Another Century's Episode 2 (Challenge Run): Op-22 Operation Lightning (Grados)
The next two Ops have the same name, so I've added the main enemy of each to the title. Welcome to another set of honestly pretty rough stages. The first mission in this Op involves fighting the Death Demon Squad from SPT Layzner, with the benefit that each of them you defeat here stays dead for the final mission against Ru Kain (except Gostero because not staying dead is kinda his whole deal). The hard fight here, though, is the second mission. The first part of the stage is full of enemy Skullgunner units, which are primed to self-destruct when they reach the resistance building. They also dodge really well and move erratically, which fits their behavior in SPT Layzner quite well. Taking advantage of the Analyzer module to have more frequent Combination Attacks was a godsend for actually clearing that mission. Again, I'm glad I saved a good missile specialist like the Falguen for so late into the campaign.
Challenge Rules:
ACE Difficulty
No stat upgrades (units have base stats for the whole game)
Special/Combo upgrades only on units that get Custom Upgrades (like the Dragonar units)
Reuse units/forms only when necessary (chain missions count as one use)
Another Century's Episode 2 is a 2006 follow-up/sequel to the original game, produced by Banpresto and developed by From Software. ACE 2 takes the fanfiction-style crossover narrative of Super Robot Wars and combines it with an arcade shooter style action game, likely inspired by games like Virtual On. Featuring machines and characters from 14 different anime series in addition to original designs, ACE 2 is a solid improvement on the baseline established by the original Another Century's Episode.
