AstroStelar [he/him]

Mega Man Star Force 1’s story has hit me more personally than any other piece of media and in general it’s well-written despite it still being a kid’s game. But it really rushed the friendship between Geo and Pat, you’ve barely even seen Pat throughout the game so Geo becoming so wrecked by his betrayal feels forced. Pat/Rey’s betrayal is also telegraphed so blatantly that it makes Geo look like an idiot.

Pat/Rey also falls into a problematic DID trope of a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” type personality split, with an aggressive alter ego when most people with DID aren’t dangerous like that.

Geo falling back into depression and fear of getting close with people, and cutting off everyone would be very relatable as someone who relapses into depressive thoughts, but the setup was too rushed as just mentioned and it’s also right as the alien antagonists are starting their full-on invasion of Earth. It just made me go: “Get in the fucking mech, Shinji”.

I came across this game myself recently and a few Steam reviews mentioned that the developers are from the Hong Kong diaspora in and that the game was a metaphor for the events of 2019, which killed any interest I had in it.

I sometimes think about making this type of video for the Mega Man Star Force games.

Update: the tally right now is at 403,232, with seven months to go and therefore a little behind schedule by ~15,000 signatures. The minimum threshold has been reached in seven countries: Poland, Finland, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland.

The thresholds weren’t accurately explained in the video: to succeed it needs to get 1 million signatures union-wide AND hit the threshold in at least seven countries. That last hurdle has been cleared, so now it’s just about getting to 1 million.

A country not hitting the threshold doesn’t seem to invalidate its signatures, looking at past initiatives.

I am lucky enough that I’m not that interested in high-specs AAA titles to begin with: of the 100+ games I’ve put on a DIY wishlist, I’d say less than 10 of them fall in this category. It’s mostly indie/retro titles, older titles or mid-budget.

it would mandate user authentication (for example, via the state’s “Gosuslugi” online portal)

Go sus Luigi

Granted, I haven’t played it myself yet, but Mega Man Star Force 2 is that for a lot of fans of that series. The first game already got a lukewarm reception because of how it was simultaneously “just more Battle Network” and “not simply more Battle Network”, but it has a very heartfelt story and some people are turning around on it when they can judge it on its own merits instead of constant comparisons to Battle Network, which has better gameplay. It still sold a decent number of copies.

The second game basically killed whatever momentum the series had by then. The story got dumbed down significantly which made it feel even more like Battle Network (although it still has its moments), the space theme was lost to “lost civilisations” shenanigans that many fans weren’t interested in, the gameplay changes were meh and you frequently had to navigate through a maze-like “Sky Wave” with a too high encounter rate. Sales numbers were well below expectations.

The third game has the best gameplay by far and a story close to or as good as the first game, but the damage was already done. It sold the least of the three games. But at least the series ended on a high note with very few loose ends.

See my other comment here: https://hexbear.net/comment/5333660

They added a general disclaimer that some dialogue is inappropriate for modern times and not representative of Capcom’s current values. Some examples, courtesy of the ESRB:

The game contains some suggestive material in the dialogue (e.g., “Stop peeking! You Pervert”; "Her measurements are 33,22,33”; “You missed out on seeing [her] naked.”).

There’s nothing visual going on, it’s just “spicy” dialogue, but I support their decision to add a disclaimer. But merely acknowledging this is too much for these people…

The primary driver of Wukong’s sales success is its popularity in China, where developer Game Science is based. Games industry analyst firm Niko has an in-depth article by Daniel Ahmad breaking this down. 93% of Wukong’s Steam reviews are in simplified Chinese, and Steam shattered its previous download bandwidth record (set during Cyberpunk’s launch) by a whopping 28 terabytes per second on Wukong’s August 20 launch⁠—82% of that traffic originated in East Asia. Gameplay videos and previews of Wukong have also been dominating Chinese social networks like bilibili.

peekaboo

I was waiting for Mega Man 8 to make an appearance lol

You’ve come to the right address lol

I’m autistic too with no prior experience with Battle Network-style gameplay and my reflexes aren’t the best either (I can panic and make mistakes easily), but I still beat the final boss on the second attempt with little to no grinding, just playing the game with that ROM patch and doing all the sidequests. Haven’t done much of the post-game yet though.

The first Star Force game is rather easy compared to Battle Network before it, the patch even includes a custom hard mode you can turn on and off whenever you want, as lack of difficulty was a common critique among fans.

In short: it’s very doable, however things can get overwhelming with three or more enemies at once.

As for the story: a common opinion I’ve seen is that the Battle Network series has better gameplay, while Star Force (except 2, which fumbled it) has some of the best writing in the Mega Man franchise. The following bit is personal, so it may not hit you as hard as me.

The MC’s character growth has unironically been inspirational for me; the game’s aesthetic, theming and music fully understood me in the worst period of my life. It reminded me of what I want to be and do in a time where I felt hopeless about overcoming anxieties and incapacities. It made me believe in myself again. I haven’t been the same person since, and while I still fall in familiar pitfalls and still have anxieties about self-image and competence, I feel like now I’m truly growing up. (I’m 20 years old and studying)

Battle Network!!

(Haven’t played it yet, but have played Star Force and get happy when I see anything Mega Man-related)

It’s an isekai lol

It’s VERY bright and colourful. It kinda looks like they made a Mario game with an engine used for anime games. They seem to continue the trend set by Wonder in making things very bold and expressive, now with cel shading.

And it’s no longer constrained by the 3DS screen resolution, it’s such a big improvement.

This new world seems to revolve around electrical stuff it seems. People made out of plugs and sockets and all that.

Anyway, glad that this series gets continued after the original developer shut down.

Looks a lot like MultiMC at first glance (it’s a fork of it apparently). What are the differences, should I switch between the two?

As a Mega Man fan (Inafune was the steward of the franchise until he left), I apologise.