Mini-Review: Super Robot Wars 30 (PC, Steam, 2021)

I wrote an introductory article to Super Robot Wars a while back, and it's probably best if you read that. Some 99% of the comments made there apply to this new iteration, and that's possibly a problem. SRW30 has exactly the same vibe and appeal as the fan translations I played on SNES, GBA and GameCube, just with various subtle gameplay improvements. I'd imagine any long running strategy game series, or even the Championship Manager games, finds a very definite niche. They are usually excellent at what they choose to do, but what they choose to do is quite narrow, and any difference between games tends to be iterative and gradual. This is just how 30 feels. However, on reflection, I would have expected more tangible differences between games with decades between them. While nobody expects a turned based strategy game to be any kind of graphical powerhouse, 30 isn't trying. I knew this going in, but outside of the battle animations, the game is almost entirely presented by static art. It's a style which would have been considered outdated two decades ago, and even by the standards of its genre its quite minimal. This is not to say its ugly, but compare this art direction to Into the Breach? Or the similarly, and spectacularly, weebish Disgaea series? It looks rather basic, and I was faintly bewildered to discover I was running it on maximum resolution by default. I feel a few idle animations would have helped immensely here, and it undermines the games value proposition. There is definitely a humongous wodge of content, but this game starts at £40, more for the version with licensed music rather than covers, and then there's DLC. You aren't paying for the engine, is what I'm saying.

What you are paying for is licencing. Perhaps a better comparison to make than with other strategy games is with annual sports franchises, given how SRW games tend to overlap. I'm hesitant to use the term "roster update", but you could make that case with 30, and indeed other instalments. I suppose we can give 30 a pass on this as a rare global/English-language release in the series, but Japanese fans and linguists may not. That said, I do not wish to understate the sheer joy of seeing some of these characters in a tried and true game format. This is the entire appeal of the exercise, a vast, fanfictiony crossover extravaganza. My personal enjoyment of the game shot up whenever something I knew appeared, and there's a welcome sense of knowing irreverence. Like the Lego Movie. Obviously, it helps to know who some of these daft beggars are, but 30 offers great introductions if you don't. The cast of Brave Police J-Decker became an immediate favourite of mine, being a bunch of extremely wholesome boys, made more so by a plot connection to GaoGaiGar, which makes a notable showing here. Another highlight is SSSS Gridman, a series that would take far too long to explain, but basically boils down to a kaiju-punching, superhero-adjacent, giant dude rather than a robot. It fits right in though. Mind you, with a grab-bag of animes like this, there's guaranteed to be something that you just don't like, while the wider narrative stalls for another introduction. It's an obvious and unavoidable consequence of jamming so many casts together, as even with the ability to choose missions, you will get stuck with your unfavourites occasionally. Like the nut flavoured choccies in a selection box. While the base game didn't feature anything I disliked previously, I've seen more compelling line-ups. The infamous Victory Gundam is present, and Majestic Prince didn't exactly endear itself to me either. 

 

Observant readers will note that I haven't actually mentioned how the game plays. My apologies. I would find this like trying to explain how something like Doom 2016 works. Yes, there's polished and elegant systems under the hood, but it's a blur of cathartic violence for me. 30 is an archetypal turn-based strategy game, with numerous subtle mechanisms and tactical depth. In practice, I'm usually too in-the-moment to engage that deeply. I tend to be intuitive and impulsive with stuff like this, but 30 is not punishing or obtuse for its own sake. The game goes out of its way to present information to you, so you'll know what the odds are going into a fight, and the interface benefits from thirty years of refinement. Mechanically, its perfectly sound, and I can't conceive of any improvement that isn't already here. Maybe that's why the games are so similar, although better production values would be nice. One observation I would make however is that its functionally impossible to keep everyone combat ready, but you don't really have to. You get a load of units to field, Gotta Catch 'em All, and while you can have "mains", you aren't locked into a play pattern. Find something that works for you, and if you have a fave, you can make it work.

Conclusion

While I've made some mild complaints above, I'm immensely pleased that this game both exists and got a western release. For what flaws there are, I kept playing, and there is so much more to do. It's totally up my street, so I must acknowledge that. Possibly wait for a sale, if you have doubts, but it's worth a punt if you're in the target audience.

Transformers: Siege Barricade Is Something That Exists

My creative process, such as it is, does not come when I call. Its more that things rattle in my brain until expressed, or I latch onto something and obsess. Or I have travel time, and a stream of consciousness congeals on my phone into an article. This is one such article. Its subject, Barricade, came dead last in a twitter poll, but I couldn't quite give up on it. So, after some pruning, here we are.

While not the first character to bear the name, Barricade is of course a notable from the Michael Bay Transformers films. I hesitate to call him a character, because Mr Bay is not interested in characterisation, especially of giant robots. Rather, Barricade embodied a theme that Bay was not political enough to explore: the idea of law enforcement being malevolent. A proper discussion of this matter is beyond the scope of this article, and is something I do not wish to trivialise, but the Heroic Cop ideal is a feature of American pop culture, so having an evil Decepticon disguise themselves as one was somewhat subversive at the time. But if you've watched the news recently? Perhaps more true to life than we'd like? You know what I'm talking about. The comics of course did it better, with IDW taking the character of Prowl, already a reputed prick with a police altmode, through moral ambiguity, and right out the other side. And then side to side. It has been my pleasure to describe Barricade as "less-evil Prowl" ever since. Despite a lack of screen-time, Barricade got a revamp for the 5th Bay film, had comic appearances, and a place in the Authentics line-up,so it looks like he's made it into the pantheon. Perhaps inevitably then, Barricade found his way into Siege as a Prowl retool, making him one of a vanishingly small number of break-out characters to imprint themselves onto G1 after the fact. In all fairness though, describing this chap as a Prowl retool is a touch imprecise. He is just as much a Smokescreen pretool, as this toy would be used as that character, minus the light bar. If indeed any of the "fairlady carformers" are the true original, I suspect they were developed as one. The look of the toy is based off Guido Guidi's attempt at a G1-styled Barricade, which was based on Smokescreen, whom is of course, the second Prowl retool from G1. This, if anything, makes the fact that Barricade was a mass market release more surprising, as there was a more obvious character right there. Smokescreen ended up in Generations Selects instead. I can only assume they felt that this would help with the faction ratio in Siege, Autobots being very over-represented in the deluxe pricepoint at the time.

 

Eh, that's 460 or so words of context, what's the toy like? Well, he's striking, if possibly a tad frail-looking. Let's start with the car mode. This is allegedly a Cybertronian altmode, but it never struck me as alien. A lot of Siege toys were like that. The Prowl and Smokescreen look so normal in this form due to their paint jobs, I would have happily used them as I.P-friendly Earth modes. Not that I have any real knowledge of cars, mind you. Don't they all have translucent wheels? Barricade however looks like cyberpunk vehicle, it's the purple and cybertronic lettering. I would not be surprised to see this driven by corporate security. Its on the small side for a Deluxe, but not obnoxiously so, and the battle damage paint apps are noteworthy as other versions of the mould skip them. Limited to the front fenders, its both appropriate and restrained. The transformation is a tribute to 1984 Prowl toy, and is generally pretty good, but things up skinny and hollowed out for the robot mode. Most of the lower body is best viewed from the front, and the heavy use of translucent plastic is a concern in the long run. Barricade is however nicely articulated and fully compatible with the Siege play pattern. Of particular interest are the accessories, which foreshadow Smokescreen. There's two guns meant to be shoulder mounted, but these can also combine into a double blaster or be held separately in hand. As the mould is covered in 5mm ports, including an easily missed hole on the light bar, you can do all kinds of gunplay/carmageddon stuff. There's also some good synergy with Brunt, in a brains & brawn pairing, and with especially with Earthrise Slitherfang coming shortly after. The dude looks great, in a sinister kind of way, with multiple options for both modes, and if if you get him a buddy with complimentary colours, it only gets better. Good mould, good looks, the complete deluxe experience. His only problem is one that affects so many Siege toys, he was made obsolete by an Earthrise exclusive with almost indecent speed. I could tangent fiercely about that trend, but that's also outside the remit of this article. Perhaps another time...

 

My point? Just that Siege Barricade is something that exists. There is however a lot of interesting context outside of the toy, and said toy is actually pretty good. And that's why I'm here, at the end of the day.

 

Wheee!

The Mecha Hack: Campaign Tips for Beginners

Well, by the time I post this, I will have just finished my campaign. A long, winding, but ultimately satisfying learning experience with friends. And I thought there was an article in that, so here we are. An article about how to run a campaign as a gamesmaster. Enjoy.

The approach I took

My basic idea when running the campaign was to treat each gaming session as a single episode of a mecha anime, i.e. there's gonna be a fight, the role-playing is in the run up, and how they handle the fight. Initially, I attempted to map out multiple paths, but this never survives contact with actual players. The best you can do is present the scenario, and have clear behaviour/objectives for NPCs. It is not your job as a gamesmaster to present a script for the players to follow. As I learned, I went from being a particular world-builder to being an enabler. It is your job to present a good time. How you achieve this is up to you, but there are two points I like to keep in mind. The first is that you shouldn't protect people from reasonable consequences of their actions. If they go in unexpected directions, roll with it, but if they try anything overtly suicidal, warn them. The second thing, and the mirror of the above, if its awesome or funny, just let it happen. We're talking about giant robots here, don't be serious for its own sake.

So, enough philosophy, let's have some practical advice on how to run a campaign.

Creating the Setting

It's entirely fine to use the rulebook setting for your campaign. There's rich seams of conflict and political commentary to mine. If you don't? Well, you can just take a stock genre dynamic and build from there. That's what I did. I loosely based my antagonists on the infamous Titans group and SCP fiction, thus guaranteeing that I would have a proper bunch of bastards who could generate any amount of weirdness. I then created a regular military for them to patronise, The Militia. Then, because consistent tone is something that happens to other people, I then created a bunch of feline criminal stereotypes called the Neko Pirate Mafia. Yes, that was a joke that got away from me, and I regret nothing. Do up maybe two pages of notes, on three factions and their dynamics, but don't write to much. Just the starting point. It's up the players set the tone after all.

 

Creating NPCs

You will probably need 3 or 4 recurring non-player characters, not counting antagonists. Given the mecha genre, these will likely be some variety of mission control, mad scientists, and engineers. You don't need to stat these, but it helps to have something to hang a personality on. Pictures and accents can help the players fill in the gaps you feel that your acting can't fill. Recurring antagonists are slightly simpler in that they just have to survive contact with the party, and/or be smug. If in doubt, just copy a Gundam character, and claim its a reference.

Selecting Enemies

I've written about balancing fights before, but outside of major events like boss fights, you can afford to keep it simple. Have the HD of the enemies match the average party level, and aim for them to slightly outnumber the players. This allows for a fairly brief but effective encounter, where everyone will likely get to contribute without being murderised in the first round. Try to avoid taking too many different enemy types in the same encounter, as this can create additional work for you and the occasional unexpected mini-boss squad. Once the party reaches higher levels, you have to be creative, but by that point you should have an idea what you are doing.

Talking to your Party

It's generally a good idea to chat with your players to figure out what they like and make sure you are on the same page. I know this is basic social interaction, something I personally struggle with, but it's easy to miss someone when you have half a dozen giant robots stomping on stuff. Make a point if at least asking everyone privately what they might want from the sessions. It shows you care, and it could give you free material.

 

Planning the first few sessions

Now, its usually unwise to produce a detailed plan for a campaign several sessions in advance. Players will do unexpected things, and forget any clever foreshadowing you might have put in. At most, have an end point to end for, but not a path directly there. The start of a campaign is however a bit different, players will need a bit of time to find their feet, and learn how the game works. With this in mind, the first session can be scripted to a large extent. Make a point of ensuring each character can introduce themselves, and learn how the rules mechanics. Name drop the factions, and lay on the themes. Then, over the following two sessions ease then into the status quo. Which your party can break or otherwise place their mark on.

Writing an individual session

Generally, I would recommend trying to follow the style of mission presented in the Mission Manual book. Be as concise as you can, but always include a summary of NPCs, and a sheet featuring the stats of the enemy mecha. If using a stock mission, you don't need as much prep, but still have the statblocks to hand, and a covering sheet for stuff specific to your game.

Idea seeds and drop-in missions

There are times when things overrun, somebody drops out or otherwise things go a bit pear-shaped. Again, the Mission Manual is handy here, but if you've crafted a setting yourself, its material may need adapting. As an alternative, brainstorm some ideas for missions, real simple concepts, no more then two sentences long. Then put them in a list, with any rules you need, and break it out when you need it. Some of my better ideas started this way.

Wrapping things up

I don't claim to be any kind of expert on this stuff, but I do try to learn from experience. Hopefully, the above is of use for you, or at least entertaining. If you have anything to add, please comment below...

Blog: Status Update November 2021

Well, I suppose its time for another blog update.

As I enter the Christmas period, I find myself in a better place emotionally, but in a bit of a lull creatively. I'm doing better at managing myself, and have more going on socially, so I've been less likely to go on tangents or set myself artificial targets. By around this point last year I had a significant backlog, but not so much this time. I've actually been scrapping articles on the grounds they weren't interesting to me or necessarily helpful things to write. This has manifested on the blog with the recent return of Transformers articles, and the declining frequency of Gunpla. With the Transformers, there was a bunch of stuff rattling around in my brain, which wasn't really expressible while I sold them as a business. This is in stark contrast to my disinterest with the current crop of Transformers, which is so G1 obsessed currently I find myself frustrated. What Transformers writing has made it onto the site so far has been the positive articles. With the gunpla, I think I've just grown a bit bored, or that interest has been met by my recently-concluded Mecha Hack campaign. I'm a quite passable gunpla builder, but I think I've gone as far as I can without spending serious money, and nothing is grabbing me just now. So, I don't currently have a steady stream of blog material. At time of writing, I'm running approximately 3 weeks ahead of myself, and I suppose with holidays coming up, that will be maintained. I have however been in two minds about continuing. I can't say I do this for the page views, and nor should I tie my self-worth to that metric. This is only a regular creative outlet, providing some welcome structure to my life, and there may yet come a point where it no-longer serves a purpose.

That said, let's talk about some positives. The recent scratchbuild projects have been most enjoyable, and I am currently prepping for another. My Mecha Hack Campaign was a joy, and I expect to have some spin-off articles from that experience. I'm brainstorming some ideas for a sequel campaign, so I expect to have something substantive for posting. Not everything fits my group, but I'm loathe to dump a good idea. 

 

This all assumes that I don't just skiv off to play Super Robot Wars 30 instead, while claiming its research.