Front Mission 3 Part #77 - Mission #14: Capitalism is Evil

Part 77: Mission #14: Capitalism is Evil

No comments since my last post, eh? Well, I'm trying to keep a schedule, and I'd rather not let this fall into the archives, so I guess I'll double-post

Mission #14: Capitalism is Evil

Didn't Hatta say we were going in his truck? Isn't there a body of water between Sumatra and Singapore? And that's the least vexing part of this mission.

: This is part of Jurong Industrial Zone. Used to be the Singapore Industrial Corporation's Factory. A total ghost town now. It's a good hideout.

: So where is the informant?

: In the City Center. Follow me.

: Let's hide the wanzers here and go to the City Center.

Before we go on to the next scene, let's reflect on how nice it was when the most annoying character in our party was Ryogo. Everyone ready? Yes? No...you aren't, but proceed we must.

This scene brought to you by the Singapore Ministry of Tourism.

: I thought Singapore would be more rural.

: Singapore has one of the world's top information industry now.

: That's why there are many good legal or illegal computer engineers.

: The person we're about to meet is a hacker?

: No. A spender.
Spender is still a fucking stupid name for a hacker.

: What's a spender?

: Hackers for hire. They'd do anything for money. I don't hear many nice rumors about them.

: She should be at a bar, Let's go.

: Be patient. I'll talk to her. Hey Moneymaker. How are you?

: Hatta. Can't you see I'm eating right now?

: I've got a job for you.

: What's the pay?

: Hold on. They're the ones who want to hire you.

: ?

: She's just a girl.

: !? I'm not a kid.
I'm pretty sure the writers got a 10000 yen bonus every time they put an exchange like that into the script.

: What's a kid doing in a bar?

: Hey, I'm not a kid!

: Ryogo, you shut your mouth.
Kazuki Takemura, White Knight for hire!

: It's getting dangerous around here. Alordesh independence affected the entire Southeast Asian region. I wonder if they're happier, separated from the OCU?
Did you know George Harrison IV, descendant of the legendary guitarist headlined the Concert for Alordesh?

: Yer Japanese? The Japanese aren't liked around here. Japan and Australia are profiting from dirty business. The politicians here blame the OCU for our economic hardship. In truth, they're the ones being lazy.

: The military is moving around a lot lately. I hope there won't be any big trouble. There's new information on the DCN website. Why don't you take a look at it? I'll tell you the web address. I hear they arrest you for the smallest thing these days. Someone got arrested because of a small fight just the other day.
Okay, time to get down to business.

: I'm sorry. We need you to investigate something. We'll pay.

: 2000 plus expenses for legal jobs, more if it's illegal.

: That's fine. And it's illegal.

: What do you need to know?

: We need the flight schedule of an air force base in Atsugi, Japan.

: Military info, huh? 6000. I'll cover expenses as a service.
Well, she's a hacker, so her only real expenses are Mountain Dew and Funyuns...

: Great. Thanks.

: Hey, how are you gonna pay for this?

: Emma or Dennis will pay for it.

: What? Not me. Dennis can pay from the business account.

: What!? ...Fine, I'll pay.

: There you go! Come back here tomorrow.

: Wait!

: What?

: ...Can I get a receipt?

: Huh?

: A battle might occur anytime! We need to be prepared, dude. They might have stuff we can't get in Japan.

: You just want to go sightseeing.

: Whatever. Let's go!

: I know a good shop. Follow me!

: Whaddya mean, "it's only?" He ain't friendly, but selection is good here, and also does upgrades.

: You mean, upgrades that raise HP on our wanzers?

: There are all kinds of upgrades. I'll teach you. Sit down.
And, despite Penguin's pleas, no tutorial will be given. I swap out the old designs for this branch's fist batch of thread wanzers...then I cringe involuntarily.

: There are too many small disputes popping up these days. Well, business is good because of them.

: What do we do now?

: Do what you want until tomorrow.

: Let's go eat then.

: Kazuki, I'm going with Hatta and Dennis. Enjoy your date with Emma.

: What do you mean, a date!?

: (Hey, she's yours. I'll back down this time...)

: (Back down from what?)

: (Emma is a good match for a shy guy like you.)
Ryogo will see a romantic subplot in this game...no matter the cost.

: You'd rather go with them, right?

: No thanks. I don't like loud places.

: There you go. Enjoy!

: Hey!

: Kazuki, I'll be fine. Why don't you go with them?

: It's okay. Where should we go?

: Some place quiet.

: All right.

: Why not leave it to the military and Dennis?

: Because I caused it. I feel responsible. And I don't like to depend on other people.

: Yeah. You're a strong woman.

: That's not true... My parents were also scientists. They died when I was very young. I've been alone ever since. I worked very hard. But maybe I wanted someone to protect me. Maybe I took on my parents' research because I wanted them to protect me. Then, the research took a bad turn...
By the laws of jRPGs, strong female characters must be emotionally broken or killed. It's tough, but it's the law.

: I see. I'm a but surprised.

: About what?

: That you have a sensitive side.

: I'm not usually sensitive?

: That's now what I meant.

: What are your parents like?

: My mom died when I was 12. I left home since and live by myself.
He left home at 12? Come on, Japan, that doesn't make sense by your standards!

: But your father is still alive.

: I don't consider him family.
Would it break your hearts to know that this won't be the end of Kazuki's papa-angst?

: Right. You don't get along, huh?

: Alisa got caught in that accident because of him.

: ...I hope your sister is safe.

: I'll find her.

From bad to worse...it's time to spend time with Moneymaker.

: Classified military information? Piece of cake! Accessing the JDF... Password! Time to get out my home-made hacking tool, Code Breaker. Atsugi, in Japan...

Welcome to the future of hacking! Much like decking in Shadowrun, the designers are trying their best to disguise the fact that it's much less exciting than getting in shootouts. (For those of you who don't know, Shadowrun was a tabletop RPG known for trying to jam as much shit as it could into a cyberpunk setting. Magic? Both hermetic and shamanistic types available! Kung Fu powers? Absolutely. Dragons? Secretly rule large chunks of the world! Anyway, they also had rules for hacking that always led to most of the players ready to bust into a secret lab and then having to wait a half-hour for the GM to run a side-session with one player to deal with cyber defenses.)

: Huh... 2 transports left the base around the same time. Let's see where they went... You want to fight me? Give it up! BINGO! Downloading... 6000 for me!

And then the doorbell rings.

: ...

: Who are you? ! Shoot!

Meanwhile, Emma is having a dream of her childhood. Remember how Alisa used to keep flashing back to that field of flowers? Well, Emma's dream is a bit more direct.

Apparently Emma's hippocampus doesn't have great resolution. Anyway, a helicopter is pursuing a car...

And then everything erupts into flames.

: Aw...

: Are you okay, Emma?

: I'm fine... It was just a nightmare.

: Hey! Wake up!!

: Hatta!? What happened?

: Shoot! The military arrested Moneymaker!

: ! Did she screw up!?

: Probably.
Well, maybe her brother was on death row for killing the vice-president, and the only way to rescue was being sent to the very same prison...and then she broke him out, and went on the lam trying to get to a country that didn't have an expedition treaty, except the producers realized that her adventures were straying too far from the original premise of the show, and so had her sent to a Panamanian prison...which she then broke out of, but her love interest got killed, and everything seemed about done, but ~~the show~~ her adventures got unexpectedly renewed and so they had the love interest come back to life and had everyone flail about for another season, and then it kind of ended with a thud.

: Told you she's too young for this.
Psion posted that Ryogo is 19, and that's probably right, knowing Japan, well, the game tells you that Moneymaker is all of 17, which kind of makes Ryogo seem even more of a dick than usual.

: She got caught because of us. We have to help her!

: Yes. It's not that I don't trust her, but it'd be bad if she mentions us. Where was Moneymaker taken?

: A military penitentiary in Choa Chu Kang.

: We'll have to be extra careful, then.

: Let's have a submarine standing by, just in case.
I think Dennis just wants to show off that he has a submarine at his beck and call.

: Let's rescue her before daybreak. Hurry!

: I'll give you the password for OCU Army Intelligence. It's G3F8A. Memorize it. She's in Choa Chu Kang. Better leave soon if you wanna rescue her.
Oh, you can go back to the bar at this point, but no one has anything particularly interesting to say, other than the Japanese are totally screwing over the rest of the OCU with their economic policies. Clearly, this is a commentary on the role of Germany in the EU after the economic crisis of 2009-10. Now, that seems crazy, with the game having been made in 2000, but, remember, the game takes place in the future.

: Yeah, security is tight...

: We have to exit our wanzers to reach the brig. Let's eliminate the enemy wanzers first.

: Got it.

: Be careful of the searchlight. They'll see you as clear as day.
We're in giant walking tanks. If they can't get a read on us as is, all the light in the fucking universe isn't going to make a difference.

: Let's go save our damsel in distress!
Do we have to?

All right, as is tradition, on the eve of a new wanzer build, the last generation of your wanzers are finally unveiled. Kazuki has his twin-shotgun Calmzuki, which isn't nearly as catchy a name as Berzuki. Ryogo has the SprayNPlay, which will become notable for me repeatedly forgetting to switch to the more powerful machine gun in its right hand. Emma has the Doing It With Science, which will be rather effective until it runs out of missiles, and Dennis has the Hey Joe, yet another valiant attempt to prove that rifles can be useful.

The enemies are a couple of Jinyos, a few foot snipers and passel of tanks. There's also a spotlight that illuminates a few squares boosting the accuracy of any one targetting anything in those squares.

Another fine effort from Emma, which makes me think the game is slightly rigged to encourage the player to keep using missile wanzers.

Dennis actually manages to hit a foot soldier with his rifle, an impossible shot I only took because it was the only target in range. Lamentably, it's the high point of the mission for Dennis.

I must applaud the courage of the foot soldier who stood up to Kazuki's mighty war engine, although I'm sure that's small consolation for the poor sap's surviving kith and kin.

Ryogo ends the Jinyo who Emma has crippled earlier.

It wouldn't be a Front Mission 3 update without someone getting force-ejected out of their wanzer!

The tank is a 21st century relic that has no place on the battlefield of 2112!

Kazuki just can't help but getting an arm ripped off in battle. It's his signature move.

Almost done...

And Dennis misses with his rifle. Of course he does.

Still, it only delays the inevitable.

Not the most auspicious of debuts. Ryogo gets the first MVP of the branch.

: Right!

: Oh!

: Oh? Are you okay!?

: Oh, you guys. What're you doing here?

: What are you talking about? We're her to save you!

: Huh? Really!?

: Get a move on it, already!

: Look out! Kazuki!!

: Ohh boy... It's over...
Whoops...it turns out the enemy had more than two wanzers guarding its prison. Only a Deus Ex Machina can save us now! Or the game could end. Frankly, I could use the break...