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A Super Robot Wars Primer - English Release Next Week, Oh Me, Oh My

Fencedude

Member
Arado's not the audience surrogate for anything but the tutorial and he's only used there because he's an idiot.

Arado and Seolla amazingly have zero plot relevance to this game, and I don't think they've done anything in any story scenes except for Arado having an eat-off with Tenia.
 
Arado, along with a large portion of the cast, is just along for the ride. Usually only popping up in the story dialogue a handful of times, and only for non plot essential stuff.
 

Fencedude

Member
Arado, along with a large portion of the cast, is just along for the ride. Usually only popping up in the story dialogue a handful of times, and only for non plot essential stuff.

Even by those standards thoug Arado and Seolla are notable in their lack of relevance this game.

Doesn't help that their connection to Irui was almost entirely written out of 2ndOG, so they don't even have much to say when that comes up briefly here. (I actually have no issues with this from a storytelling standpoint. Ibis and Kusuha always had the strongest connection to Irui even in Alpha 2, and they mostly dropped Sanger's connection in favor of strengthening his rivalry with Kukuru)

Also the Wurger and Falken are kinda shit in this game especially now that Rampage Ghost has been buffed. Its hard to justify using them unless they happen to be your favorite units.
 

Loona

Member
Thanks for the clarifications.

While I'm at it, do you guys think it's worth watching the SRW OG Inspectors anime series to help get used to the cast and setting?
(I've also heard about a prior series - covered the Divine Crusaders War, I think?... - but also that that wasn't very good)
I recall trying to watch episode 1 once, and the whole thing started off with, IIRC, Axel and an alternate Kyosuke facing off, which made very little sense if one knew about alternate world stuff like Einst or whatever - the rest of the episode didn't clear things up much more, but maybe the larger series helps?...


Speaking of additional material, someone put the bonus Haken/Sanger scene in English on Youtube - seems to follow the events of PXZ1 instead of preceding or reenacting them, which makes sense, and while at it provides an eloquent reason for Aschen to not be DTDed all the time, I guess (I haven't really experienced Endless Frontier).
The Beach Dwellers bit is also available, and I wonder if it's worth checking for any lore reasons and/or if it has any particular placement in the timeline...


I wonder how long it takes until a chapter lets you use Haken, Sanger, Kouta/Fighter Roar, Axel and/or Gilliam, since those tseem to be among the most multiversal characters int he cast...
 
Thanks for the clarifications.

While I'm at it, do you guys think it's worth watching the SRW OG Inspectors anime series to help get used to the cast and setting?
(I've also heard about a prior series - covered the Divine Crusaders War, I think?... - but also that that wasn't very good)
I recall trying to watch episode 1 once, and the whole thing started off with, IIRC, Axel and an alternate Kyosuke facing off, which made very little sense if one knew about alternate world stuff like Einst or whatever - the rest of the episode didn't clear things up much more, but maybe the larger series helps?...


Speaking of additional material, someone put the bonus Haken/Sanger scene in English on Youtube - seems to follow the events of PXZ1 instead of preceding or reenacting them, which makes sense, and while at it provides an eloquent reason for Aschen to not be DTDed all the time, I guess (I haven't really experienced Endless Frontier).
The Beach Dwellers bit is also available, and I wonder if it's worth checking for any lore reasons and/or if it has any particular placement in the timeline...


I wonder how long it takes until a chapter lets you use Haken, Sanger, Kouta/Fighter Roar, Axel and/or Gilliam, since those tseem to be among the most multiversal characters int he cast...

Both Divine Wars and The Inspector are a good source of backstory for the series. But yeah, Divine Wars has some quality issues. The Inspector is definitely a lot beter and the events of the first episode are definitely explained.

All those guys should be available by around stage 15 IIRC, with some of them coming a good bit earlier still.
 

Fencedude

Member
Beach Dwellers doesn't really have any relevance to the story, just lets you see Excellen/Kusuha/Seolla/Latooni/Lamia/Shouko in swimsuits and messing with each other.

If you don't want to play the GBA versions of OG1 and OG2 then Divine Wars and The Inspector are fine substitutes. Divine Wars isn't good, but its not unwatchably bad. The Inspector is objectively a mess, but also the best a Super Robot Wars anime adaption could ever be. And is tons of fun.

I'm not sure if there is any Translation for OGGaiden, and a text script translation for 2ndOG was just recently released (and is very good and readable. Much better than this game's TL!)

If you are super interested in the "Multiverse" aspect, you might be a bit disappointed because thats not really a major focus in this game. Its there, but its not the main point or anything.
 

Loona

Member
If you are super interested in the "Multiverse" aspect, you might be a bit disappointed because thats not really a major focus in this game. Its there, but its not the main point or anything.

I like crossovers, so coming across references to that is nice, but not mandatory for my enjoyment. For now I'm mostly glad to help prove official translations for these games can be profitable.

I'm really looking forward to the W adaptation to OG though, which can work quite independently from that sort of thing, it being just a matter of finding which OG characters can replace the licensed ones, like maybe having bless getting Katina and Calvina tutor Kazuma instead of having FMP's Mao and Gundam Wing's Noin do it, or post-time-skip Kazuma hanging out with SRW Z's Rand instead of Gundam SEED Astray's Junk Guild.
Not quite sure if an OG adaptation of W would actually have a time skip though, but it would probably look fine without it, and the ponytail doesn't look good on the young Ardygun.
 

Fencedude

Member
I like crossovers, so coming across references to that is nice, but not mandatory for my enjoyment. For now I'm mostly glad to help prove official translations for these games can be profitable.

I'm really looking forward to the W adaptation to OG though, which can work quite independently from that sort of thing, it being just a matter of finding which OG characters can replace the licensed ones, like maybe having bless getting Katina and Calvina tutor Kazuma instead of having FMP's Mao and Gundam Wing's Noin do it, or post-time-skip Kazuma hanging out with SRW Z's Rand instead of Gundam SEED Astray's Junk Guild.
Not quite sure if an OG adaptation of W would actually have a time skip though, but it would probably look fine without it, and the ponytail doesn't look good on the young Ardygun.

I really doubt there will be a time skip, though they might do some crossgate shenanagins.

I'm expecting/hoping the Ardyguns end up somehow connected to Gardisord, if only to make the Gardisord not completely useless other than Sally being OG's Number 1 cutie.
 

Loona

Member
Neat, Fighter Roar/Compati Kaiser on stage 1 - I hope I don't regret focusing my upgrades there.

Also, mostly focusing on bumping the Skill stat for more criticals and counters, and in Hit for accuracy with the remaining points - I love counter implementations where you attack them before they try to attack you.
 

Fencedude

Member
Neat, Fighter Roar/Compati Kaiser on stage 1 - I hope I don't regret focusing my upgrades there.

Also, mostly focusing on bumping the Skill stat for more criticals and counters, and in Hit for accuracy with the remaining points - I love counter implementations where you attack them before they try to attack you.

You can literally upgrade anyone and it doesn't matter. If you want Russel in his Gespenst to be your top ace, you can do that.
 

Antialias

Member
I've played like 8 of these games without understanding the text, so any improvement is welcome. But this really is one of the worst English translations I've ever seen, in any medium.
 

Loona

Member
It's serviceable. I guess they wanted to ship this out quick so there probably wasn't enough time to revise everything.

I say this because some sentences read well while others are almost nonsense and some others that are in-between.

The really weird thing is when you have stuff like the selectable text in dialogs, and there's an entry for "Tesla Leicht institute" where it was names after Nikola Tesla and Wilhelm Reich... the proper spelling is right thee and in countless references one could check online...
 
The really weird thing is when you have stuff like the selectable text in dialogs, and there's an entry for "Tesla Leicht institute" where it was names after Nikola Tesla and Wilhelm Reich... the proper spelling is right thee and in countless references one could check online...

Yeah, that's why I said it's probably a time issue. They probably thought that a really good translation wasn't necessary for where they were releasing the game, although I haven't played any other Asia only JP games with an english translation so I can't say if this a common thing over there.
 

Fencedude

Member
The really weird thing is when you have stuff like the selectable text in dialogs, and there's an entry for "Tesla Leicht institute" where it was names after Nikola Tesla and Wilhelm Reich... the proper spelling is right thee and in countless references one could check online...

Tesla Leicht is the official spelling and can be found used in English in a lot of supplementary material.

By and large the names they use are correct, with one or two oddities ("Irmgard" but "Irum" for short), and a few that are just not like what anyone expected (RA-GEAS).

The real issue is that it just only got maybe one pass for grammar and probably not by a native speaker.

This is, by and large, a very "Literal" translation, and needed another pass or five through a proper localization team. But its understandable, and internally consistent with itself.
 

SMK

Member
I really like the new tunes in this game. Everything from the intermission stuff to the map songs. Also, I can't get enough of the cut-ins in this game.
 

Kid Marin

Member
Besides the prologue and the Soulsaber vs. Kaiser battle, normal mode (earth route) has the same maps that beginner mode, right?
 
Besides the prologue and the Soulsaber vs. Kaiser battle, normal mode (earth route) has the same maps that beginner mode, right?

Yes. Normal also has those 9 chapters for the moon route at the start of the game not available in beginner's mode.

Just FYI, for the full route completion trophy, Beginner Chapter 1 and Normal Earth Chapter 2 are counted as different chapters.

Even though they're the exact same thing.
 
What's beginner mode? I've heard one of the secret units requires you to finish a stage in it.

Is it a difficulty that you pick, or is it based on how many SR points you have? What differences are there between the difficulty modes?
 
When starting a new game, you can choose Normal or Beginners mode.

Beginners mode is the same as normal mode except that SR Points have easier requirements and earning SR Points also give you gold on top of the 10 PP for all participating pilots. You also unlock the Grungust Type 2 (red) automatically on chapter 17. You can earn that unit automatically in Normal mode as well, but only on New Game+.
 
In addition, beginner mode's difficulty is permanently set at normal. While normal mode difficulty may rise with the # of SR points you have.
 

squall23

Member
For any new players that want to get secret units, the only one that's worth it is Coustwell Brachium. Because screw another female in a real, Calvina is great in it.
 

Bebpo

Banned
For any new players that want to get secret units, the only one that's worth it is Coustwell Brachium. Because screw another female in a real, Calvina is great in it.

I miss when we actually had real secret units that weren't just playable enemy units. At least 2nd OGs had Fort Gigas. That's better than anything Z had iirc.

Best secrets were stuff like Hi-Nu imo.
 

Loona

Member
The nickname is derived from a joke fan translation of SRWGC.
It sticked for some people.

Figures - when I visit /m/ there always seems to be a SRW GC translation topic with Akemi as the header image.


Maybe it's just me, or the OG cast's tendency toward sameface, but before the 1st chapter in Beginner mode there's a scene with 2 officers talking, and a female communications operator briefly appears that reminds me of the artwork for the female protagonist of SRW Z, who's supposed to be in the military IIRC... probably just a coincidence, but still...
 

SMK

Member
Heh, Haken makes a Gai Shishioh reference when he uses the boost hammer. Gotta love those voice actor jokes.
 

Teknoman

Member
So using a group, is it better for just saving a low HP mech, or having a 2x strong attack against a boss?

Also...while i'm a sucker for seeing new animations, is it best to just save up will for your strongest attacks? Or really just whatever you know would destroy an enemy the fastest?
 

Fencedude

Member
So using a group, is it better for just saving a low HP mech, or having a 2x strong attack against a boss?

Also...while i'm a sucker for seeing new animations, is it best to just save up will for your strongest attacks? Or really just whatever you know would destroy an enemy the fastest?

Will is not expended by using attacks (except for Maximum Breaks)
 
So, I'm at Stage 42 of Moon Dwellers so far, and I can pretty much see the end-game close in sight already
since I'm finally facing one of the 3 faction's final boss

So, I've made the decision to spend most of my money to the following specs:
- Granteed D: maxed out
- Bell Brigandy: maxed out
- Soulsaber: 70%
- Compat Kaiser: 70%
- Exbein: 70%
- Dygenguar: 70%

With the rest of my major hitters (Alt, Raioh, Soulgain, SRX, etc) at around 50% upgraded mech.

But I've largely not spent any PP points so far, so wondering what would be good to spend it on.

I feel like more SP would be good, since I've mainly relied on 3-4 turns of [Focus/Strike/etc] and [Valor] to kill the bosses once I've cleared the grunts, but I'm also starting to see the annoyance in that approach as more and more boss-tier characters appear now.

But do I spend more on skills, stats, terrain boost,etc?
 

Fencedude

Member
But do I spend more on skills, stats, terrain boost,etc?

It doesn't really matter. The game is beatable without using any extra skills, so whatever you chose is just gravy.

Continuous Attack is good for grunt clearing, revenge is good for enemy phase damage, the SP Up skills give you more SP so more Spirits. Just whatever you feel like buying.

When they took away purchasable SP Regen and Attacker, the list of "must have" skills dropped significantly
 
Yeah, Stage 41 reignited my memory of how late-game SRW games are basically these large amounts of attack sponge enemies that are annoying as heck, on top of mid-boss enemies and the big-boss of the stage, so despite them being beatable, I'm thinking of making best use of my time there.
 
Does anyone have a list of robots that activate Katina's red robot Ace Bonus?

I have her in the red Huckebein Boxer, which presumably should work. But I just wanted to be sure.
 

Fencedude

Member
For the record, Katina's Ace bonus is "Movement +1 and final damage dealt +5% when her unit or the one twinned with her is red"

The qualifying units are:

R-3 Powered
Alteisen Riese
Persoen Licheit
Exbein Boxer/Gunner L
Grungust Type-2 (Red)
Grungust Type-3
Gespenst Mk-II Kai (Katina)
Gesterben Kai (lol)
Giganscudo Duro
Vegalion
Fairlion Type G (Shine's)
Garmraid Blaze
G Compatible Kaizer
Angelg
Razangrif Raven
Excellence Gunstriker (Raul)
Soul Saber FF/GG
Super Soul Saber FF/GG

For Ratsel, his ace bonus is "Cast "Focus" at the start of player phase if adjacent to a black unit." (this works for enemy units as well...)

The qualifying units are:

Grungust Type-0
Gespenst Type RV
Gespenst Haken
Kurogane
Galinagan
Leonisis Virga
Leonisis
Valk Ben (Calico)
Black Raftclans
Black Big Shoulder
Black Thick Cylinder
 

Bebpo

Banned
It doesn't really matter. The game is beatable without using any extra skills, so whatever you chose is just gravy.

Continuous Attack is good for grunt clearing, revenge is good for enemy phase damage, the SP Up skills give you more SP so more Spirits. Just whatever you feel like buying.

When they took away purchasable SP Regen and Attacker, the list of "must have" skills dropped significantly

For me morale limit break is the only must have left now that SP regen is gone. Continuous attack is too expensive at 380PP and they got rid of DASH as well from Z3. I've never looked into the real stat numbers of Morale at 170 vs 150, but it's always felt like it helped a lot on damage, defense and dodge.

Asides from MB, it depletes by 10 every time you resupply or get hit be a will down attack.

Yeah the resupply -10 is easy to miss, so you don't want to by resupply a good unit every turn.
 

SMK

Member
Yeah I went with will break limit on my go-to attackers who didn't need hit-away.

Strangely enough my Rio is insanely jacked on stats and abilities because of her really cheap twin skill.

I put her in the Type 3 Grungust with Radha in the backseat, and I shuffle them around with different twins to double their PP gain.

Also, I've been abusing the hell out of Ratsel's cheap twin skill and start off every map with 130 will for everyone.

I'm really enjoying the push and pull of SP use and trying to maximize it in this game.
 
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