The Let's Play Archive

Robotrek

by Azure_Horizon & Kobold

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Original Thread: Before Pokemon, there were robots. Let's Play Robotrek!

 

Introduction



Robotrek was an SNES RPG released in 1994, published by Enix and developed by Quintet, known for their Soul Blazer Trilogy (Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma). Robotrek is like none of those games.

While Robotrek is a thoroughly average RPG with a supremely childish plot and a rather boring world, it is incredibly unique for its time in terms of gameplay. Although Shin Megami Tensei created the idea of capturing monsters and using them in battle, Robotrek could be seen as the direct influence for Pokémon, which came out four years later.

In the game, you play as a boy who has the ability to both create robots as well as invent items (Dark Cloud 2 would use this years later). Our robots fight for us, and are cooped up in a ball. The robots themselves are very customizable, from their equipment, special attacks, color, as well as their name; I'll be leaving all of this up to you guys. We're allowed to create up to three robots at a time, and we can change them up if we need to. Programming their attacks is done in a macro-like fashion, so we sometimes have limited control over some of our robots, which operates on an ATB system. Robots themselves will act faster or slower depending on their Speed stat (you'll see a gauge going from E to F [empty to full] during your turn). Like Pokémon, we can only use one robot at a time, but can switch them out at will at the cost of a turn.

Overall, Robotrek is an easily breakable, extremely linear game that's somewhat humorous and was designed to cater to children.

Which does not mean I won't inject adult humor when (not) appropriate. Before we begin, however, we need to name our plucky young protagonist:



This is the Story-centric version of the LP. Further below is Kobold's mechanical LP that takes apart Robotrek at the seams.

Table of Contents


Kobold's Mouse-Only, One Robot Only Challenge Run (and Mechanics-based) LP



Ah, Robotrek. Created by Enix in the mid-90s and rife with grammatical and, at times, spelling errors. However, its goofy, easy-to-follow plot and simple customization made it a game I've returned to time and time again over the years. And, in doing so, I think I think I've gotten... if not good, then at least passably decent at the game. As such, I figured I'd take a crack at it with an informative/challenge run that should prove interesting.

Wait a second, isn't someone already LPing this?
Yes, Azure_Horizon is, in fact. However, he's doing a much more casual and lighthearted romp through the game. I do recommend following his thread if you have never played Robotrek before, since I will only be lightly hitting the plot points in favor of more mechanical information. In addition, in order to avoid spoiling the plot for those who might follow both threads, I will not go any further in the game than he already has. As such, while mechanics talk is allowed, spoilers will not be.

Also, we totally talked beforehand so we're complete bros now or something. I'm not entirely sure on the details.

So what's this challenge that you're talking about?
I will be doing a one robot, no in-combat items run. Robotrek allows you to have up to three robots at your beck and call, letting you switch between them and requiring that all three be defeated before a Game Over occurs. With only one robot, I will be unable to let my robot die even once without having to start over from my last save point. In addition, by disallowing myself from using items in combat, each fight becomes all that more dangerous - forcing me to decide whether to use a healing item before encountering an enemy or avoiding them altogether.

I'll also be avoiding any real excessive grinding, or any grinding at all really beyond "kill everything in my path on route to the next destination." This really isn't that much of a challenge since just fighting everything you come across will have you roughly where you need to be at each major point.

And without further ado, let's get this show on the road.

Table of Contents

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