Serenes Forest's Teehee Thread

[Saint Rubenio]

You know, one of these days Nintendo should really try releasing one of their big-name games two weeks before release date. Catch all the leakers off-guard.

[Armagon]

10 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You know, one of these days Nintendo should really try releasing one of their big-name games two weeks before release date. Catch all the leakers off-guard.

Animal Crossing moment.

[Acacia Sgt]

7 minutes ago, Armagon said:

Animal Crossing moment.

Wait, that actually happened?

[Armagon]

Just now, Acacia Sgt said:

Wait, that actually happened?

No I'm referencing the meme.

[Acacia Sgt]

Sorry, don't know which one you're referring to.

Still no dice trying to find it.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Codename Shrimp]

Hmmm

Aside from cute Zelink interactions and some lore stuff not a fan so far.

Also why so many secret stones

Edited October 18, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[GuardianSing]

Oh I played this chapter a day ago but completely forgot to write about it.

Kicking up stones in the Black Sea.

Ignore the dozens of Beorc gentry and monarchy that is unchanging and have the final say on how the country will always be run.

Would it be weird to say I want to kiss all of them?

Her best

So after saying this I was expecting her to declare this war unjust and a clear grab for racial supremacy and genocide so she decides to join arms with alliance to defend against the Empire. But instead...

"Yeah you guys can fight, but can you take it outside the bar please?"

Ah, so he is a gay stereotype.

At this point all I need to do is put Ike in enemy range without a weapon, watch him draw them in and dodge all their attacks, and then hit back.

Well on the bright side this means like the Empire will have lost their only competent general so this should make the war much easier-

Thank god for Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and nationality.

3 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

😞

It's sad,  how we never learn.

And honestly, times like these made me doubt the ideals and values i grew up with, with how fast they are thrown to the wind...

I've always found it interesting that for as long as humans have been exploiting we have also been trying not to exploit. Philosophy has always been there to discern what is right or wrong, always with the basic tenets of "Murder is wrong and theft is wrong" Ideas that, on their own if all people followed them from the dawn of Civilization, would've probably created a much healthier society.

Yet no matter how many times despotism seems to take the reigns, there are always those withing a society who would fight against it, the human capacity for empathy is never routed out completely.

Of course to be against the status quo is to take the path of least resistance, and ultimately most people just want to live their lives even if means being complacent to the horrors of the current world. So I always thought there was a strength in staying true to values and ideals, appealing to that innate human empathy even if it's just sharing progressive ideas online.

Ultimately I feel as though our brains are primitive things not made for this kind of society. Only for a couple thousand years we've been doing civilization and engaging in a settled lifestyle completely unlike the ones during the neolithic period, and yet we still have that same caveman brain that hasn't evolved since over a million years ago and has not caught up with how we run things now.

And yet we are still capable of being better, still capable of being more empathetic rather than selfish. There are millions of people on this planet who believe in something better for all of us collectively and I would much rather stay hopeful for the future than fall into nihilistic despair and become part of the same apathetic people who gave us that despair in the first place.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

16 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Ignore the dozens of Beorc gentry and monarchy that is unchanging and have the final say on how the country will always be run.

As if the plan to implement change didn't include those.

16 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Would it be weird to say I want to kiss all of them?

No...?

16 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

And yet we are still capable of being better, still capable of being more empathetic rather than selfish. There are millions of people on this planet who believe in something better for all of us collectively and I would much rather stay hopeful for the future than fall into nihilistic despair and become part of the same apathetic people who gave us that despair in the first place.

It's the seemingly never-ending struggle... but one we can't afford to give up on, aye.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Armagon]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Sorry, don't know which one you're referring to.

Still no dice trying to find it.

Someone posted this unironically.

29 minutes ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

Hmmm

Aside from cute Zelink interactions and some lore stuff not a fan so far.

Also why so many secret stones

Oof.

What don't you like about it is it stamina?

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Armagon said:

Someone posted this unironically.

Ah, I see.

*looks at release year*

I totally get it.

[Armagon]

30 minutes ago, GuardianSing said:

Ultimately I feel as though our brains are primitive things not made for this kind of society. Only for a couple thousand years we've been doing civilization and engaging in a settled lifestyle completely unlike the ones during the neolithic period, and yet we still have that same caveman brain that hasn't evolved since over a million years ago and has not caught up with how we run things now.

I will say that while humanity's capacity for destruction is unmatched.....we are not the only creatures with homicidal tendencies. In fact, we are outranked by the meerkat, who kill members of their own kind for shits and giggles. Chimps will also brutally maul other chimps, humans and even young gorilla.

Don't even get me started on orcas and dolphins. Or zebras. For orcas, it's at leas pre-meditated.

Of course, our unique capacity to recognize right from wrong makes us worse in this way.

[Armagon]

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, had to send the laptop for an internal cleanup. So mobile for now.

[GuardianSing]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

I will say that while humanity's capacity for destruction is unmatched.....we are not the only creatures with homicidal tendencies. In fact, we are outranked by the meerkat, who kill members of their own kind for shits and giggles. Chimps will also brutally maul other chimps, humans and even young gorilla.

Don't even get me started on orcas and dolphins. Or zebras. For orcas, it's at leas pre-meditated.

Of course, our unique capacity to recognize right from wrong makes us worse in this way.

There is something to be said about how strong our innate human empathy for other humans is when in order to get one group to hate the other, there has to be an immense amount of dehumanization. It's only when you can convince a people that the other aren't human when you can get away with hate and discrimination. Our brains are so wired to look for the humanity in things that it can be difficult to push it away. Historically that's why groups would be segregated and lies be told about the other. Lies of inhuman nature, like not being able to feel pain so it's okay to attack them, or not able to feel emotion so they must always be selfish.

Sometimes people like to bring up the Christmas truce during World War 1 in where unofficial cease happened all across the frontlines as French and German troops would meet up in the fields to celebrate together, and that's an incredible feat of humanity, but what's often not talked about is how at that time the general's of the respective sides were horrified that stuff like this could happen because if their troops saw the enemy as human then it would be much harder to get them to kill them. And across World War 2 it was a priority to make sure something like that could never happen again.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

Okay, got my mother's laptop to use instead. Too bad this means no Steam games for a little while. Well, it's fine. As for writing, I've actually been using a one-man PM here as a temporary place before moving it to the Word file.

[Eltosian Kadath]

 

10 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

On the flip side, I already have over 1.3K words, and the battle itself would be the final scene of the chapter. Thing is, I am set with my minimum requirement of 2.5K words per chapter, and I feel I already stretched things a bit for the scenes before, so it's either put effort for the fight scenes, or have the chapter end up shorter.

You could always follow in the footsteps of well known fiction writer J.R.R. Tolkein, and use the perspective of someone knocked out 5 minutes into the battle, so you only have to spend a few pages talking about the battle of five armies in retrospect.

 

3 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Would it be weird to say I want to kiss all of them?

That is a very normal bi reaction to the Herons.

 

3 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Her best

No, no, no, its last game where she is an Est like Nino.

 

3 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

 

At this point all I need to do is put Ike in enemy range without a weapon, watch him draw them in and dodge all their attacks, and then hit back.

Classic RD Ike, even when he isn't killing stuff, he extra trivializes the map.

 

3 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Well on the bright side this means like the Empire will have lost their only competent general so this should make the war much easier-

Classic imperial competent general pickle, as generals become competent, they become threats to the empire itself, but you need competent generals to deal with threats to the empire...

 

Not to pester folks too much, but any idea when TeeHee madness starts up again?

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Played no video games today. From like 11:00 AM to a little after 10:00PM, I've spent it typing out meaningless unorganized thoughts.:

Unrestricted major spoilers for Xenogears and Xenosaga.:

Spoiler

Wilhelm…

• Wilhelm is concerned with the preservation of the universe (in the form of Eternal Recurrence). That is a goal on a much more macrocosmic scale than many other villains aspire to.
  • Therefore, in the hierarchy of licensed villains within the story, would Wilhelm end up towards the very top?
• Would the Banpresto Original Villain have to match or exceed Wilhelm’s scope?
  • What would Wilhelm’s relation to the OG villain be? A servant? Someone with shared, yet in an important way very different, goals? Would the OG villain be the polar opposite of Wilhelm, one yearning for the destruction of the universe/Chaos Unlimited?
  • Wilhelm is also a villain who doesn't actually die, he merely steps aside after having been defeated. Weird, but that's a cosmic entity donning human form for you.
• Wilhelm is Vector’s CEO, and the leader of Hyams/U-TIC/Ormus, and the Galaxy Federation president.
  • Hypothetically, he could be other leaders under some kind of illusory disguise, I don’t see a problem with giving him such a power.
    • But that’d be going too far I would say. Mostly. If someone is important enough to have a face and active role in the SRW narrative, I wouldn’t have it all be a lie with Wilhelm their true identity.
    • However! If there is a lead governmental leader in another license who doesn’t actually show in the plot, then maybe it would be fine to write in them as actually Wilhelm in a single line of text during the Xenosaga finale. -If the other license group reasonably fits into Wilhelm’s plans.
  • Eternal Recurrence leads me to ponder- has Wilhelm done this before? Does he remember doing so? *Cue Z’s Advent and his ridiculously long attack which I read designed to kill the heroes by forcing the unending cycle of life-death-rebirth and suffering on them.*
    • If Xenogears with Xenosaga, then perhaps Xenogears becomes a strange remnant from the prior timeline, which would explain how it has a Zohar, and Anima Relics, and a Wave Existence. Wilhelm is not happy with this, though as always he isn’t worried about this glitch preventing another successful Recurrence.

 

Both Gears & Saga in one…

Michtam

• One of the first issues that springs to mind is the matter of Michtam.
  • The planet where tests on Deus were carried out. The results being a boy becoming the Contact and Deus going berserk and devastating a human colony on the planet, causing both Deus and the human survivors to be loaded aboard the Eldridge.
  • The planet where the Zohar ends up after Yuriev’s defeat, where the final events of the Xenosaga trilogy take place. Jan Sauer one-hundred years prior died only to be recycled into Ziggurat-8.
  • Two similar, but quite distinct Michtams. Ziggy is my primary concern here. He can’t be 10000 years old.

 

The Zohar

• Two very similar objects. Both are golden rectangles that can function as infinite power generators connected to a higher spiritual plane of existence.
• Technically, we could get away with a single Zohar, which would have to be on the planet of Xenogears. We forget about Saga Michtam, though it still exists in the lore for Ziggy’s sake.
• Now, how do we resolve the matter of competing uses for the Zohar? For Deus. For Zarathustra.
  • Do we resolve Xenogears first, and then Xenosaga? Basically, doing what Episode III did, just swapping Yuriev and Omega-Metempsychosis in Abel’s Ark for Deus.
• Xenogears or Xenosaga by itself, the Zohar has no issues integrating with other licenses. What would be curious though, is if any other license took an interest in acquiring this source of boundless power able to fuel the superweapon of anyone’s dreams.

 

On Yuriev in SRW…

• If we’re talking just Xenosaga, then yes, there is almost certainly room for Yuriev. An NPC villain of sufficient importance to make it into SRW. Technically the one in control of Omega Metempsychosis, he even gets absorbed into it, even though Abel is the “pilot”.
  • A shame Xenosaga didn't exist when Alpha Gaiden did. The U.R.T.V.s loosely remind me of the Machinery Children, except the URTV "Variants" were created after the mass-production units, the opposite of the Machinery Children. -And the Machinery Children are all evil while 2/3 of the variants aren't.
• Having significant though not total control over the Galaxy Federation and a significant private army give Yuriev some presence. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of him making alliances with other licenses.
• If we’re talking Saga + Gears, then maybe nix Yuriev. I’m not sure there is enough room for him. We don’t want too many Xeno NPCs. SRW has only so much room for talking heads who don’t ever fight.
  • What about Jr.? He can stay. If we’re pairing Gears and Saga, Yuriev can still exist in lore. He could easily become one who assists Miang in the resurrection of Deus. That replacing his Merkabah and Omega efforts in Xenosaga.
    • We would need to explain away how he no longer exists however, given Yuriev had body-transfer powers to keep him alive forever as long as he had a potential host.
    • Of course, we could just delete that power from Yuriev and say Miang killed him or something. Or Wilhelm could do it, he doesn’t care for Yuriev already.
    • Yes, removing Yuriev undercuts Jr.’s story, but then there wouldn’t be room for all of his in the first place, he would have to settle for Albedo alone.
    • On the positive side, if we kill off Yuriev, Gaigun doesn’t have to die. He can be a Supporter if those are around, or he can captain the Durandal perhaps.
  • Saga Merkabah doesn’t exist. Proto-Merkabah possibly goes away too, or maybe it stays as a Yuriev-led effort to restore Deus. Saga Merkabah isn’t necessary, because Deus chooses to assimilate the Xenogears planet.

Miang/Myyah (official English translation vs. the more-accurate/official-in-Japan name) Hawwa:

• If we have both Gears & Saga, how does the Big Bad of XG (well, Deus is, but Deus is silent, Myyah is practically its voice) interact with XS?
  • I would say that Miang and Wilhelm are enemies.
    • Wilhelm needs the Zohar for carrying out the Eternal Recurrence to preserve the universe.
    • Miang is the Complement- a program not so concerned with the preservation of the universe. A resurrected, universe-conquering Deus is her sole desire. She needs the Zohar to power Deus.
    • If Deus has the Zohar, then Wilhelm cannot. The inherent contradiction.
  • Now, Yuriev likewise tried using the Zohar for Omega-Metempsychosis. He made his gambit, and the heroes defeated him without him ever realizing the truth of Wilhelm.
    • Myyah, as the lead villain of Xenogears, I would think should be smarter than that, more aware of what Wilhelm wants/intends. Even if the natural thing would probably be to kill her before defeating him.
  • Since the Complement is related to the Antitype, if we make Elly Nephilim in physical reincarnation, then Myyah should be given awareness of U-DO without going insane. Though the Complement would not if the Antitype is made a living terminal, herself be a terminal, except upon her re-merging with the Antitype at the moment of Deus’s resurrection.

• Considering Deus involves the beginnings of the absorption of an entire planet, maybe it finishes rather late in an SRW’s flow chart.
  • Yet, a certain Gundam reminds me that you can always change the assimilation target. Heck assimilation wasn’t even part of the original plan within Xenogears.
• Myyah is a manipulator, who doesn’t work in the anonymous shadows quite as much as Wilhelm. She ought to do some cross-license diplomacy well.

Grahf

• NEED HIM! He is simply too important not to include. And he’s AWESOME too!
• He can canonically can fight giant (~16-meter) robots with his bare fists, very effectively.
• He can also with a fanciful incantation give giant robots a huge power boost. He might feel like doing it while a fight is underway, dread his mid-battle appearance in SRW!
  • W/Could Grahf do this to another license’s mech? Probably not, as the way he does it is by using his powers as the remnant of a Contact to force the Zohar to pour more of its infinite energy into the Slave Generator of a Gear, all Slave Generators being connected to the Zohar (though 99% of people don’t know this).
    • Nonetheless, it’s be sweeeeeet if Grahf did.

Karellen

• The Last of the Big Three villains in Xenogears. -Yet why do I think you could completely drop him in SRW without any issues? He is never fought, shows up last, and just feels like the least important of the three.

Ramsus

• A viable grunt commander for Solaris, he would show up, with frequency.

The Elements

• Four anime girls with angelic names who work for Ramsus. Maybe, as minor faced grunts.

Emperor Cain and the Gazel Ministry

• NPCs of some importance, yet ultimately only noncombatant figureheads. They get dropped without a second thought.

 

On the Wave Existence and U-DO

• Gears alone, the Wave Existence is incredibly aloof, it needn’t have any real interaction with the other licenses.
• Saga alone, U-DO is a pretty big deal in XS. I’m only 95%-joking when I say they could make Newtype powers the result of living in space resulting in increased U-DO sensitivity. (Not Xenogears/saga would necessitate any particular Gundam subseries. IDK which might work best, but Gundam is mostly not what I think of as having a lot of good interweaving with Gears/Saga.) Having U-DO have some relevance/be of some concern to the other licenses would make sense.
• If we have both Gears and Saga, we have no need for the Wave Existence. U-DO is a much more fleshed-out version of the Wave Existence.
  • XG Abel and XS Abel.
    • I think one reasonable solution would be to have XG Abel as the last person to make a full, perfect, unparalleled contact with U-DO. Such a reaction would change all humans’ perceptions of U-DO’s Abel terminal to that of the young Contact Abel.
      • Alternatively, U-DO Abel no longer exists. The Contact became U-DO’s living independently-living terminal, and this becomes the explanation as to why the Contact reincarnates. An U-DO “Abel” might’ve existed prior to the Contact, but becomes one with the Contact once the Contact happened.
    • Fei would resulting be woven into Xenosaga as a human who as a result of his past life’s incident has powers similar to chaos’s over Anima. After all, Fei can already utilize all Anima Relics as stated in XG lore, even if he never uses one.
    • Now, concerning the Omega-Metempsychosis. If there is no U-DO Abel independent of Fei, then does Fei become the pilot of the Omega-Res Novae > O-M?
      • How to do this? Well, Deus does crave the integration of the Contact. Fei is forced into Omega, or perhaps Weltall is itself Omega and that is merely transformed as Deus wills it.
        • Then, the heroes fight Omega-Metempsychosis. Once it hits 0 HP, Grahf-Wiseman does his thing and Fei finally reunites his split personality. This splinters Fei and Weltall from the Zohar, and thus Omega-Metempsychosis is reborn as the Xenogears. Grahf challenges Fei and everyone else to one last fight, he admits defeat, and then stays behind to keep Fei unassimilated. The heroes can’t destroy the Zohar, so they leave the premises.
        • White Testament never shows up to claim the Zohar, it remains affixed in Deus. He doesn’t show up until after the Xenogears final battle, when Deus has been destroyed and the Uroboros defeated. With this, Miang/Deus is completely gone and Albedo takes the Zohar for Wilhelm.
        • -But the Zohar isn’t where the core of Deus is located in XG! Well, Albedo could still show up to mention it to the heroes and fight Jr. right there. Or, we have Albedo show up in the Xenosaga final battle. We actually get to fight White Testament in the E.S. Simeon, which never happened in XS, alongside Red Testament in the E.S. Judah, which again was never fought. And perhaps we throw in Black Testament in his E.S. Dan as well. -Then after they’ve all been defeated, the Vessels of Anima are taken and Zarathustra is fought.
• The Wave Existence in the Zohar
  
  • This is only a thing in Xenogears, at least in the present. Though of course, U-DO Abel ends up piloting the Zohar-integrated Omega-Metempsychosis, being the only one able to handle it.
  • I don’t think XG+XS would require it. It wouldn’t be a bad idea, but Wilhelm already needs U-DO’s terminals gone from this world and the Zohar to power Zarathustra.

Vessels of Anima Relics

• • There 12 of these in each game, having the same Biblical names. Xenosaga uses all 12, I don’t think XG does. XS’s are more much important/detailed than XG’s.
  • Hmm… if Xenosaga can create Zohar Emulators, some of the Vessels and or Relics can be artificial creations. But which?

Nephilim, Elly, Abel.

• Nephilim is basically the Contact of Xenosaga -not that the games themselves explain this.😑
• Well, she does look like Elly ofc. If we have both Xenogears and Xenosaga, then do we need Nephilim? I would say… maybe not?
• Chronologically, Nephilim’s contact with U-DO well precedes Abel’s contact with the WE. In XG+XS I would say we could bend Abel’s desire.
  • When he encountered U-DO, Nephilim showed up having finally found a true kindred soul just like her chose to remain beside him, despite the fact he maintained a physical existence. U-DO took notice of this and implanted itself in Abel to observe Nephilim from the Real Domain as in XS lore.
  • When Abel was killed by Emperor Cain, Abel yearned to remain with Nephilim, and the still-spiritual Nephilim lamented Abel’s corporeal death and willed herself through U-DO’s power back into a physical form beside him. Thus, U-DO reincarnates the Contact and Antitype, two U-DO Real Domain terminals, observing each other -the two most curious individuals U-DO ever encountered- and humanity alike.
  • This would actually put Elhaym and Fei on the same power level. As opposed to making him the much more powerful one in need of Elly merely to stabilize his powers.

Gnosis

• Xenosaga’s unique monstrous addition. A huge threat to people throughout the universe. Gnosis are mindless enough that it’s possible to contain and manipulate them.
• But, I’m not exactly sure of how they could be utilized in SRW. They worked as random encounter pawns and unexplained T-elos battle companions in Endless Frontier. Yet for mainline SRW, nobody is seriously using these as pawns in Xenosaga, I think.
• However, while U-TIC/Ormus/the Immigrant Fleet have grunts, the Testaments do not. The Gnosis could be thrown in to serve as kill-fodder for the heroes when fighting them. -Or you could do the Zeorymer thing and have other licenses provide grunt villains for those occasions.

The U.M.N.

• The Unus Mundus Network. A “virtual” reality/information network that is in fact built upon the Collective Unconscious of humanity. Xenosaga makes varying degrees of use of this, depending on the game, alongside actual dives into people’s memories and consciousnesses.
• Thus, Xenosaga wouldn’t be out of water if paired with a license with a virtual world.
  • Perhaps this could even explain how Lost Jerusalem is found again, the crossing of two different virtual worlds. Which leads people in the Galaxy Federation to figure out where the non-U.M.N. world is and then discover Lost Jerusalem.

The T-elos conundrum.

• T-elos has made a few crossover appearances, including an SRW spinoff. Yet, T-elos runs into one seriously awkward problem for SRW itself- she doesn’t have a mech.
• Fighting solely on foot isn’t an insurmountable problem, she’s an android, that can be good enough. But when everyone else is in a giant robot, including her comrades that does come off as strange.
• However, T-elos is kinda paired with Red Testament, who has an E.S.. Three out of four of the heroes’ E.S. units have two-seater cockpits. Just slide T-elos into the E.S. Judah, and after the Judah is defeated, KOS-MOS and T-elos jump out to continue fighting until KOS-MOS defeats her.

The Four Testaments:

• Red, Blue, White and Black, one color off from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
• They all have E.S. mechs means they can fight. And they’re Wilhelm’s closest servants, no disguises.
  • Black and Blue are low on the plot totem pole, Red and White are high. Ironic a tad, as Red and White are never fought in their E.S. units, while Blue and Black are.
  • Inclusion in SRW? Red and White almost certainly. Black and Blue are maybes.

Margulis and Pellegri:

• As leaders of U-TIC/Ormus who have E.S. units, they’re pretty worthy of inclusion.
• Richard and Hermann have the other two Ormus E.S., but they’re pretty irrelevant. They could be kept for low-ranking grunt commanders, yet are otherwise forgettable.

Likely playable roster for Xenogears.:

• Fei
• Elly
• Citan
• Bart

These are the core four I don’t think we can do without. Hero, Heroine, and two very important characters.

As for the other playables of …

• Rico and Billy get Omnigears eventually, but have their plot relevance confined to their self-contained episodes. Rico’s arc being infamously left unfinished.
• Maria is the same as R&B but even worse narratively.
  • While she never got an Omnigear, the Seibzehn is a strong, big (by XG’s standards) mech. And a scrapped Omnigear-Seibzehn design exists, which by Layzner Mk.II and Great Zeorymer, SRW could resurrect.
• Emeralda from a lore perspective is more important than the above three, for what she is, not for herself. She does have the Crescens though, and an unused Omnigear Crescens design exist.
• Chu-Chu… Only as a joke ala Giant Sang-Yung or Bonta-kun. Otherwise this giant Furby doesn’t exist or is relegated to a Supporter.

For Xenosaga, all seven playable characters get included. No questioning it. They all pair up nicely into just four E.S. units.

• Narratively though, things are going to have to be trimmed down to focus on the big Xenosaga picture. With Shion and KOS-MOS getting most of the spotlight, maybe a little for Jr., MOMO, and Jin. Ziggy will have to settle for the least, while chaos… Xenosaga itself was too rushed to properly explain him as is.

Shipping-

• Xenogears has the Yggdrasil (Sigurd as captain, Maison as sub-pilot could work). It is shown have depth charges and anti-air missiles. Yet it’s not really a battleship. The silly one-time Macross reference (or so I’m told) does have it shoot a laser from the bow, which is supposed to be fairly strong. So I guess it has enough weapons to be an SRW battleship.
  • Yggdrasil I & II are only able to sail on sand and then sea. It takes until Shevat for the upgrade to Yggdrasil III for it to become flight capable.
• Xenosaga has the Elsa, which does have a set of lasers. But really, it’s much too small. It doesn’t have room for storing more giant robots than just the four E.S. units.
• Xenosaga also has the Durandal (perhaps Gaigun as “captain”, Mary and Shelley as sub-pilots as well), which is combat-capable.
  • And it’s 4000 meters long. The Dreisstrager of SRW30 is only half of that. Albeit the Durandal is very narrow and pointy so the length is misleading. It ought to be feasible for an SRW battleship.

Potential Secrets…

• For Xenogears…
  • Ramsus in the Vendetta comes to mind. Honestly, Ramsus seems so obvious for lategame playability I’m not sure he even needs to be a secret. He doesn’t die in the XG story as is. But still, he is the best choice Xenogears has for a secret I think.
  • The G-Elements is another option. Who doesn’t like a four-seater cartoon-worthy Super Robot?
  • Grahf in the Alpha Weltall would be AWESOME! He does believe in Fei in the end. Maybe we could get him for the endgame after Deus is destroyed.
• For Xenosaga…
  • Red (E.S. Judah) and White (E.S. Simeon) Testaments could maybe join. Albeit, being Testaments whose lives rest on Wilhelm’s power, they would need a little justification for how they survive his defeat. Both villains, but then SRW has let GUNxSWORD Fasalina and Michael survive.
    • If you’re sparing Red Testament, then sparing T-elos sounds feasible too, if you make her a sub-pilot of the Judah.
  • Margulis (E.S. Levi) and Pelligri (E.S. Issachar) are other villain-turned last-minute ally choices. These two died unhappily with a strong feeling of betrayal as is.
  • Maybe a silly unlockable Erde Kaiser attack for the E.S. Dinah? Or as a Supporter if they bring those back again.

Important Events from Xenogears to Consider Replicating on SRW Maps:

• Lahan on Fire
  • Fei’s first battle in Weltall, and the first awakening of Id. The day when everything changed for him.
  • Would happen early on, possibly as a “Prologue” battle at the start of the game where you don’t get to keep anyone from it.
  • I would be inclined to slip in another license in the mix, allied to the Gebler and or Kislev forces. -But if any of them are heroes, they gotta escape before Fei goes Id and destroys everything.
  • Slip into the post-battle dialogue Fei’s exile from Lahan and first encounter with Elly.
• Fei’s First Encounter with Bart
  • Again, add other licenses to this. …Actually that is probably true of many/most fights.
• Fei’s Fight Against Elly/His Second Encounter With Grahf
  • Again, the latter, as it results in Id’s awakening again, happens in isolation, no heroes are around to see it. They don’t until Solaris.
• Fei’s Imprisonment in Kislev
  • Nortune the capital of Kislev is home to Gear Battling of a special kind. That gives me an idea.
  • Beyond that? The conclusion sees Elly leave Gebler/Solaris and join Fei, that’s important.
  • After this, during the stealing of the Goliath, Grahf attacks Rico and Fei in their Gears while he is on foot, and deals some heavy damage to them. An awesome scene SRW would have fun adapting.
• Ramsus Injures Fei
  • The event that leads to the Thames and Billy’s little part of the story.
• The Defense of Shevat
  • This is a good “Early-Midpoint” if SRW wanted to start at one. Most of the heroes are gathered, they have Gears, they’re fighting Solaris the Big Bad organization. That’s good.
• The Defeat of Shakhan
  • The last of Grahf’s “Do you seek the power?” scenes. Meme-worthy and something fun for SRW to replicate.
    • We almost certainly leave out Bishop Stein, the second Grahf power-giving. The whole “sham church that had pedophilia” thing, and the fact it’s a good bit of its relevance is limited to Billy’s part of the story, makes me think so.
• The Invasion of Solaris
  • Ends with Id reducing the floating city in the sky to falling scrap. A dramatic almost-conclusion to Xenogears Disc 1.
  • -The problem is that this is done all on-foot in XG.
  • The prior revealing of Solaris’s location
• Ramsus Injures Fei 2/Fei Defeats Ramsus Again
  • This is the actual event that ends the lengthy Disc 1.
  • The second thing is the first thing Fei does with his newly-upgraded Weltall-2.
• Disc 2 Stuff
  • It all turns into a poorly-presented blur here, even boatloads of revelations and world-changing events happen. And the villain goes from being the now-destroyed Solaris, to the mindless Seraph Angels (“Aeons” in Japanese) of a slowly-awakening Deus.
  • The Gears Crucifixion Scene Where Elly Gets Captured
    • Elly has to be captured for Deus’s Resurrection, but please don’t replicate this scene.
  • Fight with Ramsus and Miang Inside Mahanon
  • Fei Makes Contact with the Zohar
    • It’s the moment where he finally reunites his personality. And the Weltall-2 is upgraded into the Xenogears, totally worth including.

On the Big Villain Thingy of Xenogears

• As the old saying goes- “Potaytoh, Potahtoe. Tomaytoh, Tomahtoe. Neviim, Merkabah. Judecca, Deus. Megillot (et al.), Seraph Angels.”.
• Sooooo yeah, SRW has totally done this before.😄 -Except for the part where Deus decides to assimilate and terraform the unnamed Xenogears planet instead of getting placed in a mobile space-capable fortress. -But then that's kinda sorta what Septuagint was attempting.
• Merkabah is also a thing in Xenosaga, albeit not as important.

Xenosaga Events…

• These are more difficult to figure out.😵‍💫
• The heroes’ E.S. don’t show up until Episode III. While the heroes fight mechs on-foot in both prior Episodes, it ain’t quite the same.
• Shion, Jr. and chaos can use A.G.W.S. in Episode I, but only them. Not sure why, and it’s not at all important.
• Starting from Episode III would make things very in media res. Maybe too much so. Do we then mess with things to rewrite some Episode II or even I (which would mean no playable Jin from the start without even more rewriting) events with the E.S. units obtained already?
• Episode III is also problematic, since a large chunk of the game is spend stuck in the “past” aka Shion’s mind. And once the heroes get out of that with the start of Disc 2, things spiral into one heckuva rush to finish the ‘saga.
• Honestly, I’m not sure where to go with Xenosaga. The end is certain though. We fight Omega-Metempsychosis, somewhere, anywhere. And then later Margulis and Pellegri, and at least Red Testament, and things finish with Zarathustra.

Lost Jerusalem:

• Aka “Earth”. In Xenosaga, while Rennes-le-Chateau is a chunk of Lost Jerusalem (which would have to be written around in) the story ends with humanity only beginning the process trying to find their long-lost home planet.
• Need it not be said, discovering Lost Jerusalem would be reason for everyone from Xenosaga to end up on a planet occupied by Gundams and Mazinger and the rest. With Hyperspace transfer columns for faster-than-light travel, getting to Lost Jerusalem after discovering it would take no time at all.
• It isn’t possible to relocate every single Xenosaga event -namely those that happened on Miltia- to Earth. But some relocation ought to be possible.
  • Speaking of Miltia- do we bring that forsaken planet into the mix? Not if Xenogears is also included, too many non-Earth planets then. But without XG, a BIG maybe, if there are any license can be intermixed.

Mecha Anime Licenses I Know That Could Possibly Get Mixed With Xenogears or Xenosaga

• SPT Layzner
  • The big secret of Grados is that the Gradosians originally came from Earth. This would work with both Xenogears and especially Xenosaga very well.
    • Being Real is nice too, because ‘Gears & ‘Saga both feel firmly Real narratively speaking. Even though the presence of more fantastical ideas, yet not portrayed over-the-top, would make Gears/Saga work well enough with some Super series too.
• Grendizer and Daimos
  • -Xenosaga specifically
  • Both of these have evil aliens who are in fact refugees. As the Gnosis are a galactic threat in Xenosaga, it wouldn’t be impossible to write it that the cause for Vegans’/Bharmians’ flight is their home planets being overwhelmed by Gnosis.
• L-Gaim
  • Just because it seems like an choice to fit a settlement of (a perfect copy of the capital?) somewhere on the Xenogears planet, or something that could also exist in the depths of space alongside Xenosaga.
• Getter Robo Armageddon and GaoGaiGar Final
  • -Xenosaga specifically.
  • The Conqueror’s Thralls and Triple Zero(?) things are basically mindless aliens, no? The more the merrier I say if they can be mixed them with the Gnosis.
• G Gundam
  • -Xenogears only.
  • G Gundam I get the sense is cheesy with lots of flashy action and rather little plot by Gundam standards. Xenogears eventually become very cerebral from an overabundance of backstory. These two do not appear as if they should mix.
  • Yet, I see a glimmer of possibility. This is mostly derived from Grahf and Master Asia. Two old martial art badasses, them teaming up would be incredible.🤩
    • Domon and Fei don’t have much in common, despite both being martial artists with fisticuff mecha. Domon is very decisive, and easily angered. Fei is hesitant, affected by a split personality, and caught up in events much greater than he could initially ever imagine.
    • The Devil Gundam makes me think of a radical change to the world of G Gundam.  That Domon’s father came the unnamed Xenogears planet, as a lead researcher in Solaris who acquired some knowledge of Deus and used it as the basis for the Ultimate Gundam. -Or perhaps Domon’s father is still an Earthling, who somehow ended up on the Xenogears’ planet years prior and escaped back to Earth.
    • If we send the Devil Gundam to the Xenogears planet, Domon will give pursuit, perhaps with the rest of the Shuffle Alliance in tow.
      • -Now what if they got in over their heads upon arrival and got imprisoned in Kislev? The place where a special form of combat exists called Gear Battling, which gameplay-wise took the form in XG of a very simple 1 vs. 1 3D-fighting minigame.
      • And of course, Fei, Rico (himself a visual reference to a Street Fighter character) and Citan are imprisoned as in Xenogears’s plot, at the same time the Shuffle Alliance get trapped there. They then all break out together!
      • Now, why the Devil Gundam ended up on the Xenogears planet, for how long it is there and if it returns to Earth, and to what extent Master Asia and Grahf are working together, are all questions I don’t have hypothetical answers to ATM.

I think I got a headache doing this.😵

...And prior musings I had done like months or even over a year ago...

Spoiler

Xenogears in SRW Plot Ideas:

• Zohar or something else teleports the unnamed planet near Earth.
  • Perhaps the planet b/c Zohar also begins invisible for the first few scenarios, only noticed initially by radar picking up on unusual spatial distortions in at coordinates XYZ.
  • Why the warp? Deus is smart, Deus wishes to devour all, might as well begin with the home planet of the species that created it.
  • …Actually, now I remember that Deus tried warping the Eldridge during Xenogears’s opening, that tech apparently already exists in XG. It’s just never seen/necessary with the plot of the game going as it does.
• When does the Xenogears planet show up near Earth? A few weeks ago? A few months, some years? How far away within the Solar System? Do invaders (possibly from other licenses) come from it? Do Earthlings send expeditionary forces to it?
• Planet needs to be occupied by some other licenses. Would justify having an entire planet more.
  • Would hold on having other licenses populate the planet off until after the Zeboim civilization population collapse, which was 6000 years after the Eldridge crashed. -Or we fudge the date on when Zeboim was. Zeboim isn’t very important, it’s flexible backstory.
    • -Actually Zeboim ended in environmental collapse and nukes, resident license aliens can provide the latter half of the recipe. Though Miang makes absolutely sure humanity is not entirely wiped out, would be inconvenient.
      • On Miang, other civilizations would be a godsend for her. Would let her find the rest of Deus’s missing pieces and resurrect it via alien technologies faster. Better than having to slowly grow a human civilization to the point of having modern scientists at least twice and rely on that alone.
    • Important thing- humans created by Deus should be the first intelligent life to settle the planet, or at least its surface.
  • Solaris needs to be engaged in cross-license diplomacy. They also need at least nominal control over the planet. Permitting others to reside it on for the sake of seeing if aliens have anything worth contributing towards Deus’s resurrection.
• Need explanation for how humanity could have built Deus over 10000 years ago and sent out the Eldridge.
• Need new target for Deus’s wrath, the devastation that leads to it being dismantled.
  • Mars? Pretend it was inhabitable a long time ago. Deus ravaged the planet enough to destroy any evidence of its habitability, leaving it a barren red husk. SRW sometimes likes Mars.
• Bending of Xenogears lore-
  • Factual backstory- The Eldridge was intended to bring refugees to another planet for relocation, to bring the the dismantled Deus for investigation as to what caused to go haywire.
  • My revised version- The survivors of the Deus incident are replaced by pioneers voluntarily wishing to send humanity into the depths of space. The Zohar is converted into the ship’s infinite power source, supposedly disconnected from Deus. The rest of Deus is brought along to examine the dangerous thing far away from the rest of human civilization.

 

Unique Pilot Skill: Ether Mastery

• Increases attack power, accuracy, and range for weapons using the Ether attribute. More effective at higher levels.
  • Ether is solely relevant for offense, I don’t recall it ever coming up with defense. So I opted to have it boost only offensive stats.
  • The range boost is there solely to give it a third bonus, as seems to be commonplace with unique Pilot Skills as of VTX. And I wanted to save a critical bonus for Hyper Mode.
• Serves as the basic Newtype & Telekinesis-styled skill that many/most/all characters belonging to a particular series possesses.
• Having this does not render the notion of “Contact” and “Antitype” skills for the main duo totally unnecessary, but this can suffice instead.

 

Unique Mech Ability: Slave Generator (S/M/L)

• Grants the “Charge” Command. Replenishes 100/150/200 EN to the user. Cannot be used after moving.
• Slave Generator (M) be provided to any unit via equipping the Z Charger part.
• Explanation:
  • All Gear attacks in Xenogears cost Fuel, barring a few Ether abilities inherited from ground combat.
  • All Gears possess a Slave Generator, which stores energy from the infinite-energy producing Zohar.
  • However, Gears do not have infinite energy in the short-term, they are not capable of receiving an unceasing flow of fuel. If a Gears burns it all off, they need to stop doing anything else and take some time to charge it back up.
  • Given these conditions, the typical EN Regen (S/M/L) of SRW does not adequately reflect the Gears. The Slave Generator command described above, ought to.
  • No Morale is lost, unlike the classic SRW Resupply, because this isn’t a full EN recharge, and it wastes the unit’s own turn, they can’t even move. It’s a major opportunity cost, so I think.

 

Unique Mech Ability: Hyper Mode (“Gear/Infinity Hyper Mode” if God/Burning Gundam ain’t happy.)

• Increases critical rate and critical hit damage. Critical rate and damage increase as HP declines. Activates at 130 Will/Morale.
• Explanation:
  • Hyper Mode is a feature added later in Xenogears, after humans have their genetic Limiters removed.
  • The requirement of 130 Morale alludes to a Gear needing to reach Attack Level 3 (perform basic attacks for three turns without following up with a Deathblow) before it has a chance of triggering Hyper Mode.
  • Hyper Mode enables use of a Gear’s strongest Deathblows, much as Will/Morale gates the strongest attacks in SRW.
  • Hyper Mode in Xenogears was not guaranteed to activate once a unit is at Attack Level 3. It is chance-based, with the chance of going into Hyper Mode at the start of every turn increasing for every 10% of a unit’s maximum HP that is presently lost IIRC.
    • For SRW, to reduce the number of intervals to write it, it’ll activate in fewer stages. I was thinking at or below: 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%.
  • Chance-based non-evasion skills don’t sound fun for SRW, so Morale would be what actually unlocks the “Hyper Deathblow Combo” of each unit. And Hyper Mode instead becomes about more critical and more critical damage, which is still chance-based.
  • Hyper Mode only lasts 3 turns before another roll of the dice has to activate it again in Xenogears. But, because it involves low HP and other robots have better uniques that are active regardless of HP, why not make it all the time in SRW?

 

Unique Mech Ability: System Id

• Command. Applies Valor and Zeal to the user. Costs 150 EN.
• Exclusive to the Weltall-2.
• Explanation:
  • An adaption of the “System Id” command the Weltall-2 gets in Xenogears, which instantly triggers Hyper Mode in exchange for a hefty Fuel cost. Still totally worth it!
  • But, eventually the Weltall-2 goes goodbye. It didn’t exactly help Fei develop his character, he got dependent on this cheat.
  • I originally considered “increases Morale to 150” as the effect, with the same cost. Since I made Morale the requirement for Hyper Mode.
  • I changed it, as it was 150 EN for an effect lasting the entire battle. I didn’t like that. So I converted it into Valor, which only lasts for one attack, and added Zeal so Fei could use the Valor right away.
  • Given you have to reapply this every turn, it is prohibitively EN expensive.
    • Sure you use Charge immediately thanks to the Zeal to negate the System Id EN cost, but then Fei has to waste his Valor on a counterattack.
      • And you’ll have to cook the situation if you want Fei to counter something specific without throwing away potential countering actions on other nearby enemies until your pick attacks.
      • Or, you’d have to wait another turn to use the Valor effect.
      • The third option constantly having a unit with Resupply on Fei will weigh down his Morale, even with the +5 Morale units always get on killing things. And it’s limiting for whoever that unit is.

 

Unique Mech Ability: Phenomenon Shift

• Grants the same critical rate and critical hit damage bonuses of Hyper Mode. However, the bonuses do not increase as HP declines, they are always at the maximum Hyper Mode can provide. Activates at 130 Morale.
• Exclusive to the Xenogears.
  • Or rather, exclusive to Fei, who is the only one who can pilot the Xenogears. So it’s same difference.
• Explanation
  • The Xenogears doesn’t have System Id like its predecessor did, but as soon as it reaches Attack Level 3, the Xenogears has a 99% chance of going into Hyper Mode at the start of its next turn.
  • The ability’s name refer’s to one of Fei’s special powers at the Contact, as described in detail in the Xenogears Perfect Works art book. Fei can fundamentally alter reality to make any possibility he desires into reality.
    • Not sure what actually explains the unexplained guaranteed Hyper Mode passive in XG for the Xenogears, but “Phenomenon Shift” sounds cool and like it could explain it.
  • I had it make it better than standard Hyper Mode b/c Fei is the main hero in the titular mech, so the low HP was undone. And to be fair, the Xenogears doesn’t have to mess around with low HP in XG, unlike its companions.
  • It’s no System Id, no more SP-free Valor & Zeal, deal with it. Xenogears felt like a downgrade from the Weltall-2 in Xenogears itself for the same reason.

 

Unique Mech Ability: HP Frame (S/M/L)

• Command. Replenishes 30/60/100% of this unit’s maximum HP. Costs 25/50/75% of this unit’s maximum EN. Cannot be used after moving.
• Not so necessary, given Vigor and Guts exist as Seishins.

 

General Statements About the Gears.:

• There aren’t really any Gear barrier technologies in XG that I can think of. So as a result, the Gears are down a form of help against attacks that they fail to dodge.
• If the Gear Deathblows look repetitive or don’t have enough pizazz, then some of the characters’ on-foot Deathblows, which are usually flashier, should be capable of being integrated into their Gear attacks.

 

Fei Fong Wong:

• Units: Weltall > Weltall-2 > Xenogears
• Ace Bonus: Casts Zeal once per battle at the start of the player phase when Morale is at 150 or higher.
• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Strike/Bullseye
  • Mercy
  • Persist
  • Valor
  • Love
  • Enable (Or Renew/Resupply if Enable isn’t around.)
• Default Skills:
  • Ether Mastery
  • Prevail/Potential
  • Support Defend

 

Weltall/Weltall-2/Xenogears:

• Attacks:
  • Attack Level 1 Combo (Raigeki > Reppu > Raigo)
    • Melee
    • Post-movement
  • Attack Level 2 Combo (Hazen > Ryuten >Juji)
    • Melee
    • Post-movement
  • Attack Level 3 Combo (Raibu > Ryubu > Shinrai)
    • Melee
    • Post-movement
    • Costs a medium-amount of EN.
  • Attack Level Hyper/Infinity Combo (Kosho X > Goten X > Kishin) (Weltall-2/Xenogears only)
    • Melee
    • Post-movement
    • Costs a large amount of EN.
    • Requires 120~130 Morale.
  • Guided Shot/Radiance/Big Bang (Upgrades for each mech.)
    • Ranged
    • Costs a small to moderate amount of EN.
    • Ether attack.
    • Requires 105-110 Morale to use.
  • Hell Wave
    • Ranged
    • Requires 115 Morale to use.
    • Combines the Thor Wave and Flaming Hell attacks of the Weltall-2.
    • Exclusive to the Weltall-2.
  • Big Bang (MAP version)
    • Ranged
    • Ether
    • No friendly-fire.
    • Costs a large amount of EN.
    • Requires 120 Morale to use.
    • Exclusive to the Xenogears.
• Full Upgrade Bonus: +100 maximum EN. +20 Mobility.
• Stat Spread:
  • HP- Average for a Real
  • Energy- Average for a Super
  • Armor- Average
  • Mobility- Average
  • Move- Average
• Size- Medium
• Terrain Ratings- A/A/B/A Land/Air/Water/Space
  • Grounded and cannot fly.
• Mech Abilities:
  • Slave Generator (S/M/L) (Increases by one tier with each upgrade.)
  • Hyper Mode (Weltall-2 only)
  • Phenomenon Shift (Xenogears only)
• Additional Xenogears-Specific Changes:
  • Xenogears can fly and can be grounded.
  • Xenogears gains EN Regen (M)
  • Xenogears changes all non-Ether attacks to Ether.
  • Xenogears receives significant increases to non-weapon stats, including +1 Move. Which receive no increases at all when going from Weltall to Weltall-2.
  • Weapon Attack and all Weapon Terrain Ratings receive minor boosts.
  • Attack animations are overhauled for the Xenogears, whereas they remained the same between the Weltall and Weltall-2.

Fei (Weltall/Weltall-2/Xenogears) Summary:

• Fei is the central figure of Xenogears, it is his story first and foremost. His hypothetical performance in SRW is made to be unique, but not quite overpowering.
• First things first, Fei’s Seishin/Spirit collection doesn’t exactly get off to a great start. Mercy in the second slot? Oh dear…
  • But, that is intentional. Fei is a very hesitant protagonist, he would be among the least likely characters in SRW to ever get Drive for instance.
  • Love sorta fixes this. Fei is deeply in love with Elly, so he needs Love.
  • Enable would be ideal for the last slot, but the most recent VTX30 games don’t have it so battleships can get in all but name as an ExC order. Resupply/Renew would then be the next best option for the final Seishin slot.
    • Fei’s powers as the Contact can in theory be used to support others, even if he never really does. Grahf uses his Contact-remnant powers his to supercharge enemy Gears three times into a berserker fury. Enable could be the closest imitation. Although, given this involves supercharging Slave Generators, Resupply/Renew is the next best thing.
• Fei’s Ace Bonus reflects that despite his hesitancy, he can and does eventually become a more powerful man of resolve. One free casting of Zeal at 150 Morale is gradual and can be symbolic of that.
• Fei’s skills are intended to reflect who he is, of course.
  • Fei gets Ether Mastery. He is in theory the most capable of all Ether users on the unnamed planet on which Xenogears takes place. Although he doesn’t use Ether in his melee combat while in a Gear.
  • Prevail/Potential again reflects on Fei being someone who does tough it out and eventually triumph.
  • Support Defend is because Fei does like helping people. I would’ve given him Support Attack, but the relatively limited attack range of his unit might not be good enough for that.
• The plain old Weltall is nothing special whatsoever, it’s kinda downright weak. But thankfully, due to the time of when the Xenogears plot begins (I’m thinking in media res during the Ramsus fight that results in Fei being badly injured and Billy being recruit, or after Shevat), you won’t be stuck with it for too long.
• Weltall-2 makes Fei shine in a very distinctive way. For 150 EN per use, he can move again and dish out a Valor-boosted hit, without a point of SP consumed.
  • Get Fei’s Morale up enough to activate Hyper Mode and maybe knock down his HP low. Then, use Hyper Combo or Hell Wave (Ether attribute should compensate for his lower Range stat) to land a nice big hit every single turn.
• Weltall-2 has its strong niche, but it remains limited.
  • All of the Weltall-2’s attacks are EN-consuming, and System Id bears a hefty price tag. Moderate EN reserves means it can be drained dry fast. The FUB will offer a touch more breathing room.
  • Average stats across the board mean Weltall-2 doesn’t specialize in tanking nor dodging, not exactly a great place to be. The FUB suggests he should try to dodge.
  • Hell Wave drains some hefty EN, Radiance is cheaper but also significantly weaker even with the Ether bonus due to Fei’s lower Range stat. Radiance shouldn’t only be used if Fei can’t go melee with his Attack Level 2, or 3.
  • Without Accel and being earthbound as one who prefers close combat, Fei might have difficulties getting to the battlefield in time.
• Thus, Weltall-2 is a player phase specialist, optimally.
• The Xenogears forces Fei to give up his godly System Id, but he becomes incredibly more well-rounded. The improvements are many.
  • Making Fei’s melee attacks Ether provides serious enhancements to them, including range, atop independent small attack power and Terrain Rating buffs.
  • The MAP attack version of Big Bang isn’t incredible, but why not include it when Big Bang could target all enemies in Xenogears?
  • Phenomenon Shift lets Fei stay healthy if you don’t mind missing on Potential’s potential.
  • The HP/Mobility/Armor/Move and flight improvements turn the Xenogears into a master of everything. It can take hits, it can dodge them.
  • The removal of System Id, the Xenogears’s EN increase, and the gaining of EN Regen (M) to reflect Fei’s full capacities as the Contact to draw on the Zohar, have alleviated the worst of his EN consumption.
• And yet, Xenogears is a lategame upgrade, very late. Fei needs time to develop. By the time it rolls around, it better be good.

 

Elhaym “Elly” Van Houten

• Units: Vierge > El Regulus (El Regrs)
• Ace Bonus: Casts Love at the start of the player phase once per battle if adjacent to Fei. Love cost is reduced by 5 SP.
• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Strike/Bullseye
  • Focus
  • Cheer
  • Love
  • Rouse
  • Wish
• Default Skills
  • Ether Mastery
  • Support Attack
  • Enhance Attack

Elly (Vierge/El-Regulus) Summary:

• Elly, the main heroine of Xenogear, isn’t quite as distinctive as Fei in terms of her gameplay profile, but she ought to suffice in her role.
• When you see Elly’s Spirits list, you realize you’re looking at a support pilot, full-stop.
  • Love as the fourth Seishin is unusually early, but Elly really loves Fei, she was literally made for him, and his love for her is genetic too. This is also reflected in her Ace Bonus.
  • Cheer, Rouse, and Wish are all good, Wish is a little redundant with Cheer, but oh well. Optimized characters can only be so many.
    • Wish is there specifically with the notion of a last wish in mind. As in Holy Mother Sophia’s final words to Lacan and Karellan.
• Like Fei, Elly starts with three skills, and one of them is the other Support skill. Vierge having slightly better range lets more flexibly contribute with Support Attack.
• Vierge is a mixed bag. Ether Spell deals good damage from afar, as Elly likes it. And Aerods is a very solid MAP attack. But neither is post-movement, and Elly has no Hit & Away/Run.
  • For post-movement combat, Elly has to rely on her weaker, shorter ranged melee attacks, using her inferior attacking stat.
• Vierge is decently dodgy, better than Weltall. It’s kinda frail too, so it has to dodge. Focus without Alert is a tad risky.
• El-Regulus is a sizable upgrade across the board, albeit not quite as big as Fei’s Xenogears improvements. And yet, Elly will go MIA for a while after the first fight with El-Regulus, and by the time she gets back, very little of the game should remain.

Citan Uzuki:

• Units: Heimdall > El Fenrir
• Ace Bonus: Increases the bonuses provided by Hyper Mode by 50%.
• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Sense/Intuition
  • Trust
  • Focus
  • Analyze
  • Foresee
  • Soul
• Default Skills:
  • Ether Mastery
  • Predict/Instinct
  • Break Morale Limit
  • Second Attack/Attack Again

 

Citan (Heimdall > El Fenrir) Summary:

• Citan, though he confesses it not at first, is a seasoned veteran. And his set of Seishins and pilot skills are intended to suggest that of a wise warrior.
• Ether Mastery doesn’t help Citan a whole lot. It’s there because he is good with Ether, but he uses it entirely supportively outside of his Hyper Combo.
• Heimdall/El Fenrir is entirely restricted to four close-range attacks, making him the least flexible of the Xenogears crew. And it’s all EN consuming as to be expected.
• However, Citan is plain brutal in the right circumstances. His Heimdall/El Fenrir is very dodgy when properly invested in. Preemptive Strike would good on him to move in faster, and maybe Prevail to get the most out of Hyper Mode, which thanks to his Ace Bonus is more effective. It is riskier and higher effort than Fei popping System Id, but this can work on the enemy phase.

 

Bartholomew “Bart” Roni Fatima

• Units: Brigadier > El Andvari
• Ace Bonus: Final damage +15% if adjacent to an allied battleship.
• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Focus
  • Daunt
  • Disrupt
  • Luck
  • Valor
  • Persist
• Default Skills:
  • Ether Mastery
  • Preemptive Strike
  • Morale/Fighter’s Spirit
  • Support Attack

 

Bart (Brigadier > El Andvari) Summary:

• Bart is a tad eclectic. Balanced, but a touch unusual.
• The powerful Disrupt comes at its earliest for Bart, as a reference to the Wild Smile skill he comes with in Xenogears. Usable on foot and in a Gear alike, it debilitated a single enemy’s accuracy. So early Disrupt is justified.
  • Daunt was added, because why not? It’s not exactly out of character for him. More specialization as an enemy debuffer. His White Lure foot-only skill in Xenogears did bait enemies into attacking him, that’s daunting in a way.
  • Luck was added, because Fortune as a Pilot Skill is no longer a thing, and Bart the prince-turned-sand pirate of the desert kingdom seems suitably lucky.
  • Bart’s big Spirit problem, is unusually late Persist, it’s not even Guard/Wall! As the eyepatch indicates, he isn’t totally reckless, but he kinda sorta is. He’ll have to rely on Focus + Disrupt until then.
• Preemptive Strike and Fighter’s Spirit let Bart dash off into heavy battle right on the first turn. Hyper Mode coming online fast for him ought to help him out. If he gets dinged up a bit on that first turn, that’s great. Pop Disrupt and Focus the next to vastly decrease his chances of being hit, and go hog wild on that enemy phase.
• Bart is a guy willing to help out, so why not more Support Attack?
• Ether Mastery won’t do too much good for Bart at first. It’ll enhance his Hyper Combo, his MAP, and Heaven Cent his long-ranged attack.
  • Brigadier/Andvari’s FUB will imbue Ether to his three lesser attacks for extra damage to everything he has. Not the biggest damage increase, but it does make him more economical if that’s what you’re looking for.
  • The FUB’s second half is just an Armor boost, no crazy offense will it provide.
• Since the Yggdrasil has practically no weapons, other than the depth charges, it isn’t a usable as a battleship. Instead, Bart’s Gear gets Yggdrasil Depth Charges as an attack where he momentarily calls Sigurd and Maison in.
  • It was single-target in Xenogears, but why not expand it to MAP for SRW? It’ll expand his portfolio that way.
  • Elly’s Aerods are better, but the Depth Charges aren’t too bad.
  • The Yggdrasil Depth Charges count as Ether, even though Bart isn’t using Ether himself during the attack, because it does use his Ether stat and benefit from the broken EtherDoubler accessory in Xenogears.
  • I’m making it ammo-based, because why not? It makes sense for depth charges.
• Speaking of the Yggdrasil, being the captain of a land/sea/airship gives Bart a fondness for other large transport vessels. Hence his Ace Bonus, which requires strict positioning for a unit who prefers being up closer than allied battleships -the one thing that you can’t ever let be destroyed- ought to be.
• Brigadier is no Super Robot tank, but it does lean more that towards taking hits than evading them, contrary to his Spirit list.

 

Rico Banderas

• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Strike
  • Guard/Wall
  • Accel
  • Vigor (or Guts if available)
  • Valor
  • Drive
• Default Skills:
  • Ether Mastery
  • Potential
  • Guard
  • Ignore Size

 

• Rico is the only Xenogears character to come with Drive. Using it will instantly bring him into Hyper Mode.
• Accel lets this melee man get in close all the time. Wall isn’t as good as evading attacks, but he can drop low on HP gradually to increase Hyper Mode’s bonuses and hit back hard.

 

Billy Lee Black:

• Units: Renmazuo > El Renmazuo
• Ace Bonus: [Never wrote one for him.]
• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Bless
  • Strike
  • Snipe/Zero-In
  • Faith
  • Prospect/Hope
  • Bravery
• Default Skills:
  • Ether Mastery
  • Hit & Away/Run
  • Mechanic/Maintenance Skill

 

Billy (Renmazuo > El Renmazuo) Summary:

• Billy is the other support-oriented pilot in the Xenogears group. Compared to Elly, Billy needs to purchase himself a support offensive, though Mechanic makes him a better healer.
• Billy is the only range-oriented Xenogears pilot with a full ranged arsenal.
  • For gameplay’s sake, all of Billy’s Gear ether guns have been altered to run on bullets, not just two of them. Making him uniquely ammo-dependent in the Gears cast.
  • Nonetheless, JessieCannon/Blaster, his strongest attack, will do a number on his EN if he spams it.
  • And, Billy, merely for the sake of having a Slave Generator (S) user, has the weakest EN recharge of the Xenogears’ crew, and it doesn’t replenish his ammo.
  • All of Billy's stronger attacks are not post-movement, thank heavens he has Hit & Away.
• JessieCannon/Blaster will outdo Elly’s Ether Spell for single target damage, but Billy has no MAP, whereas Aerods are a great crowd-clearer.
• Renmazuo is balanced defensively, with none-too-high HP, and this doesn’t change with the mild upgrade to El Renmazuo. Billy doesn’t want to get hit with too many attacks.

 

Emeralda Kasim:

• Units: Crescens > El Crescens
• Ace Bonus:
• Seishins/Spirit Commands:
  • Attune
  • Gain
  • Alert/Flash
  • Assail/Charge
  • Love
  • Bonds
• Default Skills:
  • Ether Mastery
  • Spirit Endurance
  • E Save

 

 

8 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

W does have something going for it thanks to the fact it uses both the TV series and movie in the same game. Not the first, as R did it before, and its approach was quite unique there. Still, W gives it own more conventional spin, so it's something to look forward to

R and W, the "sequels" of A and J, you would say. Though I get it, reuse the assets if you can, reuse the licenses while you can get them. I don't blame Banpresto whatsoever, not that I consider this a matter of any blame.

...I just wish R was translated, or OG Gaiden. Or one of many other SRWs.

 

5 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Would it be weird to say I want to kiss all of them?

Sure, the Herons are good.🦢🕊️🦩

While he is too bedridden to ever appear in either game...

We nonetheless have a tiny headshot of what their father looks like.

This PoR height chart:

Also shows you what a transformed now-extinct non-royal Heron looked like.

5 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

I once let the game run for a while when Zelgius held Valtome off the ground. Just to savor his legs kicking helplessly back and forth again and again.😏

[Codename Shrimp]

10 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

And yet we are still capable of being better, still capable of being more empathetic rather than selfish

that's what makes it so hard to give up...which sadly can turn into despair when it just keeps getting bleaker.

10 hours ago, Armagon said:

What don't you like about it 

It's mostly the controls, and the resulting gameplay because of it.

I tried motion controls first....then i got into flying + Paragliding and motion controls made me rage....which made me switch to "normal" controls...

But the game is 100% designed with motion controls in mind. The monster design and everything is 💤 without motion controls. Not to mention the jank.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Shrimpy -Limited Edition-

[Armagon]

9 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

but what's often not talked about is how at that time the general's of the respective sides were horrified that stuff like this could happen because if their troops saw the enemy as human then it would be much harder to get them to kill them.

Yeah, a lot of the troops were court martiald.

"Never happened again. Any war, any where".

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

You could always follow in the footsteps of well known fiction writer J.R.R. Tolkein, and use the perspective of someone knocked out 5 minutes into the battle, so you only have to spend a few pages talking about the battle of five armies in retrospect

My favorite part is when the movie dragged out the whole war because Warner Bros wanted money.

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

T-elos has made a few crossover appearances, including an SRW spinoff. Yet, T-elos runs into one seriously awkward problem for SRW itself- she doesn’t have a mech.

They could just make one up.

1 hour ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

But the game is 100% designed with motion controls in mind. The monster design and everything is 💤 without motion controls. Not to mention the jank

You get used to it. It was definitely janky for me at first too but not too long later I got the hang of it.

The biggest hurdle was remembering that the joystick controls the swings and not the B button.

I'd say push forward and see if you get used to it. Skyward Sword was mixed when it came out on the Wii, many people did not like the motion controls but they were able to vibe with the buttons in the remaster.

[Lightcosmo]

2 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

then i got into flying + Paragliding and motion controls made me rage.

Thank yourself that you aren't playing the Wii version. I recall trying to play the instrument being hell because they responded terribly. XD

[Saint Rubenio]

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Ignore the dozens of Beorc gentry and monarchy that is unchanging and have the final say on how the country will always be run.

No but listen, she's good queen. That means everything is fine.

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Would it be weird to say I want to kiss all of them?

They've got a type, ladies and gentles.

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

So after saying this I was expecting her to declare this war unjust and a clear grab for racial supremacy and genocide so she decides to join arms with alliance to defend against the Empire. But instead...

"Yeah you guys can fight, but can you take it outside the bar please?"

Good queen doing good queen things.

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

Ah, so he is a gay stereotype.

Of course. Gay people are different. Perfect concept for an irredeemable villain, sitting right next to "Literal Hitler" Numida!

14 hours ago, GuardianSing said:

I've always found it interesting that for as long as humans have been exploiting we have also been trying not to exploit. Philosophy has always been there to discern what is right or wrong, always with the basic tenets of "Murder is wrong and theft is wrong" Ideas that, on their own if all people followed them from the dawn of Civilization, would've probably created a much healthier society.

Yet no matter how many times despotism seems to take the reigns, there are always those withing a society who would fight against it, the human capacity for empathy is never routed out completely.

Of course to be against the status quo is to take the path of least resistance, and ultimately most people just want to live their lives even if means being complacent to the horrors of the current world. So I always thought there was a strength in staying true to values and ideals, appealing to that innate human empathy even if it's just sharing progressive ideas online.

Ultimately I feel as though our brains are primitive things not made for this kind of society. Only for a couple thousand years we've been doing civilization and engaging in a settled lifestyle completely unlike the ones during the neolithic period, and yet we still have that same caveman brain that hasn't evolved since over a million years ago and has not caught up with how we run things now.

And yet we are still capable of being better, still capable of being more empathetic rather than selfish. There are millions of people on this planet who believe in something better for all of us collectively and I would much rather stay hopeful for the future than fall into nihilistic despair and become part of the same apathetic people who gave us that despair in the first place.

Quite the inspiring speech, if I do say so myself.

13 hours ago, Armagon said:

 

I'm more of a fan of "it's hot in McKinney" in the most nonchalant tone possible while referring to Earth-melting temperature.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Armagon said:

They could just make one up.

SRW of recent note did invent Rune God Lantis for the Rayearth series. So they're still doing that.

As an alternative to subbing her into the Judah, they could build her some kind of pseudo-E.S. that you think of as an anti-Dinah *checks Wikipedia, sees Jacob only had one daughter... let's name this hypothetical machine "Rachel" after his wife then*. Stylistically I envision it as slightly smaller, with sharper edges (or whatever little touches would make it appear more fierce/deadly), and a T-elos paint job. As for its non-Vessel of Anima power source, T-elos refers to herself as an embodiment of Order, and Mr. Order is apparently what powers the Joshua.

There, just needed ten minutes to think one up.🤔

 

3 hours ago, Shrimpy -Limited Edition- said:

that's what makes it so hard to give up...which sadly can turn into despair when it just keeps getting bleaker.

Why despair about the direction of humanity when you can despair about the futility of existence?

-All I'm saying is that it's nice you're able to focus on earthly suffering. Relatively speaking. I unfortunately haven't been glummed out by the Israel-Gaza stuff because I've still been having thoughts that are overriding that possibility.

[Acacia Sgt]

Personally, I've long gotten used to glooming out on things...

Edited October 19, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

11 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

You could always follow in the footsteps of well known fiction writer J.R.R. Tolkein, and use the perspective of someone knocked out 5 minutes into the battle, so you only have to spend a few pages talking about the battle of five armies in retrospect.

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind.

Personally, I've already had the mind to only describe battles mostly as summaries, and only go in detail should anything important for the narrative were to happen. I guess I just have to get the hang of it. Since for something like a FE longfic, it is a bit innevitable to have to cover several battles, regardless of how I do.

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

R and W, the "sequels" of A and J, you would say. Though I get it, reuse the assets if you can, reuse the licenses while you can get them. I don't blame Banpresto whatsoever, not that I consider this a matter of any blame.

...I just wish R was translated, or OG Gaiden. Or one of many other SRWs.

Oh yeah, R to A was pretty much how W would be to J. Lots of shared series. Makes me wonder if they get the licenses on a "per number of games" basis or with a set time period of use.

Edited October 19, 2023 by Acacia Sgt

[Acacia Sgt]

I see what you did there, game.

I see what you did there! XD