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Zoids Battle Story is actually super loving Hype and a lot of the events of it are just like... majorly awesome. Because there are very few "One Off" Zoids in the Battle Story, there were hundreds upon thousands of Liger Zeroes, and the Panzer CAS didn't so much turn them into a stationary tank as it did in the show but outfit them for what amounted to a 220 km/h tank. The Deathsaurer, which the Anime uses as a gigantic super weapon, was mass produced in the battle story, and faced fleets of Ultra Sauruses, the first war finally ends as the King Gojulas, a gigantic godzilla size motherfucker, is striding through enemy army, roaring and shaking the enemy to pieces, while the Zenebas empire has these gigantic hell cannons just blasting it. Then a meteor hits one of Zi's moons and rains rock apocalypse on both armies. Like the stories are written like legit sci-fi.
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Jan 14, 2018 11:48
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I remember someone describing the backstory as 'Heinlen does Transformers' - everything is very toyetic, yes, but it mostly avoids super-powered hero units in favour of huge battles where massive armies fight each other with animal-shaped tanks. Which sounds kinda goofy at first, but the folks in charge of the story always seemed to be more in the vein of military nerds, rather than anime fans.
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Jan 14, 2018 13:38
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:I remember someone describing the backstory as 'Heinlen does Transformers' - everything is very toyetic, yes, but it mostly avoids super-powered hero units in favour of huge battles where massive armies fight each other with animal-shaped tanks. Which sounds kinda goofy at first, but the folks in charge of the story always seemed to be more in the vein of military nerds, rather than anime fans. That's probably the closest, Like... if I had to compare it to something more modern, I'd say it's very similar to Battletech.
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Jan 14, 2018 13:42
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Awww, I really enjoyed Genesis. I liked that there were more high stakes and character growth than NCZ, and it was a sufficiently different take on the franchise to be novel. Anyway! I played this a few years ago and had fun with it. I remember that eventually I just stopped bothering with weapon parts and used Zoids with very powerful innate weapons since those could be powered up a lot more; an entire team of Liger Zero Panzers could just spam their Hit Every Enemy attack and wipe out anything and everything.
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Jan 14, 2018 14:22
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Shoeless posted:Anyway! I played this a few years ago and had fun with it. I remember that eventually I just stopped bothering with weapon parts and used Zoids with very powerful innate weapons since those could be powered up a lot more; an entire team of Liger Zero Panzers could just spam their Hit Every Enemy attack and wipe out anything and everything. This but Sturm/Jagd Furies in order to have good single target when needed.
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Jan 14, 2018 18:54
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dis astranagant posted:yah, Hank with That boy ain't right Thirded
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Jan 14, 2018 23:54
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dis astranagant posted:yah, Hank with That boy ain't right My vote goes here. I have vauge memories of watching Zoids at my neighbors house after school years ago. I'm looking forward to reading along. Also, the resolution of the images doesn't bother me, but I'm reading this from a tablet so I'm likely closer to my chosen screen than anyone on PC.
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Jan 19, 2018 04:35
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Going with Marty and GREAT SCOTT!
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Jan 20, 2018 06:15
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With this translation there's only one fitting choice. His name is Butz. His battle cry is SCREEECH!
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Jan 21, 2018 08:08
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Kemix posted:Going with Marty and GREAT SCOTT! This seems fine. But it's weird to think about Zoids as being basically Pokemon-sized. I suppose there's no law to say how big a robot has to be.
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Jan 21, 2018 16:36
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Glazius posted:This seems fine. I don't think many of them aside from Organoids are pokemon-sized. They're still mostly well over a dozen meters long; the Blade Liger for instance weighs over 120 tons and is almost 26 meters long and over 12 meters high. I'm pretty sure there aren't many pokemon that big.
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Jan 22, 2018 00:00
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Yeah, there are small Zoids but most of them are still gigantic. It's just that some of the stats of them are... inconsistent with anime portrayal Namely stuff like this.   While the Panzer is slower than the Zero, it's not "Can't actually move in combat." Slow, it's still blisteringly fast.   For the record some 'Wild Zoids'
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Jan 22, 2018 01:31
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That being said, Aircraft Carrier-sized Ultrasaurous is still rule of cool enough that I wish it was canon.
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Jan 22, 2018 01:40
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Hank and That boy ain't right! is a good combo, let's do that.
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Jan 22, 2018 08:00
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I remember playing this back in the day, never got anywhere though due to how little information there was on this game, even the guide was sparse. I do like this series, it's neat.
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Jan 22, 2018 17:42
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I'll try and update this tonight cause I'm sure not sleeping, so consider voting closed as of now. Most of the reason for the big delay is because I hosed off and climbed a mountain. Omni is all over the anime playing things very differently from the toyline, though. It does have some nice big setpieces but generally speaking "endgame" Zoids are bigger and tougher than their Battle Story counterparts, and Legacy follows the Battle Story for most things, which is convenient in some ways (since it makes the Liger ZERO Panzer actually usable) and annoying in others (Ultrasaurus not so much). Not that Battle Story doesn't have its ace pilots and huge events, though - one shot in the opening sequence of Zoids Fuzors is actually a reference to something that happens in the Battle Story and not at all in the show: Emperor Wolff Muroa used his personal Energy Liger in a climactic duel with long-time rival Republican ace Ray Gregg's Liger ZERO Falcon during the Republican attempt to retake their capital from the Neo Zenebas Empire, resulting in the Energy Liger's special Energy Charger system being damaged and entering a runaway meltdown. Wolff warned everyone in the area to evacuate while he tried to move the Energy Liger away, but even then the impending blast would probably have wiped out the whole city, but Ray Gregg used the Liger ZERO Falcon which has a similar system to link with it and siphon off the excess energy, bringing the Energy Charger back under control. Which is neat.
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Feb 6, 2018 07:52
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I've playing through on my own to see how weird and bad the translation is and I just saw a scene that is weird enough, in the best way possible, to make me just ask why. The amazing thing, was that the translation was not what made that scene weird.
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Feb 6, 2018 08:09
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I think my favorite part of Battle Story is the anticlimax that is literally Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. It's just so wonderfully absurd to think about.
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Feb 6, 2018 22:12
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Unless I miscounted real good, the winner seems to be Hank with "That boy ain't right." with 5 votes, putting it one ahead of Marty and "GREAT SCOTT!", which personally makes me slightly sad but THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN. This update is going to focus on the first challenge tier, both to get it out of the way and to work as a testrun with Irfanview and resizing images since they were apparently too small.   Challenging Mode is accessed from the options of the main menu, and consists of ten tiers of five battles each, which unlock as your save file reaches certain milestones throughout the game. The battles use fixed parties (but not fixed RNG, unlike, say, the training simulation challenges in SMT4/A), and are often based on scenes from the anime or replays of boss fights from the game itself (some of which unlock before the actual boss fight...).   1-1 is basically the first battle of the game in reverse: an AI-controlled Saberlion vs your two AI-controlled Molgas and a CannonryMolga. This one is fairly simple, since you have no commands, three potions, and three antidotes: the two Molgas in your front row keep themselves alive for as long as possible while the CannonryMolga shells the Saberlion.  While not worth going out of your way for due to the game just giving you a GunTiger, the CannonryMolga is actually a pretty good start-of-game unit thanks to how good the gun is, doing reliable damage with good accuracy.    The Saberlion has 15 DF, so the only way to deal more than scratch damage to it is with this gun. Thanks to the pilot having basically no stats, it only has 90 HP, though.   The Saberlion has a smokescreen generator which it will usually employ on the first turn, giving it bonus evasion, so it's better to rely on the 5-damage (with increased potential for a critical hit) Gatling weapon than the 10-damage but inaccurate "Go 4 Broke" ram.  Winning a Challenge battle gifts things to your save file, which can vary from common drops (like most of the first tier) to things you can't get any other way (like ZiData for BLOX Zoids that are precombined).   1-2 is basically the same as 1-1, except it's now the Zeru/Juno duo from round 2 of the story fight, and you have a lot more Molgas. It's critical to take out the GunTiger first - not only is it more fragile, but its Static Magnum can do a lot of damage to your CannonryMolgas, which are your only option for dealing damage. You get more Z Core SS for winning 1-2.  This fight is the boss fight that hasn't happened yet: "Mystery Woman" in her Redler vs Hank in his Saberlion. Notably, this stage gives you two deck commands to play with you won't get in the main story for some time: No Return, which doubles the weapon power of all friendly Zoids in battle at the cost of reducing their evasion by half, both for one turn; and Off-Grd Mines (which Andy and I can't decide if it's Off-Ground or Off-Guard), which stun all Flying-type Zoids for one turn. Since Flying-type Zoids gain a +20% evasion bonus against non anti-air weapons, using No Return to lock in a hit from the Saberlion's Hi-Wave Blade is a good option.  She hits hard, by the way. This is the first time that Challenging Mode is actually challenging, since unlike in the story you have to actually win this fight.  This version of Hank is a few levels higher and has Good Grapple, which raises the accuracy of melee weapons - that's what that blue background indicates. If you miss the 64% chance on your No Return Hi-Wave Blade, just reload; Mystery Woman will win in a slugging match.  If you hit, though... she only has 136 HP. For winning, you get Z Core FL, which is an extremely important component in ruining the difficulty of the early stages of the game.   Two Atak Kats (Hellcats) vs Hank and Juno. Hellcat is the OJR/OER name; Atak Kat is the American "Build Customize Mobilize" release name, presumably for the same reasons as the Burning Gundam/Dark Gundam debacle. (The Europe verison of the game still calls everything by their American names if there's any discrepency though.) The main problem with this is that they will usually activate their cloaking devices on turn one (and they will go first due to their high speed), which dramatically increases their evasion. Fortunately, the game gives you a new command to play around with: Muddy Ground, which halves the evasion of all Zoids in battle for one turn.   Juno has the ranged counterpart to Good Grapple in this fight, Multi-Shot, which lets her use multiple ranged weapons in one round, and an extra equipped weapon to make good on it. This will chew through your EP, but hey, damage is damage. Something I like is that if the Zoid's sprite animates during a Multi-Shot, it will remain that way for the other shots, like the GunTiger's head folding down for the Static Magnum, or Geno-series units digging in for their Charged Particle Cannons. If you lead with No Return and hopefully they succumb to stupidity and don't cloak right away, you can trivialize this; otherwise it's well and truly possible for them to nickel-and-dime you to death if the RNG hates you. For winning, you receive two Z Core ZN ("Zenebas") parts and the Saberlion's ZiData (one of a few bits of ZiData that can only be acquired through Challenging Mode).   1-5 is 1-2 but backwards: you have Hank and Juno vs the Molga squad of hate. Juno's top priority should be killing CannonryMolgas as quickly as possible with her Static Magnum and Vulcan Cannon, while Zeru can use No Return and his Gatling to obliterate the front line of Molgas. For clearing this, you get the Mines command, which stuns all ground-based Zoids for one turn, Cannonry U(nit) parts (for making a CannonryMolga), and the GunTiger ZiData (like the Saberlion, it can only be acquired this way). Mines doesn't sound useful but we'll be making heavy use of it for a bit, and even if you aren't going out of your way to ruin the game, stealing a turn to get your GEP back can potentially save a fight. I recommend you load your file and save after doing this, since I'm not sure if the game will actually autosave things to your file.   This little patch of the desert NW of Llama Town is important. The fights here are a bit rougher than before, featuring Saicurtis, DoubleSworders, Killer Domes, Cannon Tortoises, Pterases, all that fun stuff...  I probably should have done the Llama Town arc first to get some XP but gently caress that. People used to swear that you ABSOLUTELY MUSTN'T LET ZERU GAIN A LEVEL because Pulse comes in at level 2 and only levels up when Zeru does (surprisingly, the game apparently will not freak out if you manage to get Pulse at level 1 and then level up to 99 with Zeru, Pulse just won't gain a level), but since you can beat the game at like, level 40? gently caress that too.  A side effect of this is getting enough money to buy this Particle Cannon. We can't use it yet - but we will. Oh, we will.  Oh, Iguans! They aren't very good, but they're the Imperial version of the Gordos, so they're like a Gordos but cool.  Although not what I'm looking for, Hammer Rocks which are tiny Iron Kongs are very tough and quite powerful, especially once they close to melee range.  This is the encounter I was looking for! ... this may be a problem, since they're much faster than I am and hit extremely hard. There are a few ways we could solve this issue (including doing the Llama Town arc first, but that's for quitters).  I also thought I'd check and see if I could go get a much tankier Zoid from the undersea passage but Hank will stop if you try and guide him outside the current plot area.  On the way back I had to run from this battle after missing on a 78% hit chance seven times in a row. Get used to this; my bad luck defies common understanding of probability. Face the power of my 「Stand」, 「Born Under a Bad Sign」!  I was going to play Blood Bowl after this but I don't think I will now. I eventually settle on solving this the usual way: by throwing money at the problem until it stops being a problem.   Cannon Tortoise variants will tuck their head in when they come under attack, which is cute. This time you will not escape me... and now the fun part begins. DataGather1 chooses one of the Zoids in the enemy battle party at random when it fires (when you win the battle on the turn you activated it), which means I only have a 1/4 chance of actually getting the Redler's data. Conveniently, this chance is not decided until during the battle results dialogue, which makes rerolling for it very easy if you don't want to spend hours upon hours grinding for the drop. ... and I got it second try.  The last time I did this it took me two hours of save-state abuse from the battle results dialogue.  Maybe I'll go play some Blood Bowl after all... This is how close the race was since I forgot to buy healing items.     We are not supposed to have this right now. The only way to reliably get a Z Core FL is by Challenging Mode, and getting the Redler's ZiData is insanely difficult. In addition to its stats being off the charts in comparison to the Saberlion, its two built-in attacks are as powerful or better than the Saberlion's for a fraction of the price (Laser Blade is as strong as Hi-Wave Blade but far more accurate and costs less than half as much EP; Strike Claw is stronger than Hi-Wave Fang and is free). They also have anti-air, so that it doesn't get hosed by fliers.         You can vote on what colour this will be, since it will be Hank's ride for the forseeable future. (I'm partial to the blue myself.) Technically the Redler has a CLV of 5 but its stats are so high that you don't need to give a gently caress about that, since even with a penalty it's a huge step up from the Saberlion.   Next time: we actually do the thing I said we were going to do this time, last time!   The Godos is an improved version of the Garius, the first "large-scale" (piloted, not just ridden) Zoid created. This is the Republic's GM, its bread and butter, dating to ZAC 2030; while the Garius was faster (but not as agile), the Godos has heavier armor, mounts better weapons, is more stable, and has more agility (as mentioned). Not to be confused with the Gordos, a much larger Republican Zoid mainly used as artillery. After the ZAC 2056 Meteor Strike, the Godos was reintroduced as the Republic's standard infantry unit. I might build one, actually, since I kept getting wrecked by them out in the desert.  Proof that anything the Republic can do, the Imperials can do cooler. The Iguan is basically the same as a Godos, but it has a different set of weapons and customize parts to go with it, and in the Saga games it's generally treated as being a step better than a Godos.  The Empire's mainstay aerial weapon, although unusually for an aerial Zoid, its four legs mean it's capable of operating on land as well, and it possesses full VTOL capabilities. The lack of ranged weapons put it at a disadvantage against Zoids like the Raynos, but many Redler pilots improvised ranged weapons for their Redlers, and a later official upgrade, the Booster Cannon, was created to address this weakness. There was also a revised Black Redler that had stealth functions, and the Redler continued to serve as a squad-filler alongside the Zabat after the ZAC 2056 meteor strike. In this game, there are a couple of additional Redler designs, including the rather powerful Bloodler. Also, it took more than four clicks and I think I might up the quality next time, but whoever it was that pointed Irfanview out to me, thanks a lot. 
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Feb 8, 2018 08:18
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You do know that you could have just killed all the other trash one turn and dealt with the Redler on another to guarantee data gather works on what you want it to? The treasure hunting deck commands all only check living zoids at the start of the turn they're used. Of course, you still have to not miss the stupid Redler on that turn but that's a lot easier to savescum if you're in to that. Level 40 sounds crazy high for beating the game. I started up a run when you first posted the thread and my highest guy was 24.
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Feb 8, 2018 08:42
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I think we have to follow the Law of Chromatic Superiority and go with a REDler.
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Feb 8, 2018 08:54
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How to resize pixel art without making it ugly: Use png for your output format Resize by an integer multiple (200%, 300%, etc) Uncheck "Use Resample function" That's really all it takes. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 09:04
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dis astranagant posted:You do know that you could have just killed all the other trash one turn and dealt with the Redler on another to guarantee data gather works on what you want it to? The treasure hunting deck commands all only check living zoids at the start of the turn they're used. Of course, you still have to not miss the stupid Redler on that turn but that's a lot easier to savescum if you're in to that. That's DataGather2. DataGather1 is simply random among all Zoids that were in the enemy party. (I can prove this to you since the CannonryMolga was the last enemy I killed in that formation, on the turn after defeating the Redler and the two Saicurtis). DataGather2 will guarantee that it's the last Zoid you destroy, but DataGather1 and just plain random drops of ZiData aren't so merciful. EDIT: Remind me when I get DataGather2 to test how it works with attacks that hit multiple targets (since dead units are simultaneously removed from the field in this game, rather than one at a time).
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Feb 8, 2018 09:57
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dis astranagant posted:How to resize pixel art without making it ugly: What doesn't help is that they're 1.5x resized for some reason instead of 2x. Without also doing that, they'll still look really bad.
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Feb 8, 2018 10:10
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Ace of Aces posted:That's DataGather2. DataGather1 is simply random among all Zoids that were in the enemy party. (I can prove this to you since the CannonryMolga was the last enemy I killed in that formation, on the turn after defeating the Redler and the two Saicurtis). DataGather2 will guarantee that it's the last Zoid you destroy, but DataGather1 and just plain random drops of ZiData aren't so merciful. Yeah, looks like I'm wrong. Must be remembering Junk Parts. dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 10:55 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 10:38
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Hmm, I think I'll cast my vote for purple, much as I wish it were just a few shades darker I think it's a nice color. Or, failing that, brown since it looks like you've got a lot of desert battles, and while I doubt it's a mechanic, camouflage is a thing.
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Feb 8, 2018 13:08
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I'm voting for the Brown since it's a rarer colour as far as I can remember in the game and'll stick out a bit more.
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Feb 8, 2018 15:47
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Yeah, I like the Brown as well. Kind of looks like a gold, which is nice.
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Feb 8, 2018 16:47
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Oh, that's how you break the game? Huh. I went and save scum'd a Killer Dome and its zoid core and then shoved money into its built-in Wide-hitting attack so that it dealt really appreciable damage. Then again I forgot that Challenge Mode exists, so  And I think I can guess which zoid you wanted from the underwater tunnel. It's a good zoid.Voting Red. Shoeless fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 18:00
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TBH if he could get in there he would have been better off picking up one of several zoids and skipping the Redler altogether.
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Feb 8, 2018 18:30
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Blue dragons look pretty cool.
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Feb 8, 2018 19:12
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Red ones go fastah! 
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Feb 8, 2018 20:14
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Shoeless posted:Oh, that's how you break the game? Huh. I went and save scum'd a Killer Dome and its zoid core and then shoved money into its built-in Wide-hitting attack so that it dealt really appreciable damage. Then again I forgot that Challenge Mode exists, so That's a much easier way of doing it and I'd probably recommend doing that if you weren't willing to savestate for a Redler since that's far more reliable. Several of the low-tier Zoids have strange and bizarre powers, like the Brachios' Solar Panel that just gives it +200 EP for some reason.
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Feb 8, 2018 20:21
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Ace of Aces posted:That's a much easier way of doing it and I'd probably recommend doing that if you weren't willing to savestate for a Redler since that's far more reliable. Several of the low-tier Zoids have strange and bizarre powers, like the Brachios' Solar Panel that just gives it +200 EP for some reason. Oh, I was willing to savestate, I just really prefer area of effect attacks to high single-target damage attacks, at least in the early game. I do love this game's willingness to let you throw money at a problem until it goes away. Enemies giving you trouble? Grab a zoid with a good base value attack, then boost it up further! Increase your defense! Higher energy regen! Keep throwing money at the Zoids society until your problems go away!
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Feb 8, 2018 20:39
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I can't see a point in making anything without a B or A weapon. W if I'm just that desperate. Gunsnipers and Hammerheads aren't far away.
dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Feb 8, 2018 |
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Feb 8, 2018 23:23
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There's two reasons; the first is the Redler's spectacular stats, and the second is that for the forseeable future, the game will attempt to be difficult by throwing things that fly at us. The bonus 20% evasion against everything is just icing. The earliest point I'd want to stop using the Redler would be the first event map, since you can pick up Iron Kongs there.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:05
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Hammerheads in the east sea ruins basement. Flying Iron Kongs.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:44
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I'm voting for Brown(?) because it looks pretty classy. That or the darker shade of purple because the red eyes look pretty cool. Glad to see this entertaining LP back. 
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Feb 9, 2018 00:45
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I'm probably gonna be the minority here, but I'm voting for a Whiteler and call it good. I've been a sucker for metallic and silver colors.
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Feb 9, 2018 00:52
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White is the only color, just like a beautiful tank of propane (and propane accessories).
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Feb 9, 2018 02:32
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