The Let's Play Archive

Super Robot Wars W

by Brunom1

Part 171: Post-mission 46 Intermission (Includes Unit Analysis #20 - "Gai Murakumo is the best, EVER...oh, and Prayer is here too" Edition) and Mission 47 - Prologue

One more intermission and the Nadesico finale is upon us.
Before we start, let’s have a look at our top aces:



Ever the close race…Kazuma is still gunning for the top place, with a two kill distance from Gai.


BP Upgrades:


Genichirou has finally joined us but, instead of his Daimajin, he comes in the odd Alstromelia.
It only has one attack, a 1-5 range Claw attack so he focuses heavily on Melee while investing in Evasion and Accuracy.



I never got around to spending Tsukumo’s points, so here it is: he has a focus on ranged attacks but his 2nd best (and easily spammable) are rocket punches.
Also, considering that his Daitetsujin is meant to take hits on the chin, he takes a slight focus on Shooting but with an even-ish spread to Melee, Defense and Accuracy.


Skill Parts:


Ah, my heart is broken. Ignore Size Modifier is one of the most desirable skills for Real Robots since they often go against huge enemies that penalize them for their size.
Sousuke is a prime example and, normally, he’d really need this Skill to compensate for his loss of power if you don’t deploy Mao and Kurz.
However, with broken Size Modifiers, this Skill is useless.


Unit Upgrades:


I promised to give Youko some love, so here it is: a couple points into EN (just enough to give her enough juice to fly around without risking running low), three points into Mobility and Weapons.





Hikaru and Izumi play catch-up with Ryouko and take a point in Mobility and Weapons.





I also take this chance to max out the Freedom and Justice’s Mobility, while also giving them a boost to Weapons.



The Nadesico also needed a bit of love, so I give it a wee bit of investment in HP, EN, Armor and Weapons.



Mike takes a point to his Weapons.



And, finally, Muu takes a point in Mobility and Weapons (Cagalli’s IWSP was very underwhelming while the Lightning Strike showed it has a great MAP!).


Now that we’ve gotten their true upgrades, let’s have a look at some new additions to the team:




I really like the Blue Frame 2nd L. Not only is it one of my favorite Gundam designs, it works well at any range while sporting good stats on all things and having a great pilot.
Aside from the TransPhase Armor and Sword Cut that most Cosmic Era Gundams have, it’s been equipped with the Taiga-Approved Neutron Jammer Canceller, giving it that 15% EN Regen.

Gai Murakumo has been hyped all over the game as a “Pro” and it shows: his stats are through the roof and he’s easily one of the best pilots in the whole damn game; he is so good that if Kira and Athrun didn’t have the SEED Bonus, Gai would have surpassed them on stat pileup (Gai has already beaten both Blade and Heero on that).



The Blue Frame’s has weapons for any kind of situation and, with the addition of the Lohengrin Launcher (that also comes with a MAP), it now doesn’t need to worry so much when it runs out of shots for its Tactical Arms Gun Mode.
Its combined attack with Lowe’s Powered Red is merely icing on a very nice cake.



Gai comes with a useful combination of Skills:
Nothing major but he’s already a powerhouse with just Coordinator. Now, for his Spirits:
He doesn’t really need Fury as both his Sword or Combined Attack with Lowe will pierce barriers.


Conclusion: Gai Murakumo would be awesome by himself and would have an easy recommendation.
However, considering that it has both a friendship bonus and a combined attack with Lowe, and adding the fact that they both learn Soul, it makes makes the Gai/Lowe team one of the strongest Gundam duos around.

Just like Kira and Athrun, he holds very well on his own and is amazing beside his buddy – if there ever was room for another Gundam in your team, this is it.





Going from amazing all-round Gai, we come to pretty good Prayer.
Despite having the Newtype-esque powers, Prayer does not get the skill's usual bonuses to his stats – as such, he does not carry as much “oomph” as some of his more Shoot-y friends would (like Heero or the SEED folk).

The Dreadnought is built very much like a Cosmic Era Nu Gundam but, to make the most out of it, you’ll probably want to give it a Flight or Lifter Module.
It has the usual perks like Sword Cut, Shoot Down, Anti-Beam Shield, Phase Shift Armor and that pesky Neutron Jammer Canceller.



X Astray is aaaaall about shooting things from afar and, while it does that very well, you’d be surprised at how quickly it can run out of EN (Pristis takes 30 EN and the regular DRAGOON takes 50 EN per use, which is pretty hefty for a Real Robot).
If you can either upgrade its EN pool or give it a consumption-reducing part, it can make very good use of its tricks.

He does have a great MAP attack, though; it’s not as overpowered as Yumi’s but it has good power, a wide area of effect (centered on him) and doesn’t hit our folks, so that’s good enough for me (mind you, it does cost a whopping 80 EN to use).



Prayer has a very odd selection of Skills for a Real Robot sniper:
They’ve given him so many defensive skills when one of his highest points is his evasiveness and the fact that he doesn’t learn Hit & Away naturally is downright criminal.

His Spirit Commands are what you’d expect from the adopted child of a priest:
I guess the last couple of skills say something about his character but I still don’t understand Invincible being there.

Conclusion: Prayer is a great mook destroyer and could be very useful when going against dangerous troops like the Database but he’ll often fall behind the better units against bosses.
He DOES benefit greatly from the broken size modifiers (none of his attacks ignore size) and it gives him more usability; the fact that he takes upgrades from the Red Frame also gives him a nice boost.

His positive points are good enough that you should consider him ahead of smaller Gundam units and other folk, but he certainly can’t compete in the big league – take him if you’ve room for a nicely upgraded unit but don’t be afraid to replace him.



By the by, Akatsuki’s Aestivalis II just might be THE worst unit in the game: it only has one attack and, unlike Genichirou, it’s a crappy Rapid Rifle with 2900 base power – Noin’s Taurus and the Sol Tekkamen are stronger than it!

It takes upgrades from Akito’s original Aesti but, since I didn’t upgrade it much, I’m going to blacklist Akatsuki forever.


With that done, let’s move to the small prologue:



At Nergal’s HQ, Akito is satisfied as Erina informs him of Ruri's rendezvous with the Nadesico C.
The ship seemed to have been successfully integrated with Omoikane and they’ve already made the Jump to Mars.
However, Akito isn't satisfied with contributing combat data to the mission: he's going too.



Erina notes grimly that "revenge" would have once been the last thing she once expected to hear from Akito's lips.
As he leaves, Akito says that times have changed.


And that’s it! The game is giving us a bit more deployment room, so let’s get with voting time!

Considering my previous promise to deploy Youko (and Kazuma still has dibs), you guys have a total of 14 units to choose from the ones below:


Voting will remain open for 48 hours and make sure to bold out your votes.

See you all then!