Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

20 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Getting to use Gatling Gun for myself is so, so, so satisfying. I can’t explain it.

Ain't it. This part of the game is so beautiful.

Oh and by the way, since you are likely to miss it - when you are done, go back one more time and let yourself be brought down low on health. This will unlock a new option where flee normally is...

20 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I DIDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT

Nevermind, the devs are right about everything.

Now you see reason!

20 minutes ago, Sooks said:

  Hide contents

Inb4 Ruben’s real name is RubenODio

 

  Hide contents

So I won’t be stuck with whoever I pick the entire chapter?

 

Fuck. Phonerenes.

Box 1:

Spoiler

Well, Odio does mean hatred in my mother tongue, you know...

Box 2:

Spoiler

Actually, I do think you'll be. So do give it some thought still. But follow your heart and pick whichever you prefer.

15 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Level 1 Hard Mode (no NG+?) without ever taking damage during boss battles proving a little difficult?😏

Oh no, I've done that before. And it was hard then, but now I know the game well enough that I can pull it off decently.

What's proving more difficult is doing it with cubus. That's the challenge. Goddamned Brachyura took 10 minutes...

23 minutes ago, Punished Dayni said:

Snip

Ahh. Good times. Nothing quite like a good overthinking of a story.

12 minutes ago, Sooks said:

I’m confused and leaving this section with more questions than answers, but it was cool, at least.

Go back and do what I said. Won't take more than 15 minutes. You won't regret it.

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, went again to Basil's House and back, explored Vast Forest, and returned to the Playground. That's enough for the day. Now on to SRW T...

[Sooks]

27 minutes ago, Punished Dayni said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Did you do an Armageddon?

Spoiler

I uh, went to all the statues and defeated all the protagonists and then the chapter ended. Did I have any other choice 

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ain't it. This part of the game is so beautiful.

Oh and by the way, since you are likely to miss it - when you are done, go back one more time and let yourself be brought down low on health. This will unlock a new option where flee normally is...

Will do.

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Box 1:

  Hide contents

Well, Odio does mean hatred in my mother tongue, you know...

Oh goD I didn’t knOw—

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Box 2:

  Hide contents

Actually, I do think you'll be. So do give it some thought still. But follow your heart and pick whichever you prefer.

 

Spoiler

Okay, thanks for clearing it up. With that being said, reflecting on all my journeys, I know who I’d like to pick to join me for this epic finale, the protagonist who really shined above the rest… Let’s go Aki— nope, can’t do it, can’t say it, not even as a joke.

 

[Sooks]

And as for an update on my playthrough (Live a Live spoilers

Spoiler

I went with Masaru. Maybe it’s because I explored around and grabbed equipment first, but it’s still been easy, the random encounters have been giving me no trouble and plenty of exp. I just got outside the castle, I’ll stop to go do what Ruben said but should I be doing the trial of keys that’s in all the houses right now or should I leave that for later?

Also the segment right after Odio talks to Masaru and he’s in the dark is cool.

Edit:

Spoiler

Oh yeah I found Cube while wandering around, but I didn’t have whatever item I needed to presumably wake him up and get him to join the party.

Edit 2:

I did the thing.

Spoiler

This game really does just let you go crazy as the bad guys, huh?

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Sooks

[Punished Dayni]

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Spoiler

Oh no, Spain is secretly keeping Odio alive!

3 minutes ago, Sooks said:

  Reveal hidden contents

I uh, went to all the statues and defeated all the protagonists and then the chapter ended. Did I have any other choice 

 

Spoiler

Go into one of the fights and let your health run low. There'll be an option that shows up. Press it.

I recommend Ode Iou for getting it quickly.

11 minutes ago, Sooks said:

And as for an update on my playthrough (Live a Live spoilers

  Hide contents

I went with Masaru. Maybe it’s because I explored around and grabbed equipment first, but it’s still been easy, the random encounters have been giving me no trouble and plenty of exp. I just got outside the castle, I’ll stop to go do what Ruben said but should I be doing the trial of keys that’s in all the houses right now or should I leave that for later?

Also the segment right after Odio talks to Masaru and he’s in the dark is cool.

 

Spoiler

I mean, most of the "You're getting trounced" early on was me facing certain things.

Each of the trials will need you to bring a character to access them. Keep exploring, find stuff.

11 minutes ago, Sooks said:

Reveal hidden contents

This game really does just let you go crazy as the bad guys, huh?

 

Spoiler

Yeah, it's nice as a one off, but of course you destroy everything, what's left after that?

[Armagon]

Legendary Pokemon but the list is about how good their battle themes are.

It's unordered other than Ho-Oh being the best.

2 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

See the problem with Soren being the racist one is that I can't also imagine him saying stuff like this and genuinely believing it

I mean he was the one who said the Mercs should sell out Elincia because they hadn't been paid yet.

So yeah, he does believe it i suppose.

2 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

Engage in the politics of your country folks

They are peasants in an absolute monarchy nation.

[Eltosian Kadath]

17 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It astounds me that Persona regressed after this. Jun is a damn good character.

 8 hours ago, Armagon said:

Thanks for the write-up. And you're right, it definitely is wild how Persona just regressed after that. I think I can figure out potentially why though: Persona 2 allowed you to choose a romantic partner but from what i gather, Tatsuya isn't a self-insert, despite his silenceness. Not quite Lea status but you could compare him to Adol or Samus, i suppose, i think. The Persona 3-5 protags are self-inserts. So in P2, when you pick a romantic partner, you're picking Tatsuya's romantic partner. In P3-5, you're picking your romantic partner (because of how greatly the social sim aspects are amplified in these games) and Atlus might've been "it's ok to be gay if it's not the player". I mean i don't wanna put words in their mouth but like this is the only way i can see the regression making sense. But this only explains the choice and not....the questionable LGBT rep the games have had after that.

7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Had to comment on this because that's... Hideously ass-backwards. Shouldn't self-inserts have all the more reason to be bi? So any player can feel inserted? I get your point, but if that really is their logic, well... I don't follow.

The reason why is kinda obvious from interviews about Persona 4, that key members of management think western gamers are bigots. The western market has always been a notable focus for the Persona series (Persona 1 famously had an American re-theming), with the issues Persona 2 had in localization thanks to the inclusion of Hitler (Persona 2 Innocent Sin wasn't released in the west until the PSP remake thanks to the issues it introduced) made considerations for western markets even a part of the creation side of things in Japan. Persona 4 has a major arc of the game, with an entire dungeon all about one of the player characters having to confront an internal conflict within him, where he is as masculine as can be, but his society has told him that him being gay makes him less of a man. In a lot of ways this is handled rather well, but as was said in interviews they felt the need to make things "more subtle" for western audiences with changed dialogue, and the extended addition "Persona 4 Golden" added scenes to reinforce the muddied waters created by things being "more subtle" in the western release.

Although the Naoto Shirogame does make clear that Persona series was never good at handling transgendered issue, even when they did try to address it.

[Acacia Sgt]

Ah yes, Shades!Fürher.

[Armagon]

4 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The reason why is kinda obvious from interviews about Persona 4, that key members of management think western gamers are bigots.

6 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

n a lot of ways this is handled rather well, but as was said in interviews they felt the need to make things "more subtle" for western audiences with changed dialogue, and the extended addition "Persona 4 Golden" added scenes to reinforce the muddied waters created by things being "more subtle" in the western release.

Oh is that why i constantly see Persona 4 discourse and whether or not the game has aged well?

[Lightchao42]

38 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Legendary Pokemon but the list is about how good their battle themes are.

Arceus in last

Giratina and the Tapus in S tier is good, however.

38 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I mean he was the one who said the Mercs should sell out Elincia because they hadn't been paid yet.

So yeah, he does believe it i suppose.

Soren just hates everyone except Ike, I think.

2 hours ago, Sooks said:

Well, I’m following your guys’ advice and picking the character you told me to, just because “get it over with” makes it sound short and like something I can go back on. After this… I have no idea who to pick though, or even what this choice means.

Pogo for the memes let’s goooo

Not that I would know for sure, but it sounds like you're almost near the end of the game. How much playtime did it take to get where you are now?

You should've picked Robo-Kirby for... whatever you picked characters for.

[Armagon]

1 minute ago, Lightchao42 said:

Arceus in last

I will never forgive Game Freak for giving God the most nothing battle theme in the entire series.

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

I will never forgive Game Freak for giving God the most nothing battle theme in the entire series.

Maybe they knew already they were scrapping the event.

[GuardianSing]

2 hours ago, ping said:

Wellll, we're meeting the peasantry here, so I'm not sure if "privilege" is the correct term here. The game portrays the common folks as callous, sprinking in some racism to make itself clear, but realistically - they don't have any way to engage in politics no matter who sits on the throne. They have no reason to assume that Ashnard will be a terrible oppressor, they don't have the privilege to ponder the fate of the "Crimean nation" instead of where the next meal is coming from. Why should they care that one blood aristocracy might be replaced by another blood aristocracy?

Why yes, I'm equating Ike with the liberal noble in 1789 or 1830 who is surprised that the peasantry doesn't feel particularly liberated now that 1.65% of the male population can vote on who out of 0.297% of the male population is allowed to draft a constitution

I was more talking about how this guy believed that they'd be fine under Diean rule but under Gallian rule suddenly things would be awful and they'd be oppressed.

Not an uncommon mindset among many racists.

39 minutes ago, Armagon said:

They are peasants in an absolute monarchy nation.

I wasn't talking to the peasants, I was expressing the point that conversation was trying to convey.

42 minutes ago, Armagon said:

I mean he was the one who said the Mercs should sell out Elincia because they hadn't been paid yet.

So yeah, he does believe it i suppose.

The game tried to tell that he was condemning that behavior, not admitting it and participating in it.

Soren is an empathetic man by Titania's words and was upset with the villagers.

[Armagon]

9 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

I wasn't talking to the peasants, I was expressing the point that conversation was trying to convey.

Right but the context of that dialogue was peasants.

[Venger_06]

We were robbed of timeskip Lillie

9 hours ago, Armagon said:

It's true.

But Kale is an alien

4 hours ago, Punished Dayni said:

TIL Friendship and Affection effects have been merged in combat for all Switch Pokemon titles.

So I couldn't avoid the random not fainting if I wanted to play S/S legit and it's almost certainly the same for S/V.

You will be saved by power of friendship and you will like it. - Gamefreak, 2019.

4 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Good news: Spain not as good as expected

That means even without Neymar we can still beat them

4 hours ago, Imperator Squilla said:

Bad news: Spain not as good as expected

They're too inexperienced. Lots of youngsters

4 hours ago, Armagon said:

I might have to actually jump on this show. 

That one in the bottom right rocks, ngl

51 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Legendary Pokemon but the list is about how good their battle themes are.

Imagine not putting Ultra Necrozma's in S

27 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Although the Naoto Shirogame does make clear that Persona series was never good at handling transgendered issue, even when they did try to address it.

B-but Naoto is the best...

8 minutes ago, Edelguardiansing said:

I was more talking about how this guy believed that they'd be fine under Diean rule but under Gallian rule suddenly things would be awful and they'd be oppressed.

That's probably because the Beorc were oppressed by the Laguz before the roles reversed. The whole "It is better to be governed by your fellows" thing.

[Armagon]

8 minutes ago, Green06 said:

But Kale is an alien

A Latina alien!

[Acacia Sgt]

Scenario 13: Haman and the Boys

Astonaige notices they're down one Jegan. As Tobia was in charge of recon, he first thought he might've took it, but Kincade says he didn't. Incidentally, no one has seen Judau recently either... Kamille asks Astonaige if he told Judau of Haman's location, and he admits Judau did pestered him about it. This leads everyone to wonder if Judau decided to go there after all. Everyone is quick to say Judau was reckless, though Kincade instead has faith in them. Yes, them.

Near the Moon at colony Bunch 24, Judau has found his way there. Just then, Tobia shows up, having noticed Judau's departure and decided to follow him. Far from trying to stop him, Tobia is here to help him out, but he first asks. Is Judau's plan to actually kill Haman? Judau admits he's not sure. At the very least, he wants to meet her again. Tobia says he wants to do the same. It seems his previous fight with Crux Dogatie back in the war against the Jupiter Empire made him curious.

As it stands, they quickly find Haman, who isn't that fussed about it. She is quick to recognize Tobia as a member of the Crossbone Vanguard. In any case, she sensed their approach, but as it stands she's in her downtime so she's willing to just chat up. Wait, is this why the stage is named... ahaha. Anyway, she makes the same question to Judau as Tobia did. Is he here to kill her? And actually says to go for it should the answer be yes. However, she knows they don't have it in them. Judau protests, saying he could end the war right here. However, she brings up she had warned him before about relying on intuition, that it would become his downfall. Before she had been irked by how driven by his emotions he was, but now she senses determination, and thus is in the mood for talking. She asks if he remembers  their previous talk. About how she thinks the Federation has become too corrupted to be in charge of the Earth, and even now that mindset has only been reinforced. For humanity to save itself from stagnation, the status quo must be broken. Judau, however, isn't happy that countless people have to die, innocents included. Haman then says that her death would be meaningless, then. As Tobia correctly guesses, this would just bring another war later down the road. So long the Federation and the Spacenoids remain at odds. Which is why Haman plans to destroy the Federation, however, she seeks allies to help her deliver a swift and decisive end, in order to minimize losses. And now she asks for Judau and Tobia to join her. Both boys are shocked, but Haman is completely serious about her proposal. Judau then states she may have a point about her death not ending the war, but he will seek his own path to end it, and thus would his way of defeating her. Haman comments she finds his now twice-rejection amusing. Well, sure, Judau gets a pass, but when Char did it...

Just then, Mashymre barges into the room. Calling himself Haman's loyal knight, he'll slay any brigand who dares get close to Haman. This shocks Judau, as he knows the guy and this isn't how he acted before. He and Tobia are quick to realize he has become an Artificial Newtype and is also under mind control. Haman states she'll do anything for the sake of victory. Which only reinforces Judau's resolve to end the war.

Both boys made it safely out of the colony, but know they'll be followed. Oh, Tobia took the X1, the "pirate" way as he puts it, heh. True enough, mobile suits emerge from the colony, with Mashymre along them, who vows to strike Judao down if he won't honor Haman's wishes. Stage begins!

So, enemies are Zaku III's and Mashymre in his Zaku III Custom. SR Point is to defeat him withim three turns. This stage marks the beginning of another points related secret. Haman Points, of which I can get one by having Judau fight Mashymre, and...

Uh, well, Akurasu wiki has it that Judau NOT fighting Mashymre instead gives two points... allegedly. Apparently, even to this point they aren't sure. I tried to look it up, but I couldn't get an answer. So, uh... I don't know. Hmm...

Edited November 28, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Punished Dayni]

11 hours ago, Green06 said:

You will be saved by power of friendship and you will like it. - Gamefreak, 2018.

FIFY

11 hours ago, Green06 said:

We were robbed of timeskip Lillie

I remember how much people weren't fond of Gen 5, I was there with them to some degree. I was a late adopter actually, picked up White used in 2012.

The turnaround was because of what BW did right and then BW2 justified being a sequel and a boss pokemon game in it's own right. Which is impressive considering how much time that generation had (Looking at Japan, BW was a year after HGSS (and not far off that amount of time internationally), there was less time between HGSS to BW than BW to B2W2 (there was 21 months between them in Japan))

If we go to Gen 4, DP to P got 2 years and P to HGSS got 1 in release cycles, but I'd bet on there being more to that news than that, it's probably internal stuff on how they worked on Pokemon because there's no other games outside mainline Pokemon in the DS era.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Punished Dayni

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

See the problem with Soren being the racist one is that I can't also imagine him saying stuff like this and genuinely believing it.

You keep tempting me to spoil something, as Soren's racism has a personal, and rather emotional source.

 

3 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

Volke being tied with Titania as the second strongest unit in the group is extremely funny to me.

Its a shame Volke can't use a real weapon...

 

3 hours ago, Edelguardiansing said:

 

I...forgot the boss had a melee weapon.

Oof. Although it is kinda funny to see you lose someone to this boss, and not the Burger King's ambush spawn (as he will use his full movement to kill units) that killing this guy triggers (at I seem to remember that being the trigger...)

Also of note Ike has a battle quote with the BK, a unique line if he survives (which is almost impossible to see legitimately), and Mist scolds Ike for being so reckless after the map as well.

 

1 minute ago, Green06 said:

B-but Naoto is the best...

Naoto is great, but you can see by the way they portray her shadow, and the decisions Naoto makes after the fact, that the creators saw the idea of being transgender as something childish, a fad that people grow out of...

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Honestly, that's something that should be left to future games, which is what RF5 began to do. It should just be accepted it wasn't a thing since Day 1, and unless it was something truly bad, don't ruin yourself from enjoying the game because of it.

I wasn't advocating in favor of it. I was just stating what there is presently to work with barring the creation of some new young men.

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh no, I've done that before. And it was hard then, but now I know the game well enough that I can pull it off decently.

What's proving more difficult is doing it with cubus. That's the challenge. Goddamned Brachyura took 10 minutes...

Whyyyyyyyy? The Worst Glyph deserves to be a collector's item and nothing more. Must you do this? Can't you search Steam or your dusty Switch and fish up one of the many indie Metroidvanias that exist and try that instead? I'm told Hollow Knight is quite difficult, try that instead, don't ruin a good game with a tedious self-imposed "challenge".

 

43 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The reason why is kinda obvious from interviews about Persona 4, that key members of management think western gamers are bigots.

Yes and no.

Anyone with a thinking brain would realize the "Western market" consists of millions of gamers with diverse backgrounds. 

Yes, some of these are chauvinist incels who drop fig bombs while playing CoD all the time. And some of these are bound to play Japanese games, no surprise if they would be into dating sims where hordes of beautiful women love them without them needing to fix their IRL undateable personalities.

And yet, the recent push to add s/s marriage to SoS, can you say it's because of Japanese gamers? I don't think so. It's the West that has s/s marriage legalized now (hopefully Japan will follow soon, I think a majority is now behind legalization there). That is the driving force behind the newly arriving normalization of non-cis & hetero options in dating sims.

Hopefully management at Atlus realizes things have changed, and will respond accordingly in the future. The social climate (in democratic 1st world countries, to remind of the continued persecution in so many others) when Persona 4 was released and the social climate now are totally different.

43 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

with the issues Persona 2 had in localization thanks to the inclusion of Hitler (Persona 2 Innocent Sin wasn't released in the west until the PSP remake thanks to the issues it introduced) made considerations for western markets even a part of the creation side of things in Japan.

Also this.:

According to Salamanca, other factors led the company to pass. "I remember a few things that we were 'told,'" he says. "But, I think it pretty much boiled down to resources and manpower since development was well underway on P2:EP. Having to go back to P2:IS localization probably wasn't factored into the dev team's schedule, so we pretty much had to let it go. Though it wasn't for the lack of b---ing and moaning by the U.S. staff."

Sounds like they didn't even have a chance to debate if the Last Battalion and the s/s situation were capable of being localized.

 

41 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ah yes, Shades!Fürher.

I me- *COUGH!*

Spoiler

It isn't actually the IRL dictator, just the true villain pretending to be him. But it has to be a visage of That Man because only he among dictators is so wrapped up in conspiracy theories. Rumors, conspiracy theories, prophecies, all these forms of potential misinformation contribute to the chaos in Sumaru City.

That, and Persona 2 is actually Indiana Jones 3.5.

*COUGH!*

 

36 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Oh is that why i constantly see Persona 4 discourse and whether or not the game has aged well?

I did read it of once, years ago. If memory doesn't fail me.... Bathhouse dungeon where the troubled guy's Shadow shows up naked and flirtatiously effeminate, or something.

I've been deterred from touching Persona 4 for this reason. Is an unrealistic visualization of the internal struggle for someone who might* be gay? Maybe not. Yet for me personally, it has always sounded touchy.😬 Even before my yearnings -whatever they be- awakened, it seemed like Kanji's problems were... too much.

*I've read it's kinda debatable if Kanji is into s/s or not. Or whether it's merely insecurity him liking less-than-masculine things. Yet I'm aware subsequent games have joked with him being possibly gay, not to his liking. But, I am not going to delve into the reeds of this discussion firsthand and figure out for myself what the real answer is.

 

5 minutes ago, Green06 said:

B-but Naoto is the best...

I did hear she is the best character for random encounters in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth. Fast, gets both light and dark instakills, which are brokenly accurate and too often unresisted in PQ. -Though I ultimately chose not to buy the game and check for myself.

[Sooks]

Live a Live spoilers

Spoiler

After getting my bearings, I left the castle and went to to the top of the snow mountain where Yun joined. Hooray, best character!

I stumbled across Sundown Kid and chased him down the mountain then popped in that village I forgot the name of near the mountain. I went over to the bench in the corner of the village, and it just sorta started talking and then joined my party. Weird.

After that I stumbled across the trial of strength boss, who is presumably tied to Masaru since I was able to fight it. It wrecked Yun and The Bench but that made the fight easier because I didn’t have to be weighed down by their turns and Masaru wrecked it. Then I went in the trial area and grabbed all the chests. It became clear while I was walking through that one of the biggest problems of this chapter is gonna be the random encounters. It took so long to get though, way longer than it needed to. Part of that was because The Bench came with a teleport ability that replaces flee, and the animation for that takes forever. It also sometimes randomly brought me to the trial of heart, which is presumably the only way you access the trial. It was really annoying though, because I didn’t feel like doing that trial right then.

After leaving, I resumed the chase of the Sundown Kid over to the castle and recruited Cube while I was there, because I picked up the required piece… somewhere, don’t remember how tbh. Then I left and finally convinced Sundown Kid to join, at which point I learned that when you have more than fours characters you get to choose one to kick out and presumably go back to where you found them. Which means if you want to change up your party, you have to run all over the place grabbing characters, which seems annoying. I did let Sundown Kid in the party, though, and sent The Bench back to… well, his bench.

 

49 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

Not that I would know for sure, but it sounds like you're almost near the end of the game. How much playtime did it take to get where you are now?

Around 20 hours.

49 minutes ago, Lightchao42 said:

You should've picked Robo-Kirby for... whatever you picked characters for.

I picked Wrestling Anime Protag, for what it’s worth.

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, okay, looking up, I may have found an answer. The +2 is more complex than initially presented. But at least I can get the +1 from Judau fighting Mashymre without issue. Upon doing so, Judau tries to get him to remember him, or at least question the fact he may no longer remember his past, but Mashymre won't listen. So Judau decides to beat him up if he must to get him to snap out of it.

[Acacia Sgt]

So, uh, it seems this might be the first stage I might not be able to get everything. At least, not in Normal Mode. For the nature of that +2 gain, and the TacP Bonus, make it impossible to gain both as well as the SR Point. If I go for the SR Point, then I forfeit the +2 Points Gain or the TacP Bonus, and getting both means forfeiting the SR Point.

Well, looking it up, I can afford to miss out on the +2 Gain. There's more than enough wiggle room. And so Mashmyre falls in turn two.

In any case, Judau tells him to back off, but Mashmyre says it's a knight's dishonor to accept pity from your foe. His mech then recovers half its HP, shocking Judau if he's just holding off through willpower alone. Enemy reinforcements show up, and Judau considers it's time to flee. However, Mashymre won't let them, and manages to hit Judau's Jegan. The Ra Cailum shows up in the nick of time, as well as the Gundam ZZ! Astonaige brings it over to Judau, and they swap mechs. Mashymre tries to stop this, but Tobia blocks his blow. Astonaige withdraws back to the battleship, and Judao is now back in the ZZ. He tells Tobia to clear out and attacks Mashymre with the High-Mega Cannon, sending the Zaku III Custom's HP back to zero. Judau and Tobia now move towards the Ra Cailum, and the rest of the party can deploy now. Kamille gives Judau a slight scolding, and while Tobia tries to apoligize about taking the X1, Kincade tells him he was planning to hand it over anyway.

Haman herself now deploys, ordering Mashymre to stand down, to which he complies and retreats. She tells Judau and Tobia that for taking the trouble of visiting her, she'll give them three minutes of combat. As usual, that translates to three turns.

Now, the TacP Bonus is to defeat her. And the +2 condition is basically an either of with Mashymre. Defeat one, but not the other, and the +2 is yours. Hence why it's incompatible with getting all three of the SR Point, TacP Bonus, and the +2 Points Gain. Well, I gave up on the last one. So... time to unleash it all!

Enemies are the usual suspects of Gaza D's, Zsaas, and Dreissens... but also Haman in her Qubeley. Fortunately, she moves towards you right away, so despite the distance, you only lose a turn at worst getting close.

And score! Got her down! Judau demands to know why she didn't used her Funnels during the fight... wait, did she even had them in her weapon list? Didn't checked. In any case, Haman says she was holding back, but sees that in our current strength, she now plans to fight to her fullest next time. She moves back towards the colony, and then more MS's show up. Bright orders a retreat, and Judau swears that this isn't over and he'll settle things, which Haman looks forward to.

Now in safety, Kamille tries to scold Judau for his actions, but Tobia and Kincade say it was worth it. Judau comments he had a nagging feeling that finally got cleared up after this. He won't waver anymore. But he is aware he went out of line, but at this point Kamille says to forget it, he's just glad he's okay. Specially mentally. He brings up how Quattro became more haunted after having saw Haman again. At this point it's no secret Quattro is Char, who has gone MIA after the Gryps Conflict. Kamille brings up that Haman captivates the attention of the people around her, and having past history with her, Quattro, or rather Char, became more reckless. He then says he was worried about Judau meeting up with Haman, but it seems he had nothing to worry about after all. Still, Judau declares he will be more alert from now on. Upon Tobia asking, Fa brings up Quattro was Kamille's mentor in the days of the AEUG, and Beecha declares he wants to outdo him. Hence why he's piloting the Hyaku Shiki. As it stands, few among those currently present met him, and while Kamille doesn't consider himself to be up to par with the MIA Quattro, Judau says he can vouch for his strength and mentorship. Just then, Saizo says they got a message from Captain Bright. They'll descend on Earth and rendezvous with the Nadesico. Thus the route split ends.

Meanwhile, at the Axis asteroid, August is reporting to Glemy about Haman's return. Rakan comments Londo Bell didn't used up the intel they gave them. It seems the whole thing was a set-up for a coup. Reveal Haman's location to Londo Bell while she's at her possibly weakest, and get rid of her. Still, Glemy isn't too fussed about it, saying it may be up to him after all to bring forth Haman's demise. There is an upcoming operation, and Glemy wants to take full credit of it. Rakan says he'll take command of 'that' thing. Glemy plans to seize control of both Neo Zeon and the Earth, and create a new world order. And the stage ends.

Edited November 28, 2022 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

And that's it for today. I see the crew of the other route split are back in for the intermission. I suppose the actual introductions and story updates will be said once I begin the next map. Though that's for next time.

[Armagon]

Man, the later stages of Gunvolt 3 on Merciless must be really strict with the S+ rankings, let alone S++.

I can't believe they put Alear in Gunvolt 3.