Diary of a Medium

A new Gunpla promo went international. Finally! So international that even where I live, Austin, got a Gunpla arcade, though, it's far less a competitive scene and more of a social one with this new promo.

There's rankings, and skill levels, and actual rewards of kit pieces! (but fuuuuuck the monthly fee tho... So worth it though, as long as you keep playing!)

UN-fucking-fortunately, the whole skill level thing means you really have to start out with the mookiest of mooks and work your way up to using the higher tier, popular stuff. I was lucky enough to actually HAVE something worth starting with but honestly... it's not what I REALLY wanted to start with. I *WANTED* my G-Saviour, but I guess I'll start with my Blue Destiny^*1

So the game accounts for two things while you play. OS Level, which is basically your experience... the more you play, and the better, you rank up and it lets you use better parts from the more popular kits (like Wing Zero's Wings or Strike Freedom's chest which has a Buster Canon in it). But all the newbletts have to start with, basically, a GM (or Jim depending on how you like to pronounce it.) They had a ton on sale on-site so it kinda works out for people who were starting and couldn't use THEIR kits, or were new entirely.^*2

The other bar is your building skill. The game will spit out runners for parts depending on the stuff in the stage. As you build the parts, it judges the quality of the assembly (as well as tiny things like scratches, nicks, misalignment, nubs, and other probably miniscule factors. The better you assemble the parts the higher the 'quality' which factors into part stats. ^*3


Anyway, I spent some time just grinding up ranks and skills, during which I made some parts exchanges, as well as picking up an all-important Beam Javelin. It's no Twin Beam Spear, but it'll suffice, though I may finish earning the next level Axe technique.

Oh yeah, weapons have techniques, it's easy to get the first rank, but the second means using the first level pretty damn often. Or maybe it's a number of missions it's used, IDK yet.

I also learned one of my EX-Acts is actually a point multiplier! If I use it while a bonus is on screen BAM double points. Dynamic Finish!

Another spiffy thing is they have a recycling program in place. You can trade in runners to add to a 'Credit' total, to trade in for stuff like in-game skins (both for your avatar and camo patterns) and other unique items. You can also trade in parts and used runners for less of an exchange, but who knows what they do with them plastic. Still, better than just generating a ton of trash. If you don't like it, trade it in.^*4

=====

Now that I'm home and stuff's built, here's what I have to take in next time.


Blue Density
Head: RX-78-2 (Gundam) ♦ (with vulcan option)
Body: RX-78-2 ♦
Arms: RX-78-2 ♦♦♦
Legs: MS-06J (Zaku II Ground Type) ♦ (with missile pod option)
Backpack: RX-78-2 ♦ (with beam saber option)
Shield: RGM-79GS ♦
Weapon (M): Beam Javelin ♦
Weapon (L): Beam Rifle mk2 ♦♦♦♦
Options: Beam Saber (Gundam type) ♦, Missile launcher ♦, Repair S, Cracker grenade
EX-Acts: Mirage Shot, Heroic Finish


^{*1-I don't own a Blue Destiny yet, but I have a GM Striker.
*2-For intents and purposes, BD Unit 01 registers as a blue-painted GM, as EXAM isn't an active module (in the game itself)
*3-This is the parallel to the Build stat which is just an experience bar you gain from 'creating' parts from runners.
*4-This is actually reversed, but mostly it's the parallel to selling unwanted parts and runners for the shop credits (which there's little available at this point). You get more for built parts, as the value goes up based on it's number of ♦'s, and a lower, flat value for unbuilt runners, which you can sell immediately after the mission. For now, it's better to build everything you get until you max out Build rank.}