Part 10: Update X - What do you plan to do with these rare resources?
Update X - What do you plan to do with these rare resources?Video: Chapter 4 Objective
Music: Hunter Base
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Welcome to the Gamecube version! Due to the issues with figures, I swapped over so I wouldn't have to completely cut those out. It also lets me cover the biggest version difference:
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This is the battle pause screen on PS2.
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And this is the battle pause screen on GC!
I think this is one of the most
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Nah, I'm just messing with you.
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What we're here for is the Treasure Radar.
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That's right, time to break out the old Game Boy Advance!
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Or rather, time to follow a precise set of actions and/or sacrifice a few goats to get two separate emulators to link up.
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And with that.
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Success!
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The radar will show things in the same zone. From here, we can see one reading in the computer room and another in the Air Bus station.
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When you get close to one, it shows up as a shining light.
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Each one gets us a Treasure Token, not to be confused with the Figure Tokens we've been getting so far. From this point going forward, assume the GBA screen is just off to the side almost 24/7. I'll show off where each token is.
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Back to our regularly scheduled talking fest.
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Another benefit of swapping to Gamecube is that the emulator I use, Dolphin, has support for custom graphics packs. I grabbed one here to improve menus and text.
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Nana also gets us some more goodies. The Deployment Center is the same between versions.
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Music: Respond!
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Deployment is simple. You have some bots, you send them to an area, they come back a bit later with loot. The loot can range from zenny, to Force Metal, even to key items like Tank Parts!
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Each area we go to gets added to the list, and each has their own reward pool.
Distance determines how long it takes for a group to return. Zenny brings back money. Item covers key items, Force Metal, and Figure tokens. Disks contain things for the Sky Room. Ability+ gives a bonus to that stat for the search party.
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There are three kinds of bots: red, yellow, and green. Each color corresponds to an area's zenny, item, and disk list, respectively.
We start off with 3 mechaniloids, and while you can send out only 1 at a time, it heavily cuts the odds of the trip getting anything at all.
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So I take our three and send them off to Lagrano. In addition to the three searching stats, Vit increases the odds of units coming back intact, while Move decreases the time needed for them to return.
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Music: Talking Funk
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The Sky Room is a hub for all the collectibles we'll be getting over the course of the game.
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The cabinet on the left covers figures (of which this file at this moment), concept art, and documents.
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Right now we have barely any art, but the majority of them will come from Deployments.
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Files cover important information.
...the hell is an 'intellect-pulse'?
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As well as story recaps.
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To the right of the cabinet, we have a poster that we'll be able to change down the line.
Hold on, is that Aile with two legs back there?
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The jukebox acts as a music player.
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As well as a scene viewer.
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To the right of the jukebox is this terminal. Challenges are small side goals that give more Sky Room goodies to look at.
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One tab over, combat stats for all party members. Bizarrely, they label the highest damage dealt as 'MAX Attacks'.
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We can also see exactly how much zenny we've earned, and what we spent it on.
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As well as how many item crystals are in each area.
...Central Tower has a suspiciously high count, huh.
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Customize lets X get his bling on.
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He'll be rocking some extra blue for the next while.
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Rather than clog up town updates with anything I get for the Sky Room, everything here will be put into a dedicated bonus update.
Music: Hunter Base
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You know what the tower looks like by now, so I'll just jump from person to person and save us all some time.
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Token by the bed.
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I like Massimo. What can I say? I'm a sucker for legacies inherited by an initially inferior successor.
Music: Recapture Hope
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At the rate this is going, X will come back from beating Epsilon only to find out that this lady took R's place.
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Gee, I wonder who our next party member could be.
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A complete and utter mystery, that.
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Token near the data room, by an Eagle Eye crystal.
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And another token right past where Spider flipped sides.
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Hmmmmmmmmmm.
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Honestly, we've already hit a point where most Sub Weapons aren't really worth it. The majority of what we have deal straight damage, yet that eats into the WE needed for an AT, which would let us deal even higher damage in comparison. The only useful ones are support options like Item Capture or boosters like Power Charge.
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A token on the opposite side from that guy.
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Plus a token in the tunnel.
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And finally grabbing this token by the Air Bus.
Music: Central Tower
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Now for town.
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The writers are a tad heavy handed with their foreshadowing.
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And now that figures render properly...
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I can show them off!
You can also see that Treasure Tokens show up alongside Figure Tokens.
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Figures can be looked at in the menu, as well as in the Sky Room.
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Time to shop.
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X is starting to get tier-based upgrades now with the Guard Buster MKII. Massimo also gets access to the Protect Lance, which is stronger, slower, and reduces the chance of status effects landing.
I give X the Ice Buster we got from Silver Horn, while Spider gets a Queen of Clubs. Massimo sticks to his default weapon for a bit longer.
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The Drill Missile is the only new Sub Weapon today, being the Armor-debuffing counterpart to the Melt Missile.
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The item shop now stocks Coolers, I buy a few for later.
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The force metal shop now stocks the +3 versions of stat FMs, as well as the Full Specs +1, which buffs all four stats.
But we aren't here for those, we're here for that Gain WE +5
WE Gain is, to put it simply, Command Mission's god stat. The more WE you get, the faster you can break out ATs, and the more damage you can do. Even with just one equipped, Massimo goes from needing three turns for his first Power Charged AT (45% -> 70% -> 95%) to two (50% -> 80%). And this will get faster and faster as we get better Gain WE versions. This is further compounded by Hyper Mode. With a single Gain WE +5 on, X jumps from 31% WE per turn to 37% while in Hyper. Massimo jumps from 37% to 45%. They have the highest Erosion of any generic FM we've seen at 10 each, but the benefits they give is well worth the cost.
I buy four. I can't even fit four across everyone just yet, that's how much I want them.
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But once Massimo gets another point of Immunity, he's hitting 52% WE every single turn while using Glint Armor.
This isn't even his final form.
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Remember when I said that this corridor will get something down the line? Well here it is!
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The rewards for using the Treasure Radar!
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The figures from these are completely unavailable on the PS2 version. Each category has 6 figures, same as the normal machine.
Since I only have 6 Treasure Tokens right now, I'll grab one from each.
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That figure name makes me nervous. I'm half expecting a Nana, Prisoner figure to pop out at some point now.
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It turns out that Goldbricker is an actual word, which surprised me.
A goldbricker is someone who puts on an appearance of doing work, while not actually doing anything.
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Even in the future, capitalists gonna capitalist.
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The hallway to Aile's room is still blocked.
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There's a token on the ramp down.
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Plus another token on the way to the other blocked door.
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Which is also still blocked.
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And done.
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Next time:
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