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I'm about halfway through Metal Max Returns, so far I'm enjoying it. The vehicle/on foot modes are kind of neat even if the game hasn't really combined the two all that well so far.

Does the rest of the series improve on that any? I'd like the concept and the setting, but I don't think I'd want to play another barebones RPG in the same vein.
+Showing all 144 replies.
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Metal Saga remains pretty basic and can get annoying to play with its inventory management.
3 gives more control over party customization and adds new classes and motorcycles.
2R gives total control over party customization and adds subclassing.
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>>3953595
Hope this helps.
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>>3953625
3 and 2R sounds more like what I'm looking for.

>>3953672
I'm surprised how detailed the weapons are for the game, every single one has its own sprite it seems.
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>>3953820
That’s the charm. It’s also probably the most difficult SNES game to 100%
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>>3953888
>It’s also probably the most difficult SNES game to 100%

Nani?
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>>3953820
3 is kind of shitty but 2R is the best in the series.
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I like XR.
Got it on sale, didn't regret a single hour
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>>3953929
Very very low drop rate items.
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>>3954088
And one is timed to a event
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>>3953595
Play Metal Saga PS2 after this. And yes, the mechanica keep improving.
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>>3954114
Art
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>>3953888
Fair but your easy level tricks here include:
>buying hollow charge shells
>farming red peony vulcans thru at-grizzlies near canabelle and ghost base
>using the east-west subway to skip large map sections
>>3954108
The lipstick? Sheesh.
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>>3954042
The only good thing the Xeno games did was finally giving us a playable and customizable Rommel Ghost, and I guess the general tank design was not terrible, I did like the Mario/Bisonte lines as well, outside of that they're HnK tier kusoge.
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>>3954391
Disagree, I loved a lot about the game. It looks like you're posting the Vita version of Xeno, but I'm specifically talking about Xeno Reborn on Steam which is different.
>RTWP combat is fast paced and fun, and lets me one-shot weak enemies before an encounter and get the drop on bosses if I approach right. Positioning can also change a lot if you take advantage of terrain.
>Exploration of the overworld is nice and rewarding, lots of nooks and crannies and treasures to find
>Customization on the tanks can let you do some wacky shit once you figure out the stat scaling and get through a couple of NG+ runs
>Music is absolutely banging

My only real gripe is that there just wasn't more of it to play. What's there is great, it's just too short.
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>>3954396
Reborn is an asset flip that got rid of the godawful story of the original but didn't fix the godawful everything else, it just swapped the classic turn based system for RTwP and added Pochi, it did not fix the shitty cast, it did not fix the terrible setting, it was just a slightly differently flavour of bad that kept going offbrand for some reason.
Hell Reborn as a whole was largely made to apologize for the absolute shitshow that was OG Xeno and to salvage some money, I think they managed to get more good will with Metal Dogs than with either Xeno entries but so far the series is all but dead after that massive mistake.
>>Music is absolutely banging
It's okay but it's 90% remixes of tracks from old MM games, the standard battle theme remix from MM3 is not even a new remix but a cut from a medley from an old MM arrange album, Reborn added some new tracks but outside of the SoNS theme they're all still incredibly mid and lazy beyond belief, only good thing I can say about it is that Unforedoomed is pretty good as a vocal theme? Not as catchy as Crying Sun but I liked it, for everything else Kadokura largely phoned it in as he was probably being paid in instant ramen.
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>>3954401
Oh yeah and I did like the bosses' visual design, Yamamoto's still a god when it comes to mechanical stuff and outside of the nostalgic cameos from the older games like Hind Dog or Yojimborg they had some real nice new stuff going like Dora or MechDonald which were pretty fucking cool, credits where it's due and all that.
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>>3954368
It’s still hard though
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>>3954406
>>3954396
It's one of those games I wish had an infinite NG+
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>>3954022
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>>3954546
Easiest metal max game?
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>>3955720
1. Smoke shells completely destroy the game.
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>>3953595
>Does the rest of the series improve on that any?
Metal Max is a series that doesn't get any improvements, since it already achieved perfection in its first outing. Any deviations are for the worse.
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>>3955787
Xenogears A shit
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>>3954042
>Xeno Reborn
I've heard nothing but people shitting on that game.
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>>3955734
>1. Smoke shells completely destr-
ENTER
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>>3955806
Same, but I got it on sale and fell on love with it. Maybe it just hits all the right notes for me. I have put a hundred hours easy into optimizing the characters and tanks, and trying different weapon combos and loadouts. The structure makes it easy to just jump in and play without needing to keep track of subplots and side quests and such.
I understand it lacks a lot of what people like about the series, but being the only MM game i have played so far I dont have those preconceptions.
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>>3955787
2 (SFC) is the best though
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>>3955846
Do they have the english translation ready? The only Metal Max 2 that has a fan translation is 2R. Man, they're hard to finish maybe because of the mods or weapon paths that make for a mental softlock, sheesh.
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>>3956240
No, and I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. It's never going to happen unless someone else translates the game.
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>>3956440
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>>3956761
>>3956240
>>3954835
Which one is which game?
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>>3956767
The first is 3, second is original 2, third is 2R
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>>3956771
Actually, I’m not sure the middle, but here is more from Saga
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>>3956772
man I don't remember half of these trucks, I'm not sure I ever saw the bus or fire truck
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>>3956787
This is nes mod, iirc
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>>3956772
I have to give MS another shot
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>>3956800
It's pretty tedious.
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>>3956902
Indeed, but…TANKS!
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mm4 news?
at this rate we will get decades long NEVER EVER project XS 1+2 before "95% complete" mm4
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>>3956932
Wasn't the discord in charge of that chinese-derived fangame and the translators for MM4 currently defunct? Tried to check out their discord only to see that the stopped production and disbanded.
>>3956794
Metal Max mod to the metal max 2 game?
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>>3956932
I used Retroarch's AI translation (ztranslate) to play that years ago and it worked surprisingly well with that game, one of the games where I got the best results with it..
protip multi hit weapons like in 3 and 2R aren't the most powerful thing in this game
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>>3957109
Yes
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>>3957202
They had three store weapon types in both games. I wonder which types are the best to 100% both games.
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>>3957453
>AnimeMetalMax (20)
What's with the filenames? Anyways that's an intense looking triple-barrelled maus
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>>3958473
I have 2.7k images I’ve collected of shit over the years on here. Sorry, big on organization
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>>3958473
>Anyways that's an intense looking triple-barrelled maus
It's the Ochibi-chan from the Xeno games.
You'd think a tank with 14 cannon slots would mean Cannon Rush would absolutely fuck but sadly most of those cannons are too small to do much of anything on most enemies and it's much better to pick some other model with free slots and slap as many heavy cannons, possibly Dora's, and you'll have a much more effective Cannon Rush platform.
Really cool design though.
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>>3958489
Dump em, my MM folder is sad
>>3957202
I didn't know you could do that, might need to set it up so I can finally play this one
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>>3958703
Ok, also why is 4s story so…out there? I know it kinda ties in to NOAH but, yeah.
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>>3958737
No idea what the story is, I'll judge when I finally play it
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>>3958738
Fair enough
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>>3958793
Fun game
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>>3958799
Post apocalypse done fun!
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never...ever...
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>>3956922
This shot has got me thinking Chrome Hounds more than anything
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If anyone is interested, the new Mad Max game actually focuses on a customizable car and vehicle that kind of feels closer to Metal Max in spirit than I expected
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>>3959037
*vehicle combat
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>>3959012
They turned back project site again
Just hodl...
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What is the arch narrative of MM. something NOAH, nukes world, EVERYTHING is trying to kill humanity?
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>>3959184
It's simple really
>At some point in time Bias Vlad and a bunch of other people create NOAH
>NOAH goes rogue (allegedly) trying to figure out a way to save the planet's environment, all answers lead to humans bad
>NOAH nukes the entire fucking planet and unleashes a bunch of bots and altered organism on the planet to hunt down the remnants of humanity because humans bad
>(You) are here
Everything branches off this, MM1 was about one lone kid accidentally finding and destroying NOAH (also Red Wolf something something), MM2 was about Bias Vlad's fuckery finally catching up to him, MM3 is some random adventure about mutant furry mafia and so on.
There's some specific entries like Metal Saga and Hagane no Kizetsu which are specifically tied to the NOAH continuity from MM1, Xeno is an AU universe which is still based around NOAH, but outside of that and by extension Bias Vlad there's no unifying narrative.
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>>3954835 MM2R
>>3956761 MM3
>>3958737 MM4
You got the side views for all those vehicles?
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>>3959199
Sorry, no
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>>3959192
MM3 takes place in Not America and deals with one of the scientist contemporaries of Vlad. A nutter called Grattanos who is trying to kill the family of his old crush who live in a Not Vault
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>>3959297
Was the hypercuck actually one of Vlad's buddies?
It's been years since I last played 3 so I don't remember some of the finer details about Gluttonous/Gratonos' backstory, probably because like most people I was half lobotomized by Cola being such a fucking Karen.
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>>3959037
I like that game too but you're genuinely fucking insane to compare it to Metal Max.
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>>3959304
Karen? No, Cola was worse than a Karen. Bitch qualified as the real antagonist of the game!
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>>3959173
link?
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>>3959626
>customizable vehicle combat in a post apocalyptic wasteland fighting marauders, mutants and other tricked out death machines
>The franchise that obviously inspired Metal Max in the first place
Oh yes, zero connection at all there
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>>3959691
Now you're just being an obnoxious retard.
No one wants to talk about a generic open world game with Bamham combat here.
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>>3959745
NOOOOOOOOOOO
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>>3959903
Ok, better?
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>>3956787
Bus is from the desert, the fire truck is from an auction after killing the Krak Cannon from Dowan btw.
>>3959691
As much as I like vehicular combat in the post-apocalypse, the turn-based aspect of metal max just hits different, you know? It's like having a power armor and a cool transport rolled into one, and it's like when turnbased rpgs implement a mount suitable for combat. Good stuff.
>>3957202
>AI translated MM4
Is it any good? Also had used the metalmaniax for a translated guide, hope it doesn't softlock me haha
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>>3960210
Tank motorcycle?
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>>3961648
By the time this thing showed up my final party was pretty much set.
Think that happened in every game except 1R and Metal Saga.
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>>3961829
Same, I think I used just the Wildbus and Fulsand and probably stopped when I got no more clues for the end of the MM2R game. Also remembeed there were quite some moneymakers aside from the bang bang tanks minigame, and I think it's from those tortoises roaming on that one plateau or alcove near the diving hut iirc
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>>3961648
God, I love Yamamoto's mechanical designs.
He's underrated as fuck
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>>3962034
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Metal Max 4 more like Metal Max Poor
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>>3961648
The fact that you can pile the entire party into one super optimized car in MM2R makes the single seaters pretty worthless
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>>3962689
Concept is neat though. Not sure if feasible though.
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>>3962689
Except when it doesn't like you having to deal with Bullfrog and his ability to instantly wreck your vehicle.
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>>3962810
>bullfrog surviving like 40 wrecking ball hits a turn
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About to start 2 Reloaded, any tips?
It's my first MM besides XR
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>>3962847
You can shortcut bind items, make sure to bind the metal detector style items and use them regularly, there's a shitload of hidden stuff.
Quests are actually high priority here and you can get good rewards from them.
Fleeing is really really strong.
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>>3962853
>Fleeing is really really strong.
Thanks, I would not have considered that. My usual MO for RPGs is to fight every encounter no matter what
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>>3962862
A true grinder, rare anymore, kudos anon.
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>>3962689
Eh, the games are not really hard enough to push you in one direction or another, one seaters are perfectly fine.
>>3962847
You should play Returns first so the story twists hit harder.
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>>3962922
>You should play Returns first so the story twists hit harder.
Huh?
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>>3962927
Metal Max 2 expands on a major plot point from Metal Max 1 and the Metal Max universe at large, so if you don't play the first one you kind of miss on that and the overall build up and reveal don't really hit as hard as they should.
Granted we did sort of spoil it earlier in the thread but still.
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>>3962929
I honestly don't remember anything about Vlad or his company from the first game, but granted it's been over a decade since I played it to completion. Maybe mentioned on a random terminal or logo somewhere but nothing major.
I think the overview at the start of 2R is good enough.
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>>3962940
There's a minor, indirect hint in the weather station log about the scientist that notes how NOAH is going rogue for reasons nobody can explain, that is eventually fully explained by Vlad himself in MM2 after the initial teasing you get in the Vlad museum.
One of the few things I liked about Xeno is that they sort of referenced this in the original game and mirrored a setup that ultimately doesn't pay off as Reborn just trashed that entirely and there's no equivalent showdown in that continuity.
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So, who is responsible for NOAH, itself or Vlads vanity? Also, played 4 if anyone wants plot.
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>>3963012
It was Vlad, NOAH was created by Vlad Corp. as a super AI tasked with the objective of finding a way to save earth's environment, Vlad himself spearheaded the project because he was a hardcore environmentalist and the closest thing the world had to Tony Stark.
Vlad also had a total midlife meltdown the moment he found out he was suffering from an incurable genetic disease and decided to let the world burn because he was a massive narcissist, he took off NOAH's harnesses and manipulated the data fed into NOAH to force it to the conclusion that humanity was the problem, NOAH went full Skynet, Vlad uploaded his mind into the supercomputer beneath Bias City and the rest is history.

He sort of predates Mr. House from Fallout 3 when you think about, he's just way more unhinged and directly responsible for all the bad shit going on with the world.
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>>3963085
Ah. Well, 3 ties into this sort of. Takes place in another continent though. Gratonos is a mad scientist who’s specialized in genes. He was NOT a contemporary of Vlad though they did live at the same time. Grats had a love for a girl from a wealthy family by the name of King that put all their money into a defense shelter that was NOT a vault, but far nicer. Something happened and the girl gets killed and the King family blames Grats for it. Grats gets left out to fend for himself, but swears vengeance on the King family. He becomes biologically immortal either by way of NOAHs fuckery, himself, or both. You, Drumcan, as that’s the default name, are one of his chimeras. His goal is to get Jaganath up and running, a railgun built into a sub that was one of the 4 Great Weapons to confront NOAH. Please correct me if I have missed anything.
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>>3963085
>Vlad also had a total midlife meltdown the moment he found out he was suffering from an incurable genetic disease and decided to let the world burn because he was a massive narcissist, he took off NOAH's harnesses and manipulated the data fed into NOAH to force it to the conclusion that humanity was the problem

Which game is this from? From the first game I only remember NOAH making the decision on its own
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>>3962847
man, it's a really great game
if you want information like item lists go to the jap "metalmaniax" website and use google translate
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>>3963181
First part is definitely 2R but I don't remember the false data angle.
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does metal max work like oriental blue where quests fail and shit if you wait too long
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>>3963638
2R has a quest with a different outcome (you still get a reward) if you take too long.
I'm not sure if the game determines "too long" based on game time, number of encounters, or inn stays, but regardless I know the timer only starts after you actually accept the quest.

>>3953595
>but I don't think I'd want to play another barebones RPG in the same vein.
What do you mean by "baebones" exactly?
If you mean a lack of a strong central narrative/story scenes, then be careful what you wish for. 3 has more of a story focus and the later half of the game end up sucking because getting railroaded.

If you mean you want something to do other than travel to the next town/dungeon and fight Wanted, then yes later games add more varieties of quest, complete with dialogue options for things like negotiating rewards or resolving them in alternate ways.

If you mean mechanically, then Returns is already not barebones, it's just easy so you don't really have to engage with any possible complexity.
Like, the average player isn't going to even figure out how to use an intercept system or configure their towed tank to provide fire support, nor are they going to do things like cover their face with a cloth item to protect against gas attacks, or find out they can upload programs onto their BS Con like the one that lets you call an orbital laser when outdoors and on foot.
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How does Saga stand in the series? Worth starting with?
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>>3963707
It was my first experience with the series because it was the first released outside of Japan.
Inventory management is a little tedious but if you can get over that it's good. The built in speed up for combat really helps.

Somewhat related: I went back to 1R today and decided pretty early to drop it because the encounter rate is pretty egregious.
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>>3963638
Returns does with the lipstick if you are shooting for 100%
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>>3963700
What is the Annihilation Program/Program NOAH on the best CPU?
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so is 4 now the only untranslated entry besides like... some of the non remakes?
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>>3963721
it makes the tank go Berserk basically.
oh, and you can't switch it off once it's on.
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>>3963726
Yes
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Has anyone ever done a no tank run of 2R?
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>>3963777
Can it be done?
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What classes do you guys recommend for 2 Reloaded?
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>>3963726
There's metal saga on ds too
It's rather shit game doe
There was also some phone(java?) game mm which is lost media now
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>>3963820
You can get 2 per character so no point in overthinking it
I usually just go hunter for mc and keep og mechanic and hunter companions
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>>3963818
Presumably. I don't remember if it had any tank specific puzzles.
>>3963820
I ran with Hunter/Soldier/Nurse the whole game. Switched subclasses as needed.
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>>3963833
Og mechanic and soldier*
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>>3963831
The phone games was supposed to be a direct sequel to the first game.
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>>3963777
I did a no tank run in the original game

I tried doing the same in Returns and I got obliterated by the final boss. I know some Japanese people have done it but I don't know how. However, Returns is great for all kinds of fun runs like protagonist solo run or rental tank only run
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Who is the best protag
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>>3964384
What is that boomer Red Wolf doing with the kids
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>>3964384
Certainty not 4s
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What is the difference between the Max and Saga games? Is it like a SMT/Persona situation?
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>>3964432
To a degree. Max is the main continuity. Saga is a reinterpretation.
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>>3964432
Long story short
>Metal Max was published by Data East, they also owned the rights to the brand
>Data East goes under, Miyaoka &Co. lose the rights to the franchise
>They create Metal Saga since they can't use the Metal Max brand, Saga is a separate continuity
>Eventually manage to buy back the rights to Metal Max, Metal Saga is pseudo-shelved
Think of Saga as a "what if" continuity that is still based on the world established by the first Metal Max.
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>>3964384
Pochi and the one from 2
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>>3963820
wrestlers and soldiers have colossally better stats than the other classes and on-foot fighting is much more locked down and hard to overpower with autistic vehicle builds and so on, and you have to do quite a bit of it. So IMO the power build is to have 3-4 soldiers or wrestlers and put the good secondary jobs like mechanic or nurse on them.

You can just get a default artist and put them on the team temporarily to make a stack of special ammo if you want it instead of carrying them around permanently.
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>>3964919
*even if you don't want to be that extreme, definitely have at least 2 soldiers or wrestlers. The game was built on the MM3 system and the MC of that game is basically a soldier and hunter rolled into one, so the game expected you to always have him plus probably another foot specialist.
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>>3964921
I think that's overdoing it. Double up on classes just means you'll have even less unique equipment to take advantage of.
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>>3965478
Rarest drops or best weapons in 2R and 3 please?
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>>3965478
The second best weapon a soldier can equip is better than the best weapon any other class can equip. Plus there is a lot of unlimited soldier gear like sexy swords and rocket punches so they can put it in all their weapon slots and do all out attacks.
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>>3964919
What kind of special ammo? I heard of the APFSDS for that armor piercing like the Hollow Charge from MMR
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>>3965478
Soldiers have access to all the best weapons because they're the specialized weapon user class while Wrestlers don't need any, most weapons in the game aren't particularly worth it and Soldiers get to use all the best ones by design, in fact with multiple soldiers you'll actually have a lot more unique equipment to use because other classes don't really get anything special that soldiers can't use.
It's overdoing it because a single Wrestler can take care of any boss you're forced to fight on foot, a soldier and a wrestler just steamroll and multiple wrestlers or soldiers is total overkill.
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>>3965540
cement rounds are the big one. they're this massive evasion debuff and in MM evasion is both about hitting and missing and how much damage you do when you do hit. And they're very easy and cheap to make and you get them at a low level and you can reach that in no time with a temp cahracter, so if you refuse to use temporary artists to make them it makes someone having the artist skill set explode in value.
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Pretty based that MS lets you romance your little sister.
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>>3965763
And your mom.
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>>3965751
You don't even need to change characters to have a temporary artist for cement rounds. Just one guy can have the artist set at a low level and switch to it on the fly whenever you want to make more.
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Shit... so I got my buggy wrecked and I got killed at a trader camp by some barbarians, then revived back at the junkyard. Where is my buggy? Do I have to hoof it all the way back to that camp?
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>>3965851
You can usually pay a mechanic in town to retrieve vehicles.
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>>3965851
You can either pay a merchant to retrieve your buggy from anywhere in any condition, or you can rent a vehicle and drive there and tow it to a shop yourself. The price for retrieval is not bad at all so the latter is mostly something you do to be hardcore.
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>>3965863
>>3965857
Thanks, but in looking for that info I found out I missed out on a few quests by getting killed there, so I'm just reloading my last save. Oh well, that's what I get for exploring I guess
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>>3965872
No harm in playing in one of the first JRPG sandbox’s
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>>3965872
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
>>3965966
He's talking about Metal Saga.
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>>3966035
Gotta start somewhere
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>>3966035
>Metal Saga
Usually on the newgames I beeline for that casino minigame (abuse the savestating) in that train link between the West and East continent from Alice One. Also unearthing tanks like the Merkava and doing that Maus unlock quest to go around the map. Hope the store bought weapons in the last settlement helps carry the gang into the final boss, but I feel like I fall short of that final dungeon.
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>>3954401
Xeno Reborn did at least add the gynoid girl as a party member and give her a romance ending, so I appreciated that
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>>3966409
Two thing missing that would make it a damn good MM game. Towns and People.

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