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Infinity Gaia posted:Man at this point in the game you don't even have a reason to keep Kyosuke in the Alteisen. Just toss Katina in that thing. It's red, it has a weapon that benefits from assail, it's reasonably tanky for this part of the game, it's great. Must terminate all Barrelions with extreme prejudice. Which is why i must have perfect efficiency. And while it may not be the hardest game of its type some battle masteries on hard are absolute dicks to get.
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Nov 13, 2014 03:56
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Ryusei Route, Mission 14 I don't actually consider the coming mission very hard, but it's still one of my least favorite in the game. Those who played the original no doubt know why, but on top of that the game managed to outdo itself on this particular playthrough. Oh, well. Let's get this out of the way.  Knowing what's on its way, I hop into the skills screen and pick up Revenge for Latooni. Since her main strength is being able to stand in a huge crowd of enemies and fire back without getting hit, an extra 20% damage will just make her that much better at it. I buy it for Daitetsu too, because if you go after my carrier I expect you to earn it.  I also give Latooni my second shotgun (Ingram has the first) and drop a few bucks on upgrading it. I think we're now as ready as we're going to get.   Tenzan wants to know why the Divine Crusaders are dragging their feet going after the Hagane. This goes over about as well with Adler as you'd expect, given that the last time we saw Tenzan he was abandoning Wake Island to be overrun by said ship. Things would all be different if only he had a (twitch) Barrelion, Tenzan claims. Adler says he'd do well to remember who brought him into the DCs; Tenzan doesn't remember asking to join up. At once the old man offers to let him take a Barrelion, provided that he goes out to attack the Hagane immediately. Bian wants the ship under their control, just as the third model is... but if Tenzan can't capture it, he'll just have to shoot it down. Tenzan is too excited by the prospect of a new mech to wonder why the vice-commander had a sudden about-face, and frolics off to battle.  The original version has Adler telling him that they're forbidden to go after the Hagane, which leads to Tenzan saying "gee, it's almost like the Commander wants them to get here."  Egret comes by; he's had his first look at Tenzan, but evidently wasn't expecting him to be just a kid. Adler is quick to point out that his perception, reactions, and aptitude are quite advanced - though Egret is equally quick to say that you wouldn't know it to look at Tenzan's battle performance.  Adler says that you have to keep in mind that he's received no enhancements or even proper train, which does at least seem to get Egret's attention.   Tenzan can master any mech in no time at all - and, Adler adds pointedly, he doesn't have to be an android or some superhuman being to do it. They're what he's calling the Advanced Children: individuals whose abilities have been keenly honed through years of interacting with video games. No doubt these people are some kind of mutation.  What's more, his spies have helped him to acquire more such samples like Tenzan. Once he's had time to collect data from them, he'll assemble it into his ultimate fighting AI. A guardian angel for the Earth Cradle...  Ignoring the jibes at his own work, Egret asks if these new "samples" are to be the students of the second School. Adler scoffs at this; the new samples are in another league entirely. Being reliant on drugs, mental conditioning, and medical operations to perform, the School's graduates were ultimately useless...  Oh for gently caress's sake we haven't moved at all.   The Hagane has received a transmission from the Far East Base, and it's not good news: the DCs are making their move on central Europe, finally seeking to claim the Federation headquarters in Geneva. The Fed troops who remain are massing at Aviano base, in southern Europe - but with all satellite communications controlled by the space colonies, they'll be fighting with one hand tied behind their back. It's imperative that the Hagane do its part and reach Aidoneus as quickly as possible. Irm grouses a bit about how in the end, their strategy has to be reckless frontal assault right into the enemy's stronghold. (Garnet isn't quite lady enough not to make a "well, we could try something else 'frontal,' isn't that right, Giado?" joke.) Masaki thinks he should've just gone to Aidoneus alone, though the cats aren't placing high odds on his finding his way there (as Aya says, he'd have to find his way off the ship first). Irm suggests hanging a bell around his neck, leading Masaki to protest that he's not a cat (which in turn leads to the cats yelling at him for being racist against cats).   Daitetsu gets the misfits back on-topic, leading Tetsuya to get on with it and explain the mission. The Hagane will be crossing the equator in two hours, on a course heading roughly between Christmas Island and the Phoenix Islands. Christmas Island is home to a facility for shuttle launches, currently held by the Divine Crusaders. Ingram assumes we can expect it to be a base for attacks against us as we move; complicating matters, the Hagane's route ensures no nearby landmasses on which to deploy PTs, requiring us to make do with our flying units - which means the onus is going to be on Ryusei to keep us safe with the Raubtier. Ryusei acknowledges the implied order, but privately isn't too confident in his dogfighting skills, even if he knows they have no choice. Ingram orders the pilots to remain on alert until it's time. The original has Ryusei being (deliberately?) slow on the uptake that when Ingram says "we're counting on our flying units" he's talking about Ryusei specifically. Rai has to spell it out for him.  Ryusei chases his teammate down in the hallway after the briefing - against all expectations, to ask him for help. Rai doesn't think it's like him to be self-conscious about things like that, but according to Robert, the R-1 will have a transformable flight mode, just like the Raubtier - and Ryusei would rather deal with this particular weakness of his sooner rather than later.   "Did you tell Major Ingram about this?" "He told me to practice and figure it out for myself." "So you came straight to me?" "Look, I know we don't get along, but I'm begging you here!"   "..." "Th-that's a no, huh." "Not because of our history... the Major has a point."   Rai explains that Ryusei will need a fighter's logged maneuver data. Get that, and Rai will help him recalibrate his TC-OS around it. (Or as Ryusei puts it, he collects the ingredients and Rai puts them together.) Rai suggests he go to Latooni; she used to pilot a fighter, and her data analysis skills are quite advanced. Seemingly put off like this, Ryusei asks if he can't just use Rai's. Rai could let him use his data, but it wouldn't work out in the long run - they do things too differently. Ryusei thanks him for the help and heads off to shake down a younger girl.  ”Huh. I guess he can be taught." This scene is new to the remake, showing that Ryusei at least has enough regard for Rai to ask him for advice when he needs it. In the original he goes straight to Latooni.  Of course, when he goes to Latooni with his request, she just ellipses at him awkwardly and then runs off. He'd thought that she was opening up after that cosplay incident the other day, but it looks like she's as reticent as ever. There was more in here before, but we'll be getting to it in a bit. Mission 14: Over the Line   The Hagane has crossed the equator; Daitetsu orders the PTs launched. Ryusei and Latooni launch automatically ahead of everybody else.   There's no sign of enemy AMs or subs, so Daitetsu orders that the ship cruise ahead. Then... Eita reports picking up signs of the enemy.    This is immediately followed by an impact from what had to be a battleship cannon - but there are no battleships in range. Only armored modules. And what kind of armored module has a bigass cannon on it?   That kind!    Tenzan's just loving the poo poo out of his new toy, having finally received an appropriately  mech to suit his personality. Tetsuya freaks out at this new (to this route) enemy AM, and we prepare to fight back, with Ryusei taking the lead. Objectives. Escape to the other side of the map, or kill everything (in 7 turns if you want the mastery). Of course, that doesn't really tell you the whole story.  I hope you like Barrelions! But wait! You know what's better than a row of a dozen Barrelions?   A row of a dozen Barrelions whose pilots have support defense!   Also you've got Tenzan in the back with his Barrelion V. So yeah, pretty much everybody who's played Ryusei's route in either version no doubt remembers this mission, and not in what I'd call fond terms. Strap yourselves in, folks, because this is only the tip of the bullshit iceberg. In any case, those Barrels will take hits for each other when you're attacking, and since Barrels have high armor and they're defending when they do it, that means they'll take relatively piddling amounts of damage. We have a few options. We can brute-force it, attacking a single target until his neighbors have exhausted their defenses for the turn. We can use support attacks or twinned units; one attack will get blocked while the other will go through. We can try to get Masaki up to 120 morale and then Cyflash a couple times.   Or we can just have Latooni go up there and stick a shotgun in their face. Can't support-defend an ALL attack.  Just in case you guys forgot.   Barrels are still Barrels, so this is going to take a little while.      Masaki and Irm move up and get support-defended. Take note of the enemies' hitrate versus Cybuster, because it'll be relevant soon.  Everybody else advances.   Enemy phase. The Barrelion line returns fire. They have Support Attack.  Support attacking means that the supporter gets roughly a 20% accuracy bonus. 0 + 20 is apparently enough for him to hit Masaki.   Continuing down the line, Masaki dodges most of the incoming fire. Unfortunately Cybuster can only use its weak Caloric Missile attack on most of these guys.   Eventually the attacker is close enough that he can use High Familiar. Then he gets hit again. Luckily, we're now past Masaki in the line and people should now be focusing on Latooni instead.   ...Okay, I guess I shouldn't be mad at the AI for being smarter and not attacking the target I want them to. They get a pass on that. These are the enemies Latooni attacked last turn, so Masaki kills one.   Further down the line, they're still shooting at Cybuster, and he gets hit yet again.   Then they stop shooting at Masaki, and go for Irm instead. Thankfully, the Grungust can take the hits and benefits from the morale gains.   Well, that was fun. Turn 2, first order of business is to have Tetsuya heal Masaki of some of his damage.   Then the Hagane lets fly with its impact cannons, which are an ALL attack like the shotgun. The ship kills off another Barrelion and makes another gap in the enemy line.   Latooni slips behind the line and shoots another pair of Barrels.   Saying that we'll never make it across the equator, Tenzan orders missiles launched - but not directly at the ship. They can get more kills that way! One of the Killer Whale captains protests that they'll hit their own people in the explosion, but as far as Tenzan's concerned, that's what they get for sucking. Our group is similarly amazed that he'd be so reckless, but he says not to hate him for it; it's just how he does things.   "drat it, Tenzan!" "Yo, Ryusei! Having fun yet?" "You're just playing around again... what the hell are human lives to you?" "They're my grunt units, what else!" "What...?" "Aw, don't tell me you sit around crying every time you lose a soldier in a game? Do you?" "Gh..." "No? Then don't sit there crying at me, you hypocrite." "You sick son of a..."   Masaki tells Ryusei not to waste his breath - they all know Tenzan's full of it, so just use his strength to kick his face in. Tenzan remembers Masaki, and can't wait to settle his score with him - but Masaki says he's got another thing coming if he thinks Cybuster will go down so easily.   And then there are more reinforcements. Too many for Masaki to take out all at once with a Cyflash. Ingram orders all units to place priority on guarding the Hagane. Ryusei yells that Tenzan's right in their path, and if they let him continue the Hagane's as good as lost; Ingram orders him ahead to take Tenzan out. Ryusei really wishes he'd gotten the Raubtier's motion data configured before he launched...  And suddenly, the mech's computer receives an incoming download of exactly the data he needs - a little help from Latooni. Ryusei's appropriately grateful, but Tenzan sneers at all this; what good is some data from a kid going to do him? And for that matter, what's a little kid doing piloting a mech...   "Oh, I know! I heard Adler talking about something... you're one of those School brats, ain't you?" "!" "Heh heh heh... bingo. I almost feel bad for you, kid. They put you through all that poo poo in the lab, and then in the end they just threw you away."   "What lab? What the hell are you talking about?" "Oh, you didn't know? That kid's just a doll - like an item from a game." "An item?" "Like an equippable accessory. Well, a defective one, anyway."   Garnet and Giado tell him to shut his mouth about things he doesn't know anything about. He says that if the supporting cast wants him to shut up, he'd love to see them try - it's not like he's saying anything that isn't true.   Ryusei can't listen to this anymore and rushes past the enemies to Tenzan (casting Focus and Alert for free on the way). He's already picking up the moves from the data Latooni sent him, which is the kind of thing Tenzan likes to see in an enemy. Ryusei says it's time to make him pay for being such an rear end in a top hat. Tenzan doesn't think he should be trying to act so cool, given that the two of them are the same underneath - he's all too aware. In the original, Aya and Rai filled Ryusei in on the School back on the ship, after Latooni ran away from him. Instead they have Tenzan give the explanation in-mission because he hasn't been a big enough douche already.  And we have control again. In addition to the free Focus/Alert (unnecessary with the upgraded Raubtier), Ryusei picked up a 30-point morale boost due to his RIGHTEOUS FURY for Latooni's sake.     Tenzan is duly impressed, saying that his Barrelion's going to level up quick against opponents like this. He'd been going easy on Ryusei because he was a fellow gamer, but at this rate he's really going to have to kill him. To that Ryusei has the same response Tenzan gave to Giado - he'd like to see him try!  Anyway, I suppose we should take a look at those reinforcements. We've got those three missiles that came in behind the Barrelions, then we've got another six Barrels in front of them (right in the middle of our guys), because twelve wasn't enough to fight at once I guess.  Then there's the Stork, a brand new unit in the remake (this was just another Killer Whale in the GBA version) and the last of the enemy carrier types. It's the biggest carrier we've seen (actually the biggest unit, excluding the Valsion), with 33000 health. It's also about two squares away from the Hagane. This is probably the first mission where we have a number of large things to be killing all over the map. The Barrelion line certainly qualifies, but at the same time we have two Killer Whales behind them, and now the Stork right in front of us. Giado, Garnet, and Aya are all near the Stork, but I wouldn't give any of them good odds on dodging their attacks, which means you have to split up and gradually erode multiple large enemies at once.     Irm and Ingram head over to the left side of the line and keep doing their thing. Ingram's shotgun lets him mirror Latooni's work, but on this side. One tiny bone that the game throws you here is that a couple of the Barrels on each end of the line don't have support skills, so if you're really hurting against these guys you can try to focus on those areas first.   The guys in back are going to need help with all the new Barrelions back here. Masaki falls back to deal with them, which will also hopefully get him far enough from Latooni's targets that they'll focus on her instead. Akashic Buster does great damage, which should leave most of the Barrels as easy fodder for one of my weaker units to pick off.  Everybody else hangs out in the back and waits for an opening, because they won't last long trading shots with the Barrels.   Enemy phase. Ryusei takes another bite out of Tenzan.   Masaki and Irm trade shots with the left-side Barrels; Irm kills one, with the Wing Gust's weakest attack.   On the right side, a couple of them are close enough to shoot at Ryusei, which they do, but at least the ones on the edge should be able to attack Latooni.  ...Or not. They would rather do nothing than attack Latooni. What the hell, game. Why are you guys even here if you're not going to attack?       The new Barrels near the Hagane go after Masaki and Rai; between the two of them, the new Barrels are all at half-to-low health. Masaki kills two and hits level 15, learning Luck in the process - which means I no longer need to rely on Garnet to multiply my cash earnings.  The Stork goes for the Hagane.     OW. Holy gently caress. And the counterattack doesn't really make up for it.  Turn 3. Those missiles are closing in on the Hagane, so we're going to make sure they drop this turn. Masaki swats one easily enough.   Ingram moves past the Barrelion line and makes them do the shotgun dance, picking off another.   Giado and Aya double-team missile #2.   Then Aya moves over and teams up with Rai to shoot down #3.  I couldn't remember if downing Tenzan would prematurely end the mission (and cost me the battle mastery), so I have Ryusei plink away at the Killer Whales with his crappy missiles instead.   If you guys won't play with Latooni, she'll still happily play with you.    The Hagane takes out one of the new Barrels.    Irm drills one of the subs.   The Barrels are well in hand, so Rai goes for the Stork. This will take a while.   Enemy phase, Ryusei zaps Tenzan again.     A bunch of Barrels get shot down by Irm, Ingram (who learns Accelerate), and Masaki. Latooni's enemies ignore her and do nothing, having apparently decided to annoy me to death.   The Hagane and Stork trade shots again.  Turn 4. Not too many Barrels left at this point.   We keep doing our thing, with Aya and Giado killing the last of the reinforcement Barrelions. (The view is looking back the other way in the second shot). Since the last Barrels don't want to fight Latooni and she really needs to start working on the Killer Whale, Rai moves over to help out. Masaki will need to head back and work on the Stork.    Latooni, Ingram, and Masaki attack their respective large targets.   Enemy phase; the Barrels may not like Latooni, but they're happy to attack Giado and Garnet. Not much else of note here; the Killer Whales have been doing nothing on their turns since the beginning, so we have to do all the work on our turn.   Turn 5. Irm moves back to help wear down the Stork; it's looking good for a kill.   Aya kills one of the non-Latooni-attacking Barrels. Rai starts to work on the other. Somewhere in this mission Aya learned Inspire, which is basically Strike but castable on other pilots.   Ingram and Latooni keep working on their respective targets.  The Hagane picks off the second-to-last Barrel.   Enemy phase, Ryusei pings Tenzan with a missile for minor damage and levels up, learning Luck.  Rai smashes up the last Barrel.   Turn 6; time to wrap things up. Masaki casts Luck and uses Cybuster's ultimate attack, Cosmo Nova.                 Cosmo Nova is another attack that inexplicably doesn't have a dynamic kill. It's strong, but it's ammo-based and only gets one shot. That takes care of the Stork...  I have Irm go drill mode for the Killer Whale on the left, with Garnet's Blessing. It's been a long mission, so he should have no problem here, given that he's done way over 3987 damage in the past.  ...  ...  ARE YOU loving KIDDING ME?!? ONE health? The army of Barrelions was one thing. The support defenses, I could forgive. Dropping a drat Stork right on top of my carrier, that's mean, but okay, it's war so I get it. Ignoring Latooni completely, even given a total lack of other targets, after I bought Revenge on her specifically for this mission? Okay, that's pretty bullshit, but I'm cleaning them up anyway. But this? Oh. Ohhhhhhh... Now my good mood is ruined, and it's all your fault, Irm.   Good thing Ryusei just learned Luck. One loving health. Jesus.   The beam cannon does this much damage underwater. But it's still enough to kill a sub! Good job cleaning up Irm's mess, Ryusei.  Come back, Aya. All is forgiven.   Good work, Aya. Good thing you never leave enemies at low health. Not like Irm.   Guess what, Giado! You're clearly better at killing things than Irm, too!   Then Garnet Cheers Latooni, because you didn't really expect me to go through this mission and not give her a shot at Tenzan, did you?      There. FINALLY. Tenzan bitches that he's not used to his mech, but there'll be another chance for a "tasty event" the next time they meet.  Latooni hits level 16 and learns Assail.  Battle Mastery get.    Back in the hangar, Ryusei thanks Latooni for the maneuver data. She's just glad he came through okay - and besides, she's the one who should be thanking him... Ryusei doesn't catch her meaning, and then she gets flustered and runs off.   Ryusei, ever perceptive, assumes that she really doesn't like him. Garnet has to explain for her that no, she's just shy. She really is grateful - not, as he guesses, for making good use of the data, but because he got angry at Tenzan when he was talking about the School. She isn't very good at expressing these things herself - but she probably sees Ryusei as someone to be trusted now. Giado continues the explanation; when they first met Latooni, after she got out of the School, she was afraid of everybody due to the treatment she'd suffered there. The two of them have been doing their best to help her recover ever since. Now that she's opening up to Ryusei, they're hoping he can do the same. He's happy to accept the responsibility. And that's (thankfully) over. Work issues and the new WoW expansion probably means one update a week for a while (unless the queues continue to be long  ), but I'll still be trying to keep up that pace.Next time: 
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Nov 16, 2014 00:40
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First, let me get my summary for the mission out of the way. Welcome to volume 2 on why Barrelions are loving annoying. It's one thing to have high HP/armor and long range capabilities on a grunt, but then we get the addition of grunts with supports, and an AI that will use them pretty much 100% of the time. Add on top of this Tenzan, who is in his own Barrelion with boss stats right behind the wall. And then the cherry on top is the terrain, all water. Meaning your most mobile units are Masaki with his paper thin armor, Irm's Behemoth of Destruction, and Ryusei (unless you are insane and are still using the F-28s at this point). You can see why this is one of the most annoying missions that Ryusei has to deal with, as well as why Barrelions are despised greatly. As for the plot, I like this part of Ryusei's story. Here, he gets a dose of just how bad some people can actually be in the world and his idealistic view of things changes. In other words, he's actually developing out of his silly otaku side and into someone who can approach real world situations with some normalcy.
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Nov 16, 2014 02:33
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This mission REALLY sucks, but I love the little character bits. Latooni is the best. 
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Nov 16, 2014 04:49
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Jesus. Leaving something on a single hit point in this game is actually something of a feat. And holy hell do I love Cosmo Nova.  It looks even better in the animation. It's just a huge multicoloured laser massacre. Can't link it because it spoils the final boss and a load of upcoming mechs. But Cosmo Nova is one of my faves, behind everything Sanger does ever, Ain Soph Aur, and that one attack Excellen has where she moves so fast she looks like she's in three places at once (Oxtongue Rifle... E?).
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Nov 16, 2014 05:00
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MarquiseMindfang posted:But Cosmo Nova is one of my faves, behind everything Sanger does ever, Ain Soph Aur, and that one attack Excellen has where she moves so fast she looks like she's in three places at once (Oxtongue Rifle... E?).
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Nov 16, 2014 05:01
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AradoBalanga posted:The attack you're thinking of is from [Big OG2 Spoilers]. Oh it's from that? Huh. My memory must be going. Guess that means I should replay as many of these games as I can get my hands on.
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Nov 16, 2014 05:11
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So I was reading this thread and it made me want to play again. I loaded up my GBA copy of this, and chose Ryusei's route because I hate myself. I got to this mission. It took me three tries (once because my GBA died in my pocket. Oops.) In the GBA version, at the very least, the mastery is 9 turns, and I only got that by having my refiller (Garnet, basically randomly) stand next to Masaki while he MAP-ed all day.
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Nov 16, 2014 06:16
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I don't know for sure but with Egret, there is just something about him. I played the GBA a decent amount of the GBA version (Though I don't know how close I got to the end on ether story nor can I really remember what happened.) but Egret for me made a strong impression for some reason and felt like he was getting a lot of build up. I had a feeling he was actually the main villain. Though I really can't remember anything nor did I get far enough to confirm it. Still even here he just leaves a powerful impression on me and I don't know why.
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Nov 16, 2014 06:34
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MonsterEnvy posted:I don't know for sure but with Egret, there is just something about him. I played the GBA a decent amount of the GBA version (Though I don't know how close I got to the end on ether story nor can I really remember what happened.) but Egret for me made a strong impression for some reason and felt like he was getting a lot of build up. I had a feeling he was actually the main villain. Though I really can't remember anything nor did I get far enough to confirm it. It's the eyebrows.
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Nov 16, 2014 07:06
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It's his massive chin-butt.
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Nov 16, 2014 07:43
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This mission is kind of annoying but I like the story bits enough to not mind the gameplay too much. I like the new addition of Ryu going after Rai's data first, it is a nice touch. They really improved his storyline quite a bit in OGs.
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Nov 16, 2014 10:57
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At some point, Tenzan crossed the line from being a douche to "how has someone not snapped and stabbed this guy yet".
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Nov 17, 2014 13:13
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Well, I think that giant rush and the spirits he cast are as close to snapping and stabbing somebody as the game will let you get. Thanks for letting Latooni shut that rear end in a top hat up.
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Nov 17, 2014 15:21
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BlitzBlast posted:At some point, Tenzan crossed the line from being a douche to "how has someone not snapped and stabbed this guy yet". The same could be said of a lot of people in the DC. Bian has some pretty low hiring standards, is what I'm saying.
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Nov 17, 2014 17:18
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MarsDragon posted:The same could be said of a lot of people in the DC. That's was always really annoyed me about the DC. Bian came across to me as a hypocrite and/or a moron. He claims to be leading a glorious revolution against the corrupt Federation, but he staffs his organization mostly with the absolute worst people he can find. Maybe you can argue that he felt it was necessary to beat the aliens, though as we'll see later (and also in Alpha), even he didn't believe that to be the case, but it would ensure that even if the DC did win, you'd ultimately end up with global civil unrest because of all the asshats who would then be running the show. And why, if he was going to kick off his campaign with a surprise attack in frigging Antarctica, did he not also do a decapitation strike on the Federation's civilian and military leadership who are the reason for all of this in the first place? His AMs are obviously vastly superior to the Federation military, but even besides that, surely with all that alien tech at his disposal he could have found some way to pull off that kind of assassination without launching a global conflict that leaves both sides weakened. Hell, he should have been able to do it without any humongous mechas at all!
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Nov 17, 2014 19:28
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First things first: I will refrain from saying which team I like more or what I think of some characters, since I really don't want to start the rather vicious argument about which one is better anew. So, now that that has been said, awesome LP. Personally, I haven't played the OG games, but I have watched the anime and read the manga (as far as I have found a translation of Inspectors at least). I prefer the manga personally, but I do so almost 80% of the time anyway. It's at least nice to see what characters that had rather limited roles in both can do in the games. In the end, I actually hope we get another OG game with some of the newer OCs. Maybe even asakiM.
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Nov 17, 2014 20:55
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Yeah, trying to graft a pair of sympathetic commanders on top of what was originally various flavours of Zeon, Dr. Hell, and other villain factions doesn't always work so well. I guess the plan if the DC did win was to do a whole bunch of purging, but that still kicks off more global civil unrest because now who's in charge? The real explanation is that Bian is a giant nerd who wants things to be like his Japanese animes. Winning the war in one blow doesn't allow for dramatic confrontations with your supermech.
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Nov 17, 2014 20:58
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MarsDragon posted:Yeah, trying to graft a pair of sympathetic commanders on top of what was originally various flavours of Zeon, Dr. Hell, and other villain factions doesn't always work so well. I guess the plan if the DC did win was to do a whole bunch of purging, but that still kicks off more global civil unrest because now who's in charge? He spent a lot of money on that thing, and he is going to get his money's worth dammit!
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Nov 17, 2014 21:07
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MarsDragon posted:The real explanation is that Bian is a giant nerd who wants things to be like his Japanese animes. Winning the war in one blow doesn't allow for dramatic confrontations with your supermech. Suddenly it makes sense. Tenzan isn't Ryusei's real foil, Bian is.
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Nov 18, 2014 02:50
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"If I'm going to go Mad Scientist, then I'm going to go FULL MAD SCIENTIST, dammit!"
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Nov 18, 2014 08:08
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Kyosuke Route, Mission 14  Spending time! The Huckster and R-GUN get a few bars of mobility, while the Giganscudo gets its armor maxed out.   Then I drop some more cash on Russell's shotgun and the Alt's Revolver Stake. I also equip Gilliam with a couple more guns, because he needs to gain some levels and his starting loadout isn't quite cutting it. Russell gets an Apogee Motor for the movement boost, since he tends to lag behind as the group advances.   Last of all, some skills: Lefina picks up Revenge, Kyosuke gets Attacker (  ) and Tasuku learns Support Attack, which I think accounts for Support Attack on every member of the team at this point.  Siebel has a concern; Lily tells him that he'll have to address it to her, but he insists that it's grave enough to merit the supreme commander's attention, leading Maier to hear him out. It has to do with the matters surrounding Brian Midcrid, the colonies' elected president. Lily doesn't know what there could be to discuss, since it's only natural that they take whatever steps they deem necessary against their foes. However, that's not Siebel's problem - it's with the choice of a former Federation soldier and crewman from the Hiryu to carry the operation out. Aren't they concerned about betrayal?   But as far as Maier is concerned, the man in question does his duty well - and as Lily says, even Siebel should realize that he's honest to a fault. Siebel can't figure out why the colonies' ranking commanders have such faith in him... in any case, he asks that they at least let him oversee the defense of Columna, and give him the chance to prove that he's more worthy than Sanger. Maier accedes to this, and Siebel exits.   Lily isn't so sure about this choice, given Siebel's lack of principles when it comes to achieving his ends, but Maier says it will be necessary for the success of Operation Huguenot. Though the world may condemn their actions in the years to come...   Word circulates among the crew that the bridge has intercepted an enemy communication: Brian Midcrid has been abducted. "Who's that?  " says Tasuku, prompting Radha to tell him that he really ought to watch the news on occasion. Midcrid is the president of the colonies; he led the NID4 movement, which resulted in the colonists gaining their independence without bloodshed. This has unsurprisingly made him very popular with both colonists and the Federation, which in turn makes him a thorn in the military's side.  Still, as Kyosuke says, he must be pretty savvy to have avoided capture for this long after Maier's takeover. He sounds like a real gambler; Tasuku would love to meet him. Radha shares the sentiment, thinking that he must be a dashing gentleman. On the other hand, Katina thinks he sounds like a wimp and isn't interested at all.   Kyosuke goes straight to Lefina with a reckless proposal: rescue the President. Lefina doesn't think they have time to spare for this, given that Columna is a more pressing destination. Gilliam and Sean still think it's a worthy goal - Maier is a shrewd politician and realizes that he can't kill a beloved public figure, meaning he has some use for Brian while he's alive.   Lefina understands all of this, but isn't willing to postpone their current mission when they don't even know where the President is being held. Sean suggests that they simply consider him a target of opportunity - if they get wind of his location and can take advantage of it, they will. Kyosuke sees it as putting their lives on the line in a gamble for Midcrid's safety; Sean agrees, though he'd prefer it was some lovely young lady instead. Lefina eventually agrees to ante up herself...  Mission 14: A Man Named Brian Maybe that's impressive-sounding in Japanese, but I'd say Atlus' "Mr. President" translation is better here.   The Peregrine's captain informs Brian that he's been ordered not to harm him - provided that he doesn't resist, of course. One of the crewmen reports that an enemy ship is approaching, which the captain seems to have been expecting...  Lefina says it's time to see if their gamble has paid off, and orders all units to sortie.   (Atlus) Kyosuke: "So, what now?" Katina: "What else? We crush 'em!" Lefina: "No crushing!"   We're still not sure if Midcrid is on this ship, so our job is to clear out the escorts so that we can seize it. Tasuku thinks it's just like opening a present to find out what's inside - exciting! Excellen's also excited... could this be... love? (Radha has her doubts there.) In any case, we need to disable the Peregrine's engines and clear out the escorts; meanwhile, the ship's captain is intent on getting the hell out of there with his cargo.  Objectives. We have to bring the Peregrine down below 75% HP before it leaves the map, and to do so within three turns (which is about as long as it takes for the ship to leave the map) for the battle mastery. Also, we fail if we manage to do over 21000 damage in a single attack and destroy the Peregrine. So don't do that.  There's the map. Eight Barrelions with the Peregrine in the middle, and a few Cosmos and Cosmo-Fs to the sides. The Peregrine's trying to get to the left side of the map.   The enemies start out far enough away that we can't really reach most of them this turn, so we just rush forward. Bullet gets close enough to one of the Cosmolions to show off the Huckebein's Chakram Shooter.       Well, it's more damage than he was doing.   Excellen moves up afterward and steals his kill.   Enemy phase, the Peregrine and Barrels ignore me completely and go for the escape zone. The Cosmos plink away uselessly at the Giganscudo. (Count the number of enemies, multiply by 10, and that's how much damage Tasuku takes on an enemy phase.)     Turn 2. Kyosuke catches up and stakes the Peregrine for a big chunk of damage.   Bullet not-oneshots another Cosmo, and Radha picks up after him.   Between the two kills so far and the hits Tasuku took last turn, he now has enough morale to use Sheath Thunder.    It puts us under the 75% mark. Battle mastery get!    With the target disabled, Katina's ready to get down to the more enjoyable business of killing everybody else. Kyosuke thinks it all seems too easy, and asks the Hiryu for a status report. Sure enough, there are more bogeys inbound, no doubt responding to their attack - but don't they seem a bit late?   It's the Treue Squadron again, with Julia commenting that they've taken the bait. "Looks like the go-go girls are here!" Excellen says (Atlus). Tasuku thinks that joke sort of fell flat, but she just says it's a bit too nuanced for him. In any case, if the enemies' elite troops are here, this operation just got a lot more complicated.   Leona contacts the Peregrine and learns that its engine block has been shut down. Julia assumes she knows what to do now, and she does - as the supreme commander wishes. Lefina (needlessly) orders the crew to wipe out all the enemies. Kyosuke thinks to himself that this seems like a setup; will he be putting in an appearance soon too?  When the Treue girls arrive, Excellen says "oh look, the iketai is here," mixing いけ (ike) and 隊 (tai, or squad/unit), punning on 行けたい, which basically means that something is working/going well.  So now our objective is to take out everyone (except the Peregrine, obviously). The Treue soldiers are in the beefed-up Cosmolions we know and love, except for Leona and Julia, who have picked up 18500-HP Guarlion Customs. I'm guessing these are the machines they were on Earth to pick up when Ryusei fought them.   In terms of skills, Julia has Attacker and Infight, which will go great with the Guarlion's Sonic Breaker, as well as Counter, a commander's aura, and E-Save, which reduces the energy costs of weapons. I can't wait. Leona also has Attacker, as well as Telekinesis, the support skills, and Hit & Away.   In any case, the Barrelions are probably the more pressing threat, so we'll go for them first. Katina starts off; I'm testing out the theory that Valor is basically a stand-in for defensive spirits in that the enemy can't fire back if it dies in one hit.   It doesn't pay off, although Katina dodges anyway.     Gilliam bumps off one of the Barrels; Excellen one-shots a Cosmo and moves towards the other enemies afterward. I send Viletta and Russell over to clean up the remaining Cosmos on the next turn or two.   Enemy phase; the Barrels all fire away at Kyosuke and Tasuku to no effect (although they can only return fire to the closer ones). Kyosuke dodges everything, while the Gigan is now so heavily-armored that even the Barrelion's main gun does the damage minimum.   The Treue girls move forward, completely filling up the gaps in the enemy formation, and also plinking away at Tasuku. He starts using the Giga Wide Blaster in response, which takes big bites out of their health but sucks up energy like no tomorrow. Meanwhile, Leona and Julia don't move at all.  Turn 3, and I'm getting another one of those clever ideas that always turn out so well in this LP.   Viletta chips away at one Treue unit who hasn't been touched yet.   Katina overdoes it a bit against a half-health Barrelion, learning Accelerate in the process.  Bullet and Gilliam don't do anything and just move to a safe distance.   And then Tasuku casts Luck and Strike, then moves to a nice central location...   And then we see this a bunch of times. I got one kill with this. God drat it. Obviously I'm going to need to upgrade that MAP weapon at some point in the near future.  On the bright side, we have a bunch of easy kills lined up for anybody who happens to be nearby, so that's something.   Russell and Radha finish off the last two of the initial Cosmos.   Enemy phase, Eun reports yet another incoming contact. The scale of resistance is a bit greater than expected, and Sean and Lefina are ready to order a retreat. Upon hearing that there's only a single machine, Tasuku volunteers to take it down himself.   lol that's not happening   As expected, it's Sanger, who says that we can't be allowed to free President Midcrid. He gives us a chance to flee, saying that he won't cut us down from behind. Gilliam says we have no intention of showing him our backs, which his fellow Aggressor was expecting.   Excellen wonders why she doesn't get any input on whether they fight or not, then wonders if she'll get cut in half if she runs sideways instead of away. (Tasuku: "Why would you even ask that?!") Kyosuke tells his former commander that sorry, but they're taking Midcrid back and that's that, prompting Sanger to say that he should show his conviction. So, three bosses this level. Not mentioned in any objective is that Sanger actually flees at around 5000 health or so, so we'll need to do a support attack on him just to be safe. Luckily, he started off right next to Tasuku for maximum tankage.   Julia and Leona still don't budge an inch. Most of the enemies go for Tasuku, who can't fire back at most of them, due to using up almost all of his energy firing away with the Giga Wide Blaster last turn. He does punch out two of the Treue girls who are in melee range, though.  Sanger, being next to Tasuku, goes straight for him.   "Cut, or get cut... these stakes get my blood pumping!" "It will take more than luck to surpass me!" "I know that! It's only half the battle!"  "Have you prepared yourself, Tasuku Shinguji?"     Yeah, I'd say he was prepared.    Turn 4. Russell has the resupply unit, so I move him up next to Tasuku and have him bounce an attack off one of the Barrels to hit Sanger.     Thanks to Tasuku's aborted attempt at a MAP attack before, there's just clean-up work to be done now, so everybody moves up and starts killing things. Viletta and Excellen both learn Snipe, which adds 2 to the range of all weapons for a turn (except for MAP weapons and weapons that only had a range of 1), while Bullet gets another level of Telekinesis.   Enemy phase, and Julia goes for Viletta. One piece of good news is that she and Leona didn't gain any morale while all their allies were destroyed, meaning neither one has enough to use Sonic Breaker.   "Unusual maneuvers... are you a test pilot?" "You're not too far off the mark." Leona actually pulls much better hit/dodge rates than her superior, getting about a 50-50 hit/dodge rate against Viletta.   "You'll be a fine subject, once you've accumulated some more live combat experience." "You're in the middle of a battle, and you take the time for a formal assessment of your opponents?" "It's my duty."   The one Treue grunt who remained gets taken out by Viletta immediately afterward. Only bosses left.  Unlike Leona and Julia, Sanger did gain morale from all those dead grunts - which means he can start waving that drat sword of his around.   It still doesn't hit nearly as hard as I remember.  Turn 5. Again I'm not sure whether taking Sanger out will end the mission, so we're going after the ladies first.   "Hi there, Mistress Treue!" "Don't joke around in the middle of a battle!" "Hey, just trying to be friendly." "Hmph. Get on with it."  Leona has nothing at all to say to Kyosuke.    Kyosuke doesn't like being ignored.   Though Leona does get a little payback.  Bullet goes for Sanger.   "Commander... I have nothing left to say! I will strike you down!" "Well said. Then show me what you've learned!" This is a huge improvement from the constant hand-wringing over Sanger having betrayed them.       We're wearing him down, a bit at a time.  Now that he's an enemy, the Type-0's main Zankanto attack can hit from 6 spaces away (and Boost Knuckle can hit from 7), so the Hiryu pulls back to just outside of Sanger's attack range.     "He's made his decision. But still..." Radha casts Alert and contributes a bit more damage to the pot.   Russell resupplies Tasuku, so he's ready to roll now. Now freshly gassed up, Tasuku hits Sanger with Gigante Uragano.   He levels up afterward and learns Guard, because the Giganscudo isn't hard enough to damage already.   Enemy phase.   "Treue... you took your time getting here." "Are you trying to suggest something?" "Showing up here, like this, isn't like you. And that means..." "I don't know what you're talking about. But you'll be dealt with here, all the same!"   Looking good for a finish next turn. Afterward, Kyosuke claymores Leona a little harder than I'd intended, but still not enough to finish her off.   Sanger goes for Tasuku again. I let Russell support-defend him, and... ouch. Should've cast Guard first.  Turn 6, time to wrap this up.    Viletta takes Leona out.   Leona blames her defeat on lack of experience with the Guarlion. Viletta hits level 15.        Gilliam takes out Julia (with a little help from Excellen).   Julia has seen what she can of the Guarlion Custom's power; their job here is done. She falls back to Columna.  Gilliam hits level 14. He and Viletta both need to be level 23 by Mission 20 for a pair of secrets, and the timing is getting a bit tight. We'll see if I pull it off, though if I have to pick one I'll take Gilliam and show off the consolation prize for failing Viletta's.  And then Kyosuke goes for Sanger, lining himself up so that Tasuku can test out his shiny new Support Attack skill.   "Major Zonvolt, why have you given us the advantage here?" "There is nothing more to be said!" "Then we're taking the President." "Do it if you can..."   "Ghh... a fine stroke, Kyosuke!"   Then he wallops Kyosuke pretty drat hard.  "It's time to roll the dice, Major Zonvolt!"    Squish.   "Enough. It seems keeping the President is a lost cause." "Isn't this what you were hoping for?" "You and Excellen expect far too much of me. You may find yourselves disappointed." "I'll keep that in mind." "Good. Then, until next time..."   Sanger's defeat means that the last of the enemy resistance has been eliminated. Sean tells Eun to send the disabled Peregrine a message to disarm and surrender. Katina asks what we should do with the ship's crew, ominously drawing her finger across her throat as she does so; Russell tries to get her to stop, though I doubt that'll have any effect. Lefina orders that the captured crewmen be interrogated, then sent off in a cutter. The enemy has certainly already realized that they're headed for Columna now...   "I have to say, the Federation were the last people I expected to come to my rescue. You have my thanks, gorgeous." "N-not at all..." "Hmm? Is something the matter?" "Er... you are President Brian Midcrid, correct?" "I certainly am. President of the Colonial Union, the one and only. Although getting captured hasn't done much for my image, I have to say. But I did manage to avoid their grasp for a while. Hahaha!"   "And now you're flirting with our Captain." "Well, I've certainly had enough of flirting with disaster. Hahaha!" ”Wow! And he's quick, too!" "I like your style, miss. Once the war's over, what would you say to becoming my secretary?" "Hmmhmm... just for secretarial work? I don't suppose you'd be interested in some premium services?" "Sold! I'll just have that written into your contract." Excellen's met her match. Excellen refers to Midcrid as nanpa (ナンパ ) , meaning a flirt, smooth-talker, womanizer, etc. In response he says he's done with nanpa (難破 ) , meaning a wreck or disaster site.  Bullet is agog that somebody exists who can match Excellen's pace so easily. Katina's wondering what's up; she was promised a dashing gentleman, but she doesn't see one anywhere. Radha is pretty disillusioned herself, while Kyosuke and Tasuku are impressed (and/or intimidated) by the President's particular brand of poker face. Unexpectedly, Katina actually finds herself relaxing around the man. She can at least see why he's so well-liked...   "Amazing. This ship is full of beautiful women! Where do I enlist?" Lefina's just a little put off by all this, but Brian does an abrupt about-face and says that as thanks for saving him, he'll serve as a decoy for them. He's already discerned that they're headed for Columna, so if they give him a light ship, he can buy them some time. After all, even Maier would expect them to keep him close for a little longer than this. This is more daring than Kyosuke had expected from him, and Excellen suddenly has renewed interest in that secretarial position.   Lefina is understandably reluctant to take Midcrid up on his offer; Brian explains that while he's famous for forsaking armed conflict, they're in the middle of one now whether they like it or not, and he'll do what he can to see it ended. Sean urges her to accept the President's offer, and eventually she accepts.   "If all goes well, when this is over, I'd like to invite you out for dinner some time, Captain." "Huh? Um, yes, of course. Some time." The face of a man you can trust. With your daughters. Anyway, that's it for today. Next time:  Also, as an extra bonus, I finally remembered to record one of the intermission skits. If you save the game mid-mission, the game asks whether you want to continue. If you choose no, you get a fun little interlude with some of the cast. Let's see... quote:
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Nov 22, 2014 21:33
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And so Kyosuke was indeed a bad enough dude to rescue the president.
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Nov 22, 2014 22:27
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Gyra_Solune posted:And so Kyosuke was indeed a bad enough dude to rescue the president. Hell, the ninjas don't even show up until 2nd OGs!
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Nov 22, 2014 22:58
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Brian is amazing. He's essentially alternate universe Political Heero Yuy who doesn't get shot in the head.
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Nov 22, 2014 23:22
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I'm really looking forward to seeing the videos on OGs for some of the later attacks, especially Trump Card and Rampage Ghost which were loving rad even in the GBA version.
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Nov 22, 2014 23:25
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Seyser Koze posted:Gilliam hits level 14. He and Viletta both need to be level 23 by Mission 20 for a pair of secrets, and the timing is getting a bit tight. We'll see if I pull it off, though if I have to pick one I'll take Gilliam and show off the consolation prize for failing Viletta's. Honestly, I'd suggest you do this anyway, because you can't even keep the consolation prize on Ryusei's route so it'd be better to show it off here and get the secret there.
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Nov 22, 2014 23:58
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Gilliam and Viletta's secret get much easier to do if you give Russel some attention - he learns Cheer in his teen levels, I think, and you can get there rather easily with a combination of mook kills and repairs.
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Nov 23, 2014 00:25
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Gyra_Solune posted:And so Kyosuke was indeed a bad enough dude to rescue the president. He's got the right stuff!
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Nov 23, 2014 02:32
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This part is pretty fun, exploring the space colony side of the OGverse and getting to know Brian is part of what makes OG1 feel like a Gundam show with super robots.
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Nov 23, 2014 11:40
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GimmickMan posted:This part is pretty fun, exploring the space colony side of the OGverse and getting to know Brian is part of what makes OG1 feel like a Gundam show with super robots. Yeah, the choice between Kyosuke and Ryusei is basically the choice between Real Robots and Super Robots.
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Nov 23, 2014 17:52
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Could you do a video of Chakram Shooter sometime? I want to see if they made it look less terrible than in the GBA version, which was extremely disappointing.
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Nov 23, 2014 18:42
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Hunter Noventa posted:Yeah, the choice between Kyosuke and Ryusei is basically the choice between Real Robots and Super Robots. Only that the SRX team acts like they are in a Gundam show and the ATX team like the come from a campy Super Robot one.
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Nov 23, 2014 19:47
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Ashram posted:Only that the SRX team acts like they are in a Gundam show and the ATX team like the come from a campy Super Robot one. The choice is between Real Robots pretending to be Supers and Super Robots pretending to be Reals.
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Nov 23, 2014 19:56
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GimmickMan posted:This part is pretty fun, exploring the space colony side of the OGverse and getting to know Brian is part of what makes OG1 feel like a Gundam show with super robots. Yeah, it's too bad that they pretty much forget about the colonies once this part is over. It's like they added colonies just to make the overall political parts like Gundam, since Gundam is usually the basis of how government works in SRW, then forgot about them once the basics were established. Then again the OG Char is super chill so it's not like anyone's gonna be dropping rocks on Earth anytime soon
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Nov 23, 2014 20:13
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Son Ryo posted:Honestly, I'd suggest you do this anyway, because you can't even keep the consolation prize on Ryusei's route so it'd be better to show it off here and get the secret there. I was going to post this, but since I was beaten to it, I'll just say I fully agree with this statement. If you're going to show off everything, the best thing you can do is miss Viletta's secret in Kyosuke's route and get the second-place price (which is still awesome), since you can get the main secret in both routes but that one only on Kyosuke's. Also there's one character exclusive to Kyosuke's route that can really use said secret. Otherwise, Bullet gets a lot better with it too. Also Brian's great. You have to be to keep up with Excellen while flirting as hard as Jonathan. Sad he's anti-war so he never gets a cool robot, I'd field him any day.
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Nov 24, 2014 03:16
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Blaze Dragon posted:Also Brian's great. You have to be to keep up with Excellen while flirting as hard as Jonathan. Sad he's anti-war so he never gets a cool robot, I'd field him any day.
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Nov 24, 2014 03:28
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He's kind of like Bill Clinton. Space Bill Clinton.
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Nov 24, 2014 05:07
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We are never getting President Michael Wilson in a SRW game, are we 
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Nov 24, 2014 05:12
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Section Z posted:We are never getting President Michael Wilson in a SRW game, are we People used to say the same about Dai-Guard and Votoms. And yet... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4on7FjPWn4
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Nov 24, 2014 06:24
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