The Bore Mecha Gaming Thread: Gundam, Super Robot Wars, Armored Core and More!

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Is the Switch version of T very good? It’s been years since I played SRW and saw some videos that looked good but presumably that’s the PS4 version.

[Mr. Gundam]

Is the Switch version of T very good? It’s been years since I played SRW and saw some videos that looked good but presumably that’s the PS4 version.

I've got the PS4 versions, but (aside from maybe some DLC issues) I don't think there's a difference between them.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, pretty sure they're identical. SRW games could run on a toaster.

[Mr. Gundam]

They could run on a potato at this point.

I really hope a single-player non strategy Gundam game gets announced at TGS. Just use the GBO2 engine, I don't care. [sigh]

[Bebpo]

The new G-Gen is coming out soon, but just don't care. Barely played the UC one, G-Gen just moves too slow compared to SRW which is already pretty slow even with animations off. I tried going back to my SRW T save at ~map 30 and do a map but coming from Fire Emblem where I have animations off/fast everything, it just makes SRW feel like molasses. I finish a FE map in like 5-10 mins but SRW still takes like 20-30 with animations off, though that's partly because of all the dialogue during battle which FE doesn't really have.

Anyhow I'll beat T pretty soon. Probably after I finish FE. Still on board to play each SRW game that comes out (though they could speed them up) but G-Gen I'm out until they make it faster and improve the lineup though the Iron Blood Orphans spinoff stuff in the new one is kinda interesting since it hasn't shown up in any games yet.

Guessing in a few months they'll announce next years SRW for March/April/May. It's got to be 3rd OGs at this point. It's been so long. I'm hoping next year (2020) is both 3rd OGs and the new mainline SRW with Iron Blood Orphans in the fall.

[Shuri]

Random post but I miss chromehounds so much. I used to play with a bunch of people from Somethingawful back in the days, and it was so enjoyable. Whatever happened to that clone a single guy was making by himself?

[bork]

Daemon X Machina is out this week.  Anyone try the latest demo?

[kingv]

I liked the first demo pretty well.

[Mr. Gundam]

The new G-Gen is coming out soon, but just don't care. Barely played the UC one, G-Gen just moves too slow compared to SRW which is already pretty slow even with animations off. I tried going back to my SRW T save at ~map 30 and do a map but coming from Fire Emblem where I have animations off/fast everything, it just makes SRW feel like molasses. I finish a FE map in like 5-10 mins but SRW still takes like 20-30 with animations off, though that's partly because of all the dialogue during battle which FE doesn't really have.

Anyhow I'll beat T pretty soon. Probably after I finish FE. Still on board to play each SRW game that comes out (though they could speed them up) but G-Gen I'm out until they make it faster and improve the lineup though the Iron Blood Orphans spinoff stuff in the new one is kinda interesting since it hasn't shown up in any games yet.

Guessing in a few months they'll announce next years SRW for March/April/May. It's got to be 3rd OGs at this point. It's been so long. I'm hoping next year (2020) is both 3rd OGs and the new mainline SRW with Iron Blood Orphans in the fall.

I beat SRWT over the summer, and while it was fun, V is still my favorite of the PS4 titles.

I finally learned my lesson with G-Gen and will wait until the new one has dropped in price before I pick it up. They don't have the same lustre that SRW has and I barely play them.

[Bebpo]

Daemon X Machina is out this week.  Anyone try the latest demo?

I liked the first demo. I’ll play it down the road.

[Mr. Gundam]

Wow. Bandai Namco didn't announce anything new Gundam wise at TGS.

[Bebpo]

Probably developing new shovel ware for PS5 launch next year.

[Mr. Gundam]

Probably developing new shovel ware for PS5 launch next year.

Crazy that we'll go an entire generation without a UC single player action game.

GBO2 doesn't count.

[Bebpo]

Oh, that last one was PS3? Dang that is a while.

[bork]

Cyber Troopers Virtual-On Masterpiece 1995~2001 will launch for PlayStation 4 via the PlayStation Store on November 27 in Japan for 4,500 yen, Sega announced during a Tokyo Game Show 2019 stage event.

The collection will include the following three titles:

    Cyber Troopers Virtual-On (1995)
    Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Oratorio Tangram M.S.B.S. Ver. 5.66 (2000)
    Cyber Troopers: Virtual-On Force (2001)

All three titles support online battles, and in addition to regular ranked matches, new functionality is being added to enable tournament battles, league battles, and team battles in rooms. Each title is also compatible with the Tanita Twin Stick controller.

[Mr. Gundam]

Oh, that last one was PS3? Dang that is a while.

Side Stories came out five years ago now. I get that strategy games are cheaper to make, but come the fuck on Bandai Namco.

[D3RANG3D]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/956680/MASS_Builder/

[Mr. Gundam]

That looks really cool.

[toku]

Really cool.

[Mr. Gundam]

Too bad I'm essentially a PS4-only player who uses a Mac, so I won't be playing it. Oh well.

[bork]

https://gematsu.com/2019/10/daemon-x-machina-version-1-1-1-update-now-available-adds-versus-mode

Marvelous has released the version 1.1.1 update for Daemon X Machina, which adds “Versus Mode” and more to the game.

In “Versus Mode,” you can use your Arsenal to battle locally or online against other players. There are both “1-VS-1” and “2-VS-2” options, and you can search for friends from your friends list to invite to your room. Rules consist of “Ranked Match,” where you compete in the rankings with set rules, and “Custom Match,” where you can set your own rules.

Additionally, in the online “Co-Op Mode,” you can also challenge other players to a “Duel” by attacking them in the time between completing an order and returning to the base. Duels support up to four players, and begin when the player the challenged player returns fire.

Looks pretty cool!

https://twitter.com/Jiikae/status/1182126387693420544

[kingv]

Has anybody been playing this?

I didn’t even know it has CO-op which might actually be cool.

[toku]

I hear it's basically a love letter to classic AC fans dressed up as something new.

[Bebpo]

I enjoyed the demo.

[Bebpo]

Got Bellvine in SRW T, that was a nice surprise. Love when they put these rare mecha in. Also really enjoying the way they're doing the Dunbine x Dunbine movie crossover storyline.
In Japan saw there's a Gundam Extreme Versus 2. Looks basically same old same old but new units. Wonder if they'll wait for PS5 next year to bring another one of these home.

G Gen Cross Rays out tomorrow, US version is PC only because Namco is lame af. Can get English PS4/Switch versions from Asia but gotta pay more  :'(
I find G Gen slow and boring so gonna pass until PC version is steam sale cheap or pick up the Switch version second hand some day. Portable would be nice, but not at $75 asia version or 9000 fucking yen JP version (also wtf is up with 3rd party game pricing in Japan right now, 9600yen standard editions and stuff)

[Bebpo]

Just realized they didn't announce a new SRW for March/April/May/June. Can't remember if they've waited to Jan/Feb in the past to announce or whether this is the first year in like a decade they didn't announce a new game.

Wonder if OG3 is still behind schedule lol. Those games have the craziest animation, but damn they take forever to make.

[Mr. Gundam]

Picked up the SE Asia version of Cross Rays with some Christmas money, didn't realize the original version of Monoeyes was included as a downloadable title.

Just realized they didn't announce a new SRW for March/April/May/June. Can't remember if they've waited to Jan/Feb in the past to announce or whether this is the first year in like a decade they didn't announce a new game.

Wonder if OG3 is still behind schedule lol. Those games have the craziest animation, but damn they take forever to make.

I've been wondering about that as well. It seems like we've been getting an announcement sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas last few years, but nothing happened.

[demi]

Why don't you play a real game like Hero Chronicle?

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/5323/

[Bebpo]

Picked up the SE Asia version of Cross Rays with some Christmas money, didn't realize the original version of Monoeyes was included as a downloadable title.

Just realized they didn't announce a new SRW for March/April/May/June. Can't remember if they've waited to Jan/Feb in the past to announce or whether this is the first year in like a decade they didn't announce a new game.

Wonder if OG3 is still behind schedule lol. Those games have the craziest animation, but damn they take forever to make.

I've been wondering about that as well. It seems like we've been getting an announcement sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas last few years, but nothing happened.

I'm waiting for the announcement of the next SRW to motivate me to finish T. I'm ~37 maps in, so not that far from the end. But you know I do all the routes in one run, so with splits that's still another 15-20 hours and I pick it up and play a couple maps every few weeks. Overall I feel like T is a lot more boring than V/X in terms of storylines/series. Mazinger Infinite is such a downgrade for the amazing Mazinger Zero and Shin Mazinkaiser and Great Emperor G.

The animations for a lot of the new series in T are pretty weak too. Rayearth, Expelled from Paradise. Harlock & Bebop are nice but there's only so much interesting animation you can do with small ships and motherships. G Gundam is ok, but being post-anime hurts it from being a fun storyline, Gun x Sword is ok. Not a lot of moves for some of these new units in T. I miss G Reco, Nadia, Yamato. Harlock has very little story compared to Nadia/Yamato which were story-heavy series.

[bork]

Gundam EXVS MaxiBoost On announced for PS4.  Appears to be an arcade port this time, so people are excited.

[Bebpo]

Cool. Wonder how the roster compares to the latest arcade version.

[Mr. Gundam]

Never played Maxi Boost On since the last time I was in Japan EXVS2 was the new arcade hotness. So weird not giving us EXVS2 since a new one is coming out for the arcades.

Whatever, I'll take it.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I'll pick it up, but it's hard to get excited about a what? 6 years old game? When the sequel Ex Vs2 has been in arcades for 2 years already...
Weird dumb choice by bamco. Why didn't this come out 2 years ago when Ex Vs 2 hit the arcades? That's what they used to do. Home version comes out each time new arcade revision comes out. I do hope it has some nice single player mission modes like Full Boost did though. MP only stuff is less and less interesting to me every year.

[Mr. Gundam]

Yeah, I'll pick it up, but it's hard to get excited about a what? 6 years old game? When the sequel Ex Vs2 has been in arcades for 2 years already...
Weird dumb choice by bamco. Why didn't this come out 2 years ago when Ex Vs 2 hit the arcades? That's what they used to do. Home version comes out each time new arcade revision comes out. I do hope it has some nice single player mission modes like Full Boost did though. MP only stuff is less and less interesting to me every year.

We do live in North America so EXVS2's existence doesn't mean much. RoundOne has some of the older Gundam VS cabinets, but apparently they can't get approval from BandaiNamco to bring over some of the newer networked GVS titles.

I hope this has a single player system like Full Boost did, Gundam Versus was totally halfassed.

[Bebpo]

Just saw the unit list, mehhhhh

Hopefully they add a bunch of Ex Vs 2 units as pre-order DLC and paid DLC like Full Boost got. I'm guessing Lupus Rex would probably be a big pre-order DLC.

[Mr. Gundam]

Just saw the unit list, mehhhhh

Hopefully they add a bunch of Ex Vs 2 units as pre-order DLC and paid DLC like Full Boost got. I'm guessing Lupus Rex would probably be a big pre-order DLC.

It seems really odd to release a 2016 arcade game with no additions in 2020, but Japan gonna Japan. Can't imagine they don't do new cover art seeing how AGE is prominently featured on the old Maxi Boost ON marquee.

[Bebpo]

Finally finished SRW T. That was...pretty bad. The amount of padded grind in the last 10+ stages was really tedious. Especially all the space monsters filler. The plots were zzzzzz, the animations were probably the worst ever in a console SRW with most major bosses just standing still and shooting a beam. Even major units had animations that were just a bunch of cut-ins and almost no animation. GGG's Hammer Hell & Heaven was probably the worst it's been.

The only positive is the 2nd half of the final map was a pretty funny final stage. In 20 years that will make a good OG stage.

But overall I thought the first half of T was solid but the second half was junk as tedious as @3's maps without half the interest and way worse animations. They tried to do too many series in T with too little budget and it was just a poorly planned SRW. Big letdown after X and V both being good standalone titles.

Hopefully next game is 3rd OGs since that should be quality. Another game like T and I probably wouldn't both finishing it.


Hell Cowboy Bebop didn't even get an ending! Like it just stopped having all story somewhere in the 30s...

[Bebpo]

Just realized they never announced a new SRW. OG team is slowwwww, but the quality is worth it so I guess we will wait.

[Mr. Gundam]

Just realized they never announced a new SRW. OG team is slowwwww, but the quality is worth it so I guess we will wait.

Yeah, should've been back in late November but nothing ever materialized.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Wound up buying the three SRW games on Switch (V, X, and T). Since V came in first I’m playing that. I’m enjoying it a lot so far.

[pancakesandsex]

Just realized they never announced a new SRW. OG team is slowwwww, but the quality is worth it so I guess we will wait.

Wonder if we have a shot of a new OG coming to pc, on the US store.

Wouldn't mind seeing them dip into the back catalog for another revamp of the earlier entries again either if it meant an official US release.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Just finished scenario 37 of SRW V. This game is awesome. Got the hang of getting the TacP, EXP, and money flowing in. So now most of my pilots are fully maxed out and it’s essentially playing on easy mode. I knocked out an end stage boss with 36,000 hp in two turns. Maybe the game isn’t very challenging and I’m certainly not complaining, feels good to build them up and deal 20,000 in damage.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I forgot to mention that while playing V, I’ve been listening to the Saturn version of SRW F/F Final soundtrack, which I think is the best soundtrack in the series. I’m happy these games are all in English, I used to just stumble my way through it with various FAQs and guides. I hope Bandai Namco continue to have English language versions on future releases.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

About to get the bad ending in SRW V. You needed 25 ace pilots and one great ace at the end of chapter 49. I thought I had it a while back. Turns out I had 24 ace pilots and the 25th and 26th had 48 out of the required 50 points needed. Oh well, I’m not going back now. At this point I’m just about maxed on customization stats and just buy a bunch of incremental upgrades with TacP points.

Switch stats show I’ve put in about 70 hours in the game. It’s almost worth replaying just to learn from my mistakes. How is X and T compared to V? I figured I’d jump to X next.

[Bebpo]

 :'(

Yeah, forgot to warn you. I always check the guide near the end for true ending route requirements.

Guessing you don’t have past save 1 map before the split?

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I should have been using a guide from the start as well as multiple saves. I’ve made my share of mistakes playing this game. I might get around to replaying this game someday but since I have X and T available I’ll play them first. Still had a lot of fun with this game so I can’t complain too much!

[Mr. Gundam]

I've never seen a bad ending in these games, getting a bunch of ACE Pilots is always my main priority in going through the SRW games.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, one of the first skills I buy for every pilot is the one that gets them Ace pilot status at 50 instead of 70. I do this because the Ace pilot bonus skills are sometimes pretty major upgrades. Like I remember in Z series where Zechs pilot skill was essentially giving everyone +2 movement at first turn which helped a lot to getting to the enemy units right away.

I should have been using a guide from the start as well as multiple saves. I’ve made my share of mistakes playing this game. I might get around to replaying this game someday but since I have X and T available I’ll play them first. Still had a lot of fun with this game so I can’t complain too much!

I always keep a few saves, but mostly because I tend to do multiple routes so I save at each split and then create 2 new separate saves for each route and play through them to see what's going on in all sides of the story.

The main reason to use a guide, at least a spoiler free as much as possible guide, and probably starting to glance at one by about halfway, is for the secrets. There's usually a few secret units or attacks and sometimes it's worth trying to unlock them along the way.

Although once you've played a bunch of SRW you can figure out most secrets without a guide. Usually you just each map where an antagonist from a show appears, you have that protagonist attack them at least once or twice to get the unique exchange and if there's a "convince" option you use that. If you do that every map they show up, you'll probably get them if they are a recruitable secret, though sometimes SRW also throws in kill count for the protagonist or even support unit involved which I'll miss sometimes if it's a secret unit in a series I don't use in my main party.

[Mr. Gundam]

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/06/play-asia-lists-super-robot-wars-30th-anniversary-for-ps5-ps4-and-switch

[Bebpo]

Hmmmmmmmmm

so if they skip 2020 entirely and April 2021 is the next game. Damn, that is quite some time. Especially since 3rd OGs and the new big budget licensed game #1 (which should finally have Gundam IBO as the main anchor Gundam series) are in the pipeline.

I could see them do another "It's 30th anniversary year, we're going to release 2 big titles in the same year" with one of them in April and the other in the fall. They did that when 2nd OGs came out with Z2-2 in April and 2nd OGs in November.

[Mr. Gundam]

I bet the Hathaway's Flash movie series will also be an anchor in this title.

I won't be getting a PS5 for a while, so I'm glad there will be a PS4 version.

[Bebpo]

I bet the Hathaway's Flash movie series will also be an anchor in this title.

Sure, they already just did it in V lol. Easy sprite re-use. Plus like 00 movie and EW it's like a 1-3 maps total low effort kind of thing.

If they actually do all of IBO in one go it'll be a pretty big effort with unit variety and locations/story events. They could split it, but depends on if they're going to do the split games thing again which I really, really hope they don't.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Finished V with the bad ending. The final boss was a pushover. Switch game clock shows I put in over 80 hours into the game.

I’m still really enjoying these games so I’m just going to jump into X right away, hopefully learning my lessons from playing V. Maybe I’ll replay V one of these days to get the good ending.

[Bebpo]

You'll like X. It has some nice progression from V like in Mazinkaiser. Nadia is also a nice contrast to Yamato 2199 as the main ship series even though Nadia has less story since they start about halfway through the series (since it's mostly a non-mecha show). Also the lead series Wataru is pretty great & fun. Also Code Geass is handled well in X.

That being said, these games are all exactly the same so it'll be easy to get burnt out on them. I don't mind playing one a year when they come out and I burn through them in about 80 hours like you said over a month, but more often than that can lead to burnout.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Started X. I created a HK Switch account to download the DLC. Then I started the game in Expert mode to keep it more exciting. Finished scenarios 0 and 1.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I hate Expert Mode. I just finished scenario 8. It seems like unless I use Attune, Bullseye, or Intuition, every attack ends up getting dodged except for the grunts, who dodge attacks most the time. I haven’t seen a Game Over screen, got every SR point, and every TacP bonus, which I’ve been pushing towards magic customization and upgrades to give my non-attackers a fighting chance. There’s the good kind of challenging and then there’s the tedious type of challenging and this feels like the latter. I’d be curious to know what SR points actually do. I’ve looked online and other than a trophy (for PS4) and a NG+ item, it doesn’t seem like much.

Sorry, just whining but I’m glad I used the DLC bonuses.

[Bebpo]

Yeah, expert mode sucks. The games are too easy on normal, but expert is too far in the other direction of just being stupid. Just play on normal, get SR points so it's on hard mode and enjoy an easy game.

The older SRW games actually had varying difficulty levels with some good moderate challenge levels on hard and then some way too hard like A Portable. The Original Generations games especially. OGs and 2nd OGs on hard route going for SR points is a good challenge. I don't remember if Moon Dwellers followed that, but if you haven't played MD (since it got an English release), play Moon Dwellers for something different.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

As a Switch only owner, I don’t own MD and I’m surprised they haven’t ported it over unless it would be a big enough downgrade.

I’ll stop playing in expert mode. I think that mode might work better if you’re playing NG+ and able to transfer some key items. I would assume an expert mode would reward or punish the player for using things like combination attacks, utilizing terrain differences, etc. and not just requiring more SP to ensure your attacks hit the enemy. More lessons I’m learning about the series!

[Mr. Gundam]

As a Switch only owner, I don’t own MD and I’m surprised they haven’t ported it over unless it would be a big enough downgrade.

I’ll stop playing in expert mode. I think that mode might work better if you’re playing NG+ and able to transfer some key items. I would assume an expert mode would reward or punish the player for using things like combination attacks, utilizing terrain differences, etc. and not just requiring more SP to ensure your attacks hit the enemy. More lessons I’m learning about the series!

Moon Dwellers uses a different engine, so it probably requires actual effort to get it running on the Switch. And it also likely doesn't have as much appeal to Switch user base since it doesn't have licensed robots.

[Mr. Gundam]

Just realized I created this thread TEN YEARS AGO. Wow.