Nighttime is perfect time for supernatural's cavalcade and that's
not good for humanity. This kind of incident should be solved by uncommon
means. You don't think normal means can do that, do you? No lawsuit or special
force can handle that phenomena. "Perhaps air-bombing can" But that
will leaves the city blow into smithereens! Are you out of your mind? Anyway, we
shall see action of supernatural incident solving in "Battle Moon Wars".
Battle Moon Wars is fan-made crossover game about 3 Type-moon's trademark:
Kara no Kyokai (a.k.a Garden of Sinners), Tsukihime/Melty Blood, and Fate Stay
Night. Maybe lots of you don't know about them all or at least know the latter
ones as it's the most famous because it has the most of series and spin-offs.
Be warned this article certainly has SPOILER regarding those 3 trademark. But they're
released very long time ago. So you probably have known them (or even has more
knowledge than me) or maybe you don't care about SPOILER at all. If not on those
cases, i suggest you don't read further. Instead, read my other article (via
tabs above) or do something more productive like cleaning your room or
accompany your relative!
So you decide to read this article further, i salute your bravery.
As soon as i start a new game, i have to choose between 2 Hero: Super and Real.
For this playthrough i choose the "real" hero: a red-haired lass
named Haruna Mochizuki. This choice is quite important to determine story's
route. At some story's point, these 2 heroes will be split-up, making the story
progresses in different perspective. Also the choice determines which character
that you always control also for further leveling purpose. The reason why i
choose the lass is i have played this game twice before: one from when i'm still
in under-graduate college; and several weeks ago. On that playthroughs i choose
the super hero: a green haired lad named Takumi. So i'm curious with the lass's
route. By the way both of these heroes are original, devs-made.
Then there's meeting between Haruna, Takumi, and (presumably their
supervisor) a talking cat name Mike. Any game's storytelling with a meeting
with talking adorable cat deserve 10/10 score on story aspect. Yes, i'm
cat-lover. Problem?! The bottom line of the meeting: there's is pernicious
supernatural condition in Misaki City (which is the setting of Tsukihime/Melty
Blood). As Misaki City ain't in Gensokyo which means it's out of Reimu Hakurei's jurisdiction, Haruna and Takumi are tasked to investigate that
phenomena.
And of course, they have to investigate it at night. Because any
supernatural phenomena is very shy in the sun's presence. Everyone know that.
Soon after a bit talk about surrounding's condition. The 1st battle ensues.
It's very typical for many tactic RPGs to start the battle with
condition of victory and defeat. Did i not mention that this game is Tactic
RPG? My bad. Anyway, something that's different in Battle Moon Wars from its
peer, is Battle Mastery condition. If i'm not wrong, fulfilling battle mastery is
crucial for good ending of this game. So to seek good ending, you have to
oblige this special condition.
The control is simple: left mouse button to decide/bring menu/pan
the camera (by holding it), and right mouse button to cancel. As far as i know, there's no
configuration to rotate camera. But if my memory is right, i don't remember any
situation in which some enemy can't be seen without rotating the camera. So all
enemies is well visible. The command icon of selected character: shoe to move,
book to see his/her status, sword to attack/act, and blue orb with wing to cast
"spirit". What's spirit?
That should be nice explanation for it. Needless to say that even
though this is the 1st battle, Takumi and Haruna are certainly outnumbered and this
battle can be very difficult ones. Yes, even the enemies are (perhaps) adorable
critters like: tiny rabbit and crow. So using character's "spirit" is
very crucial to win the battle efficiently and fulfill the battle mastery
condition. Furthermore these enemies can't cast "spirit" at all. That
should turn the tide of the battle on your favor. For now, Haruna has 2
"spirit": Luck which doubles BP (i will explain this later) on her
next battle, and focus that raise her accuracy and evasion for 30% in 1 turn.
The latter "spirit" is certainly golden! Not only her attack can be more accurate, but also she
can dodge better from incoming attacks or counter attack.
Then i move Haruna to position where she can attack the purple
hare. It's general rules for all tactic RPG that you can cancel character
movement but not his/her attack. So think thoroughly before you decide to make
your character attacks. As Haruna is shooter/marksman type character, her
attack has good range. But here's the other difference thing from other common
Tactic RPG, the shooter/marksman type character has limited ammo for specific
attack. Also notice those yellow tiles? That's mean target on that range will
take reduced damage from the character. As the rabbit is in red tile, i don't
hesitate to tell Haruna to open fire.
Without doubt she fires her M4A1 Colt assault rifle (which spew
green mini laser instead of usual hot lead) toward the bunny. It's demonic ones
so don't feel bad to kill it.
And to finish it for good, i told Takumi to give it the finishing
blow. He's the opposite of Haruna who is fragile shooter character. Takumi is
the melee warrior type who has decent HP, defense, attack power, and wield
blunt yet futuristic greatsword. But he's low on accuracy and avoidance. Thus
he complements Haruna and vice versa. That's partnership is all about, right?!
Now that Takumi and Haruna have
done with their action. I must end our turn and let enemies do theirs. By
left-clicking on unoccupied tile, you can bring this menu. From top to
clockwise direction: 1) End turn 2) Victory/defeat/battle mastery condition 3)
Search member 4) Options/Configuration 5) Save/Load in-battle data 6) Exit game.
As tradition on most Tactic RPGs, you can only have 1 in-battle save data. So
use it wisely.
When enemy attack, your targeted character has several options: Do
nothing, defend, avoid, or counter attack if his/her attack range allow to. As
the enemy is out of reach, i opt Takumi to defend himself. Avoid most of the
time halves enemy's hit rate, but for safer result Takumi should defends
instead in my opinion. He's quite durable anyway.
By the way, Takumi also has 2 "spirit". They are: 1) Strike
to make his hit rate to 200% regardless of his accuracy but not enemy's evasion
2) Gain to double experience that he earns in next battle. A character earns
exp whenever he/she has done some action and more can be gained whenever he/she
defeat enemy. Even though Takumi is melee warrior type, his attacks has fairly
distance: up to 2 tiles range away. But the closer he's to his target, the more
accurate his attack also this getter robot wannabe can't attack in close range.
What a scrap-y getter robot. Worth to mention: hero's counter attacks are critical
to make the battle as short as possible (to fulfill the battle mastery).
After that battle's over, it's intermission time. During
intermission, you can save your game and no less important: manage the
character. The most important thing in our hero management: training by
spending FP (Fundamental Points) and BP (Battle Points) to further upgrade a
character besides leveling him/her up. Level up makes that particular character
to automatically boost his/her general stats, increase rank of passive skills,
and add new "spirit" or passive skill at certain level. You can spend
FP to increase detailed stats such as Atk, Evd, and Skl. There's few thing that
i want you to know: 1) Atk is quality of physical attack (symbolizes with sword icon). Since Haruna
only has set of ranged attack/action (symbolize with staff/wand icon), you only
have to increase her Mag instead of Atk if you want to raise her attack power
2) Skl stats determine the critical chance of attacks and the likeliness/quality
of the passive skills. Also you can spend FP in bigger quantity to enable
passive skill or to upgrade the already acquired ones.
On to the BP cost training. You can spend BP to increase these
major stats: Hp is Hitpoints; En is energy point that's cost for some attack or
ability; Quick is major influence for accuracy and evasion; and Tough is major
influence for any attack power and defense. BP Cost is varied, so keep that in
mind. For bigger BP cost, you can upgrade character's arsenal power instead.
Though you can only increase it by 10% for each upgrade level. There's also
equipment menu that allow the character to equip use-item (that you get from
defeating enemy). As Takumi told Haruna to split-up, i can only manage her at
this point. By the way, BP and FP can only be earned by defeating enemy Also
Exp, BP, and FP are separated for each character. No automatic even share,
then.
Next act is: a meeting between the mage with twintail hair, Rin
Tohsaka (from Fate/Stay Night) and unreal killer, Nanaya (from Melty Blood).
Soon after Haruna arrives, Nanaya summons these 4 zombie vampires to balance
the battle in his favor. All of them are ranged attacker type with blind spot
near themselves. While Rin Tohsaka is the first mage type hero which means she
has long range attack. Unlike Haruna, her attack aren't limited by ammo but she
can't attack once she moves. Though Rin can move after she attacks thanks to
her skill 'hit & run away'.
About the killer, he's rogue type character which means he's agile
attacker. Because neither Haruna nor Rin is durable warrior type that able to
halt him, this thing is most likely bound to happen. Fortunately, Haruna is
within the yellow range of this Nanaya's counter-attack. So the damage isn't
fatal. To be honest, i want Rin who receives the harming instead of Haruna. But
my strategic thinking wins over my personal aversion. With quite-rigorous
combination of magic and bullets, Nanaya yields.
Heavy_taunts05.wav. What a sore loser for sadistic murderer such
as you. Shame on you, lad!
Not much training for you Rin. As i told Haruna to hog most of the
kills instead of you. She's the main heroine in this game afterall. I'm quite
impressed by your 3 use-item slots. Even though you wear short skirt while
Haruna who wears jacket, can only carry 2 use-items at most. Let me guess the
reason! Magic, isn't?! So far, we only found these beans that somehow can
restore whole HP. Magic beans? Not the ones that's in 'Jack and the beanstalk'
fairytale, though.
Meanwhile in underground of Tohno Mansion, Kohaku is free to devise
something to overturn Akiha Tohno as usual. But suddenly a sword falls.
Like the ones in Super Mario RPG, Kohaku-san?
Once she touched that sword, Saber appears before Kohaku. Asking
if Kohaku is her master. Just like what happen to Shirou Emiya in Fate/Stay
Night. Except this time Saber's master is crafty person. Quick explanation on
Fate/Stay Night's main plot: A mage or someone with magic potential can summon spirit
of famous legend to assist him/her in a war to win Holy Grail that can grant
any wishes. The mage/one who has certain magic potential is called Master while
the spirit is called Servant. The Servants come in various class/category/type
akin to the ones in RPG. Saber is basically swordsman.
But then Kohaku's younger sister is kidnapped thanks to her lax
security system on this premise (besides she's occupied with her devious
scheme). Now she and Saber have to deal with the kidnaper's associate: other
group of Getter junks and the infamous Caster. Caster is magic-casting Servant.
Yep. Kind of like mage.
I can't stop imagining that Kohaku making sound
"Chuuuus!" (sound effect of syringe plunging into someone flesh in
Indonesian) whenever she injects someone like that. Yes. Kohaku is
medic/support type character. Beside healing bit of HP, she can buff his ally's
accuracy & evasion or attack & defense with that big syringe.
Frightening, right?! Also, her syringing action can earn herself hefty
experience.
Saber has skill 'defense support' which means she can blocks
attack toward her ally who stands next to her. For once, though. If said her
ally can dodge incoming attack successfully, Saber won't sacrifice herself like
this. By the way Getter-2 is the melee type enemy. They're quite dangerous in
close range and bad at dodging attacks.
On the turn 2, Haruna and Rin arrives to assist them. Still the only
melee warrior type is Saber and she's
injured pretty bad from those Getter-2s. But Kohaku has healing
"spirit", right?!
Her healing "spirit" is called "Trust"?! Can
you believe that repulsive person like Kohaku is someone you can trust.
I mean, seriously. Look at her! She's shifty as hell, man. No way
someone like her either has trust or can be trusted. Credit to: scanlator and
translator of 'Melty Blood Act 2' manga.
Caster shoot magic laser at Saber. But believe me or not. Saber
only receives 0 damage, because she's magic resistant which means any magic
damage toward her will be reduced by 1000 but consume 5 En each time this
special skill actives. Remind me of Magina in Defense of the Ancients
(DotA).
Spy_DominationSniper05.wav. Another battle, another sore loser.
After that battle, we have to chase the kidnaper of Kohaku's
sister. But first, training time. Despite the Kohaku's notoriety, she's still
valuable healer/support character. It's necessary to top-up her max SP early so
she can heal more often. SP Regen looks excellent but she needs tons of FP for
that. She can slashes enemy with quick-draw/iaido style. So-so damage but
decent accuracy. Still it's not worthy to spend BP to upgrade that her only
attack. Better use it to increase her HP and Tough.
Here's Saber's status information. Basic skills are skills that
other character can learn by spending FP though they may vary depends on
character type. Special skills are skill that specific only for this character.
Most of them are related to the story. In Fate/Stay night, Saber is indeed
resistant to magic harms. While Mana Burst is skill that makes Saber increase
her offensive power whenever she attacks/counter attacks with 5 En cost but not
when she do follow-up attack with Offensive Support. Speaking of which, Kohaku
has it that allow him to attack at the same target that her adjacent ally has
attacked before provided if she doesn't do anything yet.
I skip showing you a battle where the party fight against a wolf
and his companion. Because there's no interesting thing back there. Except,
another new enemy: hideous large chap and soon we're assisted by
magical-girl/mahou-shoujo wannabe vampire. I'm sure we will meet them again. For
now, we caught up with the kidnapper: Yumizuka Satsuki. The vampire with brown
twintail hair who has sad face. Looks innocent but very dangerous. Battle
mastery condition for this time: defeat Yumizuka after her companion were
finished. That's is nice breather as you can take your time to finish this
battle unlike the previous ones.
Oh, look! we got back up. This battle can be won more easily.
That's what i would like to say. The enemy get reinforcement too.
Lead by the wolf from previous battle, itching for revenge. To defeat Yumizuka
lastly become much harder because there's 2 crows up there. How we can deal
with them soon enough? I will show you the answer later. For now we fight the
enemy on same level first.
You mean terminated, Shiki-san? Shiki's appearance is not much difference
from Nanaya because Nanaya is embodiment of Shiki's bloodthirsty
personality/sub-consciousness that born when Tatari phenomena occur. That's
enough info regarding Melty Blood for now. Because there's much more important
thing that i have to explain. Most character has more powerful attack than the
first ones. This 2nd attack can be executed if the character has required
amount of WL (Will) or more. By default, everyone has 100 WL at the start of
the battle. WL is regenerated every turn and after he/she attacked. Does Haruna
has 2nd attack? Of course she does.
She flies with jetpack that's hidden in her jacket, shoots few
small missiles,...
...shoots her twin laser rifles, and rams her target with them.
Still don't understand why she's "Real" hero. Her attacks look really
unreal to me, especially this ones. Also...
...she can jump really high so she can blasts those crow later.
You think you're save up there, huh? Think again! Haruna has special skill
'Flight' which allows her to move to any place regardless the level if she has
130 WL or more. Now that they're dealt nicely, we can defeat Satsuki.
Well said, Akiha-san. You might want to hire better & more
trustworthy security after we rescue Kohaku's young sister who's being held
inside this building. Firing Kohaku is optional, though.
Inside the building, the party meet the large chap that i
mentioned before. His name Nrvnqsr...do yourself a simple favor! Call him Nero
instead! They find out that Nero is Caster's master. He is sort of summoner
type character as he can call many animals within his body. So he's walking-zoo
vampire, but among his summon animal: Brontosaurs. You don't see Sauropod
Dinosaurs at any zoo, do you?! This time battle mastery condition: defeat
Caster lastly. Which is easy, especially she is in far upstairs. Let's Go!
But, Caster has set a magical trap that makes the party can't move
at all. Is this the end?
Thank you, Captain Obvious. -_-
No, you aren't a magical-girl/mahou-shoujo. Meet Arcueid
Brunestud. She's the vampire who has delusion of being
magical-girl/mahou-shoujo that i mention before. She gives Caster a good hit
that makes the trap abolished. Soon, she works together with the party to defeat
these evil beings. And still oblige with the battle mastery condition, of
course.
After Caster received final blow from Takumi, she get assassinated
by unknown person. Who's the culprit? Find out in part 2, later!
As usual, i will give you analysis from characters that we met.
We start with Haruna the "Real" hero. Her HP and defense
are really lax. But, it's okay as she is marksman/shooter type character. The
reason why i define her primary stats is Agility (4/5) : she get good avoidance
stats, later she has "spirit" Alert that allow her to avoid 1
attack/counter attack perfectly, and she can jump really high as you saw
(probably due to her hidden jetpack). Operating M4A1 Carbine and 2 laser rifles
is certainly no casual thing. Thus her secondary stats is Dexterity (3.5/5).
Her hair's shape reminds me of Fujimura Taiga's.
Next is Takumi the super hero. Nothing super from him except
wielding giant blunt futuristic sword that he calls Futsuno. So, it's
reasonable that his primary stats is Srength (5/5). He is one of only 2 Warrior
type in the party (besides Saber) on early part of the game. Thus making him
very valuable to halt strong enemies. He has more mobility than Saber but has
fairly worse accuracy.
Saber is King Arthur that's summoned into these Holy Grail War
thrice (2 times in official Fate/Stay Night and one more in this game). Yes,
Type-Moon makes the legendary king of Camelot Kingdom, a blonde female. But
that's kind of explaining why Lady Guinevere "double-crosses" her
with Lancelot. She's the Servant of Shirou Emiya (the main protagonist of
Fate/Stay Night) making her the main heroine in Fate/Stay Night. Her
magnificent swordsmanship is down to her finesse than her strength. So her
primary stats: Dexterity (4.5/5) and her secondary stats: Strength (3.5/5).
Another info about her: she is the one of the big-eater characters that are
common on most Japanese manga/game/visual novel/anime.
Rin Tohsaka is from one of noble magus family in Fuyuki City also
has duty as its guardian. Also she's kind of idol on her school. But i really
dislike her because in Fate/Stay Night anime or manga, she is arrogant and
cruel especially to Shirou Emiya. Even though that manners are sensible (i
dislike Shirou Emiya too). But her arrogance really makes her resented in my
judgment. Anyway, she is legit mage so her primary stats certainly Intelligence
(4.5/5). She tend to minimize feeling and think strategically, making her
secondary stats: Dexterity (3.5/5). Despite her Intelligence, she's sucker to
modern technology. For example: in one of episode of Carnival Phantasm, she's confused with operating a digital video
recorder. Luckily, her Servant is willing to help her.
No comments:
Post a Comment