Part 22: Dating Sim



Still not safe. Well, they tried, shame they're gonna die.
Time to start the next LP.









WE know that Geo could probably beat up those idiots easily. But, Luna doesn't know anything about MegaMan.



When did this turn into a cliche dating sim again?
At least they're 11. Cliche shit at least works for the target demographic.




eyyyyyyyyyyy
Good job, Geo. You awkward dork.
Anyway, let's hurry up to the second floor and pulse in -

Hm. They thought of that.


In that case, we'll just go from the first floor and stop this jerk.




Ugh. This is annoying. Why even make us run all the way up here, then?
Tension, duh.

Fortunately it's just a matter of pulsing out and back in to get back to the first floor's wave road.



Oh come on. Seriously? We take our eyes off of her for five minutes and she gets herself in trouble.
I'm surprised she didn't try to contact Geo the minute she was cornered. That's her only ally in this situation.





Seriously, this guy is a pain in the ass. I already beat him up once, just get the hint already and die!
Nah, man. Recurring villians are generally a plus. Makes them more involved in the story. We kicked his ass and now he knows strength won't work, so he resorts to cunning.



It's interesting that Mega was thrown by the threat. He's not one to really care about anyone.




Riveting action. I love the spritework.
Sigh. This kind of stuff is why the games aren't more beloved, I think. They shouldn't cheap out on the spritework in THESE cases. Really takes me out of the story.


Really, this is just the best thing I've ever seen. Remember how Battle Network had the PET throw in BN3? Small potatoes compared to this!
Exactly. Go the extra mile for tense scenes and even if the game is flawed, you'll create a lot of good feelings in your fanbase. It practically gives you extra room to fuck up, should you do so later.











Mega is now finally going to do SOMETHING. I'm honestly surprised he waited this long.






(There was a *bwaaaam* right before a fade to white, and now this. We've heard it before.)


Enter Sonia! Thanks for actually doing something!
Harp Note Ex Machina.



Oh, what do you know? They used the Help Signal again. Weird that the later two games don't.


Oh, right. Forgot about her.


*bwaaaam*

Man. Remember how Lan and MegaMan would actually do something useful from time to time? Sure glad that Harp Note is here to save the day.
...How is a guitar strum faster than a bullet from MegaMan? I guess Harp Note has the advantage of affecting multiple targets at once due to sound waves.

Oh, we get to actually do something now?









Oooh, a Jammer2.
Snore.

It dies like a regular Jammer but with more health.



Good riddance. Bastard.





A new player enters the field, but we won't see Gemini for a little bit. Don't they have something else to worry about?

Oh right she was here too.






Cheese it, it's the cops! (Yes I will make this joke every time Copper shows up)
It's 5-0! (And we're in the game's fifth chapter!


I, uh. This room is rather... pink.




Come to think of it, how did Sonia pick up the help signal, in time to save Geo and Luna? That thing can't have very big a range.
This is why you try not to Ex Machina.








I'm surprised Geo didn't run away the second he could. At the start of the game, he wanted nothing to do with any of this - but now he's actually sticking around to make sure Luna's okay.
Growth! He's coming out of his introverted shell.




No, I didn't drop any textboxes. He just jumps straight to that.



He peeked at your Facebook page! The horror! (don't put details like your address or phone number on the internet if you can help it)


That being said, Luna's overreacting a bit here. It's par for the course, honestly.





Geo you're an awful liar. I'm amazed Luna hasn't figured it out yet.
It's just one of those things that calls back to classic Superhero stories. Well, just Superman, to my recollection. "People see what they want to believe." If people could step back and take an objective measure of the situation, they might have actually seen the hero's human persona. But nope, a hero has to be strong, muscular, confident and all these other things. An image built up in the mind.
So, when a kid who, by all suspicion should be MegaMan, they let their prejudices run wild and ultimately distract them from the truth. This is why she never figures it out.




Ooh, are we finally getting information about Luna?

Pffft. Thanks, Blinky.
Blinky -- the only good 3rd wheel.









Aww, Geo actually accepted the thanks instead of brushing it off.



And with that we've wrapped up this little incident. Good job, Geo. It's a good thing Luna isn't going to talk to anyone about the weird cyber ghost things that attacked her. So let's go clean up a few loose ends first.

The grind has rewarded you with power. Respect the grind by grinding more.

Importantly, over the last scenario or two I saved up enough zenny to be able to buy this. I really want it before this scenario kicks off, so this is perfect. It goes straight into my folder, because 600 damage? Fuck yes.
...Yeti pls. I know your plan.

Step two: Beat up HarpNote SP as thanks for saving us earlier. (Something to note with HarpNote's SP form - she's fast enough now that if you get hit once by her stun notes you're probably going to be hit by everything until her heart pulse. This one really is a 'don't get hit' boss.)

First for her EX card.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhSlC7uNYAo
And the second time for her SP card. We'll come back to get better times later.
1600 HP and no weakness isn't hard to kill, by any means. But getting fast times is a matter of mathematics. To maximize the power of HarpNoteSP, we'll need to be doing 160 dmg/s. Not feasible with current cards even assuming optimal draws.


...Why is this the first time we see Pegasus's actual sprite? Did they seriously think... Oh, whatever.


Behold my 'combo' of three cards that I just hit HarpNote with at some point. Every time I get through a boss, I have to sit through THIS.


Now we get to name it. There's no option not to, don't be silly.


You can even add a message that'll be shouted out when used. If you want. You can just mash B after the name and get through that.



Then, if you remember to hit A instead of keep mashing B, you can equip it as a P.B. Combo, rename it, or delete the stupid thing.
B.Combos are a dumb way of adding massive damage to your folder kit. It's basically this game's way of ensuring you are never challenged by anything ever again. Thanks, I hate it.


Sigh. Just an additional sixty seconds after every boss fight.

Anyway, HarpNoteSP! It's obviously not as strong as it could be but it's still 10 points greater than what I'm using right now which translates to 50 extra damage. Good enough.

Next up, over here in Class 5-A's EM road.

Yeah, you know it, you love it, it's this bastard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm5tfEn4OHI
Solid countering.

I'll show this in a bit. Before that, in the same area and now roaming...

The larger, more obnoxious version of LibraScales. Six hundred more HP?! And that's the only change aside from more damage. They didn't change anything else because they knew this boss was already the worst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H31YmAOdNfQ


Stupid asshole. Have to fight him again in a bit...
Could have had it in 22 seconds or less had you not choked on some of those hits, bro. You suk.

So, LibraScales's card sucks incredibly. Yes, it does 200 damage if you hit (300 for hitting an elemental weakness). But it ONLY targets the first and last row, which means that it's very hard to use properly against all but a select few bosses - and the one I'd love to use it on, DragonSky, isn't the boss in this version of the game.
In other words it'll go into the folder when necessary and not before then.


We also get to check out the two Cipher mails for the new SP cards now that I've collected them. These things really are a pain to type out.


...Whoops. Thanks for your patented "ass detection" software, Nintendo. Maybe it'll still work?


I'm good, Mr. Hertz.

Yeah, so the game screwed up. We can't actually get LibraScales's SP card through Cipher mail because of the censor.
Hahahahaha. glasses is censored! Fuck you, Capcom. Bahahaahahaha. This is why censorship is silly.

Moving on! We have one last boss to fight now that we've finished with the fourth scenario.

Cancer Bubble has more HP and moves a little faster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TjcwSjCO9M


Hey, an extra 30 points of damage. Not gonna say no.

Time to talk to Sonia and actually get moving with the plot now that we've finished up with the bosses.



It's very convenient that she showed up at the perfect time.









These dorks. But yes, this is why Sonia was so conveniently able to save Geo - she was coming to visit him anyway.



This is so much better than how they handle Lan and Mayl, in my opinion. She's asking, at the very least.
Check the OSS playthrough for the stark difference between these two and Lan and Mayl.






They're being up front about it instead of Lan's weird dream from the plane in BN2 so I'm okay with it.







Sonia walks away after that. That worked out well for her!
Nice. It is very cool to see well-done relationships in jRPGs. They're usually bad.



Gasp! Someone was watching!? Maybe it was Luna.

No, just Geo's mom.

Geo is, understandably, flustered.





Hope is happy to see him getting out and about. She's a good mom.

Anyway, that's the end of this day, so you know what that means! Interlude time. And, since I can, I'm gonna just keep going.
Yeti no, a bed means a break in the LP. You're breaking the natural laaaaaw.





This time, we're getting a peek into Luna's home life. It's... not great, and goes a long way to explaining why Luna acts the way she does.






Luna's parents are heavily invested in her 'success' regardless of what Luna actually wants. Also, I'm sure everyone caught that "friends" a few pictures ago; it's just more of the same with that.
Ah, yes. Work for a big corporation! Your future is bright! YAAAAY. Fuck you.




They also spend all their time working (Luna said she's used to being alone, after all) and even as soon as they get home, they go right back to work.

All the while, they didn't even notice that Luna was listening...
Finally. Maybe she'll become less of a bitch if we give her the spotlight.