Guess who got his hands on SRW L!
So far, this game looks really, really good. Nuts to any pre-emptive criticism people might have had. The interface is really easy to work with. Setting up supports and figuring out hit chances on map attacks was never so much fun. Graphics and animations are really cool - not only for new series, even old ones have new animations. And almost every unit has a dynamic kill on its strongest attack.
Surprisingly enough, there are no parts to equip. There are, however, pilot parts that increase the pilots' stats and abilities. I didn't reach so far to use the partner system yet, but my hopes are high. Likewise, dunno about difficulty yet. The first stages were not too difficult, but not a piece of cake - you can lose if you are very careless.
Spoilered plot impressions!
[spoiler]
Mission 1 is Macross Frontier! VF 25s cannot enter Gerwalk mode as a seperate unit, but they use it for attacks like Ozma here presents. The Valkyrie Fighters are VERY good in this game. Lots of defensive abilities (shoot down, sword cut, pinpoint barriers), AND strong attacks.
Also, for some reason Voltes is working along SMS. It has a lot of HP, and its attacks are very damaging. V-Slash has the base of 5200 damage and requires only 45 energy, making it moderately spammable. Ozma's hissatsu is ~4500 base damage, in comparison, while the VFs' missiles are ~3500 and the gunpod is 2500. Just to give an estimate of how spread damage values are in this game.
Second mission brings us Macross Frontier pilots that weren't present in the first one:
Konig Monster! Yes, yes, YES. I've been waiting for this. Kanaria, you are awesome.
Klan's Pixie Squad Attack! That's right, Nene and Lalamia are in this game, and they already had more lines in one interlude than in the whole Frontier series. And Klan herself kicks ass too. Forget jobbing, that was canon. This is
better than canon.
The second mission is the one where Luka gets his shotariffic butt eaten by a Vajra capital ship and they have to rescue him. They're running kinda fast through Frontier's plot, aren't they? Frontier folded towards Earth, by the way, which means another series is introduced:
SEED Destiny! I get Shinn and his friends, as well as Minerva. Apparently in this game we play from ZAFT's perspective like in Z, rather than Kira's like in K.
Very, very good. We also had a small interlude earlier when the Gundam Jackers... well, jacked the Gundams. But it was not interactive.
Impulse is not as good as the VFs. Its strongest attack deals only 4050 base damage, and the spammable one is at ~3000. Of course, we know Shinn gets an upgrade. The ZAKUs are predictably weaker. Amusingly enough, Lunamaria's beam tomahawk attack reminds me of Getter Q from MX. She throws the axe and then twists it in the damaged robot.
Also, Brera. But shh. We're not supposed to know who he is yet.
After the mission, we have Ranka singing in the Zentradi ghetto mall (I told you, Frontier's plot moves fast here) with the Destiny folk watching, so I guess they joined in with SMS. But I cannot upgrade units now so the plot moves to other people's POV now. What will happen later? It's a mystery.
EDIT: A few extra comments.
No protagonist yet. He'll probably appear in the next mission, along his robotic maid sidekick.
Nagisa from Iczer-1 is hanging around Frontier, for some reason.
Mikhail's sniper rifle attack looks different whether the mission takes place in space or atmosphere. I hope it's the case for others too.[/spoiler]
Edited a little bit.
