Mega Man - We're Here Forever!

[Ashan]

Were people saying earlier that this is the game that finally allowed you to disable dashing with a double-tap?
Cause I wonder if this level was what made them give that option. Fighting against wind by tapping forward every few frames seems like it's just asking to accidentally trigger a dash.

[Donut]

To be honest, I always pictured "dumping sand on Zero" as a thing Sigma would have thought up. He'd grin and think "I'll dump a load of sand on him. He's going to be so mad. But as it is, Sol Titanion has a similar sense of humor. As for her quotes:

Pre-battle: ^{Chou uzain da kedo} チョーうざいんだけどー This is such a pain...

Flamethrower (not featured in this video): キャハハハハッ！ Gyahahahaha!

Laying landmines (somehow also not featured in this video...): ^{Ahahahahaha! Baaan} アハハハハハッ！ バァーン！ Ahahahaha! Buuuurn!

Firing two green sawblades: ^Soresore それそれぇ！Try and dodge this!

Firing two red sawblades: ^{Mitai na} みたいなぁ～ Wanna try this? (Disclaimer that I am not very confident in this line. Even my expert source was unsure of what was being said, and this is merely my best guess)

Throwing explosive fireball (EX skill): ^{Iku yo! Moechae} 行くよっ！　燃えちゃえー！Here I go! Burn to pieces!

When hit by weakness: きゃああっ！ Kyaaah-!

Defeat: ^Arienakunai ありえなくなーい？Are you kidding me?!

EDIT: Thinking on it, my other best guess for the red sawblade attack would be something like "I think you like this~", since if I'm parsing it correctly the line sounds to me like she's saying "you wanna see my next attack, don't you?" Still not sure though.

[Chirei]

Dr. Weil's latest plan: Send out the EVIL DUMP TRUCKS to defeat Zero by dumping hot sand on him!!!!

So for cleanup, all you have to do is try to open the mysterious door in Fenri Lunaedge's stage, and find another Ceratanium. (You may reobtain the one you found in Eclair's stage if you do not feel like hunting down another.)

Once you have another Ceratanium, use this recipe in this exact order:

Moloid
LamplortX
TellyBomb
Ceratanium

Your offensive capability should increase even further with this body chip, but keep in mind you may only have one Body chip equipped at a time. Swap between them when necessary.

The bad weather in Sol Titanion's stage gives the heat either +1 or +2 "levels" of heat. If you played it in cloudy weather and broke all the generators, the heat would be completely gone by the time you get to the boss stage. (Fun fact: the miniboss also counts toward reducing the heat, as it is a live generator.)

~Chips Obtained~

Stronger

Spikes and similar hazards now do 8 lines of damage to Zero instead of instant death, just like Putick(Z2)/Putite(Z3). Being crushed or falling into a pit will still instantly kill you, however.

There is a weaker version of this called Strong that uses one less part (Hazard -> 10 lines of damage), and a better version called Strongest that uses one extra part that you can't get again until the end of the game (Hazard -> 6 lines of damage).

~Techniques Learned~

Burning Shot

Fire-elemental Buster Technique. Turns Zero's charged shot into an exploding bullet that splits six ways with a huge radius. I would argue this is just as useful as the Ice Javelin for coverage purposes. You might want to keep this on for regular stage traversal as it is likely to catch enemies like the Very Fires that have been constantly harassing you all playthrough.

[xnamkcor]

That fountain water reminds me of Grandia or Castlevania.

[ano0maly]

That was a pretty hard midboss but a pretty easy endboss.

I realize that earlier on raocow used the knuckle all the time and rarely the buster, and lately he's not drawing the knuckle anymore.

[Bean]

Since you said it was okay to mention backtracking stuff and recipes, here you go.

Sub-Tank #2: Fenri Lunaedge's level has the other Sub Tank you're missing. You discovered the hidden path on your first run but didn't go down to investigate. It's a long haul deal, and absolutely don't use what you need to open the locked door late in the level until you reach it, but it's worth it for your play style.

Very Good Recipe: C-Hopper, Faital, another GangaGun (Mino Magnus or Heat Gemblem - It's the driller enemy), GyroCannonH (Noble Mandrago - The cannon that has the propeller attached to it). You already have the first two in stock.

[Kincyr]

another recipe:

• Faital
• Mechameson
• V. Fire
• Ceratanium

makes S-Crystal, a part used to make an armor chip you won't need to use. the S-Crystal's other use is to trade to the duder in door 002 (Hirondelle) for a subtank. he'll make the trade twice

[Crow]

c h a r c o i l

[Heavy Sigh]

raocow, Weil's plans might conflict if they succeeded, but he's up against Zero. He knows the only way to make any headway is to just throw everything at him.

MUTOS FACTS! THE BUTTERFLY PRINCESS OF PASSIONATE LOVE

Sol Titanion, known as Sol Titanian (ソル・ティターニャン) in Japan, is one of the Einherjar Eight Warriors and is based on the fairy queen, Titania. Built in the image of an Atlas Moth with flamethrowers for wings, she occupies an artificial sun that was originally designed for weather control, but has been modified to overheat and desertify the land around it to dry out Area Zero.

Titanion was built to operate the artificial sun in tandem with another Reploid of the same model, with much of their mental processes distributed between both bodies. This system functioned quite well until her counterpart was destroyed by a Variant squadron dispached by Weil. With her cognitive abilities heavily damaged, Titanion went mad, and incinerated every last member of the squadron with glee. Having enjoyed causing so much destruction, Titanion began to look for other things to destroy, happily joining up with Weil once he approached her with an offer of destroying the entirety of Area Zero.

Nickname: 熱愛の蝶姫 (Netsuai no Chouki, The Butterfly Princess of Passionate Love)
EX Skill: Burning Meteor / Neo (バーニングミーティア／ネオ)
Zero's EX Skill: Burning Shot

Attacks
Searing Flame Fan (Green): Launches two green razor fans travelling in a pattern.
Blazing Flame Fan (Red): Launches two pink razor fans travelling in a slightly different pattern than the two green ones.
Rising Mine: Zigzags upward and downward across the room, until disappearing of the screen, laying three landmines on the floor that cause contact damage and also explode after a few seconds, launching a spray of projectiles into the air. These mines can be destroyed.
Flame Tongue: Fires off a flamethrower from her chest that repeatedly extends and retracts, while flying twice across the screen.
EX Skill: Burning Meteor / Neo: Raises her hand and creates a small/large (depends on the weather and mode) sphere and launches it right at Zero, breaking into four/six (depends on the weather and mode) projectiles.

[Paragraph]

Wow, Sol Titanion REALLY does not respond well to getting Fireman'd by someone who has no fucks to give. I always have a little trouble fighting her because when you are careful, the fight takes longer, you have to dodge more into the sun and out again soon, and she has a bunch more attacks that limit your movement a lot. Also, she deals a fuckload of damage...if you let her. Didn't know you could destroy the blades!

The level itself is also quite hard, possibly the hardest of the eight. Miniboss is also a doozy. You got through quite well, all things considered!

[Alice]

raocow, Weil's plans might conflict if they succeeded, but he's up against Zero. He knows the only way to make any headway is to just throw everything at him.

And even throwing everything at him is unlikely to be enough. Zero's too much of a sluggish edgeboy for that to succeed.

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

I don't remember a lot about this game in terms of the stages, but I remember the gimmick of this stage quite well from the first time I played it. I find the Zero Knuckle to be pretty useful here. You can use it to take out the plant enemies, and you can also use it to rip the shields off of the back of the flamethrower enemies, which helps take them out faster, and their shields can be helpful against the mid-boss. One thing I like about this stage is that destroying the generators, which contribute to your mission score, also has an effect on gameplay by lowering the rate the heat gauge fills up.

I found the boss here to be pretty easy, even when trying to dodge her attacks. Her attacks are the same every time, and she doesn't really do anything to mix things up (such as attacking from different positions, or attacking while a projectile from another attack is still on screen) so once you figure out how to dodge them all things probably won't go wrong. Though annoyingly she refused to use her green spinning blades while I was practicing against her, but considering she only ever used that attack twice in all my fights against her it wasn't a big problem.

[Heavy Sigh]

Fun Fact: Neo Arcadia is home to at least 20 million people in its center alone. So just try to guess how many people died thanks to Craft!

MAVERICK FACTS! CRAFT

"I know that what I'm doing makes me seem like Weil. I don't care if people think I am a Maverick! Someone has to take a stand and fix humanity's course." —Craft

Craft (クラフト Kurafuto) is an old friend of Neige, and is working for Dr. Weil as the commander of the Einherjar Eight Warriors, with the objective of destroying Area Zero. Originally built as a soldier in the tail end of the Maverick Wars, Craft is a warrior with over a century of battle experience. Originally a member of Fefnir's Scorched Earth Squadron, he was elevated to Special Commander once Fefnir was killed in Omega's explosion. His experiences under Weil's rule broke his spirit, and he followed Weil out of nothing more than despair. Desperate to save at least one thing in his life, he volunteered to lead operation Ragnarok, hoping to use it to locate Neige and keep her protected even if it meant dooming the last chance of nature ever recovering. However, inspired by Neige, he rebelled against Dr. Weil and used Ragnarok in an attempt to kill him. In the end, he finally becomes the hero he once was, albeit after taking fatal wounds from facing Zero, requesting that he watch over the world.

Attacks

Craft is a menacing, adept Reploid, capable of improvising battle tactics and tricky maneuvers with deadly accuracy: Dodge Dash: Craft swiftly moves across the screen in a blurring flash, often to Zero's back for a counterstrike.

Laser Cannon: Craft aims his laser cannon straight forward and a laser scope shoots out a red focusing beam. This isn't the actual attack, but a warning sign of the one coming. Moments later, a massive wave of blue fusion energy will pour out of the cannon and blanket most of the lower battlefield. This attack cannot be blocked or stopped, but a dash-jump will save Zero from being hit- unless the timing is off or the jump is poorly executed; however, if Craft uses this attack from a corner of the screen, the attack can be avoided with a well-timed dash under the beam. Use of the DoubleJump chip will give Zero the added benefit of a second jump mid-air and delay his descent long enough that the laser blast will likely fade out before he lands.

Rocket Launcher: Craft shoots out a slow-tracking rocket that explodes after being hit. Grenade Lob: Craft throws three concussion grenades that explode the second they make impact with the ground. Scatter Bomb: Craft tosses an artillery bomb at Zero, and its armored shell scatters into six pieces of shrapnel that fly out in hexagonal directions. The bomb can be destroyed, but the explosion it produces is still dangerous.

Serrated Bayonet Stab: Craft suddenly rushes Zero and extends a sawtooth bayonet knife from his cannon to run him through. If he succeeds, Craft launches the knife from his cannon via a hidden eject button to do further damage by wedging it into Zero even deeper. The teeth will chip away at his health as they tear into his body- unless he can shake off the knife. The knife can be extracted by using the Z-Knuckle, but Craft attacks so swiftly this may be difficult to perform.

EX Skill: END OF THE WORLD: Used in the second fight if Zero is at A Rank or higher. In a surprise move, Craft points his cannon straight down and opens fire on the ground, propelling him with enough force to stay suspended by the ceiling. From above, the side compartments of Craft's cannon snap open, uncovering two missile banks. Finally, Craft launches a three-wave missile salvo from both sides, each set spreading out further than the last. The ferocious barrage is barely avoidable by keeping to the very corners of the screen.

Trivia

Craft's name in the Japanese version, Kraft, is derived from the German word for "strength" and "power". His name was most likely changed in the localized versions to avoid confusion with a food company of the same name.

Craft's design seems archaic when compared to other Reploids of the era such as the Four Guardians, hinting that he is quite a bit older than he might seem.

While not mentioned in game (save for Weil reminding him that he has a significant amount of humans and Reploids still under his control in an attempt to get him to back down and Ciel's horror upon learning Craft's target change), him killing civilians by using Ragnarok on Neo Arcardia made Craft a war criminal, as he broke the 4th Hague Convention: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land Section II Hostilities Article 23. (Note: It belongs to the International Laws, which is also still in force.)

[Chirei]

It's not that Zero thinks reploids are inferior life, but he's never been the type to think that he was ever more than he was. He doesn't think that he and others like him should be trying to change the world so suddenly by being rebellious and rising up thoughtlessly, otherwise you just get more of.... Ragnarok.

Craft is certainly dead, and Weil was certainly at Neo Arcadia's capital at the time of his transmission, and thus got disintegrated by the blast from Ragnarok. This only leaves one conclusion as to who would have the cojones to crash a space station into the same area again.

[Grounder]

Craft didn't think his plan through at all, did he?

[Heavy Sigh]

Craft didn't think his plan through at all, did he?

to be fair to him Weil is heinous enough that GENOCIDE LASER does seem like the lesser evil compared to 'Weil still exists'.

[Donut]

As you would expect, most of the lines in this rematch with Craft are identical to the first bout with him. However, there are a few new lines, as well as one that was changed from the first fight for some reason:

Pre-battle (Rematch): ^{Hajimeru ka} 始めるか Shall we begin?

Hover laser (Rematch): たあああっ！ Taaaaaah-!

Downward laser with missiles (EX skill, rematch only, not featured in this video): ^{Kondo koso...owari da} 今度こそ・・・終わりだ！-This- time...it's over!

Defeat (Rematch): ^{Kore ga...eiyuu no...chikara...} これが・・・英雄の・・・力・・・！ This is...the power... of a hero...!

[ano0maly]

At least try to dodge some attacks even if you end up taking some hits...

This is the big turning point of the direction of the game story, with a bunch of plot twists. It turns out that Operation Ragnarok being an operation to destroy nature and Area Zero was just a cover; the true Ragnarok is a giant fortified satellite (even deadlier than the Hanging Gardens) with an apocalyptic laser cannon (the Particle Beam pales in comparison to this, although it felt like a good foreshadowing if you knew what was coming). Then, while Weil is still gloating, Craft turns on him and also turns the orbital laser towards him. He's not afraid to create casualties in the process of cratering the despotic city in order to take down the despot.

Also, now we know why there is only one operator with us - the other one is handling the equivalent functions back at the Resistance Base.

And Zero bringing up his friend

makes me sad... he presumably faded away at the end of Zero 3 and his body was destroyed back in Zero 2. For the first time since he awoke, X is no longer present. Think about that. He returns in a different way in ZX, of course.

[Le Neveu de Rameau]

It's not that Zero thinks reploids are inferior life, but he's never been the type to think that he was ever more than he was. He doesn't think that he and others like him should be trying to change the world so suddenly by being rebellious and rising up thoughtlessly, otherwise you just get more of.... Ragnarok.

Yeah, at no point, does he say that reploids as a whole should be subservient to humans. Rather, he says that he and Craft were built as battle Reploids--that is to say soldiers--and it's not their part to try to change the world. What's more, it's also worth noting that the prior conversation involved Craft saying someone needed to change humanity's course (and remember that there are far, *far* fewer reploids than humans around at this point), so it makes sense that Zero would suggest that's up to the humans themselves to change humanity's course, and that reploids (particularly *military* reploids) can't just rush in and try to fix it for them, be it out of a feeling that they are the superior life form who should be in charge (like Sigma, another battle reploid who thought he should be at the top of the heap because he hand the biggest guns and the best ability to bend others to his will), or out of a patronizing misplaced sense of benevolence (like X inadvertently did when he built them a sealed-off utopia to protect them from the ruined world outside, resulting in humans becoming far more insular and passive, and which Copy X continued in a more extreme and malignant way, yielding a populace which was neither able to manage or defend themselves without reploid assistance, nor effectively prevent Weil's coup once it was put in to place). And indeed Craft himself is a Neo-Arcadian reploid, which means this sort of benevolent infantilizing was exactly the system he was working for, and he is using precisely their ideology as a justification for his actions now, killing large numbers of humans and reploids in the process. So Zero is effectively telling him that maybe, just maybe, trying to reshape the destiny of the world isn't our place.

On one level you can read this as Zero just generally being tired of war and warlords trying to reshape the world according to their own particular vision, on another level perhaps as commentary on the plot of the X series and the role of humans therein. After all, the whole Maverick Hunter/Maverick conflict is framed by both parties as being about humans (either protecting them or rising up against them), but no humans are seen at all aside from Dr. Cain in X2 and 3. It practice, the Maverick Wars seems to largely consist of Reploids blowing each other up and causing huge amounts of collateral damage in the process (largely resulting in the world being the way it is in the Zero series), speaking about being either benevolent protectors of humanity or revolutionaries throwing off the yoke of their inferior predecessors, but neither side really doing a good job of living up to their ideals in practice, and instead just pointlessly slaughtering each other. And while the side that was trying to "help" humanity ultimately won, neither humanity nor reploids really seem to have come out very well as a result of things, and humans don't trust Reploids at all as a result of the conflict. In that respect, it's not, perhaps, surprising that Zero, war-weary battle Reploid, thinks that *maybe*, this time, battle reploids should not be the ones making all the world-altering decisions just because their the most physically powerful. Instead they should step back, and use that power to help those they trust to make a genuinely better world this time, where humans and reploids can live in peace, equality, and trust.

For what it's worth, Craft has a very good objection to all of this. While it has, admittedly, mostly been military reploids screwing things up for the past couple of centuries, humans (particularly Neo Arcadian humans) don't exactly have an inspiring track record either--mostly they're either apathetic do-nothings, anti-reploid bigots, or Dr. Weil, who is worse than any Reploid since Sigma. Where exactly are we supposed to find this new generation of civilian leaders we can trust? And Zero doesn't exactly have an answer to that. But X seemed to think it possible, and Zero put his trust in X's dream. And he has, after all, met a couple of humans in people like Ciel and Neige who are neither bigots or the apathetic "pigs" Weil mocks in Zero 3, so maybe, just maybe, they can correct the horribly wrong course humano-reploid civilization has been headed down. And we'll see how that turns out in the future...

[Super Llama]

Zero's pont of view isn't particularly surprising. He was already a cynic in the X series, and in-between his origins, being patient zero (hurr hurr) for the Maverick Virus, and his body being used as Omega's host to cause the Elf Wars, it's not surprising that he sees himself as nothing but a murder machine and a walking disaster who's only good for anything positive if he's being used by someone with actual good intentions.

Ciel needs to give Zero a hug, is what I'm saying.

[Shard1697]

To be honest videos like this make me wish you were playing without using subtanks. It's a very fun fight to learn.

I realise this, but I really, really didn't want to have to refarm those hammerbots :(

You coulda used this refight as a way to do an actual fight instead of a press b simulator

[Paragraph]

Zero is not without agency at all, even if he presents himself as someone who is just doing what he "has to do" - after all, he is explicitly following Ciel's requests and orders, not Copy X's or Weil's or whoever else. He feels that he doesn't and shouldn't have the vision to change the world, but has happily aligned himself with someone who does.

That I think is quite true to character. Zero has very clear ideals and principles, but he does not use them as justification for his actions. He is a soldier first and foremost, someone who needs a leader to point him at a target, and while that leadership was provided by the Maverick Hunters during the X series (where he never questioned his duty unless virus-addled), he can now CHOOSE who to ally himself with, and that he does - early and decisively after his reawakening. And he sticks with it for better or worse.

[Donut]

Since today is probably going to be the clean-up, I'll take the time instead to issue a correction for a previous translation, for those who care:

Pre-boss: ^{Sougyou kaishi} 操業開始！Commencing operation! (I think the website may actually have made a mistake and put joukyou (situation) instead of sougyou (operation), so this is my bold attempt at making a correction)

Turns out I was half-right. While "Joukyou kaishi" (situation start) makes far less sense than "Sougyou kaishi" (operation start), according to another site documenting voice clips from this game, the former is apparently an actual term used in the Japanese Special Defense Force as shorthand for "begin training drill." However, apparently it's sometimes co-opted incorrectly by fiction and used at the start of real battle situations, such as in this game. I wouldn't change my translation since it's a Hollywood way of saying the same thing, but I thought I'd correct myself for posterity. The pitfalls of being a rookie, I guess.

[ano0maly]

I forgot to mention earlier: while you're doing cleanup, you should check out the last EX skill you gained. And maybe you could return to the Settlement to see how much the humans' attitudes changed after all this time.

Also are there really four subtanks total?

[LunarRainbowShyGuy]

This stage isn't too difficult. The moving platforms can be a bit tricky at times but if you take your time their not too bad. Also, one nice thing about them is that grabbing them from below is super lenient. I had times where I thought for sure I was going to fall into the pit but Zero somehow managed to grab onto the platform despite it not looking like he should be able to. Unfortunately, if you going for max time points you can't really take your time. This means you'll often have to estimate where the platforms are and jump to them without being able to see them before you jump. Craft here is as hard as ever, but fortunately I knew how to fight him so he didn't cause too much trouble.

Now to talk about the story for a bit. I always feel bad for characters like Craft. Obviously what he's doing is wrong and he should be stopped. However I can understand where he's coming from and I wish things didn't have to end up like this.