Let's Play: Super Robot Wars Alpha
14th of December, year 186 of the New Western Calendar, 0745 hrs.
In the vicinity of Zeus, tenth planet of the Solar System.
The Excelion, first flagship of the SDF, special fleet of the Federation Space Forces,
is under attack by an unknown swarm of enemies.
The Excelion and its attached machine weapon squad are cornered...
...by the insectoid swarm appearing south-west of them. Tashiro, captain of the Excelion, is frantic.
Tashiro: XO! What ships do we still have with us?
XO: It's just us, sir...
: And the Machine Weapon squads?
Oota, the Excelion's commander of parasite units, replies.
: Almost completely destroyed, sir.
: Damn it all! This used to be the finest EOT-equipped fleet humanity could create! How can this be happening?
: Captain, these enemies don't appear to be Aerogators, or the Giant-type aliens we know about.
: These could be the same kind of creatures that destroyed the deep space probe ship Luxion seven years ago.
: What?
: Captain, I believe our current strength may not be adequate to survive a fight. I recommend we escape and evade.
: Impossible! If we do, we'll only betray Earth's position to them! No matter what, we must hold them here!
The three Machine Weapon pilots, Noriko Takaya, Kazumi Amano and Jung Freud (yes, really) steel themselves for action.
: Noriko! Jung! Right here, right now, it's us or them! If we don't stop them, the Earth Sphere...!
: Enough speeches! I don't need a pep-talk to help me understand. But wait--Noriko?!
: Noriko? What's the matter?
The most junior member of the squad, Takaya Noriko, sits paralysed by fear.
: Nee-sama, I...
: Noriko?
: Fight...these enemies...?
: Noriko, get a hold of yourself!
: Takaya! Amano! What are you doing? If you don't start fighting you're going to die out there! Everything I've put you through has been for this. Make use of it!
: That's right, Noriko! We can't go back on everything we've done so far!
: C-coach. A-and Nee-sama.
: If we fail here, the Earth--all of humanity will be in danger!
: !! (If we lose here...the people on Earth...Kimiko...they'll...) R-roger, Nee-sama! I'll do whatever it takes!
: All right! Let's go, you two!
: Open all firing ports! Target enemy formation dead ahead!
: Acknowledged. All weapons stations ready and waiting!
: All right. All units--attack!
And with that, we are now in control of the Excelion and its escorts. Each unit has certain commands available to it. For the Excelion, they are, from top to bottom, to move, to attack, to cast enhancing "spirit skills", and to view the unit's stat sheet. Casting spirit skills and viewing the unit's stats are free actions. Depending on the unit, some attacks are available immediately after moving--others can only be used while stationary. In any case, attacking will always end a unit's turn.
The Excelion's spirit skills are, from left to right, top to bottom, Recovery, which allows it to regenerate up to 30% of its hit points, Sure Shot, allowing every shot fired by the Excelion during the current turn and the subsequent enemy turn to hit its target, and Fortune, which doubles the amount of resources obtained from salvaged enemy mechs. Spirit skills are cast using SP, of which each unit only has a finite amount every mission.
A group of four aliens approaches the Excelion group, much closer than the main body of the alien formation. Tashiro casts Sure Shot and Fortune before opening fire on the farthest alien.
Click to viewAfter Tashiro's target perishes in a hail of energy projectiles, it's now the turn of the escorts to show what they can do. Noriko has Recovery and Effort, which doubles the experience she gets if she kills an enemy in her next fight. Kazumi has Mercy, which leaves her target with 10 hp if her next attack would destroy it, Shout, which raises her morale by 10 points, and Focus, which gives her a 30% bonus to dodge and hit for the duration of the turn. Noriko casts Effort, while Kazumi casts Focus and Shout.
The Machine Weapons themselves are melee focused units, unlike the Excelion with its long-range capital ship weapons. Noriko and Kazumi both have access to the famed Inazuma Kick--Kazumi's extra 10 willpower allows her to use an enhanced version of the kick. Damage inflicted by attacks also increases with willpower, while damage taken when a unit is hit decreases in a similar manner.
Jung, not having been trained with the Inazuma Kick, simply flies up to her opponent and beats it to death with a giant stun prod.
The last of the first wave of bugs goes down, and now it's time to end the turn. On their turn, the large bug fleet in the middle of the map just sits there, as if waiting for the Excelion and its escorts to take the fight to them.
On the next turn, however...
: Captain! Sensors picking up a large gravity quake at eleven o'clock! Unknown body exiting warp in that sector!
: Enemy reinforcements?
: These readings...its--
A formidable--and different--new force appears on the north-west edge of the map
: They're--
: Damn it all! Now they're here.
: They're Aerogators...why--what are they doing here?
: Between a tiger at the front gate and a wolf at the back...nowhere to run...
: Gh! If we fall here, only the SDF-1 Macross will be left to counter them...XO! Critical power from all degeneracy reactors!
: C-captain?
: We'll ram the bastards if we have to!
Fade to black
For the past two centuries, humanity has expanded into space. The Earth Sphere is now divided into two great powers. Below, the planet, under the rule of the United Earth Government. Above, the teeming space colonies in their multitudes. Initially, the colonies lay under the rulership of the United Earth Government, but as time passed and their numbers increased, they began to hold themselves a people apart. In the year 179 of the New Western Calender, the group of colonies farthest from the Earth, at Side 3, declared itself the Principality of Zeon, initiating a war of independence against the United Earth Government.
The humanoid mobile weapons of the Principality of Zeon held the advantage at first, but as the forces of the United Earth Government counterattacked, the war degenerated into a stalemate. Just as the United Earth Forces were about to initiate their final offensive, the Star-1 Operation, an unidentified object suddenly appeared from the L5 point, destroying the better part of the United Earth and Zeon fleets in its wake, before falling to the Earth, crashing on South Atalia Island. Seeing the ruin of all their warpower, the two armies took this as a sign to declare an armistice, thus bringing to an end the conflict known as the One Year War.
After the war, the object that had fallen to South Atalia Island was examined by an investigative group led by Dr. Bian Zoldark. This group, the EOTI Foundation, discovered the object to be a gigantic warship, constructed by an unkown civilization. This was a sign that humanity was not alone in the universe--and that outside our solar system, a titanic conflict was being waged. Unfortunately, this warning was ignored by the higher authorities within the United Earth Government, who preferred instead to build up their military strength in order to tighten their rule over the Earth Sphere.
Amidst all these developments, it was foretold by Bian Zoldark that sooner or later, humanity would be caught up in this unprecedented galactic conflict. Warning that "Humanity has no place to run," he founded the Divine Crusaders, dedicated to ensuring that humanity might arm itself with the technology of the aliens against the coming of those aliens. At the same time, a special counter-alien force was formed, organized around two great battleships as its flagships--the Special Defese Force, or SDF.
Unfortunately, the construction of this force consumed immense quantities of resources. The economy of the Earth Sphere, strained by this unprecedented burden, entered a nosedive.
The populace at large was kept ignorant of the existence of life outside the Earth Sphere. In particular, the Spacenoids, citizens of the space colonies, came to resent the harsh exactions of the United Earth Government. All around the colonies, resistance movements against the Earth government began to flare.
As if heralded by these tumultuous events, the remnants of Zeon, now fled to the asteroid colony Axis, declared the formation of Neo-Zeon, and began to carry out troop movements. To oppose them, the United Earth government created the Titans special weapons unit, as well as the OZ special forces brigade, sending them into action against the Neo-Zeon forces and the growing anti-government resistance movemtns.
On the Earth itself, trouble appeared in the form of the formerly-underground Dinosaur and Youma Empires. These powers' attempts at conquest of the surface were foiled by the intervention of the super robots Mazinger Z, Raideen, and Getter Robo. In the aftermath, Dr. Hell, human ally of the Dinosaur Empire, and Prince Sharkin of the Youma Empire began to rebuild, hoarding warpower for the day their conquest of the surface can resume...
The year is 187 of the New Western Calender, and as all about the Earth Sphere swirl the plots and wiles of innumerable factions, danger is afoot...
Welcome to this Let's Play of the first game in the Super Robot Wars Alpha series. In a nutshell, I am going to play the game and tell you about it, posting screenshots and videos as necessary. For a bit of background on the game, the Super Robot Wars series is something that would probably be impossible anywhere else but Japan--a massive published crossover taking the plots of dozens of giant robots shows at once and putting them in a blender. The series got its start by crossing over the Gundam meta-series with the 1970's-vintage super robot shows Getter Robo and Mazinger Z. In successive installments, more series were added, making each new game a delicious blend of old and new, with characters from the aforementioned Getter Robo and Mazinger Z and their contemporaries rubbing shoulders with modern characters from modern shows, the disparate personalities and attitudes interacting and bouncing off each other in glorious fanfic fashion.
As the Super Robot War begins, we are invited to witness it through the point of view of one of two characters, each of whom pilots a different type of robot. What kind of robot our protagonist will pilot influences which parts of the war we get to witness, and the enemies and allies our protagonist will encounter:
Super robots are miracles of mad science. They are usually one-off machines, built in laboratories following abstruse theories or using exotic energy sources only their creators can understand. Juggernauts of steel and super-alloys, they stride across the battlefield, resonating with the will of their pilot as they shrug off all but the most powerful of blows. The greatest of super robots act as extensions of their pilots' bodies, channeling their rage and their determination to strike even harder at whoever their enemies may be. Examples of super robots include the aforementioned Getter Robo and Mazinger.
Real robots are marvels of military engineering. Mass-produced at the bleeding edge of current technology, they become deadly tools in the hands of skilled pilots. These finely-tuned machines weave through the thickest of enemy fire, attacking their enemies with precision. Where super robots are superheroes, real robots are soldiers, filling out the ranks of armies where they are needed. In the right hands, however, and given the right equipment, a real robot can be just as effective--and just as deadly--as their super robot counterparts. Examples of real robots include the various Gundams.
I intend to collect votes as to which robot our protagonist will pilot. Unfortunately, I can't post a poll on this account. If anybody reading this wishes to send in a vote, make a comment below and state your preference.