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This is my introduction to Linebarrels. Not impressed so far, but I do like how it's been linked in with other series.
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Jul 18, 2017 23:42
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MightyPretenders posted:This is my introduction to Linebarrels. Not impressed so far, but I do like how it's been linked in with other series. As was said before, L takes the anime version, which is bad. The manga is good. Read the manga and become a true champion of justice.
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Jul 18, 2017 23:45
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Reiji is kind of a douchnozzle now. I can't even forgive his dumb mech. Also I can't believe we have a series about Spheres and this was not added to Z. Though Masaki is probabky Asakim in disguise. Is Masaki voiced by Midorikawa?
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Jul 18, 2017 23:46
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 And we’re back, Ichitaka having secured a rather comfortable lead up top while Quatre and Kenji remain tied. I’ve yet to grown used to seeing Quatre’s face here.  On the money side of things, Daiya (weapons, HP, armor), the Nagahama duo and Dancouga took most of the rest (+1 to main stats). Skill parts, Kenji’s still hogging Infights, while I remain uncertain if I want to save my Gunfights for when Heero and Kira EVENTUALLY join, or if I’ll keep handing those to Alto (who’s already at L3). Maybe I’ll give them to Shinji, since all but his knife and absolute strongest attack at ranged? Hmm…  Kouichi, Shinji and Ichitaka are deploying as event units, so we adjust accordingly: Jeeg/Kyo Reiji/Quatre Dancouga/Miu Iczer-1/Puria Kouji/Yagyuu Tetsuya/Canaria Ozma/Luca Alto/Michel Zechs/Noin Daiya/Yanma Shizuru/Anna Dick/Klan Combattler/Deceive Voltes/Mira Tetsuya Kouji/Yamashita Forward!  The mechanics are having breakfast and are hyped to get to work. They need to stay well fed too as, like Shizuka points out, the whole team’ll be in trouble if they’re starved and down for the count. Johnny himself is also sharing the meal and finds it quite good – he’d like to get the recipe for it. And with Team D’s arrival, Shibakusa has a warning to the other mechanics: see, they’ll also be handling the Dancouga’s maintenance and the thing, like so many other mechs, has a bunch of black boxed bits. Meaning everyone’ll need to be extra-careful as they start tinkering with it. Touko and the others are up for it, which is good as Kurara and the others can’t really tell them anything about the stuff. That’s fine to Shibakusa – it comes with the territory.  A girl walks into the dorm right then, though she’s not another of Daiya’s friends as Shizuka assumes. It’s Ru Riruri, of course, the Dragon’s Hive psychiatrist and she’s just been sent over to join the rest of Team D. Ruriruri? No, Ru Riruri! Shibakusa scratches his head at another kid, but Ru says she’s 15 years and 3 months old, so she’s no kid! Regardless, she was planning on getting to work straight away and asks where the rest of LOTUS us. At school, Johnny points out, since so many of them ARE students. A shame, since Ru had everything ready to start her work on Yamashita and Shinji especially – indeed, Shizuka agrees that everyone’s been somewhat concerned for those two. Well, best Ru can do is wait by her office.  Cut to Ishigami’s office, Emi’s just been informed that she’s being assigned to the Daiku Maryu as an operator. She’s rather surprised by this, but Reiji says she’s the only one who could take Yamashita’s place handing the flow of battlefield intel; mind you, Yamashita isn’t losing his job, but Reiji wants to take precautions in case we see a repeat of what happened last fight. Rachel’s sure Emi can handle it just fine, and the girl agrees. While Kouichi ponders this shift, Goh apologizes for holding them both here – they’ll be rather late for class now. Still, Emi says this was important. Kouichi ask what she’d like to do, as they’ve already lost a chunk of today’s class, but Emi still wants to experience as much as this world’s school as she’s able to. Kouichi’s still wrapping his head around the fact that she’s from a parallel dimension, but his mind’s brought back to reality when Emi insists that he won’t learn anything if he doesn’t go to school. What’s she getting at by that? Well, Ishigami’s told her that boys, Kouichi included, lose touch with their humanity as they grow – so Kouichi needs to work hard to use his intellect and maintain his reasoning and self-control! Indeed, Ishigami nods that, at the kid’s age, he’s less of a human and more like a wild beast. “Could you please stop teaching her nonsense, Mr. Ishigami? You’re confusing her,” Yui sighs, and, indeed, Emi doesn’t understand how she’s confused.  Over by the mess hall, Tetsuya’s busily lecturing on how to deal inscrutable foes. It’s advisable to make simple strikes, though that doesn’t mean doing so haphazardly – as our more melee-educated fighters know, it’s very important to manage your center of gravity. Alto isn’t melee-educated, but he knows the importance of your center of gravity when dancing… and is very annoyed with himself that his mind always drifts towards that. Nagisa pokes him, asking what the connection between center of gravity and attacking is, but he tells her to ask Anna. The Goh Okusaer should handle more similarly to the Iczer Robo than his Valkyrie. Well, she would’ve asked Anna but the girl is currently soundly asleep by her corner. Also tries shaking her awake, but all that gets is her wishing Goh a good day – seems like even asleep, she’s always thinking about her husband. Michel and Tsubaki tell him to let Anna be, as she’ll likely be studying all this stuff during her regular training. Tetsuya himself sees no issue with letting her rest since she’s been training extra-hard every single day. Yeah, he could hear them whispering and is not happy! 20 laps for everyone – 5 for Naoto and Nagisa since they’re not military! What, Kenji too?! But he didn’t do anything! There’s no “I” in team – in the battlefield, one person’s mistake can lead to all their deaths! Boss groans that Tetsuya’s spending too much time with Sakonji, but the man isn’t picky of who he learns training techniques from if they work. Well, Daiya won’t complain and dashes out the door to do his laps. Naoto explains that he’s been training a lot, so he’s getting plenty strong – Tsubaki suggests they get to it as well, as the sooner the laps are done, the sooner they can rest.  Cut to Neo Tokyo 3’s middle school, Shinji’s not really enjoying it too much. Misato said he’d make new friends here, but all he got was a bit of chit-chat from random folks when they found out he was with LOTUS – they don’t really CARE about him as a person. Rei, now healed, isn’t speaking much either. And, after this, Shinji’ll have the same routine as yesterday: train, get a little pat on the back… then he’ll likely have to fight, and be scared, again… But his grumbling is cut short when a boy, Kensuke, comes over and asks him to come with for a bit.  What’s going on? It’s Touji, who really, really wants to kick Shinji’s rear end some. Kensuke explains that his sister got hurt during the Angel’s attack; and while Kensuke himself figures it wasn’t Shinji’s fault, Touji doesn’t really have anyone else to vent on, so… “I… I didn’t even want to be piloting that thing,” Shinji grunts, “And I still did everything I could to protect this city…!” Touji doesn’t appreciate that and, yelling that Shinji didn’t protect jack, knocks him to the ground.  “… Why did I get beat up just because I piloted the EVA…? And aren’t there so many people who can fight even if I don’t do a good job…? Why do I even have to go through this…?”  And the Misaki Middle School kids have just made it back to JUDA. Kouichi groans that Domyoji’s been going crazy with that “Hayase Corps” thing, and approached him today looking to put some big event together. Ichitaka figures it’s all good and, from what he’s heard, he’s looking at doing a party with Risako and Furuya (who’ve also joined the Hayase Corps). This party talk is sounding too much like Ishigami for Kouichi’s taste – hopefully Domyoji won’t ask to make a crapton of sushi. On the flip side, Miu comes in and she thinks all that sounds like fun. Yamashita’s also came back with her, and Ichitaka asks if he’ll be coming for today’s later training session? He thinks he and Alice have been getting pretty good! Unfortunately, no, Yamashita passes on it – ask Miu to spar – and takes off then and there. He’s not as bummed out as he was yesterday, but Kouichi can see that he’s far from better. That’s no surprise to Ichitaka, of course, considering everything Reiji said. Miu herself wonders if he’ll be alright, as she’s never seen him like this. Have they known each other for long? Yes, though they didn’t speak much back then: “I was with him at JUDA’s medical institution before we became Factors. It was only kind of recently that we actually started talking to each other.” And what was she doing in a medical institution? She tells Kouichi that she was really hurt after an accident, and it was JUDA that treated and helped her recover to full. Her fighting with a Machina has been sort of how she’s repaying them for all that. Emi presumes that Yamashita’s bound to have some story like that as well…  By the Dannar Base, Luna’s relating that a batch of MSs has gone haywire and it’s looking like the things got jacked by Mimetic Beasts! Sounds unbelievable, but Kiriko posits that they’ve evolved to develop this ability, just like that one before with jamming capabilities. None of the Mimetic Beasts fought 5 years ago, in the War of Giants, had any skills like that, so the only explanation is that the survivors have been adapting themselves to better fight their natural enemy – humanity. The speed with which they’ve evolving is mindboggling to Yotsuya. Regardless, Luna says that the batch of haywire MSs fled from an Earth Alliance base in North America and was headed towards Japan – we should be careful. Kiriko thanks her for the info, and will pass it on to JUDA. Here’s hoping the Mimetic Beasts are done evolving.  Kouichi finds Yamashita sitting by himself, and takes a seat nearby. Hey, why did he become a Factor? Well, that came out of nowhere. Still, Kouichi heard of how he was hospitalized at JUDA and stuff. Yamashita confirms: “I was born with really crummy health… I went through a bunch of treatments, but, in the end, becoming a Factor was the only way I could survive.” So he’s also doing this to repay JUDA for helping him? Somewhat, but there’s something else: “When I was undergoing treatment, one day I saw Reiji piloting… and that made me want to be like him,” Yamashita ponders. “I wanted to be strong enough to stand rock solid even with no one else around… to be strong like him…” Still, he’s ever grateful to what Ishigami did to him – it’s the only reason why he gets to enjoy high school nowadays. Wait, HIGH school? Yeah, he’s a freshman. Th-Then, he’s one year older than Kouichi? He was sure the guy was at the very least the same… And he’s been acting all casual-like with him, dropping his honorifics and stuff. For shame! Yamashita doesn’t mind that at all, of course, but Kouichi’s now reflexively appending honorifics; he tries making small talk, but his newfound formality doesn’t feel right to Yamashita. “Bah, everyone’s worrying too much about me just because I got a bit bummed out,” he grumbles. “Listen, I’m fine already, so you guys can chill. Alright?” Well, Kouichi’s relieved to see him getting back to his usual self… which only makes the formality all the more irksome. What did Kouichi eat that made him such a mother hen? “Oh, don’t say that. What kind of a man do you take me for?” Kouichi balks; “A stupid one, that’s what,” Yamashita fires back… “I’m just kidding. Thanks, Kouichi; I am feeling better now.”  Some time later, word’s gotten around that Yamashita’s doing better. Thank goodness, as it was really hard for Nagisa to watch a friend hurt like that – still, she thinks Reiji could stand to mull over how he gets his point across. Either way, Ichitaka’s off to try and convince Yamashita to spar with him one more time. When Hyouma asks what’s gotten him so gung-ho, he says watching how hard Anna’s been working kind of lit a fire under him. Kouji just hopes Anna won’t take things too far.  Speaking of, Anna and Shizuru are in the hangar… and it all sounds rather sexual (as you’d expected from Godannar; but I am nothing if not professional, drat it!). Things are going a bit too fast for comfort for Anna. They’ve only just started, though; it’s a bit strange because it’s her first time – she’ll get used to it. It’s not that simple, though… Ah— See that, Anna needs to pay attention. But it’s so sensitive… Don’t be scared now – time to take things up a notch! No, wait! She can’t handle this! *CRAAAAAAAAAAASH*  Yeah, it was the simulator and Anna’s just caused her Plasma Drive to explode. In real life, she’d be dead now, Noin says. Seems to Goh that she’ll need more time before she’s fully acclimatized to the Goh Okusaer’s Drive. “It’s like trying to play the piano and cook at the same time,” Anna grumbles. If she can’t handle it, Noin figures they can always ask Mira to take her place. NO, she’ll do it! SHE’LL BE FINE! Shouldn’t she take a break, at least? No! Shizuru objects that overextending won’t make her learn this any faster, but Anna says she’s doing so such thing. “This is all I have left… If I can’t do it, then I wouldn’t deserve to be here!” she proclaims. Noin likes what she hears, and asks if Shizuru’s good to keep going. “Who do you think you’re talking to? I’ve been piloting since you were a child,” Shizuru boasts. Hah, apologies then – they’ll start over from the Level A program!  So off they go, and it’ll be a while: Anna’s movements lack control, and the only when the pilot’s flying well will the machine move well. Furthermore, she needs to keep her flow of energy under control. Goh watches on, quietly wishing Anna good luck and apologizing to Shizuru – this is all he can do while grounded, and he’s not happy. But the alarm starts sounding, Yui informing that the Mimetic Beast-hijacked MSs have just been spotted on radar. Noin tells Goh to board the Daiku Maryu while everyone else gets ready to launch. The fact that the things developed the capacity to hijack MSs bothers Shizuru, but Anna’s sure there’s no enemy we can’t beat if we work together!  Cut to NERV, Rei and the EVA-00 have officially been handed over to Misato’s care – the Daiku Maryu should be coming over soon, so they’ll leave when it gets here. While they wait, Ritsuko asks how Shinji’s doing. Misato tells her not to worry, as there are plenty of kids his age with LOTUS: she’d like to think that those fellow teenagers will manage to help him out. And Shinji’s certainly not doing so hot after his run-in with Touji, back in the simulator and mumbling his “Target in the center, pull the switch” chant over and over. Getting beat by a classmate during his first day in the new school isn’t great, and Ritsuko wonders if the security team’s doing their job. Misato confirms they are, yes. Mind, Shinji didn’t get hurt too badly, and she figures they shouldn’t intervene in his personal life if they can avoid it. The issue here is that the kid’s more problematic than she anticipated, and Ritsuko sees what she means: it could be than Shinji’s simply not suited towards making friends. She compounds her point by pointing at the “Hedgehog’s Dilemma”: even if a hedgehog wants to snuggle with another for warmth, the closer they get, the more their thorns hurt one another. The same applies to humans in general, and Ritsuko ponders that Shinji may be unwittingly keeping others away in order to avoid that pain. Still, dealing with all that is part of growing up. But this conversation will have to wait, as the alarm sounds: Maya reports an unknown being spotted, with a Blue Analysis Pattern. That means the next Angel has come, so Misato orders everyone ready to launch. Rei quietly confirms, even she’s saying more than Shinji is. Misato says LOTUS’ll be here soon and asks him to lend a hand with protecting Neo Tokyo 3; the best answer she gets is an “…Understood.” Not looking good.  Mission 13 – A Reason to Fight   : (Why am I piloting this thing again? I’m even being hated because of it…)  : Intel sent by HQ tells that those MSs hijacked by the Mimetic Beasts are apparently also headed this way. All in all, we might have an ambush in our hands, so everyone make sure you don’t get tunnel vision with the Angel. : Psh, talk about a heavy workout to have after lunch. : Well, I figure you’ll be fine if you’re making jokes about it.  : Emi, this will be your first real engagement. How are you feeling? : I’m fine, ma’am, and happy to be here.*Beep!*  : The 5th Angel has entered the combat zone!  : Here it is…! : And we don’t even know how useful the data from the previous Angel will be against this one. What an annoying enemy… : Hey, Shinji. You’re gonna have to finish this one off too, so show us what you got!: Target in the center, pull the switch… Target in the center, pull the switch… I’ll try my best. : And here’s our first official fight as part of LOTUS. Get your head in gear, Aoi! : All four of us also need to bring our A-game for this! : Yeah, this isn’t your everyday enemy! : Alright, I hear you! Now let’s go wild! Take out the 5th Angel, don’t lose Shinji, Rei, Kouichi, Ichitaka OR any ship. Quite the list of guys to watch over, but they are all very survivable… provided you bring in your ships to bait Shamshel. If you don’t, he’ll likely tear Shinji a new one! And, same deal with Sachiel, we can’t really take the thing out until we get a morale boost, so we’ll instead work towards the sure-to-arrive Mimetic Beasts – send everyone due west. It’s quite the long trek, so you’re advised to at least have your land-bound units hitch a ride aboard a ship.  Shamshel, the 5th Angel Mech Features: A.T. Field (Strong) 30% HP and EN Regen Same deal as Sachiel, though it exchanges slightly less range for more everything else. Bait it to follow your group with the ships and, once your morale is good enough, swarm and destroy.  Evangelion Unit #00 (Rei Ayanami) Pilot Skills: Sync Rate Shoot Down Shield Defense Guard Support Defense L2 Attack Combo L1 Spirit Commands: Focus Iron Wall Attune Mech Features: Gun Repair Module A.T. Field Umbilical Cable Squad Bonus: Armor +100, HP +500, Money Earned +10%, Land Terrain Rating = A This might well be Rei’s best outing in SRW, and simply because the devs understood what players will have her be 99% of the time: a defensive support. She’s tough as no one’s business and makes an absolutely perfect partner for pretty much any Super. Repair Module gives her a 10% regen to the squad, the armor and HP bonus further bolster her group (if the leader is focus-fired, she can support defend to all but certainly no-sell any attack that isn’t a boss’) and the cash bonus means you can use that extra bulkiness to send someone forward, tank-kill everything and rake in. Her only weakness is that the #00 lacks in attack range (best is 1-3, with her rifle), but I’m still inclined to say that she’s the best defensive support in the game.  As everyone moves onward, I have Shinji and Rei unplug from the nearby building and switch to this power station over here.  Enemy Phase!  And Shamshel’s already taken the bait. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNo7b9KpKvI Here’s its only attack – it HURTS.  Player Phase! From the cliff-face on the northern edge of the map…  : Woow! This is 100% awesome! It was so worth stepping out the shelter to come here! : Look, there’re the Machinas and the Macross! And a bunch of other mechs I never even seen before! Aah, someone pinch me! : Least you’re clear ‘bout what you like…: Listen, we’ve no idea when there’d be another attack, so we couldn’t let this chance slip by!: Psh, guess not… And the new guy’s piloting that purple thing with the horn?: Yeah, that’s the Evangelion Unit #01!: Then I reckon we’ll see if he’s actually busting his rear end to protect this city.  : The Earth Alliance?! They must be here to help us! : Easy there, Naoto. What’s the read on them, Shizuru? : We’re detecting Mimetic Beasts… Looks like those are the jacked MSs.  : They got here pretty fast, didn’t they? I didn’t know Mimetic Beasts could be in a rush.  : Seeing how they can now hijack units, we should presume that they’ve developed other unknown skills. Exercise extreme caution, people!: But remember that the priority target is still the Angel. : OKAY! Let’s get to work! Since Shinji and Rei are already there, they’ll be leading the charge.       By the by, none of these mooks will ever pop either of the EVAs Fields (when they manage to connect). Kenji’s the only one who gets in attack range, and he finishes Shinji’s target. Enemy Phase!  Rei’s a VERY tempting target for the enemy AI, which is annoying with her short range. She weakens a handful, but most mooks are too far away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IsdsnYyRv0 By the by, these mooks are called Fat Boys. Hyouma and Shizuna take a kill. Player Phase!  There are a handful of dangerous mooks here in the form of sniping Zamza-Zahs, but they’re far behind enemy lines. Considering how bulky they also are, making a beeline for them with low morale is risky.     So we’ll just grin and bear it.  Rei’s weakened mooks make for easy kills at least – our morale’ll rise pretty quickly.  Ozma, as always, is leading the charge, so Zechs hops into the command aura to follow up.        Following that, Alto and Iczer-1 each take a Windam.  Finish this one off, why don’t you.   : … Take a look, Anna. I’ll show that no matter how hard you try, you cannot surpass me as a pilot!   Bam.  Kenji, Rei and Shinji each pick and destroy a Taurus. Enemy Phase!  Seems I brought Daiya a bit too forward, and the Zamzas didn’t like that – they all converge on him.        It leaves him hurting a bit, but nothing he can’t handle (he at least hits back twice as hard).  And the weakened mooks fall in droves: one for Quatre, Shizuna, Hyouma, and Noin. Shinji and Aoi, meanwhile, are cleaving through the MSs left and right (each takes three kills), as they can oneshot them even in regular hits.  Hey, thanks, Lulu still needs some levels.      We’ll just be one level short of her learning Bless by the time this mission ends. Player Phase!   : Ah! That’s—! : Yes, it is! The Straybird!: Yuu! My bro! : That’s the bot Ichitaka told us about? : …*Ichitaka moves by the Straybird.* : Bro, did you find the… No, wait, that’ll have to wait – we’ve a bunch of enemies over there! Lend us a hand, alright?: Haruno, I’m sure we can defeat the Angel and the Mimetic Beasts with your help—: … Is this all the resolve you have?: Huh?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1IyC-0STJE Yuu: Haruno, are you ready? Haruno: I am, Yuu. Let’s begin… Yuu: See now how weak you are…! Haruno: Shifting into the Imaginary Road. Yuu: Here I come, Ichitaka…! Haruno: So that really is all it amounts to with Alice’s support? Ichitaka: Wha— Alice: Haruno, what are you doing…?! : Urk! B-Bro?! : What the, a sibling rivalry now?  : Ichitaka… your fighting days are over.: Wh-What are you doing, Yuu…? : You two can’t make proper use of the Rushbird. You’re an amateur as a pilot… and Alice’s AI is nothing but lacking. : Haruno, what do you mean?: We’re telling you to surrender and hand over the Rushbird. Surely you can presume that much.: We can’t do that, no way! I need the Rushbird!: Then I guess we’re done talking.: If you won’t accept our terms… then we’ll have to take it by force.: Wh-What the hell are you thinking?! There’s an Angel right there! If you don’t know what that is, we can tell you!: I told you: we’re done talking.: … All units, the Straybird’s a threat to our current operation. You are to treat it as you would any other enemy – and that’s an order. : I guess there’s no other way around it. Humanity’s hanging on the knife’s edge here, so anyone who gets in the way has gotta go.: You… You’re telling me to attack?! Just give me one more chance to talk to him!: They themselves have declared that they won’t parlay with us.: Still, I know there’s something going on with him! You can’t tell me to just take him out!: Nagumo, can you even afford to worry about others right now? The Straybird has got its sights fixated on you.: If you’ve got time to mull over nonsense, then pull yourself together and focus on the task at hand!: “Nonsense”?!: And if you can’t do that… then leave. LOTUS has no place for those who can’t fight.: R-Reiji…! : Heey! You can’t talk to him like that!: This is not the time, Hayase!: Oh, no, I’m saying it! Ichitaka’s always took Yuu as a brother-figure and he’s worried about him! : Are you really so thickheaded that you don’t get what it feels like to care and worry for your family?! That’s not something you can just tag as “nonsense”! : …: Kouichi…: Or maybe someone like you can’t feel the pain of others too?!: … Eliminating the Angel is our top priority. All troops are to form up around the #01. : Heey! I was giving you crap, you know!: Yes, I could see that.: Psh… Fine, then I’ll handle this! Ichitaka, you absolutely can’t take out your brother… or, rather, that crazy Prof.’s grandkid!: Huh?: Just fight him and look for a way to wrap this up without dropping the guy! Let’s show him what our justice’s all about!: Sorry… And thanks, Kouichi!: But how will we go about this…? The Straybird’s performance is beyond my ability to process. : Then we’ll think of something together! : Yeah, didn’t the lesson go that melee hits are good when you’re fighting someone and don’t know what tricks he’s got? : Pretty sure he was talking about enemies with barriers and special armor, numbskull!: No… that’s not a bad idea actually. It’s a lot easier to kinda hold back a punch than a shot! : Still, it’s gonna be real tough pinning that guy down while dealing with the Angel.: That doesn’t sound like you, Mister. Those who don’t give up always win, right? You’re not going to be saving your dad from the Darius with that wimpy attitude.: Dick… Yeah, you’re right. The second you give up, then it’s all over! : Get to it, people! Don’t make the same mistake I did!: ……: But be very careful, everyone! The Straybird’s speed is extraordinary!: Here I come, bro…!So now we got two bosses to deal with, but I reckon this is enough for today. Rest of the mission is nearly done, so keep an eye out for it tomorrow. See you all then!
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Jul 18, 2017 23:50
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Good to see Kensuke have a chance to geek out over all the robots before vanishing off the face of the game. And Reiji is so absurdly dickish that I kinda love it. 
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Jul 19, 2017 00:40
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Brunom1 posted:
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why you shouldn't name a character Dick. And in a game with Godannar too, no less...
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Jul 19, 2017 01:05
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Let me guess, the Rushbird has a hidden secret power that makes it much better than the numerically superior machine they're currently piloting.
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Jul 19, 2017 02:35
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Sordas Volantyr posted:This, ladies and gentlemen, is why you shouldn't name a character Dick. And in a game with Godannar too, no less... Well, it was either that or RICHAAAAAARD and the latter doesn't jive too well with Dick's Mad Max-style look. Glazius posted:Let me guess, the Rushbird has a hidden secret power that makes it much better than the numerically superior machine they're currently piloting. You might just be surprised. Then again, Alice DID confirm that Grife was following traditional Japanese mech engineering, so it stands to reason that he had a secret weapon installed that will only be unveiled when dramatically appropriate. ... But, wait, Grife isn't here to go "I thought something like this might happen, so...!" and unlock the feature! We're doomed!
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Jul 19, 2017 02:42
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Brunom1 posted:Then again, Alice DID confirm that Grife was following traditional Japanese mech engineering, so it stands to reason that he had a secret weapon installed that will only be unveiled when dramatically appropriate. It's fine. He isn't there, but he probably hid a video inside the Rushbird or even an AI replica of himself that can appear as a hologram or take over Alice when it is needed.
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Jul 19, 2017 03:32
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Brunom1 posted:You might just be surprised.
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Jul 19, 2017 03:44
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Well, being tricky and fast didn't help Yuu when the original villain punched him in the face, and the Rushbird is fairly tanky.... Also, nice to see that when a therapist joins up its clear that people definitely want her helping out the Eva kids. Logical.
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Jul 19, 2017 04:13
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 So now we need to reduce the Straybird under 30% - shooting it down is a game over. That’s not really a problem, since the bot has plenty of HP:  Straybird (Yuunagi Grife, HL-0 Haruno) Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Shoot Down THAT’S IT! Well, what can I say? The Straybird is more offense-oriented than the Rushbird and is somewhat dodgy, though it has ABSOLUTELY no defenses worth mentioning. Its attacks are long range and will do more damage than anything we’ve fought thus far, mind, so come packing some sort of defensive spirit. Yuu’s a pretty good pilot too, but his Skill list is so very gimped to (probably) showcase that he might not be as resolved to do this as he proclaims. Regardless, he’s quite far away from our main group, so Ichitaka will be spamming Accel and leading him over. In the meantime, the mooks have already been cut to half and the other half will follow these two turns – the Zamza-Zahs are now top priority lest they MAPW us. Fast forward! : Goh left the Dannar in my care – I can’t sully its reputation!--  : I need to work twice as hard now that Goh can’t fight! : Time to show the results of my training with Shizuru and Noin!      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6O_9YPg8N0 Here’s the dynamic finish for Iczer Robo Full Power while we’re at it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySmk1zrmnK0 And, hey, did you know that the Quarter also has a DK for when they use the And now to deal with Yuu. : Bro, work with us just a bit… is what I’d say, but I doubt you’d listen.: ..: Yuu, Haruno, please! None of us want to fight you!: If you don’t, then get off the Rushbird. It’s that simple. : Sorry, Professor…! I’m gonna have to get a bit rough with your Straybird for a sec!       Haruno: “Get off the Rushbird, Ichitaka…!” Yuu: “It belongs to me…!” Shinji supporting: “I have to help Ichitaka…!” Alice: “Straybird, in sight!” Ichitaka: “We’re up against Yuu… he’s not just going to sit there and let us hit him!” Yuu: “So this really is your best, Ichitaka…?!”  : Hey! You think just because you really want the Rushbird that right and wrong don’t matter anymore?!: … : Your silence speaks volumes, you know!: No, I’m just not obligated to say anything. We’re going. : Copy that. Engaging via Variation C of the Anti-Combattler V pattern.   : So that’s a speedy birdman bot? Gonna make for a good prelim to our rematch with the R-Daigun.: That might be oversimplifying things, but I suppose more experience is never a bad thing.: We can’t let others gather data on us beyond what’s necessary. Let’s end this ASAP, Yuu. : Right.: Well, it’s way easier to fight someone who’s apathetic than the opposite. Here we go, guys!     : We’re only after the Rushbird! If you don’t want to get hurt, keep away!: We’ve no business with you.: What, and I’m supposed to shut up and do as told? That attitude tells me you’re a real crummy big brother!   : Ichitaka always spoke a lot about you… But if you’ll be a problem, then I’m gonna have to beat you up! Don’t make me!: LOTUS… Seems there’re more bleeding hearts in their group than I thought.   : Hah! The stronger the enemy, the more hyped I get to rumble with ‘em! Fly over here, birdie! : He’s one of those who fights with his instincts?: I confess that that’s the sole subject I can’t learn. Still, it could be worth our time to fight him.     : Hyouma, that unit has quite the superlative mobility! Keep your eyes peeled!: Psh, you think I’m gonna get slapped around by some rando coming out of left field? Hell, no!: We should try and get some live combat data from this one. It could be useful to us.: Fine, but only so we can take the Rushbird.    : This guy… His moves are on par with Brera’s?!: Meaning you just have to go at it the same way you did before. Don’t slip up now, princess.: Who are you calling princess?! And I don’t need you reminding me to watch it!: …Come!   : Why are you keeping quiet?! If you got stuff to say, then come out with it!: If you don’t, you’ll wind up doing something you can’t go back on. And then you’ll regret it for the rest of your life…!: Talking wouldn’t amount to anything.: That’s a bunch of crap when you won’t even give it a try!  : … Please stay out of our way.: It’s you who’s in the way… move!   : We really can’t manage them all at once…: It’ll only get worse the longer this goes. We should try and end this in a single stroke.: Understood. : Output rising… and stable.*Yuu moves faaaar away. : What’s going on? Is he running?: No, he’s not.: I agree – the guy’s gearing up for an attack.: Then, Alice, gimme an estimate!: O-OK!: Too late.  : Hrk! I couldn’t even react to that!: You lack the support of a proper combat AI, meaning every single move you make is flawed. You two cannot win against us!: While you’ve been going about your everyday lives, we’ve thought only of saving the Professor!*Faaaar away!* : Monica! : Their unit has massive speed and maneuverability for a manned model!: I knew it… Going easy on him is simply putting us in danger. : Nagumo, you see how strong he is, right? Just let us take care of him as we should. : Gch… Is there really nothing I can do…?!: No, don’t throw in the towel yet!: It’s fine, Kouichi… Taking a look at things, it’s clear that what Yuu said was right from the get-go.: Oh, don’t give me that! What do you want to do right now, huh?! Are you really fine with just calling it quits like this?!: Kouichi…: We gotta prove to Reiji that our justice isn’t in the wrong, don’t we?!: Y-Yeah, you’re right!: That’s enough of your nonsense. *Agaaaaain!* : Urgh…! But I’m not gonna be able to do jack if I can’t keep up with that speed of his...! Any ideas, Alice?!: If we can close the distance with him in the time it takes to charge his attack, then…: That won’t work – he’ll just blast away to another spot!: Let’s end this in the next run, Yuu. Is that fine?: Do it. We’ll break his spirit with this strike.: Understood – initiating charge.: … Alice, is it possible to control the Rushbird’s barrier manually?: Y-Yes, I can somewhat manipulate its energy absorption functionalities… : Then the only way I see for your unit to attain greater speed than the Straybird would be propelled via a high-pressure energy blast. According to my calculations, the Linebarrel’s Executor would be best suited for this…: Oh, I get it! If the barrier absorbs the thermal energy, leaving only the kinetic energy through, then…!: Now that’s a wild and reckless plan… I like it.: Nice one, Kosuke – that’s why you’re a legit genius! Let’s do it, Ichitaka!: Yeah! Time for the gamble of a lifetime!: …: What’s up, Alice? I’m gonna need you to handle the barrier, while I concentrate on bashing him into the dirt!: But if I make any mistake in how I control the barrier, we could both end up dead…: If the barrier’s too strong, we won’t get any extra speed and we’ll be easy pickings for Yuu; if the barrier’s too weak, we’ll be on the receiving end of the Executor’s shot. Even a specialist would find this difficult – there is absolutely no way an amateur like me could do it…!: STOP WHINING!: !!: It’s not about what you can, or can’t do! You just have to do it! : Take me, for example! Controlling the Plasma Drive is like trying to play the piano and cook at the same time, but I’m doing it! : (Control Parallelism… associating… Cooking… Maybe like this, I…): Understood. Many thanks, Anna. I… I’ll give it a go!: (“Stop whining”… She also said that to me before…): Well, looks like everyone’s on the same page now. Let’s get to it, then! : Kouichi, keep the Executor’s output steady at 97% and fire on my signal, please.: Gaah, I got my own set of limitations to work with too? … Well, guess I better bring home the goods after acting all confident!: Charge complete in T minus 8… 7…: You two got this, Kouichi, Alice…: (Not too strong or it’ll burn, not to weak or it’ll be undercooked…): … You’re done.: Now, Kouichi! : GOOOOO!! : HERE IT COMES!!*Ichitaka's blasted towards the Straybird!*  Alice: “We’re closing in on the Straybird – fast!” Ichitaka: “Thanks a bunch, Kouichi! This is the resolve we have, Yuu!!”   Alice: “I won’t be beaten either, Haruno!”    Ichitaka: “LIGHTNING FIST!”     Yuu: “What…?!” : …!: We did it, Alice! Didja see that, Kouichi?!: Hell, yeah, I did!: ……: It seems we underestimated them somewhat. We must retreat and reorganize. : Hrm…: Hold on, bro! What… What happened to the Professor?! Do you know anything?!: That’s none of your business…! Next time we meet, I will be leaving with the Rushbird…! : Bro…: Signal lost…: Easy come, easy go, I suppose…: We’ll need to discuss how we’ll deal with him in the future – we can’t afford to do whatever strikes our fancy every time.I enjoy the fact that the bot’s barrier actually has plot significance and isn’t just a feature that’s there. On the flip side, Kosuke, wouldn’t it have been safer for everyone to have used, like, a Dankuuhou instead of the city-slicing beam sword? Or maybe had the Rushbird hitch a ride on the Great Booster? Either way, we’ve another target to kill!  : This one’s kind of like a giant protist… And while it’s looking as tough as the last one, at least it’s better than the Vajra in that I can see its weak spot right there…!    : Don’t suppose there’s a magazine with info on the Angels, right, Johnny? Some “Men’s UMAs Monthly” or whatever?: I’m not subscribed to it, unfortunately, but they haven’t run any articles on the Angels anyway.: The hell, that’s an actual thing?!: Whatever – this is still just another mission for us. And we’re going to tackle it like the pros that we are!       : Think you’re gonna weird me out with your freaky looks? Not happening!: I’ve had crazy stuff like ghosts and reptiles come my way, and I never even got chills while beating them to kingdom come!    : Kosuke! Is this Angel’s A.T. Field as strong as the last one’s?: Yes, it is. So when you go attack it, give it everything we’ve got!       : Dunno how proud you are of them super-sharp tentacles, but you’re gonna learn that chopping Jeeg up don’t mean squat!  : Target in the center… And then… : That’s it, just like you practiced, alright?: Yes…   : Haah, haah… : What kind of technique is that…?: I-Isn’t his fighting kind of all over the place? He was trained, right?: You see a lot of recruits get like this. Normally, they wouldn’t be allowed to sortie, but…: Eh? Why’s the new guy’s bot all lethargic?: Uh, oh… Think it’s because of your punch?: Z-Zip it, you!: Daiya, it seems the Angel’s weapons are limited to his tentacles, but don’t let your guard down! We don’t know if it has other tricks up its sleeve!: No idea what it might pull, huh? Heheh, now I’m even more excited for this!       : Is it down?!  : No, we haven’t stopped it yet!*Shamshel rushes forward.*  : Shinji, watch out! Evade!: Huh?! : Gaaah! *The EVA-01 is knocked north of town.*  : Shinji, are you alright?!: The Umbilical Cable’s disconnected! : The EVA’s switched to its internal power supply!: How damaged is the #01?!: Nothing major – it’s still functional!: Hrrm…!*Shamshel goes after him again.* : Captain, he’s in big trouble! : Ready the Piercing Zolmanium Bullets! Draw the Angel’s attention!: Lulu, wait! There’re people right by the EVA-01…!: Ah—Aaaaah…!: Eeek…! …!! It’s…!: Shinji’s classmates?! What are they doing there?! They can’t engage with those two nearby!*Shamshel steps over.* : Gch!*Slash!* : Why aren’t they attacking…?! LOTUS is just sitting there!: They can’t attack because we’re here…! : The #01’ll be running out of energy soon!: Shinji, bring those two into your cockpit! Pull back once they’re aboard and let Rei handle the Angel!: ?!: Do you two hear me?! Get in inside the EVA, quick!: G-Get inside…?!: Hurry, Touji!*In they go.* : Wh-What the?! The thing’s filled with water!: Ooh, where’s my camera…?!: Alright, they’re in. Pull back, Shinji! Rei… cover him as best you can. : Yes, ma’am.: Hey, new guy, didn’t you catch that?! She told you to run off!: I can’t run… I can’t run… I can’t run…!: Ah? : Yow, he threw the Angel right off!: The power an adrenaline rush at work, maybe?: That’s enough, Shinji! Retreat via Extraction Route #34!: (Fighting scares me… and piloting the EVA even got me hated by others – it’s awful.): (But… running now would be even worse. Everyone here has it just as bad; and that girl, Ayanami, might also end up getting hurt again.): (If I ran, no one in LOTUS would accept me. Dad wouldn’t either…So I—!): I can’t run…!*Shinji charges after Shamshel.* : Shinji, that was a direct order! Retreat! Shinji!: The #01 only has a few seconds left of energy!: Haaaaaaah!!         : The EVA-01’s powered down.: We’ve confirmation that the target has been completely destroyed.: Haah… haah… haah…: (Ikari… Ya’ve been this scared all along? And ya kept on fighting…?): Attaboy, Shinji!: *Sniffles*… aah…: H-Hey… Shinji? : LtCol. Katsuragi, recover the #01. The civilians need to be brought to safety, too.: You’re right. Bring back the #01 immediately! : We’ve all enemies confirmed destroyed. I think we can shift back to yellow alert.: Yuu… Where did you run off to?: Well, he sure wasn’t like you told us. Even if he didn’t want to work with us, I was real surprised when he started firing. : First things first, we should leave the area and give room for the people to leave the shelters.: We’ll guide both your ships into NERV’s docks. It might be a bit cramped in there, but we’ll be happy to have you.: Roger that.: Um… Is Shinji alright?: Physically, he’s fine… Less so mentally, though…: Speaking of, he was acting kinda weird today.: Sorry about that. He’s just been through plenty.: LtCol. Katsuragi, I’d like to request permission for several pilots to enter NERV HQ.: Hmm, I didn’t run that by the Commander, so— : Permission granted.: (…! Commander…): You’ve my gratitude. I’ll contact your people once we’re in.: Heh… So that’s how it is.: Eh? What is?: Hey, that works for us! We can go and check up on Shinji! : (That’s exactly why Reiji got us permission…): (And it went right over the kids’ heads, huh?)And, quickly now, here are the handful of convos we didn’t get: : We’ve an Angel in our hands, so nothing but our strongest attacks will have any effect. Please be careful.: You got it – we’ll throw everything we have at it!--  : You guys wonder why the Angels are all coming to this fortress of a city…?: Wonder later. We need to take it down before it does even more damage!-- : I’ll pave the road for you, Shinji! Back me up, Emi!: I’m not your private operator, so please don’t get any wrong ideas about this!: … That said, I can appreciate the way you’re trying to encourage Shinji. Paving a whole road… It’s wonderful that you’d go so far for him. : And you tell me not to get any wrong ideas… but I’ve no time to fire that back at her. In we go, Linebarrel!-- : I reckon you thought you were gonna blindside us with these, but I’m actually an old hand at fighting MSs! And I’m ready to delivery your usual dose of death! : Why did you ignore my orders up there? : I’m sorry.: Not to mention how incredibly dangerous it was to fight with your friends aboard the EVA!: I understand.: This better not happen again, understand?: Yes.: Are you even listening to me?: I am – every word… But what does it matter? We’ve won. I’ll pilot when you tell me to, and that’s good enough, right? : I don’t really have a choice, anyway. I have to pilot the EVA – that’s the only reason why dad called me here. So, yes, I’ll pilot. If that’s what everyone wants, then that’s fine with me.: What about you? Is this what you want?: I know I’m not cut out for this… and I’m sure the others do too. Still, Ayanami was hurt, and you and dad—: Okay, stop! This doesn’t have anything to do with anyone else! Whether you want to carry on piloting the EVA or not is a choice for you, yourself, to make. : If you don’t want to, then you can just leave. You’re free to go at this however you want, so do that.: …*Misato leaves.* : (It’s my choice to make…? I…)  : Apologies, but this is as far as you may go. : I see… Well, thank you for the help.: Dang, I guess that’s it for us. We can’t look anywhere else.  : Where’s Shinji at, I wonder?: That voice… was it Kouichi? (He’s farther down the hall.): Yamashita finally got off his funk, and now we got Shinji’s having his own problems… : Why’d you need to bring that up again, huh? And, FYI, I just got a bit shaken up from what Reiji said.: He’s got a sharp tongue, that’s for sure. Still, while he doesn’t come out and say it, don’t you think that he acts like that because he cares? : It’s said that Noin is so hard on her trainees because she doesn’t want them to die. I’m sure it’s the same with him.: Speaking of, what about Shinji’s dad? I dunno what to make of that guy and his blunt attitude. : Must be the same case as the others, no? He wouldn’t have let us in here otherwise.: Yeah, the guy’s gotta be all tough ‘cause he’s the boss, but he still can’t hide that he cares for his son.: We don’t really know what’s going through his mind, but I’d like to think that too.: Well, it only makes sense, right? Every dad cares for their kid.: (My dad… cares for me…?): That said, I still don’t think Reiji needs to talk to folks like that.: Um…: Heey, Shinji! We were looking for you!: You saved the day again. Guess we really do need you around to beat the Angels.: But, I…my classmate’s sister hurt in that other battle. And it was because I piloted the EVA…: You’re looking at this the wrong way, Shinji. It’s because you piloted the EVA, that she only got hurt.: Yeah. If you hadn’t, everyone, including us, might’ve wound up dead. : Remember what I told you before? That the whole world’ll give us crap if we fail, so it might feel that this work isn’t worth the hassle? : We’re not asking you to gloss over past screw-ups – like Kouichi does, with that time he tore through a town – but at least don’t torture yourself over it. : Seriously, he was downright mean that day, calling us all phonies and whatnot.: Sh-Shush, you two…! I do regret all that, and I’m trying to make up for it, OK?!: Still, in my opinion, it’s actually very good that you’re thinking of the people who got hurt and the things that got destroyed.: You’re wrong… all this time I’ve just been scared of getting hurt while fighting…!: Shinji…: I don’t understand how you’re all willing to fight with someone like me…: Because that doesn’t matter.: …: What do you want to do, Shinji?: I… I..: I want to stay with you…! I’ll pilot the EVA and make my dad…!: Then that makes you part of our crew.: Okay…! By the command center, Fuyutsuki ponders Shinji acting beyond what was predicted (they seemingly expected that). Might it be due to “the variable”? Still, Gendou says all that did was accelerate the Schedule – next, they’ll push him to get a bit closer with Rei. The plan is still the same. “These poor children, their fates lying predetermined face a hitherto unseen script,” Fuyutsuki sighs. “How cruel it all is.”  Maya reports to Misato that Shinji’s friends have been examined and are ready to be sent home. That said, before they left, they asked to speak with Shinji. The kid’s surprised to hear that, and Daiya wonders what’s up. Didn’t one of those guys punch him a few hours ago? Well, we might as well go together – and if they try running their mouth again, Kouichi’s got a few choice words for them!  : Huh? Punch… you?: Yeah, and don’tcha hold back or I ain’t gonna feel right.: That’s just the kind of guy he is, you know. Consider it a favor to him.: But…: Go for it, I say – he literally asked for it. Or, if you don’t feel like it, I could do it for you.: And who the hell are ya? I’m apologizing to Ikari here, so butt out!: I think that’s for the best, Kouichi. Besides, you’re a Factor, remember?: Hurry up and do it already!: Hrm… Hah!*Punch!* : Oof…! Alright, now we’re even! Sorry I socked you there, Ikari. : Guess we’ll see you around! Thanks again for saving us today!: Hey, wait! At least tell me your names.: Touji… Touji Suzuhara.: And I’m Kensuke Aida. Pleased to meet you.: Make sure you give us a holler next time you’re coming around!: And good luck with that “Defender of Peace” job!*Off they go.* : All’s well that ends well, right, Shinji? That’s that problem taken care of.: Yeah.: (I wonder if I’ll ever be able to talk like that with dad…) Back to the Quarter, Reiji says Ichitaka won’t be punished for his violation of orders today in deference to a request from Goh, though warns that he’ll get no more free passes. Moreover, Ozma warns that letting amateurs try crazy stunts is a recipe for disaster, so “if you wanna go beyond the impossible, then get yourself way stronger.” (Ozma’s VA is Kamina, FYI.) While Ichitaka confirms, Nagisa asks if he has any idea why Yuu attacked us. He doesn’t, of course, still finding it all hard to believe. Still, what’s certain is that he wanted the Rushbird, though we don’t know what for. Kosuke wonders if maybe it’d give him some clue towards finding Grife, but Ichitaka figures Maki and Rachel would’ve found it if it was there. It’s very likely to Alice that Yuu and Haruno know a lot more than we do, and Ichitaka sees that they’ll need to get some answers out of them the next time we meet. Mind you, Ozma warns that not only will today’s trick not work again, they wouldn’t let him try again in the first place; in other words, Ichitaka need to beat him legit next time and that means training, training, training. Alice, of course, is ready to help with that. That’s good, and Noin wants to get going as soon as we’re back at JUDA. Inwardly, though, Alice is a bit worried: “Haruno’s a full combat-specced AI, unlike me… It was pure luck that we managed to overwhelm the today. I’m nothing but a hindrance to us defeating the Straybird and getting them to talk… If Ichitaka’s to win this, I…” Nagisa notices Alice staring out into nothing, and asks if there’s a problem. The girl’s reaction is as distraught as Anna, so Nagisa can see there’s something and is always willing to listen. And if it’s a subject she couldn’t wrap her head around, Nagisa suggests she go and talk with Ropett or Iczer-1 then. Alice thanks her for the advice, and it was just her way of thanking her for the regular check-ups. Thanks to that, Nagisa realized she’d been putting a bit too much weight – looks like she’s gonna have to start going on a diet with Chizuru and some other girls…  Back at NERV, a nondescript time later, they’ve just finished readjusting the EVA-01 and Shinji’s free to go. As he does, though, he spots something in the distance: Gendou and Rei talking and, even stranger, the guy’s actually smiling. He never smiles for Shinji…  So the two EVAs have been successfully loaded onto the Daiku Maryu and the ship’s ready to leave. Yanma’s happy with this at it means we’ll be able to deal with the Angels wherever they might show up. More important to Boss and co is finding Rei, mind. She’s elsewhere in the hangar, just getting acquainted with Megumi, and Dick is already trying his moves with the “cold-eyed beauty”. Does she like white lilies? They suit her to a T, symbolizing “purity” and “virtue”. All that earns him is a stare, so maybe she didn’t care for his pick. Alto and Daiya suggest he stop, lest he fancy getting stuck in detention – maybe he and Michel getting a time-out would give our girls some tranquility. That’s a no-no, so Puria tells him to shush and apologizes to Rei on behalf of her crewmate. Shinji does take a chance to ask what she was talking with Gendou before they came aboard the ship – they seemed to be pretty chipper. “He was just asking me to work hard carrying out my mission with LOTUS,” she says… which bums Shinji out, as Gendou didn’t speak with him at all. Regardless, can he ask her one other thing? Doesn’t she get scared of piloting the EVA? He heard that she got injured pretty badly after some experiment, so he was wondering if she’s really fine. “I’m fine, yes,” she answers matter-of-factly. But Shinji worries about the ever-present risk of his EVA going berserk again, of them dying at the hands of the Angels. “Aren’t you Cmdr. Ikari’s son?” Do you not have faith in his work?” Rei asks; “I try to have faith,” Shinji answers back, “But I’m not really sure on that yet.” Why? Why not, with a father like that?  And that earns Shinji a slap before Rei walks out the room. Michel asks what the sound was – it echoed through the whole hangar – and Boss tells what happened. Now that’s odd, as Rei struck Michel as a very docile type when he was checking her out. Maybe she’s more tomboyish than we thought, Juzo wonders. No, Iczer-1 was watching and explains that Shinji just said something that struck Rei as unforgivable. What, the thing about having faith in Gendou or not? Why did Rei get so angry about that, Miu wonders? Who knows, but, if you ask Daiya, a son not trusting his father is a very sad thing – that trust is supposed to be unwavering, come high or low. On the flip side, Dick heard of how the kid was sent away and neglected by Gendou for many years now. And, when they finally meet up again, daddy-o doesn’t really seem to care that much? It’s not too unreasonable that there’d be trust issues here. Sakuya’s also heard stories and they say Dick also didn’t get along with his father. Pretty well-informed for a rookie... though Dick immediately recognizes the Kamon surname and knows that they’re in the same boat. Sakuya makes do as a free-spirited homeless man, mind, and thinks this subject best left untouched.  Regardless, Dick didn’t mean to diss Daiya’s philosophy, but father and son can quickly drift further apart once separate. Kenichi disagrees: “However far away from each other they get, the bond between a father and son never breaks! I’m sure it’s the same for Shinji and his dad.” That’s what Daiya’s talking about and is certain that Gendou believes in Shinji – they’ll work it out. This talk might sound good on paper, but Alto figures the reality is that the kid was pushed away by Gendou. We’ve quite the heated debate in our hands, Shizuka sighs, and Shinji's once again bummed out over being the cause of that. Shizuka tells him not to worry, as those guys could always use a chance to express their feelings and think about how things are with their fathers (good or not-so-good). That’s not a bad thing. And with all this talk going, Ru finally steps onto the scene and requests to speak with Shinji – Shizuka assures him that the girl can manage whatever ails him. That’s right, she’s a professional at her job!  Elsewhere, Yuu and Haruno are reassessing their plans. First priority is to take the Rushbird, second is to give Ichitaka a taste of utter defeat. In the meantime, Haruno will use the data accrued today to adjust their tactics. As for Yuu, he’s inwardly thinking only one thing: “The Rushbird is mine…!”
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Jul 19, 2017 21:30
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Brunom1 posted:Back to the Quarter, Reiji says Ichitaka won’t be punished for his violation of orders today in deference to a request from Goh, though warns that he’ll get no more free passes. Moreover, Ozma warns that letting amateurs try crazy stunts is a recipe for disaster, so “if you wanna go beyond the impossible, then get yourself way stronger.” (Ozma’s VA is Kamina, FYI.) 
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Jul 19, 2017 22:27
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Yuu seems really boring. Also, i'm glad Reiji pulled some strings to get the kids to visit Shinji because I was beginning to think that in a strange reversal of how it usually goes the tough-rear end by the books leader man of the group was actually getting more jerkish as the game went on rather than less.
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Jul 19, 2017 22:45
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  SyntheticPolygon posted:Yuu seems really boring. Hey, someone's gotta play the straight man to Ichitaka's fun times!
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Jul 19, 2017 22:50
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Man oh man, all guys saying that Gendou is secretly a Good Dad are in for some harsh truths.
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Jul 19, 2017 23:30
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Brunom1 posted:I enjoy the fact that the bot’s barrier actually has plot significance and isn’t just a feature that’s there. On the flip side, Kosuke, wouldn’t it have been safer for everyone to have used, like, a Dankuuhou instead of the city-slicing beam sword? Or maybe had the Rushbird hitch a ride on the Great Booster? You misunderstand. The Executor is a beam gun, not a beam sword. That it's used as a beam sword is entirely due to Kouichi entirely failing to understand the purpouse of his own weaponry (although he gets very good results anyways), it was always meant to be used as a gun. And it'd be a far better choice than the Dankuuhou like that, considering this one's a single blast instead of several guns all shot together.
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Jul 20, 2017 01:54
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Seriously, though. That reunion was disappointing. I wasn't expecting much from this OG plot, but they managed to underperform even those low expectations. Aside from being particularly stupid, the only entertaining part was how everyone seemed so unenthusiastic about it that it looped around and became a little funny.: Bro, come on, really?: Yes, really. None of us have anything better to do with our time.: Uh, the Angel...? : Will be taken care of in a cutscene. Now, are we doing this or not?: Eh, I suppose we might as well. And then... : While you've been having parties with blackjack and hookers, I've been pursuing our plotline by myself offscreen. You've barely even tried to search for Professor Grife.: You mean your dad?: Is he? I forgot, it's been so long.: ......Would you like to tell us what you know about where he is?: No. Piss off.: Aren't you the one who's going to piss off?: .......*Straybird flees in utter disgrace*
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Jul 20, 2017 01:58
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Montegoraon posted:
Grandfather, actually! 
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Jul 20, 2017 02:03
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I like HL-0's line about not understanding human instincts in light of the fact they just made a game entirely about the robot subpilot trying to understand Love.
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Jul 20, 2017 03:09
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Montegoraon posted:Seriously, though. That reunion was disappointing. I wasn't expecting much from this OG plot, but they managed to underperform even those low expectations.
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Jul 20, 2017 03:57
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The more I hear about K, the more I want someone to LP it just so I can see if it really lives up to the (un)hype.
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Jul 20, 2017 04:10
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I wanna see someone LP it just so we can mock it...and also for Gun X Sword. LET'S GO! EL DORADO!
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Jul 20, 2017 04:13
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The only thing I hear about K is Mist. Is it just generic outside of the originals or is it actually decent but Mist just overshadows everything.
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Jul 20, 2017 04:44
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SyntheticPolygon posted:The only thing I hear about K is Mist. Is it just generic outside of the originals or is it actually decent but Mist just overshadows everything. Well that's not fair, there's also the plagiarism
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Jul 20, 2017 04:53
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On the plus side, apparently it treats Cagalli really well. That's unusual for Destiny adaptations. Or Destiny itself.
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Jul 20, 2017 05:04
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SyntheticPolygon posted:The only thing I hear about K is Mist. Is it just generic outside of the originals or is it actually decent but Mist just overshadows everything. But yes, the biggest issue is its protagonist, Mist Rex. More specifically, his attitude towards the entire cast is what causes Mist to drown out everything. He's built from the "jaded rear end in a top hat protagonist who gets better over time due to experiences" mold, but when Mist reaches what would normally be the point where such a character changes and improves as a person, he plateaus and stays there without really changing. Couple that with some really offensive lines from him, such as when Soushi Minashiro sacrifices himself to stop the main villain, and Mist's response (in front of the grieving Fafner cast) is to say something along the lines of "Well, that was a fun adventure!" and seemingly not acknowledge what Soushi did. Do note that the main villain destroyed Mist's homeworld and was kind of the driving force behind Mist's actions. At the end of the day, K is a rather mediocre game with weird design choices overshadowed by an unlikable protagonist and a plagiarism scandal.
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Jul 20, 2017 05:56
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The one good thing you can say about K is that it had a fun and surprising series list.
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Jul 20, 2017 12:25
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HiKaizer posted:The one good thing you can say about K is that it had a fun and surprising series list. I maintain that K's greatest sin was being the game that introduced Gun X Sword to the series. Because god drat, GxS deserved so much better for it's debut and now we'll probably never see it in a SRW again outside of maybe X-Omega.
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Jul 21, 2017 06:43
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 Here we are again, and, surprise, Quatre’s been bumped off the top ace list by Iczer-1. Ichitaka still has a four kill lead, while she and Kenji are tied.  Cash money goes to upping Alto’s (he’ll likely see plenty of action) and Great Mazinger’s weapons, while Shinji and Daiya get a few boosts here and there (FYI: on barrier units, armor > HP as a pip on the former can be the difference between a block or not).  All of the Godannar folks are event units today, so we switch things up a bit: Jeeg/Kyo Reiji/Klan (not ideal but it’ll serve for now) Dancouga/Rei Iczer-1/Puria Kouji/Yagyuu Tetsuya/Canaria Ozma/Luca Alto/Michel Zechs/Noin Daiya/Yanma Kouichi/Quatre (HP bonus means Kouichi regens more and the EN regen is always nice for him) Shinji/Yamashita (their weapon spread is pretty similar, and the Squad Bonuses complement each other well, so they’ll fit together nicely) Combattler/Shizuna Voltes/Dick (better than wasting Klan’s +mobility on a super, and, hey, Double Image) Ichitaka/Miu Forward!  We open up at the Frontier, where Grace tells Sheryl that she couldn’t find much about the Galaxy: the main island was severely damaged when the Vajra attack and they had to perform and emergency Fold. Where they ended up at is anyone’s guess, though the question may be purely academic and, Sheryl sighs, we ARE in a different world. Grace tells her not to look so glum, though, as she heard rumors that a way back may not be impossible. In that case Sheryl wants to leave the hospital right away and show everyone that she’s still going strong, but Grace vetoes that. She’s still running a fever and, as such, her whole agenda’s been cancelled until she’s made a full recovery. Sheryl doesn’t like that, saying she can’t skip out on her work any more than she already has. “Are you scared, maybe? I suppose that’s understandable; Ranka’s been growing more popular by the day, plus, Lacus and Eida’s have quite the rock-solid fan-base,” Grace thinks. Sheryl tries playing it cool, and Grace tells her not to worry: as soon as she’s better, she’ll have more gigs than she’ll know what to do with. Grace takes off, leaving an annoyed Sheryl behind. Why is she being hospitalized for so long? If I was only because of her fever, she’d already be home…  And Grace gets her evil face on to have a laugh: Sheryl, that is Faery 9, is already finished.  And Alice’s just approached the JUDA eggheads with a request: she wants her AI modified to a full-on combat configuration. Rachel is very much against the idea as doing so would require formatting her mind – her memories, everything she’s learned, would be gone. Still, Alice wants it done as she’s not confident she can properly assist Ichitaka in battle the way she is. Maki understands where she’s coming from, but there’s a problem: making that switch now wouldn’t change her performance at all. See, throughout all her exposure to combat since this started, Alice’s current AI has already grown to the point where it’s actually better than the old combat AI that Grife had designed. Alice didn’t expect to hear that, so Iczer-1 suggests that she have some faith in her own potential. Rachel agrees: she’s certain that Alice will be able to handle the Straybird when it shows up again. Furthermore, Iczer-1 reminds her, we’ll all be there to help so she shouldn’t see this as a fight she’ll need to face alone. Indeed, Iczer-1 ponders that she also has her own rival to defeat – Iczer-2 is out there and we’ve no idea when she might strike again. And, for that matter, the Cthulhu have been strangely quiet since their last assault. What could Big Gold be planning?  Rest of our folks are at a park near JUDA, playing with some miniature practice bots (though Kouji’s having a hard time controlling is, crashing into Boss). Shinji’s not too sure about giving that a try, but Misato suggest he go for it. Everyone needs to have some fun, and Rei, of all people, taking part in the game. Why not follow her example? Shinji’s a bit surprised, asking the girl if she knows how to control these things. Her answer is a short denial – she might still be angry over what he said about Gendou. Ru DID say he didn’t have anything to worry about, but yeah… Shizuru sees that folks are starting to get the hang of the bots, but that’s no reason to relax – they can still get hurt if they mess around too much. And once everyone’s ready, we’ll be moving to a game of soccer WITH the practice bots! Kenji asks why, and she says it’ll both help them adapt more easily in case they need to switch units and, also, bolster teamwork. Hyouma and Kosuke can see that training like this is how she managed to handle the Godannar as quickly as she did, but what Kenji wants to know is why she brought out this soccer thing. He’s only just now figured out how to get the bot moving right. Not so with Anna, though, who’s been working with these things since she started training and is an old hand at manning them! But, wait, Hiyoshi objects, doesn’t that mean that any team with Anna’ll have a big advantage? Not quite, as Shizuru promises to enter the other team as a way to keep things balanced.  Noin looks on at how much Shizuru’s putting on her plate, Zechs figuring she’s doing this to offset her deficiencies with the Godannar, help Anna train, relax our crew and improve ourselves all in one stroke. What’s bugging Misato is how much JUDA’s rolling in cash to be able to afford all these training robots. She’s actually a bit jealous – maybe they could send some of those big bucks to NERV? The budget they get from the Japanese government sure doesn’t cover all they need. Odd, as Zechs would expect the organization responsible for preventing the Third Impact to be rolling in it. The Dannar and Build Bases don’t get a lot of kickbacks, either, but Misato still finds it strange how especially unfriendly the Japanese government is to NERV. Maybe it’s due to Gendou’s abrasive personality? Noin isn’t too sure, inwardly thinking that there could be people who don’t want NERV growing too strong, and, thus, keep their cash flow limited. That’s not Logos, mind, as she’s heard those guys have cut all contact with NERV for some reason. Misato was actually hoping to get some info out of this exchange, but quietly sees that no one’s talking. Or could it be that these old Preventer agents don’t know anything about SEELE?  Some time later, training’s all done. Even Alice rushed on over to take part in it, and she explains to Chizuru that she wanted to get any pilot training she can. Ichitaka worries that she’s overworking herself since she already has so much to do, but Alice explains that Ru’s arrival reduced some of her workload. So, she has some new free time and figured she’d spend it with us. Well, if she’s not pushing herself too hard, then there’s nothing wrong with that – we were just taken aback with how suddenly she arrived. Either way, Shizuru asks how everyone felt handling different units – difficult? Very much so to Ichitaka, who’s glad he could at least make do with the Rushbird. Indeed, Kosuke agrees that while this was mostly a game, it’s clear that there’s a big difference when you’re running a simulator and actually piloting something. Alto himself managed to get around once he got the hang of it – maybe the princess is a training bot savant, Michel quips. That’ll be all for today, then, and Shizuru asks everyone to keep what we’ve learned in mind as there’ll be more come tomorrow. Boss strikes a pose, saying he’s already looking forward to it – he’s always willing to learn – and, judging by the Combattler folks’ agreement, most of today’s team will be present tomorrow. For today, however, Shizuru still has some addition training with Anna, so they both take off.  Everyone’s beat, with Chizuru and Tsubaki already making a beeline for the bath with the rest of the girls. Kenji and Boss immediately smell the OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME. What’re they grinning there for, Puria asks. Nothing, nothing! Certainly nothing naughty… oh, crap, Boss has a nosebleed. Tetsuya can see their minds are going places, so he says the girls will have the private bath while Kenji and Boss stay at the public one. Mind you, Reiji’s already there so Tetsuya hopes they enjoy the scalding-hot water the guy goes for. Kenji thought that was just a crazy rumor, but, nope, Kouichi took a dip once and it seriously felt like Hell. Perfect, says Tsubaki, as maybe the heat will help sterilize their dirty minds – Shizuna and the others will be relaxing plenty while they burn, though. Please waaaaaait!   Ranka’s songs can be heard playing throughout the dorms and Ichitaka sees that she’s really getting famous – lot of folks are talking about her at his school. Not just there, even, as Nagisa saw in the news that the whole world is coming down with Ranka Fever, even the Earth Alliance nations! Pretty impressive to Kouji that her music is crossing boundaries that words couldn’t. Quatre warns against getting a prejudiced view of the Alliance nations, though, as while the military might be around Blue Cosmos’ tentacles, the civilians themselves are in no way as narrow-minded as them. Moreover, Kyo adds that there were plenty of countries that didn’t have a choice in whether they joined the Alliance or not (like Orb, for instance). Hell, Miu figures the Alliance military could be talked to normally, but it’s the fear that fills their minds that takes away any room for dialogue. Sayaka would rather we drop this dark subject, and just be happy that Ranka’s music is finally getting around. Luca himself is amazed at how fast she grew into a star, and Alto takes it to show that she’s the real deal – she wouldn’t have made it otherwise. Indeed, Johnny sees that she’s got it all going for her: she’s got real talent, the camera loves her and she has some major marketing force on her side. As Aoi smirks at his businessman spirit still going strong, Johnny explains to Daiya that everything points to Ranka’s manager himself being someone who’s actually devoted to showing how great her music is to the world. Daiya remembers the old guy from before, and agrees that he had this spark in his eyes while he worked.  This talk reminds Kouji of how beautiful that island they filmed at was – he’d like to go back there once things calm down. Boss himself would like to see a sequel to that movie, still starring Ranka and with Sheryl making another theme for it… And, speaking of, what happened to Sheryl? Shizuna knows how big of a deal she is at the Frontier, so it’s very weird that she hasn’t done anything lately. Ozma related that she was going to undergo some exams after returning to the Frontier, but she seemed well enough when she left us. Why hasn’t she been discharged yet? Maybe they’re just being cautious and having her take an extended rest, Nagisa wonders. Yui calls in right then, for Alto, saying a video disk arrived for his group from Mishoshi Academy – it was sent by Nagisa (Kasumi) and Nanase.  So Alto plays the disk, Nagisa greeting him, asking if everyone’s doing fine, and immediately scaring our Nagisa with how much she looks like her. At least now she sees why Michel and the others were so confused when they first met her. Nanase chimes in, reporting how Ranka told them of how hard we’re working down on Earth and how it’s totally a flu that’s kept us from coming back (Luca gets all wistful at the sight of her). Seems that Ranka cooked up a story to avoid outing Alto and co as mercs, and while the girls wanted to get in touch with us directly, civilians are currently forbidden from contacting Earth – thus, the video disk. And, as a special guest for this, they’ve called in Ranka to leave a message as well! She’s doing fine herself, as is her work, though she’s a bit sad she can’t see Alto; after Nagisa reminds her, Ranka notes that she went to see Sheryl and the girl looked bored out of her skull. So, she’d like to ask Alto to record a video himself to help cheer her up. Oh, and since we “know” some of those LOTUS guys and they’re friends with Sheryl, maybe he could ask them to join in on that? And that’s it for the call, Alto and the others saddened to hear that Sheryl’s still hospitalized. Megumi can see how she, a singer unable to sing, would be bummed out – she’s in the same situation as Goh, Tetsuya Kouji sees. Alto better get to it right away, he thinks.  And it’s time to check in with Djibril again, who proclaims himself to not be the kind of man that gets hung up on the past – doesn’t mean there isn’t a limit to his patience regarding Neo’s string of failures, though. He understands that losses are inevitable in war as the enemy can grow desperate, and sometimes thinks go awry… but orders are only given out because their success is necessary, and they must be accomplished. Neo says he understands, in which case he better start producing some results – else Logos’ plans will start going south. Now, regarding his next mission, they’ve just completed the construction of the Destroy Gundams, so they’ll be sending them his way. Had the Phantom Pain successfully taken out the Minerva back when they could, none of this would be necessary, but, fine, they’ll roll with it. He’ll also be sending him the Gundam Heavy Arms – the pilot’s a loyal Blue Cosmos soldier – so Neo needs to get the western Eurasian front pacified NOW. He can do that, right? Inwardly, Neo ponders the two Destroys he’s getting; one will have to go to Sting, and the other will inevitably have go to Stella who an “agent” rescued at Diokia. Oh, what an unpleasant job he has.  Cut to Kiriyama Heavy Industries, where the CEO’s conferring with a suspiciously Katou-like portrait. Jinrais have been deployed in bases throughout the country, so they’re ready to proceed to the next phase. Indeed, all preparations are complete and they’re poised to take action at the appointed time – they’ll soon free this country all those incompetent politicians and bureaucrats! The speaker will be looking ward to it.  And, uh oh, Domyoji is here and Kiriyama tells him to make ready to deploy – he’ll be leading the Jinrai troops. Domyoji is very grateful, while Kiriyama is busy counting his chickens: “Soon I shall rise to be the leader of this nation. Hmhmhmhm…”  *BASH!* : That’s it! Now put some “oomph” into it! : Yes, ma’am!: Hesitation makes you an easy read! Have faith in yourself and attack!: Yes, ma’am!: And keep an eye on how fast the Plasma Drive’s turning! You won’t be able to combine with how it is right now!: I’m sorry, ma’am!: If you’ve got time to apologize, then concentrate on your handling!: Yes, ma’am!!: Here we go! Drive Change, GO!: Drive Cha— WAAAAH!!*BOOM!* : And the combination’s a failure… both units are trashed.: I’m so sorry! I’ve been screwing this up so much…: No, this one’s on me – I ran my mouth for too long. And I think this is enough for today. Good work.: Thank you very much!*Anna takes off.* : …Whew, alright. I could also use a breather, I think…: …: Mira? What are you doing here?: … Hard at work until late, huh?: Anna’s the one who’s been working hard – I’m just lending her a hand.: Hm…: She’s really giving this all she’s got, likely hoping to bring some peace of mind to Goh with it.: … I’ve been bringing dinner to Goh’s room these past days, but he won’t even say a word to me.: Reminds me of how he was five years ago after he lost you… Actually, no, it’s not that bad right now.: Huh…: Back then, it was like life had lost all meaning to him. He’d wake up, eat, and go to bed… that was all he did every day. He was dead in almost every sense of the word. : … He really loved you with all his heart.: Goh…: But, before anyone realized it, he met that darling girl and even got married… Her strength played a major role in helping him go back to who he was.: … Five years that are a blank to me, but where so much happened to him.: Mira…: Did I lose him in those five years…?: … You’ll be fine. I, on the other hand, didn’t even try fighting in the first place.: Shizuru…: Actually… I just didn’t have the courage to fight – the courage to speak what I felt out loud…: And that’s why I’ve decided to help Anna become an even better pilot than me. Then I’ll be able to make peace with everything.: That’s why you’re doing all this for her…?: …Ah, never mind. Forget I said anything, alright? If Anna got wind of that, I’d lose all respect as her teacher.: (I… I don’t think I could be like you, Shizuru…)*Alert!* : The alarms?!*Beep!*  : We’ve an emergency! Mimetic Beasts have been sighted at the industrial complex by the Dannar Base! LOTUS is to deploy immediately! Repeat…: Urgh, and here I was hoping to get a shower and some sleep…!: Let’s get going, Shizuru! Mission 14 – Nighttime Deathmatch  Misato is NOT happy with these things interrupting her beauty sleep (that’s gonna give her wrinkles!); Kenji himself is having a hard time moving with how much his burnt skin stings, but Kouji suggests he be glad that’s all he ended up getting. He oughta to check in with Alice once this is over. Letting this industrial complex get trashed would have far reaching consequences, so Reiji commands us to deal with the Mimetic Beasts before that. Shizuru’s eager to wrap this up fast and Tetsuya Kouji’s got her back. Goh himself is cheering Anna on, and she’s ready to get to work.  Don’t lose the ships, Shizuru or Anna. This mission’s pretty simple, though the few water areas might some Mimetic Beasts a bit hardier (but that’s why we have Daiya and Kenji around). I’ll be sending about 1/3 of my troops down SE to deal with the things, but the remaining will stay up here for what’s to come. In hindsight, this was my inner Skill Point voice telling me to rush, but I reckon the simpler (albeit slower) way would simply be to park my guys at the NE corner and let the mobs come to us. Regardless, this still isn’t too dangerous (especially if your vanguard guys are immune the EN drain).  Player Phase!  Fast forward a full turn and our guys are here. I sent the Valkyries, Voltes, Combattler, Zechs and Iczer-1 over.      That’s one of her, Michel, Dick and Shizuna. The plot’ll kick in when we get the mooks under 15.  Enemy Phase!  And Dick’s team takes a pummeling, though nothing TOO bad. On the flip side, they take 4 kills, while Hyouma and Zechs take another – that pushes us past the threshold.  Another batch of Mimetic Beasts pop out of the woodwork, much to Tetsuya and Mira’s annoyance. Ichitaka hopes that’s the last of them, but in comes new heat signals. More of them? No, it’s Ken and Lou (Anna isn’t happy that she’s still with him), and he immediately charges after a specific Mimetic Beasts. The thing readily slaps him away, but Ken is undeterred: “This sensation… You may change your form, but I can tell who you are! I have long waited for this day!” Ken’s been searching for this particular Beast for a long time. Shizuru’s just about to move after him when Kiriko phones in and tells us to keep away: we cannot risk stimulating his fighting instincts recklessly. Goh sees where this is going, and, indeed, the ferocity he’s displaying right now means he runs the risk of triggering the Rabid Syndrome. And if he loses control, there’ll be no stopping him. Kurara and Aoi figure she means what happened with Moukaku, so Reiji tells everyone to focus solely on the Mimetic Beasts. We’re to minimize our attacks at the Menage Zero as much as we can.  Our objective now is to kill the Type 18 Mimetic Beast, and it’s not actually that more of a threat than the regular ones.       It only has 13.3k HP, and nothing to fall back on. That said, you’ll want to have plenty of morale to go around by the time you kill it.  The new Beasts are mostly moving in, while our southern detachment is hard at work: Ozma takes another kill. Mind you, Lou and Ken won’t attack us either, so be careful they don’t steal your kills. Player Phase!  Off go our sniper boys.     Yamashita doesn’t hit quite as hard, unfortunately.  Underwater mooks means Daiya gets to lead the charge, while Ichitaka and Aoi each take one of the flying Beasts by our ships.  Survivors are promptly hunted down, lest Ken take them.     Bam.  Oh, and down south, I’m having Combattler take the front with Iron Wall. His and Shizuna’s boosted HP will all but guarantee the AI comes running and their immunity to debuffs makes for prime tanking material.  While Alto and Ozma’s teams both take some weakened targets, Zechs follows up on the Voltes crew.     Alright.  Jeeg’s combined weapons work just fine against underwater targets, mind, so he can very easily oneshot these.  Oh, why not? Reiji and Kouichi’s teams are dodgy enough.       And that’s three kills for Jeffrey. Enemy Phase!  And the AI sticks to the plan perfectly. The southern group SWARMS Hyouma, he and Shizuna raking in a total of 7 kills. Iczer-1 takes two, while Zechs takes in another one.  Oh, and this guy decides to go after Ozma just because.    That’s one for him and Luca. And, by the by, Daiya just took another 3 underwater mooks up top.    Ken’s plinking away at stuff. Player Phase!  And that’s pretty much game for us. Only a handful of mooks are left, and they easily fall to Kouichi, Jeeg, Daiya and Aoi. Now we’ll wreck the Type 18 and get things moving.       Here comes the moneeeeeeeey! : The new Mimetic Beast has started to regenerate!: Psh, the thing’s as much of a pain as the rest of ‘em! : Stay away from that one! It is mine! HAAAAH!*Ken moves after the Type 18.* : The only thing my blade cannot slice is myself! ROSAAAAAA!  : What the—! A robot came out of it?!: That Beast had something like that inside of it…?!: What is that bot…? : It belonged to someone very dear to Ken. : Someone dear to him? : … And he’s been searching for it all this time?: We meet again at last, Celleblader. How have I waited for this moment… If only I could see you again, Rosa…: … … Lou, do you think you can pilot it?: Ah?: We cannot well leave it here. Will you pilot it or not?: … I will!*Lou moves over to the Celleblader.* : … Sorry, Diver, dad… : This is the machine of Ken’s beloved… Here we go, Celleblader!: Let us combine, Lou!: Aye, aye! Celleblader, GO!!: Blade Gainer – Twin Drive!! : Th-They combined?!: HAAAAH! DIIIIIEEEEEE!!  : Wow…: That’s how strong he actually is…?!: Haah… Haah… Rosa… I’ve finally, finally crushed it… Urk…grgh…GWAAAAAH!: Ken?!: ?! Something’s wrong with him!: Is that… Did he trigger the Rabid Syndrome?!: Oh, no! Anna, get away from there! : GRAAAAAAAH!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBwc_WtlUqo  : Shizuru!: A-An…na…: Shizuru, is something wrong?!: Her mental graphs are all dipping!: Captain, recover the Dannar! I’m headed to the hangar!: Daiku Maryu, full speed forward! : Shizuru! Shizuru, you alright?! : … : She’s passed out… I’ll get her to the infirmary.: Dr. Franklin… take care of her, please.: I will. Leave it to me.: Menage Zero… you’ll pay for this!  : We’re going, Dannar!: Goh, you’re…!: Goh, get back immediately! You cannot fight!: No… I need to settle this with my own two hands!: And what will you do if you also fall to the Rabid Syndrome?!: I’ll take care of this before it comes to that!: Anna, stop him! That’s an order!: Please don’t, Anna! If you love me as my wife, then you won’t do that!: Stop him! Now!: Even if I tried to stop him, I doubt he’d listen! Best way out of this is to settle things quickly so he can get back!: And we’re bring Lou along with us!: Took the words out of my mouth.: Mr. Moritsugu!: … I haven’t the authority to stop him. If anything happens, I shall take full responsibility and handle it accordingly.: Oof, now that’s cold.: Alice, can I ask you to keep a close eye on Goh for any signs of the Insania Virus?: Yes, sir!: And Ms. Kizaki, I am counting on you to provide tactical insight to both minimize damage to the compound and the duration of this battle.: Copy that. : We’ll help you too!: Hrm…!: I suppose all we can do is pray that the virus doesn’t go active… Attack, all of you!: I’m sorry, mom!: We gotta make this the quickest showdown in history, then!: And we’ll pay back what he did to Shizuru twice as hard!: This all ends today!: I… I’ll kill you all!! Blade Gainer Twin Drive Mode (Ken, Lou Roux) Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Break Morale Limit (気力限界突破 – morale limit increased to 170) Predict Prevail L9 Support Attack L1 Support Defense L1 Crazy-rear end Ken is bulky as hell with that Prevail L9 and is, by a significant margin, the hardest-hitting enemy we’ve found. That being said, he’s not too dangerous because he still suffers from his original problem of very limited range: 1-3 is his best, and many of our guys can reach beyond that. Do note that he’ll be very hard to dispose of if you let him take a dip in water, so draw him out if that’s the case. Let’s get right into it.   Can’t believe it took me three whole games to get some Akira Kushida going here! : Take a look, Goh! I’ll take this guy out, and bring both Lou and some peace to you!: You, defeat me?! Don’t make me laugh! The likes of you are no match to the Blade Gainer!   : … I can’t be beaten. I cannot show myself defeated, not to Goh, not to her…!: I see the doubt festering in your heart…. You’ll inflict not even a single wound on me in that state!: I’ve no doubts about how I feel…!         : Bring it on, Menage Zero! I’m here to wreck heinous baddies like you!: You amuse me… But I haven’t the time to play with you!         : How dare you hurt Shizuru so, Menage Zero! I’ll make you pay for that even if I have to succumb to the Rabid Syndrome!: Your resolve also runs that deep, hm…? As you wish. I’ll face you in earnest out of respect for that!     Goh: “I’m taking Lou back, Blade Gainer!”    : No… I’m not done yet!: Ken, that’s enough!: Don’t talk back to me!: !: Please… Lou… Let me… fight to the end…: Ken…: UWOOOOOO!! : GAAH!!: Goh!*Anna moves after him.* : Stay away! I won’t let you hurt him!: Anna, don’t! I… I couldn’t bear to lose you!: Oh, Goh… what would you do without me? You would forget to change your socks, you’d be scarfing down sweets, waltzing around naked after taking a bath…: You’d oversleep all the time if I wasn’t there to wake you up, too! You… You can’t do anything without me!: Anna…: Which is why I wouldn’t die like this. I still have so much to help you with throughout our lives! So, I… I’ll always be here with you!: …: (She’s the one Goh leans on today… If I hadn’t died five years ago, that might’ve been me…): Then… you’ll die together!: Goh, let’s combine!: Alright! Drive Change, GO! : Dannar, ON!: Revolver, OPEN! : Godannar – Twin Drive!: Yeah! They got their twin drive going!: (I want nothing but for the one I love to be happy… Goh living a long life, finding someone new and being happy with her are all in line with that…): (So why… why does it hurt so much…?): We’ll put an end to this before the Plasma Drive reaches its limit!: You got it!: DEEYAAAAA!!: HAAAAAAH!!           : They did it…!: It’s like he never left the pilot seat…: Guh…!: Ken!: Lou, I’m sorry…: Don’t. I chose this… : W-Wait! You’re not— Urk!: Goh?!: I-I’m fine. Don’t worry about it…!: Are you sure, Saruwatari?: Yeah, it’s nothing!: You’re not pulling our leg, are you? You know what you’re not supposed to go too far here.: I told you, I’m fine! Have some faith in me! : Goh…: Now let’s go…! I’ll take out every one of these monsters!: Goh…     Done!  That’s all Mimetic Beasts confirmed destroyed, and Goh’s looking pretty tired. He’s sweating a lot, too. Alice isn’t detecting the Insania Virus coming active yet, but Goh isn’t 100% fine either. Kiriko calls Goh and Anna back to the Dannar Base to run some exams right away. Anna apologizes to Reiji for having to take off like this, but he doesn’t mind – actually, he already expected this. Ichitaka hopes Goh’ll be fine, but at least Sayaka points out the silver lining that he didn’t trigger the Rabid Syndrome. Indeed, Michel figures our main concern now should be Shizuru – he fears she had a concussion or something. Tetsuya Kouji is sure she’ll be up and about real soon, though.  At the Dannar Base, the exams have already come in: Goh’s body is showing signs of tremendous stress equivalent to the Rabid Syndrome. While his mental fortitude is holding for now, Kiriko knows there’s a limit to that. So what will happen to him? Well, he should stabilize if he gets plenty of rest, but if the Insania Virus flares up again, he’ll go full-on Rabid Syndrome and it’ll be impossible for him to recover. All in all, Kiriko tells Anna that Goh can NOT pilot the ever Dannar again – it’s the only way to save his life. Kagemaru steps in, reporting that they’ve recovered the Cosmo Diver and that they could transfer it over to LOTUS for us to use. There’s the matter of who’d pilot it, and while Kiriko would normally choose Shizuru, she’s already manning the Dannar. On cue, Franklin calls the Base with news: while Shizuru’s still alive, her situation is critical. Honestly, he doesn’t know if she can be saved and, even if that happens, she’s in a coma and her chances of coming out of it aren’t looking good. The news hits Anna hard, knowing Shizuru’s in that state because she shielded her…   : …: Shizuru… Why…!: This has gotta be some sick joke...! You’re saying she might never open her eyes again?!: Her internal wounds were far greater than the external ones. I’ve done all that I can, but…: But… maybe you got your diagnosis wrong, right, Doc? Right?! : She… She said she was going to continue our training tomorrow… : You can’t go back on your word, Shizuru! drat it, why’s any of this happening?!: drat it… that son of a bitch, Menage Zero…!: (Shizuru… What will Anna do without you around…?)*Door opens.* : Shizuru!: …: This… This is my fault…! If I was better at controlling the Goh Okusaer, none of this would’ve happened… I… I… AAAAAAH!!: Anna…: Shizuru… Shizuru… I’m sorry…!*Door opens.*  : Pull yourself together, Anna. This comes as a heavy blow to everyone, not just you. : Professor, how’s Goh?: …: Don’t do this to us, Prof… Nothing happened to him too, right?!: … He’s fine, somehow. But there’ll be no going back if he has another outbreak.: What…? The Insania Virus has grown that strong?!: It’s only his strong mind that’s kept him from breaking.: It’s all because of me… I should have stopped him, or fought harder, or, or…!: Anna... We all did everything we could out there.: And while I know that won’t make you feel any better, beating ourselves over what happened won’t bring Shizuru back. : Guys… At the Daiku Maryu’s bridge, Goh’s back and apologizes for the worry him rushing out with the Dannar caused us. He’s being allowed to continue with us as part of our advisory team, but he’ll need to take it easy. Ichitaka’s relieved, as losing Goh would’ve hit him hard. There are still no prospects on a cure of the Rabid Syndrome, Franklin and Rosa sigh, despite the fact that JUDA and all other major scientific institutes working to try and find something. It might be a while until any breakthroughs, unfortunately. But another problem comes in right then: “Captain Lulu, we’ve an emergency transmission from JUDA!” Emi yells. The scene ends as Lulu takes the call. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Jul 21, 2017 |
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Jul 21, 2017 20:40
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Brunom1 posted:
Ken sure calmed down quickly, too bad he doesn't remember he's to blame for this quote:
Should Anna change to her pilot face here? It'd make sense with her emotional state, but she wasn't using the pilot image on her previous line. Also, I know this is probably the single worst moment to ask this considering you likely lost the unit seeing how both pilots are out of commision, but, is there any particular difference between the Goddannar with either Okusaer? Can you even unite the Neo with the Dannar after Anna joins? The story seems to suggest no, at least. And this will come across as a bit whiny, and repeating a previous thing I said, but I genuinely don't get one of your translation choices, namely having everyone refer to Moritsugu by name. I get your explanation for it, but it's inconsistent, everyone refers to him as Mr. Moritsugu because he's higher-ranked, keeping the whole thing extremely formal (since Moritsugu isn't exactly the friendliest guy, as we've seen). You had people call each other by last names in this update due to formality, he seems to be the only exception you're making (and Kiriyama as Eiji, but I don't think you had anyone directly refer to him by name, only the narration). Furthermore, you kept everyone calling Yamashita by last name, despite being no formal reason to do so outside of a Japanese context. I wouldn't point it out, but with knowledge of what happens later in the series (and not exactly a lot later), there's a whole two people who refer to Moritsugu as "Reiji" and it's kind of important who they are, seeing how they're genuinely close to him. And while I'd expect it to be cut considering manga/anime differences...well, I don't think it will be different here, seeing how the plot points that lead to them are already in the game.
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Jul 21, 2017 21:54
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Blaze Dragon posted:Ken sure calmed down quickly, too bad he doesn't remember he's to blame for this Fixed the things. And, yes, you can still combine the Dannar with the Neo, but it's weaker than with the Goh Okusaer. And regarding the Reiji thing. Whenever you see someone address him as Mr. Moritsugu, it's because they called him by his full title (森次室長), i.e., they're actively addressing him formally. Seeing how I ran him as simply being the Head of JUDA's Special Forces, I couldn't translate the title literally when this happens. Thus, Mr. Moritsugu applies. Regarding Yamashita, yes, I realize that his first name is Satoru - I started writing it like that as a slip-up, and by the time the other shoe dropped, it was too late to switch back. The same applies with Reiji, I'm sorry to say: I've been addressing the way I have for over 14 missions and it's too late to switch every single one of them now. As for Eiji, yeah, I'm just writing his name like that in the summaries, but I wouldn't have folks call him as such - since he's only been in two scenes, I can change that easily. Bottom line, I'm sorry, but you'll have to live with it - had I known those folks familiar with Reiji were a thing from the get-go, I might've done things differently. Now, it's too late.
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Jul 21, 2017 22:11
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So is Anna the main character of Godannar? Because a harem anime from the perspective of one of the girls sounds kind of neat in concept. Also gotta love how Lou doesn't seem to have any problems working with a guy who almost murders her friends for literally no reason.
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Jul 22, 2017 01:51
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Alacron posted:So is Anna the main character of Godannar? Because a harem anime from the perspective of one of the girls sounds kind of neat in concept. Given how that last mission ended, I don't think she's got a whole lot of choice left in the matter. She's stuck in the cockpit with the bloodthirsty loon and her only saving graces are that she's his copilot and he still seems to have some shred of sanity left.
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Jul 22, 2017 02:22
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Alacron posted:So is Anna the main character of Godannar? Because a harem anime from the perspective of one of the girls sounds kind of neat in concept.
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Jul 22, 2017 04:45
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 Ishigami’s called us because an SOS from ZAFT just came in. Video sent over shows a city in ruins and, according to ZAFT, it’s due to an Earth Alliance campaign at central Eurasia. Already there have been three cities destroyed, all of them having previously rejected the Alliance and sided with the PLANTs. Seems pretty clear to Yamashita that they’re being made examples of, and Tetsuya Kouji sniffs at how those guys call the Coordinators monsters when they pull crap like this. Either way, Lady Une says we can’t let this continue unabated – we’re to stop the Alliance’s onslaught immediately, and if they don’t do so nicely, then we’re authorized to use force. Quatre’s ill at ease with that, but Une’s certain the general public will be on our side for this one. But hold on a second, another emergency crops up – what did the Alliance do now? Actually, it’s not them: Yui’s getting info that the SDF Jinrai teams have staged an uprising! They’ve taken control of the Japanese Prime Minister’s residence and declared martial law. Apparently, Eiji Kiriyama’s the mastermind behind it all; he’s just killed the former PM and declared himself the new leader of Japan. Seems like the guy and his company have just staged their personal coup, and Ishigami realizes all too late that this was his goal with the development and delivery of the Jinrai to the SDF.  A call comes in from Igarashi, warning that Kiriyama’s sending troops to attack JUDA HQ and destroy LOTUS. We need to get ready to defend ourselves now, as the SDF’s already poised to deploy! Shots start being fired in the background and Igarashi, seeing that he’s been found, needs to get going: “Go and take Japan back from Kiriyama’s clutches!” All the comm goes down, Ichitaka fears that Igarashi turned deserter to bring us that warning; Ishigami knows the guy and his sense of justice, so he figures the intel is good too. With that in mind, Reiji tells Une that we’ll need to split our forces to deal with these issues in tandem.  Goh gives us the rundown: the Eurasian team will be working with the Mineva, so they’ll be sending the SMS Crew (includes Voltes, Hiyoshi sees), Combattler, Iczer-1, Team D, as well as the Dannar and Mazinger groups. It’ll fall on them to pull the brakes on the Alliance’s rampage. Alto is a bit silent, and Luca wonders if he’s pondering the Alliance’s moves or, maybe, if he’s concerned there was something wrong with the video letter he sent back to Nanase and co. Neither, he’s just wondering why people have to go and defile the very land they live in. Team D knows where he’s coming from, Sakuya noting that folks don’t seem to notice how blessed we are to have all this – rather, we take the air we breathe, the calm wind, all for granted. Sakuya became a homeless because he wanted to experience all that in the flesh. As for the team that’ll defend JUDA, we’ll have their own folks, the Preventers, the EVAs, the Build Team and the Daiku Maryu. Zechs himself knows that nothing changes with a coup, and wonders why the same mistake is happening again. Shinji spent some time living in Misaki, so he’ll have to work hard to keep JUDA and the town in one piece. As for Ichitaka, Reiji gets to choose:  Top option is to have him stop the Alliance’s onslaught, bottom is to help defend JUDA. As usual, we’ll be doing both paths, but here’s a clean list of the series: Stop the Earth Alliance: Macross F Iczer-1 Mazinkaiser Combattler Voltes Dancouga Nova Godannar Defend JUDA: Linebarrels Gundam W Evangelion Jeeg Gaiking  Choose the Eurasia route and Ichitaka’s eager to meet up and get to work with the Minerva crew. Same goes for Luca, what with how suddenly we had to leave them after what happened in Diokia. That decided, Tetsuya tells the team to board the Quarter and to prep themselves for battle.  Choose the JUDA route and Une figures it makes sense – it IS Ichitaka’s hometown; he’s grateful to come along too. Kouichi, meanwhile, is hyped to get going: whatever Kiriyama’s up to, it won’t fly with us on the job! That said, Miu warns him not to get complacent as the Jinrais are powerful units. Kouichi confirms, giving her the same formal treatment he gave Yamashita, which she immediately tells him to stop. No honorifics, no formalities, no nothing – they’ve known each other for too long for him to be like that. Kouichi stutters a bit, but concedes. Emi jumps in, yelling that JUDA’s a stone’s throw away – he needs to get ready to deploy! Kouichi doesn’t know what the rush is, but is still dragged out. Yamashita ignores them, finding it curious how Kiriyama managed to capture the PM’s residence so soon after announcing the Jinrai. How did he have so many troops ready to go? Indeed, Ishigami figures things went too smoothly for the guy, up to and including how the SDF adopted the Jinrai as their official unit and had it shipped to every one of its bases. It’s very likely some of the SDF brass is on his side. Still, Misato wonders if it isn’t a bit too reckless to try and pull a coup in LOTUS’ own backyard; plus, Kyo notes, however strong the Jinrais may be, it’d stand to reason that he’d wait for us to be outside of Japan before pulling this. There must be a reason for why he did it right now.  Kenji himself isn’t too worried, figuring the Jinrais won’t amount to much with how hastily they were built; plus, Mido says, from what we saw in their specs and Kiriyama’s demo, the things are nothing we can’t handle. Seems to Saotome that we’re being underestimated and she’s very eager to make them regret it. With that, Reiji tells the Japan team to get ready to deploy and we’ll move to intercept Kiriyama’s troops. His silence at the end may or may not mean much. And before we close things off, I’ve a question to ask of you, thread (secret spoilers ahead!): Stella or Michel? This vote will determine which secret I go for and, thus, which path I’ll keep here. And, yes, I know there’s another secret I could dump to get both but I actually care about that one! Make sure to have your vote spoiler-tagged for the benefit of those who’re coming in blind. This vote’ll remain open until Wednesday, I guess, but if the vote leans too heavily to one side I might just call it there.
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Jul 22, 2017 21:59
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Brunom1 posted:And before we close things off, I’ve a question to ask of you, thread (secret spoilers ahead!): Stella or Michel? This vote will determine which secret I go for and, thus, which path I’ll keep here. I vote for Michel.
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Jul 22, 2017 22:18
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Michel I never really used the other secret.
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Jul 22, 2017 22:38
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Stella. The other secret gives you at least an interesting pilot/mecha combo, I doubt you get anything from not getting Stella back. Also Kiriyama killed the Prime Minister and took over Japan...what? What the hell? That's not even remotely what happened in the manga! Literally the only thing that's in common between them right now is Kiriyama Heavy Industries attacking JUDA with their Jinrais! I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Kiriyama in the anime doesn't get a redemption arc, considering how even the manga version was an rear end in a top hat, but this one's taken actions I genuinely doubt the Japanese society could forgive.
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Jul 22, 2017 23:39
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| # ? Jun 12, 2024 11:37 |
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Go for Stella, and there's actually a good reason to do so. Both Stella and the secret that's opposite Michel will pick up kill counts with relation to the game's progress on a first run-thru. On subsequent runs, if you didn't get either Stella or Mystery Secret #2 on the first run, they will join with ZERO kills, while Michel will carry over his kill count if you don't get him.
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Jul 23, 2017 03:32
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