The Let's Play Archive

Super Robot Wars W

by Brunom1

Part 72: Post-mission 20 Intermission(Includes Unit Analysis #10 - "Former-Char Clone" Edition) and Mission 21 - Prologue

Hurray, we got Gaogaigar back!

I believe his level is set to always be 1 higher than everyone in the group (he’s awesome like that), though I don’t think he gets any kills added to his total.
As usual, before the intermission, here are your top aces:



Blade is making a comeback towards the nº1 spot!



BP Upgrades:


Zechs has joined our team and comes with 22 points to spare. He takes 13 points in Shooting and 3 in Melee, Evasion and Accuracy.



The Chinese brothers have joined in place of Chouryuujin. They still share their BP so let’s add 4 points into melee (Xian Tou-long is considered melee) and 2 to their accuracy (just a lil’ bit of a safety net as they’ll already gain plenty of accuracy from the Hero skill).



Yurika takes 2 points in Shooting and 1 in Defense.



Gai takes 2 points in Melee and 1 in defense.



Finally, Kazuma gets 2 points in Melee and 1 in Shooting.



Skill Parts:


As usual, Kazuma nabs that BP+1.



This here is an “Spirit SP cost -5%” and Shihomi makes for one of the more useful supporters in the game (besides, cheaper Bless’ are always good).



Finally, Heero will make good use of this Support Attack+1. His long range, powerful attacks make this a good fit in my book (he doesn’t seem to get low on EN enough for me to worry about it, either).



Unit Upgrades:


Before anything, the Cartridge we got is sold for an extra 5k.



Next, let’s give the dragon brothers a little bit more leeway and power: 1 points in HP, EN, armor and Weapons.



Newcomer Zechs gets the same treatment as Trowa seeing how I’m pretty damn sure he doesn’t have the potential to avoid being benched later.



Golion nabs an upgrade to his weapons for some extra-powerful punching action.



Heero also gets an upgrade to his weapons, plus one to his mobility.



Finally, the last bit of cash upgrades Kaiser’s EN.



Unit Parts:


We got an extra Flight Module and Volfogg seems to be the only one that can make good use of it.



Blade takes the Learning OS for some extra 10% crit and…





…while Getter takes the Power Extender (EN+100), Blade takes its old Large Generator.



Finally, Tetsuya gets the Sniper Scope to increase his accuracy by 10%.


Addendum: Yes, I realize that the Barrier S and Anti Beam Coat block out 1000 damage of the attack but, seeing how I first saw them as enemy-used equipment (and you can't read tooltips on those), I had to go with what I learned from past games and they didn't use the same calculations as J - which led me to believe it was 10% reduction instead of a raw decrease.

The numbers are now fixed.


Now, let’s have a look at the team’s newest member – Zechs Marquise and his Tallgeese III:





I’ll be honest, I never really paid much attention to Zechs (outside of him being a great Squad member in Alpha games) and I can kind of see why: he and his mech don’t really stand out much.

All of its stats are on par with Deathscythe and it could be considered a mix of Duo melee skills with Trowa’s ranged power but, like those two, it lacks standing power to make it a sure contender for end-game teams.
A thing to note is that it has 3 different safety nets in Sword Cut, Shoot Down and Shield Block (and Zechs has the Skill to activate them oftenly).



Tallgeese’s weapons are set sort of like Wing Zero’s but it lacks the MAPs or Zero Systems. Unlike Heero (who can, with his gunfights, rely on his Vulcans for cheap-but-powerful damage), though, he doesn’t have many decent weapons to use outside of his Mega Cannon and if you spam it, like any real robot, it’ll quickly run out of juice.



Zechs comes loaded with a crapton of Skills and Spirits. Let’s check his Skills first:
And now, his spirits:


Conclusion: I don’t know why but I can’t seem to figure out what Zechs wants to be. Is he a front-line mixed attacker like Heero? Is he a back-row supporter like Trowa?

His skills are as varied as his weapons but there’s nothing that stands him out, even among his peers: Duo is the better mook destroyer with his higher movement, evasion, crit ratio and MAP, Heero is the better boss-killer and he’s also tied with Duo against mooks, Quatre is the better defensive/spirit supporter and Trowa is the better offensive supporter because he has several long range, ammo-based attacks while Zechs only has EN-chugging attack.

Where I really appreciate him is in squad-based games where his squad attacks where always powerful and Accelerate adds a HUGE value to a pilot. In this game, though? I think he’s one of the less impressive Gundam Wing units – that doesn’t mean he’s horrible, though.
Like nearly any unit in this game, if you really wish to, you can turn him into an asskicker but it still feels like wasted potential with his whole “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” setup.


With all that done, on with the show for mission 21’s intermission!




The enemy Tekkamen know that the Master Program is in action, as are the legendary relics from the Green and Red planets.
Their very existence in this universe impresses the Omega and it’s even more curious that, from all the planets in the milky way, they chosen this one right on the fringes of the galaxy.
The fact that humans were chosen as their receives validates their decision to plant the Radam trees here.
There’s only the matter of Blade to deal with and Evil thinks he's got a plan to take care of both him and his tree-busting friend with the sonic weapon; Omega, however, decides to send Axe in his place since Evil is injured.
Evil accepts Omega’s judgment and Axe promises him to take Takaya’s head for him.



Kazuma starts his log relating that there have been no clues about Chouryuujin or Akito after a week on Orbit Base.
Akito's three would-be girlfriends are trying in their own ways to put their grief behind them, leaving everyone to worry about the terrifying power of the Primevals.
These beings, each powerful enough to open up an ES Window, are likely already on Earth causing trouble - and Taiga and Freeman have returned to the surface for a conference on what to do about it.



Meanwhile, the rumor mill is working overtime on your mysterious ally, including such far-out ideas as him/her being Kazuma's twin stolen from the hospital in infancy, or another copy of him from a parallel universe.
Unfortunately, his father has been tight-lipped the whole time, and Kazuma is left with the feeling of growing indebtedness to the mystery benefactor.
To a Trailer, such a thing is anathema. But next time they meet, he'll figure out who she is for sure.



In Orbit Base’s hangar, Fuuryu and Rairyu are being made to haul around containers alongside Pegas, which is pretty standard for all rookies.
Akane assures them that one all-mouth guy on your team (Horis) is more than enough, as Uribatake herds all the new freight around like a mother hen.
His enthusiasm comes from the fact that among the new deliveries are some long-awaited parts from Nergal, and Levin can only hope that he doesn't do anything too weird to the Aestivalises with them.
The sight of Akito’s empty hangar still bothers Hyuuma, Honda and Ushiyama; even though Leo and Freeman don’t think neither him nor Chouryujin are dead, the fact that there has been no news is worrisome.
Levin cuts through their depression, ordering them to stop with that attidude – he reminds them that even the girls who are worried about Akito are working at 100% so they sure as hell should do the same.
Ushiyama is surprised at Levin’s insight and he says it’s his “woman’s heart” that allows him to read them like a book.



This isn't going to work so easily with Mamoru, who really wishes he could have been of more use in the previous battle with the purification of the Primeval Crystals.
Getting shown up by his classmate was just adding insult to injury.
Said classmate, Kaidou Ikumi, lives alone with his mother - a mother who found the kid as a baby and took him in.
Clearly Kaidou's a mystery child, but Mamoru isn't so normal himself, and part of Taiga's trip involves grilling Mamoru's parents on what his background really is.



But the mechanics have more immediate concerns in the form of a man named Goddard, who claims to be from Nergal's freight division.
He's hoping someone could show him where the bathroom is; Honda has Levin do it but he gets scandalized at the thought of him going into the men’s bathroom.
With that in mind, Hyuuma takes the job.
As they walk, Hyuuma observes his walk and asks if he's studied some kind of martial arts. Goddard smirks and says that he's studied a little here and there...



Elsewhere in space, Arm(That’s the bearded one) notes that Brain failed to destroy Orbit Base, though Rib(the one with the weird teeth) observes that the real danger comes from the people aboard the station.



Liver(the fat one) still can't believe that all Magnificent Seven Primevals are required to handle this job, and there is some disagreement over whether to take us out one by one or try to destroy the whole base again.
One thing is certain: with "them" on this planet the situation has turned much more complicated and, now, there's not a moment to lose.
Arm decides to head in by himself, telling the others to wait in reserve in case something unexpected happens.
He vows to build a Zondar Metal Plant right in front of our people's eyes to show just how powerful they are.





Arm busts into the base with little trouble.
Despite his “human-like” size, he’s plowing through our defenses with ease and it’s damn clear that we aren’t dealing with a regular human.
Une sounds the alarm and orders everyone to intercept the intruder.



Arm has headed straight for the central reactor, to build his Zondar Metal Plant.
Sousuke tries shooting at it but Arm says it’s useless: the energy provided by this room has allowed for some explosive growth and, soon enough, the plant will be complete and able to mechanize the entire planet.
Kurz finds Arm's arrogance and his bearded mug equally annoying, but neither he nor anyone present has the firepower to even slow him down.





That changes when Heero shows up, packing a bazooka that he doesn't hesitate to fire.
Kurz complains that he could breach the hull shooting that thing in here but Heero says the first priority is defeating Arm – who’s now simply annoyed after taking that shot on the chin.
Arm says that our power, while fighting as normal humans, is limited and it’s his turn to attack next!





He fires a directed gravity wave from his arm, which knocks our guys on their ass despite their being behind cover.
Kurz asks Sousuke to bring out Bonta-kun but, unfortunately, it is down for repairs, so he can’t be of much help.
Arm gets ready to destroy us all with his next attack when…





When Gai shows up to help us.
Kurz complains about him being late and tells him to pays us back by kicking Arm’s ass; Gai promises to do so but Arm says he merely came to receive and early death and blasts him with a Gravity Wave.
Gai gets up and still wants to fight but Arm says it’s useless – we’ll all disappear right now!



That is, until Arm is struck by a surprise attack from Soldato J.
Arm and Gai didn’t expect him to be here and J relates a memory of his: during the time of the Trinary System, both him and his fellow sky warriors opposed the Primevals in their white battleships.
Arm mentions how all other warriors were killed but J says he’s still alive and he’ll keep following his directive as a warrior to battle the Primevals no matter where they go!



As they race off to do battle, D-Boy and Gai make ready to help, only to have Goddard - aka Tekkaman Axe – interfere.
He says it’s been a while since he saw Takaya and D-Boy certainly isn’t happy that Axe invaded our base.
Goddard admits that that “Mohawk man” he met along the way slowed him down quite a bit, and, of course, the reason he’s here is to wipe out the traitorous Takaya.
This suits D-Boy fine, since he wants to know what information the Radam have about the Primevals.



Axe says that he’ll give the information, provided D-Boy can defeat him but he’ll have some help from a pissed off Hyuuma, who seems to have regained consciousness faster than Axe expected.
D-Boy warns him that this guy is a Tekkaman and Hyuuma fumes that we’re being invaded by both the Radam and Primevals.



Arm is proclaiming that the Zondar Metal Plant is almost close to completion and it can’t be stopped but help comes from Mike Sounders XIII.





Goddard recognizes the song as the Radam-tree destroying one but it’s not affecting him at all – this is due to Mike retuning the song to affect Zondar-like creatures.
This quickly messes with Arm’s plan, stunning the primeval and making the Zondar Metal Plant start to disintegrate; Goddard derides the Primeval for getting his smug ass handed to him by a “karaoke robot”.
Arm tells the Tekkaman to shut his mouth before he decides to destroy him first.



That won’t happen, though, as Axe is sure that Arm doesn't stand a chance against him "at his present size.
Arm tries to escape but, by now, our people have him surrounded, and deluge him with fire from all sides.



Under that fire, Arm catches a glimpse of Bless and immediately goes pale.
“You…!”, he gasps, “Tch…To think that you’d be here…!”; Arm resolves to call up all the other Primevals and flees at once, punching through the outer hull.



With that taken care of, Axe gets back to the business of killing D-Boy...