Part 6: Program Advance Infodump.

Now that that's taken care of, let's get back to the original point of doing all this: heading to the GovernmentComplex (rolls of the tongue, doesn't it?) where Lan's father is. Again, there's no reference to how the whole landslide issue was resolved, just that the safety program, which stops the train, is working now.



Lan is a student, so he gets train tickets for free, thankfully. Other areas will open up in DenCity, but for now all that's available is the "GovmntCmplx". It's like someone tried to fit the whole name onto a license plate.



This is the outdoors area of the GC, and this NPC mentions that the GC has two sections, the Waterworks and the SciLab. We'll be passing through the Waterworks to access SciLab.



By the way, people in the thread have repeatedly mentioned how they had no idea that P.A.s exist because the games are obscure about them or something. I'm totally calling bullshit on that.



I mean, you have Yai telling you "I got a powerful attack when I selected 3 Cannons!", there's an NPC in the nurse's office that will trade you an Invis1 K for a small explanation of P.A.s, this guy just happens to mention that certain chips are related, and every subsequent game in the series has the posting boards where NPCs will go out and flat out tell you how to activate certain P.A.s.

What I'm trying to say is that anyone who says that P.A.s are hard to find had to be basically ignoring every NPC that they weren't forced to talk to.



Custom NPC sprite alert on the other end of the outdoor area! She sells all-natural lunches. Oddly enough, you don't actually have to pay any Zenny to get one. Which is fair enough, since it has no effect.



Yummy and nutritious, though!



Sal is an environmentalist, and has the distinction of being the only competent one in the entire series. Two more show up in MMBN2 and 3, as well as a group of them in 4 Blue Moon, and they're all idiots.



By the way, if you think an environmentalist girl with green hair and hand-made clothes is a wimpy little hippy, guess again.



Her Navi WoodMan is pretty tough for this point in the game, with WoodTower attacks that damage very large sections of the field randomly.



Our reward is the /Sal item, which will open up the internet areas around the complex. Very handy.



MMBN1 has an "armor" system, and an NPC will explain it shortly.



First off, you'll have to understand the element system. For MMBN1-3, elements consist of Fire, Aqua, Elec, Wood, and Neutral. Each element except Neutral deals double damage to the appropriate element:

Fire < Aqua < Elec < Wood < Fire

There are no "resistances", for example a Fire attack being used on an Aqua virus or Navi will not deal half damage, it will do full damage.



Armor items can be equipped on the status screen, and all of them reduce damage you take by half. This makes them absolutely necessary to complete the game, you're an idiot if you don't use armor.



The drawback is that each Armor uses an element. Wood Armor is sold in the internet area the /Sal item opened, for example. They may reduce damage by half, but you'll take double damage from the element strong against your armor. So having a wide variety of armors is important.



Inside the nearby TV and vending machine, new viruses beckon.

Ratty: These things are very annoying. They'll teleport to panels that aren't in MegaMan's row and periodically fire a Ratton bomb that can turn once to home in on MegaMan. Dodging these is irritating, but not difficult. The problem is that when you get their HP low enough, they'll get angry and start moving much faster, also firing more frequently. At very low HP, they'll enter a panic state and warp around the field constantly, firing bombs every 2 seconds or so. Moral of the story: Kill these things in one hit or else.



Buffy: Buffy viruses are stationary, thankfully. They produce a bubble that bounces from panel to panel, trying to land on MegaMan and pop on him. They're completely vulnerable at all times, making Buffy viruses simple even in groups.



I swear, if you didn't figure out P.A.s in this game...



What more could a person possibly need? A spoonfed tutorial where the game forces you to use a P.A.?



In MY day, we didn't have fancy...eh, I don't want to spoil future games, so scratch that joke. I do find it funny that the writers just put (etc., etc.) there for the stereotypical old man monologue.



Taking the elevator up to Yuuichiro's lab, it's all been for naught!



Oh blink animation! "Yeah, yeah, deleted StoneMan and rode the train and came all the way here, and...ugh, fine, I'll leave a message."



On the other hand, we can maybe just jack into the computer and see if the upgrade is there.



Rats.



There's a few other things worth seeing here, at least.



This is a Virus Machine used for training. This is the only time in the series one of these shows up. It generates a virus battle based on MegaMan's level.



I got a Flappy and a Spooky for this point in the game. And yes, the encounters do yield chips, so this can be a useful way to farm certain chips.



There's a larger computer nearby used for Navi development. Might as well poke around it as well.




Aw, come on, you can tell us!



The other Navi in the computer relates that Yuuichiro is responsible for Navis having emotions in the first place.



Once we return to ACDC town, we get an email from him.



He apologizes for being busy while we visited, but on the upside, he compressed the upgrade and attached it to the email! Score a free HPMemory and PowerUp.



I mentioned before that there are three buster stats. PowerUps let you upgrade one of them by one point, so ergo there are 12 of them in the game because technically the maximum for the buster is 5 in each stat. Attack is obvious, the stat directly corresponds to how much damage the buster does. Speed affects how fast you can fire it. Charge determines how fast it can charge, and you can't charge it at all until level 2. A charged buster shot deals 10 times the Attack stat, under normal circumstances.



Oh, nothing, just stuffing an update full of foreshadowing!