Let's Sperg Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden - The first game in the series to make mecha nerds cry from the difficulty

[GethN7]

Update for anyone who wonders if I'll do Project X Zone after this LS.

I checked the latest build of Citra, since emulators make it much easier to screenshot things, and while PXZ 1 and 2 are playable to completion, they still have some sound and framerate issues, and I plan to wait until those have been worked out some more before those games are on the table, as the framerate can turn into a slideshow at some parts and there are still some random crash bugs at key points in both games.

I would, however, not be averse to doing an SD Gundam G Generations Overworld LS after this, since that can be easily emulated via PPSSPP and runs perfectly.

Besides, given that one would be less a pain to cover and I know Gundam fans like @Jaimas would totally be down for it, it's next on my list unless Citra magically gets fixed up to the point PXZ2 1/2 run dandy in the meantime.

 

[GethN7]

Before we cover the next level, some info drops about your new swag:

The V2 Gundam is nice step up for Usso, you can hand down his V-Dash Gundam to whoever needs a better unit, and the V2 gets even better once you get it's expansion pack modules.

The Double X is a better GX in all categories, and has a stronger Satellite Cannon.

The G-Falcon, by itself, it's a good support unit, but it's real benefit is combining with the Gundam X units, each of which gain a sweet benefit on top of enhanced stats across the board.

This combination shaves a turn off charging the Satellite Cannon, gives Garrod better range as well as flight capability.

The Airmaster Burst is an upgraded Airmaster, though we get this minus the story arc of the source canon, which they couldn't fit into the crossover, so they just folded it into getting the Double X subplot.

This combination makes the Airmaster an outstanding flying fortress of asskicking with awesome range and mobility.

This is an upgrade for the Leopard, made in the show around the time they realized the Leopard just wasn't cutting it anymore. Basically the Leopard with better stats and more guns.

This combination gives the Leopard aerial capability and very high mobility.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 24: Guardian God Of The Land


We resume with the Argamma crew discussing the recent MS overhauls, Zondar Epta, and their attempts to find a way back home, and since the Innocent are the only ones with knowledge of Earth's past,they figure they need to go there to see if they can find anything.

We also find out Quattro is starting to become Char again, as he just sees the Innocent as the Principality of Zeon 2.0, and Bright notes Tetsuya's concerns and that they are worth looking into.

We cut to Mari asking Sarumaru about him and some of the other eggheads remaining at Zondar Epta,where they are still poring over the computer data that wasn't fried, and Banjou Haran and the Daitarn crew are staying with them as guards.

We cut to Tetsuya and Jun, with the former about to blow this pop stand, and Jun is insistent on coming with him if he's really gonna strike out on his own.

Ryo from the Cyber Beast Force overhears this and asks Tetsuya if he's really gonna go AWOL. He is, and when he assumes Ryuoma Nagare is going to stop him when he enters the conversation, Ryouma surprises him by saying he's planning to go independent soon himself, and Loran and Diana!Kihel are going with him.

Both Ryo and Tetsuya are very confused at Ryouma's plan, but he refuses to elaborate.

And that's when their plans are put on hold as the alarm klaxons go off.

We cut to the Argamma bridge, where battle beast signatures are enroute to the Gallian coast, and that's when Tetsuya launches without prior warning. Amuro tells Bright they should follow, and Bright tells the other ships in their mini-flotilla to do the same.

As we cut to the Battle Map, Tetsuya runs into Dante, one of Ankoku Daishogun's generals:

Dante confirms the Myceanan and Dinosaur Empires are in cahoots and they all want to kick Tetsuya's ass.

Tetsuya laughs his ass off, and when Dante wants to know what's so funny, and Tetsuya explains he was wondering why he existed.Then his enemies showed up and reminded him: he exists to beat their asses cherry red.

Battle map:

Dante has a potpourri of goons you've seen from Stage 8, and the Skill Point is to kill Dante in six turns.

You'll get support soon, so while Tetsuya and Jun should go forward to kick some ass ASAP, don't be an imbecile and make sure they don't get ganged up on.

The Dancougar shows up after a turn, and Tetsuya gets bitched out for going AWOL and gets told they are getting bailed out despite their violation of orders because they don't leave friends, even hard headed ones, to die.

By around Turn 4, deploy your choice of ship and ten units of your choice.

Make sure they are fairly strong, you'll have a worse foe than these pricks to fight soon.

Tetsuya gets bitched out by Kouji for going AWOL too, and Kenichi comments the Battle Beasts look brand new, meaning the Myceanan just recently made these things.

Dante here isn't all that strong, but he does have the advantage of being really far back on the battlefield, meaning getting the Skill Point requires getting to him and killing him FAST.

Once you kill him, he plans to run, but notices this:

Dante runs like hell to report this to his bosses, and that when fucking creepy music plays as this massive badass mech shows up.

And thus the series introduces us to Sanger Zonvolt (alternatively translated as Zengar Zonbolt, or, if they really want to be German accurate, Sanger Somvold).

And he's pissed:

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the badass and his badass machine, the Thrudgelmir:

He can recover 30% of his HP and EN a turn, has amazing stats, and worse, he has the Guts skill, meaning as his HP gets lower, his stats will jump up.

He's got two attacks:

Drill Boost Knuckle: Long range, can easily critical, hurts like hell.

Zankatou: Short range, REALLY hurts like hell, can one shot units if he gets a direct hit.

Anyway, your goal is basically survival for the next few turns.

After managing to either deplete 30% of his HP or not dying for a few turns, this happens:

After he leaves, everyone was like "who the hell was that?!", and Fokker says they should fall back for now.

But that's when the same machine we saw in the level with General Bat shows up, and it's got a message:

He explains Sanger went off on you guys because you were stepping on Magus' turf, and he got called back because it was a misunderstanding, you obviously aren't here to start shit. In fact, Magus wants to meet you all, and she also has several of your friends in her care at the moment, specifically Hwang Yang Long and Tyutti Norbuck of the Elemental Lord pilots, as well as Wendy.

As the stage ends, everyone discusses things while Egret is parked outside, checking his watch.

Given how you just got attacked, everyone is a bit nervous to walk up and say hi, and their affiliation with the Innocent is suspect. On the other hand, they have some of your friends in their custody,and fact is,you guys still don't know shit, so the consensus is all for biting back at the offered hook for now.

We cut to Ryouma getting grilled by Benkei about his plans to go AWOL, and he's disappointed Ryouma isn't giving up anything as to why. Loran then walks up and tries to convince Ryouma to just tell the truth already, this silent treatment is just pissing people off, but Ryouma insists that Diana's decision, he's keeping his word to shut up unless she says otherwise.

We cut to later where Egret leads them to a dome city, and we end things as everyone prepares to follow Egret inside.

The Bazaar is open again, but's got nothing you've not seen before.

 

[Cubanodun]

It's basically a Newtype driven ECM device that dicks over all sorts of electronics, and it's powered by the agonized soul of a Newtype.

So the idea of the EXAM came from Gundam X? need to watch it now even when X is in the hall of shame of Sunrise alongside AGE and SeeD

 

[GethN7]

So the idea of the EXAM came from Gundam X? need to watch it now even when X is in the hall of shame of Sunrise alongside AGE and SeeD

Gundam X is actually a lot better than many give it credit for if you ask me.

It was a lot better about examining the Newtypes as weapons question, mostly because it did a lot more showing the ugly aftermath of doing so and did less preaching.

It also had far less jedi mind trick bullshit that was pulled out of nowhere, all the twists made sense, and since it generally focused on the protagonists to drive the plot, it didn't inspire any dickwaving about which faction was better.

If anything, the earth and space faction were both kinda retarded, and the people you cared for were the people on both sides who realized this and said enough was enough.

The true antagonists were the Frost Brothers, and they were actually pretty decent villains. Reasonably competent but not overly so, their ambitions were petty but very human and relatable, and given how the factions they played off against each other kinda deserved to get culled of a lot of stupid people but they didn't paint both sides as utter zealots, just the guys running them were loons, it did better than Gundam SEED in that regard, whereas SEED made you wonder if it wouldn't have been better to just let the villains win.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 25: I Feel Like We Won't Meet Again

We start this level with Director Biel getting a report on the Irregulars.....from Shagia Frost, of all people:

They report that Zondar Epta was destroyed by the Irregulars, and Dowas is horrified, it was a key anti-Moon Race lab, and privately feels like a fool for not crushing them sooner.

Given this information, Biel says he wants one of the Iron Gear crew: Rag Ulalo or Elche Cargo, either will be fine, so long as they are alive and unharmed.

Shagia is all "you could just invite them here", but Biel points out at this point, they will be leery of doing that. Shagia then asks where to find them, and they are to the south of P-Point, closer to the S-Point.

Bizarrely, S-Point is a dome the Innocent have just left to rot, and Shagia has one last request, some bait.

He's given command over Kid Hola for that.

After the Frost Brothers leave, Dowas wonders if giving people whose affliations are known to be iffy jobs is a good idea, and Biel says he's well aware the Frost Brothers are not Vultures, they are likely Moon Race operatives, and they even scouted this place before.

Dowas wonders why the fuck Biel would trust them, and he explains the Moon Race is a divided entity, and Dowas concedes the point pitting mutual foes against each other is a good call for now, but still gets all pissy about how the Human Restoration Project has allowed people like Jiron to do so much damage, to which Biel gets mad for once and tells Dowas to shut the fuck up.

Dowas retreats a little, and Biel pointedly asks what the Innocent's purpose is, clearly wanting Dowas' loyalties out in the open. Dowas is smart enough to repeat to Biel what he wants to hear, and Dowas then tips his hand when he says letting that go out of control could destroy their (the Innocent's) entire structure.

Dowas just admitted what he really wants by saying that, and Biel lets him know "we are custodians, not overlords, and if you have pretensions otherwise, shove them up your ass".

We cut back to the Preventers, who are scoping out S-Point dome, and Jiron says it's a bit odd an Innocent would even bother to leave a dome to say hi, and Diana!Kihel remarks to herself that the cleanup of the Gallia continent was supposed to be done to the point the Moon Race could easily adapt like on the Ameria continent Sunbelt region, but that doesn't seem to be as true as was thought.

We also find out the Gallian Innocent had nanotechnology, now have lost it, and thus have to live in domes, and the picture gets a bit clearer.

Basically, those blue stones that are all the rage with the Innocent aren't just minerals they find valuable, they are poisonous to the Innocent and cause immunodeficiency degeneration (and artificially induced AIDS, more or less), so their getting the Breakers to collect them is so they can dispose of them, and once the concentration of them is low enough, the Innocent, whose constitutions can't handle the same air other people outside the domes breathe, will finally be able to live outside the domes, should they choose to.

On the Ameria continent, the Innocent there had access to nanotech that sped up the process and made it so they eventually left their domed cities and integrated into the local populace. Gallia, by contrast, lost said nanotech and were forced to set up their current society where they have to process said blue stones the hard way.

In short, this is why the societies of both continents have diverged so greatly, and why the Moon Race generally avoids Gallia in favor of Ameria, they have the same issue as the Gallian Innocent in regards to long-term adaptation to that environment.

Bit of a spoiler here, but keep in mind we've seen these "Innocent" we are about to visit use nanotech called Machine Cells, so question for you all, why would they wish to pose as the Innocent? (consider it your homework)

We cut to inside the dome, where Egret is showing everyone around.

Quattro notes the sterile, space colony like atmosphere, not to mention the sheer quiet. Egret pointedly ignores these comments and leads them to Magus.

Everyone is a bit agog at how hot Magus looks, and Bright says he regrets the blutness, but he wants to skip the protocol and just get to the point.

She's all for this, and says she wanted to not only meet them, she has a request.

She acknowledges they are badass and referred to as Irregulars, implying she knows who they really are, and asks if you guys wouldn't mind kicking the ass of the underground empires, and then she segues into a legend about Zora (Earth)

Long ago, this was a lush, vibrant world, but a calamitous wind came one day that swept across the skies.Zora took damages from it, but it wasn't the only disaster to occur. Countless demons arouse from the depths following the confusion from the great calamity, with shattered lands and dried up oceans the result. The demons invaded the surface, killing many, their poisonous breath causing many plants to wither and die.

Many survivors fled to the Moon or other planets, and with no people left, Zora became a world rule by demons. However, upon Zora saviors appeared, with mechanical giants of steel as the guardians of the land, eventually succeeding in driving the demons back into the depths.

The final battle, though, exhausted their strength, their bodies scattered across the lands of Zora, as stones blue in color........

She then adds after this some people returned from the Moon, those who would be the predecessors of the Innocent, while those that remained were the Moon Race, and while the third assrape of the planet came later, her request boils down to this:

Those demons in that legend? They are coming back, someone needs to stop them once more, and she wants you guys to do it.

Quattro then points out they have military tech, so why not do it themselves, and she's all "we don't have as much as we appear to", then says you guys are different and are likely the second coming of the saviors of Earth.

We cut to the Masoukishin cast, who wound up here after the Neo-Granzon went nova, and due to Wendy's health issues, they had to remain here, but despite their taking care of Wendy, Hwang Yang Long does not trust them.

Masaki then pays a visit to Wendy, and after an awkward conversation with poorly disguised flirting, Wendy turns serious and wants Masaki to hunt down the still missing Lune.

We cut back to the Argamma, where Bright has said they aren't giving Magus an upfront response, because while they acknowledge the legitimacy of the underground empire threat, she is basically dropping said responsibility on their heads rather forcefully, and given Magus' apparent Innocent connections, this could be a trap.

In essence, aside from that legend Magus shared, they still don't know shit, and unless they bend over for Magus, it's likely they won't find out more. Still, despite the suspicions Magus has raised, she does not appear to be their enemy yet, and Bright advises keeping their concerns quiet while Banjou and the J9 team do some quiet recon of Magus' current digs.

We then cut to Garrod paying Tiffa a social call, and she reveals she had a dream where she would never see anyone ever again.

And that's when alarm klaxons go off.

We cut to the Iron Gear, where Cotset is aghast what appear to be Breakers are attacking near an Innocent Dome.

I'll cover the other half later.

 

[Kiwi Jeff]

hall of shame of Sunrise alongside AGE and SeeD

Do people actually hold it that low? I thought X was the best 90s Gundam not counting G.

 

[Cubanodun]

Do people actually hold it that low? I thought X was the best 90s Gundam not counting G.

I mean for the fact that the serie was axed, the anime has been considered not that bad compared to Seed, AGE or IBO, Sunrise has a weird concept of what is good and bad (They abandoned the idea of making more Horizon in the middle of nowhere for pushing more Love Live even when Horizon was considered a sucess)

 

[GethN7]

Stage 25: I Feel Like We Won't Meet Again, Part 2


As this map starts, the Freeden and Iron Gear's current crew and pilots are going to have to hold the line until the rest of the team gets back from inside S-Point, and it's at this point I need to discuss the Skill Point.

The first wave is a feint, so while taking it down is a good idea, the second wave MUST die 3 turns after their appearance for the SP. Do note this SP is a bit frustrating, so don;t worry about it if you've gotten most others by this point.

You will autodeploy the following forces for defense, which Gavan amusingly bemoans:

On the surface, this looks easy, with a laughably small force of Promeus versus your team, which can dig in and potshot your foes from a long way off. Then again, traps do look this inviting most of the time.

After a turn, your foes don't move, to Tonya's confusion.

Once the first wave is dead, the real goons show up, led by a Breaker in a Galavier, to the southwest. Many are weak Walker Machines though, and the good guys note Magus' own security force is oddly sitting on its butt despite the threat.

Some more appear after killing this wave in the mountains to the north, and while they are weaker, you should realize they are obviously trying to draw you away from the carriers.

And sure enough, that was exactly their plan:

Shagia and Olba make a beeline for the Freeden, and Hola is detailed to blitz the Iron Gear, somewhat surprised and even amused by the Innocent given orders to snatch and grab either Elche or Rag.

The latter closes in on the Iron Gear and does the "nobody move or the bridge gets it" crap, Jiron calls them on their cliched, black hatted villainy, and Hola for once doesn't fuck shit up and just focuses on his orders from the Innocent, a revelation that stuns the Iron Gear crew.

Meanwhile, while Hola's drama has everyone preoccupied, the Frost Brothers assault the Freeden. Garrod tries to move to stop them, but Shagia points his Megasonic Cannon at the Freeden nigh point blank and tells Garrod one step and they all get it in the face.

With that, the assholes all withdraw, and Garrod is pissed as the Stage ends.

We'll cover the rest in another post, have some more game mechanic trivia to discuss in that post as well.

 

[GethN7]

We cut to the Iron Gear, where Jiron is raging at Cotset, but considering he got blindsided and had a shitload of guns in his face, he was kinda screwed. He even tries to give Fatman grief, but Kenichi tells him to calm down. Jiron then proceeds to cry while Amuro hears from Paula that Garrod islocked up in his room, very emo for obvious reasons.

Shinobu admits sympathy for Garrod, he had someone do similar shit to him once (referring to when backstabbing traitor Shapiro Keats from his own series captured Sarah), and tells Paula and Witz to keep an eye on Garrod, fool might go off on his own and get curb stomped again.

He then turns his attention how Magus' people, Sanger especially, were conspicuous no shows.

We cut to the J9 team, and they have discovered the S-Point dome computers were only recently turned on, and given how the place was basically a tomb save for the few people they saw, that means it had been empty until very recently, meaning Magus lied about being connected with the Innocent.

We cut to Bright who is telling Magus that unfortunately, he will have to decline cooperation with her on that whole killing the underground empires, pointing out that since the Innocent have abducted their crew, that is their highest concern, and, pointedly throwing shade by implication, her claims of being part of their number means they can't trust her.

That disappoints her, but Bright and Banjou smooth things over by saying dealing with the Dinosaur Empire is definitely on the list after rescuing their friends, and she decides to let them leave on a graceful note.

However, as soon as they aren't around, it's obvious she's fucking pissed, and when Egret asks if she's just gonna let this go, she coldly calls them pawns who are going to be a clusterfuck magnet for all the bad shit, so fine, let them walk, but they will be observed discreetly.

The Bazaar is open, and they have a rather nice Doven Wolf if you got the funds for it, I'd snap it up.

-----

It's at this point we have a technical route split, but I will not be covering both routes because it's a "skill" point split, meaning its based on our total number of skill points.

Both routes cover roughly the same ground, just the harder one (15 points or more) rewards skilled players with a Xabungle specific secret, while we don't get that on the other route.

If you get this route, consider it a checkpoint for staying on the Normal/Hard route path.

In earlier SRW games, they used other means, like global turn limits, to determine route splits, like in SRW 3, where the true ending required 420 or less turns during the whole game to reach the true final boss.

Turns are now just something they left for speed runners to keep track of for bragging rights.

Later SRW games would also unlock other bonuses for getting Skill Point totals at certain amounts.

For example:

Alpha 2: If you got a high enough amount (over 50), the final fight with Char Aznable would be with him piloting the Nightingale, not the Sazabi.

Alpha 3: If you got 50 or more points throughout the whole game, the final boss from Alpha 2 would show up as allied reinforcements for the final boss of Alpha 3.

This was altered by the Original Generation games on GBA, which gated their true final bosses behind skill point limits, but the updated re-releases on PS2 did away with this, making the true final bosses the actual final bosses.


Super Robot Wars V did something different. Their Skill Point system determined whether you got one of two end game paths, with the reward being that the latter path was longer, several characters became redeemable and playable unlike the other path, and they added in a bonus for fans of Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199.

By special request of the creators, Bandai Namco gated it's Wave Motion Cannon weapon to plot specific events only, given it's in-universe use was very sparingly, and given it was meant to be an in-universe nuclear weapons analogue, the moral question of the show lore of abusing the shit out of it would have been ruined had they left it free for regular use. It also did not sit right with the show creators to let the player use it on sapient beings who were humanoid, as that was one of the key moral issues said weapon centered around.

As a reward to players who got the skill point path, the game gave the players free use of the Wave Motion Cannon in the final battles, and while the Yamato was already obscenely overpowered as a carrier both in-universe and in SRW, the Wave Motion Cannon was so OP Ideon fans who loved spamming the Ideon Gun in Alpha 3 would certainly have shed tears of joy at having free license to spam the shit out of Yamato's equivalent.

Besides, the final bosses were unrepentant bastards with no regard for other life, so the USY creators were fine with letting them get repeatedly hosed by Yamato's weapon of doom.

 

[Cubanodun]

By special request of the creators, Bandai Namco gated it's Wave Motion Cannon weapon to plot specific events only, given it's in-universe use was very sparingly, and given it was meant to be an in-universe nuclear weapons analogue, the moral question of the show lore of abusing the shit out of it would have been ruined had they left it free for regular use. It also did not sit right with the show creators to let the player use it on sapient beings who were humanoid, as that was one of the key moral issues said weapon centered around.

I think the main reason is that the abuse of the Wave Motion Engine technology is actually part of the plot of Yamato 2202 that was released just in the same month that SRT V (tl;dr Eath get cocky and begin to mass produce Wave motion engine powered ships even agaisnt the desire of their creators the people of Iskandar) , in the game is also mentioned the horrors that the technology could bring to left a space to insert Yamato 2202 in a future game.

and while the Yamato was already obscenely overpowered as a carrier both in-universe and in SRW, the Wave Motion Cannon was so OP Ideon fans who loved spamming the Ideon Gun in Alpha 3 would certainly have shed tears of joy at having free license to spam the shit out of Yamato's equivalent.

For years i thought that there was never going to be a ship more powerful than the Nadesico, for people that dont know the Nadesico is a raping tank of Doom in SRT with decent mobility (for a Mothership) can spam reflective shields, has tons of energy, crew with tons of skill and tons of weapons heck in V you get the Nadesico b with Hoshino Ruri as captain and she has her Hacking skills that debuff everyone in the map (later you get the C with Rurika) in the game boy versions you could just stick proper leveled Aestevalis to the Nadesico and just wreck everyone in your path

Then it cames the Yamato, holy shit, that thing has TONS of dakka, Wave motion shield (that barely uses in the anime), and all the cool attacks that you see in the series like the Okita manouver to crown how amazing it is, it comes to the biggest fuck you installed in a warship the Wave Motion Gun that was only outclassed by the Super dimensional cannon of the Macross, when we saw it for the first time we concluded that is going to be as broken as the Zeorymer

I dont know about the new ship that appears in X because i have not watched Nadia so i dont know what it does

 

[GethN7]

I think the main reason is that the abuse of the Wave Motion Engine technology is actually part of the plot of Yamato 2202 that was released just in the same month that SRT V (tl;dr Eath get cocky and begin to mass produce Wave motion engine powered ships even agaisnt the desire of their creators the people of Iskandar) , in the game is also mentioned the horrors that the technology could bring to left a space to insert Yamato 2202 in a future game.



For years i thought that there was never going to be a ship more powerful than the Nadesico, for people that dont know the Nadesico is a raping tank of Doom in SRT with decent mobility (for a Mothership) can spam reflective shields, has tons of energy, crew with tons of skill and tons of weapons heck in V you get the Nadesico b with Hoshino Ruri as captain and she has her Hacking skills that debuff everyone in the map (later you get the C with Rurika) in the game boy versions you could just stick proper leveled Aestevalis to the Nadesico and just wreck everyone in your path

Then it cames the Yamato, holy shit, that thing has TONS of dakka, Wave motion shield (that barely uses in the anime), and all the cool attacks that you see in the series like the Okita manouver to crown how amazing it is, it comes to the biggest fuck you installed in a warship the Wave Motion Gun that was only outclassed by the Super dimensional cannon of the Macross, when we saw it for the first time we concluded that is going to be as broken as the Zeorymer

I dont know about the new ship that appears in X because i have not watched Nadia so i dont know what it does

I'm considering doing a LS of SRW Judgment next if more people want that as opposed to SD Gundam G Generation Overworld.

I do have to say, however, I picked Alpha Gaiden first because because Judgment had some dumb writing decisions:

1. Gundam SEED was followed pretty loyally. This was dumb because that meant all the stupid from that show was carried over intact. Worse, that meant the game forced you into several situations you'd think the crossover nature of the game would let you avoid or make less dire than the source.

Even SRW Alpha 3, which shoehorned SEED in badly, even they did some interesting stuff with it by letting you play as the villains on Selena Recital's route and allowed you to dodge a very asinine character death scene by simply not deploying them in a certain unit (SEED watchers will know who I'm referring to)

2. G Gundam was kinda halfassed into the plot. Granted, it had some cool ideas, like actually depicting all the members of the original Shuffle Alliance and giving them plausible backstory cred (though this had some issues regardless), but they did a poor job of making it gel with SEED, though they admittedly tried to some degree. I understand chopping out the Gundam Tournament part and skipping straight to the Devil Gundam part, but the way they did it would confuse the hell out of anyone who never watched the source before, because when the plot forced them to bring up Gundam Tournament specific stuff, you could literally see where the writers were desperate to hurriedly get past it with as few plot holes as possible.

Still enjoyed the characters and mecha, but the storywriting was kinda ass.

3. I always preferred Calvina's route over Touya's because it made more sense, especially because Touya suddenly gets a shitload of character development at one point with little buildup. Calvina's route was pretty consistent on that front by contrast.

4. The original villains were pretty decent, but not great. They served an adequate role in the plot, but they didn't especially stand out either.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 26 - Vow To The Endless Skies


We start this level with Milan and Phil of the Diana Counter, and Phil has finally figured out Kihel!Diana is not the real Diana, now he's just selling Milan on the idea.

His evidence is that Diana has done fuck all since the Preventers crossed the ocean, and with the destruction of Fort Severn and Zondar Epta, the Militia has been bizarrely quiet,meaning the Diana Counter has no obstacles in their path, yet Diana still has a thumb up her ass.

Put altogether, and either Diana has gone brain dead, or she's an imposter is the conclusion Phil has reached.

Milan finds this logic hard to argue, and Phil then says the only person who could feasibly impersonate Diana is Kihel Heim.

Milan really has no counter to this,and as his remaining ability to deny it crumbles, Phil says they need to either get Diana to help them seize the Sunbelt or have her revealed as an imposter. This means an effective coup d'etat, but Phil points out they are kinda fucked if they do nothing at all.

Milan finally caves.

We then cut to Kihel, who has already spilled the truth the Harry and has informed him she's well aware Phil's gonna do something retarded sooner or later, so Harry does as Kihel asks and leaves to connect with Diana so she can make peace negotiations with Arthur Rank, and to that end hands Harry a letter drawn up from Diana notes on the subject to help grease the wheels.

Unfortunately,as he's about to leave, Poe Aijee is about to place him under arrest for helping conceal the truth (which he didn't know until very recently himself, mind you). He decides to bluff them with playing ignorance and invoking the "that's treason" card, but Poe is unmoved.

So he has to escape the hard way, and manages to do so.


We then cut all the way to where the Preventer recon team (the CBF, Getter team, and the Mazingers) has stumbled across the Dinosaur Empire's troops, and they quickly realize the DE forces are trying to prevent the good guys from sussing out their home base, so they plan to assess the situation to see if they can;t get the enemy to tip their hand.

Well, save Tetsuya, who jumps the gun like a dumbass, and when Kouji tried to get him to come back, Tetsuya calls him a pussy, goading Kouji into action, which just provokes further butthurt jealousy on Tetsuya's part.

Ryouma faceplams, and Hayato points out getting them to see reason isn't gonna work, so they all reluctantly decide to back the two hothead Mazinger pilots up.

Map time:

The enemy is a dozen Dino Jet fighters, and while you do need to take them out, be careful, another wave will follow.

This is also a Mountain Cycle to the north.

After a turn, Tetsuya continues to be a dick to Kouji, and the CBF combine their machines into Dancougar after the next enemy turn while the Getter team do likewise.

Well, they try, but Hayato refuses, saying the Get Machines are enough for these losers.

This prompts the CBF to facepalm as the fight resumes,and after the turn finishes, Tetsuya kills off a Din Jet and shits on Kouji's competence some more.

Once you kill all but one, it flies straight for the two behind your units, but Benkei crashes his Poiseden into the Dino Jet to stop it, totaling it in the process.

Cue the end of Part 1 of this stage.

We then cut to where a Dino Soldier is filling Gallery in on the now MIA recon squad they sent out:

Gore cuts in with this:

Gallery names off both the humans and the "Ancestors", and based on the context,the Ancestors refers to Sanger, Egret, and Magus, and the Dinosaur Empire still doesn't know their exact location.

While Gallery is detailed to suss that out, Ankoku Daishogun is here to swap notes with Emperor Gore.

Both are pissed their mutual enemies are back, and since Ankoku Daishogun supports the Dinosaur Empire's plans to dick over humanity, he offers his fellow evil overlord his services in giving them a hassle while the Dinsoaur Empire gets their cards on the table.

Gore is concerned the dark general isn't at full strength yet, but his colleague is all"this will help me get the kinks out, and I kinda owe you, so hell with it, let me be the vanguard".

Gallery interjects he's got a plan to dick over Getter Robo, and Gore thus details him to work with the Myceanan generals Dante and Archduke Gorgon to pull it off.

We then cut back to the Argamma, where Burning is fucking pissed at the clusterfuck their recon turned into, and the CBF, Mazinger, and GetterTeams are getting one hell of an ass crawling over how Benkei nearly died because they couldn't cooperate.

Fokker tells Burning to chill, the message got across, and since Fokker outranks Burning (as a Lieutenant Commander, he's at least two grades senior to Burning, who is just a Lieutenant), he complies immediately.

Unfortunately, as Fokker and Burning walk off, the idiots got back to sniping at each other,and Tetsuya decides fuck it, he's leaving for good now. With the exception of Kouji, he gets told not to let the door hit him on the way out.

And that prompts Hayato and Ryouma to resume dickwaving about who calls the shots, and when the CBF tries to get them to calm down, Ryouma tells them to stay out of this, then he and Hayato start punching the shit out of each other.

The CBF realizes they might as well let the morons get this out of their system and leave.


We cut to Jun asking if Tetsuya really leaving now, and when he's all "yes, I am", she calls him on his shit:

He decides to finally be honest and admit she's right, and part of the reason he's leaving because he knows he can't control his inner butthurt and wants to leave before he does more damage, and he leaves.

We cut to the infirmary, where Kouji is checking up on Benkei, who isn't that bad off. We also find out Ryouma and Hayato kept beating the shit out of each other so bad they wouldn't stop until the resident strongmen of the Combattler and Voltes teams pulled them off each other and full nelsoned them into submission.

They then discuss how Tetsuya just left, and Benkei at least realizes while Ryouma and Hayato might have their heads up their asses, he needs to be back to duty ASAP so the team can eventually get it's shit together.

We then cut to the bridge, where Diana has finally decided to come clean to Bright, at least somewhat, communicating her desire to confer with Arthur Rank as if relaying what "Diana" told her, and she gets told he might be the leader, but based on the actions of the Innocent, he doesn't hold the real power.

She counters that if they don't try, all chance of finding Elche and Timp go out the window, and Bright agree to at least put the matter up for discussion. Fokker then proposes to send out a search party/recon squad,and he wants Ryouma and Hayato on it, because he realizes those two are gonna explode and cause more dissension on the ship if they are forced to cool their heels, and while Bright points out that could backfire, Fokker says that can dealt with far easier than if they don't deal with the problem at all.

Bright sees the logic in the idea and gives Fokker the green light.

And thus begins the second half of the Stage.

Ryouma and Hayato are doing their scouting mission, having cooled off some, and both are really worried about Tetsuya.

And that's when the combined Myceanan/Dinosaur Empire forces show up, and Ryouma realizes another Dinosaur Empire alumni besides General Bat is still around:

With that, Ryouma tells Hayato to wait for the calvary to arrive, and Gallery remarks to himself he can;t wait for the third Getter Machine to spring his trap.

As you can see, it's the same map as before, just at night, and while there is full compliment of damned near every type of goon from the Great Mazinger/Getter Robo series present, your Skill Point involves killing Dante.

Also, like Ryouma said, wait for the cavalry to arrive.

After a turn,Benkei shows up to make the Getter Robo, and that's when Gallery deploys his secret weapon.

And that's when Gallery's plan becomes clear. His Bado squad is essentially cockblocking the Getter from switching forms by interposing themselves between the parts as they try to combine.

Each attempt to combine becomes an epic fail thanks to this, and Dante decides to grind the glass in the wounds:

As the fight resumes, don't bother trying to kill the Bados, they're invincible. Also, just stay alive for now, the Bados will stick to your units like glue no matter what.

After two turns of this, Kouji shows up in Mazinger to help, but that's when Dante unveil his own secret weapon:

He doesn't seem to be himself, and he mutters he will kill Kouji in such a way Kouji thinks he's doing a lame Heero Yuy impersonation, but it's obvious his mind is not his own at this point, as he's taking Dante's orders to murder his own adoptive brother without complaint.

Worse, as he tries to make good on those comments, Hayato realizes Tetsuya has been brainwashed.

He's right:

Short version is Tetsuya went off to fight them alone, got his ass beat, and then Gallery amplified all the dumb rage in Tetsuya to weaken his mind against Dante's mind mojo, making ti easy to turn him into their slave.

Since it's clear Dante is the one holding the puppet strings, that means both the Getter Team and Kouji realizes he needs to die first, and Dante is all "Archeduke Gorgon, just stand back and watch me make a fool of these idiots for daring to think they can do shit to me".

I should point out that while taking Dante on with the Get Machines is kinda suicidal, it's entirely possible for Kouji to kill the asshole if you buffed his units stats some and use Valor/Breast Fire a few times, getting you the skill point.

However, Dante is all "Tetsuya Tsurugi is still lost to his own darkness, you're still fucked despite beating me".

And sure enough, Tetsuya still wants to kill Kouji, and Kouji realizes what Dante really meant, so in a move that takes both balls and heart, he tells Tetsuya to take his best shot.

This actually seems to put a dent in the mental BS, and Kouji keeps going:

I just want to underscore something: Tetsuya is in a perfect position to fry Kouji's Pilder right out of his Mazinger and kill him right now, but this gutsy SOB is willing to die just so his own brother will regain his sanity.

And the spell is finally broken as Tetsuya remembers that if he hurt Kouji, HE would be hurting someone else far worse.

He would be betraying Kenzou Kabuto, the man who loved him as his own son like he did Kouji, and he would be spitting on the very man he's always sought approval from as a father.

And that's when the mind control shatters like glass as Tetsuya realizes just how much of a spiteful, jealous, petty bitch he's been, and how much of a piece of shit he's been for no good reason, and the Great Mazinger theme fires up as Tetsuya Tsurugi's rage turns on it's proper target once more.

As Kouji is overjoyed to see Tetsuya is fine, he realizes what a toolbag he was to shit on his younger brother, and leaves Archduke Gorgon in shock:

Gallery shits himself and decides to play his trump card after seeing this, summoning the Light-Beast, Pikudrone, an energy being made specifically for fighting Getters and Mazingers.

Archduke Gorgon is all "some Get Machines and damaged Mazingers can't possibly hope to win against that".

Tetsuya wants to atone for the all the shit he pulled by overloading his Photonic engine and core detonating it in the Pikudrone's face to save Kouji and the Get Machines, but Kouji tells him to fuck that shit, he's not gonna let the brother he risked his ass for die after getting him back.

Tetsuya gets all emo, saying his corpse would be mourned by no one, and Kouji is all 'see the tears on my face? I will shed more if you die here.", then beautifully sums up how he feels:

I just want to pause for a moment here to give Kouji Kabuto a huge Semper Fidelis for that.

This moves Hayato to try his own attempt at sacrificing himself to save his friends, and Ryouma is not gonna okay that dumb shit:

And that's when Ryouma suggests trying the Mach Open Formation, essentially combining their machines at supersonic speeds.

Hayato realizes while it might work, going at the speeds required for that has a very high chance of causing them all to crunch into each other and die of speed enforced blunt trauma if they screw it up, but Ryouma would rather die with his friends then for one to die to save two, and Hayato finally decides, fuck it, Ryouma's got a point:

And so, going at speeds with G forces so intense that blood would fly out noses and cause one's bones to fracture from the sheer force, the Getter Team not only manages to combine, the sonic boom they create from the sheer speed kills all three of the Bados that were trying to prevent their combining:

Some might call this shit crazy, but for badass motherfuckers like the Getter Robo team, this is just the kind of gutsy shit they do.

Both Gallery and Gorgon are all 0_0 to this, as the "heroic fuck shit up" theme plays, the Getter and Mazingers stand shoulder to shoulder to KICK. SOME. ASS!

Thankfully, the good guys can deploy on the very next turn to help your now united forces of Getters and Mazingers do just that.

The very first thing Tetsuya does when seeing them is apologize for being an asshat, and he deserves a Semper Fidelis for this:

I don't have to cover the rest, you all know the Myceanan and Dinosaur Empire pricks need a good beating.

About the only new threat is this prick:

I suggest dogpiling the fuck out of this POS to murder it ASAP.

Otherwise, the rest needs no explanation.

However, don't rest on your laurels, because after wasting most of the current goons, Ankoku Daishogun himself comes out to throw down:

I feel it bears mentioning that Ankoku Daishogun and Tetsuya Tsurugi might be enemies, but they have absolute respect for each others as warriors, and both prefer to settle things like warriors.

Two things. One, he's built for combat and he's a legit badass to take down.

Second, his actual mouth is located in his chest, his upper body is just window dressing, in case anyone was confused.

Once you take down Ankoku Daishogun, the rest of his troops will retreat, but not before acknowledging your well earned victory.

After the level is over, Jamil asks Tex how Tetsuya is doing, and he's just unconscious from the strain of fighting the mind control and the resultant battle stress, nothing serious.

Both Tex and Jamil wax poetic:

He referring to this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud

Jamil corrects him, it was actually the poetry of this guy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Verlaine


We then cut to inside the infirmary, where Kouji wants to know what had been eating away at his brother this whole time, and he finally breaks down and admits that it was self-pity and jealousy, and Kouji asks if he wants to go back to their own time.

Tetsuya's answer is that before, he couldn't have cared less. Now, that he's shed the darkness inside him, he wants to go back with his brother and reunite with their father and to honor the promise he made to his father.

To bring peace to the Earth.


We then cut to the Getter team, where Hayato and Ryouma are finally getting over themselves for good, and Ryouma is ready to spill what he's been hiding, but Hayato stops him.

He doesn't really care about that, just that the man who's leadership he dependent on was not found wanting when his life depending on Ryouma's judgment, and thus he has no right to question his authority now that he's proven beyond doubt he's the true leader of the Getter team.


We then cut to the Argamma bridge, where a Mobile Suit is incoming to their position.

It's a SUMO, requesting landing permission, and while everyone is leery, Bright proposes a compromise that the pilot lands outside and they meet there first.

We cut to where Amuro Rei is leading those sent to parlay with Liuetenant Harry Ord of the Diana Counter Royal Guard, and when Harry realizes Loran has revealed Diana!Kihel, he says he's here on Daina's behalf to deliver a letter to Arthur Rank.

Quattro wonders why Harry would come to them to do that, and Harry replies they are enroute to same destination, so their interests coincide. Quattro and Bright point out it's hard to trust his intentions and that if he was let aboard, they have no idea if he's simply a double agent sent to compromise their trust.

He accepts that, but he makes one thing clear: His chain of command begins and ends at Diana Sorrel, and because of that, he will not do ANYTHING she would not want him to do, and Loran vouches for him, citing his earlier assistance defending Kingsley.

Amuro then says "well, we've had former foes join us and it turned out to be to our mutual benefit, so let's give him a chance", and despite reservations from Zechs and Quattro, Bright decides to give Harry consent to join them.

As the stage ends for good, the Bazaar has nothing special save a Xamel, and the parts on sale are nothing new either.

However, Harry has joined permanently, and his SUMO can now be upgraded if you desire.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 27: Hola's Will


Note: This stage marks the point where the Innocent officially quit playing with you and start deploying units that don't suck so hard.


We start the next stage at P-Point, where Elche meets Biel again, only this time he's all sugar as he apologizes for the rough circumstances that brought her here, and even not only offers to make it up to her, offers to let her join the Innocent ranks.

She falls for it and Dowas escorts her out of the room while he handles another matter, though he apologizes to her to himself, saying he regrets that she will have to be another trial for Jiron.

Then Hola enters:

Hola tries to pass off that he'd like Elche be transferred to work under him, but Biel isn't buying it, saying he can shotgun marry them later if Hola would like, then asks if Hola is gonna take another crack at the Iron Gear, prompting Hola to remark to himself that Biel has never seriously wanted to take them down.

Hola then decides to raise the stakes to get Biel to give a shit, saying without him as a military presence Biel would be defenseless, and when Biel asks if that was a threat, Hola backpedals a little, then Biel tells him to use his Innocent tech to take a crack at the Iron Gear again.

However, Hola tipped his hand with that remark, as he casually namedropped Dowas earlier as giving him orders in the middle of his horse trading, confirming to Biel Dowas is trying to usurp him, and Hola is in his pocket.

We then cut to the Argamma, where Harry runs into Ryouma, apologizes for his earlier rudeness, and thanks Ryouma for keeping Diana's identity secret. He advises Harry how to keep that on the down low, and then they go to see her.

We discover that Harry is here to make damned sure Diana and Arthur Rank meet, and ASAP, as Kihel being Diana's double is an act that is wearing thin.

We then cut to Akira asking Kenichi about P-Point, and he gives the layout of the Innocent high command there. They all intend to lean on Biel some, now they know the Innocent like to pit groups against each other.

And that's when the Iron Gear abruptly stops, as Hola has shown up waving a white flag.

We cut to the Iron Gear bridge, where Hola says he's willing to work with his former foes if it means dicking over the Innocent cause they have Elche. Jiron calls bull, and Hola replies,not entirely wrongly, he did that to keep Elche out of harm's way, but that backfired on him hard.

Jiron refuses to believe it, Hola calls him Melon Head, and then this happens:

It's worth noting this gag was partially an invention of the translation team, since the original wordplay was not easily translated, hence the visual gag.

Anyway, Alan Igor points out this could be a subtle ploy to trick them all, and Hola points out his past record of being subtle as a brick, even leaving them a new Walker Machine he nicked from the Innocent to show good faith.

Banjou reasonably counters it's still a bit too convenient, but Hola stands his ground and says this is for Elche, otherwise he wouldn't bother. Banjou is still not convinced, but they could still earn something even if this is a trap, so he consents to Hola's cooperation.

And that's when then the other shoe drops as Geraba busts in and says the Iron Gear engine room is secure. Hola goes all hostage taker, prompting Jiron's pissed "I knew it!"

Hola's plan is to hand the Innocent the Iron Gear and their hostages in exchange for Elche, but due to his cliche villain gloating, Banjou gets the drop on his in a quick draw duel and everyone save Chiru and Rag manages to haul ass.

As we cut to the battle map, the Daitarn is an auto-deploy, and you can sortie twelve others.

Your skill point will be a reprise of the Gundam GP-02 level, as you have to interdict the Iron Gear before it reaches it's destination in three turns, so be prepared to surround it with bodies. Then you need to whittle it's HP down some (not as bad as the GP-02, though)

You can deploy one of your carriers to help, and Garrod will auto-deploy in the Double X, deciding he'd better beat a confession out of the Innocent to find Tiffa.

Keep in mind you lose if the Iron Gear dies or reaches the dome.

Your battle map:

Some thugs are gonna show up to make the job harder, so don't think this will be effortless.

After a turn, sure enough, a ton of Walker Machines, including flying models, show up, and Biel asks Dowas what the hell he's doing. Dowas gives some bullshit about how someone tried to start an uprising, and when Biel points out this screwing up what the Innocent are supposed to doing (being the custodians/scientists observing humanity), Dowas makes clear he thinks that bullshit.

In fact, it comes out that Dowas is allied with Kashim King, the Innocent who believes the Innocent are better off as the overlords of the Civilians, and that for the Innocent to leave them be is fucking idiotic.

Biel then winds up the victim of a coup d'etat as he has a Breaker named Karas Karas escort him out and taken to Jop Point.

As Biel is being dragged out he realizes Dowas planned this from the beginning, and by the beginning of the next turn, Biel is being flown out, realizing he just got stripped of power and put under house arrest, and he wishes Jiron and his friends the best in assuring the world's future.

Anyway, you need to punch a hole in the Walker Machines guarding the Iron Gear and surround it with bodies ASAP, here's their new toys:

The Galapagos is basically the Government on crack.

The Doran is a surprisingly sturdy, long ranged aerial fighter.

Burans are AI piloted, chicken walking gun turrets, and while not Ghost X-9 level aggravating, they are surprisingly tough and can kill death of a thousand cuts style.

Everything else is some Governments and a Delavaglasan or two.

Anyway, your goal is to surround and cripple the Iron Gear by Turn 3.

Once you succeed in interdicting the Iron Gear, Daitarn 3 holds it down as Chiru cheers him on, and it turns out Jiron (if you paid attention, notice you couldn't deploy him?) stayed behind, waiting for the perfect time to strike back, and catches Hola entirely off guard.

Jiron, Chiru and Rag wind up having to bail together as Hola tells Geraba to goose the shit out the Iron Gear engine to break free and transform to Walker Mode to fight Daitarn on equal footing, and they kinda succeed, but that means Hola's new unit gets jacked by Rag and Jiron.

.....guy can't win for losing, can he?

Anyway, the heroic theme for the Walker Gallier plays at this moment (and it is pretty kickass) as Rag and Jiron combine it's parts together.

And Hola is pissed.

And that's when Jiron tells him to shut up, with a Gallier sized fist.

The engine block of the Iron Gear took a direct shot from that attack, but Hola gets a second wind, and your new objective (with Cotset's consent even) is to take the Iron Gear down.

First, though, your Xabungle replacement:

While not retaining the Xabungle upgrades, this thing FAR outclasses it in power, and it's most powerful attack is literally throwing an ICBM at the enemy.

Yeah, that's right, an ICBM, and it looks like this:

Also, you have, at least for this stage, THREE pilots for the Gallier (Jiron, Rag, and Chiru)

Of course, as you're about to do just that, this woman shows up.

This woman is the wife of Karas Karas, who took Biel out of here, and she takes exception to Hola calling her old, which he immediately apologizes for.

Turns out Greta here is pissed that before Jiron joined up, her little brother Gary Karas got taken out but the Iron Gear, and like Jiron, doesn't give a shit about the three day rule. Jiron points out Gary died in a pointless turf war, he knew the risks, it's not like he got shot in the back without knowing like Jiron's parents, but Greta and her husband. Do. NOT. GIVE. A. FUCK.

They want revenge, dammit, screw the details.

She's in a Doran and has some Promeus and Galapagos support, but shouldn'y be that much of a hassle to take down, but keep in mind Hola still needs taken down. Also, he will recover his strength at least twice, not wanting to go down easy. He will also use Strike and Valor on subsequent turns, so be careful fighting back.

If Garrod fights Hola, he'll confirm Tiffa is still in the captivity of the Frost Brothers.

Once you defeat everyone, Dowas decides to abandon P-Point, and he takes Elche with him in a spare Sudori they had lying around.

As the level ends, we cut to Karas Karas, who has heard his wife has fallen.

Whether Greta is actually DEAD is another matter, and Biel is impressed Jiron and company have gotten to the point direct Innocent assaults are getting taken down. Meanwhile, Karas realizes the Iron Gear crew need to head to a Bazaar soon given the damage they took, and he thus re-christens his ship the "Greta Gary", as part of his vengeance crusade for them.

Biel has no objection, but politely requests to be dropped off back at P-Point, as he'd like to do repairs since Dowas left it to rot. Karas is willing to oblige him, and Biel says he's not going to run, he'll wait at P-Point until they come back, then extends a prod and says that's only if Jiron gets beaten by them.

Karas takes that as a challenge, says they got a new weapon from Dowas to pull that off, then has a Breaker take Biel back to P-Point.

As Karas heads off to be a vengeance seeking jackass, Biel is at the point he's going to throw in his lot with the Irregulars since it's clear he's now considered expendable by the Kashim controlled Innocent.

Meanwhile, back at P-Point, they found extra parts for the Xabungle while scavenging for Iron Gear repair parts, essentially an addon MLRS (multiple launcher rocket system) expansion pack.

We also find out Astonaige helped Cotset do some spit and pencil level repairs to the Iron Gear, and Cotset has a mech diagram collection hobby, but it has a tactical purpose, as he wants to turn the tables on the Innocent, who have hoarded that knowledge.

Usso reports they found an optional module for the Gallier as well as an Assault pack for the V2 Gundam.

Banjou then comments he's disturbed the Innocent now consider them open season targets with no subterfuge anymore, and Heero concludes that means the Innocent now consider them a shoot to kill worthy threat and they will not countenance any other solution.

As the stage ends, the Bazaar has nothing special save some soon to be obsolete Walker Machines.

I'll cover the new gear in the next post.

 

[GethN7]

Going to resume this soon, but since it's also crossover related and pretty damn funny, I present you what happens when Getter Robo and Peanuts, of all things, get put together.

With Charlie Brown as Mushashi Tomoe, Linus as Hayato Jin, and Snoopy as Ryouma Nagare:

https://jedmachine.deviantart.com/art/Peanuts-Getter-Robo-343508575?offset=0#comments

 

[GethN7]

Okay, before we go on to the next stage, your new swag:

The Assault module gives the V2 an I-Field for damping down beam weapon damage, increases stats and gives the V2 more long range options.

Note on the module screen it has two slots, so once you get the Buster module, you can add it to the other slot and thus have the Assault Buster V2

The Xabungle Full Armor module basically straps a shitload of long-range weapons to the basic Xabungle, which lowers movement, but makes it a lot tougher and long range capable.

The Full Armor module for the Gallier switches out the ICBM for more conventional weapons with lower will requirements and boosts its stats, but I'll be blunt, that ICBM can be a really good boss killer.

Basically, both are good, but you have to choose between more attack options for less Will, or a really good boss killer you need lots of Will for.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 28 - The Black History of the Innocent


We resume with Bright getting the news the Iron Gear is enroute to a Bazaar, and Marbet is a little o_0 at the thought they said it would be more trouble to drag the parts back from the Bazaar to the Iron Gear instead taking a KNOWN crippled ship to said Bazaar.

Given it's held together with juryrigged repairs and hope at the moment, I can understand her confusion.

Bright has Torres send a message to the Freeden to serve as the advance lookouts for the Iron Gear while this is going on.

We cut to the Bazaar, where the Cyber Beast Force and Gundam X guys are ruminating on getting wasted after their shopping, then decide to skip the middleman and just enter one beforehand.

A sick guitar riff greets them, and we find Jotaro knows how to play his ass off, and Shinobu is all 0_0 that Kid has a really, really nice guitar, one that was made by the same musician Ronnie Page of the Raiders (Braiger reference). In fact,Shinobu asks to give a whirl, and it turns out he's not bad at thrumming his fingers cross an axe himself.

In fact, that's when the game switches to an instrumental of one my favorite Braiger songs, "ABAYO FLY BYE"


In fact, listen to this:

ABAYO mean "So Long"


We then cut from the jamming musicians to where this Amazonian chick is arguing with Jiron over how his Gallier weapons are wasted on him:

This is Tron Milan, and she's only available in the Normal/Hard route as a recruitable, but only if you follow some instructions I'm posting shortly.

She's obviously trying to get him mad and he knows it, but she offers to pay him for his machine's gear instead, and by pay, she means a five knuckle down payment.

Jiron shows he's not above punching a woman, and she's impressed he's got balls, but Rag and Hikaru are wincing at how Tron is clearly belting Jiron good.

She then offer to Jiron they can settle their spat in their Walker Machines, since she clearly has the advantage on foot.

He agree, and we cut to the battle map.

SECRET UNIT/CHARACTER TIP:

1. Defeat Tron use the Punch attack ONLY by Turn 2.

2. Keep her alive afterwards until the end of the level if you fail condition 1.

Using any other weapons or her getting shot down by anyone else, and you lose Tron and her custom Caprico.


Regardless of the result, that's when what looks like an orange clone of the Iron Gear show up, deploys some Walker Machines, and some more appear led by Hola as reinforcements.

It's Karas Karas, in the Greta Gary, the same model as the Iron Gear.

You can deploy 12 units to deal with the problem, and for the Skill Point, the Greta Gary can transform into Walker mode like the Iron Gear, and when it does, you must take it down in seven turns.

Your battle map:

The east units are obsolete older machines, the south west is Hola with Galapagos and a Delevasglan, and the west is Karas' troops, some Promeus and Dorans.

Remember to protect the Iron Gear, it's crippled right now and less than half health.

Once Karas transforms, he will make a beeline for the Iron Gear and proceeds to beat the shit out of it.

He even deploys some Capricos and Governments to supplement his forces to make damn sure the Iron Gear dies here.

And that's Lune Zoldark shows up:

The Walker Machine next to her has Birin and Maria, who are allies.

Now, take down the Greta Gary ASAP and keep the Iron Gear alive at all costs.

Once you do this, Karas refuses to die here and decides to retreat, but Cotset is all "FUCK. THIS.", rams his crippled ship unto it's evil twin, and takes Karas down right there.


Semper fidelis, Cotset, you got an impressive pair of brass.


All other enemies will immediately flee when this happens, and the stage will end.


Afterwards, Cotset's in a good mood, as the Greta Gary's corpse just provided Cotset a ton of spare parts to rebuild the Iron Gear. All the gearheads immediately converge on the Greta Gary like vultures with socket wrenches at Astonaige's orders.


We cut to the Argamma, where Lune is relaying her wacky adventures.

We find out there is growing resistance movement to the Innocent reaching critical mass, and the Iron Gear has been the catalyst for it. If Tron was recruited, she'll vouch for this.

It's at this point Director Biel hails them from P-Point.

He wants to meet, and since Biel now has no troops around, you guys have the advantage. Still, Banjou is going with Harry, Jiron, and Garrod as the advance party, and as they do, Diana!Kihel insists on tagging
along.

Biel then drops a bombshell on them when he tells them he's essentially powerless now, and Diana!Kihel finds out Biel is on the side of those like Arthur Rank who aren't military dictator assholes, but Biel does stand against just handing the planet over the Moon Race regardless.

He then reveals the scope of the Innocent's original goals.

The Humanity Restoration Project was the Innocent's way of restoring humanity to live on the planet after they had to flee it along time ago thanks it's assrape by things like the gravitational wave and the underground empires.

However, the Innocent had to live in protective domes because they couldn't adapt to the changed land, and so they created the Civilians, humans genetically engineered to survive the Mad Max style world, people who can survive like the Irregulars from the past.

Banjou is not entirely pleased to hear this, as it's reminiscent of the villains from his own canon (we'll see more of them in Alpha 2), and clarifies he feels until the project is finished, the Moon Race returning would just cause more war.

Diana!Kihel is quietly rocked backwards emotionally by this (take note @Jaimas, you'll love this), realizing the Moon Race pushing their right to live back on the planet like it was owed them just fucked up any plans for peace, especially because they tried to take it by threat of force, and thus she was a fool to jump the gun without doing more to make sure that the Moon Race would be welcome BEFORE coming back.

We also find out Kashim King, who was Arthur Rank's chief advisor, he's basically usurped his boss and now leads the Innocent too terrified of losing their power to the Civilians.

Arthur Rank was the leader of those who intended to hand Earth over to the successors of the Innocent, but now he's basically a prisoner of Kashim King and those who refuse to let go of power over them.

He then reveals Arthur Rank is detained at Jop Point, and asks they rescue Arthur Rank from Kashim King's forces. He also informs Jiron Elche is likely detained with him as well. However, he knows jack about Tiffa's likely whereabouts.

As the level ends, they agree to do that, and Biel wishes you all well, as the future is in your hands.


The Bazaar is selling no new units, but you might want to load up on some HP Gas Engine parts.

If you got Tron, she has a half upgraded yellow Caprico that is slightly strongly than stock Capricos, and Maria and Birin have their own Dugger, but I'd give them something better if you can.

And bizarrely enough, even though it cannot be piloted, the Greta Gary is in your mech bay, but it's essentially there as in-universe way of saying it's corpse is a gigantic collection of spare parts for the Iron Gear.

 

[GethN7]

Stage 29: Women, A Shifting Kaleidoscope


This level is going to be the start of a secret that an upcoming route split will deny you on one path, but honestly, it's not all that important unless you are a major Xabungle fan.

And even if you are, get it on a second playthrougth that ISN'T Hard mode, missing out on the GX Bits secret really is NOT worth it.

Also, make sure any Macross characters are piloting their default machines. A fatal crash bug could occur otherwise.

-----

We start this level at Jop Point, where Dr. Mane is asking Elche how she enjoys her life there, and pay attention to the below:

Elche seems to be too cheerful and pro-Innocent even for her, and it's more or less confirmed Mane has brainwashed Elche with a bastardized version of the original Innocent ideology, and Mane basically suckers Elche into getting a mind wipe done under the guise of "making her like the Innocent".

In fact, the mind wipe is trying to make her see the Iron Gear and Jiron as enemies, and as Biram asks how the mind wipe and reprogramming is going, and we find out Biram is a Kashim loyalist as well and Dowas now reports to him, and they plans to sic a brainwashed Elche back on her friends.

Meanwhile we cut to Kashim King checking up on Arthur Rank:

Yeah, he couldn't be more an evil old dude if he tried.

As for Arthur, he's not happy he's a prisoner:

King protests he was protecting Rank, but Arthur still isn't buying it, pointing out Kashim is building an army to suppress the Civilians, and doing that makes them dictators, not observers. He then points out the Moon Race are around (King will cop to this) and we find out this Arthur is named after an ancestor who knew Daina then, and she wanted peace, and King says this time is different.

Arthur continues to sidestep Kashim's lies, and King flips out when he hears Arthur drops the names of Jiron and the Iron Gear, and while Arthur doesn't challenge Kashim further, it's obvious his former adjutant is working against him and the original intentions of the Innocent.

We cut to the Iron Gear, where Jiron sneezes (Japanese superstition is that when you sneeze, someone is talking about you), and then we hear about what is known in Xabungle as Rat Fever, essentially a variant of rabies that causes fever and delirium in those afflicted.

And that's when we find out someone they didn't need to get it actually does have it.

Cotset.

Notice the rat like expression?

Jiron is forced to punch his lights out to get him to calm down, and Medic says Cotset has third stage Rat Fever, and if he gets the fourth stage, where you fatally swell up, he's screwed, and that could set in just a few hours from now, and they'll need to hit up a Bazaar for a vaccine ASAP.

And that's when Boss shows up with worse news: It's spread to the Argamma and Freeden, which anyone who is healthy needs to find that Bazaar NOW.

We cut to the battle map, where the Skull Squadron has got the vaccine and is heading back, but as Isamu is heading back with Guld and Milia (as Max has the fever too), Guld points out it's odd neither he (nor Milia) got it, despite being in close proximity to those that did.

And he figured out why. Like Milia, he's got Zentradi blood in his veins (he's half Zentradi), which he figured out during the Balmar War, as his dad was a Zentradi who came to recon Earth prior and went native prior to the SDF-1 hitting South Atalia.

He then adds, to his shame, his fever resistance probably also ties into how his Zentradi blood has given him heightened aggression, and that's what drove him to nearly hurt Isamu and Myung in their younger days.

Isamu says he's been forgiven for that, and Guld can't thank him enough.

And that's when some Innocent troops show up to ruin the tender moment.

You'll need to break through, so here's the battle map:

The escape point is the shoreline due west. Your foes are a bunch of Buran, which should be easy to out run.

Turn 2 introduces a complication, though.

Isamu's dormant case of Rat Fever just kicked in.

This introduces a unique penalty to Isamu, as you can see here:

By default, all characters start with at least 100 Will, but Isamu's illness has chopped his down to 80, meaning he can take MORE damage than normal and will do less.

Thankfully, the Iron Gear will show up by Turn 3, and Isamu will automatically land there.

However, the Innocent have sent more troops, led by this Breaker known as Caloon Cal.

Caloon was old friends with Birin, so to see them on opposite sides is sad.

You can now deploy 10 pilots. and for the Xabungle secret, deploy Jiron.

However, as soon as you deploy, Cotset escapes the infirmary, seizes the wheel, and decides, like the nut he is now, to attack the enemy directly:

However, in a case of insanity working in your favor, Cotset manages to do a brief rocket boosted jump with the Iron Gear and drop stomps a Government to death with it.

Cotset is uncontrollable after this, so just let him attack enemies but do keep an eye on his HP.

After killing some more enemies, Elche reappears in yet another Iron Gear ripoff, but someone is different about her:

Unfortunately, she's now a loyal and extremely aggressive slave of the Innocent, and she's hellbent on killing everyone, a fact Jiron is horrified over.

Quattro realizes she was brainwashed, and once you regain control, step one in getting the Xabungle secret is to try to convince Elche with Jiron twice. Kill all enemies save the Gear Gear (Elche's ship) then do the persuasion, or if you just want to end the level without doing this, reduce Elche's HP to 50%

Do the persuasion if you want the skill point. Elche will freak out as the mind control weakens somewhat, then runs away.

As the level ends, Loran checks on the now sane and very groggy Cotset, who can't remember all the shit he broke on the Iron Gear bridge while he went crazypants.

Meanwhile, with the Rat Fever behind them, everyone is concerned about Elche, and it becomes obvious to Jiron if Elche is going to be saved from the Innocent, they need to breach Jop Point and take out Kashim King.

We then cut to Lune and Birin, and we find out Caloon is Birin's older sister, but she's not letting that stop her from opposing the Innocent.

We then cut to Jamil and Bright talking strategy. Jamil advocates a roundabout assault on Jop Point, as it's a source of concentrated Innocent firepower, and a sneak attack might be more practicable, which Fokker supports as wise.

Diana!Kihel then says she needs to meet Arthur Rank no matter what, but when Bright protests Daina isn't here, Jamil just flat out spills the truth: Diana!Kihel IS Diana, and she confirms it as the level ends.

The Bazaar has nothing new.

Also, you will have two different ways to get a Skill Point in the next level, and either way can be hard, so if you found the difficulty has increased in the past few levels, it will only get worse.

The next level, since we are on Hard, is also where we can get the Puru 2 secret we started in Stage 9 as well as Amuro Rei's most powerful unit in the entire franchise.

 

[GethN7]

About to storm Jop Point, but I have two choices:

1.Frontal assault

2. Sneak attack

Both have their own challenges but end up the same way, with me storming the interior, so if anyone has a preference, let me know before I do so.

 

[Cubanodun]

1.Frontal assault

This is the only manly way, and with a squad full of Super Robots