The Let's Play Archive

Super Robot Wars Z

by Brunom1, Dr. Pepper, Caphi

Part 210: Mission 54 - Victory March of the Soul - Part 1

Welcome back, folks. Last time we began our alien removal by dealing with Kazami and the Vegans. Now, we run off to intercept all the remaining ones after Diana snagged us a cease-fire with the warmongers.
We FINALLY have more squad slots available, 18, so we don’t need to keep any big characters warming the bench anymore:


Make sure, if you’re using Baldios/Sandman/God Sigma as leaders, that their group has a competent vice-leader due to…reasons.
Also, I gave last mission’s Soul of Steel to Banjou because it pushes Daitarn’s maneuverability to a hilariously high amount.



Location: Orb – Representative’s Residence



Phil and Milan have done some thinking after Diana’s recent proclamation and decided that the Counter will head back to the Moon and return to the Queen’s command.
Milan tells Cagalli that they’ve finally realized how shortsighted their actions here on Earth were and now know that unity is the only real path forward. Cagalli says that both Orb and the world at large have a similar record to losing their way and repeating mistakes but, now that they’ve realized all this, she wants to believe they can join hands for the sake of humanity as a whole.
That said, Phil and Milan know they’re guilty of inexcusable crimes against Diana so she might not forgive them. In that case, Cagalli suggests they head to the lunar autonomous city of Copernicus while she requests someone in ZEUTH to appeal to Diana in their stead (she’ll also hand them a letter to the Queen, explaining the situation).
They thank her for everything, including opening up her nation to vagrants like them, and she begs them be careful as space’ll be turning into a war-zone very soon.
Inwardly, she tells Kira and Athrun that she believes they’ll put an end to this conflict.



Location: Lunar Outskirts



Henken’s out spying on the enemy for us and he’s sent Bright info that Goma, the Zeravire’s mobile fortress, is currently orbiting the Moon. The pictures he’s sent us show Eiji something like a planet than a fortress and Sandman says that Goma, in essence, is the Genocidron System itself.
This means Hugi’ll be there along with, Teral adds, all the remaining Gaizock, Eldar and Aldebaron forces – that said, Jamie’s been receiving reports of some small Aldebaron activity across several locations of the world…odd.
Regardless, the majority of the Skull Moon Alliance’s forces are now at Goma, geared up for one final assault, and Waltfeld says that they’re all slowly headed towards Earth: seems like they’re planning on steamrolling all opposition and descending upon it.
Still, Athrun believes the combined forces of Earth and the Colonies should be enough to match the alien’s might…unfortunately, says Heizaemon, it’s not that easy.

Yes, Diana’s call-to-arms has been supported by the New Federation and the Aprillius Allied Army and they HAVE deployed troops towards the vicinity of Goma but the problem is that both armies are merely doing small diversionary attacks and show no signs of preparing for an all-out offensive.
Murrue tells Jiron that this is less due to cowardice but more because the both sides are waiting for the other to start their attack on the aliens first – she believes they’re doing this in the interest of trying to conserve as many military resources as possible for when this is all done.
Yes, they’re STILL focusing on their petty war with the alien armada at our doorstep – just as Quattro feared they would.



Mind, Quattro does think they’ll open fire eventually but, of course, they’ll wait until the very last minute to do so and Haman sighs that, to those people, this battle’s nothing more than an inconvenient detour.
Holland grumbles at them not taking this seriously and Toshiya’s pissed that, by delaying their attack, these self-centered pricks are putting the entire planet at risk. This is especially risky, thinks Julie, because there are still many unknowns surrounding Goma and the enemy’s capabilities - they could well have some hidden ace(s) to play.

: …Then we’ll go.
: Touga…
: Even if the Federation and the Allied Army won’t fight, we will – on behalf of all of mankind.
: Heh…you got that right. Not that we actually needed to be told that, of course!
: If they won’t get to work, then we will!
: Right on. That’s exactly what pushed us to get this far.
: Peoples’ lives are being put at risk just for the convenience of these groups. We won’t just let this be…!
: Let’s do this, guys! We’ll keep Earth safe ourselves – screw the Federation and the Allied Army!
: That’s the purpose of ZEUTH.
: If those creeps wanna go all-out then we’ll beat them at their own game!

: Looks like they’ve made up their minds.
: Indeed.
: It’ll be them who’ll carry humanity into the future.
: Do not forget that you, too, share that burden.
: …
: Settling accounts with fate does not mean the end of your duty.
: …I cannot make any promises. I’m prepared to stake everything in this bout with Hugi Zeravire.
: Even your life?
: Naturally.
: Sandman...




Heizaemon announces that our attack will be begin in two hours, with Jamil adding that there’s a possibility we’ll be facing the Skull Moon Alliance without any other support. They won’t force anyone to participate and only ask for people to deploy if they’re 100% committed to fight until the end.
Tetsuya laughs that they don’t need to worry about our commitment now – we’re all here to defend Earth for all of mankind, regardless of their affiliation.

: Let’s give this all we have, Darling!
: Ain’t this something, though… we started helping out an Exodus while searching for the boss and now we’re jumping into this huge space battle.
: You fired up for this?
: ‘Course! We’ve got a job for some world-scale troubleshootin’! My repairman spirit is hyped!
: Don’t you think…
: That that’s your “The Crusher” side speaking…?
: Well…I guess that also works, considering the situation.
: I reckon now’s one of THOSE times, like the boss said.
: So no holding back in this! Imma be Crushing aliens like it’s going out of style!
: Then we’ve high hopes for you, The Crusher.
: Show us what you got, The Crusher!
: We’re counting on you, The Crusher!
: …Y’all just couldn’t let this chance slip by, could ya?


: Setsuko… how’s your health?
: It’s alright. My commitment to see this done is just as firm as theirs.
: (Yes… I’ll also fight, even if I need to sacrifice this body to the Sphere…)
: Don’t go crazy out there, though. Risking your life and acting with reckless abandon are two completely different things.
: Yeah, your life’s just as irreplaceable as everyone else’s.
: Thank you, Shinn…




One ship who’ll not take part of the battle is the Eternal, which has another errand to run, and Murrue tells Waltfeld to be careful since Zaft surely has their ship marked.
The errand is actually going and picking up Diana, who wants to help lead mankind from the front lines. Lacus tells Kira that both she and Diana believe in humanity’s victory and he, in turn, intends to ensure that that faith isn't misplaced.



Mission 54 (ZEUTH) – The Victory March of the Soul



The Skull Moon forces have already deployed but Butcher’s very annoyed that, out of all the commanders, he’s the only one who’s standing here in the front lines. Still, Baretta says the huge number of troops present already makes their victory certain.
Gizzer figures Butcher’ll feel better once he starts having fun in battle but the guy snaps that this isn’t the place to talk about “fun”: the Gaizock’s God is annoyed by Butcher’s repeated failures!
Butcher's lieutenants never heard of any God but he tells them they don't need to know. Anyways, they've all got to fight like their lives depend on it and Baretta detects the incoming Earthlings. Zaft? Feds? Both?





Nope, it’s us. Keiko’s amazed at the number of troops laid out before us and Kappei knows a big final battle when he sees one.
Butcher isn’t happy to see us pests again and didn’t expect we’d come in first – still, he might as well destroy us and then set out to clean up the remaining Earthling troops. Banjou corrects him, saying we’re both his first and last opponents of this offensive…Butcher doesn’t get what he means.
“In layman’s terms, it means you will fall to our forces. Simple as that.”, Roger clarifies. “Oooh, filthy monkeys! How dare you!”, Butcher huffs and orders his troops to attack.
Teral takes note of Butcher’s lack of a nonchalant comeback and sees that he really is fighting for real. Sandman warns everyone that other commander-class foes are sure to pop out at some point, so we have to watch our backs.
As Heizamon gives the attack order, Kappei calls Butcher over to feel the wrath of all those who died at his hands.


Mission Objective: All enemies destroyed.
Mission Failure: Any allied battleship destroyed.
Skill Point: Destroy everything within 6 turns.

We’ve a big map on our hands, with troops facing us from all sides and Butcher waaaaaaaay back on the NE corner. Playing it safe would mean keeping your guys bunched up and letting the enemies crash onto us but that won’t fly if you’re going for the Skill Point.
Split your troops somewhat evenly and send them up NW, N and NE because the sheer size of the battlefield means it’s easy for random mooks to survive long enough to screw your time. As Sandman said, we’ve other bosses incoming and they’ll all show up in the upper regions of the map which makes the eastern-most flank of the enemy a problem as there’s nothing there other than mooks.
With that in mind, I absolutely recommend sending Renton east-ward to nuke most, if not all, of the Aldebaron and then try to get him over to the Butcher team.
As always, liberal use of Accel/Boosts are necessary but also don’t be afraid to bust out valored ALLs and TRIs because, while the Cosmosauruses aren’t pimped out anymore, most non-ship enemies still have about 10k HP.



With that in mind, let’s start by sending him ahead.














Yeah, this’ll take a while.



Garrod pops the G-Falcon on and manages to get just in range to shave off some 4k HP from his nearby Kuragen.

Everyone else is spreading out.



Enemy Phase!



The Eldar and Aldebaron are staying put but the Zeravire are already coming in.














And I just realized that I forgot to cast Focus with Kira.
He gets jumped by five other enemies and needs to dodge two at the risk of being shot down.





Renton, Loran and Rand also trade blows with encroaching Gaizock blobs and Zeravire each.

Butcher isn’t moving yet.



Player Phase!



We’ve got things all around us, so let’s pop a Confuse.



Heizaemon’s bonus against Mechaboots could be useful, so let’s move him further and, along the way, kill this one Kuragen.








Easy.



Kappei moves next to the King Beal and also takes a weakened blob while Kira TRIs a batch of Zeravire before heading further east.





Said group of Zeravire gets blasted by Renton but, sadly, the leader barely manages to hang on.



Rand’s part of our Butcher-killing team, so also heads east-ward and aims at one of Kira’s weakened attackers.










And there it goes.







Kouji follows, trading blows with a Dangarun. Incidentally, this also what Toshiya does up North.



Kei’s just out of range to finish them off, so he sets his sights on whatever’s closer.








The leader survives (and it’s easily finished off by Amuro) but the Soldier Zeravire squaddies don’t.



And both Kei and Adette learn their final spirit commands: Love and Renew!



Big O blows away this weakened Kuragen, leaving Bright and Murrue to kill off the surviving Domilars.





Loran’s moving North-bound and follows up on Toshiya’s attack, destroying one of the Kumoganira squaddies. Garrod takes the rest.



Moving along, this Duel Zeravire is too healthy for my tastes. Gainer opens up with a TRI attack and Touga moves in.










It survives but Apollo corrects that right after.





Uurgh, I’m getting sick of all these mooks barely surviving! Duke left that squad all set for Shinn but he fell short of a clean sweep!





Finally, while Ryouma also decides to leave his Hanging Zeravire barely alive, Marin’s crew wrecks a Domilar.



Enemy Phase!





Two weakened Zeravires kill themselves trying, and failing, to hit Duke while a third, healthy one, trades blows with him.
Also, two Dangaruns snipe at him.



Ryouma’s weakened Hanging Zeravire decides to gun for Talho.














And she does pretty much the exact amount needed to finish it off.



Prizes!





Hey, that works for me.



And Ryouma’s last spirit is…disappointing. Faith is pretty bleh for a main attacker.



Clever girl…














At least I had protected them before. A nearby Domilar also tries its luck but gets slapped into nothingness.



The Aldebaron are coming over and only this one bubblegum group comes over, getting its UFO squaddies blasted by Kira.



Feeling lucky, punk?












His squaddies don’t (because they’re dead).

Negross is also headed our way but Butcher is STILL hanging back.



Player Phase!









That’s these Zeravire weakened a bit more.





And the leader goes all the way, with an O Thunder souvenir. Murrue and Talho take out the squaddies.


This flips Kouji’s Mazin Power on.



We need some of that morale money for Renton, so it’s time for some valored TRIs. Heizaemon blasts these Zeravire a bit (positioning himself to buff some Gaizock attackers) and Marin takes aim.










Aaaah! That’s way less than I expected!
At least Marin learns Courage from the dead squaddies.



As Banjou DESTROYS one of the Dangaruns with a Soul’d hit, Apollo sets out to blast the other ones with a valored TRI.








GOD! DAMN! IT!!
I’m forced to send Shinn over there to take these two things out.





Regardless, Renton now has morale so Rand only worries about the bubblegum Cyclops outside nuketown. Kira nabs the squaddies.



On the other side, Gain switches over to finish what Bright started.










Been a long while since we’ve seen this dynamic finish, huh?



Lacking their Kazami boosts, these Jerogilas are easily dropped by Touga’s double drill action.



Nearby, Loran follows up on Amuro to crop-duster this entire group into oblivion.








Excellent.



There he goes.



And here WE gooooooo!






Remember when I said that I’d try to curb my usage of this? Turns out I’m a liar.
That’s 16 mooks dead and killing them past a threshold triggers the plot.


: We’ve got new forces approaching from Goma!
: Reinforcements?!





: Finally! What took you guys so long to come over?!
: Pipe down, Butcher. I’m surprised you’re having difficulties with this many troops on your side.
: Gattler!
: You needn’t worry anymore, though. There’s nothing to fear from anyone now that my Galgos is in play.
: Gagarn! You’ve personally taken to the frontlines?!
: So, that huge bot’s the Eldar’s ace in the hole!
: Then, that other one is…!
: Hmhmhm…here you are, Sieg.
: That Zeravire’s a construct made of ultra-dense energy!
: This amount of energy is roughly that of two whole planets!
: Serius and Llambias... A Zeravire made of the energy released by the destruction of both worlds?!
: Welcome, ZEUTH, to my castle: Goma.
: Also, welcome, my brother Sieg and the planet-searing, ruinous sun, Sol Gravion.
: Brother!
: You so wish to settle accounts with me that you’ve even forsaken your immortal body… I’ll face you, in deference to that resolve.
: However, if you take too long, my Goma will engulf your beloved planet.
: What?!
: The Genocidron System shall purify the filth that is humanity and restore that planet’s destroyed nature completely. (This isn’t mentioned here but, essentially, Goma engulfs a planet and then, using a dimensional distortion triggered by gravitons, reverts the environment back to its primordial state. Oh, this also kills all living beings within it.)
: And, then, that Earth will become the new home of the S-1 people.
: Didn’t you listen to Aphrodia, Gattler?! Earth is—
: If you wish to stop me, Marin, you’ll have to do it by force!
: Fine, then! I’ll put you down in the name of both Earth and S-1’s future!
: Hmph…turning your back on your own world to ally with Earth? You pathetic traitor.
: And I’ve heard there’s another such person with ZEUTH. Like trash, amassing in a waste dump, hm?
: Gagarn…!!
: He’s just as bad as Gattler, Teral. We won’t stop him with words!
: Guys like him won’t get the message unless we beat it into him!
: And can you actually do that, Toshiya Dan?
: Of course we can! That’s what our God Sigma’s for!
: We will not allow you to use Trinity Energy for war!
: And we’re also getting payback for the Io folks! We will take you out!
: Ahahahaha! Looks like you found suitably foolish companions in that world, Sieg!
: But it’s for naught! It’s all for naught!
: You’ll have my response soon... when you lie defeated!
: You dare ignore your own crimes and challenge me?! The gall!
: Uncle Hugi…
: Come! Experience for yourselves the flames of grief of our homeworld and the lamentation of its soul!
: The enemy leaders are all out in force…! It’s finally time for our showdown with them!
: Watch your backs, everyone! After coming this far, all that remains is defeating them head-on!
: A straight-up brawl, no tricks? Sounds good to me!
: We will never yield to their senseless violence!
: This fight isn’t because of their origins – we simply refuse to accept anyone who’d resort to these sorts of methods!
: The future of that blue world is not yours to take!
: Let’s go, everyone! It’s the final battle in defense of Earth! (Don’t lie, Duke. We’re not at the end of the game yet.)


So much power!

Now, with that out of the way, let’s take a proper look at our opposition for the remainder of this stage:


Butcher’s nothing new, really: he’s received a boost to HP, defense, attack power and Prevail but it’s still the same fight we’ve had before.
Watch out for his MAPW on approach and you’re good.



Spirit Gattler (Zeo Gattler)
Pilot Skills:
Gattler’s Squad Leader Bonus: Accuracy rate +20%, damage taken -20%
Gattler’s voice actor: originally Takeshi Aono, he’s voiced by Hidekatsu Shibata (other known works: Kenzo Kabuto and Emperor of Darkness in Great Mazinger, Ashura’s male voice in the original Mazinger, Degwin Zabi in Gundam 0079 and many others)

Gattler’s the final form of ship pilots: he’s very bulky, accurate, has a wide MAPW and is perfectly equipped to blast your guys to kingdom come with long range attacks. To top it all off, he also has a barrier field.
The good thing is that none of his attacks are post-movement and he’ll try moving towards Marin, so you can bait him closer. At the very least his attacks are also the weakest of the bosses available – the Spirit Gattler’s all about being a wall.


Zeravion (Hugi Zeravire)
Pilot Skills:
Features:
Hugi’s Squad Leader Bonus: Accuracy rate +10%, counterattacking damage bonus +20%
Hugi’s Voice Actor: Kenyuu Horiuchi (Damn it, Jamil!)

Hugi’s the glass cannon of the team. His HP and defenses are, comparatively, the lowest around but he makes up for it with a whole lot of attack power. A clean hit from him, especially on a counterattack, will hurt anyone and considering how he’ll prioritize Sol Gravion and, of course, Sandman, you’ll want to exercise caution.
He’s got no MAPW, so it’s advised you rush him down as soon as you can to get him off your hair.


Galgos (Gagarn)
Pilot Skills:
Gagarn’s Squad Leader Bonus: Accuracy rate +20%, counterattacking damage bonus +10%
Gagarn’s Voice Actor: originally the late Mikio Terashima, he’s voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in here ( Holland).

And Gagarn’s right at the middle of the bunch: he’s not as bulky as Gattler and not as strong as Hugi but he’s certainly decent enough at both. He has no MAPW either but what he does have is accuracy, stacking the highest stat of the bosses with high modifiers on his weapons and that leader bonus means your reals will need either alert or a Confuse’d Focus cast to dodge reliably.
He should also be a priority along with Hugi, as Butcher and Gattler will need some time to trudge their way across the battlefield.





We’ll let them come for one turn before making the jump. Meanwhile, we’ll continue work on the mooks.


Along the path towards Butcher/Gattler, Duke spots weakened targets.








There it goes.



Toshiya, just outside of Gagarn’s range, leaves this here Barrierat barely hanging and it’s easy prey for Garrod.
Kei sets his sights on a Jerogilas and it goes the usual way.



Enemy Phase!



Three weak harpies go for poorly-executed kamikaze attacks. Meanwhile, this Jerogelos guns for Banjou.










By the way, Banjou had a 7% chance to be hit by that.





Amuro and Gain are assaulted by Barrierats – they are promptly made to regret it by losing half their HP.





There are two generic Eldar ships around (had we not taken by ZEUTH route, Dalton and Mesa would be manning them) and the one closest to God Sigma trades blows with it.



All those weakened squaddies start attacking.










…Of course, when they don’t cooperate, it limits our potential to finish them off.
That said, Tetsuya kills one Zeravire and Mechaboost, while grandpa Heizaemon weakens three others and proceeds to go on a rampage and destroy 4 other Mechaboosts.



The lone surviving Jolar squad tries getting revenge on Renton but that only serves to drop a chunk of its HP.
The nearby ship, however, was too weak to survive.



All these kills trigger pretty much all the other systems.



You little shit…I got so caught up on mapping the big bosses’ range that I completely forgot about Negross.
He’s also just outside of Kira’s own range.



Butcher, Hugi and Gattler are trudging towards their nemesis but Gagarn quickly sets out to meet God Sigma (thankfully, I had them set with Iron Wall).



: Gagarn, commander of the Eldar! I’m putting an end to both you and this war!
: Come, then, God Sigma! I’ll take your Trinity Energy as my own and ascend as the ruler of the galaxy!
: Shut up! The only thing you’re getting is a taste of the Io colonists’ anger!
: The Trinity Energy will never become a force of evil under our watch!
: Bah! Keep on wailing, earthlings! You’ll kneel before my Galgos and will spend your descent into Hell cursing your weakness!
: Bring it on, Gagarn! Get a load of the power of God Sigma – the guardian of peace!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMAVKRzX0Jg
Gagarn attacking God Sigma #1: “God Sigma… your end has finally come!”
God Sigma taking little damage: Julie: “Give it up, Gagarn!”
God Sigma attacking #1: “I can’t leave someone like you alive if mankind’s to have peace!”
Gagarn taking little damage: “God Sigma…I’ll bury you soon enough.”



Player Phase!


Good, good.





Heizaemon takes another kill before setting out to just outside of Butcher’s range.







Another two down and these trigger Bio Sensor.



As Talho wrecks a piddly Zeravire nearby, all Murrue can do is blast this here squad.










Bah.



Since Hugi’s still a bit farther away, let’s play his range and focus on downing Gagarn this turn.
We quickly dispatch 4 very weak mooks with our eastern team to bump our people’s morale just wee bit more. Incidentally, that side’s also perfectly positioned to intercept Butcher as soon as he moves next turn.



Now we can go.


Who’s up for some old school super robot music?

: You’ve tormented so many innocents on the Moon and on Earth!
: I cannot excuse those who’d abuse power to carry out their goals! Not even if they’re from a different world!







Loran attacking aliens: “You won’t have your way with the Moon!”

: I’ve nothing more to say to you – such are the depths of your depravity!
: Come, receive mine and Big O’s judgment! This is your final stage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYrPTQyPoJU

: If you guys wanna come out in one go, I’ll make this quick!
: Get over here, alien bosses! We’re gonna give ya all what for!











: Come’ere, big bads! Imma kick your asses one by one!
: Ya can regret what you’ve done in Hell – but, before that, you’re gonna pay for it all with interest!






Apollo attacking aliens: “Earth is ours and I ain’t lettin’ folks from another world play with it!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxkryighEz0
Here’s Sandman’s cool Gravity Crescent: “Rend evil asunder, Silver Crescent Moon!”
And, of course, they also saw fit to give several lines to Gagarn for when he attacks Sandman. He didn’t say any in the video but, screw it, here they are:


: This is what happens when the Federation and the Allied Army waste time glaring at each other…!
: We will not yield, though…! These aliens aren’t the only enemies we must defeat!







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGyRDAps3-I
And that’s one down.
Here’re a few more God Sigma attacking Gagarn lines:



: I-Impossible! My Galgos was beaten?!
: Give it up, Gagarn! Your schemes end here!
: Rrrgh, no! I cannot be finished yet!



: Oi, how can the boss of the Eldar be such a sore loser?!

*Teral deploys in an Eldar Harpy.*

: I’ll strike him down, Toshiya! In the name of Eldar’s future!



: Gagarn can’t get away, Toshiya! We have to go after him too!
: You got it! We’re gonna wrap this up with our own hands!



: Take care, Toshiya, Teral… You gotta take that guy down for the Io people, too!


So, we no longer have God Sigma for this battle which means Reika’s been promoted to leader of her squad…

Still three bosses left, so we’ll wrap this up next Friday.

See you all then!