in this is fantastic, even for shows I dislike.

Jin manifesting his Element power in order to protect Shinji from the 7th Angel is really neat and not at all what I expected.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Pureauthor posted:

Remember when we learned Multi-Action was moved to needing to build up a gauge first we thought Banpresto was trying to balance the game?

Hahahahaha

Someone I know elsewhere got the game before I did and was talking about how restricting and unfair the new SP system was and when I got later in the game I'd see it. I don't know if we just play incredibly different ways or something but it couldn't be further from the truth.

That said it's still 'harder' than Z2 (faint praise as that is) and I imagine if you did no upgrade/no D-Trader runs it would be a legitimate challenge as opposed to Z2 letting you sleepwalk through even by default.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Samurai Sanders posted:

My god this game has some good new portraits.



Also there's a angry new portrait for Emma that I can't help but think came from the "what if Kamille had lost it from the beginning" series (nws as gently caress audio if you work with anyone who speaks Japanese)

There are a billion new portraits. There are multiple portraits just for "Shinji and Asuka lie in the dark and talk."

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007



The most hilarious Ace Bonus.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Lostconfused posted:

The best part is that the game straight up tells you to do that.

Yeah, that boss fight is basically a "do you know about Maximum Break? We're gonna make sure you do" tutorial, which is hilarious considering they give you another tutorial on it earlier and one of the earlier skill points is "Do a Maximum Break."

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

True suffering:

A three-way path split where each of your top three aces is going a different route.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

The rarity of Hot Blood/Soul in this is pretty odd although Maximum Break makes up for a lot of it. Asuka doesn't get either, although she's admittedly Rebuild Asuka and not classic flavor.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Endorph posted:

Does Kallen still get both? It was redundant gameplay-wise but it was pitch perfect characterization through gameplay.

I don't have her last spell yet so I'm not sure which she gets. So far I've got Kouji and Ryouma with Hot Blood and Shinn Asuka with Soul. (Which is 2.2 instead of 2.5 now.) She doesn't get both at least.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Kallen gets soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCBMvDQOH3g

The results are hilarious.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Infinity Gaia posted:

Man, you really like using Kallen, huh? Even with Soul and Maximum Break, to get that damage you'd need one or two of the D-Trader items, surely?

(Also, since it showed up in your video, I'll just mention that I really goddamn love that new Stoner Sunshine cut-in with the scribbly Ryouma.)

The only D-Trader item I have on her is the "restore EN at the start of a round" one which wouldn't actually impact the damage.

This was Lelouch Buff + Basara buff + Soul + Max COMBO + Maximum Break + Ace Bonus. It'd probably go higher if I used the D-Trader item that boosts damage but I mostly just wanted to see if I could oneshot that boss.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

I'd say Pacific Rim has a better chance of showing up than Mega XLR or whatever fan-popular thing exists. It came out in Japan, has a seiyuu cast, and was pretty well received. I don't think it's a good chance but it is more likely than a lot of things but still no that likely.

I don't know if they'd character portraits though.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Konami is apparently pretty unfriendly to the idea of crossovers. A big reason Gurren-Lagann took so long to come out is because Konami had the rights to game adaptations. So ZoE is unlikely.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Late-game Z3 spoiler

Wow, we actually got to fight Big Venus. And it went exactly like I expected!

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

ShiunTouya posted:


Are we talking about Mikono? :allears:

How does it feel to be objectively a bad person?

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Kanos posted:

EVOL spoilers ahead. MIX hates men because of issues stemming from her father basically abandoning their family. Andy is initially attracted to her due to her having enormous anime breasts. She initially rejects him due to her issues, but through a surprisingly decent series of interactions for two side characters in an anime they grow close. MIX gets kidnapped by the bad dudes and taken to their planet, so the Aquarion dudes mount a rescue mission and find out that she's lost her memories and due to whatever the gently caress is wrong with Bad Guy Planet she's also turned into a guy. When Andy finds this out he has a brief moment of Gay Panic about "Oh god if she's a guy now and I'm still crushing what does that make me" before coming to terms with this and deciding that he loves MIX for who they are regardless of their gender. The two of them even combine and help Amata for the final battle with MIX still as a guy. The post-series "one month later" shot shows her having changed back into her female body over time, but it's really rather touching that they would have him decide "I'm going to love you for who you are" rather than "I'm going to find a way to restore your titties so I can go back to loving you".

As for her name, Blame Anime.


Looks like it, except Kei from Orguss. When people see something that reminds them of the way the world used to be they seem to get headaches.

To add to the name thing She's named MIX so that when she turns into a guy they can call her MIXY instead. See, get it. Because X-Y.

drrockso20 posted:

Well at least we have justification for Char going CCA on us, his memory's been screwed with and thus doesn't remember the Black History stuff from Z1 that was supposed to be keeping him from doing this kind of thing

That isn't really what happens from what I understood. The CCA attack plays out in a very specific way. A way involving the explanation for when the Gundam SEED Destiny cast went and an attempt to create the Axis Shock artificially in order to break the ZONE singularity.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

God drat. Stage 60 is pure loving amazing.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

So an interesting thing about NG+
You get to select specific items to carry over, up to 5. This does not include Emblems.

ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Apr 15, 2014

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Policenaut posted:

So it's not like Z2's percentages? What can you carry over?

You carry over 50% (75% and 100% on successive playthroughs) of cash/PP and any five items including D-Trader items but excluding Emblem items.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVvNLfJ5eJw

I also recorded the Z3.2 trailer if anyone wants to see it. Spoilers, obv.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Hellioning posted:

Given I don't speak Japanese, the only thing I got out of that trailer was 'oh, cool, Xine is still alive.'

Eva's plot is continuing, hints that Aquarion Classic returns, the FMP plot appears to be going on to the novels, SEED is apparently doing some kind of post-series plot, Unicorn is moving on to later episodes.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

The FMP animations are a little meh to be honest and so are the EW animations.

However the animations that are on are loving on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxU9xG5jSyQ

loving on. (spoilers for last stage in video.)

Ethiser posted:

What do you mean by this? Z2.1 was 50 stages long.

Z2.1 felt like the first half of a lot of stuff. To me Z3.1 feels like a full game that could stand on its own if not for the last Epilogue stage which clearly sets up Z3.2. Maybe other people will feel differently but it feels more complete to me. YMMV.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Rascyc posted:

The best is the megathread on gamefaqs of people complaining about the load times and the 2d map instead of a 3d map, hehe

Load times? What?

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Brunom1 posted:

As much as I'd love to have Crossbone Gundam again, I heard some people saying that Camille and others were headed to Shangri-La in order to fix their MS after the end of Z3.1, which would point towards ZZ.

Is it legit or were people just posting bullshit?

That was complete bullshit unless I missed something. Nobody is going anywhere to repair in the ending.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

BlitzBlast posted:

God drat it. :negative:

It's entirely possible I missed something but the ending of the game is a CG cutscene of space-time cracking and the second Earth appearing. There's nothing afterwards until the post-credit scene where nobody from Zeta appears at all.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Kanos posted:

It's both. Aquarion is at its heart about a love triangle between a gay angel, a bisexual angel, and a straight human woman, after all.

You mean a heterosexual dog, right?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Levantine posted:

ImpAtom - would you be willing to share your clear data save, either here or on GameFAQs?

Sure, I can upload it pretty quick somewhere or another.

  • Locked thread