PART 1-6: Too many PCs means nothing ever gets done.Oh Akito, you so tsundere.
Heh. Lady knows what she wants.
The incredible close-knit bonds of the Combattler Team, ladies and gentlemen. Given how they're supposed to unite their minds to make the robot join together, its a wonder it doesn't fall apart every five minutes.
Smooth, Noal. Real Smooth.
Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen.
We're almost dine, but time for a few more ominous voices.
Yes, because racist extremists can so easily get into top jobs worldwide to form global conspiracies. "Member of Kill All Spaceez, CE23 Onwards" looks so good on your CV when applying for Secretary of State.
I'd feel a lot worse about this backhanded compliment if it weren't so obviously true.
Thank you, Omnipotent Council of Doing Nothing.
Anyway, to the most important part of SRW, the Intermissions menu.
Theres all the expected elements: Saves options, Stats for pilots and units, another option to change background music, another chance to change the names of our original unit's (which we haven't recieved yet) attacks, and the option for the next level. But there are a few options I want to talk about in more detail.
One is Pilot Training, an option which is more comprehensive than the 'Just level them' of Alpha Gaiden, but far less in-depth than the PP system of Original Generations. Basically, for ever level a pilot is over 1, they get a stat point they can apply to any of the pilot stats. I generally only spend them when a pilot gathers 5 or 6 of them, and I spread them fairly evenly as all stats can be useful, but if you want me to use some other method, say so.
Here are the unit upgrade screens for Nadesico and Combattler, to point out some of the differences. One is that Nadesico has 15 upgrade bars for each main stat, where Combattler only has 10. Again, this is the Favorite Series bonus at work. Each bar is about a 5% bonus to each stat, so if you invest the money a favorited unit can have 175% to all stats. Expensive, but makes for some broken units. The other thing is that Nadesico has an extra stat, which represents it being able to swap a deployed unit for one that you didn't initially deploy a certain number of times a turn. Not an option I've ever really considered using, preferring as I do to stick with the units I have.
Weapons can be upgraded the exact same way, but for various reasons where always given a seperate upgrade page until the most recent games.
Equippable items are back as they always are, but right now, all we have are a consumable HP and EN refill each. Not the best. I'll put them on the Nadesico for now, unless there are objections.
Some units can be piloted by a choice of pilots, usually only Real robots but occasionally some lesser supers too. Right now, we don't have many units to pick between but we still have some options, namely choosing who is the main pilot and who the subpilot on the Nadesico and the Blue Earth.
[opinions]Its really academic who pilots the Blue Earth at this point, Aki and Noal are virtually identical statwise, with only a few points between them. You can access both pilots Spirits regardless so you never really lose any flexibility. For the Nadesico, however, its a more interesting choice. With Yurika at the controls, the Nadesico is sort of the fortress of your line: It gets a lot of support defenses to keep your units safe, and Yurikas Leadership aura enhances the dodge and defense of nearby units. With Ruri in command, however, it becomes an offensive juggernaut, with a high number of support attacks (which don't have the damage penalty they had in Alpha Gaiden), and her IFS system means that though her stats look the same as Yurikas, they'll grow the more the Nadesico fights. It sort of ties in which how you want our battleship to be used, supporting the troops or charging in as a combat unit in its own right.[/opinions]
Unit Variants allows us to see several of our units which can altered with different equipment. So far, only the Aestivalis can do this, switching between the Zero-G frame, the swift Air Frame, the ground-pounding Ground Frame and the heavily-gunned Artillery Frame. However, I'm not going to show you these right now [spoiler]because the next level is in space and Zero-G is the only feasible option.[/spoiler].
And finally, a feature that you're unlikely to have seen or expected if you'd only seen OG and Alpha Gaiden: Puzzle Robo! This is where a significant portion of the games cash is locked up, as well as some of the best gear: In special puzzle sections where you must use your knowledge of the games mechanics to fulfill various obligations. These don't have to be solved, but you'll have significantly less cash if you don't get them. They start out easy, but by the end they're fairly obnoxious, to the point that the Gamefaqs for them can take pages to explain. Still, it'll be fun to try, right?
Heres the objective for level 1: Keep Sayaka, pilot of Aphrodite A from Mazinger, alive for a turn. Sounds simple right?
Unfortunately this is a trash Aphrodite that is being held together with string and hope, versus an untouched Jovian Batta. Now, Aphrodite can't dodge (hit rates in Puzzle Robo are 100% unless you use Alert), its own weapons probably aren't enough to kill the Batta in one hit, and she has no Spirit points.
A depressingly common scenario for Sayaka, unfortunately...
Here is Sayakas movement range. It won't be enough to take her outside of the Battas attack range. WHAT WILL SHE DO?
So, your business as the audience are to solve the Puzzle Robo, choose who pilots what, and decide which unit will be getting the first couple of upgrades, and to what stats. Plus, feel free to bug me about anything else. Sound cool?