Good Entry Point?

[Dunkaclayton]

I love giant super robots, Go Nagai, and Tokusatsu and always wanted to give the series a try. My only real strategy series I've put real time into is Fire Embelm and this does look pretty similar, is this a good entry into the series? What other games are worth checking out too? I also have a Switch for any of those released titles as well.

[Ogami]

Yes, its explicitly made for newcomers to the series. A ton of Quality of Life improvements and a rather low difficulty. The 30th anniversary game was aimed at a new audience since they knew it would be the first game releasing officially in the west.

You can start with this entry without any problem, there is no prior knowledge of the franchise needed.

Just be aware that this series is FAR easier then Fire Emblem, dont expect any great challenge, even on the higher difficulties.
Its a game for fans of those mecha and anime and who want to see them kick ass.

[Dunkaclayton]

Originally posted by Ogami:

Yes, its explicitly made for newcomers to the series. A ton of Quality of Life improvements and a rather low difficulty. The 30th anniversary game was aimed at a new audience since they knew it would be the first game releasing officially in the west.

You can start with this entry without any problem, there is no prior knowledge of the franchise needed.

Just be aware that this series is FAR easier then Fire Emblem, dont expect any great challenge, even on the higher difficulties.
Its a game for fans of those mecha and anime and who want to see them kick ass.

Thank you so much man! Def gonna pick it up now!

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

This is leagues off of Fire Emblem for several key points...

1. There is NO Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic here for one thing. No X weapon is stronger than Y weapon which is weaker to Z weapon here.

There are "Beam" weapons, conventional firearm type weapons, melee and Elemental "Magic" type weapons but no weapon type is stronger/weaker than another. What the game does have though is unique Mech strengths and weaknesses. Like one unit may be tanky against Beam type weapons but are hit hard by melee weapons. But unlike in Fire Emblem where specific unit classes have their own sets of strengths and weaknesses, there are NO such unit classes in this series. And each unit is unique from one another with one distinguishing factor though. Mechs that are labeled as Super Robotss are mostly units specializing in heavy damage dealing, but have lower evasion and maneuverability, with probably the exception of the Getters. Whereas Real Robots are high maneuverability Mechs with high accuracy and evasion but aren't as powerful as Supers.

2. There is NO relationship and generational mechanic like in Fire Rmblem here.

3. There is NO Perma Death here. Having a Unit downed in this game is actually NOT so punishing, unless a mission specigically tells you that you'll lose if X Unit falls, as there seems to be no "Repair Cost After Battle" penalty here unlike in the older Super Robot Wars games, granted I only play in Normal Difficulty. Also regarding that Repair Cost Penalty, in the old games IF you don't have anough money to Repair your downed unit/s after battle, those units will be unavailable to you until you can afford to repair them. Not Perma Death, but kinda close.

This one's more of an XCOM thing, but this franchise even lacks a proper cover mechanic. Sure High Ground, Forrests and buildings give added bonuses to hit and evade chance values but units CAN shoot at each other even IF there's a one mile high wall in between them which is kinda jarring, but hey they're called Super Robots so it can be forgiven. Especially when you've got NewType Gundam pilots like Amuro Ray and Char Aznable in your team, you can just chop it up to their extrasensory abilities LOL

[Big Convoy]

Actually, there are relationship bonuses in SRW. How it work though, differs from game to game, but the gist of it is that each pilot is granted a bonus to certain stats when they are next to certain pilots. Usually, the relationship bonus can be divided into one of 3 group: Friendship, Love, and Rivalry.

As for the cover system thing, No, just no. Just let XCOM be XCOM, and let SRW be SRW. Remember, it is Super "Robot Wars", not "Super Robot" Wars.

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

Originally posted by Big Convoy:

Actually, there are relationship bonuses in SRW. How it work though, differs from game to game, but the gist of it is that each pilot is granted a bonus to certain stats when they are next to certain pilots. Usually, the relationship bonus can be divided into one of 3 group: Friendship, Love, and Rivalry.

Aren't you talking about Wildermyth with that "Friend/Lover/Rival" stat bonuses mechanic you're speaking of?

Although in the case of Amuro and Quattro/Char there is Rivalry there. Koji with Sayaka and Shinji with Asuka are examples of Love. And Judau and Kamille an example of Friendship. Although I rarely see any stat bonuses when such unit pairings are made.

[Big Convoy]

I have no idea what Wildermyth is but I do know that the relationship bonus first appeared in the Original Generations game for the PS2. Since that game was a remastered version of Original Generation 1 and Original Generation 2 for the GBA, it is probably present there as well.

As I said, how it works differ from game to game, and some game doesn't even make the Love/Friendship/Rivalry distinction and just give bonus to various rates. What it boil down to is this:

Friendship boost accuracy/evasion
Love boost damage
Rivalry boost crit rate

These bonus are pre-determined based on the story and are not subjected to change.

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

Originally posted by Big Convoy:

I have no idea what Wildermyth is but I do know that the relationship bonus first appeared in the Original Generations game for the PS2. Since that game was a remastered version of Original Generation 1 and Original Generation 2 for the GBA, it is probably present there as well.

As I said, how it works differ from game to game, and some game doesn't even make the Love/Friendship/Rivalry distinction and just give bonus to various rates. What it boil down to is this:

Friendship boost accuracy/evasion
Love boost damage
Rivalry boost crit rate

These bonus are pre-determined based on the story and are not subjected to change.

Just as I thought. It's a canon thing based on what series characters are from.

Fire Emblem's Relationship mechanics is very organic and dynamic which was why I mentioned it. And being a Fire Emblem player the OP needs to know outright that he can not pair Pilots up just because they might look "Kawaii" for him as SRW pilots are pre matched up per series where they come from.

Also you should definitely check out Wildermyth as it's a fantastic game.

[Big Convoy]

Another thing to note is that not all relationships are mutual. Lets take Moon Dwellers for example: Alfimi grants Axel a Lv. 2 Love bonus, but Axel only grants her a Lv. 2 Friendship bonus.

[Somali Pirate Radio]

Originally posted by Ogami:

The 30th anniversary game was aimed at a new audience since they knew it would be the first game releasing officially in the west.

Third, but yeah. OG and OG2 were NOT gateway drug games.

[Big Convoy]

If you want to get technical, there is also the Endless Frontier game on the DS. However, the gameplay is nothing like the tradional SRW, but more akin to Namco X Capcom.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Well, it's not the most ideal game for getting into the series... Since most of the non-debuting series kind of start off at a place where their story is already kind of done which leaves them just referencing things that they didn't show happening in the game.

And 3 of the series present in the main story, Mazinger Z Infinity, Code Geass Resurrection and GaoGaigar Final (also vs betterman) take place varying amounts of years after their original stories.

A lot of the stories present kind of have you just dumped in partway through them. So unless you're willing to do extra reading, or know the series involved it can be hard to get into it.



Also, gameplay wise, its a bit different from the previous games, where instead of being a linear story, you have the mission selection.
To detour back around a little bit to the Fire Emblem comparisons... Where most of them are very linear, but you have some games like Awakening with a map where you could go around doing side quests and what not, and not be forced to just go from one main story bit to the next.

[REhorror]

I think V is a much better entry point.
30 is a too big/bloated for a traditional SRW title.

If you can stand emulation, I would suggest SRW W translated for DS or even SRW A Portable for PSP (no I'm serious).

The OG titles are another thing altogether.