How to Complete the Gear Collection in Fuga: Melodies of Steel

In Fuga: Melodies of Steel, the Gear collection serves as the ultimate record of your mastery over the Taranis’s capabilities and the various tactical components discovered throughout the Berman war. For completionists, filling every slot in this menu is more than just a badge of honor; it is a testament to your tactical thoroughness. While the game does not always provide a direct map to every gear piece, achieving 100% collection status is a manageable goal if you understand how the game handles stage exploration, route branching, and the nuances of the EX Mode system.

The Mechanics of Gear Collection

The Gear collection in Fuga: Melodies of Steel tracks the various mechanical upgrades, salvaged components, and technological findings you encounter throughout the children's journey. Unlike character-based affinity, which is tied to interpersonal interactions, the Gear collection is primarily tied to Node Completion and Route Discovery.

Every time you navigate the Taranis through a chapter, you are presented with branching paths. These paths are not just narrative choices; they determine which combat encounters, event nodes, and salvage opportunities you are exposed to. The Gear collection system populates itself based on the specific items you acquire from these nodes. If a slot remains empty, it almost certainly indicates that you have consistently avoided the specific path branches that lead to that item’s location.

Strategic Route Branching for Completionists

The most common reason players fail to complete their Gear collection is that they stick to the same "optimal" path—usually the one that offers the most resources or the easiest battles. To fill your collection, you must actively force yourself out of your comfort zone.

• Vary Your Paths: If you have favored the "Safety" (green) routes, you are likely missing gear pieces found exclusively on "Danger" (red) or "Mid" (yellow) routes. Danger routes frequently contain rarer salvage items that are required for the collection.
• The EX Mode Factor: Once you clear the main campaign, you unlock EX Mode. This is the primary playground for completionists. EX Mode allows you to carry over your tank upgrades and child levels, which makes tackling higher-difficulty paths significantly easier. Use these runs specifically to target routes you ignored in your initial playthrough.
• Node Exhaustion: Do not skip combat nodes if you are hunting for missing gear. Even if your tank is fully upgraded, fighting every enemy group increases the cumulative probability of dropping rare components or triggering events that update your collection database.

Why EX Mode is Essential

EX Mode is not just a "New Game Plus" feature; it is a tactical reset that removes the pressure of the main story’s difficulty curve. In your first run, you might have chosen a path to keep the children safe or to avoid resource depletion. In EX Mode, you can afford to be reckless.

Strategic recommendations for EX Mode completion:

1. Prioritize Combat Nodes: When choosing between a "Recovery" node and a "Combat" node, always choose Combat. Many Gear items are loot drops from specific Berman mechanical units.
2. Document Your Paths: Keep a mental (or physical) note of which branches you have taken. If you find your collection is stuck at a certain percentage, look at the branching map and identify the path you have never taken.
3. The "Forbidden Weapon" Run: While the Soul Cannon (the Taranis’s forbidden weapon) is a narrative tool, using it—or avoiding it—can sometimes influence the flow of late-game chapters. Experiment with different playstyles to see how they impact your final chapter outcomes.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Many players struggle with completion because they fall into predictable habits. Here are the most common pitfalls:

• Rushing Intermissions: During intermissions, ensure you are interacting with all available facilities. Sometimes, Gear updates are tied to research or interactions that you might overlook if you are simply trying to move to the next chapter.
• Ignoring Difficulty Spikes: Do not assume that a "Danger" route will result in a game-over screen. With your carry-over stats from an EX run, you are likely much stronger than the enemies on those paths. Embrace the danger to unlock the rewards.
• Assuming Randomness: While some loot drops are randomized, the availability of specific nodes is fixed by the path you choose. If you are missing a piece, it is rarely bad luck; it is almost always a missed path.

Expert Insight: The Cumulative Nature of Collection

Evidence from dedicated players suggests that the collection is cumulative across multiple playthroughs. You do not need to collect every piece in a single run. The game tracks your global progress. This means that if you are missing a specific item, you can load your EX save, play through the relevant chapters using the alternate route, and once the item is acquired, it is registered to your permanent collection.

You do not need to finish the entire game to "save" the collection progress. Once an item is registered, it remains in your menu even if you restart or quit. This makes it highly efficient to load up an EX save, blast through a specific chapter on a specific route to grab an item, and then move on to the next missing piece.

Summary Checklist for Completion

If you are determined to finish your Gear collection, use this checklist to guide your next session:

1. Check the Gaps: Examine your Gear menu to see if there are logical groupings (e.g., items that appear to be late-game or early-game).
2. Target the Route: If the missing gear is from an early chapter, start an EX run and intentionally take the path you previously avoided.
3. Maximize Combat: Engage in every optional battle node to ensure you aren't missing rare drops.
4. Rotate Choices: If you have done two playthroughs and still haven't found the item, ensure you haven't accidentally picked the same route both times.
5. Persistence: Remember that the "hidden" nature of some gear is simply a result of them being tucked away on the most difficult or least rewarding paths. Treat these paths as your priority until the collection is complete.

By shifting your mindset from "surviving the campaign" to "mapping every node," you will find that the Gear collection is not a mystery, but a straightforward rewards system for the most dedicated commanders of the Taranis.