In Progress Cyber Knight 2 lp

[lightbane]

Update 4: Suffer not the terrorist to live

Last time, we discovered that unlike 60% of fictional evil empires’ armed forces, the enemy was not as stupid as to leave our old ship unattended. Time to finish up yet another quest. This time we’re going to hunt some terrorists, monstrous scum that deserve no mercy other than the Emperor’s one (that is, death).

”Hey, not all terrorists are chaotic retards! Some of them could be considered a ‘lesser evil’, for example, in Alpha Protoco- *BANG* Ugh… *drops dead*”


Sorry for the interruption, I had to take care of some undesirable vermin that somehow crept here. As I was saying, it’s terrorist slaughter time! But before that, let me make a brief stop in Elysion, there’s something I would like to show you:

Yes, there are chocobos. No idea how they ended up here, perhaps they saw the Decline/Final Fantasy 7 coming and wanted to escape. Too bad it wasn’t enough to save them. Anyways, back to the killing, here’s Gagarin:

Nehjena: “If you’re planning to land, then we should be careful.”

Okay, since Gagarin is Nehj’s homeworld, it makes sense to take her for this trip. I also choose Klein, because I’m expecting combat so having a professional soldier nearby is a good idea.

So that’s Gagarin, a quite decrepit, poor town.
Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nu-3Wv0 ... re=related

Suddenly, there’s a strong earthquake that shakes the whole screen but unfortunately I could not capture it.

Civilian: “Who knows how many they’ve killed this time…?”

”Intelligence: Does that sort of thing happen very often?”


Civilian: “Unfortunately. We’ve been living in fear for longer than I can recall. You look like offworldlers. I’d be careful if I were you.”

This guy is the one that prevents you from entering if you were wearing power armors:

So, this guy is ballsy enough to stop a party of power armored dudes, but fighting the terrorists is too hard, right? Figures. Let’s see what the civilians have to say about their planet.

”Wow... Nehjena! You’ve come back!”


Nehjena: “Yeah… I see the fighting hasn’t died down at all, though…”

”It’s because of the terrorists. They apparently have a hidden base somewhere in the slums.”

Intelligence: “If you know where it is, why don’t you report to the authorities?”

”Oh, they know about it, but their influence stops at the wall’s edge. The slums are just too dangerous. Any cops who go in there tend to never come out… at least, not in one piece. It’s a perfect place for terrorists to hide. And on top of that, it looks like some organization is providing them with weapons on the sly… I don’t think anyone will ever be able to clean up the slums…”


Obviously, that conversation only triggers if you have Nehjena in your party, otherwise Alex tells you to GTFO.

I had enough, this is depressing. Time to do our jobs as the heroes we are.

Once more, you need Nehjena to pass; the guard doesn’t let you walk inside until you trigger Alex’s dialogue (although nothing stops you from ditching Nehjena after talking with Alex, so that you can pick up a more “combative” character).

These are the infamous slums. As expected, is crowded with random encounters, concretely these two:

The former may look like it's a fearsome foe but it is not, it dies after one hit from any weapon, I guess the machine lost its will to live after he learned what happened to GSC Studios. The latter can use SMGs like you to hit the entire party, it would be dangerous if it wasn’t for the fact that flesh and bone is not good at stopping bullets (in other words, they die quite easily of lead poisoning, you will not see them eating 214 bullets before dying; realism on a jrpg? Incredible!).


By the way, the slums, despite being a (mini)dungeon, has some friendly npcs that can be talked to, so we do that, fighting many random encounters in the way without breaking a sweat.

Charming, everyone is too afraid/too scared to do something. Luckily, we’re here to stop the bad guys.

Objective located: These three are the terrorists’ leader and his two bodyguards. It doesn’t take me too much time to reach them.

“Don’t try to play dumb with us. We know you’re terrorists.”

”Well, that’s too bad. Since you know, I can’t let you leave here alive!”


Fat chance, you fool

It's done, the terror is finally over, the evil gang is dead. Yes, all three of them... Okay, to be fair, there were the random encounters, plus the boss was heavily armored, and expecting the npcs to do something productive is a futile endeavor. Back to the plot, if you examine the corpse in the center, this dialogue triggers:

Klein: “He’s one of Baronette’s spies.”

”So Baronette’s in charge of the terrorists…? And they wanted to keep things chaotic… unstable… Why?”


I don’t know who’s Baronette, probably a tranny in the service of EA… What was the deal with these terrorists anyway? I mean, it’s implied EA smuggled them some weapons, maybe they wanted a chance to test new weapons and earn some money. Doesn't matter though, this planet is free at last, let’s see if the citizens have something new to say.

Well, it’s still a shithole, but thanks to us the planet has more than enough time to improve, this planet is now safe… Right??

:headdesk: Some people are just too stupid to live.

Sorry kid, but that's life for you. If it makes you feel better, you should try to call someone called Lucas, he's a kid of your own age but he’ll know what to do.

”I guess you aren’t planning to stick around, then, Nehjena?”


Nehjena: “No, I’m going with my friends. There’s still a lot I have to do…”

”I see… Well, try not to get into too much trouble. If you ever change your mind, you’ll always be welcome here.”


Nehjena: “I’ll keep that in mind.”


Mission accomplished. Everyone receives 50 xp, Klein and Nehj level up to 11. Let’s see which quest we should do now.

Sadly, I was about to ask you to choose between these two, but as I feared, I confirmed the fact that you can’t do anything on Duizarl yet, so I’m afraid that I’ll do the quest on Merkyne. Brace yourselves for the next update, in which Act 1 will end. Stay vigilant!

 

[Crooked Bee]

Another update, yay!

perhaps they saw the Decline/Final Fantasy 7 coming and wanted to escape

 

[lightbane]

perhaps they saw the Decline/Final Fantasy 7 coming and wanted to escape

What's wrong? It's totally true, FF7 was the Oblivion of Jrpgs:

-It was an absolute decline of quality comparing it with the previous game
-It caused the following jrpgs in the next years to suffer a quality drop as well (especially FF8)
-It received adaptions for pc and console
-It is widely considered (by fantards) as the BEST GAME EVER!!!, totally overrated, even if the plot has more holes than cheese
-The writing and characters' motivations are terrible at best, vomit-inducing at worst
-The main character is nothing more than an automaton without personality
-The translation to english (and spanish) was HORRIBLE
-One important character suffers from an hilariously forced death because DRAMAH, the other characters do nothing and stand here, watching how she's killed (as it happened with the Emperor).

And more facts that I don't remember right now, you may add more if you want.

 

[anus_pounder]

Man, those terrorists were a lot easier than I remembered. W/e Nice Work! Time to kick some more ass.

 

[Crooked Bee]

perhaps they saw the Decline/Final Fantasy 7 coming and wanted to escape

What's wrong? It's totally true, FF7 was the Oblivion of Jrpgs

Oh, I totally agree. Totally. I was laughing because it was true, not because it was wrong.

 

[lightbane]

Update 5: Lethal weapon

Our destination is Merkyne. By the way, can you see these “opaque” stars? These are star systems that we cannot travel yet, we need some sort of special tech we don’t have yet.

So here’s Merkyne. A dull place. Let’s interrogate the natives, as usual.

Civilian: “There’s nothing to do here but just loiter around this dome.”

Yes I do. Give me a moment to exchange a party member (Shine) for Klein…

Phoebe: “Well, a lot’s happened since we last saw each other. Been to a lot of different worlds, made some money here and there… Done plenty of work, a good bit of which was dangerous…”


That’s all. I think something is missing, perhaps it’s related with a future side-quest we can’t do yet.

Android: “Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.”

Unsavory dude: “Gotta watch what you say and who you said it to.”

Captain: “Just as an aside, I carried a strange container from Earth to Kaanga a while ago.”

“What kind of container?”


Captain: “Well, it didn’t seem like anything all that special. Just had a bunch of tools and such in it. But it was treated like it was real important for some reason. I think it had something to do with the military, myself. Some kind of secret, but what would a small-time merchant like myself do with it? Well, I suppose I could have sold it for a decent profit…”


We have our next destination… But before that, let me talk to the two last npcs of this shithole.

Ex-pilot: “Women just can’t seem to shut up.”


Yes, he says that for some reason.

Power armored miner: “Any work outside will necessitate the use of a module.”


That’s all of them, time to go to Kaanga.

”It is an independent world, which promotes a principle of equality among its people.”


In other words: The next target of Earth’s Federation’s mad conquest plan. As always, we talk to everyone that can be talked to, so we can gather clues.

Concerned citizen: “What a horrible goal… He mustn’t be allowed to succeed!”

Foolish man: “We still hold to that ideal they set forth.”

Woman: “I was rescued by this really strong mercenary…”


I don’t know whose she’s talking about, perhaps it’s a reference to Cyber Knight 1, I’m not sure.

If your PER is high enough, you may notice CJ hiding here behind the building, we’ll get to her on a moment.

Woman: “It figures that would-be dictators would get along!”

That guy must be a regular poster in General Discussion. Whatever, let’s chat with our favorite walking plot-device character.

“I’m on the trail of a container that was brought to Kaanga from Earth. I’ve tracked it to this warehouse. It doesn’t look like anything out of the ordinary, but security is extremely tight. I’m betting that the contents are new weapons for the Earth forces.”


Shine: “(Intelligence) So what’s it doing here?”

“It’s for a surprise attack. The Federation is smuggling weapons into Kaanga, probably planning to throw the city into chaos.”

“But Kaanga’s a neutral world. Why would the Feds attack it?”

“Apparently, the Federation’s General Forrest is working with President Ramon of Baronette. Ramon probably figures that by destabilizing the population, it’ll make Kaanga easier to overthrow. General Forrest has probably agreed to help him with the attack.”


Shine: “Commander, do you think that weapon could be the Metalliform that the Professor told us about?”

“Yes, it’s possible.”

“Whatever happens, we have to be sure of what that new weapon is before we tip our hands about Forrest and Ramon’s little arrangement.”



Yeah, let’s. To do that, first we have to don the power armors, doing the next section without these is literally impossible.

“[Persuade] any chance I can take a peek inside the warehouse?”

”[Persuade: Critical Failure] Yeah, like that’s going to happen! Hey, everyone, come here!”

You gotta love how Picard tries to resolve things peacefully, but this being a jrpg means that violence is the only option (unless it’s a Biowhore’s game, then there aren’t any options at all). The fight is a piece of cake, we can spam our Options until everyone is dead, then retreat to our ship to recharge and come back. However, right now, as I’m writing this update, I realize that the incoming battle would have been much, much easier if I had been less stubborn and changed my party members and Modules for others more capable with combat. Oh well, what’s done it’s done.

This yet another mini-dungeon, it’s a regular maze, nothing special, the only two random encounters are Titan PAs, which are easy, and these guys:

Despite being somewhat intimidating, these mooks are good with ranged attacks but shitty at melee (hell, they do not move at all, making it even easier to charge straight at them).

Here’s our objective.

“All right, let’s get it open.”


Shine: “Whoa! What’s that?”


Gentlemen, here’s the hardest battle of the first act, the first actual “hard” battle of the game (for real, I had to try countless times until I finally won).

”No, this is a new type of biomechanical life form, based on the Berserkers.”

“So... A Metalliform, then?”


Shine: “Combat machines made from Berserkers…? Can we say, ‘not good’?”

“So... Alright, let’s get back to Kazelin and try to think of a counter-strategy.”


Picard and the rest of the party level up to 13, then there’s a fade to black.

However, Earth’s dictator, General Forrest, has allied with the dictator of Baronette, President Ramon, to gain control over all good and just people. Now, the false peace has ended, the dark shroud of war has begun to fall…

And so, the real battle begins, the gloves are off. From now on, we can harvest Neoparts from the random encounters, so it pays to fight a bit the “local fauna” until you receive new Parts. Also, now that Earth’s Armies are using Metalliforms, you can expect we’ll frequently meet strange and weird abominations (but also highly advanced vehicles and/or soldiers). Anyways, the game resumes with a conversation with Adam.

“Unfortunately, I’m afraid you’re too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“A short while ago, General Forrest openly declared war, and commenced attacks on all independent worlds.”


Shine: “What?”

“Duizarl, Elysion and Vorcabati are all under attack. Apparently, Nylanjanar has offered up unconditional surrender. Moreover, Baronette is working with Earth, and has attacked Kanga.”


Shine: “I don’t understand… how can the Federation have the resources to stage a war on so many fronts?”

“To put it simply, the Metalliforms can consume plastic and metal to reproduce and create more forces. At the rate things are going, all the planets will soon be under Earth control. Currently, our foremost concerns are Duizarl and Elysion. I’d like for you go to investigate.”



Shit really hit the fan, we better take care when dealing with these guys, they mean REAL business, unlike others such as the Derpspawn. Because we started a new Act, most npcs have new things to say.

Sawarin: “Oh yeah! You can use modules underwater, just so you know. I didn’t know that…”


I know, it was a key element in Cyber Knight 1, there was an underwater dungeon that was very fun.

Key: “And then, if you bring Cyber, you’ll be able to detect land mines. Did you know that?”


That’s actually a very useful hint, I’ll try to remember that next time we’re near a mined area.

“He says you’re always welcome to visit Liberty.”


These are our new quests, we’ll start with Kazelin’s one because it’s the closest.

Ops, I almost forgot, we have new Neoparts to investigate:

Very good, the Hand Missile is a heavy weapon, so only Titan and Saurus can wield it, it has so much firepower that the Impact Cannon has been rendered obsolete. Anyways, time to have a talk with the President.

A nice detail is that Kazelin’s music has been changed for this one, perhaps to reflect the increased anxiety the rebels may be feeling now, or perhaps I’m over-thinking it.

The citizens don’t have much to say, but it’s not the same with the President:

”Indeed I am.”

Shine: “…”

“ How can we be of assistance, sir?”

”I’m worried that the Federation is setting its sights on Kazelin as its next military target… I would like your protection. Of course, you’ll be amply compensated for your services.”


Shine: “I want a super-efficient module! … I’m probably asking for too much, huh?”

”Ho, ho, ho… Is that all you want? I thought for sure that you’d ask for ownership of the planet itself. I’ll let Adam know straight away.”


Shine: “Strange guy.”


Hey, I don’t mind if the president is a bit eccentric, if he’s willing to give us new toys, don’t you agree? In any case, let’s see if Adam received the message.

”He made a request of the engineers.”

Sadly, a little while here means “until the next Act”, so no new mech for now. Instead, it’s time to choose once more, the game will not let us progress until we solve the problems of Duizarl and Elysion, you have to choose between these two:


A:

”See? I told you so. If you followed my advice earlier, maybe this situation could’ve been averted. It’s too late now though, so it’s time for you to do something, like kicking out Earth’s Army from Duizarl. Only us, the master race, should be the ones to oppress the weak.”


B:

”*emits a pitiful shriek* (Translation: Please, save us!! If the Earth's Army in Elysium discovers we’re refugees from that horrible place, if we’re sent back to Squaresoft… W-we don’t want to go back! We’ve seen things… Things from an incoming darkness that no sane creature was meant to know… The leather-belt monster, the terrible writing… The oversized swords... The endless angst... And oh dear god, the horrible DRAMAH!!! Please, spare us from that horrible fate, we beg you!!)”


Choose one of these two, this lp will be postponed until next year. Lastly but not least, merry Christmas for all of you, dear readers.

 

[anus_pounder]

A.

Dem juice.

 

[Desmodus Rotundus]

A

I don't care about the chickens.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I was just going to vote when the Codex went down.

Anyway, I see there isn't enough love for the cute chokobos. I vote B!

 

[lightbane]

Well, I'm back and ready for this lp. The total number of votes are:

A: 2
B: 1

What, only 3 votes? Oh well, less is nothing, I guess. I'll post the update as soon as I learn how to change the thread's title.

 

[JoKa]

damn, didn't notice the last update...would've voted B so at least you now don't need a tiebreaker
godspeed!

 

[Azira]

Heck, I'll come in late as well with a vote for A, so yeah, if he had a need, here's the tiebreaker.

 

[Crooked Bee]

as soon as I learn how to change the thread's title.

PM JarlFrank, currently that's the only way.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'll throw in a vote for B. Chocobos sent back to Squeenix will be doomed to a life of torturous inbreeding.

 

[spekkio]

God of Abandoned LPs is pleased with this sacrifice...



Also: A

 

[Damned Registrations]

Those poor poor birds...

 

[lightbane]

God of Abandoned LPs is pleased with this sacrifice...

This lp is not dead (yet), only postponed until February, standby until then.

 

[procrastinator]

 

[lightbane]

I completely forgot about this one when I started the other lp, again Sorry, I had technical problems, update coming between tomorrow and next week, if possible.

 

[lightbane]

Update 6: Thirdworldia

”... Where are we?”

”My sensors indicate that we have arrived to Duizarl. What’s the matter, Commander?”

”I don’t know, I feel… Weird, like something wasn’t right.”

”Analyzing... Oh, it seems you were right Commander, “something isn’t right”. Apparently while we were in hyperspace we got caught into a time-space warp anomaly (colloquially named “Warp Storms”). Our perceptions weren’t affected but we spent a few months here. Thankfully, we only had a delay of a mere two minutes in our reality.”

”I see. What about the ship? Have we suffered any damage?”

”No sir, all of my systems are fully operational. Why do you ask, Commander?"

”Nothing. It’s just that I can’t help but remember these rumors, about entire ships disappearing, half of the crew suddenly becoming insane and the deadly hallucinations of eldritch monsters in the deepest parts of the ship. I mean, I’m not superstitious, but after having talked with what could we call God, then fight a race of cybernetic monsters bent on exterminating all life, I’m ready to believe anything.”

”These are NOTHING but fanciful tales, Commander. Now go and spill more blood for Khorne.”

”Yes, you’re right AIDA, we have our work to do, let’s go! Let’s start with the planetary scan."

AIDA: “The economy is weak, ergo the inhabitants are very poor. The Earth Military is constructing a dome. It appears they intend to use it as a supply base for the invasion of Kazelin.“

Now this is what I don’t understand: I never thought that there could be AN ENTIRE PLANET that was so poor, lacking so many natural resources that it vaguely resembles the average African village. Why the hell was this planet colonized then? And it’s not like no-one is exploiting them (yet). Anyways, we’ll take Kiri with us for this particular mission, after all it’s her home. By the way, unlike other cities, you can enter the village with PAs and no-one will complain. Perhaps it’s because it’s an actual battlefield, with bloodthirsty Feds wandering around oppressing the villagers (they’re so poor that they even lack a spine, so they don’t mind when we start fighting in the middle of the city).

When I said the enemy will attack you the moment you step into the town, I wasn’t kidding. Barely one step after talking with that npc, a combat ensued. Worse, these were flying enemies, but our support squad reacted in time.

Too bad one of the helicopters survived and managed to open fire (plus deny us any xp for killing his comrades, you have to kill all enemies for the battle to count as a victory)



[

Neoparts? Actually, there’s only one NPC you’re required to talk to, Kiri’s mom… Except you really don’t have to, you can be a total jerk and ignore Kiri’s mom if you want.

Kiri: “How… how is Tito doing?”




Mom: “Your guess is as good as mine. He decided to become a mercenary, like you. He left some time ago.”




Kiri: “What?”




Mom: “Well, after the money you sent us stopped coming, we couldn’t make ends meet. He did what he felt he had to do.”




Kiri: “…”




Mom: “Don’t worry about me… but… are you planning to go into battle? It’s too dangerous.”




Kiri: “Don’t worry, Mom. We’re going to give the Feds more than a bloody nose. I’m going to defend my homeworld myself!”




Yes we will… After we collect more Neoparts, of course.

More

Ah yes. In a certainly surprising move, in some cases allies will join you and help you to defeat the foes in random battles. Unlike other games, the Resistance here actively works to help you, they’re not douchebags that only show up in cutscenes (like it happens in Drakengard). Even better, these rebels are not stupid meatshields and can actually hold their own, I saw them win battles entirely by themselves (with a minimal aid from my party, of course). However, their gear is second-rate and will never match yours,and they only show up in certain areas. It’s still a nice detail though.

Just for fun, I tried the “Auto battle” command. The AI is somewhat competent and does not make (fatal) mistakes, it will use different weapons according to the situation and even change the tactics if these don’t work (IE: if one enemy has a Impact-type shield, the computer will switch to Laser weapons instead of blindly attacking with the same weapon again and again). Fast-forward dozens of years later, what passes for “great AI” today are aimbots who can’t move away from their cover/designated spots

These dudes are the 2nd type of allies that can help us, named “Warriors”, sadly their courage is not going to compensate for their lack of proper gear, they usually die without being able to do anything.

Just when I was coming closer to the Dome, something explodes, hurting the party. Mines! Astonishingly, the Feds are not idiots and prepared traps for foolish intruders. Because only the Scout Module can spot mines, we must go back to the ship to pick up Cyber.

But only after we extract one more Neopart, then research everything.

A new weapon, cool. The Stun Gun is not as OP as it was in Derp Revolution, it’s a melee weapon stronger than the Knife and, more importantly, it counts as a Beam weapon. Also, any party member can use it, I’ll take a few of these when there’s an on-foot section.

Here's Cyber, it’s not as powerful as it can be, but it’s enough for now.

Ah yes, before entering the base we scrap yet another Neopart, so I decide to research it before storming the base, better to be safe than sorry.

The layout of the base makes it seem confusing, but it’s easier than it looks, one of the doors closer to the generator is open, you don’t have to follow complicate paths to complete this dungeon, unfortunately I didn’t know it and spent some minutes walking around like an idiot, at least I received more Neoparts.

Then I meet these fuckers. They’re a nightmare because they’re really tough against everything, they are very fast and hit like a truck. Thankfully, they lack ranged weapons… Because they don't need these.

After a hard battle, I win and even recover more Neoparts, awesome.

The other enemies are not as interesting, they’re biomechanical spiders and Crooked Bee’s evil cousins, but they’re not a real threat compared with the Nightcrawlers.


But then, I realized we lack firepower if we encounter more Nightcrawlers, so I retreat to the ship to research the new Parts, followed by changing the Modules for better ones.

75% against ALL Impact damage? Impressive, this is a must have for everyone in the party.

Done. This mission will be Saurus’ trial of fire, we’ll see if it’s really as badass as it looks (spoiler: it is).

Here’s the generator. As expected, the boss jumps at you the moment you check the generator. Clobbering time!

We won, the village has been saved. Let’s see what does the townsfolk have to say…

Meh, not much. Well, the mission is done in any case. Time to go back to the ship and replace the party and the Modules with the usual setup.

Saurus’ performance was outstanding, it’s really tempting to ditch Winner and Rex forever but I have to try something different for this playtrough, perhaps they’re not complete shit after all.

The Hyper Laser is awesome: Lots of damage and it is NOT a heavy weapon, which means any Module except Saurus can use it. The Laser Rifle has been rendered obsolete and will be sentenced to gather dust until the endgame.




That’s all for now, next update will have Elysium, although this time I’ll try to have it done in less than a month, if possible.

 

[procrastinator]

That's better

 

[Crooked Bee]

Crooked Bee’s evil cousins

Oh come on, you're probably just lazy.

 

[lightbane]

The next update will be delayed until next week for personal reasons, sorry
As a consolation prize, have this picture, showing an event that happened while doing the update (multiple times):

 

[procrastinator]

Might as well move this to a new page while we're at it.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Sure.