Robot 101 is essential curriculum - Let's Play Super Robot Wars L

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AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ah yes, SRW L. The swan song for the DS that everyone dropped about a month or two after its release because Hakai-hen's first trailer came out and stole all the hype. Which is a shame because L is a good game, especially since this was the first game for the then-all new handheld team.

Also, say hello and goodbye to Henry Gilliam for good. I believe that L is the only SRW he appears in, the rest of Frontier's appearances either start after Henry dies or just stick to the movies' plot and forget about him.

# ¿ May 13, 2017 20:28

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 12:50

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Dr. Snark posted:

Gilliam does show up in the movies...only to just die the same way and has even less of a presence in the plot.

You can tell how much I even remember about the Frontier movies. I barely remember the TV show at this point. Except for the events of stage 30A. Boy do I remember what's going on there. :suicide:

# ¿ May 13, 2017 23:07

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

CaptainRat posted:

It's not terribly common, I want to say either Z2.1 or Z2.2 did it (or maybe both? It's been a while) just to lay some of the setting groundwork, and there's I think one other one I'm forgetting where the MC is hanging around sans robot (J I think does this with Calvina but I'm pretty sure I'm remembering another one). But yeah, SOP is for the original to be introduced during the first stage.

Off the top of my head, the list of SRWs (aside from L) where the protagonist is not introduced/included in the action right at minute one are:

--Alpha Gaiden (Tetsuya waits until the first route split to appear)
--J (Calvina is on the Nadesico to start, but doesn't get her robot until the second stage)
--D (The first prologue stage is Getter Robo Armageddon's introduction and features neither Josh or Rim, who show up in the second prologue)
--Z2.2 (Esther is the lead for the first 15ish stages, then Crowe returns to take over the role)

# ¿ May 14, 2017 01:40

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

You can transform between the Battloid and plane mode, and I THINK the Gerwalk mode is only when the plot sets you into it.

In this mission, however, you can't transform them - my guess is due to Island 1's low ceiling, so no planes allowed.

Gerwalk mode (as a separate form) is only in this mission with Alto. Everywhere else, it's folded into Battroid mode's attacks and is not a separate form like it was in the Alpha games.

# ¿ May 14, 2017 02:33

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

IIRC, Klan turning into a small girl when Micronized (or whatever the term is) is due to a genetic disorder. Naturally, something like that is used entirely for pure comedy purposes. Because a serious medical issue that has impacted one's life is totally something to be laughed at and made fun of, right?

Also, Ozma's little fly-over to the Minerva crew can be hilarious depending on where he's located on the map, as he can abuse The Cutscene Zone^TM to fly from one corner of the map all the way across to the Minerva on the opposite side of the map.

# ¿ May 19, 2017 01:20

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Dr. Snark posted:

I really have no idea why Athrun even bothers with the charade in-universe. I mean, in the original Gundam Char wore a mask basically all the time and was using a fake name to begin with so the fact that people don't recognize him when he wears sunglasses isn't that implausible.

In SEED? Athrun was known to be the son of one of the series' major antagonists, never wore a mask of any persuasion, and IIRC was fairly well-known publicly. Hell, just him being around Cagalli would be enough for people who actually knew the guy fairly well to put two and two together. The whole "Alex Dino" thing is so half-assed it's ~~kind of~~ absolutely hilarious.

To be fair, SEED had the masked dude role handled by the spectacular Rau Le Creuset, who is one of the best Char clones in the franchise. That said, there is a honest reason for Athrun to wear a disguise/use an alias: his father tried to genocide all life on Earth so the PLANT could rule the Earth sphere. Much like how Char picked up an alias partially to distance himself from his father's ramblings about Newtypes, Athrun is in the same situation after SEED. He's the son of genocidal maniac and using his real name would cause not only problems for himself, but also for ORB because they could easily be accused of harboring a fugitive by the now more ultra hyper evil racist Earth Federation. So yeah, Athrun is kind of in a tough spot and would make for some interesting character exploration. For instance, have a look at how someone deals with the fallout of their father's ramblings, except this person is not a selfish egotistical sociopath, but is instead a more decent and level-headed kind of guy.

Unfortunately, the infamous "Sunrise Second Season" curse crashed into the room and we all know what happened after that.

# ¿ May 19, 2017 04:37

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Glazius posted:

Your carrier is actually the giantest robot? Does it, like, lose carrier abilities when it's in that form or something?

Nope, you can still dock with the Quarter when it's in Assault Form. The only change between forms are the weapons loadout.

# ¿ May 20, 2017 00:56

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

HR12345 posted:

I have to assume by now they've done an SRW game for each letter of the English alphabet.

They actually have not. There are only 7 games to date that use a single English letter for the title, and most of them have full names that the single letter represents: A(dvance), R(eversal), D(estiny), J(udgment), W (Double, technically a Japanese pun since the DS has two screens and 'W' is used by Japan as a shorthand for the word 'double'), K and this game, L(ink). K is the only one to buck the trend of the letter officially standing for another word.

# ¿ May 21, 2017 01:10

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

ImpAtom posted:

You missed V(oyage)!

Herpaderp. :ughh:

Brunom1 posted:

They don't really need to represent anything, as you said with K. Though, if you're asking, there's F(inal), V(oyage), Z(odiac), X(cross)-Omega plus XO, OE (Operation Extend), EX for E, MX could be for Magnate Ten but it has the M letter, Scramble Commander or Shin could be S, GC could be the G game, Neo could be N, UX and BX for those two letters and Compact for C.

Okay, forgot about F and Z. I skipped the dual letter ones since they're either a shortening of the full title (OE for Operation Extend, X-O for Cross Omega), a pun/joke (GC for GameCube, XO for Xbox, MX for Magnate Ten like you said) or just there because they felt like it.

# ¿ May 21, 2017 01:44

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Sordas Volantyr posted:

...Linebarrel's of those deconstructive sorts of series, isn't it?

At first, kind of. It focuses a bit on the consequences of suddenly being given the keys to a giant mobile weapon as well as everything good and bad about such a situation. Kouichi's characterization plays off of that, with him thinking that now he's got a license to be a superhero with no care for what's going on around him. Except that, you know, there are things like collateral damage and organizations with their own agendas getting up in your face out there that superhero stories don't really talk about or put in the forefront (Marvel's own S.H.I.E.L.D. and DC's own Amanda Waller being rare exceptions to this). Speaking of, I would love to see Nick Fury or Amanda Waller have to deal with all the super robot nonsense SRW puts out, but alas, that's nothing more than a pipe dream.

Also, if people do decide to check out the vastly superior manga, Miu does not appear until about...a third(ish) of the way in. Her design (as well as Painkiller's design) were locked down already, but the anime started well before she got introduced in the manga proper, and thus she has a vastly different personality and characterization than in the manga. Painkiller itself is also radically different in the anime than in the manga, so keep that in mind. If anyone needs a single reason why the anime gets crapped on (outside of Hisashi Hirai's artwork), it was made by Studio Gonzo.

# ¿ May 23, 2017 01:59

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Materant posted:

Yeah, I actually can't think of a single Linebarrels unit that isn't at least prime squaddie material.

Agreed. Even if you don't like some of the cast, everyone from Linebarrels are excellent partner units, either with spirit commands or partner bonuses. Take Miu and Yamashita, for instance. Miu has a Repair Module which means free healing and Yamashita's bonuses all increase weapon range, which a lot of units needs badly. One issue that I don't like with the new handheld team is that they really like very short weapon ranges (range 3 is often the average maximum weapon range for attacks), so Hind-Tank boosting weapon ranges is a bigger benefit than you might think.

# ¿ May 24, 2017 22:11

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ah, the Build Angel. That A rank in Air partner bonus is going to be coveted by a good number of end-game units, and boy are there a few later stages where that bonus comes in really handy. Deceive is...okayish. The EN Regen is very helpful since there are no free cost attacks in the game and the debuff immunity is welcome, but it just lacks offensive capabilities much like Painkiller. It's one of those "use until you get something better" units, sadly.

Fun fact: The Jeeg sprites did gets some cosmetic updates in the jump from K to L. Jeeg itself got a new map sprite, while Ikima, Amaso, and Mimashi all got unique sprites with the character standing on top of their respective command ship (K simply used the generic version of the ship).

# ¿ May 27, 2017 22:41

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Dance Officer posted:

I have trouble thinking of end gamers that want an Air rank. The Linebarrels crowd definitely appreciates Air ranks, since they come standard with a B in them. Jeeg and Mazinger definitely appreciate Air ranks for movement.

A certain "Legend" with a MAPW really wants the Build Angel's bonuses.

# ¿ May 31, 2017 00:12

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

The best way to sum up Iczer-1 is that if you enjoyed Tekkaman Blade in J and W, you'll like working with her. The only major differences are that she doesn't have a 30 turn time limit like D-Boy does and Iczer Robo switches her from SS-sized to M-sized, so keep that in mind.

As for Godannar, Goh is our first example of the pilot skill parts mechanic being directly affected by the pilot. Dannar and Godannar only have melee attacks, and the game reflects that by only allowing Goh to pump up his melee stat in the pilot skills menu. Attempting to give him range parts will not work (you'll get the "this pilot cannot equip this part/has the max amount of skill parts dumped into them" error noise if you try), thus the only way for Goh to increase his range stat is through level ups ~~or cheat codes~~.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2017 01:08

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Yes, Daiya's Shield Defense is for Gaiking's shield. The Sword Cut is I think for Gaiking's Counter Cross, its weird cross-shaped parts on the legs that become spears. Then again, this incarnation of Gaiking does have an axe...that never appears in either K or L (said axe is even on K's boxart!), so...yeah.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2017 00:29

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Inferno-sama posted:

Well, with our "Leader" here, we need to find a good place for him to sit. Oh, I know, how about this lovely bench. Don't worry Reiji, there's plenty of room for your attitude as well.

Vardant is probably the second-best Linebarrels representative in the game, it is worth the effort. Reiji has some...issues that'll be dealt with later. And Reiji's arc is probably the best adapted content from the manga (aside from Kouichi being a colossal rear end in a top hat), but only due to everything else being significantly changed from the source material or outright not present in the anime. Which should give you an understanding of how bad the Linebarrels anime is.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2017 20:40

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Rabidredneck posted:

I've only read a little of Linebarrel, but as I understand it, Kouichi is basically on the power trip to end all power trips. Average meek high-schooler suddenly gets super powers AND a giant robot? drat straight it's all gonna go right to his head and ego. It'll be interesting to see how Karma bitchslaps him down a peg or two.

Bingo. Kouichi's character arc is all about him having this grandiose image of a hero and then finding out about all the fine print that comes with being a hero, mostly through Kouichi getting his rear end handed to him on a silver platter. The story purposefully plays up Kouichi's rear end in a top hat personality to the point where he becomes frustrating to deal with, because that's the point. Kouichi has to learn what it actually takes to be a hero, and realize what he thinks is the definition of a hero is far from the truth. Which is why I like him; he's not a perfect wonder child or chosen one, Kouichi is a good example of what a real world person would probably do in his situation. He approaches some very harsh lessons with a naive personality and world-view, and he learns from those experiences.

And then the anime jettisons about 50% of those harsh lessons in order to go off and do its own thing.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2017 21:19

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

HitTheTargets posted:

I just hope he doesn't touch Shinji. They'd cause an antimatter explosion.

They go to the same high school. Unless that antimatter explosion is on some weird time delay, it ain't happening.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2017 21:47

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

The whole bit with Blond Reiji is a bit of a plot spoiler for Linebarrels, unfortunately. The short answer is "Yes, that means something.", but we're not getting to it until the Linebarrels plot moves forward.

That said, the Meteor Breakers are a bit of a dick move. Nowhere does the game tell you that whatever units you send to defend the Meteor Breakers will be immobilized for the rest of the mission, so yeah, gently caress you game.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2017 22:18

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

I think this one's Ichitaka, not Shinn.

Also, if they survived re-entry thanks to Ichitaka and Alice stopping an attacker and then using the Rushbird's Laplace Wall...what happens to Shinn and Athrun in the other route? Are they dead? Is this how Banpresto is adapting Destiny now?

Probably how they did it in the show, which was Shinn bailing out Athrun himself and the Minerva rescuing them after all three completed atmospheric re-entry. In other words, Shinn and Athrun survive atmospheric re-entry because they have Main Character Immunity^TM.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2017 22:02

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Montegoraon posted:

Man, somebody put Shinn on some serious mood stabilizers in this game.

There's a reason why L is basically Shinn's second best outing in SRW. We'll see how this evolves in due time.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2017 00:13

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

^^^E: Only if there are liberal amounts of everyone calling out Citan for being a shitbag.

Sordas Volantyr posted:

I know we're right around the part in SEED Destiny where the writers start making GBS threads relentlessly on ~~Bootleg Kamille~~ Shinn now that they have ~~Bootleg Amuro~~ Kira back to play with again, but is this also around the part where the show's quality does a quintuple backflip corkscrew swandive directly into the gaping maw of Hell yet, or does that come later?

This is also around the point where the overall quality slowly descends down. It's not really noticeable at first, but the atmosphere around the show does begin to reflect Sunrise breathing down people's necks. It's not until much, much later that the aforementioned quintuple backflip corkscrew swandive happens, however.

And all because of a character poll released around episode 5 or 6 (right before Junius Seven) had a lot of "Bring Kira back, the new people suck!" responses, allegedly. Which, if true, makes me wonder why Sunrise would do put out a poll so early in a show's run.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 03:32

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Logicblade posted:

Oh no my pacifism has been compromised, time to blow myself and all the senate leaders up.

Uzumi's death will never not be hilarious to me because SEED goes out of its way to frame his suicide as this grand noble act, when it is actually one of the dumbest moments from the Cosmic Era by far.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 20:52

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I hope everyone had fun playing with Yzak's Slash ZAKU Phantom, because it is now gone for good. No, there isn't any secret action or some fancy dialogue tree to keep it, it just vanishes into the ether after this stage.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2017 19:45

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I do like the small nod to the time Quatre piloted the Wing Zero and went insane as well. It's a nice little touch to this whole sequence of events. Also, the Magnac guys are continuing a trend for this game of giving random NPC units map sprites. We'll be seeing one of the sillier ones soon enough.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2017 21:22

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

HitTheTargets posted:

I found a Gundam Wing rewatch podcast and at episode 7 I finally remember the show's overarching plot and the fact that Lady Une is a stone-cold killer. It's so funny to me that SRW L seems to be post-Endless Waltz, because your first exposure to Une is her working to corral all the heroic groups into LOTUS. The first noteworthy thing Une does in Wing is kidnap a General, trick him into recording a propaganda piece for Treize, then kick him out of a plane and shoot him in the head. In that order.

It's a perfect example of Wing Logic.

Correct, the events of Endless Waltz (and by extension, the TV series) have already concluded before this game starts. Sato even comments on Dekim Barton before his death, giving the possibility that he may have been working alongside Dekim and Mariamaia during EW. Everything involving the Wing cast in the actual game is them acting in a post-plot capacity, but serving a purpose as we've seen with Quatre being an undercover agent for JUDA.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2017 03:31

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

If this is happening after the series and EW...holy poo poo, Wufei is just entirely incapable of actually learning a lesson, huh? He's just literally doing exactly the same he did in EW, jeez.

There's an answer for Wufei's actions. It's sadly massive spoiler territory.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2017 04:11

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Alacron posted:

I've seen a fair amount of Rocket Punches, but this was pretty rad.

As Grashbar noted, Gaiking treats its rocket punches a little differently. The Vector Hook weapon it uses to catch the aforementioned fist is something that Daiya comes up with later on in the show, as Vector Hook is a weapon of its own right that Gaiking uses occasionally.

I feel a little bad for Ranka. Her first day on a simple movie recreating stuff from Macross Zero (IIRC), and everything devolves into a Michael Bay action sequence.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2017 22:28

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Okay, so...now we've met the character Soubi from Linebarrels. And where one of the major complaints against the anime series gets leveled. Spoilers incoming.

See, Soubi in the manga...is one of the good guys that is recruited into JUDA's ranks some time after Kouichi stops being an rear end in a top hat and joins himself. The end of volume 5 and all of volume 6 is devoted to Soubi's recruitment. JUDA's secondary role in the manga of collecting all of the Machina in the world for plot reasons leads them to learn about Soubi's Machina. Soubi is living in an isolated mountain village in Japan and his Machina, Talisman, gets picked up by JUDA's (and the Katou Organization's) sensors. Soubi's village is interesting, in that he is the only young person there; everyone else is old and frail while Soubi serves as the village guardian. It is here that one of the big drawbacks of being a Factor gets slammed right into Kouichi's face as part of his journey of learning both sides of the hero coin: Factors (and Machina, for that matter) do not age at all, and are effectively immortal (think Connor McCloud from Highlander and you get the jist of it). Soubi looks like he's 18-21 years old but is in fact closer to 80 years old, give or take, and thus has practically become a recluse protecting this lone village for most of his life. Thus, the Katou Organization and JUDA duel over convincing Soubi to join their side, with JUDA ultimately winning. Soubi's recruitment arc is one where not only does Soubi learns to move on and open up to the world, but also where Kouichi learns another lesson in being a hero: everything has a price, be it outliving everyone you know or something else. The arc overall is probably one of the better arcs in the manga, due to how much world building it goes through and how it develops the characters.

Now, Soubi's anime characterization...is non-existent. He's just with the Katou Organization with no solid explanation or backstory. So why did Studio Gonzo jettison all of his backstory for the anime? Shock value, plain and simple. We'll see part one of that in a few stages.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 22:35

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Alacron posted:

I'm guessing that the Linebarrels manga was still ongoing while the anime was being made yeah? I know a lot of anime adaptations are made to run for one season and have a satisfying conclusion and in those cases they wind up having to make their own endings too, like the original FMA anime. So I'd guess Soubi's story didn't fit into the ending they had in mind.

But given how people are talking it seems like the anime changed a lot more than just Soubi and the ending, so I dunno.

Yes, but looking up volume release dates on Wikipedia, the sole volume (sorry, my memory was off) covering Soubi's arc was already published by the time the anime was made. The anime started in October of 2008, but volume 6 was published in April of 2007, almost 18 months before the anime started. So, the only reason for Soubi's arc to be dropped is some weirdness over at Studio Gonzo.

# ¿ Jul 1, 2017 00:45

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I hope everyone enjoyed Saviour Gundam, because that was literally it's only appearance in the game. Much like Yzak's custom ZAKU, Saviour gets screwed over by this game. One could argue Saviour (along with Abyss and Chaos Gundams; yep, both of those units are now totaled too!) get it even worse because you can actually use Yzak's ZAKU for a brief period of time. Those three Gundams barely managed to get a map sprite, by contrast.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 22:57

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Alacron posted:

Did Auel just get iced in a friggin cutscene?

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

Yep, he sure did. And not only that, a cutscene that the player can potentially never see due to being on a route split.

E: And yes Brunom, Destiny's plot in K is super condensed, where the only playable content is the Berlin arc, and the final battle at Messiah. The second invasion of ORB is off-screen, but referenced.

AradoBalanga fucked around with this message at 01:51 on Jul 3, 2017

# ¿ Jul 3, 2017 01:48

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Alacron posted:

wat

It makes more sense when you recall that the character designer for Godannar (as well as GaoGaiGar, Gun X Sword, and Code Geass to name a few others) is a hentai artist in his own right, more well known for the Viper series of hentai games produced by the now defunct company Sogna.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2017 04:45

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

Kazuma hits puberty hard in those six months for some reason, I mean, compare him both pre- and post-timeskip:

I can't imagine that didn't come with some extra centimeters of height.

Kazuma had a lot of depression and regret over what happened, so he probably underwent the Chris Redfield School of Coping with Tragedy: work out a lot and bulk up to get over your sorrows. Mercifully, he stopped before turning into Dirk Hardpec.

E: New page reached.

# ¿ Jul 11, 2017 21:09

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ah, Domyoji. Like with Soubi, a couple of details regarding him have been rearranged for the anime. The biggest is that by this point in the manga, he's already been an unofficial member of JUDA for a while. He also plays a big role in recruiting Soubi in the manga by mostly being the voice of reason and helping Soubi to come to terms with being a Factor. So naturally the anime waits until after the point in the manga where Domyoji played a significant role in the plot to introduce him.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2017 03:54

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

If you thought Jack Smith fighting people with only a katana was crazy enough, the manga version of his duel with Vardant goes a little differently.

For starters, he manages to punch Vardant in the face....

And hit hard enough to knock Vardant over:

(Oh, and Shinobu is a member of JUDA in the manga, not a member of the JSDF like in the anime, by the way)

But probably the biggest change is that since Painkiller and Miu do not exist yet in the manga, Jack goes for the more badass option for his finishing move: use one of Vardant's swords! :black101:

He still loses as we saw above, though.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2017 02:22

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Brunom1 posted:

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!

Nah, it'll be like the Uranus System for the Huckebeins. The upgrade will already be in the Rushbird, but unlocked when the machine and/or pilots get beaten within inches of dying. Akira Ishida being involved in the upgrade process will be up to the writers.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 03:44

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

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.

Yeah, it's safe to say that L takes a few pages from Alpha Gaiden when handling the Originals. Ichitaka and Alice do grow over the course of the game, but they are not the primary focus for most of the game. Yes, they're present and move the plot at times, but L focuses more on the featured series and lets their plots do the talking rather than focusing on the lead characters. Unfortunately, Ichitaka and Alice do not have the benefit of starring in a sequel to their introductory adventure like the Originals did in Alpha Gaiden, so their plot comes off very weak and drags things down a bit. On the other hand, they are both much more entertaining than K's Originals due to the fact that Ichitaka and Alice are having fun during all of this, as opposed to Mist acting like a giant hypocrite all the time.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2017 03:57

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

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.

The game itself is...weird. On the one hand, it tries to bring the squad system to the handheld platform and mildly succeeds in getting the basic concept right. Where it fucks up is core design. Support attacks/defends are locked to the squads, so any solo/event units cannot be supported in any form, and after a while, all enemy units are paired up. Another other issue is pacing, as a lot of stages are broken up into two parts for no real reason other to pad out the run time. And then K really, really loves long and boring corridor missions that slow things down further. Last but not least, terrain matters a lot for damage calculations (or the formula has been tweaked to the point that the changes in terrain ranks are much more noticeable). For instance, having a B rank in Air terrain (which a good number of units do have) means you might as well not be attacking anything flying. And then...there are the energy costs for attacks. Attacks for a lot of units get stupidly expensive and sometimes hilariously expensive. A perfect example is Jeeg, wherein its ultimate attack has a base EN cost of 140. Jeeg itself starts with 130 EN, so if for instance you're doing a no-upgrade run, you literally cannot use Jeeg's ultimate attack because you're 10 EN short. Other units have ultimate attacks that cost a base 180 EN, to put things in even more perspective.

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.

# ¿ Jul 20, 2017 05:56

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 12:50

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

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.

Anna is kind of the co-lead character of Godannar, with Goh being the other lead. However, the split is roughly 70/30 in Anna's favor, as she gets a lot of focus and development. Goh's development comes from bouncing off Anna's personality and learning to not be overprotective of her, along with dealing with Mira's...situation.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2017 04:45

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Robot 101 is essential curriculum - Let's Play Super Robot Wars L

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