Part 17: Rogue Is A Dumb Character IV

Just the thought alone makes me sick.

No but you see protecting the sanctity of Mu is okay because





Anyways, Sonia somehow blasted Geo across a warp panel.

We gotta get outta here, together!



And with that the mist magically returns. The whole point of this intermission is to let the player save/heal up, because clearly being expected to fight two bosses in a row near the endgame is just too much.



Anyways,



it's time.



For the Tribe King.
Well okay, I already showed off this guy in the second update but now I'm actually going to use him.

If Geo has a Brother from the opposite version (or just a DLC Brother), he can perform Triple Tribe by simply using the correct Brother card while in the appropriate Double Tribe (ex: activating Ninja while in Zerker Saurian). While in this form, he has all of the abilities.
No seriously, all of them.



TK's charge shot is three consecutive shockwaves that are each a different element. This charges up at about the same speed as the base form's buster, and does unavoidable double damage on a good chunk of the game's enemies.



As for the Big Bang, it's pretty much the charge shot on overdrive. It hits 10 times for 50 a pop.

Cool, huh? But those are all small potatoes compared to the real draw of Tribe King.



And that would be that it doubles all damage. To put how fucking insane that is in perspective, see Dragon Sky GX here? Instead of just doing 500 it does 1200. If I weren't playing on Hard, that would have been enough to murder Hollow in one attack last video. And imagine if the Tribe boosts weren't applied after the doubling; that'd be 1400 damage off a single Giga.



Tribe King is pretty much the most overpowered thing in the game, if not the entire MegaMan RPG series. It can bolster any folder (even if you went out of your way to suck and only packed support cards, Side Select will still help you select more per turn), save even the shittiest of players (when you're doing double damage and have Super Armor, it's really hard to lose), and best of all is drawback free. See the "balance" for this form is that you can only use it for three turns and have to assemble it. Well three turns is more than enough to murder anything in the game (or at least significantly tip the odds in your favor), and guess what?



You can use a Wave Command to start every battle as Tribe King.

I think that bears repeating: You can use a Wave Command to start every battle as Tribe King.

The second I had access to the pause menu I could have completely chumped this entire game. That is how overwhelmingly broken this game's difficulty curve is. And that is why, no matter how bad this game may get, I'll always enjoy it because there is just so much silly shit you can do.



Let's go beat the shit out of Rogue.

Sonia! Say something!

Right after another stupid cutscene.

......

Geo backs away in disbelief.

No...

People like you always go on and on about ties and bonds, but you can't do anything by yourself...

yes

yes that is the point of ties and bonds because you can't do everything by yourself



What happened to her is proof that I am right. The weak don't get strong by banding together. Your Link Power means nothing...

Oh well that's funny, you seem to have gotten a lot stronger after joining forces with Vega.

Grr...!

......Look at you... Look at your face... Are you frustrated? Sad, perhaps?

Frustrated that I have to deal with this bullshit, and sad that someone thought you were a good idea.





Geo's finally had enough of getting preached to.

Sonia is my friend! Of course it makes me sad when my friends get hurt!

......

It's not just "someone else"!! It's when someone you care about more than yourself gets hurt! That's how much I care about her! And nothing in the world makes me sadder than to see her hurt!

......You know... You haven't changed a bit since the first time I ran into you.

Man remember that time Geo and Mega were chatting in the hotel? That sure was a dramatic first meeting, the stuff bitter rivalries are born from.

Huh? What are you talking about?

You go on and on about friends and bonds and Link Power.

You're the asshole shouting about the futility of friendship 24/7. There's really not much else Geo can say to you, unless you expect him to obediently agree with you. But wait, if he agrees with you that means you'd have something in common! You could even call it... a bond.

And no matter how many times I knock you down, you get back up, still blathering the same old nonsense...

Hey Rogue, you forgot the part where MegaMan knocks you out after he gets up.





It just makes my blood boil! I... I hate everything you stand for!

Thanks for the stunning insight into your character that you most certainly have not said every time you've appeared.

......



Anyways,

Why do you hate Link Power!?

who's ready for some ~dramatic backstory~?

You want to know? Fine. I'll tell you. It's because... I am alone.

What?

I am the only one left alive...



Stop.

Okay, so you're a descendant of Mu. Doesn't that mean you have parents somewhere? Relatives? Unless you're some sort of miraculous manifestation of Mu that randomly flared up after years of lying dormant in genes (the fabled "asshole chromosome"), this already doesn't make sense.

Mu...

The last one...



Yes you just said that.

From an early age I had the ability to see EM waves. And on my hand was a relic of Mu - the Star Carrier...

What were you just born with it? This is some Tales of Symphonia crap right here.

With it, EM Wave Change was possible...



People treated me like some kind of monster. Everyone I met thought I was something to be feared...

One of the central aspects of EM beings is that people can't see them. Unless you were going out of your way to be a dick with your powers (which I could totally see happen) there is no reason why anyone would possible hate you. Hell if anything they'd be fascinated with you seeing how this is The Future.



You have got to be shitting me here, people beat you as a kid? That makes no sense at all. You realize you're speaking with Geo right now, right? Since SF2 went out of its way to establish different languages, that means you're also Electopian. Have you seen Electopia? The whole place is chill as hell and completely obsessed with friendship. You may as well say Santa Claus abused you.



They would always band together and attack me...

Why? You haven't given any reason at all beyond "they were afraid of me" and that reasoning makes no fucking sense. I'm more obliged to believe you actively antagonized them by spewing crap about how Mu is the greatest thing ever.

As a group they could gang up on me...



They were weak... So they banded together. Even though they were pathetic by themselves, they thought they were great as long as they were in a group...

Well considering how they had you laid out on the floor two seconds ago, they were right.



I'm strong enough.

That's the end of Rogue's backstory. Before I go on, I want to stop and list all of the things you need to assume for it to even begin to make sense.

1. Solo is a miracle baby who was magically born with Mu powers.
2. Solo lived in some place that speaks Electopian but was filled with assholes.
3. This place was in the Visible Zone 24/7. Ignoring how this would mean that being able to see EM waves wouldn't make him unique, this makes no sense with the established definition of Visible zones.
4. Every single resident of this place was a complete asshole who'd beat up a kid for no well-explained reason. Literally every single one.
5. Every single resident of this place is so much of a wimp a kid can knock them out.
6. Solo was mute for most of his life and unable to explain his situation.
7. The police do not exist.
8. Social media does not exist.

That's eight. Eight massive assumptions crucial for this backstory to work. The whole thing is stupid as hell, cliched, and poorly thought out.

And guess what?

......

You're supposed to take it seriously!

In the anime, Solo's backstory was massively changed. Now he's actually the last survivor of Mu (we're talking time travel, don't ask how). This led to its own brand of nonsense from what I hear, but it still sounds better than this drivel.

I despise Link Power. It is my enemy. I exist only to show the impotence of Link Power and friendship.

You've been doing a real bang up job at that.

......I...



Time for Geo's classic counter-argument: co-misery.

...? What does that have to do with anything?

When I lost my father... That's when I decided I never wanted to be sad because of someone, so I vowed never to get close to anyone again...

......

I was like you. I went out of my way to avoid people. But then... Then I became friends with someone... Sonia...

A bond developed between us. She showed me the important of having friends! That's why...



I will protect them!

What the hell was the point of that speech?

Yaaaarrrrgh!!



But to say you don't need anyone... That's where you and I differ!

What Geo's trying to say, I think, is that he and Solo used to be very similar. Only Geo realized he was being stupid.

......

Thanks to Sonia, I realized I had been wrong. Avoiding friendships and despising Link Power are wrong!



You already did. Twice.

You hate friendship... You hate Link Power... But that makes you weak!

Alright then... Link Power... You...




Spoilers: Rogue gets his ass kicked.

------



One of the funnier things about Tribe King is that it's so bulky it screws up most boss intros.

Rogue is exactly the same as last time, only now his EM barrier doesn't magically protect him from everything. It refreshes itself very rapidly however, so the best chance you have of hitting him is while he's attacking.



At least until you get him down to half HP. Then he pulls out a sword (and refreshes his barrier if you just broke it).

(50)

Now, instead of punching he'll do a quick sword combo. He'll either shoot out a Sonic Boom (100 damage) at the end like so,



or just do a third slash.

(200)

His final attack is to slam the ground really hard. Just smack his face while he's charging.

It's entirely possible to skip the second half of the fight by stun locking Rogue to death. I actually had to do a couple retakes of this fight just to get to the sword part.

------



Kyah... N-No...!



Solo is forced out of his transformation.

This... can't be...!

Huff...! Huff...! You... You are strong... Much more so than I am.



But I have Prez, Bud, Zack, and Sonia... They're all there for me so I can fight. By myself I'm nothing but a weakling... But because I have them...



......



And thus a proud tradition of Solo challenging Geo to -- and subsequently ignoring the outcomes of -- dramatic battles to determine who's ideal is correct began.

Solo collapses.

So... So... nia...



So does Geo.



And then everybody's favorite douche joins the party.

Hyde... You were spying... on me...

Oh way to not stop him, Mr. "I reject all bonds ever".

I saw you, yes... And I waited. I waited for MegaMan to be so weak he couldn't move!

Ungh...

This... doesn't look good for us...

Hyde laughs that MegaMan's so weak that stealing the OOPArt will be like taking candy from a baby.

And now for the script's climax! You know the scene!





And thus Geo dies, his heroic future to never come to pass as Hyde rips the OOPArt right out of his body.












Kidding. Hyde just... gets it out somehow.

Heh, heh... Ha-ha-ha! Yesss! I did it!

If you ask anyone who's played SF2 what they feel about Hyde, they'll probably say he's the most annoying character in the game.

Where Hollow and Solo failed... I have succeeded!!

This scene is why. After a long, frustrating, and stupid scenario, you're finally at the end and then he just comes in to ruin everything.

Now Lady Vega will no longer be disappointed with me!

Hyde being intolerable doesn't help.



Hyde warps away, laughing.

The... OOPArt...

What happened...?

Grrr...





Vega is pleased with Hyde's success, and he couldn't be happier to accept her praise.

Tell me... How is Hollow? Is he OK?

His injuries are not life-threatening. He is attending to his wounds as we speak...

......Very well then.

......

Vega changes the subject to the OOPArt. With it, her dream will finally become reality.

You mean the rebirth of Mu?

Yes... It took a long time to reach this point.

Vega muses that she never could have imagined this would happen when she first found Mu relics.



When Vega discovered the Ancient Star Carriers, and presumably the EM beings inside them, she realized that the people of Mu were far beyond modern civilization.

Mu was not just some ancient civilization. They had full mastery of EM waves, and they used this to conquer the known world.

And now we wil bring them back as...



Hyde chimes in that once Mu is revived, Vega will easily be able to conquer the world.

This world... There are millions of fools, but only a few with true intelligence. That is why the ones with true intelligence must rule over the weak. It is the only way they can ever be happy...

Heh, heh, heh... You write a beautfil script, Lady Vega.

Hyde... I have not revealed my true self to you yet.

But since he did get the OOPArt,



she might as well. Let's ignore how this means that Hyde was in love with a silhouette.

This is the final act. Are you prepared? I require only humans of intelligence... Do not disappoint me in this.

As you wish.



We will bring back Mu!

Wow, so.

Why didn't Solo like these guys again?

------


Early designs for Solo.



Very early designs for Rogue, and some comments.


These designs are counterparts to the early Solos.


At some point Rogue looked like a MegaMan X character. Also check out ProtoMan.EXE in the middle.


After finalizing the design for Rogue, the palette was the last step.


Early design of Tribe King.