The game sets the standard in the Intro stage, by starting you with an armor. It isnt for shits and giggles, The game is telling you there that you will NEED armor for this game, and if you decide to not use them, then game isn't punishing you, you are punishing yourself by ignoring what the game has told you is required.
X5 starts you with an Armor too. It too, sets the bar, telling you that for that game, Armor is a default. You will require an Armor. And that Armored X will be your "default X".
Then why does "default" X even exist? For shits and giggles*? In any case, I don't like being started off with the armor from the last game, especially in the case of X5 and X6. Bringing over an ability or two into X's standard armor from the last game is fine, but recycling armor and telling the player they
HAVE TO SHOULD use it is bullshit.
*By the way, that pretty much sums up X's involvement in his own series after X4: for shits and giggles.
That's entirely subjective.
yeah Ride Armors were cool, but they didnt feel all THAT useful, since they were hindered by first off, finding a summoning platform, and secondly, if the stage allowed you to use it for more than a minute or two before you hit a door or small corridor.
And X6 meanwhile, has some pretty interesting parts. Ultimate Buster for one. X6 also includes special parts that can be used once per stage, like, overdrive.
Overdrive plus Ultimate Buster is the CLOSEST we will EVER get to Xtreme 2's levels of Ultimate Buster Godhood with X.
I'll take the Ride Armors from X3 over either parts systems from X5/X6. Hands down. The Ride Armors were situational and limited, but they were fun to find and fun to use for the most part, and they didn't disappear after use. The parts change your gameplay
slightly and there's an abundance of them, so I pretty much dislike them for the same reason I dislike Cyber-Elves: they're another step towards RPGing-up your action game. Too much clutter of powerups that mess with object variables like how fast you can move or jump or whether pressing X shoots lemons or fully charged shots--not even different shots, just the same ones you've always had. This is not my kind of action game. This is an RPG encroaching on an action game. I don't think having so much focus on that level of customization is what made Mega Man X fun to play. In part,
Ride Armors were what made Mega Man X fun to play. Also finding a decent armor, instead of two middling ones.
Power's fine, but being ridiculously overpowered gets played pretty quickly. At least with a Ride Armor your punching the [parasitic bomb] out of stuff and stomping on things, which is way more fun to me than just starting out a level with a ridiculously overpowered buster. Even if the Ride Armors are highly situational, they're at least more fun to find in that you know you've found them. With the parts in X6, unless you have a guide on hand, it's a tossup.