Megaman ZX Advent

[Destiny_Gundam]

So I got this game the other day and I've already beaten it, so here are my thoughts. Massive spoilers ahead.



First lets look at production values. Graphically, it's no different from the first ZX or any of the Zero games. This of course is good, cuz those games are awesome looking 2D platformers. One graphical addition though is that when you finish off an enemy/boss with a charged buster shot, it'll blow a huge chunk out of them, much like a saber will slice them in half. Very cool. Like ZX, ZXA also makes use of animated cut scenes. They too look great. What sets this game apart is the voice acting. The japanese version of ZX had voice acting, but Capcom removed it for the North American release. Fans didn't appreciate that, so ZXA has voice acting. And by that I mean english voice acting. For the most part, the voice acting was well done and didn't have that usual video game monotones. I never though I'd see the day when I'd hear voice acting on a DS.

One vast improvement over ZX is the map system. I hated the map system in ZX with a passion. It was stupid how you had to search through old areas to find new ones. In ZXA, you can just warp to a new area using the Transceiver.

Onto the game itself. Like ZX, you get to choose between a male character named Grey, and a female character named Ashe. Unlike ZX, the plot varies greatly between the two. As such, I'll look at them separately.

First is Ashe. She is a human bounty hunter who was taken in by them when she was young. She strives to make her own story and have her name known throughout the world. She runs afoul of Prometheus and Pandora (who you'll remember from ZX) and ends up Megamerging with the Biometal Model A[xl]. Now you'll remember Axl from X7 and 8. His specialties were shooting and copying. Ashe gets the same skills. She has twin buster guns, can fire homing shots and her charge shot fires a laser that will bounce around the room. It's very handy for boss fights. Every time you beat a boss, you'll be able to 'A-Trans' and become the boss. You can use their unique abilities to get past certain obstacles. You eventually meet the others who hold biometals and get to copy them as well. Ashe also runs into an older Vent, the male main from ZX. You also get to copy him. Ashe is a fun character and I like her dynamic with Model A.

Grey on the other hand I didn't enjoy playing as as much. Grey is a reploid who wakes up in some lab with no memories. He eventually encounters Model A and is compatible with it. Grey is more of a downer character, always questioning who he is, why he's there, etc, etc. While he's not outright emo about it, he's just not as fun as Ashe. He has the same abilities mentioned above, only his charged shot is just a powerful blast. The lack of bouncing makes it far less useful. Grey will eventually run into an older Aile, the female main from ZX, and boy is it great to see her again (I always prefered her over Vent). Needless to say, once I beat her, I used ZX mode for the rest of the game.

There aren't really any unique support characters that help you. There's the typical generic characters scattered around, but they only look good, if anything. Sometimes they'll have side quests for you to go on though. There is the Sage Trinity, a group of old men who run the world government, and they give you missions and info, but you don't need to see them face to face very often. Their names are Thomas, Albert and Mikhail (those names should sound familiar). Other than that, there's just the ZX mains and the various villain characters. As mentioned before, Prometheus and Pandora are back and are far more active than in ZX. I must say I've come to like them a lot more in this game (especially Pandora). There's your standard 8 bosses but there's also the four other Megamen that somehow took the other biometals from Vent/Aile. None of them are very memorable though, as their characters are flatter than the DS cartridge.

I was left dissapointed with the plot though. It was rather predictable. Surprise surprise, the plesent looking sage named after Dr Wily is the main villain. Ashe turns out to be a descendant of his (Albert was human centuries ago before he cyberized himself) while Grey is a spare body. Turns out Albert was the "he, him, his" they kept mentioning in ZX. He's the one who made the Model Ws (from Ragnarok's core I'd imagine) along with Prometheus and Pandora. His plan was to have the Megamen fight each other until there was one left who would use Model W to become the King of Megamen. He had put his DNA in other humans and reploids, making them 'chosen ones' to use the biometals (Vent/Aile included). This is kinda plot holish, as Ciel was supposedly the one that made the biometals to stop Model W. Then again, Ciel did copy Model W to make them, so I guess it's not surprising Albert could manipulate them to some extent. To sum things up, Albert is another pshyco who thinks he's god and wants to destroy the world and recreate it in his own image. You kick his ass and bring peace to the world.

It wasn't bad or anything, but it just wasn't as epic as most Megaman games (especially the Zeros). ZXA answers all the questions left unanswered from ZX, but it doesn't leave any hints that suggest something bigger behind the scenes. ZXA only connects to ZX and none of the other games. I was dissapointed in the fact that the evil mastermind was just some new villain they threw in. It would have been ultra epic if it turned out the one behind everything was Dr Wily's preserved brain or something, but alas.

Even though I say that, I still thoroughly enjoyed the game, despite it being rather short (I beat Grey's story in one day). I just think the game doesn't measure up to the others in the franchise. Hopefully a third installment will have an epic twist to it.

[Dygenguard]

I skipped most of your post to avoid spoilers, but I did read the part about your comparison to it and Megaman's most recent titles.

It's a shame to see that, but perhaps they're just ramping up in preparation for more sequels. I'll admit, the first two Zero games were pretty exciting, especially towards the end of each near the final bosses, but the third and fourth games were ASTOUNDING. The final fights of MMZero 3 and 4 were incredibly epic and really deserved more than a small GBA screen to cram it all on.

I still miss some of the old school days with X and Zero, but at least that era is still alive, though "in retirement" with remakes and some copies still floating around in local game stores. I like that Megaman is still going and evolving to some extent, even if some purists would say it's "not evolving, just running into the ground". Really, it's the same darn game every time, so what's wrong with sticking to something that works?

As long as they don't try to work in the NT stuff, I'm fine. Frankly, that's the only franchise I frown on.

[Phantomexe87]

It actually is quite different graphically from Zero, as much as Mega Man X is graphically different from the Classic Mega Man, though I figure that's because it's on the DS.

Also, Biometal A, is NOT Axl, it merely looks like him and oddly has his powers, it's actually designed and allegedly based off of Master Albert. Aside from aesthetics and powers, it is unrelated to Axl.

Considering the crap Capcom rolls out these days, I thought it was surprisingly good. The whole 'transform into a boss' was something Capcom has been wanting to implement since the first Mega Man, but was never able to due to system limitations.

What really amazed me was the voice acting. Now anyone who has played Mega Man 8 will know that Mega Man games don't have a very good record for voice acting, yet ZX Advent had some surprisingly good ones.

[Dygenguard]

Yeah, that's if Capcom even bothers to translate. In addition to lack of English voices, I remember Breath of Fire 4 didn't even bother to translate the ending credits into English. And who can forget Resident Evil? "Stop. Don't go in there!!!" and "You are the master of unlocking."

And personally, I didn't mind their voice acting job for Command Mission. Really, the worst case of Megaman dubbing was the earlier X games where X sounded like a pansy. Still, towards the later games, the voice acting was lukewarm at best, at least in the English versions. The Japanese voices, frankly, were a lot better.

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

What suprises me the most is how they can squeeze anime cut sceens while keeping some of the sceens at decent quality. Voice acting is a little weak, but over all I'm enjoying the game.

[Destiny_Gundam]

Also, Biometal A, is NOT Axl, it merely looks like him and oddly has his powers, it's actually designed and allegedly based off of Master Albert. Aside from aesthetics and powers, it is unrelated to Axl.

What really amazed me was the voice acting. Now anyone who has played Mega Man 8 will know that Mega Man games don't have a very good record for voice acting, yet ZX Advent had some surprisingly good ones.

Yeah, I know it's not Axl, but it's just easier to call it Model Axl cuz it also gives you the gist of what it can do.

And NOTHING beats the horridity of Megaman X4 in terms of voice acting.

[Zero Revenge]

Also, Biometal A, is NOT Axl, it merely looks like him and oddly has his powers, it's actually designed and allegedly based off of Master Albert. Aside from aesthetics and powers, it is unrelated to Axl.

What really amazed me was the voice acting. Now anyone who has played Mega Man 8 will know that Mega Man games don't have a very good record for voice acting, yet ZX Advent had some surprisingly good ones.

Yeah, I know it's not Axl, but it's just easier to call it Model Axl cuz it also gives you the gist of what it can do.

And NOTHING beats the horridity of Megaman X4 in terms of voice acting.

I thought Sigma's X4 voice was great compared to Master Asia in the later versions. Only X had a really subpar voice. Zero's was decent, Double's was good enough, as was Colonel's and General.

[RX 93 ZZ]

eh i personnaly think X4's acting was actually okay for the most part...... i mean i personnaly favored the Zero from X8(who i think also did Domon..idk?) X......well that i dont have to explain if you played MM8. Sigma sounded like he had a bad case of strep throught. Colonel was okay i guess, Iris........was a bit too high pitched..... and general was actually kind of cool......and it kindah reminded me of Dr.Light(just the way it sounded). Double....eh....he kindah sounded like a robot version of a disgruntaled 14 year old, trying to beat a rival(idk im wierd like that).

DONT HAVE A DS >.< so i can't comment on ZXA.


(P.S. if you want anymore opnions just ask ^_^)

P.S.S is it just me or does it seem like the actors who did the repliods that were with sigma in that one X4 cutscene seem british?

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

I find myself using Model A alot more then any of the other models, it can be pretty effecive when used the right way

[Dygenguard]

Yeah, rarely do I have to change forms to take advantage of elemental weaknesses. I'm playing as Ashe and her reflect beam is pretty sick. I beam-spammed from one corner of the room once and took a boss down by at least 1/3 of his health by the time he reached me.

[wing zero alpha]

Yeah, rarely do I have to change forms to take advantage of elemental weaknesses. I'm playing as Ashe and her reflect beam is pretty sick. I beam-spammed from one corner of the room once and took a boss down by at least 1/3 of his health by the time he reached me.

Yeah, Ashe's reflect beam is nice, although I think Grey has the better homing laser (doesn't help that it looks like an Orbital Frame's homing laser).

[VentZX]

Heh, my name kinda gives away the fact that I loved the first game. To be honest, I'm playing the second game, but it hasn't had as much impact on me as the first one did. I'm still loving it, but there's nothing driving me to actually play it. at the moment, I'm playing with Ashe and I have all the A-trans forms. I haven't picked the game up in maybe a week. Maybe it's because I played the hell out of the first game, that or it could just be I'm way more busy than ever before.

The game is good, but the voice acting almost kills it for me. I'm half tempted to import the Japanese version to not have to listen to the horrible VO. Also, is it just me, or is the music horribly compressed? Again, it could be that I've been listening to the superior ZXA Tunes soundtrack for months before I actually played the game, but the in-game music is pretty low quality.

Oh well, I still love it and I eagerly want to get back to it. I really need to sit down and just play it through in one go to really appreciate the story, as that has more or less been lost on me.

[wing zero alpha]

Actually, I thought the voice acting was pretty good, considering that this is a Mega Man game we're talking about, and thus will automatically have crappy voice work. I think we should all count our lucky stars on this one, considering past vocal migraines such as the MMX series (specifically MMX4 onward).

[VentZX]

Actually, I thought the voice acting was pretty good, considering that this is a Mega Man game we're talking about, and thus will automatically have crappy voice work. I think we should all count our lucky stars on this one, considering past vocal migraines such as the MMX series (specifically MMX4 onward).

It's not that the voice acting itself is horrid, but what really bugs me is how badly compressed all of it is. To the point where I think I would have enjoyed it better with the minimal voice acting of the first game if the music could have faired better. Still, I can't complain too much.

As for Mega Man voice acting done right, MMX8 was splendid in my opinion and Maverick Hunter X on the PSP is better still. The voice of Domon for X is the perfect fit in my opinion.

[Dygenguard]

Agreed on Domon for X. I found it hilariously appropriate.

As for ZXA, I have to admit there isn't much drive for me to complete it. I like how the game is a little more streamlined -- it's more linear, but I don't mind, really. ZX had me wandering aimlessly sometimes, much to my chagrin, and often found myself running in circles.

But the problem is that I noticed there isn't a ton of replay value. I'm not terribly interested in Grey's story - if it's even that different than Ashe's - and the only plus is the possible unlocking of the "secret" Model A, right? I went ahead and got Model O in ZX and loved the nostalgia of it, but what's the deal with the "secret" Modal A? I also wish Gem Buster could be single player. Looks like it'd be a good time-killer mini-game.

Also, does it seem like the difference in Grey and Ashe's attacks seem a little pointless? Normally the shot count/damage ratio is seen in SHMUPS (shoot 'em ups, for those unfamiliar with the term), but I don't recall it being in Megaman to any serious extent.

[Dygenguard]

Sorry for the double-post, it's for a bump since this thread hasn't been active in nearly two weeks...

But I finished Ashe's story and am working on Grey's, but I noticed something odd. Ashe passes by the site where Grey fought the hand boss from the beginning of his scenario and the bridge is out. Does that mean that both characters are technically in both scenarios, just you play as the one that managed to get Model A? If so, where's the other? Any theories?

[wing zero alpha]

But I finished Ashe's story and am working on Grey's, but I noticed something odd. Ashe passes by the site where Grey fought the hand boss from the beginning of his scenario and the bridge is out. Does that mean that both characters are technically in both scenarios, just you play as the one that managed to get Model A? If so, where's the other? Any theories?

I wondered about that myself. My guess is Grey does still exist in Ashe's scenario and vice versa, it's just the story focuses on the one that gets Model A. Then again, it could up there with that shot of Vent and Aile standing together with the other Chosen.

[Destiny_Gundam]

what's the deal with the "secret" Modal A?

The secret Model a is short for Model ancient. Yes, ancient. As in when you use it, you turn into an 8-bit Megaman. I'm not kidding.

[Koshernova]

As long as they don't try to work in the NT stuff, I'm fine. Frankly, that's the only franchise I frown on.

They won't. The Battle Network franchise is a completely separate universe, with its own Megaman and its own Zero.

All the other series happen in the same universe, in the order Original --> X --> Zero --> ZX --> Legends

Battle Network and Star Force are a separate continuity.

[Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine]

Man, what's with all the BN hate?

I personally like the series, cause it dose something different with the MM series at least.

At any rate, even though Starforce and .EXE aren't connected, there IS a sidequest in Starforce where they collide with one another that is if you have any version of the previous BN games.