Part 6: 5. "It's Gibson!"

5. "It's Gibson!"



When we last saw Gilian Seed and Metal Gear Petit, they'd encountered Jan Jack Gibson's wrecked navigator, Little John. Little John gave them some sort of clue: Outer Heaven and Napoleon, whatever those are. (I'm pretending, okay?)

There's an exit out back.



And a blood trail. This isn't looking good and I'm sure the zero of you reading this who have no idea what happens to Gibson are very worried right now.





Out back of building 2, we find the factory. But first...





I need to make a pit stop at Junker HQ to buy more ammo and health items.





Gilian: I don't like the way he asks me that.
Metal: Robin obviously means pharmaceutical drugs, Gillian.
Gilian: Well, still.



Gilian: What do you think?
Metal: I think it will make you broke if you upgrade to the Stingray now, Gilian. You should buy ammo for the blaster and wait until you have more in your budget.





Now that we've left Jan alone and bleeding while we rest up and get ammo, let's go back and rescue his ass!





Digit Rocks are patrolling the narrow alleyway leading to the factory.



Metal: Excellent shot, Gilian, aiming for the legs like that. That will make sure the Metal Creature is immobilized.
Gilian: (Actually, I was aiming for his eye.)



And the Digit Rocks are accompanied by their old friend Raging Accum.



Gilian: Who names a robot 'Raging Accum' anyway?
Metal: They're so named because they're ex-military robots. The mounted gatling guns make sure they "accumulate" targets that they've acquired. Raging Accum is military jargon for these so called "raging accumulators".
Gilian: Can't you just let make fun of their stupid names?





This guy on the left is known as a freeman. Freemen, as is explained in Snatcher, are citizens who choose to live like hobos. That way, they're not obligated to have a social security ID or any real technological identification at all. Hence the term, "free man."

I guess it's an okay trade. (Shrug.)



This is strange. Gibson's not outside... and yet, the door's locked. Did Gibson lock himself in with the Snatcher?





Metal: Well, if Gibson went through some entrance, he probably wouldn't have covered it up with bars like that.
Gilian: That's right. He must have entered the other door. And whatever locked it came in after Gibson.

Let's walk back toward the bars and-



Yikes! That was close.





The tension is so palpable I can cut it with some uh... quick what's a futuristic sounding cutting tool? A tachyon knife. Whatever.

...What's taking so long?



Oh. It's loading up the second dungeon of the game, one which is bigger than Buildings 1 & 2 combined.











I think I've spotted a new enemy type, gang.





I did. This ugly thing is called a "Hit on the Fly". Really.



Hit on the Fly, uh, flies. This means to lower his speed, you'll want to hit the rockets on his sides. At lower levels, his speed makes him dodge Gilian's shots pretty easily. Plus, destroying his eye like so...



...actually doesn't blind him. He still has two radar things on top that store some of his ACC.

I like shooting in the middle near the edges between the eye and the rocket, so if Hit on the Fly dodges (which it usually does), you'll lower his SPD or ACC.



And for the record, don't forget to hit the top, "cranial" part of Hit on the Fly to actually damage it.







Just a note, flying enemies can be "grounded" if you manage to destroy their propulsion and bring their SPD to 0. This isn't really much different from bringing anything else's SPD to 0, but it is a nice detail they added in.





The factory is full of these guys and Raging Accums. For my earlier complaints about the lack of enemy diversity in a few of the levels, to its credit, the factory actually has a bunch of different types of enemies.





That said, this is the crux of what you'll be doing in the factory. There's just not much to it besides hallways and robots. I guess that's really all you need in video games, though.







Gilian: Aha! Ammunition! I knew we'd find supplies out here! ...Strange that there'd be live ammo in a box in an abandoned factory.
Metal: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Gilian.





Metal: Gilian, it's your duty as a Junker to clear sections of Neo Kobe of Metal Creatures. Why are you simply running away?
Gilian: I'm trying to conserve my ammo to help out Gibson. (Also, these things are tough!)



I hope you don't come across dead-ends in the factory, because off-screen enemies respawn, meaning if you fight your way through a hallway full of robots and it goes nowhere... you gots to go all the way back! Ugh.



And here's a new enemy type! Funeral Master! I wish to God I were making that up. Well, to be fair, these robots were my favorite part of watching Six Feet Under.



Funeral Masters are another pain in the ass enemy. Even when you get Gilian up to Level 7, they're rather tough. The biggest problem is that they just don't take much damage to stats or HP, no matter where you hit them, so you're in for a tit-for-tat war. You'll most likely have to use a Junker's Rush when you fight one.



At least Funeral masters give pretty good XP. At Level 8, they get more manageable, at least.





Hey, $250! It's a shame Gilian's going to be spending this... er... "bonus pay" on better blasters and ammo.

Metal: Gilian, are you actually going to keep that money?
Gilian: Why not?
Metal: Well, you can't just take money you find on the street. Maybe it belongs to someone?
Gilian: I'll tell you what, Metal. If I find any people in this abandoned factory full of killer robots, I'll be sure to ask them if they lost $250, okay?
Metal: ...I don't like this.



Gilian: (Hmmm. Maybe I can spend that money on something for Jamie...)



Metal: Oh, good! We can ask him about the money!
Gilian: Uh, first things first, Metal. Let's see if this guy's seen Gibson.



Oh, you don't say?





Gilian: Thanks, pal!
Metal: Oh, and sir, we found- Gilian, wait! Where are you going?
Gilian: No time, Metal! I gotta find Jan!

I'll spare you, by the way. I made the mistake of going all the way outside, thinking the locked door in the front of the factory would be opened with this key. No such luck.



Rarely, robots will drop ammo. Invariably, when you carry multiple weapons, they always seem to give you ammo for your weakest gun. I have no clue why.



Also, fortunately for me, there's a crate with 2 Junker's Rush in it.

Metal: Gilian, it's generally not a good idea to take medication you just find on the streets.
Gilian: (Sheesh, what a killjoy.)



This is the door that the factory key opens. The second we go through it...







Gilian: Gibson's wounded! We'd better hurry!
Metal: I hope he's okay...



Well, you might want to stop on this room on the right for 2 more pills. Especially because ah... well, I didn't tell you this, but a boss fight is coming up. (Shhh.)





Hey, a new enemy! This is Holoris Wheel.

Holoris Wheel is another high-speed enemy. You've got a pretty good shot at hitting their tires (pun unintentional, I'm sorry)



If they're not dodging out of the way, Holoris Wheels are pretty easy. Feel free to lay 'em to waste.







Like that.



Jesus, was this place a fucking pharmacy?

Metal: You really should throw those pills away, Gilian.
Gilian: Well, I guess I can buy more with that $250 I found.
Metal: I dropped it when we saw the factory owner.
Gilian: WHAT!? How could you-
Metal: It was probably his money, anyway. Besides, I'm meant to store evidence, not extra cash. Anyway, let's go find Jan.
Gilian; (Stupid, good-for-nothing...)



Oh, another new enemy! It's...



Opto-Clown! Yes, Opto-Clown. Because when I heard "Funeral Master", I didn't make absolutely sure this was a remake of Snatcher and not some horrible practical joke... uh, enough.

Opto-?! Why?

Even worse, these things do over 10 HP of damage per hit, even at Level 8! They've got high everything, stat-wise. Watch. Currently, Opto-Clown has 34 HP, and I have 43. In the same fight...



I'm down to 1 HP and I haven't fucking dented this thing. Its tires were blown out because it kept dodging so I couldn't hit its body in the middle. Note, it's SPD is still 5 and the front tires are still intact, so it can actually still move. These things are fucking tough.



And even after using a Junker's Rush...



I still get dropped to 17 HP before I kill it.

And we're not done with new enemies, because...



It's Light Crystal! Thankfully, this enemy is really easy. So easy, that here's an excerpt from my notes (before I knew their names):


...Oh yeah.



Now that we've seen every enemy type and good-looking background tile, let's finish up this factory dungeon, shall we?





It's Gibson! And he's talking to someone!

Astute Snatcher fans will note that Alice is the name of Gibson's Doberman. He named it after his wife, who was killed by Snatchers. As an aside, if I die, please name your dog Slowbeef.

Also, Purnet is a character new to SD Snatcher.









Now it's time for the boss...



Army Bear?











This is Army Bear. There's not much to say about him, except that he is the boss from Hell. He has a rocket launcher that takes about half your HP with every single hit he connects with. Your only advantage in this fight is that his ACC rating doesn't mean very much - he tends to miss. I had six Junker's Rush and I used them all in this fight. Honestly, you can't drop his stats with any sort of significance, so I recommend just pounding on its body to drop its HP low enough to kill it.

This is really a punch-for-punch fight.







That's a lot of XP!

Gilian: Let's hope we made it in time!

And just beyond Army Bear lies...









Oh now what the fuck is this.

Version Differences

- In Snatcher, Jean Jack Gibson is murdered by Freddy and Lisa Nielsen.

- Finding Jean's body happens before the time bomb.

- His torso is propped up in all other versions of Snatcher.

- Jean's severed head is generally not as big as his torso.

Relevant Snatcher Media

Gillian Enters the Factory and Meets Jean-Jack Gibson