Chapter 5 Part 1 of Heaven Burns Red defeated:

Heaven Burns Red continues to be the greatest video game ever made.  The new Chapter 5 isn't as good as Chapter 4 was, but nothing is as good as Chapter 4 in human history so it can be forgiven.  Chapter 5 Part 1 deals with Yuki and Ruka's past, as well as Seika's relationship to the rest of Squad 31-B.  It gets really intense near the end when Ruka is swallowed whole by a Cancer and it looks like another tragedy has ensued.  Luckily we're able to recuperate and rescue Ruka in a daring raid using the entire united force of the Seraph Butai.  There are so many Seraphs cooperating that you actually get to split your party into three full squads of 6 and fight with them independently as they move through the dungeon.  So now the game isn't satisfied with you having 2 max power squads, you're actually supposed to have cultivated 3 by now.  Luckily I've spent so much money on this game recruiting that I did indeed have an all-SS Memoria lineup of every member of Squads 31-A, 31-C and 31-D.  So I was able to conquer the dungeon while sticking to the intended plot of the story (the game allows you to assign characters who don't actually appear in the plot to the fight if you want, but I wanted the experience to feel fully genuine.)

The fight through the dungeon was tough mainly because Misato was the only useful character in 31-D.  The fight against the last boss was also tough because the boss hits really hard after you break its third gauge and I stupidly let my defenses down in an attempt to do more damage.  Nevertheless I eventually prevailed.  That's how a game should be -- challenging but rewarding.

By spending lots of money I also managed to snag all the new SS Memorias available until next Friday.  I realized that free quartz wouldn't be enough to get me everybody I wanted so I took the monetary plunge.  But as a reward I got everybody -- Snow White Yuki, summer Bon Ivar, and swimsuit Mari + Adelheid.  I actually immediately put swimsuit Adelheid to use and fought with her in the last dungeon.  She did pretty well too!

I also got Santa Misato and Akari, yukata Niina, base Shiki, base Seira, base Iroha and Spanish dress Yuki.  Santa Akari and base Iroha helped me in the last dungeon too, as did the skills I got from Snow White and Spanish Yuki.  It was the shortest ever turnaround from recruitment to actual combat.

I also got limit breaks to vulpine Miya, base Vritika, rocket Risa, base Misato (who I used in the last dungeon), swimsuit Mari and swimsuit Adelheid.  Vritika is now my third character to reach max limit break (level 4).  She joins Tama and Sumomo, even though I never particularly liked or wanted her.  But the rolls kept giving me more Vritika so here I am.  Now that she's gotten this strong I need to think about how to actually incorporate her into a serious combat strategy.

The game also gifted me a free eternal daphne which I used to strengthen shrine maiden Megumi.  The girls of 31-A are all daphne'd except for Ruka now.  Poor Ruka lags so far behind.

The story also explains the origins of the Narby alien species and why they showed up on Earth to fight the Cancer.  It turns out the Cancer were originally hunting the Narby and the Narby fled to Earth -- and the Cancer followed.  So it's kind of the Narbies' responsibility to save humanity if you ask me. (All Seraphim are Narbies who took on the forms and talents of exceptional dead humans.)  The Cancer feed off of intelligent alien species (just like the Orz did in Starcon), so the Narbies and the humans have a natural reason to cooperate to fend off this interstellar menace.

The game was so good I'm already counting the days until I can play Chapter 5 Part 2.  Apparently the next segment is going to delve into Karen's dark past.  Once she's covered all the main cast of squad 31-A will have gotten a dedicated story segment.  Karen's a great character so I can't wait to learn more about her.

I was able to acquire so many new SS Memorias because of the cool paid quartz offer where you could pick the 10 SS Memorias you wanted most and were guaranteed recruits from only that pool.  My strategy has always been to recruit as many trophy brides as possible and worry about their limit breaks later, so I went for all the Memorias I didn't have yet.  I'm especially happy about Santa Misato.  She's so beautiful.  But it does mean I'm underpowered compared to other players who have been dedicatedly playing the game all this time and putting all their strength into a single squad of 6 limit break 4 girls.  It's why I still can't beat some of the bonus bosses -- the game isn't unbeatable, but I keep getting distracted by the shiny new toys.

I also bought the new Edge of Eternities Magic cards I wanted.  They should be arriving in the mail within the next few days.  Mostly I'm still trying to power up my Final Fantasy decks by giving them better lands and filling in a few holes.  Edge of Eternities as a set doesn't interest me at all, unlike Final Fantasy which I spent my whole life playing and whose characters I love unreservedly.  After FF, it almost feels like Magic should just quit.  It can never top this set so why bother making more?  The sales figures agree with me.  Magic has sold more FF cards than like, its entire history of sales combined.  (yes, I'm exaggerating, but still. . .)  I'm not the only person out there who is loving FF Magic.  It's a worldwide phenomena.