Part 2

On the world map, levels are represented by spinning cubes. Red is an uncleared level, blue is a completed one. Green is for shops, and gray is for levels that are complete and cannot be revisited. Let's try the shop.




There are several different categories from which you can buy things.

Wanzer: Buy new bodies and equipment (shields, boosters, etc) for your giant fighting mechs.

Primary: Primary weapons. Vulcans, shotguns, you name it.

Special: Subweapons. E.G: The hard knuckle (punch attack) and the grenade launcher.

Gear: Less obvious. This is equipment for Albert when he steps outside the Wanzer. Yes, you can do that. It was in the video, in fact.

Items: Potions and elixirs. That is, items you can use any time to repair your Wanzer or help in some way.

Support: Wanzers for your wing men, once you get them.

Other: Fuel and ammo refills. What does fuel do? You'll see in a moment.

Upgrade: Allows you to power up your existing weapons.

For now, I buy some grenades from the GEAR category. I won't need them right away, but it was the only piece of equipment there that I didn't have yet.


This is the menu you get when entering any map, although the shop command only applies to shops, naturally. Let's go into outfit.




Here, you can view your experience gains, and equip yourself. Vernier units let you "double jump," and the rest is pretty obvious. Below here, you can equip weapons. The number of special weapons you can equip depends on the Wanzer you are currently piloting, but you can only have one primary. Below THAT is the human equipment. Albert needs a gun, armour, and grenades. I'll explain more about combat on foot when I get a good chance to use it. I think it's more fun to introduce things gradually to keep this boring exposition to a minimum, anyway.




One more thing: before going into a mission you can use the fuel you buy at a shop to refill your HP. Because when you hit a pole in your car, all you need to do is visit a gas station and the damage is automatically undone. As you can see, I've got plenty left in the carrier truck, so I won't need to buy more for awhile.


reach Beeg, we...

Sir! I've got enemy contacts on radar!

It's rude to interrupt, Albert.

WHAT? Were they expecting us?

Damn! Looks like they got a fix on our position.

What now?

Orwen's not used to being in a video game. I think we all know what comes next.

There aren't that many. I'll handle it!

Damn right you will.

Be careful!


Stay away from the President!

What's new this level? Let's see...


This is a new, tougher type of enemy. It just shoots at you, so there isn't much to say. Except for OH DAMMIT I JUST HAD TO TAKE THE PICTURE AT THAT EXACT MILISECOND!


When you beat an enemy Wanzer, the pilot always manages to escape and cannot be shot by you afterwords. Naturally, this luck does not apply to you. It seems like Squaresoft was saying "Oh look guys nobody is dying" until you find out that there are actual human enemies that you can shoot and kill.


Here's the pause screen. You have a radar, on which we can see that all the nearby enemies are dead. The arm menu let's you switch your weapons when you have more than one. Item is obvious, and command let's you tell your partners to do things.


There's a base carrier approaching!

WHAT? More of them?

As the thread wears on, you'll be seeing "WHAT?" paired with that face a lot. I considered calling the thread "WHAT? Front Mission: Gun Hazard," but it isn't the same without the face.

This is Lockheart. I've located the abductor!


I know when I think of flying around, bombing things the first thing that comes to mind is baby frogs.

But that's foreign equipment... Blast! They must be mercenaries!

What do you mean "abductor"? Hey!

Don't play innocent, buddy. Colonel Hellbrand's paying good money for the President's safe return. Lucky for me I found you first, huh?

Listen, lady...

The name's BRENDA, buddy!

Oh no, her name's in all caps! She must be an important character!

Look! I'm not a kidnapper! Ark's...

I don't care WHAT you are, pal. Out of the Wanzer, now!

Fat chance!

I didn't want to do this, but...

"You leave me no choice but to bomb the hell out of the president!


Seriously, she just starts dropping bombs, and more of them tend to hit the truck than you. It's not really a boss because you can't do anything to hurt the Tadpole, and she jut leaves after dropping all her bombs. I don't know what happened to this screen shot, by the way.

Enough! You're a better pilot than I expected...

Able to move back and forth at greater-than-snail's-pace. That's Albert.

Serves me right for heading out without backup. I'll be back!

Then who were those guys I just blew up, if not backup?


our country... What's this place going to come to if he takes power?

New public holidays centered around killing! Tax breaks for mercenaries! All last names must be changed to things like "Blackdeath" and "McStabsalot"!


We score a good amount of change.


And enough experience for...


A level up! This increases HP and allows you to buy more types of equipment in the shop. The grenade launcher shoots powerful explosives, and the upward vulcan is... a gun that only shoots up. Both are special weapons. The shotgun, however, is a primary.


My apologies. I...

No apologies, sir. It's not your fault.

......

Say, do you have any family?

My parents live in Emingen...

This is probably important in some way.

I wouldn't put it past that traitor to get them involved in this mess... we had best hurry.

I wouldn't recommend pressing on, sir. If they know we're coming...

What then?

We'll take a less conspicuous route.

Probably a better idea. Let's head back.

On the way, I buy that shotgun that became available.


Let's take the less consipuous route through a major fucking city! That's way more stealthy!


Sir! Are you all right?

Yes, yes! Driving these long distances just wears me out. Maybe we could make a short stop...

"I need to pee."

Here, sir?

Yes?

They're bound to be tailing us by now. If we stop now, Ark will have us surrounded in no time!

Oh!

Don't worry. We'll just have to fight our way through.

"We can't stop here! We'll be- ahh screw it I'll just kill them all."

A... All right.

VIDEO VIDEO VIDEO SINCE A BUNCH OF PEOPLE MISSED THE FACT THAT THERE IS VIDEO LAST TIME I AM MARKING IT WITH THIS VERY OBNOXIOUS MESSAGE SO THAT IT IS NOT MISSED!
If you'd rather see this level as a video: here you are. The ending is really cool and can't be summed up well in screenshots, so I recommend watching it at some point.

Google
FileFront
Vimeo


In the interest of saving a little space, Albert just tells Orwen to stay behind him.


Seriously, there must be something wrong with me because every action shot I took for this update had the enemy obscured. Watch the video for the best view.

I'm using the shotgun now. It shoots a spread of bullets, but has a low firing rate. Unlike the Vulcan, it does not recharge over time. Once you run out of ammo, it takes a few seconds to reload fully all at once.


Can we make it through?

We're nearly there. We'll just have to fight our way out!

Albert suffered some temporary memory loss and tried to restart their conversation from before.


He's a hands-on villain. I'll give him that.

Oh, give it up, Sergeant! You can't win.

You think our people will stand for this?

Ha ha HEEEEE!

I'm trying to figure out how this would sound in my head and I just can't.

Have you seen the news lately, Sergeant? The whole nation's BAYING for the blood of the TRAITOR responsible for the President's kidnapping!

WHAT?

I should keep a running tally of these.

Just think! Once I capture you, I'll be a national HERO!

Now... make this easy on yourself. Hand him over!

Forget it!


This is the same as last time, but it lasts a little longer.


Sir?

Orwen! What are you DOING?

Your treachery ends here!

Just imagine him saying everything with that expression. It's hilarious.


Orwen rams Ark with the truck. It's awesome. Finally, an RPG political leader we can respect.

D... Damn you...! My drive system is RUINED! Unbelievable! You really value your life so little...?

I.. of course I value my life! But I'll be damned if I'm leaving this country in your hands!

GRAH! How much LONGER do you plan to fight the inevitable? Run if you will, but remember THIS: you WILL be mine!

What are you talking about? You're the one running.


But the risks...

Don't ask me to sit idle with my people at stake, Albert.

Sir...

We should go now. Ark may have more troops on the way.




Nothing of interest to report this time.


Just to win the public's support... The gall of it!

Don't worry. Once we get to Beeg, one telecast'll set everything straight.

And then the game will be over! Things are always straightforward in Square games!

You're right. Let's hurry onward.

We now have access to the next level. No choice this time, sadly.