MM8BDM V4A - V4B Roll Call!

[Badz]

I happened to have looked into the pk3, and found out that all the weapon obituaries got moved into the language file. Any particular reason why?

[Ivory]

I happened to have looked into the pk3, and found out that all the weapon obituaries got moved into the language file. Any particular reason why?

Quite simple, it's easier to maintain. If we have to change an obit for one weapon, then we only need to edit one place.

As for everyone discussing layout changes, weapon balance, etc. I'm just going to hold off on commenting on that. I think everyone needs more than a day to really let the changes sink in. As v4b is going to be addressing gameplay related concerns, I will be starting up a thread at a later date for that sort of discussion.

[Russel]

Simply put, weapon obituaries show up in more than one place now, so Ivory compiled them there to prevent having to edit them more than once more easily.
EDIT: Ninja Ivory

Additionally, this enables localization.

[TailsMK4]

Been enjoying the campaign...up until a certain point.

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I don't know about you guys, but I was HOPING Mega Water was going to be easier than Buster Rod...Buster Rod gave me fits already. Seeing as how I barely can get Mega Water down to about third-quarters of his health before I either get poked by both the enemies and his harpoons too much, or I fall into the pit...these battles aren't really that enjoyable, imo. I'm not really willing to try to resume the campaign. I was happy to see how MM8BDM ends up making its own twist on the series, though. I just wished the bosses weren't so hard...I want to see how this ends.

[Gumballtoid]

Right then, I'll try to glaze over the expansion as a whole.


First off, the skins look absolutely beautiful. My one qualm is with Magic Man: some of his rotations are hard to read. I thought I was facing someone's side until I took an Atomic Fire to the face.

Weapons:
• Tengu Blade is wonderful. It does a bit less damage than I expected, but its versatility is great.
• Copy Vision works surprisingly well. I appreciate that it doesn't spawn a new hologram if you keep the fire button down, instead requiring you to click again.
• Lightning Bolt is a great crowd-smearing weapon, though I feel it's too easy to reach in some places. Ground Man and King's Tower, especially.
• Ice Wall is one of my two favorite weapns, with both a defensive and utility application. I only wish it were easier to mount as you push it.
• Spread Drill sort of upsets me. It's terribly awkward to use and it seems to offer very little reward for landing a hit.
• Remote Mine is my other favorite weapon here. It has the potential to do a lot of damage if you know how to use it properly.
• Wave Burner is great and it feels good using it. I do feel like it's in too many maps, though.
• Magic Card is a very unique weapon, being that it pierces walls. It only seems to take advantage of that on two maps, though: Magic Man and King's Tower.
• Treble Boost is something I'm partial on, though one has to admit it's unique. A buster upgrade that uses ammo, but grants flight. Plus, it's beautiful aesthetically.
• A minute detail, but regardless, "Crash Bomb" will always bug the shit out of me.

Maps:
• The Robot Museum is aesthetically pleasing, and it stays true to the original stage as well. The map flows nicely, aside from the Blizzard Man ship.
• Tengu Man B has an interesting mechanic in the balloons, and it's a map that flows nicely overall. I do think there's just a bit too much purple in those textures, though.
• Astro Man B has an odd-looking skybox, but else it was a fun map. Each area seems to cater to the weapon that can be found in it.
• Dynamo Man caught me off-guard with the main conveyor belt. That aside, it was fun, and the weapon selection really catered to both the map's layout and the map's thematic value.
• Cold Man felt a little empty, but overall a fun map. I do wish the ice machines had generation frames so you could tell when it was about to spit out a block, aside from the sound.
• Ground Man was a little difficult to maneuver, but I did appreciate the sandfall gimmick. Lightning Bolt is just a bit too easy to access, though.
• Pirate Man was overly big, and the textures underwater gave me the impression that I wasn't even underwater (several other maps also suffer from this problem). The bubbles and mines were fun to mess with, though.
• Burner Man was a great "ambushing" map, and flowed nicely. The Big Telly seems to generate some lag online one in a while, though. It was beautiful, aesthetically.
• Magic Man was nice. The textures and actors really catered to the map's thematic value, and there's no doubt it's fun to poke around in all its nooks and crannies.
• King's Tower was beautiful, with some of the best-looking textures in the game. Lightning Bolt is a bit easy to access, but else it was a favorite of mine.
• Reclaimed King's Tower was a whole mess of textures, and map flow was questionable in some places. But one can't deny that the two different skyboxes were sexy as hell.
• Buster Rod G was a nice-looking map, but the textures felt overly-refined, to the point where they didn't look 8-bit. It sure played nicely, though, so I can't complain.
• Mega Water S has got to be my favorite map in the expansion. Glorious underwater textures, vertically enormous, Rush Marine dolphin-hopping, etc. I just love it.
• Hyper Storm H has some of the best flow in the expansion, I would argue. But it suffers from the same texture problems as Buster Rod G.
• Wily Tower 1 has an interesting fire-and-water motif, but there's almost too much going on for one to stomach. It looks like a CTF map in that regard.
• Wily Tower 2 was a fun map to play on. I don't remember it much, but I do remember it was structurally appealing and aesthetically pleasing.
• The general map improvements seem to be in the interest of map flow, and I appreciate every single change made.

Campaign details:

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• I'm glad some Wily stages were removed from the campaign. It reduced the monotony marginally.
• These are some of the coolest bosses I've ever seen, individually impressive, and as a whole, capable of outclassing the Evil Robot. The difficulty is a bit over the top, though.
• The plot became really significant once you found Megaman and Bass injured in the hallway. It was awe-inducing, and loads of effort was clearly put into it. I was terrified when King began leaping at me with his axe, and when the Genesis Unit joined up and attacked as a group, with not one, but three goddamn Team Blasts. I laughed my ass off at "filthy ape," and when King was thrown out the window. I love how the plot flowed properly from chapter 9 to chapter 10 and I wish the rest of the game did that as well.
• The only drawback I noticed is when you play through that, and then you look back at the older content--chapters 1 through 6--and it just leaves you feeling unsatisfied or empty. Doc Robot Rush is easily the most boring boss I've ever seen, Guts Dozer is a close second, the Robot Master Endurance is unnecessary and monotonous, and Gamma gets tedious and frustrating after your first fight against him. Alien would have made a fantastic boss for chapter 2, and Doc Robot has so much potential as a boss. There's an obvious quality margin in terms of single player content that kind of itches at you.

All things considered, v4 set the bar higher than v3 did, and overall I'm very pleased with the expansion. I hope MM9, MM10, and MMV follow this trend. Kudos to everyone who helped out!

[tsukiyomaru0]

I got to say: Those weapons are very powerful, but weapons in overall seems to have suffered reduced capacity. Not sure if related to the set difficulty or something.

The maps are amazing, but for a Software user they are a PAIN, "lagging" too much. Burner Man's map is the worst in this criteria, bordering unplayability sometimes. But, hey, it could be something related to bots + maps or maps alone, so... Can't say much. Curse me for Nvidia breaking NVOGLNT.DLL, which broke compatibility with Zandronum 1.2 and few other games in their OGL mode.

I like the way Remote Mine works, feels like MM&B really.

[CutmanMike]

The difficulty is a bit over the top, though.

This is true, they are difficult but I did this on purpose as we are 9 games in now. Naturally the bosses have to get more challenging the further into the game you get!

The only drawback I noticed is when you play through that, and then you look back at the older content--chapters 1 through 6--and it just leaves you feeling unsatisfied or empty. Doc Robot Rush is easily the most boring boss I've ever seen, Guts Dozer is a close second, the Robot Master Endurance is unnecessary and monotonous, and Gamma gets tedious and frustrating after your first fight against him. Alien would have made a fantastic boss for chapter 2, and Doc Robot has so much potential as a boss. There's an obvious quality margin in terms of single player content that kind of itches at you

This reflects my skill progression developing bosses in general and shows the how different the dedication to the boss battles has grown. Originally they were just a lulzy bonus but as the game has evolved, the team has integrated the MM8BDM plot more. Perhaps in time the old bosses will get a tune up, but that time is not now.

[TailsMK4]

The difficulty is a bit over the top, though.

This is true, they are difficult but I did this on purpose as we are 9 games in now. Naturally the bosses have to get more challenging the further into the game you get!

Yes, I understand the bosses should get harder, but these current ones are way too difficult for me. I'll just have to watch the rest of the story on Youtube or else do some cheating, cause I do want to see the rest of the story from here on out...

[Rozark]

I had a good run.

Campaign spoilers.

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The bosses were quite tough indeed, took me awhile to get things down. Delta formation gave me more trouble than Alpha or Beta, but the deed was done.

[Shadow Blade]

My take on the bosses are like this

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Buster Rod G is not very hard if you react quick enough but he can still get good hits on you.
Mega Water S is the hardest of the trio because of his arena layout
Hyper Storm H is pretty easy if you can dodge properly with his charge and his jumps.
The Trio all at once though is kind of tricky but I got it done eventually.

[Zomo.exe]

I'll have to second GumBall's take on the fact that previous chapters, while at the time were pretty fun and interesting, but more recent versions of the mod show more of the time and effort that are put in. Needless to say, Team DeathMatch in a campaign? New weapons, items and effects? New way that scripting is organized? Let's see where modders will go this time around...

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Inb4ClassesandSHgetportedtoV4Afirst

[Xronim]

At least old heat was different. New heat looks absolutely terrible with those guardrails and the spaces in the floor.

Why complain then in several posts, just dont bother.

[The_Broker]

At least old heat was different. New heat looks absolutely terrible with those guardrails and the spaces in the floor.

*Image removed*

EDIT: Thank you sir.

[-FiniteZero-]

Well.

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I was almost actually expecting another boss after the Genesis Unit. I didn't think just shooting Wily would work so well! XD

[SaviorSword]

Too busy in Vegas, might check out later or so...
Also, if I did come back from Vegas... should I really check this out?