Unofficial Official Mega Man Thread

everything about x6 is tacked on.

x5 was more or less as good an ending as you could hope for in the x series; it subtly tied the classic series to the x series by providing hints of wily's involvement, and had a satisfying conclusion that led to the very consistent zero series.

but of course capcom just had to milk the series even further. making more games wouldn't be so bad except that x6 is just embarrassing in how lazy it is.

edited 21st May '15 10:58:32 PM by wehrmacht

Except the Zero series proceeded to answer none of the questions X5 left, and indeed, instead created a all new backstory. We don't even know if Zero ever intended to address those plot points. Zero 1 (which is the only game that doesn't address the Elf War plot, so it's likely the one closest to the original concept from before they had to accommodate for the X series continuing) didn't so much as hint at Zero's past or the continued existence of Wily.

Also, whining "buh buh buh X5 was supposed to be last" aside, X6 has a complete self-contained story that was actually interesting, what with exploring the fall out from X5, a developed (semi)tragic villain, and attempts to develop the main characters and further the plot arc....which were mangled by a poor translation and hidden by rushed and bad level design, and then subsequently ignored by later games.

Oh, and Sigma was tacked on to the end. I hear X7 at least addresses Zombie Sigma, but I hear X7 isn't exactly a masterwork either.

edited 21st May '15 11:18:18 PM by Otherarrow

X6 has horrid level design but at least it's playable (in fact, I've beaten it). X7 is almost unplayable.

i didn't really mean that zero followed up on x5's plot points, just that the end of it set it up with zero presumably dying.

also i've beaten x7. it's pretty bad, honestly.

edited 22nd May '15 10:56:32 AM by wehrmacht

I'm not sure if I'll forsee good feedback if/when Battle Network 4 hits the eShop. It's been said before that it's the weakest in the series, for good reason.

funny that you mention that because i just finished reading an LP of it.

it looks baaaaaaaad.

It is only one of five games I ever regret playing in my life.

You'd be surprised to know another of those is not X7, but that's for bizarre reasons.

I liked Battle Network 4. I guess I'm weird though.

oddly enough, despite me being able to recognize x7's terribleness, i don't really hate it as much as everyone else. i guess there might be nostalgia there since it was my first ps2 game :v

I don't think Capcom is interested in tying up plot threads.

And who know what the original story for Mega Man Zero would have been since Capcom vetoed the original idea of making real X the villain.

Its possible that since the X series was ongoing, the Zero series was forbidden from addressing any stuff that it might cover.

Who knows.

Well, true. Folks (myself included) seem to go with the assumption that the change from X to Copy X was literally the only change to the concept...but then who'd give Zero his sword at the beginning of the game?

I thought it was a good continuity point (and hint to the Cyber Elf's identity) to have X "return" Zero's sword after obtaining it at the end of X5 (and Zero got a second sword in X6, conveniently leaving a Z-Saber free for Omega to use in Zero 3)

But I still think that not much was changed from the original draft. At most, some of the finer details may have been removed out of fear of contradicting the then ongoing X series, but since Zero 1 is the only one that doesn't touch on the Elf War backstory, it probably came before they had to rework the series concept whole sale.

edited 22nd May '15 7:43:23 PM by Otherarrow

http://www.bumbleking.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8230

On the topic of the comics, this thread is really interesting. The first 5 pages are all half speculation and half "Issue 49 was so sad, poor Rock and Roll" and then on page 7 two guys come along and are all "This issue made me hate the Lights and I love it." They make really good points, too.

edited 22nd May '15 9:53:22 PM by lalalei2001

They kinda have a point but they're also approaching robot masters as if they're 100% human-esque. When robots don't hit that level until X.

The trouble is that there really doesn't seem to be a difference, despite the story saying there is one. (Rock and Roll and especially Blues act sentient, and Dr. Light treats them as such.)

That happens to a lesser extent in the games, too, since a virus makes the free-thinking Mavericks turn evil. There were exceptions, like Overdrive Ostrich, but the majority were just corrupted and got destroyed.

The robot masters in the first game arc have to destroy Copy Mega Man to satisfy Wily's programming for them to destroy Mega Man.

They have some leeway but they're beholden to their programming.

And there are a lot of exceptions actually, especially in the games before the virus is introduced.

Especially, oddly enough, the Mega Man X6 bosses, who are all just trying to do their job/repent for their pasts/being their normal asshole selves.

edited 23rd May '15 10:36:12 AM by Bocaj

I think the only ones acknowledged in-game are Overdrive Ostrich, who WASN'T infected by the Maverick Virus and was just that loyal to Sigma, and Squid Adler because he was angry at X for killing Launch Octopus.

And Lumine because of his unique circumstances.

Barely anything is acknowledged in-game until X4 and that's a maybe since I think chunks of plot are still left to the manual and info books.

Well, we can all thank Dr. Light for all this shit.

And Dr. Wily as well, but I'm gonna be a jerk and blame Light.

I have some questions about the X series in general.

Why introduce a sapient mechanical race and then try to use them as a labor force.

What was wrong with robot-master technology?

Seriously why introduce a race that is as smart if not smarter than humans and much stronger if you're not going to treat them as equals that is setting yourself up for war

Do humans even science in the future? Robots weren't even Cain's field. And everytime there's a scientist in the X series after Cain, its always a reploid.

Until Ciel came along. And she was genetically engineered to be a genius baby.

lalalei does have a point because there doesn't seem to be any difference between the level robots are at in the classic series and how they are in the x series. a big example of this is bass; why would wily create a robot who would openly rebel against him? the rational explanation is that bass is sentient.

in short i don't buy capcom's "BUT THEY'RE SO HUMAN NOW" when it comes to the x series whatsoever.

edited 23rd May '15 10:58:58 AM by wehrmacht

I think in the Power Fighters games he said he made/found Bassinium by complete accident. It's possible that had a hand in it.

There are a couple threads on the Bumbleking forums about the X series and its viability as a comic.

Wily is an absolute shit programmer is basically the thing

The other thing is Capcom is shit at telling a story about robots when part of the story is the presence or not of free will

Which is exactly why humans and reploids are indistinguishable in ZX because Capcom gave up and admitted there's no difference.

Edit: Also, lalalei isn't quite right about Squid Adler. He was mad at the Hunters for killing OCTOPARDO but he didn't seek revenge. He just quit the Hunters to work in a power plant or something. Its only under the influence of the Maverick virus that he seems to seek revenge.

and better

edited 23rd May '15 11:06:02 AM by Bocaj

If I recall, Squid Adler was one of the X5 bosses who wasn't hostile to X and Zero and while he was bummed by Launch Octopus's death, he understood that is what had to be done and asks the same be done to him when he turns too (which is immediately after he asks that, since this is X5)

Adler was more or less retired, but he wasn't actively a maverick.

edited 23rd May '15 11:03:29 AM by Otherarrow

eh, the guy had been doing that for like what, 6 games by then? i'd assume he'd know how to make a robot that would simply follow orders. wouldn't making a complex ai that is basically sentient be way more difficult and time-consuming?

well, that's the point isn't it? Reploids have gotten so advanced that there's functionally no difference outside of reploids being metallic. What Measureisa Non Human is one of the most common sci-fi themes. It was the main narrative element of Blade Runner, which the X series was heavily inspired by (i.e "retire" isn't just Capcom's stupid euphemism for killing reploids).

the problem is that they made a big deal about it in the X series in spite of the fact that everything they proceeded to do with the Classic series didn't really support the fact that it should have been some revolutionary thing that X was basically a person.

edited 23rd May '15 11:26:58 AM by wehrmacht

Bass, King, Zero

This is a trend. A trend of Wily's bots turning on him. I attribute this trend to Wily being really bad at programming them. And also getting punched in the head in Zero's case.