I have too many games in my backlog, so let's clean out the Switch's in 2021.

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FEBRUARY 2nd:
It's Earth Force Tenku, our squad name, against a fleet of 10000 Gamillas ships. There's only 52, but still. Objective is to defeat Zoellik. SR point is to do it in 5 turns while defeating all other enemies. Maito and Kira pretty much take all of the left side, to the point of where Maito gets over a dozen kills and rockets to my top ace position. The boss is thankfully roadkill: no defensive stats.

We break away after that, and they seemingly managed to shoot down that Yamato. Then on the bridge, Zoellik is contacted by the supposedly dead Dessler. He heard the speech he gave, and ousts him as the true would-be assassin. Goer promptly shoots him dead. Only to find the Yamato has survived, and is firing the Wave Motion Gun. They miss...or did they? No, they hit the planet below, causing it to implode (and a lot of the fleet in the process). They use the backlash to slingshot forward and follow into the gate, destroying it behind them. Made it to the Large Magellanic Cloud.,

 

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FEBURARY 3rd:
Nothing but sitting on the select screen. Burnout and indecision. And a busy day.

 

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FEBRUARY 4th:
Same. Pretty sure I narrowed down who and what I want to do next.

 

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FEBRUARY 5th:
Pokemon Shield! There's Shiny Cramorant in events right now. I went ahead and caught one. Didn't take long thankfully. Not counting the time reminding myself why I only use the wild area and not DLC islands.

---

I was going to finally start the SRW V stage, but a fatigue wave hit.

 

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FEBRUARY 6th:
Also in Pokemon Shield: getting that Galarica Wreath.

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Progress! Secret stage! We're low on supplies somehow. But we run into a Gamillas Royal Guard fleet transporting pillage supplies! We go space pirate on them (literally the Crossbone Gundam theme starts playing), looting a bunch of power parts and tons of money., Even more given that I bring a team full of Bless users. Everything is defeated by either Ryoko or Rosalie, who have Prana Converters equipped (doubles money and TacP if at 150 morale). Sadly this doesn't stack with Mail Rider (20% extra money, learned by the 1st Para-Mail Squadron). Still, I earn like 1.4m money in the stage.

 

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FEBRUARY 7th:
Tabletop day and stupid grinding in RSRS made this a mostly unproductive day, but I'm ready for the next stage whenever

 

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FEBRUARY 8th:
More stupid grinding. But I did get stuff done!

Two Bonus Scenarios. In the first, Koji gets trained by Tetsuya. This is a simple battle against Mazin Emperor G possessed by a Kedora, then the Mazins and Getters against a group of them. In the second, it's a battle sim against some of the major enemies from the UC dimension.

We decide to divide our forces again. On one side, the Yamato and all of the Gundam series. On the other, the Nadesico and everyone else. Thanks to boson jumping, the latter team can easily rejoin us. Also Commander Okita is dying. He keeps this to himself and the medic. However, he does tell Captain Bright, asking him to take over leadership should he die before completing their mission. He does say he'll stay alive as long as he can.

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 9th:
Real progress, at long last.

SCENARIO 43: Contact
There is a meaningful argument before the stage begins, with Kamille and Jerid bickering about what to do should they come upon a Gamillas base along the way. Understanding is mentioned. Surprisingly, Yazan is somewhat chill.

I'm up against a fleet of Gamillas. Need to defeat the mothership within 5 turns, and not lose Setsuna along the way. SR point is to defeat four or more enemies with a MAP weapon, which I achieve with Otto. On this route split, I focus on my characters who haven't hit ace yet. I manage to defeat the fleet with only those character plus others to weaken them without too much trouble. However, some mysterious life forms appear and attack the reinforcements the Gamillas bring in! They bid a hasty retreat. Finally, the 00 Movie plot starts.

They're not named yet except in a faux pas, but TacP objective is to have Setsuna defeat four of the ELS. Most of these kills go to Patrick. The Newtypes all have stuff to say when fighting them. When they're all defeated, more show up. Setsuna tries to communicate with them. He gets surounded, and Tieria - devoted to Setsuna - distracts them in enough time to save Setsuna. He however, dies in the process. But he's okay! Raphael was recovered. And because I went this route, I get the option to allow him to keep Raphael; otherwise, he'd become Setsuna's co-pilot. I keep Raphael.

SCENARIO 44: A Pincer Attack and the Domel Advisory Council

In the next scenario, Domel has been cleared of his charges. The Supreme Leader just asks two things of him. One, to investigate the ruins of Super Civilization Gardim. And also...something not shown. Meanwhile, I have to fight some more Gamillas ships. As the title implies, it's a pincer attack, with some spawning in behind at the start of turn 2. SR point is to defeat both motherships within 5 turns on the same turn. Also the Gardim show up, with Jamie and Chitose. TacP is to defeat Chitose.

Again, I manage to have no trouble here. I end up with 12 more aces after the battle. Chitose is starting to waver. Also we confront Jamie with the question of whether she's an android or not, since she doesn't seem to be acting human. She denies it, but later questions it to her superiors. She gets erased for that. Like Ghuli before her, she'll be getting used as the basis for the commander type Gardim moving forward.

 

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FEBRUARY 10th:
Goer has picked up Angelo and Zabine. The latter dementedly pledges his allegiance to Supreme Commander Dessler, thinks little of the traitor, and vows to sink the Yamato. Meanwhile, talking about baking bread with Kincade.

SCENARIO 45: The Reason We Live

I'm up against Zabine, Angelo, and Goer - as well as Jupiter Empire, Neo Zeon, and Gamillas mooks. Objective is to defeat with Zabine or Goer. TacP is to defeat Goer, and SR point is for a battleship captain to defeat 4 enemies on a single turn. There's actually specific conversations for each of the captains doing so, even Zinnerman gets one where he and Flaste remark how amazing it is given the cargo ship's limited capabilities (it has one single weapon that isn't good). I use Lacus for this however.

All 38 kills on this stage go to either her or one of my yet to be aced pilots. When Angelo is defeated, he kind of freaks, blaming the others for messing with Full Frontal. When Goer goes down, he remains determined. That's when the Invaders attack. He decides to get the hell out of dodge, but Zabine heals and vows to take down everything in Dessler's way, even those Invaders if need be. However, he is so deranged that he's actually on their side mechanically. He goes down, apologizing to Dogatie and Dessler that his dreams of aristocracy won't be realized.

After the battle, we take Angelo prisoner. He just wants to die. We tell him that he needs to find his own path in life. When Riddhe says it, he's compelled to listen...

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 11th:
Jamming through the other side of the route split.

Scenario 43: Purple Malice

Exev is talking to a mysterious entity in a canister of red fluid about the impending destruction of the world. He hard;y cares the worlds are going to be destroyed. Purple is pursuing the other team, we Boson Jump to escape. We take up refuge on the newborn planet of Feldina, which is full of lush vegetation, active volcanoes, and simple lifeforms. It seems a good place to refuel. Of course we get attacked anyway.

Up against the DG Alliance, who've been dropped here by Purple and told to fight us. They really don't want to, but, do so anyway. Objective is to beat them all within three turns, in a single turn. TacP is to have Zambot 3 fight Show-Gunn. Shogun Mifune tries to recite a death poem when defeated, but Kappei points out he has time to bail out. He says that's not unreasonable. When queried on why he saved him, Kappei simply replies: he had nothing but praise for Zambot!

Catherine's mech also explodes with her bailing out, although Wolfgang manages to retreat. Enter Purple and his minions. After one attack on them, they instantly regenerate HP, thanks to the power of the Evil Aura. What's worse, the Mycenae appear, led by Baron Ashura - Purple gladly welcomes them to share the stage with him. Have to defeat Purple to complete the map.

The next trigger is either six of his minions being OHKO'd, two Mycenae Gods being defeated, or Ashura going under half HP. This causes Purple to challenge Maito and nearly defeat him. Maito has a lot of self-doubts over being told he'd be made to wish he was never born, but Akito covers him and snaps him out of it. Maito then covers Akito. Through the power of love and courage, they become vulnerable - although the mooks will still recover all their HP at the start of enemy phase.

It's not much trouble to win from here. Purple dies, and justice is served.

~~~

Next stage, fluff. Apparently, Kurz has actually managed to land Mao! It just sort of happened. Jill is impressed, wondering if she'll find a boyfriend when she returns. The conversation leads to the revelation that Kaname has gone missing. Leonard has called out to her, all the way out here. The only reason she accepted was to reject him in person. She recounts a story of a creepy stalker who used to look at her in high school a lot. She says the only difference between Leonard and him is that Leonard is handsome. He is not deterred and tells her to look within, this is all her fault.

She finds herself in a black void. Sophia personally talks to her, claiming they are one and the same. She then asks "Kaname Sagara" to accept her. She gets overwhelmed. Sousuke and Tessa arrive too late to stop her from going back with him, but they can't stay. There's a situation.

SCENARIO 44: The Sins of Kaname Chidori

It's the Invaders! Unlike last time, I forgot to mention, where the Newtypes immediately sense there's no reasoning with them like the ELS. What does happen here is Embryo making an apperance! He brought them here, along with Cowen and Stinger - scientists who've been corrupted by the Invaders and now seek evolution. Ryoma is just like "fine, bring it"

Have to defeat all enemies. Just like on the other route, SR point to have a battleship defeat four enemies in one turn. For the TacP, Kurz needs to be deployed. Oh yeah, the Tuatha de Danaan can be deployed here: the "air" of this planet is considered space.

On the second turn, Fowler and Sabine show up. After four enemies get defeated, the Gardim appear. Same deal as on the other route, and same events happen during and after the stage. As the Amalgam enemies are defeated, Sousuke goes to pursue. However, Kurz senses something's amiss and covers Sousuke. He's critically wounded by a shot from Casper. Bleeding and everything. Trash is exchanged, and he manages to wobble out of range of his former mentor. He lines up his shot making all the calculations, and Casper lines up his. He manages to avoid the shot and return fire. It's a direct hit, and Casper is killed.

However, Kurz's mech has taken too much damage, not to mention he's bleeding pretty badly. It explodes. Kurz is fucking dead. I'm down a character. All the FMP characters have something to say in their next battle.

All that's left is to mop up the Gardim. They funnily line up to make this nice and easy with MAPs. After the stage, we barely have time to mourn before Exev shows up, saying Maito's weakness caused this tragedy. He then makes every volcano on the planet erupt at the same time, which will inevitably destroy it somehow. Sousuke refuses to evacuate saying he has to do something. Tessa's only order is to return safe.

Banjo also stays behind briefly. He has a brief chat with Koros, who tells him to inherit Don Zauser's dream of going to the stars. It turns out, most of the Meganoids died fighting Exev.

Everything is going to hell, but Sousuke still knife fights Kalinin. He's unskilled and weak, but his resolve is such that manages to stirke a decisive blow...only for Kalinin to reveal he was already badly wounded from Mithril's ground operatives. He dies. Sousuke mourns his father figure's and former commander's death. Al catches up with him at this point...

~~~

Back on our ships, we have no idea if Sousuke made it or not.

SCENARIO 45: The Dark Disciples

We get an awesome shot of the fragmented planet to serve as the backdrop of this battle. Sousuke arrives, alive and well thanks to the Lambda Driver helping shield him from the explosion. He's not alone, however. He brought along Professor Wolfgang! Catherine, Audrey, and Mifune are in there with him. And...Kurz! He's alive! There's a spare AS for him to use, so I can deploy him right away.

Exev's forces appear. He states there are two things he hates: that drill on Goryu, and the sun. Wolfgang is concerned, and goes to work on something as soon as he's lot on board. The mooks have the same gimmick as Purple: need to defeat them in one player phase. SR point is to defeat them all and then Exev in four turns. For the TacP, Joe needs to be deployed.

My approach is a bit awkward, but I manage to get it done. However, his Evil Aura is too much, and he instantly regenerates. Also, the Mycenae Empire appears, led by the Great General of Darkness. It's too much...until, Wolfgang deploys. Sally had been told, she was the one with the power to turn this situation around. In short, Innocent Waves are a thing that can counteract the Evil Aura. Our team's thoughts are what allowed Purple to become vulnerable, and for Kurz to survive. This is a lot, but Sally is so pure and kind that together with an ampifier Wolfgang made, she has hundredfold the normal amount. And then ten thousandfold when Maito gets hurt trying to protect her.

He's healed, and we all get full HP, EN, and SP back. The beating can begin in earnest from here. When Exev kicks it, he taps into the power of the Evil Aura to regenerate. However, Maito debuts the Double Drive Wheel Sword to stop him. Then Joe steps in with the Goryu's drill. Exev screams as he's pierced. His last words are cursing Wolfgang for not removing that drill as he had asked.

That just leaves the Mycenae Empire. Each of them has dialogue with various people. Interestingly, the Great General of Darkness has things to say to Ange AND Salamandinay, recognizing their Ragna-Mail and faux one respectively. Garadabla is like WHYYYYY when defeated, thinking he was the hero. Ashura is all smiles as they die, glad they were able to meet Koji, even as enemies. He made their 'hellish life' worth it. Koji doesn't feel the same, but still honors his fallen arch-enemy and tells them to rest in peace. The Great General of Darkness also takes his death/defeat well: he asks Tetsuya's name, and states the true honor was meeting a fine warrior like him. He calls Tetsuya's words that of a true hero, and vows to forever sing his praises in the afterlife. Again, we respect him as a great man, even if they were enemies.

So in the end, the DG Alliance has joined us, albeit in a non-combative capacity. Wolfgang is better, mostly reformed though with an ego. And sure, Catherine and Mifune are still scoundrels, but none of them want to see the world destroyed.

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 12th:
Robot break time. Played some Pokemon Shield after midnight for the Shiny Milcreys. Ended up getting three to test how HOME handles them. Result: even though they all look identical, only the flavor you chose gets the Shiny flag, although all sweet variants get it.

And, NEW GAME!!!!! Super Mario 3D World Switch. Haven't played it yet because I was half tired and half busy. Also was looking for people to multiplay with, but, no one took and it's apparently pretty bad online multiplayer if anyone at all is lagging. But I'll start it tomorrow.

 

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FEBRUARY 13th:
Played some Bowser's Fury mode. I think I've done everything I could before having to fight Bowser for the first time? Read you should put it off as long as you can.

 

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FEBRUARY 14th:
After midnight I beat the first battle and made it to the second battle. I finished the game today. I believe it took less than 24 hours. Short fun side-mode. But man do the Bowser spawns get obnoxious after a while.

 

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FEBRUARY 15th:
Went back to SRW, since I jammed my thumb somehow. Not good for playing platformers. I'm 7 stages away from the end anyway, so. I completed the next stage, but that was after midnight, so I'll cover it tomorrow.

 

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FEBRUARY 16th:
Next two chapters. I'll just sum them up from here on out due to general laziness and lack of reading here. The first of these started out against a fleet of Gamillas ships, Eventually the Yamato got locked in place, but it could still attack and none of the grunts in range could damage it. I set off on deciding to ace almost everyone here. Objective is to defeat the Gamillas captains. SR point is to do it in 5 turns while defeating everything else, and also, a battleship captain defeats at least two of them. Once I complete that, a bunch of invaders spawn in. Domel appears soon after, proposing a truce to destroy this threat. Okita agrees. TacP bonus is to not allow him to get a single kill. I don't even give him a turn to do so. Lastly, he moves, spawns in reinforcements, and the final objective is to defeat him. After I do so, he breaks out for one last...speech? He tells Okita what an honor it is to commune with him in the last moments of his life. He says, glory to Gamillans and Terrons both. Okita internally honors him. We both fought for our beliefs. Perhaps we wonder, peace with them is possible yet? During the stage, Yuki ends up getting kidnapped. She's brought to a prison planet.

Next stage opens with Melda and some of her squad being attacked by invaders, who are seeking to consume said planet for its energy deposits. We arrive to help, she sends her men down and rejoins the team to fight with us. Objective is to defeat all enemies, SR point is to defeat 20 in three turns. Doing so triggers the next event: in come Cohen and Stinger. Getter promptly blows them away with the combined Shin Shine Spark...only for them to regenerate. Okita, recognizing that they pose a threat to not just them but all living things, AUTHORIZES THE USE OF THE WAVE MOTION GUN. This is the strongest attack in the game by far, and comes with a MAP variant as well. It's only usable here and on the final stage of the true ending route. In order to access said route and get the TacP bonus, I need to use it at least once. I deliver the finishing blow with it. We land on the planet to find some Gardim forces to dispatch, and Yuki gone - likely gone to Gamillas' planet.

I do a DLC stage after this. All the females hold a contest to see who is best. This is a tournament hosted by Nine, who herself is participating. Except some hapless Gamillas show up. We utterly destroy them. Nine is ready to announce the results at the end even though everyone got over it: she also mentions, this is to find a girlfriend for Soji! It's only fitting the greatest man in Earth Fleet Tenku be with the greatest woman. Everyone immediately drops out, leaving her the winner by default. She is more than okay with this.

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 17th:
Eyestrain struck, so little progress. Beat the last DLC stage - a boss rush essentially - and setting up for the next stage.

 

[Greninjaman]

FEBRUARY 14th:
After midnight I beat the first battle and made it to the second battle. I finished the game today. I believe it took less than 24 hours. Short fun side-mode. But man do the Bowser spawns get obnoxious after a while.

I do agree that it gets ridiculous trying to get Cat Shines when Bowser starts spawning more often.

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 18th:
Made it through the 00 Gundam finale. Dessler had kidnapped Mori and was planning on using her and Domel's death as an excuse to unify them and Iscandar. However, the ELS attack. They fire the Dessler Cannon - their own wave motion gun to wipe a lot out. We come in at this point; there's a moon-sized one here. See, Setsuna realized: they're actually trying to communicate with us. They saw us fighting the Gamillas, and figured, hey, that's how we talk. Temporarily, Tieria is in his mech as data. Objective is to defeat the Large ELS. SR point is to do so while defeating all Gamillas enemies, and not allowing them to defeat any ELS.

It's a three-way battle that's fairly easy, Conroy and Roux end up going from little kills to ace here. Also, Chitose shows up with some Gardim, on the ELS' side. Secret objective is for Soji to defeat her.

As the stage ends, Setsuna flies into the core of the Large ELS. He uses his Innovader powers to initiate dialogue, calming them down. After this, Kodai rushes in to save Mori, Soji backing him up. But, the Gardim are here. Nine however uses a code to shut them down?! Only for someone in Jamie's image to shut _her_ down and take Soji into custody. He tells Kodai not to worry and goes along with them. Dessler uses the chance to retreat, wondering if we'll take the bait.

I do agree that it gets ridiculous trying to get Cat Shines when Bowser starts spawning more often.

Luckily, one thing I read that helped: putting off the battles for as long as possible. Worst case, you can save and load, and that makes him go away. Really silly how the game doesn't tell you, once you beat the 40 shines one, it becomes incessant and he refuses to leave anymore.

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 19th:
Nothing.

FEBRUARY 20th:
Soji has been captured by the Gardim. Their de facto leader, Ahlforz, reveals that Gardim was wiped out in a war with Iscandar ages ago, thanks to the latter's use of wave motion technology. The 8th fleet were their sole survivors, and have been plotting to rebuild their civilization with the help of System Nevallina, of which Nine was one component. Also, they plan to use their technology to fix Earth...so they may live on it. They view this as a great honor, a form of bliss. This explains why Chitose was so insistent and adamant against Iscandar. Soji is having none of it, however. Ahlforz just brushes this off as an inferior lifeform misunderstanding him.

So we confront Dessler at the imperial capital. Objective is to reduce him below 20000HP. SR point is to do so within three turns after defeating all other enemies. Once again, I grind a couple people up: Elle and Beecha. This is the last two I'll be able to get here, most likely. I don't have too much trouble having them sweep the board. I move in on Dessler after, weakening him to the threshold on turn 2. I wait and wreck him on turn 3 using Koji and Shinji on support. He takes his leave after this...dropping a colony in the process. He doesn't care about his own people, even outright saying so to their faces.

After this, the Gardim appear. They view the Gamillas as just another plague in their Large Magellenic Cloud to be wiped out. To wit when Okita proposes a ceasefire to deal with the problem, they simply reply they can easily do it themselves before opening fire on the city. Objective is to defeat Ahlforz within 4 turns of his arrival.

On the second turn, events happen. Soji manages to get free, running into Nine along the way, now seemingly mindwiped. However, when he's injured, he manages to return her memories. Suddenly, a soldier appears. It's a copy of Ghuli who's managed to retain some of his memories! He's brought Chitose to him as a way to be even, but wants to fight Soji one final time. But what about the VangNex? No problem, it's here, but Nine summons the VangRay II! I continue having Elle and Beecha rack up kills in the meantime.

The next turn, Ghuli taunts us a bit, but in swoops NIne with the VangNex, newly refit and with a new attack! I unlock a secret in the form of Chitose taking up the VangRay II. After defeating Ghuli, he admits his live was short but quick, and is glad he met Soji. Soji mourns his demise. Finally, I defeat Ahlforz, who can't believe this turn of events.

Now to save the Gamillas. However, the object is accelerating too fast! Luckily, the ELS swoop in to help, slowing its descent enough for the wave motion gun to wipe it out. At long last, the war between Earth and Gamillas has ended, and we can now make our way to Iscandar!

 

[System Error]

FEBRUARY 21st:
Lethargic for most of the day. But made it through the preamble.

Yup, Okita's still dying. He apologizes to Bright for his selfishness, but, intends to stay alive long enough to get back to Earth, to see it one final time before he goes. At this point, I confirm the true ending. I can either have him say that an arduous journey awaits us, or the fighting is already over. This determines how the final events play out, but in both cases, he points out that Embryo and Leonard aren't going to take this lying down.

Above Iscandar, the ELS have transformed the colony that Dessler was dropping into a flower-shape. We descend to the planet to meet Starsha. A very long scene starts from here. The short of it is, she's concerned we'll destroy ourselves with wave motion technology like they did; we even weaponized it. However, seeing what Setsuna did with the ELS as well as our bond with Nine, convinces her to relent. She also tells Kodai that his brother, Mamoru, ended up on Iscandar. He wasn't long for the universe, however, and passed away some time later. As she sees us off, some Gardim agents give her some cold words before leaving.

The Gamillans help guide us back to Earth through a subspace portal. As they leave, we get attacked! It's Dessler! He's still alive?! He raids the Yamato and breaks into the Cosmo Reverse System room. In the scuffle, he shoots Celestia accidentally (who we took in as a prisoner) and mortally wounds Mori. Before the battle can even begin however, Embryo shows up. He promptly kidnaps Lacus. Suddenly, there's a dimensional distortion, like a Boson reaction except far more volatile...