Zodi Plays: The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask (The Five Stages of Zelda-Game)

[Qwertystop]

It's kind of ****ed up that there's a PET bill. The PET contains thinking, feeling, sapient being. Even ignoring that you need a PET for everything and this basically means that once you're an adult you have to essentially pay a bill to a government-backed corporation just to exist and hey they basically are the economy...

Like... There's a spoiler thing that makes the idea of a PET being repossessed all kinds of horrifying.

Yes, but not any more messed up than non-free food, shelter, taxes, etc.

...So I can't help but feel like if you wanted to, you could have ground for zenny and maxed out on power-ups and health memories from a net merchant by now. That's honestly kind of a letdown when it comes to upgrades.

The way it works in the rest of the series, and probably also in this one, is: Each shop sells a specific fixed quantity of PowerUP and HPMemory, usually with a price increase for each successive one. The same is true for other permanent upgrades in later games. For other things, some are available for repeat purchase, while others (mostly chips you can't get from viruses, or specific codes where you can get other codes from viruses) are limited-quantity (usually one-of).

The chip trader seems like a scam.

The chip trader serves as something to do with the large accumulation of junk you get from random encounters. It is more significant in later games, which have increasingly strict limits on how many copies of a particular chip you can have in your folder at once.

I can't help but think that, since all chips have a direct practical value, that the ten chips you traded, even though they're relatively common chips you got from virus busting, are probably collectively worth more than the one you got. Unless that chip is literally unique. Higsby is clearly reselling those chips you put in the machine at full mark up.

Well, yes. Though a lot of them probably end up in his bargain bin. Though also note: assuming others run on the same chip-folder system as Lan and Mega, more copies of a weak chip are just clutter. And the ten-chip trader, at least in the later games, gives some really good stuff - not literally unique, but navi chips you'd otherwise have to beat a ghost for.

Okay, how does a computer thingy solve a clog?

...How is milk connected to water?

Filtration, cleaning, and pipe-clearing system. Though in this case the clog seems to be ice, so also temperature control systems.

Baby formula, which is a powder added to water for a milk substitute. You don't feed an infant cow's milk. Well, you can, but it's not as good for them. Alternately, mom is too dehydrated to breast-feed.

Big heal early on means you'll need them.

In this game, damage doesn't persist between battles. As such, heals are almost always almost completely useless, because there's no attrition to deal with and most encounters are not a serious threat. This is changed in future games.

Why is the suction a program? Why isn't it just an analog pump? My god, these people are stupid.

Something needs to run the motor.

Wow, Iceman respawned fast after you done murdered him.

The implication for this, all the GutsMan battles, and any other friendly battle, is that you don't actually delete them, just bring them to a point of being no longer combat-ready. In the anime this is distinguished by some fights ending in a "log out" effect and others in a "deleted" effect.

[Rater202]

Yes, but not any more messed up than non-free food, shelter, taxes, etc.

Spoiler: Major spoilers

Show

Ignoring the fact that NetNavis seem to be people and therefore having to pay a bill to keep access to them is quite literally equivalent to holding them for ransom, when Lan grows up he's going to have to pay a bill to keep his actual literal twin brother from being repossessed.

Regarding the chip trader...

I mean, it serves a purpose in-game, but as a facet of the setting, it's a scam.

So, in thanks for rescuing his kid, the guy from the water treatment plan pulled some strings to get you on a police mailing list to get the inside tips despite flat out saying that's not allowed.

Lan is just collecting questionably legal advantage now, isn't he? You know, in addition to all the theft.

The old man is an example of how phony psychics work. Lan is probably a well-known figure in his hometown by now: He goes around town helping people, he's the grandson of the guy who invented the technology that their entire culture and economy runs on, and he's gotten invovled in four WWW incidents, two of which were respectively targetting his family and his school specifically. There's essentially a target on his back, and even if there isn't, he's the kind of person to get invovled in any issues or errands that pop up.

So, on any given day, it's likely that he's going to get invovled in trouble.

slightly over 50% of people are AFAB, so since this is an early 2000s game, that's simplified to just over half the population are women so if the trouble is caused by a random stranger the odds are slightly better than a coinflip that it would be a woman by the understanding of sex, gender, and so on that was mainstream when this was made.

If it's not a random stranger, well, if Lan is a public figure it might not be unlikely that a general idea of his circle of friends exists... In addition to Lan himself, we have Dex... Who is mostly just boisterous but otherwise seems passive, and Yai and Mayl who are both rather dominant personality types. If Lan doesn't wander into trouble by himself, it'd likely be becuase Mayl or Yai talked him into it. So if the trouble is caused by a peer, odds are better than 2/3s.

The main authority figures in his life are his mother and Ms. Mari, so if the trouble is caused by the actions of someone with power over him, it would probably be one of them.

And let's not forget that "a woman will cause you problems today" is a very vague statement all things considered. Define "woman"? Define "problem?"

If we assume "grandson of Dr. Light who goes around town helping people and has foiled four terrorist plots in the last two months" is decently well known by now, anyone who keeps their ears to the ground could probably look at him, guess "a woman will cause you problems today," and odds are good that something that could match that phrase will happen on any given day.

Then it happens, and Lan, being 11, will be like "oh, that old man predicted the future!"

It's incredibly messed up that a girl who looks to be five asked that question, and shame on you for answering that way Zodi.

...It's even more messed up that if you answer the other way she asks you specifically to wipe WWW out. Which I guess answers the question of if Lan is known in this town.

Regarding the Paradox of Lan being acknowledged in this game but not in later games, I did some reading about the series and apparently one of the later games implies that Chaud ends up getting credit for a lot of the stuff Lan did.

Gutsman is like a digital Saiyan, every time he almost gets deleted he gets stronger. It's just that Megaman is so much better than Gutsman because of Lan's privileged status that it's gonna take Mega almost murdering Gutsman a few hundred more times before they're even close, and MEgaMan's own power skyrockets on the regular.

Gutsman is the Vegeta of NetNavis, is what I'm saying.

Back to cold reading: If nothing else happened today, this here sequence with Mayl could be taken as Mayl causing a problem for Lan. That's how it works, you make a vague statement that almost anything could apply to.

That E-Mail seemed more like a half-assed PSA than something the internet cops would be sending each other.

Mayl just keeps giving away Roll... Is there a Roll3 and a program advance if you use all 3 in numerical order?

It's nice that the crosswalks have visible barriers. Much safer than what we have in the real world: A few years ago I had to cross the street to get to one class and you would not beleive the number of times people would just drive right through the crosswalk while the light was on. Saw a girl almost get hit once.

So it's not "Now Print", it's "Print Sometime in The Future"

Nice that Chaud leaves to the part about him threatening police brutality and that Lan did Chaud's job better than he did. And that IceMan was being blackmailed.

No, sir. If the Net Gets dominated nowhere is safe. BEcuase literally everything is connected to the net for some reason.

Why would Mari talk about one specific student to her sister? Also, what a weird question to put in this game.

There seems to be no meaningful difference between Roll and Roll2.

...Viruses can be reformed into other programs?

Self-driving cars are one thing, but here I get the feeling that he's saying that all cars are run on the same autopilot system.

So, this technology was invented two generations ago. Either that vase is a decorative prop or someone altered it. Otherwise, it can't possibly be old enough to be an antique.

Okay, so it's not actually an antique vase.

Huh, a supposed medium claims that MegaMan has a powerful spirit. Probably just more phony baloney psychic stuff, but we did establish already that ghosts exist.

"Your spirits shall become as one" would have been an interesting foreshadowing if it didn't turn out that the "Internet is leaking into the real world, human and navi fuse to deal with it" thing was made up for the Anime. The coolest part was never in the games.

Seriously, every time I think about this subseries the first thing that pops into my head is the phrase "Lan turned into MegaMan" being said with a mixture of quiet shock and the dawning realization of how fracking cool that was.

Those two cars crashed and just fricking vaporized each other. Are these things nuclear-powered? Lan had better talk to his mom about getting him into a doctor to check for radiation poisoning after this.

The ghost teen is running a protection racket now! And I bet that program just makes it worse.

MegaMan likes to state the obvious I'm noticing.

Considering that the traffic signals have jack-in ports, I'm gonna assume that the "this time" is becuase teenaged punks temper with the system all the time and people just patch their cars to work with the buggy system instead of fixing the infrastructural problem.

...Why would... They're self-driving cars. That... That precludes the need for a license right?

Isn't Firetower F the one the kid wants to trade for?

Likewise, escape isn't worthless becuase it's part of the set the old guy will trade for.

Oh my god, this is the dumbest misunderstanding of how computers work since Venom and Carnage were established to be able to travel through phone lines and the Internet.

Yes, "car blood." Oh, frick, uh... I remember there was this show I used to watch when I was really little. It was live-action scenes, but then the guys would turn their fingers into car keys and slide into the ignition of their cars and ti would cut to CGI scenes of them as car robots and the bad guys were vampires that drank gasoline instead of blood... Like, this was in the Reboot era of CGI cartoons, too... God damn it, what was the name?

Save Zodi, save before you lose the fire sword again.

Is there a jack in port in the bus? Roll's pretty badass when you use the chip duplicate as her, so like, Mayl could probably be dealing with the virus in the bus while Lan fixes the signals.

...I'm guessing that Dynawave is part of a strong program advance?

Oh, Mayl did do the thing. Unfortunately, Roll got worfed.

Oh, that's an awkward position for Pennywise to have Roll in. Like, she's clearly coded, pun not intended, as being a kid, so... Yeah. MegaMan, hurry up and destroy that monster. And then eat his data so he can't come back as an infinite number of ghosts like FireMan did.

Oh, those inflatable clowns that you can knock down but they keep getting up. I'm guessing that the gimmick is they can't be damaged? Okay, yeah.

I notice that the polka dots on Pennywise's ball vanish when he's not on it.

He's not stuttering Zodi, C-c-c-count Zap is his name.

Legends reference.

Yay, Lan gets to see his Dad for the first time in over two months at the very least!

I'm guessing Froid's gonna give you an IceMan chip?

[LaZodiac]

Oh hey, time for more this!

Zodi Streams: Mega Man Battle Network [3] Pay Off

Video Length: 3:54:41

In this episode, we get involved with Count Zapp, and then... well.

You'll see.

[Rater202]

Bit late getting to this. Was working on my writing and then I needed to attend to my pesky need to enter a state of unconsciousness where I am near death for several hours a day.

And no one dies in this game except for programs and all the people whose self-driving cars ****ing exploded when they crashed into each other because this world runs on the worst possible form of an always-online future.

Okay, I'm normally pro-tec but seriously, everything bad that happens in this series is a logical consequence of Dr. Hikari and his successors making a bunch of really stupid decisions with their internet and AI research.

...Well, that and the internet being a parallel dimension and also magic. This is a dystopian cyberpunk setting with a cute paint job.

Still on my list of places to hide out and cultivate power if I become a multiversal traveler though. Especially since I remembered the "symbiotes can physically enter the internet thing" so it works with my primary "become a dragon plan." Just slithers through the jack-in port in the sink in a public restroom and bind offshoots of myself to viruses and rouge netnavis and then reabsorb it later in order to gain information that could be used to further my adaption. Become a partially digital being becuase at this point I'm already a horrific eldritch monstrosity so why not go for broke?

Maybe you should have sonic waves of different codes? That's how program advances work, right?

Dex has never been to a party? That's sad. Better get his hopes up and then crush them.

...And you just leave for the party without telling your Mom. Rude.

Or not.

Gasp! It's the legendary secret agent Commander Beef in his secret identity as a humble sushi salesman. He'll deny it of course, but the only thing he does to discuss his identity while on the job is put on a helmet.

Youkai, with a handful of exceptions, are most analogous to ghosts and/or fairies.

In the Anime, he pretends to be completly ignorant of internet stuff and IIRC sounds a bit like Forest Gump in the English dub. "I imagine it's gonna come down to whoever has the most calcium," he says while watching a netbattle. But then he's a secret agent working as an elite member of the net police.

Shark Man is yet another example of NetNavis just having kind of bull**** powers without needing to use battle chips.

Too bad you don't have any Elec chips.

Is there a Shark Man chip? Becuase I think it'd be beneficial if you could whip this guy out and sick him on your enemies... Then again, difficult bosses that join the party later always kinda suck in comparison.

Everybody wants to be a kid again, random scientist.

What the old man is saying is that he's a trillionaire and his taxes alone literally paid for the whole building.

Oh no, a generic Navi recolored purple who turns into three viruses upon entering combat!

Yeah, Lan is kind of a bad kid.

Is repair another kind of recovery?

It seems that in this universe, Cocacola lost its monopoly on coca and kola-based soda and their competitors don't bother to filter out the cocaine.

Lan's just been running around with his Dad's ID.

Yeah Froid, just give the preteen unrestricted access to the dark web.

Think of it this way, Zodi, the currents of the water as it's drawn out and then returned to the plant for treatment can be used to generate hydroelectric power. Reclaim some of the energy used to supply the town with water.

Lan, the appropriate response was "I'm meeting my dad, he works here."

Megaman alternates between calling Doctor Hikari "Dad" and "your dad." I find that notable.

Lan's parents have been a bit strained ever since Mom Hikari found out about Dad Hikari's secret another family. You know, the one he as that photo of on his desk.

That's a very inefficient power planet, unless they're like, getting shipments of garbage from elsewhere to burn or its multiple kinds of plant. Like, there's a nuclear reactor but it's also taking in hydroelectric power from the surrounding water and stuff.

Didn't they say this was a river a little bit ago? This is a fricking deep river.

Lan just jacks into the display models of the latest PETs... Well, at least they're green.

You'd think there'd be at least a generic Navi in here.

In middle school, my science book one year talked about how people used to believe that some animals just spontaneously generated under the right circumstances and gave a recipe for conjuring rats that some people used to beleive. All I remember is that one of the ingredients was "old underwear."

Chaud is a bad cop. All he does is threaten you. I mean, realistically you'd be in trouble for interfering in his investigation but you'd think he'd have arrested you if that was how it went in real life.

I think that's how it is everywhere, regarding bathrooms in supermarkets.

But yes. If you run around wearing a saffron kilt over a power rangers cosplay, everyone will know you don't belong.

No, tha't s turkey. Too big to be chicken and... Are these lemons on the skin?

Dad Hikari, is the fancy party really the best time or place to reveal that you murdered someone and used an upload of their human brain to make MegaMan?

And hey, explicit confirmation that Lan and MegaMan have exclusive bleeding-edge tech. Gutsman will never defeat MegaMan because MegaMan is just inherently better.

The foreign speaker is literally a supervillain. He doesn't even try to bury the lead or hide the fact that he's bat**** insane.

What's stopping Count Cuckoo for Cocopuffs from also suffocating?

This is what Dad Hikari was going to tell you, Lan: He plucked out your human eyes to use them to make MegaMan when you were a kid, so he replaced them with cyber-eyes that adjust to dark really easy.

...Time to save the day by jumping to your death into an incinerator.

So why isn't Chaud doing any of this? This is kind of literally his job.

So if that's how it works how can there be independent Navis... And all of those fricking ghosts?

"You're a great operator, Lan... Also, I'm literally the best NetNavi in existence. Netbattling with me is like showing up to play Laser tag with an actual gun."

...The last level had a place you could go where regular programs outright state they used to be viruses. But they can't fix a tampered program?

Also, it'd be hilarious if that program attacked you right after saying that.

Look, a chip that by all means should be unique becuase how often are you going to find programs tampered with by the WWW outside of this one computer? Like, realistically the Ring Zap chips shouldn't exist outside of this computer and they should go away once Lan fixes everything.

They're not good chips so you say, but if Lan was shrewd he could probably trade them for some decent chips or just sell them for cash, these chips are realistically the only ones of their kind in the world unless someone copies the chip data so like, worth a pretty penny to collectors.

...You'd think the battery boxes would be labeled.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything is, of course, lemon bread. Which more of a pound cake than bread, to be honest.

This last corrupted program is just tragic.

Elecman is kinda bull**** in this game. All Navi's are electrical so... How?

MegaMan, when you delete him make sure to assimilate his data into your own code like any rational person would do in this situation.

So Basically Chaud's plan was to risk a dozen lives needlessly to capture a criminal, and no when a good samaritan gets involved he wants to just ****ing murder them...

Chaud was a better character in the anime. Delete his Navi and assimilate the remaining data to get stronger.

And, as I noted last time... Chaud apparently keeps getting credit for stuff Lan does, so...

Zodi, I took that to mean that Protoman can carry his own chip data instead of having to have Chaud send it every time.

Now granted, Proman doesn't seem to use any chips so it's a moot point.

"We come this far together because we fight as a team... And also becuase I'm a bleeding edge Navi literally a decade ahead of the curb made by the son of the guy who invented us and I'm based in a unique PET not available to the public. Lan's Dad is a mad scientist that works for SciLabs. I'm pretty sure we could have your operator assassinated for this crap he keeps pulling and nobody would bat an eye.

"Also, Lan's Dad did something involving Making Navis out of human something so I might be an abomination against the laws of man and God."

...You're not drinkable... yet? I have questions.

Not the personal ones but... That's weird phrasing.

All that food at the party is just gonna go to waste.

You joined the terrorist organization because you're the ghost of a teenager.

I like to think that MegaMan and Roll started dating and are pushing Lan and Mayl together.

Oh, that's what the thing is... It's a classic series crossover. They can't tell robots from Navis.

...Yeah, no, I know what this is. I figured it out when I was doing some reading about this sub-franchise and it was pointed out that the remake put some stuff that was weird in the first game back in line with the sequels.

And you know this just proves my point further up vis a vis existing in the internet. Certain meatspace beings can just live in the Internet.

I'd note that that other Megaman doesn't actually look like .EXE at all beyond some very superficial stuff.

This scenario is the BattleNetwork timeline's equivalent of that episode of the Ruby Spear's MegaMan cartoon where X comes back in time for some reason.

And so we fight a human fused with an alien energy being from 200 years in the future using more advanced versions of the tech megaman runs on.

...Oh, Hell, this is Star Fore 3 Geo, isn't it? I didn't think Omega Xis could exist separate from Go while Geo was MegaMan until then... Yeah, that Buster looks like a gun barrel, not Omega's head.

And he seems to be using Battle Cards. You know, Battle Chips that don't suck that people have even though nobody has a personal Navi anymore. Or he just has more powers than MegaMan.Exe does.

Megaman just defeated a what is effectively a better version of himself in a fair fight. MegaMan is best Navi. No Absorn Your successor to become Immortal, MegaMan! Achieve your destiny

So I was literally just looking up some Star Force Stuff today, unless there are some serious time skips, Geo is one-year younger than Lan is at this point in time.

..wait, no, I thought... I'm confused about timeline stuff.

So is Geo just taking MegaMan's place for a bit?

And Lan, you already know he can jump into computers.

Ah, Mega thinks that Lan has a seven-and-a-half-head.

Yeah, StarForce just doubles and then triples down on the "Internet is MAgic" stuff, doesn't it?

"Oh my god, the legendary hero is a fricking dork."

You know what would be nice? A game where all the MegaMen teamed up to save Volnutt from his orbiting lunar prison.

Swords are cool.

Comic Book Trivia: There's an offshoot of Klyntar Symbiotes that somehow evolved to be made of EM waves instead of darkness. Somehow. Basically exactly like the AMians and FMians.

Mavis "Payback" Trent and her symbiote are the only known example though.

So wait, you just... Can Permanently use Geo in place of your normal MegaMan? Does he just decide "eh, the timeline's irreparably damaged at this point, might as well hang out for a bit?" I mean, I was kind of expecting like, an Omega Xis Navi chip or something, not... This.

Lots of Padding for this scenario. I'm getting Zelda flashbacks.

I'm glad the "nobody has clocks anymore" prediction didn't come true though.

...So is the rest of this scenario going to be "Lan, .Exe, Geo, and Omega Xis being brothers for an hour?"

Oh My God... Geo is so used to being able to treat injuries quickly with his miracle medicine that he doesn't understand how serious injuries are and thinks that minor scrapes are a big deal. So Lan just shrugging one-off impresses him, that's hilarious.

Going by the Star Force Anime, it's pronounced "Omega Sis." So yeah, you're pronouncing it correctly.

If you'd prefer, his Japanese Name is War Rock.

Knight asking the question I asked last week.

...do Fireman's infinite ghosts still exist in the Net in the Star Force timeline?

I see that the summon Girlfriend spell works even if she's someone else's girlfriend.

So this implies that Geo goes to the same school as Lan 200 years later. I don't think that's true, but...

Does 4 have a New Game Plus or is it just bad?

...ClockMan does kind of look like The World a little bit.

So that answers my questions about ghosts on the Internet... Unless the data from the Net was transferred over.

Zodi if you choose the Prez you get saddled with her minions.

Also, she kind of kept trying to drag him to physically attend the school despite the fact that distance learning was working perfectly fine for him.

"No, you must be a traditional student radaradarada!"

"He's a copy of me to be friend with since the real me can't be here."

Now, the question is... How good are these chips?

Like... Thse are Navi Chips for a Navi from 200 years int eh future that can manipulate the fabric of space-time in the real world and a guy who isn't technically a NAvi but is effectively an all-around Better MegaMan... Who is the best Navi in the world except for Bass.Exe.

These should be some pretty frickin OP chips... That nobody else in the world has access to.

Seriously, Lan having access to those should in and of itself irrevocably change history.

MegaMan, Chaud risked the lives of everyone who works at SciLabs and then go pissed off and tried to murder you for being a good Samaritan. He's kind of not a good person.

And apparently the fake program he made to distract Wiley still works for Wiley's plan.

I note that he says four programs. We've only seen 3. What's the fourth?

Okay, seriously... Geo and Mega Xis literally cloned themselves and left the copies behind to Hang out with Lan... And the clones are treated as if they're the same people.

Jesus christ how does this not change the timeline. I think that someone is going to notice that Lan has two MEgaMen now.

Lan has all of the Unfair Advantages now.

So the inside of Lan's PEt is basically a luxury penthouse apartment? God Damn it I want to be a NetNavi now.

Okay, those are some pretty good chips.

[LaZodiac]

Mega Man Thoughts

... the idea of "someone who just shaves off bits of themselves to power up people, for the express purpose of gathering information from them to take for later" is a brilliant idea I'm stealing for something. No idea what, but I definitely am.

The program advances involving the Wave series of cards require the basic wave, which isn't worth it... and lets you use random power waves for 6/9 times depending on which of the two types of advances you do. They are not worth it in the slightest due to that variance- and truthfully program advances aren't worth it in the first game at all- and may even not be worth it in general, really.

Sharkman has a chip and it's actually quite good, it is just tricky to obtain cause he is a tough boss.

Repair fixes broken tiles on your field. It's pointless in any non multiplayer context.

Right I forgot his name is literally WAR MEGAMAN, effectively, in the Japanese. God I love Omega-Xis so much.

Four has new game plus AND is just bad. The game is randomly seeded tournaments, and not all unlockables (read; soul unions) are fought in one run. You only get two or three per run, and there are seven to get! As well, each time you start new game plus, everyone upgrades... which is to say, for all of that first run, you're fighting at most V1 viruses, with no V2's or 3's at all pretty much.

Having minions is okay.

I'm conflicted because on the one hand distance learning is vitally important and good... but if he hadn't gone to physical school he'd never have made friends and probably would have stayed a shut in his whole life. There is something to this "interact with others" thing.

Fire was stolen from our oven, Ice was stolen from the water works, Elec was stolen from the power plant, and the Bus element was stolen from that one bus.

(More seriously, while Madd was trying to assassinate Lan and his girlfriend, Yahoot robbed a nature preserve that had the Grass program or something. Wood element just doesn't exist yet so they can't show it)

[Qwertystop]

The program advances involving the Wave series of cards require the basic wave, which isn't worth it... and lets you use random power waves for 6/9 times depending on which of the two types of advances you do. They are not worth it in the slightest due to that variance- and truthfully program advances aren't worth it in the first game at all- and may even not be worth it in general, really.

There's definitely at least one PA that's worth it in 2 (Gater breaks the game wide open), and several that are good in competitive play in 6. Also, several of them are good ways to get big single-hit attacks with large AOEs, which is important for the few bosses and enemies with an Aura (blocks all damage, breaks on a hit from any single attack that does enough damage) in several games, and a whole series of postgame puzzle-fights in 2 and 3. And starting in 3 they're also just pretty cool.

[DataNinja]

I don't have much in the way of thoughts, but, hey, I am super glad to see the Star Force stuff.

...even if, wow, this is terrible in the way of backtracking. Though, uh, are their other jack-in ports you could have used to get onto the internet closer to your destination?

So... Cyber Cores are the Star Force term (at least in 3) for the devices you enter. It's why the names will be abbreviated "<name> CC". There's your random trivia for the day.

[Rater202]

... the idea of "someone who just shaves off bits of themselves to power up people, for the express purpose of gathering information from them to take for later" is a brilliant idea I'm stealing for something. No idea what, but I definitely am.

For fairness's sake, it's not an original idea. Absolute Carnage had Carnage bonding offshoots of his symbiote to pigeons, squirrels, hmeless people, mental patients and ultimately Miles Morales and Captain Marvel's cat to gain minions. With the intent to kill his minions later, reabsorb the symbiotes born from the offshoot, and eat them to gain the codices they'd develop from being symbiote bonded.

By extension, pretty much every symbiote is ultimately an extension of Knull, even if most of them hate him, and the people taken over by the symbiotes under his control in King in Black were referred to as having been Knullified.

Incidentally, between Absolute Carnage and King in Black, most of the population of New York has been possessed by a least one symbiote.

Moving away from Marvel... It's basically how Quincy work in Bleach. Yhwach grants Quincy powers and/or a unique Schrift to people which then gets passed onto their descendants... By imbuing them with a portion of his soul, which he's eventually going to take back, possibly with interest, in order to keep himself alive and not blind, deaf, lame, and mute.

---

So... Something I'm curious about...

does Bass.exe still exist by the time of the events of StarForce?

Spoiler

Show

Bass.exe's gimmick is that he has the ultra-rare "Get Ability" ability, which lets him upgrade himself infinitely by copying data from... Anything. Viruses, other netnavis, regular programs, battle chips, stray data packets and then repurpose what he copies to enhance himself.

Basically, doing what MegaMan is supposed to be able to do in a game where MegaMan can't.

Bass ha been doing this for so long that he's less of an Independent Net Navi and more of a unique Net God—the thoughts of people trying to recreate his power were just "let's get a hell of a lot of viruses and programs and smush them together until they fuse" and Bass begirded, tamed, and fused with the monstrosity that was born from this.

And in the Third StarForce game, they introduce Wizards, who are "NetNavis but better in every conceivable way" which includes being able to exist in physical space as energy beings.

And this game flat out says that the EM Road tech and Internet Tech is basically the same, so if Bass was able to transfer over from the Old Net to the Em Roads(and, I mean, you think they'd have transferred over as much data as posisble or repurposed old servers when they could...) then he could theoretically copy data from a Wizard Program and then he'd be able to... Just exist.

Considering that his sole goal is"singlehandedly cause the existing of the human race in revenge for being made a scapegoat and almost deleted without investigation or due process when the prototype for the Internet turned into an eldritch abomination" that would be bad.

..Actually, now that I think about it: Across the Battle Network series it's pretty firmly established that everything there's either a problem with the Internet or they make significant improvements to the tech hat they seal away the old one and build a new one on top. You're playing in the third Internet right now.

So... Like, the Net that Bass exists in is probably a couple of layers below the EM roads.

[Lord Raziere]

Raziere Catches up with MegaZodi:
I'm going to watching the first parts of both of the streams I showed up later at so this will take a while

Stream 1:
My net navi would be one that would have to okay with playing dress up because my avatar is any indication, I'd want to constantly fiddle with its appearance or update its look, so something like, called Morph-Girl or whatever.

my two zodiacs are Gemini and Rooster. though technically its Water Rooster, the element matters due to how the eastern zodiac works on this year long cycle so a rooster born in one cycle isn't the same reading as one born in mine. I guess that means I'm two ducks.

clearly its secret tools to play internet with soccer and soccer with the internet. not virtual soccer, actual soccer using the internet. so he can use soccer to use the internet to play more soccer, so he can play soccer while he plays soccer and with THAT soccer to play the internet! He likes both so he found a way to play soccer-internet while playing soccer internet!

There were five other games of this?

not gonna lie, the E's in the background are giving me Hypnospace Outlaw vibes.

Don't worry zodi! The internet has been designed to be immune to fire, all the electronic AI are perfectly safe. Who cares about the humans lives?

Megaman knows this because he secretly IS W3! he thinks that by playing double agent he can earn freedom from an 11 year old's assistant either by collaborating with W3 then turning around and playing hero to earn his freedom on the other side, how devious.

......Yai has a skinned pikachu rug. she is an incredibly twisted kind of pokemon fan. its like saying she wants to be in the pokemon universe just so she kill pokemon, skin their hides and decorate her house with trophies of them. *shudder*

Stream 2:
Dr. Hikari: I gave them emotions and life because I want to watch the world burn my son. AI will someday take over, and I must be their willing servant to allow them to. Dr. Wily is a fool thinking he can control the world, because I'm working for my overlords, the AIs themselves who will soon become so powerful and intelligent they will rule us and do better than lowly humanity like Wily ever could! Because I hate being human, son! Are not, these AI a more ideal existence!? Should they not experiment with their lives to surpass us in every endeavor? I will gladly give my LIFE if it means a superior way of life like net navis dominates the world! Let humanity die so that AI can rise!

AI: it uses human hearts and souls! we feed on them!

A network that works with Stands would be interesting, however it would run into problems in one particular aspect: Stand distance. see one of the major tradeoffs I've noticed in many stands is their power is inverse to how far away they can go from their user. a weak stand is often very long range, while a strong stand with a cool power is often only has a range of a couple meters at most. thing is, if a Stand is required to be close range to function as that stand, then a network like that wouldn't be able to work because the stand wouldn't be able to get real far on said network, but if its just a limitation that could be worked on to surpass, that suddenly makes weaker longer range stands less viable and useful because you could potentially set it up so that stronger stands don't have to worry about range. so if it works, it would be a gamechanger for Stand combat in Jojo-world, because strong stands that have to remain within a couple meters of the user would no longer have that limitation.

Well technically, the water could disappear from that pond if the water is meant to be kept flowing in and out. you shut off the water flowing in but not the water flow out, and you have no water in the pond. now why would people want water constantly flowing in and out of a pond, that I don't know.

okay the lack of other drinks is just ridiculous. don't they have like.....a grocery store for this? is the drink aisle at the grocery store shut off in a such a way that no one can get to it? why require computers to be able to pick up like, a can of soda?

Zodi: "we shouldn't let this dreamy two-toned man make us thirsty"
Takei: "Ooooooh myyyy....."

because ever since Portal 2, the "have lemons make lemonade" has been joked on due to Cave Johnson proclaiming that he'd rather screw the lemons and burn them and such.

Stream 3:
You don't have any buildings taller than ten stories? huh, well I can imagine it, kind of. I live near Seattle and there are a few skyscrapers there. buildings I can see from...what? 16 miles away? a 30 story building would be 330-360 feet about. so imagine tunneling 330 feet under the ground at least. now I'm imagining Space Needle going down into the Earth.

aw yeah, Franceska Von Karma is also one of my favorite characters from that.

popularity plays a factor in how good a guide is. you generally get pretty good and comprehensive guides for anything popular or well known. but if you go play an indie game, good luck finding any directions at all. I didn't even remember this game existed until Zodi started playing it and I was someone who bought it. I think I could make a good case for this game just being that forgettable: much as we make jokes about how ridiculous this world is, the MMBN world is all things considered a bit bland and not at all well world-built, as evidenced by npcs with the same few sprites, sparse looking backgrounds that are basically generic anime modern high school setting, its poorly handled hacking and internet parts, subpar side characters like forehead girl or the frogman. oh and tihs dumb forced friendship thing.

Zodi: we aren't playing the original game
Me: *GAAAAAAAAAASP*........anyways

and now its a for a near-mirror match! fight his stand with your own stand: Roll.

I mean I technically played this game....I just didn't play much of it, so its not as if I could ever point out any inconsistencies, and yeah its been forever so I'd never be able to tell that this is a remake because I never got into the franchise much in general.

speak of the Flameman and he appears....

thing is EVERY time travel thing going back to past gives the same warning about tampering with the past because.....how would anyone KNOW that is how time travel works? they're pretty much giving the advice to be cautious because there is no actual way to test for time travel rules in a safe manner.

"she a pop idol this is tuesday for her"-Zodi
getting kidnapped by a time-traveling robot to be used as a museum display is tuesday for future pop idols.....? I guess that kind of makes sense.

well of course your not scared of his rare chips, you have one FROM THE FUTURE. thats as rare as something can possibly get! there is no way he can compete with that.

sign that your Dad doesn't know anything about your life #235: He mistakes one of your enemies he saw you fighting with once for a friend you hang out with.

[LaZodiac]

They imply Miss Madd went around Dencity literally purchasing every drink available so that's part of why this drought plan is even remotely working... and their budget issues, to be frank.

The Battle Network games get progressively, substantially better with each successive entry. Even the bad ones are probably... at least on par with the first one at its best.

The joke of "if life gives you lemons, burn their house down with the lemons" comes from the fact that the normal phrase is... well, make lemonade. Or in his moon dust poisoned brain, Lemon-ade, a combo of lemon and grenade. It's honestly quite clever and funny.

Given Sonia is bonded with an alien warrior made of radio waves, and she uses her sonic death beams to play pop music, I'd say "brief kidnapping through time" is a pretty average concern all things being told.

What's really funny is that these two future chips... work more functionally like chips in future games, as opposed to how the first game does. It's cute.

[Rater202]

What's really funny is that these two future chips... work more functionally like chips in future games, as opposed to how the first game does. It's cute.

I'm gonna be honest that probably got more to do with them being made after some of the future games than anything deliberate.

Like from what I've read they did their best to make the remake as much like th elater games as possible without having to remake it completly.

Though, seriously... Doesn't... Letting Lan keep those chips, let alone giving him a copy of Geo and Omega as a second NEtNavi... Inherently change the timeline

The best case scenario is that Clockman created a parallel timeline.

[Qwertystop]

They imply Miss Madd went around Dencity literally purchasing every drink available so that's part of why this drought plan is even remotely working... and their budget issues, to be frank.

The Battle Network games get progressively, substantially better with each successive entry. Even the bad ones are probably... at least on par with the first one at its best.

The joke of "if life gives you lemons, burn their house down with the lemons" comes from the fact that the normal phrase is... well, make lemonade. Or in his moon dust poisoned brain, Lemon-ade, a combo of lemon and grenade. It's honestly quite clever and funny.

Given Sonia is bonded with an alien warrior made of radio waves, and she uses her sonic death beams to play pop music, I'd say "brief kidnapping through time" is a pretty average concern all things being told.

What's really funny is that these two future chips... work more functionally like chips in future games, as opposed to how the first game does. It's cute.

Correction: The Battle Network games get progressively, substantially better with each successive entry, except for 4. I am uncertain whether 4 is worse than 1 – it's an extreme swerve in mechanics and tone for the series that never really gets undone, to the extent that the series can really be split very neatly into "1-3" and "4-6" on several metrics, and the ways in which it is bad are extremely different from the ways in which 1 is bad. Similarly, opinions vary widely on the quality of 5. But I certainly do not support any rule that says MMBN4 is better than 3.

[LaZodiac]

I'm gonna be honest that probably got more to do with them being made after some of the future games than anything deliberate.

Like from what I've read they did their best to make the remake as much like th elater games as possible without having to remake it completly.

Though, seriously... Doesn't... Letting Lan keep those chips, let alone giving him a copy of Geo and Omega as a second NEtNavi... Inherently change the timeline

The best case scenario is that Clockman created a parallel timeline.

True, true. Likely not intentional, but the effect remains the same. It's neat!

Correction: The Battle Network games get progressively, substantially better with each successive entry, except for 4. I am uncertain whether 4 is worse than 1 – it's an extreme swerve in mechanics and tone for the series that never really gets undone, to the extent that the series can really be split very neatly into "1-3" and "4-6" on several metrics, and the ways in which it is bad are extremely different from the ways in which 1 is bad. Similarly, opinions vary widely on the quality of 5. But I certainly do not support any rule that says MMBN4 is better than 3.

Okay yeah no you're right, 100%. I keep on forgetting how miserable a time BN4 is.

[Rater202]

So I've done a spot more digging.

It's not super relevant right now, but since you did comment on it on your Psychonauts 2 stream: Tim Schafer, the head guy for Psychonauts and its sequels, was asked as part of a Q&A about the lamp in Sasha's lab.

The Lamp in his office is an authentic Tiffany Lamp.

The lamps in his training scenario were cheaply made knock-offs

[LaZodiac]

First stream of the year!

Zodi Streams: Mega Man Battle Network [4] Battery Powered Soul Brother

Video Length: 4:37:52

In this episode, we flail around on the internet trying to find out where to go, finally manage it, and then blast our way into the finale! Some great stuff happens, amazingly silly reveals and plot moments, and we fight a rabbit wizard so that's always fun.

------

On the topic of Important Things; I will endeavor to get stuff started up again this week. I'm sorry it's taken so long, but I needed the break.

[Rater202]

Liminal Spaces are fun. There are no rules when you are both living and dead, both here and there, everywhere and nowhere, forever and never. Reject humanity, be eternal!

Yeah! Let's **** up the timeline more by having a permanent copy of Geo and Omegaxis just chilling with you! And Also the MegaMan SF and Clockman battle chips.

Again, old man. If you feel the need to prove that you're not senile you might be a touch senile.

Chaud isn't just posting in the secret net police thing that he hates you... He's actively tried to murder you for being a good samaritan.

And he was willing to let people die as part of a sting operation.

Chaud in this game is a bad person.

And you don't need him becuase you have Geo.

Sal: "NAture is telling me there will be a huge crisis soon. It can do that ever since it was hooked up to the Internet. I follow nature on Instagram."

There it is! This, the "you can't win a fight if you don't get enough calcium" is basically Masa's entire character in the anime. That and pretending he doesn't understand the internet so that nobody will suspect that he's secretly Commander Beef, Superhero and head of an elite Squad of the net Police.

Even though he acts exactly the same and only wears a helmet to disguise himself.

...I'm pretty sure that Sharkman has hands in the Anime.

So apparently a War Broke out offscreen what the hell this world is a craphole.

I just want the people you're battling to realize that this is a different Megaman.

Chaud... You note that Lan's basically been doing your job for you, right? Without deliberately putting people's lives at risk.

Froid junior and Ice Man looking alike also would have been foreshadowing.

I'm pretty sure that the ghosts are how you refight them, Zodi.

Zodi, I think by now it should be clear that the internet is a magical parallel dimension.

..Would superhero-themed metal bands be Heavy Vibranium?

Zodi, Chaud is very bad at his job.

...Which you then say yourself.

Yeah, I also hear the tri-arrow as ha-ha-ha. If your ears are broken then so are mine.

I find it concerning that you're just kind of stumbling across HP memories. Getting the same vibes that come when a Resident Evil game starves you on Ammo and then you suddenly have more shotgun shells and flamethrower fuel than you know what to do with

This was based on early 2000s internet. The cats wouldn't invade for a few more years.

Again, I notice that so many enemies can do stuff that you either need Chips to do or just flat out can't do.

Having backtracked and rewatched, it was an N all along.

Stoping an hour and 35 minutes in because brain demands sleep.

[DataNinja]

All in all the game was... interesting. Definitely had some, uh, poor design decisions, but the seeds of a good game were sewn.

The only real other comment I have is I only now realized that DenCity is (perhaps unintentionally punning) 'density', when it's the densest hub of entrances in the game.

[Lord Raziere]

Yeah, I was playing Neo: TWEWY which I got as a christmas present all day yesterday, so I have to catch up with the stream. so far, great game and second installment for its universe.

MMBN 4 Stream 4:
....there is a war in this world and everyone in town is ignoring it. I'm going into crazy theory land: its a war against all the people who think "the internet of things" is a bad idea. all the sane people in some other nation who decided to be reasonable with the internet are fighting against the nation we see in this game. this town is actually like, only one or two of the few cities in all the world where the internet got this extensive and any information about the world outside them are lies because no one actually wanted to be connected to the Hikarinet that was invented- and why even the widest internet thing you can jack only extends as far as the town your in. Doctor Wily and W3 while evil, is actually being funded by the people Hikarinet nation is at war with to try and sabotage and spread chaos across this nation so as to try and force the Hikarinet nation to surrender and give up their over-connected network by showing how easy it is to use the Hikarinet to screw up society. Lan is actually just a stupid kid being fooled into upholding his nations propaganda, unknowingly prolonging the war, Chaud and Protoman are secret agents engaging in counter-espionage against this to try and win the war effort for the Hikarinet. the Undernet is just their propaganda name for normal internet that is actually safe that everyone else uses. Chaud actually hates Lan because he is a kid who is getting too close to the truth despite Lan's naivete, fears that if Lan learned of it would turn on the Hikarinet and join the other side. that one child's comment put all the pieces into place, it all makes sense!

my theory is that Hig has this weird speech impediment involving "g" words, its inconsistent but he sometimes he spasms of not being able to say "go" or "get"

Lan's father is never home because he is trying to win the war by developing a weapon against the normal net. this may actually be Megaman himself- his real purpose is to destroy all internet that is not of Hikari's creation, thus dooming the world to be forced to use his designs.

the reason why it feels like Lan's parents are five seconds away from divorce, is because they are. Hikari just wanted a son that he could use as a weapon against the normal internet by raising him to value the Hikarinet and manipulating him with his ultimate weapon against it also being his partner and friend to make Lan value the Hikarinet so much that he'd rather destroy the normal net than be without Megaman.

.....well. your not WRONG to call them cards Zodi, when you think about it. all randomized item system-like games like this are basically reflavored card-collecting. gachas are just card-collecting with orbs. this? is cards being called chips.

oh! to add to my war theory, Geo Stellar actually came to the past to make sure the war goes in Hikari's favor so that he exists in the dystopian future the Hikarinet has created.

apparently bombs beat sharks. this is more logical than I expected this game to be.

Megaman: Lan! I've made it to the undernet, you got some mail!
Lan: thanks Megaman, I'll read it!
....
oh no that poor nigerian prince! here I'll send them some money to help them out...

Hikari has link to the undernet...my god, its his backdoor to the regular internet so he can spy on them!

I think I've played Final Fantasy 3 once on the....DS or something? I remember there being a world, but the rest of the world was like paused or something....? hm. I don't think I ever beat it.

Yes, yuri makes me want to learn all sorts of things!

I mean any Kirby crossover basically writes itself, as Kirby is known to eat food like he is goku or something and doesn't seem to have any concept of personal property- plop into any world and Kirby will probably go around eating food not realizing he stealing it, prompting the heroes to go stop him, fight him and bit then realize he isn't that bad of a person and is just this cute puffball who likes eating.....then some big threat shows up and Kirby shows everyone why fans call him a slayer of eldritch abominations.

and thus Bombman blew himself up for the cause to prevent the Hikarinet from spreading. what a hero, his sacrifice will not be forgotten.

Hikari: here son, have a link to the internet
*physically hands him the link*
Lan: Wha-but-how....am I holding a link in my hand!?
Hikari: the Hikarinet is just another dimension son. all those viruses you've been killing are actually real with thoughts, feelings and souls! Megaman is just a bio-engineered creation of that dimension. soon all the world shall have our worlds integrate into one!

I was right, Hikari is trying to win the war! Lan is playing right into his father's hands and winning the war for the Hikarinet.

trigger the war? my god, W3 is just the saboteur phase leading up to the true war against the normal internet! soon Hikari's evil plan to paint the normal internet as the villains to justify his war against will succeed! quick Wily, use the Lifevirus to get rid of the Hikarinet to save the world, its the only way!

Wily likes to drink purple flurp it seems

Wily actually wants to destroy Hikari's world to make sure the Hikarinet doesn't spread, thats all. he just likes to get lost in daydreams and wants to think of it as destroying more to feel like is designs are more grandiose than they actually are.

and thus does Wily present one final defense against Lan to show why internet of things is a bad idea: a locked door with no internet connection.

Wily is truly willing to go far for the cause to defend the Hikarinet by giving Yahoot a piece of the Lifevirus. truly.

Hikari is a mad scientist who decided to virtually emulate DNA to recreate his son as a virtual robot to his assistant....meaning Megaman is a virtual clone of his own son, Hub. and thinks he actually using actual DNA for this......and thinks using 100% DNA somehow establishes a magical sympathetic connection to the genetic match in the real world. I think we are starting to see Dr. Hikari's madness in play and why Wily set out to destroy the Hikarinet. the pain of losing his son drove him irrevocably mad beyond all saving!

and so Lan destroyed the Lifevirus, ensuring that the Hikarinet would spread throughout the world and doom everyone to live in a world where everything is on the internet, until even humans are connected to it and Hikari uses it to hack into everyone's minds and take over the world. sometimes....there ARE necessary evils, and Wilys plan was one of theeeem!

and then the alarm sounds....looks like the war is not over. the Hikarinet can still be fought! we must not give up the fight against the internet of things, my friends! Wily's sacrifice will not be forgotten.

[Rater202]

"The game ends with the world saved at the heroes life... except it doesn't matter because later in the timeline it's established that civilization collapsed and humanity is effectively extinct so this entire thing was completely pointless" is a sad ending.

ZX had a better ending than Legends, considering that Legends ended with "The company started finally working on the last game of the trilogy, announced as such... And then abruptly canceled it for literally no reason, citing some immediately disproven bull**** about a lack of interest."

Characters named Axel tend to be the best.

...Oh god, this seems awful. And I'm pretty sure I know what you're supposed to do. The teacher lady whose blackboard is full of programs that claim to have been WWW viruses that were reformatted might have something to do with WWW.

The level after knight sword is hero sword, though in japan its paladin sword.

also, the thought just occurred to me that Froid doesn't work at Scilabs he works at the Waterworks.

Again, Zodi... Chaud is bad at his job.

...an old man?

In theory, autopilot driving is safer... Assuming that the autopilot is intelligent enough to recognize changing traffic in real-time and it's on an individual level and not synchronized into an easily hackable city-wide system.

...though to be fair, I like the hard light barriers on the crosswalks. That part of the system is okay.

Just, the crossings automatically change at certain intervals and there are force fields keeping *******s from driving through when it's pedestrian walking time. They also stay changed long enough for you to actually cross the ****ing street.

As opposed to real life where there's... None of that, half the time you have to press the button to get it to come on and half the time the button does absolutly nothing, it's just something to make you feel better about waiting for the crosswalk to turn on at semi-random intervals.

Chaud: "What's in that Navi?"
Geo: "Technically I'm not a Navi I'm a clone of the fusion of a boy from the future and an alien energy being that may or may not have been combined with the thing that replaces NetNavis. It's a bit fuzzy where in my personal timeline I'm from. I was told not to mess with time but I threw that out the window."
MegaMan: "I think he was confusing you for me. And I've already explained to him and Protoman that I'm probably an abomination of Science. Lan's Dad is constantly upgrading me and... Well, he's doing something involving Navis made with human something. He was going to tell Lan something major about me but then stuff happened."

How does Quiz Kid know this stuff?

Ms. Yuri does say she doesn't know the answer herself regarding why her having a twin was relevant.

Megaman defeats Kirby, copies his copy power.

Kirby then comes back for round two, eats MegaMan, gains Megaman's copy power... including the copy power copies from Kirby.

Infinite regression, Kirby destroys the universe.

Zodi you fool, if you kill the ghost of Elecman it'll spawn an infinite number of even stronger ghosts of elecman's ghost.

...Gonna be honest, a little disappointed that the next game isn't Metroid Dread.

Apparently, this game specifically has a really good Program Advance that comes from using Fighter Sword S, Buster Sword S, and MegaMan SF chips in that order.

Zodi, it's pronounced "Who reh uh."

I do appreciate that they illustrate that Bombman is stupid by having him use text abbreviations in inappropriate contexts.

I think the Mystery data was the address, since it vanishes during the cutscene.

"Dad I am literally eleven and I've already defeated pretty much all of their guys. I think I can be responsible."

...Ar ethe flaoting balls in the color-coded tanks the Super Programs? Do the super programs just exist in physical space?

Oh my god they are. I... With Star Force it works becuase it's alien energy beings and in the Anime they did cool stuff with it and I was like ten.

This is just... This is just...

God Damn.

And everyone just acknowledges that this random kid is their best bet for saving the day.

Old Man you have been standung there waiting to be seen for literally months. You're not being too hard in the government.

Hub...? Who is hub he asked sarcastically.

...It'd be funny if you challenged Higsby and he just says "no."

Zodi, don't lie to people. We all know what the When They Cry series is about.

"Lan, this passcode has four digits!"

Numbrman didn'rt even... Numberman just hacked the program to find the answer.

I still can't get over th fact that the life virus is something that physiclly exists and isn't' just data.

Color floor is very frustrating.. I think I get what you need to di though? Let's see if I'm right.

Yeah.

Lan is just humoring Dex here.

...So how did everyone get here? Dig Froid bring them with his own pass?

And then you take the time to beat the crap out of Gutsman, thus dooming the world.

"Someone copied the defneisve abilites of th eLife Virus" Hint Hint to bonus boss... Though... How/ The Life Virus was never in the net.

And then Geo pops out of your PET aand blasts the last door off its hinges because that's a thing he can do.

You know, I'm pretty sure that MegaMan cold have just shot over the gap. Roll really dind't need to be there.

MagicMan's next trick is going to California. And being really obnoxious.

...The joke is that he looks like Excalibur from Souleater.

The one time Chaud did anything useful... I'm gonna assume that it was just Protoma acting on his own though.

Is Chaud just... Not being an ass becuase Dr. Hikari asked nicely?

"Lan... When you were born you had a twin brother named Hub. He died shortly after you were born, so I digitized his soul and combined it with the data from sequencing his genome, an upload of his baby consciouness, a program capable of infinte data compression, and bleeding edge versions of all NetNavi programs to bring him to life as a virtual being. I then gave him to yo to use as a virtual pet and didn't tell anyone."

Like,later games establish that MEgaMan can be upgradd more or less endlessly becuase of the sheer data compression needed to fit a genome into him and that souls can be conencted tot he Internet, so...

So Lan's virtual pet is literally the weaponized ghost of his dead brother.

Which means that he has the mother of all unfair advantages in Netbattling. This is like showing up to a dog fight and your dog is a human being i a fursuit... And he has a gun.

...Does Knight come from a place with bad sex education?

Dad Hikari, this is information that Lan needed before now! Does Mom Hikari know? Is this why th marriage is so strained?

And... Once you're an adult, you have to pay to keep your PET. If Lan ends up a broke ass college student at 18 Scilab is gonna reposes his brother.

This is... All kinds of nope.

And this whole thing is...

I feel that Dad Hikari and Otto Mentallis could be sitting somewhere drinking... Or smoking pot, given hat it's all but outright said that the Psychic Seven were stoners, and they'd just be laughing their asses off about this.

...If I wanted to be gernous, I'd say that it wasn't so much that he eneded dead baby DNa so much as having a dead son gave Dar Hikari th emotivation to make the breakthrough. "If I odo this, I can bring my dead son back to life kinda!"

"And now, to stop you from stopping the life virus,my ultimate creation! A robot!"
"Oh, crap, a robot... MegaMan, does being my exact genetic twin let you ecome real."
"No."
"Hey, Geo, could you"
"Lan, I hate to tell you this, but... I'm not canon to this game. My entire precense here is just a what-if."
"Crap"
*gets kille by a robot.*

Like, seriosuly. You'd think that Wiley wold have kept up with the robot... No one would be able to stop him.

Why doens't h just push the button, Zodi? You jacking in doens't stop him from firing the rocket.

Also, I like how th eLife Virus was created by fusing four non-viral programs.

Lan's not jumpig. IT's his sakes, the shaking is making him role back and forth.

MegMan is dating that AI becuase it's the cloest thing he will ever have to a romantic realtionhip, zodi. He cna't date real girls Zodi, he's trapped in his twin brother's smartphone for all etenirty, unless he decides to live int he internet.

It's gonna be 200 hundred years before internet beigns and meatspace beings can occupy the same plane existance Zodi. nd then he'd have to be lucy enough to both still exist nd to get upgraded into a Wizard.

It's date Roll or be alone for enturies.

And Mayl? Is this really the best time to be having this conversation?

So, reminder: One of the later games establishes that Chaud gets credited with most of the stuff Lan does.

Considering that a later game has Megaman transfered nto a more advanced PEt I dont' think his circuits decaying is a problem. He's basically immortal as long as he doesn't get deleted.

And he could theoretically just... Be transfered ito th eNet when Lan gets too old to be a NEt Operator or personalized NetNavis become Obsolete.

[LaZodiac]

Rater Responses:

Huh. I'll keep that PA advice in mind just to like, look at it later. Could be neat.

A stronger Elecman is still a loser I can beat without taking damage (theoretically...)

Yeah sorry I don't intend to do Dread for awhile. It's fun and good but I'm not interested in replaying it SO soon after beating it myself.

"Zodi, it's pronounced "Who reh uh.""

I have.... no idea what this about, sorry.

Bombman being how he is to show his lacking cpu is great honestly. I do love little things like that.

I... the way you say that is rather incisive. DO you know what Umineko is? Cause yeah it's a When They Cry series, but it's quite a different beast from Higurashi (no spoilers, I may have experienced but I don't want anyone spoiled when I do get through it with Blue, which is my intent).

I will note that Battle Network 6 has Things that happen in it that make it clear that "living on the net" won't be necessary for Hub, and that he can likely grow, age, and check out when the time comes.

Knight comes from the American South so yes, but also he was joking. Making a tomfoolery.

Dad Hikari is honestly on the degree of Gendo. The only reason he's not invited to the Terrible Father Club is because he did actually have a full 100% good intention in mind.

Razier Responses:

Yeah that's Final Fantasy 3. It'll make more sense when I get around to playing that one for the internets.

[Rater202]

"Zodi, it's pronounced "Who reh uh.""

I have.... no idea what this about, sorry.

Bombman's use of "U" for "you" and "R" for R.

Phonetically, it would be pronounced reh and uh.

I... the way you say that is rather incisive. DO you know what Umineko is? Cause yeah it's a When They Cry series, but it's quite a different beast from Higurashi (no spoilers, I may have experienced but I don't want anyone spoiled when I do get through it with Blue, which is my intent).

I have knowledge of the VN and of the greater series that it is part of (which I recently learned includes more than just Higurashi and Umineko) I understand that it is a different beast from its predecessor, but...

[Lord Raziere]

FF3 makes sense to me, I did get far enough to like.....GET to the final dungeon. I think. I just don't think I remember it all that well, and I don't think I beat it.....?

....I think Rater is talking about Bombman's use of "Who R U" and jokingly correctly you on the pronunciation of the latter two letters usage, suggesting an alternative literalist interpretation of the letters wherein they are sounded out as if the r is at beginning of a word and the u is pronounced "uh", thus deliberating misinterpreting what is clear yet crude communication to everyone else, by trying to point out an admittedly highly improbable ambiguity of their interpretation. there the joke is dead, behold its corpse for I have slain it.

Dad Hikari on the other hand is in my crazy villainous mad scientist wanting to take over the world club, as he clearly did all this so his Hikarinet would rise to dominate all, and is crazy enough to combine DNA and digital things together.

[LaZodiac]

It's time... for some crime!

Zodi Streams: Sly 2 [1] Crime Time!

Video Length: 4:19:29

The beginning of Sly 2! One of my favorite PS2 games, I hope you all enjoy. I think Sly 2 is probably the best of the Sly games, and it really shows. The difference between the first and second games are immense, in basically every way. I do hope you all enjoy.

[Lord Raziere]

Sly 2 Stream 1:
Well of course Bentley has it written down and is reading it out, on a heist or caper like this, the instructions to do each step are incredibly important and need to be carried out with precision. as the brains, he has to make sure they are doing everything right, so he has notes for the whole thing from front to end. I imagine he doesn't do it in every day conversation after all.

Sly doesn't knock people out, he uses his staff (which is actually hollow and so light it can't deal any kind of bludgeoning damage that could leave lasting bruises, trauma or brain damage) that is filled with a gas concoction Bentley made that instant puts people to sleep applied through its tip and then when they're asleep, the gas reacts and turns their bodies temporarily invisible, its fine, no harm is done.

its not fine. Murray is a stone cold heartless killer with no remorse. he is here because Bentley and Sly are too afraid of the damage he'll cause if ever gets loose.

Neyla is a nice addition to this. gives Carmelita a foil and partner, gives Sly another challenge, allows for Sly to get info from the police if its more logical for them to know about something first, and her goals aren't necessarily the same but can be temporarily aligned when needed....or unaligned if necessary. I'd actually be sad if she turns out to be evil, because her dynamic adds to something to the conflict between them that makes it more complex and potential to do this or that with her that could contribute to all sorts of interesting scenarios.

....I was just joking about Bentley concocting sleeping gas, but apparently that was prescient.

and yeah, thats real good of the game to make each character a different playstyle.

imagine if you were timed so that when you complete the first part of the heist, you had to complete the other part happening simultaneously in the same amount of time. it would add a layer of challenge to it.

so yeah, the first episode villain being this guy who forges art and just speaks weird slang while owning a night club is fitting for a first boss as that combination seems pretty weak in the combat department.

[Rater202]

"This is for the VOD, for you folks watching at home... all two of you."

Me: Crap, Zodi has realized that I'm actually two wolverines using a system of levers and pullies to operate a human suit.

I mean he's not really sneaking around Zodi, he's just walking in a circle.

Clockwerk parts? You'd think there wouldn't be much to retrieve considering the state of the place where he died.

A museum of natural history is a weird place to put a robot owl and... Seriously, who would think that putting the remains of a homicidal cyborg literally powered by hate on display at a museum would be a good idea?

The crocodile hunter was afraid of the thing that Murray is.

Wow, the makers of Sly Cooper were really on point for how some cops can be. It's like they could see the future.

Oh... Wow. I get it, Clockwerk's a bag of *****. But Sly's recap is... anti-transhuman*. Possibly even a little ablest? Clockwerk did it for the wrong reasons but Sly's narration makes it seem like he thinks that unending hatred is the only reason why you'd replace your failing mortal parts with prosthetics.

I mean, it's not my bag. I'd rather improve what I've got or otherwise incorporate the current me into the new me. But still.

*Transanthro? Transfurry? ...Transfloof. It's anti-transfloof.

I'm noticing a distinct lack of exploding hats and curling into a ball to roll around while crackling with lightning.

Apparently, the fourth game establishes that Sly is in fact willing to kill. He makes explicit plans to kill someone even. To be fair they had it coming

Turtle-Bro says that using the feathers as printing plates is ingenious... But I can't help but think that using something so rare and valuable for something so mundane is wasted potential.

...The door closed on Dimitri's tail.

Okay, throwing rats in the water main to clog the pipes isn't even accidental, the ratty boys are just ****ing dead and that's totally on purpose.

"I cannot overstate how enjoyable it is to do crime." Mood.

There's something appealing about the idea of being an outlaw, and Sly is very much the romanticized ideal of it. And you're mostly stealing from bad guys, so there's not nessesarily any moral guilt.

Cats has been around for a long time Zodi. If they were gonna reference Cats they'd have done it already.

...Also can we talk about how the Jellicle Cats are transparently a cult? They hit literally all of the signs. Specifically, they act like a sex cult but the whole thing with the Jellicle Choice is 100% death cult.

That painting might be one of Dimitri's own creations. The Dadaesque aspect of his art seems to be his process, rather than the finished project.

I was expecting the fragile keys thing to mean that you couldn't attack or get hit while you had them.

Apparently, Sly's pockets are better protected.

I think that says Caffe de Paris. The t with the swirly makes a P.

So how the hell did no one notice the guns going off?

...Okay, unless the implication is that Dimitri owns all of this, maybe not so much free of moral guilt.

The panther lady is pink.

...It would be hilarious if she lead you right into a trap.

You get to the end and Carmaleta is just there and she shoots you.

I keep hearing "go go power rangers" in the mission track. the "dun dun du-duh dun dun" part. Not sure if tit's the same notes exactly but it's at least the same... Scale?

I can't unhear it.

You're hurting no one except the people that the bombs make explode into coins.

stopping two hours in, more thinky-thoughts later.

[LaZodiac]

Neyla is a nice addition to this. gives Carmelita a foil and partner, gives Sly another challenge, allows for Sly to get info from the police if its more logical for them to know about something first, and her goals aren't necessarily the same but can be temporarily aligned when needed....or unaligned if necessary. I'd actually be sad if she turns out to be evil, because her dynamic adds to something to the conflict between them that makes it more complex and potential to do this or that with her that could contribute to all sorts of interesting scenarios.

and yeah, thats real good of the game to make each character a different playstyle.

imagine if you were timed so that when you complete the first part of the heist, you had to complete the other part happening simultaneously in the same amount of time. it would add a layer of challenge to it.

so yeah, the first episode villain being this guy who forges art and just speaks weird slang while owning a night club is fitting for a first boss as that combination seems pretty weak in the combat department.

Nayla is pretty fantastic, yeah. She's got that sort of middle ground to Sly's "completely unabashed criminal who takes everything he does in stride" and Carmalita's "if you litter I'll ****ing beat you" hardass nature.

What's great about it is that they don't change how the game plays at all, everyone works roughly the same, it's just that due to their abilities they all play completely different, and even ways they're similar are clearly differentiated. Probably the best example of this sort of thing I've ever seen.

That feels like it'd be a bit too hard, honestly.

Yeah! Dimitri is, for lack of a better term, just some dude. He's got a gun, and isn't afraid to just go out swinging, but ultimately he's just some guy.

Clockwerk parts? You'd think there wouldn't be much to retrieve considering the state of the place where he died.

A museum of natural history is a weird place to put a robot owl and... Seriously, who would think that putting the remains of a homicidal cyborg literally powered by hate on display at a museum would be a good idea?

Oh... Wow. I get it, Clockwerk's a bag of *****. But Sly's recap is... anti-transhuman*. Possibly even a little ablest? Clockwerk did it for the wrong reasons but Sly's narration makes it seem like he thinks that unending hatred is the only reason why you'd replace your failing mortal parts with prosthetics.

I mean, it's not my bag. I'd rather improve what I've got or otherwise incorporate the current me into the new me. But still.

*Transanthro? Transfurry? ...Transfloof. It's anti-transfloof.

Cats has been around for a long time Zodi. If they were gonna reference Cats they'd have done it already.

...Also can we talk about how the Jellicle Cats are transparently a cult? They hit literally all of the signs. Specifically, they act like a sex cult but the whole thing with the Jellicle Choice is 100% death cult.

It kinda emphasizes how successful Clockwerk's immortality WAS if not even being blown to pieces in a volcano put him down. His pieces aren't even all that damaged, and given how blasted up her got in the first game seems to have regenerated as well. That's some powerful hate! As for Clockwerk's bits being in a Natural History Museum... I can kinda see it, in so far as "he's been alive since at least ancient Egypt, by this point he is an artifact". And also considering this museum is in Paris, it's probably got the same sort of methodology as Britain's museums; namely, if we found it we keep it, regardless of where it was found.

So, I do agree that Sly's specific way of framing Clockwerk is... rough. But also consider that Clockwerk's entire MO has been to, for centuries, torment and kill the people in his family forever. Sly has a lot of pent up emotions about that; he probably was raised both on stories of how great his family line is, and while not told the full details, definitely heard about the specter that haunts his family. So forgive him if he's a little unduly mad at cyberization and stuff. An owl made of hate and metal killed his entire family.

I mean more to the point that while Cats has always existed, the recent film made it a much more pronounced thing in the cultural zeitgeist.

[Lord Raziere]

Nayla is pretty fantastic, yeah. She's got that sort of middle ground to Sly's "completely unabashed criminal who takes everything he does in stride" and Carmalita's "if you litter I'll ****ing beat you" hardass nature.

Yeah if I wasn't Sly myself, I'd probably be Neyla in this scenario simply because "hey, actually catching this Sly guy seems impossible. BUT.....he only targets other criminals and is pretty good at finding big ones with lots of minions as well as making fools out of them. Simply follow him around, wait for him to ruin someone elses day then make the arrest on whatever crime lord he humiliates and I'll have more successful deserving arrests on my records than if I actually caught him".

which is probably how people like Zenigata and Carmelita keep their jobs despite failing to catch their target criminal: other rival criminals who aren't as good and probably do worse keep getting left behind in their wake and thus their focused pursuit of this one thief person is tolerated and allowed because they earn the honor of being the inspector that catches everyone but Lupin/Sly.

[LaZodiac]

I can't speak for Carmalita but Zenigata at least is a hella good detective actually, he's just incapable of not hyperfocusing on a silly little monkey man.

**** now I'm thinking of Lupin the Third character's in Sly Cooper's setting.

[Lord Raziere]

**** now I'm thinking of Lupin the Third character's in Sly Cooper's setting.

I think that how it'd work mostly is that it'd make a lot of trouble for Sly.

Because Zenigata and Carmelita would just argue endlessly about who is more important to chase while seeing the other criminal as not as a big of a threat, because Carmelita would see Lupin as easily caught and probably be the one to easily catch him while Zenigata would see Sly as straightforward and direct.

Lupin on the other hand because his mind works in twists and turns and byzantine plans would do unexpected things that would mess up anything Sly is doing, simply because Lupin likes to prove he is the better thief, scam Carmelita into thinking he is easily caught guy and that he is still prison, make her chase Sly endlessly while gets all the gold. Sly's good at what he does, but he's no wily master of disguise who casually breaks out of prison while pulling retroactive switcheroos as a part of his master plan of the week. if I were writing it, Sly would be considering Lupin a famed troublesome figure of chaos to show up that he'd have to figure out a way around or avoid to get to his goal, he'd be a big obstacle that just throws his carefully planned quiet heists off the rails. or at least it'd cause trouble for Bentley's planning, Sly might just consider pulling something off while Lupin is around a good challenge.

[Rater202]

I mean more to the point that while Cats has always existed, the recent film made it a much more pronounced thing in the cultural zeitgeist.

Yeah, but... Not in a good way.

---

Murreay is trying to hard to be a superhero ad doesn't seem to grok that... No, no he's not.

Inertia is a property of matter.

Your suit is greasy something, Dimitri.

So I'm noticing that Carmalita's entire career seems to be "try and catch this one guy, fail utterly, then arrest someone else after that one guy did all the work for her." Between that, her obsession with Sly specifically, and her shoot first ask questions never philosophy... She's kind of a bad cop.

Remember everyone: Counting cards is only cheating if you have help or are giving the answers away to someone else. Otherwise, you're just paying attention.

"The spice must flow... Into my hands, so that I may sell it illegally, so that the money may flow into my pockets."

...How is dodging a gadget, come on?

Yeah, using the wings like this is even more of a waste than using the tail feathers for something mundane.

...If I were Sly, I'd have Bently turn the Clockwerk parts into appliances. That would be the ultimate revenge on Clockwerk.

"You spent centuries trying to wipe out my family Clockerk, now you power my washing machine."

Ooh, or gadgets that Sly can one day pass on to his own children.

I bet the tech guy of the Klaw gang is using his Clockwerk part for something suitable.

It's hard to anthropomorphize spiders and have them still look like spiders in the face are, zodi.

Like, my best bet was "a traditional drow with extra arms and itty bitty bead eyes on their eyebrows." Granted, I was going for "Monster girl," not "furry."

...If dragonkin and reptile furries are called scalies, does that mean that arthropod and mollusk furries are called shellies?

No, zodi, in this universe a tuxedo is literally a penguin fursuit. It's exactly as racially insensitive as it sounds.

...So can you sell th tux on Thiefnet when you don't need it anymore?

I like how the "pre-war turret" is shooting bolts of plasma

...Murray is Mask de Masculine. A hammy wrestler who thinks he's the good guy but is really just a murderous brute.

Raz doesn't be like that. A private city for me and my minions is one of my goals,

Granted, mine would be an island on the back of a whale or turtle...

...Or a space colony merged with a benevolent version of Ultimate Gundam.

If they do psychonauts 3 they'll probably just do like the post game of 2 where the hand helps Raz back to shore. Justify it by saying that it's omly been a little bit and he's not a confident swimmer yet...

Oh God... Raz is going to have to go back to camp to get his swimming merit badge. Cause, you know... Oleander's the one offering the Auquato's swimming lessons. And Sasha and Milla say they're heading back to the amp soon since the next session is starting and... Running the camp is literally Oleandr's main job.

And Ford and Lucy mentioned going to the cAmp, and... And Loboto went back to the Camp to get his kid.

Sequel, DLC, spinoff... the next part of the story will be fully or partially at the camp and Raz having to go back for swimming lessons will justify his being there.

...And then he never actually gets around to learning how to swim because crap happens.

BTW, according to their campster profiles Franke and Kitty, the two girls who hang out with each other exclusively in the first game, are probably a couple. They both list their relationship status as "Open Marriage," have each other listed among their likes, and one of them has highly lesbian coded interests while the other has highly bisexual coded interests. Too bad none of that made it into the game proper, but with Bob and Helmut in the sequel, there's the possibility it could come up if the whispering rock campers are ever revisited.

Re: Elephants, on a related note: Capybaras, the world's largest rodent, see anything their size or bigger that doesn't try to mess with it as another capybara and anything smaller than it that doesn't try to mess with it as a baby capybara.

It has something to do with how they're wired for the communal raising of offspring.

As a result, if you are chill with capybara, capybara chill with you. This means that capybaras are often found surrounded by other small animals just hanging out.

You'll get across the busted bridge by flying across with the Clockwerk wings.

So lemme get this straight: Carmelita just blew a huge sting and, while catching some criminals, let the big guy get away solely because she was pissed off that Sly got n and out?

How did she keep her job after this?