Chronocidal

Heh, I did mean something bigger, but yeah, I didn't specify. I wish Hasegawa would take on the stuff from Yukikaze like they did with Macross, and that new plane from Ace Combat. Well.. that and all the other stuff from Ace Combat and Macross I'd love to see. I'm still waiting for that 1/48 YF-21.. my three YF-19s are getting lonely.

I don't know where to get the VF-25F from, but the blueprints for the standard model A and S are available from shops in the third region, along with the 27beta, and that region gives fairly simple quests for the 27gamma, and the VF-25 super and tornado packs. The basic YF-29 came along very easily, but I don't remember if I found it, or it was a story quest reward. No sign yet of the personalized versions of anything, but given that there isn't a gap in the progression like I have for the 171EX, I think the various VF-25 variants will only show up as character specific customs.

Oh, I can't tell you what the individual stats are, but you gain TP from kills/quests/buying it... in the upper left of the stat window is your total available, upper right is the amount used out of the current allotment for that aircraft (it goes up with rank of the aircraft, which I still don't know how to do). You just select up and down through the list, and left and right to reduce or increase a stat. Nothing's permanent, so you can retune things at will if you hit the cap and want more emphasis on damage or speed, or something. L1 and R1 cycle between stat categories, which someone explained earlier. Only ones I focus on are the aircraft stats in the first tab, the gunpod stats (usually has a XXmm label in the tag, and allows you to tune the sniper rifle by pressing square) and the multi-missile tab. I'm not sure what all the numbers refer to, but one of the stats on that tab increases the amount of simultaneous targets/launches you can make. I think that particular stat bar has divisions in it, showing how much you need to gain a missile. Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, or thinking of the wrong menu though. I've been learning by trial and error... especially with quests... it gets really interesting trying to figure out what drops the item you need to turn in. (Kill target, grab drops, check quest log, repeat.) OH.. yeah.. that is probably my biggest gripe with the gameplay. Those sparkly dots indicating drops are useless. I want an option to just deliver all obtained items to my inventory, or don't let them time out, because if you're in fighter mode, the chances of you actually getting those approach zero.

If you're attempting them early on, then yes they're a pain. They get significantly easier as you upgrade the planes. Not to say they might not still be irritating, but they do get better. Also, don't try them with real aircraft controls, because having to roll to collect those targets is much harder than just steering around. I think I just hit the final chapter, so I'm done for the night. It's one of those "Are you sure you want to do this? There's no going back after this" points that tells you to save. I think there's quite a bit to go still though, because very little (if anything) has actually been resolved in any way. It might be just a save point before the storyline branches to different paths (or endings, if it's almost done). I'm about 30 hours in, but I admit, I've been happily running about spamming missiles everywhere to gain TP and unlockables. Really.. I think my most serious gripe at this point is that they've had Ranka dressed in the absolute fugliest outfit I have ever seen in my life for the entire game. It's hideous. At least they had Sheryl arrive in a flight suit, but EVERY dialogue scene of Ranka has had her in that wonky thing. I want to slap that hat off her head, and then slap the artist who designed that. Ugh.. aside from that though, only complaint I can think of at the moment is that the aircraft tree seems to jump around, or that several of the main developments are hidden, while later versions pop up easily. I don't recall what I did to unlock the VF-171EX armor pack, I think it was just a simple hunter guild quest... but I can't find the actual VF-171EX blueprint at all. It's not a quest or race reward, and I can't use the packs without making the plane (which is kinda messed up, since I think non-EX variants are using the packs in the game ) So far, only aircraft I'm actually missing are the VF-19S, VF-171EX, and all the custom paint jobs (except Roy's VF-0). Fortunately, the main VF-25 line is pretty easy to get, and the super and tornado packs are a breeze to get (a 1 item gathering quest for each, with a big map logo pointing out where to look ). No sign of the armored packs yet though. I do need to run the rounds of the hunter guild bases to see if any new quests have popped up after completing bits of the story, but so far I'm at a loss to see where the 19S and EX come from. Oh.. and two sad bits.. well, three, but two are fixable and one isn't. The fixable ones are plot relevant, so spoilers incoming (not that anyone couldn't see this coming though ) Ok, the unfixable sad thing: they skipped over the VF-17 entirely. There is a Millia-style red scheme for the 171, but Diamond Force is nowhere to be found. Guess they couldn't be bothered to make a few more aircraft and fill out Sound Force. Really.. Yamato has spoiled us. I want to see my entire valk collection in the game.

Wish someone would release something not in 1/100 scale already...

Ok.. So. End of Chapter 7, to beginning of Chapter 8. I don't know when I ate all those bricks, but they're out of my system now. If there's really anything I regret about not knowing Japanese, it's that I'd absolutely love to understand all the dialogue when person A meets person B who is somehow younger and/or went missing years ago. Anyway. So, how on earth do you go about getting different ranks for the aircraft? All of mine are stuck at rank 1, with no clue how to move beyond that. The only ones I've gotten that are rank 2 are the VF-19A, and VF-22, which start at rank 2 somehow. I've been maxing out the rank 1 stats of each valk as I get them, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of option for rank 2 or higher.

I really do wish NY could get more realistic with their FedEx prices. I've never paid $50 for them with HLJ, and my typical HLJ order is probably 3 to 5 times the physical size and weight of a single vf-25 shipping box. Their EMS prices don't seem quite as inflated at least, but then you have to deal with post office shenanigans. Oh well. Still worth it in the end. Will be glad to have these bandai valk hunting days over with.

Oy, this one apparently stayed up for quite a while, I nodded off on my couch, and just woke up. Managed to grab one, so if Hobbyfan comes through, I should have a spare to sell or trade. Or maybe I'll strip one down and make a custom... hmmm..

I get the feeling those will get much easier as you unlock higher level valks, and the ability to boost their stats above rank 1. I was within one second of getting the silver on one of them, but figured I'd wait for a faster plane. I also think it'd be MUCH easier to run them with the controls set to normal, instead of having to roll all over the sky to get through the targets.

Plus, you know, I hear there's this new Macross game out for the ps3, if you don't mind reading Japanese. Not to cross the threads and start talking about it here, but I'm enjoying the gameplay, even without knowing what anyone is saying. Aside from that, all I've gotten for the ps3 so far is StarHawk, and I'm planning on playing Chrono Cross again when I find my discs.

Oh, so maybe I'm misunderstanding the system for unlocking the paintschemes. Do things like Roy's VF-1S scheme get unlocked for selection under paintschemes, or are they a stand-alone custom aircraft you have to make?

How exactly do you unlock the different paint schemes? I'm up to chapter 4, and still haven't unlocked any alternate schemes at all. Up to the VF-11C, and still nothing but the defaults. No VF-1 strike pack either. I know some of the blueprints have to be bought from various locations, but I haven't seen anything like a paintscheme yet.

Sigh. That's what I get for playing Macross 30 all evening.

Yeah, I actually fell asleep in the hangar menu last night at 6am Fortunately I managed to get back to base before faceplanting into my couch. The shop menus were kind of interesting, this is the second time I've seen a game where you can purchase or sell things to or from your current inventory, or storage. If anyone needs a quick reference for the quest menu: 1: Select Quest 2: Turn In Quest (ones you can turn in will show up light blue) 3: Give Up Quest I think the one option I'd really love to see most right now is the ability to select which weapons you carry with a little more flexibility. My ghost-boosted VF-0S is still better than my VF-1A in some ways, but I can't carry reaction missiles on the ghost version. The micro missile pods still get the job done, but I love those nice big explosion effects. Also, loving that valks have separate sound sets. The classic VF-1 gunpod and missile sounds made me smile. Edit: Oh, if you've made them already, what you need to do is go into the first option on the hangar, and select which pilot you're editing with L1/R1. Move down one row, and you should be at the aircraft selection, then you can move left or right to pick different planes. Moving down one more row will let you select pilots and passengers. Once you unlock different weapon options, moving down one from the aircraft lets you select different fast packs or weapon loadouts with left and right, bumping pilot and crew to the third and fourth selections respectively.

I just had one of those warm fuzzy moments. Anyone with the SV-51g... check the fourth default scheme.

Makes me think that there might be a mold flaw in the right shoulder pieces, that sounds same as the problem mine had. You can probably pop the shoulder off easily to examine the joint, but the problem seems to be that the shoulder won't be glued shut all the way, and there's room to slip off the metal shoulder piece. I wound up cutting off the locator pins for the upper and lower piece, and gluing them manually, but it really changed how the piece looks, because I wound up needing to fill a gap and file it smooth.

Eh, I'm perfectly content having one of each type. I've picked up all the various super/armor packs, but I don't see much of a reason to display multiples at the same time. Not to mention.. I have no display space in the first place. Really that's why I got so many of the kits of the various versions, but didn't build them until I knew the renewals were coming. If I couldn't get a good transformable toy, I was going to try and build my super/armored Ozma and Alto to be transformable. Since the renewals fixed that need for a good transformable super/armored VF-25, I'm just going to build each kit permanently in a different mode, and display those.

Woo, got my box set just a few minutes ago. Mail truck drove by, then made a u-turn to get to my box, so I just met him down there to avoid them driving off with it. Dunno if he would have, but I've had that happen before. Now to go stare at my tv for a few... uh.. weeks.

Yeah, thanks for the update, I'll go ahead and try there. Not sure if I'll grab a redundant order from NY or not yet, but might just to be on the safe side. I am curious why their price is so much cheaper though. Even with shipping, it came out cheaper than NY's base price (though I only opted for priority mail instead of express ) We'll just have to wait and see how that works out.

So, my package got to my post office this morning, and is out for delivery. I'm going to wait at the mailbox so the dipwad mailman doesn't just stick a slip in my box and tell me to pick it up monday because he doesn't like my stairs.

The V1 releases of Michael and Luca ONLY came bundled with their respective super packs, so yeah. The bundles were also the only ones to come with stands the first time around. Personally, I'm ok ordering the packs separately this time because it saves me the trouble of getting duplicate valks just to get the packs, but I'd much rather see bundles to begin with. I may be wrong here, but it seems like the renewal releases are spaced much further apart than the originals. Granted, there've been a few releases in between to break things up (the 171 and YF-29s), but it's like Bandai has gone with a "we're only going to work on one release at a time, and we're not going to bundle anything ever" approach to the renewals. I'm pretty sure the first time around, Michael and Luca were released almost simultaneously. I'll be honest though... for as much time as Luca spent out of fighter mode, or without packs (did they ever even come off?), I'm almost tempted to just pick up the v1 release that NY is still selling, and be done with it. I feel like the RVF-25 really needs those packs to help balance out the design.

Although, it does serve as a bit of consolation in the event that someone isn't able to get one. Really, the only reason I want one is to get all four of them together, but if I was going to leave one out, it would be Luca. Really, the RVF doesn't do much for me. If anything, since that one would never leave fighter mode, I may steal the crotch plate from it, and repaint it in Michael's colors to fix the fact that mine was missing.

Actually, they've sold out before too, they just tend to open up orders again a day or so later for maybe $10 more. Just keep an eye out, and it should work. Once the price gets bumped up a few bucks, people don't rush to grab them as quickly.

Well, least I can take comfort in the fact that my Macross30 copy arrived in customs in LA tonight. Maybe if I'm really really lucky, I'll have it this weekend, and get distracted.

Yeah. Adding something to your cart should just mark it as "sold." People basically got tackled at the checkout stand.