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Update 3 - Gotta Find 1st Gear in My Giant Sushi Bar

We pick up where left off after Musashi's first sushi battle victory. Now that the grunt is out of the way, time to tango with the commander and see what he's made of.

♪ BGM: Republic ♫



But first, we've got a new piece of UI to check out, the menu.



Here's where we do prep work and research. Let's briefly go through some of the options.

Sprite Order: Allows you to view/edit sushi sprite teams. (More on this when we start getting more sprites.)

Striker Specs: Allows you to equip various items like Lane Drive Gear, Favorite Sushi, and Prepared Item. (We don't have any of this kind of stuff, so we'll have to come back to this at a later time.)

Items: Allows you to view/use items.

Catalog: This is where you can get information on cats and cat foods sushi sprites and sushi. (You know, the stuff you've been seeing at the end of each update.)

Well we can't do anything with the sprite order or the striker specs, so let's peek into items and the catalog real quick.



Right now the only item we have is the Exp Charm S which gives a sprite 250 exp. I'm not going to use it anytime soon, in fact, I'm going to horde the snot out of these things to help out spites we recruit later. We can also check out our key items by hitting R.



Sushi sprite essences... Is that why I smell so fi— funky?




And here's your sprite pokedex or whatever. Even though it currently stops at 100 there's more than that. (It's more like 102.)



Wow, look at all that sushi I'm gonna have to catalog.

Well now that's out of the way let's get back to kicking butt.

Video: Battle - Captain Fammish



Star Objectives
- Win in 75 or fewer seconds.
- Link 9 or more plates and win.
- Start 1 or more sushi jubilees and win.

♪ BGM: Battle VS Soldier♫




This fight is pretty much the same as the previous one, just with slightly more health; but there is one thing I would like to point out. So far we know that attacking with stacks of the same color creates a combo, but there are other ways to gain a damage bonus and one of them involves a fair bit of precision. You see, linking big chains is great and all but, did you know that you get a 1.3x damage modifier if you link only plates with the same type of sushi? In the video, I linked 4 shrimp plates and now it'll do more damage than if I linked any 4 plates. (It gets even better when you enter sushi jubilee as the modifier turns into a 2x modifier.)



Now you're wondering why don't I do this the whole match? Well for one, this early on you won't have that many opportunities to take advantage of this; and two, you've seen what it's like to play with button controls! Precision is not something I have right now.

Anyways I build up some stacks, enter sushi jubilee, and go all in on the guy.



Well not quite a knock out, but one more stack of blues should do you in.

♪ BGM: Event Battle ♫



Okay I miscalculated, one more should do it!



COME ON! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!



THERE! JEEZ!

♪ BGM: Won a Match♫




Those blunders costed me an A rank. Welp, at least we got the star objectives.




And a couple of level ups.



Lastly, we got a skill charm which is a very important usable item as it's one of the few ways to level up our sprites' skill level.

♪ BGM: Musashi's Theme ♫



: (Her fighting style is exceptional for one so new to this.)

I'm guessing Jinrai wasn't paying attention to that last fight.

: (Hrhrr... I think I made the right choice.)
: Onward to the border, then. Perhaps we'll pick up Franklin's trail there.

Right, let's keep moving.



Hmm, this next opponent doesn't look like an imperial soldier, judging by the silhouette. Heck, they don't even look like an adult. Who could this possibly be?

Video: Tutorial - Lane Gears



♪ BGM: Kojiro's Theme ♫



K-Kojiro?!


: Get lost, Kojiro! I don't have time to put up with your guff right now!
: Why? Are you looking for Franklin? Don't bother. He's halfway to the Empire by now!
: What?! How would you know?
: Yeah, the thing is...I was following you to pay you back for before.
: But then I saw you taking sushi from some stranger. Naughty, naughty, Musashi.

You didn't...



You little rat! I have half a mind to sushi strike you into next week!!


: Because I'm sick of living in this run-down Republic without a bite of sushi to my name.
: Ratting on that goof was my ticket into the Imperial Army! And you know what they get?



#Sushi4Days

: But...Franklin was trying to make it so that everybody could have sushi, not just them...
: He would have helped you too!




The screen flashes a couple of times and then the weird thingy Franklin gave us starts glowing and doing an impression of the world's smallest jet engine.


: Oh, that? It's a lane-drive gear. They boost a sushi striker's powers!
: You'd never be seeing it if you didn't have a deep, torrid love for sushi!

But we did see it, when Franklin handed to us.

♪ BGM: Preparing for a Battle ♫



Star Objectives
- Win in 90 or fewer seconds.
- Link 10 or more plates and win.
- Earn a B grade or better and win.

Ooh, Kojiro has a sushi sprite we've never seen before. Penzo, the penguin sprite, has the skill of 'Sweets Paradise'. Let's see what it does...



Ah, a healing skill, but do note that it says sweets and not fruit. Sweets heal more health than fruits do. I take it Penzos are standard issue for imperial recruits.

♪ BGM: Battle VS Kojiro ♫




: Hm. With a lane-drive gear, you can control the speed of your lanes!

Oh I get it! So, uh, where's the clutch on this thing?

: Really? How?!
: While touching the lane, keep your position and the lane will accelerate!


: But...if I don't move, how am I supposed to link plates together?
: The idea is to speed up until the sushi you want draws near, then to link again.
: Do you see? Hold your position, accelerate, link plates, hold again... And so on.
: Like so.



Neato torpedo! We'll be able to save so much time with this, and be able to make bigger combos!

: That's pretty cool!
: Hold down on the lane to make it speed up, then zig-zag to link plates!



Game's being very up-front about this, and they're not wrong. You're going to want to master manipulating the speed of your lanes.



There's one small bit I wanna mention about lane gears real quick. When the gear activates and speeds things up, it doesn't decelerate back to normal in the instant you start moving again; instead the lanes will gradually slow back down. This will become a lot more noticeable when we get our hands on more-powerful gears.

Anyways, let's clobber this punk.



There's proof that the 1.3x modifier turns into a 2x modifier while in sushi jubilee.



Alright Kojiro, open wide!!



♪ BGM: Won a Match♫





♪ BGM: Kojiro's Theme ♫


: That's it! I'm telling the whole imperial Army about you!
: Wait 'til they hear there's a brat walking around with a sushi sprite! That'll teach you!
: WAAAAAH!

What a sore loser...


: Well, well. A sushi sprite pledge plate. It must have been issued by the Empire.
: If you can form a new pledge with the sprite in that plate, it would be a great help to you.

Huh, does this mean sushi sprites are closer to Monster Rancher than Pokemon?

♪ BGM: New Sushi Sprite! ♫


: Oh, it's Penzo! It's been some time, old friend.
: If it isn't the great Jinrai! Rare to see you take a sushi striker under your wing.
: Indeed. I think she has potential, and I want to see where it goes.

What? Are you gonna dump me if I don't live up to your standards??

: Mweheheh. You always were one for understatement!
: So then, sushi striker. You got a name?
: Everyone has a name! Mine's Musashi!
: Okeydoke, Musashi. Come share the Sushi of Binding with me!

And then this happens.













If I had stuck to my original plan to make this a VLP, I would have made ya'll watch this sequence every single time it happens no matter how samey it was.

♪ BGM: Kojiro's Theme ♫


: As sushi strikers all with more sprites, they master more useful skills.
: But be warned, Musashi.
: Kojiro's report will spread, and you will find many Imperial soldiers wanting to control me.

Not to worry, you're in good hands Jinrai. Well that about does it for this update, tune in next time as we tango with another imperial squad; who unfortunately are led by the worst commander ever. See you then!

New Sushi Sprites



#003: Penzo
Secret: Known for its faniful silk hat.
Skill: Sweets Paradise - Makes sweets appear in user's lanes—select them to eat them and restore HP!

New Sushi



#005: Orange Slices
Perfect as a sour-sweet palette cleanser or a refreshing treat after soccer practice.



#008: Salmon
Ever beloved thanks to its perfect balance of oily and umami goodness.



#020: Flounder
Its hallmark characteristic is an uncannily firm texture.



#024: Sweet Shrimp
True to its name, this delight is renowned for its deep, full-flavored sweetness.



#026: Shrimp Tempura Roll
Lightly fried shrimp rolled up with rice into a perhaps perfect little bite.



#029 Saltwater Eel
It's melt-in-your mouth texture is perfectly complemented by a sweetly savory sauce.



#031 Fatty Salmon
A sticky cut of salmon with its beautiful layers of fatty goodness on full display.



#032 Rainbow Roll
Perhaps not every color of an actual rainbow, but sure tastes like one.


One last thing before I sign off, last week, fellow LPer and good idea haver, Grandma Party, pinged me on discord saying:



So I attempted to make what he described and here's the result. GP called it the "The Alabama Slamma". I call it "Doobie's Frog Out Sushi".



Rice, nori, slice of American cheese, sliced hotdog, and topped with wasabi; and my personal touch, a side of fries piled high with dipping ranch sauce.

What do you think Musashi, wanna bite?

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