On this stage we get a new member, Reiko Machida, as well as a ship that can carry another mech -- I didn't find this all that useful. On the whole, the missions are getting trickier simply because the grunts are so strong. I was able to beat this and the next scene without any deaths or game overs, but it's a little annoying having to go through the mission at a snail's pace, killing 1 or at most 2 grunts a turn.
Scene 10
Main thing on this stage is getting Kiel, one of the enemy units, who is a good pilot and comes with a good mech.
Scene 11
This is another slow stage with pillboxes that shoot at your guys -- the dialogue indicates it will be tough but they don't do that much damage. It was another very slow stage as I took out one at a time, but after a while the boss sends the rest of the units at you, and then I just retreated and fought them out of the pillbox range.
Scene 12
The "fairy trick" is becoming more and more useful. This is done with Harry, Nina, and Chay. Basically you have one of them out in the Fairy, use the Marb Clamp to do damage, then return to the ship, and send one of the other pilots out to repeat it. This does a lot of damage to many units, but since the Fairy is weak it takes some time.
I notice that here and there the walkthrough author recommends levelling up by intentionally equipping weak weapons. I didn't do this, but I probably should have.
Scene 13
This is a difficult, long stage.
There's a wall of shield defended units, and then two bases at the back that spit out one unit a turn. Since the grunts are so strong I failed the first time actually trying to fight them all. The better strategy is an all out attack, moving forward as quickly as possible and destroying the bases as fast as you can.
Scene 14
This is where my playthrough ended. I notice that the youtube guy who was uploading videos of this game didn't finish this stage, and the walkthrough author said it was the hardest stage he had ever played in an SRPG. After an easy initial group, the boss comes in with reinforcements and gets your guys in a pincer attack. The grunts are even stronger than the ones in the past stages, and the boss is very strong and heals himself too. I failed a number of times and then tried following the exact strategy in the GameFAQs walkthrough and still couldn't do it.
This may be because my guys were underlevelled, and I might have been able to beat it if I used codes to increase the levels or started over and levelled more. But I'm only going to do that on games that are really fun, and this one is not (to me). Also there's a translation patch so anyone reading this can try the game for themselves. It has promise, but for me it was too slow and hard in a way that wasn't fun.
Next up is a Macross game, from the abandoned Macross II continuity.
I bought this game a while back because the box was cool and it was cheap. "It's not like it'll ever be translated!!" Months later, it gets translated. And now, as seen in the previous comments, it's even getting a real release. I like to think I accidentally willed this all into existence.
ReplyDeleteI was actually hoping I'd be able to beat this before you got to it and have something to say (I have an Ever Drive now), but ended up being too busy. However, uhhh, it sure sounds like that may have been unlikely anyway!
I'd like to warn people who are going to pay the $60 or whatever for that reproduction -- this game is not worth that much money. If it's on game archives or whatever for $10-20 it might be OK but this game is not good enough to get a full price reproduction.
DeleteI finished this game, using my own tactics in mission 14. I even took some notes.
ReplyDeleteMove Dread to extreme left and a bit up. Deploy Panasia and Pastral or Bellwether to the right of Dread. Use Vacuum Wall. On next turn, move Panasia back into Dread. Pass turns. On enemy Turn 5, main enemy force will appear. 16 Rantzens, 4 Ramildas and Remille. Pastral or Bellwether will take the initial attacks. Move Dread and deploy Farie to hit as many enemies as possible and at least one Ramilda. Deploy everyone else and concentrate on Ramildas. Keep Pastral and Bellwether near Farie and between enemy and Dread.
Thanks for the comment! Maybe I'll have to revisit this and try your strategy. I wonder if I needed better levels, though.
DeleteAhoy Chris, I've been following your blog for awhile (as you might know?) but haven't ever posted any comments. I have your blog to thank for introducing me to this game, and I've been enjoying it! Thanks for doing what you do.
ReplyDeleteI'm typing this right on the heels of finishing Scenario 14. It was pretty damn difficult and I resorted to save scumming (but hey; the game innately allows you to do it so it's not like I'm cheating... :P). Todorov was no joke. I like the idea behind the scenario but didn't think the execution was very good, mostly because I don't find this game to be very deep strategy-wise.
However, I do have to say that I found Scenario 13 to be much harder. Moore's defensive formation was just so damn good; the walls prevented ranged units from attacking, forcing everyone to bottleneck through that 2-tile entry way. Furthermore, those bases kept pumping out more VECTORs... it was a nightmare, and I only managed to beat it after over an hour of playtime, and with Ben at <10% HP!
Also thanks for mentioning the "Fairy trick." Exploiting the game's mechanics to allow for multiple AoEs is genius and something that never occurred to me. I've felt for awhile that the Farie/Fairy is the best offensive tool in the game, but this should make it even more powerful. I've gotta start using that in the future.
Well I just finished the game and have to say I'd LOVE to see you finish it. You're just 2 scenarios away from the finish line, and the final two chapters are a breeze compared to scenarios 13/14. The ending to the game is top tier hilarity and you gotta see it, man!
DeleteI got the Fairy trick from the GameFAQs walkthrough.
DeleteHow did you beat Scenario 14? I just couldn't figure out a way to do it even with save scumming.
Thanks for the comment!
I parked my units in the lower left hand corner of the map: https://youtu.be/oMZv8tifWhI (around the 18 minute mark)
DeleteThe GameFAQ guide is incorrect. It states that you need to destroy the base, which is false. The scenario ends as soon as Todorov dies. Even so, it's a real toughie because of all the enemy mooks, especially those damn Remildas.
Maybe this is one of those cases where reading the guide actually impedes progress...?
Thanks; maybe I'll give this a try at some point.
Delete