The Let's Play Archive

Super Robot Wars Z

by Brunom1, Dr. Pepper, Caphi

Part 125: Mission 35 (Rand - Ships Route) - Over Battle - Part 1

Alright, we’ve our team mostly back right in time for a very tough mission. 10 slots are available with Gainer still going out as an event unit:


As punishment for his crummy Oversense, Gauli has lost his Overman to Sara, who can make full use of it.
Again, we can’t quite fill in all slots so Apollo will focus on the bosses; make sure everyone has a dedicated Accel/Boost user as movement range will be very helpful for this next skill point.

Now, take a deep breath and let’s do this:



Location: Central South America – Agate Crystal



We open with a worried Kashmir reporting that the OverDevil has been rampaging across the area but Kids is unconcerned – “It’s simply happy to be awake after such a long time. We can let it enjoy itself for a while.”, he says adding that the thing is merely acting on instinct and isn’t causing that much damage.
That said, Kashmir wonders how Kids plans to bring it under his control and the guy says that, for that, a person with high Oversense is needed.

The OverDevil’s true power will be released once it takes in such a person and Kashmir quickly understands that that’s what Cynthia’s here for.
Still, it's a shame to waste the OverDevil's playfulness entirely, so Kids orders Kashmir and Timp to lead it to ZEUTH and deal with them. Kashmir plans to use the failure-prone Breakers from the Gain-hunting party as cannon fodder for this dangerous mission.
Angel then reports that Martina is being guarded inside the crystal, and Kids tells her to see she's treated well - after all, she's got a lot of work ahead of her.



Cynthia meanwhile is thinking to her mother, remembering the people she knew in Kids’ training center for Overmen pilots and how anyone who “lost” to her would disappear. Gainer’s the only friend she’d had that never went away, regardless of how many times they fought.
She’s then approached by Asuham who notes how depressed she looks despite how well she’s done recently. Indeed, she’s been fighting to make Kids happy and while it’s something she should be proud of, it certainly doesn’t feel that way now.
Asuham says her nerves are on edge from her Oversense and adds that it’s fine if to let herself cry – doing so will make her stronger. Timp watches the scene with a jaundiced smile from the sidelines, having taken Asuham to have a thing for his sister but not for “younger girls”…or is this some part of his master plan to take Gain down?



In the Iron Gear, Maai brings word of the OverDevil’s rampage and, since this area is outside of the Federation’s sphere of influence, Riea thinks it unlikely that the army will interfere.
Adette doubts that this is the avaricious Kids' idea of world domination, though - more likely, it's akin to a child playing with a new toy. She figures that once he gets tired of watching it, he'll use its presence as a threat and force the world to let Siberian tracks cross the globe, seizing the world market on transport and commerce.
In Adette’s view, monopoly is a mere bonus for Kids as his main motivation is just seeing how far his tracks can go – fitting, for one who dubs himself Railroad King, Tsugumi thinks.



Rand’s talking to Roger nearby and asks why he joined with us again. Roger asks if he remembers Angel and he does – personal secretary to the CEO of Paradigm Corp. – but Roger adds that she’s now working for Kids.
She told Roger that a relic from the Black History – the OverDevil - was about to awaken and Roger would find the truth with it. Rand figures this truth must be what mummy-man Schwarz was ranting about and Roger joined Gain’s team precisely to ascertain the veracity of Angel’s words.
Whatever this "Truth" is, it doesn't sound very safe to Rand and, indeed, judging from Schwarz’ words thus far, Roger fully expects it to be some omen of ruin.

Either way, both Rand and Roger are sick of this negativity and determined to oppose this “truth” which means they must also stand up to the OverDevil and the destruction it brings.
Even if it is the “truth” of this world, Roger won’t accept it and ZEUTH is ready to roll as soon as they get a fix on the OverDevil's position.
With that in mind, Rand asks Mel about Gainer and she says he’s been with King Gainer ever since he got out of bed…playing games.



Gainer’s been going through a lot of opponents online but he refuses to be called “King” – that title now belongs to the person who beat him. Sara’s a bit worried as he’s been playing since morning but he has no time to rest, having vowed to surpass himself (by playing games, yes).
He must recover the title that he lost once Cynthia defeated him and, with that in mind, he’s had Kid plug King Gainer into the UN and is taking on anyone who wants a fight. Garrod then shows up with everyone and asks him to make his choice.

Ryouma figures Gainer’s going through the UN to gain combat experience in near-reality scenarios and, in that case, Kei figures him going up against actual fighters will be just what he needs. Gainer doesn’t get what they’re implying and Daisuke spells it out, asking him to let us be his sim opponents.
They may not be gamers but their experience more than makes up for it, Hayato thinks: Sirius volunteers to teach Gainer his fencing techniques, Witz and Roybea got both high-speed, high-firepower tactics nailed down, while the Getter team has both speed and offense covered.

Apollo's gotten trained by Fudou often enough and is looking forward to doing the training for a change, too. Gainer's grateful and Garrod reminds him that Renton, too, is doing his best to better himself out there meaning that Gainer needs to pick up the pace for when they meet again.
That’s exactly what he plans on doing.



Mission 35 (Ships Route) - Over Battle



Like “moths to a flame”, ZEUTH is detected by the Siberian team and Timp’s glad we decided to accept their invitation. As he prepares to play with us a bit, Hola can’t help but be pissed at the guy for showing off because he got himself a Brockary Walker Machine to use.
Geraba raises the point that Hola has a new ship, so he can go back to being a “Captain” but this run-down Double Oar is hardly a good enough ship for the guy. That said, Greta tells him to get his head in the game because this’ll probably be his last chance to get payback on Jiron, as not even our resilient bunch’s expected to make it through today.
Kids is already envisioning prospective Exodizers shivering in their boots when footage of the carnage gets out and is making plans of using the OverDevil to remove any other obstacles to expanding the Siberian Rail’s influence to all corners of the world.
Cynthia’s still freaked out but Kids asks her to display her superlative Oversense and she slowly confirms.





ZEUTH soon arrives and, when Gain asks, Gainer isn’t sure if he’ll be able to pull this off but he’s certainly going to give this a try – Gain like his confidence at least.
Gainer’s rather certain that he’s managed to reach new heights thanks to everyone’s help so all that’s left is for him to use his newfound strength to stop Cynthia and Rand asks him to leave the OverDevil to us.

This bit changes depending on Gainer’s kill count – if it’s below 100, he’ll make mention that he needs to break that threshold and he’ll certainly grasp a new power. What does he mean? We’ll get there in a bit.

Asuham hasn’t deployed in this fight, having been selected to escort Kids in his train. They quickly pull back to enjoy the show but Asuham, inwardly, hopes that Gain will be man enough to survive this and allow him his vengeance.
As they leave, Jamil gives the order to focus on the OverDevil and Sara’s cheers Gainer against Cynthia, who vows to go beyond 100% - to surpass any Overmen and himself.



Mission Objective: OverDevil shot down.
Mission Failure: Any allied ship or Gainer shot down.
Skill Point: Shoot down everything within 6 turns, OverDevil last.

Oi…
It’s like the last mission only much harder as you have more named characters, Timp in a suped-up mech and the goddamn OverDevil in the middle; getting this Skill Point on a first playthrough is TOUGH and I would not recommend stressing over it.
Still, if you wanna try, you’ll need to rush every single turn to make your way over to Timp across the entire map while making quick work of everything else (give yourself at least a full turn to kill the OverDevil) – the good part is that Kashmir and the Siberian trio are very close, meaning you can usually down them before they trigger OverSkill.
Geraba isn’t around and Hola’s ship is crap, too.
However, these small advantages go out the window faced with these two problems:

Secret Alert


Brockary (Timp Shaloon)

Timp’s got his ultimate machine and, goddamn, can he do a number on anyone with it: pair Timp’s massive stats and amazing skills with this and he’ll make you work a lot for a kill.
Aside from the skill point requirement, taking Timp down is a requirement for that other Xabungle so if you came on this route for that (I don’t know why, though…), get to work.
Try to attack with flying units as, standard to all Walker Machines, he’s got lower attack ratings against those but still make sure to keep your reals protected.
Finally, Timp will always prioritize going after Jiron and you can bet he can double attack him, so watch it.

Now, for the main event:


OverDevil
Pilot Skills:
Features:
OverDevil’s Squad Leader Bonus: Debuff Immunity

Do you see this shit? That’s a boss, around the game’s halfway point, with a skill that’d put most SRW endgame bosses to shame.
This thing is BRUTAL and is easily one of the toughest fights in the game: huge HP, massive stats, a powerful barrier, Prevail, regen, debuff immunity, that fucking OverSkill, Oversense boosting its dodge and hit rates…combine all those together and you have a very bulky enemy that can dodge anyone in his debuff range almost like a real.
But he’s not all about defense, oh no: his attacks are all long range and the strongest one, OverFreeze, comes in both MAP and ALL flavours.
The ALL version hits like a truck and will drain a chunk of SP off anyone it hits (save for those who are immune to pilot debuffs, like Apollo) – this can easily screw you in a battle of attrition; losing SP is preferable to eating it MAP version, though, as it will STUN anyone it hits.
I’m not joking: anyone who eats that MAP will be unable to do anything for a turn and, as you can see above, it has huge range.

There’s a way to stop that from happening, though: the OverDevil’s AI is set to prioritize Gainer above all things so, as long as he’s in attack range, it’ll always shoot at him instead of MAPing.
I’ve never seen the thing move, so get Gainer close enough (taking care to set him outside the OverSkill area) and just have him keep the OverDevil busy for the entire mission.

Save as much SP as you can because you cannot afford to miss once you go in for the kill and anyone with a powerful attack that can hit from outside the OverSkill area should do so.



Finally, Gainer’s training wasn’t just a throwaway scene: once he takes 100 kills, his Gamer skill will change into Gamer Champ!
This new version gives +30(!) to his Skill stat once over 130 morale which means he can double attack pretty much anything short of a few endgame bosses and you can even get those with a small investment in the stat.
If you hadn’t bought him Attack Again yet, do it.



Let’s get this going, then, and first order of business is to get rid of the nearby Siberian flunkies.












And Kei whiffs on a 88% to hit…at least Enge’s mooks are gone.





That’s fine, though, as an attack from Marin’s squad takes him out in one go.


Marin learns Prevail L7, too.



Enge knows that, even if they do crush us here, a wrecked machine will still be deduced from his salary.
He needs to pull back before this Dobeck’s a total loss!





Next is Jaboli, whom Burume deprives of her buddies with a nice TRI attack.



Gain will handle the rest.








I reckon these two have set the record for fastest named-character death thus far.



Front-line duty still isn’t her thing and, with an apology to Kids, she pulls back.





I forget that the Photon Mat will pass to the squaddies when you’re in Center formation, so Ryouma’s run at Kejinan doesn’t work as nicely.



We’re on the clock, though, so we can’t be finicky with EN usage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAiZ84HtOZM
This also lets us show Duke’s and the Mexbrute’s TRI attack.





Roger and Jiron follow it up and Kejinan’s now flying solo (also, Roger has his barrier back).

We’ll have to finish him off next turn, though.



Enemy Phase!




Kejinan makes the job easier for us by attacking Duke.

Kashmir guns for Gain but, just to be safe, I have him dodge.



Player Phase!



I try to have Garrod finish off Kejinan in TRI formation but he falls just short of doing it, so the Iron Gear will pick up the slack.












Air rating is still crap but it’s more than enough! Elchi’s prize is Prevail L5 and Commander L3.



Seems like he might’ve been way too overconfident after their previous battle.
Kejinan grumbles in anger as he retreats, saying that if he gets demoted anymore he’ll be a Private again.





Kashmir’s next in line and Baldios’ TRI nearly blows away his two squaddies.







That’s fine as Gain’s group follows up, with Gauli FINALLY getting his Oversense up to L2 (too little, too late).



Kashmir’s running his OverSkill now but, since the spirit commands are only cast on his turn, we’re still safe-ish (mind, Guard and Predict are also there).












Almost there.





Gainer assumes his OverDevil taunting position and takes away a wee bit more of Kashmir’s HP.



Gotta keep meeting that quota…














Huzzah!



Kashmir refuses to let this place be his grave, lest he never be able to organize his train schedule again.
So, he backs off while spouting the old standard that he’ll REMEMBER THIS, vowing to take us down and recover his position as Chief of Operations!











With the Siberians done, we charge towards the nearest Breakers and Rag takes a level in Support Attack from the fight.
Duke’s group follows it up, scoring a kill.


We’ll leave those mooks to kill themselves against us and switch our focus to other targets – like Hola.












Alright, that’s fine.





Roger picks a fresh target to pester and Kei starts moving south-ward, towards the Dorans.



Enemy Phase!





Cynthia starts moving and, since she can’t reach Gainer, decides to go for Löwen (who’s covered by Bello).
Getting into a fight with her triggers the plot.



The OverDevil starts howling again and just listening to it starts making Garrod feel numb – it feels as if your very heart’s dying, Enil says.
Tifa corrects her, saying its howl is a song whose purpose is to freeze the heart of anyone who hears it and Reika compares its sensation to the Fallen Angel’s hypnosound.
Indeed, the very same hypnosound that starts playing right after she opens her mouth and, as Marin detects the dimensional walls getting distorted, the Angels quickly arrive with a large posse.

Silvia wonders if they’re here to fight the OverDevil and Rena clarifies: in ancient times, humans stood side-by-side with the Aquarion to fight against the Fallen Angels. During that era, they created several forbidden powers to help, one of which being the OverDevil itself.
The news that the thing was created with such a purpose strikes everyone as odd when they consider that the Aquarion and King Gainer teams came from distinct worlds. Rena can’t explain why, as her vision only saw that much, but notes that it all leads back to the Black History.



Roger gains his Plasma Gimmick and O-Thunder upon hearing that word, seemingly an effect of the presence of the Fallen Angels and OverDevil.
Rena has another vision and calls Big O an “Apostle of the Great Power”; Roger remembers Big O having residual memories about the Fallen Angels and, considering Angel’s words, starts to wonder if it, too, might be a relic of the Black History.
If so, just what is Paradigm City and what’s the purpose of a city whose inhabitants have lost their memories?

Gain also remembers that both King Gainer and Brünhild (the ancient Overman whose arm Gain uses in his Emperanza) always reacts to the presence of Fallen Angels. Maybe those two also have some residual memories of fighting those? This would mean that both King Gainer and Brünhild would’ve been the OverDevil’s allies during ancient times, thinks Gainer.
That said, both Gain and Apollo point out that it's all ancient history and both the OverDevil and Fallen Angels are enemies we have to defeat, regardless of what they were before - Ryouma reminds Gainer that what we need to protect is the present and nothing more.
Duke warns that we’ve a free-for-all in our hands but Kei sees the positive side in that with the bad guys fighting against each other, we’ve a better chance of winning.

: What happened in the past isn't important anymore! King Gainer’s mine now!
: And a King never loses, no matter the enemy! Come on!

Alright, that's enough for today because there's still so much to do.

Expect the rest of the mission by Wednesday.

See you all then!