Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner HD Part 6 - Ending

The last part.  So I left at the worst part of the game.  This is honestly the worst part of the game for me. Not cause it's hard but it's just incredibly annoying.  So all the troops Dingo has rallied together.  He has to help them make it to Aumaan.  Would be easy but again these guys are pathetic and shouldn't be here at all.  So the entire battlefield turns into a literal warzone. I have to protect these guys from dying as best as I can.  Nothing ADA suggests makes it easier.  Especially since there's tons of guys and the only way to help them is to switch to Geyser and throw it on them.  The other problem is that these soldiers beg Dingo for help worse than the StarFox crew.  You get no breathing room as the requests for help pop up one after another enough to make me wanna break my speakers.

I managed to scrape by with an S rank????  Only 3 of the 40 dudes died.  Dingo still feels bad cause 3 people died.  Uh...dude...this actually isn't bad.  I thought I did much worse.  Once the mission is over.  Jehuty finally gets it Microsoft Update and has to reboot.  The reboot has granted us the use of 0 Shift.  Making pretty much every other subweapon useless.  

We have the power of Anime now.  Everything I'm fighting just feels like an exercise of catharsis.  Everything just falls to Jehuty's power.  Especially since what wasn't noted is that Jehuty upgraded as well.  So everything just dies easily.  

Well we reached the end...at least we think.  My memories of this point are fuzzy cause I remember next to nothing of this part.  So one last Vector Cannon blast and it's to the final bosses.  Oh hey Anubis...you look...different???

Fake Anubis

How is this even a boss fight?  It's not really fighting back.  

After beating the crap out of it we see the truth.  GASP....Ken's inside!!!  Yeah we were tricked. After an incredibly long speech by Nohman Leo goes on a rampage only to get his butt kicked and due to all the destruction around us Jehuty gets heavily damaged and we lose most of our weapons.   So much for being all powerful.  We ride what I guess is a wave of Metatron energy chasing after Nohman.  We only have what is neccessary to beat up Anubis.

Anubis

This is rough.  It's pretty much a waiting game for him to warp then attack. I dodge, 0 Shift then attempt an attack back. Just a few hits from Anubis and I'm toast.  So much for an even playing field.  

After managing to scrape another victory.  We land on is this the moon? no...a meteor...whatever this is where Aumaan truly is.  I honestly have no recollection of this part.  Elena tells us to do whatever it takes to stop Aumaan.  Dingo brings up how the Earth shouldn't tell Mars how to run things and to let Mars be free.  Before heading in I need to find these EX Missions lying around they're hard to see while I'm being assaulted by multiple Nephtis clones.  Pretty much every Nephtis clone I kill gives me a Metatron recovery so no worries there. Also Jehuty seems to be powered up??? I have unlimited Sub Energy which to me doesn't mean much as I don't have any subweapons outside of 0 Shift.  Once I collect the EX Mission data.  I head in to the final boss.

Aumaan Anubis

So the battlefield looks like it's a space of constant creation and destruction.  It seems Aumaan fused with Anubis or Aumaan is using Anubis as an avatar to fight me.  I like how the strategy guide was all like don't worry about it attacking with certain attacks as it never uses them...How would they know if they noted those attacks? The stategy guide also fails to mention that this boss can recover life!!!  The main thing is to stay on top of this guy and continue bashing it's head in till it's dead. 

 When it tries to recover HP I got a bit confused cause it looked like I could grab the panels it was surrounding itself with. I mean each had a huge word saying "Grab" on it.  Eventually it's just me switching from Lock-on lasers to smashing Anubis's head in with my blade.  Eventually the fight's over and I can relax to watch the ending.

Ending

Yeah I only remember part of the ending so good to watch it again.  Aumaan is ready to fire and basically destroy everything.  We're pretty much out of time.  Nohman is pretty much dead and making comments about Dingo's deceased comrades.  While Aumaan is going off Leo tries to help but is in no shape to help.  ADA's ready to blow up.  Dingo's not ready to give up and goes anime. Saying not to give up yet.  When all seems lost Dingo see's the remains of Anubis lying around and tosses it into Aumaan.  Aumaan is successfully destroyed. Yay!!!

We head home ADA questions if she did the right thing by disobeying orders.  Leo says not to worry about it.  Ken had Dingo removed from Jehuty. Dingo asks if he can have a normal body next time.  End credits roll.  

My overall rating is a C.  Too many continues and 5 saves.  Yeah expected.

Extra Stuff

Ah the extras unlocked.  Apparently I need to beat the game at least twice to unlock everything.  It doesn't look like ranking matters either.  So there's a vs mode like the older game that lets you use the other Frames in combat.  To unlock the others I need to find them in normal play or play the EX missions. Even replay boss fights.  The bonus is I can use whatever Jehuty version I have. So it's kind of cheat.

Imagine whooping Nephtis in a few seconds lol.  Definitely something to do. 

The Metal Gear Rising Demo

I think this is the only reason a lot of people bought ZOE HD.  It is a pretty hype game.  So here's a quick rundown of my experience with the demo.

Pretty much watched the important sections of the game from streams and playthroughs.  Never saw the full story.  There are some parts that completely piss me off not cause of gameplay or writing but cause of what it's implying.  The training children's brains to be killing machines bit or Jack's (Raiden's) sealed away persona.  Or the speech of "ism's" .  Yeah Metal Gear series is one of those games that takes a lot of real world events and conspiracy theories. Then pushes them in our faces. So much so that people tend to ignore it cause of all the cool shit going on. 

Anyway I'm playing the demo for my first time.  Oh god how did anyone play this?  This is definitely not my style of action platformers.  I have issues mainly with controls.  I feel like it's trying to be a 3rd Person shooter but with a sword instead.  Which doesn't describe this very well.  My main problem is that there's no block button.  I think this game would heavily benefit from that.  But instead we have a "Ninja Run" button???  There is a parry option but...I can really follow it.  And I know this game will essentially demand that I master parrying. 

The other thing I can't get a grasp on is the slow-motion slice thing.  It's cool but I don't feel like I could ever perform one correctly.  And I know the end game absolutely requires you master this mechanic.  You're supposed to slice the opponent up as many times as possible into many pieces but you're also supposed to be precise for many reasons.  WTF.  This is definitely something you have to experience for yourself to understand.  

I'm not entirely sure you can be stealthy in this game.  I tried but it looks like stealth is only good for one kill before you're in full combat mode.  Hard to judge from a demo.  I was also trying to be stealthy to save a guy's life but I guess I acted too slowly.  I don't even know when they killed him but they did.  

I do like the music.  This is one of those games where the music direction is spot on.  I can get behind having an insturmental theme that transitions to a full vocal theme as things ramp up. 

The boss fight.  I need practice and much like Devil May Cry I can't combo bosses or enemies how I want to.  And obviously I need to learn how to parry.  My only issue with playing a game like this on Youtube is the knowledge that obvious comments will roll in talking about how I'm not playing the game optimally. I also only really like this game for it's music. I think if the game was more like Ninja Gaiden gameplay in terms of combat I'd love it more. It's really just me wanting to block everything as my defense.  

That's about it.  These videos should finish out the time slot for the year so.  See you all later.

Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner HD Part 5

Oh boy this is honestly where the fun stuff is.  

So we're joined up with Ken who's giving us directions to Lloyd.  I'm pretty sure many other LPers would say this is unneccessary padding cause you have to follow Ken's directions exactly and she guides you like she's looking for a certain address on the wrong street.  If you go the wrong way you risk hitting a mine that pretty much does 50% damage.  So yeah you gotta listen to her.  It only gets annoying cause you have move exactly as she says and you encounter enemies that can throw you off course.  

Funny thing I remember happening when I streamed this a decade ago.  I wanted to use the Vector Cannon so bad and there was a group of enemies right in front me.  So why not.  The moment I tried to use it. I died. Cause I wanted to see this thing fire.  So I didn't quit. LMAO.

Once you make it to Lloyd's place.  The old man wants to play with you.  Show him your skills.  My memory is rather vague of this part.  I dunno if I sped through this a decade ago or what.  But I have to go down EVERY elevator it seems. It's honestly a feel good section cause of the previous parts.  I can cut loose a bit.  What's funny to note is that Ken starts making remarks about Dingo's comments.  She honestly sounds like most Youtube comments.  

"You yell too much."

"Who are you talking to?"

You are as good as people say."

Once I get through all the elevators I find I need to go down deeper.  This parts kinda scary but also funny.  There's multiple crushers in the rooms.  A lot of times if I wait the enemies get caught and destroy themselves.  

Inhert

Once I get towards the end.  Lloyd finally shows up to play.  In his Inhert.  Pretty sure this design is some obvious symbolism of some kind but I'm not paying attention enough to care at the moment.  Basically this guy likes using illusions and it's a game of find the real one.  Least for the first half of the fight.  Then he makes the entire area go black and I have to chase him down with ADA's help.  By the time she says block I'm too slow to react.  Especially when many of the attacks had me dodging right.  

So Lloyd talks about a certain program to bring Jehuty to it's full performance to make it even with Anubis. Ken gets off Jehuty to go get the program and she uploads it to Jehuty.  We get it but it takes time for it install.  Then Lloyd goes on talking about what Aumaan really is but we get interrupted by none other than Nohman himself. Can't divulge too much info.

Anubis AGAIN

Yeah Nohman's back to flex on us again. Nohman is also developing this attitude that Metatron energy is God and he's just a humble servant.  He keeps spamming attacks and doesn't want to fight close range. After doing everything to hit him a few times.  Lloyd helps Dingo escape from Nohman with a Heroic Sacrifice.  

Ken pops in giving a speech for Dingo to stop Aumaan.  And we stop hearing from her.  Before we can make our next move...Leo pops in.  He mentions that Space Force is assembling at one area.  Before head there we get one interuption of epic proportions.  A space armada is flying in to destroy the Space Force.  Dingo says he'll take care of them.  

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART OF THE GAME! EVERYTHING ELSE DOESN'T EVEN COMPARE! 

So that Vector Cannon that we got. FINALLY HAS A USE! We're gonna take this thing and blow up 5 Warships.  We're also doing an epic warship battle.  So the part of firing the Vector Cannon. You gotta get to the engine of each Warship and fire it.  They eventually start getting smart and closing off the way to the engine.  Apparently there hull is strong enough to block the Vector Cannon.  Eventually the fun has to end. 

Zakat

So this giant waste of space challenges us.  He does realize that I just dropped 5. COUNT EM 5!!! Warships and barely broke a sweat right?  Honestly this feels like the easiest boss of the game.  He shoots giant lasers and rotates them like this is a shump.  Then tries to protect himself with shields you can yank off the guy.  He goes down with pure ease. We watch him eject and I guess to be bit of a reference to ZOE1 we watch him go without being shot down. 

So now we join the Space Force LEVs on the ground.  They don't like Dingo.  Dingo used to be with BAHRAM so nobody likes him.  And we get a call from Elena.  Remember her?  She wants us surrender Jehuty.  At this stage of the game? Okay first off I like how Dingo never brings up that he leaves Jehuty he dies.  Also considering the Space Force's track record of utterly sucking not just this game but also ZOE1.  Who exactly do you have that can pilot Jehuty and not get there asses handed to them by Nohman and Anubis?  

Back to the story.  Dingo brings up that Ken is with the Space Force.

Elena: No she's not.

Gasp!

We kinda already figured that.  Leo shows up and vouches for Dingo.  And then Elena gives a speech about how the Space Force LEVs are gonna make one last stand against BAHRAM despite how much they suck. Dingo says a final few words to convince the Space Force that he's on there side.  Good thing those words worked.  I would've had a few choice words to say myself. Something like;

You guys have 0 chance to stop Aumaan with this force. You'll be lucky escape. If you're gonna shoot me just cause I was since your enemy go ahead but I won't be responsible for what happens next.

Anyway after that speech the Space Force join up with Dingo.  And we come to what's I feel is the worst part of ZOE2.  I'll save that for next time.