GUIDE TO BRAVE SAGA 2 by Llewelyn Darkstar (llelly_kun@yahoo.com) ========================================================================== Table of Contents ========================================================================== Section 1 : Message From The Author Section 2 : FAQ Description Section 3 : Introduction to Yuusha Section 4 : Story Section 5 : Game Mechanics Section 5.1 : Deployment Section 5.2 : Battle Section 5.21: Battle Display Section 5.22: Controls Section 5.23: Move Section 5.24: Action Section 5.25: Weapons Dialog Section 5.26: Critical Hit Section 5.27: Counterattack Section 5.28: Leveling Up Section 5.29: Upgrades Section 5.3 : Main Menu Section 6 : Characters Section 6.1 : Yuusha Section 6.2 : Humans Section 7 : Acknowledgments ========================================================================== Section 1: Message From The Author ========================================================================== I decided to make this guide due to the lack of any info on Brave Saga 2 that I could find(Not to mention it gives me an excuse to play through it again ^.~). ========================================================================== Section 2: FAQ Description ========================================================================== 04-08-04 V1.0 The initial version. Future versions may list attacks but that's a lot of Yuusha to go through if I felt like doing it right now. x.x ========================================================================== Section 3: Introduction to Yuusha ========================================================================== With Transformers popularity dwindling in Japan around the time of Victory and Zone, Takara looked for a way to keep going, but revitalize it and bring in a fresh audience. Making a deal with Sunrise, they introduced a new series called Yuusha ExKaiser in 1990, roughly based on the same formula as Transformers Victory, but focusing less on the robots. Rather than Autobots and Decepticons, with humans on the sidelines, the Yuusha formula puts a chosen human(usually in Jr High) smack dab in the middle, partnering him with a powerful robot who transforms into a "cool" vehicle for disguise, and who can merge with an additional component to power up even farther. As back-up, there are also usually two "teams" of additional Yuusha who can transform on their own or merge into a more powerful robot. About halfway through the series a second robot will show up that merges with the main one to bring him to his final form. One of the teams usually gets an extra member to power it up farther as well. ExKaiser set the stage, then each series expanded it on some way or another. Fighbird had the main consciousness inside an android "brother" instead of the jet, Da Garn eventually had all the "bad guys" join the good guys side, J-Decker was all human-built as opposed to the possessed vehicles of the previous three series, Might Gaine had shared control between the conciousness and human pilot over the main Yuusha(and was all trains!), Goldran had 3 kids instead of 1 working with the Yuusha, in Dagwon the humans themselves became the Yuusha rather than just partnering with them, and finally in GGG not only did the main Yuusha's mind come from a seperate cyborg-ized human partner, but GGG had a much larger support team than the other series. Here are the airdates: Yuusha Exkaiser - Brave Exkaiser Aired 02/03/90-01/26/91 Taiyou no Yuusha Fighbird - Brave Of The Sun Fighbird Aired 02/02/91-02/01/92 Densetsu no Yuusha Da Garn - Legendary Brave Da Garn Aired 02/08/92-01/23/93 Yuusha Tokkyuu Might Gaine - Brave Express Might Gaine Aired 01/30/93-01/22/94 Yuusha Keisatsu J-Decker - Brave Police J-Decker Aired 02/05/94-01/28/95 Ougon Yuusha Goldran - Golden Brave Goldran Aired 02/04/95-01/27/96 Yuusha Shirei Dagwon - Commander Of Braves Dagwon Aired 02/03/96-01/25/97 Yuusha Ou Gaogaigar - King Of Braves Gaogaigar Aired 02/01/97-01/31/98 Both Dagwon and GaoGaiGar had OVAs (with the final episode of the GGG OVA having been released in 03), but none of the stuff from GGG Final made it in of course. Other than that, all of these series were included at least in the form of characters. Yuusha Seisen (Brave Crusade or Holy Brave) Baan Gaan is also included, continuing from the previous Brave Saga game, although he has yet to get his own series, and as of this writing it seems he never will. With Sunrise under Bandai control and Takara working with Bandai's competitor Hasbro, not to mention how occupied they are with the resurgence in Transformers, we probably will not see any new Yuusha for a long while, if ever. A real shame. :/ There were some non-Yuusha guest series that also participated, just as they did in Brave Saga 1, including: Taiyou no Kiba Dougram - Fang Of The Sun Dougram Soukou Kihyou Votoms - Armored Trooper Votoms Kikou Kai Galient - Panzer World Galient These, however, were early Sunrise shows. ========================================================================== Section 4: Story ========================================================================== I know some Japanese, but not a lot, and here's my best attempt at translation for those who don't know any. It's not 100% accurate, but anywhere I gave specific dialog I'm 90-95% sure it means that or something close. Off in space, we see distant explosions, while we overhear a radio conversation of the battlers. Suddenly, we get a transmission from Fighbird that he is inbound. Cut to a scene of Bussou Fighbird in the middle of a field of debris. Fighbird: This is... what happened here? ExKaiser! A badly damaged King Exkaiser floats into Fighbird. ExKaiser: It's you... Fighbird... Fighbird: ExKaiser! What enemy did this? ExKaiser: ...I don't know. All I saw was a huge attack, so... Fighbird: Huge blast? That's... A energy blast is fired from offscreen, knocking King ExKaiser off the screen, followed by King ExKaiser's scream. Fighbird: ExKaiser! Thunderbaron and Guardion fly in to join Fighbird. Thunderbaron: Fighbird! Guardion: That's....!? Cut to scene of the new, unknown enemy, surrounded by 4 floating energy orbs Baan Gaan: Fighbird! Everyone! Run! The orbs fire blasts off screen, towards our heroes. Baan Gaan then moves between the Uchuu Kebitai and the new enemy to protect them. (Cue: Awakened Courage) Fighbird: Baan Gaan! The first blast from that enemy arrives and hits Baan Gaan. Baan Gaan: This is my fight! Hurry and run! Thunderbaron: Bu-but... then another blast hits Baan Gaan. Baan Gaan: Earth is in danger! Fighbird, help Earth! Fighbird(reluctantly): ....okay, I'll do it. (literal translation is "Understood.") This is his fight, Earth is ours! ???: A Yuusha's sacrifice... Baan Gaan: You bastard! ???: Hold on... a bastard?! That's a cheap shot, isn't it? I am called Gap. Now feel my power, Mr Yuusha~ Now we switch to our first battle scene. Gap dodges Baan Gaan's Dragon Burst, but gets a critical hit on Baan Gaan. Baan Gaan: No... Gap: My my, that was sloppy of you, wasn't it? Now you know how it's supposed to be done, Yuusha! Baan Gaan(thinking): Shunpei.. Then we cut to Earth. Shunpei si walking down a random street, but pauses as he senses something. Shunpei: ...? Baan? Suddenly he's surrounded by 6 small fires. Shunpei: What the..? The fires turn into bird-like things, and start advancing on poor Shunpei, backing him against a fence. Shunpei calls out to Baan for help, and is suddenly teleported out of the scene to who knows where. At this point we cut back to Baan Gaan's battle in space. Baan Gaan: ...Shunpei? Gap: Damn... He extends the energy orbs once more and blasts Baan Gaan, causing him to cry out in pain as the screen flares white. When it clears we're with Fighbird and the rest of the Space Guard again. Sensing the last attack, the three turn around. Fighbird: Baan Gaan!! Several more blasts tear through Baan Gaan. Baan Gaan: Fighbird.... hurry... to Earth... Finally the attacks take their toll and wee see an extremely mangled Baan Gaan drifting through space. Now we hear a new voice in the background, gloating over the victory. Cue Opening Sequence! - Cross Over After this prologue, we observe the owner of that new voice from the previous scene. It belongs to Goodes, and we see him talking about his plans to himself. Next we cut to the scene of an accident, where a car front-ended a guardrail, with the driver lying next to it, while farther down lies a motorcycle and someone else. As the rider, named Shizuma, awakens and climbs to his feet, calling for his mother, he is attacked by Gap and Goodes, the former of which knocks him out. After he collapses, the outlines of 5 other monsters appears behind Goodes to join Gap, and Gap summons some demon blade and takes some portion of Shizuma's power/spirit and grants it to each of the 6 monsters, causing each one disappear as he finishes it's own part in his incantation. As he finishes, Shizuma suddenly turns into some sort of small jewel, surprising Goodes. After Goodes leaves, his mother, apparently the figure lying near the car, awakes. She walks over, recognizing it as something of Shizuma's. She talks to it, about how she regrets she hadn't told him some things earlier, then lifts it up, asking for his life back as it starts glowing. Finally something appears in the light, but then the entire thing disappears, leaving her crying his name. Cue episode title. At this point it cuts to a view of 3G Island, and we get a shortened and slightly modified version of GaoGaiGar's 1st episode. After EI-02 is beaten, GGG is attacked by more of the fire critters similar to those that attacked Shunpei, and GGG gets help from a new Yuusha, with another rocking merge sequence, called SaberVarion. The game continues in this vein, intermingling incidents from the GaoGaiGar TV series with the game's original story. I think that's enough on the story though.. the rest is fairly easy to figure out as you go along, and I don't want to spoil anything. One warning though... if you play all the way through, be prepared to be spoiled a bit on GGG, as the incidents go all the way to the end, and if you continue your game after the credits roll, you see the very last scene from GGG TV as well. ========================================================================== Section 5: Game Mechanics ========================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 5.1: Deployment -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Right before the battle, if you have any empty slots in your lineup you get to chose the Yuusha you wish to send into battle. The list is organized 3 ways, and you can swap between them using the L/R buttons: by level, by initiative, and by series. On the last one you can between series using left and right, otherwise you scroll with down-up. As you scroll through, it shows where the selected Yuusha would fall on the initiative bar on the right, which determines how fast and often they can act. When you select a member of a gattai or a gattai itself and confirm it, it automatically removes the gattai or the component Yuusha, respectively. You can use the cancel button though to backtrack through your selections if you made a mistake. Once the choices are locked in and your team is confirmed, you can choose which Yuusha to deploy in which landing square, including any "required" Yuusha. The only exception to this is "rescue" missions which lock in one or more Yuusha's deployment zones. Once deployment is finished, the battle proper starts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 5.2: Battle -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battles are turn-based, after a fashion. The initiative bar rises until it hits a Yuusha or enemy, then that unit gets to take a move and an action. Once that is completed, he is added to the initiative bar again at a point farther down depending on how fast he is. Some fast Yuusha (such as Shadowmaru from J-Decker) for example, may get to take 2 turns to a given enemy's one. Section 5.21: Battle display This is fairly simple to understand. The unit's name is on top. HP is hit points, and EP determines how much you can use certain moves, as certain attacks deplete it, and it is only recharged at the beginning of a battle or by certain actions. GP is Guts Power. As you take damage and make attacks the yellow bars will fill up, and once all are full it becomes a flame with the word GUTS on it. At these times they have gathered their courage to make special moves, often the "final" moves from their shows which do relatively large amounts of damage. Other moves they might have available are HP or EP recharge, a temporary stat increase, or perhaps performing a Gattai to a more powerful version. Performing a gattai during battle recharges all EP and HP. Section 5.22: Controls This also is fairly simple. L1/R1 rotates the map for different views. The L2/R2 buttons cycle through all the targets on the map so you can check an enemy's or friendly's status. Select and Cancel buttons remain the same. Section 5.23: Move You select the square you want to move to within the Yuusha's move range, and the Yuusha moves to that square. Airborne Yuusha have an advantage here as they get to ignore height considerations. Otherwise, a Yuusha can only move up one or two height levels at any one time, preventing them from say climbing a 6 or 7 height tower. If you want to stay in the same place, hit the cancel button. Section 5.24: Action You can switch between these with up/down, and it wraps around, so you can keep going one direction or another. The default actions is attack, allowing you to choose which move you do. You will end up facing the direction you attack in, so be careful, because while you can respond to normal attacks to your front and sides, back shots are "free" as it were. If a combination attack is available, it's displayed in blue. The 2nd option "up" is to wait, which at least allows you to change your facing. The third option is some sort of options dialog which I never messed with. If you have a GUTS move available, the GUTS dialog will be listed after this if you continue to scroll up. Section 5.25: Weapons Dialog The dialog here is simple. First number is attack power, second is EP cost, which is permanently spent for this battle each time you use it, and I'm not sure what the last number is... increased/decreased chance of hitting perhaps? Any area you can attack is hilighted with red squares. Take note that a few Yuusha also have area-effect weapons, such as Fighbird's Flame Cannon, which hits anything in it's line of fire, or Great Goldran's MAP type attack, which damages that square and everything for a certain number of squares around. These attacks WILL damage friendly as well as enemy units, and some enemies have them too. Section 5.26: Critical Hit If a full character image pops up and says something during the attack, this is what's happening. It's an automatic hit, and does some extra damage. Section 5.27: Counterattack When you are attacked, assuming it's not from your rear arc, you have several responses you can make. The top option allows you to use a GUTS move in response, provided you have full GUTS already. the bottom option is for a shield move like GaoGaiGar's Protect Shade, assuming you have one. The left option is for increased chance of dodging, while right is for basically digging in your feet and taking it, reducing the damage. Or you can select the center option and literally counterattack. Section 5.28: Leveling up You gain XP with every successful hit, and once you hit a certain threshold you level. The amount you get depends on how the enemy's level compares to yours. Also the level of a gattai is increased alongside the level of it's main component or components. Section 5.29: Upgrades When you kill an enemy, you gain CP depending on it's difficulty. This CP can then later be spent at the main menu to increase the range and effectiveness of the attacks you can make. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 5.3: Main Menu (Laboratory Command) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- You get to use this between episodes, and sometimes during really long episodes. This is where you get to make any outside-of-combat changes, such as upgrades. Option 1 - This seems to be short scenes on the VARS ship's bridge. Not sure what purpose they serve, if any. Option 2 - Data Room. This allows you to see what characters you have, and what their current stats are. Option 3 - Custom Weapon. This is where you get to upgrade your Yuusha's weapons. The CP you have to spend is in the upper right. Weapons get more expensive with each upgrade, to a max of level 5 on each attack. Upgrading some weapons can unlock others, and if a weapon carries over from form to form, then the level of that attack carries over as well. The base price and increases can also vary from weapon to weapon. The important numbers are the first field, 3rd field, and seventh field, going from left to right and top to bottom. The first is the attack power, the third is the EP cost, adn the 7th is the range bracket it works at. The 4th field is area effect, and the 8th denotes if it's a combination attack. Option 4 - Maintenance Room. This room allows you to adjust the stats manually on a few Yuusha... specifically Baan Gaan and Victorion. Option 5 - This is the simulator. It allows you to train your Yuusha to even higher levels, and gain CP by fighting against computer- generated opponents. Option 6 - Main Computer Room. This is where you save and load. Option 7 - Library. This is where you see Game Completion, and view FMVs of merges you've unlocked, look at character profiles, listen to music, all that good stuff. It's fairly obvious what is what if you play around with it a little. The last option exits, and it's the only way to get back to the main menu. Option 8 - Another options menu that I didn't mess with, and have no clue what it does. Option 9 - This returns you to the world map to choose your next mission. Left and right cycles you through the various continents you've unlocked, and once you select it zooms you in to allow you to pick your next mission point, if there is one on that continent. You can zoom back out with cancel. ========================================================================== Section 6: Characters ========================================================================== These come in two categories: the Yuusha themselves, and their human friends and partners. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 6.1: Yuusha -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: The arrows denote gattais(merges). If you use a merge it locks out the subcomponents for use in that battle and vice versa. Brave ExKaiser: --------------------------------- ExKaiser -> King Exkaiser -> Dragon Kaiser -> Great Exkaiser Ultra Raker God Max Brave of the Sun Fighbird: --------------------------------- Fighbird -> Bussou Fighbird -> Great Fighbird Jet Gattai Granbird -> Great Fighbird Guardion -> Super Guardion Guard Wing -> Super Guardion Thunder Baron Brave of Legend Da Garn: --------------------------------- Da Garn -> Da Garn X -> Great Da Garn GX Ga Orn -> Great Da Garn GX Pegasus Saber Land Bison Sevenchanger Brave Express Might Gaine: --------------------------------- Gaine -> Might Gaine Might Kaiser -> Great Might Gaine Kouryu Hiryu Guard Diver Battle Bomber Brave Police J-Decker: -------------------------------- Deckerd -> J-Decker -> Fire J-Decker Duke -> Duke Fire -> Fire J-Decker Macrane -> Super Build Tiger Power Joe -> Super Build Tiger Dumpson -> Super Build Tiger Drill Boy -> Super Build Tiger Shadowmaru Gunmax Gold Brave Goldran: ------------------------------- Dran -> Goldran -> Sky Goldran -> Great Goldran Kuuei Leon Kaiser God Silverion Advenger Captain Shark Usarin Mk.II Dran's kids (o.O) Brave Command Dagwon: ------------------------------- Dag Fire -> Fire Dagwon -> Power Dagwon -> Super Fire Dagwon Dag Turbo -> Super Liner Dagwon Dag Armor -> Super Liner Dagwon Dag Wing -> Super Liner Dagwon Dag Drill -> Super Liner Dagwon Dag Shadow -> Shadow Dagwon Dag Thunder -> Thunder Dagwon Uchuu Kenshi Lian GunKid King of Braves GaoGaiGar: ------------------------------ GaiGar -> GaoGaiGar HyoRyu -> ChoRyuJin EnRyu -> ChoRyuJin FengRyu -> GekiRyuJin RaiRyu -> GekiRyuJin Volfogg -> Big Volfogg GoldyMarg Mic Sounders the 13th King J-Der (Not available for normal use) Brave Crusade Baan Gaan: ------------------------------- Baan -> Baan Gaan -> Great Baan Gaan Sperion -> Mach Sperion -> Great Baan Gaan (You can still use Sperion though, just not Mach Sperion) Varion -> SaberVarion -> Victorion -> Galaxion Magna Flash Himitsu's mecha (NPC only - not available for normal use) Armored Trooper Votoms: ------------------------------ Scope Dog Scope Dog Red Shoulder Custom Brutish Dog Berserga DT Fang of the Sun Dougram: ------------------------------ Dougram Crab Gunner Panzer World Galient: ------------------------------ Galient -> Upgraded Galient (not sure of name) Promaxis Panzer(95% sure, but couldn't find resources to confirm) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 6.2: Humans -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brave Exkaiser: --------------------------------- Kouta - Partner of the Kaiser team Brave of the Sun Fighbird: --------------------------------- Katori Yuutarou - android containing Fighbird/Granbird's core conciousness Amano Kenta - the partner of Fighbird's Space Guard Amano Hiroshi - Kenta's grandfather Amano Haruka - Kenta's sister Brave of Legend Da Garn: --------------------------------- Takasugi Seiji - the partner of Da Garn's team Takasugi Tai-sa - Seiji's father Sakurakoji Hotaru - a mystic, friend of Seiji Yancha - friend of Seiji, partner of Sevenchanger Kousaka Tsukushi - close friend of Seiji Brave Express Might Gaine: --------------------------------- Senpuuji Maito - the partner of Might Gaine and pilot of Might Kaiser Raibaru Joe - rival of Senpuuji Maito, pilots Kouryu and Hiryu Yoshinaga Sally - Maito's girlfriend Hamada - a friend of Maito, and engineer involved in designing the Yuusha Brave Police J-Decker: -------------------------------- Tomonaga Yuuta - the "Boss", and partner of the Brave Police Saejima Jyuuzou - police chief, and Yuuta's superior There's also a tech from this series whose name I couldn't find, who was responsible for the development of the Brave Police. Gold Brave Goldran: ------------------------------- Takuya - the partner of Goldran Kazuki - the partner of God Silverion Dai - the partner of Advenger Walter - the partner of Captain Shark Sirius - Walter's brother Chanlala the pilot of the Usarin Mk II, has a crush on Walter Brave Command Dagwon: ------------------------------- Daitouji En - Leader of the Dagwons, becomes Fire En Hirose Kai - strict disciplinarian, becomes Turbo Kai Hashiba Ryu - the token "ninja", becomes Shadow Ryu Sawamura Shin - athlete, but mostly womanizer, becomes Armor Shin Kazamatsuri Yoku - the "scientist", becomes Wing Yoku Kuroiwa Geki tough guy, becomes Drill Geki Utsumi Rai - becomes Thunder Rai Luna - a galaxy officer, and a friend of the Dagwon team King of Braves GaoGaiGar: ------------------------------ Cyborg Gai - Fusions with Galeon to become GaiGar Amami Mamoru - mysterious child delivered by the White Lion, can cure Zonders Hana-chan - a classmate and friend of Mamoru Taiga Kohtarou- leader of 3G, the organization formed to support GaoGaiGar Hyuuma Geki - operations planner for 3G Utsuki Mikoto - computer operator for 3G, in love with Gai Swan White - special investigations operator, in charge of gathering and passing on info Shishio Leo - Gai's father, and head scientist of 3G Ushiyama Kazuo - maintenance engineer for 3G, in charge of repairs and such Entouji Kosuke - designer and programmer for 3G's computer systems Shishio Lyger - Leo's older brother, scientist head of American side of 3G Stallion White - Swan's brother, Lyger's assistant, and model for Mic's AI Soldat J - Former Zondarian and core of King J-Der after performing Fusion Brave Crusade Baan Gaan: ------------------------------- Serizawa Shunpei - partner of Baan Sakashita Hiro - partner of Sperion, Shunpei's friend Serizawa Minami - Shunpei's older sister and leader of VARS Aoba Nanako - friend to both boys Hiromi - computer operator for VARS Masaru - VARS systems engineer, though he is only seen perhaps 3 or 4 times Satoru - VARS mechanics Engineer RonRon - a tech and ship pilot on loan from VARS USA Himitsu Tantei - pilots the weird green robot that attacks with a giant ping pong paddle and ball Armored Trooper Votoms: ------------------------------ Chirico Cuvie - the main character of Votoms. Is an expert AT pilot, maybe better than any normal human should be? Phantom Lady (aka Proto-1) - a mysterious soldier, created by the "Perfect Soldier"(PS) program, whose heart belongs to Chirico Upsilon - the second PS to be created, has a hate-on for Chirico for stealing the Phantom Lady's loyalties Fang of the Sun Dougram: ------------------------------ Cleen Kasheem - The main character of Dougram, pilots the Dougram and leads a small rebellion group called Fang of the Sun against the Earth Federation, fighting for their homeplanet Detroia Various members of Fang of the Sun Panzer World Galient: ------------------------------ Geordy(aka Jojo) - pilot of Galient, who fights in a rebellion group against the Empire, and wants to rescue his mother who is frozen in what seems to be ice. Han Solo anyone? Marder - the Empire's Prime Minister... seems to have his own agenda Hay Schaldat - a loyal warrior of Marder ========================================================================== Section 7: Acknowledgements ========================================================================== Thanks to various Yuusha websites for educating me, such as http://deepfire.net/~robots/brave/ http://www.osk.3web.ne.jp/~stein/brave/b_top/index.htm http://goshouworld.com/GaoGaiGar/ and many others I may have run across. Thanks to Ryuusei and his Brave Saga 1 FAQ which gave me the background on the characters only from Brave Saga 1 that I hadn't picked up on, like Himitsu... I had NO idea what he had to do with anything before, or what Hiromi had to do with VARS that they let her join up, or who the heck the buck-tooth guy was when he showed up later on, since I didn't own and hadn't played through BS1. Call-out to N-Bomb for getting me hooked on Yuusha in the first place thanks to his fansubbing of GaoGaiGar, not to mention getting me my copy of Brave Saga 2. And a call-out to Brave Fans everywhere! We may not have a new series, but we can keep the fire burning! Yuusha-tachi, hasha!