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It took me a while before I figured out why the story didn't seem to fit before I consciously realized that it completely lacked any of the last game's "Star" themes.

So, why is Geo fighting against these new enemies who'd never even considered alien life?

Well, from an in-universe perspective, it's because he's a hero, and these guys are being evil in front of him. It's not always fun to watch them just bounce off of each other though.

Hmm, interesting...

And yeah, if the song is called Network, and the game has wireless features, it's a safe bet that it's played as BGM while using those features.

The adjustment to Luna's nickname always bugged me.

In SF 1, she was "THE Prez," (at least when the Object of discussion. I can't remember anymore if she was called "Prez" or just "Luna" when spoken to). When Bud and Zack used it, it invoked Spell My Name with a "The" and The Magnificent. When Geo talked about her using that title, it was obviously sarcastic and derisive.

On it's own though, "Prez" seems much more casual. Even though her personality doesn't seem to have followed suit.

Of course, this is all a translation thing. In the original japanese, the wording never changed, and addressing the class president as such wouldn't have all this baggage as strongly attached to it (at least, not necessarily).

Gee, there's a boy Luna likes almost as much as Megaman? No way that's Geo!

But seriously, an actual love triangle in a Mega Man game? What is this, the Legends sub series?

Hyde's just the first boss, so it's fine if he's weak.

I actually had trouble with one of his higher tier forms... the first several times, anyway.

Obviously, he kidnapped Luna to have someone to monologue in front of. And because that's what villains do.

I think any climatic incongruities could just be explained away with "Artificial weather control!", the problems with that in and of itself be damned.

I wish I could turn into a flaming cow monster just by stuffing my face...

One thing you didn't mention: I think this is the first time a UMA participates in a conversation, showing what they are mentally.

While the F Mians were manipulators who took control of the situation, the UM As are brutes who like merging with humans, because it means they can destroy more. We'll see the Why of this later on.

Anyway, here's one thing I think the game messed up on. The heroes and villains have very different understandings of what an EM being is, yet they never talk about this in front of each other, or ask where the other faction came from.

Phantom talked, but it was just laughter and something mocking.

Speaking of, while the game doesn't make much of a distinction, just for clarification's sake whenever I use "EM being" I'm referring to an entity like Omega, Yeti, or Taurus, and when I use "wave being" or "wave form" I'm referring to a transformation like Megaman or Taurus Fire.

...Really did not need to know that, Bud.

The whole Luna getting mad at Geo for most of the scenario seemed unnecessary. My recollection of the game isn't clear, admittedly, but it seems like they could have cut it, and almost nothing would've changed.

On the pacing thing, since when does Battle Network ever start you off with the big plot related power of the game? And you honestly expected this to change now? Although you're right in that they could have made the first two scenarios more plot relevant.

And I repeat, a love triangle in a Mega Man game? Are you sure you're not actually playing one of the Legends games?

More relevance is exactly what I was getting at. Take Battle Network 3 for example, where the first two scenarios still served an important role in featuring the theft of the first two Tetra Codes. Omega didn't necessarily have to start exhibiting symptoms from eating the OOPart right at the start of the game, but right from the get-go it could've made him and Geo more involved than they have been up until now.

One thing I didn't notice on my first run through the game is that the murian dummies shown in the exhibit... turn out to be pretty accurate depictions. But since we never get the chance to see them after this scenario, it flew over my head the first time.

I wonder what a civilization of technologically advanced dinosaurs looked like...

As for story relevance, well...

Dark Phantom at IFL: Vega's organization was trying to disrupt EM-based civilization and isolate areas from each other to make it easier to conquer. Why they never try this again is harder to explain. Yeti Blizzard at Grizzly Peak: Shows their hiring practices, and how they do help their minions with their own goals... until they fail.

I wonder why Hyde never tells his superiors about Taurus Fire or any other unrelated EM beings he comes across...

I could think of a few justifications for "everyone's still alive because their Brotherbands are still there," but they're all kind of a stretch or otherwise jumping to some sort of conclusion.

Luna is probably assuming that anything that would seriously hurt or kill them would break their star carriers first.

For a player who isn't abusing codes and hasn't gotten used to him, Rogue is actually quite formidable. But not enough to justify all of the hype the cutscenes give him.

I find it hilarious Capcom apparently didn't foresee people just looking up the Wave Command codes online.

When I played, there was one opponent I couldn't beat with Tribe King. I found a different strategy worked better. But we'll get to that later...

Anyway, this is the first time that Geo encounters Hollow. I actually like him the most out of all of Vega's group, because he was actually executed well. At the very least, he isn't abrasive to watch.

@MFM: That, or they didn't anticipate someone ripping the game card and looking through the game code to find the Wave Command codes, since in order for the Wave Commands to work, the codes themselves have to be on the game card so the game can verify them.

Wizards of the Coast had the same issue with the codes for the promo cards in Magic 2013: Someone extracted the codes from the game (PC version, most likely) and posted them online before Wizards could "officially" reveal them (this may be the reason the Deck Pack decks don't have promo cards). The whole situation was made worse by the fact that the codes were the same for all the versions of Magic 2013.

The one plus Magic 2013 had over Star Force 2? Wizards wasn't expecting you to pay them money for the codes, unlike Capcom...

As petty as it is, it always bugged me that Star Force 2 had two scenarios with Aqua-element bosses.

3'10"? How old are the characters supposed to be again?

Geo and his friends are supposed to be 11. The art book has height comparisons for the human cast, revealing that Hyde's the tallest at 6'4". The kids are just under five feet for the most part. Geo, incidentally, is a little shorter than Luna.

@MFM: That holds true for the third game too.

Okay, so Zach is short, but not freakishly so for his age.

Funny, given the general level of maturity the kids show (at least, compared to Lan and pals), I honestly expected them to be 13-ish...

Interesting how quickly Gerry switches from "I'll fake a monster sighting to stay famous" to "I'll use this obviously kill-crazy creature to engineer a monster sighting and stay famous" to "I'll rampage and threaten people's lives while showing off for the heck of it."

I like to think he was being influenced by Plesio once they fused, since while Phantom and Yeti seemed to be cooperating with their hosts (albeit reluctantly in Yeti's case) Plesio just came off as Ax-Crazy.

I would argue that SF 2 was the BN 4 of the Star Force series, mainly because of Rogue. But I'll have to wait until he shows up again later in the story to explain why.

I liked the Heidi Tidy quest. By now you've gotten used to using the Matter waves in quests, and Mac even speaks up while you're accepting the quest, clearly excited that it's his turn now. But then when the time comes he flops.

And I don't know about you, but bright and sandy is what I always think of when I hear "Tropical."

Ken described Whazzap as being tropical but he must have been smoking something

Is he ever not smoking something?

Clearly the tent needed to be dematerialized because to leave it there would just be inconsiderate.

"Geoglyph" is a word, Spell Check!

Story of my life.

RE: Spell Check:

Hey, at least your web browsers don't have autocorrect. Mine does, and it is annoying. At times.

The Bermuda Maze is a maze? Huh, whoda thunk.

More than Solo's poor personality and cheating, I'm annoyed by the holes in his backstory. Particularly: "How does the last Murian end up in the modern day?"

In the anime, he had apparently been placed in suspended animation just before Mu was destroyed, and woke up recently. The games seem to imply that he grew up in modern times, or at least has been awake for a while.

And speaking of "things", it has occurred to me that the Neo Mu Empire might not see the UMAs as living beings. Considering how flat their personalities are, I think that's an understandable perspective. On the other hand, I wonder why they don't seem to have questioned Harp Note about where Megaman and her's powers come from.

Plot twist: Dark Phantom is actually Hyde's normal form, and his human appearance is his wave changed form.

Or something.

@Mysterion: I'm actually playing through the final dungeon right now and some of the information it reveals seems to indicate that you're right on the money in regards to the UM As. It also shines a very small light on that aspect of Solo's backstory.

Um, I don't see where you're pulling these interpretations from.

The simpler explanation is that the Earthbound Mu settled in Wazzap, and lost their powers as time went on and they mingled with other tribes. Since Solo is unfamiliar with them, that's a point against him being Earthbound Murian.

Condor 2 is obviously just in denial - or rather he was never programmed with the concept that Mu could be destroyed.

Solo on the other hand is not merely in denial, he's simply decided that he can be a nation of one. "As long as I live, [s]Gamilon[/s]- uh Mu lives, or words to that effect.

Well Solo couldn't have grown up on Mu itself because its been under the sea all this time, and it's implied he grew up in modern society anyway. I don't recall the people of Whazzap claiming to be direct descendants of the Murian people, only worshipers, but it's possible I missed some flavor text somewhere.

I suppose it's possible that some of the sky Mu escaped their homeland's destruction and that's who Solo's descended from, but either way any and all confusion is entirely on the shoulders of the game for failing to properly expound upon his backstory.

You're right that there isn't much information in the game either way. It just seems more likely to me that we'd have already seen what happened to the Earthbound Mu.

Uppercutting someone out of a black hole sounds amazing. If only the game made it look anywhere near that amazing.

Honestly, I think the comparison between Vega and Regal could apply as a comparison between Star Force 2 and Battle Network 4 as a whole.

I have a theory about the IF bosses. They might be replicas created by Apollo Flame and Le Mu after the originals were killed off. At least, some of them might be.

As for why they don't recognize Megaman, the Altfuture seems to be a world where Megaman wasn't around to save the day from the Neo Mu Empire. As for where the F Mians fit into this, there could have been a clash between them (Vega could not have remained ignorant of Andromeda if it actually made it to earth) or perhaps Megaman's final battle at Hope was a Mutual Kill in this timeline.

These are just conjectures, of course.

I actually liked this postgame, and enjoyed comparing and contrasting the IF enemies with their prime equivalents.

Now I'm curious if General Auriga and Apollo Flame have IF forms, since I'm pretty sure I didn't get this far in the postgame. Shameful, I know.

They just have the usual EX-SP forms. Or at least General Auriga does; Apollo Flame skips right to SP. Thank goodness too, because after the trouble the IF gauntlet gave me I have no desire to fight a 3500 HP Apollo Flame that can kill me in two hits (three with Undershirt).

42 is actually a good number. First off, what's the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? Yeah...

Second, 42 divided by 3 is 14, and given the seeming obsession GBA and DS era Mega Man games have with the number 3...

Star Force 2 not being as bad as Battle Network 4 is high enough praise, I feel, since it's basically saying that SF never hit the lows that BN did.

Though on the other hand, I'd argue that it also didn't hit the highs that BN did, but I digress.

This battle is why I dislike Rogue as much as I do. In the standard ending, it seems like he's coming around. Then in the postgame, he snaps back and wipes you out.

I mentioned this earlier, but three turns of overpowered attacks with Tribe King wasn't enough for me to win. (Of course, I wasn't using your other Wave command code for extra HP) I had to switch to Auto-Rogue form and beat him at his own game.

Don't feel bad. On my Rogue SX run I lost Tribe King against Le Mu Xa and ended up squeaking by with only 1 HP point left.