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Dateline: Singapore! Not the urban venue I'd typically expect from a crossover cavalcade of Japanese robot shows, but I'll take it.
Traiya and Esther are chatting about the new arrangements. It wasn't planned, but Traiya doesn't really care since she trusts Esther, but reminds her to be careful since she can't stand the thought of Esther getting hurt. In other news, the Chief has been playing with Esther's instruments to blow off steam from dealing with everyone she has to deal with, which leaves Esther... worried... but Traiya assures her she won't damage anything, and that Esther should just focus on her new job and see the world. In return, Esther tells Traiya that she'll succeed here as well as in love...! You should be able to pretty well imagine the Chief's reaction to THAT.
Elsewhere, Ranka is out shopping, being escorted by Alto and Luca - she is an idol, after all. She has a concert in a day or so, and needs to get in contact with Grace about a joint concert with Sheryl. Alto is worried about Sheryl's health after she took a nosedive, but apparently she's working hard to get back out onto the stage. He feels kind of melancholy about it, though, since most of their friends from ZEXIS won't be around to see her concerts like old times.
Esther rolls up about then, and she's struck dumb by Alto's handsome looks, although she's kind of disappointed he's not cross-dressing since, according to Crowe, that was a real sight to see. Eventually she snaps out of it and introduces herself as Esther Elhas, who knows Crowe, and has been hired to help the pair guard Ranka.
Alto introduces himself, causing Esther to blab everything Crowe told her, leading Alto to take offense at being called a beautiful man who can easily pass as a woman. Esther can't shake that that's pretty much the case anyway, and Alto is very handsome... no! She has to save herself for Crowe, only a pure maiden is worthy of his love!
Ranka and Luca basically think this is hilarious and have no sympathy for either of their friends.
A civilian arrives shortly thereafter, asking if Ranka is THE Ranka, and since Alto was distracted with Esther he doesn't intervene in time...
... causing this kid to run up and try and get an autograph off her, leading Ranka to get swarmed by civilians.
Striking a quick Kira~ pose, she elicits some pop from the crowd while Esther and Alto confer: she thinks the sudden publicity event is a bit of a problem, and Alto is frustrated at the crowd they're drawing. The kid comes and apologises for making a scene; his name is Shotaro, and he's also here to protect Ranka, as BRANCH, the space mafia, have set their eyes on her - and the group was walking into a trap. They can stand back and let him deal with it, as a member of the ICPO!
Scenario 03: Messenger of the Sun, Tetsujin 28
Speaking of BRANCH, one of their thugs comes up to try and kidnap Ranka, but Shotaro handily disarms and knocks him out. At this point...
... Branch (yeah, the leader just allcapsed his own name to christen the crime syndicate) orders his goons to open fire, civilians be damned. In response, Shotaro decides he'll show Esther and Alto exactly why he's a member of ICPO...
"Mechanic Switch, On!"
[kaiju noises]
BGM: Tetsujin 28-go (1980 ver.)
This is Tetsujin 28, and Shotaro explains, with his V-Converter, he can control it remotely - that's why he's part of ICPO! Esther asks if he seriously thinks he can take on all of BRANCH on his own, and Shotaro bluntly says that he can, since Tetsujin has a self-repair system. While the rest of the crew get Ranka to safety, Shotaro gives a short hero speech and then settles down to dishing out some pain to BRANCH.
Tetsujin IS reasonably beefy, with Shotaro having a fairly solid Prevail level 2, and he does indeed have a repair unit like Esther's, letting it repair itself and shrug off damage, which pairs well with support defense. Shotaro's other skill is that he gets an extra 3 morale at the start of the stage, i.e. useless, and his only spell at the moment is Trust, which restores 2500 HP to one ally. Tetsujin's move is also unusually high for a super robot (7), and he has three slots for parts, where most have 1 or 2. His weapons selection is a tad lackluster, though, but his full upgrade bonus is amazingly good, as is Shotaro's ace bonus, and he functions well in water. The most interesting thing about him, however, is his V-Converter ability: since Shotaro isn't actually piloting Tetsujin, but viewing the action remotely, Tetsujin is immune to any status effect that effects the pilot as opposed to the mech (like morale down), and doesn't take the placement penalty or continuous targeting penalty, making it surprisingly evasive for a super robot.
Tetsujin lands and moves over here, which gives good terrain bonuses (+10 defense and +15 evade), and puts him in range to lay into the mook mechs...
Speaking of which, this is the problem with Tetsujin. His accuracy is really, really bad.
"Here they come! Definitely don't lose!"
https://a.pomf.cat/qfzneq.webm
Will missed literally everything cool in this animation, including the glowing eyes, lens flares, and whirlwind effects. Luckily that's why I'm here.
Will's evidently not the only one missing things tonight.
In theory this is Tetsujin's anti-snipe move but since it has a morale requirement it doesn't get used that often... like now, for example.
On the other hand, on terrain, Tetsujin is very hard to hit.
That's a little bit better. Tetsujin is also very tanky, and of course his Repair Module can heal damage off.
https://a.pomf.cat/ixdczz.webm
This is Rolling Attack, his anti-snipe move, which is just good enough to destroy these mooks in one hit.
Another enemy spawns in and goes after Ranka!
A strong wind from the east blows, and a certain VF-27 arrives...
... and in one smooth move that Will failed to screengrab due to his shitty laptop, destroys the BRANCH thug trying to lay hands on Ranka.
Meet Brera Fucking Stern, the Macross equivalent of Schwarz Bruder. He and Alto have fought before, but they've teamed up before as well; Brera is Ranka's older brother, not that she knows that yet, and has a habit of turning up to defend her. He's also a cyborg thingy, and is voiced by the same guy who voiced Kira Yamato, showing the depth of range of the actor.
Seeing the action, the Black Knights and the Wing Boys show up as well, concerned for Esther, while the others are eager to get into it, prompting C.C. to be snarky about the 'Grim Reaper' wanting to help people. Duo shrugs it off while Quatre plays mediator, and eventually Kallen yells at C.C. until she agrees to help as well. Esther says she'll leave things to Karen and heads off for her own mech. As for C.C., even if the Federation isn't nearby, she suggests they wrap things up quickly and be gone before any trouble can come up.
Duo and Quatre are concerned about Shotaro; he's ICPO, so it's his job to arrest them. Shotaro admits that he could use the help despite the awkwardness it creates.
That was still the enemy phase, but because I've barely moved, it conists of the enemies just moving up to a range where I can come smash them this turn. At the start of the player phase...
BGM: Triangler (Macross Frontier OP1)
Esther returns, along with the Macross Frontier boys. Alto says it's been a long time since he's seen Kallen, and that he hopes she's as ridiculously strong as ever; Kallen is, and she's just plain happy to see Alto again. Brera decides to stay and help - for Ranka's sake - but he and Alto are obviously butting heads just by being in the same battlefield. Luca says they'll accept Brera's help, to which Brera responds that that's good, since they wouldn't be able to save anyone with Alto, and Esther hurriedly changes the subject to how screwed BRANCH are before Alto can go off half-cocked.
The other characters tease Esther a bit about being naive, since they're terrorists and the ICPO is supposed to arrest them; Esther responds that she knows all that, but they're helping anyway, and goes on to berate BRANCH for attacking civilians, then gives a short speech about how she'll punish them with her invincible Brasta Es!
Here's our problem: we have to defeat Branch's Branch Robo Number 1 within 5 turns, and it retreats at 5000 HP, which would be fair damage for a finisher at this point. Fortunately, with Esther's support attack and Kallen's sheer power, it can be done.
"Skull 4, commencing maneuvers!"
https://a.pomf.cat/sdbqaq.webm
The Macross Frontier animations in this are so good, unlike in Z3. A lot of them are pretty simple, but they look really great, and I adore the use of the Guardian/GERWALK-mode circle-strafing, which almost never comes up.
I don't think I've ever seen Luca actually get into a battle on this map. Even after pulling all the enemies north, he starts in a bad spot and everything is likely to die before he gets into the fray.
We won't actually get to play with Brera for a while, but as you can see from his weapons' screen, he's kind of a Char version of Michel, having a sniping-focused mech but mobility-focused commands, including my favorite spirit command Accel. At present, he doesn't have Hit-and-Away, though, limiting his usefulness, so it's easier to just charge in with him and start cleaning house.
Speaking of which, I move him over here, so that he ends up on the fringe instead of stealing all the EXP and PP.
Hahaha, oh man, I forgot how cool his animations are. Lots of little cut-ins and dynamic angles. I've been playing Z3.2 lately, so yeah...
I have Shotaro drop Trust on Tetsujin and move down here, so that he can hit one of the Axios and start moving on the Branch Robos; the ATs are a bit too nimble for Tetsujin to reliably hit.
"Full power! Hammer Punch!"
Tetsujin stronk
https://a.pomf.cat/nimlfy.webm
A less merciful Tetsujin decides instead to punt an Axio in the junk with the full force of the Rising Sun.
On a fresh playthrough, these guys would be a problem for Quatre, but since I upgraded him and Duo a bit, he's not going to miss.
https://a.pomf.cat/veebds.webm
I forgot that these guys are fragile. This was meant to weaken him and instead Quatre totally obliterated him. WHAT A SHAME
Duo cleans house over by Tetsujin. I may have upgraded them a little too much.
I'm genuinely amazed that C.C. was able to one-shot this guy, even on a critical. Oh well!
Kallen had to move without attacking but that's fine because the Branch Robo is probably going to jump on her on the enemy phase.
Brera, as a guest character, is pretty weak at the moment, and being in plane mode doesn't really help him fight ground targets, which is kind of what I want, but his animations are super cool.
Seriously look at that shit. Speaking of which, these are Branch Robos, which I can't comment on much because they're not that common and their role is basically just to be fat. Fatter even than the two flavors of Fatty serving as low-HP, high-Mobility trash.
And the Branch Robo I wanted to attack Kallen attacked Quatre instead. Sigh.
C.C. please. That was your finisher. C.C. doesn't have Ignore Size as a pilot skill because she's mostly a support character, which comes back to bite me here. I feed him to Esther instead and have Kallen move over and Slash Harken one of the ATs giving Tetsujin problems.
I would say that's entirely due to the upgrades I have but it's really not, Kallen hits like a fucking truck in these games.
Branch has 16000 HP and is pretty beefy, but his attack is nothing to worry about. The main problem is not, you know, near-killing him by accident.
Luca gets to do something! Luca is actually great in Z3.1 because of how stupid his Ghost attack is in that game but in this he's pure benchwarmer.
https://a.pomf.cat/jcyiaw.webm
The difference in stat balancing and weapon power would've let him take down one of the lesser Branch Robos on the Andyside take. Luca pls.
Alto please.
"Antares 1, commencing support." Fortunately their dislike of each other doesn't stop Brera making himself useful with Support Attack.
Brera's finisher is a sniper attack like Michel's. There's a cool transformation sequence at the start which I missed because PPSSPP decided to blackscreen the entire thing. 
ANDY'S NOTE: You've seen some of that before with the weird black layer tearing in Esther's attack webms. Right now I'm operating with pretty much no extra graphics optimization switches running (the first two Prologues had the depth fix for Phantasy Star Portable 2 on, but didn't seem to change anything for better or worse). We're all ears for which switches to flip to fix that, given by the time you read this Will has migrated to his desktop for the warm months.
"You're a hundred years too early to challenge the mighty Duo!" This is Duo's finisher versus Branch. Yeah, that thing is pretty beefy. I'm concerned that Kallen or Esther will overdo it so I'm saving between moves here.
Absolutely perfect, based Kallen. Incidentally, I never get tired of the fact that due to the size discrepancy the Guren pretty much always grabs super robots by the balls for its Radiation Wave.
Tetsujin moves up next to Branch and repairs itself. Repairing gives LOTS OF EXP in this game.
Normally I don't post level-ups but Shotaro learning Accel makes Tetsujin significantly more dangerous, since it can now move ten panels at whim.
Like, A LOT of EXP. This is off Esther repairing Tetsujin. The EXP is reduced if you heal yourself. This is my next player phase; I'm setting up to destroy the Branch Robo by Esther supporting Tetsujin...
... so I move like this to benefit from the placement penalty due to Tetsujin's aim being absolutely awful.
Branch's sole attack is kind of lackluster, but he still hits pretty hard due to his size and boss stats.
At the last second, I remember that Alto has Luck (doubles money from the next battle), so he gets to attack instead of Tetsujin.
This is ppsspp screwing up the close-up for Alto's finish for about five frames and Will managing to capture it. He charges in spraying fire from the gunpod, and then...
"Where are you looking? I'm right here!"
... moves into close combat. Just like in 2.1, if you get a kill here, he leaps onto the enemy and you get an awesome overcranked shot of the VF-25's visor.
Branch returns fire with his beams, which don't have a hope in hell of hitting Alto...
"I'll support you, and do it properly too!"
https://a.pomf.cat/eabpsu.webm
[Esther intensifies]
And Branch goes down by exploding like any good super robot enemy.
m o n e y. This is also the first time I've ever bothered to...
... get this skill point! Branch gives generic super robot villain I'LL BE BACK dialogue and retreats, and that's the stage.
Of course, with their mutual enemy out of the way, the terrorists need to get a move on. Tetsujin follows them over, with Shotaro noting that since they're actually good people, he doesn't know what to do. Fortunately the ICPO top brass radio in and tell him to let them go; the "terrorists" are a Fed problem.
Duo is surprised they got a break for once, and realises they must still have some friends in high places - somebody up there still likes him! Quatre tells Esther that this is goodbye: where they're going is very perilous. Kallen, as well, says she doesn't want Esther to suffer the harsh realities of life as a branded terrorist...
and here's our first decision gate.
We can See Kallen Off (top choice) or Go With Kallen (bottom). If this sounds like some Go With Ryogo/Don't Go With Ryogo bullshit to you, YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! Your decision here leads into another binary decision on where Esther deploys next as our POV character, with four unique options and thereby a minimum of four game clears required to complete the Scenario Chart (not that it matters for serieswide progressive play, as Z2.2 data can't transfer back to the PS3/4 for the Z3 trilogy).
We'll cover the meaty details in a bit; there's still a postscript to this mission.
Seeing Off Kallen and co. proceeds about as cordially as you'd expect. Going with them, though, elicits shock from the would-be terrorists as Esther pulls up alongside them and tells Alto to whip up a cover story.
At any rate, the Macross crew are last to depart, Brera cutting west to parts unknown.
We adjourn to Ranka's dressing room, where concern is raised about her recognizing Brera from a past she really doesn't want to talk about. Before too much can be foreshadowed, though, this sharp-dressed dude comes in with the ICPO Tetsujin team in tow, explaining that in addition to/in lieu of Esther (as your previous choice dictates), the Crushers unit of Super Robots from Regular Japan will be coordinating with the Strategic Military Services.
If you chose to See Kallen Off, you'll be given a Yes/No prompt as to whether you want to access the Intermission screen before picking the second route split option; going with her dumps you into Intermission after this automatically. Pretty forgiving for an SRW route split, and a hell of a lot easier on my savefile list.
On to the meat of this route split: for the sake of exploiting your personal preferences in prioritizing coverage of all these stages, we've read ahead a bit and compiled brief summaries:
Go with Kallen -> Go to Kunmen (Code Geass & Armored Trooper VOTOMS): Not only are Gilgamesh and Balarant forces and ATs stomping about on Earth, some of the geography of the Astragius System has found its way here too. En route to Area 11, Esther must navigate the Kunmen Jungle and the tense battle between Melkian Federation forces and local separatists.
Go with Kallen -> Go to Middle East (Gundam Wing & Gundam 00): The Earth Federation (no, not the Universal Century one) continues to tighten its grip on the assorted pacifists and petro-states that continue to defy the will of the solar elevator-owning supernations. Esther and the Wing Boys must buy time for the remaining Colony Gundams and Celestial Being to rise from the ashes.
See Kallen Off -> Space Route (Macross Frontier, Genesis of Aquarion, Godmars): All the ruckus over Ranka in the mission prior is a good sign she ought to be repatriated to the Macross Fleet ASAP. Along the way, Esther might just get to experience Gattai With Boys??? and witness a super robot so imposing, it doesn't bother moving unless it's using its finisher.
See Kallen Off -> Japan Route (Zambot 3, Trider G7, Tetsujin 28, Dai-Guard, Gundam X, Overman King Gainer, Shin Mazinger): But do we really need to head to far-flung lands to get some action? Just sticking around in Regular Japan for a bit, Esther can put all the greatest 70s hits on her robot playlist, and probably help some people more used to abject post-apocalyptic scenarios get acclimated (or at least give them directions to the Dark Continent).
Taking any route here is feasible; we don't need the bonus Zero Points from Kunmen Route in order to reach the ZEXIS Route, and the only missable secret is Lorelei on stage 7 of the Japan Route, who we wouldn't actually get access to for ages and she's not really worth using to boot.
At Scenario 8, the paired routes come together based on the Go With Kallen/See Kallen Off line, so the Kunmen+Middle East and Space+Japan routes come together into two lines until stage 15, at which point everyone is together again for another five stages.
The Next World is In Your Hands! But, we'd like to cover these all contemporarily!
Choose TWO routes with your vote. First past the post is the one I badger Will to start recording for; I'll handle all others. For the sake of covering the sub-split (Scenarios 08 to 14, Chaos/Law Routes), whichever of each route's two tributary splits got more votes will be the "canon" save for said route, i.e. for a final vote result of:
Go With/Kunmen: 7
Go With/Middle East: 5
See Off/Japan: 4
See Off/Space: 3
Chaos Route will be played based on our saves coming from the Kunmen Route, and Law Route will be played based on our saves from the Japan Route.
In the event of ties, we reserve the right to resort to Unscientific Measures to decide which route(s) to cover first and which saves to branch off from. These will more than likely be based on which series involved personally appeal to us.