Part 9: Update IX - With this power... I'll never lose!

Update IX - With this power... I'll never lose!

Music: World of the Abyss


Welcome back. Today, we'll be finishing up Chapter 3.



Here we have a locked door, with guards for more security. I wonder why there are generic Reploids here and not Dober Men like everywhere else in here?



Release of these vicious criminals would cause havoc!



These evil louts caused their share of damage already. That‘s why they‘re locked up here. We‘re here to make sure they never roam free again.

Are you honestly buying this, X? Every prisoner we've seen so far have been people jailed for going against the Rebellion, why would that change now? There's no way to force our way through and save these people that are almost certainly big name Rebellion enemies.



So we take the other door instead.



Nana, can‘t you do something about this door?

Or rather, we would if it wasn't also locked.

That door can be operated remotely. Let me fix the system. I‘m sorry... It'll take some time to boot up.

Lines like this become hilarious in hindsight. My PC takes all of a few seconds to boot up here in 2021, while Nana has to wait minutes to reboot her machine.

Video: Massimo Vanishes + Entrusted with a Legacy
Music: Mystery of the Force Metal


Um... About Massimo... I'm afraid that person may not be the real Massimo. He seems to be a bit different from the one we have on record in the database. I didn‘t want to say anything.

Surprise, the big name hero that was actually level 1 and scared as hell turned out to be a fake all along!

I understand. Well, maybe he went to check on the real Massimo in the underground cell?

Was there a rewrite or something during this chapter? Nana already said that the real Massimo was executed. Do Reploids not die when they're killed?

Yup. There was a route down near here.

Let‘s go check it out.

I'll stay here and scour the database for more information. Be careful, the both of you.

Music: Grief - Sympathy - Pity - Pain I


Oh god.



He has no arms! He does not exist below the waist! How the fuck is this game rated E!?



Massimo has a similar reaction.



Oh my... What have they done?





No! I‘m not strong like you! Only the real Steel Massimo...





You... You... have much strength...



You can be even stronger... than I was... Take... the armor... Be strong...



Music: World of the Abyss


So yeah, that was kinda fucked, actually! Capcom is lucky this series is all about robots, otherwise this game would have been slapped with an M rating before they could blink.

We now know our Massimo's deal, at least. He knew the original Massimo, and was given his armor just before True Massimo got captured. Massimo then found his way into Tianna Camp to try and pull off a rescue right as X and Spider arrived.

Granted, this does raise a number of questions. How did they meet? What did Massimo do during those 10 days between True Massimo being captured and now? Why wasn't the Rebellion on the lookout for someone wearing True Massimo's armor, given that they would have captured True Massimo while he wasn't wearing it?

As you might have guessed, none of these questions will ever be answered.

Anyways, random encounters are still active in this zone, so let's hurry and find Massimo.



How did X and Spider not hear Massimo pummeling these guys? They were one room away.





Hey what do you know, the prisoners back here were anti-Rebellion all along!

Everyone knows the really dangerous prisoners are reserved for a random room in Central Tower.



A prison so deep it needs a dedicated lift to keep it isolated.





Massimo didn't go far, at least.



So... Did you go say ”hi” to the guy that they mistook for you?

...... ...... Um...X... I...actually I‘m...

...... We must hurry. Nana is waiting.



And with that, we'll never have less than three people in the party for the rest of the game!



This door will be locked forever. True Massimo? He's fucking dead! At least he had a bit more of a justified reason to die after his debut, unlike Aile.



Back up the pipe.



Was that...Nana?! It came from the left!

Something‘s happened to Nana! Let‘s go!

In hindsight, maybe we shouldn't have left the non-combatant alone in the first place people would look for her.



The traditional pre-boss hallway. The crystals hold a Tank Energy 100 and a Gain Hyper.

Video: Battle with Silver Horn
Music: The Rebellion's Fate




Nana!

Nana's had better days.



Silver Horn doesn't even try to hide it. If you get sent here, you die. Kinda looks bad on the Rebellion.



He jumps in from offscreen.



How dare you resist the Rebellion Army?

So, you‘re the head honcho here? What have you done to Nana?





Silver stop, you're making this weird.





The weak ones have no choice. They should just obey the strong ones. Obey the Rebellion forces!



X is, understandably, pissed.

Must bow down to our power!





I took that feeble Massimo... And turned him into so much scrap!





He refused to join us.



Riiip! Hahahahahahaha!











But not as pissed as Massimo.

Music: Final Battle


Ready to be destroyed?

Those waterfalls from the cutscene have conveniently dried up. Godsend for me, moving water plays merry hell with gif filesizes.



And speaking of gifs. Cryogenics is a nasty move to open with, attempting to inflict Freeze right off the bat. If it wasn't for Bluff, Spider would be down a turn worth of WE and someone else would have to patch him up.



Much like Jango, Silver Horn has some good stuff on hand. The Combat Absorber and Shot Absorber are both Sub Weapons, and reduce damage from their respective type by 25% for one turn for 15% WE. The Ice Buster is self-explanatory, while the Build Hyper is very important. A Build Hyper, as the name implies, increases a character's maximum Hyper turns, which is exactly as good as it sounds. So good, in fact, that there are only 12 of them in the entire game!



Massimo gets a good hit in with a Mega Thunder, although it was the only one I had.



Silver Horn's regular attack uses the same animation as Cryogenics.



Massimo's role is to throw out buffed Berserk Charges.



Tidal Wave is a nasty attack. It has low accuracy, but halves the HP of anyone it hits.



Massimo puts those Power Charges to use.



Bosses are immune to status, but I have time to kill so I might as well mash.



Massimo is getting some big numbers.



X has bigger numbers, sadly. Massimo's day will come eventually.

Notice that even though you can't see boss health on the turn bar, they still get a Final Strike meter. This acts as a good indicator on how close they are to death.



Spider manages to steal an Absorber.



Then, uh, contributes.



He's two for two on pulling Tri Card on elemental bosses. The Water hit even crit just to rub it in.



Tidal Wave's low accuracy is great, so long as you stay on luck's good side.



I want to save Glint Armor's few turns on Berserk Charge boosts.



While also buffing his Speed to try and squeeze in more turns.



I do the same thing with X, only for him to eat a Cryogenics for his trouble.



A small detail is that Frozen units give off mist, which is a cute little touch.





You can see why Massimo can't really be used as a tank. Even with his much higher LE, his two FM slots are just too restrictive to try and patch up his elemental weaknesses.



Another Berserk Charge takes off about a quarter of his FS meter, we're really putting the hurt on.





Liquid Coating is brought out once Silver Horn drops below half LE, and boosts his Water attacks, his defense, and gives all attacks against him a chance to be blocked.

This, coincidentally, shuts down Massimo hard. If the block goes off on a Berserk Charge, he only deals a bit of damage. Meanwhile, moves with multiple hits like the X Collider has the block get rolled on every hit, letting most of the damage go through.



Even hitting a weakness, barriers take a lot of sting our of your attacks.





Liquid Coating also makes him swap out Cryogenics for Pressure Abyss, trading out the Freeze bonus for a guaranteed critical.



You can see that only two of X Collider's twelve hits got blocked.



The bar is half empty, he's down to his last 2,500.



Spider, uh, contributes. Again.



The true moral of Command Mission is that gambling will destroy your life.

Or at least fail to destroy your enemy's.



Massimo gets one final Berserk Charge in, but the barrier goes off and ruins his damage.



I keep X in Hyper for the added defenses, trading an extra Hyper turn in case he gets focused.



That's two Tidal Waves in a row missing. Spider is too cool for water and stands above the wave.



Much like Jango, Silver Horn had two turns in a row and used them to do nothing.



And just like Jango...



One last X Collider finishes him off.



Music: Boss Victory Jingle + Trajectory of Battle II




That Build Hyper will sit in my inventory for a rainy day.

Music: Grief - Sympathy - Pity - Pain I


Ever... lose to scum like you... Scum that uses force... To crack the wills of the weak!



He despised his own weakness, so he sought Massimo for strength. Massimo was a hero who used his strength to fight for the weak.



As strong as Massimo! But now he‘s dead! What do I do now?! X... I... I... I‘m a fraud...



Steel Massimo will always fight, as long as the Rebellion Army stands. Right, Massimo?

Steel Massimo... Will you fight, together, with us?

Steel Massimo is dead, yet his legacy will live on.

Music: Memories of Gigantis


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