At any rate, condensing the plot to fit the pace of the game is a better alternative to dragging out the short playtime with lengthy exposition dumps. I consider that a part of its charm, though that may arguably be due to the fact that I’ve replayed it several times and actually know what’s going on in each cutscene. This story rapid-fires so much information it’s hard to follow everything in a single playthrough. Did I mention that Saki gains control of his Ruffian form thanks to the power of love? Because that happens too. Yeah, this plot escalates stupidly quickly. Oh, and the final boss is a fake Earth that you have to destroy while protecting the real Earth’s HP bar.
One arc later the whole plot is revealed to be a ploy by Achi, who wants to train Saki to be a weapon against her true enemies whom we never see in this game, which naturally leads to her usurping the role of the main antagonist.
I did not know that said captain would transform into a skyscraping Ruffian, prompting Saki to do the same as the proceeding boss battle bathes Tokyo in a sea their own blood (quick aside, it’s very bold and progressive for an early 2000s game to feature a kaiju protagonist).
To be fair, by the time Saki fought an Armed Volunteer captain who attacked by teleporting her own soldiers and throwing them as projectiles, I knew I was in for a weird ride.
