Crystalline (Day 256)

Super Robot Wars J has a dazzling number of pilots and robots to control. Even though I feel like I made my decision on which units to use a long time ago, I'm changing my mind just about every other mission. I'm up to about mission 40 and have just acquired several useful units from the Gundam SEED series after having nothing worthwhile from them since the beginning of the game. The pacing of the game can be a tad strange. I had thought about using characters from that series but I gave up because I thought they'd never give me anything else useful, but it turned out I was wrong. In fact, the game is considerably longer than I expected. I'm pretty sure I have at least 10 more missions before the end, and if it's anything like Original Generation, those last few will be a doozy.

What I've been trying to do is use all or most of the characters from the anime I've been watching recently. That means I'm using characters from Martian Successor Nadesico, Full Metal Panic, and Brain Powerd.  The Nadesico squad consists of about five different units, one of which is the battleship itself that has five pilots: Yurika, Ruri, Minato, Jun, and Megumi. I've been using Akito, Hikaru, Ryoko, and Izumi and their Aestivalis robots almost since the beginning. I was using Akatsuki as well until a certain plot event. They're fairly mobile and hit decently hard, but their power level has fallen off significantly as I've gained access to more powerful options. Ryoko, Hikari, and Izumi have access to a pair of useful combination attacks with an adequate power level, but their primary use is for skirmishing because they're so evasive and mobile.

Brain Powerd has about eight different characters, but I've been trying to use them all. Although the Brain Powered units are almost identical to each other, several of these characters can do a very strong high range combination attack called Chakra Extension. In the latter stages of a map when the requisite amount of Will has been built up, the Brain Powered squadron absolutely tears through enemies. These characters are Hime, Yuu, Lasse, Nanga, Kanan, Higgins, Kant, and Nakki. If for some reason I want to use some different characters, I might ditch about half of these guys. Even though they're all really good, I like having a variety of different types of units at my disposal.

Full Metal Panic only has three units available so far, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that they're the only permanent units I get from that series. You assume control of the submarine Tuatha de Danaan on a few occasions, which is piloted by Tessa, Mardukas, and Kalinin--but since it's an water-only vessel, I can't imagine it'll be a permanent addition to the team. However, Sosuke in his Arbalest and Kurz and Mao in their M9s are all very powerful units. Kaname and Tessa still pop up in the game's dialogue quite frequently.

Those three series make up 14 units. In many missions, this is all I can deploy. In others, I may be able to field a few more, but those missions are somewhat rarer. I've also been using a few units from the Tekkaman Blade series. I've been using Blue Earth piloted by Noal and Aki (later Aki and Milly) just because it's an excellent support unit capable of repairing and ressupply. But I've also been using Blade himself, whose long range attacks hit quite hard. I have almost zero interest in the anime itself, so I only bring him along when I have an extra spot.

I think the next time I play through this game (which might be immediately or much later) I'm going to just pick a bunch of stuff that I haven't used before and not worry about what anime series they come from. The Gundam SEED units you get very late in the game are actually pretty good--and some of the super robots from 70s and 80s anime look very strong as well. Dancougar, Voltes, and Combattler in particular look to be pretty crazy.