Part 178: Mission 44 - The Falling Sun - Part 2
Chapter 44 Part 2
So let's take a nice good look at our shiny brand new machine!
Gravion Zwei
Toga Tenkuuji - Sol Gravion
Voiced by Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)
Eiji Shigure - Sol Gravion Subpilot
Voiced by Kenichi Suzumura(Japanese), Chris Patton (English)
Runa Gusuku - Sol Gravion Subpilot
Voiced by Haruna Ikezawa (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
Mizuki Tachibana - Sol Gravion Subpilot
Voiced by Yu Asakawa (Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (English)
Leele Zeravire- Sol Gravion Subpilot
Voiced by Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Allison Keith (English)
Eina - Sol Gravion Subpilot
Voiced by Mai Nakahara (Japanese), Jessica Boone (English)
Skills:
* Counter (Level 6) - On the enemy phase, will sometimes attack before the enemy. Activation rate is determined by the skill stat.
* Will+ (Hit) - Pilot gains +1 Will every time they hit an enemy.
* Predict - At 130 Will, hit, evasion and critical hit rate increase
* E Save - The energy cost for attacks are reduced by 20%
* Will Limit Break - Maximum Will is increased to 170
* Prevail (Level 5) - As the character takes damage, hit rate, evasion, defense, and critical rate will increase.
Spirit Commands(Toga):
* Focus(15) - Increases hit and evasion rates by 30%
* Spirit(20) - Increases the Will of all pilots in the caster's mech by 10
* Sense (20) - Casts both "Strike" and "Alert" on the caster.
* Faith(50) - Fully restores the HP of all units in a allied squad.
Spirit Commands(Eiji):
* Accel(20) - The caster's squad gains a one use +2 to movement.
* Strike (20) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.
* Invincible(10) - The next attack that hits the caster will do 10 damage.
* Valor(35) - Multiplies the damage done by the units next attack by 2.
Spirit Commands(Runa):
* Strike (20) - The caster will have 100% Hit rate for that turn.
* Luck(40) - The caster's squad will gain double the amount of money from a defeated enemy, the effect fades after the next attack even if an enemy is not killed.
* Trust(30) - Restore 2500 HP to an ally.
* Fury(30) - The next attack will ignore barriers, defensive abilities, size modifiers, and the ALL attack damage penalty.
* Valor(45) - Multiplies the damage done by the units next attack by 2.
Spirit Commands(Mizuki):
* Scan(1) - Reveals an enemy squad's stats without having to fight them.
* Alert (10) - The caster gains 100% evasion rate for the next attack that targets the caster.
* Snipe(20) - Increases the range of the caster's weapons by 2 for one turn. MAP attacks and weapons with 1 range are not effected.
* Confuse(60) - All enemy hit rates halved for one turn.
Spirit Commands(Leele):
* Guard(30) - The caster takes 1/4 damage from all attacks for one turn.
* Mercy(10) - If the pilot's skill stat is higher then the enemy's, then an attack that would normally defeat the enemy leaves them alive with 10 HP.
* Rouse(50) - Increases the Will of all pilots in the Squad by 5
Spirit Commands(Eina):
* Gain(20) - The caster's squad will gain double the Experience Points from the next attack.
* Attune(30) - Grants one Ally the effect of the "Strike" Spirit command.
* Analyze(25) - The selected enemy squad will have their attack and defense lowered by 10% for one turn
Squad Leader Bonus
*+10% Attack power during the Player Phase
Take the old Gravion, improve it in every single way, and you have Sol Gravion. Notably the first time in 9 stages we actually have all six subpilots back, this time for good! There's Spirit Commands for nearly every occasion, and while the limited SP of each subpilot means you can only cast two or three commands, it's still enough to pull through in any situation. As for the Sol Gravion itself, it's also great. It's stronger, tougher, and just better then the original. Plus, Mizuki knows Confuse, which is perfect.
So Holland uses Boost and Katz uses his Confuse cast. One extra bonus of Sol Gravion showing up is that everybody gets their SP refilled when it happens.
So they then head up here as part of the team meant to deal with the Zeravire.
There we go.
Now, we finally have a time limit. Three turns to defeat all the enemies then the Artificial Sun. There's one other wrinkle.
ENDING POINT ALERT: Defeat the Artifical Sun two turns after the Sol Gravion arrives.+1 Ending PointsNow, I don't actually know if I got this one. Because I don't know if it means "The turn Sol Gravion pops up and the turn after" or "The two turns after Sol Gravion pops up." It doesn't really matter much, you don't need all the ending points to get the best ending.
Faye is ready with her only Post-Move attack!
Priority one is getting her Hit&Away.
Blowing up the Cosmosaur gets Hayato a level and teachs him his final Spirit Command, Fury(35). And Sayaka learns new levels for Support Attack and Support Defend.
I'm trying to clear out the enemies on the north side, leaving only the Fallen Angels behind to deal with.
Toga heads down this was, also part of the Anti-Zeravire team.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bkGJsQoSq4
I want this gone.
Thanks Apollo! Thanks Duke!
Might as well take a look at this kid too.
Aquarion of the Genesis
Futaba - Cherubim soldier
Voiced by Tomoko Kawakami(Japanese), Luci Christian(English)
Skills:
* ESP(Level 8) - Increased hit and evasion rates. Amount increased goes up with the level of the skill.
* Predict - At 130 Will, hit, evasion and critical hit rate increase
* Will +(Evade) - Pilot will gain an additional point of will every time the pilot successfully evades an enemy attack.
* Double Movement - The pilot can act twice per turn.
Squad Leader Bonus
* Squad movement +1, Evasion rate +20%
So Futaba isn't actually that though. While the enemy exclusive Double Move is a bit scary looking, he's in a weak unit, and his stats aren't that high. He'll aim for Apollo generally, so if you keep him grounded that S rank in Air won't even matter! He's moderately dodgy, but is in an L sized unit which takes some of the kick out of it. He's mostly a speedbump, there's only one thing about him you really have to worry about.
ENDING POINT ALERT: Defeat Futaba with Apollo.+1 Ending PointsYeah, the biggest thing is just making sure Apollo's the one to beat the kid.
One Valor boosted ALL and these things are nearly done.
Fin Funnel not being post move isn't much of a problem. With Quattro's Newtype Level and Psychoframe giving +2 to an already impressive range, there's not much you can't hit.
That's three problems solved!
My battleships take out a couple stragglers.
Ready to start taking the Fallen Angels down.
And another one down with Duke's Support Attack
Tetsuya leaves another in the yellow.
Luna's primarily getting into position for next turn.
Seriously, look at this smug douchebag.
Beat him up a bit more too Marin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMkxba75_W8
My remaining units move, and it's time for the next turn.
The Zeravire decide swarming my Anti-Zeravire team is a good idea.
I love the Sol Gravion.
Kind of funny that my Anti-Zeravire team is just two units huh?
Oh come on why doesn't that one join the rest?
Of course Dalton will snipe at Toshiya.
: So you've come, Godsigma! I'll be the one to vanquish you!
: You're not just another one of Teral's minions! Who are you?: My name is Dalton, loyal servant to Gagarn, commander-in-chief of the Eldar forces!
: Gagarn? That's the Eldar's new commander?: Yes and I will claim your head in his name!
Bit of an Anti-Climax.
Sure, target Faye after the Zeravire have weakened her.
David soon flies in with the Fixer 1 – a prototype using Subspace tech – and he’s here to back us up.
Marin thanks him for the assist, but David says he needs no thanks: he's come here for his own objective but he won’t say what that is. First and foremost, he’s off to show Marin what he can do.
And Futaba does his thing.
Yeaahh Futaba's going down quickly.
OK, I admit it. The "Anti-Zeravire" team is really just Renton. Because seriously, I don't have time to beat all of them normally.
A cast if Invincible for Sol Gravion and we're good to go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Fxd0CmsrA
Just look at that. To top it off, Renton learned Level 6 Lift Technique, while Holland learned Level 8 as well as his final Spirit Command, Soul(50). This makes Holland the second character I have to learn it, and for Rand Route players Holland is the character who learns the command the earliest, at level 51.
Well I guess that's this segment of the battlfield cleared up. Mizuki casts another Confuse because why not?
Going to shoot down Dalton now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaaLwQ5LmLQ
And with that, Gain gets Level 5 Oversense and his final Spirit Command, Fury(25)
Dalton’s annoyed, not having expected us to have so many weapons at our disposal.
He abandons ship, going
and promising to get us NEXT TIME!
Let's not have Faye get shot down now that she's on the Good Guy side.
Then she damages some Zeravire to teach her a third level of Support Attack and Valor(40).
Followed by Ryouma killing them.
Holy crap! Needless to say that Fallen Angel is dead.
I'm moving people out of the way of Big O's MAP, not as broken as Seven Swell but still good.
There's enough free units now that I can take some shots at the Artificial Sun.
: So the Skull Moon Alliance has finally decided to eliminate humanity all at once...: We have to hurry before this war passes a point of no return!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRFXsSaXd70
Did you know that you can hold down Circle to speed up attack animations?
: Hey, the Sun's supposed to give light and warmth to everybody!
: We're going to burn out this messed up fake Sun with Zambot's Moon Attack!
: It's so hot...it'll even melt the ice all the way in Siberia if we let it be!
: It's taken thousands of years to repair our environment! You can't just destroy it again!
There we go.
Almost all the grunts are dead now.
The few that are left I weaken.
And here's the Fixer 1, with its one attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdTuOjBHr-U
David's just a guest character, if it wasn't obvious.
Tragically, Toga can't quite reach the Fallen Angel, so instead more beating on the Artificial Sun.
: This evil weapon cannot be allowed to exist!
: Then show them Sol Gravion's power, Master Toga!
: We've got the whole gang together again! Full speed ahead, Touga!
: Of course! We will wield the power of the Gravion of the Sun!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qreSi41AGUM
Now to deal with Futaba. Yes, Apollo did solo him.
This gets Apollo his seventh of ESP.
: Aw, over already? Booooring…
: Time to go home, then! Let’s play again, Wings of the Sun!
: Hold it right there, brat!!
*Apollo corners the fleeing kid.*
: What?! I told I have to go home!: You think you can do whatever the hell ya want and just run off like that?!
: Calm down, Apollo! You’re not yourself today!
: He’s just a child, don’t you get that?!: Enough with that “child” crap! You saying he gets a free pass on everything ‘cuz he’s a kid?! : The Gran Knights and everyone else are risking their lives here! This ain’t a kid’s game!
: I know that! But when dealing with children, you first talk to them and, if that fails, you scold them!
: “Scold”…?: There’s a big difference between that and just lashing out in anger! Children need to be taught what’s right and wrong!: Baron talked about that once… said those who have people to scold them are lucky…: What’s your problem?! Let me go!
: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
: What are you going to do, Apollo?!: I told you to calm down!: Zip it! How can ya scold a kid being all calm-like?!: D-don’t hit me!: EAT THIS!!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjiFPHMP5Jc
: Waaaaaaah….
: He…looks like he passed out…
: Ichitaro, have the recovery team pick him up. We might learn something about the Fallen Angels if we study that child.
: Roger.
: Baron...did I do alright there?
: Well, you didn’t punch him…I’d call that a job well done, Apollo.
: Heh, I’ll take it...
Back to serious stuff; Roger's the one targeted next!
: Deploying a weapon to kill innocents without even needing to bloody your hands...I needn't spare a thought for anyone who'd use such a thing!
: This meaningless slaughter offends all my principles!
So this is the
final turn to defeat the Artificial Sun. I have just a handful of enemies left to beat before I can freely pound on it.
Good news! Blowing up all those Zeravire got Eureka to a high enough level that she actually has the SP to cast Zeal!
That's going to be useful for getting rid of the remaining Zeravire here.
Then I use Holland's new Spirit Commmand.
And it's dead!
Then I do the same with Setsuko. Zeal: Still amazing.
Negross has got to go.
And with that, all the grunts are gone!
I think that's enough for this.
Darn it. Just 1142 too little damage Faye!
Snipe him Kamille.
This does give Four Cyber-Newtype Level 6.
Negross is forced to retreat but figures with Aphrodia captured by the Earthlings, she won’t be coming back – her position as commander of the Aldebaron invasion is as good as his now!
With that, all the enemies are down. It's time to actually destroy the Artificial Sun!
: This thing's going to flood the planet if we don't stop it!
: Damn it! Who the hell even thought up this horrible plan?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WnuJ_LuVWc
Watch this for a weird glitch! Namely, when Sayaka does her Support Attack, it plays a voice clip for Jun.
Boss gets another level of Suppport Defense.
: How many tears will be shed if we can't stop this?
: I won't let that sorrow come to pass... and I'll destroy whatever creates it!
: Using weapons of planetary destruction...: Does this mean the aliens have simply decided to eradicate all of mankind?
Finish if off Luna! Oh yeah...
SECRET ALERT: Make sure Baldios is deployed on the field when you destroy the Artificial Sun.
: Did we do it?!
: Not yet! Look at it!
: It has self-repair capabilities! How can it even do that?! 
: Then, it’s…!
: Urgh! It’ll be impossible to destroy it before it comes operational! 
: Oliver, Raita…we’ll use the Baldirosier!
: But we haven’t even tested it yet!
: We’ve no time to worry about that! Even if it fails, we’ll still be able to self-destruct Baldios along with it!
: Do it, Marin! Three lives to save millions is a pretty easy choice!
: What…what are doing?!: Take a look, David! This is the battle we chose…Baldios’ own battle!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do9U_HK0d-Y
: Success, Marin, Raita! We’re alive!!
: Haaaahahahaha! We win! We win!
: We’ve done it…! We've saved Earth’s future…Earth’s tomorrow!Secret Found!By deploying the Baldios and having it survive the entire stage to the point where you destroy the Artifical Sun, you unlock the Baldirosier, a new attack for Baldios. It's stronger then any of the other attacks, a new finisher. It's actually post move, so if for whatever reason you haven't gotten Marin Hit&Away he's a bit more practical for bosses now.
Somehow we managed to snag a victory here but Heizaemon knows this war won’t end if we stay on the defensive forever. So long as the Rivalry Zones remain weakened, the aliens’ attacks will continue so, if we want to put a stop to this, we need to take the fight to them.
This means attacking their lunar base and Heizaemon hopes the released POWs and Aphrodia will provide useful info for that. Our offensive isn’t that far off…
Rubina and Duke finally see each other again and she hardly believes this is happening. He’s very thankful to all the information she gave him of the S-1 people – that’s what allowed him to find his own path – and, of course, to her amazing effort in bringing these prisoners to safety.
She says it was Duke who gave her that strength in the first place, teaching her the value of peace and the need to fight to safeguard it. When Heizaemon asks, Rubina asks permission to fight alongside us: she feels responsibility for her father’s crimes and wants to make up for it in any way she can.
And she won’t do this just for Earth but to end this Skull Moon Alliance that’d threaten peace in the galaxy. Heizaemon accepts and Hikaru extends her warm welcome.
Rubina has heard of her and sees that she’s as pretty as she imagined; she’s also well aware of how at ease Duke is around her. Rubina will be fighting alongside her and everyone else today BUT she hasn’t thrown in the towel for Duke just yet.
Hikaru will gladly accept that challenge and when Duke asks what they’re whispering about, Maria just says “girl problems”.
Back in the King Beal, Kappei has to give Kouzuki the sad news about Hamamoto and Aki being made into human bombs. At the very least the girl is safely sleeping in that cryo-pod back in Trinity City.
When Michi asks, he says she’s not going to explode but Aki’ll need to stay there until they can find a way to remove the thing. Kouzuki tells Michi not to cry, though, since Aki being alive means there’s hope for her.
Kouzuki's seen an awful lot of people die since his capture and thought long and hard about Kappei and crew. He wants to apologize for what he's done to him and his family, now that he’s seen who the real villains are.
It’s all water under a bridge but, regardless, Kouzuki wants to help the Jin family in any way he can.
Jane feels the same way and introduces herself to Gengoroh as one of the Io colonists captured by the Eldar. Kappei’s sure he’s seen her face somewhere…and that’s answered when Julie comes in looking for his sister.
She’s surprised to see him here but, first off, he’d like to know what she was doing in Io to begin with. She says she joined the colonization effort after their parents got divorced and, since her surname’s different, Kiraken and Toshiya had no idea of who she was.
Speaking of Toshiya, she informs that his father is still being held prisoner at Skull Moon Base and explains of Teral’s wish to get the women and children out to keep them safe from Gagarn. Indeed, Kouzuki thought the guy had his heart in the right place (despite always looking so gloomy) and he even rescued them from the Gaizock before they became bombs themselves.
Toshiya’s glad to hear that he really did keep his promise and Kouzuki would like Toshiya to rescue Taichiro and the other men as soon as can be – that’s our current plan anyway, which is why Gengoroh would like to ask them for any piece of information about the base.
Kiraken’s patting Julie on the back for running into his sister again, certain they’ll also recover his own father and friends very soon.
Toshiya asks his father to wait just a bit – the day of his rescue draws very close.
Quinstein and the other scientists at Trinity City get word of the successful end to Operation Earth Flood, as well as the capture of Aphrodia and the Fallen Angel child. Kazami pops out of the woodwork, surprised at this development: he’d like to request the Fallen Angel brought over to his lab as soon as ZEUTH returns.
Considering what we’re dealing with, Tsukikage figured it’d be best to await Fudou’s instructions before doing anything but Kazami says there’s no time for that – studying the Angels and their powers might be just the ticket for us to avoid the dimensional collapse!
Tsukikage will go along with the request but makes a point of reminding Kazami that he will be working with an intelligent life form - enemy or not - that should be treated with respect. Kazami sniffs that he's enough of a scientist to grasp that much and hurries off, Tsukikage noting that the guy's mind is full of nothing but his research.
As for Quinstein, today’s battle and her studies have proven her hypothesis. Now, she must reveal the cruel reality of it all to Marin…and that may just shift the whole battle in another direction.
We're not quite done yet though, I want to show off our new character first.
UFO Robot Grendizer
Princess Rubina
Voiced by Noriko Ohara
Skills:
* Support Attack (Level 1) - When adjacent to an allied character before having attacked that turn, can perform a Support Attack after the ally attacks. The support attack will be slightly weaker then a regular attack.
* Support Defend (Level 4) - If adjacent to an ally on the enemy phase, if an attack will hit the ally, the character will perform a Support Defense and the attack will hit the character at reduced damage instead. The number of times this can be performed depends on the skill's level.
* SP Regen - Gains 10 SP at the start of each turn.
Spirit Commands:
* Trust(25) - Restore 2500 HP to an ally.
* Focus(20) - Increases hit and evasion rates by 30%
* Invincible(15) - The next attack that hits the caster will do 10 damage.
* Luck(25) - The caster's squad will gain double the amount of money from a defeated enemy, the effect fades after the next attack even if an enemy is not killed.
Squad Leader Bonus
HP and EN Recovery increased by 50%
Secret Found!By ensuring Rubina survived the events of the stage, she joins the party! Ready to take one of your spare Mazinger mechs and send her out onto the field. Rubina is a fantastic support character. She has the rare and coveted SP Regen skill, which means you can be more free with Trust and her defensive spirit commands. Not only that, but Rubina has the honor of posessing the second cheapest Luck in the game. Just spam it, with SP Regen it's effectively 15 SP a turn! Rake in the cash. Offensively, she's bad, but who cares?
Extra Plot and Dialogue