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Update 2 - How I Met My Sushi Sprite
When we last left Musashi, she encountered a strange man named Franklin who offered her some of the forbidden food, sushi. After eating the sushi, Musashi was delighted by its taste and asked Franklin to stop by her village to feed the other orphans. On the way, they were spotted by an imperial soldier and soon found themselves surrounded by the Imperial Army. Among the troops was the ripped general, General Kodiak, who demanded Franklin surrender his sushi sprite, Ara-o. Franklin refused, so he got beat up; and then Musashi stepped up to defend Franklin, and got beat up. The story continues just after Musashi's defeat.
Video: Meeting Jinrai
What are you goofballs doing? Is this Kodiak's idea of 'securing the perimeter'?
: I gotta hand it to you. I didn't think you had the guts to come after us.
: Yo! We'll take this kid, too.
: No, don't! Let the girl go. I just met her today. She has nothing to do with any of this.
: Yeah... Now that we have both you and the sushi sprite in our mitts, we're done here.
Me in the back making awkward kissy faces at my anime boy.
: Hope you packed your underwear!
: No! Did the Imperial Army get him?!
: I've gotta go help him!
: But... How?
: What is this? Why did Franklin give it to me?
Good question, wish he would have told us!!
: Hah hah hah... That thunderous rumble could only be born of a truly heroic craving.
: Huh? Who said that?!
: Do you hunger for power?
: Power? Really?
: Heck yeah!
I WANNA GET RIP'D!
: It will lead you to the shrine that contains a nourishing strength.
: Cool...
: This way...
: Cool!
I HEARD THAT...
: Not just any sushi—it's salmon. What are you waiting for? Sate that powerful hunger!
: Right!
: Bon appétit!
: I trust your hunger has abated.
: What a magnificent appreciation for sushi you showed!
: Aaaaah! Are you...
: I'm no cat. My name is Jinrai. I'm an escaped sushi sprite. I've been in hiding from the Empire here for some time.
: The moment you ate that sushi, you formed a pledge with me. With that, you became a sushi striker!
Would've been nice to know that up front, but whatever, now we can have sushi whenever we want!
: I'm a...sushi striker?
: That is no ordinary jacket you wear. I'll have you know it can contain and store the spirits of we sushi sprites
: I have my work cut out for me...
: I'm ready, Jinrai! Make me a sushi striker! I gotta repay Franklin for showing me how incredible sushi really is!
: And then...
Everyone, lend me your sushi so that I may make the Sushi Dama! (That's Sushi Bomb to your westerners)
: That is a noble dream! I will grant you my power!
Aww, Jinrai is so adorable.
Anyways, we're not only officially a sushi striker but we also have a mission to rescue Franklin from the Empire's clutches; but I feel like we're forgetting something important. Oh well, let's go save Franklin!
♪ BGM: Republic ♫
Now that we've finished the basic tutorial, we have reached stage 1-1 and our first real sushi fight. Every stage has one of these info boxes that let's us know a few things like a vague idea of who we'll be fighting, and judging by the silhouette it's a generic soldier. We can also see that their team consist of one sushi sprite, as well as, the reward we will get when we win, and some score keeping stats like grade, high score, and stars. The stars are side objectives that you can complete during the match and they reward you with bonus experience, so getting as many as you can is a good idea. In these early stages, the star objectives are very easy to get.
Video: Tutorial - Skills
♪ BGM: Soldier Scene ♫
: So it does...
: But all I see here is one measly brat.
: Sir! Maybe she's a sushi sprite in disguise!
To be honest. I'm actually three sushi sprites in a trench coat.
: Sir, this unidentified floating furball— could it be Jinrai?!
: THE Jinrai?! His Imperial Majesty has been looking all over for that one!
: Exactly, sir! The sky's the limit for us if we're the ones who bring him in!
: Hands off! Jinrai's MY sushi sprite!
: I hate to break it to you, kid. But what the Emperor wants... the Emperor gets!
I guess Jinrai's a really popular sushi sprite. One-of-kind, baby.
♪ BGM: Preparing for a Battle ♫
This is the pre-battle screen. Here we can get information about the enemy and we're able to swap out which team of sushi sprites we'll take into battle. Since Jinrai's our only sprite, there isn't really any reason to swap teams. In the team box, we see Jinrai starts out at level 1 and his skill, 'Sushi Bonanza' is also level 1. A sushi sprite's level and skill level have different methods of leveling up. A sprite's level goes up by getting experience in battle while the skill level levels up by other means that I'll talk about at a later time.
Over on the right side, we see that Pvt. Unger has 2100 HP and is using an level 1 otter-like sprite named Uszo. Notice the fireball icon around Uszo's skill Super Scout, this is to denote that the skill is at max level meaning you cannot level up Super Scout beyond level 1.
Another thing we can do is change out our 'Striker Specs' or equipment basically. We don't have anything to equip so we'll ignore that for now.
We can hit R to get more information on everyone's skills.
We'll learn about Jinrai's Sushi Bonanza in the actual battle, so let's take a moment to see what Uszo can do.
Allows only the opponent's image to displayed on the live monitor!
What does this all mean? Not much at all, the live monitor, as far as I can tell, is just a little window that shows characters up close while they're fighting and nothing more. (Check my current avatar.) So basically, Super Scout is an otter-ly useless skill.
Last but not least, we can hit R again to see what kind of sushi is being brought to the table.
I'm not too concerned about what the enemy has access to, but it looks like Jinrai's sushi leans heavy on the cyan side so we can probably get a lot of big stacks going if we focus on grabbing cyan plates. The downside to this is that cyan is the weakest plate of all, but for Pvt. Unger we can easily knock him out with just cyan plates.
♪ BGM: Battle VS Soldier♫
: Every sushi sprite has its own power to grant. We call these "skills."
: When the gauge is full, the button flashes. Touch the button then to use the skill!
For reference, you hit Up for the first(top) sprite, left/right for the second(middle), and down for the third(bottom).
: My own skill is Sushi Bonanza, which turns all of your plates to the same color.
: You can link all the sushi in your lanes that way! Use it wisely!
Take note of the line up of plates. These plates go from weakest(cyan) to strongest(gold).
Alright there a few more new things added since our battle with Kodiak, namely we can actually see the health bars this time.
Next to each health bar is second meter known as the Sushi Jubilee Meter. Eating sushi fills the meter and when it's full you'll automatically enter 'Sushi Jubilee'. (Think hyper mode)
While in this mode, higher quality sushi enters the lanes, and on top of that any stacks thrown deals 50% more damage. (More on this later.)
There's also the Live Monitor which I already mentioned, and the score counter. I'll be honest, I haven't really tried to pin down what all goes into the scoring system in this game; but all I do know is that if you want a good score, winning the fight quickly helps.
Now I remember Ara-o mentioning something important just before Kodiak interrupted him, but what was it... :thinking:
: Hit the enemy with stacks of the same-colored plates for a superpowerful combo!
Oh yeah! Let's try that by stacking cyan plates. After eating about 26 plates of sushi, Jinrai's skill bar is full.
So let's hit it and see what happens.
Sushi Bonanza turned all the plates on the field a lime green which we scoop up most of them.
When the stack reaches the table, it takes on the color of the strongest plate in the chain. In this case, it was dark blue which is pretty good for a level 1 sprite. We also ate enough sushi to enter Sushi Jubilee. Now our plate stacks have a x1.5 marking to show that they'll hit extra hard when thrown. We unload all our plates and win the fight.
♪ BGM: Won a Match♫
Here's the results screen. After completing each stage you'll receive a letter grade based on your performance. The letter you get is determined by your score. Getting higher ranks mostly comes down to how fast can you win the fight. We also knocked out all three star objectives in one go!
And Jinrai leveled up! His defense stat increases as well as gains an improvement to his sushi lineup. A sprite's defense is mostly just a stat that contributes to Musashi's overall HP, and leveling up the sushi lineup basically means that weaker sushi is being replaced with stronger sushi. (Be sure to keep track of which colors are altered.)
On top of that, Musashi herself has gained a level which means she gets more HP and can throw a little harder.
♪ BGM: Musashi's Theme ♫
: Uh-oh. This is the Sushi Sprite Catalog!
So, can I mail-order sushi sprites from it??
Heh, order your first sushi sprite within the next five days and we'll throw in another one absolutely FREE! What a deal! We're practically giving them away!!
: A catalog? But I thought you weren't a cat.
: No, no. A catalog is a collection of lists. In this case, lists of sushi sprites and sushi.
: Oh. That makes more sense. The cover looks familiar... Wasn't Franklin carrying this?
: He must've dropped it in the scuffle. Maybe you're meant to have it, Musashi.
: This is an interesting book. It's mostly blank now, but it'll fill in as you befriend sprites.
: We're likely to meet many sprites on our journey to find Franklin, so it will be useful.
: Neat! I'll take it.
: Franklin will flip his lid when he sees all the sprites I met!
Well I dunno about you but I'm stuffed from all this content... and sushi. Tune in next time for when Musashi goes plate to plate with her... rival(?)
New Sushi Sprites
#001: Uszo
Secret: Has a playful face but is a bit wild.
Skill: Super Scout - Allows only the opponent's image to be displayed on the live monitor!
#100: Jinrai
Secret: Said to conceal a power of the highest order.
Skill: Sushi Bonanza: All user's plates turn the same color, allowing maximum linkage!
New Sushi
#003: Inari Sushi
A salty-sweet pouch of friend tofu skin with a nugget of rice curled up inside.
#004: Edamame
A salty-sweet snack you'll keep coming back to like the tide's ever ebb and flow.
#007: Squid
Well known and eagerly anticipated for its signature bouncy toothsomeness.
#011: Shrimp
Its slightly reddish, regal flesh is the very definition of refinement.
#014: Bonito
Boldly eating a thick cut of bonito atop rice is beyond stylish.
#018 California Roll
Wistful memories of sun-kissed days and sea-swept nights linger with every bite.
#023 Scallop
Delicious, surely, but even just looking at its juicy, shimmering flesh is transcendent.