What do you want to see in OVA Fantasy/Mecha?

[DairuggerXV]

Hey Dairugger! Sorry it took me a while to get to this.

Not a problem, I take my time responding to things too.

The main difference, really, is the prevalence of the robots themselves. In Gundam, almost every character has access to a giant robot. On the other hand, Big O and Giant Robo (and heck, let's throw in the Iron Giant for some Western flair) become exceptions rather than rules. This is in much the same way that in one campaign super-heroes are a dime a dozen and in others they are extraordinary. It's not so much that one kind of robot would necessarily beat the other robot...does anyone really know who would win between Big O and a Gundam? Heck, maybe the Gundam would win, despite being an "ordinary" robot. The difference is how accessible the firepower to defeat it is, less than the power of the robot itself.

Or so my take goes.

Valid point. You seem to look at it from the perspective of nameless grunts vs a single named character kind of deal. I guess I spend way too much time playing Super Robot Taisen where Big O does fight alongside Gundams and there are very real differences between the two types of robots.

2) Don't worry. Some people are being thrown off by the fact I am including tactical rules. They are very simple, and flavored like Final Fantasy Tactics and Zone of the Enders: Fist of Mars, as opposed to OVA's western contemporaries Battletech and Heavy Gear.

OVA mecha is very rules light, as OVA was, and the tactical component is completely optional. If you choose not to use the tactical board game, as most people probably won't, the game will be the exact same game, with a handful of new mecha-themed Abilities and Weaknesses.

Hope that alleviates some of your concerns!

Yeah, most of the time people say tactical and mecha in the same context, I get visions of 1 minute game-time battles taking 2 hours real-time to resolve. Glad to know this won't be that way.

[Clay]

Valid point. You seem to look at it from the perspective of nameless grunts vs a single named character kind of deal. I guess I spend way too much time playing Super Robot Taisen where Big O does fight alongside Gundams and there are very real differences between the two types of robots.

Haha, console RPGs are an entirely different kettle of fish. You may find the Experience Ranks rules I'm adding to OVA Fantasy useful for this sort of thing. It sort of approximates levelling up without being quite so audacious. No reason it can't be applied to giant robots, too.

So is Super Robot Taisen good? I saw it a few times, but avoided it because I assumed it was an anime tie-in of some sort, which generally tend to be bad. I recently realized this might not be the case?

Yeah, most of the time people say tactical and mecha in the same context, I get visions of 1 minute game-time battles taking 2 hours real-time to resolve. Glad to know this won't be that way.

Haha, yeah. Despite attempts by Battletech and Heavy Gear to merge the two, RPGs and tactics games don't mix well unless you have a lot of time on your hands...or you have a really quick to play tactics game. I'm attempting the latter, but it's still going to go slower than your traditional RPG combat.

[DairuggerXV]

Haha, console RPGs are an entirely different kettle of fish. You may find the Experience Ranks rules I'm adding to OVA Fantasy useful for this sort of thing. It sort of approximates levelling up without being quite so audacious. No reason it can't be applied to giant robots, too.

So is Super Robot Taisen good? I saw it a few times, but avoided it because I assumed it was an anime tie-in of some sort, which generally tend to be bad. I recently realized this might not be the case?

Actually I was refering to how it affects my general thinking about the dynamics of giant robots than how things work inside games. Real robots, ie Gundams, being difficult to kill because they're ranged fighters with lots of manuverability (difficult to hit). Whereas Super Robots, ie Big O, are difficult to kill because they have lots of armor and can shrug off a lot of hits, and give back (usually in very close range) a lot more than what they've been getting.

Super Robot Taisen, in a very loose way, is sort of like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem, if you've ever played either of those games. Though, if you ever played ZOE: Fist of Mars you have an even better idea as that was made using a variation of the SRT engine. (The people who made ZOE:FoM actually did a couple SRTs before Banpresto took the liscencse back; Banpresto didn't like the direction they were going with it.) Gameplay-wise, it's a pretty good turn-based strategy game with a lot more customization and uniques (almost every frickin' unit in most SRTs) than I've seen a lot of TBS games have.

Story-wise, most SRTs, in Japan they're basically really big cross-over fanfictions. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be hard to hammer it all out to make sense. But Banpresto has like 26 such games under its belt so it has to be doing something right... As for the 2 that have actually been released in the US, there is no anime tie in (though there is an anime being made based off the games). Every last unit is a Banpresto original taken from their multitude of SRT games, and may be inspired by an anime (the Huckebein is a Gundam in all but name and that it uses gravity extensively in its defensive and offensive capabilities) but are not taken from any anime.

[Clay]

Actually I was refering to how it affects my general thinking about the dynamics of giant robots than how things work inside games. Real robots, ie Gundams, being difficult to kill because they're ranged fighters with lots of manuverability (difficult to hit). Whereas Super Robots, ie Big O, are difficult to kill because they have lots of armor and can shrug off a lot of hits, and give back (usually in very close range) a lot more than what they've been getting.

Again, stuff that's already simple to do in OVA. ^_^

Super Robot Taisen, in a very loose way, is sort of like Advance Wars or Fire Emblem, if you've ever played either of those games. Though, if you ever played ZOE: Fist of Mars you have an even better idea as that was made using a variation of the SRT engine. (The people who made ZOE:FoM actually did a couple SRTs before Banpresto took the liscencse back; Banpresto didn't like the direction they were going with it.) Gameplay-wise, it's a pretty good turn-based strategy game with a lot more customization and uniques (almost every frickin' unit in most SRTs) than I've seen a lot of TBS games have.

Haha, I played ZOE to death. I'm not sure WHY really. I just loved all the characters, and even the cheesy plot, so much. I played through both arcs and nabbed most of the secret dialogue. (Though there's a trigger to get the laconic short haired female pilot to join your group earlier than usual in one of the arcs I never managed to figure out.) It had some rough spots, but I can see how the system could shine when polished.

Story-wise, most SRTs, in Japan they're basically really big cross-over fanfictions. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be hard to hammer it all out to make sense. But Banpresto has like 26 such games under its belt so it has to be doing something right... As for the 2 that have actually been released in the US, there is no anime tie in (though there is an anime being made based off the games). Every last unit is a Banpresto original taken from their multitude of SRT games, and may be inspired by an anime (the Huckebein is a Gundam in all but name and that it uses gravity extensively in its defensive and offensive capabilities) but are not taken from any anime.

Ah, this explains a lot. ^^ I was fairly sure it was anime related...Also explains why we won't EVER see them here. It's such a shame such crossover projects rarely make it here. (Stuff like Namco X Capcom for instance). Too many people pick up the respective products. While Bandai may own every mecha used in a SRT in Japan, these same series get divied up among 5 or 6 US publishers. Making the game work here is impossible.

It's funny though, even Best Buy imports the Shounen Jump game for the DS. Seeing an import in a national retail chain seems like a dead givaway companies here should learn to be friends and do the same LOL.

Anyway, once I finish my list of RPGs longer than my arm, maybe I'll check SRT out. ^_^

[wuxiasnake]

Not that I'm impatient to see the next installment of one of the finest and most under appreciated RPG's of recent times or anything, but how goeth progress on yon OVA Mecha?

[Clay]

It goes. ^^ The text is closing on completion, but getting the art will be a long and arduous task if the original OVA is any indication.