|
MarsDragon's Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (GBA)
|
| [April 6, 2007 02:46:01 AM]
|
Well, I finally beat my first run through SRW: OG1. Ironically, the final boss was easier than the boss right before her, since she had more people to kill (and therefore more chance to build up Will) and they were easier to kill. I still had to spam EN Draining stuff to get her barrier down so she couldn't knock 2000 HP off my every attack and use her most powerful attack against me, and I still had time to nearly completely drain her ammo before bringing her down. Stupid "more HP than the numbers can show" bosses... Even still she felt easier than the boss right before, mostly because I had time to bring up Kyosuke's Will so I could spam Rampage Ghost from the beginning instead of having to eat several attacks, replenish, eat several more attacks, then only get in a couple shots at the end.
All in all, it was a pretty satisfying experience. An especially nice touch was when each character fight the last boss for the first time they said a little spiel, a little like FF6's last scene against Kefka, but with more badassery. These are robot pilots we're talking about here. It did lack the brilliance of "You all sound like pages from a self-help book!", but it had one of the characters hitting on the final boss. I can live. I am kinda sad I played the last bit over with friends so I couldn't listen to Trombe! override Marionette Messiah, but I ended the battle with Sanger anyway, so it ultimately doesn't count either way. (TROMBE!)
Now I just have to decide between running through the alternate route real fast and getting all the extras I missed the first time around or just going straight to Original Generation 2. I mean, I didn't even fight the *real* last boss...
read comments (1)  -
add a comment 
|
| [January 8, 2007 11:37:53 PM]
|
SRW:OG entry, part 2. (Yeah, technically it abbreviates to SRT in America, but I'm used to SRW)
Not as much to say here, since I already gave most of the background in my previous post. Played a few more missions and got into space. The game is really wordy at points, but it all feels like a real giant robot anime. (they do tend to spend a lot of time talking in those...) A few of the plot twists feel like that too. It's awesome if you love the genre like I do.
Now in just about every mission reinforcements show up and you have to fight several waves of enemies and sometimes extra bosses. Fortunately the cannon fodder enemies go down to our heroes as easily as they do in the cartoons, though since this has to be balanced they can get you hurting before they die...which softens you up for the bosses pretty well. By the end of a drawn-out battle some units will definitely be sliding towards death. I've managed to keep my casualties fairly down, but since I'm not really very good at tactics (besides GANG RUSH) I've gotten a few game overs.
One useful thing is spirit commands, one time (usually) special abilities that offer boosts in battle for one round. Stuff like perfect evasion, hit, extra money/exp, all that nice stuff. They become really nessessery against bosses, but if you use too many too early you'll run out of points. Figuring out when and where to use them (hint: bosses) adds to the depth.
The one thing I wish this game had was a way to skip all the story sequences and get to the action. Like I said, it can get really wordy, which is annoying when you die and have to start over. It's a good story, but when you're continuing, you just want to get to the action.
add a comment
|
| [January 8, 2007 11:27:00 PM]
|
The Super Robot Wars SRPG series has a long-running history in Japan (from about the days of the Super Famicom), but has never seen light in the US. The reason for this mostly comes down to the fact that the main draw for the series is that it is, in effect, a gigantic crossover of nearly every robot series in Japan. Mazinger Z, any given Gundam, Raideen, Evangelion, Giant Robo...all of them have been in a SRW game. As a result, it's impossible to bring over to the US, due to the massive licensing problems.
However, in each SRW game there was a cast of original characters which were eventually collected into two games for the GBA: Super Robot Wars: Original Generation, and Original Generation 2. As the anime robots were taken out, the series was able to be brought over by Atlus, changing the name to Super Robot Taisen (Taisen being Japanese for battle, war) in the process. Though it's sad to not be able to SHIIIINING FIIIIIIIIINGEEEEEEEEEEER the enemies, the game is a remarkably solid strategy game under the appeal of seeing your favourite robots duking it out.
The game is somewhat like Shining Force and Fire Emblem, though without the latter's perma-death and no true limited-use weapons. (while gun-type weapons have limited ammo, they are refilled between battles along with your health, along with items that can be used during battle to the same effect) You move your robots around the map, and when you come in range of an enemy you can attack with a variety of weapons determined by what robot you are using. The fight sequences are nicely animated, but skippable (a welcome addition). The attacking robot will attack, then if possible the attacked robot will counter. If you're being attacked you can pick the attack to make in return, to evade, or defend. This give-and-take action, where you have to balance damage versus hit chances, nicely spices up the gameplay.
I started playing the game a bit ago, but didn't get very far. This play session took me through a couple of missions and a few game overs. While most of the time it was fairly standard 'run up and hit the enemy' battles, there was one sequence where my 'super robot' (characterized by "screw the laws of physics, this looks awesome" attacks, rather than 'real robots' general deference to reality. Think Gundam Wing/G Gundam versus any other Gundam.) ran out of ammo and couldn't attack the boss, leaving my other pilots, all of whom had barely any chance to hit to gang up and try to take the guy down. It took some gambling, raising hit percentages with skills, and a few people getting their mechs exploded before he went down, but eventually I damaged him enough to make the plot take over.
...and then my super robot ran after him. Damnit.
Overall, Super Robot Taisen is a great strategy game, with plenty of save anywhere for days on the road and some darn satisfying tactical gameplay under it all, which is something you wouldn't really expect from something that originally came from a series that made its name on having a bunch of licensed characters. The story is deep and complex, sometimes a bit too much (there are a ton of characters, and you're pretty much thrown straight into the story), but with its excellent localization it doesn't feel too confusing. All in all, it's a very good game.
read comments (1) -
add a comment
|
| [January 8, 2007 10:41:24 PM]
|
Edited to remove duplicate entry.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Jan 21st, 2007 at 00:08:05.
add a comment
|
|
|
 |
MarsDragon's Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation (GBA)
|
|
Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Monday 8 January, 2007
|
|
