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[paolo11]

This is a dumb question and forgive me for asking but I'll ask.

I love this game but I don't understand Japanese at all. I would like to read the dialogue or the story while playing the game.

If I study simple Japanese Kanji online for a few months, would I be able to read the game?

 

[Bebpo]

This is a dumb question and forgive me for asking but I'll ask.

I love this game but I don't understand Japanese at all. I would like to read the dialogue or the story while playing the game.

If I study simple Japanese Kanji online for a few months, would I be able to read the game?

Probably not, but you'll make progress towards it and pick up stuff here and there. SRW is about medium-ish difficulty in Japanese game reading level (with stuff like Tales games being easy, while SMT/Xenosaga/Ryu Ga Gotoku being tough). There's a decent amount of technical terms due to it being mecha and sometimes talking about obscure mecha terminology, but a lot of the dialogue is fairly conversational like "Let's all go to the beach! Oh no, monsters! Hahaha, your boobs are small"

I played FFX in Japanese after about a half-year of studying and I didn't really know what was going for a lot of it and made up my own story to fill in the gaps. After about 2-3 years I was playing Tales of games without much difficulty and could understand like 70% of tougher stuff, enough to get the gist of what was going on. By 4-5 years I was good to go for the most part.

It's a really fun language to learn, and as a gamer, once you do learn it, there's a wide wealth of untranslated titles from NES to PS3 that you'll now be able to enjoy. I learned Japanese for a few reasons, but being able to play Japanese games has definitely been the most satisfying benefit of learning Japanese, even moreso than living in Japan and mixing in with the community for me personally (because I kind of feel like even if I didn't know much Japanese I could've enjoyed that just as much; wasn't really having deep conversations where I lived in Japan).

So yeah, if you give yourself a year and work hard and regularly at it, you'll probably be able to play SRW and get the gist of the storyline/dialogue even if you can't read half of it. After 2 years, you'd probably be good for SRW. The main thing is learning the grammar, the sentence structures. Once you have that down it's just about learning the vocabulary and kanji and those simply take time to become familiar with.

 

[Bebpo]

alol. my copies of K and L arrived in the mail today. After almost a month!

both are brand new copies; so. any tips for those two games ?

i'm not sure if I should go and get W as well.

How is that 3ds SRW? has anyone played that ?

W is fantastic all around, K is super fun, L...never played but it's been made a bit irrelevant with Linebarrels/Dancougar Nova/Macross F and soon Eva 1.11 being done better in other recent SRW games.

UX is ok. It's a decent SRW that's got a ton of filler and is kind of slow and unimpressive coming from Z2. The OG story is pretty cool in the end, and I'm really looking forward to it hitting OGs someday.

 

[Shouta]

L is largely boring. I like the original mech but they didn't do anything with it that was interesting.

 

[Lostconfused]

There's a decent amount of technical terms do to it being mecha and sometimes talking about obscure mecha terminology, but a lot of the dialogue is fairly conversational like "Let's all go to the beach! Oh no, monsters! Hahaha, you're boobs are small"

Be honest it's because 90% of the dialog in SRW is exactly like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcEY2EcQeZY and you get crazy strings of kanji because they enjoy phrases such as "Earth Federation Army Far East Division Independent Humanoid Type Weapon Squadron"

 

[paolo11]

Probably not, but you'll make progress towards it and pick up stuff here and there. SRW is about medium-ish difficulty in Japanese game reading level (with stuff like Tales games being easy, while SMT/Xenosaga/Ryu Ga Gotoku being tough). There's a decent amount of technical terms due to it being mecha and sometimes talking about obscure mecha terminology, but a lot of the dialogue is fairly conversational like "Let's all go to the beach! Oh no, monsters! Hahaha, your boobs are small"

I played FFX in Japanese after about a half-year of studying and I didn't really know what was going for a lot of it and made up my own story to fill in the gaps. After about 2-3 years I was playing Tales of games without much difficulty and could understand like 70% of tougher stuff, enough to get the gist of what was going on. By 4-5 years I was good to go for the most part.

It's a really fun language to learn, and as a gamer, once you do learn it, there's a wide wealth of untranslated titles from NES to PS3 that you'll now be able to enjoy. I learned Japanese for a few reasons, but being able to play Japanese games has definitely been the most satisfying benefit of learning Japanese, even moreso than living in Japan and mixing in with the community for me personally (because I kind of feel like even if I didn't know much Japanese I could've enjoyed that just as much; wasn't really having deep conversations where I lived in Japan).

So yeah, if you give yourself a year and work hard and regularly at it, you'll probably be able to play SRW and get the gist of the storyline/dialogue even if you can't read half of it. After 2 years, you'd probably be good for SRW. The main thing is learning the grammar, the sentence structures. Once you have that down it's just about learning the vocabulary and kanji and those simply take time to become familiar with.

Nice, I'll do that then.

 

[Jubern]

I can't imagine anything being worse than 3 bosses with phase shift armor (or some other barrier equivalent) on multiple early game stages.

Nah I can assure you it's really bad. Early on you don't hit very hard and basically any boss with Prevail lv. 5 (or, God forbid, 6) becomes almost unkillable if you don't find a way to one-shot him. Under 25-30% HP most of your units will only do double-digits damage to them.

The Overman King Gainer bosses are also pretty bad with their Overmant skill (basically phase shift, but works for beams too!)

Z was the first SRW I finished and remembering this stuff I always thought it was because I was doing something wrong at the time but nope!

 

[fatgamecat]

Z Ex-hard can be pretty challenging if you want SR points.

 

[zeroshiki]

SRW, since its cast is full of hot blooded men, have very non standard dialogue that could trip you up. They all talk like high school boys and all the vocabulary and grammatical traps that brings. Reading shoujo is easier =/

 

[Jubern]

Z Ex-hard can be pretty challenging if you want SR points.

Oh yeah I forgot to say that I was aiming for SR Points and secrets. If you don't care for those you don't need to suffer with the kind of enemies I described, they pretty much always retreat or something.

 

[Sseklebeast]

I hear the second PV for Z3 is coming out tonight.

２月２８日、第３次Ｚ時獄篇の第２弾ＰＶ先行公開！
2014.02.27 Thursday
JUGEMテーマ：ゲーム


　こんばんは、寺田です。さて、「第３次スーパーロボット大戦Ｚ　時獄篇」の
発売予定日まで、あと４０日ほどとなりました。


　昨日、「第３次Ｚ　時獄篇」の第２弾プロモーションＶＴＲの編集が無事に
終了しました。以前のスパログで３月上旬に公開すると告知致しましたが、
若干前倒しをして……


明日（２月２８日）午後に公式サイトにて、
「第３次スーパーロボット大戦Ｚ　時獄篇」の
第２弾プロモーションＶＴＲを先行公開致します！


　……午後と言いましても、昼１２時を過ぎてすぐというわけではありません。
公開時間は現在調整中でして、夕方以降になる可能性が大ですが、改めて公式
サイトや公式Twitterにて告知致します。


　なお、公式サイトで公開される第２弾プロモーションＶＴＲでは、各原作の
ＢＧＭ（ゲーム中に入っている原作のＢＧＭ）を使用しておりません。各原作の
ＢＧＭが入ったバージョンの第２弾プロモーションＶＴＲは、後日公開予定です。


　というわけで、明日２月２８日をどうかお楽しみに！

http://blog.spalog.jp/?eid=863643

That's a lot sooner than expected hah.

 

[Jubern]

No, they announced that quite some time ago

By the way, this will be the traditional PV with placeholder BGM. The version with BGM life on the actual series the mechs come from will be published a bit later, as usual.

 

[fatgamecat]

Oh yeah I forgot to say that I was aiming for SR Points and secrets. If you don't care for those you don't need to suffer with the kind of enemies I described, they pretty much always retreat or something.

Not many Z enemies retreat at low HP.

 

[Lostconfused]

If it's for an SR point I think they warn you even at what HP level they will retreat.

 

[CorvoSol]

So when is this new thing supposed to be up?

 

[Shouta]

Just got posted 15 minutes ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGLv6yM6O9U

 

[fatgamecat]

Animations didn't impress me like the 2nd OG and Dark Prison ones. Some of them look kinda rough.

 

[CorvoSol]

http://i.imgur.com/SmQ1g1y.gif

What matters most is that

Spoiler

Bonta-kun

was confirmed.

 

[Keylow415]

the game looks good. they didn't show really any flashy animations but i know they will be there but i still like the look of the game. Bonta-kun fuck yea! and they finally fixed strike freedom sprite with him holding both guns now. the old one use to bother me

 

[Jubern]

Oh come on, so

Spoiler

Char is really betraying everyone

in the end :/

Had to watch this on my iPhone, looks forward to see it on a bigger screen tonight!

 

[Tsukumo]

Just got posted 15 minutes ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGLv6yM6O9U

I was waiting for some big reveal on additional characters but the video was more straightforward than I expected. Maybe they are pacing themselves for the next chapter.
I don't like the way colours look somehow washed out, but the new additions to old animations are cool (Big-O really needed it after three games) and I'm loving the new Z-Gundam sprite. Is it me or they actually added more lines of dialogue from Char's counterattack and the Z movies? I didn't remember Haman saying "stay out of my head" to Camille in the movies.
I'm really on the fence on how they will play out the Char/Full Frontal connection and hopeful Eva won't turn into some happy go-lucky re-enactment of the movies like they did in L. I've great expectations towards how they will play out the Shin Mazinger storyline: looks like they will end the story in a more conclusive way than the show did.
Re-introducing Ex-hard mode would be a huge plus.

 

[fatgamecat]

Ex hard is typically normal mode except you can't upgrade and enemies get a slight stat boost. A no upgrade run isn't much different from ex hard. It would be nice if they included it but I don't expect it to return considering Z2-2 was about as easy as it gets. If it does return the game will be so easy in general that it won't matter much.

They're probably terrified of all those people returning MK3 for being too difficult.

 

[Bebpo]

I actually really liked this pv, way more interesting than the first.

Biggest surprise was

Spoiler

endgame green flames gurren lagann! didn't think we'd get that far in part 1 as I figured they'd stretch out GL another two games. Won't be much besides the final boss left for z3-2 unless they take us by surprise and finish GL entirely in Z3-1. Would be a pretty big surprise since we all figured end of GL would be one of the last stages of Z due to scale

 

[Ken]

i dont know how i feel about spinzaku anymore

 

[Keylow415]

the new PV got me hyped and broke out my old psp and starting playing 2.2 again.

 

[Jubern]

I was waiting for some big reveal on additional characters but the video was more straightforward than I expected. Maybe they are pacing themselves for the next chapter.
I don't like the way colours look somehow washed out, but the new additions to old animations are cool (Big-O really needed it after three games) and I'm loving the new Z-Gundam sprite. Is it me or they actually added more lines of dialogue from Char's counterattack and the Z movies? I didn't remember Haman saying "stay out of my head" to Camille in the movies.
I'm really on the fence on how they will play out the Char/Full Frontal connection and hopeful Eva won't turn into some happy go-lucky re-enactment of the movies like they did in L. I've great expectations towards how they will play out the Shin Mazinger storyline: looks like they will end the story in a more conclusive way than the show did.
Re-introducing Ex-hard mode would be a huge plus.

Nah, the "Don't enter in people's head!" was definitely in either the series or the movies. I pretty sure I heard all the dialogue in this.

I'm thinking Unicorn will be endgame or something. I can totally see

Spoiler

CCA being the opening scenario, then Char (and maybe Amuro?) disappear, some time goes by through the game or time skip and Unicorn begins. I really hope they give Amuro the Hi-Nu or something I'm bored of ye olde vanilla Nu Gundam.

I don't really like how they

Spoiler

play CCA straight

. I'm playing D right now and this is soooooo much more interesting!
For those who don't know, the game starts as follows(all of this is stage 1 material):

Spoiler

The Federation has grown weaker and weaker and there's eventually a coup from OZ that effectively overtakes the government. CCA Char (who was thought to be dead after Z), takes custody of Amuro, Bright and their relatives/families to protect them for the coup. After dropping Fifth Luna he asks them to help him with the Axis drop (he got it from the Romefeller Foundation) but they, of course, refuse. He keeps them under wraps during the operation which succeeds, but Earth disappears from Space and Axis is lost. Neo-Zeon is on its knees too and Amuro and Bright joins them to help investigate what happened with Earth, while also handling OZ/Romefeller and Zanscare's space forces. First stage has you deploy Char in the Sazabi, Milliardo in the Epyon and Amuro in the Re-GZ (with everyone mocking him accordingly) among a few things. It's seriously great.

 

[Sseklebeast]

Damn, just saw the video and I am very pleased with it. I called it, knew Haman would be back for this game and that has me pretty hyped itself.

I hope they have the song Beyond the Time when you fight Char, I liked that in Alpha 2 heh.

 

[Lostconfused]

Everything being split into two games kind of makes the speculation even harder. Now we don't know if they'll decide to finish the plot in part 1 or what changes and new additions will happen in part 2.

Spoiler

Because yeah the showed off TTGL and Qan-T and those are the plot/game end units for the respective series.

 

[Loona]

The real surprise to me was how some of the attacks are specifically meant to attack 2 targets at once, like Daiguard's - it's usually either single target or MAP attack for an indeterminate amount of them, so this is interesting, unless it was in one of the previous games and I missed it.

The new CG intro still can't compete with Alpha 3's, but Noriko/Gunbuster tanking those critters in it was neat.

 

[Lostconfused]

Well none of the Z games that Diaguard was in had a squad system. They would have to give it some "all" attacks to use against squads. Otherwise it would end up being inferior compared to a lot of other units.

The more interesting thing here is that Fin Funnels still have a single target animation like they do in Z2.

 

[CorvoSol]

I kinda hope the bring back that thing like there was in J where you could attack multiple enemies if they were in a row.

 

[Lostconfused]

I kinda hope the bring back that thing like there was in J where you could attack multiple enemies if they were in a row.

That system was there in 2nd OGs and there wasn't much use for it. There is no point in bringing it back. But they might do it since this seems similar enough to OGs.

 

[CorvoSol]

That system was there in 2nd OGs and there wasn't much use for it. There is no point in bringing it back. But they might do it since this seems similar enough to OGs.

I kinda liked it. Being able to hit enemies in a row without a map attack was nice.

 

[Bebpo]

Everything being split into two games kind of makes the speculation even harder. Now we don't know if they'll decide to finish the plot in part 1 or what changes and new additions will happen in part 2.

Spoiler

Because yeah the showed off TTGL and Qan-T and those are the plot/game end units for the respective series.

OO Movie should end in part 1. It's a short movie

Speculation on series that will finish in Z3-1? My guess is:

00 Movie
Gunbuster
Endless Waltz
CCA
and after this trailer I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Gurren Lagann

Stuff that won't finish and will be saved for Z3-2 finale:

Shin Mazinger (original content)
FMP (S1 & Fumoffu in Z3-1, S2 in Z3-2)
Some more Votoms probably (because there's like infinite amount of Votoms series apparently)
Aquarion Evol
Evangelion (1.11 & 2.22 in Z3-1, 3.33 in Z3-2)


That's my guess, meaning there's room for about 4-5 new entries next game.

 

[CorvoSol]

OO Movie should end in part 1. It's a short movie

Speculation on series that will finish in Z3-1? My guess is:

00 Movie
Gunbuster
Endless Waltz
CCA
and after this trailer I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Gurren Lagann

Stuff that won't finish and will be saved for Z3-2 finale:

Shin Mazinger (original content)
FMP (S1 & Fumoffu in Z3-1, S2 in Z3-2)
Some more Votoms probably (because there's like infinite amount of Votoms series apparently)
Aquarion Evol
Evangelion (1.11 & 2.22 in Z3-1, 3.33 in Z3-2)


That's my guess, meaning there's room for about 4-5 new entries next game.

I don't know about this. I mean this trailer showed Mr. Gates, and he was a The Second Raid character. It seems to me they're covering at least his appearance in this game.

 

[afreaknamedpete]

I don't know about this. I mean this trailer showed Mr. Gates, and he was a The Second Raid character. It seems to me they're covering at least his appearance in this game.

I'd like to think they'll cover the anime plot in Z3-1, and then do the light novel or FMP:Sigma plot in Z3-2. They covered the Linebarrel's manga, so at least there's precedence on that front.

 

[Lostconfused]

OO Movie should end in part 1. It's a short movie

Speculation on series that will finish in Z3-1? My guess is:

00 Movie
Gunbuster
Endless Waltz
CCA
and after this trailer I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Gurren Lagann

The events of Trailblazer are very final, even if SRW will choose to ignore them. Not to mention that the trailer didn't show a single ELS enemy. I don't think the plot will even start until Z3-2. I think all gundam series, including Wing and 00, will play a supporting role for CCA.

Gunbuster has a convenient break point. It depends on if they want to introduce it pre or post time skip. I'd imagine they would combine it somehow with the Trailblazer ending since both are on a cosmic scale and are thematically the same.

On the other hand Gunbuster, 00, Eva all have timeskips. So yeah I guess they could chose to hit those breakpoints in Z3-1.

 

[CorvoSol]

I'd like to think they'll cover the anime plot in Z3-1, and then do the light novel or FMP:Sigma plot in Z3-2. They covered the Linebarrel's manga, so at least there's precedence on that front.

Fingers super crossed for this.

 

[Bebpo]

Well, I think Gunbuster has to end so they can do Diebuster in z3-2

OO movie ending will be retconned. At the end of the day they are just a threat that comes and leaves. Only major effect is Setsuna who they can retcon.

Would be very weird to have Quan[T] and no ELS, but maybe they'll rewrite the whole plot and try to fix it.

 

[Lostconfused]

Would be very weird to have Quan[T] and no ELS, but maybe they'll rewrite the whole plot and try to fix it.

That's not really the part that needs fixing, and you forgot the part that really needs to be retconned.

Graham

 

[Jubern]

Well, I think Gunbuster has to end so they can do Diebuster in z3-2

OO movie ending will be retconned. At the end of the day they are just a threat that comes and leaves. Only major effect is Setsuna who they can retcon.

Would be very weird to have Quan[T] and no ELS, but maybe they'll rewrite the whole plot and try to fix it.

Yep. In UX they did the movie's last battle but business kept going as usual after that.It's anything BUT conclusive in a Super Robot Wars were they are fighting anyway. Just an enemy that comes, is misunderstood, and leaves. IIRC they made Setsuna leave for outer space only after everything was over or something.
I'm surprised the Qanta is in though. I expected them to only give us stuff like the nerfed 00, the Dynames Repair and the Brave like in UX's first half, and keep the big stuff for Z3-2.

I'm also on board with everyone thinking that Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid will end in Z3, after seeing Gates.
Don't forget we also saw screens of early stages that have Clouseau and his M9 Falke in it, with him even saying stuff like "Uruz 1 going in!", whereas he is only introduced after Mc Allen dies at the end of the first series. Still, Gauron seems to be in one piece, so I'm thinking they'll be combining all three anime series in some way and cover all of that material in Z3-1.

BELIEVE.

 

[CorvoSol]

I'm also on board with everyone thinking that Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid will end in Z3, after seeing Gates.
Don't forget we also saw screens of early stages that have Clouseau and his M9 Falke in it, with him even saying stuff like "Uruz 1 going in!", whereas he is only introduced after Mc Allen dies at the end of the first series. Still, Gauron seems to be in one piece, so I'm thinking they'll be combining all three anime series in some way and cover all of that material in Z3-1.

BELIEVE.

It shouldn't be that hard, I think. I mean, FMP has four main maps: North Korea/Khanka/Sudan, Behemoth, Helmajistan/Afghanistan, and the Submarine. TSR has that underground labyrinth and then Hong Kong. Fumoffu has however many they feel like making. I think W did what, 3 maps? Sports festival from FMP, Amusement park and Pony guy. Shouldn't be that hard to wrap it up in a single game.

 

[Bebpo]

Well, I'd be fine with all of FMP in one game. Means more good story for Z3-1 and frees up another slot for a new entry in Z3-2 upping the chances that Star Driver gets in


And yes, Graham needs to be retconned in OO movie. Such a waste of a character that was cool in S1 & S2.

 

[CorvoSol]

Well, I'd be fine with all of FMP in one game. Means more good story for Z3-1 and frees up another slot for a new entry in Z3-2 upping the chances that Star Driver gets in


And yes, Graham needs to be retconned in OO movie. Such a waste of a character that was cool in S1 & S2.

Well I think most people who are saying all of FMP's anime in Z3-1 are saying that in the super vague hope of getting all the rest of FMP's plot line crammed into Z3-2. Sigma would be pretty cool for mechs, I think.

Spoiler

We'd get the ARX-8 Laevatein, and if they were really nice, they'd give us Sousuke's custom RK-92 Savage "Crossbow/AL II". On the villain side there'd be Leviathans for under water levels, and Leonard's Belial, as well as more custom Venoms.

I'm definitely down for Star Driver. Although I cross my fingers in the hopes of G Gundam getting in. At this point wishing for ZZ is a lost cause because somebody at Sunrise hates ZZ or something.


On a somewhat unrelated note, SRWZ3 is going to have Heero Yuy, Setsuna F. Seiei, and Sousuke Sagara. So lots of scenes of moody teenage soldiers who have better relationships with their mechs than their girlfriends.

 

[Loona]

On a somewhat unrelated note, SRWZ3 is going to have Heero Yuy, Setsuna F. Seiei, and Sousuke Sagara. So lots of scenes of moody teenage soldiers who have better relationships with their mechs than their girlfriends.

W had some fun with putting 2 of them together - and in Z3 those guys get to see their likely future in the shape of Chirico Cuvie to boot.

 

[Andrew J.]

It shouldn't be that hard, I think. I mean, FMP has four main maps: North Korea/Khanka/Sudan, Behemoth, Helmajistan/Afghanistan, and the Submarine. TSR has that underground labyrinth and then Hong Kong. Fumoffu has however many they feel like making. I think W did what, 3 maps? Sports festival from FMP, Amusement park and Pony guy. Shouldn't be that hard to wrap it up in a single game.

You're probably right. But can all of Sigma be fit into Z3-2?

 

[CorvoSol]

W had some fun with putting 2 of them together - and in Z3 those guys get to see their likely future in the shape of Chirico Cuvie to boot.

I kinda wish I could read Japanese, just so I could read their interactions in this game. There's bound to be some funny conversations coming from this team up.

You're probably right. But can all of Sigma be fit into Z3-2?

See, that one I'm more skeptical on.

Spoiler

The main "maps" I could see them making from Sigma are: the Christmas level (which would be mostly underwater, since it was the Leviathans trying to sink the cruise liner), The fall of Merida Island, the attack on Jindai High, however many fights they wanted to stretch Namsac into (2 at the least, I guess.), the attack on Leonard's mansion in Mexico where Sousuke gets the Laevatein, Yamsk 11, The nuclear weapons threat in Afghanistan, Sousuke's return to Merida Island and the battle in front of the Tartaros. That's around 9 maps, but the Nuke threat could work as an alternate route, and you could also split the fall of Merida Island and the Attack on Jindai High into two different routes, since they're simultaneous. I was under the impression SRW always made you play the last level in a show's plot, so Tartaros would be the fixed ending, but if that's not the case then for some players Afghanistan would be while for others it'd be Tartaros.

I think it could be done. I think it'd be easier to tell Sigma in 1 game than it would be to do all of Sigma in 25 episode anime.

 

[Andrew J.]

I was under the impression SRW always made you play the last level in a show's plot

If I remember right, in J the Zeorymer resolution occurs in an alternate route.

 

[CorvoSol]

If I remember right, in J the Zeorymer resolution occurs in an alternate route.

Yeah, I feel like Prince of Darkness only happens on one route in W, but at the same time I got the distinct impression that no matter my route in Z2 I'd still have to see the endings to Geass, Wing, 00 and Gurren Lagann. But those were also, excluding Wing, big titles for the entry, I guess. I don't know how high FMP actually ranks to the general public, just that I'm stoked as hell for it to be in again.

 

[Gideon Zhi]

Hey, so, anyone want to help out editing SRW Alpha? Here's your chance.