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HitTheTargets posted:I just hope he doesn't touch Shinji. They'd cause an antimatter explosion.
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Jun 16, 2017 21:47
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| # ? May 24, 2024 16:19 |
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 It’s a tight race for the nº spot, as Goh and Iczer-1 close in on Hyouma. We’ll see if he’ll manage to increase that lead.  Reiji, like Iczer-1, comes preupgraded to 40%, meaning he’ll be pretty damaging right out the box. Random HP and EN upgrades were given to the Supers who didn’t get anything previously, with some extra firepower to Goh.  Ichitaka’s going out as an event unit this time around, so our newly-arrived squad leader took his place. Here’s how we’re going: Reiji/Miu Jeeg/Kyo Kouji/Yagyuu Yamashita/Tetsuya Iczer-1/Shizuru Goh/Mira Combattler/Deceive Daiya/Boss Forward!  Let’s check back with our friends at the Quarter, the Vajra having finally given them a bit of a breather. Kenichi figures it’s due to only a handful of the buggers warping over to this world along with us but Bobby warns against lowering our guard: if we run into one, we’d best assume there are a bunch more nearby. Cathy relates that the Frontier’s still studying what the Vajra are, their way of life, etc, so she figures it’s a bit too soon to speculate on that. She can’t say Bobby’s WRONG in his assertion but there’re still plenty of unknowns here. If anything, Ozma’s proud to see her engage in debate with the crew – it shows that she’s fitting well with them. As for Megumi and Ippei, Kenichi says they went with Michel and co over to the Frontier’s Shibuya (a replica of the actual place). Seems like Ranka’s doing some marketing gig there, so they decided to cheer her on. Ozma hadn’t heard about that, and is even less amused when he Alto apparently knew and told everyone BUT him. Since when is he Ranka’s confidant?! Sakonji had thought the guy was shirking his training recently and both he and Ozma figures this calls for some HARSHER routines for the guy. Cathy sighs at what an overbearing brother Ozma is.  Cut to Howard’s office, the Earth’s government has given the Frontier a simple answer: stand by and wait until they decide what to do. Howard isn’t happy with that, what with their refusal to even receive an ambassador from the fleet. Worst, their permission for us to stay here only seems to be until the ships’ repairs are finished. Mishima has heard from Durandal that there’s a major political faction in this world that advocates the elimination of any “impure” Earthlings. The government’s difficulty is reaching a solution for us is likely a result of that faction impeding things. So, said faction isn’t willing to welcome the Frontier with all the Zolans, Zentradi and the few Boazanians living here? Actually, says Mishima, the guys are treating pretty much EVERYONE in the Frontier as aliens – non-humans. The same treatment given to Durandal’s people, the genetically engineered Coordinators; in that faction’s views, a human that undergoes genetic manipulation is a human no more. Furthermore, Mishima posits, this world has yet to contact alien races, so things are likely going through same “culture shock” motions their world did when the Zentradi first showed up. Tensions are high. Regardless, it’ll be another week until Earth’s government reconvenes, so they’ve given us free pass to continue fighting the Vajra as a measure of self-defense UNTIL THEN. Does that mean that this week is as long as they’re willing to tolerate our presence? Mishima thinks so, figuring the government decided putting us on a hard time limit to leave would be preferable to outright hostile action. Regardless, the message seems clear: don’t overstay your welcome. Seems to Howard that this Earth’s government is as rotten as the other side’s and Mishima suggests we leave ASAP, before the more extreme folks decide to tag the fleet as an invading force and take action.  At Mishima’s office, he’s gotten in touch with “G”, who’s sending over data they compiled on a certain problematic Valkyrie and the Vajra. Mishima’s surprised G would transmit data over a vid-com – is it a sign that he needs to hurry? Not at all, as G says they’ve got a firm understanding on how to hide their signals from the Frontier. Impressive, and what should Mishima do? Relay the data to a certain man. Mishima takes a look at what he’s got and, indeed, it looks very interesting; he does wonder if it’ll prod the man into acting, though. G is sure he will – that is, if the guy’s like him.  Touring Shibuya, Meyrin’s surprised to hear that Luca and co have a singer as a classmate – the one they saw at the Zentradi mall, even. Even Shinn hasn’t forgotten the green-haired girl, which kinda surprises Ippei as he figured the kid would’ve thought it all boring. He’s entitled to like normal stuff, thank you very much. In that case, Nanase asks why doesn’t he join the Official Ranka Lee Fan-club? FYI, Nanase’s the president with Michel and co being numbers 2 through 4. Luna calls the #5 position but, unfortunately, that spot’s already filled by Nagisa (Kasumi). Meyrin greets her heartily, the two girls apparently having turned friends while eating at Nyan-Nyan – ZAFT has been helping protect the Frontier, so the Minerva crew have stopped by the restaurant here and now. And Nanase’s rather curious as to how “ordinary schoolboys” like Michel and Luca seem to be acquainted with those guys. As Luca stammers, it’s up to Michel to come up with an excuse: since his is a military family and Luca’s in with L.A.I., they’ve been selected by the government to play host to the Minerva crew. Good save. Nanase and Nagisa are relieved, having been worried that the two of them were soldiers or something, like the Voltes Team. While Megumi apologizes for keeping that a secret, Nagisa knows there are rules; mind, everyone was blown away when they found out their schoolmates were the Voltes’ pilots. Indeed, Luna knows how strict the army can be: don’t do this, don’t talk of that OR ELSE. Sounds like scary business and Nanase wonders if the NUNS is like that. Probably, but enough about that talk: what about the fan-club?  As it turns out, Luna’ll be stuck as #13 – while she was talking with the others, Shinn, the Voltes Team and Meyrin went and signed up. Why didn’t Shinn sign her up, then?! He’s always been so insensitive, even back at the academy! Sorry… But where is Alto? Nagisa figured he’d be here to cheer Ranka. He was but Luca says he went into an alleyway to answer a phone call. Now why would he do that? Michel figures it’s a secret girlfriend, though Ippei tells him to get his mind out of the gutter. Regardless, they should get going or they won’t find a good spot – Alto’ll meet up as soon as his call’s over.  … And our folks are a bit confused once they reach the area. Where is the gig? Where’s the adoring crowd? There’s just someone in a cartoon costume up ahead… oh, it’s Ranka, desperately trying to get people to take her debut single. Her handing out CDs to random passersby is a bit weaker than what Meyrin had in mind and, worse, it doesn’t look like Ranka’s getting a lot of bites. Nagisa’s a bit confused as to why she’s even handing out physical CDs when she could’ve just as easily distributed her music digitally but Luna figures even in a civilization travelling across the galaxy, nothing beats a hands-on approach in show biz. Meyrin does wonder if Lacus had to do this sort of thing when she was starting out but Shinn doubts it. She’s the daughter of Siegel Clyne, so the guy’s connections probably made her trip to the top a lot easier – blame destiny for her luck on the draw. That said, Shinn DOES think she’s very talented... her recent works notwithstanding. He’s been a fan of her ever since his days at Orb. Regardless, before they can head over and start cheering Ranka on, Alto comes over and suggests we don’t. No, he won’t tell who his secret call was with and shoos Michel away. As for Ranka, he says that while she’s working out in the street, that’s still her stage and she’s giving it her all – walking up there’d just wreck her focus. Besides, Alto figures her having to work hard to get to the top will make for a valuable learning experience, so we ought to just watch her from here. Nanase’s happy to see him putting so much thought into Ranka’s situation but Alto stammers that he’s just speaking common sense. His denial comes in that loud Nakamura voice, so Ranka somewhat hears it. Everyone bolts before they’re spotted, Ranka figuring it was just her imagination. Back to work!  Later on, back at Alto’s room, Ranka’s relating her busy day – she’s really tired after all that standing around. She knows handing out CDs is a bit old-fashioned and, truth be told, Elmo DID try to set up a promotional webpage for her; oddly enough, the thing kept getting hacked, so the only option was to do it all by hand. Hmhmm. Still, Elmo also said that word-of-mouth is a very powerful thing in the singing business, so her having to interact directly with the folk isn’t particularly bad. Hmhmm. Is he listening? Nope. MEANIE! But, honestly, Alto figures she ought to do what her manager says: whether it’s handing out CDs or via word-of-mouth, if her song’s good, then it’ll get around. He’s sure it’s only a matter of time until the effort she’s doing is rewarded some. Ranka thanks him for the encouragement, but it’s already getting a bit late and she’ll have another gig tomorrow. Time to call it a night and, as she signs off, Alto wishes her good luck.  A new call comes in as soon as that one ends, though: Sheryl, who’s not too happy at Alto for making her wait so long before taking her call. Turns out she was his mystery caller from before and she’s been busily trying to figure out a theme for a movie she wants to make. Her current idea is that it’ll be an emotionally-charged “documentary”, where she’s an aspiring pilot seeking to protect the Macross Galaxy. “You, a pilot? That’s not a documentary, that’s a comedy,” Alto chuckles quietly but quickly changes the subject when Sheryl frowns. Why is she even doing something like this? Well, she doesn’t want the people, ever so fickle, to forget about the Galaxy – an allegory for their own universe. Alto sees her point, as there are plenty of folks struggling to deal with our new reality. It’s Sheryl’s job to give those people hope and, if anything, she’d like to at least cheer them up some. As for the movie’s slogan, she’s thinking “The Galactic Fairy takes up arms for her homeland” – how does that sound? Lame. Quiet, you. Oh, and by the by, they’ll be filming some of the movie at Alto’s school and he’s been assigned as her errand-boy while that’s going down. Why?! “Interest” for taking this long to return the earring she borrowed him. “Whaat?! I’ll give it back, then! I’ll give it back right the hell now, drat it!” Too late for that, but, hey, she’ll allow him to hang onto the thing as compensation. Alto’s very mad at being blindsided with this but agrees to it THIS TIME. She better not pull this “interest” stuff again because he never agreed to it! Well, Sheryl likes how upstanding he is and Alto says that’s only because he’s not about to dump a memento of her mother into the trash – were it anything else, he would’ve. Sounds great and Sheryl will eagerly be awaiting his arrival at the set.  At JUDA, Alice is giving people checkups and Tetsuya’s looking A-OK – his body’s healthy and his immune system is working fine. Now if only he be more serious about work, we’d be seeing great results. Tetsuya likes that she thinks he can be such a hero (he’s voiced by Hiyama) and, leaving, figures he’ll try getting Shizuru to psych him up for training. As Alice calls in the next patient, Tsubaki runs in. Didn’t she just get herself checked? Yes, but she’s not worried about her health – rather, it’s about Alice. Oh, no, did she leave the simulator’s seat scalding again? Yes, though not as much as before. Still, it seems clear to Tsubaki that she’s having a hard time with Reiji’s strict training regimen. Much as her neural network’s working to rearrange itself to combat, she just lags too badly to execute the required actions properly. Still, it’s needed to speed up the development of the combat side of her AI. Either way, since Tsubaki’s here, does she know where Kyo’s at? He hasn’t been looking out of sorts lately and hasn’t even gotten checked-up. It might just be a cold but Tsubaki says she’ll keep an eye out for him.  Kyo’s actually by the pool area, asking Iczer-1 if she’s any information on some “ancient ship”. She doesn’t, unfortunately – and the same goes for the mysterious fleet that showed up by the PLANTs. Well, it’s not a whole lot to go on but at least Kyo got a modicum of info on the state of things from her (which he’ll relay to Prof. Shiba and Ishigami). He thanks her for it, especially considering he was supposed to be telling HER about Earth. Iczer-1 doesn’t mind, of course, hoping to be even a bit useful by herself until Nagisa’s woken up. Kenji runs in right then, having been looking for Kyo and surprised to see him alone with Iczer-1 here. What’s he up two, huh? Only gathering intel on stuff going on in space. Well, aren’t we diligent. Regardless, Kenji says Alice wants him to come and get himself checked-up. The message given, Kenji promptly sets off to go and grab something to eat. Iczer-1 is impressed at how energetic he is and, indeed, Kyo says that’s one of the better things about the kid.  Cut back to the Minerva, they’re getting an emergency call from the PLANTs’ Supreme Council: the colony of Junius Seven is on the move and headed towards Earth! But the thing was expected to stay in a stable orbit for over a hundred years... yet, Durandal calls in and says it’s really happening. How the hell did this happen? Durandal says they’re investigating, theorizing that a meteorite crash or whatever set it in motion, but, whatever the reason, we need to get going right now. The thing’s expected to hit Earth soon, and Durandal figures he needn’t tell a worried Cagalli the damage something of that size would cause. Shinn isn’t happy to get a massive undertaking like this so soon after they returned from the Frontier, but something must be done. It’ll be impossible to change its trajectory, so Rey says our only option will be to break the thing apart before it crashes. Durandal confirms and says he’s sent a team carrying Meteor Breakers towards the colony – our team must depart immediately and rendezvous with them. As Talia confirms, Durandal does apologize to Cagalli for getting her involved in yet another mess but he needn’t do so: “this is a serious matter for all of us and if there’s anything I can do to help, I will,” she says. Durandal appreciates the offer but says there isn’t a need for her to get involved right now – he’ll let her know if it comes to that, though. Athrun, however, speaks up and asks if he couldn’t let him borrow an MS for this. Talia doesn’t think that’s going to fly, what with him being a civilian now, and Shinn readily agrees: who the hell does this guy think he is? Assistant or no, how would anyone lend an MS to a guy that addresses the leader of another nation like it ain’t no thing?! Athrun understands he’s out of line but says he can’t well sit and watch as this happens.  Durandal turns to Cagalli and requests that Athrun loose the disguise in order to appease Shinn’s concerns. She’s a bit uneasy of doing that but he’s willing to do it, knowing he can’t expect the crew to trust him while so many questions surround him. With that, he takes off his shades and properly identifies himself as Athrun Zala – son of former-Chairman Patrick Zala. Shinn and Arthur are blown away, though Luna already had an idea. Indeed, Talia says a handful of folks on the ship had apparently realized who he was. Shinn wants to know is why ZAFT’s old ace is with Orb but Rey tells him to drop it. With that cleared, Durandal allows him to take an MS out. Talia’s still concerned since Athrun’s not really of ZAFT anymore but any extra unit could help with the Meteor Breakers. Combat isn’t expected to happen, either, and if the Darius or Mimetic Beasts are behind this, their status as UN members allows them to cooperate. Plus, the Frontier’s already agreed to help with this, so having one Earth “civilian” tag along to help won’t ruffle any feathers. Fair enough, so, despite Shinn’s groaning, off they go.  At Ishigami’s office, Reiji’s quite satisfied with the progress our team is making at training – everyone’s results are improving… except for one. He means Ichitaka and, to be honest, the Rushbird is showing itself to be just as problematic. There are just too many unknowns regarding the unit for Reiji to think we should be fielding it. Ishigami figures fielding it is precisely the way to get some answers and is counting on Reiji to make it work. Fine but, then, could they change the pilots? Alice is hampering the bot’s performance and he doesn’t quite like the idea of waiting until her AI’s sorted itself out to handle it. Ishigami vetoes that idea as well, saying the report sent to Reiji mentioned how she’s registered as the Rushbird’s starter key. Or is Reiji figuring she’s a liability because she’s a robot? Because that’d be a no-no and, besides, Ishigami doesn’t like the thought of plucking flowers off the battlefield. Fine… But that’s a talk for later, as Lady Une gets in touch and passes on info on Junius’ Seven incoming drop onto Earth. She’s gotten in touch with the SDF to provide us a shuttle, so LOTUS needs to get up there and help destroy the thing immediately. As Ishigami orders Yui to call everyone in, Une relates that ZAFT is already trying to deal with the derelict colony, so our job will be to help them make it happen. Failure is not an option as, worst case scenario, it could mean the extinction of mankind!  Mission 6 – The Day the Sky Fell   : Yow, taking a closer look, this thing’s biiiig. (Dearka) : Of course it is – our people live in these. (Yzak): Sure, but what I meant was that the bigwigs sure gave us one hell of a job, breaking it all down. We’re supposed to handle the whole thing ourselves?: No, it appears the Minerva’s headed our way. : The Minerva? That ship’s kind of light on crew size, I heard. (Heine): However, only our two groups can respond in time. This isn’t one of those “elite few must prevail against impossible odds” cases.: In that case, maybe you could relax some? We know you’re older and responsible and all that, but come on. If you don’t, maybe I’ll start calling you “Captain Yzak, sir”.: Urgh, fine. This better, Heine?: Much. That’s the ticket, Yzak. *Beep, beep!* : Got a heat signal incoming – the Minerva’s here.   : This is the Minerva speaking, we’re here to assist in the destruction of Junius Seven.: This is Yzak Joule, captain of the Joule Squad. We appreciate the help! : Yzak…: You. Weren’t you off at Orb?: Stuff happened and I came aboard along with Orb’s Rep. But, regardless, we need to hurry with the operation right now!: I know that!: Yo, I don’t get a “hey, how you doing” too?: Sorry, Dearka. At least I see you both haven’t changed much.: Right back at you. : So this is Junius Seven, the abandoned agricultural colony… : From what I’ve gathered, it’s something of a memorial of a tragedy from the old Great War. : But we still need to break it down…!: That there’s the famous Macross, right, Yzak? Is it alright for them to be here for this?: Could I ask you for some explanation on this matter, Cpt. Gladys? : I can tell you myself.: And you are? : Jeffrey Wilder, captain of the Macross Quarter. And if you want to know what’s on our mind, first, we couldn’t stay passive as your homeworld stood on the brink of death; secondly, the Minerva’s helped us several times and we couldn’t live with ourselves if we didn’t answer in kind.: …Very well – I appreciate your assistance. Now, let me explain how the operation will proceed. : I’m relaying you the coordinates where our engineers installed the Meteor Breakers. We’ll have to make the final calibrations ourselves, so everyone split up and head to each specified area.: Then the Minerva will stand by and prepare for anything going wrong. : Well, if we just need to make some calibrations then this’ll be over easy.: Watch your rear end, still, Alto. There are plenty of debris floating around – you don’t wanna end up dead from one of those.: Yes, sir!: (Here’s hoping it’ll be easy, else what am I still borrowing this “good luck charm” for?)Of course it’ll be easy, we just need to get any units into the marked areas. And we got some new friends – and regular fixtures/often pains-in-the-rear end in my LPs:  Slash ZAKU Phantom (Yzak Joule) Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Shoot Down Shield Defense Counter Commander L1 Prevail L3 Support Attack L1 Attack Combo L1 Spirit Commands: Focus Invincible Fighting Spirit Squad Bonus: Melee weapons’ power +100, armor +100, crit ratio +10  Gunner ZAKU Warrior (Dearka Elsman) Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Shoot Down Shield Defense Hit & Away Support Defense L1 Attack Combo L1 Spirit Commands: Focus Snipe Squad Bonus: Ranged weapons’ power +100, accuracy +5  Blaze ZAKU Phantom (Heine Westenfluss) Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Shoot Down Shield Defense Commander L1 Support Attack L1 Support Defense L1 Attack Combo L1 Spirit Commands: Focus Alert Squad Bonus: Mobility and accuracy +5 Three squaddies! Their units aren’t the greatest but they’re certainly capable of taking care of themselves. Yzak’s the in-your-face type and the best pilot of the three, Dearka’s range-specced and Heine’s the all-around guy. Yzak aside, this is the first time since the W LP that Dearka’s an actually active unit and not a background character due to his VA’s issues with SEED. Not having to fork over a metric crapton of cash to get T.M. Revolution on board means it’s time for Heine to follow in Miguel’s footsteps and be a legit playable character!  Blaze ZAKU Warrior (Athrun Zala) Pilot Skills: SEED – activates at 130 morale, granting Accuracy and Evasion +20% and final attack damage +10%. Sword Cut Shoot Down Shield Defense Support Attack L1 Support Defense L1 Attack Combo L1 Spirit Commands: Sense Focus Accelerate Squad Bonus: crit ratio +10, melee weapons’ power +10, exp +10%. We don’t need to wait until we’re 60% through the game for Athrun to remember he has SEED! Huzzah! Athrun’s more or less tied with Yzak in stats (they go back and forth) but that obviously goes out the window over 130 morale. He’ll make do with that ZAKU but, of course, he needs better if he’s really going to go to town. Even if you don’t wanna field him, that squad bonus’ll make for a good fit with pretty much anyone.  With our homework done, everyone that can pop Accelerate does and we move forward – you’ll really want to hoof it. The next player turn…  And we’ve got trouble: several heat signals show up on the radar, a bevy of GINNs, GuAIZ and Taurus showing up. They’re not carrying any IFF and Meyrin detects no other ZAFT ships around, indicating that they might’ve been inside Junius Seven. Were they the ones who got the colony moving, then? “Stop this! Who the hell are you?!” Yzak yells, dropping his level headed act, and the enemy leader, Sato, simply yells that he won’t allow us to destroy Junius Seven. His group opens fire then and there and Heine spots them making a beeline to the Meteor Breakers. We won’t be able to carry out the operation without those, so Yzak puts in a call to Talia and Jeffrey: we need to protect the Meteor Breakers, whatever it takes.  Mission objective: Defeat all enemies and secure the Meteor Breakers Mission failure: Any allied ship, Athrun or Shinn shot down, 3 Meteor Breakers destroyed, any unit holding a Meteor Breaker shot down. In hindsight, I should’ve plopped the Macross team inside the Quarter to have them get more distance. Regardless, the enemy will be moving in immediately and your biggest concern is the back row of Meteor Breakers – you’ll want to have them capped by Turn 3 or there’s a decent chance the enemies will start wrecking them (the AI won’t prioritize them but you might get an unlucky move). All that said, this mission isn’t too hard provided you were already moving in. The mooks we’re facing aren’t TOO accurate or bulky – Sato’s the only real threat but not a big one. One thing to keep in mind, though:  Secret Alert! Make sure you capture ALL six Meteor Breakers. This isn’t really difficult, provided you were already moving in and make liberal use of Accelerate. Do note that, once a unit is atop a Breaker, it won’t be able to move for the rest of the mission and, if it dies, that Breaker is gone as well – so choose people who can handle themselves.  We’ll send Ozma right in the fray to draw the enemy’s attention.       With Alto’s help, it’s an easy kill.  Michel and Luca hop atop the nearby Meteor Breaker, weakening this pair of Tauruses in the process. : Skull Leader to all troops! Defend those Breakers with your lives!: How many more do we need…?! Fight a Taurus and Yzak and Dearka see that they’re making moves no human could ever do. Heine figures they’re running the Mobile Doll System, a creation of Blue Cosmos during the previous war. Arthur remembers that the system was supposed to have been disposed of after the Junius Treaty but Heine figures busting out Mobile Dolls isn’t much of a surprise coming from a group willing to do something like this. So, Kenichi summarizes, we’re dealing with drones? Yep, and a whole lot more flexible than Dearka’s CO, he says. Luca sees a parallel with their Ghosts, meaning their movements should follow similar patterns. These are looking like old models and they’re not doing too well against us; that said, Luca warns that might change as they start learning about how we fight. We should get rid of them quick before it gets to that point. Rey doubts puppets could give us pause and Yzak agrees: we can’t flinch over these things because our mission hasn’t changed at all.  Kenichi and Klan both pick a weakened target and take it out, the Super headed to the NE Breaker.  Down south, Yzak sets ahead to spread that command aura.  : I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you drop Junius Seven on Earth! That’s our mother planet too!-- : When it rains, it pours, huh…! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNFdbh275dM drat it, Dearka, that was 85%!  Fine. As Athrun plants himself atop the southernmost Breaker, Rey does a chain-attack to both finish the survivor and weaken his squaddie. : Alright, that’s good! Keep securing those Meteor Breakers!: Roger! Heine’s also got a command aura, so he sets ahead. : You’re up, ZAKU Phantom. Show us all how different you are from GINNs and GuAIZs!  Not a kill but whatever – Shinn takes it.  Enemy Phase!  The Quarter’s high HP makes it catnip to the AI and Jeffrey tanks Sato and three others like it’s nothing.  Ah, a cheap kill for Kenichi.      That’s one for him, one for Shinn down south.  Player Phase!  LOTUS arrives on the scene and Ichitaka’s rather worried if we’re actually capable of breaking up this hunk of stone. No way around it, thinks Juzo, as the thing dropping on Earth would really mess the place up. Hyouma and Daiya look on ahead, confused as to why ZAFT units are fighting each other. Une’s commanding the operation from the shuttle that got us over and Reiji posits the actual ZAFT guys are battling terrorists. He suggests we get in touch with the Minerva to get things sorted out quickly and Une’s already on it. She and Talia seemingly know each other and the captain is grateful for our support. Lady Une does apologize for the UN’s tardy response, but it’s not like ZAFT wasn’t also blindsided by this – as shown by their lack of options, outside of dispatching these units over. Now, Talia gives us a quick rundown on the terrorists, which she figures are Coordinator Extremists, judging by their units, trying to destroy the Meteor Breakers and Une passes it all along to Reiji. We need to wreck these guys and keep those Meteor Breakers safe. Off we go. Letting Ichitaka get downed is also a game over but that’s not too likely, what with his bulkiness. Before we carry on, we never quite looked at our new team leader:  Vardant (Reiji Moritsugu) Pilot Skills: Factor (ファクター) Sword Cut Shoot Down Shield Defense Counter Predict Commander L1 Prevail L3 Support Attack L1 Attack Combo L2 Spirit Commands: Focus Sense Mercy Squad Bonus: crit ratio +10, 15% chance to dodge attacks. Reiji, as you might expect, is pretty good: one of those typical A- units, who can take lead if you so desire, but won’t be among your top bots. The Vardant’s dodgy, somewhat resilient and with some decent firepower, though it is severely lacking in range (1-3 is the best it has) since it’s all about swords, swords, swords. Reiji’s skills and squad bonus gives him some nice dodginess for survivability and that’s not even going into the Factor skill – something I completely glossed over when dealing with the previous JUDA Factors. See, all Machina pilots have a unique D-S.O.I.L. stat under their morale and it relates to the Factor skill: the higher the number, the more the Machina will auto-heal. The regen % is calculated via the formula “(D-S.O.I.L./2)-20”, meaning that, at 76, Reiji’ll recover 18% HP per turn. The D-S.O.I.L. caps at 140, where the Machina’ll be regenning 50%. Finally, the D-S.O.I.L’s value at the start of a mission is calculated via the formula “pilot’s base value + (level/10)”; hit or down an enemy, it goes up by 1, miss is a -1, getting hit is +2 and dodging does nothing. Here are the base values for our Factors: Miu and Izuna = 60 Yamashita = 65 Reiji = 75  Now math time is done, I’ll be parking Kenji over here – he’ll still be able to attack plenty with his Jeeg Bazooka.  : We’ve confirmation that the required amount of Meteor Breakers has been secured!: Then we should be in the clear… though it’s still too early to party!: We don’t know what might be waiting down the road, so try to secure as many of the remaining Breakers as can be! We’ll do that in a bit – Reiji has stuff to kill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn2I1sW34Cc Alright.  Heine takes the N Breaker, while Kenichi covers the very last one (with Iron Wall, just to be safe).  : All of the Meteor Breakers are under our control!: Excellent job, troops. Now clear out the remaining hostiles!
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Jun 20, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 21:56
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 Following a barrage from Michel and Luca, Jeffrey casts Strike and takes aim. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmppSqXZt2M So, this ship not only has a barrier, it has a legit shield!  Satou’s group is getting chopped up by ZAFT, so we’ll clear the more distant guys.      Thanks, Boss… Ichitaka takes it, while Iczer-1 goes for Reiji’s survivor.  Hyouma’ll use his magnetic personality to run interference on the northern terrorists.  Meanwhile… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM4iA5pvZos  : We’ll put an end to your insane plan even if it takes our lives to do it! : You’re all whelps who’ve forgotten their pride as Coordinators and I won’t suffer you interfering with our cause! Of course… Enemy Phase!  Sato’s further damaged by Jeffrey (who also takes two nearby GINNs); up top, Heine’s holding the line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_x9n8HC7XQ Heine: “Urk! Orange DOES stick out like a sore thumb in a battlefield, I guess…!”  Hyouma trades blows with a bunch of stuff: two kills for him, one for Shizuna. Player Phase!   : Mimetic Beasts?! : It’s those giant monsters from when we faced Cobalt! : Are you serious?! There are Mimetic Beasts in space too?! : Hm, they nested inside Cosmo Base not too long ago. Likely snuck aboard a shuttle carrying foodstuffs or something and multiplied.  : These things are really nasty – like a bunch of cockroaches from hell! : Only these roaches are drawn over by the scent of blood…!: ZAFT is sending us data on the Mimetic Beasts. Our weapons should be effective against them, so we’re to approach as we would a Vajra.: Tsk… it’s just one thing after the other…!: And we already had our hands full as it was. drat, this is getting out of hand fast.: Arthur, we need to cover our allies. Bring us into firing position – we’ll unravel the enemy’s formation with the Tannhäuser!*The Minerva moves ahead.*  : Firing position, all clear! Tannhäuser engaged, targeting the dead center of the Mimetic Beast swarm! *Alarm!* : Captain, we’ve Mimetic Beasts moving towards the Minerva – fast!: !! : Urk!: What’s going on? Why did they all start gunning for us?!: Your energy! They’re being drawn to the energy spike from your cannon! : The monsters are hungry…! : Evasive maneuvers, Arthur!: I can’t! Our energy output’s dropping after that last attack! : drat it, they’re going to sink the Minerva!*Beep!*  : Party’s over, Mimetic Beasts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmz4XfuFKOw “You won’t be running amuck with me around, Mimetic Beasts!”   : Th-That attack was…! : The Great Mazinger! Tetsuya! : Jun’s here, too! : And we’ve come to back you up, Kabuto! : That’s the Great Mazinger…! : I’d heard the stories but, dang, this guy packs a wallop!: Nice – another awesome member for the team!: Come and try your luck, Mimetic Beasts! Junius Seven won’t fall – not under the watch of the Great Hero, Great Mazinger!: Thanks for your help, too! Now let’s push forward and wrap this up! Great Mazinger (Tetsuya Tsurugi) Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Counter Prevail L3 Spirit Commands: Strike Invincible Iron Wall Mech Features: Sword Mazin Power Squad Bonus: Armor +150, Accuracy +5  Venus A (Jun Honoo) Pilot Skills: Prevail L1 Support Attack L1 Spirit Commands: Cheer Trust Squad Bonus: Exp +10%, Accuracy +5 Tetsuya’s Kouji 2.0, with the Great Mazinger being a whole lot better than the regular Mazinger Z (especially in range). Better yet, the two of them have their traditional Double Burning Fire combined attack which packs a mighty punch with Mazin Power on its side. Jun’s also better than Sayaka in pretty much every way except her spirit list: Sayaka’s 100% support-oriented, while Jun mixes a bit of offense with that. All in all, it depends on what you’re after but the Venus A is still a bit on the frail side (at least Jun learns Iron Wall at 24).  But we’ll have Tetsuya and Talia pull back to draw the Mimetic Beasts closer to our main group. While that’s going on, we’ll wrap up the extremists.  : Chairman Zala was brought down because his was the wrong path – why do you not see that? What we need now is—: I refuse to accept your pious hope as the right path!   Sato: “If you’re with ZAFT, then you should understand our ideals!”  : We’ve got the Darius, Mimetic Beasts and a bunch of other insane guys walking around! : I know everyone has a point to make but what the hell would dropping this thing on Earth accomplish?!: But it must be done for the restless souls that lie within! Our defeated, tormented countrymen cannot and will not grieve in silence any longer!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bVYrmCnnUU Here’s the Impulse’s strongest weapon. : drat these whelps…!: You’re from the PLANTs, aren’t you? Why… Why are you trying to do something like this?! : How can you forget the grief of all the lives lost by the atrocity committed here? How can you embrace this world of lies and laugh alongside those who pulled the trigger?! : ZAFT has been led astray by the Peacecraft girl and the followers of the coward Clyne! : …: The only right path for us Coordinators is the one shown us by Patrick Zala! Why do you not see that?!: Wha—: Quinze… Dekim… Our fellow revolutionaries may have been defeated, but our ideals will still BURN the Naturals!!: They want to kill all Naturals…?!: The hell are you on about, guy? What Quinze and Dekim wanted was—: Easy, Dearka. Just let him rant.: The fall of Junius Seven can no longer be stopped! You’ll watch as the Natural’s answer for their karma! I, too, will be watching… GWAAAAAARGH!! : This… this is what my father’s words brought about…Athrun also had words for Sato, of course, but I discovered only too late that I people were stuck atop the Meteor Breakers once they stepped in: : Stop this! What Patrick Zala wanted, the world he wanted was—: And what the hell would you know about Patrick Zala?!: I… I…! LOTUS starts inching eastern, Ichitaka, Yamashita, Kouji and Daiya all but eradicating the western front.  And there it goes.        Boom.    Couple of kills to Luna and Heine gets Kouji and Athrun over 130 morale.  The team’s waifu needs to get to the top!       Yzak and Klan’s team wrecks another team, one GINN goes to Luca…  And this one’s just in range for Kenichi to use his strongest move! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhr1bz5C0yg Kenichi learns Prevail L4 from that. Enemy Phase!  And there go all but one of the extremist groups, destroying themselves against our superior firepower. The Mimetic Beasts are still far. Player Phase!  The Gundam thieves enter the area, transmitting the big battle over to their commander, Neo. He sees more than just ZAFT fighting up ahead – problematic, considering Earth’ll be as good as dead if Junius Seven isn’t destroyed in a hurry. Sting’s a bit miffed that they’d run into the Minerva again so soon after evading all their pursuers and, worse, that they’d find some Mimetic Beasts as a bonus. Stella doesn’t like the things, that’s for sure. Neo ponders all this mess happening and wonders if it’s the whim of a particularly capricious God. Regardless, he wants the kids to continue observing from afar and to record as much as they can – they’re not allowed to engage. Sting confirms and calls Stella and Auel to retreat to a safer distance. “Boooriiiing,” Auel sighs.  Bye! Everyone else gets in position to intercept the beasties. Enemy Phase!  And Goh’s their first pick – appropriate.   Goh: “Sorry, Mira!” Mira: “Oh, Goh… that attack was very avoidable!”     AAAAAAAAAAAAA When did the Mimetic Beasts evolve to have Windanium bodies?!  Get to it, Tetsuya… : I’ll admit that you’ve got guts to not run from me. And now the Great Mazinger will give you your prize!--  : We will save Earth from this mess!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97uN3gOQUOk That’s fine. Player Phase! This mission’s gone on for long enough but we’re in the home stretch. The Mimetic Beasts are too few in numbers and we’ve too many resources left for them to wear us down, so now we rain concentrated death on each of them. About 80% of them die in this first round, the rest following in the next turn. Here’s the summary:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68wFF6Wb27Q             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmjr3T6t9E0 Oh, and here’s the very snazzy dynamic finish of Reiji’s strongest attack. I wager that blonde Reiji that showed up is important… or is it just the standard “my evil, so-very-destructive split personality: Darkheart” that comes pre-loaded into all characters that look like Reiji? And we’re done! : No enemies left on radar!: How’re the Meteor Breakers?!: We’ve enough up and ready to go. Now we just need to set them up to activate at the right time.: Hurry! Drag your rear end and we won’t break the colony in time! : Troops, get to work!: Yes, sir!*KABOOOM!*  : Alright!: Great! We did it! : Hell, yeah! Earth’s safe!: No, it’s not!: What?!: The debris is still too big! We needed to break it down a lot more to offset how close it got! : Then Earth’s still going to be destroyed?!: Junius Seven’s on a downward angle and picking up speed! It’ll enter the atmosphere soon! : Time’s running out! All we can do now is to tear it apart with the Combattler’s weapons!: That’s right! Stand strong ‘til the very last second!: Let’s do this, Mazinger Z!: The debris’ not past the threshold yet, so keep going! You too, Ichitaka!: Yeah! : I suppose we’ve no other options… LOTUS will move to destroy Junius Seven directly!: We just gotta go for broke now!: Phrasing, ya dumdum! We want it to go broke!: We should try and do whatever we can to salvage this, Cpt. Gladys.: I agree, Cpt. Wilder. Arthur, ready the Tannhäuser! : Lam, stand by! : Roger. Macross Cannon – energy charge!: It’ll be getting in the atmosphere soon! We gotta make it!*Charging power!* : Blow it straight to hell! Macross Cannon – fire!!: Breast Fire!!: Thunder Break!: Super Electromagnetic SPIIIN!!: Voltes Bazooka!: Heart! BREAKEEER!!: Spin STOOOOOORM!: Tear it down! Come on!!  *Craaaaaaash! Beep, beep!* : Time’s up. All troops, pull back.: Junius Seven’s entering the atmosphere! : Hold on – the thing’s still too big!: Pull back immediately. That’s an order.: Hrm, fine.: drat it, is this all we can do…?!: All units have pulled back from Junius Sev—… Huh?!: What is it?: Ichitaka’s still down there! : What?!: What the hell are you doing, Ichitaka?! Get outta there right now!: I saw some MSs left in there – they’re the Minerva’s, I think! Doesn’t look like they can make it out!: There’s a bit of time left, so I wanna help anyone I still can!: “A bit”… the debris’ crossing the threshold right now!: …*At the Girty Lue’s bridge…*   : OK, this should be enough footage. Not that we could have kept on monitoring for much longer, of course. *Static.*  : drat, this is real. What’s gonna happen to us and Earth now? : Is… Is everyone going to die? : Hey, Neo… ZAFT was trying to break Junius Seven, weren’t they? Shouldn’t we have helped them?: …
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 16:08 on Jun 20, 2017 |
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Jun 17, 2017 21:56
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The whole bit with Blond Reiji is a bit of a plot spoiler for Linebarrels, unfortunately. The short answer is "Yes, that means something.", but we're not getting to it until the Linebarrels plot moves forward. That said, the Meteor Breakers are a bit of a dick move. Nowhere does the game tell you that whatever units you send to defend the Meteor Breakers will be immobilized for the rest of the mission, so yeah, gently caress you game.
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Jun 17, 2017 22:18
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Oh hey, we're finally getting back to these guys. And unlike with Z, this time the Federation (or Alliance or OMNI or whatever) didn't feel like getting involved at all. If this was the Marvel-verse (comics, not movies) I'm sure that the civilians would still blame our guys despite our guys doing all they can to help and the Feddie guys doing absolutely nothing (though I'm not holding out for the civilians of this game to be much better). Also, Iczer-1 in space... No, no. It's too early to reference HIM.
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Jun 17, 2017 22:27
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So Reiji's mech reminds me of Thanatos from Persona 3, with the weird coffins that encircle him and all that, which is neat. The 40% bonus that he and Iczer join with make me nervous that they're going to get taken out and be unavailable for a while because there's no way the game would be this generous this early, but they don't seem so good that losing them would be the tremendous blow that, say, losing Sanger in early OG1 was. So I dunno  .
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Jun 17, 2017 23:40
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Inferno-sama posted:Oh hey, we're finally getting back to these guys. And unlike with Z, this time the Federation (or Alliance or OMNI or whatever) didn't feel like getting involved at all. If this was the Marvel-verse (comics, not movies) I'm sure that the civilians would still blame our guys despite our guys doing all they can to help and the Feddie guys doing absolutely nothing (though I'm not holding out for the civilians of this game to be much better). To be fair, the Earth Alliance has been supplanted in this world due to the UN taking the reins of the battle against the Darius and Mechabeasts a few years ago. And I'll take them not doing poo poo instead of pulling a Z1 and actively working to stop us. On the flip side, maybe the drug-addled kid has a point in that, I don't know, they should've done something to stop a goddamn meteor from hitting the world they'resupposedtobeprotectinggoddamnitneo. 
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Jun 18, 2017 14:54
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 Back at the Minerva, Meyrin reports Junius Seven picking up speed. Talia’s orders are to call the Mobile Suits back – the ship’ll head into the atmosphere after the falling colony to try and blast it with the Tannhäuser. Arthur’s a bit queasy with that plan and while Talia isn’t sure how well this’ll work, she’s still going for it: “Simply watching it fall, knowing that I might’ve been able to do something, would leave a terrible aftertaste in my mouth.” She tells Meyrin to inform LOTUS of what they’ll be doing, dejected that she won’t be able to bid the SMS crew a proper farewell. Talia also wants Cagalli to leave the ship but she refuses to stay passive while the Minerva’s crew are about to risk their lives to save Earth. Besides, Athrun’s still out there. With that decided, Arthur gets on the PA to tell the rest of the crew what’s what – they’ll be moving to break Junius Seven ‘til the very last second.  Out in space, Yzak’s crew has received the info on the Minerva’s plan. Heine approves of their selfless persistence and wishes they could lend a hand. We’ve all done everything we could, though, so now we just pray for their success, Dearka thinks.  The Quarter has also been briefed and Jeffrey’s impressed – we should also help with that. What does he have in mind? Well, we’re still in good range to fire the Macross Cannon. There’s no time to charge it fully but it’s better than nothing. Sounds good to Bobby, eager to give Junius Seven a spanking.  Back to space, Reiji’s requesting Lady Une to allow LOTUS to follow the Minerva and head with them into the atmosphere – we might, at least, be able to minimize damage from the colony drop that way. That’s fine with her, though she’s also worried that the terrorists might try something else if left unchecked. We can’t send all our troops back to the surface and Reiji, having already thought of that, will only be bringing the JUDA, Build, Dannar Teams and Iczer-1 with him. Everyone else will stay up here. Une chuckles at his foresight and asks him to send her regards to the Minerva crew.  Quick message to Talia and she thanks Reiji for the assist, asking Meyrin to bring in the LOTUS units before their descent. Long-range comms will be disabled once Phase 2 starts, so we need to hurry.  : Urgh, what the hell… I could swear I saw the MSs a second ago…*Beep, beep.*  : Oh…! Ichitaka, I’m picking up some faint signals on the radar… I’m pretty sure it’s the Minerva’s Impulse and ZAKU!: Nice one, Alice. We’re gonna get in there and help with whatever we can!*Beep, beep.*  : Stand down, Nagumo. I think that’s enough insubordination for a day.: R-Reiji…!: Half of LOTUS’ll be accompanying the Minerva’s descent, trying to destroy the debris as much as possible. : Your mission, however, is to head over to the Space Station and guard the area. Your unit should still be capable of escaping Junius Seven, so hurry.: But Reiji, there’re still some other MSs—: I’m aware, but those two are equipped to handle the atmospheric reentry. You don’t have to worry about them.: (What do I do…? Those units looked pretty beat up but…) And here’s our first route split of the game. Top option is to stay and rescue the Mobile Suits, while the bottom is to do as told and leave the area. We’ll be doing both paths, as usual, but here’s how the series are split: Rescue the MSs: Linebarrels Iczer-1 Jeeg Godannar Leave the area: Mazinkaiser Combattler V Gaiking Macross Frontier If you choose to stay… : …Sorry, Reiji, but I wanna help the Minerva’s folks. I could be reading this wrong but I think they might not manage the reentry the way they’re looking.: And what kind of champion of justice keeps his distance when people might die?: You seem pretty resolved for this.: I dunno about resolve… I just don’t wanna regret it later.: Very well, then your mission is to make it alive to the Minerva. But you better not leave any of those units behind after that bombast.*Bzzt.* : Thanks, Reiji…!: Their signal’s grown fainter – we must hurry!: Alright!: Urk… Just a bit more…!: What the hell are you doing? They sent the order to retreat and I’m sure you received it!: I know. You go on ahead – I’ll head back as soon as I get this Meteor Breaker online!: The thing’s still not working…?: Yeah, but if I turn it on manually, it might start on time.: But it’ll be you who’ll be out of time if you go for that. You really sure about this?: Even the Minerva’s main gun might not be enough to destroy it for good, so if I can increase our odds even a bit…: Fine, then I’ll help. Let’s wrap this up quick and head back.: Hm, right. : Tannhäuser – FIRE!: SPIN STOOORM!: GOO!: Macross Cannon blast, incoming!  : I hope Ichitaka’s safe…: He went to rescue the Impulse and the ZAKU.: What?!: Then he’ll also be boarding the Minerva?: Yes, I told him to come this way after the two MSs are safely out. I know it’s a rather sudden request, but I hope it’ll be no issue.: But we’ll be entering Phase 2 soon! Is he really going to make it here in time?!: And if we’re in Phase 2, he’ll likely burn to a crisp, won’t he?!: …: We’ll continue to work on destroying the debris. Any objections, Mr. Moritsugu?: None. There’s little time left but we’ll carry on to the bitter end.: drat it, Ichitaka, hurry up and get outta there…!: (What are you doing, Shinn…?!)*Boooom!* : There, it’s on!: No time to pat yourself on the pack! The thing’s running, so let’s get out!: My main thrusters are gone. I couldn’t leave even if I tried.: Now you tell me…? Why the hell is someone like you with Orb…?!*Machine gun fire!* : Urgh!: More enemies?! : My daughter died here! The world won’t change unless the colony falls and burns it!: Not on my watch!!*Lightning Fist!* : Gwaaargh!!*Boom!* : It wasn’t easy but we’ve finally found them…! You guys alright?!: Thanks to your assist, yeah. Now who’re you and what’re you going here?: Ichitaka Nagumo, from LOTUS. I figured there were some MSs who didn’t bail out in time, so I came to help!: I see… but don’t bother. You and Shinn get back to the ship – I’ll stay here for the atmospheric reentry.: Patrick Zala – my father – caused all this tragedy… this is how I’ll repay those who suffered.: The hell are you on about?! I’m not just leaving you behind!: How do you figure dying’s the right call here?! Try to dress it up as much as you like, you’d just be running away from your problems with that – pure and simple!: The ZAKU’s made to withstand an atmospheric reentry. I’m not about to die like that.: Bull! Didn’t you just say your main thrusters were gone?! And then you got shot! Even if you made it through reentry, you’d crash straight into the ocean!: …: The descent sequence should be reaching Phase 2 soon and we really don’t have time for you to have this crisis!: Come on! If we hit the gas on both our units, we oughta make it to the Minerva in time!*Beep, boop.* : …Sadly, no – we’re out of time. They’ve entered Phase 2.: Then we can’t make it to the ship?!: Hm… we’re left to our own devices now. Shinn, use that mech there to shield yourself – do it right and you’ll both make it out alive.: But what about you?!: He’s right! This won’t mean anything if we all don’t make it back! Alice, can you think of anything to help all mechs?!*Beep, beep, beep.* : Analyzing… I’ve got it! The analysis’ results say that if we engage the Laplace Wall and extend it, we should be capable of forming a field to neutralize the thermal energy!: Meaning we can save everyone with that?: I don’t think there’ll be any problems with friction, yes. With the three units enveloped by the field, we should be able to make landfall with relative safety. : You don’t “think”, huh… Well, it’s the best we’ve got now…!: … Sorry. You’re only in this mess because of my selfishness.: Don’t try taking the easy way out again and I’ll give you this one as a freebie. : And I came here pretty much on my own, so I can’t really give you crap for this.: Thanks, you two. I appreciate it…: Athrun…: Heh, but I don’t think we can afford to keep with this melodrama. Get ready for reentry, men.: R-Roger that. Angle adjusted, heat dispersion system all green. Autopilot system, on. Switching ECS to neutral.: Reversing energy flow, extending Laplace Wall…!: Get behind the Rushbird, guys! : (We’re making it back – all three of us… That’s a promise!) If Ichitaka complies with the orders to pull back, Reiji tells him to have faith in the two pilots: one’s a veteran from the war two years ago and the other is FAR more skilled than Ichitaka. They better leave before the Rushbird gets too close to Earth and Reiji promises that his group’ll destroy Junius Seven.  Far away, Hyouma spots Ichitaka’s arrival and the kid’s quick to apologize for running off by himself. As for Junius Seven, it’s looking like the Quarter is about to shoot it again – after that, it’ll all be up to the Minerva and our other crew. Ichitaka sees that the Macross guys aren’t the evil enemies that Blue Cosmos’ propaganda had been saying. Still, Kosuke notes that their technology IS incredibly advanced and even if some people see that as a threat, he’s just amazed. Tetsuya says something can be deemed a threat only after means and motive are brought together – on the other hand, some people looking to fan those flames are showing up here and there. The Quarter blasts Junius Seven and, indeed, it broke the thing apart… but that only means we’ve avoided the worst-case scenario. Kosuke still expects the fragments to deal enormous damage throughout the surface. Kouji’s pissed, figuring things could’ve ended better if he had the Kaiser available but Tetsuya tells him to stop. We couldn’t stop this even with all our forces combined, so he alone wouldn’t have changed the outcome. Still, that doesn’t help this feeling of worthlessness that Kouji’s got. Daiya tells him not to beat himself over it – we did everything we could. Now, adds Sayaka, we can only pray. Lady Une calls us right then, saying she’s brought her shuttle into one of ZAFT’s ships. She’s heading towards the PLANTs and will be helping us from there as LOTUS’ representative. Meanwhile, we’re to set up shop at Yumi’s Space Station to resupply. Once that’s done, she’d like us to carry out patrols throughout the sector. Off we go.  Finally, Une calls up the Quarter and thanks them for the help today – it was only with their help that Earth avoided its complete destruction. Jeffrey gives her the old “just doing our job” and recalls the Skull and Voltes Teams for them to head back to the Frontier. Cathy’s deep in thought, however, pondering how the SMS were the only ones the president’s office bothered dispatching for this mess. However much the NUNS forces are needed to safeguard the fleet, it is very strange that none were sent to help. And that’s especially true since she’d expect an ambitious man like Mishima to jump at the chance to show their military’s strength to everyone else. When Bobby asks, she says she’s just worried about the political scene at the Frontier. Well, Bobby’s very interested in gossiping – especially considering Mishima is her fiancée. Not really his type, though, as he’s not into the mysterious, smug guys. Mushroom-head ought to be more open and friendly. Regardless, Cathy’s dad trusts Mishima but she figures it’s best to be safe than sorry – just a small investigation to make sure. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Jun 22, 2017 |
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Jun 19, 2017 16:08
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Brunom1 posted:
I think this one's Ichitaka, not Shinn. Also, if they survived re-entry thanks to Ichitaka and Alice stopping an attacker and then using the Rushbird's Laplace Wall...what happens to Shinn and Athrun in the other route? Are they dead? Is this how Banpresto is adapting Destiny now?
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Jun 19, 2017 16:21
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Blaze Dragon posted:I think this one's Ichitaka, not Shinn. Fixed. And it WOULD be amusing to see Lunamaria and Rey replace Shinn and Athrun as ZAFT's top pilots. But could she outprotag Jesus? I fear not.
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Jun 19, 2017 16:43
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Blaze Dragon posted:I think this one's Ichitaka, not Shinn.
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Jun 19, 2017 22:02
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You know, they probably could have done more to differentiate Luna and Meyrin's pictures in the game, but too small profile pics seems to be a consistent problem with handheld SRW games. It's way easier to keep things straight in something like Z or the MX with their full head and shoulders profiles than here.
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Jun 19, 2017 22:14
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Kinda strange how significant sounding this route choice is. Like, I doubt there'll be much difference in the long run between the two choices but the options being between following orders or trying to save people feels more important than the usual route selection. Choosing to save Shinn and Athrun looks like it involves a more interesting scene too. Ichitaka and Alice are good kids.
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Jun 19, 2017 22:39
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Man, somebody put Shinn on some serious mood stabilizers in this game.
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Jun 19, 2017 22:43
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Montegoraon posted:Man, somebody put Shinn on some serious mood stabilizers in this game.
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Jun 20, 2017 00:13
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Oh, and Shinn and Athrun could easily survive re-entry in those circumstances, if they did it right. The falling colony would have acted as a heat shield. They could have just ridden it down and switched to atmospheric flight once they reached a safe speed. Although, I don't know if that's actually how it happened in Destiny, and I don't care to check.
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Jun 20, 2017 01:08
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I like to think this puts to rest the thoughts that Reiji's just a hardass thinking that everyone's poo poo. You can see here that he has a very good reason for wanting Ichitaka to leave and get to safety, but if Ichitaka shows his determination to stay, then Reiji will back down and let him, rather than try to force him to do otherwise or scream about insubordination.
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Jun 20, 2017 02:41
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Onmi posted:I like to think this puts to rest the thoughts that Reiji's just a hardass thinking that everyone's poo poo. You can see here that he has a very good reason for wanting Ichitaka to leave and get to safety, but if Ichitaka shows his determination to stay, then Reiji will back down and let him, rather than try to force him to do otherwise or scream about insubordination. It's kind of a problem with SRW format that Reiji whipping the squad into shape has no real tangible effects for the player. In different game, you could have the Support Attack and Support Defend skills be locked until Reiji shows up and starts drilling the characters on teamwork, or hold off on the pair mechanic. I could see SRW diehards getting pissed off at something like that, but I feel that this is early enough in the game that you wouldn't really miss having those mechanics withheld until this point.
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Jun 20, 2017 02:58
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Onmi posted:I like to think this puts to rest the thoughts that Reiji's just a hardass thinking that everyone's poo poo. You can see here that he has a very good reason for wanting Ichitaka to leave and get to safety, but if Ichitaka shows his determination to stay, then Reiji will back down and let him, rather than try to force him to do otherwise or scream about insubordination. Yep, I concede. Bad first impression, but he's clearly not a dick, just not good with people.
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Jun 20, 2017 11:26
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 Here we are with the Minerva team. With a handful of our Supers up top, Iczer-1 and Goh are now tied as our top ace, with Reiji one kill beneath them.  I spend some of our cash giving Ichitaka some boosts in everything, plus a bit of HP to Shizuru and Tetsuya Kouji.  Our losses shuffled our teams around some. Here’s how we’re going: Ichitaka/Miu Jeeg/Kyo Yagyuu Yamashita/Tetsuya Iczer-1/Shizuru Goh/Mira Reiji/Shizuna Yagyuu can handle herself well enough to fly solo and the upcoming enemies aren’t that hardy. Off we go.  The Minerva’s just entered the atmosphere and reached flight altitude, Meyrin unable to give Talia a read from the sensors – the falling debris’ generating too much interference. Regardless, she asks them to run laser and heat sensors to try and find Shinn, Athrun and the LOTUS unit. Only thing we can do now is hope that they’re managing to descend safely.  *Alarm!* : Hrk, did I take too much damage? I can’t move either of my feet!: This isn’t good… I can’t even see where they went after that shockwave. And I don’t think I can make it to the ship with just my directional thrusters…*Beep!* : Athrun!: Shinn?!: Hang in there – we’re coming to get you!: Don’t! Not even the Impulse’s thrusters are strong enough to handle two mechs entering the atmosphere together!: Why do you always gotta be like that, huh?!: What do you want me to say, then?: "Get me outta here, dammit!" – or something like that!: Hah… You'd really rather I said that?: It was just an example, alright?*Zooom!* : Sorry I’m late! My subpilot came down with a bit of a fever…!: I’m… sorry… I’m not quite… used to this…: Don’t worry – just get some rest. I’ll handle everything.: The three of us’re back together, so now you better quit grumbling, Athrun.: I’m managing to keep the field stable enough. Everything’s good here, so let’s go! Back to the Minerva, Meyrin pings them nearby – everyone’s still safe. Talia tells Arthur to direct them with their signal lamp. We need to get them onto the Minerva lest they crash into the ocean.  And we make it, thankfully. Athrun’s in one piece, much to Cagalli’s relief – was she worried? “Worried, who? Not at… well, maybe a little… OK, a lot! What the hell were you thinking, taking an MS out there just like that, you huge idiot?!” Well, he’s very apologetic at least, as is Shinn for worrying Luna and Rey. Things got a bit dicey out there but the Impulse helped him make it through. Just the Impulse, Rey pokes him? No, the LOTUS unit also helped a bunch. Speaking of, Ichitaka is off in a sectioned part of the hangar – even if the Minerva’s slated to work with the UN, the situation isn’t exactly one where he could walk freely around the ship. Hell, Lunamaria also points out that if the PLANTs are deemed enemies of Earth, they might end up having to fight us. Shinn knows what she’s getting at: it was Coordinator hands behind the Junius Seven drop. The PLANTs were finally starting to be accepted by the rest of the world but that’s likely to mess things up a lot.  The rest of LOTUS soon meets up with Ichitaka and Yamashita was very worried – and appalled that he went against an order from Reiji. Not like he could’ve just turned the other cheek there but, more importantly, he wants to know if there isn’t anyone around here who could take a look at Alice. She pretty much crashed under the previous strain. Athrun’s nearby and is rather surprised to find out that she’s an android. He thanks Ichitaka for the assist out there and thinks he might be able to help Alice out a bit – he may not look the part but he’s rather tech-savvy. As the two of them leave for a bit, Goh ponders the son of Patrick Zala, the previous PLANT chairman who sought to destroy all of the Naturals with GENESIS (a colony-sized gamma ray). Kyo remembers the terrorists yelling how the guy was in the right and, indeed, Athrun being the son of said man would make it likely for others to tag him as an enemy now. Cagalli will not stand for it – she saw how hard Athrun fought to stop this from happening and is willing to testify to sort this mess out. Shinn sighs at the Athha’s stupidity but Rey is quick to shush him. He sighs that he wanted to avoid our groups interacting with one another anymore than necessary but that’s obviously not flying now.  Following a quick introduction, he explains that what Shinn wanted to say is that while this might’ve been a terrorist act, the culprits were still Coordinators. Rey can already imagine what the ex-Earth Alliance folks may be bellowing about the PLANTs now. Thus, this isn’t merely Athrun’s problem. Shizuru and Yagyuu understand, knowing that they’ll use this to try and remove the PLANTs from the UN and/or push the more hotheaded people, of which there are plenty, on a quest for payback. Worst comes to worst, Izuna fears another war might break out – despite the fact that humanity already has enough problems to deal with without us turning on each other. Cagalli is sure that if she just explains everything, the people will understand what happened – she, Orb’s Representative, saw it all with her own eyes. It will NOT trigger another war. “You actually think the world’ll shift over just your idealistic bunk?!” Shinn yells and Cagalli counters right away: “Better than trying to shift it without any ideals whatsoever!”  Thankfully, Alice walks in right then and apologizes for the worry she caused. She’s 100% back now – no problems at all! Thank goodness Athrun was around, as her thought processes were on the verge of shorting out for good. It was no trouble, of course, especially considering he owed them. Besides, he only helped cool her off and reboot her systems. He soon notices Shinn and Cagalli glaring at each other, though Shinn won’t say what’s what; all he does is grunt that Athrun could do way better than being bodyguard to someone like her. Right then, Meyrin calls Cagalli over to the bridge as Talia wishes to speak with her. She sets off, but not before asking Athrun to come see her later. Miu rather saddened that things are going south as she figured the Naturals and Coordinators had chosen to coexist. Unfortunately, says Yagyuu, there are also people who don’t wish for that to happen – probably a truckload of those on the Naturals’ side, too. Indeed, Goh sighs that the status quo between the Earth and the Colonies might still be the same as it was after the incident three years ago. What incident? When some Colony-aligned Gundams destroyed a shuttle with the leader of UN’s pacifist faction aboard. With him gone, the UN was unable to stop the rise to power of the militaristic Earth Alliance. While today the event is known to have been a tragic accident, back then it was taken as a declaration of war from the Colonies. The conflict was set fully in motion with the Bloody Valentine Incident – the nuclear attack on Junius Seven. That’s war, sighs Shizuru, with progressively worse events happening as both sides lose their sanity.  Still, Kenji remembers that both sides lost their kill-crazy leaders and, thanks to Relena, managed to settle their differences. What changed? Athrun says that the PLANTs’ entry into the new UN was mostly due to, one, the people being sick of war after witnessing the showdown at Libra and, two, the appearance of the Mechabeasts – new enemies to fight. Nations across the world were broken in more ways than one after the conflict and no one could stand by themselves. That was then, though, and Tetsuya Kouji says, after the two years of military buildup, there are plenty of folks who wanna settle the score for good. Shinn for one isn’t about to let that hell break loose again and Rey says Durandal is dealing with the UN precisely to avoid it coming to that. Ichitaka, for one, knows Cagalli saw what we did and figures she’ll help set things right. Shinn sniffs at him putting any stock on an Athha – poor Ichitaka – and stomps away. And without even a word of thanks! Rey asks Ichitaka to forgive him as there’re some special circumstances at work here; you see, Shinn lost his parents and sister when the Earth Alliance attacked Orb in the previous war. That’s why he has such a problem with the Athhas.  A bit later, down by sea level, Meyrin STILL can’t get in touch with anyone, not even Orb or JUDA – Junius Seven’s debris have raised too thick a dust cloud. Nothing we can do about that but, if we can get close enough to Orb, Cagalli figures we’ll have other ways of getting in touch with them. Sounds good to Talia and she orders the Minerva to set out towards Orb as soon as they’ve finished their checks. Cagalli apologizes for having to take a lift from us but Talia knows how important she is to her country – she’d best return ASAP. Reiji sees no issues with that, especially considering we need to take stock of our situation before deciding what to do. If anything, Cagalli promises to make sure both the Minerva and LOTUS are well accommodated as a way of repaying our efforts in Earth’s defense.  By Djibril’s office, he’s on the phone with another Logos member and relaying some very interesting footage sent by the Phantom Pain (Neo and co.): what really happened with the fall on Junius Seven. More than enough to set the world in motion. Djibril certainly didn’t expect such a card to land right in his lap but he’s more than willing to play it. No one who sees this footage will remain merciful and their indignation will forge an unbreakable bond between the people and Logos. “This time, we will slaughter them down to the very last – for our pure, blue world,” Djibril proclaims. The other Logos guy’ll leave him to handle that but there’s still the matter of the Katou Organization, Kiriyama Heavy Industries and NERV. The Logos member on the phone has already called dibs on the Far East business; Djibril argues that they should leverage this opportunity to get rid of any opposition, especially since their work’ll soon be over. And, truth be told, he thinks the Katou Organization should’ve been destroyed, like, yesterday but the Logos guy isn’t budging: he said he’ll take care of the Far East business and trusts Djibril knows what that means. At length Djibril agrees, proclaiming he never once thought to oppose him. With that, they both leave to enjoy some upcoming fireworks.  Cut to Orb, Yuna Seiran’s being informed that the ship with Cagalli’ll be arriving soon. The brand new ZAFT model, yes? Quite the troubling ride she decided to return with. Still, they can’t well give the cold shoulder to the vessel that escorted their head of estate… for now. For now? Oh, here she comes, so off goes the soldier to ready her reception.  At the Minerva’s briefing room, Isabelle is relaying news of the damage caused by Junius Seven (Tsubaki’s rather impressed with the hardworking reporter). Several cities across the globe were hit with fragments of the colony and the damage has been catastrophic – the entire planet is in a state of chaos, Izuna sees. Still, Rey says that it could’ve been a whole lot worse if Junius Seven fell without us breaking it down soon. Right then, Isabelle reports breaking news: Durandal has released a press statement. “It is with tremendous sorrow that the PLANTs hear of this unprecedented event – I, myself, am left speechless face the disaster that struck the world over. I understand that you may feel these wounds to cut too deep, and the sorrow to be unending, but I beseech you, our friends from Earth: pull through and overcome this dreadful day. We, as always, stand ready to help in any way the unimaginable distress you face,” he says. The hell? He didn’t even explain what happened up there or all the work we did! Kenji isn’t happy but Goh figures this was hardly the time to announce any of that.  Arthur runs in and reports that we’ve been given permission to land in Orb – LOTUS included. Kenji is especially happy since he’s hungry as no one’s business. What is Orb’s traditional dish, even? Tsubaki has no idea, but, whatever it is, Kenji’ll be all over it. He runs off – Tsubaki going with to make sure he doesn’t do anything crazy – and don’t even listen when Arthur protests that he’s got more stuff to tell. Kyo’ll relay it to them later, but the gist is that we won’t be staying in Orb for long: just enough to repair the Minerva and LOTUS’ units. Afterwards, it’s straight to Japan. Comms are still down, so we couldn’t get in touch with JUDA; from what Arthur’s heard, our heading towards Japan was Reiji’s call. Rey wonders if the Minerva can afford a detour like that but, apparently, this was Talia’s decision as well as Cagalli’s request. Either way, that’s all for the briefing so Arthur suggests we enjoy our break to its fullest.  Cut to Orb’s governmental palace, Cagalli’s getting some distressing news: the other nations of Earth have decided to form a new alliance without the PLANTs. Right now. When huge chunks of the world are in dire need of an organized relief effort. Yuna says now is precisely the time for that, as the new treaty includes a clause for everyone to help with that. Indeed, this is all being done in the interest of efficiency – to unite all of Earth’s nations in the interest of rebuilding the damage caused. Why exclude the PLANTs, then, especially since Cagalli saw them help break down Junius Seven. Yuna knows but asks her if she could stand before the countless people who lost their homes, their loved ones, and tell them: “we know you’ve suffered much but we should still remain friends with the PLANTs”? Cagalli has no answer to that. It won’t be long before word gets out that Coordinators were behind the colony drop. When it happens, Orb will need to decide which path it wishes to tread. Cagalli should think carefully on that.  By the coast of Onogoro Island… : (Dad, mom, Mayu… I’ve come home.) : Tweet, tweet! : … (Kira): Hm…? That’s… it’s a memorial for the dead?: By the looks of it, yeah. I don’t really know for sure, though…: It’s my first time actually coming here, really…: Are you a local?: No… but I did lose many dear friends in that war.: …: The flowers are finally blooming…but they’ll wither away in the spray of the breaking waves…: …Guess that means there’s no fooling them.: Hm?: No matter how beautiful the flowers bloom, people would just wipe them out again…: Are you…?: Sorry… for saying weird stuff like that.: No, it’s not weird. People really should stop repeating the same mistakes – they should strive to create a world where these flowers could bloom forever.: Yeah.: … Well, I have to get going. Sorry if I bothered you.: (What sad eyes he’s got… his heart must also have some deep scars…) Back at Cagalli’s, she wants Athrun to head back to the PLANTs. She couldn’t persuade the other chiefs – they haven’t a whole lot of goodwill even for the Minerva. Orb is on the verge of forsaking its founding ideals and, if that happens, she wants at least him to be out there, fighting to protect the Earth Sphere. In truth, Athrun had already given this idea some thought. He wants to meet with Durandal and see if he can do SOMETHING to help the world in any way. If things are allowed to continue unabated, humanity’ll lose sight of everything it’s done these past years. Cagalli apologizes for putting him in this situation and Athrun’ll be leaving soon, having already done the paperwork to be replaced. Mind, there are still plenty of loose ends – some which he wants to tie up, some he doesn’t – but he needs to get going. Cagalli will only tell him to be careful and stay in touch, while Athrun wishes her to stay strong down here.  Cut to the Minerva’s briefing room, some time later, the talk on everyone’s mouths is the news of the Earth Alliance being reformed. One thing Saotome finds odd about all this is that movie showing that Coordinators were behind Junius Seven’s drop – where the hell did it come from? Mira doesn’t know either, considering the only people who even knew about the terrorists doing their thing were us and the few ZAFT folk involved in the operation. Think there’s a traitor who leaked the intel? Who knows, but the fact is the video had a tremendous effect – Durandal’s attempted cover-up has backfired massively and the people are very angry. Already the Alliance is proclaiming the event to be an act of war from the PLANTs and Ichitaka wonders if the UN can’t step in to calm things down. Nope, since the UN’s power players are precisely the nations that joined the Earth Alliance – they don’t care about the parliament’s approval or not. And with the public opinion being the way it is… yeah.  Things are interrupted when the alarm starts blaring, Meyrin declaring yellow alert. Talia gets on the mic and says intel just came in that the newly reformed Earth Alliance has decided to execute a nuclear strike against the PLANTs! Goh’s appalled at how sudden it is and Reiji agrees – this is moving too fast. Most likely these people were only waiting for an opportunity to start a war again (Shinn isn’t happy). Meyrin then reports an encoded message from a “tiger” and Talia takes it. The PLANTs are already mobilizing and, by the look of things, Orb will soon do the same. Is that intel trustworthy? Well, things are a bit too crazy for Talia to be 100% sure of who’s actually trustworthy but she thinks it is. With that in mind, despite our lack of orders, she commands the Minerva t set sail immediately. Reiji wants everyone to get ready for a very likely battle but Talia is loath to have a neutral force like LOTUS get involved in this conflict. So she wants us to make ready to leave the ship if things go south.  By the Orb Army’s HQ, Yuna’s getting reports of the Minerva’s departure. He was expecting it and figures a speedy ship like that won’t take long to reach the designated area. The officer reports that they’ve already gotten in touch with a certain group and preparations are finished. Good, Yuna’s eager to see how this’ll play out.  Mission 7 (Rescue Route) – Chaotic World  The Minerva’s just about to leave Orb’s soil when Meyrin detects heat signals up ahead – Earth Alliance MSs, waiting for us smack-dab in the middle of Orb’s coastal waters. Worse, a bevy of Orb troops immediately flank us. Yuna tells the soldiers to relax and just do exactly as instructed. The guys ain’t looking too happy but Yuna says that’s a ZAFT ship – an enemy of pretty much any Earth nation. Seems to Talia that Orb’s decided to make a small offering out of us and commands the ship’s MSs to get ready for combat. As for LOTUS, she wants us to get ready to launch and leave. Talia tries getting in touch with the Alliance troops, saying the UN’s personal squadron is aboard and requesting that hostilities wait until we’ve left the ship… Or not – the Minerva gets blasted straight away. Talking’s obviously not getting us anywhere, so Talia orders Shinn, Luna and Rey deployed. Shinn, of course, is pretty mad with what he’s seeing: “Is this how Orb does things now?! You let so many of us die in the last war just to uphold your ideals and now you’re going to throw those very ideals into the trash?!”  Trowa, with the Alliance, spots ZAFT’s prototype up ahead and figures this’ll make for a good opportunity to see what the new Mobile Armor’s capable of. Moreover, he needs to score some points with the army in order to close in on his target. Luna recognizes Trowa’s unit as a Gundam and wonders what it’s doing with the Alliance. The thing’s loaded with a ton of guns and Rey knows it won’t be easy for them alone to break through the enemy line. Talia apologizes but we’ll have to make do with just these few troops.  Destroy everything, don’t lose the Mineva or Impulse. This one’s on the easier side because the Alliance is very much willing to hang back and let the Orb soldiers get wrecked by us first, so focus on the nearby troops. As things pick up and the pincer attack breaks, start heading south and try to bunch your guys under command auras. Trowa and the new MA – the Zamza-Zah –are the bigger threats and, FYI, they’ve MAPW attacks so don’t keep your units bunched up. If anything, they’re not too accurate.  At the very least the standard Orb M1 Astrays and Murasames are kinda crappy. : The hell is Orb thinking, siding with the Earth Alliance?!: Can the Athhas not take care of anything?!     Shinn: ”You’ll get no mercy from me if you’re at the Alliance’s camp!”  Just keep your guys inside Talia’s command aura. : They already had this many troops lying in wait… does this mean Orb intentionally leaked that intel?: What’s wrong with you?! Are you really accusing us of being buddies with those terrorists?!: Actually, they’re didn’t even give us time to get a word in edgewise…!    Rey falls just short of a kill but Luna brings it home.  Finally, Talia’ll finish what Shinn started. : Our path of retreat is cut off, so we’ll need to break through their lines and then escape!   Bam.  Enemy Phase!  And, of course, Talia and her high HP make for a very tempting target: she gets jumped by a ton of things, scoring there kills and weakening many others. Luna manages to bag a kill, too.  Player Phase!  The ZAFT forces are getting overwhelmed and Kenji wants to get out there to help. Again, Talia says she won’t bring us into this battle but Kenji doesn’t want to sit on his hands when the other side started this. Plus, the Minerva crew tried their hardest to save Earth and Ichitaka really doesn’t care for how these guys attacked without even giving them a chance to explain what happened. Shizuna is also plenty pissed with Orb for pulling this stunt – she’s very much as outraged as Shinn – and while Izuna doesn’t want to think that Cagalli went back on her word, Orb’s actions are certainly a departure from the norm. Iczer-1 has an idea what happened: “I can feel Cagalli’s sorrow… I think things moved past the point where she could contain them by herself.” Goh is more pragmatic, saying there’ll be no one to stop this insane war if we all get dropped here. If everyone’s on the same page, then Reiji already knows what to do and makes a loud announcement through all channels: “The Minerva’s crew is deemed by us to be material witnesses to the recent terrorist attack. And, as such, we’ll now take it upon ourselves to deploy and keep them safe!” It’s a bit of a stretch but it'll work; and with that, the ship’s officially under LOTUS’ protection. Reiji does ask that we try to minimize hostilities as much as can be (to make it easier to justify this) – the priority is escaping the area. With that in mind, as our guys deploy (to Shinn’s slight surprise), Talia points out the escape route. Ichitaka’s ready to clear out anyone who tries getting in the way – if that don’t sound too good, they better run off! Now that’s much better. You should know that Ichitaka and his Laplace Wall are the Gundam mooks’ worst nightmare because so many of their weapons are energy-based, so you oughta let him lead the charge.  Reiji too, with his command aura.    Easy money.  Yagyuu and Iczer-1’s team stay up top to help clear the Orb guys – their MSs are very easily twoshoted by everyone.  Kenji nabs an easy kill and Goh moves for the survivor.     Meanwhile, Talia hangs up here to oneshot mooks.  She learns Trust and Support Defense L2 while at it.  Shinn and Rey are on clean-up duty for everything the Minerva weakened previous turn. Enemy Phase!  And here they come.        Ichitaka: “This isn’t gonna fly… That guy’s way faster than us!” Alice: “Fight on, Ichitaka! Make up for that difference with your spirit!” She’s learning how to Super Robot, indeed.   And, by the by, this was the most recurring battle scene in the entire mission: the AI was fixated on Ichitaka, kept on attacking (recharging the Rushbird’s EN) and he’d either oneshot on the counter or leave the mook so weak that Miu would finish it off. Just on this first turn Ichitaka scored 4 kills and Miu got 2, boosting her Prevail and Support Defense.  Up top, the Orb troops are dropping like flies. Shinn got one, Talia got two, can Luna get one? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hlueK8Tp88 Aaay! Player Phase!  Alright, last couple of Murasames.    Last one falls to Rey.  With Ichitaka having cut the enemy’s vanguard down to size, we now go to town.     Shizuru gets it. Following that: two to Reiji/Shizuna, two to Goh/Mira, one to Yamashita/Tetsuya…  Only reason I’m holding back a bit is to draw in Trowa. : How can you go and call a nuclear strike just like that…?! Do you want a war this badly?! Ichitaka keeps ahead, though, to torment the second wave of Daggers and Windams.  Here goes the last one of the first wave.    Yup. Enemy Phase!  Here comes Trowa!  : (Things have gotten really hectic with the Alliance as well. Still, the least I can do is try and check what ZAFT’s new battleship can do.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Ez0fP_tNg Ichitaka: “Set our thrusters and left hand output to 80% and 70%, respectively!” Alice: “U-Understood… more or less!” The Heavyarms is meant to be tanky but it’s still an MS. Also, Ichitaka nabs another 2 kills. Player Phase!  Let’s get rid of Trowa now before he MAPWs us. : The pilot of this unit is Trowa Barton. Then you’re a Preven—: You’ve the wrong man. I’m not Trowa.  : Why’s a Gundam with the Earth Alliance?! You’re supposed to be a symbol of colonial freedom, so shouldn’t you be on the PLANTs’ side?!: Sorry but I’m just a nameless soldier who got picked up by the Alliance. As for the Gundam, I found it.    And done.  Oh, cool.  Trowa now sees why “that man” is wary of us; he figures he needs to hurry or “she” might be in danger. He leaves and Talia stops Shinn before he can run down the Gundam – we can’t pursue right now. Shinn doesn’t understand why Orb and the Gundam sided with the Alliance. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 16:14 on Jun 22, 2017 |
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Jun 21, 2017 21:05
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I know Reiji said to prioritize escaping, but screw it – let’s just spread out and clean house as there are only a handful of mooks left. Like Trowa, let the Zamza-Zah come to you and swarm it. Here’s the rundown: : The Minerva’ll be a sitting duck if we let this monster get its claws on it! I can’t let it through – no matter what!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbx7KbwNyUQ : Nagisa… I’ll stand and fight, in the defense of both your home, Japan, and of this planet!    : Good or bad, I always get even, ya hear?! So grit your teeth ‘cause it’s payback time!    : This battle’s the Zamza-Zah’s showcase! I can’t let things get any worse! *The Zamza-Zah charges after Shinn!* : Urk! What the—?!: That’s an anti-Darius unit, huh? So what! We’ll see how this overhyped MS handles the Zamza-Zah! : Claws, deployed! Your weak frame’ll be scrap metal by the time I’m done!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a13RNmX9jxg : GAAAAH!!: Aw, crap, he got him good!: Shinn!: I’m… I’m not…!!   : Haaaaaaah!!     Shinn: “I’m not dying like this!!” : Wh-What?! Gwaaaaaargh!! : Shinn, are you alright?!: Yeah, don’t worry about me. Keep opening a path to the Minerva!And so we did, Ichitaka nabbing another couple of kills. Here are the convos we missed against the Zamza-Zah: : Just gonna keep this thing at bay and the Minerva’ll have a way easier time making a run for it! Pinning tactics, Alice!: Right, let’s go and grapple it into submission! Our strength should be plenty to match it!-- : This unit’s dependency on its defensive gear is as clear as day. And pilots of this caliber cannot stand up to my Vardant! -- : I might not be able to take this thing on with raw power but I can with mobility! The ship reaches the evac point, so Talia recalls everyone and orders full speed ahead.  Luna wants to know what happened to Shinn that he’d pull ace-level moves like that; even Kenji’s impressed, having thought he was really screwed when the enemy grabbed him. In truth, Shinn doesn’t really understand what happened there. One second he was desperately trying to find a way to survive that and, then, his mind suddenly cleared up. Did he just flip out completely and connect with a desperate hit, Luna and Shizuna wonder. Shinn doesn’t think so but, regardless, Rey was very impressed with what he did today. Yamashita hopes this’ll dissuade the Alliance from coming after us and Ichitaka wonders what we’ll be doing now. Despite this victory, we still have plenty of problems all around. Reiji figures the reason we were STILL unable to get in touch with JUDA was due to the Alliance’s warmongers jamming our calls. That said, he has an idea to turn this in our favor.  That’d be via Lady Une, who asks that we send all comm records available. In the meantime, she’s arranged for a carrier to come and give us a ride back to JUDA. Talia’s also gotten word that the other half of LOTUS helped stop the Alliance’s nuclear strike against the PLANTs. Was it really alright for us to do that? Une tells her not to worry as the use of nuclear weapons was a clear violation of the Junius Treaty – we were well within our rights to intervene. That’s a relief to hear. Mind, while Une will be doing her best to assist the Minerva, she doubts she’ll be able to actually hold back the Earth Alliance. Talia understands her situation and is nonetheless grateful for her help. And while Une can’t help us overtly right now, they need only ask if they need anything. Well, at the moment, Talia would only like Une to send her regards to the SMS folks if she stops by the Frontier Fleet – she didn’t like how abruptly she left them with all that went down. Lady Une’ll handle it and, with that, signs off. Reiji thanks Talia for the help she’s given us – short-lived as this might’ve been – and she’ll only asks us to stand firm in our defense of world peace. An odd thing to ask when war’s breaking out, yes, but still.  : Sucks that you need to take off – we barely just met.: Yeah… I would’ve liked to talk with Athrun again, too.: And what’re you going to do once you’re back in Japan?: We’ll just keep an eye out, hoping our glaring’ll stop folks from trying to take advantage of this mess. : And I do got a bunch of personal stuff to take care of, like helping Alice with her adjustments or getting in touch with a missing friend of mine.: Well, there’s a lot riding on LOTUS’ shoulders, so you keep up the good work, Ichitaka.: I-I will. Thanks.: Yo, Ichitaka, why’re you getting all red for?: W-What’dya mean “why”?! Wouldn’t you get a bit bashful if a girl like Lunamaria cheered you on some?!: Psh, a legit cool guy will never, ever, lose his poker face. : Really, now? Show me how it’s done, then, sensei!: “Sensei”? … Well, whatever works. Now let’s see…: I’m counting on you, Yamashita.: …: Well, dang. He didn’t even flinch.: Hrm, that’s kinda annoying, actually! What about you, Shinn? Feel anything?: How should I know?!: Heh, you see what I meant now?: Wow, you really weren’t kidding… : Yamashita, we’re getting ready to leave. I need your help with a few things.: Y-Yes, sir! Gladly!: Look at that huge smile…: Didn’t think he had it in him, getting all giddy like that…: Ichitaka! Yamashita’s displaying symptoms of—: Don’t say it… though I can’t really say you’re wrong on this one.  Cut to Aprillius One, the PLANTs capital colony, Durandal is on the phone with someone and working to set up a formal meeting. But calls will have to wait, as he’s got a visitor: the recently arrived Athrun. He apologizes for taking the chairman’s time and Durandal wonders what he’d like to talk about. Junius Seven? The war? Both or, better put, about the Earth Sphere as a whole. A nondescript time later, Durandal understands how Athrun feels but the fact remains that the PLANTs were on the receiving end of a nuclear strike. The situation’s currently calm since things ended with no harm done but the people are understandably angry. Still, considering what LOTUS did today, will the PLANTs agree to support them? Durandal is more than willing to make it happen, but, first, they must restore order in the homeland – if not, they’re risking other incidents like Junius Seven. The PLANTs need to rise above the present hardships and, with that in mind, Durandal’s cooked a little something up.  He flips a switch and shows a video of “Lacus Clyne”, proclaiming her sorrow over the Junius Seven drop and the Earth Alliance’s attack. She shares in the people’s shock and indignation over, once again, being the target of nuclear weapons but she begs them to control their flaring spirits. If they lose control to their hatred, they’ll only beckon a new war. Athrun’s gobsmacked but Durandal’s having this message transmitted across the colonies in the interest of calming the people’s anger. Of course, he figures Athrun, of all people, can see what’s up. Indeed, this isn’t Lacus. Durandal confesses to be a bit embarrassed over doing this but he needed the major strength of Lacus’ presence – just as he needs Athrun’s strength.   Back at Onogoro Island, Kira’s just returned to his home. He reports to Murrue that things are very busy throughout Orb now that they’ve officially joined up with the Earth Alliance. He didn’t expect this to come from the Junius Seven drop. Waltfeld (with the scar) sees the world entering a state of flux and figures they made the right call to reassemble the Archangel crew.  Kira’s surprised to hear that but Lacus, the real one, says the whole crew was irked by the current state of things. Worse, Murrue says they’ve just received a letter from the Cagalli: she’s getting married. Waltfeld doesn’t think something like this’ll do anything to appease the worrying populace but Lacus isn’t so sure. Cagalli’s marrying Yuna and the people will likely rally behind this union. But that’ll have to wait, as the alarms go off – they’ve got some visitors, it seems.  In the waters near Orb, Haruno’s keeping the Straybird camouflaged while she and Yuu ponder their investigation in Orb. They couldn’t find anything significant, so where should they go next? Yuu isn’t sure yet and, as the alarm sounds, Haruno pings several heat sources ahead.   : We’ve reached Lacus Clyne’s home. Remember: the orders are to eliminate her, no matter the cost! Open fire!  : Their on-foot crew didn’t fly, so now they’re attacking with mobile weapons…? The underground bunker can’t take this for long. : They’re coming after me, I think…  : But why now? (Chandra) : It’s not that strange, when you consider all the terrorist groups the world over. (Newman) : Word around the grapevine is that those terrorists are laying low for now, though…! (Miriallia): … I might not have a choice…   : These are the seeds of peace. You will not burn them away. : It’s… a Gundam?!  : Stealth disengaged. Shifting to combat mode.*The distinctively not-Mobile Suit unit blasts away.* : Locked on target. : We’ve found one at last…!: drat, we’ve interceptors! Shift to plan B!*The MSs start closing in on the orphanage but the Gundam stops them.* : Zero predicted you’d do that.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ3Bf6fRynY Heero: “I won’t turn the other cheek to those who’d deny peace.” Mook: “Wh-What’s the Wing Zero doing here?! Gwaaaaaargh!” Heero: “Mission Accomplished…”  : Rrgh, fire! Fire! Destroy them all! : Aah!: Lacus!*The Straybird intercepts the other group.* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuupjwkN0xc Yuu: “That unit is working with ZAFT…?!” Haruno: “We can make sense of this later, Yuu.”   : Your party’s come to an end.: Data collection complete… and, unfortunately, the enemy’s looking like a drone. Should I move to at least recover the wreck after it is downed?: That’s your call. First order of business is dealing with the other MSs.: Do you copy, Gundam pilot? We are not your enemy. Repeat, we are not your enemy.: Understood – neither am I.: Grr… Bring out the backup troops! : They’re going all-out… this might take a while.: The future won’t turn out as you expect.: What?  : That’s…!: Th-The Freedom?!: …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7qdwvKKTnE “I’ll fight with the Freedom again… to protect Lacus and our peace!” *All enemies get blasted and sink into the ocean.* : drat it…! Just as we’d finally found a clue—!: No, he missed any and all vital parts. If that was actually intentional, then it was nothing short of amazing.: This is the future he chose, hm?: This battle’s over. Please surrender.: We… we can’t carry on… But we won’t lose what’s left of our honor! *Everything blows up – the different unit included.*  : They self-destructed?!: Urk… why?: …*Beep.* : This is…! Relena’s…?: Is something wrong? Um… Heero Yui, wasn’t it?: Kira Yamato… You’ve someone you want to rescue, don’t you? Then do it. I won’t stand in the way of you living true to your heart.  : He’s gone…: Wow, who would’ve expected the Wing Zero to come around here…?: And you, pilot of the black unit. Do you hear us? : Our thanks for saving us. If you’re willing to tell what you’re after, we could help you in return.: There was an unknown unit in that MS group – we were chasing after it.: Yuu, there might still be something we can use. Let’s go and pick up the wreckage. *The Straybird dives where the unknown bot blew up.* : I don’t suppose you know anything about that mech?: Sorry, but we’d never seen anything like it before today: I don’t think it’s a ZAFT model, though… Some secret force, maybe?: I don’t know. But whoever they are, they’re very good at covering their tracks. : What will you be doing now, then?: I also have someone I want to rescue. So I’ll just be following my own path.*The Straybird pops its camo and vanishes.* : Sorry, Murrue… I need to get going as well. Cagalli’s waiting for me.: Kira?! Kira’s business is over by the wedding, which is already underway. And, by the by, Cagalli’s tears are of happiness. Of course, of course. But the whole ceremony goes to hell when the Freedom flies over and quickly nabs Cagalli. The panicking Yuna demands the thing shot down and his wife rescued, but the troops can’t well start blasting lest they hit the girl. Kira brings Cagalli into the cockpit (nice dress!) and, despite her protests, tells her to hang on. They fly out into the ocean and dock inside the surfacing Archangel. Kira suggests Murrue that we book it – we’ll need some time to figure out what’s distorting this world. That was quite the crazy stunt he pulled there but Kira couldn’t just sit back and let Cagalli cry. But she’s a head of state – do they not see the problem with them kidnapping her? Still, Cagalli’ll have to save this talk for after their escape. Off goes the Archangel.  Over by Casa de Djibril, Lady Une’s just called and does take the time to thank him for speaking with her. It’s their first time chatting, even. But, regardless, what does the head of the UN’s own intelligence agency want with him? She’ll get straight to the point: what does Djibril have to say regarding not only the Alliance’s attack on LOTUS but, also, the attempted nuclear strike against the PLANTs – a clear violation of the Junius Treaty? Djibril has “no idea” what she’s talking about, and begs she not take such an inimical stance towards Blue Cosmos that it extends beyond the confines of the parliament. Une sniffs that she’s well aware of how far Djibril’s influence reaches and figures he’s also aware that the Preventers are VERY good at their intelligence-gathering job. Is she siding with the PLANTs? Because that’d be a bad idea. Djibril tells her to look at the current state of the world and, furthermore, the PLANTs broke the Junius Treaty first when they developed unsanctioned anti-Darius weapons. Or did she think he wouldn’t notice that? Moreover, it was thanks to LOTUS’ intervention that the Minerva managed to evade capture. Way Djibril sees it, not only does Une not have a right to bitch at him about that, she should be the one facing an inquiry and being held accountable.  Sadly for him, no, that won’t be happening. LOTUS was acting well within our authority to protect the Minerva as key witnesses towards the Junius Seven drop. They what now? Maybe Djibril didn’t get the memo due to the MYSTERIOUS jamming that’s been going on but we have all that on record. Should she fax him a copy, maybe? The Minerva’s crew has agreed to testify before the UN parliament… but, obviously, that's depending on everyone, Blue Cosmos included, actually wanting to figure out the whole truth about the Junius Seven incident. Djibril fumes, dropping his pretense of cordiality: “you’ll rue the day you turned against us.” Pipe down, lipstick boy, the lady’s talking. There’s a bill currently making rounds in the parliament to tolerate the Frontier Fleet’s presence – under surveillance, of course (ours, as we’ll see in the other path). If the bill passes without any issue, Une will not only let the attack on LOTUS slide as an unfortunate accident due to the comm interference, she’ll also deem the failed nuclear strike as the reckless actions of the on-site commander, based solely on unconfirmed intel. “I sincerely hope you’ll strive to make wise, pondered decisions regarding not only this matter but also any future endeavors. And, with that, I believe our business is done. Good day,” Lady Une signs off (likely dropping a mic over by her office). Djibril, almost certainly making this face, growls at the phone but quickly recomposes himself. Once the old men have been forced off stage, and both the offworlders and monsters are dealt with, he’ll put her in her place.  Back at Aprillius, Durandal presents Athrun with a FAITH badge. It wouldn’t do to have him operate within the regular chain of command, right? With this, he’ll have the authority to act solely by his own beliefs. Durandal takes him to be the kind of man who’ll stand by his convictions and fight when needed. Athrun hopes to be like that and Durandal is sure he can. Athrun’s to make use of the power he’s been given whenever he deems it proper – not in the name of ZAFT or the PLANTs, but of a peaceful world for everyone. Durandal knows that sounds very grandiloquent but Athrun’s willing to take him on the offer. Now, he’ll first be rendezvousing with the Minerva as he has high hopes for both him and the ship. He thinks it might come to play a similar role to the Archangel’s in the previous war, and Athrun’s to give them a hand with that.  Meer thinks Athrun looks good in ZAFT’s traditional red coat and he, himself, is hoping she’ll do a fine job as Lacus’ replacement. With that, Athrun boards his new Savior Gundam and flies off. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Jul 1, 2017 |
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Jun 21, 2017 21:05
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Brunom1 posted:
No, no they cannot. I think the Athha way is to do the dumbest possible thing, as evidenced by Cagalli's father killing himself and his entire power base, and something Cagalli ends up doing in Destiny. Though I don't know if she does it in L.
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Jun 21, 2017 22:59
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drat, that sure was a whole lotta SEED. Also, what's the most generic good guy thing Kira could possibly do after the events of SEED? quote:Back at Onogoro Island, Kira’s just returned to his orphanage. 
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Jun 21, 2017 23:27
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Alacron posted:drat, that sure was a whole lotta SEED. Actually, hold on. I thought that was the orphanage, but I was misremembering - that's just some home the Archangel folks and the orphans. Malchio's orphanage, according to the wiki, is in the Marshall Islands.
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Jun 21, 2017 23:32
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Brunom1 posted:Actually, hold on. I thought that was the orphanage, but I was misremembering - that's just some home the Archangel folks and the orphans. Oh, so Kira and Lacus don't open their own orphanage after the war? I'm only relying on these LP's for info as I've never watched Destiny.
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Jun 21, 2017 23:35
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Alacron posted:Oh, so Kira and Lacus don't open their own orphanage after the war? I'm only relying on these LP's for info as I've never watched Destiny. They take up Malchio's orphanage after SEED closes, but it seems they were forced by a nondescript natural disaster to move to Orb with the kids.
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Jun 22, 2017 00:07
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This talk of wannabe holy figure mech pilots working out of an Orphanage makes me wish Billy Lee Black was in an SRW game. The "Jessie Cannon" would fit right into an SRW game as well  Section Z fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Jun 22, 2017 |
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Jun 22, 2017 01:47
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I know we're right around the part in SEED Destiny where the writers start making GBS threads relentlessly on
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Jun 22, 2017 02:19
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Section Z posted:This talk of wannabe holy figure mech pilots working out of an Orphanage makes me wish Billy Lee Black was in an SRW game. The "Jessie Cannon" would fit right into an SRW game as well Xenogears in an SRW is my dream.
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Jun 22, 2017 03:30
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^^^E: Only if there are liberal amounts of everyone calling out Citan for being a shitbag.Sordas Volantyr posted:I know we're right around the part in SEED Destiny where the writers start making GBS threads relentlessly on And all because of a character poll released around episode 5 or 6 (right before Junius Seven) had a lot of "Bring Kira back, the new people suck!" responses, allegedly. Which, if true, makes me wonder why Sunrise would do put out a poll so early in a show's run.
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Jun 22, 2017 03:32
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Section Z posted:This talk of wannabe holy figure mech pilots working out of an Orphanage makes me wish Billy Lee Black was in an SRW game. The "Jessie Cannon" would fit right into an SRW game as well At first I was like, "That would never fit." But then I remembered how Gunbuster, Diebuster, Gurren Lagann, and Evangelion have all appeared in the same SRW so I guess anything's on the table 
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Jun 22, 2017 03:40
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Alacron posted:At first I was like, "That would never fit." But then I remembered how Gunbuster, Diebuster, Gurren Lagann, and Evangelion have all appeared in the same SRW so I guess anything's on the table Yeah, Priest gunslinger firing their own cowboy dad out of a smaller robot that turns into a cannon as ammunition is pretty tame by comparison to the usual in SWR.
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Jun 22, 2017 04:02
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Brunom1 posted:
I know I said earlier that I was shocked that Banpresto would adapt Destiny by killing off Shinn and Athrun in the Junius Seven drop, but I didn't think they'd kill Kira off too! Also seeing this I realize that what Destiny needed was some Lady Une (and rewriting drat near everything, but details). She just goddamn destroyed Djibril here.
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Jun 22, 2017 04:16
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I think I've figured out the reason for this relatively reasonable, empathetic Shinn.: They accidentally gave me WEED instead of SEED. I'm totally baked right now, and I can't stop smiling.
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Jun 22, 2017 05:53
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Alacron posted:At first I was like, "That would never fit." But then I remembered how Gunbuster, Diebuster, Gurren Lagann, and Evangelion have all appeared in the same SRW so I guess anything's on the table Xenogears would have to appear right alongside Xabungle. Solaris/Innocent/Ethos, come on man!
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Jun 22, 2017 11:03
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Inferno-sama posted:No, no they cannot. I think the Athha way is to do the dumbest possible thing, as evidenced by Cagalli's father killing himself and his entire power base, and something Cagalli ends up doing in Destiny. Though I don't know if she does it in L. Oh, but to be fair, L Cagalli has at least so far shown herself to be a better leader that daddy-o: she got Orb to join in on the UN's bid to fight the Darius and whatnot and actively told Athrun to get out there and help protect the world (...with Durandal, but, hey). Montegoraon posted:I think I've figured out the reason for this relatively reasonable, empathetic Shinn. Then they really should've given him a Blaze ZAKU instead of the Impulse. Blaze Dragon posted:I know I said earlier that I was shocked that Banpresto would adapt Destiny by killing off Shinn and Athrun in the Junius Seven drop, but I didn't think they'd kill Kira off too! Seriously, I really liked Lady Une out-politicking Djibril. If only Treize was still around to run circles around him...
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Jun 22, 2017 16:10
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Brunom1 posted:Oh, but to be fair, L Cagalli has at least so far shown herself to be a better leader that daddy-o: she got Orb to join in on the UN's bid to fight the Darius and whatnot and actively told Athrun to get out there and help protect the world (...with Durandal, but, hey). True, but being better than her father (whose name I only just remembered, Uzumi) doesn't say much.
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Jun 22, 2017 16:52
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Oh no my pacifism has been compromised, time to blow myself and all the senate leaders up.
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Jun 22, 2017 17:34
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Logicblade posted:Oh no my pacifism has been compromised, time to blow myself and all the senate leaders up. Except for the Seirans, my greatest political enemies who will use the death of me and my entire power base to take over Not-Japan-I mean orb. And the Rondos, because they're part of Astray, which is more interesting.
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Jun 22, 2017 17:57
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That scene between Djibril and Une shows the one thing that SEED and Destiny villains are good for, getting dunked on.
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Jun 22, 2017 18:45
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