Yes yes, I am going to need an industrial sized oven from all the backburner projects I have going on; I DO have them all on my desktop, glaring at me, if that accounts for anything. On the other hand, I also require a good distraction from packing for my annual gruelling pilgrimage back to Montreal for university in September.
With that, I decided to play the very first Super Robot Wars!... minus the fact that this game is terrible. So then why? Why play this game, which makes FE2's map design look like something out of an Arch ROM hack? Well firstly, I am compelled to show this guild the game, so you don't have to go through the torture that I have gone through, three times and counting. Secondly, I wish to display ROBOTS, this guild needs more giant mecha suits prowling around. I'll finish my list on a good note: despite the fact that the game makes me feel like Pugsly playing with Wednesday, it actually has a really good OST, even if the game only has exactly seven and a half tracks.
This is going to be a fun, short LP of an otherwise terrible game.
So with that: Let's Play Super Robot Wars!
MOEAGARE MOEAGARE MOEAAGRE GANDAMU! KIMI YO HASHIRE MADA IKARI NI MOERU TOSHI GA ARU NARA KYODAI NA TEKI O UTEYO, UTEYO, UTEYO SEIGI NO IKARI O BUTSUKERO GANDAMU KIDO SENSHI [2] GANDAMU! GANDAMU!~~~~~ xoxo
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 8:29 pm
Prologue: Pretty Boys Make Sub-Par Heroes
In the depths of space, a vile creature is born. It travels far, laying waste to worlds as it passes...
Eventually, it comes to spy a tiny blue planet...
The space monster Girgilgun has invaded the Super Robot homeworld! One by they fall into his thrall... But some* had the strength of mind and soul to fight! As long as they stand, there remains hope of restoring peace!!
*Unfortunately the deployment hatch, which equates to my patience of moving around units in this incredibly slow game has limited the robot count to two units for the entire game.
And welcome to Super Robot Wars! I can't promise any thrilling gameplay, as I am going to tear this game to shreds in approximately four chapters. What I can promise however, is a beautiful title screen, as well as a wondrous, conflicting storyline of intergalactic paradox, spanning across Nintendo AND Sony for generations to come.
With that said, let's meet the teams!
The most important choice is made here, as these three teams are the teams you start, and finish the game with. Highlighted is the ever so popular series, Team Gundam.
Next up is the not-so-popular Team Mazinger, with weird, human like mecha, and a smug a** battle theme.
Bringing up the rear is Team Getter. Bandai later goes out of their way to make the player choose them, but not today Bandai!
And it's Team Gundam, stepping up to the plate to bash dem' aliens into orbit! By the by, once we pick Team Gundam, it's Team Gundam all the way to endgame, no switching.
If you don't know who this is, you should probably consult Wikipedia about a country called "Japan"; it's a pretty important country. Ah, the RX-78-2, THE Gundam, as in the mecha everyone thinks about when they hear the word, "Gundam." Unfortunately, manufactured in the year UC 0078, it has fallen behind in terms of technology, therefore is unfairly worse than most Mobile Suits.
Then again, there's always, you know, rock bottom? Meet the RX-77-2, the "Guncannon". While in the show, it's piloted by the sassiest Irish man known to man, it isn't here, thus instantly losing cool points. What makes this poor thing so, well.. poor is its horrid mobility. While the Gundam is bad, it can at least cross mountains and lakes, albeit at a snail's pace. Given the size of the maps, and the craptonne of tedious oceanic levels, you'll find the Guncannon failing to make it to the fray in time to get EXP for the next map.
Taking a drastic step up from the two aforementioned Mobile Suits (herein referred to as MS), we have the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam, otherwise known as Z Gundam. While his stats may not be drastically different from the Gundam's, he has an ability I will demonstrate in due time that make him and another MS similar to him especially shine throughout the series. It's also the MS of the main character of my favourite series.
And ladies and gentlemen, it's time to meet the hero, the pretty boy with the golden locks, the MSN-0100 Hyaku Shiki. Basically, he is a more handsome Gundam with two SPD points ahead, and while overshadowed completely by the next three MS's, I am still going to use him out of pure fanboy service. The Hyaku Shiki is my all time favourite MS, I have two 1/144 high grade models of it at home, and even a phone case.
THE BUFFEST GUNDAM. I consider the MSZ-010 ΖΖ Gundam (pronounced "Double Zeta") to be the strongest, as he has Z's gimmick that I will get into later, and better stats. Just a rule of thumb that ZZ is good in any game it's in.
For the longest time, I thought the "v" (pronounced "nu") was short for "Victory Gundam", which is an entirely different series, but upon playing Dai-2 Super Robot Wars, this is the RX-0093 v Gundam, which in terms of storyline, is essentially the RX-0078 upgraded. Sort of makes the Gundam in this game obsolete, if you can pick the upgraded form with better stats over it, eh? And Victory Gundam came out two years after this game in 1993, looool.
Lastly, and drawing up an unfair advantage over all other MS's in the game, is the F91 Gundam F91. I mean look at its stats in comparison to every other MS, it beats them all in everything, even movement and EXP to next level. It would make sense that the F-91 Gundam is the strongest, as its timeframe is set 20 years from all the other MS's in the list, therefore more futuristic, but its lulzy stats make the game into an essentual easy mode.
That being said, we are making the Hyaku Shiki the hero. Being the hero really doesn't equate to anything, except make them the "Lord" character, meaning they have to be deployed, and can't die or it's a game over. They do get amazing, game breaking perks that I will explain in the next chapter.
And this is the only stat you need to worry about for a long time. The Hyaku Shiki has a stellar SPD growth, and we will be abusing terrain, so DEF and HP will have minimal effect on our golden beast.
Welp, guess it's high time to start playing the game, as opposed to talking about it.
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF LET'S PLAY SUPER ROBOT TAISEN:
And welcome back to Let's Play Super Robot Wars Taisen! Unfortunately I begin my pilgrimage to Montreal on Sunday, but I DO have up to episode 11 screencapped for when I am not busy moving. With that said, let's begin today's episode!
This is the map theme for both allies and enemies until the credits roll by the way; hope you like it.
The map! Terrain in this game offers no defence or evade perks at all, but they are pains in the a**, in the sense that moving through trees cost you +2 movement, and oceans, a whopping +6, when the average movement for an MS is 7. Imagine having to move six MS's across an ocean chapter, when they're only going one tile at the time.
It also affects the effectiveness of a weapon's strength, as obviously shooting bullets into the water is going to be a lot lot less effective than shooting them on the land. This doesn't really become a problem until way later though.
Towers on the other hand, while they do not give any bonuses, they do restore your HP by a fair margin. If you're not the hero, waiting on towers is the only way to restore your HP in this game.
Also 7/10 of the time, stepping on them gives you items. This time we got the Chobham Armour, which if used in the beginning of a chapter, boosts your character's HP value.
Going into the main menu, and choosing "Map" lets you see a rough sketch of the overall field. This level is pretty basic, but some of them fill the whole screen. I'll post the map of every level at the start of the chapter from now on.
And now it's time to begin to trivialize SRW1 in four chapters with a little bit of RNG abuse and abusing the "Spirits" system!
Choosing "Spirits" (hero exclusive command), you are given three randomly selected commands, however I do not want any of these three.
In a normal game, you cannot exit out of the Spirits command after you open it, essentially being stuck with whatever they gave you, but with a little bit of savestate, and RNG abuse (which runs on time), I get the Spirit command I want- Train.
In the most basic sense, Train is +1 to a random stat, which from now on will be used at the start of every chapter.
However, thanks to RNG abuse, which also runs of time, I can rig it to give me +1 STR every time, which will turn the Hyaku Shiki into an absolute monster in the matter of four episodes.
Using Spirits is not unlimited, you are limited to the amount of SP you have at the start of the chapter, which rises as you gain levels. Right now the Hyaku Shiki has 2 SP, meaning he gets +2 free STR this chapter.
That being said, let's take a brief peek at our enemies. I'm only going to post pictures of the MS's from the Gundam universe, as I don't know much about Mazinger or Getter Robo.
First up is the MS-06 Zaku II, the mook of the series. A cheap mass production type, given to the lower soldiers, who abruptly die. Their purpose in this game is also exactly that.
This amusing looking MS with abs is known as the MSM-07 Z'Gok. Equipped with a cyber speedo, its strength lies in water navigation, but unfortunately being a low tier MS like the Zaku II, it doesn't have much strength after that.
Next up is a Bandai original, created solely for this game, and is not a mecha, but a giant dinosaur!
Finally we have the Getter Q, the only unique mecha on the field, meaning we have the option to recruit her.
Pressing onwards...
The Magnet Suit grants +1 AGL, to make the Hyaku Shiki even more speedier than he already is.
Unfortunately the Z Gundam lost a turn going to the tower, so he needs to catch up, and no better way to catch up than..
Transforming into a space ship and ignoring terrain cost along the way. cool
Meet the Waverider, sacrificing a point of DEF for a point of SPD and losing its Beam Sabre for the benefit of ignoring terrain, we have ourselves a new treasure hunter. The ZZ Gundam can also do this, and has better stats, but I like the Z Gundam more in terms of fanboy service.
The best part is that the Waverider can defend himself in a 1~1 RG battle with the Beam Rifle.
He also gets to keep his clumsy long range bazooka, which usually always misses later on.
Character say sassy things when they attack, and it stays that way for the entire series, as far as I can tell.
*PEW PEW*
Long range attack work just like in Advance Wars, in the sense that you can only do long range attacks when you haven't moved. They will form the basis of most of our boss killings.
The Hyaku Shiki unfortunately has a limited arsenal and can't long range attack like the Z Gundam, but that won't be a problem for very long.
For now he's going to kill steal, like how a true Lord should.
Thrilling EXP gain, innit? You also only get EXP only if you kill the unit. But seeing as how low the EXP to next level is, it really isn't a problem, unless you're a piece of s**t like the Guncannon or Zaku II and can't kill anything.
The recruitment system is really weird in this game.
Using his sexy looks, his shades and his Charisma stat, anyone can attempt to convince special units to join your team. The Hyaku Shiki has one of the best Charisma, so it's a lot less painful to get him to do all the recruiting.
WELL.. that went swell.
A savestate later, and one less enemy to fight, and one more ally to target. Notice her high HP and DEF, she makes a great meatshield for this chapter.
To prevent a person from doing exactly what I'm going to do, there is a level cap in each chapter, meaning after a certain level (3 in this chapter), the character only gains 1EXP from then on. The problem with that is you get more than enough free stats in this game, and if you give them all to a single character, the fact that they can't gain lots of levels really doesn't matter.
Forgot to screencap what was in this tower, but it was a Heart of Justice, which raises your Charisma stat.
Progressing to the end of the map, we meet our bosses. Technically there is only one boss per chapter, which will always sit on the "throne tile" that you must seize every chapter. There will always be two beefed up units, with long range attacks guarding him.
In this case, he has two Getter rendition of Roman goddesses protecting him? As far as I can tell, you cannot convince either to join you.
And another Bandai original, he's kind of a bruiser for the first chapter, especially since if you're going to go in for the kill, his women will charge at you as well, but nothing the Hyaku Shiki can't manage, with a bit of tower abuse.
To get to this tower, you have to incur the wrath of Aphrodite-A's missiles.
Which hurt like hell if they're paired up with anyone else's attacks. However seeing as the Hyaku Shiki can move far enough for just her to attack, it isn't game threatening.
This tower offers my favourite item: the Biosensor, which raises a unit's STR.
Also in weirdly placed tiles (ie: isolated trees, single isles in an ocean chapter, clearings, grass tiles in the middle of mountains, etc), there is sometimes hidden items. I'm not going to bother to make a meticulous search of each item's location, but I am deploying the Z Gundam every chapter to get the ones I know.
At this point, I get extremely cocky, and place our hero in the middle of the boss area, meaning in enemy phase, he can enter 1~1 RG combat with them all.
It.. gets quite messy.
Thankfully he can get away to the tower with little difficulty.
Oh, and you remember how this map is a narrow horizontal line? Well, this game does not trim the maps, meaning whatever bit of it is unused is filled with these ugly tiles, ugh.
From then on, Z Gundam takes on the bosses, as they are weakened by the Hyaku Shiki. I do this because he has not reached level 3 yet.
It gets rough again near the end, but by this point, he has killed the two guards, and Hyaku Shiki had gained all his HP back, meaning he could beam sabre the boss, and..
Zeta could zap him with the Hyper Mega Launcher and finish off the fight.
There's also a hidden item along the way, but Heart of Justice is the most useless stat booster in the game.
And that's it for this time, tune in next episode for OH GOD TERRAIN COST HELL! And Texans!
Hopefully I get funnier after I get all the system tutorial out of the way.
Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:14 pm
Episode II: Zeta Goes Fishing For Zaku IIs
And welcome to the main menu screen! At the start of every episode, you are given the chance to equip your unit(s) with the goodies obtained in the last episode.
In which I immediately put everything on Hyaku Shiki, except the Rocket Punch, as he can't equip it. The folks over at Anaheim Electronics (manufacturers of MSs in the Gundam universe) thought it was too expensive to create gold plated rocket fists.
Here's the before and after: nothing too dramatic, the +2 SPD will help him stay on top of his game, and eventually double attack in the far future. And with that, he is almost too sexy for his Charisma stat in the matter of two episodes.
Z Gundam gets absolutely nothing, but I don't intend on him to do much anyway, with the exception of flying around, shooting things from afar and steal kills when Hyaku Shiki is only gaining 1 EXP.
That's really all there is to see in the menu, so off we go for another thrilling episode, with a lot of trees!
Forests suck in any SRPG.
Again, nothing too large to handle, but this chapter does introduce an annoying trend in map design.
In the grand scheme of things, I like this chapter. The battles are spread decently enough that you don't spend close to twenty turns doing nothing but crossing forests and lakes.
In terms of foes, the only enemies to return from the last episode is Zaku II and Z'Gok, as this episode is ZZ Gundam themed.
First up is the marine based AMX-109 Capule, which in many ways is an upgraded Z'Gok without the hot bod. Like in the show, they specialize in missiles, so all its attacks have long ranged attributes.
And then we have the AMX-107 Bawoo, which is really fun to say aloud. Unlike the show, the Bawoo here is complete cannon fodder, who lacks long ranged attacks.
Z Gundam wastes no time and proceeds to aimlessly fly about.
Hyaku Shiki makes it to the tower, as that's where 90% of the fighting will take place. The item obtained here is a weapon for Team Getter, which will have no use for us.
A little west of Z Gundam's starting location is this lovely piece of work.
And then they come.
You can't really see it, as GB graphics make the targeted sprite blink, but Z Gundam is targeting a Capule that is on its way to long range assault Hyaku Shiki.
The trick here being most enemies will charge Hyaku Shiki who is resting on a tower, while Z Gundam snipes them so Hyaku Shiki can OHKO them next turn without fear of retaliation.
The Capule is not too pleased with the strength of his attack, as shown through his usage of ellipsis.
The first five turns are the hardest, as all the enemies charge you, but after the Capule is dealt with, all you really have to face are the Zaku IIs who move at a snail's pace, and lack long ranged attacks.
They do manage to bring Z Gundam to critical, but by the time that happened, it was the last one standing, and Hyaku Shiki brought it down.
Our last foe is another Team Getter member.
That I decide to let live.
The good thing about him is he is an air based unit, so he can fly off down south to get the treasure, saving Z Gundam the effort and turn count.
And believe me, you WANT this treasure.
emotion_brofist (Just use your imagination and pretend that we are in outer space and the RX-178 MK-II Gundam is Z Gundam) Unfortunately it will have to wait until next episode when we can actually equip it.
A Mazinger missile, in which we haven't run into any recruitable Mazinger units yet.
While I was trying to demonstrate the next Spirit command I wanted to show off, I got lucky and got "Train" in my menu. While not as desirable as ATK up, DEF is always welcome, especially with a mobile suit that has tin foil for defence.
And now for the most useful Spirit command, which will remain the most useful for many Super Robot Wars entries to come.
By giving our hero a fever of 103..
He pretty much can waltz up to the boss trio and rip them apart in two or three turns. This trend will continue in every chapter from here on out.
The best part is that Hot Blood in this game is not a one time use, it lasts for a random amount of turns.
Meet the AMX-102 Zssa by the way, it's heavily based on long ranged artillery as the picture depicts, and James from Team Rocket's long lost twin brother originally pilots this suit. That's all there really is to it.
Hyaku Shiki loves the concept of getting +2 DEF in one chapter, as do I.
We have yet another Mazinger unit for a boss, but unlike the missile shooting goddesses of terror, he's actually quite mild. More so since I'm going to absolutely tear him to pieces next turn, thanks to Hot Blood.
The last enemy unit and the boss of this chapter is an awkward situation for our hero, as the pilot of MAN-08 Elmeth is none other than his girlfriend, Lalah Sune.
She also has one of the more deadlier weapons in the series, which will proceed to constantly kick our asses as we progress throughout this series.
It's all fun and games until Char gets turned down by his own woman.
And then a ditzy Camille* opens fire, killing her instantly, unaware that he just killed an archetype character of his own girlfriend.
*Pilot of Gundam Z, and Char pilots the Hyaku Shiki, although technically neither are in each suit, as it's implied that the suits are beings of their own in SRW.
With that, I will see you next update; be sure to bring your healing items and Spirits!
This is the most important thing that will ever happen in the camp screen. After this episode, I'm only going to show the before and after effects of all the resources I shoved down Hyaku Shiki's throat in that episode.
The Mega Bazooka Launcher is the ONLY chance the Gundam and Hyaku Shiki get at ranged attacks. The Guncannon (surprise, surprise) is equipped with the weakest long ranged cannon in the game by default, and every other Gundam in the team all have their own, stronger cannons.
Just for reference, ZZ Gundam's HiMegaCannon has a whopping 11 for attack (which is called Will), but only 3 range. Lastly of course, vGundam and F-91 are in their broken leagues of their own with vGundam having access to the ever so broken Bit attack, which has the same attack power as the Mega Bazooka, but 100 adaptability over all terrain, and 110% chance to hit. F-91's VSBR, while it is only one Will stronger than Mega Bazooka, and has only 60 adaptability in the sea, has F-91's stats to pretty much offset any penalty.
Hell, if we were soloing with F-91 with RNG Train abuse, he'd be nearing 45 ATK, which is halfway maxed in the matter of three episodes.
A single ATK and DEF up in this chapter, but I'll gladly take it. Especially that DEF, since we're going up against a jerk in this episode.
At least he can take a hit and engage in chip damage? The Recon truck was never meant to be an attack unit anyway.
(Why oh WHY was this half a track originally seven minutes long)
Ah, the Messala the MS all the assholes drive, or those who are aspiring to be assholes (e.g- Reccoa) drive.
Oh hey, it's all the enemies in the chapter all in a single screenshot. The thing that looks like a toaster in the top left is the boss, who is surrounded by the Zssas whom we wrecked with relative ease last chapter. This is also the first chapter the Zaku IIs don't appear in.
This map plays exactly like the last one, tower battle and all. The only difference being the different MSs we have to face.
Once again, it's to the towers, only this time, the Hyaku Shiki has sniping capabilities.
Hidden items that aren't across the battlefield, in virgin lands, untouched by mankind, with 30 turns of travel attached generally make me happy.
Getting weapons we just got last chapter, and have no use for? Not so much. In any case, at least I can be thankful for this tower, which will be the most important aspect to this episode.
As shortly after, the enemies come in one big, obnoxious swarm, exactly like in the last chapter.
I'll take your Mazinger Greek goddesses in Episode I, and raise you the superior, recruitable Mazinger Roman goddess of beauty. She DOES have access to long ranged attacks (4 Range), but as shown in the last picture, she's out of range, so she ended up attacking.
Which ended terribly for her.
Closely following her is the MS-09 Dom, Zaku II's replacement, which boasts a whopping +2 STR, -1 SPD, and +4 DEF over Zaku II, and is still 1 range locked.
On top of that, this is the first time I've actually ever seen him hit the Hyaku Shiki. Bear in mind the Hyaku Shiki has one of the poorest DEF ratings in Team Gundam.
Banpresto is well aware of Dom's shortcomings, and threw this in as well, which amusingly is Dom's replacement, IN the chapter the Dom makes an appearance in. What that equates to, is he is yet another 1 ranged locked unit, who hits harder. He's the only one in this chapter however.
And then we have this p***k, the AMX-014 Doven Wolf.
If anything is going to kill anything in this chapter, it's this weapon, which is basically a Bit attack, strapped on to a MS who hits like a truck in the third episode. Given the fact that we are using a MS who relies on dodging, a 110% hit will ruin him quite quickly.
It doesn't help that the OP unit of Team Mazinger is an enemy and is hurling missiles at the Hyaku Shiki, which are fortunately rather easy for him to dodge.
I guess the Dom hitting a few screens ago was a one time special?
Pictured: the Doven Wolf is an a*****e. He does go down after three Mega Bazooka shots though.
Mazinger monsters like to keyboard mash when they get hit; I don't know, I don't know.
Once the Doven Wolf is dealt with, we can safely leave the tower and pick this guy up. It only took me one try to get him, for the first time ever.
While Zeta takes out the last Dom, who amusingly ran away when its health was in critical.
To my dismay, Z Gundam got a lot less EXP than I was expecting, which means he has to accompany the Hyaku Shiki to boss land to kill steal.
We now have two of these sitting in our inventory, hooray.
The central issue of making me fight all the MSs at once is the rest of the chapter is spent doing nothing but crossing water tiles.
About six or seven turns later, boss land is in view. Let's check out who we have to face today!
The PMX-000 Messala, a purple Methuss (the original, if you want to be technical) without the Arm Beam Guns, exclusively reserved for dicks.
Its arsenal is no exception. While not as annoying as the Doven Wolf, the fact that she has three other Zssas guarding her makes this fight longer than it should.
I've never been so disappointed with a treasure haul before.
In any case, Mazinger Z finds a nice melee weapon for himself, that he can admire for all eternity on the bench.
Because the bosses all have 4 range, it makes it pleasantly easy to destroy them one by one.
And another stellar dodge from Hyaku Shiki!
(Here, I'll give you a song and a half this update. This is Team Gundam's only battle theme, it's Gundam 0079's main theme song in 8 bit!)
Why do you do this to me, Z Gundam?
Still not going to make up for just barely killing everything, and having to spend another turn TO get a kill. mad
With two left, I get lazy and finish them off the cheap way.
Oh god, that shrieking, Sarah must be the pilot..
Camille once again with the boss kill! He really doesn't like female pilots, bosses nonetheless, does he?
With that done, I decide to waste the last bit of Spirits I have to see if I get anything useful.
Which I get Friends, a little bit too late, seeing as there are no more enemies.
exclaim And the most useful thing to happen to me this chapter.
More swarms at the start of a chapter! And a really easy boss!
