DX, Strike Freedom, Guren, Gunbuster, Dix Neuf, Turn A, Wing Zero, Shinkirou, Quatre-Vingt-Dix, Aquarion Evol. Then you have a ton units with "middling" map attacks like all of the Valkyries, Virgola, Tallgeese, etc.
Don't know if it outnumbers Alpha 3, but it feels pretty close.
Yeah, this is way better than early game Alpha 3, no question in MAP attacks. Between the ships with pretty good MAP, Wing Zero post-move huge MAP, Macross F post-move MAP right from the start. Gunbuster great MAP, Diebuster great MAP, Tallgeese great MAP, Aquarion good MAP, Karen good MAP, DX, Turn A, Strike F MAP, Lancelot MAP, Lelouche MAP
You can basically use almost entirely map attacks from turn 2 and wipe out all the grunts. Alpha 3 had some giant MAP attacks, but there's no way it had anywhere near that many units with useful MAP attacks 14 maps into the game. I've never seen anything like this from Alpha 2->present. But it's a good thing cause man do I hate squads in my SRW and MAP attacks are the solutions.
Shit, that's really weird. I did a general "seishin search" from the in-map option list and it wasn't listed. But then again I have a ton of ????s because everyone's levels are pretty low this early in the game (~lvl.21-24) and most people only have 2-3 seishins max. Maybe none of those guys had it yet? I definitely had Loran/Amuro/Kira deployed.
Just booted up the game and damn, it's right there in the seishin bank. Was pretty tired last night when I did the map so I guess my eyes just glossed over it in the seishin bank and I figured it wasn't in the Z games. Oh well, at least I know it's there for future maps.
The difference is that half those map attacks aren't locked away until the last half of the game like they were in Z. They barely added any new ones, it's just the old new units with their old map attacks are back.
Having access to all those right away is makes stages map attack crazy. And I'd still say the game has more map attacks than any other srw since alpha 2. That's like half the cast with map attacks. Even Mazinger has a map attack!
pretty uneventful, straight "move forward and shoot everyone" with not much in the way of reinforcements/last minute surprises
, so it wasn't as great as one could've hoped.
Still, the final boss
managed to pose a slight threat, which is more than we can say for most usual final bosses in these games
! I'll wait to have better info about secrets for a new playthrough but I'm kinda itching to start over already. Reloaded my save just to see, I'll start my next round with over 15 mill and 27000 Z-chips, that should cover the basics :-D
As far as secrets go, from what I see on Akurasu, I got
Beck
and
Bonta-kun
and... not much else.
Beck
was pretty fun - the unit itself is pretty terrible, but by that point in the game,
everyone has their super power upgrade which makes it efficient at least (doing around 10000 damage per hit in a world where 20000 becomes the norm :-D)
... but
it also comes outfitted with a S-Adaptor, some Chogokin-Z and another great part I can't remember, so it feels more like an excuse to give you a bundle of really good parts! Also, Beck himself has a cheap, cheap confuse, which I sort of used on every stage from then on...
In the end, there were a few things I hoped for that didn't happen (
some new attacks for Chamber, Gadlight joining for good, or a Gainax kick combination
) but what's there still left me quite content. I'm sure
those who expected Mazinkaiser or the like will cry foul
, but it always seemed to me like setting oneself up for disappointment to be wishing for that...
As far as animation quality, there are still a few noticeable drops, but the overall consistency is much higher than it was in Jigoku, barring what wasn't touched up (think Wing units here). Many of the new animations for older units look decidedly better, sometimes comically so compared to their finishers. Even the fairly simple stuff, like Gargantia's beams, has nice and somewhat personal particles effects, and often stylized explosions to make up for it - they're the definition of short but sweet for me, a nice contrast to some Super's elaborate moves. And most of the lategame power upgrades are awesome to look at, the only one that left me wishing for more was FMP/Laevateinn, and I suspect that's because there's no motion reference material (isn't it a manga unit?) - I'd even say it was also to give a more "realistic", or at least credible feel to their motion (or lack thereof), but that excuse flies out the window when you see the fluidity of the Amalgam mechs, so I'm not sure what happened there. Oh well, at least Diebuster's stuff was pretty awesome!
The only ones I ultimately was skipping on a regular basis were Harute's - I see what they were going for, but there's such a thing as too fast for me. I feel comparing it to Zeta's is not right, as there is a level of coherency and a trajectory choreography in his that's missing in all of Harute's. They're all very short, seemingly lacking variance/DKs, and very confusing to look at, didn't like'em one bit, even though they had the potential to be great (and had nice explosion animations). On the other hand, Zabanya was... well, it sure got some love!
Overall, compared to Z2, I really believe HD was a bit of an hindrance here, as we're lacking in singular part motion (instead relying on that sliding - is that even tweening? effect I raved about earlier, and still think is pretty much blergh - and that dreadful airbrushing for light gradients!), dynamic choreography that would require a lot more sprite poses, mostly facing towards the camera, and proportions often feel a bit off (their excessive shortening of the back leg for instance, which sometimes doesn't mesh well with the actual perspective of the ground - main offender being, once again, Harute). It's partly the platform's fault, as it's "expected" to have higher res sprites on the PS3 (and OGs2nd kinda spoiled us in that regard) but... I actually wouldn't mind one bit if they took the time to focus on portable space, 3DS and Vita only, to allow for better animation quality (seriously, it was mentioned several times in this thread, but look at W through L! Some amazing stuff in there) while they get their ducks in a row for the rest.
I unfortunately couldn't enjoy every detail of the plot, but what I could get of it seemed quite interesting and eventful, and I can't wait for a fuller, cleaner script translation!
If anyone has questions I could answer about the game, I'll be glad to try, though anything related to the plot, I probably can't :-D
Just got the Eva units again and LOL they did just sidestep the plot for it. I guess it makes sense, all things considered. They did this in the last game with Aquarion Evol.
The barrier bonus is like the one thing that I'd use the Full Upgrade Bonus on other than the extra equipment slot. For units that have it or if you equip the barrier item, it really reduces the drain on their EN reserves when you put them up front. Eva units are pretty noticeable there but several tanky builds benefit from it.
On a separate note, I hate that they nerfed Dai-guard in Z3. It doesn't have the other Punisher attacks in this so it isn't Ammo focused as it used to be. That means that doing a build for it around the Barrier item isn't as effective as it was in Z2 where you could make it absorb tons of attacks without slowing down its ability to take on grunts and bosses. =(
I like how the reversed the roles on Hibiki and Sosuke, where Sosuke is the straight man now.
However they also did a reverse on the pacing compared to Jigoku-Hen as well. There it was all FMP first half and then nothing, now the FMP plot for the first half is extremely barebones.
Nah my Gunbuster has movement of 8, plus 1 more when over 130 willpower or whatever. Combine that with stuff like multiaction and she is all over the map.
I checked how the routes were split up on a JP wiki and daaaaamn. I just can't choose the first split T_T
I mean the Green Earth looks GREAT but I'm a sucker for UC Gundam with post-Zeta stuff. Does anything cool happen on that route or not really? Don't care for Wing, 00 or Code Geass plot tbh...
Hmm, I finished up the Gargantia plot last night and they made some nice changes to it to make it work with the game world. It's mostly in the details but it was quite surprising.
Biggest differences in the story was the fact that (spoilers for Gargantia so do not read this if you haven't seen the show)
It's strongly hinted that the world that Gargantia comes from is a world where the Asteroid drop from CC was successful and caused the conflict between the Evolvers and humans to escalate into what became the Gargantia back story. Char Aznable's name is brought up within the video that shows the truth. In addition, they changed the purpose of Gargantia's railgun from just being a weapon to also help restoring the planet. In the story, rather than shoot shells, it can shoot out the Hikarimushi, (which are nanomachines) and they suck the energy out of units support Kugel's fleet. It basically turns the Gargantia into a giant version of the Moonlight Butterfly with several other folks commenting on this fact.
I also liked the characters they used (from other series) to back enrich the story too.
Yeah they explore that plot thread more later on. They make sure that it still feels like the characters have presence and meaning even if the plot is over.
Has anybody experienced a weird thing where the custom song that you set gets suddenly reset?
For example: I set Beyond the Time for most of Nu Gundam's attacks except the beam saber attack which I set to Ai Senshi (for the lulz). Exit out, save and overwrite the save. Attack using the beam saber and then the system default Sally theme plays instead of Ai Senshi. Checking the custom BGM list shows that now only the first two attacks have Beyond the Time and the rest have been defaulted back to Main Theme (Sally).
I do know that some mechas have two forms hence requiring two different BGM list assignments (like the Lambda Driver-powered Arbalest and Unicorn Gundam's Destroy Mode) but it's doing that weird reset thing on even basic mechs like the Jegan.
I haven't run into it myself yet. They seem to make a separate file for custom song selections. I only noticed this when changing the Gargantia song, heh.
Also, 1.02 update hit. Not sure what's changed though.
I haven't run into it myself yet. They seem to make a separate file for custom song selections. I only noticed this when changing the Gargantia song, heh.
Also, 1.02 update hit. Not sure what's changed though.
Did you change it to the show's theme? I did the same. I don't know if they kept it there maybe to have it change automatically at a certain plot event or if it's just there for people who want to hear it instead of the default theme Ledo comes with.
Did you change it to the show's theme? I did the same. I don't know if they kept it there maybe to have it change automatically at a certain plot event or if it's just there for people who want to hear it instead of the default theme Ledo comes with.
The 3 way split around the late teens/early 20s is really good on all 3 routes. Like super satisfying quality stuff for each. The first 3-way split was kind of whatever and the Geass/Wing route was zzz, but really enjoying this split.
Not posting much cause only playing a map or two a day. Might not post again until I finish it unless there's other non-spoiler interesting stuff worth talking about.
That explains the PP and Kill point additions for the entire cast. I loaded up with a bunch of folks becoming ACES and Rackage with 800 PP ready to go, lol
They're pretty much all of the same bases actually. They hit up the same strategic points in the story several times depending on what's going on.
Just finished 34 or so and whoa, lots of crazy stuff happening in the story. I love that they're tying all the series back in and stuff. They really linked the series and the theme that Hibki brought into Z3.
That explains the PP and Kill point additions for the entire cast. I loaded up with a bunch of folks becoming ACES and Rackage with 800 PP ready to go, lol
I'm up to 48.. Man, the story really is coming together. All of those little pieces throughout the other games and how they all tie in is really cool. So good.
I feel like some of the SR points are harder to get this time around. I messed up on 31 (kill the two enemies same turn with same pilot) and have missed like 3 total so far
I'm getting near the end of the game, I'm on 55, I think. In the final stretch now, the DLC items really make the last half easier to get through especially the attack strengthening ones. You can get some of the characters attack up to ridiculous levels with them. It pretty much makes the additional equipment slot the only one you want to go as a full custom bonus.
If I buy the DLC packs after I'm a good way through the game, will I be able to play the missions from 'earlier' in the timeline or will I have to wait for a NG+?
I'm going slow as molasses. FINALLY finished the first route then I get all the other units from the other route.... fuuuuuuuck. Time to make some decisions.
I'm not exactly a support unit kind of guy so probably benching dudes like Watta and Nono until she gets her BM form.
If I buy the DLC packs after I'm a good way through the game, will I be able to play the missions from 'earlier' in the timeline or will I have to wait for a NG+?
1. After Stage 3's events (Near Third Impact) did the EVA cast get transported to another Earth where the Q movie happened?
2. How did they end up near Jupiter when they returned?
As I recall, in stage 3 a Space-Time quake occurred sending everyone apart. What this did for the Eva folks is send them back to their home universe where the events of the next movie occur. After most of the events of that, they're again involved in a Time-Quake that summon them back to the Z-BLUE universe but after the events and the huge timeskip in the movie. The entire cast look like kids but are much older and under the effect of a Eternity Flat like situation as well, heh.
As I recall, in stage 3 a Space-Time quake occurred sending everyone apart. What this did for the Eva folks is send them back to their home universe where the events of the next movie occur. After most of the events of that, they're again involved in a Time-Quake that summon them back to the Z-BLUE universe but after the events and the huge timeskip in the movie. The entire cast look like kids but are much older and under the effect of a Eternity Flat like situation as well, heh.
