You promised me a pony... with missiles... Let's Play Iji

An Elite, pretty much the last Tasen we'll encounter outside of the plot, stands here guarding the last terminal.



Nothing personal, miss.



And now to ride through waves of Komato!



Watch out for the explosive barrel at the end.



This lift is more of an obstruction than anything.



Take it up, and it shuts down.



You just have to go under the opening it creates, but there are things up here. THINGS.



"Mia, how many of these did you bring here? I thought you only had one on that day? Dan, you, you didn't really mean that, right? About not supporting each other. I hope you don't envy what Mia and I had after mom left. Maybe you thought Mia was clinging to me, but we really did love each other - just like I love you, bro. Hehe, yeah, you're right. Just stay behind me and you'll be fine. I'll protect you no matter what."

First, the ribbon, in the delightfully entitled Interrogation room, complete with CFIS! Also, a camera, which if Dan is dead, will remain stationary. So will all the rest!



Is it just me, or do all Assassins face to the right before you fight them? And how did she not hear me screw up the Resonance detonator against that Spread rocket turret?



Anyhow, there's a huge vertical shaft here, but we cannot jump high or far enough to make it all the way up.



So we must get creative!



You have to do like seven blasts in succession with the MPFB. Other weapons are too weak to propel Iji far enough.



But, uh, make sure your stats are high enough to actually survive the trip.



Whoops. Let's fix that.



There we go.

Once more, with feeling!



Hooray, we live!



Well, we can already see one thing.



A poster of Annihilator Iosa! Also, every basic weapon in the game, and Tasen and Komato Cyborg stations.



"Bananas were apparently a popular food back on Origin, but someone went too far in his love for this odd-colored fruit. The Banana gun uses one of each of the standard Tasen and Komato ammunition units, and also requires that the user's Nanogun is equipped with 8 of the most common Nanoweapons - the Shotgun, Machinegun, Rocket Launcher, MPFB Devastator, Resonance detonator, Pulse Cannon, Shocksplinter and even the Cyclic Fusion Ignition System. Any attempts to recreate this weapon are strictly illegal, as is placing one of its explosive bananas in the favorite dessert of an unsuspecting victim, commonly known as one of the most creative ways to face military law, and one of the few falling under the category of "Fruit-Assisted Homicide"."

I... what? Um.



Okay! Uh... the banana gun!



It bounces and squeaks!



It also explodes horrifically in an MPFB explosion after a short while. It's got an advantage in being able to fire downwards due to gravity, something none of Iji's other weapons can do aside from the Nuke, but it's basically a joke weapon in every sense of the word.



Moving right along, though.



Oh hoh hoh hoh. Nanoblast, you say? Every time you hit with the Shotgun or Buster gun with this active, it causes a rocket explosion! And this can't be reflected by Assassins! It's basically super awesome forever.



Down here, we need to open the door behind us.



All the way to the right!



And back down here.



Wow, heavy security!



Like, super extremely heavy!

Aha. This must be the final Tasen base.



"The casualty reports were pouring in rapidly - until they silenced. the connections with every single base around the colony have been lost. All officials and leaders have been assassinated. Since we didn't have the time to expand before the Komato arrived, it was all over pretty quickly. In this little shelter we may have gathered the last few Tasen alive... perhaps the last few Tasen in the universe. This is no time to panic, so we've kept calm. Our only hope is that they somehow decide against Alpha Striking us... in other words, we're all dead."

I dunno, maybe Yukabacera could have survived if Iji didn't kill him.



Anyway, they've barricaded themselves in there real good. No way we're getting in there.



"So far we've defended our little base pretty well, considering that we're only ten people in here. It's been too quiet lately, though - the Komato assault teams have retreated, and not a sound has been heard for a while. They're either getting ready to send a massive attack force it, or they've succeeded in destroying the planetary shield generators and are preparing the Alpha Strike. That little Soldier we brought keeps talking about her girlfriend and the "Human anomaly", too... speaking of which, we never found out if the Anomaly was on our side or not. With Krotera killed and the Komato alerted, I'd say NO."

Little Soldier? Oh hey, maybe that girl who was writing the diaries is in there, too!



"Incoming - URRAAAGH"

"HOSTILE!"

"AAAAAAAAGH"

Those were Tasen screams. But only one explosion?



All dead. And all the doors are blown apart.



Not to mention the massive bleeding claw mark in the wall.



Bah! One point of Strength shy for this door.



"I hope it's just a rumor that they've knocked out the last planetary shield generator... you're not gonna stop an Alpha Strike with a bomb shelter, much less the remains of this primitive human building we're trapped in."

Why didn't they use that teleporter over on the left?



"Most doors within this base have been upgraded to bulkhead class. They're impossible to bypass, and only open manually from the inside. We're stocked up pretty well on supplies and weaponry, so we're prepared for anything short of an Alpha Strike. Actually, it sounds like another Komato assault team is coming, time to ready the MPFB. Hehe. I never get tired of blasting Koma"

Cut off mid-sentence. By the looks of the wall and floor, very literally.



"Dear logbook, maybe I could sort out my feelings if I wrote them down... when we found out that we were the last surviving colony, and landed here on Origin, I was forced to join the army together with my girlfriend. I was separated from her during the squad setup, and she ended up under Elite Krotera's command, stationed to defend the lift to Krotera's room in what the humans called Sector 3. She used to joke about how she was alone, surrounded by weapons and ammunition, but with no Komato to shoot at. My hope never wavered when we lost contact... but now the battle report's in... and she was KILLED BY THE HUMAN ANOMALY! I'm sorry, I don't know what to type... I don't know what to feel anymore... I even heard that the human was the one who brought the Komato here... the adults say we're gonna die now, but I feel safe here with you..."

Well, that's what happened to the little Soldier. And yeah, we did kill her girlfriend.



The Tasen who rocketed us into the area with Sector 3's poster, just before Krotera's room.



Iji stops for a moment.



"No, this is... I think I've been reading this girl's diaries. Why now? They're the ones I killed without caring who they were... I'm the one who brought the Komato here... to kill people like her."

If you avoid killing that Tasen, you avoid this cutscene, as well as the diary writer's death.



"... *Sigh* I have to find the General - but first, I'm gonna find whoever did this. I may be a hypocrite, but somewhere there's got to be a line! Don't worry, kid. I don't think any of you can forgive me, but if I take your Nanofield, I'll always carry a part of you with me... and I'll keep you warm. That's all I can do."

Not much to be done but that.

Let's see if whatever did this much damage is still around here.



"But wait, Kalir! You didn't get the Supercharge!"

Correct. I didn't get the Supercharge, because on this run, I can't. It requires that you don't kill the girlfriend in Sector 3. A rare instance of a Supercharge that's easier for pacifists to get.



Just ahead, an Annihilator... and something jumps into it!



Wait, they can say stuff other than "TERMINATE!"?



Face to face with Iosa at last, it seems.



"...worthless bag of flesh and bone!? I have better things to do that stand here and listen to you TRASH-TALKING THE MOST POWERFUL KOMATO IN THE UNIVERSE!"

Oh, are we going to fight? Please do, I'd love to see if I can kill someone who calls themselves invincible.



One brief camera shift, and...



"Hahhhhh!"

Iosa is the boss of Sector 9, and packs the same kinds of moves you can expect of an Annihilator. Since those are already minibosses in their own right, and Iosa is even stronger, this fight can be very tricky if you're not prepared.



"Get down here and FIGHT!"

Like with Krotera and Proxima, the arena provides a way for ill-equipped characters to fight Iosa on fair terms. In this case, these platforms. You can use them to avoid Iosa's array of heavy weaponry, but the lasers atop them will activate after a while, doing significant damage to the platform its on.



"Hahahaha!"

If you are well-equipped, though, feel free to take on Iosa directly. Good options include Spread rockets, the MPFB Devastator (especially with 10 Strength), Shocksplinters, and the CFIS/Velocithor.



"Hold still!"

Speaking of, Iosa's got a Superweapon too. And I've failed to screenshot it up until now, but when charging a superweapon, Krotera and Iosa both somehow show the inside of their Nanogun.



Yep, Iosa's packing a V2-10 Velocithor herself. And it's one of the few weapons in the game that ignores Iji's mercy invincibility. If your health is low enough, it can and will oneshot you. Thankfully, though it doesn't look it, it CAN be ducked.



"Huh! Yeah, right!"

If you can hit a platform with lasers three times, they blow clean through, hitting whoever might be under. Iosa takes heavy damage from this attack, and drops red Nanofields too.



The terminal in the middle will call in new platforms if either side is missing theirs. This leads to a kind of rhythm as you go through the fight, avoiding Iosa's attacks and taking potshots at her while you activate the lasers and terminal.



Though her Velocithor is scary to be hit with, she won't use it once you do enough damage to her, presumably because getting instagibbed near the end of a prolonged fight is always infuriating.

"Gotcha!"

Iosa's got more health than any enemy up to this point, with the possible exception of Proxima due to its cheating armor, but as long as you keep up the assault one way or another, you'll come out of it okay.



Wow, that's a hell of an explosion. But we took her down!



Uh... we DID take her down, right?



No, I think we just made her even madder.



Her Annihilator exoskeleton might be destructible, but her personal Nanofield sure as hell isn't. And now we're going to learn just how all those Tasen died.



"Hup!"

In this form, Iosa has three attacks. The first is an Assassin-style side slash, which can be ducked, but Iosa will follow up shortly after with a Shoryuken-style swipe.



"HOH!"

She can also use the uppercut as a standalone attack. You have only a little bit of time to react to it, but you can tell which move she's going to do by her approach. A short leap indicates an uppercut, running forward incidates the slash-uppercut combo.



She's got a Superweapon in this form, too. It's called the Storm of Death, and if you ever see her running towards you while sparkling, jump the hell over her.



And, as you may note, she doesn't even have a health bar. Neither armor-damaging nor health-damaging weapons do a damn thing to her.



And like the Velocithor, Storm of Death ignores mercy invincibility as well.



Not even Retribution can make a dent in her Nanofield. She just runs up and takes it in the face like its not even there.



"Nothing but a mortal."

So how the hell are you supposed to beat her?



Thinking outside the box, that's how.



You can't damage her normally, but you can kick her like a Shield door. This stuns her, long enough for you to follow up with a few more kicks.



Once her back's against the wall, you can try to crack her Nanofield. The Security will always be within the limits of your Crack skill, though the cap improves the higher the difficulty.

"...Hhhh!"

And with her Nanoshield gone, all it takes



is a single shot.



"She, she was wrong. She had to be. The Komato won't decide our fate for us! Watch me, Dan... I'll show them. Nothing can stop me now!"

And that is how you kill Iosa the Invincible.



So, we've seen what happens in one version. The Tasen base annihilated, and Iosa killed. What's the alternative, though?

Next Time: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

I may be jumping the gun here (you haven't shown the Pacifist version of the level), but does Iji's speech at the beginning of this sector change if you're Violent but save Dan/Pacifist but let him die?

Not appreciably so, I think.

This sector changes a hell of a lot in pacifist playthroughs, though almost all the change is at the end.



"The Tasen are running out of troops so fast, it's not even funny! We're obliterating them! The only Tasen left are probably the ones in that defensive base they built up ahead. Do they seriously think they'll survive for more than a cycle? We're gonna Strike the biosphere out of Origin, and broadcast it live on the all-wide feed! "What're we gonna watch tonight?", the kids'll ask - "how about some PLANETARY ANNIHILATION", I'll reply!"

The Komato definitely know about the Tasen base, as evidenced by Iosa storming it.



Game. Stop giving me useless Nano Overloads.



No Rocket launcher here, so we have to wait for the Assassin to handle this.



Here's the path to the upper left terminal that one would normally take. Those conduits will spark with electricity every few seconds or so.



Just be mindful of the turret.



"I heard the news before we even landed; Annihilator Iosa is one of the leaders of this mission. I've heard all sorts of stories about this woman, and I don't doubt a single one of them. That Nanofield is indestructible. And if they think she's dangerous inside her Annihilator exoskeleton, they should see her unarmed."

My first time through, I thought Iosa's exoskeleton was the invincible part, and it just had that name because she killed everyone before they had a chance to destroy it.



This is why falling down here at first is a bad idea.



It occurs to me that maybe I ought to have showed off the giant security bulkhead door BEFORE opening it. Ah well.



"Yep. This is the end, alright. One little ventilation shaft or something, and a couple of pulsecycles until they find me, collector's hot drink cans and all. Now tell me, when did we ever NOT see this coming? The Komato have grown so huge, their leaders take orders from the people. And what are people? Intelligent and reasonable? I once liked General Tor, you know, back before the negotiations with Hel Sarie went sour becuase of the Imperial Army. He looked like the only one who knew what "empathy" even maent, which would be funny if it wasn't true. It's lkie, "Hey Naotgerai, did you see the latest war debaet?" And I'm like, "No, I was too busy kepeing the Komato from koncking over my stack of Supernova bars while attempting to kill me." They should at least have had the dececny to tell us they were sireous before attcaking... alright, that's it. I need to tlel them to stop blowing the palce up because I can't tpye worth a DAMN in htis shaking."

Here lies Naotgerai, friend to Yukabacera and complete geek.



For some reason, the first door is only strength 5 and the second strength 9, but since most people will just blaze through on a Shredder it's a moot point.



Yay, reconciliation!



How that Assassin doesn't notice the turret head bouncing in front of them is a mystery to me.



"So far, not a single Assassin has managed to kill the Anomaly, not even Asha. She's officially the most dangerous enemy on the planet; why anyone would rather confront her than run at this point is beyond me. Ansaksie seems to think the same, she's got a group of Assassins separated from Asha and they refuse to take orders. The only thing saving them from accusation of treason is that Asha doesn't seem to care anymore. And what's up with General Tor? It's like he didn't even want this planet purged. He needs to make up his mind, either you kill all the Tasen, or you wimp out and decide to spare a few because they're no longer a threat. Really, consider what the Army would think of that. Peace and understanding? No, forget Assassin Ansaksie, General Tor's the one whose life is really on the edge here. One thing I've learned about people: they'd rather die than change."

Huh. Dissent in the ranks, and not just the lower ranks. Maybe we can convince them after all!



"Craxmasta, I finally got ahold of NanoBitSplits old logbook, and it has some interesting details about the Nanoweapons he cracked and got sentenced for. The "Nuke" carried by Sentinels is indeed of Tasen origin, but it gets better - it's a combination of a Rocket launcher and MPFB Devastator, meaning you would be able to crack one yourself if you could get your hands on those Nanoweapons. Just replace all opcodes 26 with 89 in field 1480 of prime 5C, and all 5 with 4, and the safety catches will do the rest. Easy huh? Battling with the Nanogun safety algorithms has become less of a chore and more of a pleasure lately, and eventually we'll master it completely. Military information needs to be free if we're ever gonna stand on equal ground with the Imperial Weapon Industries selling us these guns at ridiculous prices. Man I hate their commercials. Power to the Troopers! OmnikrakR out."

I like how they consider a Crack 9 challenge easy, yet they haven't gotten the Velocithor figured out yet. Maybe they just can't get hold of a CFIS?

"Some question the Imperial Army's ideals these last few starturns, but personally, I stick with Annihilator Iosa. Who expects her to doubt that it's for the better to destroy the crippled, futureless civilizations we always find in the wake of the Tasens' mindless path to escape us? Those parasites should've given up long ago, and just have let us shorten their suffering - just as predicted, we have now succeeded in locating the Tasens' final outpost, and they have nowhere left to run. All this death, especially the annihilation of Origin, could have been prevented had they only agreed to organized termination right from the start! And the idealist bastards who scream for peace, what do they expect us to do? Reform our entire society and culture and start questioning our own leaders? Accept the Tasen into our fold like nothing ever happened?"

Um... yes? Last I checked, the only crime they initially did was going "hey we don't like being war mutants".



FREAKING FINALLY a new Nano Overload. Nanovis is actually super useful for a pacifist run, as it makes you much harder for enemies to see. They still fire at you if you've gotten their attention, but you basically have to run headfirst into them to get it in the first place.



Fun fact: while enemies will normally fire at walls, which might kill their teammates in the process, they will never do so if they're close enough that the blast would harm themselves... except for Annihilators. It's a handy trick if you need one destroyed on pacifist difficulty.



"There's this heavily fortified Tasen base down below, and we've had no luck busting it, especially since the Assassins are all leaving. The Berserkers all used up their teleportation charges when we arrived, too. The last group of Troopers who tried to storm their base counted to five Elites, four Commanders, and one Soldier who could barely hold a Nanogun. None of them were killed, but some of the Troopers were. Damn, who sacrifices themselves when we're gonna Alpha Strike this dump anyway? We've won, the war is over! Time to go home and enjoy the sweetest victory in history, damnit!"

Nanovis lasts a REALLY long time, too.



I'm the best at evasion.



The turrets are gone this time, though.



As we approach the base, we note a Soldier standing by a teleporter. Hm.



She warps away as we get further in, and... hang on, is that series of doors open?



Yep, biggest change of all?



Not only do the Tasen in the base survive, but Iji can walk in and talk to all of them.



"We abandoned research of Sector Z long ago. For fear of anyone ever finding out about that place, we sealed up the wall to the research room. But which wall, I don't remember... somewhere in a lift tunnel in Sector 1, next to a teleporter destination pad. No-one will EVER find it. No-one without a Rocket launcher, at least."

Remember back in Sector 1, that secret wall with the Supercharge and the teleporter? Yeah, here's a hint on how to get to it.



The Tasen might let you in, but considering their situation they aren't exactly going to be wildly celebrating.



I'm not gonna stop and talk to everyone, mostly because they say different things if you keep talking to them and that would be way the hell too much text.



Yeah, most of the chats here are like that.



"Dear logbook, my girlfriend just called me... she's alive!!! I knew it! I knew it all along! Now we'll meet up and hide where the Komato will never, ever find us. We'll go far from this defense base, even outside the colony borders to find some humans to help us. When this is all over, I'll make sure to find the "Human anomaly", and thank her for sparing my girlfriend. Yes, she saw her - but she didn't kill her. I don't know why, but my girlfriend said that the human's eyes looked sad as she headed up the lift to Elite Krotera's room... as if she, too, didn't really want to fight anyone. Forgive me for crying, I'm so ashamed to be happy right now... oh, and someone said that this defense base was the final Tasen outpost, and when it had been destroyed... we would be extinct. Maybe... just maybe... the human will stop the Komato before they Alpha Strike us. Wouldn't that be nice? A planet for my girlfriend and me. I'm sure we could live together with the surviving humans. I guess that's why I'm happy... 'cause I'm alive, against these impossible odds. Well, time to go! ♥"

But we spared the girlfriend! We can't talk to either of the two directly, but we CAN take the teleporter she used.

The door they took to the surface is sealed, but there is a lift that goes downwards. Wonder where that leads?



Welcome to Deep Sector! A minor secret area that can only be accessed if you spare the girlfriend in Sector 3.



Normally, this game does a bit with gamma effects here. The lights all bust in the Tasen bunker when Iosa attacks, dimming the game a bit, and when you go down here, it dims even further. This doesn't happen in windowed play, and it wouldn't make for very good LPing either, so we shall simply go without.



Pffff, no you don't. There's a checkpoint right outside the bunker.



Human corpses litter the ground here.



A large ammo stockpile is off to the side, which is wholly useless for us.



"You know what I think about it already. Asha's a loon and I don't see a single one of us sticking to him now. Let's all meet up and wait out the orders to head back to lower orbit. If the Anomaly gets here, feel free to fight her, though. As always, if you start taking heavy damage then just make a run for it. Even if you drop part of your Nanofield or even some ammo behind, don't let her kill you. This has always been our tactic, so stick to it. I don't want to lose any of you. /Ansaksie"

Huh, I guess this place was raided by Assassins and they've made it into their home base. Actually, that could be a problem.



In fact, the second you snag the Supercharge, the area is full of them.



You can try fighting them one-on-one, but if you're ill-equipped for it (say, lacking in Plasma cannons or Nukes) there's no shame in running.



Hit the teleporter in the ammo storeroom to get to temporary safety, just next to the elevator.



Heavy emphasis on "temporary".



The Assassins have locked down all the doors here too, and we can only open a few of them. Also pictured: sometimes they wait underneath a jumping Iji to swipe as she lands.



They also love to backstab her mid-crack.



Due to their exceptional aim, they don't even hit each other in the crossfire! That takes skill.



But we escape!

Note, though, that since they don't appear until after the Supercharge, and it's impossible to miss the checkpoint just before the bunker, that there's no penalty if you die to the Assassins. You keep the Supercharge and end up back in the bunker.

Not this playthrough, sorry.



We have a fan!



Multiple fans, actually!



Well, uh... he's optimistic?



Hey, at a time like this, laughing is important.



Anyway, at the very edge of the base is Vateilika. Presumably she only makes it into the bunker if you don't call the Komato, as her body isn't anywhere to be found otherwise.



We've got this, man!



Why isn't Vateilika shooting? She's looking right at us.



Oh yeah, she did say that she wanted our help back in that one logbook.



Anyway, the Iosa fight. The dialogue changes a bit here and there.



Wow, Iosa, you really don't have a leg to stand on here.



After a while, Ansaksie warps in.



Oh, you two know each other!



"Let's go, Anomaly!"

Yes, if you're pacifist, you've got the assistance of Ansaksie during the fight with Iosa! She's a huge help, especially if you're not suited to fighting Annihilators, as a pacifist very well might be.



"Just shut up, Iosa!"

She'll warp around, dispensing plasma, stabs, and insults in roughly equal measure. Iosa can't even come close to hitting her, but she'll sure as hell try, buying Iji time to do what she needs to do.

"Stop fooling around, Anomaly!"

She won't hesitate to mock you, though, should you get yourself hit by the lasers, or if you try to crack her. Ansaksie's security is way out of our league, and if we ever get close enough to try, it just gives the custom access error "Not a chance. /Ansaksie"



Ansaksie also has a Superweapon, which you can tell by the large rifle she carries when firing it, but she goes too fast for it to be identifiable. Whatever it is, it's strong enough to finish off Iosa. She won't help during the second phase of the battle, though.



With one exception: she delivers the killing blow.



Since Ansaksie delivers the killing blow, this doesn't count as a kill for Iji either.



And as a direct consequence of that, this Iji now has 0 kills going into the final area of the game. Can we take that killcount all the way to the end?

Next Time: The Needs of the Many

One last bit: Nich asked me about missile ponies.

dtsund directed me to a place where I could find some.



Please direct all complaints to either of them.

Heh, I had a feeling something like this would happen eventually. Either that, or some silly mod.

Great job so far on the LP! I discovered this for the first time years ago while looking up freeware games. Had a ton of fun with it, especially since it took me a while to notice the pacifist option. I accidentally discovered it while messing around with voice files and wondering who the heck Ansaksie was(apparently her voice was done by three people at once too).
Despite playing the game for a pretty long while, I'm still discovering new things about it. It really has a massive bunch of features. Anyway, good luck with sector X!

That's a good way to start the Sector: an estimate of just how many WORDS you'll be getting. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of fighting to go around too, but uh... words. Lots of words. And lots of images too, since this is the last Sector.



From the start, you can either go up or down. Heading down leads to an easier path with no Annihilators and a Nano Overload, but heading up leads to a secret. Nukejump across this ledge to get to it.



"I'm sending this to the nearest logbooks. My visor's malfunctioning, and I can't see a thing. My helmet's also stuck to the armor vest. I don't even know where I am anymore. At least I know how to operate my logbook without looking, but please don't forget to come and pick me up before the Strike. Anyone? I've got fried candy bars in here. They're kind of hard to get from my pocket to the helmet on the inside of the armor though. They're getting a bit sticky."

Something tells me the Komato are gonna let this guy die because it'd be funny to them.



Anyway, up top. Like in Sector 6, this secret requires destroying something out of reach of most weapons, but we can't use the Nuke or we destroy the boxes. In this case, the Splintergun does the trick.



However, to get into the ledge on the left, we need those Shredders. We CAN nuke them down, but we can only get back up here once if we do, and I need to return here, so we have to go around to the top and Velocithor.



One last new enemy in this sector is the Komato Skysmasher, a kind of flying turret. Like conventional turrets, they are very fragile and can be destroyed with a well-placed kick, but these guys are a whole new level of annoyance due to their hovering. Iji has to use a weapon that can reach high enough, like the Splintergun, to damage them. They also don't take any time to charge their Shocksplinters, and they can fire them low enough to hit a crouching Iji. Basically, hella annoying.



The lower area mostly just has Beasts, which means the path with the Annihilator is actually easier for pacifists.



Past that, there's a lift and a door, both connected to some weird stuff. Let's see where the lift goes, eh?



"All those ships fighting must've messed up the atmosphere... or was it the Tasens' Alpha Strike? Who cares, it's not gonna stop me!"

Don't worry, the acid rain can't get to you through the Nanofield.



Does make it sizzle a bit, though. Anyway, this Power Core is connected to the door below, as well as the one behind the now inactive lift. To progress, we need to destroy the core. It's specifically shielded from Nukes, too.



However, you can destroy it without unlocking the doors if you have the Velocithor. That leaves the Supercharge inside, which means you can get it if you open the doors through conventional means afterwards. Let's go do that, shall we?



"Okay Zekailo, this is seriously dangerous stuff, but I figured out a way to reboot my personal Nanofield. First, duck down and press C four times followed by the Z key to connect to your own Nanofield. Crack it, if you know how, and let the safety catches do their thing. You should now regain all the Points you've ever spent - but at the cost of all your stats, most ammo and Nanoweapons, and nearly all your health. Also, you will no longer gain free health when using a Cyborg station to upgrade your health stat for a while. This can be used to completely reconfigure the structure of your personal Nanofield's stats, but like I said, try it at your own risk - it nearly kills you."

Aha, the last hidden skill! Like it says, using this will allow you to crack your own Nanofield, which is easy considering Iji's jury-rigged setup, and in doing so give you back all the points you invested in your skills. This can be done at any time, but since it also costs you everything you've got, it's best used in areas with lots of Cyborg stations, to reconfigure for specific areas or secrets. Using this makes runs to get all the Supercharges or posters in one go a lot easier, although as you can see, it can be done without the reboot if you know how.



Checkpoint down here, past the rightside window that a Shocksplinter turret helpfully blasts open. But before I forget and go all the way here, let's head left.



There's a hallway that goes all the way over here. It also branches downwards into an area with one of two terminals needed to open the power core chamber, but first, we come up here and free the Shredders.



Not going to ride them just yet. First, back below the checkpoint. So many goodies I can't get!

A bit to the left, a logbook I ignore. Why? Because I said so, damn it, and you're gonna get plenty of words in a second.



He's back, baby!



And Iji doesn't let him finish his dramatic nonsense before she starts trying to KILL HIM TO DEATH!



"YOU'RE MINE!"

Asha's seriously upped the ante since our last tussle, though. He teleports way the hell faster and has no fewer than three Superweapons, one of which (Megasmash) is pictured here.



"Just DIE!"

He also has two Plasma cannon techniques he uses: Plasma Vortex, seen here, and Plasma Rage, which he uses by teleporting from wall to wall firing a barrage of shots that can only be dodged by staying crouched.



But eh, I don't feel like fighting him right now.



If I seem meandering, indecisive, and all around foolish, well, you're right. I do have a plan though. Maybe.



First, let's get the secret that needs those Shredders. Destroying the Power Core, regardless of whether the doors around it are open, lets us fall back down to the first sealed door.



We have our checkpoint. Also, note the camera above us. While Dan was fleeing, captured, or dead, cameras remained inactive. Now that the Komato are using the control rooms, they all track Iji.



Okay, got our Shredder...



WE RULE YOU SUCK

If Dan's alive, he'll ask Iji what the devil she means by that. Of course, she doesn't have a good answer.



The last poster! Featuring a tall dude who I assume is General Tor!



Anyway, back to Asha.



Wrong. You didn't kill me the first time.



You won't kill me the second time either!

Iji: The Assassin Trolling Simulator



Use the second Shredder to get back to the teleporter that drops us off by the power core lift...



Now let's go see what Asha has to say about us!



Hahaha... yeah that's fun. Now let's actually kill him.



Asha's got a few other quirks, too. First off, he can now dodge any weapon or attack Iji has in her repertoire. The only reason she can hit him at all is that he's too proud to bother dodging ancient weapons like the Shotgun or Buster gun. He also leaves phantom images of himself around the arena as he teleports about, and can deploy electromines. However, like Iosa, he drops red Nanofields if he sustains enough damage.



"DIE!"

Iji, if she becomes bloodthirsty enough, will start shouting stuff like that after every few kills. This is the only time in the game where she's guaranteed to do so, though, even if she's pacifist.



"Dan... I... killed him... Hrg... eww. Don't listen to him, I'm just glad you're still okay. Yeah. Yeah, I know. Don't worry... he won't find you again."

More games should let you use an enemy's ego against themselves.



Anyway, that's one of the two terminals that opens the power core.



The other is in this chamber just below the corridor leading to the Shredders.



Not much here poses a threat to us, really.



There is an Annihilator, but if you're cautious, you need never come into contact with it.



At this point, you either get the Supercharge or the core destroyed by conventional weapons.



Don't worry, it's not as dangerous as it sounds, at least at first.



You could break them, only you can't aim anywhere but straight ahead of you.



Anyway, remember that terminal by the logbook about Retribution back in Sector 8?

Let's test the Annihilator Beta!



"Ciretako!"

It breaks through walls and sets the Berserkers a-panickin'!



Unfortunately, you can only fire the Plasma cannon, and you must come to a complete stop first. If any Berserkers get close enough, they can spam their Resonance detonators right under your legs. Not that it matters, this is just a fun little side thing.



Feel free to destroy it afterwards, I doubt it awards a kill.



One last Cyborg station and weapon collection before the final ascent.



The areas are wide-open, but you can grab onto the upper ledges with a single jump. They're also chock full of all kinds of Komato.



Ah, the last Nano Overload. Come on, momma needs a new pair of shoes...



Oh hoh hoh hoh HOH YES.

Kids, meet my favorite Nano Overload for violent playthroughs:



Nanochaos. When it's active, taking Health damage will scatter glowing bombs all around the area. They take about a second or so to go off.



Granted, it requires taking damage to trigger, but it's nearly as effective as a full-on Retribution and only requires a bit of luck.



We can easily clean out the lower area of the labs with it, and up top is only a bit more.



Two Rocket turrets. Easy pickings.



Two Plasma turrets. Faster, but avoidable.



Two MPFB turrets? Damn, they really don't want us up here, do they?



"Hhh... hhh... hhh..."

We made it. We're safe for a short bit.

We're but a hop, skip and a jump away from the General's outpost. How can I tell?



"It was mere turns ago that we were passing Origin by, sending a scout team consisting of three Troopers to the surface. They took a long time replying, but we didn't think much of it. A few turns later, they sent a report; they had crashed and were dying, but could confirm through standard global scanning that there was no Tasen on Origin. I of course withheld this report from the fleet. I'm not as knowledgable as Kiron when it comes to Imperial Research's new inventions, but I know the "global scanning" project never took off. It remained but a scare to keep the Tasen in line. This report was clearly sent by them, and I had found their last stronghold in the universe. Origin, of all places. I had the power in my hands, the power to annihilate them once and for all, the power to bring peace back to our shameful race - the power to kill a million people in mere cycles. Mere cycles... my fleet has destroyed worlds before, but then it was by the order of High Command. This time it was all on my shoulders."

By his logbooks. Looks like Tor was plenty conflicted about taking out the Tasen.



"I had not much time to ponder this alone, as Iosa walked into the command bridge. I told her about my dilemma, as I knew that I could trust her. Her reaction was not surprising. This is what the people had been waiting for, she reminded me. Clearly, making countless billions of Komato happy would be worth more than sparing a million Tasen. I had not much to object to that; it is plain logic. We are a race of conquest, and as such we must remain unified. We are like an enormous organism spreading throughout the galaxy, ever improving itself, and dangerous defects like the Tasen will be purged so as not to let them spread and corrupt the rest of the whole. Destroying them now is my responsibility as a Komato. But bringing peace at the cost of so many lives? I was reluctant, and Iosa understood that. She didn't like it, no, but I believe she understood. I was ready to ignore the Tasen and move on, but all of a sudden, we received a distress call from Origin coded in a strange amateurish fashion. It was actually sent by a human, using a Tasen communicator. Without even thinking, I made the broadcast public. How could I possibly explain THIS transmission when we got back to Tadezocora, I thought? Within moments, we indeed heard the roaring and cheering of our troops all the way to the command bridge. I remember Iosa calmly looking at me. "Now the burden is not on your shoulders", she said, her self-confidence strengthening me. There could have been no other outcome. This is for the greater goal. Only one uneasy thought lingers in my mind - whoever sent that distress call took my burden."

Yeah, according to Tor, Iji is responsible for the deaths of the last remaining Tasen and humans, since she called for the Komato.



One last stop at the armory before we meet him.



Even if you hit the level cap for Sector X and get all the Supercharges, you can't max all seven of your stats. You have 60 points from that, and each stat requires 9 points to top out, so one will always be three below the maximum. The more special traits you can get, though, the better.



This is also where the last ribbon is.



"This... this is it. the whole world's waiting for me to convince the General, and I don't even know what to say. I'm just a human, how will I know he'll even listen? Everything leading up to this will be meaningless if I fail. Not that I didn't have my doubts, anyway. Even if the Komato leave, the world's never coming back to what it was. Then again, I don't know if that's such a bad thing. At least I'll do what I can to save what's left of the world... I'll never forget you. I love you, sis."

She doesn't sound too confident... but after what she's gone through, can't say I blame her.



And that teleporter... well, we can't open the door there. Not yet.



"If this guy tries to fight me like Krotera did, I'm dead. I'll try not to say anything stupid, okay, Dan? Good. I know you believe in me. Wait here... I'm afraid this could get ugly."

That lift will take us right to the General himself, so before we do that, those last few logbooks.



"I am going to make one thing clear: I have never, and will never let personal emotions interfere with my logbook. The news just reached me that Annihilator Iosa is dead. That is a matter I will not discuss here. Currently, we have just finished routing the Tasen colony, but the only way to truly please the public is Alpha Striking Origin. Taking the final step... blowing Tasenkind out of history, out of space and time. The humans are not worth saving either; they have no future left. If my feelings for this planet are to be shaped by the public and Imperial Army, then who am I to object? This is it, and I may finally be ready to end this."

Oh, um. Maybe if we're trying to negotiate with a general of an invading army, we shouldn't kill his sweetheart?



"You have moved, Anomaly, far too fast. Your course has been erratic, but steady. I believe you are fully aware of the General's outpost, located right above your head. At least it will be if you're reading this - which means I will be dead. I had improved, I had advanced, I gave everything I had to make sure you never found this logbook, but here you are. This is your end, Anomaly. I heard the log recorded from Iosa's exoskeleton before it exploded. I know your motives and your shallow schemes, but General Tor will not be impressed. Like I knew you would never listen to me after going for the bounty on your head and setting the trap with your partner, so Tor will never listen to the killer of his beloved. You may have taken comfort in revenge, but like me, the General is not a man of change. This is the final mission, the end of Operation Purge and the end of Origin. You cannot seriously believe that your pathetic sob stories about humankind's future will invite anything but a swift pull of the trigger from Tor. It is logic, logic you fail to understand. You have a lot in common with the Tasen legend, Hel Sarie - she thought she could end the war, she invoked a fear I have never seen in the Imperial Army's troops, and she defended her people to the end. She was also mown down by General Tor in an instant, not merely annihilating her body, but her very existence, her very beliefs. The beliefs of a FOOL. Forget whatever hope your crushed, cybernetic mess of a body may still house. You are nothing before the might of the General, and when you're gone, neither will be anything you have ever believed. Tor will blow you into Phantom Hammer mist and spread your ashes to the winds... like he did Hel Sarie."

Yadda yadda yadda you're a crazy egotist who can't accept defeat WE GET IT YOU ARE DEAD.



Reading time is over. Let us ascend to the top!



After a long elevator ride, we arrive at an even longer cutscene.



There's the General. Dang, he's tall.



Already this is off to a brilliant start.

At least he lowered his gun. Now let's hear their discussion. It's kinda long.



Uh-oh, he's not convinced.



A familiar glow in the clouds...



Well, hell.



Earth's gonna be destroyed, and we're stuck fighting a Komato General.



"WROOOAAAAAGH!"

He's not much bigger than an Annihilator, so we should be okay, right?



...Oh. He's got an exoskeleton too.



An Eidolon-class Komato General Exoskeleton, and a Nanogun to match.



Kids, meet the final boss of Iji: Komato General Tor.



So, basic info: Tor shares the same traits as Proxima's armor, sans halving damage from explosive weapons, so anything weaker than a Splintergun won't do a damn thing to him. As for his attacks, he has three "phases" he switches through.



He starts by flying out to that building by the sunrise and using one of three attacks. This is the first of them, Death Hail. Just stand between the targeting and you'll be safe, at first.



"It's useless, human!"

After that, he lands and starts firing weapon pairs. Demonstrated here is the combo of the Ripper, a kind of blue shotgun that leaves shockwaves, and the Zica burst, a stomp that launches energy from the ground. Tor will rely more heavily on weapons that he hits more often with, and he has eight weapons to make pairs with, four first-phase weapons (Ripper) and four second-phase weapons (Zica burst).



"You're fighting death, human."

After three such volleys, he'll start charging his Nanogun for a stronger attack.



If you have the Resonance reflector out in time, you can reflect it...



But if you don't, it will instead begin to orbit around the General. After every charged shot, he flies back to the sunrise to complete the cycle, dropping red Nano in the process.

"Rrrr!"

A direct hit with a reflected charge shot deals heavy damage, though. And you want to keep reflecting those shots, too, because if he gets enough of them, he'll pull out his Superweapons. That didn't happen this fight, but I'll showcase it in the pacifist playthrough.



In addition to weighting his weapon selection depending on what hits, the more he uses attacks, the more deadly they become. Death hail adds a second wave of shots after the first, for example.



Another of his attacks is the Megamissile, not unlike the ones used by the searchlight in Hero 3D. These can be dodged or reflected, but reflected shots won't hit him.



"Don't think it's over so easily!"

If you're feeling reckless, you can try reflecting charged shots that are orbiting him, which prevents him from using them to fuel a Superweapon, but getting close to Tor is usually a bad idea.



His last long-range attack is Eruption, which is basically Megasmash. Jump when you see the red laser flash along the ground to stay safe.



"Die."

The best strategy for Tor is to fire your strongest weapons during the first two combo shots, in our case the MPFB Devastator, Velocithor, and Plasma cannon, and then switch to the Resonance reflector during the third combo shot.



Don't get complacent either: Tor has a lot more survivability than Iji does, and you've got to maintain your dodging to stay ahead.



For reference: his first-phase weapons are the Ripper, a heavy stomp that can launch Iji skyward but do no damage, a Ragebomb that's like a projectile version of Nanochaos, and a Tyrian claw that places hovering blades all over that travel left or down after a short time. Second phase weapons are the Arch Devastator (think a hypothetical crack of a Shotgun and an MPFB), the Ultra shotgun which takes so long to fire that it's his easiest weapon to avoid by far, the Zica burst, and Fractal rockets that split off multiple times.



Okay, nearly done. It's time for the killing banana! Er... blow. I said blow, not banana. Shut up.



Watch your step!



That last blow did it, his exoskeleton's exploding!



I'm suddenly very glad they removed the warheads in General exoskeletons.



The blast is still very impressive.



After hanging in the air for what feels like ages, we finally land in a room below where the floor once was.



Metal clatters to the ground all around Iji as she approaches him.

...Tor, stop that. This is a serious point, we don't need to see your balancing act.



Talk fast, Iji, the Alpha Strike is still charging.



A chance? Haha no, not with the Komato at the wheel.



Huh... maybe we're actually getting through to him?



So humanity just dies because of bureaucracy. That wasn't fun in the Hitchhiker's Guide, and you aren't nearly as funny as Douglas Adams.



A communicator in Tor's helmet blinks on.



wait what



So... we survive! Maybe! I hope so.



"...count, and I take full responsibility for what's happened to Origin. Iosa is dead... and the Tasen are gone. I don't believe in your future, so I don't want to live to see Origin die. And if you can't return home... then neither shall I."

Those sound like last words...



Tor ignites his Nanofield, killing himself...



Leaving Iji alone to come to terms with the truth.



She saved what's left of Earth, true.



But there's no one here. The research facility houses only the dead.



Without the Komato breathing down her neck, there's nothing stopping her from truly grasping that.



A sound all about her causes her to look up.

The Komato fleet is leaving. They won't ever come back.



We succeeded!



Not without a lot of cost, though.



Krotera, Asha, and Iosa, all dead by Iji's hands.



The only Komato who displayed anything close to mercy chose to kill himself rather than face the aftermath of what he's done.



But this is Earth, after all. Home to all three races.



We survived, and we'll rebuild. We're good at that.



Takes more than a war or two to take down Earth, after all.



Humanity survives and rebuilds, arming itself should the Komato ever return.



We did well.



...Aw damn it, only nine cracks away from Nanomaster! I AM ETERNALLY SHAMED.



Anyway, unlockables. Iji has a ton of extras and secrets to it, as you've already seen from the main Sectors. And I'll gladly show those off once we see how the pacifist ending plays out.

Next Time: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

More Asha than Assassin, but in retrospect (and keeping in mind some stuff you haven't shown off (yet))... this is amazingly true :V

D:

I can't wait to see how pacifist pans out.

If you think that's D:, you should hear the music that goes with those end credits.

Aye, I love that song (I first heard of Iji from a Homestuck AMV, actually).

It's extremely fitting, in that D:'ish kind of way. But also very beautiful.

So, playing pacifist for the final Sector. There's a few changes to the gameplay, but most people won't actually notice them their first time through.



"Iosa has fallen! Something is going very, very wrong here, and I don't wanna stick around to find out what!"

At this stage, though, Iji has, as far as everyone knows, killed the pillar of the Imperial Army. Be it fear or fury, she has inspired a reaction in every Komato.



"All available units in area 693K-X79 are to seek and destroy the "Human anomaly". If possible, avoid complete termination; High Command wants to study her Nanotechnology, and in particular her Nanogun. The Alpha Strike has been postponed until either this goal is achieved, or it becomes decided that we have lost too many forces to her. High Command and General Tor both reserve the right to call back all forces and commence Alpha Strike at any given moment; their patience is rapidly running out. Beware - this is the same individual that we believe killed Annihilator Iosa. Do not underestimate her under any circumstances."

Asha's orders were given to all the Assassins, so why didn't we fight any?



"Okay, every one of us in the Assassin squad have read Asha's orders by now - and you know what? Behind that calm military talk lies a person who's gone completely insane. Asha's gonna take on the Anomaly no matter what! I'm bailing out of this one, and I know you're all with me - let's head up to lower orbit, the bounty ain't worth the risk. Asha can do what he wants, and he can die whatever horrible death that crazy human's got in store for him as far as I'm concerned!"

Because they are damn terrified of Iji, and just as terrified of Asha.



"Most of the ships have gone up to lower orbit by now, spreading out to prepare our section of the Alpha Strike. It's starting to feel empty here... I just hope they remember to pick us all up. When the sky goes white from a thousand ships charging the Strike, you ain't got time to stand around and smell the corpses... speaking of which, that soon-to-be-dead human should be reaching this place soon, but she won't be getting any farther. Not only has this power core's tendrils burrowed down and locked any nearby doors, it's specifically built to resist the Nuke Nanoweapon, so you can't even destroy the core without opening its blast doors. Also, you-know-who is guarding one of the terminals to those doors now."

The sky is mostly vacant at this stage too, since the Komato have largely begun to head up upper orbit for the strike.



Anyway, since we lack a Velocithor, we'll have to destroy the Core the old-fashioned way.



I'm the best at stealth.



"I think I know why they're so determined to catch her dead or alive. First off, she's a human with Nanotechnology - how did she get it? Was it a Tasen experiment, or a human one? What implantation process did they use? Secondly, her Nanogun is ridiculously rare. It's a Tasen-made replica of a Komato General GEN2 Pre-loader, the kind that can charge and store its projectiles instead of having to build them on-demand when you press the trigger every time. This lets her fire whatever Nanoweapon she wants without prior warning. More importantly, the Nanogun's small enough to be carried by a single Trooper, something we've been trying to do for starturns. These guns aren't easy to come by, and the Tasen would rather destroy them than let them fall into our hands - they either supplied the Anomaly directly with this copy, or she stole it from them."

Oooh, neat! We have a gun used by Generals? No wonder we fire instantly rather than having to charge heavy weapons.



"I suspect you've been reading our logbooks, Anomaly... a dangerous distraction. I advise against taking on the Imperial Army, as there may still be a slight chance you would not be executed if you were to turn yourself in. Slight, I say - as the bounty on your hollow human skull is my ticket out of this damn mess. For making me the laughing stock of my own men and the shame of the Army for losing to a human, you are beyond a mere bounty. We postponed the Alpha Strike to hunt you down - don't think you can hide for long. You are dead meat, little girl, and your dying screams will be the symphony to my fame and fortune! If I cannot defeat you, I might as well die! I WILL NOT HOLD BACK!"

Asha continues to be one of the few Komato who acknowledges our existence as something beyond a target, and only then because he's the sorest loser this side of Origin.



"I heard this loon has taken the expression "plasma bolt reflexes" to perfection. After his latest bouts of training, Asha claims to have acquired the skills necessary to avoid ANY possible attack in existence. I know he's boastful, but I don't doubt he's really that fast, especially in an area he's familiar with. There's a place down here that's extremely similar to the Assassin training chambers, meaning he has a mental map of it laid down already. Of course, pride has always been his downfall, hasn't it? Even after he lost his arm, he still insisted on not avoiding everything, because he thought it would be pathetic if he lost to someone, say, wielding some ancient Nanoweapon like a Shotgun or Buster gun. What's up with that? It's like an obsession. He seems to think taking bullets head on is a sign of combat spirit and discipline, and deliberately avoiding weapons that pathetic is a sign of weakness... maybe even to the death."

Too bad for him, he's got a terminal case of blatant stupidity.



He's not much harder to fight in pacifist difficulty, since by this point you're likely guaranteed enough stats to take him on, and high Tasen/Komato stats don't mean anything here.



Pacifist Iji's first kill.



I like that this goes by as quickly as it does. No debating over what he said like with Krotera or Iosa, just "welp that's done, what's next?".



Anyway, now the two terminals are handled, we don't need our Velocithor.



A single Shotgun is all it takes to blow it open.

"The criminals known by the nicknames "Craxmasta", "NanoBitSplit" and "OmnikrakR" have all finally been caught and brought to military law for illegal Nanotechnology reverse engineering. Their sentences vary from guard duty to prison and rehabilitation depending on the severity of their crimes. High Command says to let this be a warning to the cracker culture and their attempts to undermine the Imperial Army and Imperial Weapon Industries' hard work."

But KIWI just does the same thing crackers do... ah, forget it.



"An enormous leap forward in Annihilator-class exoskeletons, the "Eidolon" model was created solely for use by Komato Generals. As it is designed to battle armies, most of its armaments rely on unfocused, large-scale attacks, and it has trouble aiming at nearby units. However, its most powerful weapon doubles as an accurate long-range attack - the Phantom Hammer. No General has yet to fall in battle piloting an Eidolon, and even though many of its weapons can be repelled with a mere Resonance reflector, none have survived long enough to even attempt it. Even the legendary Hel Sarie of the Tasen Elite, known for driving modified Tasen Cruisers into surface battles, fell to General Tor while defending Elem Sioz, one of the last Tasen homeworlds. General reportedly destroyed both the Cruiser's reactor core and Hel Sarie herself with a Phantom Hammer shot."

That... is an impressive weapon. Let's not get hit by a Phantom Hammer, how about.



Dan can see their defenses up ahead, so we're not caught off-guard by the last stretch.



"I ain't sparing anyone who tries to run from this mission. Our opponent is a single damn human, so get your asses over to your posts and KILL HER DEAD. You say she's just some grunt? I say she's the killer of our honored Iosa, using unique Nanotechnology and a priceless Nanogun, and so does High Command. And do you mess with high Command? NO. AND YOU DON'T MESS WITH ME EITHER, SO GET THAT HUMAN. If you're more afraid of her than ME, YOU'RE A TRAITOR."

Wow. This is the only logbook in the game written by an Annihilator. And, uh... it kinda shows.



"Don't complain, Tarixuro. I wanted to be famous, and what am I famous for? Inventing and coding the kill counter in the Annihilator's visor displays. Some people want me dead for what happened at Ciretako, like it's my fault. And I don't even know what the Annihilators will say when they find out that the counter reverts to zero after passing a thousand. Iosa the Invincible once reported the bug, but at least now she won't be telling anyone. Heh heh."

Y'know, if it was me, I'd have made the kill counter standard for all units. It's not like it'd be hard to implement.



You can only activate the Annihilator Beta if you hit that terminal in Sector 8. We didn't, but that's fine, we didn't need to.



"When people say they hate their job, I ask them if they have to travel for hundreds of turns on end through dead space just to find and kill some puny Tasen. What's the use of the Imperial Army when the Tasen are gone? Oh right, they need people for guard duty. And guess who'll be flying around guarding some random Komato planet from absolutely no-one? That's right, people like ME. Bored Troopers and lifelong guard duties is what'll be feeding Zentraidon."

That's actually a good point. With an entire culture built around their army, what happens now that they're deprived of a target? My money's on civil war, which won't ever end because they have so many planets colonized.



The last pacifist Nano Overload, and among the worst, Nanoforge awards ammo depending on what weapon you get hit by. So if you get hit by a rocket, you get Rocket ammo. Blah.



Now then, let's see what General Tor's got to say.



"This is Assassin Ansaksie. I forgot to thank you for your help. It's because of your cracking skills that we got anywhere near beating Iosa at all. The Imperial Army won't take her death lightly, and whatever happens when you get to Tor can only make it worse. Still, you've got a strong mind. I'm with General Tor, but if a mere human is enough to change him... perhaps I need to change as well ans leave the Army. Don't worry about me, just do what you think is right. To be honest, I would have respected you even more had you not killed a single one of your enemies, but I guess that's too much to ask of a soldier. /Ansaksie"

Oh wait, Ansaksie left a logb-- hang on. "Had we not killed a single one of our enemies?"



Okay. There are a number of "guaranteed" kills in the game, which require the player to do things to avoid them, and it is possible to avoid every such kill in the game. From the top:



Krotera: Maintain the truce in Sector 3, and Vateilika will kill him for you.



The Trooper in the ambush: Destroy the teleporter with the Trapmine. Which to say, save Dan.



Iosa: Bring Ansaksie into the fight by entering Deep Sector, necessitating you avoid killing the girlfriend in Sector 3 and stay pacifist up to Sector 9's end.



And now we'll "spare" Asha. But first, an interesting quirk of the Scrambler.