Part 7: BLicense time! Fighting AirMan V2.
What were we doing again...? Oh yeah.
We're going for our BLicense! It is better than a ZLicense. SLicense seems like it would be inbetween that. But it's probably the highest, knowing Japanese game-ranking systems. Hm. Do we know anyone that's S-Class? Sounds familiar...
Oh my gosh, Chaud! I forgot all about that guy. He's our rival. The Brendan to our May. The Silver to our Gold. The Gary to our Ash
(Pokémon reference #6-8)
Chaud's pretty much an amazing netbattler who works as an official despite being around Lan's age. His navi is ProtoMan, to further cement that rival thing. Suffice to say, the guy's a very good friend of Lan's.
Whoah. We in fact did not invite him, pity I don't know where to find him or I'd totally invite him camping.
Oh well.
Fantastic, that'd a load off my mind. I was kind of worried about Gospel, but if the officials are on the job then that's fine just fine.
They've got a Net Crimes unit. It's under control.
This image isn't particularly relevant, but I feel it sums up Lan and Mega's daily interactions quite well.
Anyway! We've got a license test to take!
Oh come on. Lan and Mega only defeated Dr Wily's dumb web gang recently, as if they don't look qualified for this!
No time for whining though, we have to tell another dude we're here for testing. Bureaucracy!
At least this guy doesn't judge us based on the fact that Lan's like 12.
And here's the testing room! It's a convenient place to jack into the net from. And looks like we're not the only ones in here for testing.
Awww.
Whoa this dude's cool
This dude not so much.
Yeah yeah, we're getting to it. Wait. Did you say jack in from anywhere...?
(that's right. you can jack in from anywhere in this room)
: Me too! Now you know why I hate studying?
: You're just trying to take the blame off yourself!: Not so. Come on! Let's take it!Let's check our e-mail.
Yay, Yai will come with us camping tomorrow!
With this most excellent news on our mind, whatever this test is ain't got nothin on us!
Lay it on us, Mr Generic Navi!
A survival battle, eh?
I have faith that since this is the first one I've heard of it's not going to be a problem!
Now, the thing that this particular MMBN game has in spades is survival battles. What is a survival battle? It's just a bunch of virus battles one after another, no biggie. Well... some of the later ones are nothing short of insane, actually. But right now, no biggie.
This one's more a test that you're still conscious than of any actual battling ability. It's just five short battles against the sort of viruses you've been seeing in the wild since the start of the game, and not arranged in any way that'll cause lasting harm.
And so-!
Video: I'm not sure why they bothered
Yaaay. One down, two to go!
Lay it on me!
OK question. Does saving the Net from the W.W.W count?
No?
Fair enough, I guess...
(pressing 'L' during this test nets you this. VERY HELPFUL)
Speaking of very helpful (but this time in a less sarcastic tone)
a lot of the navis in Den Area have unique dialogue during this test, because they all want to help Lan and Mega. D'awwww.
Yeah that does look like a mean-looking navi
Well I never! It is a mean navi! I'm sure this jerk is irrelevant to the task at hand though. He better be, I don't wanna talk to him again unless Mega's giving him an internet-kick in the face.
This navi is way back near Lan's PC. We've covered the entire Den Area that we've actually been through so far.
Hmm, and nothing there. Hey I wonder if there's anything we unlocked recently, maybe something related to toad-shaped bosses we fought earlier.
Wait hang on I think I went too far from Lan's PC, I hate it when that happens. Stupid fastforward button. I'll just-
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Yeah. Soooooo in MMBN2 after you defeat various Navis, their ghosts or souls or god whatever they decide to name it in this game haunt various parts of the net, and if you step on whichever tile they're haunting it puts you into battle with their V2. That's a slightly-upgraded version of their original, naturally. After beating their V2, their V3 will appear as a random encounter in that area.
This can be a gigantic pain in the arse, because some navis are strong enough that you definitely do not want to be fighting their upgraded versions as soon as it's possible to do so. And in some cases it really is ridiculously easy to accidentally unleash their V3 around the net.
As for this, I kind of want an Airman chip for my folder and don't really care if he's all over Den Area 1.
plus this is the third time I've accidentally wandered down the end of that dead-end and triggered him so I may as well actually get him out of the way
So while I re-fight this knob, have some poorly-photographed AirMan.exe concept art! (I highly recommend buying the MegaMan Battle Network Official Complete Works artbook, it is a really good artbook that includes soooo much concept art)
Video: Fighting AirMan V2 (re-recording is for scrubs)
Actually this is my more usual battle 'style'. Running right into the thick of things because dammit I might get a good hit in.
Anyway. Here's BlitzBlast again with some hard mode!
BlitzBlast posted:
So, AirMan V2. To be honest, battling him is a waste of time. His chip is crap barring specific enemy placement (and the fact that, you know, you have to actually draw it), the battle is pretty frustrating this early in the game, and it could just be confirmation bias but I've found AirMan V3 to have a ridiculously huge encounter rate.
Having said that, I went with my normal BN procedure and fought him immediately after he became available. As in, right after Lan woke up.
I would have won if I hadn't overestimated Megaman's invincibility time.
AirMan V2 on Hard has so much HP that unless you do everything perfectly you'll end up burning through your few same coded chips and end up plinking away at him one chip per turn. Add in him being able to kill you in two to three attacks, and you don't get something fun. I could probably kick his face in where I am right now in the game, but I think I'll keep him around for later to completely destroy with various game breaking strategies.
Now that we've unsuccessfully scoured the known parts of Den Area for this navi, we should probably start actually thinking about what we're doing. This area here in the Square has just opened up, and it leads to a new part of Den Area that's over near the entrance from the DNN van.
Actually it's just a walkway above Den Area 3 & 2, but you know, previously inaccessible so there's that.
This looks like the guy we're meant to be helping
That's the second-saddest thing I've heard todaythe first thing was the navi-coffee thing
Shit yes. Justice will be done! And BLicenses achieved, but that's besides the point. I mean stealing Navi's WalkProgs, that's just hardcore evil.
But first, another e-mail check! Mega's kind of compulsive about this.
Buoyed once again by friendship, we shall overcome this trial! And you know, I have a sneaking suspicion about where the perpetrator is...
(Is it too
Funny thing about generic enemy navis in most of the MMBN games
They don't actually fight you themselves until... I think #4? Otherwise, they just throw viruses at you. Also: Dick move. Three Beetanks are a pain to keep dodging. And so much HP, blargh.
I think I must've used the Roll chip at some point, because I'm sure I got hit during that battle.
No, let's take a look at this WalkProg.
Cyberwalk...? Is that anything like
(rotoscaped from this cool guy)
Ummmmmm anyway! We'd better give this navi back his WalkProg.
Whoops wrong navi (but at least we got enough money at the moment for more HPMemory, which is always helpful)
This is the right navi.
i'm not racist but all you generic navis look the same to me
Yes! That's problem #2 down, let's make it 3 for 3!
I think you mean very nice work.
Another survial battle...?
This one is another 5 rounds, but it is significantly harder than the previous one. I mean, just look at these viruses! There's a bunch of upgrades of viruses we've seen before, and one new (and supremely annoying) virus, and that last battle is specifically engineered to be hideously annoying.
But I'm not worried, because I know
Video: A longer and slightly more interesting survival battle!
(apparently this video will take another hour to upload. yay shitty connections! but it's really not that interesting)
The licensing exam is over! Finally, onto new things maybe!
Teamwork!
Excitement!
I told you Mega was kind of neurotic about checking e-mail though.
Chaud! He must have heard us talking about him!
That's... uhh... we didn't invite him, right? Hmm. Well, we meant to, so I guess that's OK. Kind of sad he can't make it though! He's such a swell guy.
But that's OK. We can go camping without him! Next time!
