Part 36

Before we go into the dungeon, I want to show something off.


Say hi to the Samurai Zaku. they can only be encountered in Japan. The Samurai Zaku itself is hardly worth mentioning.


It's sword, however, has an obscenely high critical rate. I didn't bother to grind these guys to try and get one, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to do so.


Now it's time to enter the Holy Forest.


Or as the map I've been using calls it, the "Hory Forest".


The first half of this dungeon is incredibly uninteresting, and it's filled with enemies that we've already seen before (Barrier Marasais! ). So I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about the game a little bit.


Now, people usually say that the best part of the game is when you start getting suits like the Heavyarms and Double Zeta,


I'm going to have to disagree with that.


The reason I disagree with it is because once you defeat Vladi Zarth, the customization aspect of the game starts to become less and less relevant to the gameplay, and as I've been demonstrating throughout this entire LP, the best thing about this game is customizing your Mobile Suits.


For example, take a look at suits like the Heavyarms and Burning Gundam. Anything I would do to them would only make the suits worse, and that sucks.


Now compare them to the early parts of the game, where you got a bunch of suits like the GM, Zaku II, Gouf, and Guncannon that you could mess around with and almost always come back with something superior to the original mech.


To be completely honest, I've never actually beaten this game, not because it's difficult, but because my interest in the game begins to wane after you defeat Vladi Zarth. I've only ever managed to get to the Moon once before stopping. However, I've played the beginning third of the game countless times because it's just so much fun to play around with the crappy suits from the beginning.


Anyway, you're not here to listen to me ramble, you're here to watch robots blow shit up.


Technically, you can get here once you have the Level Three Card Key, but in order to fully explore this place, you need the Level Four Card Key.




The second half of this dungeon is a gauntlet against black mobile suits.


These guys were nothing really special. I took them down in the second turn.




The second one, and we're up against a Black Gundam!




Again, there's not much to really note about this fight.




After taking those two out, we come across a room filled with goodies!

The other two chests contained 3 EN packs, and a Power Absorber (optional part that makes the pilot immune to Hurt and Hurt+).


The Clay Bazooka is probably the most useful weapon you can find here, because of its small size.


Let's move on.




Three Black Full Armor Gundams.


Yawn.




Three Black Rick Dias'.




Next.




Two Black Dias' and a Black Hyaku Shiki. This fight was actually kinda interesting.


The Black Shiki had a healthy amount of HP, and he loved to use Snipe boosts on Katz.


That didn't really help him survive though.




Another room of goodies!

the other two chests contained a Energy Capacitor and an Armor Upgrade Kit.


Time for the final stretch!




Three Black Gundam Mk. IIs.


This fight ended up taking the longest of all the fights because I kept underestimating how much HP they had, so instead of focusing on one unit, I ended up spreading the damage more than I should have.


They can also use Counter Snipe, so be careful of that.




Also Giga Crush, which Vargas can stop with Counter Snipe.


Let's move on.




The Black Zeta Gundam.


The first thing he'll do is power himself up.




And then he'll start using Boost attacks that will allow him to act first.




Also the Dreaded Explosion. Luckily I had debuffed his attack before he used it.




Still, one suit can't hope to stand against 6, and it's soon defeated.


The last room is a giant cavern for no reason.




The last fight is against the Black Double Zeta.


This guy is a lot tougher than the Black Zeta, so get those buffs and debuffs up as soon as you can.




The Black ZZ loves to use Sonic Attacks, so defend whenever he's about to use a Boost attack.


or things like this will happen.


Once he's been debuffed, though, he's not much of a threat.




And so falls the Black Double Zeta.


Our ultimate reward?




The Nu Saber and Nu Rifle!

The other chests contained a High Armor Kit, High Speed Kit, High Power Kit, and an Attack Upgrade Kit.




The Nu weapons aren't... really all that exciting. they're rather weak compared to some of the other optional equipment you can get, and the Nu Beam Rifle's shape makes it difficult to fit in with the other equipment. Still, it doesn't hurt to have them around.


And that's it for Japan! Next up is our second visit to Mt. Trial!