Part 16.2: Lets start our brand new job by doing the same thing as two levels ago![spoiler]
See? It takes a few weeks, tops. If they'd just let Morgenroete take their simulators we could have
earth-made SPTs in no time.
Yeah, real shame he couldn't have any character development along the way. It really would have helped.
Whats the difference between a jet fighter and a space fighter, anyway? And would the difference mean he can't use his nickname anymore?
Don't listen to her, Boss. We all know Boss Borot works on Orky Logik, so its fine.
Unlike Alpha Gaiden, there actually is a point in getting to know the Combattler and Voltes teams, since they get more than one storyline mission each.
I assume this is a honorifics thing.
Oh god, another one.
Its a little annoying to have to retread both teams actions when we only missed one, but it does help show Ruri hasn't lost her edge. Still, I skip over a bit here.
Where there any enemies that could beat us before? Except maybe the Devil Gundam?
Anyway, slight timeskip:
They blast off, leaving the others to prep for launch like the slowpokes they are.
Yay! More angsty teens for the collection!
Wait what? This was never mentioned! And I dont think its mentioned again. Unless I've completely got my characters crossed.
"Because I'm in the Liberal Democrats, I must say no."
Oh right, the physical and mental stress thing, I guess.
"I bet you run Linux, you plebian! Base Unix is the way of real Antibodies!"
...And if they blow it up, it'll be ok so long as it isn't Orphan that kills us all?
Calvinas apparently not worth counting, I guess.
Spoilers: Again, the Love and Friendship bonuses are right there. So this big act really doesn't pan out in game terms.
The game says everyone has to live, for now.
So we arrange our guys in Friendship formation, with Calvina in the middle giving them her Command aura.
We charge in headfirst, as usual. And the Grand Chers still prove to be annoying.
And Calvina is still queen of damage.
Yuu and Hime do slightly more damage, and Hime gets to attack further away dudes because her Antibody level is high enough to extend her Brain Powerd's range.
Enemy turn, and they choose an unexpected target:
Calvina, who apparently, because of a lack of Friendship bonuses, is the easiest person in the formation to hit. Luckily she's right next to 2 support defenders, so all in all this is probably a good outcome.
A few of the Grand Chers decide to go for Nanga, but he's similarly in little danger.
By the beginning of our turn, we're surrounded by very thoroughly pummelled Grand Chers, ripe for the pickings of our lower-XPd guys.
Yuu is surprisingly at an average level for this part of the game, 17 compared to 19 for our best. So I give him a kill.
This triggers the Grand Cher kill limit:
And we get our reinforcements!! Which raises an odd conundrum: Who to use, now that we have two battleships of mechs to choose from?
Three full pages of robots to choose from, including some new faces:
Mazinkaiser is the Ultimate Mazinger, an invincible fortress of black steel, with a ridiculously high armor stat and some very strong weapons. Its Koujis new unit, and such a quantum leap from Mazinger Z, which was already one of our better units, that you'll wonder how you ever used the original.
Great Mazinger is always a funny unit to use: Better than Mazinger Z, worse than Mazinkaiser. Because it always has to be compared to its brothers, it can seem to be a backup unit or something to unlock combo attacks. But really, Great is a perfectly usable Super Robot that can fight with the best of them.
And unlike in Alpha Gaiden, Tetsuya isn't a whining bitch, but a proper older brother to Kouji.
Boss Robot, as said earlier, is a hunk of junk that seems to be kept running more by Boss's force of will and cartoonish tolerance for violent dismemberment than anything else. Its stats are terrible, its attacks mediocre and restricted to ground enemies unless you give it a Flight Unit, and its main use is as a repair and resupply unit in one, a job the Blue Earth does just as well. That said, Boss Borot has some advantages: It carries three pilots, each of which have useful spirit commands both for keeping it alive and for helping others, and it costs next to nothing to repair, if it does get shot down.
Voltes is, as usual, a slightly different version of Combattler, with a difference here and there, but generally hitting the same basic points. If theres a playstyle difference between the two, its that Voltes is more of a closeup fighter, while Combattler eventually shows its ranged chops.
Heres the big shocker of the new arrivals: Ten no Zeorymer, one of the Hakkeshu Robots of the mysterious Tekkoryu cartel. It is probably the strongest non-secret unit in the game, with Super Robot stats, a Barrier that also acts like an Afterimage at 130 will, HP and EN regeneration, and the incredibly powerful Meioh attack, in both direct and map versions (the map version is the first SRW attack I've seen that requires your will to be maxed out to use).
[spoiler]The only robots that can really claim to be equal to it are Mazinkaiser, the Original mechs in their final forms.....and its own upgraded form, which we won't be seeing this time through.[/spoiler]
Of course, we haven't seen these units in a while or at all, so they're behind on upgrades. Luckily, we have the option of ducking into this preparation menu before deployment, a lite version of the intermission screen, which lets us uprgade units, and swap around parts, modules, and even pilots (if for example we wanted to give Simone a spin in the Buldy or even the Layzner)
So, who among this motley band will we use? What will they pilot? And how will we garb them for battle? Answers please!
[/spoiler]