The Let's Play Archive

Front Mission

by Bob Smith

Part 1: Introduction - "My name is Clevain."





My name is Clevain. My life has... changed recently. What happened, you ask? I'll tell you. On one condition. You listen to me until I'm done.



This is where it all began. Huffman Island. Us pilots, cocky as we were, called it Love Island. It was a long time ago, it seems. But I can't be sure.

We were going on a standard covert ops mission, scanning a supposedly derelict factory which Command suspected was a staging ground for military forces, notably some kind of Special Projects unit. It was to be our last mission before retirement. You only have to serve five years in SOC.



This is, no, was, Karen. God she was beautiful. And she was the best in my wing. So she took point and began the scan. I tried to reason with her, after all she was engaged to me and any one of the faceless grunts with us could have done the job. But no. She was arrogant to the last.



Ha, famous last words. Nothing could go wrong, could it? I mean, who would think of tempting fate?

We began to scan the facility, but something was wrong. Too quiet, Karen said. A cliche I know but it was appropriate. She tried to tell us what she found...



But it was too late then. I don't know what sort of security they had but they knew we were coming. And with a heavy heart I could do nothing but watch as wanzer after wanzer poured from the factory.



And this man led them. General Driscoll, one of the enemy's top pilots it transpired. Just look at that glossy black paint job he had, doesn't it exude arrogance and skill? He used an open channel, hailing and taunting us. All I could do was scream for Karen to get out of there. But in the back of my mind I knew we would never see our wedding day.

He closed on her, and heaven only knows what was running through his cynical, heartless mind as he opened fire on an unarmed wanzer.



My tactical computer was showing the bad news. All systems destroyed. She wasn't getting out of there alive, and that was before the enemy began lobbing missiles. What kind of wanzer can cripple your systems instantly? I rushed forward with my wingmen, trying to reach her, to help her.



She didn't need to tell me.



I hoped against hope that they'd leave her alone, but, well, you can guess what happens next.



She knew she wasn't going to make it, and told me not to help. But I was not going to let that bastard kill her if there was anything more I could do.



I watched her burn. Fire licked from the cockpit, but she didn't scream, even as the fuel tanks exploded.



Her contact flickered and died, and from that moment on I knew my war wasn't over yet.



My enemies were little but grunt suits, a couple of kids with their first machine guns. I felt no remorse as I sprayed my gun over them. I felt the same pleasure a child gets when they pull the wings of a fly that stung them.



The pilots tried to reason with me. But we didn't listen.



One by one they burned, felt the same pain Karen did. But the grief didn't go away. Not while that bastard Driscoll was still gloating over her wreckage.



I waited for the missile indicator to go green and fired. The rocket flared towards him and I saw the impact clearly.



Nothing. And even when Sakata put a 15mm autocannon round into his hull he didn't flinch. Just blew Sakata away as if he were a target downrange. Sakata ejected, I'm glad to say. I didn't lose two friends that day.



My last opponent fell before my bullets, his wanzer torn to shreds.



Like the coward he was, Driscoll fled with nothing but a parting riddle as soon as his last goon burned.



And then the fifty pounds of semtex went off.


Well, this is my second attempt at this LP (the first time I was overburdened with coursework), and this time I'll mostly do it my own way rather than ask for input, if only to avoid the kind of "name him Boners lol" comments that wouldn't fit the style. If the narrative style isn't to your liking, then let me know and I'll change it but I think a plot-driven game like this could do with something more than "Screenshot - Emoticon - Screenshot - Catchphrase" treatment.

Feel free to suggest challenges or alterations to the format, by the way.

Big Edit: Here's a link to my Beginner's Guide to Front Mission, which explains the game mechanics...

A Short Guide to Front Mission (non-mission update)

Coming Soon: The only mech pilot harder to kill than Rei Ayanami!