Part 36: Current Forecast: Fuckery!

Another case of lost-cause videos, I'm afraid, don't expect to see the GridMan or ShadowMan boss fights. I'll redo them later when the V2s become available.



Liberation Mission number 3, here we go. This marks the point where the tutorials end and the game starts to really dick around.



Meet the BarrierPanels. Hidden somewhere in an item panel, there's now a key to these panels. These item panels aren't marked specially, so good luck finding them! Usually they're obvious though, being the most out of the way item panel available. Later in the game though, it's basically a savescum-fest of a crapshoot where the damned things can be. If you want a good time for the mission, making use of the once-a-turn save or just memorizing the layout (or being a dork and using GameFAQs) is basically necessary.



Fortunately, the speed character in either game, ShadowMan for us, GyroMan for Team ProtoMan, is capable of traveling over DarkPanels!



The usefulness of this should be obvious. For example, I don't need to waste an action to access that BonusPanel. I'll save it for a pinch though, no need to use a potential invincibility phase or full heal right at the start.



The speed teammate can't cross DarkHoles though, and we're immediately taught that fact. Oh well, MegaMan just opens the way for more shenanigans with KnightMan and surrounded field conditions.

And you're probably wondering what the TP chip does. Be patient, I do end up using it.



For now though, my hypercompetent team of kickass will proceed normally.



In addition to being able to cross DarkPanels, ShadowMan's Order Point command is the SneakAttack. Usable on field enemies rather than panels, it deals a set amount of damage to enemies without entering combat. At this point in the game, it deals 150 damage, not bad.

Although in this case, I just kill the stupid BigBrute2 the normal way.



The boss of this area is CloudMan. And oh jesus, is he a bastard.



Here's the key. Worth noting that neither speed Navi can liberate DarkPanels while standing on DarkPanels, although GyroMan's Order Point command allows him to liberate the panel he's flying over.

As you can see, the type of work the speed Navi will be doing is usually going to end up with situations like this. With lower HP than the rest of the team, you'll need to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew.



ShadowMan, thankfully, has plenty of firepower to make things easier. For one thing, he still floats above the panels like he did in MMBN2, GyroMan gets the same benefit while standing on the ground for some reason. So in both cases, auto-FloatShoes.

ShadowMan's charge shot is ridiculous. It's AntiDamage. Or more accurately, ShadowMan appears above the stage safely and throws a shuriken, rather than set the trap, but same overall effect.

And his chip creates one of his copies to slash at the closest enemy, while in S-code no less. Overall, a very useful Navi, if a bit of a glass cannon.



Thankfully, you don't have to manually unlock the BarrierPanels. It's more like flipping a switch, all of them instantly opening and turning into normal panels.

That said, note how this was BarrierKey1. And the BarrierPanels I showed you had a 1 on them. Yes, there's going to be multiple keys and barriers, and trust me, the late-game LMs get insane with them.



MegaMan's just a doofus compared to the rest of the team, honestly. He still just doesn't match up in terms of abilities and having an actually useful buster. Which of course is due to my style of play.



You see, MegaMan, this is how MEN do things. Let's look at our team here:

Leader: Colonel - Manly as fuck military man, beard included.
Awesome: Colonel's Voice - More like Testosterowned.
Defense: KnightMan - An actual knight in shining armor, has more armor than the average tank.
Speed: ShadowMan - Genocidal ninja, token anti-hero teammate.

Compare with MegaMan, who just doesn't have merits outside of my chip folder. Yet.



For once, Colonel fails to earn a 1-Turn Liberation, though at least I'd used ScreenDivide as a back-up.



Oh sure, you get a 1-Turn when it doesn't matter at all, go figure!



You can probably guess where the second key is on this screen. Well, time to use that TP chip! It stands for Transport Chip, and it allows you to swap Navis from the other version over during LMs! Sadly, the number of uses is limited by how many TP chips you have. You can freely revert back to the original Navi without using another TP chip, thankfully.



The only penalty for using them is having to listen to one of Lan's horrible, awkwardly recorded lines that's been spliced together very poorly.



"TRANSPORT CHIP!" Gap. "SLOT IN!"



Gap. "INSERT NAVI NAME HERE!" Gap.



"TRANSPORT!"



GyroMan! Transport and Roll Out! Using the TP Chip doesn't cost you an action, you can use the Navi on the same turn you switch it.



My plan here was to use BombLiberation, GyroMan's Order Point command, to liberate the item panel without having to waste a phase liberating one of the adjacent panels.

Only, I'd forgotten that it doesn't work on item panels, rendering the whole thing pointless. GyroMan is inferior to ShadowMan in terms of performance, hands down.



Sigh. Long way it is. So ends that phase.



The next phase begins with me moving GyroMan again to get this over with. Note that the BigBrute keeps hitting him on the field and I won't waste another phase getting rid of it.

However, in the battle on the item panel, we see something that hasn't come up yet in the LP, the anxious status. It returns from MMBN4, but in DTDS, it has the twist that you can cheer the Navi on (read: blow into the microphone) to restore a bit of HP and grant Full Synchro status. I haven't figured out how to fully use DeSmuME yet, so that's not available though.



Oh well, there's the second key. No more BarrierPanels for this mission!



The only things left are the DarkHoles. MegaMan mops up over here.



Colonel uses ScreenDivide to open the way up to KnightMan, and even recoups the Order Points I've used.



Since I can't access the DarkHole this turn, KnightMan gets a 1-Turn Liberation off the BigBrute2 with surrounded conditions, which is almost a guaranteed 1-Turn as I've mentioned.



GyroMan just isn't up to par with ShadowMan. And besides, he's nearly run out of HP.



Oh. Er, crap, should have expected that. The HP carries over for the sake of TP Chips not providing free heals.



That's the last of the DarkHoles, CloudMan's vulnerable.



As usual, Colonel ensures that the boss fight will have an even field. Hey, now would be a good time for whatever bonus that BonusPanel back at the start has for me!



Rats.



I'm not confident with 20 HP, so let's use SneakAttack and slice off 150 HP instead. The DarkPanels will regenerate that amount, but I still have MegaMan's action this phase.



How Lan knows that is anybody's guess. But it's almost right.

CloudMan doesn't have a lot of combat power or skill. What he DOES have is each and every last fucking annoying boss gimmick at once!

CloudMan hides in the back row exclusively, constantly spawns extremely annoying clouds to block attacks, spams paralyzing electrical attacks that will stun-lock you, and has an annoying ability to hide in a cloud while a larger cloud chases you around until you destroy all the normal clouds on the field to force him out of hiding.

His field attack is infuriating in that it auto-paralyzes the Navi it hits. Seriously, I almost failed the Liberation Mission a few times in that video, and did you SEE the horseshit that happened with KnightMan's automatic defense!? You have to love how he says he'll "Fog you up" every time. Oh yes, he'll fog us right up the ass.



Oh shut up and die. At least the other bosses in this game don't have bullshit like that, it's like the programmers stuffed all the terrible gimmicks into one boss.



Fucking...8 phases out of the target 9. Wow, I'm still under par? Christ, CloudMan wasted what, 3 phases? This mission was faster than I thought.



We all know I'm going to get revenge on CloudMan for that crap later, so yeah, fine, the battle aside, that went very well.



Yup. No more of that garbage, so it's only uphill from here.



You know, I wouldn't consider that a good thing. MegaMan's soul communed with a genocidal mercenary's soul. Who am I kidding, this is great. Maybe he'll be tougher now! And ShadowSoul is instrumental to the enormous gamebreaker that DarkInvis is part of. Still, wait a few updates to see just how atrocious that is.



Well, I'm looking forward to it!



A surprise attack!



You'd think a Navi so used to combat would take "Get out of the way!" as a sign to move. And by this point, a decent way into the 4th game of this LP, I can practically bill the blink animation as a co-commentator.

Also, you have to love how MegaMan just sort of emits his own light under the shadow he somehow doesn't notice. It looks more like a hole's opened up under him!



SMUSH.



And, er, away it goes. They do make an effort to free MegaMan, it just doesn't work at all.



MegaMan's been captured by Nebula. The darkest hour. What does the camera finally reveal to us, with our hero in the clutches of the enemy?



NO! NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT! You MONSTERS!



The ultimate torture! More 'friends' to pester us until the ends of time! This can't be happening, this has to be a nightmare! MegaMan, can you possibly withstand this?



Oh, oh, oh wait. MegaMan's shut down thanks to a sleep program, and Nebula's going to have some fun corrupting him. The Useless Trio are just being forced to watch.



Surprisingly, they bring back up this plot point finally. The doc here is very excited to have such a prime specimen.



Yeah, rather than wait for the DarkChip to erode at MegaMan's soul this time, Nebula's going to take a more direct approach.



This is probably the darkest thing shown on screen in the series. MegaMan spends this whole cutscene from here on screaming. Also, getting this screenshot was a pain because the mugshot only has the mouth open for a few frames while talking, hence the incomplete textbox.



What about the sleep program? Well, it kind of just failed, despite being Nebula's strongest.



The sadistic glee they take in this scene feels rather uncomfortable. I'm cutting a lot of the dialogue, it's mostly the same as this, kind of like some sort of rape scene.



Allegedly, the DarkChip they implanted here is an especially strong one.



Your MegaMan?



Well, this is, uh...



A bad thing.