Part 3: The Axe of Doom

Megaman, our second robot, will be a pure killing machine, although his charge time will suffer for a bit but will be his next-best priority stat outside of Power and Speed. He'll hit hard, dodge well. Our final robot will cost another 4,000GP, so we'll hold off.

(I do realize that the vote was Power/Charge, but Speed is probably a bit more useful here, though I'm going to change it to a mix of Speed and Charge next update)



Anywho, our next dungeon is the river.



Gels are new here. But they're not a big threat.



They're annoying primarily because they can attack from long range. This does mean, however, that they'll rarely ever destroy Capsules on the field.



The other new enemy here are Rushbirds, and they're quite tough and can also attack at long-range, they also have quite a bit of HP.



Dexter is really bad at traversing small pools of water.



Skills must be programmed using the weapons that you have. You can make some combos to create some. We can also name them.



Skills can only be created by clever management of the Fuel gauge. You can't use more than one Bomb in a skill because Bombs already take up 3/4ths of your Fuel gauge, so combine it with something simple like a Sword swipe.



Good, now Megaman has some skills. He's still a bit frail due to low Guard and Energy, but ah well.



After the river, we reach the Cave Mouth.



Robotrek Tunes – Deep Underground



Einst: Dr. Einst will blow up the wall with a special bomb he invented. Everyone, stand back.



Wait, but... he didn't. Silly Enix trigger flags.



You have to stand precisely to the left of everyone to get this to start.



SNESsplosion.



Except, well, it doesn't go so well. The explosion causes a small cave-in.

Einst: Inventions are always failures. I'm annoyed by those who don't understand them! I don't want to cooperate with you anymore! Tell the Mayor I worked for that money!



Whatever you say, asshole.



Anti-Fissure committee eh? Time to fall in that hole!



Poor Dexter, having to do the dirty job most jRPG protagonists do.



We find a key item here, but we can't do anything with it until we get back to R&D.



That's one tough lookin' river. I wish we could ford it, like one should do with every river.



ah fuck



oh well that's handy



Just to show off what Runs do. With Bombing, XRR, Megaman leaps into the air and attacks twice with an equipped weapon. There are other unique animations that Runs have if you program the right combinations.



Unfortunately, this gets poor Megaman killed since it takes up a full Fuel gauge. It did do almost 100 damage.



Back at R&D, we make a regular Drill by combining the Rusty Drill and a Clean item. Now we can get through the rubble. We can also make a Shield 2 using our Shield 1 and a Clean. Even though we can clear the rubble where Einst failed, there's some things to be done back down the big hole.



Random musings: I am starting to believe that exp bonuses gained from capsules don't actually work. Case in point: I had 1.9 Megs to go before obtaining another level. I should have only .9 after the last battle, where I obtained a 1.0 Megs bonus.

Nothing happened. I think that bonus EXP only accrues if you still finish the battle within the time limit, which is pretty shitty.



We have to force our way across the stream, easily done by just running at it.



We run into the kids who decided to adventure, and they're bawling their eyes out.





So that's what this is about. Silly kids, just go into a goon's basement



It's always a good thing to free children before Sandusky can get a hold of them HEY OHHHH



Heading back to Rococo, Nagisa tells us the Mayor wants to speak with us regarding what we've accomplished.



As a reward, we get a smooth 1,000G.



The receptionist stops us before we leave, however. She tells us that Carl's her son, and that he hasn't returned (despite the fact that he said he could make it home himself).



Akihabara: Anyway, Flavon and I are going on a trip. I don't know when we'll be back.You'll have to take care of yourself. I'll leave Kurogane with you. Take care of him. Well, Dexter, do your best.



It's time for a cat massage

a whisker watch alert is in effect



Back at the Cave Mouth, I show off the Big Bomb. They're items you can buy that attack all foes, however, they are quickly made obsolete. You can occasionally find them in capsules, though.



Going further down, we fight Spiders. They're pretty dangerous, and have high attack power. However, since Megaman is so fucking powerful, he can take them out in one hit. They, too, can inflict Stop.



I'd love to meet the “Rapids Group.” A group of people who study river rapids. Gods, I wonder how entertaining their newsletters are!





That sure looks like it won't lead to anything dangerous.



Meta Crab: If Blackmore finds out, it will be all over for you! Take the kid away and look for Tetron. Get on it!





There are Hackers down here, and they all come in flavors with different weapons. The sword-wielding ones are strongest, the gun ones can shoot from long-range, but they're still dangerous.





Best way to get past him? Use the Surprise Horn to distract him, then sneak past as he goes to check it out.



This worker tells us they're digging holes... looking for something.



Sucks. This guy wants us to find the key to his ball and chain, and Meta Crab has it.







You keep resisting, and I'll just have my robots blow you the fuck up.



We're in Meta Crab's bathroom now.



so we fucking roast him



I quite enjoy this game sometimes, and grab the Key behind him.



Meta Crab receives a transmission, so we take it for him.





Returning to the slave, we equip the key and free him. We learn that his name is Kotetsu, and that he... recognizes our name somewhere. Hmm.



Following Kotetsu's path, we head back to where there was a locked door. And bust a cap in this fucker's ass.



Oh boy, an evil insignia...



Inside, we find Carl lobbing bombs at the Meta Crab.



Meta Crab: I had an awful time because of you guys coming in here and rummaging around! You're interrupting an important job. I'll punish you!



Robotrek Tunes – Boss Battle



The Meta Crab isn't a huge deal at our levels, but he does have a huge resistance to gunfire and he has a tendency to inflict Stop, forcing you to attack either that way or with Bombs.



He also sends out little crabs that may or may not explode near you.



Megaman is of use here because he can do 30+ damage, but his low defenses mean he loves to keep dying. I switched in-between the two whenever Megaman died.



Meta Crab: Oh, Master! You're so strong! I was just a crayfish passing by. I was changed into that shape by a Hacker. Somewhere in this cave is a Jewel called the Tetron. They made me look for it. I was worried I couldn't find it. Thanks to you I'm saved. As a token of my gratitude...



Well that's handy.



Carl leads us to another locked room, the “treasure of the Hackers.” Not much left.



We get a Scrap 1 here, which we're going to use to make a superbly powerful weapon. Carl acquires a Litho, and then runs off with it.



Back in Rococo, now that we're level 8, we can read the level 7 book and learn how to make Hammers and Gloves.



Carl: She's young and kind. Sigh, my mother... never mind. It's just a Scrap. I feel sorry for you, so I brought you this.



… Alright then.



Anyway, to make a super powerful weapon early on, we first make a Hammer 1 L8 (we buy Hammers, combine them, takes about 1,200G or so), and then a Sword 1 L4. Swords + Hammers = Axes, and we get an Axe 1 L9. We then make another Axe and combine it with Scrap 1 to make an Axe 2.



By feeding it lower-level Axes, we now have an Axe 2 Level 9.

Which gives +100 attack power.


+100 attack power.