On this occasion, I want to review RPG that I really like. Amedio’s Zoids Legacy or in Japan it’s called Zoids Saga II. I fancy Zoids for starter. The title has word “Legacy”, the same with Rogue Legacy that I played to New Game+4 months ago, but that’s just mere coincidence with the same word.
Pretty nice title, I reckon. As to what’s on the background. It’s the protagonist along with his robot pet. It will be clearer if we go to the plot soon. So, let’s start new game.
Planet Zi beyond the Galaxy.
There existed great metal-warrior robots called Zoids.
Zoids fought wars with their own will as the strongest weapons for the Planet Zi wars…
…and time-space fusion caused by a weapon experiment…
Bringing back the normal world now depends on a young Zoids pilot
The game starts with protagonist (default: Zeru) ventures the desert with his Gustav zoid which is transport zoid with shaped like short grub with thick armor. He comments there was huge quake and quickly move to the town nearby.
As Zeru arrived at Cebu Town, I can control him. The control is pretty typical JRPG. D-pad to move around. “A” button to check/talk and “B” button to run if you hold it while pressing d-pad. The first thing I do is walk into equipment shop and get laser machine gun from this chest. It’s fine. No one witness my act here. I’m sure of it.
At the bar, I learn deck command “Supplier” after I treat this old man a drink. It’s useful deck command. It will double gold gain if I finish the battle within the turn the command is activated.
Zeru doesn’t allow me to leave the town until I speak to every NPC in this town. Fine! So basically, this is tutorial town where you have to talk to all NPC for beginner’s information. But I got some deck commands in process. They’re Supplier and Data Gather1. Ok. So, I miss man with moustache that say “Watch out for field Zoids. And if you have ally in your team, don’t forget to put them in formation”.
Not far from the town, Zeru is attacked by group of wild Zoids. The town NPC did warn him there are wild zoids around. So, I’m not surprised.
Now, we’re in the first fight. My opponent is caterpillar zoids called Molga and there are 2 of them. There are 4 phases in a turn: 1) Picking battle, use command, or retreat. 2) Picking attack (action), waiting, or use item. 3) If you pick attack, you proceed to pick what equipment that you will use. 4) Select the target. In this case, I choose claw and select the Molga on top. As you choose the target, there are 2 numbers above it: the upper number is target’s remaining hitpoints and the lower number is percent accuracy. My Zoid is Saberlion. For now, it has only 3 melee weapons: claw, fang, and blade on its head. From left to right, the attack power stronger from previous one but the accuracy is lower. So, the claw has less attack power but it’s the most accurate weapon. Conversely, the head’s blade has less accuracy but it’s the most powerful weapon.
After defeating the 2 Molga, there’s another batch of 2 Molga. But this time a mystery warrior helps me with her Gun Tiger Zoid. Compared to Saberlion, it seems Gun Tiger is more focused on shooting combat as the Zoid has fixed cannon behind its neck. Cannon behind neck sounds weird, right? Besides the attack power and accuracy, you have to take account of weapon range and EP (energy point) cost. The weapon’s target stat listed as 1-2 S, which mean the weapon can target single unit at either front or back row on enemy’s formation.
After the battle, the mystery warrior left my team and Zeru is alone again. We arrive at the Liama Town and Zeru eagerly want to try Zoid tournament for glory and fame. Also, money. I don’t like that creepy smile.
But before going to tournament, I have to fix something. I forget to equip the laser machine gun that I get freely from weapon shop at Cebu Town. It’s pretty useful weapon. It has fairly good accuracy and I can aim at 2 targets at once! 1-1 N means: when the Zoid that equip this weapon in the front line, the weapon can shoot 2 targets in front line. So, N means neighbor. I guess? The formation in either side is same 2 x 3 blocks. 2 lines of front and back. 3 rows of top, center, and bottom. So, weapon range and unit positioning are very related to each other. Naturally, melee weapon can only target 1 unit at front line while the user at front line too. When putting equipment, you have to pay attention to the Zoid’s CP (Capacity Points). Zoid can’t carry equipment beyond the capacity point. Then there’s equipment slot. Equipment slot has 2 types: OA and A. I’m not sure what those abbreviations mean. But I know that you can put any kind of equipment at OA slot and A slot can only be put with support and auxiliary passive equipment. No weapon allowed in A slot.
I signed up to the tournament in the tournament office on the north, which is building with signboard with image of quill pen. The problem is the tournament is 2 on 2 match so I need additional member. After entering the Zoids institute and get out again, I met the Mystery Warrior Juno. It happens she know Zeru’s pendant which is given by his father, legacy of his mother. Suddenly, she screams when the pendant shines. She almost remembers her past, she said. Anyway, she’s willing to join me on the Zoid tournament.
Let’s go to the weapon shop once more. Weapon is important but there’s more than that in combat equipment. There’s support equipment that can increase HR (Hit rate/accuracy) or evasion temporarily, for example. Then there’s auxiliary equipment which gives the equipped Zoid passive stat increase. I suggest that you should buy and wear armor plus here. It increases DF and AM. DF is easy to decipher, it’s basically defense power. As for AM, I have hard time to decipher it. I think it’s something like D&D Armor Class (AC). If the damage received less than AM, the damage only 1 point. Or that’s what I understand.
I also bought 2-missiles launcher because it has homing property even though I’m not sure what’s the effect. Maybe something like ignore a number of target’s evasion stats.
The first match is against Cannon team that consists of 2 Cannon Tortoises. Fighting Zoids with pilot on them is different level than unmanned/wild Zoids because the pilot will add hitpoint, accuracy, and evasion stat on the Zoid they piloted. Nevertheless, Cannon team is not hard to beat. Cannon Tortoise is slightly tougher than Molga. But only a little.
I also installed small laser gun on Juno’s Zoid. The laser gun can hit enemies in single row! But the fun is not that all. Juno happens to have ability “multi-fire1” which allow her to shoot 2 times as long as she uses different weapons. Also, you have to take account of EP cost.
If you’re curious how the stats screen, here it is. At glance, lots of stat are hard to decipher but thankfully, there’s information box in right bottom corner. HP and EP are self-explanatory. They are hitpoints and energy point. GEP is energy point regeneration. It determines how many energy points regenerated per turn. You can regenerate extra energy points with the same amount if you choose to wait instead of using any action.
SP is speed which governs turn‘s order and evasion. MM (Mobility) is evasion stats. IV (Level combat order) is turn‘s order stats. DF is defense power. AM is D&D Armor class as I explained before. DCP is. Shoot! According to the information box. It’s abnormal status resistance, I guess? SR is accuracy. CLV is Zoid’s level. If pilot’s level is lower than CLV, piloted Zoid’s stats decreased. TP is Zoid’s training level. This one is confusing to me. I know for sure that the bigger this number, the stronger the Zoids but I have no idea what determines this stat. CP is equipment capacity. Size is. Well, size of the Zoid’s. Obviously.
There’s more match in this town. I can leave the town early but fighting unmanned Zoids is too easy and yield less reward. Juno will ask me whether I’m certain that I leave the town. Whether you want to leave early or exhaust all the match in this town’s arena, is up to you. My persistence rewards pretty well as Zeru gets a levels up!
The building with signboard of Liger’s head image, is Zoid Institute where you can restore destroyed Zoids and you get free hitpoint refill upon closing the Zoid Institute menu. So, Zoid Institute is basically inn or church in classic JRPG. It also allows you to customize your Zoid. The customization including important upgrade such as upgrading defense power, energy point generation, and Zoid’s fixed equipment. Lastly, it provides service of changing color of your Zoid and it costs 500 Gold. Upgrading defense power usually the cheapest but it’s very important. Energy point generator upgrade is expensive. It’s important when your Zoid has equipment that costs lots of EP or the pilot has Multi-Fire ability. Zoid Institute can also build new Zoid from Zi data that you may get from battle. Then there’s CAU Development that I have no idea what it’s for. Or at least, I forget about it very long time ago.
Next match is against 2 Atak Kat Zoids. They’re quite annoying opponent when they use their equipment to make them invisible which boost their evasion big time within 3 or 4 turns. Eventually, we defeat them and that’s the last match in this arena so we can move on to next town.
Pilot has stats on their own and you can set their stats growth in detail when they level up if you feel adventurous, elaborate or something like that. If you want more practical way, you can just select preset growth type that the game already provided. Offense is for more aggressive style. It focuses on attack’s accuracy SR and HR stats. Defense is for more defensive style. It focuses on HP and DCP stats. Evasion is for more evasive style. It focuses on MM stats. Almighty is balanced stats growth. It puts +2 on all stats. Edit is custom like what I do here. Random is just random stats growth which probably stupidest way to do it besides custom.
You probably notice that I mentioned accuracy is SR (which stands for sensory *something*) and HR stats. What makes them difference you may ask. I will explain to the best of my understanding. You see. There are 2 types of equipment: portable and fixed. Portable equipment is the one you bought at equipment shop or sometimes destroyed enemy dropped. It’s the equipment that you can put in any Zoid as long as within their capacity. This type of equipment has fixed attack power. Meanwhile fixed equipment is the one that already exist naturally on the Zoid. For example: High wave claw and smoke screen already pre-existing equipment on Saberlion. As I have mentioned before, this type of equipment can be upgraded at Zoid Institute. So, why am I explaining about portable and fixed equipment? Actually, it’s closely related to SR and HR stats. SR stats is accuracy rate for fixed weapon equipment. Whereas HR stats is accuracy rate for portable weapon equipment.
Next page on Pilot stats page is their skill. I already mentioned what is multi-fire 1 skill. In my opinion, it’s the most useful skill. Juno also has skill that boost her accuracy when using Particle gun. As for “End shots+10%” skill. It boosts Juno’s evasion by 10% against any shot attack.
Anyway, we arrive at old village and bandits harasses the villagers! There’s no Zoid tournament in this town. So, we make do with fighting bandits.
The bandits are super push over. Their Zoid only Hellrunner which is skinny weak Velociraptor. One of them, has big Gatling Gun but that doesn’t help much in this fight. Sometime, enemy get “Freeze” status which is basically stun so they lose their turn a few times. I think, they most likely get “Freeze” status because their DCP stats is low and they get hit multiple times consecutively. Maybe multi-fire1 skill contributes to inflict the “Freeze” status.
We drive off the bandits but Juno becomes panic and goes after them by herself. Plot thickens.
But before I catch up on Juno, I need to shop and visit…Damnit, old geezer! Move away from the door of Zoid Institute! I want the free hitpoint refill for my Zoid. Sometime, NPCs stuck on doorway. So, you have to reset their position by reentering the city or getting in and out of other building.
So, I catch up with Juno in certain spot on the map, on the north of old village. The bandit knocks the Juno unconscious. Zeru who’s eavesdropping later caught by the bandit leader. Rather than knock him unconscious like what they did with Juno, she challenges him to duel instead.
You know you’re in deep trouble if the game doesn’t tell you how much hitpoint that your opponent has. But here’s the thing. She wants to show of her pilot skill. If I manage to hit her once, she will admit defeat. Hitting her is not small feat though. Look at how low my accuracy on her with twin laser that I bought. It has range 1-2 V which means it can hit enemies in a straight line: front and back row, but that doesn’t help me in this fight. I should stick to the laser machine gun. It has less attack power than twin laser but it's quite accurate in this fight thanks to the anti-air property on it.
The bandits retreat as I defeat their leader. The villagers come in and help me carry unconscious Juno. She’s taken to empty house. After conversation that reveals a bit of Zeru’s past, a kid rushes in and warn us that the bandits are back. Thankfully, this time the fight is only against weak scorpion Zoid name Guysack. More like Guysucks, am I right? Turns out the duel is just distraction so the bandits can take away Juno with them. Engineer_negativevocalization01.wav
I have no lead on those bandits. So, I move on further to north and I’m stumbled upon Outlaws Town. The town’s name may be hint for the bandits that I looking for. Some citizen claims that he saw someone like bandit is in Zoid Institute. As I get into the building and ready to confront bandit, I meet with Bit Cloud instead. He’s the protagonist of Zoids: New Century anime. He’s more than happy to be my partner, replacing Juno. Thankfully, I don’t need to build another Zoid for him because I still keep Juno’s Gun Tiger. But to be honest, Bit here is less interesting ally because he doesn’t have multi-fire1 ability unlike Juno. He’s more melee fighter as he has accuracy bonus on melee attack and "Impudence" ability that make his Zoid less prone to crash.
Bit claims that he saw bandit on abandoned building near Zoid Institute. This time the lead is spot-on. We find the bandit for real this time.
Once again, we fight bandit again. This time it’s 2 on 1. His Zoid is called Rock Hammer, a small gorilla zoid. Not even the huge Gatling Gun on the left shoulder can help him in this fight. Once again, we got distracted with the Zoids fight and the bandit leader escape. But this time she left a letter that invites to the match at Galil Storm stadium, east from this Outlaw Town.
Meanwhile, we got to see what the antagonists are brewing. On the left is Prince Gard. On the right is Lezard. They talk about Juno and she’s important for their use or something like that.
I want to put the newly bought Accelerated Shock Gun at the Saberlion but it’s out of carrying capacity. I can’t blame the Zoid, the gun looks huge and heavy, anyway.
In the end, I don’t put the huge gun. Here, I just want to show you the Hi Wave Blade readied. The lion Zoid look like unicorn now. In my opinion, you have to upgrade the claw because it’s the most accurate melee weapon and/or upgrade the Blade to enhance the attack power even further.
Here we are at Galil Storm Stadium. Inside the bar, I find another old man that gives me deck command for free. This Junk Parts command will give me weapon drop if I finish the battle in the turn I activate it. But you have to make sure that the enemies on the battle have weapon that’s in “portable equipment” type before you can use this command. It’s pretty easy to identify it though. If you see massive Gatling gun, sniper rifle, or rocket launcher on enemy Zoid’s shoulder, it’s good chance that they will drop weapon when you use Junk Parts command.
In Galil Storm Stadium’s tournament, participants must be up to 3 Zoids. But we can make do with 2 of us. Although we’re outnumbered by 1 unit, our opponents are pretty easy to deal with especially when I have this Gatling Gun that can attack entire column of enemies.
It goes without saying that the later weapon shop has more powerful equipment than earlier ones. However, you have to take account of Zoid’s carrying capacity. So, you have to mix and match when installing the equipment you bought. You can have Zoid that has powerful weapon but small armor equipment or vice versa. Or if you are reckless enough to ignore armor equipment, you can put other passive equipment that enhance accuracy or maybe you want to use support equipment that grant temporary buff. So, be creative in your mix and match! Sky is the limit. Kind of.
By the way, this passive equipment is quite interesting. It enhances SR (fixed equipment’s accuracy) from get go. I also like the price is line up perfectly with the cash I have, so I don’t miscalculate the price by 1 digit or something like that.
In one of the matches, Zeru’s level raise to 4 and he have multi-fire 1 skill like Juno does! Now I need to put more gun on his Zoid. This is going to be fun. :D
Eventually, we get the match against Leviathe the bandit leader from before. Let’s rumble! Soldier_battlecry05.wav
The rest of Leviathe’s team is not problem. The biggest problem is Leviathe herself. Luckily, I have deck command “Friendship” that heal all allies by 50% max HP.
I almost exhaust Saberlion’s EP but still have enough of it to use Laser Machine Gun on Leviathe. It’s the most useful weapon against her. Eventually, we win.
As soon as the final match ends, Bit Cloud left the party now that he has enough money to repair his Zoid. Leviathe agrees to return Juno to us in waiting room. As Zeru find Juno there, a mysterious man gives him James Bond’s Judo Chop and he runs away with Juno. I wish Bit stayed with Zeru for little longer so this accident didn’t happen and Juno could be freed. So Zeru must venture alone again.
Anyway, I will continue the Zeru’s journey later in next part. Bye for now.
