The Let's Play Archive

Super Robot Wars Z

by Brunom1, Dr. Pepper, Caphi

Part 168: Mission 41 - Cross Point - Part 1

Our first mission with ZEUTH as a whole and we’ve 16 slots to play with. That’s not nearly enough for every potential leader to get a squad, so we’ll need to relegate some to squaddies:


In hindsight, I should’ve pulled Gain back and had Shinn or Kappei lead but I had spent enough time building the new squads and the thought didn’t come to me.
FYI: the returning ZEUTH units’ upgrades as still the same as they were back on mission 25, so you should spend all that cash from the previous mission getting them up to speed.




All our ships pop up in a field, everyone in one piece, after being seemingly warped away from that dimensional quake. Sara detects that we weren’t warped too far away from our previous battlefield but Jabby seems much more freaked out.
When Shaia asks, he says that while we weren’t affected much by the quake, the world at large has been, once again, transformed by it. Mind, he doesn’t know WHAT changed but he can feel its effects.
Heizaemon wants everyone to get together to ascertain everything that’s happened thus far and dispel any lingering misunderstandings that may lie.



Location: North Ameria
Yow…compare this shot to the one in the mission 40s and you can see just how different the continents are.



And here we begin the long process of getting the player up to speed concerning EVERYTHING that happened with the other side of ZEUTH. It’s just one huge batch of exposition.
Since we’ve seen both paths firsthand, we’ll just skip through this.

At length, Holland’s glad to see that the other side has been maintaining their independence from Zaft’s politicking – as incapable as ever of placing any trust in military organizations.
He’d actually prefer to stay split off if they were intent on acting as part of Zaft’s troops, even, but Talia makes it a point to say that she still considers herself as such and will fight against Plant’s enemies. That said, as another HUMAN, she’s more than willing to support the plan of coexistence with the Coralians and performing a dimensional repair that safeguards everyone, not just particular nations.
She doesn’t think this’ll bring harm to Plant so, by her own will, Talia agrees to teaming up with us once again. Bright's also glad to help and plans to offer the same choice to everyone in the squad, but Heizaemon doubts there'll be many naysayers: no one here wants to see the rulership of the world monopolized.

: Looks like our endgame’s decided...
: To protect this world…now we must think of what we can do to make that happen.
: It’s been a bumpy road but, here, we join hands once again for the same goal.
: Rather, perhaps we could say that, for the very first time, our troops are actually united.
: Today marks the beginning of a new era for ZEUTH.
: Yes. Henceforth, we’ll all fight alongside one another.
: ZEUTH, reborn... well, it’s a pleasure to work with everyone.
: But, as for our enemies…there’s still the one who moved against us from the shadows.
: The one who tried to have us destroy each other…
: I suspect it’s that person we saw at the outbreak of the dimensional quake.
: That “Black Charisma” freak, eh…?
: From the way he spoke, it seems he was the one who brought all those troops to that one place.
: And that man called us out by name.
: We don’t even know that it is a man, though. He or she spoke with a voice synthesizer…
: Black Charisma…we’ll need to be careful with this one.



: I’m glad to see you well, Cpt. Elchi.
: You, too, seem to be in one piece, Mr. Gwen.
: Listen, I’d like to ask you for more details about one of your battles. Specifically, about that OverDevil.
: Huh, that’s a surprise. I didn’t think you’d be interested in grotesque things like that.
: My interest is more in the era that created it…the so-called Black History.




Back in our other ships, there’s even more exposition. Nothing major aside from (and I’ve no idea why Rand’s side doesn’t mention this) Kouji, Tetsuya and Daisuke quickly discussing this new idea for a combined attack. Sounds interesting.
Mind, I find it odd that Setsuko doesn’t even strike up a conversation with Olson considering their history. She is happy to see Enil again, though, and the two are eager to catch up.

Either way, after all the relevant events are detailed, the alarm starts blaring: Kid comes in, yelling that a large Emaanian posse is headed straight for us. Rand figures this second world-wide quake has lit a fire under their asses and they’re coming after Kei and Olson.
Given our lofty goal of saving the entire world, we obviously can’t afford to let these short-sighted people succeed – time for the newly reformed ZEUTH to take to the field!



Only on Rand’s side, Apollo is still dejected over what happened before. As Silvia tries to get him to deploy, he asks about what Fudou’s been up to.
Sirius figures he’s returned to DEAVA HQ as, from what he’s heard, the Federation has recently annexed their organization. It’s likely he’s busy dealing with that.
Apollo grumbles that the guy’s always showing up but now that we actually need him, he vanishes.
From Apollo’s attitude, Sirius figures what happened before wasn’t actually a dream and makes Apollo swear not to tell anyone about their wings. If he does, Sirius WILL hunt him down.
He wouldn’t tell, of course, so Sirius takes off to prepare to deploy.

: …Damn it…
: Apollo…
: Well, we’ve got enemies coming, yeah…? We gotta get going, Silvia.
: You don’t need to do this today, you know… not after what happened to Baron.
: I could pilot the Sol in your place—
: Oi, oi…that attitude ain’t like you.
: Huh…
: Wings or not, y’all are still the same. Ain’t anything else to it…
: Apollo…
: Let’s get out there, Silvia.
: Thanks…



Mission 41 - Cross Point



The Glomar’s launching as an event unit, so I have the Iron Gear and Minerva accompany it.


The sight of all these different units back together is quite impressive for Captain and Mimsy agrees, especially considering how hostile these people were not too long ago.
Kei says we stand as a symbol of what this world’s all about and Kappei’s glad to see that he’s as chill as ever – indeed, Quattro’s finds it commendable that Kei’s managed to endure the responsibility of being a Singularity.
Either way, this is the reborn ZEUTH’s debut battle so Garrod says we need to win big here today...he soon realizes his faux pas and apologizes to Shaia. She doesn’t blame him, though, considering that she, too, is looking for a way to help everyone.
Banjou's most happy to fight alongside such a splendid person, but she tells him that flattering an old woman won't get him anything. Luna and Sayaka remember hearing that the Emaanian women lose their biological functionalities at age 18 but can’t wrap their heads on how that’s like.



The Emaanians, led by Maneesha, quickly enter the area and Hilda quickly explains to the other folks who she is.
Indeed, she knows both Singularities are here and demands we hand them over – if we do, she’ll ignore our transgressions thus far. Toshiya balks at her high-and-mighty attitude but Stoner figures that’s par for the course what with her being Emaan’s de-facto leader.

: Shaia, allow me to mediate this matter with her.
: Ah, enter the Negotiator!
: But things always get worse whenever he gets to work…
: Thank you, Roger. But it’s Maneesha we’re dealing with, so I need to answer.
: Let’s go, sister…hand those Singularities over.
: We refuse.
: Do you not care about safeguarding Emaan?! You’ve always been selfish like that, ever since you were a kid!
: Like when you foisted the family onto me and left to travel around, not a care in the world…
: Oi…did you come here to rant about your sisterly problems?
: You should go home, then. We’re very busy.
: Yeah, we’re trying to save the entire world! Come back later if you wanna yell at your sister!



: I came here to save my country and you’d deride that?!
: Open fire! Shoot down their escorts and capture the Singularities!
: Maneesha…!
: Shaia…we’ve no choice. They cannot have Kei and Olson.
: You can pull back if you don’t wanna do this. We’ll handle them.
: No, we’ll fight as well. My mind’s set, just like everyone else.
: Shaia…
: All troops, attack the Emaanians! If we’re going to defend this world, we need to stand our ground against whoever the enemy is!
: Aye, aye! We all know what must be done!
: That said, we should avoid any unnecessary damage.
: Focus fire on their mothership. We’ll try and end this as quickly as possible.
: Thanks a bunch, Lt.!
: Yeah, Emaan is still our country! We’d rather not fight them if we can avoid it.
: (Maneesha…)



Mission Objective: Shoot down the Emaanian Battleship.
Mission Failure: Any allied battleship shot down.
Skill Point: Clear the map within 5 turns.

Ending Point Alert!

From this mission onwards, there’ll be several secret conditions that have further effects down the road. There’s a maximum of 21 points that you can grab and I’d recommend getting at least 18.
Some of these are pretty easy while others can be finicky – I’ll be trying to get them all and, like secrets, I’ll prioritize them over Skill Points if need be.

This ending point and the skill point synergize pretty well, though: morale is a problem but the ship’s flimsy, so we should be able to down in by turn two. Just attack with whoever manages to get in range and buff Apollo’s morale for two big hits.



So, everyone spreads out and moves ahead. Let’s see how this goes.



Enemy Phase!



And here they come.






I won’t even risk trying to attack for extra morale because these things are just too flimsy.
The AI actually seems to have a beef against Gain today because he gets mobbed and barely survives after evasion decay screws him thrice.



Thankfully, a handful played ball so here’s a quick highlight.



: How regrettable. If you were willing to listen, we could have shared our plans.
: But you moved to take the Singularity by force without even giving us the chance.
: Now face your judgment!







: Sorry, pals! We've got our sights set higher than you, that's all!
: We're not just trying to save one little country! We're gonna save the whole world!
: Hope y'all can understand!









: Come and get me! I'm right here, Kei Katsuragi, the Singularity himself!
: But I don't go easy on people trying to catch me, so you'd better be ready!


To sum it up, a whole bunch of nothing aside from Gain.



Player Phase!



I had hoped to get some three big hitters on the carrier to conserve Apollo’s SP but the Emaanians have pretty much walled everyone off except for Renton.



: I believe we can make it through anything!
: So we'll keep trying until we can't anymore! Maybe it's just a fantasy, but we're looking for a way to save everyone!












A very nice crit there.



Apollo burns his SP on Spirits and Stoner casts Rouse to get the Element System going.

Now we can wrap this up.



: Ya know, no one likes folks who hog food when there ain’t much.
: Ya gotta share it so everyone gets a piece! Here's what I do to hogs!












And Apollo learns ESP L5 from that.

Total ending points: 1



Maneesha is still hell-bent on getting the Singularities for Emaan. Shaia yells at her to stop but Maneesha asks if she doesn’t understand that her actions are dooming Emaan.
She’s in the middle of calling Shaia a traitor when Mimsy, who’s had enough of this, cuts in and says Maneesha has no idea of her sister’s feelings – she’s just a spoiled brat! She might say that Shaia abandoned her family to go gallivanting about but, in reality, she silently chose to step down because she judged Maneesha was the better person to lead.
She’s not buying these “excuses” but Mimsy continues, saying Maneesha also seems to be ignorant of the situation concerning her own husband, Ranse.
Shaia tries to stop her but Mimsy thinks the truth must be known: Ranse always loved Shaia more than Maneesha and yet—





No time to continue the drama, as Robert shows up with a large group and immediately opens fire on both sides.
This indiscriminate attack immediately tells Olson of who must be in command here and, indeed, Robert has already singled out both him and Kei. His plan is to beat them both to the point of death and, then, bring them in.
His troops are already getting on the offensive and Quattro’s surprised at how intent the guy is on both capturing the Singularities and destroying us all – the best Holland can tell is that Robert’s festered a long grudge towards both Kei and our people after the consecutive beatdowns. Quattro’s further annoyed at the guy’s lack of foresight.

Setsuko figures the only option when facing such people is to respond appropriately and Ryouma’s impressed at how strong she’s become – a commanding presence, comparable to the legends’ best female warriors, Roger thinks.
Rand himself figures the best way to deal with enemies like this is for everyone to take a page off his playbook. Eiji figures he means to just go to town and Rand confirms with his Heat Smile. It’s been far too long since Luna and the other ZEUTH’s seen that stifling face.



Anyway, Shinn and everyone agree that these guys don’t deserve any mercy with the way they’re gunning for us and Shaia asks Maneesha to pull back with her troops and leave this to us.
She says all she and ZEUTH want is to protect our world and all our loved ones who live therein – that includes Maneesha and Emaan. Maneesha’s a bit stunned but seemingly relents and retreats with her men.
Mome wonders if she understood and Jabby says only Shaia knows that answer. Regardless, Olson tags Robert’s black Ishkick as the command unit and tells us to focus our fire on it.



Atena’s on the Chiram side and Henry’s quick to tell her that, despite what she may feel for Olson, he’s a traitor and deserves no quarter. Furthermore, if she shows any sort of restraint against our people, Robert’s ready to have her executed as a traitor on the spot, too.
Furthermore, he tells her to fight and not bring shame to the noble Henderson name, which takes Atena back to her mother. Kei spots her Device up ahead and asks Olson what to do.
He doesn’t want to see her branded a traitor too but Kei doubts she's happy in her current position – so, he wants to come over and ask what’s REALLY going on in her head. Kei says he has a lot of make up for as her father and he’ll start with this.
Robert starts his charge, proclaiming the Singularities to be his stepping-stones towards the top.

I reckon this is good enough for now. We’ll wrap up the rest on Wednesday and see how things stand with the rest of the world.

See you all then!