Trans Dimension 2 is a sprawling place with lots of achievement security doors. Many of them I won't be able to open since some of their requirements are things like having six real Brothers or participating in fifty link battles with other players. Most of the loot happens to be on the extraneous side anyway seeing as how I only need four more cards to fill out the Standard library, and they're all dropped by the indigenous viruses.
About a third of the way through the area we cross a boss skull tile and are confronted by Apollo Flame's penultimate guardian: Kung-Foo Kid. We're not done with the IF bosses just yet!
Kung-Foo Kid IF
HP: 3000
Element: Wood
Attacks:
- Hoof Punch – Kung-Foo Kid thrusts a hoof at Geo for 180 Wood damage.
- Hoof Kick – Kung-Foo Kid launches a flying kick either down one row or diagonally for 250 Wood damage.
- Shadow Smash – Kung-Foo Kid, along with two doppelgangers, appears on the row in front of Geo and thrusts his hoof at him for 180 Wood damage per hit.
- Consume Grass – Kung-Foo Kid absorbs a grass panel on the field to grow in size. While giant his attacks gain a breaking attribute and he will not recoil when hit.
- Horn Slash – When giant Kung-Foo Kid will swing his horns back and forth, hitting overlapping two-panel-wide areas of Geo's row for 150 damage per hit.
Just toast this guy with Fire attacks.
Past him is a security door requiring one-hundred Standard cards. Beyond that is another boss tile and we encounter the final IF boss of the postgame: Hollow.
Hollow IF
HP: 2800
Element: Elec
Attacks:
- Thunder Bazooka – Hollow fires a blast of electricity down one column that paralyzes and deals 200 Elec damage.
- Magic Thunder – Lightning strikes each panel in the front 3 x 2 area of the field for 250 Elec damage and paralysis.
- Black Thunder Bazooka – Hollow fires a T-shaped blast of black electricity that paralyzes and deals 200 Elec damage.
- Black Magic Thunder – Blach Lightning strikes each panel in front 3 x 2 area of the field twice for 250 Elec damage per hit.
- Hollow Barrier – A barrier of electricity will briefly protect Hollow from one hit.
- Dance Fire – A Jaka Dance virus is summoned to shoot a three-panel-long stream of flame for 180 Fire damage.
- Chain Bubble – An Ocean Cancero virus is summoned to shoot a series of bubbles down one column for 180 Aqua damage.
- Stealth Laser – A Giga Stealth virus is summoned to shoot a series of paralyzing laser shots down one column for a total of 180 Elec damage.
- Squall – A Tempest virus is summoned to launch a twister down one column for 180 Wood damage.
Hollow IF can be pretty tough because if Thunder Bazooka or it's black variant manages to paralyze you you're gonna end up eating a virus attack or two. You might want to pack a Purple Carpet or two from the Rugjinns in this area to get rid of the summon panels and poison Hollow at the same time.
As he blows up Hollow laughs that he's done his duty to stall until Apollo Flame wakes up. There's only one more security door blocking the main path now, and that's the one that requires the S Complete star. No problemo.
At the top of a final staircase we find the fiery Apollo Flame, who says his flame is reacting to Geo's OOPArt (never mind the fact that technically we don't have the OOPArt anymore). Geo asks him why he's trying to destroy everything but Apollo Flame has no answer. That's just what he was programmed to do, he says. So, time for the final mandatory battle in this lost world.
Apollo Flame
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HP: 2400
Element: Fire
Attacks:
- Prominence Flare – A tongue of flame leaps between two adjacent panels for 240 Fire damage.
- Magma Twister – Apollo Flame creates a fire devil on each column and sends them down the field several times for 200 Fire damage per hit.
- Solar Flare – Apollo Flame throws a miniature sun at Geo that explodes a 3 x 2 area for 350 Fire damage.
- Sun Barrier – Apollo Flame is protected by a regenerating ring of fire. An Aqua attack will instantly snuff it out.
Apollo Flame isn't as insanely fast or has the mountainous amounts of HP that some of his IF flunkies had, but he is not to be underestimated. Though it's a little slower than I remember, Prominence Flare is one of those passive attacks that you can't knock him out of and will really hurt you if you're not paying attention. Solar Flare is a dickish move in that it happens to have the breaking attribute so you can't block it and its ground zero takes up Geo's entire row so you can't dodge unless you bait it to the side in the few seconds you have. The only way to avoid it entirely is to knock him out of it with a card attack (luckily he doesn't have Super Armor). However that flame barrier of his works to frustrate attacks and if you don't happen to have any cards in the queue when he whips out Solar Flare? Sucks to be you.
So, how should you go about fighting him? Sticky Rain 3's. This card is auto-targeting and is a multi-hitter so it gets a nice damage bonus and is good for countering. One particular strategy that I've used against Apollo Flame in the past is to use Sticky Rain 3's in conjunction with either Ice Stage or Ice Grenades to freeze him for a follow up with a Buki 3, a combo which takes off somewhere in the neighborhood of seven-hundred HP. Keep your HP up, hit hard with Aqua attacks, mind Solar Flare, and Apollo Flame will go down after a decent fight.
As he blows up Apollo Flame realizes that Geo's power comes not only from the OOPArt, but also from Link Power, something lost in this world. He challenges our hero to prove his power by gathering all of the badges (he means title screen stars) and then goes out for good. With him gone one of the Zerker ghosts appears to tell us that we've successfully averted a Bad Future. Then it turns into a ball of light in which is apparently a shining star (the Zerker star is added to the title screen) and Geo and Omega pledge to collect the others.
So to start on that, first we have to backtrack a little to open a security door that required all the postgame bosses be defeated. Behind it is Giga card #4, Rogue Break. It has Rogue strike the rear 3 x 3 area with his sword, and just like the attack the center column of the attack has the break attribute. Saurian gets MT Magic (Hollow using an assortment of his viruses' elemental attacks) and Ninja gets Flying Impact (Terra Condor clips a two-column-wide range of field. Then, immediately upon pulsing out we get an email from Master Shin, who's aware of our interdimensional exploits somehow and awards us with the final Giga card, Million Kick, which has Geo launch a barrage of kicks at the nearest enemy. Saurian gets Normal + 50 (guess what this does...) and Ninja has Buster MAX (which also...guess). The G Complete star is now ours.
Now I need to get the remaining Mega cards and you know what? The kid gloves are coming off, it's Wave Command time. So, to illustrate how broken these things can be, the one I'm inputting first boosts my HP to 1800, grants me an innate Super Armor, buffs the Mega Buster so that all its stats are maxed out when I equip the Kaiser Knuckle, speeds up the Custom Gauge slightly, and lets me put four Giga cards in my folder, though I'm only putting in three at the moment, all from Blank Cards. They are Pegasus Magic GX, Dragon Sky GX, and Rogue Break. The idea is to freeze enemies with Pegasus Magic GX and then follow up with Rogue Break for a nice 1350 damage combo. Dragon Sky's just there because his GX card owns.
To be fair, I did also build a legitimate folder that revolves around lock down and paralysis, though since a lot of the individual cards are weak it needs Thunder Zerker or Tribe King to really pack a punch.
Anyway, pretend there's a gap here that represents me hunting down most of the remaining Mega cards. Perhaps step away from your computer and come back in thirty-five minutes or so. General Auriga and Apollo Flame's stronger forms (I was mistaken before; Apollo Flame does have an EX form) have spawned on the overworld where they were originally fought in Trans Dimension 1 and 2. The IF bosses have too but they only have zenny to give out, and not much at that given how I only got 1000z from S-ranking Taurus Fire IF. After beating our two remaining bosses again they vanish and respawn when you pulse out in their SP forms so no random encounter nonsense to deal with here, and you'll have to travel through the Alternate Future a minimum of three times to get all of their cards. General Auriga's has him push his steamroller down the whole field, while Apollo Flame's has him nuke the back 3 x 3 area with Solar Flare. With all forty-two Mega cards (kind of an odd number; they couldn't squeeze in one more boss?) we get the M Complete star and the ability to open one of Trans Dimension 2's security doors for a Guardian *1. Then we can open another one that requires having all battle cards period for the Side Select ability.
As per tradition we now can go back to Mu to fight the souped-up final boss, Le Mu Xa (Le Mu Chi-Alpha?). It's...pretty terrible. 4000 HP plus what's on the chestplate is not fun to whittle down when you're dodging vortexes and Murian Warriors who're moving at warp speed. Beating it earns us the Mu star, and once again all six title screen stars together form the shape of Geo's pendant. The Auto-Brother also finally upgrades enough to push my Link Power up to 500 so that I can take on those last two jobs:
Loch Mess Job 7: Gerry Romero
Why are we helping this guy? After World Mysteries was exposed as a fraud the ratings plummeted, so his scheme is to drum up some interest with a pretty girl, one that's “hot and spicy like she's from the equator.” Okay then... A trip to Whazzap scares us up a young woman who's naively interested in being on TV. This is just like the job Sonia's manager had in the previous game, actually. Gerry's cheapskate reward is another Trader Ticket.
Whazzap Job 7: Whazzat
This guy's interested in some glowing stone, and the solution is to have the Gabby Guide Matter Wave take over, resulting in some kind of inside conversation that leaves Geo clueless as to what happened. Well, we are given 3000z at least.
… Capcom you trolling bastards. I miss the time when sidequest rewards were actually worthwhile. Well, for completing all of those we get an email from Master Shin telling us that we can open another Trans Dimension 2 security door for the Magic Breath Mega Weapon.
So now you may be wondering “Didn't you beat Le Mu Xa? Where's the 100% Completion message?” Star Force 2 does things differently. Unlike all the other network Megaman games this one goes the True Final Boss route, and the identity of this boss is revealed as soon as the game boots back up after beating Le Mu Xa in the form of an email. Solo hasn't had enough yet and wants to go one last round with us after we max out our Brothers' Brotherbands...which I did at the start of the postgame...so that he can crush our bonds to dust.
So after beating Le Mu Xa again the post-credits scene changes. Instead of Geo and Solo being back at Echo Ridge, they're in their wave forms at the Whazzap Ruins. Here Rogue says that him saving Geo doesn't make them friends and that he has a score to settle with his Link Power. Geo insists that the conflict's over and their aren't any scores left to settle but Rogue has none of it. We're then given a final chance to edit our folder (can't save though) and then challenge Rogue to the final-final-I-mean-it-this-time-no-take-backs battle.
Rogue SX
HP: 3500
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Rogue Arts – Rogue attacks Geo with a series of punches and ends with a flipkick that deals 100 damage per hit.
- Rogue Burst – Rogue fires off a two-column-wide shockwave for 250 damage.
- Rogue Knuckle – Rogue randomly fires a volley of energy fists down the field for 300 damage per hit.
- Rogue Sword – Rogue attacks with a combo of sword slashes that affect a 3 x 2 area all together and deal 200 damage per hit.
- Sonic Boom – Rogue throws out a three-panel-wide air slash for 400 damage.
- Rogue Break – Rogue jumps into the air and comes down with a sword strike that hits a 3 x 2 area for 500 damage. The part that hits the two-panel-long range in front of Rogue has the break attribute.
- Mu Rejection – An automatic barrier will block one hit and regenerate.
Should be called Rogue SNK instead. Yeah, he's pretty insane and can easily kill you, even with the Wave Command's large HP boost. To be frank, I feel no shame in using Tribe King for this battle, because I'm just not one of those players with lightning-fast reflexes and complete mastery of my folder. What's more if, or rather when, you get a game over you're booted back to your last save and have to beat Le Mu Xa yet again and sit through the five-minute credit sequence before you're allowed to take another whack at Rogue.
Once he's finally beaten, Solo falls out of his wave form and Geo again insists that there's no point in continuing to fight. Solo spits out that there is a point to him because Link Power's his enemy, only for Omega to say that they're too strong for him, and the outcome of any further fighting is already determined. Perhaps realizing that he's been logic'd into a corner, Solo does the “I'll remember this!” routine, swears that he'll one day defeat Megaman, and vanishes. After he's gone Omega asks Geo if he's going to pursue him, but our hero says that he won't. He already won, he's done fighting. Solo may not like Link Power, he says, but he believes that it's very important.
With that, we get a congratulations screen with Geo and his friends, and the game is done.
So that's Megaman Star Force 2. For as much as I ragged on the story and characterization it's not a bad "game." Oh sure, there were moments that made me want to shoot myself (the IF gauntlet and the constant treks across the Sky Wave) but over all it was perfectly playable and not an endless parade of bad game design like Battle Network 4 was. I know that's not exactly high praise, but oh well, we're on to better things now.
So, there's only one game left to go! See ya on the other side!
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