Part 81: Mission #18: Love: A Leading Cause of Death in jRPG Characters

Mission #18: Love: A Leading Cause of Death in jRPG Characters



Right, so, to recap, Lukav is escorting the scientists and Alisa back to the sub, and then to the USN fleet, I'm that will work great. Meanwhile, the party is rushing off to help Purple Haze recover MIDAS.



The remnants of Purple Haze fight off an enemy wanzer with a truly ridiculous design. See that purple spot near its feet? That's what's left of Gastor.



: Cindy, go meet up with Kazuki!
: What are you saying? I'm not going to leave you and run.
: Who said to run? We can't stop MIDAS on our own. Go get Kazuki and his buddies.
Looks like we'll need to team up with Purple Haze after all...
: A-All right.
: I'm going to stop the transport!



And Joe takes a shot directly to the torso.
: ......Damn......there were......still...some left...



You don't come back from that...
: Trash!
: Joe!



: Joe!?
: Purple Haze lost!?
: Damn!



: Cindy!?
: Ryogo!
Can Ryogo and Cindy's love shield them from the brutal realities of war?



I guess not.
: Cindy! Cindy, answer me! Can you hear me? Cindy!
: Ryogo, you were right. We're not such hotshots......after all...



: ! No!
In memory of Cindy, I have composed a poem for this occasion.

There once was a girl named Cindy
And now she's fucking dead



I'm not sure how that machine fires its gun without toppling over.
: Little pests, I will stop you!
: Purple Haze is wiped out... Damn you!
: Hang on, Kazuki. This one's mine!



Kazuki, Ryogo, Dennis and Yun get the call.
: Kazuki, the seaplane's taking off!
: Damn, I guess that's it...
: It's still too early to give up.
Well, if it isn't Senor Goodtimes, der Herzog von Spass!



That's Jose in his tan Pare PAW1. Somehow, he'll forget how to use machine guns immediately after this battle.
: It's me. Sorry about earlier. There's still a plane left on the base. We can use that. I'll lend you a hand. Hurry!
: Thanks! All right, let's take 'em out!



We've played on this map before, way back in the other branch. Interestingly enough, back then, this was the map where we killed Jose. Anyway, the big problem is that the party is surrounded and in firing range of basically every enemy of the map. That's bad. Kazuki starts the mission off by going after one of these giant gun things. They're equipped with cannons, meaning they're useless at point-blank range.



Jose is along for the ride as a NPC. If he dies, I think that means you can't recruit him, although that's never happened to me, so I can't say for certain.



Kazuki kills one of the giant wanzers after a couple of turns of firing. Front Mission 3 continues its odd tradition of having paper tigers for bosses.



Ryogo, at the same time, is attacking the Jinyos on the other edge of the map. He's doing okay, but taking more damage than I would prefer.



And Kazuki takes a blast from one of the two helicopters on this map. Thomas Hobbes wrote that life without a shield was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."



Yun finds new ways to disappoint me.



Kazuki, as usual, saves the day. I'd be lost without him.



Ryogo activates a double-RoF I combo.



Respectable results. They'd be better if I remembered to switch to his better machine gun.



Ryogo keeps fighting, but he's getting worn down. I just need him to hold out a little longer...



But that's more than he can give me.



Dennis manages to get his rifle blown off and force-ejected in the same turn. That's impressive in a sort of soul-crushing way.



But that's okay! Kazuki is on the case. All he has to do is survive this one cannon shot, and he'll be able to rip the boss apart at his leisure.



Well, that was bound to happen...Okay, so I've got Jose, who I have no control over, Yun, whose a bit dinged up already, and Dennis, who has no weapons left. This could get tricky.



And Yun immediately gets blasted in the body by another cannon shot. One more of those, and she's done for. It's going to come down to the last shot.



And Yun finishes off the last enemy, but at what price victory?



And, as if to prove the medal system doesn't make a ton of sense, I still get a platinum medal. Yun gets MVP, basically by default.



: Yes, we can fly!
: Jose, take care of everyone!
: Don't worry. I'll make sure the rest make it out okay. Hurry!
: Emma, what's their course?
: The sub is tracing them. We'll be airborne in a second.



This seems familiar...



: This isn't good. It's already started its bombing run.
: Bogey at 7 o' clock.
: Can't we stop it!?
: ... I'll ram it if I have to.
Can Kazuki and Emma save the day?
: I've reached the waypoint. Commencing bombing.
Well...



It certainly doesn't look good.



The DHZ fleet desperately tries to stop the bomber but, much as before...



Their efforts go for naught.



And Batangas gets wiped from the map.



Bummer.

Next Time: Things Somehow Get Even Worse!