I've been playing Pokémon since Christmas morning (FireRed and HeartGold), but it's time to leave childish things in the past and become an adult. And adults play tactical mech RPGs from 1999!
My first taste of Front Mission was from the Vagrant Story demo disk. I found it interesting and wanted to play it, but I never bought a copy. I also didn't make it a priority. I was in the midst of Xenogears and Gundam Wing hype, so giant robots would have been up my alley. As you'd expect, I have no memory of what happened in a tiny sample twenty years ago. I would eventually give the franchise a shot after high school, when I played the SNES game, but I'm sure you know how that went. I don't. That game was recently remastered, but I hear it sucks. It looks like it's awful. Rather than go that route, let's expand on this demo disk!
The long series of opening cinematics tells us a bit about the world. Two men speaking Russian (I think) are discussing a plan. It's not going anywhere as planned because the Japanese Defense Force is moving. But the power of children might change that... We cut to an army base, and something explodes. A mech escorts a package out of a building, but it's stopped by soldiers in their giant robots. Several planes fly overhead and drop purple lights onto the soldiers, letting the lone mech get into one of the planes. One of the army men manages to shoot the mech, knocking it over to reveal it's unmanned.
Several months later, we're in Okinawa Ocean City, a man made island in southern Japan that is a seeming utopia. After a helicopter lands, we see a boot up screen and meet our main character, Kazuki Takamura. He's a wanzer pilot and is testing out a new model. This is the tutorial level, and we learn the basics. It's an isometric, tactical battle system akin to Final Fantasy Tactics. This is now a fourth reason why I should have played Front Mission 3 sooner. A JDF engineer wants real combat stuff, so we get to fight some AI. I'd be shocked if it's possible to lose. Afterwards, Kazuki, the doctor (Koike), and the unnamed engineer are discussing how everything went. The topic of why Japan, a defensive nation even in the year 2120, is developing offensive weapons until Ryoji Kasama joins. He's a giant robot delivery man! He suggests that Japan might start a war with all the stuff going on in the world.
Much of this we can learn about on the internet, which is a gigantic area for world building. So much information about other countries, corporations, and governments is located on this interface and its terrible GUI. And it's so detailed. Maybe too much. I wrapped up the tutorial in five minutes, then took thirty digging through all this extra stuff. You can even visit Kazuki's school page to vote for the hottest girl. I accidentally voted for his sister...
But they all decide that Japan is a benevolent country and go about their way. Ryuji asks us to join him for a delivery, but we can turn it down. I didn't, but I should have. You see, Front Mission 3 has two story paths. And that switch is right here. I went on delivery with my best friend and saw the army overseeing housing construction. Both were unsure why, as this seems "beneath" the JDF. But we do his job and return to HQ. Ryuji has a surprise job, and that's to help us deliver the wanzers we tested in the tutorial. He's upset because he's a slacker, but he joins us to visit Yokohama. Kazuki's dad works here, but there's tension between them.
We land in Yokohama and begin to unload wanzers armed with live ammunition. Good thing, too, as an explosion rocks the army base. The defense guns rise to the surface and shoot down the helicopter that Koichi told to flee. Good job, doc! Kazuki convinces Ryuji to take out the guns before they take us out. It's only four guns with short range weapons, so there's little threat. Great defensive armaments, Japan! The base commander shows up to yell at us, and Kazuki yells back. Koike defuses the situation, and we're allowed to leave without being blown up by the army.
At the local offices of our company, Kazuki gets an email from his sister. Alica was in the base when it blew up. Rather than be calm and respond to the email, he wants to go to the base. Ryuji joins, but we're not allowed in. It turns out the army doesn't like civilians poking around classified areas. The two of them go to a bar and ask around. Nothing is helpful, but a strange woman passes us as we leave. This is Emir, a radiation scientist working for the US, an enemy nation. Emir, who wants to be called Emma, also wants to visit the base. Overlooking the clear trap, Kazuki offers to help Emma infiltrate because she has a plan. Ryoji thinks with his penis, so he's going to chase after the sexy Emma.
After Kazuki tries to blow their cover, Ryoji smoothly talks their way in. They're delivering wanzers to clean up the explosion mess. However, they "sneak" onto the base and head down an elevator. It's a long trip down, but they reach a worthwhile conclusion. It's an empty room! It is gigantic and has a hole in the sky, but I don't see the big deal. Kazuki and Ryoji do, though, and they finally realize Emma isn't who she says she is. Before we can learn anything more, we're attacked.
Kazuki relies on shotguns, Ryoji uses a machine gun, and Emma has a missile launcher. I haven't noticed any differences between the guns, but Emma has very high damage with very low ammo. The goal of combat is to destroy your opponent or take out the parts on their wanzer until they surrender. I got one to give up and now have an extra mech. This was another easy battle. I assume it's because I'm a genius! But the whole base is on alert! Fortunately, Emma has a stupid plan to escape: the front door. We'll see if it works...
...tomorrow!
I was planning on working with Alica, our adopted sister. Kazuki has a massive sister complex, so it seems right. Oh well. Now we're embroiled in a multi national arms race or something with an obvious spy. It sounds dumb, but I'm having fun. I expect to drop FM3, but I might be wrong!
Also, no. I'm not playing both scenarios. ...probably not.
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