Gundam Breaker 2 First Impressions

Apparently the blog lay dormant for two years. Except work NDA, I should allow myself to write anything else.

Gundam Breaker 2 was released 2014/12/18 on ps3/VITA, with JP/CH choices. Took awhile to ship the Chinese version (Asia version on Play-Asia.com) to far away New Zealand. Chinese includes Japanese voice and optional subtitles in Taiwanese or Hong Kong formats. Voice acting and translations are fairly well done.

I’ve checked PSN from several countries, and there’s more description on the JP PSN:

http://www.jp.playstation.com/software/title/bljs10286.html

The AI comrades are voiced by Hikasa Yoko as Leia and Katsuyuki Konichi as Kalevi. Both are quite senior seiyuus and do a good job. Since gameplay is fast paced, short small talk ends up repetitive. Dialog bubbles appear from their mech during fights and is a bit amusing tho hard to read as the bubbles flys along them. If you bump or shoot them they’ll say “mech is damaged!”. It would be nice to vary dialog so they grow angry at the noob pilot who friendly fires. But it’s a mech game, so don’t expect Last of Us (which I finished before this). Abe Atsushi as Shouma appears later (I just started GB2). Since he’s famed for Kamijou Touma he may be an important character, right fist included.

Coupons: I played for awhile (most time spent on tweaking metallic/specular shaders for each mech part), but didn’t try them on NZ PSN. Gamefaq suggests Asia or JP region PSN’s to get future DLC’s. So I created a Taiwan PSN (same as HK, you can choose English during signup on the website, and use any address). Judging how GB1 had many DLC’s (in TW but not NZ PSN), I made the switch and replayed some missions and re-tweaked each shader again. It’s my first gundam game and I’m fairly new to the franchise so it didn’t feel too repetitive.
There are 2 codes. Enter at bottom of PSN store in ps3. Go to the GB2 hangar, choose the right-most booth (gundam online store). Gift tab shows the coupon items. Download each one. Now they’re available in the mech part lists. Most parts are high level so unusable before playing more, but a few available are very high specced. A few upgrades make initial missions overly easy, so I am putting the off till later.

Difficulty: each mission shows a difficulty bar. But I couldn’t find any difficulty setting, so the parts you use may have a drastic effect on challenge. The Challenge Mode (square button to Gundam Cafe) is notably harder: 5-10 minutes of fighting swarms of gundams where each takes significantly longer to defeat. I started dying 1-2 times a minute, since they easily swarm you and during the chaos your combat parts may get severed. It’s quite amusing since it takes awhile in the chaotic scene to notice button mashing is not attacking because your arm is on the far end of the table. Find your arm/hand/shield etc and hold R1 to absorb it back.

Healing: R1+triangle heals all friendlies, with ~1x seconds cooldown. Up arrow has a heal tool (20 uses per mission), but couldn’t figure how to use it yet. Friendlies have no lifebars though.

Story & Screencaps: tutorial mission, story/dialogs I briefly translated. Exposition is on the JP website, and I can’t quite read Japanese. (bad translation follows…) “It does stress GB1 didn’t have story, and GB2 they emphasize a story & world. In year 2024, there’s a Gundam World First event opening, and an attraction called Gundam Battle Simulator 2.0 (also mentioned in game). The story is an epic about the Earthling Army & Colonial Allies (whatever matches the gundam factions).”

“Gunpla Battle Simulator 2.0!!” cutscene.

Hangar: 5 booths left to right: multiplayer, customize, missions, customize (same, offscreen), online store (offscreen). Left window advertises the 3 mechs from Gundam Build Fighters Try (an amazing gunpla building/fighting show btw).

A 20-30 minute tutorial will walk through most of these controls. “Press R1 then L1: use shield armor”, not sure if a special part is required, but normal shield block is simply hold R1. Combat & settings screens have the same fast-paced repetitive music, which can be switched off but cannot be changed. I prefer different game modes/level at least have some music variations. The GB2 start screen (continue, new game etc) has a nice mellow OST that builds up and presents a more refined tone in comparison. Play any GBF ost’s from your pc, as they all fit the combat well, especially from Yuuki Hayashi or BACK-ON.

Tutorial cutscene: On Kalevi’s orders, we wait till Mohawk boss leaves for a toilet break, infiltrate & defeat weak enemies loading a ship in their base. Mohawk boss returns and fights us. Main character (mc) will auto go to Awakening mode (R3+L3). “Interesting!” Mohawk comment’s on MC’s speed on defending Leia. After fight, turns out Kalevi & Mohawk (Ainaer, Chinese name translations never sound like the Japanese original) know each other as old rivals. Mohawk just leaves halfway to fight another day. What a whimp.

“The space settlement has been…(probably blasted), OMG!”, Kalevi’s surprise is wonderful. Cutscenes with mc will have your customizations, which is great for photoshoots (sorry these are phone shots). The space settlement was located above the moon base. The journey continues in the first Story Mission. As the Giant Angel then parks at the moon base. Even though it’s a passenger ship, enemies are convinced we 3 mechs arrived to support some war, so they attack.

Boss: GP03 Dendrobium. MC’s in space, but fall off the panel far enough, you will die & revive. It’s challenging as the floor breaks up it’s easy to keep falling off (too moon probably), enemy has massive AOE, and only long range weapons hit. Lulu asks “This is Giant Angel (a passenger ship). What was that vibration!?” with obligatory funny face. She probably meant the explosions from the Dendrobium. Pre fight, Kalevi talks of the new captain Lulu of Giant Angel, how she is a daughter of an important high-ranking officer. Leia mentions how being assigned here (relatively safe) shows Lulu’s being well pampered & protected by her parents. Mech shows rarely have any depth. But adding sensible story/characterization can help player involvement. During fight, Kalevi will answer some funny noob questions Lulu has about the ship, dock etc.

Photograph tab allows bg, pose etc choices. Photo becomes the backdrop of this interface.

Minecraft Darth Vader gets the Golden Mustache.

Challenge Mode (square button, team deathmatch) is difficult. The format is very much like in GBF, except you can re-spawn. Often the mech can get stunned & not respond to any control. Possibly some enemy weapons have strong stun effects. Keep your distance from crowds as 2+ mechs will easily overwhelm low-level builds.