Messages

3501

Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 04, 2009, 07:08:38 PM »

What's wrong with an original GBA? D:

Nothing, if the shoulder buttons worked, the screen wasn't scratched to hell, and the clip to the battery cover wasn't held together by plastic cement

Hence, "my" crapass original GBA.

(Hey, I took Xtreme2 EVERYWHERE, so the thing saw a lot of wear and tear.)

3502

Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 04, 2009, 02:01:32 AM »

Heh, when I did that I didn't even have an SP.  I had my crapass original GBA.

And hey, it gets you nifty trophies.  Works for me.

3503

Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:52:53 AM »

I just like Chaos Controlling through the Last Stage.  If it wasn't for the damn mission system making you unable to risk skipping targets nine times out of ten, that ability would have made the game so much more awesome.

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X / Re: Best and Worst Armors?

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:40:44 AM »

Certainly looks more badass.  I'm curious, being unable to play MHX, can Mega Tortoise survive that red buster shot?

I don't think it's fair to count the Saber as part of the armor. By that logic the X2 Armor would win flat out because of Agile's ceiling version.

It's not that the Saber itself is part of the armor, X can obtain it independent of the armor.  It's that the armor's effects on the Z-Saber are as valid as its effects on anything else (Dashing, X-Buster, special weapons).  Unarmored, X charges the Z-Saber in about half the time but is limited to a close-range slash, takes about half a boss gauge down.  Armored, X takes a much longer charge time to use the Z-Saber, but can fire an energy wave, which does extra residual damage after impact (although this can really screw you over against Doppler).

Does the Saber not count as part of the Falcon Armor?

The Falcon Armor has no effect on the Z-Saber.

Is "Damage Barrier" the official term for the Mercy Invincibility that MegaMan and the stage bosses get after each hit?

That's what I'm referring to, although I wouldn't call it an "official term" without a grain of salt.  It's actually the name of the Power-Up Part in X5/X6 that extends your invulnerability time in such a situation.  I use that name to refer to the invulnerability time itself as it is the only official-sourced term that I'm aware of to be used for that phenomenon.  Even though the name was given to a part and not to the actual event, it's as close as we've got.

ZX throws them out the window though.
ZX/OX rolling slash. it pwns so hard.

Not as hard as Screw Halberd.  Pity Leganchor.  And Thetis.

3505

X / Re: Whatever happen to Doppler town?

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:31:43 AM »

X an Zero explode in X5 too when you fight them... so does Lumine after his first fight, and hes jst fine.

Once per game.  After you've blown Dynamo up fourteen dozen times for Nightmare Souls, the question, "Why won't you die?!" is kinda hard to ignore.

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ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:28:12 AM »

I thought it was ridiculous that you needed upgrades that you can potentially miss to actually be able to finish the game unarmoured.

I will again reiterate that YOU SHOULD NOT BE PLAYING X6 UNARMORED IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING.  You start the game with Falcon Armor.  And it doesn't bite you.

I point out the fact that X5 did the same thing if you picked X.

You destroyed your own argument with that last phrase.  The difference is that X5's Fourth Armor is not unavoidable, you can start the game as Zero and you don't get it.  In X6, the Falcon Armor is completely unavoidable.  It is the standard, with no alternative, when you start the game.  You do not downgrade from your starting condition if you don't know what you're doing.

The only reason they went ahead with MM9 was because they knew that nostalgia would boost the sales on it quite a bit.

Could also have something to do with the fact that the development team was about twenty people.  Microscopic by today's standards.

That's right, you could finish that one unarmoured without any upgrades.

I will again reiterate that X5 is the ONLY game in the entire series in which this is possible.  Special weapons are upgrades, too.

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ZX / Re: Your Most Favourite english Voice overs in ZXA?

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:20:55 AM »

I need to stop breathing

Or just be thankful for the stability that is Nitrogen.

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ZX / Re: So, is this series becoming another legends?

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:18:00 AM »

I hardly believe any further Legends Title would be for Nintendo.

Why not?  MegaMan's generally been best received on Nintendo's platforms.

How many series failed on Nintendo?  ZX, arguably.

How many series failed elsewhere?  X, MHX, PU, Legends.

Nintendo is oldschool and MegaMan is oldschool.  I don't think it's any stretch that there'd be a correlation in the userbase, especially since at the release of MHX/PU the phrase, "I'd buy those if I had a PSP" was freaking everywhere on the internet.  The sooner Capcom realizes that, the better.

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ZX / Re: Who is the true puppetmaster? Model W (Dr.Weil) or Albert? Who controlls whom?

« on: September 04, 2009, 01:11:59 AM »

I already replied to this on X9.

As I stated earlier, Model W's intelligence or lack thereof is highly speculative.  It is living, and lack of communication does not necessarily mean a lack of intelligence.  Remove somebody's vocal cords, and it doesn't affect their brain.

Model W may be as you describe, or it may be wholly intelligent.  The games do not establish that either way.

We must further be aware that Model W has the unique status of being divided into multiple cores and fragments.  ZXA elaborates on the Model W cores, but doesn't really tell us anything about the fragments other than Albert using them as shields.  What traits do the fragments and cores share?  What differentiates them from each other?  Sharing the same Model label, and one being seen to absorb the other in ZX, implies some kind of link, but to what extent does that link go?  There's a world of information there that hasn't been touched on.

3510

Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 04, 2009, 12:56:49 AM »

Touche.

But we'll see if you say the same thing after realizing you have to play the exact same game four times over to unlock the Last Story (not that Shadow was very forgiving either with that final boss fork, but at least there's some decent stage variance).

3511

Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 04, 2009, 12:52:27 AM »

Sonic Heroes

meh, it's ok, still better than Sonic '06 and that unmentionable spin-off that's about that other hedgehog

You're nuts.  Shadow may not be prime material, but it beats the SH*#! out of Heroes.

3512

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: September 04, 2009, 12:43:39 AM »

"This video has been removed due to a terms of use violation."

Somehow, I could honestly imagine that popping up on my DS screen......

3513

Gaming / Re: Metroid Prime Trilogy Pack Coming Aug. 24th

« on: September 04, 2009, 12:41:09 AM »

I always left Prime 3 at Medium.    High sensitivity left the screen too jittery for me.

I just wish that in the Trilogy package they'd added an option to disable auto-level.  That was the most annoying thing about Prime 3 for me.  The whole point of the new controls is to grant more freedom, and yet every time you try to look up/down the game immediately tries to force you into the "correct" level.  It's a pain in the ass.

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X / Re: Best and Worst Armors?

« on: September 02, 2009, 01:55:11 AM »

X1's buster is my definite favorite.  That being said, boss Damage Barrier mechanics bit it in the ass.  If the X1 buster existed with X2's physics, it'd rock all.

Yes, X1's enhanced buster does only normal charged-shot damage.  However, two things can potentially screw you in addition to that.  One is the hang-time that allows the exceptionally quick-thumbed for fire an uncharged shot ahead of the spread, thus doing minimal damage to a boss and the Damage Barrier blocking the charged shot.  The other is the fact that at point-blank the shockwave from the buster hits in addition to the spread.  This little trick is what lets you wipe out Mega Tortoise in a single shot, but against bosses, it does minimal damage and activates their Damage Barrier, blocking the spread completely.

Think of it as the polar opposite of Gaia Armor's shot (worthless against enemies but absolutely rapes against bosses).



Anyways, to the original topic at hand:

Best Armor: Gotta go with X1.  I can't say no to my favorite buster.  But I'll give a runner-up to Shadow Armor.  Equip Ultimate Buster, Overdrive, and Hyper Dash, and the thing is unstoppable.

Worst Armor:  Blade Armor.  X3's buster may have been absolute suck, but at least it had a double-air-dash and added a Z-Saber wave (yes, that's an armor ability; X gets only a close-range blade unarmored).  Blade has an equally crappy buster and considerably less redeeming points.  It looks cool, and the concept was cool, but the thing simply lacks power all-around.  Even the Giga Attack is weak.


I have a long list of favorites to give honorable mentions to, though.

Falcon Armor - One of X5's few redeeming points, give it Speedster and you can REALLY fly.
Gaia Armor - Crippled by the game design, the buster would EASILY be worth the slowed dash if death-ray-hell wasn't the first stage you visit after completing it.  The insta-charge absolutely destroys bosses.
X-Fire - Kickass design overall.

3515

ZX / Re: Your Most Favourite english Voice overs in ZXA?

« on: September 02, 2009, 01:26:50 AM »

Well, you see I don't like Helios' nor Condorock's english names and will address them only in japanese.

You like the name Aeolus less than you like the name Bifrost?

Not like anyone watches them more than once anyway.

I resent that.  ZXA has some pretty kickass videos.  ZX's first-time Rock Ons weren't half bad, either.

......granted, they did get a little overzealous with Aile's video in ZXA.  It's over twice as large as any other clip
Not that the leg armor wasn't worth it.

Though I do kinda wonder how much space the cutscenes take up.

ZXA's movies are 11.6 MB (3.4 MB of that is Aile)
ZX's movies are 7.86 MB

Total streamed content (voices, movies, sfx) for both games is a little under 30 MB each.  Both games used a 64 MB cartridge.

I'm of course checking the Japanese versions for these numbers.  I haven't checked the U.S. Advent, but I know that for ZX, videos with subtitles were slightly larger than their Japanese versions.

3516

ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: September 02, 2009, 01:13:28 AM »

Right, but then it still seems like a needless equipment/character checkpoint, which ruins some of the potential for minimalist runs through the game.

Minimalist runs?  You can clear X6 having only obtained two upgrades.  One if you're playing as Zero.  It doesn't get more minimalist than that unless you're playing X5.  No other game besides those two lets you skip the eight bosses, therefore you cannot reach the end of any other title without at least eight upgrades.

An equipment/character checkpoint implies that the solution is a single mandatory item.  That is never the case within X6.  As I said X can get through the entire game with only two upgrades, but as for which two upgrades, there are five possible combinations (counting armor as one, but not counting special weapon choices, which would jack it up to 11; and if you discount Blade and Shadow as requiring 4 parts, that still leaves 3 combinations for X to work with).

Besides, isn't part of the challenge of a minimalist run determining what the minimum requirements actually are?  Yet every time I turn around I'm the one educating the rest of the internet on the fact that, yes, the game is not impossible with unarmored X.

Also, it's Messenko? not Rakuhouha? damn I have aids in my eyes >.>

According to Marshmallow Man's ZX guide translations, yes.

Nerfing is bad, m'kay, didn't appreciate it in Z4, can't appreciate it now.
btw in ZXA, is the charge saber 1 1/2 the regular slash's strength? I forgot.

As I recall, yes, Model ZX has the same charged saber strength between the two games.

BTW, I had a thought on the whole BME management debate.  A way to make your various forms' charged attacks more useful while retaining, and in fact adding, some Classic/X kudos:
RECHARGE BIOMETAL ENERGY AT TRANS SERVERS!
Seriously, I was replaying MM3 when it hit me, and I wanted to facepalm myself for not thinking of it sooner.  I use weapons in Classic because, Wily Castle excepted, I only have to worry about what I'll need until the end of the stage.  ZX has no interlinked stages and thus recharges health at Trans Servers, but not weapons.

It's little things like that which can detract so much from a game.  Same with ZXA and its forced switching for activating transport points.

3517

DASH / Re: Nino Ruins: The slow lag nightmare is finally over~

« on: September 02, 2009, 12:42:52 AM »

THAT'S what you call overpowered?  Try aiming my namesake at the Gustaff.

3518

Gaming / Re: Nintendo DSi Only Games Coming Sooner Than Expected?

« on: September 02, 2009, 12:38:03 AM »

Triple-confirmed as I remember reading about HG/SS Pal Park myself.

As for DSi-exclusives......good.  IF they come up with something worthwhile.  See, the DSi is not simply DS + cameras.  It is a more powerful system (double speed, 4x RAM).  But since Nintendo ninja-launched it with no warning, nobody actually knows that.  I doubt the first batch of exclusives will be anything to write home about, but either way, it's a start.

3519

ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: August 30, 2009, 04:47:56 PM »

The balance of adorable and menacing, with the echoes of the ocean abyss for dramatic effect?  Yeah, that's what I choose.

Who's your choice?  Prometheus?

Wait, where in MegaMan 1 do you get stuck with no way to die, barring zipping your way into a wall with Up+Down or the Magnet Beam itself?

Apologies, I forgot that you can go backwards across the screen-pans.  Still, backtracking for the explicit purpose of dying to get back to Stage Select is moronic.

3520

ZX / Re: Your Most Favourite english Voice overs in ZXA?

« on: August 30, 2009, 06:24:05 AM »

I probably have no right to speak with my insistence on "Rock On", but what is the deal with region-mixing in the poll?  Helios (Aeolus) and Condorok (Vulturon)?  You also misspelled Ugoyle.



Chronoforce was awesome.  Aeolus was an extremely close second.  Hedgeshock was adorable.  Grey and Ashe both had their highs and their lows (he high point for Ashe being, "MASTER ALBEEEEERT!!!").  Prometheus took some getting used to, but he's cool.

Vent was awesome in cutscene but sucked in actual dialogue.  Not sure what happened there.

Models X, Z, and A got the thankless job of replacing the X-series Ocean Group actors, all of which the ZXA cast can hold no candle to.  Model A in particular is a testament to being careful what you wish for; we finally have a half-decent tone match to the Japanese VA, and guess what, it's nothing special.

Aile was just horrible.  She combines dialogue-Vent's complete lack of emotion with a snake-like accent.

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ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: August 30, 2009, 06:19:12 AM »

Seeing how Mark is a doctor now... yeah, probably.

2 out of 3 would have been better than 0 out of 3.

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ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: August 30, 2009, 05:52:34 AM »

I didn't say they held a candle to Mark, Lucas, and the gang (and believe me I was as disappointed with their absence as anyone).  I just said it beats the hell out of ZX's localization, which was replacing Japanese VAs with dead silence.

So many players have no idea what they're missing with Lurerre....

3523

ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: August 30, 2009, 04:33:18 AM »

Yes and no.  It IS possible to get stuck in Gate's Lab if you're not properly equipped.  However, unlike MM1, it's not any one single item that is required.  Every "impossible" obstacle has numerous solutions.  Most are easier than they appear at first glance, too.  Zero, Blade, and obviously Shadow can all get past the infamous spike shaft without any additional weapons or equipment, and that's pretty much the toughest such obstacle the game throws at you.  And unlike MM1, it's at the beginning of the stage, so you don't waste time and effort clearing previous obstacles and enemies.

For unarmored, Falcon, and Ultimate (read: what you start the game with and what you achieve by cheat code), you have three height-boosters available (Ice Burst weapon, Jumper Power-Up Part, and Ultimate Armor's Nova Strike).  You will need two of those three.

X's course in the second Gate's Lab stage is the next most common complaint, as people who go in there with Shadow Armor/unarmored but without Hyper Dash (Jumper makes it easier but isn't necessary) find themselves at an impass.

In all cases, there's always the Return To Title Screen -> Use Previous Data option, so beyond load times, restarting isn't a big deal at all (valid point is this amounts to a free Stage Exit, so they may as well have just included that and made things more streamlined).  It's not like MM1 where you're stuck with no way to die; only the Reset button and starting the entire game over.  You do not have to kill yourself to return to Stage Select, even though a lot of players ignore that.

A lot of complaints boil down to the Shadow Armor's inability to air-dash, something that is an otherwise standard feature and the game is clearly designed to use it.  But that's simply the tradeoff you make for Shadow's completely ludicrous power.  You should have noticed that by the time you assembled it, and if you don't have the Parts to supplement it, you use it at your own risk.  Going unarmored, never at any point necessary in the game, is the same drawback with no real benefit outside of a slightly wider and weaker buster, and the sheer satisfaction of knowing you're just that badass.  You don't play X6 unarmored unless you know what you're doing, period.

3524

Gaming / Re: Your Top 5 PSP games?

« on: August 30, 2009, 03:34:11 AM »

I find it funny how just about every one of you has maverick hunter X in there Top 5 list, yet whenever I go to the X series sub forum, I see nothing but dislike for it... :/

I don't recall ever seeing dislike for MHX.  Possibly indifference due to many of us not owning a PSP and wishing Capcom would have ported the damn things, but that's about it.

3525

ZX / Re: Do you think ZX series would sell more if it was on Wii?

« on: August 30, 2009, 03:18:52 AM »

So not being able to get by as unarmoured X without any powerups whatsoever is good stage design to you?

YES.  Because unarmored X in X6 is not the standard, Falcon Armor is.  Unarmored X is the "extra challenge at your own risk" mode.  You START with Falcon Armor, there is no reason to be using anything less maneuverable and powerful than that (albeit Blade barely qualifies as stronger than Falcon).

It's not good level design when you need an optional upgrade to advance normally, point final.

Falcon Armor is default, you do not forego it unless you're damn sure of what you're doing.  It's not like X5 where your player choice can cost you your starting enhancements.  Show me one Museum area that Falcon cannot clear (Nightmare effects irrelevant, since by your argument you're starting the game on it).

100% agreed, you opened my eyes when it comes to these two titles, and for it, I am truly grateful.
*hugs X2 Soul Eraser cartridge*

Oh, how I wish the contacts on my GBC cart hadn't crapped out on me...

*hugs Lameboy and VBA GX*

ZXA has more character sprites, but it sucks in stage and BG design...hmm, yeah I think I'll stay with ZX.

I tend to look more at character detail than stage detail myself.  Even so, I kinda like the Double Rock On designs.  HX could stand to use H's color palette, though.

Intermission stages and Final Stages ARE A GOOD THING, and besides, ZXA has final stages too >.> it's already so locked in it's path that an intermission would be strange.

Agreed there.  Although "Intermission" is a bit of a loose term.  One could easily count Atlas, Siarnaq, and Vent/Aile stages in that category as there are no possible alternatives when they're available.

Real men don't use maps, especially not when it comes to megaman

Maps are nice, but I navigated ZX in Japanese, so yeah, it's not that bad.  That being said, missions ought to have a definitive starting point.  And the need to manually start and end at the Trans Server was irritating at times.

True, due to the larger arsenal you can be tactical on a higher level in ZXA and this is something I DO appreciate about ZXA, on the other hand, I SO LOVE raping bosses, and OIS does it better than ANYTHING (screw metal blade) I've seen so far.
ZXA = tactics, ZX = speed/pwn, both win imo.

Agreed, however OIS is a little TOO simplistic.  Barring Model OX, anyways.  Now that's some good boss pwning, wiping out half a boss's life bar with X2 homage (or 2/3 if you go the Double Charge/Triple Slash route).  Not to mention, in the matter of style, good old Earth Crush/Messenko/Rekkoha.

And of course, even without OIS, Model OX enjoyes ORIGINAL ZERO-SERIES CHARGED SABER STRENGTH.  Why the hell they nerfed it to 1-1/2 a normal saber slash in ZX is beyond me.

while you are right in that the shared/auto-recov LME gauge is more userfriendly, it also makes the LME capsules much more useless, whereas ZX had the feeling of an X or Classic Rockman game, filling gauges and stuff.

As I said earlier I feel that the ZX series' mechanics justify the shared/regenerating gauge.  In an X/Classic game, a gauge refers to a single special attack, with at most one charged variant, and ever since the PS1 your default weapon is available at the same time.  In ZX it's all charge attacks and OIS, which is at least three different maneuvers, per form.  It really discourages the use of anything but standard uncharged moves, barring of course X, ZX, and OX.

I'm not saying ZX did everything better, but ZXA didn't do it either. both have flaws, imo ZXA has more, mainly due to it feeling less alive than ZX. did I mention ZX is my fav game? because it is.

I mostly agree with that assessment, however ZXA did offer an infinitely better localization, which makes it the more lively game on this coast.  If I lived in Japan it would be ZX, no question.

In short, I feel ZXA offered the better map, better mission layout, better minigames (rematchable PnP FTW), better BME management, and better localization.  Plus an armed Hu/Re, which was awesome.  ZX offered the better MegaMan abilities, better hidden forms, better hidden bosses (ZXA...didn't really have any unless you count ancient Albert; ZX had 9), better stage selection (sorry Zan, I prefer the old-style freedom), better consistency in keeping forms (NO REASON for force switches for activating teleport points), and better Trans Server connections (the one-way crap has gotta go).  Since arsenal is 9/10 of a MegaMan game for me, that puts ZX at a heavy advantage.

I can buy the whole "ZXA as a setup and not a true sequel" shpiel if we actually did get a true ZX sequel.  Unfortunately that looks to not be so.  So as far as "ZX sequels" go, ZXA is all we have.  And it's a great game, but not a great ZX sequel.