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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Game 347: Mirai (1987)

I believe these characters translate literally as “not yet come,” which is as good as any way to say “the future.”

Mirai

Japan

Xain (developer and publisher)

Released 1987* for PC-88, PC-98, MSX, and Sharp X1

Date Started: 13 November 2019

Date Ended: 17 November 2019

Total Hours: 6

Difficulty: Moderate-Hard (3.5/5)

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

*Various sites have Mirai‘s releases between 1985 and 1987. I’m persuaded that its earliest release was probably 1987 for the PC-88; some of the other platforms may have followed in subsequent years.

When I was compiling my master list, I rejected from the main list any Japanese game that didn’t originally receive a western release. This was because I assumed that everything in the game would be in Japanese, and that it would therefore take me too long to translate the text, given that (unlike, say, German or French) I can’t even type the characters into a translation tool. Yes, I realize it’s possible to use some tools by taking pictures or even scanning over the screen, but none of these are fast or accurate enough to make gameplay truly possible. I tried with The Dragon & Princess (1982) but ultimately couldn’t get anywhere without a full translation from helpful commenters.

However, I didn’t count on the fact that a number of early JRPGs were in English, or at least mostly so, even in their original Japanese releases. We’ve had some speculation as to why this was true, but nothing that’s ever fully satisfied me. Whatever the reason, I’ve been slowly re-investigating some of the titles originally rejected, to see if they are in fact playable in English. Mirai was one of those that made the cut, and it recently came up in a more-or-less random sort of my backlog.

The title means “future” in Japanese, which is why it is also the name of a Toyota hybrid sedan and a 2018 animated film about a time traveler. Several sites have translated the backstory that scrolls up the screen in katakana: It is the year 720 in the space era. Because of the destruction of the Earth’s environment, humanity is seeking other planets to which to emigrate. Seven planets have been identified in the “Reinbow Nebula,” but they are swarming with ferocious aliens. (These aliens are totally not just protecting their home.) Enter the protagonist, a legendary soldier, with his jetpack and power armor.

The game’s primary RPG credentials are found in its inventory.

Mirai is a side-scrolling action RPG. The player begins on Planet 1 with 200 energy, 100 fuel, and 100 cash. The joystick moves the player around, including up and down, expending fuel with every move. Energy is like hit points–when enemies attack, it depletes–but it also serves as an emergency fuel reserve.

Enemies start swarming from the game’s opening seconds, and they vary in lethality, durability, and patterns of movement. Mostly they damage you by hitting you directly, though a small number are capable of firing missile weapons. There are frog-like aliens that seem to move around randomly, colorful ships that always attack in a line, making them hard to avoid, and little flying saucers that like to swarm the moment you enter a tight corridor. You have to be quick on both the trigger and the movement keys. As with the recent Deadly Towers, once you fire your weapon, you can’t fire again until it hits something or the missiles clear the screen, so it’s important to time your fire carefully.

Grinding outside a warp center.

Killing enemies increases both experience and the “Shoot P” statistic. Each jetpack level has a “warp center.” Finding it is a priority. There, you can change your “Shoot P” numbers for cash, then spend cash on fuel and energy (which are relatively cheap), weapon upgrades, and special items. After some grinding on the first level, I went from a “Beam” weapon to a more powerful “Needle” weapon to a “Triple” blaster that shoots three shots in a spread every time you fire.

There are also special items to purchase. I don’t know what some of them do. “U_Jump” allows you better jumps on underground levels (more in a second); “P_Barr” creates a defensive barrier temporarily; “P_Hour” stops time for enemies temporarily. The ones I’ve figured out are useful enough that there’s a real incentive to grind for cash.

“M_Scan” makes a little minimap of the level.

The warp centers are also the only places to save the game. It costs 80 credits to save. I like the idea of having to pay in-game currency to save. Only a few titles have implemented such a system so far.

Having to pay to save means the player is encouraged not to save-scum.

Levels have occasional boss creatures. When they appear, their names show up in the lower-right screen along with their hit points. On the first level, they were flowery things called “B_ameda” that were able to shoot missiles. (Some of you Japanese-English experts tell me what all the underscores are supposed to signify.) They were also immune to the starting “Beam” weapon, so I had to upgrade before I could kill them.

Shooting the “B_ameda” with the triple blaster.

Killing boss creatures is necessary to activate various portals between areas of each level. Once you pass through a portal from a jetpack area, you find yourself in an “underground” area where gameplay is very different. Instead of flying around with a jetpack, you walk around, and instead of shooting enemies, you punch and kick them. It looks to me like you’re playing a female in these areas, too, although I’m not sure how that squares with the backstory.

Near a portal to the other half of the level.

You move around by climbing ladders and jumping from platform to platform, and the rules of both are different in Mirai than any other platformer I’ve played. You can’t grab ladders in the air, for instance. The only way to use them is to start climbing on them from the bottom. When jumping you can move latterly a little distance in the air, but not very much. It’s frankly hard to nail down the specific rules.

Climbing a ladder, although it looks more like a vine.

In the underground areas, all creatures are “boss” creatures, and there are only a few per level. The first one I played featured monstrous mushrooms called “Blueka” and beholder-like blobs “Dminga.” A later area had something I can’t even describe called “Norm” and little round balls with teeth called “goblins.” To fight them without losing too much health, you have to time your approach carefully, trying to punch or kick them from the rear before they have time to react. There are no warp stations in the underground areas, so you need a stock of good gear from the jetpack levels.

The freaky “Dminga.”

There are places where you can get stuck, unable to jump out unless you have one of the “u_jump” items from the store. These effectively double the height you can jump but also seem to make your jumps more maneuverable.

Eventually, after you’ve passed through enough portals, you meet the level boss. Special items don’t seem to work in his presence, so defeating him is a long process of learning his patterns, hitting him while his back is turned, and using jumps to avoid his missiles.

The level boss kills me as I take this screenshot.

Once I defeated the first boss, I found myself on the second planet. It also proved to be a trade-off between jetpack areas and walking areas, with different enemies and different bosses. Eventually, I got stuck in a small area that has a warp center but otherwise no exits. I thought maybe I’m supposed to grind here until I get enough money for one of the “U_Teleport” devices, but this warp center doesn’t sell items. Unfortunately, I saved over the only save slot at this warp center.

This warp center has suit shops, but I’m low on cash.

Even if there was a way to proceed, it took me about 6 hours (with quite a bit of reloading; I’m not good at action games) to reach this point, and it’s hard to see spending another 36 hours, assuming that each planet takes the same amount of time. One level, one boss sounds about right for a side-scrolling action game that barely achieves RPG status.

Micro-bosses on Level 2 are “beetles.”

If you’re curious about the end you can see a one-hour LP of the MSX version done by someone who cheated with maximum power-ups at the very beginning and had a map. The levels get more elaborate, the enemies more numerous and quicker, the bosses tougher, but the game remains fundamentally the same. The final boss is named Kariguls. Unfortunately, the conclusion in this particular video is in unpunctuated, poorly-translated English.

The hardness of the world the seven two one cosmic century the war of aggression at Reinbow Nebula was brought to the end as a result of an increase in population many war had been over again I think you had a hard time of it in the case human forecast the future feel uneasy and cherish a desire but hope love and peace I wish you happiness.

Glad we cleared up. On the GIMLET, I give it:

1 point for a bare minimum game world, including a framing story that isn’t well-referenced in-game (who is the woman?)

1 point for the most minor kind of character development with no character creation.

0 points for no NPCs

2 points for encounters and foes. I like how JRPGs often feature boss-level creatures that force you to adjust tactics on the fly, but the implementation of that system is at its most basic here.

The female hero fights a “mool” on Level 2.

2 points for magic and combat. There are some minor tactical considerations in combat.

3 points for equipment, its most developed RPG area.

I never figured out the use for some of these items.

3 points for an economy that works well, rewarding grinding and conservation of funds.

2 points for a man quest.

1 point for a barely-acceptable interface, mediocre graphics and sound, and sluggish keys.

0 points for gameplay. This is a highly subjective category, but there wasn’t really anything I liked about it. Far too linear, far too large for its limited content, and by the second level it was already getting too hard.

That gives us a final score of 15. I doubt even players who like side-scrolling action games would find a lot of value in this one. As for me, it’s probably my least-favorite sub-genre, and I’m going to want to see a lot more RPG and story elements (like Nihon Falcom’s Sorcerian from the same year) before I invest any more time in one.

This ain’t no soft action RPG.

Xain, also known as Zainsoft and Sein-Soft, published only a handful of games in its short history in the late 1980s. It is best known for Tritorn (1985) and its two sequels, which are also on my backlist and are also side-scrolling platformers. The company’s last title, 1990’s Valusa no Fukushū, is also a side-scrolling action game, but I don’t think I’d call it a “platformer” anymore.

Although side-scrolling action with platform elements isn’t what most players would later think of as “JRPGs,” it’s notable how many early Japanese entries featured these characteristics. The earliest was perhaps Xanadu: Dragon Slayer 2 (1985), although there are quite a few 1984/1985 games I haven’t yet investigated. Later ones include Sorcerian (1987), Zeliard (1987), Castlevania II (1987), The Scheme (1988), and parts of Zelda II (1988). The sub-genre is virtually unknown outside of Japan. But of course Japan had also led the way with non-RPG platformers (Donkey Kong, 1981) and side-scrolling platformers (Jump Bug, 1981, and most notably Super Mario Bros., 1985). It makes sense that some developers in that country would try to attach RPG elements to a successful template.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-347-mirai-1987/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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game-refraction · 7 years

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Game Review: Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon - Wildlands (Xbox One)

Mission Failed.

It’s a phrase that this game is too keen on shoving in your face after something goes wrong, and you can bet it will. I lost track of how many missions I had to re-attempt well over a dozen times, usually due to the awful detection system or because of the too-many-commands attached to a single button. Ghost Recon: Wildlands is as every bit as frustrating as it can be entertaining, providing you set the bar very low, and then set it even lower.

With the release of its first DLC expansion, Narco Road, I finally got around to finishing the main game, eliminating all the cartel leaders and ensuring I completed each and every story mission, including replaying the last mission for the alternative ending, both of which imply there is more for this team of ghosts to tackle in the inevitable Wildlands 2.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands is your typical Ubisoft open world game that has its copied and pasted locations sprinkled around with the same care as its thousands of icons that share the same map. While it seems that the publisher is looking to make nearly every one of its franchises some form of an open world, it does so with the least amount of care and passion. There isn’t a single frame in this game that has any sort of polish or, like I just mentioned, passion, behind it. Nearly every aspect of this game is repeating almost immediately after it’s given us something unique. Whether it’s reasons for taking down a cartel drug lord or a random line of dialogue, you will end up doing the same things, hearing the same things, again and again. I must have heard one of my AI companions repeat the same joke well over twenty times, or one of them asking why I would not let them drive; which the game doesn’t even allow, so why ask it? If I had to hear “and baby makes three.” one more time, I fully expected I would just uninstall the game right then and there.

Upon arriving in Bolivia, you are tasked with tracking down a Cartel Warlord named El Sueño and you’ll need to dismantle his empire in order to flush him out. While this is the typical way these stories usually play out, it does so in the most boring way possible. There are several locations on the map with a cartel captain in charge that needs to be flushed out. While the outcome with the cartel leader is making them spill the beans on El Sueño, or just flat out killing them, the setup to locating them is the same for each and every captain you’ll encounter and this game seems built upon you reliving the same hour of gameplay over and over again. While you are free to tackle the captains in any order you wish, the story is never connected in a way that shows the level of threat you possess as you eliminate leader after leader. Each province you clear of a captain is checked off as if it doesn’t matter to the core story, and aside from a phone call from El Sueño late in the game, he seems almost disconnected from the very narrative that is built upon taking him down. I would have loved to have seen the few remaining captains band together to stop you, and since the order is up to you, these scenes would play out differently depending on who was left remaining.

As you enter a new province on the map, your contact will radio you with information in regards to your target, this info is also joined with a narrated cutscene that introduces you to who the target is and the backstory of who they are. These scenes are ok but the use of real people mixed with their awful character models is very distracting and these moments stand out in a very bad way. The problem with each of these leaders is that apart from some flimsy backstory, they become nothing more than background dressing and are so two-dimensional that none of them really stand out. Had each of these characters been involved in more of the missions leading up to them, then maybe, and just maybe, the game would have been far better for it.

Once you’ve been prepped with this intel and are ready to explore, yellow folder icons will populate the map. These are the intel needed to find people or items required to find your target. These missions at the start of the game are fun, sometimes enjoyable and depending on which province you head into, can offer you a wealth of variety. The problem is there is only a small handful of variations on how these story missions play out; Elimination or retrieval.

While the circumstances regarding each mission will vary, this two-fold approach is constant throughout the game. You will either kill your target, destroy property, or retrieve someone to become a snitch or take items like a car to lure out your target. There are small variations on the elimination and retrieval types that do worm their way out of these labels, but they are so rare and frankly, they still operate very similar.

This repeated structure is semi-broken up with another form of repeated structure with its side activities like protecting a radio cart, flipping switches on a few towers or recovering some supplies for the rebels, usually in the form of a plane, helicopter or another type of vehicle. These missions are ok, but if you play by yourself and not online with actual people, then prepare to fail on every attempt protecting that damn radio cart. These missions will help you upgrade your support skills like calling in a mortar strike or requesting a vehicle for a getaway.

Despite my ramblings of disappointment with the title, I did have many moments of enjoyment with the 50 some hours I spent with it. Among the echoing nature of how it disperses its content, there is still an enjoyable game here. The character creation system could be a bit better in the variety of clothes and hairstyles, but overall it allowed me to make a fairly enjoyable character. The shooting aspects of the game are handled well and with a quick tap of a button to change shoulder perspective, it allows you to get a solid shot no matter the way you play.

I’ve played a good portion of it solo as while I did have an ok time playing with other people, I find that most players don’t approach the game in the same way I do and this can lead to frustration when your playstyles clash. There is something very satisfying when a plan comes together in this game as a few missions do give you the ability to tackle a mission in a variety of different ways and then you’ll head into the next mission that is structured in such a way where there is a clear way how to go about this and any other attempt will be met with a mission failed screen.

What I rather liked about playing solo was the Sync shot system of my NPC companions. When you play online, even with just one more person, this AI team is nowhere to be found, taking your team down from four to two, for some odd reason. This Sync shot can be upgraded to three one-shot kills and this tactical method of clearing out a base comes with a swift delight of a pop, pop, pop and they drop. I lost track of how many bases I cleared without myself firing off a single shot and while the Sync shot can be done in co-op online, it lacks the same flair unless you are playing with a group of friends and not some randoms that can just go Rambo at any minute. The multiplayer is fun when you can stay connected, and I like the fact that your 3 other co-op partners retain any progress made on the map and missions can be easily replayed to catch up with a friend who may have fallen behind. There was one aspect of playing solo that did rather annoy me; the nonstop window that would pop up asking me to hold A to join an online match.

The best aspect of playing with a large group of people is the variety of ways you can infiltrate the base. Having a team conquer a base from all sides is something that is rather difficult to do with an AI team. Flying over a hillside with a group in several vehicles is extremely fun, as is the rush of almost getting caught until your teammate drops a nearby enemy who just spotted you. For as much fun as I had with my AI companions, some experiences in this game are vastly improved with real life players, regardless of how long you’ve known them. Going back to infiltrating bases, I found it rather odd that for how the ghosts are a team of professionals, that no one has a set of wire cutters for a chain link fence or a grappling hook for a difficult climb.

The detection system is probably one of the worst ways this type of mechanic has ever been done in a video game. I’ve been spotted through buildings, from distances that make no sense for detection, and through walls when the enemy is not even facing me. I’ve gone prone on a hillside and taken out a whole base and then a random car will spot me from below and fail the mission for me. The worst is when you are minutes away from completing a mission and a random helicopter will spot you and then the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan, and when it does, then my word does this game ever throw whatever it can at you, and then it will pile on even more enemies in such force that you’ll beg to reload the checkpoint and try again, but you have to die since there is no manual way to reload that checkpoint, and even then, the checkpoint will be either at the start of the mission or at a distance that is rather far away from where you were.

As you find guns and grenade-like items on the battlefield, you’ll level up your character and earn skill points. These points are used to purchase skills like more ammo capacity, upgrades for your reconnaissance drone, or being able to take more damage. There are dozens of skills that can be unlocked and they will require resources as well as those skills points. The resources; Medicine, Food, Gasoline, and Comm Tools are scattered around the mini-map with green icons. You can earn higher quantities of these resources from the side activities that are also green icons on the already populated icon-filled map. Other items that join the collectible hunting are upgrade stars that add perks to certain skills you can purchase, and parts that you can equip to certain guns to give them better scopes or enhance other traits to make them more lethal. While collecting items can bring out the OCD in you, depending if you are a completionist or not, the icon-filled map is just ridiculous. I’m all for adding content to a game, but this method of making your game a collectible hunt is just filler, plain and simple.

Vehicles can make or break your experience here as they can come off a bit weightless and far too bouncy. I love the motorbikes, when you don’t get flung off one that is, and was my main method of transportation. I loved that you don’t have to wait for your AI companions to get in the vehicle as they will teleport to a seat in the car as you speed away, even if they are dead. Vehicles do tend to bounce around far too much and this can lead to accidentally rolling a car down a hill or getting it wedged between some rocks while racing down a rocky mountain. Helicopters I found a bit slow to take off and the learning curve of how to properly fly a plane can take some getting used to.

The development team spent two weeks in Bolivia taking in the location and looking to make the game as visually impressive as they could, as the Anvil engine is fairly impressive. While character models are quite bad, the environments are not and can look rather great at times, if a bit copied and pasted. Bases all tend to look the same and you will get moments of Deja Vu as you take a few down. The variety in Bolivia here is decent as you’ll take to jungles, arid deserts and snow filled mountains. There are also many locations that are based upon real-life landmarks that add a bit of credibility to the world Ubisoft Paris has created.

The audio in Wildlands is a mixed bag for sure, as radio stations became so annoying that Ubisoft themselves produced a patch that allowed you to turn them off. The audio between the team is fantastic, at first, but starts to repeat itself so much it became painful to listen to. The voice acting itself is split down the middle with a few actors giving solid performances while a few of them really looked to ham it up.

As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, Wildlands tends to put a lot of commands on the controller, especially the A button if you are playing on Xbox or the X button on PS4. When you go to target an enemy for the Sync shot, you’ll press A/X to lock them in. The A/X button, however; is also the climb button. I’ve had so many times where the enemy moved slightly and my character would then mantle over my cover and expose themselves, to either the base then going on alert or part of the instant fail mechanic they use far too often, all for my attempt at locking them in for a Sync shot.

Another few issues that caused a bit of frustration is the climbing mechanic and the inability to swap to the driver’s seat should you select the wrong door. There are several instances in the game where you can climb and it works well when it wants to, but not when it needs to. Your character will have no problem scaling a 5-foot wall when it’s required but will be unable to when it’s a short 2-foot incline where climbing isn’t allowed. I’ve tried to use a vehicle as a step ladder of sorts to climb over a fence and it just wouldn’t allow it. When you enter in a rear passenger door you can only swap to the other seat and not to the driver’s seat. While not a huge issue, it has caused me a great deal of time wasted having to exit the vehicle and re-enter it to the proper seat and more often than not, my target got away. I also found that backing up in a vehicle would swing the camera around to see the front of vehicle and this can cause you to drive in a direction you don’t want too and the time needed to swing the camera back around can lead to a target getting away or your vehicle taking a lot of damage.

Apart from the minor, but frustrating control issues, the game is rather buggy and glitches were fairly constant throughout my time with the game. I’ve had NPC’s stop their role in a quest, as several times where I was to tail or protect the NPC as they proceeded to their end location just stop and stand there, with a few cases of them getting stuck in traffic because other NPC’s got in an accident on the road, as you can see in the picture here. I’ve had one time where as I was driving my captive to my home base just suddenly die in the car. I’ve had enemies discover me through walls, or shoot at me through them as well. There was even a time where I went to snap a guard’s neck and he dropped to the floor before I could touch him, but the animation still played out. I’ve had the game lock me out of my gun and not allow me to fire, forcing me to turn the game off and start it up again. I could go on and on with more examples of glitches and bugs, but basically, my point is that the game is just full of them.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands is a mess, plain and simple. Yes, it can be fun, enjoyable, and with the right group of people, a blast. That being said, the game looks to repeat too much of itself and wears out its welcome fast. The copy and pasted approach to how the world is constructed is lazy and environments lack that wow factor to make their set pieces memorable. As a game, Wildlands is a bare minimum effort, stretching its mechanics across a map that is so densely packed with collectibles that it can ruin the pacing of what the story expects from you.

Ubisoft has taken a franchise that could easily go toe to toe with the likes of Battlefield and Call of Duty and turned it into a Division meets Far Cry game that at no point feels like a Ghost Recon title. While I am not opposed to a developer changing up their franchise and breathing new life into it, the fact you are slapping a new coat of paint on recycled and overused mechanics isn’t new, it’s giving us the same thing again with a new name and expecting us to reward you for it.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands was reviewed on a digital copy purchased on the Xbox One Marketplace. All Screenshots were taken via the Xbox One and uploaded to the Windows 10 App.

Game Review: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon – Wildlands (Xbox One) was originally published on Game-Refraction

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talesofaguardian · 7 years

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Beam Me Up, Ghost

Location: Old Russia, Earth Guardian: Leah Stansfield Call Sign: Lady

Old Russia was different the second time around, or maybe it was that Leah felt prepared this time around. She knew what to look out for and had the power of grenades. This time she could appreciate the scenery without as much of a fear of death. She couldn’t feel the wind, but it moved the brush and torn red banners. Ghost had dropped her off on higher ground near a Cliffside that dropped into either a river or something that lead to a Sea. Large constructs creaked in the distance, as unseen creatures screeched and shifted.

“A guardian’s ship was recently shot down. If the Fallen haven’t gotten to it we could salvage some parts and find a warp drive.”

“I saw Amanda was selling ships. Why couldn’t I just buy a warp drive from her?”

“Treat this like a test Guardian, if you pass then people will train you, give you better stuff, and you’ll gain respect.”

“Then let’s go.” She walked down toward a large building using the rocks and the building as cover from the creatures she could hear, but not see. It set her on edge knowing that something out there wanted to kill her, but she couldn’t see it. When the ship came into view she felt relieved.

“I’ll see what I can find.” Ghost flew to the ship and started scanning. “The warp drive is gone, it looks like the Fallen have scavenged this already, but I can go through their last transmission.” While waiting for them to process the data Leah hear a skiff. She frantically searched for where the threat was, spotted it, and prepared for the group of creatures that would drop out of it.

“Could you hurry please?”

“Sorry, can’t hear you, doing important work.”

“Why did they give me a sassy ghost? Couldn’t they give me one that just goes along with everything that I need.”

“Stop complaining and get to work.”

Leah gritted her teeth and walked toward the group running down the hill, she opened with a flash bang grenade catching most of them, then tried out her new hand cannon. It felt comfortable in her hand, before the auto rifle had done well, but with one head shot she brought down her foes. “You done yet?”

Ghost ignored Leah’s attitude. “They were working in the information hub below ground. If we head over there I can scan for where the warp drive was taken to.” The two of them moved back toward the building Leah had used for cover earlies, this time moving to the front. There were more creatures walking up the stairs. Quickly Leah decided to use a small building as cover instead of the rust covered trucks in front of it. She climbed to the top and took out her sniper rifle, lining up the shot and smiling. For some reason, it felt good to be needed, she couldn’t remember anything from her past, and wasn’t sure that she would. But right now, on a simple mission to get a warp drive, she felt like she was helping the people around her.

“See ya.” She whispered before making minced meat out of the low level Fallen milling around the building. Stowing the rifle on her back, Leah jumped off the building and walked downstairs with her hand cannon at the ready.

“This place looks cozy. Check the room behind the stairs, sometimes creatures of darkness keep plans, glimmer, and armor in chests laying around.”

“What is glimmer?”

“When you kill something, complete a bounty, or compete you earn a currency called glimmer. Chests give you glimmer as well as plans for ships to build if you’re lucky, but they also give you resources that you need to upgrade your armor. I can transport them onto your ship as you find them, so that you can use them later.”

“That seems a bit weird…are you taking this money off dead bodies?”

“No…yes…maybe? I’m not sure where it comes from, but when they die it appears.”

“Uh, cool, death money. How am I supposed to feel about that?”

“It’s called glimmer, and you don’t have to kill them if it bothers you that much, but they will still try to kill you.”

“Right, ok, let’s just keep moving.” She checked the room behind the stairs and just like Ghost said, there was a chest with glimmer and a metal leaf. Ghost disappeared into her hand and Leah moved further downstairs. The stairs met a short hallway with shadows following the creatures inside of the only room the hall lead to. Leah took a deep breath, steadying her hand as her mind raced. Zavala told her all of this was to protect people. Was it worth it? Who was she protecting? What was she protecting? She had gotten so caught up in everything that she hadn’t dealt with her thoughts.

Ghosts voice broke through her thoughts and brought her back to reality. “Leah, are you ok? From the last couple of encounters, you have been faster than this on the draw.”

“Yeah, sorry, just thinking.” With that she turned the corner and took down her foes with ease, then walked over to the map in the back and released the ghost from her hand. “Here.” Why was it so easy to kill these creatures? She didn’t even know if they were evil. The only information she had was that they liked to shoot at her, and everyone she talked to said they were evil. Was that enough for her? For now, it had to do, but she needed answers when they got back to the tower.

“Our only hope is where we found our ship. We have to go back.”

“Go back to where that giant creature came out of the wall? The one I was very glad to get away from when we first escaped this area?”

“It’s very unlikely that the Archon is still there. Archons are high ranking individuals, and staying around an empty room is a waste of time.”

“Wanna bet that it won’t be there?”

“I don’t bet.”

“Let’s go little robot.”

With a huff and a mumbled, “Don’t call me that” Ghost disappeared back into Leah’s glove. If Ghost could sass her, then she could call them whatever annoying nickname she wanted. She made sure her hand cannon was reloaded before she left the safety of the downstairs and looked for any danger above. The stairs and truck area was clear, but near the cliff was another group standing around a beacon, waiting for someone to walk into their trap. It was easy enough to avoid them, from the groups position she could stay against the wall and walk north toward a building that have vines taking over what use to be an entrance and holes in the wall and ceiling with debris littering the floor. When she walked into the next room she stayed to the left side, skirting around a large hole in the floor from what she could only assume was a superhero landing. There was a section in the back of the room with desks and the lights flickering. She could hear creatures in the next room walking about, so she pulled out her hand cannon and tried to walk quietly down the stairs.

“I hope you’re ready for this, Leah. I feel Darkness in the area.” Even if Ghost hadn’t pointed it out she would have known, darkness clung to her vision, almost trying to leach whatever light was inside of her. The next area had enough cover for her to walk into without being seen. It was separated into three are. The first was where she planned to hide for most of the fight, it was the first section of the room she walked in to and had two entrances that led into the main large area she had fought in before. From here she could see most of the next room, could hold the entrances into her room, and knew that behind her was clear of any creature. Off to the right of the entrance area was a very small room she could use if she really needed to run, and in front of the entrance was a large room with columns that looked on the verge of collapse, large metal boxes that could be used for cover, and a large round hole in the front most wall when she had last seen the Archon last. From her safe position, she looked around the room and only spotted vandals, dregs, and shanks. The Darkness still clung to her though, and she knew that meant the Archon was around, and might become a problem later.

“I guess I’m ready,” not the most convincing battle cry, but it would do for now. Using the wall as cover from the blasts, Leah shot down the shanks first knowing they were more likely to enter her comfort zone. A stray blast from the dregs caught her shoulder, but she killed the rest of the group before registering that it hurt. But, she did not have time to complain, because a and heavy thud came from the hole in the wall across the room as the Archon made his way into the room.

“The Archon has the Warp Drive on this belt!” Ghost relayed to Leah excitedly, which would have been great news if she knew how to kill a creature that big. Right now, she was low on ammo, and the Archon looked like he would take more bullets than she had. She needed a plan. First, she used her grenade to disorient the group that came through the wall. Then she disposed of the smaller targets, only using a second bullet if she actually needed too. Luckily, the Archon couldn’t fit through the entrance into her section of the room. She did get hit a few times, but the armor seemed to take most of the damage. Now all that was left were two Vandals and the Archon, who still looked rather healthy. “Ok, I have three bullets in my sniper rifle and a sad amount of ammo for my hand cannon.” She was also getting tired, all the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off. This needed to end before she was seriously hurt or ran out of ammo.

“How much is a sad amount of ammo? I need an exact amount if I’m going to calculate your odds of survival.”

“If I tell you then I’m going to cry, and I don’t need that right now. That enough for your calculations?”

“Not really, but it does get factored in.”

“You are the worst side kick.” She took out her sniper rifle and fire the three bullets into the Archon, then switched to the hand cannon killing the two vandals and using the last few on the Archon. Even after all her shots the Archon was still standing. She needed it to die. Why didn’t it die? Her guns weren’t the only thing running on empty either, she should have waited to do this, two missions in one day was too much. “I’m going to do something stupid, but I want you to know…Ghost, you are the worst robot I have ever met and if I die I just really wanted you to know how useless your sass has been.”

“Your sentiments have been noted.”

Leah took a deep breath and prepared for her next plan. There was no going back once she ran in, so she needed to commit to her plan. “Ok, let’s do this.” She threw the grenade at the Archon, disorienting it as she ran in and punched it. Her punch did some damage, but not enough to take it down. Once it came back from the grenade she took a blast to her left shoulder and punched it again. When she was hit for the second time her vision started to go, and she slid behind a metal box for cover. “Shit,” there were only seconds for her to recover before she had to run behind a column nearby to avoid taking the full force of another blast. “I have one attack in me. Did you get any info on what will make the Archon go down?”

“If you punch him and use a grenade that might take it down, or just make it mad.”

“I’ll take that chance.” Leah tossed another grenade at the feet of the Archon, but it dodged out of the way and kept firing at her. “Looks like I’ll go with plan B.” She took her sniper rifle and tossed it at the Archon’s face, forcing it to focus on catching the gun with one of its hands and distracting it as she tackled the Archon to the ground. Finally, she had the upper hand or so she thought. Archon’s had claws and while she was unloading punches on the Archon it was clawing at her. When it finally died, she looked like she had fought the Shredder and Jango Fett, and felt like it too. “Do you have healing powers?”

“I don’t, but Guardians typically do. It will take a while though.”

“Of course, it will.” Slowly and sorely, Leah pushed herself off the Archon and spotted a green glowing object on the ground near him. “What is that?”

“The Cryptarch decrypts those into weapons and armor for you to use. A green one means it’s better than the armor your wearing now.” The Ghost stored it for her as she picked up a white engram that transformed into better gauntlets, which she kept to change into before she got back to the tower. Ghost left her gauntlets and scanned the warp drive. “You did good Leah, I give you a hard time, but you survived a tough situation and finished the mission. Not many guardians get through their first mission without dying. The Speaker will be able to help you further once we get back.”

“Will I get to sleep?”

“If that’s what you need. I can send a message now for them to prepare options for you.”

“Thanks Ghost, maybe you aren’t as useless as I said you were.”

“I’m your Ghost Leah. You will be the only Guardian I ever have, and I will be the only Ghost you ever have. We’ll get to know each other, working together, and fighting together. I protect you, and you protect me. Together we’ll get through this, and together we will protect the city.”

“Let’s get back before more show up.” Ghost stored the warp drive for Amanda to work on and called the ship to pick them up. It was a long mission, but Leah would have to learn to carry ammo synths in the future. This time when they left the Fallen didn’t come out of the wall. Leah relaxed in the seat of her ship, letting Ghost do the driving as she tried to assess the damage from the fight. Hopefully her next mission wouldn’t end as hectically as this one did.

#destiny #destiny rp #tales of a guardian #got the warp drive #destiny the game

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