Let's Play Galaxy Angel, Chapter 1, Part 3: Oh, finally! On many counts.
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Photobucket's back and life continues on. Last installment's poll yielded an overwhelming majority of votes to go with Forte and Ranpha over the other haremettes in this chapter. Like I said, though, no choice in the beginning of the game is going to road-cone anybody on its own! The way this game works is that affection points are earned throughout the story for everyone involved, and there is a Big Obvious Route Split halfway through where you choose between the Angels with the three highest affection levels. From here on, I'll be asking you who to focus on in each LP installment, aside from the chapter's focus character (before the Big Obvious Route Split) or the girl we've decided to go with (after the Big Obvious Route Split). Remember, because of the way affection levels affect combat capability, it's a good idea to keep all the Angels happy.
Well, let's go. Where we last left off, Forte, Ranpha, and Milfie were leading us to someone who could answer all our questions. Or so they said.
Lester is still skeptical, even though he's conceded to Tact's argument that at least they'll be able to make an informed decision about whatever they've gotten themselves into if they go with the Angels. I find that, while Tact is smarter than the average hero of his type, Lester has a lot more common sense. The random unnamed crew guy interrupts with the news that he's spotted a massive warship hiding in the asteroids.
Luckily, this one's on our side. The Elsior is a piece of Lost Technology that comes part and parcel with the Emblem Frames. It only comes out for royal ceremonies and festivals. Lester's poor brain cracks a little further. Tact, being long past the brainbreaking stage, notices that the Elsior is pretty damaged and concludes that it had to fight its way here. Once we're in sight of it, it sends out two unidentified ships.
Hmm. 3+2=???
Mhm. Their designs vary slightly (as do the ones we've already got, what with Lucky Star's beam cannon, Kung Fu Fighter's claws, and Happy Trigger's striking similarity to that one Awkward Zombie comic with the gummi ship made entirely of guns), but these are the last two Emblem Frames.
The blue one is GA-003, Trick Master. Strength: psychically controlled attack drones (Fliers) that can attack in any direction, plus a bunch of sensor and communication equipment (though the latter's only an issue ICly). Weakness: though it works great for area effect fights, the more targets it's attacking, the weaker its attacks are because the Fliers are spread out.
The green one is GA-005, Harvester. Strength: This is our only healer. The Angels can resupply at the Elsior, but Harvester's nanomachine colonies are much better if the other Emblem Frames just need to stock up HP and don't need to worry about EN. It's also got pretty high defense. Weakness: its attack level is through the floor.
I pity that poor generic crewman, by the way. We don't even get his name. But hey, we are going to get the names of those last two haremettes!
Adorable Haremette #1: Mint Blancmanche
Known to smile and drink tea as she blackmails you.
Mint speaks very formally and uses "watakushi", just so you know. She's the pilot of Trick Master. We're given a menu that can affect her affection points, just so that it's fair since the three we met first got a head start when we decided to help them.
>Can you answer my questions?
Turns out that Mint isn't the one who's supposed to answer our questions. That person's on the Elsior. Mint is impressed that she apparently looks like someone who knows a lot, even if she's only just tall enough to reach the controls of her Emblem Frame. She then passive-aggressively nags Forte about not explaining things properly. At least someone is concerned about that.
By the way, if you wanted to know, no, she doesn't have an older sister, and yes, she's older than she looks. She's sixteen. The ears are a family trait or something and connected to her psychic powers, which we're going to learn about later. For now, let's talk to the other girl.
Adorable Haremette #2: Vanilla H
No, it doesn't stand for anything. That we know of.
Meet the pilot of Harvester. Vanilla is thirteen, was raised by nuns, and rarely ever talks. Her face appears to be stuck in the :| position. Tact has no idea how to deal with this, and so we get...
Let's choose the least stupid option.
>A pleasure to meet you.
Vanilla says "Nice to meet you" and leaves it at that. What's left of Lester's shattered brain questions why a kid like her is piloting an Emblem Frame, but Ranpha sticks up for her. Vanilla asks Tact to bring Lester along onto the ship, even though he basically just insulted her. Tact figures it's fine, and besides, neither of them has ever even seen the Elsior! It'll be interesting.
Tact seems to like "interesting", even when it's more important to question why you almost died and were saved by random people out of nowhere. Lester calls him on it, but Tact reminds him that boarding the Elsior will answer their questions, won't it?
The Elsior is bigger than it looks. The Emblem Frames are tiny compared to it, as is Tact's Barmell. Tact, looking around, notices the same sigil he saw on the Emblem Frames and that we've been seeing all over the menus and stuff. That bird is everywhere. Get used to it now.
You said it, sixteen-year-old who looks like a loli. It took less than half a day to get here, but that's still way too much time when you have no idea what's going on, so Tact is more than happy to comply. He's more than happy just to meet the Angel Wing in person in the hangar, though. Forte hints that the mystery person is someone Tact knows well...
Old Mentor: Luft Weizen
The happiest old military guy ever.
Tact is taken aback by the appearance of this guy, whom he calls "Instructor Luft". Luft calls him an idiot to his face, but he seems to be laughing about it. Apparently, Luft taught Tact and Lester at military school, but now he's the commodore in charge of the satellite defense fleet of the Imperial Guard... which Tact only knows because the jewels on the uniform signify rank.
Luft: Oops... Cheaters will cheat, I guess. But that's you. That shrewdness of yours hasn't changed one bit.
Tact: Thank you very much.
Luft: You thought I was praising you?
Tact: You weren't?
Luft: ...You really haven't changed. But I'm still relieved. You've grown into the man I've expected of you.
Does everybody Tact meets insult him to show that they like him?
Luft takes Tact and Lester to the commander's quarters to explain the situation. Tact admits that he has a pile of questions larger than the Elsior about this whole thing. Putting aside the sudden appearance of the Angels, though, Tact really wants to know what's happening in the Empire -- the same thing he was wondering before being dragged into all this. Luft deduces that Tact couldn't contact the headquarters in the Criom system because it was destroyed. Tact wonders why when the coup can't possibly have succeeded. Of course, we already know the answer.
Luft breaks the news to Tact. Eonia's fleet broke past the defense line before the Transbaal guards were even done trying to figure out what was approaching them. The coup blew up the capital with lasers and King Gerald is confirmed dead. (Or King Gerard. The translation isn't really consistent with what his name is.) Lester muses that the coup must have been Eonia taking revenge upon his family and killing them all. He's already openly taken over the Empire. Even Luft doesn't know where Prince No Friends got his forces, though.
Evil Prince: Eonia Transbaal
He will wear a hair bow and like it.
Tact tells Luft about how his patrol was attacked and theorizes that Eonia is out to eliminate the whole Imperial military. Luft warns Tact that he'll meet up with Eonia soon enough. This reminds Tact: why are Luft, the Elsior, and the Angel Wing all the way out in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Criom? Luft has an explanation. They're on a mission from Lady Shatyarn, Holy Mother of the White Moon.
Shatyarn summoned Luft, granted him the Elsior and the Emblem Frames, and set him on a mission. She herself stayed behind on the White Moon and used her strange, inexplicable moon powers to put a seal on the White Moon that can't be broken. There's Lost Technology in there that Eonia would just love to get his hands on, and she needs to guard it. Luft's mission, while this is going on, is to guard the last remaining member of the royal family: Eonia's cousin, Prince Shiva, an obscure relative Tact couldn't even remember existed.
Shiva's ten years old, hasn't been in the news much, and wasn't born from any of the king's royal consorts. Officially, it's assumed that the kid's adopted, even if Gera(l/r)d had quite enough kids already. Either way, Shiva was brought up "learning the wisdom of the White Moon", whatever that entails, and this was kept secret from everyone for security reasons. With the current situation, though, the rightful heir needs to be guarded.
Answers? Check. Mission? Check. Plan? Luft's got one. The 1st Fleet in Transbaal and the 2nd Fleet in Criom were wiped out, so now the Elsior is headed to meet up with the 3rd Fleet in the Rhome system. Eonia shouldn't have reached it yet, so there's still time. Reaching Rhome means being able to form a counteroffensive and finding a place to protect Prince Shiva... whom, by the way, Tact and Lester now have to formally greet. Why?
That's why. So are we gonna do this or are we gonna have to be forcibly beaten down until we accept?
The readers have spoken.
>Yes, I understand.
NO WIMPING OUT
Luft is impressed by Tact's quick decision and goes to open the door, but before the conversation can proceed any further...
...Milfie falls through the doorway when the door opens. And not just Milfie. The entire Angel Wing was listening at the door.
We get another video segment (I really wish YouTube hadn't taken all these down) in which the Angels introduce themselves again. All we really learn here is that Forte is the leader of the Angels (she's a 1st Lieutenant while the other four are 2nd Lieutenants), since the others don't supply any new information.
The decision to accept the mission right away impresses Forte and Ranpha. Milfie and Mint would have preferred if you thought over it a little more. Vanilla seems happy, too, in her linefacing sort of way. You'll often find that choices in group scenes that impress Ranpha often don't impress Milfie and/or Mint, though that isn't always the case. It's often a balancing act to keep everyone happy.
Oh, now what?
Yet another fleet of mass-produced coup forces is after us. Apparently, they come in waves and never seem to have an end. Luft sends the Angel Wing to the hangar and takes Tact and Lester to the bridge.
Bridge Bunnies: Almo Blueberries and Coco Nutmilk
The only thing they're missing is actual bunny ears.
Everyone in this game is named after either dessert or booze. Almo's the communications officer and Coco's the radar officer. They introduce themselves and then busy themselves with scanning the enemies and accepting a transmission. Hm. Looks like at least one ship in this fleet actually has somebody on it. Let's talk to this guy.
Early Bird Boss: Rezom Mea Zomu
Massive Tool
Maybe that actually wasn't a good idea. All this guy does is yell at us, calling us "dogs chasing the tail of the old regime". He orders us to surrender the Elsior and the Emblem Frames. The only thing to do is... well, if your name is Tact Mayers, apparently the only thing to do is mock him to death.
Tact: The Legitimate Transbaal Imperial Fleet, huh? May I ask something?
Rezom: I will allow it. We are magnanimous.
Tact: If you're from the Legitimate Transbaal Empire, then you've been dispatched from the Legitimate Transbaal Empire?
Rezom: Wh... what?
Tact: If you're the Legitimate Transbaal Empire's fleet, then could you direct us to Transbaal's main store?
Rezom: W-We are not a sightseeing tour or selling souvenirs! How impolite!
Tact: Yeah, you're certainly impolite. Any souvenir shop run by you would suck.
Lester and Luft both facepalm at Tact as he provokes Rezom, who keeps calling him a coward and an Imperial dog. Tact refuses to surrender, and Rezom is just fine with that because Eonia won't reward him if the Elsior peacefully surrenders anyway. Tact guesses that he's a military defector, and Rezom hangs up on him. All there is left to do is fight. Tact officially appoints Lester as his sub-commander, just like in their patrol, and prepares to fight.
Let's see what we've got...
Photobucket's back and life continues on. Last installment's poll yielded an overwhelming majority of votes to go with Forte and Ranpha over the other haremettes in this chapter. Like I said, though, no choice in the beginning of the game is going to road-cone anybody on its own! The way this game works is that affection points are earned throughout the story for everyone involved, and there is a Big Obvious Route Split halfway through where you choose between the Angels with the three highest affection levels. From here on, I'll be asking you who to focus on in each LP installment, aside from the chapter's focus character (before the Big Obvious Route Split) or the girl we've decided to go with (after the Big Obvious Route Split). Remember, because of the way affection levels affect combat capability, it's a good idea to keep all the Angels happy.
Well, let's go. Where we last left off, Forte, Ranpha, and Milfie were leading us to someone who could answer all our questions. Or so they said.
Lester is still skeptical, even though he's conceded to Tact's argument that at least they'll be able to make an informed decision about whatever they've gotten themselves into if they go with the Angels. I find that, while Tact is smarter than the average hero of his type, Lester has a lot more common sense. The random unnamed crew guy interrupts with the news that he's spotted a massive warship hiding in the asteroids.
Luckily, this one's on our side. The Elsior is a piece of Lost Technology that comes part and parcel with the Emblem Frames. It only comes out for royal ceremonies and festivals. Lester's poor brain cracks a little further. Tact, being long past the brainbreaking stage, notices that the Elsior is pretty damaged and concludes that it had to fight its way here. Once we're in sight of it, it sends out two unidentified ships.
Hmm. 3+2=???
Mhm. Their designs vary slightly (as do the ones we've already got, what with Lucky Star's beam cannon, Kung Fu Fighter's claws, and Happy Trigger's striking similarity to that one Awkward Zombie comic with the gummi ship made entirely of guns), but these are the last two Emblem Frames.
The blue one is GA-003, Trick Master. Strength: psychically controlled attack drones (Fliers) that can attack in any direction, plus a bunch of sensor and communication equipment (though the latter's only an issue ICly). Weakness: though it works great for area effect fights, the more targets it's attacking, the weaker its attacks are because the Fliers are spread out.
The green one is GA-005, Harvester. Strength: This is our only healer. The Angels can resupply at the Elsior, but Harvester's nanomachine colonies are much better if the other Emblem Frames just need to stock up HP and don't need to worry about EN. It's also got pretty high defense. Weakness: its attack level is through the floor.
I pity that poor generic crewman, by the way. We don't even get his name. But hey, we are going to get the names of those last two haremettes!
Adorable Haremette #1: Mint Blancmanche
Known to smile and drink tea as she blackmails you.
Mint speaks very formally and uses "watakushi", just so you know. She's the pilot of Trick Master. We're given a menu that can affect her affection points, just so that it's fair since the three we met first got a head start when we decided to help them.
>Can you answer my questions?
Turns out that Mint isn't the one who's supposed to answer our questions. That person's on the Elsior. Mint is impressed that she apparently looks like someone who knows a lot, even if she's only just tall enough to reach the controls of her Emblem Frame. She then passive-aggressively nags Forte about not explaining things properly. At least someone is concerned about that.
By the way, if you wanted to know, no, she doesn't have an older sister, and yes, she's older than she looks. She's sixteen. The ears are a family trait or something and connected to her psychic powers, which we're going to learn about later. For now, let's talk to the other girl.
Adorable Haremette #2: Vanilla H
No, it doesn't stand for anything. That we know of.
Meet the pilot of Harvester. Vanilla is thirteen, was raised by nuns, and rarely ever talks. Her face appears to be stuck in the :| position. Tact has no idea how to deal with this, and so we get...
Let's choose the least stupid option.
>A pleasure to meet you.
Vanilla says "Nice to meet you" and leaves it at that. What's left of Lester's shattered brain questions why a kid like her is piloting an Emblem Frame, but Ranpha sticks up for her. Vanilla asks Tact to bring Lester along onto the ship, even though he basically just insulted her. Tact figures it's fine, and besides, neither of them has ever even seen the Elsior! It'll be interesting.
Tact seems to like "interesting", even when it's more important to question why you almost died and were saved by random people out of nowhere. Lester calls him on it, but Tact reminds him that boarding the Elsior will answer their questions, won't it?
The Elsior is bigger than it looks. The Emblem Frames are tiny compared to it, as is Tact's Barmell. Tact, looking around, notices the same sigil he saw on the Emblem Frames and that we've been seeing all over the menus and stuff. That bird is everywhere. Get used to it now.
You said it, sixteen-year-old who looks like a loli. It took less than half a day to get here, but that's still way too much time when you have no idea what's going on, so Tact is more than happy to comply. He's more than happy just to meet the Angel Wing in person in the hangar, though. Forte hints that the mystery person is someone Tact knows well...
Old Mentor: Luft Weizen
The happiest old military guy ever.
Tact is taken aback by the appearance of this guy, whom he calls "Instructor Luft". Luft calls him an idiot to his face, but he seems to be laughing about it. Apparently, Luft taught Tact and Lester at military school, but now he's the commodore in charge of the satellite defense fleet of the Imperial Guard... which Tact only knows because the jewels on the uniform signify rank.
Luft: Oops... Cheaters will cheat, I guess. But that's you. That shrewdness of yours hasn't changed one bit.
Tact: Thank you very much.
Luft: You thought I was praising you?
Tact: You weren't?
Luft: ...You really haven't changed. But I'm still relieved. You've grown into the man I've expected of you.
Does everybody Tact meets insult him to show that they like him?
Luft takes Tact and Lester to the commander's quarters to explain the situation. Tact admits that he has a pile of questions larger than the Elsior about this whole thing. Putting aside the sudden appearance of the Angels, though, Tact really wants to know what's happening in the Empire -- the same thing he was wondering before being dragged into all this. Luft deduces that Tact couldn't contact the headquarters in the Criom system because it was destroyed. Tact wonders why when the coup can't possibly have succeeded. Of course, we already know the answer.
Luft breaks the news to Tact. Eonia's fleet broke past the defense line before the Transbaal guards were even done trying to figure out what was approaching them. The coup blew up the capital with lasers and King Gerald is confirmed dead. (Or King Gerard. The translation isn't really consistent with what his name is.) Lester muses that the coup must have been Eonia taking revenge upon his family and killing them all. He's already openly taken over the Empire. Even Luft doesn't know where Prince No Friends got his forces, though.
Evil Prince: Eonia Transbaal
He will wear a hair bow and like it.
Tact tells Luft about how his patrol was attacked and theorizes that Eonia is out to eliminate the whole Imperial military. Luft warns Tact that he'll meet up with Eonia soon enough. This reminds Tact: why are Luft, the Elsior, and the Angel Wing all the way out in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Criom? Luft has an explanation. They're on a mission from Lady Shatyarn, Holy Mother of the White Moon.
Shatyarn summoned Luft, granted him the Elsior and the Emblem Frames, and set him on a mission. She herself stayed behind on the White Moon and used her strange, inexplicable moon powers to put a seal on the White Moon that can't be broken. There's Lost Technology in there that Eonia would just love to get his hands on, and she needs to guard it. Luft's mission, while this is going on, is to guard the last remaining member of the royal family: Eonia's cousin, Prince Shiva, an obscure relative Tact couldn't even remember existed.
Shiva's ten years old, hasn't been in the news much, and wasn't born from any of the king's royal consorts. Officially, it's assumed that the kid's adopted, even if Gera(l/r)d had quite enough kids already. Either way, Shiva was brought up "learning the wisdom of the White Moon", whatever that entails, and this was kept secret from everyone for security reasons. With the current situation, though, the rightful heir needs to be guarded.
Answers? Check. Mission? Check. Plan? Luft's got one. The 1st Fleet in Transbaal and the 2nd Fleet in Criom were wiped out, so now the Elsior is headed to meet up with the 3rd Fleet in the Rhome system. Eonia shouldn't have reached it yet, so there's still time. Reaching Rhome means being able to form a counteroffensive and finding a place to protect Prince Shiva... whom, by the way, Tact and Lester now have to formally greet. Why?
That's why. So are we gonna do this or are we gonna have to be forcibly beaten down until we accept?
The readers have spoken.
>Yes, I understand.
NO WIMPING OUT
Luft is impressed by Tact's quick decision and goes to open the door, but before the conversation can proceed any further...
...Milfie falls through the doorway when the door opens. And not just Milfie. The entire Angel Wing was listening at the door.
We get another video segment (I really wish YouTube hadn't taken all these down) in which the Angels introduce themselves again. All we really learn here is that Forte is the leader of the Angels (she's a 1st Lieutenant while the other four are 2nd Lieutenants), since the others don't supply any new information.
The decision to accept the mission right away impresses Forte and Ranpha. Milfie and Mint would have preferred if you thought over it a little more. Vanilla seems happy, too, in her linefacing sort of way. You'll often find that choices in group scenes that impress Ranpha often don't impress Milfie and/or Mint, though that isn't always the case. It's often a balancing act to keep everyone happy.
Oh, now what?
Yet another fleet of mass-produced coup forces is after us. Apparently, they come in waves and never seem to have an end. Luft sends the Angel Wing to the hangar and takes Tact and Lester to the bridge.
Bridge Bunnies: Almo Blueberries and Coco Nutmilk
The only thing they're missing is actual bunny ears.
Everyone in this game is named after either dessert or booze. Almo's the communications officer and Coco's the radar officer. They introduce themselves and then busy themselves with scanning the enemies and accepting a transmission. Hm. Looks like at least one ship in this fleet actually has somebody on it. Let's talk to this guy.
Early Bird Boss: Rezom Mea Zomu
Massive Tool
Maybe that actually wasn't a good idea. All this guy does is yell at us, calling us "dogs chasing the tail of the old regime". He orders us to surrender the Elsior and the Emblem Frames. The only thing to do is... well, if your name is Tact Mayers, apparently the only thing to do is mock him to death.
Tact: The Legitimate Transbaal Imperial Fleet, huh? May I ask something?
Rezom: I will allow it. We are magnanimous.
Tact: If you're from the Legitimate Transbaal Empire, then you've been dispatched from the Legitimate Transbaal Empire?
Rezom: Wh... what?
Tact: If you're the Legitimate Transbaal Empire's fleet, then could you direct us to Transbaal's main store?
Rezom: W-We are not a sightseeing tour or selling souvenirs! How impolite!
Tact: Yeah, you're certainly impolite. Any souvenir shop run by you would suck.
Lester and Luft both facepalm at Tact as he provokes Rezom, who keeps calling him a coward and an Imperial dog. Tact refuses to surrender, and Rezom is just fine with that because Eonia won't reward him if the Elsior peacefully surrenders anyway. Tact guesses that he's a military defector, and Rezom hangs up on him. All there is left to do is fight. Tact officially appoints Lester as his sub-commander, just like in their patrol, and prepares to fight.
Let's see what we've got...