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Gundam Seed Destiny - Renpou Vs Zahuto II Plus
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CONSOLIDATED FAQ, v1.0

Introduction
Following on from the recent Japanese release of this game on the PS2, there
has been a great deal of activity in the GameFAQs message board regarding the
same questions over and over. This is mainly because whilst there is a great
deal of info floating around, it is not consolidated into an FAQ.

This FAQ is really just a collection of the writings by other people. I owe
this to:

DDT213

(More will be added later)

This FAQ is a bit of a slapdash job, mainly cut and paste from the forums. If
anyone would like to download, edit it and clean it up - particularly the
formatting - then that's fine with me, as I won't have the time. We really need
an English Wiki. Make sure you credit the source, and remember, it ISN'T me.

Things this FAQ still needs:

Complete list of mobile suits/armours and characters
Combo list for main mobile suits
More general gameplay advice
In depth Mobile suit guides, ideally for Impulse, Strike, Destiny, Legend,
Strike Freedom, Freedom, Justice, Infinite Justice, Providence, the Akatsuki's
and the rest of the major cast's suits
Strategy guides; such as winning as and beating melee heavy suits, winning as
and beating range heavy suits, strategies for two-man teams, etc

OK, now onto the FAQ proper.

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Contents:
================

1.0 Game introduction:
2.0 Menu Translation
3.0 Controls/Button Settings (default)
4.0 Arcade Notation
5.0 -Awakening
6.0 If you understand Japanese
7.0 Unlockables
8.0 FAQ

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1.0 Game introduction:
---------------------

First off, in case you haven't played the first game, here is how it works. In
a regular stage, you're trying to decrease CPU's battle gauge to 0 before they
do yours. Each unit has its own cost, and the better they are, the higher they
cost. You get 1000 points in total for your battle guage, as shown in the unit
selecting screen. Also, your CPU ally will only cost 1/2 of the original
points. In a Target stage, your winning condition will always be destroying the
target.

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2.0 Menu Translation
--------------------------

Main menu

-VS mode
-Arcade mode
-PLUS mode
-Challenge mode
-Gallery
-Option


-VS mode settings

-Stage
-BGM
-Timer

-Battle gauge
-Damage LV
-Booster gauge
-Awakening duration
-Awakening gauge fill rate.


-PLUS mode

-Start fresh
-Continue

-Triangle: Character data
-Start: Menu
-L1/R1: Character cursor
-R2: Zoom in/out

(Character data)
-Level
-Trust level
-Result/Mission select count
-Winning %/Friendly-Foe
-R1= MS list
-L1= Character list/Special commands list

-Gallery

-Character list
-Movie list
-Art work list
-Sound list


-Option

-Game settings
-Button settings
-Screen adjustment
-Ranking
-Save/Load

(Game settings)

-Difficulty level
-Damage level
-Timer
-Booster gauge
-Awakening duration
-Awakening gauge fill rate
-Sound (Stereo/Mono)
-SE
-BGM
-Voice

----------------------------------
3.0 Controls/Button Settings (default)
----------------------------------

-Circle: Change target
-Triangle: Melee attack
-Cross: Jump
-Square: Shoot
-R1: Sub weapon/Melee+Shoot
-L1: Command (Give orders to your teammate)
-R2: Special Melee/Melee+Jump
-L2: Special Shoot/Shoot+Jump
-R3: Awakening/Shoot+Melee+Jump
-L3: Special Command (PLUS mode only)
-Vibration
(Start=confirm, Select=default)

------------------------------
4.0 Arcade Notation
------------------------------

For convenience purposes, arcade players have developed shorthands to express
the commands and attacks. Since there are only 4 buttons on an arcade machine
(not including the Start button), they are refered as letter a, b, c, and d.
The directions are refered as 2, 4, 6, and 8 corresponding with the number pad
on a keyboard.

a= Shoot

b= Melee

c= Boost

d= Search

ab= Sub weapon (shown as Sub weapon 1)

ac= Special shoot (shown as Sub weapon 2)

bc= Special melee


Units with melee have different kinds of moves...


b= Neutral melee (also can be refered as ''nb'')

4/6b= Side melee (4b will look the same as 6b. They just move in from different
sides)

8b= Foward melee

MAb= Mobile Armor melee (MA like Savior doesn't have a MAb. When you do melee
in MA mode, they come out just like in MS mode)

*2b= Back meelee (Not many suits have a 2b. If it doesn't, using 2b will be the
same as using nb)

*ccb= BD melee (Not many suits have ccb. If it doesn't, using ccb will be the
same as using nb)

-BD= Boost Dash. It's done by quickly tapping the boost button twice when
you're in mid-air. Some people also call it ''cc''...

-CS= Charge Shot. It's done by holding the corresponding button(s) until the
weapon bar flashes MAX, then releasing it. Only a certain amount of units have
this.

-MCS= Multi-lock Charge Shot. It allows you to attack 2 targets with one
attack. The charging part is the same as a normal CS. When it flashes MAX,
change target, then release it. Only a few units have this. SF, Legend, and
Noir.

-CSC= Charge Shot Cancel. It's done by releasing a CS after an attack. You can
CSC to perform a combo, or to save yourself from missing a melee. For example:
Duel AS ''bc>CS''.

-QC= Quick Charge. QC means firing a CS right after a normal shot. Hold down
the button until the bar is 80%~90% full. Release it, and quickly it hold it
again and charge the bar to 100%. What happens is, when you first release the
button and prees+hold it again, a regular shot is fired. After that, you'll be
able to fire your CS immediately after that shot since you're just charging
from 90% to 100% instead of from 0% to 100%. This is used to catch steps or
anyone who tries to melee you when you're recovering from your first shot.
(Buster also had a glitch with this in AvZ 1 where it could fire a curving CS
which has insane accuracy. Because of that, some ppl called this ''QG'', as in
''Quick Gureto'', instead of QC.)

-SC= Step Cancel. It's done by 44/66c--->4/6c--->4/6c--->4/6c... This trick
shortens the recovery time of stepping allowing you to quickly move to a
direction without having to finish a step. In AvZ 1, SC used to let your unit
stay in the air longer, but now in this game it eats up a lot of booster. So
abusing it is not recommended since it'll do you more harm than good.

-JC= Jump Cancel. Unlike SC, JC just means you jump out of an attack, which is
only doable in SPEED of course.

-BRC= Beam Rifle Cancel. When you chain in a BR during or after a melee combo,
it's a BRC. BRC % adjustment is greatly decreased in this game compared to the
prequel, which makes draining move such as 4/6b>a a LOT weaker than before.
With everybody trying to drain everybody else in the previous game, this is a
good change in terms of balancing.

-GH= Green Homing. When the target is out of your weapon's effective range,
it's shown on your screen as a green lock instead of a red lock. Usually with
that range, most weapons have little to no tracking ability on that target.
However with GH, you're now able to track your green-lock target as if he's a
red-lock target. The way to do proper GH is...1. Fire the shot 2. Immediately
change target right before the shot actually comes out, and that shot will be a
GH'd shot. Not every weapon can be used with GH. Only missles, Bazooka, Plasma
cannons, railguns...etc. are GH-able.

Why do some players try to pull off GH even on red-lock targets?? It's one of
the followings...

-He's plain stupid and/or doesn't know what GH really means.
-He's trying to get a sucker shot in. <---(most likely)
-He's simply checking the other target in advance. <---(this too)
-Nasty habit that he can't get rid off.
-He's being an ostrich (as long as I don't see the target I'm actually firing
at, he won't counterattack me. EVAR!!)

Over-abusing GH even when not needed (red-lock) can get you in troubles
sometimes. I've seen many players getting own'd because they're too slow to
react to what's RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM while busy attacking it with unnecessary
GH maneuver.

-----------------
5.0 -Awakening
-----------------

The Awakening bar on the screen is devided into 2 parts. You can choose to
activate it when it reaches 50%, or wait until it's 100% full. There's no
difference between 50% and 100% except for the duration, so don't bother saving
it to 100% for a ''greater effect''...it just doesn't work like that. You have
3 kinds of Awakening abilities to choose from this time, and here's what they
can do in common right when you activate them.

-Ammo refill
-Booster gauge refill
-Automatic flip-escape ONLY when being flinched/staggered, or down'd.


Now onto their unique effects and what they look like...

RUSH (bleary lights all over the unit)

-Insane reload speed (basically unlimited ammo)

-Shortened recovery time for shooting, making it possible to shoot consecutively

-Allows you to connect your attacks freely. (Ex: 4b>b>4b>b>a)

-Damage received is reduced by 25%


POWER (Concentrated glowing from the center of the unit)

-Damage delivered is increased by 75%

-Won't be flinched/staggered before reaching the Down point limit, which is 5

-Speed down. (Yes, it's a side effect)

-Second-impact % adjustment is ignored. Whenever you're attacked consecutively,
the latter attacks will be weakened for balancing purpose. For example, 2
consecutive BR will only deal 150 (100+50) dmg normally, but if you're in
POWER, the damage you'll recieve is 200 (100+100). In other words, the 2nd shot
is NOT weakend. (Another side effect)


SPEED (scattered light chip around the unit, kinda look like Destiny's Wings of
Light)

-BD, walking, and stepping speed in greatly increased/attack and landing
recovery time is reduced

-Allows you to step (on the ground only) even with an empty booster gauge

-Allows you to cancel out your attacks with a step or a jump (some attacks such
as a Charge Shot can NOT be canceled out when you're in the middle of it,
however, you CAN reduce the recovery time afterwards, or stop it BEFORE firing
it.) To form a combo with SPEED, you're looking at something like
this...''b>JC>b>JC>b>b>b''.
--------------------------
6.0 If you understand Japanese
--------------------------

There are two wikis for the game, both with copious amounts of info. However
they're both in Japanese and do not translate well using online tools. These
are:

http://www8.atwiki.jp/destiny/pages/542.html
http://www12.atwiki.jp/destiny_rvsz2plus/pages/1.html

If you can read Japanese you should check them out.

-------------------------
7.0 Unlockables
-------------------------

You unlock units+Routes by beating the Arcade mode ## times. The difficulty
doesn't matter, and the choice of your pilot/unit/route don't matter either.
You should be able to unlock everything after 11 runs of Arcade mode.

1: Route G
2: Route H
3: Blaze Zaku (Heine)
4: Gells-Ghe
5: Gouf Ignited (Izak)
6: Blaze Zaku (Dearka)
7: Zamza-Zah
8: MP Black ASSH
9: Red Gaia (Waltfeld)
10: Stargazer
11: Route I

---------------------
8.0 FAQ
---------------------

-How do I transform into MA mode?
A: 22/44/66/88 while holding the boost button.

-How do I do Strike Freedom's shooting-with-2-guns attack?
A: SF's MCS. See above.

-Does Strike Freedom have a Full Burst attack with Dragoons?
A: NO. The closest thing you can do is fire the Full Burst attack right after
firing the Dragoons. There's no single command for it.

-How do I do that cool fly-by attack for Strike Freedom/Freedom?
A: ccb/BD b. Also, for other suits, try 8b.

-Why can't my MA transform back right away sometimes?
A: When you shoot in MA mode, it increases the time that you stay in MA mode by
a short second.

-How do I get a badge/get into EX phase?
A: By playing well. Usually, if you don't die, and take most of the KOs, you'll
get one.

-How do I get into stage 10, aka Final Plus?
A: By having 5 Faith badges in total, and no continues of course.

-Why do I keep getting killed by the comp? Is there a trick to beat the CPU?
Don't say I suck.
A: No there is not. You suck. Play better or deal with it.