The next day Hope wakes Geo up before she leaves for work and suggests that maybe he should try going to school today, at least to make some friends. Once she leaves Omega asks why Geo doesn't want to go to school and make friends, since he thought that friendship and Brotherbands were things that humans cherished. Geo retorts that he can only say things like that because he's never lost anyone before, so Omega concludes that Geo's just a cold and bitter person, cheerfully remarking that Earthlings are so much more interesting to him now. He wants to go outside and explore, and since his companion doesn't feel he yanks him around by the Transer somehow until he gives in.
We're given control again, and Geo's room is pretty nice and spacious. His interest in space is apparent from the telescope next to his bed, and the star design on his rug, the poster of a space shuttle on the wall, and the planet design on his bedsheets. He seems to have a Wii hooked up to a TV in an alcove. If we examine his computer it's noted that it's turned off, and turning it on activates a wavehole. Like Battle Network, many, many devices and object scattered around the overworld have their own computer spaces with goodies inside to find, but a lot of them require Geo to examine them before the link is activated. Putting on the Visualizer shows that there are wave roads even in Geo's room. In fact, I don't think there are any locations in the series that don't have at least a small amount of wave roads up above the ground, which makes sense given that everything's supposed to be wireless. There's also a yellow robot thingy by Geo's computer that's apparently his teacher and is only visible with the Visualizer on. A lot of times there will be Navis and Hertzes (Star Force's version of Programs) milling about on the ground, intangible and invisible when not wearing the Visualizer.
Downstairs is the living area, which combines the kitchen and living room just like the Hikari household did. Examining the refrigerator reveals another wavehole to visit later. Once Geo steps outside he gets a whole bunch of emails at once. Apparently Omega got bored last night and played around with the function to pass the time. At least he sent constructive stuff, given that each one contains a review of a battle mechanic. The last one mentions a new feature called Cipher Mail. Cipher Mail is similar to Battle Network's Number Trader. We can actually send email to others in this series, presumably the intent is to send them off to real-life Brothers, but if the mail is addressed to the satellite that the Transer's registered to, by putting a code or short phrase into the body of the email we'll get an item or card of some sort in return. Naturally you can look to GameFAQs for the codes.
So Omega basically wants us to talk to all of theNPCs in Echo Ridge. They don't say anything interesting, but in front of the house that Geo identifies as Bud's is a doghouse-cum-security system that we can switch on to generate a wavehole. I see that the Hikaris are managing to influence security design two centuries later. After chatting everyone up Omega says that now he wants to look inside someone's Transer, specifically their personal profile. Geo balks at the idea but is once again wrangled into this invasion of privacy. So, now we have to find a wavehole to pulse in to, and luckily there's one in the small park right next to Big Wave.
Waveholes are more or less jack in points, and when we pulse out we'll always return to the wavehole that we entered the Wave World from, even if it's several screens away. Now that we're on the wave roads of Echo Ridge, more familiar Battle Network staples crop up: random encounter virus battles, Mystery Data returns in the form of Mystery Waves in the same varieties – Green Mystery Waves (GMW) regenerate upon pulsing in, Blue Mystery Waves (BMW, heh) are one-time affairs, and Purple Mystery Waves (PMW) need to be unlocked by a Sub Card, Sub Chips reborn. I know that the rare yellow/gold version from Battle Network 6 returns as well, though I can't remember if it's in this game or another. So basically we can go around, grabbing Mystery Waves from the numerous computer spaces scattered around, and we can even access the Vista Point wave roads to explore there since wave roads are just as interconnected as real world locations are. We can even travel the wave roads inside the Stelars' house just by going in through the antenna on their roof. There's a Navi selling stuff out on the Echo Ridge wave roads:
- HP Memory 20 – 1000z
- HP Memory 20 – 3000z
- Power Bomb 1 – 400z
- Fire Ring 1 – 600z
- Recovery 30 – 800z
- Jet Attack 1 – 2000z
In this series HP Memories come in two flavors, those that increase Geo's HP by the usual twenty points, and those that increase it by only ten. And I thought one of the common themes of future fiction was the abolishment of capitalism!
Inside a sign's computer space is another Navi selling Sub Cards:
- Small Energy – 100z
- Unlocker – 4000z
- Search Eye – 6000z
It's pretty obvious what all those do. Search Eye is just Locate Enemy renamed.
While battling our way through the Wave World we can see that panel type has returned. Some of the computer spaces have grass and ice panels, and they have the same properties as they did in Battle Network. Geo seems to be immune to slipping on ice though, probably because that would make certain situations unwinnable due to how little room he has to move to begin with. Broken panels cannot be moved over at all, and if the center panel of Geo's row is broken he'll simply move from end to end until it repairs itself.
There's a small sidequest that can be unlocked by putting one of the Battle Network games into the DS's GBA slot (obviously this can't be done on any post-Lite model). When entering the doghouse Geo will see an energy ball drifting in the center of the computer space. He hears a voice coming out of it, asking if anyone can help find some data that was stolen from a place called SciLab. The voice says that the place where he comes from and the place where Geo is are too different from one another, but the thief still managed to cross over anyway. Sensing that the person on the other end isn't bad, Geo decides to help.
The thief is a Jammer (basically the Heel Navis of 220X) who's hiding out in the computer space of a sculpture at Vista Point. After stumbling into a world called “the Net” thanks to the strange energy ball he got the idea of stealing data from it and selling it over here, and he won't give up the SciLab data without a fight. Unlike most encounters we had with Black/Heel/Punk Navis we actually fight Jammers. They attack with machine guns and punches. After retrieving the Mysterious Data and returning to the doghouse the figure on the other end thanks us and says that he's going to try to cross over himself to get the data from us. There's a flash, and Megaman.EXE
◊ appears on our side. The energy ball starts collapsing, so there's no time for much talk. Geo gives the data over, and as thanks Megaman gives us the BN Blaster Mega Weapon, very useful since although its attack and charge stats are low its speed is maxed out, so it fires insanely quickly – on par with the Gregar Buster. Geo asks who he his, and as he leaves Megaman tells him his name and says that he's Lan Hikari's Navi. When he's gone Geo says that it looks like there are others out there with the same name as him...
I get the feeling I wasn't supposed to do this sidequest quite this early in the game. Whoopsie.
Now we can finally get back to what Omega wants us to do. Transers are accessed in the same manner that computer spaces are. Whenever we're in the Wave World or have the Visualizer on a flag icon will be shown above an NPC's head, and touched that with the stylus sends Geo in. This lets us see the person's profile, consisting of their name (every NPC in the game has a unique name, and they're all punny), a short message about themselves, and their six favorite cards. No secrets though, that's just for Brothers.
It is through entering Transers that the job system from Battle Network returns, as eventually the owners will mention a problem or concern in their message that Geo will decide to help them with in exchange for the usual minor rewards. It's a bit out of character for him to do this for most of the game, but hey, we get paid for doing so, so why not. If you decline, Omega makes a snarky comment. Pretty much every last NPC in the game will have a job request to fulfill at one point or another, so there are a lot of them to take care of. To compensate for the sheer volume, many of the jobs are simpler and shorter in nature than most Battle Network ones were.
After looking inside all of the Transers of the unsuspecting Echo Ridge populace Omega reveals why he wanted to do that: he's been sensing the presence of another FM-ian all morning and thought that they might be hiding inside one. Geo's put out by this, but once again gets no chance to complain as Omega senses the presence again and decides that they have to check the computer spaces now. It's no FM-ian, but we do find a Jammer inside a car. After defeating it Omega explains that Jammers are actually humans who've been taken over by a virus (since when could they do that?!). After shrugging off Geo's alarm, he says that they should leave the Wave Road and go home for now.
Geo's almost literally home free when Luna and her posse corner him again, here to scold him for not coming to school again. This time Luna has Bud step forward to intimidate the truant, but Omega decides that he doesn't want to put up with this and again forces Geo to move his Transer arm – to punch Bud out. Geo hastily apologizes, tells the three to stay away from him, and runs into his house.
Shortly afterward at Vista Point's park Luna chews Bud out over letting Geo beat him and threatens to cut their Brotherband if he embarrasses himself like that again. She leaves with Zack, leaving Bud alone to wallow in self-pity over being useless. It turns out the kid's got some self-esteem issues past that tough exterior, and being alone and considered useless is his greatest fear. As soon as he says that the specter of a flaming bull appears before him. He freaks out and thinks it's the ghost of the pork chops he had for dinner, but the apparition retorts that it is a cow and not a ghost. He is the FM-ian Taurus
◊, and he was drawn here by Bud's “loneliness” wave.
And so we encounter the formula for most of the game: an introduced character is revealed to have hidden issues of their own, and a villainous FM-ian appears to take advantage of their target's weaknesses. From there the old “villain causes trouble, play through dungeon, fight boss” scenario plays out. For his part Taurus promises Bud the power he needs to prove to Luna that he isn't useless, and so he accepts, not wanting to be alone.
Following this the scene changes to Geo at home, saying that he has to apologize to Bud now and deciding to go to bed, which like Battle Network provides a chance to save and bring the current chapter to an end. As with this update.
Virus Listing
- Cannon Base
- As the name implies, these viruses are immobile cannon turrets. They fire bombs at Geo's row which only explode on one panel, but stronger versions hit wider ranges.
- Melamander
- These salamanders attack by shooting a three-panel-long stream of flame from their tails. The first part of their name is taken from the word mera, an onomatopoeia for fire burning.
Soundtrack
- Familiar Indoors
- The track for everyone's houses, whose opening few notes seem to be taken directly from the original "In the Room."
- Wave World
- We, or rather I, will be hearing this a lot.
- FM-ian Theme
- Not a very pleasant-sounding track.
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