It's been a pretty quiet July.

MM fans--how is Battle Network? Is this something worth getting or is it kinda tedious? Would it be better to just wait for future installments of the sub-series?

@TriforceBun Zero pushed me over the fence last week:

Zero said:

@nate38 If you can deal with sort of confusing, mapless areas and a decent amount of random battles pretty much everything else about Battle Network is awesome, including one of the best battles systems in an "RPG" series.

So yeah, I'll be picking that up when I get home today.

I wonder how far Capcom will go with the VC releases for these handheld Mega Man RPGs. There's like six or seven of those Battle Network games on GBA (several of them have different versions a la Pokemon, too) and then a handful of Star Force games for DS.

Battle Network is pretty sweet. Lots of neat ideas and mechanics held back a bit by some antiquated RPG stuff too. Has some awesome reimaginings of classic robot masters too, fighting them in new forms with a completely different battle mechanic is way cool. But yeah some annoyances too like random battles and a very limited map iirc.

@TriforceBun

I played and beat it and while the battle system is cool and interesting, everything else was pretty mediocre. But, I hear the later games (which I haven't played) make big improvements. Maybe worth waiting for the sequel.

Thanks for the info, guys. Man, confusing maps + random battles is a rough combination, though. I do really like what I've seen/heard of the battle system, though, so I might hold off a bit and see if some of the later games are coming our way.

I've heard 3 was the best. I might wait for that one. No hurry getting into another RPG here anyway.

Hmm, Steel Empire actually looks pretty cool for SHMUP fans.



Only thing is...holy crap, this game is $29.99 on the eShop?!? I dig me some SHMUPs, but $30?!? I dunno. Might wait for a sale.

I think 2 is the best Battle Network but 1 is prob my second fav.

@GameDadGrant

I hear it's really, really good. But yeah, the price is unreasonable. Waiting for a sale.

@GameDadGrant

$30? Good gravy! No thanks...not when Gradius, another classic, is on the same service for $5.

I thought you guys were getting Mysterious Murasame Castle today? Or did you get that already? Damn fine game, either way!

@Guillaume
@ludist210

Isn't it weird what these last few generations have done to us? I remember Life Force being my only game for Christmas one year, and also saving up "all" of my birthday money for a brand new $50 Super Mario Bros. 3, haha.

What can ya do?

Steel Empire looks cool, but yeah kind of a lot.

@Mr_Mustache

Don't get me started on my "Apple (more specifically, the App Store) devalued the price of software" rant...Kris might get mad at me.

On the flip side it could mean that games just used to be way too expensive. Those games were like $50. Kirby's Dream Land was probably $30 and it had 4 levels.

@TriforceBun

I remember liking the game. For whatever reason I started with the second game and then went back to the first. I know there's some problems with the game, but $8 seems like a great deal to me. That's probably because I've been pricing old games on ebay and realizing there are so many games I wish were on the VC.

Battle Network is great. I really enjoyed it.

You can't just jump into the second one! You'll miss all of the subtext!

@Jargon I wouldn't say everything else is mediocre. I love the Lan / Mega Man relationship. Ok fine, it's nothing particularly special, but it has some real heart to it, something that I wish more games had. I also love the cyberspace setting and jacking in and all of that.

But yeah, the battle system is the main appeal.

2 hours in, I'm enjoying it. The battle system's definitely fun. The cyberspace stuff seems designed to confuse you and waste your time, but so far it's not too crappy.

But seriously...NumberMan?