The only good BETA is a dead BETA.
Incidentally, Alternative's Chapter 7 is The Unforgiven, while the side story telling Marimo's past is Atonement.
Farewell, Marimo-chan, you've finally caught up with Arai and your past subordinates.
edited 8th May '12 9:47:36 PM by HithertoAnIPAddress
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And that's why they force you to read the So Bad, It's Good Extra. Those damn trolls.
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The only good BETA is a dead BETA.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
"end of the PTSD arc"
The Insert Song which plays there is Takeru's Image Song Tsubasa ("Wings"), sung by Hironobu Kageyama of JAM Project (who also sang the OP) fame.
Lyrics with translation (spoilers for the end of the PTSD arc) here.
edited 9th May '12 12:59:00 AM by HithertoAnIPAddress
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excellent
Does anyone know if Extra runs on affection points? It looks like I have to play the Sumika route first but some of the choices are physically painful just to click on.
excellent
Yeah, that's why. I'd like to know if I can choose something else and still end up on the Sumika route.
excellent
You have to play it to unlock Unlimited, no?
excellent
Oh. Well. Might as well play Hoshi's route first and see how it pans out.
奇跡の魔女
I've reached the Sadogashima mission. Oh god oh god oh god I am giddy as all hell. This feels like it's going to be fucking awesome.
...Holy crap. This arc... it's jaw-droppingly awesome. The sequence with giant laser destroying the Sadogashima hive was just fantastic. Yeah, all my doubts about Alternative have been cleared away; going through Extra and Unlimited before this is totally worth it now. And I sense death flags for Isumi and Kashiwagi ;__;
"Soldiers in the Imperial Navy live and die on the sea. —Is that not true, Admiral?" ;__; Why can't I hold all this honor?
I was right about the death flags after all. ;__;7
Ah, crap. There's sand in my eyes...
Sadogashima arc finished. Wow, things are moving rather quickly...
edited 10th May '12 6:20:59 AM by LiberatedLiberater
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The only good BETA is a dead BETA.
Flame of Life is obligatory at this point:
Isumi-tai ;_;7
I would have used the more-watched YT video, but its image is a spoiler.
edited 10th May '12 4:21:22 PM by HithertoAnIPAddress
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;_;7 MLA was the one VN that made me salute so many times.
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Now It's Ange Time
That song fits so well for many songs.
I think a whole lot of Muv Luv Alternative's songs (and some of Extra's/Unlimited's) really helped make the experience really good.
Backloggery MyAnimeList
奇跡の魔女
Shit, even the regular conversations are making me tear up inside. This game is really, really good at letting the point of each characters' words sink in.
I'm done with the Yokohama BETA invasion arc and just got briefed on Operation Cherry Blossom. I expected that only squad 207b would remain to participate in the Original Hive operation, and that the rest of the squad would die in the surprise attack on the base, but somehow that just makes it worse ;__; I don't know if my body is ready for the final battle, so I'm taking a break for now.
Oh, and the music is fucking awesome. I don't think I'll be as enthusiastic in listening to all those infodumps without those trumpets blaring in the background.
edited 11th May '12 1:08:22 AM by LiberatedLiberater
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Be sure to stretch the arm that you use to salute before you go through the last stretch. Because you are going to use it a lot.
Full Battle Mode
The only good BETA is a dead BETA.
"I'm done with the Yokohama BETA invasion arc"
Time for another saluting OST! Mitsuki ;_;7
The Standard Edition has Takeru voice acting for all the major events, including the one you just finished.
Upcoming is my personal favorite among the many moving scenes in the game. CARRY ON MY WAAAAAAY~!
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Chatot
After reading this thread, I shall now go get Mu Luv ASAP
I dunno.
Eight months on, I've developed this enormous love/hate relationship with the series. Emotionally, it's incredibly powerful*, but it somehow feels very... cheap. Like a Honda civic with a turbocharged motor and NAWWSSS. They knew exactly what they were aiming for, but the whole experience is very unrefined, and with the definite feeling that corners where cut.
Part of it is that I'm an enormous fan of military sci-fi, so I immediately caught on to Unlimited and Alternative being a Japanese homage to 'Starship Troopers': Except that it seems like most of the fundamental optimism got lost on the way. Part of it is that the Japanese have a very bizarre relationship with suicide. Not saying that self-sacrifice is an alien concept in the western military tradition, but the mindset is very different. More 'an individual going beyond the call of duty when everything else has failed', less 'viable military tactic'. Not that a western force would have been incapable of Operation Cherry Blossom, just that the entire mindset would have been changed.
The rest of it is mostly technical. I understand the meta-fictional reason why Alternative 'had to' be a single route - I just don't think it's a terribly good one, and I don't think the primary heroine was really up to the task. Same goes for most of the characters, actually. Paradoxically, I can tolerate and even enjoy Extra as 'generic late 90's harem comedy', yet find 2/3th's of the harem completely shallow and/or uninteresting. Alternative suffers from pacing problems, and Takeru spends too much time cycling between "Alright, I've figured out what I need to do, and I'll do it no matter how much it hurts." and "Oh my god, this hurts too much. I can't possibly do this."
In general, the work suffers from an economy of storytelling that really doesn't do it justice. Fancy visual effects are good and all, but they'll never be good enough to make up for a story that bores or frustrates the viewer to tears. I cant help but think it would have honestly benefited from an editor or a publisher looking over Kouki's shoulder - Someone to tell him 'That's good, that's not. Cut that, and you need to seriously rethink how you want to approach this.'
Read the latest volume of Alternative Manga (Already read the VN, I had to buy the manga from amazon.jp) It's much more visually pleasing then the VN, also has parts of Muv-Luv Adoration in it. Bou also did a perfect job, in fact better job, showing Takeru going insane. It was Higurushi All over again.
edited 14th May '12 7:10:51 PM by gbatemper
Well, I kinda knew it was coming once she started comforting Takeru's PTSD, but what the hell?! It came almost completely out of nowhere. RIP, Marimo-chan ;__;7
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