Little Tokyo, DowntownPrerequisites: Complete “It’s Me! Fizzie!”
Having smashed up Fizzco’s snotty flying mascot/security drone, you can find its A.I. core in a mild crater on the electric company’s grounds. Sam sees this as a unique opportunity to gain some insight into Fizzco’s software engineering. If you can tote Fizzie’s A.I. core to some of the Fizzie Fortunes amusement machines, Sam may be able to hack into the A.I. core. It can’t just be any Fizzie Fortune machine; it has to be a particular one Sam specifies. Pick up the A.I. core and head for the first machine just to the northeast. Lugging Fizzie’s A.I. core is just like lugging a barrel or case of water. You can still move normally; you just can’t fire guns.
When you find this first Fizzie Fortune machine, you’ll have to insert the A.I. core and then defend the machine for a while during Sam’s hack. During this Quest as much as any other event, the usefulness of deployable guns is highlighted. During the first hack, Sam only needs 30 seconds to tinker with Fizzie’s “brain.” Hold the scattered OD here at bay until Sam tells you to pick the A.I. core back up and take it to the next location.
At the second Fizzie Fortune station, Sam will need 50 seconds to hack away rather than 30. The opposition will be stouter, too; there are OD here, but Fizzco also wises up and drops in Fizzco Bots to intercept your hack attempt. You’ll have to hold off both Fizzbots and mutants for almost a minute. On the bright side, they’ll fight each other too.
As Sam delves into Fizzie’s code, Fizzie’s consciousness (or its approximation of consciousness) begins to warp. When plugged into this station, Fizzie begins to feel sadness about its plight and its past actions. The A.I. core begins to cry Overcharge, somehow, which attracts OD during Sam’s hack. The hack length here is about 50 seconds, but a Spawner attacks with lots of backup.
As you plug Fizzie’s A.I. core into this Fizzie Fortune station, it seems like you should batten down the hatches for the longest defense yet—Gunkers approach along with other OD, and the timer is for almost a minute and a half. But Fizzie, its mental processes increasing in clarity, decides it wants out of its limited existence, locks Sam out of this station, and initiates self-destruct. You have a minute and twenty seconds to take a glowing-red Fizzie core to a station far to the northwest so Sam can disable the self-destruct sequence.
Provided you arrive at this station in time, Sam can disable Fizzie’s self-destruct sequence. He’s able to briefly disable Fizzie’s acting out, but this hack alerts a focus group of Fizzco Bots. 20 Fizzco Bots will stream in (not all at once, thankfully, but little by little) looking to “focus test” you (read: try to kill you). There are plenty of grind and bounce surfaces so you can stay too mobile a target for the Blade Bots; swap to an anti-Fizzco weapon like Shocker, Murderang, or Fizzbot Rifle and cut through their ranks. Watch out when the Fizzco Bot focus group releases its slow rain of red balloons; these are filled with explosive gas and will deal significant damage to you if they detonate nearby. Blow them up with gunfire from afar to be safe.
Once the robot focus group is eliminated, Sam re-engages Fizzie’s A.I. core. Fizzie achieves a moment of lucid clarity. To complete the Quest, finish Fizzie’s request.