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[R^2]

You get to play around with a few of them.


Shuzer launches his arms off his body...


And they fly around, tearing into this Alkarl fellow.


Alkarl is largely unfazed, however.


And Shuzer is forced to flee.

[R^2]

Red: What do you think you're doin' dressin' me up like you?
Alkarl: It was the only way to save your life. I had to make you a hero.

I'll have the Italian cold cuts, with oil and vineg-- oh, not that kind of hero.

Alkarl: I didn't have time to see if you were fit to become one. Well, from now on you're 'Alkaiser' the hero. But you must also follow the hero's code of honor. If you do anything unworthy of it, you'll be eliminated. And if your true identity is ever revealed, your memory will be erased.
Red as Alkaiser: A hero? You made me strong?
Alkarl: Heroes must only use their power for truth and justice.
Alkaiser: I'm ready to kick some BlackX butt!
Alkarl: Your power isn't for personal revenge. Use your power for anything but a just cause... and you're dead.

Conveniently, a just cause and personal revenge are the same thing when Red's talking about BlackX.

Alkaiser: I would've died anyway. I've got to get BlackX!

[R^2]

Engineer: You're getting the hang of it. ...What?
Red: Why are you complimenting me? What's going on?
Engineer: When you do good, I'll tell you. Now let's take a break, there's still some time before we land.

[R^2]

SaGa Frontier - Theme of the Cygnus [Extended w/ DL Link]


Red: Wanna go out with me when we land?
Yuria: Hmm... your treat?
Red: What? I'm just an assistant. You know they don't pay me much.



Yuria: How much do they pay you? They pay me...
Red: I get less...




You cut a pretty pitiful figure up there. I'd say a -3 on the manliness scale.

[R^2]

There are dungeons smaller than the Cygnus. Huge!...


Hmm, I thought I smelled stupid from in here.


Ren: It'll be a long time before we'll be able to take one.
Emelia: I don't want you working for the Patrol.
Ren: Honey, we've been through all this before.
Emelia: We could spend more time alone if you'd just quit.

Oh, Emelia. He's been a cop longer than he's been your boyfriend. Do you really want him to quit? REALLY want him to? Want him to quit... enough... to kill?!


There's a guy here who'll give you a paycheck each time you come back to the Cygnus from each region. I'm not going to take a shot of every time I do it, but after each mission you get another 200 credits. So hooray for that.


Cockpit, where... not much happens, since Red isn't involved with piloting.


To progress the story, you go back down to engineering.

[R^2]

Christ, this place again.


To be fair, it's not like your personal vendetta determines where the Cygnus goes. Presumably they have a passenger itinerary and you're just along for the ride as an engineering mook.


But thanks to the law of the conservation of detail, yeah. BlackX drones are here too.


BlueFighter: Eaaaghhh
Nearby Bunny: He said it's none of your business.

I guess those masks are really stifling.










They walk away after you talk to all four of them.


Red follows them to the elevators, but right before the door closes he shoves the elevator operator out.

[R^2]

Henshin!

Why? Because he can transform into Alkaiser without anyone knowing, that's why! I mean, unless someone's watching on a security camera and manages to put two and two together, but clearly that is not the case. Red's identity is safe.


Alkaiser: I wasn't expecting to see you here.
Shuzer: Who the hell are you?
Alkaiser: I am Alkaiser! Get ready to face justice!
Shuzer: I don't have time for nut cases.


Shuzer vanishes, and you're swarmed by BlueFighter mooks.


So what does transforming into Alkaiser do for Red?

It equips him with the RaySword.

...what, that's it?

Well, it also prevents him from learning new techniques or growing stats after the battle.

Oh. Um, what's a RaySword do?

I'm glad you asked!

The RaySword is attack power 50, which is good but not great since there are swords available for sale with higher attack power than that. But it also gives Red-as-Alkaiser a bonus of 250 HP and +25 to all his stats except Vitality... which gets +75.


It also allows the sparking of Alkaiser-only abilities! Alkarl had several of these, remember? BrightFist is the first. Thanks to a bug in the game, or just straight-up filler, the game checks eighty times if you can learn BrightFist whenever you use a RaySword. The other Alkaiser-only skills get checked once, of course. Needless to say, Sparking BrightFist early in the game is not unusual.


The boss is a mighty Armorpilla, against whom Alkaiser sparks another unique tech.


Most Alkaiser moves are martial arts (despite being Sparked via RaySword) but KaiserWing is actually a sword move.




There's no shift sequence. You're just suddenly fighting on a giant eyeball.


So I can only use one school of magic? I don't have any magic!


Oh. I'm not sure if 4th Dimension -> Klein Bottle -> Dr. Klein has connections to BlackX is intentional, here.


Even with boosted attack power, it's just an Armorpilla.

[R^2]

All right! Time to go hunt down Shuzer a--


Aww.




What do you mean he's broke on assistant engineer pay? It looks like he's slipping on money.

[R^2]

Oh yeah. This time we're headed to Shrike obv

Furthermore despite having a bunch of unique skills that can only be used in an alternate form, Red still only has eight skill slots.


Red can change into Alkaiser only in parts of the game where no one can see him. If there are other people in the party, they must be asleep, unconscious, or otherwise disabled before AlkaiserChange becomes an option in Red's menu.

Anyway.


Nnnnnnot... really...? I've been there a dozen times already in other scenarios.






Tellingly, Red cannot transform here, because there are children present who would see him do it and ruin his secret identity.

[R^2]

Maybe they should get masks with mouth holes cut out.




Henshin... a-go-go, baby!




Thankfully this Sphinx is rather less powerful than the ones you find in random encounters. I can understand how it'd terrify a little girl, though.


Oh tee oh ache, you do have to fight in the 4th Dimension doohickey for the whole fight, so Alkaiser takes a bit of a beating here.


BrightFist sparks Alkaiser techniques a bit more reliably than the plain ol' regular RaySword does, so I tend to use it as my go-to attack for fights like this.

[R^2]

Wonder what they wanted out of the tomb? Guess I'd better look around and fi--



...

[R^2]

We go to Manhattan, but... there's actually nothing to do in town. You can't take any other interregional ships in these early parts of Red's scenario.


Yuria: Oh, it's you. Come see what I've found!
Red: Did you see a rat or somethin'?
Yuria: No, you clown! Just come with me.


Red: Hey, you wanna get us busted?




Red: Looks like someone's getting ready for a war. Since when did we get into the weapons business? What's this mark?
Yuria: It's BUCCI. You know, they design handbags. I was just gonna take a peek and found all this...
Red: Pretty suspicious. Don't tell anyone about this.
Yuria: OK. What about Hawk?
Red: Yeah, go talk to him about this while I check the rest of the cargo.
Yuria: Be careful, Red.

[R^2]

Next stop: The C.T.C. building. No one tells you this, of course, but Manhattan only has three places to go anyway and you can't get into the central building where Leonard's lab is.


Receptionist: Good morning. Do you have an appointment?
Red: Y... yeah. I am Red from the Cygnus.


Security is already closing in. Way to think your cunning plan through all the way, Red.






Receptionist: Good morning. What is your name?
Fuse: I'm a patrolman with IRPO. I just have a couple of questions. It won't take much time.

The receptionist rings up to check with (presumably) the President, who consents to let the cops in.


It would have been fleshed out more in Fuse's own scenario had he gotten one, but yeah, he's a hopeless flirt.


Red must put up a hell of a struggle for security to have just stood there with him for the entire conversation.

[R^2]

Red asks about the cargo on the Cy--


...and is cut off by Fuse entering the room for his own interrogation.


Fuse: Exactly what is it they do?
Campbell: You came to my company to ask about Shifa? Why don't you contact them?
Fuse: Well, the problem is, it's a fictitious company. You know, it doesn't exist. No one knows how to contact them.
Campbell: That's really odd.
Red: Don't act like you didn't know about it!!


Fuse lays Red flat for speaking out of turn.


Campbell: We'll deal with anyone as long as they pay in advance. Would you like to see our sales records?
Fuse: No need for that. I'll see you around.


Red only gets up (and lets rip) after Campbell asks if he's okay.


Fuse: Patience, kid! Now, we just have to wait and see what Campbell does.


Um... sure, yeah.

[R^2]

Captain: Slow down 1 comma. Warn the other ship with an emergency pulse! Whose ship is it?
Pilot: They're not responding to us! They're maintaining their course. This is an emergency! Evacuate all passengers and personnel to the designated areas.
Another pilot: We received a message from the pirate ship. They are demanding we slow the ship down to a minimum speed.
Captain: After slowing down to 5 commas, we could lose them by speeding up to maximum speed.
Third pilot: Ready to execute the sequence. Starting countdown.

An explosion! Again, I can't really post a screenshot of the screen shaking, so take my word for it.

Second Pilot: They're attacking us.
Captain: Stop the sequence. Slow to minimum speed.




Red: You think they gonna come in here too?
Hawk: You can bet on it. They'll be interested in our engine.




There you're!

There's a fight! But it's not difficult.

[R^2]

And then... someone comes up and hits Red from behind.


Oh well, so much for heroics.






Fuse pops up from behind Hawk's workstation.


And does what might have been a flying two-legged kick at the doughy guy keeping Red and Hawk hostage. You know, like Captain Kirk.


Hawk: Maybe someone told them about the smuggled weapons on the ship.
Fuse: Campbell! I knew she was behind this.
Red: She's using the pirates to get rid of the evidence!
Fuse: That's right. Make sure they don't get into the engine room. They're occupying the bridge. We'd better hurry before they harm the passengers or steal the cargo.
Red: Let's just beat 'em up!
Fuse: You know the ship better than I do. So you get to choose what we're gonna do.

You can try going out the door, but the cargo bay is full of tougher-than-usual enemies. It's not worth the effort to go that way...


...when you can take the same vent Fuse did to get in.

[R^2]

Seems a bit silly to have a vent leading straight from the engine room to the restaurant, behind the piano. Seems like that kind of thing would be kind of... loud. Distractingly so.


The pirates have barricaded off the passage upstairs with leftover instruments.


And if you go this way, there are more overpowered enemies pouring out of that room. So take the other hall.


Can't approach the cargo bay from here, nope.




You dick!


Some rooms have monsters in them, but they're not particularly aggressive.


Beating up one of them opens the hospice, where the Type 4 mec BJ&K will join your party for a while. He's a medical bot, so he can fix up the humans in the party.


I can't make him too overpowered, because the game has been too scripted to allow me to go shopping for much of anything.

[R^2]

Sheesh, no wonder Gradius can afford to pay so well. Clearly they've got no shortage of dosh, considering the sort of expansive suite you find Roufas in.

Roufas: Why don't you go get the big bad pirates, so I can enjoy a cigar in private.
Fuse: We're working on it. Will you give us a hand?
Roufas: My friends are being held hostage, too. Allow me to help you.
Red: I didn't say he could join us!
Fuse: He'll come in handy. Just wait and see.


Outside another cabin... well, whoever in there just threw the pirate out of his quarters.


Blue: I don't know you.
Red: But you need a ship to get wherever you're going, right?
Blue: ...I suppose. All right.
Fuse: My name is Fuse. This is Red. What's your name?
Blue: I changed my mind.
Red: Why!?
Blue: I don't like your name.
Fuse: Guess he doesn't like red.

Well, language aside, it is the name of his evil twin.

Okay, Blue is the evil twin. You know what I mean.

Another passenger cabin still:

Asellus: Guess we just have to wait.
Red: Asellus?
Asellus: Who are you?
Red: I knew it! It's me, Red. Red Okonogi. Remember me?


Asellus and Dr. Okonogi have met, remember? Stands to reason she'd know his son, too.

Asellus: Okonogi's boy? You got so big. I didn't recognize you. You still have the same eyes.
Red: It's been what, ten years? I can't believe it. You used to play with me when I was a baby. Incredible! You haven't changed a bit apart from the fact you dyed your hair green. Wait a second! You still look like a teenager! How the hell? Hey, you can't be Asellus!
White Rose: Wait. This is Lady Asellus. She was asleep for ten years and hasn't aged a day since.
Red: You really expect me to believe that?
Fuse: We haven't got any time for this nonsense, Red. Hi, my name's Fuse. I'm a Patrolman. Ladies, hang on tight til we get rid of the pirates.
Asellus: Where are you going!?
Red: We've got to get the Cygnus back.
Asellus: I'm coming with you. I'm worried about Red.
Fuse: Ladies, this isn't a movie. It's...

A video game.

Fuse: ...the real thing.
Asellus: I can fight...
Red: All right then. Let's all go together.


White Rose and Asellus temporarily join. Man, can you imagine running into your babysitter ten years later, find out she hasn't aged at all, and oh by the way can now devour souls and cast terrifying phantasmal magic?

[R^2]

There was a miniboss battle here. It's tough if you've only got Red and Fuse to work with, since it calls for help and all the monsters in nearby passenger cabins join the fight. But I have a whole party now, and comboed the miniboss to death before it could do anything noteworthy.

Anyway, Fuse is correct. To go through this door into the cockpit puts you in another boss battle, this one nigh unwinnable -- and if you do win, you get a game over anyway. Oh well.


That's crazy talk, and Red points this out, but Fuse's canon nickname is... well, "Crazy Fuse" so we do it anyway.


There's a short hallway to run through under a very strict time limit. I got blown away for an instant game over reaching for the screengrab key, so no image of it for you.


Goon: Just another minute, boss.


What does that make us? Big damn heroes! Ain't we just.


It's a fight! A fight with a Platyhooks, like in Riki's game when he ran into Nomad!

[R^2]

Correction: it was a fight with Platyhooks!




Assuming you don't instakill the Platyhooks, it runs away partway through the battle. Of course, now the thing is talking from inside Asellus's sword, but whaddyagonnado.


The Platoonpuses replace Platyhooks are tougher than normal, but the Platyhooks absorb gives Asellus HeatSmash, which moves things along quite nicely.


No sweat.