Stage 01: Foreboding (凶兆)
| Next Stage | |
|---|---|
| Scenario Chart | The Antilus Squad Takes Shape (アンティラス隊発足) |
Mission Objectives
- Mission Objective: Defeat Volkruss
- Victory Conditions: Destruction of Volkruss
- Loss Conditions: Destruction of Psybuster
Player Units
| Unit | Pilot |
|---|---|
| Psybuster | Masaki |
| Granveil | Yanlong |
| Gadess | Tytti |
| Norse Ray | Senia |
| Zamseed | Mio |
| Valsione R | Ryuune |
| Diablo | Precia |
Enemy Units
| Unit | Pilot/Quantity |
|---|---|
| Volkruss | Volkruss |
| Nagzart Custom | Satilus |
Translation/Strategy
Straight into the action already, huh? The protagonists are in some ruins in northeast Langran, and Shuu’s not playing ball. See, there's some Volkruss followers that need dispatching, and while they’re not exactly in Shuu’s good books, he has his own priorities right now, which involve the player not horrendously slaughtering them all. Masaki comments on how they never see eye to eye with a rye smile, which Shuu returns. At least the rivals aren’t at each other’s throats for once, right, and they’re at least able to be civil about their differences.
Oh, wait, no, Masaki runs up and swords him after complaining about how he’s always being a shitbitch. Nevermind!
A tremor indicates, to Shuu, that “they” have succeeded in their goal. The team figures this means Volkruss is back, but Shuu says his work here is done and vanishes to let them find out for themselves. As Mio points out, this has an air of familiarity. And so, Team Masoukishin head in to actually get the game started.
Oh hey, it’s Volkruss! Hey there old buddy. “Death to the weak”, you say? Cool, cool, glad to know you’ve been doing – oh, it’s just an offshoot. That’s no fun!
So then this bald guy shows up and is all “confident, aren’t we, Masoukishin pilots”. His name’s Satilus, and he’s another dumb priest of the Volkruss cult. In the Volkruss route of Masoukishin 1, Shuu points out that he estimates they have at least five million followers. Five fucking million! No wonder there’s so many of these annoying assholes.
So anyway he’s reviving a dark god, let’s mess him up. Senia points out that Masaki’s still a bit injured from fighting Shuu earlier, so healing up might be a good plan, and to turn to either her or Tytti for that.
This is where the player gets control, and the game can finally get underway.
Anyway, so. The big thing one notices now compared to Masoukishin 1 is that this is a brave new world of enemies not revealing their stats until they've been fought at least once. Sending a unit over to punch Satilus reveals that he’s not actually damageable meaningfully because his unit – the Nagzart Custom – is exactly the kind of cheating son of a bitch the original Nagzart was in Masoukishin 1, which is just the kind of soul-wrenchingly cruel reminder of that game the player evidently needed upon entering the sequel.
On a side note, letting Precia fight him gives some nice dialogue about Satilus being interested in her because she is a “descendant of Xenosacis.” The smell of plot is thick in the air. Anyway, as Satilus is functionally invincible, seeing as how he heals any damage he takes immediately after the battle, the only viable plan is to send the team over to deal with Volkruss.
Said ugly beast doesn’t have a lot of HP, but he’s decently armored (well, he is a giant evil death god monster) so damage will be a bit slow to start. Weapon powers in Masoukishin 2 seem a bit lower on the low end and higher on the high end, by default, at least compared to Masoukishin 1.
The real interesting thing to notice about Volkruss is that units can be bigger than 1 map space now. Which in turn means more wiggle room to hit bosses from behind, which is nice. Oh, and you can hit them with ranged attacks from point blank!
The only trick, really, is to just wail on him. Remember to have your units defend on his turn if they’re badly injured, use your healers and defensive seishin, and stick to a sensible safe plan of operation. Masoukishin is a game where you have to play safe and sensible. Never turn your back on an enemy, never assume you have “enough” HP to survive, never take risks.
Note: One of the three ending splits in the game requires you to have Precia fight Volkruss on this stage. Doing it won’t lock you into that ending just yet, but it leaves the option open.
Anyway, once you beat Volkruss, Satilus is very apologetic to his master that he summoned part of him back just to get beaten up by a load of kids in their robots. Masaki handles the situation with grace and diplomacy, which should be read as "issuing threats of violence", but Satilus is perfectly happy to run like a pussy having completed ~phase one~ of their evil scheme.
After that, your dudes level the shrine to prevent any more evil god resurrections (OR REVELATIONS????) but Masaki’s still kinda pissed Satilus got away, and the whole ~phase one~ thing has your guys on edge. That said, you’ve now chased up all the leads you have – not that that means much considering the shadowy nature of the Volkruss cult, especially as Shuu’s not willing to spill the copious amounts of beans he inevitably holds.
But as Ryuune points out, he’s very much the type to swoop in afterwards and explain what was really going on. Your team splits up to go their seperate ways after a job well done.
MEANWHILE IN SHADOWY VILLAIN HQ... we have an annoying shadowy bint with a ridiculous speech defect. She pronounces silent syllables on words.
Yes, really.
Anyway, she points out that all seemed to go well, but only because help came from the least likely source – Christoph, or as we know him, Shuu. Queue the mandatory admonishment of the lower minions on the pecking order, complete with explanation of evil plan (bla bla reviving Volkruss will require careful execution and copious amounts of time bla bla, you said too much to the good guys about our scheme bla bla, etc.)
By the way, the traditional Japanese she uses is so complex and asinine that the game actually includes pronounciation guides for the words she's saying. Yes, really.
The stage ends on a simple quote: “A nation is not governed, which is perpetually to be conquered.” – Edmund Burke
| Next Stage | |
|---|---|
| Scenario Chart | The Antilus Squad Takes Shape (アンティラス隊発足) |