Shadowrun (SNES) Part #15 - Aneki to Watashi

Part 15: Aneki to Watashi

: "Listen, I'm going to head off for a bit. I've got some contacts that might know about Aneki."

: "Alright, we have a few things to take care of before we get started."

And so we do. Aneki is the last part of the game, and while we can leave when we're inside, there's some business we should finish before going there at all.

First thing's first, let's use up some of our ill-gotten karmic gains.

We managed to max out Body at 20, giving us the most possible health, and also jacked our Magic skill up to 16. That gives us 160, almost as much as Kitsune.

: "Almost."

Just for reference. Remember when I said we'd be getting a bigger health bar? I wasn't kidding.

We're also heading back to Tenth Street for the final reagent of the game!

Back where we first met that doggie and got his collar is a fountain.

We want to scoop up some water using our potion bottles we bought forever ago ~~and then forgot to come back here with~~

And with that, we're done with Tenth Street completely.

On the way back, I accidentally talked to Norbert when I went to check his stats. He says this when you use the "Talk" option, and honestly why didn't Pushkin just think of this instead of his cyber-courier bullshit gambit.

: "My gun senses are tingling."

: "Maybe we should finish the Aneki business first before you take care of your tingling gun."

: "No no, I sense it. On the chopper ride back from the volcano, we triggered a gun related flag."

: "Swiggety swooty I'm comin' for that shooty"

: "Oh god YES."

This is the god damn nuclear option of Shadowrun. Where our current weapon has 10 attack, this thing has TWENTY. It also has six accuracy points, so even if we never upgraded our weapons skill, we still wouldn't be able to miss.

Who care's about the price, I'd pay a god damn kidney for this weapon. Not mine specifically but we killed enough dudes to take a kidney from.

: "It costs an Armitage and a leg! "

: "That doesn't even make SENSE"

We also unlocked a new set of armour it's an extra point of armour who gives a fuck we already can't get hurt by most bullets.

Aneki Tower is right in front of that intersection where the cars try to run you down. It's easy to come up here by accident and get yelled at.

: "Oh I've got a pass RIGHT HERE."

The Enfield AS-7 is AWESOME.

Just behind him are three more orcs, just in case you came here early and managed to cheese the first guy. If you get inside, you need Pushkin's password to call the elevator anyway, so

THE AS-7 IS AWESOME.

: "Well this looks familiar."

: "I wonder if this'll be another 'activate the elevator on each floor' buildin'"

: "We did it twice, let's go for a hat trick."

: "...A hat... what?"

: "...Chrome Coyote would have gotten what I was saying."

Just like Drake Tower, we have to hack this computer before the elevator opens.

Also like Drake Tower, without the password you can't get past this segment.

The hacking segments are a nightmare in Aneki tower. I mentioned watching your health in the volcano, but it goes doubly so here. The main reason I didn't bother with the next set of armour is because all the damage you'll be taking is from IC.

The first computer is easy, of course, but shit gets intense later on.

Aneki Tower is also a lot bigger than Drake Tower. Each floor has a middle section with the up and down elevator, a west wing, and an east wing.

Both wings are generally full of angry dudes.

: "Woah, you okay Kitsune?"

: "SLIGHTLY ON FIRE"

I shouldn't need to say it but KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR RUNNERS. Oddly enough I had the hardest time keeping Norbert alive. Dude just refused to stop getting shot.

Whereas each floor of Drake's house had multiple computers, Aneki has one computer per wing per floor. It makes up for it by ramping up the difficulty in the matrix.

Some of these systems might look a bit familiar. A few of the 'rooms' in each segment are recycled from earlier parts of the game. Except with more and stronger IC.

And plenty of trash data.

: "What the hell even IS "nextlife.avs"?! They should be paying me to clean out their network."

We did find someone's e-mail at least, maybe it's more of our enemies getting yelled at.

This actually deactivates a wall in a network on the other wing, much like how we needed the password to get through the network on the basement floor.

: "Oh hey, I saved them ten million bucks. They should pay me for that too."

: "Ye'd have to kill Vlad a LOT of times for that kind of money."

The other wing has even more dudes than the first

They also love running off screen since they have more room to run around.

They'll also hide behind their damn dialogue boxes

Clean out the jerks, hack a PC. You get into a rhythm eventually.

A lot of the networks in Aneki Tower have nodes that open other nodes.

It's neat, but nodes that open other nodes don't give money.

You'll also notice my health draining fairly steadily. Don't be afraid to jack out and heal up if you need to. Between Jake and Kitsune we have 33 heal spells.

With that done, this floor is cleared out, and we're on to the next!

Also for the love of god heal before you go up. In fact, just never stop healing, alright? Jake is safe from bullets, but Norbert and Kitsune still have souls and aren't wearing a car.

: "Woah! Hey kiddo!"

: "That guy would have had an awesome plan if I weren't basically a walking A-10 right now."

: "I feel like I should get in on this soul sellin' stuff."

: "You metahumans..."

: "Alright, maybe I can understand you getting the dermal plating."

: "My blood hurts."

I'll watch you get a fist sized hole put in your chest, you fireball throwing asshole.

: "Whoever designed this system is a hack. More like network badmin"

: "...it's not as fun when Kitsune isn't around to get upset. "

: "That should do it, let's see what we got."

: "P.S. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

: "Does it actually say that last part?"

: "The fact that you had to ask tells you what kind of people we're dealing with."

: "All this campy villiany reminded me of something."

: "What is it?"

: "We should call up that person Drake didn't want us to call."

: "So they can help us?"

: "I dunno, I just know Drake didn't want us to call them, and fuck that guy."

: "We're kind of on a time limit here."

: "Yeah well there's only like five telephones in this entire city. We won't be long."

: "Well you have your own portrait, so you must be important."

: "Aww."

: "I ask you again why have you disturbed me. I resent the intrusions of idiots."

: "You're gonna HATE me then."

So this is Akimi, she's touted as the best runner in the game, and she IS pretty great, but she's not nearly good enough to warrant being such a dickhole.

Akimi is a bit interesting too because she has a few choice things to say about certain subjects.

: "Yeah, Jake. We never did get a thank you for that."

: "I sure hope you like unfulfilled revenge fantasies because we sorta killed the dude."

: "You expect me to believe YOU defeated a dragon?"

: "You wouldn't believe the night I've been having."

She also has this to say if you mention the Jester Spirit

You can't get her number without finishing the entire Jester Spirit quest line though.

: "Oh hey I forgot about that guy, he's still in my pants."

: "Please kill me."

: "Wait, you defeated Drake WITHOUT the assistance of the Jester Spirit?"

: "....Ohhhhh. That is sorta why we did that whole thing isn't it."

: "I'm... impressed but also confused."

: "Welcome to tonight. His name is Laughlyn by the way."

: "Why would you tell her that?!"

: "Because you were a prick to me. I'm renting out a billboard to put your name on once we're done with this Aneki business."

: "Awww sad clown. Heh heh."

SHE'S ALSO SUPER EXPENSIVE. If I weren't showing everyone off, I wouldn't hire her OR Steelflight. Although we could hire Steelflight twice for this amount.

Akimi is different, since you call her to hire her, you have to meet her at the subway station.

And now the gang's all here! Let's go kick some artificially intelligent ass!

...Or not, we've got some shit to give to Dog first.

By the way, here's Akimi's spell list. The problem is, if you're into magic, you probably have better spells than these. If you're NOT into magic, like me, then you just generally won't want to use any of them.

: "Hey Dog! Check out all the stuff I found!"

We now have a full spell list! The major takeaway is the Armour spell, which renders the castee invincible for a bit. I frankly should have been taking advantage of this like crazy, but I kinda forgot.

I DID remember to upgrade it to max level though, so that's something. The others remain at one.

: "AUGH WHAT THE HELL?"

: "That was basically your team initiation."

Back into Aneki Tower we go, we've got more jerks to slaughter.

Despite being a bit slower, Akimi does do a decent amount of damage with her normal attack.

Also, since we have so many enemies in here, I told akimi to use her Summon Spirit attack. The spirit being the little fox above her head.

Awww I forgot how cute this spell is

Overall, it doesn't do enough damage to warrant the pain in the ass it is to tell another runner to cast something mid-battle, but there you go.

Check your runners CHECK YOUR RUNNERS.

This is an interesting network, we see some new areas.

One is what you'd expect a storage center on a network to look like.

The other one is... a face?!

What the FUCK Aneki engineers?

Well anyway, we're up to the fourth floor now. whatever.

: "I must say I've never been a part of a run quite so... brazen. Normally people will at least attempt to sneak in."

: "Subtle is a word Jake doesn't know. Among others."

: "Honestly, tonight has just been a chain of me going somewhere and killing everyone there. The Caryards, the Rust Stilettos, Dark Blade manor, everywhere with Drake in the name of it..."

: "Wait, you killed everyone at Dark Blade?"

: "Some more than once. I left that salesman alive though, he gave me this artillery cannon I've been blasting people with."

: "But... Why? It was just a bunch of guys pretending to be vampires."

: "...Uh, you're aware Vlad is a real vampire, right?"

: "Had to use a stake to kill him and everything."

: "Walked through a wall without even bothering to set it on fire. Bah."

: "I... I had no idea, he hid it so well."

: "Well it's alright, he's still technically alive"

: "Didn't Kitsune sa--"

: "It's a long story. Ask Vlad about it."

: "We've bought just about everything we need, but hey, it means Aneki has less money."

Another sneaky jerk.

: "This must be the wierdest office environment if the only people you hire are gunmen."

Not much to this level, just get through it and move on.

I'll be honest I'm only using that move because it's so cute.

Oh come ON

There has to be something better than that!

Okay, that'll do just fine.

As I mentioned, the IC can REALLY mess you up, since you take 100% of the damage. There's no cyber armour for you, so be careful.

: "I'm getting that Armitage feeling..."

: "Is your gun tingling again?"

: "I have that feeling something's about to go south. Time to try out that new spell I learned."

Both Armour and Invincibility are extremely useful on solo runs, but they're less effective on group runs.

In this case it's a bit justified. With everyone armoured up, let's see what's in the next room!

Oh crap the spell doesn't stay between transitions

Otto, the Troll over there, is a bit beefy, but honestly not that tough. He's certainly less of a boss than Drake. With everyone else re-armoured, we can leisurely pick everyone off. I didn't bother armouring Jake just to show how he's basically already invincible.

Otto will say this when he's hurt, I'm not sure how hurt exactly since he died while I was reading it.

We even snatch a bit of cash, because why not?

: "Alright, here's the plan. The building is all cleared out now, so I want you three to head outside."

: "And leave you alone?"

: "Unless these guys rapidly zombify, I don't think I'll have any problems. What I AM worried about is Aneki bringing in more assholes, and us getting swarmed. I want you guys outside and across the street to ambush any goons coming in."

: "That's not a bad plan, actually."

: "Har, let's do it then."

: "..."

: "I'll give you a few minutes to set up. This is probably going to set off some alarms and get the hornet's nest buzzing."

: "Right, see you when you're done. We'll keep the place clear."

: "Heh, be careful not to get hit by any cars."

: "...Hard to believe it all came down to this. The others should be at a safe distance by now. Let's get this over with."

: "Urgh, shit. I can already feel it. It's like the air around me is burning"

: "Dammit, that seems to have pissed it off, it feels like my brain is on fire."

: "Come on Armitage... It's right there... just a bit..."

: "Fucker... Just... Get it..."

: "Out... Jack out..."

: "...God damn, I think my nose is bleeding. My brain feels burnt all over again... I swear if this thing doesn't take..."

: "...Heh heh, Raitsov you clever son of a bitch, looks like you really did have their number... Dammit I'm feeling dizzy..."

: "Explode all you want you son of a bitch. Even if you take me with you, you're still done for."

: "You were actually going to do it."

: "The hell? I told..."

: "And I ignored it. These ears aren't just for show, I heard everything Pushkin told you. You colossal idiot."

: "What can I say? I was the only one with the program, I couldn't just let all this be... jesus my head is burning."

: "Here, let me heal you. This isn't the worst condition I've seen you in tonight."

: "...Ohh, that's much better."

: "You are a damn fool, Jake Armitage. What did you hope to accomplish by going off and getting yourself killed?"

: "I had to think about this pragmatically. There's no sense in sacrificing anyone more than is needed."

: "When the hell did you become a pragmatic person? I don't care what you say, I'm not about to let you just roll over and die like this. That's not the Jake Armitage I know."

: "..."