Topic: X8. I didnt like it all that much.

[Acid]

Z series was a tidbit faster and less forgiving I think. Gives you a more rewarding feeling when you beat it.

[Protoman Blues]

One of these days I should get around to playing the Zero series!

[Jericho]

One of these days I should get around to playing the Zero series!

... You mean you haven't already? D:

Now I know what Hypershell feels like when he champions Xtreme 2 to you.

[HyperSonicEXE]

Someone said Zero series and now I have to play this card. The Zero series as a whole borderline beats out the X series overall.

Even if the best MMZ game (MMZ3) were to somehow cancel the sheer awesome of MMX1, X2-5 beat the snot out of MMZ1, 2, and 4, so, no. And remember, I got into MMX and MM in general in '98.

[Flame]

and I like Burn Rooster~

Oh, Flaming Cock?

I could ask you the same regarding X8's models.

Command Mission had disproportionate eggheaded bigfoot robots.

the legs mostly seemed too long and overly skinny in the models when compared to the art itself, and their poses didnt help the matter. Axl was the only one I thought looked pretty good with the models. and his pose.

also, like the rest of the X series doesnt have bigfooted robots. >__> and only X had the egghead.

[The Drunken Dishwasher]

Oh, Flaming Cock?

awesomely screaming flaming la cock indeed

[Satoryu]

X8's actually one of my favorite X games. bullet points following.

• the changes made to the X formula didn't bother me at all. i liked the Devil May Cry powerup system, for one.
• Axl is actually useful and fun to play as. and the Copy Shot didn't suck.
• though the Neutral Armor looked iffy, you could mix and match the parts from all the armors, which was a sweet idea.
• i thought the majority of the music in X8 was kickass.
• the stage gimmick argument is stupid, as almost every stage in X games has some sort of gimmick going on. you don't ever have to use the Ride Armor. and stealth has been done before; see Magna Centipede.
• i don't find either Ride Chaser stage annoying at all. though Man-O-War's stage is really quick.
• the game probably has the most extras of an X game. all three characters have ultimate forms. Zero has a slew of weapons to use, and many of them changed his special moves. and you can unlock the Navigators and Intermissions.
• though the game has a ranking system, it's not dependent on anything you need to unlock. (looking at you, Zero and ZX) it's only for bragging rights.
• though everyone has Clamp Syndrome in this game, i much prefer that to how bulky everyone was in Command Mission.

but most importantly, the game just flowed very well. that's something i value highly in a game, along with its "pick it up and beat it when you're bored" nature. i love a game that i could never get tired of beating, and X8 is no exception.

is it a perfect game? no. X and Axl's arsenals were a little lacking, as were some of the boss designs. and the 2D bike segments are inheretly better than 3D ones. but on the whole i think it's a very solid game that can hold its own against the other great X games.

[Gotham Ranger]

X8 was meh. I'll explain more indepth when I'm not doing a podcast

[Magnus Ragnar]

X8 is undoubtably my favorite X series game after MHX because, sadly, I have never played X1-6. The first X game i played was technically MM Xtreme for the gameboy, then i got ahold of X7 and thought it was good.

I mean sure, some of the stages made me want to beat Capcom's face in with a sledgeahmmer(*cough*Primrose*cough*), but i still had fun getting through the game. I didn't like how Zero, THE MELEE GUY, was rediculously slow, however. It kinda defeats the purpose of his awsomeness if it takes him 2 minutes to get up to the enemies to cleave them in half. Or at least he seemed slow to me compaired to X or Axl. The Character designs never bugged me, though i always did wonder if X8 came before Command Mission or after it(storyline-wise). It seems kinda weird for Axl to be looking into his origin if he already knows he's a Prototype, but the lack of mention of Force Metals in X8 also seems confusing. X's CM design seems like a reasonable mid-point between his X7 and X8 forms, but other then that i'm not sure where X8 and CM fall in the timeline fo the X series.

All-in-all, a damn good game that X9 is really going to have to try and surpass by a LOT. But that's just my oppinion.

[Tickle Buffalo]

The real problem with X8 is that the level design mostly sucks. Most of the other problems can be ignored pretty easily, but when half the levels just aren't fun to play, there's not really much of a reason to play the game.

[Fxeni]

Eh, X1-X3 are my favourites of the X series, X3 being slightly behind the other two. The level design was more coherent back then (with a few mishaps here and there of course), considering nothing got close to the annoyingness of ride chaser levels. Man I hate those levels so so much... and X8 had 2 of the blasted things.

As for comparing the X series as a whole to the Zero series... well, the Zero series sure as hell is more polished, I can tell you that. X5-X7 showcase the laziness that seeped through in the X series, especially when it comes to level design. The Zero series did have some laziness in there as well (the weapons and EX skills come to mind) but at least they were consistently fun to play.

Concerning X8 itself... well, the fact that Axl actually had a point was a plus. He wasn't the nerfed X clone that he was in X7.

[Zan]

though i always did wonder if X8 came before Command Mission or after it(storyline-wise). It seems kinda weird for Axl to be looking into his origin if he already knows he's a Prototype, but the lack of mention of Force Metals in X8 also seems confusing. X's CM design seems like a reasonable mid-point between his X7 and X8 forms, but other then that i'm not sure where X8 and CM fall in the timeline fo the X series.

X8 = 21XX
XCM = 22XX

X8->XCM

[Da Dood]

X8 is a great game with lots of crap to deal with, mainly level design. You have many awesome toys to play around with but not many opportunities to use them.

I like it a lot, but it's one of those games I completely understand if someone hates.

[Flame]

Didnt hate it... Just felt that there were many things that could have been done much better.

[Nekomata]

X7 was superior.

[Flame]

I liked X7. It was an interesting direction for the X series, that in fact, would work very well if they refined it. Especially the broken physics engine.

[Hypershell]

Dang, looks like I missed a fun discussion here.  Guess I'll just recap my thoughts on the mentioned titles:

X8 - Hated the art design, was a shame about armor laziness (I blame unwillingness to draw extra mugshots, which you can see carry over into MHX), Zero's dash stinks, and I wish the boss music didn't change mid-battle (the earlier version is so much better).  But gameplay-wise it's pretty cool, makes excellent use of New Game Plus (buy all shop crap and leave the capsules; makes Replays a lot more fun), and I love that they gave the Ride Armor its own badass theme song and FRIKKIN INFINITE GROUND DASH!!!  I've been waiting for that feature ever since watching Zero dash across the screen in X1.

X7 - Would have worked if Capcom had committed to either 2D or 3D.  Their inability to do a proper merger shot the game in the foot (and IMHO they were closer to getting it right in 3D; the game's 2D level design is absolutely horrible, Stonekong excepted).  X needs to stop whining, of course.

Z series - Great, although I find Xtreme2 superior.  Gameplay-wise, it strikes me as X with better physics but watered-down features.  No air-dash, no Earth Gaizer or Double Charge Wave IN ZERO'S OWN FREAKING SERIES, took them until Z3 to do the Double Jump and it barely gets any height, the weakness system is just recoloring your charge attack, the ranking system is senseless, and the art style blows harder than X8's.  But the story, though jumbled at times, is awesome, as is character depiction overall.  Zero has great dialogue moments in all four games.  And even though EX Skills weren't always the greatest, I have to give props where they're due to Z3's V-Shot and Throw Blade, those attacks rocked all socks.  Most importantly, the music in the series is in-freaking-credible.  Straight Ahead remains my favorite stage theme of all time, and others such as Departure, Trail On Powdery Snow, and so entirely too many others to mention were instant classics.  And, last but not least, Inti did in one attempt what Capcom failed to do twice: They actually did a good job of killing Zero.

[Fxeni]

And, last but not least, Inti did in one attempt what Capcom failed to do twice: They actually did a good job of killing Zero.

Not nearly good enough if you ask me, considering people still think to this day that he survived.

[Sakura Leic]

Not nearly good enough if you ask me, considering people still think to this day that he survived.

Please don't remind me it's almost as bad as the Cataclysm to me.

[Jericho]

and the art style blows harder than X8's.

Opinions and all but:

[Hypershell]

Not nearly good enough if you ask me, considering people still think to this day that he survived.

They need to get equipped with ZX.

Honestly, though, such people wouldn't be convinced that Zero was dead if his head was served to them on a platter.  He's come back from death and near-death scenarios often enough that many fans are hardened to the point of being oblivious.  But the presentation in Z4 left no room for doubt.  You spent the entire credits watching Ciel cry over him, after all.  Such an over-the-top presentation was pretty much necessary in light of the many situations Zero has pulled through in the past.

But I was referring not to the fact that Zero stayed dead (although I do appreciate that since at Z4 the series started to stagnate), but rather the lead-up and reasonings behind his death.  In X1, Zero self-destructed to take out a ride armor whose arm he'd previously blown off.  Yeah, that was necessary.  In X5, Zero dies in a boss explosion, completely disregarding the fact that he's survived two dozen of them without a scratch, and also completely disregarding how his proximity to the explosion compares to X's, who gets out of it with a sore arm (then seemingly explodes after Sigma shoots him through the chest, if you look closely in the scenes where Light approaches him).

So, yeah, Z4 was the first time when Zero dying actually made sense.  He had to do what he did to save the planet, and there's no doubt that being on board a space station as it explodes doesn't leave much room for escape beyond a deus ex machina.

[Bag of Magic Food]

Escape pod!   

[Hypershell]

*gives BoMF ZEE UPPERCUT!!*

When you have to stab the core yourself, there's no time for that.

......unless you're Zechs

[Fxeni]

Do keep in mind that Zero survived being at the top of an orbital elevator as it exploded in Z1, as ridiculous as that was. That kinda makes his survival more likely in the minds of anyone who was keeping up with the series, and those that really wanted him to survive have ammunition to work with. Having a blurry shadow in the background probably wasn't a good idea either if they really wanted to be clear about it. Showing the helmet only was also a strike against Inti, since if the Helmet survived, so could the rest of him (in the minds of those that wanted him to remain alive, do keep in mind).

The only way it would have been perfectly clear, really, was if they showed him dying. That, however, was probably not an option in this case, so they just tried to beat it into the player's head through other means... means that could easily be discounted if a person tried hard enough, mind you.

I'm not saying that Zero should have lived, I'm just saying it wasn't all that good of a job of making his death crystal clear to everyone.

[Bag of Magic Food]

Showing the helmet only was also a strike against Inti, since if the Helmet survived, so could the rest of him (in the minds of those that wanted him to remain alive, do keep in mind).

At the end of Mega Man 2, Mega Man stood on a hill, looked at the sun, and melted from its heat, and only his heat-proof helmet survived.  There are no Mega Man games after Mega Man 2.