Author Topic: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!  (Read 124811 times)

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Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #180 on: June 17, 2011, 06:08:59 PM »
Part 9.4: All this proves that sending massive chunks of metal screaming down into earths atmosphere is the solution to all problems.

The enemy continue to die horribly at Blades hands as we head into the final enemy turn of the game. The last remaining enemy is Dagger, who naturally attacks Blade. We see the Sword Cut skill in action, which protects a unit equipped with a sword from many melee attacks so long as their Ability is high (and D-Boys is).



Our turn, and once again, Scan is a lifesaver, allowing even the Archangels main guns to hit the tiny Tekkaman, although Murrues Focus is also a big help.








Dagger is a nasty enough boss for this stage in the game, but with a bit of prep he can be whittled down easily.

Combattler does one more attack to put him in the red, and with Cheer and Luck on, our lowest level Mint gets the kill and big rewards.



Dagger drops a crapload of stuff. The Dustproofing gives a unit and its weapons an A rank on ground, which is useful for certain flying units like the Aestivalis Air Frame, letting them do more damage to ground units and the option of landing to use terrain without losing stats. The Combo Module is very useful, as it unlock Chain Attacks: A unit can use a weaker version of its melee attacks to attack multiple enemies in a row. And the Hit And Away module is a godsend for our sniper units that don't have the skill naturally. We'll need to come back to these.



Dagger dissappears in the weird flash seen in the video, presumably dead. Custom death animations were the new thing at this point in SRW development, though I always thought the standard explosion for J enemies was kinda cool.

Our heroes have seen off the Radam, but now an old enemy return: The Jovian Lizards. Unfortunately, it seems my screencap hotkey started to act up at this point, and I lost some good dialogue from Ruri here, which I'll try to Paraphrase:

Yurika: How many?
Ruri: You really want to know?
Yurika: Um, gimme a ballpark figure.
Ruri: ...A lot.

You'll have to rely a bit on the grey text, I'm afraid.












Again, I ask, why wasn't this option even discussed before? We saw from the map posted earlier that going from Heliopolis to the Moon sends you straight past earth anyway? Were they really that afraid of the Radam that they'd literally let ZAFT chase them from one end of the Earth Sphere to the other?

Our heroes, including Blade, land back in the Nadesico:






Says the biggest eater of the three Bellzelute Powerpuffs, and given your competition is Melua thats saying something.




The only way you could get the insane power requirements of that walking nuke suit is if its turning the nutrients in your body directly into energy, and if so, why would it preferentially take your organs once it runs out of food? Theres plenty of other matter in your body that it could take first. Not that its a good situation, I'm just saying, snot is less nessecary than your stomach lining.








"I'll also answer to Manface McGatlingcock, but D-Boy will do for now."









I remember Ryoko being ok with the Amnesia earlier...






And Noal only speaks bullshit and macho grumbling! And Aki only speaks in meek feminine platitudes! It's a logic puzzle!






Little things like falling through the atmosphere at hundreds of miles an hour being bombarded by both Radam and Jovians aren't going to stop PCs interrogating the new guy, Uru.




"Its Plot Armor levels are at Gundam Wing and holding."




"Oh thank god. I'll miss the blond dude, but thank Christ we lost those losers!!"

(Ok, this is another image capture error, but I had to leave it in.)







An explosion effect happens. I possibly missed more dialogue.






Another weak explosion effect meekly illuminates the screen.





"Dive in and collect the XP, thats what!"

Theres another explosion.



"We're now barely at ZZ Gundam levels! If it drops any further it'll hit Zeta Gundam, and then we're doomed!"



Using the Nadesico as a means to slipstream the Archangel to a safe landing may seem crude, but its better than the method in Gundam SEED, which is to use the Lohengrins to disintegrate the air in front of the ship...Which would have the side effect of bathing the ship and most of Africa in huge amounts of X-rays. So lets go with Yurika on this one.




Yup, looks like it. Ironically enough, it looks like Tunisia, which is kinda a warning of the next chapter of the SEED plot.



Just acres of wierd purple trees planted by the Radam which can't possibly be a threat.






Have our flagships ever not been fucked since we got back from Mars?

And with the interesting stuff past, onto more teenage gossip:






Flays final line here is to walk slightly away and whisper "It can't go on like this..." rather ominously. Though the ramifications of that line are probably not what you think. Just as horrible as you think, but in a different way.

Meanwhile, in space, Lacus is telling Athrun how awesome Kira is because the audience really needs help to see it by this stage.








And thats the end of that chapter, onto the Puzzle Robo.



Another Batta for Kouji and Sayaka to destroy, but theres a trick this time: Put in below 1/3 health without killing it, and it'll run off, failing the mission.




Koujis and Sayakas move ranges, weapons are as before. So, what to do?

Now that we're on earth, a few decisions to be made:

Aestivalis in Air, Ground or Artillery frames? (I know the answer really, just checking)

Change the Strikes Launcher Pack?

Who gets the Combo Module? Virtually any of our melee units have one chain weapon, so theres any number of options here.

Who gets the Hit and Away module? There are a few major candidates: The main ones are the Battleships, the Archangel especially has very few effective attacks on the move. The Launcher Strike is another, if we want Kira to be a major gun-and-runner. And oddly enough, Crash Intrude and Voltekka make Blade a good choice for it, hes really not the melee character his constant swordplay would imply.

Will we switch around the boosters again? After that level, our lowest level guys (not counting Akatsuki) are Akito, Eiji, Izumi, Sayaka and the people on the Nadesico itself. The next level has a lot of running back and forth across the map, so who will we make it easier for?

And finally, this is the first level we'll truly have to pick who we'll deploy. Calvina, Mu, Kira, Ryoko, Akito and Koji are definites, but who else would you prefer to see among the people we take with us?
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Sucrose

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #181 on: June 18, 2011, 01:39:08 AM »
Puzzle Robo:
[spoiler]Well, this is interesting.  Assuming that I'm reading this correctly, Koji actually has a possible attack weaker than Sayaka's options.  As such, I think that the right move is to have him move as close to the Batta as possible (either square works), then use Photon Beam to soften the thing up, then have Sayaka move in, and use a Love-boosted Strong Melee to take the Batta out.[/spoiler]

Air frames seems like the sensible decision to me, since apparently everyone's going to be running around a lot next mission.  Plus the whole 'can ignore difficult terrain' thing seems to always be pretty handy.

I'd kinda like to see the Sword Pack, particularly given that we'll be running and gunning next mission, and apparently the Aile's kinda weak.

I vote that Tekkaman gets the Hit and Away.  The Archangel would be all right as well, I suppose.

I suppose that boosters could go to Akito, the Nadesico, and Eiji.  Otherwise, I'm happy with the Mints keeping them.

How many slots do we have available?  In any case, the ones I'd really like to keep are Aphrodite A, Eiji, DAVID, Blue Earth, and the other Mints, roughly in that order.  I've seen enough of Combattler V for a while.

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #182 on: June 18, 2011, 11:12:12 AM »
I'm not entirely sure how many discretionary slots will be available, but assuming the hard limit of 16 units will apply, then you're looking at 6-8 units over the forced deploys.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Decessor

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #183 on: June 18, 2011, 09:07:17 PM »
Armour and HP upgrades for those likely to get hurt.


Aestivalis in Air, Ground or Artillery frames? (I know the answer really, just checking)

I like the idea of air.


Change the Strikes Launcher Pack?

Not pushed.


Who gets the Combo Module? Virtually any of our melee units have one chain weapon, so theres any number of options here.

Who does most harm in melee? Them.


Who gets the Hit and Away module? There are a few major candidates: The main ones are the Battleships, the Archangel especially has very few effective attacks on the move. The Launcher Strike is another, if we want Kira to be a major gun-and-runner. And oddly enough, Crash Intrude and Voltekka make Blade a good choice for it, hes really not the melee character his constant swordplay would imply.

Archangel, Tekkaman as a secondary option.


Will we switch around the boosters again? After that level, our lowest level guys (not counting Akatsuki) are Akito, Eiji, Izumi, Sayaka and the people on the Nadesico itself. The next level has a lot of running back and forth across the map, so who will we make it easier for?

Change around to boost the now-lowest. At least I get Akatsuki dialogue, so I'm not as bothered about his non-show on the field.


And finally, this is the first level we'll truly have to pick who we'll deploy. Calvina, Mu, Kira, Ryoko, Akito and Koji are definites, but who else would you prefer to see among the people we take with us?

D-boy for sure. Both battleships.

Sucrose

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #184 on: June 18, 2011, 09:15:02 PM »
Oh, forgot about D-Boy.  And the motherships aren't automatically included?  Yeah, those'll need to go in.  Blue Earth can be cut, as can Hikaru, then Izumi, if push comes to shove.

I'll second Decessor with respect to the combo module.

veekie

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #185 on: June 18, 2011, 09:35:56 PM »
Not much to say, but lets put the Hit and Away on the Archangel.
Put Kira in the Sword Pack and then the Combo Module to get melee slaughter?
The mind transcends the body.
It's also a little cold because of that.
Please get it a blanket.

I wish I could read your mind,
I can barely read mine.

"Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. At 2:15, it begins rolling up characters."

[spoiler]
"Just what do you think the moon up in the sky is? Everyone sees that big, round shiny thing and thinks there must be something round up there, right? That's just silly. The truth is much more awesome than that. You can almost never see the real Moon, and its appearance is death to humans. You can only see the Moon when it's reflected in things. And the things it reflects in, like water or glass, can all be broken, right? Since the moon you see in the sky is just being reflected in the heavens, if you tear open the heavens it's easy to break it~"
-Ibuki Suika, on overkill

To sumbolaion diakoneto moi, basilisk ouranionon.
Epigenentheto, apoleia keraune hos timeis pteirei.
Hekatonkatis kai khiliakis astrapsato.
Khiliarkhou Astrape!
[/spoiler]

There is no higher price than 'free'.

"I won't die. I've been ordered not to die."

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #186 on: June 21, 2011, 01:45:49 PM »
For anyone looking at Blade and thinking 'Hey, I think I know that guy', well, there might be a reason for that. Tekkaman Blade was one of the victims of the 90s TV anime boom, and was summarily chopped to pieces to fit on american television. Which really doesnt suit it like it did Gundam Wing or Yugioh, because Blade is a dark, dark series that can't really be sanitised without losing a lot. In fact, the last third or so of the series was apparently never shown on US TV.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Sucrose

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #187 on: June 21, 2011, 02:23:27 PM »
Is it wrong for me to think that the intro music and the way that they spliced the intro animation together are kinda awesome, even if it makes a hash of the original story?  Granted, the narration and enemy commander characterization are incredibly cheesy, but....
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Cubey

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #188 on: June 21, 2011, 02:33:06 PM »
The music is pretty cool, but on the other hand Tekkaman has REASON and glorious, glorious 90s sounds. So it still wins.

Stealthyboy

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #189 on: June 21, 2011, 11:02:19 PM »
Aestivalis in Air, Ground or Artillery frames? (I know the answer really, just checking)

Change the Strikes Launcher Pack?

Who gets the Combo Module? Virtually any of our melee units have one chain weapon, so theres any number of options here.

Who gets the Hit and Away module? There are a few major candidates: The main ones are the Battleships, the Archangel especially has very few effective attacks on the move. The Launcher Strike is another, if we want Kira to be a major gun-and-runner. And oddly enough, Crash Intrude and Voltekka make Blade a good choice for it, hes really not the melee character his constant swordplay would imply.

Will we switch around the boosters again? After that level, our lowest level guys (not counting Akatsuki) are Akito, Eiji, Izumi, Sayaka and the people on the Nadesico itself. The next level has a lot of running back and forth across the map, so who will we make it easier for?

And finally, this is the first level we'll truly have to pick who we'll deploy. Calvina, Mu, Kira, Ryoko, Akito and Koji are definites, but who else would you prefer to see among the people we take with us?

Air Frames for the Aesties, obviously.

Keep Strike in Launcher pack.

Give the combo module to... lets say D-Boy for now, though I think he has at least 1 level of combo innately...

Give Kira the Hit & Away module, he'll need it for the Launcher. [spoiler]When he gets the Freedom, he'll need one too, so it's not exactly a bad thing to prepare him for that.[/spoiler]

Put the booster on Mazinger, it is made of slow since it lacks a Scrander in this game.

As for units... Launch the remaining two Angels, the two other SPTs, Tekkaman, Blue Earth... Lowest priority are Akatsuki and Combattler.

Puzzle Robo:
[spoiler]Hmm... a tricky one... Obviously going all out won't be any good, it'd just end up making it flee... Try using the least powerful attack we have, then the other unit using the most powerful one it has, preferably with a Love boost from the partner...[/spoiler]

OvermanXAN

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #190 on: June 22, 2011, 06:00:09 PM »
Agreeing with Stealth on everything here. He's pretty much said everything that needs be said.
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Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #191 on: June 24, 2011, 11:34:33 AM »
Part 10.1: The Turkey Has Landed



Well, the solution to this Puzzle Robo is obvious, right? Sayaka, being the weaker one, will attack first, then Kouji will finish it off.



Um....



Huh. Sayaka is too powerful. Woulda thunk?





Restart, and this time we try Kouji, whose weakest attack is puny enough to avoid making the thing retreat.





We send in Sayaka second and she beats the thing down, earning us the win.



As a new arrival, Blade has all his training points to distrubute, which I mainly put into accuracy and ranged power. He doesn't really need help dodging, and while he's better at Melee now, his finishers are ranged and need to be boosted.






As voted, Murrue gets the Hit and Away skill, and Dboy the Combo skill. I boost Koujis Potential as he's the only super we're deploying this time, and buff David's defense since he seems to keep getting beaten on.



Air Frames and Launcher Pack, as ordered.





Akito and the Nadesico get boosters while Izumi keeps hers. Ryoko gets the Dustproof, which ironically makes her Air Frame better on ground than Air, but theres still a lot of sand dunes on this level that makes flying a good choice.



The prize for the Puzzle Robo was software to upgrade our critical chance, which I put on the Bellzelute to boost damage output. Parts are mainly defensive in nature, with few boosting offense directly, except by upping crits or improving Terrain stats.




Determined to clean up my parts locker, I sell off some of the spare repair kits and energy tanks to make a little extra. This game throws disposable parts like this at you, and its rarely to any benefit. Its rare that you'd be in a situation where a one-use repair kit is going to be more useful than some spirit commands or repair units, and while energy can run out at innoppurtune times you can usually pull one unit out to recharge while others take its place. In any case, I've already handed virtually everyone who might use one a repair kit and tank, so I feel no qualms selling the spares.
If you disagree, tell me. If you think I should sell all of them outright, say that too.





No-one except Decessor gave me any guidelines for upgrades, so as he said I upgrade those units most likely to be hurt, which are the two battleships and Davids Baybull. I could have upgraded his mobility so he'd avoid damage and the enemy might ignore him, but I wasn't ordered to do that, so meh. Means his Support Defense is better.

We return to the plot, with the heroes investigating these plants the Radam have left all over Earth, which of course we just have to to take thier word on:








Of course, these alien trees birthed among the asteroids of aldebaran and grown under the light of black stars flourish in earth's soil.




Except that its been replaced with an environment from another planet. Might want to get those sensors checked Aki.



Because Trees never damage anything...

Heres a question: Has anyone tried chopping one down for firewood, given that theres worldwide power shortages?







"That and Purple Guiness! You hear that, D-Boy? You're a Purple Paddy!! Hah, I'm so awesome..."





Which is odd given that your sensors said everything was normal. Are you sure your eyes are working, Aki? Why would your eyes lie?

Meanwhile, the Archangel is getting unfucked, slowly.






"Who would have thought all my summary executions would backfire on us?"








Isn't this the excuse Natarle gave for holding Lacus hostage? Oh how the tables have turned...








I feel I should point out once again that Uribitake is a married man. And I dunno, Murrue might be well-endowed, with lovingly animated jiggles whenever the ship is hit on the show, but when I see pictures of her she just looks too short for my liking.

In Alpha Gaiden, the adult characters tended to be the main source of idiocy and the teens the saving grace of the Talking Heads scenes. In this game its the opposite, so with a heavy sigh we got to the cafeteria.






"I'm used to having people scream and throw their poop at me in the hallway."








Yeah, thats some real dislike for violence there, Flay. You could be the next Gandhi.

Meanwhile Mu is packing away the Moebius Zero and pulling out his new unit:





Reading the manual is a sign of weakness! What do you think this is, a Sid Meier game?

(Actually the official english SRW games came with one of the chunkiest manuals I'd seen for a GBA and it was extremely useful for getting my bearings. Its yet another reason I'd reccommend tracking down a copy to play on your old-style DS, if this series interests you)








I mean, he's already keeping everyone on the Archangel from killing each other, now he has to carry the Strikes weapons too?




No toys for Uribitake :<




They give doctorates in Smugology now?








Mu's hyperevolved Newtype senses allow him to detect when haters are talkin' smack about his hos.








Its not Badgirls fault, its just that at certain times of the month she has to put a bunch of kids up against a wall and take a machinegun to them.









"Not nessecary or anything. Just...nice. It makes the massive pointless casualties better when people appreciate them."








Motivation and Kira go together like Battery Acid and Flesh.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Sucrose

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #192 on: June 24, 2011, 03:18:20 PM »
You know, I was gonna talk some smack about Badger Roll's violent tendencies, but then I realized that would end with no more Flay, Sai, and Kuzzie, and now I'm all conflicted...

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #193 on: June 24, 2011, 03:27:46 PM »
Part 10.2: Hey guys, can I join your game? I'll be the lonely brooder who never helps!



When have you ever been subtle about....anything, Yurika?





"We do?"
"Well, the GM gives us XP for them, so I assume we do."







"So why are you in the campaign then?"
"...I don't have anything else to do on friday nights."




Uh, he says he has amnesia. That would imply he doesn't know anything about the current state of affairs.









The eternal struggle of the gamer: The choice between being a functional member of the party, and being a batman knockoff.












Damn unobtainium.





Yeah, this is the TV series Blade, not the mutant from the Twin Blood special.












Hey, its not like the UEFA couldn't get lost.





It hasn't done us well so far, better mix up our tactics.

We zoom to the battlefield:















Its been way too long since Calvina angsted, its about time we reminded ourselves what her characters all about.

We zoom to the source of the fighting, and find a old friend:






A new unit teleports in:






He's not quite as cocky when his boss is around, is he?





(Ok, that doesn't quite happen, but its better than the lacklustre effects the GBA uses. Which are also over so fast I can't reliably capture them)













The mechs in question, for reference.






"I would do it but...I can't allow these Cheetos to escape either!"










Well, thats ominous...

Systems on the Bellzelute start to kick in:







Calvina takes a closer look at the main unit:





I think that last line was a typo, unless these guys worship a god called Preperations.













More alerts go off in the Bellzelutes second cockpit:









This is possibly the handiest system ever put on a mech: It automates all the exposition.




More effects I couldn't capture.







....You outnumber them 5 to 4. Ok, admittedly Mu is in a fighter, but still, I really don't think numbers are the issue.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #194 on: June 24, 2011, 05:16:17 PM »
Part 10.3: A scripted fight that fucks us over? In an SRW game? How can this be?

The others get out of the time freeze just in, er, time.













Now begins a series of fights we can't avoid:





Spoiler: These mechs are actually massive lumbering beasts that really pose little threat to our manuverable units. Akitos just not all that good in this cutscene.






Another spoiler: These mechs have no dodging ability in the actual game, they're statted as Super Robot enemies, with big size and lots of hit points, but missing them would take quite a bit of effort.








Spoiler: The boss characters have enough accuracy to make it a fight, certainly, but they're not that likely to hit the likes of the Bellzelute regularly.






Okay, this part is actually accurate, the Orgone Cloud is a powerful barrier that can get really annoying in the late game, mainly because it does more than just stop damage.








4 actually, but we'll get back to that later.









Wait, who was that last one?












"Yeah, we're totally gonna kill them, but we gotta go home and clean our guns first."








The enemy depart, before we've even had actual control of the game.



You're being extraordinarily useful today, Akito.



As is Calvina, and she's the Deus Ex Machina.






Oh? After ten stages, Calvinas backstory is finally becoming relevant?






...It is her!! What the fuck is she doing there? And how does she know about the Nadesico and the Archangel? Kira tossed her into a shelter in Heliopolis, she couldn't have seen the battles there, or the mechs involved.

The two teams reconvene to chat:

















What gave it away? The surviving?








Allies of justice that aren't Gekiganger? I find this unlikely.

Anyway, our backup arrives:



Yeah, the Radam forests haven't caused any trouble other than the light showers of giant spidercrabs that regularly fall.






Shinobu is one of those wonderful wellbalanced individuals that make our team so jovial and lighthearted.




Wait, no, I still have so many questions! Not that I'm sure I want the answers, but still!





Aw, a touching moment as the man-child realises his duty, finally something like humanity from thi-








...'Kay.





I had more deployment slots than I anticipated because the Archangel is apparently still getting fixed, but Combattler and Akatsuki are still sitting this one out.





Lets check our new units. The Skygrasper is a supply unit able to recharge units and refill ammo, and also has the same Exchange capability as the Strike. It can change Striker Packs on battleships, and can even give up the one its holding to give it to the Strike if the two are adjacent. I forgot to do this this time, however, mainly because I thought the ability was locked this level without really checking. It has its own built-in weapons too, but they're...lackluster to say the least. All in all, probably a step down from the Moebius until it gets some Striker Pack love. Useful for Kira though....Sigh.





Our main new acquisition is Dancougar, the CBFs mecha. Its a lot like Combattler, made up of smaller machines that combine to make the full robot (Although its more like the big central robot puts on shoes and a fancy hat), and a lot of powerful attacks, high HP and armor and little dodging. Its main differences are that it has Instinct, a damage-boosting power like Mazinpower, and a map attack.

Though, to be honest, the most important difference between Combattler and Dancougar is that I like Dancougar.



Also, 4 pilots for a smorgasbord of useful Spirit Commands.



The first thing, as usual, is to get people into formation. This includes putting Blade next to Blue Earth, because apparently under all of Noels suspicion and DBoys anger they're totally bros.
[spoiler]I don't think it'd be a huge spoiler to say Aki gives Blade a Love Bonus, which is our first legit difference between the two Blue Earth pilots.[/spoiler]



The two groups have started on opposite sides of the battlefield, so the first problem is getting them back together. Dancougar and Bellzelute have noone to be in formation with however, so I send them towards the Radam on the left flank.




Turn 2 Calvina is close enough to take a shot, but she still had the damage taken in the cutscene, so after weakening one for Dancougar she breaks off back towards the healers in the main group.



Initially, Dancouga has a few problems, although its basic attacks do well enough. Once it gets a few kills and takes some hits, its will gets to 120 and Instinct kicks in, as do a much better set of attacks. Then, things begin dying in earnest.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Decessor

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #195 on: June 24, 2011, 09:25:49 PM »
But...where do they keep all the guns on dancougar?  :twitch

Hilarity is ensuing.

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #196 on: June 24, 2011, 09:32:30 PM »
10.4: Giant Robot Nanomachine Zombies, because every games needs at least one total clusterfuck badguy.

Its at this point that I started having problems with the screencaps, and had to go back to earlier savestates in order to recapture some dialogues. The actual gameplay parts are from the original playthrough, don't worry.




On the other flank, most of my guys are too far away from the Radam to be attacked. The few who do ignore Blade in favor of attacking the Blue Earth, which isn't in too much trouble.



Dancougars in pretty bad shape after the last turn, but Shinobu has Guts to recharge its HP, so it can handle another turn of fighting solo. So long as it hits, anyway.



The Radam really have no chance to hit Bellzelute now. It seems ranged attacks in general aren't something for Real Robots to be too scared of in J, Melee attacks are the only ones that stand a chance against a properly upgraded Real.

Not much else happens on my turn, mostly more forming up, some repairs, and a few potshots at the enemy.





With Akito beside her, Yurikas under little threat.

I have difficulties following the next few moves, because screencaps got spotty, but it seems the enemies who couldn't reach the Nadesico mostly focused on David, who was guarded by the Blue Earth. Blade parried a tentacle strike with Counter Cut, but I didn't cap it. My turn rolls around again, and theres little to do but mop up.




Akito tries, bless him, but I think the Air Frames poor performance against land targets is hampering him. Possibly I should have given him the Dustproof, something to think about.




Mu finishes off the last of them, and we get an event (This is where the rerecording happened, so the mechs are in different places).









Rows of identical robots appear on either side of the battle.





Zombie soldiers piloting giant mechs, huh? NOt a good sign...

(Ropet is the thing that makes Combattler combine, by the way)









Brooding loner or no, if you agree to reward a PC for something, you can get them on your side.




Dancouga is beat up yet again, and very low on EN, and a tad too close to the enemy. I send units to support, and use Sayakas spirits to ensure it won't die just yet.




These guys don't seem to be too tough. We end our turn reasonably prepared for whats to come.








After all the mass slaughter, Dancougar finally levels up. They've certainly punched high for their debut, though again, we're seeing the XP hoover effect going on as half the enemies just suicide on the Super Robots.






The enemy do much the same with the Nadesico, earning Yurika vital XP. At this stage their beam rifles can't even get past the D-Field, making Nadesico basically invunerable as long as its EN holds out.



Dancouga still needs a turn to recharge, so to hold off the enemy horde I use Guard. This proved unnessecary as most of them went elsewhere.

We continue to kill our way down to the bottom of the map, prioritising those low on XP for kills, and using higher level guys to weaken them.







As I said, its often not worth using Blades focus because his natural dodge is good enough, so Wall works out best. And if he does get hit, he has Regeneration, so all in all Blade is really tough to kill.
His new Combo skill isn't seeing much use unfortunately, since the enemy aren't bunching up. Give it time though, and I'm sure they'll gather enough for a combo video.





The slightly higher HP of these enemies means that even with Mazinpower, Kouji doesn't one-shot them. However, their pathetic rifles barely even scratch him.





With nothing to repair, Sayaka gladly takes the kill. Support attack means free boob missiles with every rocket punch.







Karate kicking zombie robots, doesn't get much better than this.





The enemy focus in on Sayaka next to Kouji. Alert stops one attack...






Support Defense soaks another...





And she takes the last one on the chin, which she can handle.




Calvina takes a hit, but its not too serious. Those armor upgrades are doing us ok. Then again these enemies hit like drunk rabbits. They die pretty well even to the shot launchers as well.



Something to point out is that these machines have the same health regeneration as the Radam, recovering over 1000 hp if they survive till their turn, which can make them a little harder to finish off with counterattacks than another enemy would. But they hardly have boss-level HP, so we should be ok for a while.





Our turn again, and Mu finally resupplies Dancougar, netting him a big XP bonus. Kira also gains a level from killing the almost-dead zombie which attacked them last.

The Mints descend like vultures on the enemies weakened by Sayaka, and their kills trigger yet another event, as a massive machine erupts from the sand:







...Well he's not creepy at all.




Suddenly another mech appears, and immediately makes a big impact.












"Its how we say 'Hello'."






The King of Hearts title isn't explained all that well until a good few levels from now, but in summary, it means he's quite the badass.










"S-stupid King of Hearts, i-its not like I like you o-or anything!!"



Murder! Murder! Murder!



Oh dear, it seems we have a new objective: Keep our new friend alive, even though he's standing right next to the games first true boss character. Hurm...




Taking a look at this new Shining Gundam we've acquired, we see another issue with this: It doesn't have very good defensive stats at all. Its mobility and HP are average and its armor only a bit better. However, offensively, its very good, with strong weapons, although they're rather short-range.



We cast focus to help boost our mediocre dodge, and proceed with the only possible plan for Domon: Full Force Attack. We can't afford half measures here, any surviving enemy is a potential nail in our coffin.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #197 on: June 24, 2011, 11:00:33 PM »
10.5: I wouldn't call it the Devil, but I do find myself saying 'God damn it' a lot





I try to reduce the number of enemies close to Domon to help keep him upright, but Kounji didn't quite get this one.



Meanwhile the others finish off the last few stragglers of the zombie hordes.





The last remaining zombie tries its chances, but Domon makes the dodge and ends it.



The Devil Gundam tries its Map weapon to saturate the area with lasers, but Domon and Calvina manage to dodge. On our turn we begin bombardment, chipping away at the things massive HP bar.



40K HP and it recovers 4000 each turn. Nasty.



I check another screen and learn 2 things: That it has a fuckload of loot stashed away, and that it'll retreat once it get to 10% health. If we want that swag, we have to finish it off in one swoop without it landing in that critical HP spot.

Well, first we have to chip away at it. I send in the Mints with focus on, and they-




Uh...They tickle it.





....Oh god. He just shot down Hikaru, in one hit. Fuck.

That means no Melee Formation shenanigans this time, the Aestivalis' are pretty much out of this fight other than pecking at it with Distortion punches while cowering inside each others friend and command auras for dodge bonuses. Nuts...




At least the Nadesico is ok, being out of its range and able to snipe at it. This monster is definitely tough though, and no-ones weapons are having their usual effect.



Whats worse is that he has Potential Level 5, so once he's below 50% health his accuracy, damage and defense will go up even more! This ain't going to be your average fight!






Mazinger can survive it, but he'll need to use Spirits and heals from Sayaka to be safe.



Now a big problem arises: With the current stats the two of them have, theres no way the Devil Gundam can miss Domon. Even Focus would only improve his chances to a 70% likelyhood of being wiped out. Attacking would almost definitely kill our mission-critical friend.



So reluctantly, I pull Domon out, and have him hide in the crowd.



Even Calvina needs to cast Focus to be safe.






3000 out of 40K isn't bad, but still, our star players aren't doing as amazingly as usual.

Then this Kyoji guy pulls a dick move and does another Map Attack, this time wiping out two of our guys. Goddamn!

We hit back with our new Sword that Cleaves Evil, doing the best damage to it so far, and from safe range. Dancouga is nothing if not multitalented.

And if you're wondering where the giant metal dragon came from from charge up Dancougar....keep wondering, because I don't think its ever addressed in the game. Professors Hazukis flying Gandor base just shows up, shoots lasers to charge up Dancougar, and leaves again. Thats how he rolls.









Mus Wall spirit is really useful to have on the Skygrasper, just for such suicidal manuvers.




Come on, nearly there.





I somehow doubt Phase Shift Armor would help here, so I have to rely on Alert to keep Kira alive.





Sniping in general seems to be the way to go.







Thats as close to 4080 as I dare go. Now, to finish him off, with the combo attack I set up the turn before.

(Like an idiot, I forgot to use Gain or Luck, despite the Nadesico crew being basically fresh. Guess I was just so eager to finish this guy that I forgot, screwing myself out of a level or two, easy)




The Devil Gundams health bar completely refills, as its nanomachine-like DG Cells put it back together.





Ignoring Domon, the Devil Gundam heads off, none the worse for wear after that epic fight.




I feel no shame in calling it here.






Incredibly Reckless? Thats our Secret Phrase of the Day!!





'Sh-sh-shut up!! I'm totally Batman!"



Looks like you got yourself a nasty case of Generic Malfunction Animation there, kid.




....Which will make you stop.









I'm trying to figure out which of them is the bigger Tsundere...



Our repair bill for this mission is more than a little steep, as apparently Aestis are expensive to put back together. We'll have to compensate with smart spending and some Luck abuse later.













Isn't that abandoning the Resistance, though? They not able to pay enough for your robot anymore?

And yes, Saras eyes are goddamn freaky, and for no good reason. I can't do anything about them though.






Stop teasing us! You are a living mystery!! We demand answers!!










So I guess all the concerns about the martian nanomachines might have been valid after all.







To be fair to the guy, it worked wonders on Mars. Maybe they couldn't get Coordinators to program it properly and ended up with a buggy OS?




Hold on now, you're suddenly implying that there have been Gundams on Earth for a long time. If thats the case, why such a big deal about the X-Numbers being secretly developed? Why couldn't the UEFA use the existing Gundams as a basis for their mechs? Other than that these Gundams need actual training and fighting spirit to use, or that their designs are some of the most ridiculous to come off the Bandai planning desk...Still would have been better than the generic Strike.













Foreshadowing much?




Not at gunpoint, obviously, because that never ends well.

(Ignore the part about tournaments and such for the purposes of this game, that plot element barely comes up here. But definitely give the series a watch)








....Yeah, he'll fit right in.
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Gundam Optimal

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #198 on: June 25, 2011, 12:14:26 AM »
Part 10.6: Never split the party!








Well you could hardly make things worse...





"He's such a sexist jerk, and we love him for it."




Its one thing after another in general right here. Which is why Yurika is the perfect captain for us.






Wait, you were sitting there the whole time while Erina insulted you to your face?



Having a friend in the UEFA is like having a pretty balloon in the National Needle Museum. You're asking for a broken heart.






"Oh wait, I forgot, you're a godless heathen mutie. Well, thank MY god."








Meeting the resistance was an actual plan? When did that happen? I thought we were too busy plunging through the atmosphere to have a plan.






Its the new hip craze, Kira! Punch the Annoying Jerk! Everyones doing it!




"She must be crazy. Now, I'd better go and finish designing the murals to go in the Coordinator Death Camps..."

There follows a scene where we skip over Yurika and Shinobu explaining things to Murrue, and Shinobu and Ryo having a little argument, but its so utterly lacking in context I left it out. No offense, but this update is already 6 parts long.









Wait, so Africa is one country now, except for South Africa? And why do N-Jammers block radio signals? They're supposed to affect Nuetrons, not photons. If they can block radio waves, can they block sunlight too? And if its just a matter of emitting static, how does that work when they're all buried deep in the Earth?

I know that giant mechs need wierd science to justify their existence, but the N-Jammers just don't work that well as a replacement for the magical Minovsky particles of the original Gundam series. They leave so many questions unanswered that I wouldn't be shocked if each one contained a trapped wizard inside.




...Why not go West or South? If the objective is to go to Alaska, heading to America via the Atlantic sounds like a plan to me.





So not only are they expert programmers, they're also ninjas? How can they hide all their forces that well? Frankly, given that Tulips are single units that only have troops around them when they open into portals, I'd nearly think they'd be better at stealth than a regular army, even if they are big.







No seriously, what wrong with the Atlantic? Given this game, I wouldn't be shocked if there were roving packs of dragons there at this point.



"I just couldn't resist it. Your face is just so punchable."



"Just don't try to crucify me like my neighbours used to, ok?"





Often the best way to summarise a PCs misadventures.




....Thats it? No explanation of how you fucking TELEPORTED from Heliopolis's ruins to Africa? No seriously, you've supposedly been on Earth long enough to join the resistance and get yourself established as a ringleader or something, but the Archangel went straight from Heliopolis to Earth by basically the quickest route!! There were no side trips because ZAFT was chasing us the entire fucking way!! So unless you magically found a space ship three times faster than ours and overtook us while we were graverobbing for spare food, theres no goddamn way you could even be here!! This process would require either instantaneous teleportation or time travel, and quite possibly BOTH, in order to make sense! GAH!!!

[spoiler]And the worst part is that theres someone else in the game with this exact ability! Never mind a plot hole, this is grounds for a goddamn conspiracy!![/spoiler]

...And the only reason we were able to land safely through the Radam cordon was because we had the Nadesico, a unique ship whose only equivalents are, as we find out later, still in Nergal's drydocks!! HOW, CAGALLI?!? Are you Supergirl? I will accept being Supergirl as a legitimate reason for being able to do this! My standards are not high!!!












Little things like 'certain suicide' don't phase a man like Mu La Flaga.








I know I'm overusing the 'Yurika is a Tabletop RPG character' meme, but it really does explain so much of her behaviour.







Got throat cancer yet, Badgirl?







Except for, y'know, all the international treaties for handing over civilians to their proper countries, and general guidelines on rescuing people adrift, but to hell with those, thats not nearly bitchy enough to do without complaining about!






...Why would they need to get to Orb to make a phonecall? Are there radio-jamming machines in the middle of the goddamn Indian Ocean too?






...Compassion? From Noal? What the hells going on here?






Didn't we have this exact conversation 3 goddamn levels ago?






"The correct term is Antagonistic Differently-Planeted!"







How could anyone mind little things like that anymore?









Later he found that the vending machines accepted Radam Skulls as well as quarters.

Cut to some character moments on the Nadesico:












"Yes, I have totally had character development. So totally."

Away from that clunky setup to the Cafe and Prospector talking shop:
















And here we are, our first Route Split!! This is where we decide who we follow for the next 5 levels. Do we stick with the wacky hijinks of Nadesico and its crew, or mock the glum seriousness of SEED and its accompanying downer series? How to choose!?!

Here I'll spoiler whats coming up on each path:
[spoiler]Nadesico Route starts out with more of Domons plot, as well as the appearance of some more allies, then big things happen to Kouji! A powerful new ally appears, with a dark secret! And the Nadesico goes a little topsy-turvy!

On the Archangel Route, we begin with more SEED action, both good and facepalmy, then things get complex for D-Boy! Then the next chapter of Eiji's quest begins as an old rivalry ends! And we finally get to learn more of the mysterious organic mecha we saw in the teaser on level 2![/spoiler]

And here, I give the mechanical benefits of each route:
[spoiler]Going for SEED Route means we can later get a special weapon for the Strike, and we can unlock another ally for the Layzner team. Going with the Nadesico, on the other hand, is the beginning of the long and ardous path to unlock the most powerful unit in the game....which also means giving up most of the games other secrets, unfortunately.[/spoiler]

So, my friends...What will we choose?
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing."

The enemy is stupidity and our chosen weapons are giant robots: A Let's Play of Super Robot Wars J

Sucrose

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Re: I HAVE FURY!!! Lets Play Super Robot Wars Judgement!
« Reply #199 on: June 25, 2011, 12:50:14 AM »
Ooh.  I'm making this decision without looking at the spoilers, so please count mine as just half a vote; I like surprises, and I'd really be pretty happy either way. :D

I'll go ahead and vote for going with the Archangel.  I want to see just how closely the 'the UEFA is unbelievably, blisteringly incompetent' theory sticks to canon in this game. :lmao  It's amazing how close it's been so far, and I want as much data as possible.  Plus, this way we can get the Layzner folks levelled up a bit.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2011, 02:02:28 PM by Sucrose »