Part 22: Confrontation With A God

Mega will force the player to save the game here to continue on.



The last stretch is another labyrinth of Murians.



At the end is one final staircase.

Heh... So the lady herself is here to greet us.



MegaMan, I presume. I have heard tales of your exploits.

Wh-What do you want?

I am impressed that you made it this far. As a sign of respect, I will allow you into the throne room. Follow me.

Mega and Geo sense a powerful presence up ahead, and the latter's a bit intimidated at first.



But he gets over it.

Get a hold of yourself, Geo Stelar! If you back down now, who's going to protect your friends?

Geo...

Let's go, Mega!

Alright, kid!

MegaMan sprints ahead,



and is stunned by the sight of Le Mu. This would be a bit more surprising if I hadn't already seen the thing, but eh.

Le Mu is the god of all EM waves.

Whatcha talking about?

Le Mu has existed sicne this planet was first formed... Le Mu's power surpasses understanding. Le Mu gave us the Wave World!

That's ridiculous!

You know writers, now would be a good time to bring up that Mega's from another planet.

You think I'd believe you?

I see that you doubt what is true.



That is all thanks to the power of Le Mu.

This "revelation" would again be more interesting if this all hadn't already been shown.

Le Mu can form anything out of nothing... That is why I call Le Mu a god!

Le Mu runs on Spiral Energy I guess?

Whatever lady...

It was because of Le Mu that the people of Mu prospered. They were lucky to be the ones to receive Le Mu's blessing.

Oh for- I read all of those tablets game. I had to do that to even advance. Why are you repeating this?

Can you even imagine? Imagine how much power it would take to make an entire continent float?

Well considering Mess Village is also floating in the air, it's not that mind boggling.

You're saying Le Mu moved the continent?

Exactly! Now I have awakened Le Mu using the OOPArt.



We'll see about that!

Alright, that sounds like a good pre-final battle taunt. Let's get this show on the road.

MegaMan... What would you say to this idea?



What idea?

You have shown yourself to be a man of ability. To come so far only to lose would be a waste... So here's my proposal...



MegaMan literally stormed Mu just to take you down, why would he join you?

Wha...!! Are you crazy? Why would I...!?

When I find people of talent, I don't withhold my praise. And people of talent should rule over the wretched, the foolish. I believe you too should rule over them.

Oh don't tell me.

Forget it, lady! That's crazy talk! Who wants to take over the world anyway?

I see... Well, you are young...

......

You don't understand...



Oh god damn it, it is a lead-in to Vega's backstory.

I will enlighten you about my past.



Are you fucking serious, writers? You waited until right before the final boss to tell me the main villain's motivations?

Our country was a very poor one... And it was always embroiled in war. Everything was always in an awful state...

And the worst part is, much like the rest of this scenario this backstory relies on the world of Star Force being much shittier than what the player is shown.

I myself was born into a particularly poor family. You can't even begin to imagine our daily struggle just to live.

Seriously, "Society is so advanced now that everything is roses and daisies, but oh wait there's this one part of the world we never told you about that is totally shit." is super lazy writing.

......

It wouldn't even have been hard to just show this earlier! MegaMan was globetrotting for three straight scenarios.

I worked so hard to escape that place. I always thought that if I had enough money, it would be simple to leave the country whenever I wanted.



Let's not ask how someone from a poor family in a poor country somehow managed to get a degree.

And with that came the opportunity to finally leave that country. But before that, I lost something of great importance to me.

Something important?

I invite the reader to go look up the word "Tanabata" right now.

Yes... It was something I valued more than anything else in life. I hated my country more than you could know. And that same country stole from me that which was most precious.

But what I hated even more than the country was its wretched ruler. He would start wars over trivialities and spend money on the most frivolous things!

And no rebellion sprung up because that wouldn't have been convenient for Vega's backstory.

It was obvious to me that he was as useless as the sun is bright. However... No one except for me could see how unqualified he was.



Unless the game is trying to imply that Vega was born in Star Force North Korea, but that brings even more questions to the table.

And there were those who would even openly vocalize their support for him! I couldn't suppress my anger any longer. Tanabata was falling into ruin and no one held him accountable!



Even now I still can't comprehend it. If our ruler had any talent whatsoever, I never would have lost what was precious to me!

Speaking of that, weren't you supposed to be talking about what it was? Why are you going on this rant?

Only incompetent fools bring about disasters... And the situation wasn't unique to the Tanabata Kingdom either. After becoming a well-respected scientist, I was able to see that. No matter where I went, there were fools in charge.

I mean it's actually pretty decent as far as motive rants go, but when you lead into a conversation saying you're gonna talk about losing something precious then you should talk about what you lost.



This all comes off more like Vega has impossibly high standards and the people she's complaining about are in reality perfectly fine leaders.

And so I realized... Leaving these fools to do whatever they please would be dangerous! Their mistakes would only lead to pain and suffering for others!



Okay, are you going to talk about that no-

So I focused that hatred into a single goal. My new goal... was to rid this planet of all the fools and start a new age!



*Gulp!*

Freedom is wasted on the foolish! The foolish don't know their place in society. I won't let them lord it over others anymore! There is no place for them in my world!

To that end, one thing is needed... What's needed is... someone of ability to rule over them! And the one who will rid this planet of all its incompetent fools, must be able to lead, to have absolute power over all life!

MegaMan... Do you know what you would call a person with absolute power?

......



I will become one! And then I will rule over this world with absolute power! That is my goal!

Holy shit I don't even care, get to the lost precious thing already. That's the only part Geo could symphathize with you about and it's far more relevant to this game's theme than "I think everyone is stupid."



Oh wait, that was the end of the flashback.

Being the wielder of that power makes me a god as well!

So I've been a God since the second update? Cool.

Is this dame for real!?

I'm going to rid this world of the gigantic cancer that is eatng away at it. Humanity will be divided between the talented and the foolish. Those who show promise will join me in this land! And we will rule over the foolish from afar!



What's wrong about it? I'm not actually trying to destroy the world. If anything... You could say I'm trying to bring the world together in a new way!



Geo is understandably skeptical of this claim.

Family, friends, and lovers... The world does not function without bonds. Those bonds create Link Power, and that is very important.

......

And the Link Power that is created, will be used for conquest!

...!

We will use our Link Power to reign over the foolish! You belong with us. You have the right to rule over the foolish! Join me.

......

Well?



......Are you... sure?

Controlling people with Link Power? Sorry, but that's not how Link Power should be used!

You won't be able to change your mind later.

The game didn't even give me a choice. No Dragon Quest 1 ending here.

Do you even know what's going on down there? You're only gonna rule with fear and hatred, not Link Power.

As it should be. I'm ridding the world of the cancer that plagues it. Of course the process is a bit... painful. But I will step in and put an end to the chaos.



That is regrettable. I thought you would be able to understand. I see I was mistaken.





Le Mu is apparently a pokemon.



This guy is diesel!

You have made a foolish choice, but you won't have long to regret it!

Alright, the main villain has given her conclusion on how the world works. The final boss is powered up and ready to go. Now it's time for Geo to draw on all of his experiences from throughout this game and craft a heroic counter-argument that shuts Vega down.

......I know this isn't going to be an easy fight. But... I'm not gonna run away!



I'll face any enemy I have to in order to safeguard them. Because I know what real Link Power is!

Okay good, good, you're tying the game's main theme into this.

It gives you all the strength you need to be brave! You don't use it to conquer people!

And now you're bringing up what you learned from the seemingly ignored Tribe scenario. Great!

The outcome of this fight will determine which view of Link Power prevails!



If I...

Music: Moving Scene



Wait what?

This is what Link Power is all about!

Uh, Geo.

I made a promise to everyone! And I'm not gonna break it! I know their prayers are with me!



Geo, that's SF1's main theme. What the hell does that have to do with anything right now?



Oooooh, I see, it's meta-commentary on the fact that SF2 totally relies on SF1 for everything.

Think about it. I said Geo was going to draw on his experiences from throughout the game to make his argument, right? Yet all he actually did was state the game's (barely mentioned) theme and cite words from the scenario that copied SF1 as much as possible. What we're reading now isn't Geo, changed by the events of SF2. We're still reading Geo, changed by the events of SF1.

Literally this entire game was pointless. If you pasted this entire final scenario on to SF1 as a postgame segment, the only things that would stand out are Rogue and Hyde since their ties to MegaMan were formed earlier. But seeing as how they explain their motivations every single time they appear even they wouldn't be too hard to figure out. Meanwhile Vega, Hollow, Mu, and Le Mu all have their exposition crammed back here, the rise of the Neo Mu Empire was ridiculously abrupt anyways, the OOPArt turned out to not be important enough to deserve a mention on the title, and there are no loose ends from previous scenarios that get resolved here.

I mentioned in the last post that large chunks of the game could be ignored without losing anything. But when it comes to the final scenario? You could skip the entire game and still understand it. It's that bad.

Music: Shooting Star



So you know what?



Let's say I did skip the game.



No Wave Commands.



No SF2 Abilities.



No SF2 weapons.



And no SF2 cards.



Hell, I'm not even going to bring my Brothers into this. I'm going to beat Le Mu with only what SF1 allowed me.



Also now that I'm back at the menu, maybe I should check the e-mail from the founder of Link Power. Seems kind of important considering the last talk turned into a debate on the true meaning of LP.






Oh well that turned out to be completely pointless with regards to the debate, but good to know Lan's got my back.



The BN Blaster is a spectacularly shitty weapon considering how long it takes to get it. I can get SF Power before it, for crying out loud.



Here we go.

Let's do this, Mega!

Alright! Time to tear things up!


Watch the fight!

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Music: Confrontation With A God



Le Mu is by far the most frustrating of the three SF final bosses.



It's a two part battle, and the first half is just it floating there. MegaMan has to shoot down the rune guarding its core before the fight really starts.

(120, Breaking)

And Le Mu won't just let him. Its main attack is to morph its hands intro drills and shoot launch them at MegaMan. They're aimed directly at his panel, so it's all about timing the dodges.

(60)

(60, Breaking)

Or at least it would be if Le Mu didn't also have these moves. It can summon a portal underneath MegaMan and form a Murian to either fire a laser or slash. While these will damage you, their real threat is how they block off movement. It's very easy to get locked to a side of the screen then get nailed by a drill.

(60)

Le Mu's final phase 1 move are these vulcans. The move's much easier to dodge than it looks, since it only hits any given panel once. Block it and take advantage of the attack's long animation to shoot Le Mu a ton.



Once enough damage is done, phase two starts. Hard Mode completely screws this animation up (it screws every animation up) so I came back afterwards and re-recorded a run on Normal. You can check it out if you want.



Seems Vega stuffed the OOPArt in Le Mu when nobody was looking. It's the thing's weak spot,



and to protect it a shield forms up whenever Le Mu moves. Since it moves often, it's safest to wait for it to stand still and attack before counter attacking.



During Phase 2, double the drills are launched. Also the portal attack changes colors but who cares.

More than that, two more attacks are added.

(200, Breaking)

The first is the double sword slam it uses in its card. Only avoidable by quick sidestepping, which is hard when portals and Murians are littering the screen!

(60x5, Pierces invisibility)

And the second is giant laser beam. Perfect timing with the shield is the only way to avoid damage.

Le Mu isn't too bad now, but once it upgrades it's a giant mess. Hard Mode gives a good preview of that upgrade, actually; blisteringly fast drills (the only way I could dodge is because my emulator slows the game down during recording), an endless flow of attacks that are arguably impossible to completely dodge, way too much HP, and absurd amounts of damage.

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Official art and commentary of Le Mu.


Concept art of Le Mu's weapons.


You never see it in-game, but in its first phase Le Mu's sitting on top of a mountain. Hence the lack of movement.