Super Robot Taisen EX (1994)

Beat all 3 scenarios. I have never played this series before and am not familiar with anime. I assume the game is based on different animes because it feels like a crossover game where there are heroes and villains from completely different worlds. It does help make distinct tactical units though.

Started with Masaki and at first I was having a hard time getting into the game. All these people, machines and places that I knew nothing about. But they grew on me and I ended up greatly enjoying the game. Masaki's campaign was easy, though the difficulty ramped up a bit in the latter half. I mostly used long range attacks to snipe enemies from outside counterattack range, and focused my money on upgrading those. The 3 elemental lord units were the stars and ended at level 40. I abused the lucky skill to get double xp and money, especially on bosses. Presia in Diablo at level 38 with that sweet 10 range. The F91 with sweet 9 range, level 36. Sho in that aura battler with 8 range was also level 36. Gato with his 7 range attacks and targeted area attack was level 38. The ship (35), 2 mazingers (35 and 31) and Todd (32) made good front line tanks. The rest helped out as they could but were not really good enough for serious combat.

Next I did Lune's scenario, and I have no idea how to pronounce her name with the 2 dots over the U. Her spunkiness was funny and endearing. This campaign was much more difficult and I had to start paying attention to beam type weapons and their shortcomings. I had to make use of terrain for both defensive bonuses and to limit the mobility of enemies. I found it much more difficult to keep sniping enemies at range, especially given that many of the best attacks in this team are beams or have limited ammo. Lune ended at 40, due to her combination of sniping and special area attack. Zash with 10 range, V gundam with 9 and Gennady also with 9 were useful snipers and were levels 36, 37 and 30 respectively. The fire lord was level 35 but his 9 and 10 range attacks are beams and were often not useful. Elpeo Ple was the highest at level 41 due to 8 range and luck ability. Z gundam did pretty well with his 7 range beam and was level 36. The Getter in dragon form (level 32) ship (level 35), Duke (level 31) and GoShogun (29) did ok at close range but the other units were of limited use.

Last I did Shu's campaign and I barely scraped through. First time I had to restart missions. I also had to learn how to turn off counterattacks, which was critical to save resources for the best attacks. Sometimes it was needed just to survive and I often had to arrange the battlefield so that only 1 unit was in range of each enemy to tank it with the healer just 1 space out of the enemy range. I had to strictly ration spirit use and many times my units barely survived. The final battle was extremely difficult and required some very precise positioning and tanking without counterattacks. The dialogue here was best in the game. Shu was the star with that super powerful 9 range black hole attack. Had to conserve that for key targets and use the healer's supply to restore his shots; ended at level 34. Saphine was level 30 and overall useful with 8 range. Telius with that sweet 10 range did the best boss damage after Shu and was level 31. Burne ended at level 32 and was using his 8 range and self healing to tank. Quattro used his sweet 12 range attack to great effect, but never got a chance to shoot at all in the final battle. He had to tank 2 enemies by himself and barely survived at level 30.

Great game which reminds me a lot of Fire Emblem; some things are better and others are worse. Looking forward to playing more of the series.