Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[R^2]

Mec Tech: Here's my card.
T260G: Nakajima Robotics, Inc. Shotaro Nakajima, President
Nakajima: I'm no big shot. I just got a small factory in Shrike. We're keeping our operation small until we settle the lawsuit. Trinity is accusing us of a patent violation. Like they never stole anything from others... But, that's our problem. If you're ever in Shrike, come see me. Maybe I can help.




Um...

No really, we're leaving.



I know where Caballero's office is.



I have a lead to pick up on after we're done at Caballero's come on let's go.



Achtaehellwiit

[R^2]

[R^2]

SaGa Frontier - Confrontation: Caballero Family [Extended w/ DL Link]
Oops, almost forgot the music.


As we head toward the factory, the observant will notice the vagrant from before comes out of the bar.


There are fights to be had in the factory area, of course. After some of them, Riki is offered a chance to absorb enemy monsters.


Doing so teaches him new skills...


...and transforms him. So Riki isn't going to look like himself for however long he's in the party (which having played this part to completion before posting it, is not long).


Anyway, after completing a side area...




Lute joins the party. He's a slightly better Annie at all the things Annie is terrible at (which is all of the things). His stat growth is geared toward... Charm.


The factory floor proper is loaded with snipers and a few simple crane puzzles to get rid of them. If you get into an encounter with a sniper nearby...


They pepper your entire party with EnemyFire for about 30 damage every turn.


Just as monsters get to eat monsterflesh after a battle, Mecs will sift through the scrap parts of enemy mecs and try to download useful data from their scattered remains.


If it works, the Mec develops a new skill -- they never spark like humans do. If it doesn't work, the Mec recharges and restores all its WP.

[R^2]

D-TRACTOR GET IT HA HA HA HA


This does not take long. Lute sparks two skills, but who cares?


Caballero: We'll leave Junk alone from now on.
Gen: Very good. One more thing, he needs to get on a ship. Can you help him out?
Caballero: ...All right. I'll give you a pass. Just don't come back again.

[R^2]

With a little monetary boost from Cabellero's factory, we head to the junk shop to get some equipment. It works just as it did for Emelia, except that T260G never finds RepairKits, BrokenBumpers, or Junk in the piles -- it's all viable equipment. Granted, by not finding RepairKits, it's all equipment of a set level; you can't gradually increase your money with the exploit in order to get the best gear.




When T260G arrives in Koorong, her first goal is to get to this back alley marked by a chicken. You know, the one that's so dark it doesn't look like anything is actually back there.


But it's actually a slummy apartment! And in one slummy apartment is a computer!
























"...I guess."

It's hard to tell, but those were plot leads you read about there.

Well, some of the things were plot leads.

[R^2]

I'll tl;dr it for you. They need a module installed in a scoutingmouse robot to do the scan. The mouse robot was scouting and got lost. I need to go get it.


Before I leave, I sell off a bunch of crappy swords from the junk shop to boost my money, so I can go back and get less-crappy swords from the junk shop later.


I also take EngineerCar with me, to replace Riki. EngineerCar is a Mec with a few parts preinstalled, including a repair pack that lets it heal other mec's HP damage and a gatling gun.


The mouse robot is a quick foray into Sei's Tomb.


While there I also take a priceless artifact.

[R^2]

Nakajima: Trinity censored our work and forced us to give up our project.
Employee: Transformers are really out of date.
Roger Nakajima: Hey! I happen to like transformers!
Nakajima: Sorry. We applied the "Valkyrie" technology to a combat model, and that's the ZEKE. But I guess people nowadays don't understand what a great mec is.




As soon as it's activated, ZEKE flies around the room, forcing Nakajima to leap out of the way.


Nakajima: Whose personality did you program into this piece of junk? Hiroshi's?
Employee: I don't talk like that.
ZEKE: Hurry up and put the attachment on me.






ZEKE replaces Lute, our second-least-useful party member.


Finally, Nakajima can yank out T260G's core and install her into another mec body, a bit like Emelia changing outfits. There's an anti-mec jammer model, a speedy jet model (like ZEKE), a medical model, a heavy-weapons model, a repair model (like EngineerCar), and... well, I forget what the last one is. But they're all a bad choice, because the secret best mec body is the one with the most empty equipment slots, and that's the one Taco built.

[R^2]

T260G is so full of parts that her HP is high, making the prices at the junk shop exorbitant.




That's better.

Anyway, I exploit the bug again for top-tier-for-the-junk-shop gear, now that I have more than 1800 credits. Mostly, I get a whole damn lot of Osc-Swords.


Because those sell for 110 credits each at Nakajima Robotics.


And loaded with cash, I start trading gold.


Welp, we're pretty much ready for endgame.

[R^2]

This is the region of Manhattan.


If you've seen one, you've seen a mall.


That's an interesting-looking fellow checking out the fruit display, there.






Fruity Guy: Sir Taco? An amateur made you? Nice work... What do you want to know about Leonard?
T260G: Must have him analyze me.


"Because those assholes at Nakajima Robotics didn't follow through on their promise to do it themselves. Simple, huh?"


Fruity Guy: I can take you to his office. Come along.


In case you go to the Central Gate first and get turned away by the guards, there's a brief scene where this guy allows you past.




Analysis seems to involve a lot of color filters.


Leonard: You have some similarities to Trinity types, but also many differences. The computer is having problems analyzing your original core. This Sir Taco was quite a mechanic. He must have had 4 or 5 hands to do a restoration like this. He wrote notes on each of the parts he added. Looks like I can't help, but I've added a memory chip to your system.


The chip is a flat +27 to T260G's Intelligence. Intelligence for a mec determines how many skill slots they have available, so that's awful nice of him.

Leonard: It was interesting. Here's a pass. Come see me anytime.


End of chapter!

[Classic]

Looking forward to Red and Asellus's campaigns.

Arrgh. This game.

Are you going to hurt yourself with more SaGa in the future?

[R^2]

Probably not!

Not even lparchive has one of SaGa Frontier 2, as far as I can tell because that game is impenetrably dense.

Yes I realize I am saying that in the middle of this cobbled-together half-finished mess.

[François]

Yeah, God bless you for trying to present this in a sensical way, but dang this game seems like a bunch of crap thrown together in pretty much every aspect of its construction. Feels like a spiritual successor to Live A Live in more than a few ways, but without the simple charm of it.

[R^2]

It was ambitious, to be sure, but running low on budget and time constraints can do terrible things to a piece of software. They could have made a great game with maybe two or three character scenarios, but shot for seven (originally nine!) stories at once and the whole thing is just a mishmash as a result.

Anyway.

[R^2]

This is Shingrow. The palace in the middle there is where Emelia got caught up in the martial arts tournament.


Could it be the one from the scenario intro, do you think?

T260G: Well preserved, given the environment and amount of elapsed time. Slight energy detected within.
Gen: Could be a monster.
T260G: Energy pattern is unique. Pattern identified: Defiant Class Ship PG.
Gen: Whatever that means. But it's curious.

It's a dungeon, of course.


A dungeon with a lot of unavoidable encounters, including rather a lot of mecs.




Aw yeah. Mecs can get both CombatMastery and ShootingMastery, which increase the damage they do with swords and guns (respectively) by 50%. Considering how easy it is to get a mec's Strength up, CombatMastery is pretty terrific.


You'd be forgiven for thinking this was just a wall of vines, but no, it is a door. One of the few in the game you have to press the confirm button to open, so you have to know it's there.


T260G: An emergency energy source is being utilized.

Might as well check that computer over there.




That tells us almost nothing. What's an "RB" and why am I anti-that?

Learning that let's us search for "RB", but...



Oh well. Let's check the diary.




A "Download" option appears, allowing T260G to automatically learn one of:

Since she just picked up CombatMastery and ShootingMastery would be redundant, I take EvasionLaser. That's a move that lets you dodge laser attacks, not a laser beam that... evades... something. Whatever.


T260G: Data obtained regarding T 260 model and HQ. Mission: destroy RB3 model.
Gen: What the hell are HQ and RB3 models?
T260G: HQ may be a command base. No data for RB3 model.
Gen: Our next stop is the command base?

Unlike Emelia's mysterious Cube, you actually get answers to what things are in T260's scenario.

[R^2]

What? Man, I didn't want to punch that guy in the face. That's as close as I can get to liking most of the cast I've been introduced to so far.



Well, we'd better go look into it, I guess.


There's a bit of a kerfluffle at the gate for trying to enter with a pass some dead guy gave me, but it's not worth screencapping because they end up just saying "It'll be fine, go on in."

Leonard's lab is empty, except...










Cyber-Leonard: I guess now we're brothers.
T260G: How should I call you?
Leonardbot: I am still Leonard. But now my body is made of steel. Nothing else has really changed. Any luck getting data about yourself?



Leonard: I also began looking into many things. But I was stopped by Trinity's information security program. I guess you'll have to get into their building to get more information. There is a central information bank in Tartaros. Let's go there.


We sneak aboard a cargo train...


...and arrive in Tartaros.

Leonard is now in the party. Despite not looking like one, he's a repair-type mec like EngineerCar.

[R^2]

All the map enemies in the first area of Tartaros are mecs, although they're occasionally joined by other kinds of monsters in battle. If they weren't all really weak it'd be a good chance to learn some new skills.


Eventually I fight enough of them (narrow hallways, see) that the enemies level up to the next rank, giving me a little more leeway.


The next section of Tartaros is caves, and it's a pretty boring "turn on all the switches to open the way forward" area.


There are BigDiggers guarding each switch, which are tough fights largely due to their obscenely high HP. Thankfully, we have two repair mecs in the party now, so when it hits with Tremor or HEAT Missile or something, I can fix the party right up.

After the first BigDigger (of four), I remember they use Tremor regularly and equip everyone with JetBoots to null it, making the fights easier... boring, really.


Okay, now T260 is ready for endgame. PluralSlash just hits an enemy with a sword a whole lot. Any grinding I do in this scenario will be to get the other mecs in the party to learn CombatMastery and PluralSlash in preparation for the last boss. (You can probably guess who the last boss is by now.)


This BigDigger can cast Maelstrom, a powerful partywide water attack. I did not see that coming.


Downloading its data teaches T260G DragonProgram, which will let T260 use Maelstrom too -- assuming I find and equip an OctopusBoard circuit.


Oh. The biggest BigDigger drops one of those, too. I guess it's fitting that it could use Maelstrom itself, then.


There's some flexibility to mecs' skill development -- not all of it is directly from the enemy mec they download from. If they fail to download anything from the enemy, they will try to develop a new skill themselves, and different body models have different self-development skills. Here T260G learns a skill the enemy couldn't teach normally. LogicBomb only works against mecs, but does high damage and inflicts a bunch of status ailments.


The end of Tartaros is a high-tech sort of area.


Gen: Don't make it more complicated than it already is!
Leonard: It didn't accept my password...
Maybe this will do it.
There it is.


Leonard: What are these numbers?

Something I'm going to screencap and not type out, I can tell you that much.

Leonard: It didn't work. I can't believe it. Your information can be accessed only by the commanders. You must be some sort of secret. I wish I could make sense of these numbers...
T260G: Is there any relation to model [RB3]?
Leonard: Is that a robot? Let's see... Right now, nothing.
T260G: Any relation to [HQ]?
Leonard: You mean the command base?
T260G: It is either a place or an organization.
Leonard: Let me see... Oh, I get it! These numbers must be the ship's travel data! I don't know if it leads to HQ, but if we set a course by these numbers, we'll find something. This is really exciting.
Gen: We gotta travel by ship again...?
T260G: Afraid of flying, Sir Gen?

No, it's that if you drink aboard a ship, you get sick. Covered that one before!


End of chapter!

[Classic]

I think I have a (previously unnoticed) problem because seeing all of these half broken systems and scenarios makes me want to fix them and turn them into something not crappy.

[R^2]

Skeleton guy rockets off the screen in terror.



While in Koorong, we explore the sewers a bit, until we come to this little black-market goods shop:






And thus...


PzkwV joins our now-all-mec party. Pzkw is short for Panzerkampfwagen, and V is actually a roman numeral. He's Armored Battle Wagon mk. 5, a heavy-weaponry type mec. (Granted, all of our equippable stuff is better than his innate and unremoveable rail cannon and missile batteries, but whaddyagonnado.)

[R^2]

I think I have a (previously unnoticed) problem because seeing all of these half broken systems and scenarios makes me want to fix them and turn them into something not crappy.

I'm holding this against you next time SoraCross comes back to shill his latest half-baked game idea.

[Classic]

There is a reason I have studiously ignored his stuff.