Part 3: Invasion of Privacy
If you remember, last time Geo let an alien crash in his Transer and now said alien wants him to go run around, talking to people.
Let's see. Alien in the Transer. Weird magic goggles. I think I'll repeat Aliens for good measure.
I think it's the perfect time to go back to bed, don't you?
Hell yeah, don't you sleep in on days with no work/school?
Everything up where Geo sleeps? Extremely space-related. A telescope, a globe, and even a poster of the stars.
The implication is that Geo was a little interested in space (hence the carpet and all that) but was still a normal kid, until his father disappeared. Then, he became obsessed.
...Hm? It's turned off. Turn it on?
>Yes No
*whirr* *hum*
There's a wavehole here!
This is the real reason you want to explore and mash A at a bunch of stuff. It's kinda similar to trying to jack in constantly in the Battle Network series, but with an extra step involved. Not every wavehole is available at the very beginning. A lot of them tend to be 'off' until you interact with them in the real world.
I don't mind this, actually. It does get you involved with interacting the environment and tries to connect aspects together narratively. It can be a bit of a pain and you risk losing neat items, but I think the positives outweigh the drawbacks.
(It's totally there, believe me. Stupid flashing effects...)
HELP EVEN YETI IS BLIND
And that's it for Geo's room.
Once we turn on the Visualizer, we can see the wavehole I opened earlier, and someone else in the room.
Yeah, let's get out of here. Don't want to do extra work.
This mugshot looks so flat. They could have definitely touched up the spritework to make use of the DS.
Geo's living room is, like I said, reminiscent of the Hikari's house.
At least they still have some pictures of Kelvin around.
Also a plant. Nice.
Hope working part-time means that she probably has plenty of time to keep the house in good condition.
Sometimes the waveholes are just hidden and you don't have to turn anything on, like in this fridge. It's just a good idea to check out all the flavor text anyway.
Geo and his family are also ridiculously well-off. Fancy tea sets and stuff like that.
NAXA must pay really well. 6 figure salary easy, eh?
They say that, but I can clearly see a chopping board with something green cut on it. What were they using that for?
Dinner?
There's a lot of stuff that's here just for decorative purposes.
Also, I just noticed that weird patch of tile. I don't remember if that's actually anything important or not. Guess we'll find out later.
Other than that, the flower here is the only thing we have left to look at. It's a nice touch. (Though I'm not sure why they'd want skunk cabbage around. The name is appropriate if the leaves are bruised, and the flower really just looks like a weird reddish-brown bulb.)
You might have noticed, but while there are wave roads and waveholes, there's no place to pulse in nearby. Strange.
More importantly, as soon as we step outside, Geo gets some more mail.
It's all entirely from Mega, who seems to have a lot to say.
: It's a pretty nice and useful system. I am so bored since you went to bed, Geo. Figured I'd keep myself entertained writing. Actually, I forgot to tell you a few things during today's battle, so I'll send that to you too. Oh, and you can use e-mail as a way to leave notes for yourself too. Useful, huh? Anyway, you don't have to read everything now. You can read all of my e-mails in your spare time. I'm gonna send you the rest of my e-mails now.Almost all of this is just recapping the battle system so that if you forget, you can go read over the tutorial again. It's the same thing that Luna did for BrotherBand stuff.
He'll also include a few useful tips and tricks that weren't shared with us originally, like how Favorite cards work. Once you've favorited a card, it'll be a white card in battle so you can pick it whenever.
: ...the MegaBuster's attacks by finding various weapons I can equip. You can see and change these items by picking Mega Screen from the Menu Screen. If you ever find any items, check them out there! You might have noticed that the middle card on the bottom screen was "Mega" instead of ???. That's the final top-screen we can look at, and it's pretty pointless most of the time. But, it lets you switch around what weapon Mega is using. This is a little like putting PowerUps into Megaman.exe from Battle Network.
The Shield is useful, but not perfect. Anything with the 'Break' property will go through the shield, and you'll take damage if an enemy enters your square regardless of blocking or not.
: Counters can only be performed with attack cards that don't dim the screen. Also, you won't get another Bonus Card if you pull off a Counter with a Bonus Card. So it's not like you can get an unlimited chain of cards. Timing a Counter is tough, but it'd be real cool if you can pull them off.There's a few special quirks about countering that Mega didn't mention earlier. Most important is the rule that time-stop cards (cards that dim the screen) can't counter, same as Battle Network. You also don't get to loop forever. If you're very precise then you can get a maximum of 12 cards - 6 from the custom screen, then counter 6 times. Strictly speaking you can counter multiple enemies with a single card, but that's a very rare case.
And this is the entirely new thing Mega didn't mention last time.
: Looks like it's a hidden system within the mail system if you write a mail and set your Satellite as the recipient, write "Cipher" as the subject of your mail, and then enter a secret message in the body, something will happen... There doesn't seem to be too many of these secret messages or words, and they're unusual enough that if you find an odd-looking word, you should try sending it in a Cipher mail!Cipher mail is useful but also can break the early game, and since I actually like this game I won't be using it until later. Other than that, it's basically the Numberman codes. A little more intricate than that, but we'll see in a while.
Here's a look at the Mega screen, even though I don't have any weapons for him. His default weapon is P. Fangs, and that gives a 1/2/1 bonus to attack. Attack is how much damage each individual shot does; Rapid is how fast it fires when holding down the B button; and Charge is how fast the charge shot charges. It should be pretty familiar to anyone that played the BN games.
Everything also gets a neat little description. Turns out, the blue stuff on Mega is armor?
Here's a quick glimpse of the wave roads in Echo Ridge. Unfortunately, Mega won't let us pulse in. Give me freedom, game!
This game has a good story, I promise.
Fine, fine. I'll talk to humans.
Yeah. What a dilemma.
Send an e-mail!?
Okay, got it. People suck. Each person has two different lines of dialogue, though the only one that matters for Mega's purposes is the first line.
The weird yellow brain thing in Geo's room is, I'm assuming, a TeacherMan navi.
I mean, almost all of the battle cards? They're very fun.
All of these NPCs are... well, they exist.
Stare into Young Giver's eyes and give him your chips.
Cool.
Naturally, what's on the TV is true.
This is true. Though I'm not sure how electromagnetic waves generate power.
Capcom science.
Even though the game lets us go to Vista Point, we can't pulse in. You monster!
Fine, I talked to the last guy. Give me a break.
There, are we done?
I appreciate that Geo is exactly as fed up with this shit as I am. The early game is very slow, but once we get out of this conversation the game opens up a little bit.
This is a perfectly acceptable response to someone saying "I want to go in someone else's cellphone.
: ...see is an Earthling's personal page. If you look at a person's personal page, which is usually not shown to strangers, you can find out what that person is really like.If you remember, Luna had us set up our personal page last time. What Mega is talking about here is the same thing - their favorite cards, their message, all that fun stuff.
I'm down with this. Mega is just surfing social media pages for dumb shit and memes.
: Plus...?: Oh, nothing!: But peeping into someone's personal page... That's not right.: You realize even if you say no, I can force you...Mega: still kind of an asshole. I appreciate that he's more of a driving force than MegaMan.exe was.
: But if you act up inside the Transer... *sigh* OK, so what do I do?: We'll enter Transers just like how you entered that train's Comp Space yesterday. So put on your glasses, find a wavehole, and change into wave form!: Man, if someone sees me changing into wave form, they're so going to think I'm a ghost, or worse!Finally! I can go pulse in and get the -
Oh come on!
Fiiiine, game. I'll hit your stupid event flags.
The reason he won't let us go to Vista Point is strictly because the game doesn't want us pulsing in up there just yet. We need this next cutscene.
: Just do what you did yesterday. Get as close as you can in the Wave World, and then touch the Transer you wanna jump into.
: OK, got it.The game says 'As close as possible' but really, as long as the Transer is on screen you can jump into it. I'm not sure if there's a range restriction or not, but it's not like you need to be right on top of them.
If memory serves, that's correct. As long as it's within your touch screen it can be tapped.
: ...Wave World, so watch your step, alright? But if you fight the way you did yesterday, you shouldn't have a problem with most viruses. It's odd, but you have a knack for battling.Translation: Hey kid, there are random battles here.
: ...You're gonna stop saying that sooner or later.: Huh? Did you just say something?: No, nothing. Anyway, the Transers await!Yes! The Transers await!
And by Transers I mean 'exploring'. Now that we know about waveholes, examine this dog house again...
C'mon, Bud. The system is only as secure as the weakest link, you can't forget to turn on your security.
No helping Yeti. He needs to LEARN.
More importantly, there's a wavehole!
There's a couple other places that have waveholes as well, like the car. There's also a good shot of a Transer here - that little textbox above the old guy's head.
There's also a wavehole here, if you read the sign again.
Finally, though. Finally we can pulse in!
Ahh, wonderful. It feels good to be free. Basically, the game is giving us free rein over what to do, so I'm going to explore a bit first.
Making another appearance in the game is Mystery Data.
Called Mystery Waves in this game, they follow the series's standard. Green (GMW) are random appearances with small rewards and respawn every time you pulse in, Blue mystery waves (BMW) have better rewards usually but only spawn once, and Purple Mystery waves (PMW) are locked versions of BMW that require the Unlocker SubCard I mentioned last update.
Oh! Oh! Let me, let me!
*ahem*
Much like Battle Network, we have different colored Mystery
Each area naturally has its own drops. Those drops are then split into two halves Looking at what an area spawns will be important for the postgame and completionism. As an example, let's take a look at what spawns in this area.
code:
Section 1
Green:
Contents: 0 32/256 12.5% 120z
1 32/256 12.5% 180z
2 32/256 12.5% 250z
3 32/256 12.5% 400z
4 32/256 12.5% Recover30 (Yel)
5 32/256 12.5% FireRing1 (Yel)
6 32/256 12.5% IceStage (Whi)
7 32/256 12.5% Barrier (Yel)
Section 2
Green:
Contents: 0 32/256 12.5% 130z
1 32/256 12.5% 260z
2 32/256 12.5% 330z
3 32/256 12.5% 400z
4 32/256 12.5% TailBurnr1 (Yel)
5 32/256 12.5% GrndWave1 (Yel)
6 32/256 12.5% Recover10 (Yel)
7 32/256 12.5% ParlyzPlus (Whi)
Case in point. 120 Zenny isn't much.
Yeti got the lowest reward possible from that data, but should he feel like grinding the Yellows...which I really don't recommend, then he'd have a shot at marginally better stuff. Yellows are bad in this game.
But we can see that each green data has 8 unique drops, split into 2 sections per area, so once you seen one of each, you have a rough idea of where to farm your favorite battle cards.
Also present are random battles! This formation right here is... literally all of the viruses we'll fight for now. Mettenna we've seen already and are exactly the same as Mettaurs, down to the counter timing. Shoot them or hit them when their pickaxes are raised and coming down.
CannonBases are just Cannons. They shoot at you when you step on the column in front of them. Their counter timing is 'while they charge a shot', so just use a card instantly and you'll probably get the counter.
Melamanders are a little bit tougher than the other two. They hop around for a bit before charging a flamethrower that goes down the entire column to hit you. The counter timing against them is tougher, right before they unleash the flamethrower but after they finish charging. Just wait for them to start charging then use a MegaAttack to hit them with a sword.
After each battle, we get the results screen. The time it took to delete the viruses, the busting level, and the reward. I won't be going too in-depth about the Busting Level here (that'll be a bonus update down the line) but the simple version is this: beat the viruses fast, don't get hit, don't move much, and try to kill multiple viruses at once. The higher the Busting Level, the better rewards. In this case, I got 150 Zenny... which was already more than that GMW gave me.
Aww, okay, I'll wait for the bonus.
Putting that aside, check out this guy. He's pointless. All he does is walk around on the school roof. Neat.
That's one of those things where the game shows you an NPC as a huge tease, but does absolutely nothing with it. Huge annoyance.
Each area usually has at least one BMW hanging out on the wave roads.
This one gave us a SubCard. I will never buy these and probably never use them until the final boss.
This place probably isn't important.
What is important is the ability to hop into the Train again.
Welcome to the Comp space. This one happens to be the Train Comp, but don't be fooled. Every comp space bar... like, three or four in the game are identical.
Racial profiling.
There's always a Mr. Hertz that's friendly and willing to talk to us...
A large opening up here in the top right...
A loop in the bottom left...
And a BMW. The BMW and Mr. Hertz can be placed in any of the 7 little prongs. I usually just go counter-clockwise to check them all.
There are fights in comp spaces as well, sometimes with different arrangements of enemies or battlefields. In this case, there's a RockCube in front of us. That's all.
I also got the first card reward from these Metts. Hooray. It's a Shockwave, but one that can shift directions.
Something nice that I didn't capture is that you can just press R to pulse out of a comp space and end up back in the Wave Road that you jumped in from. It's a nice shortcut.
More importantly, the other wavehole around here. It lets us jump into the statue.
They're all adorable. I love these little guys.
Hertz > Progs
There, I said it.
Neat. Useless, but neat.
That's all of the comp spaces in here for now, so let's explore the rest of the wave road.
There's no way to control the day/night cycle. The conversation here is just for flavor text.
Meet the reason I pulsed in here first instead of doing what Mega said. This card is buck-wild for early game.
Hello there, beautiful. You're going to be going straight into my folder.
RadarMissile was bonkers early game. Jesus Christ.
Along the way I S-ranked a fight and got the PowerBomb1 card from the CannonBase. It's an okay card - better than the HeatBall1 they started us with, at least. Some of the starting folder is okay (Atk +10, AirSpread, ParlyzShot) but most of it gets outclassed by the virus cards almost immediately.
Only okay? It does the same damage as Sword, and for the cost of a slower execution time, it hits in '+' shape. This is very, very good for multi-deletions. Which means, it's easier to get more cards, which means easier S-ranks down the line. Efficiency!
You tell them, Mr. Hertz.
Man, Mr. Hertz is preachy today. Fuck the Progs at this rate.
: My boss fired me because the mail was late. All because I was paralyzed!! What the heck was that wave!? Us programs are strong, but even we can't stand up to something that powerful.And this is why even programs need unions. ...But how does a program get fired, anyway? Are there Navis that don't have cards and just get hired, or something? This world makes no sense.
I, for one, stand up for Navi rights.
Honestly, the early-game rewards from GMW aren't great, but they're still something. I'll still grab them because every little bit counts.
As you can see, class, Yeti is now in the second Section of the area, which can spawn a whole different set of rewards. FUN.
And that's it for Vista Point's wave roads. Not much except for RadarMissile1, but hoo boy is that a good card. Let's move on, shall we?
Vista Point connects to Echo Ridge's wave roads in the same place that it does in the real world. The map designers did their best to get things pretty close, which is nice.
Hey, that's an alright reward. It's like, 3 or 4 fights I don't have to do.
There are shops in the wave road too. They'll sell cards that mostly drop from viruses but they also sell things that are much more useful - HPMemory. In this shop, there are two HPMem20s, and I want them both. Unfortunately, I only have enough money for one, so I'll get the next one later.
You can notice that buying that HPMemory raised Geo's level by 2. Each 10 HP counts as a level; it's not important for me except as a tracker of 'how many HPMems have I picked up' but if I had a Real Brother, their level would decide what bonus I got from them.
Enough about that, let's hop into the car and see what we can find.
Eh.
This one is one of the 'unique' Comp spaces that I talked about. It's shaped the same, it just has a neat little thing here that shows how the car works.
It's okay, Mr. Hertz! You tried your best.
Tried? Fuck that. Mr. Hertz is gonna have to pay insurance.
While I was here, I managed to pick up the third virus card. TailBurnr1 is a flamethrower down three rows in front of you. Nice, but nothing as exciting as RadarMissile1. (Nothing will be, for a while.)
Elemental damage is nice. Also, hey. 3:36 time AND an S-rank!? I see my skills have rubbed off on Yeti.
Next stop, the tradition.
This one's actually useful, if not right away. At least I'm saving money and don't have to buy them later.
: I'M THE GUARD DOG WAVE! WOOF-WOOF! BUT IN TODAY'S PEACEFUL AND SECURE SOCIETY, MY SERVICES AREN'T REALLY NECESSARY. BUT THAT'S OK! I'M CONTENT IF PEOPLE JUST LOOK AT ME ONCE IN A WHILE AND REMEMBER THE BAD OLD DAYS! WOOF-WOOF! *BEEP BEEP*Mr. Hertz are too pure for this world.
Expose them to the horrors of the Wave World.
Also of note, the doghouse comp has the first instance of tile modifiers. In this case, it's Grass.
Fire damage (and touching a fire element enemy, whoops) will deal double damage and remove any Grass panel it touches.
Ouch.
While running around the Wave Roads, I also encountered this guy. G viruses are rare encounters with double the HP of their normal counterparts. They also have much better rewards and skew the odds of receiving a card in their favor. They don't drop different cards though, so it's better to get zenny from them.
The Sign comp also has our first instance of a SubCard shop.
The Unlocker here is really the only important part, but I'm cashless and can't really afford it. (Ignore the zenny numbers, this is recording temporal shenanigans at work.)
There's also a free sample up here. Just one gets you hooked.
: I'M A POSER SURFER AND CAN'T SWIM! COME ON BABY! HOW WAS THAT? THAT'S MY NEW SLOGAN. YOU KNOW, EVERY WAVE SHOULD HAVE A GOOD SLOGAN! HEY, HEY! *BEEP*They're so precious!
Kill these fuckers. Their cuteness will be the death of me.
Anyway, that's the Vista Point wave roads and the top half of Echo Ridge. Let's pulse in from down here and explore the rest.
The first step is... Geo's house?
Yep. This is how you get into the wave roads in here, since you can't pulse in anywhere.
The rewards are okay? It's the same pool as Echo Ridge and Vista Point, I think.
Green
Contents: 0 32/256 12.5% 120z
1 32/256 12.5% 170z
2 32/256 12.5% 190z
3 32/256 12.5% 230z
4 32/256 12.5% LongSword (Yel)
5 32/256 12.5% ParlyzPlus (Whi)
6 32/256 12.5% FireRing1 (Yel)
7 32/256 12.5% GrndWave1 (Yel)
Gold
Contents: 0 32/160 20% 10000z
1 32/160 20% TidalEdge (Yel)
2 32/160 20% Barrier200 (Yel)
3 32/160 20% Recover150 (Yel)
4 32/160 20% TaurusFire (Blu)
Nnnnope, completely separate pools.
Huh. Learn something new every day.
It's kinda weird hearing the Mr. Hertz say Geo in proper capitalization like that.
Biggus Dickus you mean.
There's also this goodie back here. This game has HPMem10 and 20, and they do what they say.
Before we go downstairs, let's check out the wavehole we opened up earlier.
At least that's something better than a Small Energy.
: 1 PLUS 4 EQUALS 5 SO... *BEEP BEEP* WHAT DID YOU SAY? I'M CALCULATING HERE... COULD YOU BE QUIET? I'M STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF CALCULATING! DON'T DISTRACT ME!: UMM... ... OH, RATS! I LOST COUNT! OH, WELL... NOW I'VE GOT TO REBOOT THIS COMPUTER! *BEEP BEEP*All those times your computer just reboots itself? A Mr. Hertz lost track of counting because some jerk of a Navi talked to him in the middle of some stressful addition.
This is why I say fuck these programs.
The living room has a Mr. Hertz that is really into fashion.
It also has a very useful card. It adds the Paralyze property to the attack card you select before it. Using something like AirSpread to lock down a quick boss so you can hit it with a slow, heavy attack.
It's hard to see because the waveholes flash when you're near them, but we can jump into the fridge from here.
I dig this sneeze-in-text
: *SHIVER* IT'S C-COLD *BEEP BEEP* W-WHAT IS WRONG W-W-WITH PEOPLE? WHY IN THE WORLD W-WOULD ANYONE MAKE AN ICE BOX LIKE THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE? DO THEY REALLY NEED T-TO CHILL STUFF THAT BADLY? I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HUMANS! MAN, IT'S COLD! *BEEP BEEP*Save a Mr. Hertz, turn off your freezer.
Leave them on to freeze 'em.
IceMeteor1 is pretty nice. It's our first Aqua-element card, at least, so it'll kill the Melamanders in one shot.
The fridge has ice tiles on the field. These force you to slide when you hit them. Basically, you can't step on the middle tile.
There is a fun interaction here, though - if you have a barrier (or aura, or whatever) then you're not affected by ice tiles.
Also, have an example of what RadarMissile1 does. This thing makes S ranks easy in this area since it's 100 damage to all non-element enemies.
Not bad.
There is a limit to folder building, though. Aside from the basic 30 card limit, you can only have 3 of the Standard cards. These are the ones in yellow/white.
Back out in Echo Ridge, there's a few more places to check out.
GrassStage is useful for setting up huge moves later, but for now I'm putting it in the folder because it can make TailBurnr1 usable.
You already have a much stronger folder than what you started out with. TailBurner is 70, so double that to 140. PowerBomb for easy s-ranks. Stages for white cards to help folder flow. IceMeteor and GroundWave for more range attacks.
Here's a shot of IceMeteor1 at work. It hits the entire row for 50 and leaves an ice tile where it hits.
: ...but the humans have no idea how busy we are... They only call for us with the cards when they need us, but we waves work hard all day long. If only they'd be a bit more appreciative...So, the Navi card just calls the Navi there, they don't live in it? I guess?
Fuck if I know. Navi rights! Navi rights!
Let's check out the last wavehole before trying to figure out how all of this stuff works.
Trash! Give me good rewards!
Oh look, Yeti is taking more pages from me.
Me:
I refuse to transcribe even a single textbox, if only to prove that I'm not making this up.
What a good reward
Mr. Hertz > whiskey plane BN2 rapper
After talking to the best Mr. Hertz yet, I went back to the shop and had just enough to buy the second HPMem. Calculated.
Now that I've had my fun, let's do what Mega wants and move the plot along.
When you hop into someone's Transer, you're greeted with a little message they write.
You can also see their icon, their name, and their six favorite cards. Cindy White here likes 5 Recover10 and one apple.
Every NPC has a pun for a name. Every single one. Cindy White here, I think, is a play on both Cinderella and Snow White, hence the apple.
Checking their message earns us a little bit of insight into what they'd normally only share with their Brothers.
So that was neat. Let's check out the kid that was talking about Mr. Shepar.
Joe Hawnt here likes four spooky ghosts and two 'Megaman going Super Saiyan' cards. He's also afraid of ghosts, hence his name.
Cool thing, kid.
Can't say the dialogue doesn't have a lot of love, at least.
What about you?
Chase Winde (ugh) likes two sets of cards. The one with the green background is JetAttack1, the shop has it for sale. The other two are most likely the upgraded forms of the card.
Uh huh, how interesting.
What about the kid that hates TeacherMan? I bet he has something interesting.
Quiero Mocard likes an assortment of stuff. We've seen GrndWave and JetAttack1, but not any of the others.
Quiero Mocard? I want Mocard?
Oh great, another young Giver. "Look at my cards, they're so cool" shut up kid nobody cares.
Man, I just reproduced everywhere. We have 3 kids who are descendants of me. Spread your seed.
Finally, this old guy last.
Iver Gatte he favorited a bunch of support cards.
: Not as quick as I used to be. ...Am I getting old? ...Could I be going senile? Bird watching... Now that's what I like...He's a little forgetful.
Now that we've peeked into everyone's Transer, Mega is satisfied.
: What's odd?: Ever since this morning, I've felt the presence of FM-ians somewhere around here. I thought maybe they were hiding in a Transer like me, but we checked everyone's Transers, and we didn't find any FM-ians...Mega tends to hide information from Geo. It's a recurring situation at this point.
Geo, naturally, is less than thrilled about the idea that he could have run into a bad guy without knowing it.
Mega: probably one of my favorite characters in this series. He gives zero fucks.
ArmNavi is fucking gangster, I tell you what.
: What's up all of a sudden?: I sense the presence I felt this morning...: But everyone in town checks out. No one's hidin-: FM-ians can hide in more than just Transers.: Oh, yeah. Like what happened with the train.: A-ha! I got it! The FM-ians are hiding out in a Comp Space somewhere! That's gotta be it!That means that they could be hiding in... eight different places. If we eliminate the optional ones (the two in Geo's house, the Vista Point sign, and the doghouse) that leaves 4 Comp spaces.
Of course, I don't feel like checking out 4 comp spaces.
There's a reason I saved Iver for last. And that's because our target is hiding out in the Car.
Efficiency in this Let's Play? Giver approves.
Yes. Our little boy bodies should tell you this.
Go on, git.
git merge feature/update-2-giver-commentary-text feature/update-2
?
Jammers are like... mini-bosses? Maybe? They don't show up like regular viruses, but are only fought in specific circumstances.
They only have two attacks, a gatling gun down the column and a punch. They'll hop around a few times before stopping to attack, so just wait until they open themselves up. The counter time on these is weird - the gatling gun is the after they finish 'charging' but before they start firing, and the counter for the punch is during the punch.
After we beat the Jammer up, it explodes for a bit before it pulses out.
Oh yeah, whoops, we just beat up some poor bastard.
More importantly, EM viruses can infect humans and turn them into foot soldiers. I really wish the game did more with that plot point. Rather than just the generals we fight. Imagine Geo's mom being a Jammer.
I do appreciate the pun, though. (those who aren't aware: a Jammer does what it sounds like, and jams radio signals)
"By the way we just beat up some homeless guy. Let's go sleep." "Okay..."
Sounds like a normal day to me.