Welcome to Gaia! ::

I kinda like Arblade. Takes me back to my days of Star Fox 64(Arwing and whatnot). R-Blade is good too, since it is supposed to be a watered down R-1. However, I refuse to call the new SRX "Banpreios".......it's not the WORST name, but it certainly ain't on the top of the list........shameless advertising.......isn't the goofy head enough?

More SPOILERS!......woooooooo!

DAI! RAI! OH!

Looks like RaiOh just grew a bit with a few parts added on........Baran Doban trashed RaiOh (Despite that I was clearly the winner of the battle). Before the final blow was struck, Zengar Zombolt in all his badassity comes along. Baran, knowing he's in no shape to be challenging Zengar, takes his leave. Shortly after (The next scenario, in fact), the Balmar go on a rampage to find their missing Princess (Do I smell trouble in the ranks? Hope so. That usually means new pilots for me). They bring no less than 100 units with them (Seriously. 100 units on the map at once). Minaki and Touma are about to face certain doom, but all is not lost! Minaki tells Touma a little something, and with the yelling of "DYNAMIC LIGHTNING OVER!", out comes DaiRaiOh (Complete with a cool little animation scene)! As Touma makes his move, 40 units close in on him. With one well placed dash, WHAM! 40 down. He moves a bit further. 40 more attack. Que the new Plasma Fall. WHAM! 40 more. With his newfound force, he moves into the city to easily beatdown the remaining 20 (He'll count 1 upward from 80 every time you score a kill). After wasting the remaining targets in the city, more Balmar come, with some face units this time. However, after a living nightmare on the Macross 7 split, the generous game allows me reinforcements! Not just any reinforcements. The usual crew PLUS Zengar in DaiZengar and Elzam in Auseinseitter. Now might be a good time to mention that they've inherited ALL upgrades on DaiRaiOh (Which is NOW the Third Dynamic General Guardian).

Elzam and Zengar depart after this scenario.........come back soon!

DaiRaiOh.............what to say about it.........y'know the differences between Wing Zero and Wing Zero Custom? It's kinda like that. Though it DOES look different, it's essentially the same unit. Naturally, it's weapons DID improve, but the animations are VERY similar to RaiOh's. This can easily be explained by RaiOh using the tracer system employed on DaiZengar. Touma would have to come up with a new move set to use new moves on DaiRaiOh. However, RaiOh was wiping the floor before, so if it ain't broken, don't fix it..........wait a second.......

Anyway, Touma got a new mech, an additional 10 Percent added to his current Leadership Skill (Now Melee Damage +20 Percent, like Zengar! ^_^), and a new face icon............he's scowling.......I can't tell if he's trying to look tough, or if he's just holding it in until he gets to the bathroom.

A lot happened while I was on the Macross 7 Route.........they played out the entire arc from Orb to Panama Base.......I'm a bit sorry I missed that. Strike was seven bars full in weapons and only six bars short in stats (3 in both Agility and Armor). Still, I now have Kira in the Freedom, and Mu leading an Astray girl, in Aile Strike and Strike Rogue respectively.

I've been giving it some thought.......lately, Amuro hasn't been performing up the the standards set for him. If he doesn't shape up by stage 40, Nu Gundam won't make it to the end of the galaxy.

Dancougar also got shafted..........yeah. That came as a surprise to me too. Agressive Beast is great and all, but I can't afford to be stretching my funds on another machine if I still want to use Gunbuster. I've been using economical machines to help increase my combat power for lower prices.......you know, stuff like Strike Gundam, GaoGaiGar, and RaiOh (Though I didn't know RaiOh passed it's upgrades onto the other two DGG's), but I still find my capability somewhat lacking against multiple fronts (Macross 7, second split. Saw me against Buff Clan, Protodevlin, and the Balmar. If Raideen didn't have that God Voice event, I'd have been SCREWED when Grabil caught up).

They come with 30 percent minimum. My biggest disappointment probably stems from just coming off of SRW GC. Shinobu's voice isn't half as powerful as it was in there. He's just not giving me the hot blooded cries he did in GC, despite having the same lines (More or less. There are a few new ones).

I ammend my statement. I should say Shinobu's voice got shafted. Guess the hot blooded cries of justice in GC were the best thing about it (Jin was probably one of the best at shouting. RaiJinOh was a joy to use). Still, lack of hot bloodedness, oddly enough, lowered my desire to use this beast of a robot. Even with the Aggressive Beast mode active (Which is the second best thing about Dancougar in Alpha 3, the first being that BEAUTIFUL sprite!), I still can't get excited if Shinobu isn't shouting his lungs out. Guess the seiyuu's are getting old............some people say Ryouma's seiyuu is getting older and that it reflected in his Alpha 3 performance. I couldn't find anything wrong with Ryouma's yelling.

SPOIL...........ah, you get the idea

I wanted to use Ideon. Really. I did. I came into this game wanting to use it, but it showed up later than expected and Seishin sets keep jumping around, what with pilots hopping in and out of it. I'll keep this in mind for the next game. I'd like to play with it at LEAST once.........guess I'll have to "settle" for Gunbuster. ^_^

Raideen made my lineup hands down. I missed Alpha and Gaiden (I'll be going for the collectors box after Alpha 3 to cover that), which means I haven't used Akira since SRW 4. He's packing E and B Saver to cover God Gorgon (ALL) and the obscenely powerful God Voice. Still, I'm a bit paranoid with my usage of Raideen.......specifically, the God Voice. Back in 4, if God Voice was used too many times, Akira would be unusable in the last scenario. Ever since, I've been very conservative with God Voice. Don't wanna be going into the last level and find out my Armor Down attack with over 7000 points is getting left out. Yeah. I'm paranoid. It could always happen again. Remember RahXephon in MX?

On the subject of Squad Leader love, I'm glad to FINALLY see some pilots with it. Mu and Ramius........I figured on Ramius, but I didn't see that coming for Mu.

Coming into stage 42 (Genesic GaoGaiGar......intimidating for an SD), it's time to decide on final squads........Ryusei will switch over to SRX Altered (Arblade Custom needs four bars to max stats, and one to max weapons for the big carry over), Zengar and Elzam will each lead a squad, and if there's anybody left who can pilot it, I want somebody to keep using Arblade Custom. It's such a neat little extra......I loved it in OG2.......I wanna see this one in OG3 (Or OG Gaiden, if thats the case).

I've also heard Baran Doban becomes playable during the last stages of the game..........theme......too catchy........must......use........Bolt/Hao Hybrid!

.........and Max. His skills put the mighty Amuro to shame. On the subject of shameful pilots, I am now of the opinion that Athrun Zala blows as a pilot without his SEED mode active. He's just not playing up to my expectations of Zaft's chosen pilot for the Justice........or was that just Patrick Zala's decision?

I'd also like to point out something new to the people reading along. Terrain modifiers are pretty interesting........they inscrease our defense.....improve our performance.......and in some cases, restore our energy and health. This has been going on since the earliest of SRWs. However, sometimes, the terrain works against us.........sometimes, it costs us a lot more than just a few movement points. Following Ideon at the third split (Passing up Macross 7....I'VE HAD IT WITH PROTODEVLIN!), I came across another debris field........that usually means decreased movement, but this time, it cost me a bit more........this particular terrain had an EN Effect of -10 Percent EN while standing in the terrain. The whole field bore this effect. Now, if you have a GS Rider equipped on a unit (You should only have one by now, and Solar Panels don't seem to be available), you'll break even, but it doesn't take a genius to realize that any other units have ten turns maximum until they totally get sucked dry of energy. This is a space field. Energy is required to move. It's required to access most of your best weapons. This is a field where just hanging around will cost you. Fortunately, the opposition is the Buff Clan (Which is comprised of horribly weak units) and a small group of Balmar.

Of interest was Ryouma's decision to auto sortie here in Getter Robo G. I thought he was nuts when he charged the Buff Clan head on in a totally unupgraded machine, soon getting torn apart to minimum HP. Things looked grim..........until a voice came to him........the screen changed to a discussion between Ryouma and a figure......a husky figure, bearing the sword and armor of a long lost friend.......his words brought Ryouma around, and Shin Getter, with no pilot, flies out to collect Ryouma and Co. Know what that means?

GETTER SHIIIIIIIINE! SHIN! SHINE! SPAAAAAAAAAAAARKU! *Que beautiful homage to Shin Getter Armageddon*

..........this route was most certainly a fine choice.

I think the requirement for that is Dearka to speak with him thrice. Thats what was flying around GameFaqs anyway.

If you don't like Raideen's theme, I'd suggest Information High. That works good with just about everything........heck, how about Raideen with Yuusha Oh Tanjou(FINAL Version)? Works, but I find myself getting confused when I do that.....Yuusha.......Yuusha.......@_@

Everybody likes it, everybody needs it, time for a few spoilers. Meh.

This is interesting..........DaiZengar and Ausseinseitter join, but at thirty percent upgrades? They had RaiOh's upgrade back when I got DaiRaiOh.............did they suffer some major a** whuppin' that reduced them to pitiful status? Did they feel this was too much power? Did Banpresto think this was funny? The answers are doubtful, probably not, and I don't think so. In any case, I must now pour funds into the remaining DGG's to make them effective...........Banpresto is a tricky b*****d.....freakin' tricky.

Lacus Clyne and the Eternal.........I said the same thing I said when I saw the anime.........."It's.......pink.". Yes. A warship designed to support those monsters with the METEOR's is pink..........not that there's anything wrong with pink. It's just a little.........well........um.......I'm gonna shut up now..........or at least talk about something else.

Lacus seems fairly capable, even if the Eternal seems a bit subpar......I've spent a couple of turns running from ZAFT with it (Warship Vs Mobile Suits....you know how that works out, regardless of Gundam series), so I haven't seen it in operation. I imagine it's about on level with the Solo Ship (Which HAS served me rather well in a few scenarios). I doubt it'll replace the Archangel (Gotta try the new ship out on the first playthrough), so it'll probably just collect dust.........if I'm gonna get ANOTHER warship, I'd rather have the Albion back. I liked the Albion!

Oh. It's also nice to see Waltfeld back. He's a pretty cool guy in my book.

SRX Altered.......no Heaven and Earth Psychic Sword? B.....but.......Ryusei can't be Ryusei if he can't smack Tenja Tenga on to SOMETHING! While I love this machine.........love it to death, I say.......I'm further disappointed when I heard "Banpresto Alpha 3 Ver." playing during Metal Genocider and that combo attack (Hand Launcher, Telekinesis Missiles, and Metal Genocider). Bad Banpresto! Enough advertising! The brief Banpresto Logo flash, I don't mind that so much, since that IS the SRX head and all........just hope they don't try this in the next OG game.

Scenario 50. Balmar? White Star? Hey! It's the Green Flower! Maybe we'll finally get to destroy it this time..........not that I could have back when it appeared twice before.

Anyways, I had the final encounter with the Protodevlin in the last scenario, but oh, I've learned from my mistakes.....I went into this scenario with no less than four people who had Exhaust to drop Gepernich's morale below 100. Lacus, Fei Yen, Veffidas (Forced Sortie on Ray anyway), and Asagi (Astray Girl....I knew a Strike Rogue would come in handy with the right pilot). Needless to say, Protodevlin was NOT an issue this time (Especially with Jun and Mai to restore SP to my Exhausters).

Coming into the home stretch........hear Covey/Cobray/Whatever has a pretty cool story behind his route.............perhaps I need to rethink my decision in orders.

Big Spoilers ahead.........you might not wanna read this if you don't want a big plot point of SEED revealed

Damn stage 51..........nearly gave me a heart attack.

Having wiped the field clean of all enemy units (Minus Rau Le Cruset, since I killed him twice before deciding on ending the stage), the Dominion takes it's final hit........but Azarael, going off the deep end, decides to take one last shot at the Archangel. Historically (Pertaining to the anime), this shot would have destroyed the Archangel, but since I sortied Mu La Flaga in Strike, the historical events played out.......meaning Mu took the hit, and the Strike got owned.

Mu La Flaga..........shot down.......with a chuckle and a little dialogue......blam. Ace Pilot (Ranks number five in kills) kicks the proverbial bucket. Strike CAN be sortied in the next segment of the secnario (HOW is beyond me) and any of the Astray Girls can take it over (Every other SEED pilot is sortied, and Deakra seems to be incapable of using Strike since it got fixed up for Naturals). Destroyed the core of the cannon.....yadda yadda........

Which puts something else into new light..........while I know Patrick Zala is a total military politician with a tree up his a**, I see him blowing Chief Miwa into oblivion...........now I don't know what to think about him. Sure, Zala is a jerk, but he just killed Chief Miwa! I couldn't help but laugh here.

End of the scenario. Celebrate and............wha?! MU'S ALIVE?!

Indeed. Mu La Flaga can apparently be saved, and ready to launch in Strike for the next scenario. Lots of Rumors abound around GameFaqs, but I want to find the definite reason........here's what I did that may have any pertincance to Mu's survival:

- Level 59 at time of Dominion Blast
- Pilot of Aile Strike at all times possible
- Had over 150 kills at time of defeat
- Took three splits that followed Archangel, only omitting the Panama Base defense
- Kira and Asagi were the only other two SEED pilots who saw regular use
- Destroyed Rau Le Cruset Twice at Stage 51
- Did not convince Yzak at stage 51
- Destroyed all enemies in Stage 51, placed Athrun on designated panel, and destroyed Dominion with Archangel

Yeah, it's a lot. However, there have been NUMEROUS times before where Banpresto made ridiculous requirements to obtain things that had little to nothing to do with their requirements.

Remember SRW 4? Scrap your Guntank on the real route to repair the Sentinel Gundam? SRW Alpha 2. Tobia destroys Croux's white mobile armor for FAZZ Parts. This one isn't completely on topic, but in SRW 3 and 4, you had to land on a certain panel with Amuro to find Quess. This happened in mid stages and had ABSOLUTELY NO HINTING as to the secret existing in the first place.

So, it'll probably be a while before I can sort through the how and why of Mu's survival..........hell, it could be that I sortied Raideen on that level. Mu might have favor in with a certain deity that we don't know about. @_@

Guess anything can happen in an SRW where Rei Ayanami survives.

Glad Mu survived......probably the best character in the whole SEED season. He strikes me as a respectable leader type, such as Quattro Bajina, and a tough but fair teacher, like South Burning. Heck, he'd be in Freedom Meteor if it weren't meant for Coordinators (Stupid high performance OS).

Stage 53.....wha....what's this? Hi-Nu Gundam? FAZZ Parts? IT'S ABOUT FREAKIN' TIME!

Ah, stage 53............an infinite dismissal...........230 enemies? That wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Guess I abused SRX's Telekinisis Missiles a bit.........and J-Der's ES Missiles.........and the Homing Laser.........lord knows Temjin* did his part......and I decided to throw caution to the wind and scream God Voice (MAP) at the enemy............damn, that stage was fun! Just too bad those weak little Gunbuster grunts are worth next to nothing......

This also marks the first stage I've ever used Goldeon Crusher (MAP). While it DOES cover considerable territory and deals pretty nice damage, I feel I'll be using the ALL version more often. I'm getting similar results with Hot Blooded ES Missiles.

* = Ran out of ideas on what to give Temjin, so now he has that skill that ups the power of ALL weapons by 10 Percent when targeting multiple unit squads.

Final Boss... Ideon got in an Ideon Gun MAP hit (the only time I used that in that playthrough) and I decided to forget fighting the regular enemies and just bumrush the boss, Shin Koryuoh got a hit in, Daizengar got a hit in, and Bemitoban got a hit in.

Then I decided it was Final Dancougar''s turn, who proceeded to absoultely beat the snot out of it with wild abandon with some spell support until it was dead.

I cussed when the damn thing got a health recharge, but then everyone got a decent SP Recharge which gave Final Dancougar the ability to continue kicking in its face (or well... shooting it).

I''m going with Selena now. I need my ''lion fix.

Um..........y'know, I was tired....hungry...and a little confused when I made that last post. Guess I got Alpha 2 originals available on routes a little mixed up.

Anyways, needless to say, looks like I'm getting Seolla and Arad.........route exclusives.......hmmm...........bit shakey. Still, Arad and Seolla have some of the best expressions ever. I think I'll use em', regardless of replay whatnots. Besides, I was gonna use Ibis and Co, so this'll just be a prep.

Arad.........the invincible human garbage disposal with luck to rival Kyosuke Nanbu.

Seolla.......go go bounce girl who's gonna pop an eye out one of these days.

I've also decided to drop Gaiking this time. He's only slightly stronger than he was in Alpha 2, and thats just not cutting it. I'm gonna use this playthrough to learn the basics of Ideon. This game scares me, far more than OG2's EX Hard, so I'm gonna lap one more time through Normal before I go into EX Hard. I figure I should learn how to use Ideon for that.

On with the show!

Covey's route opens like the others. Return of the Excellion and whatnot.

Stage One! Covey comes in, flying near the intro's gate in one of those orange Balmar mecha (Y'know, the ones with the Chakram Shooters on a stick). He gets a bit close to the gate and something pops out! The Return of Astranagun! Where've ya been all this time? Anyways, it appears Astranagun gets pretty attached to Covey's machine......in a literal way of course. Using some tentacle fusion action as Covey tries to resist (With a pretty cool little sprite struggle), Astranagun fuses with the grunt to become Velg Bau!........boy........isn't this a step down. Que three HORRIBLY weak Balmar grunts for the newly formed Velg Bau to whup. Afterwards, five more squads join in. The skill point is to ice em' in five turns. Covey is easily capable of doing it in two and doing it alone. Still, that won't stop Ra Kailum from showing up to lend a hand with Amuro, Kayra, and Katz.

Stage Two! Seolla hits the scene. Judo, Roux, Seolla, and GENERIC CAPTAIN MAN to the rescue! Judo and Roux are in a squad (ZZ and ReGZ), Seolla is in the Wild Falken (Ace Attacker Ver R!), and Generic Captain Man is in a Clop. After they score enough kills, the enemy gets serious and........NOOOOO! They killed Generic Captain Man! To replace him is the Stardust Memory Team, boasting the usual 4th MS Team, Kou and Keith, with Zeta Team as a nice round off. Soon after, Ra Kailum shows up with Amuro, Kayla, and Katz all in the same squad..........just brilliant. A few Balmar grunts show up, one of which tries to Kamikaze the Ra Kailum. Seolla, pulling an Arad in irony, takes the hit for Ra Kailum. Falken injured? Covey to the rescue!.........in an MP Nu Gundam........ummm.......pretty run of the mill stage.......but I want the Velg Bau back.