Part 11: Art Lessons
Update #10: Art Lessons
I suppose Mayl's parents are business-people. This is about the only time this is mentioned to my recollection. Sheesh. And Lan complains his Dad isn't around. Least he has an active Mom.
Well, they needed an excuse for why Mayl lives alone and her mom never shows up on screen. At least they didn't go 'Her parents live in a different city'.
So after this, you need to go to the MetroLine, but you need to go in and out for Mayl to appear.
...Wait, what? How did they screw up that cutscene trigger? Weird. And that's something from the original, it's not a bug the new version added.
How dare you make me reload maps to trigger a flag.
NO! I had to waste 4 seconds!
I'm using speed-up while playing along so it was maybe half a second. Much better. At least GBA load times are roughly non-existent?
I do appreciate the turn-around. And I completely forgot that the cars still travel through cutscenes in BN1.
...Bygones? That's... weird. Was that something changed in the translation? Nope, that's what they said in the original. Translators, you can do better than this.
And she sends us ahead, which we already did last update, so this is awkward.
You know, we waited for her and everything. Mayl, PLS!
Sometimes things just slip on the schedule. Unlike my schedule for writing this co-commentary. Definitely not.
She sends this literally after stepping foot in the town, so I guess her grandmother's isn't far off.
How are we going to afford antiques as elementary school children? She's rich! Let her buy it.
At least we know where an antique shop is, so that's easy enough. (Here's a hint: the whole area is shaped like a plus. If we count the entrance to the metro as the bottom, then Miyu's shop is on the right arm.)
And we get Roll2 R.
Roll2 has buffed from 80 to 100. Yay.
Oh, look, changed dialogue. The original text said you should check the bus signs, if Yeti feels like grabbing.
Take a look:
Yep. That's the only difference.
Like so.
So, I already fought Miyu. Only thing I need to do is go inside the shop and exit.
Just a quick hop, skip, and jump to area 1 later, and...
It's supposed to be green, but it looks blue. In fact, the dungeon uses blue roads and ColorMan uses AquaTower. I'm confused. Is this a Japanese thing?
The lights in Japan are what we'd consider green due to international standards, but the Japanese language calls it blue (due to linguistic shifts that really don't apply to this LP, so I won't bog people down with the specifics that I'm not all that sure of myself). In some pictures they look more blue than others, but I'm not sure why these lights are blue-ish. Maybe turquoise, which is halfway between blue and green.
Dead. The bodies have disintegrated. Dead. The game never does say.
They've gone to the great Navi Graveyard in the Internet.
Gee, who could have caused this?
"It's a little pricey at 1,000,000 Zennys, but it's worth it! On sale at Central Dentown only while supplies last!"
This is such an IT scam. "sir there is virus in your compooter. pleez let me teamviewer to fix"
"Quick, install this rootkit and then also let me add a syskey to your computer and that will definitely fix the problem. Also pay me $150 so that I can install 'firewalls'.
I'm sorry, what?
Man, WWW is full of poopieheads, I'll tell you what.
What jerks they are. Though, if these people are falling for it, that kinda explains why Lan is roughly as competent as every other adult.
I have to admit: I like this dungeon. Both the music and the gimmick. It'spretty cool.
"However, the signal remained green!
You should still remember this. The road has to be red when we flip the switch to solve the puzzle.
Red means it's solved, of course.
Touch an orb to change the road's main color. We can only walk on whatever is currently a main color, so this is an exercise in spatial reasoning. I typically excel at these.
Plus, these are puzzles designed for kids. I'd be surprised if you couldn't. Though, maybe not that surprised.
You'll find cases like these where you'll have to touch an orb, grab something, and re-touch the same orb to progress. For here, I just grabbed the data on the blue path, looped around, touched an orb and got the red path.
Fun change alert! Bubbler was updated to BubbleSpread (BubSpread) by the translators.
This place isn't really a maze, either. Which is good, since the road is meant to simulate highways.
I dunno, have you seen some of the highways in DC? Things look like an architect spilled his spaghetti and then used that as the design.
Nothing we haven't seen before.
There we go. The stop signal is permanently on STOP, which will cause traffic backup for days, but it's better than the alternative. ...or is it?
I'd say it is. Plus, when we jack out, everything's conveniently set up that we can walk across, no problems.
Yeah, all they have to do is kill a few viruses. Plebs.
Wow, pathetic.
The e-mail fucking came from the https://www. The email sender literally said "Your WWW". Jesus Christ.
It's like if you got an email saying "Nigerian Scammer" and then still fell for the prince offering you a million dollars.
3-for-3 literally.
"No, you're the bad guy."
Stunning conversationalist, our Lan is.
This bitch just went there.
Oh shit, she's going after the dog. Someone call John Wick.
I want that son of a bitch dead! I want him dead! I want his family dead! I want his house burnt to the ground!
The Boogeyman comes.
Nah, we'll be fine. Our family is full of competent NetBattlers who didn't need saving.
Literally taking two steps.
Thanks, Blinkie. You always pull through when you're needed.
I forgot that Caller ID wasn't really used in BN1. MegaMan should have known who this was prior to the call request finishing.
And if our hero Lan Hikari doesn't score at least a Busting Level of 7 in every virus encounter, this bus will explode!
It's like Speed, except worse and stupider in every way.
Alright, I won't give Mayl as much shit for this one. But she should at least jack in and inspect the problem.
She really doesn't have that much time. And it's possible there's no jack in port on the inside of the bus.
Our first time seeing Jellys. They move up and down in their row and will eventually unleash an unavoidable attack. Some players may detest the very idea of something like that, but you get more than enough time.
Boo.
It's not like you need money or anything. You get enough from the random battles.
I think this marks us having all 5 Escapes for that trade. I'm not sure I want to give them up since it means I'll have 0 Escape chips. It's not that I run away...I just like seeing my library in my pack.
As a kid, I always tried to get some sort of Escape PA, but didn't realize that it wouldn't happen.
The maps are marginally helpful here, letting you better plan out your routes. It'd be even better if they marked the orbs on the map. It wouldn't have been very hard, either. Capcom why.
That being said, the answer is "Go straight, then take the last right before the orb". They're not hard.
I do dig the slight escalation of danger this dungeon tries to use. As I said, Battle Network tries to use its narrative and setting in a way the other games simply don't. This contributes to how weird it feels from the rest of the series. It's not a bad thing, for sure.
And we're already meeting HeatJellys (V2).
Yoink.
Grabbed this too while I was here.
"Hang on a sec Mayl just gotta grind up some chips from these viruses."
Drat. I shouldn't have virus busted those extra few seconds away. Time to get to the next bus stop.
This is entirely your fault.
Damn, she makes calls to taunt you, too. Just like Mr. Match, yeesh.
I'm not sure that's how this works.
...It's... I'm not very good with engines/cars in general, so I don't know, but any machine flowing backwards will probably screw something up.
Lan? Call the Officials. She was last seen in the area. Get her ass arrested.
You literally know what she looks like, you know where she is, just... do something.
This map just looks like loads of fun doesn't it.
There's two orbs on either side of Giver. Flicker effects!
Yoink.
Much like Bubbler, Heater became HeatSpread to reflect Battle Network 2's naming conventions.
Comp 1 -- 800 Zennys
Comp 3 -- 500 Zennys
Why?
Because you get all your zenny from viruses, duh.
Mettaur and Swordy3's. Nice. There are also Swordy2's, but they're not much for showing.
We finally see Powie2's. Now we can complete the Quake chip series and maybe use HeavyStamp offscreen
I use it in my folder, it's fine.
Score.
I'll just take my C-code, thank you very much.
Only place to get this code, incidentally.
It's worth noting that Lan and Megaman have another chat during the dungeon, though it's more of the same.
The pink barriers actually touch the bus, slowing it down a tad.
I don't see how Lan is actually getting ahead of the bus, unless it's moving around in circles.
Apparently the bus driver has control over the vehicle, but can't slow down or get the passengers off? I guess.
Notice how there are no spaces in Mayl's subject line. You can just feel her nervousness seeping through to her message. It's the little things, honestly. I can't even give Mayl shit for this.
What's this? Actual sympathy welling up inside me?
...Nah.
I think that's heartburn. Stop being you, maybe it'll help.
Second-to-last computer. Yep, there are 5 areas.
Much better. Thank you.
But... but your virus battles! What will you do if you don't need zenny?
We make a loop-de-loop and pull...and your dungeon's looking good.
Free HP Memory is the best HP memory since I won't be buying them for a good while.
We finally see Ammonicule1's. We did need the first level of their chip.
Call me your pescetarian.
That joke makes no sense.
Why yes, there are Level 1 Canodumbs in this area. Because that's interesting. Why not a Canodumb3. Jesus.
Flicker effects, but the barrier spawns right here, really catching the bus and slowing it down significantly.
Man, these cars... I don't understand how they work at all.
It's actually slow enough for us to run ahead of it. It's that slow, so I'm curious as to why the people on the bus don't try to jump out the window. Break the windows, people!
But if they jumped out, they'd break all their antiques! Also, the jack-in is entirely automatic at this point.
Final computer. And this line right here introduces another bug that was never fixed in Battle Network 1. Everytime you read this line, the encounter rate resets. So if you abuse it, no virus encounters during this segment. I'm not going to do that, but there's your tip for the day.
Huh, that's actually neat. Maybe they do variable changes before checking if you can actually jack out? Neat.
We need to hit 4 switches this time. The aim is to trap the bus in an intersection, forcing the autodrive machine to completely stop.
C-code is top tier.
1/4
I approve of this drop. Approve so, so much.
I'm not so much of a fan. It just seems... excessive.
2/4 And would you look at this funny looking puzzle.
3/4
The puzzle is easier than it looks, you can only go in one direction more than a few steps.
Halfway through the game, so far the dungeon drops appear to be mostly identical between OSS and BN1.
There we go. Canodumb 3 is in a single encounter in the entire area of Traffic Comp 3. Just go to Undernet 9 and find him there.
4/4
You did it!
Hah. You're boxed in.
...That's not even a pun?
Yeah Ms.Madd. Call and get mad about how we just won.
Now that? That's a pun.
Translators PLS.
I can't imagine her without a Valley Girl accent, so they're pretty spot-on in my opinion.
Activated? So was it on a timer, or were you literally screwing with us and just decided to push the button. I prefer the latter as it's cooler.
Wow, what a bitch.
That would have killed Lan, too, based on proximity. Like, damn.
So close to ending Part 1 early. And then the protagonist would be Ms. Madd! Wielder of Wheel of Fortune!
About time! Is Mayl literally the only person on that bus?
I can't believe this plan was foiled because ColorMan got horny.
Roll, being a civilian (though customized heavily) NetNavi stands no chance against a hacker's NetNavi. Only Officials and MegaMan's special origin can fight them.
"No, you idiot, of course I'm not okay!"
I suppose this answers my question. Madd/ColorMan have to actively push a button, otherwise Roll's distraction is irrelevant.
We need to get our mail!
...I know that pun sucked.
Gods damn it Giver.
Look at the map. The platform is the bus' net, hence why it doesn't appear in Traffic Comp 5 proper. I guess.
Oh, that's actually pretty neat. I never noticed that before.
I. Hate. Clowns.
Sir. Take your ball off the girl.
Sir this is sexual harrassment, please stop.
The dude hops up over Roll.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4BPG722o7k
ColorMan's attacks all go straight and turn once, so, if you had trouble, then you sucked.
I got hit a few times because I stopped giving a damn and just held speed-up the whole time.
Hm. Red and blue roads. Faux-Red(pink) and Blue NetNavi. Hmmmmm.
Is this game trying to tell us they'll be paired up or something.
Or maybe they're just telling us that blue and red are excellently contrasting colors and work well in a color palette together.
Wow. Just wow. Lan thinks saving Mayl is annoying. Damn. When did he become more like me? Even I don't think Mayl could have realistically done anything different. Her Navi isn't meant to fight hackers.
It was annoying, though. Plus Lan's still kind of a little shit in this game.
MegaMan is trying to be a wingman. Dammit, Lan!
He's trying really, really hard.
That's right. Forget about Lan peeking in on you earlier. Just forget alllll about it.
See? Lan gets it. Despite all who claim otherwise.
Nothing's worse than getting roasted by your sentient PDA.
Well, what do you expect? I mentioned last update the effects of Lan's father not being around. Plus, the kid's 11.
He just doesn't understand women.
Mayl walks off, but no, Roll, you're the dense one. Lan does get it, in the small way his kid brain can comprehend it. Girls grow faster so she has a better idea of it.
Morons.
Yeah, let's just make fun of the kid for not getting something it's entirely possible he is literally not old enough to comprehend.