It is here!
It is finally here!
The long-awaited take on Mega Man X8!
Why has it been so long-awaited, you ask?
Well, not only because this is the last X installment as of publishing this video, but
also because it is considered by many to be a return to form, a last hoorah, after the
catastrophes that were X6 and X7.
A good deal of fans even seem to list X8 as one of their favorites, if not their number
one favorite, of all the eight titles.
That sounded promising, I had to admit, however, there is a peculiar man in green who threw
a wrench into things by coming out and basically saying X8 sucks.
And by no means is he the only one with this opinion, either; in spite of all the love
for X8, you can also find plenty people who think it's meh or at least overhyped.
Who's right and who's wrong?
I can't tell you that, but what I can do is share my perspective, so in good ol'
fashioned Quickies Don't Cut It style, we're gonna crack this son of a bitch wide open
and analyze it from top to bottom.
Remember how X7 tried to bring the series into 3D and it could suck a fart outta your
butt?
I'm sure you do: the level design and enemy placement did not account properly for the
added dimension, the developers implemented a very generous lock-on mechanic that made
shooting stuff a bore, and the camera was often restrictive and incompetent.
Well, X8 tosses all that out the window and fully goes back to side-scrolling action,
with only left and right and up and down to worry about.
It does so in a 2.5D style, so everything is 3D modeled and stages may bend you around
corners, but all the gameplay elements are locked to the typical two axis.
While a part of me would've liked for X8 to take the 3D aspect of X7 and improve upon
it (and drastically I might add), I'm also totally fine with X8 going the safe route
and sticking to what's proven to work.
Sometimes ya gotta know your limitations, and considering how many of X7's problems
are no longer even a factor in X8, the decision to go entirely 2.5D in and of itself already
makes X8 the better game.
Admittedly, that's not much of a compliment, but X8 also corrects many other of X7's
mistakes.
One of these is the controls and movement; while the controls were responsive as always,
the characters in and overall speed of X7, for some reason or another, felt noticeably
heavy and slow compared to the rest of the series.
X8 addresses this and perfectly recreates that ultra tight control and fast, satisfying
movement that the first six games had: from the dashing to the wall-jumping, fans will
feel right at home here and there's not a single shitpick I can think of.
We're back to how the simple act of moving around can be a lot of fun, and once you've
mastered the mechanics and stages, speeding through various setpieces sicknasty is pure
bliss.
I've even heard people say these are the best controls and movement physics period,
and while there are nuances between the SNES and PS1 generations and now X8, I found X8
largely handles very similarly to the rest of the series pre-X7.
In other words: it plays very well.
I think Zero in particular benefits from this.
His combat was about as sluggish in X7 as the movement in general, which took much of
the excitement out of his playstyle and made him a bit of a handicapped twit compared to
Axl and X in many cases.
Seeing Zero back to his free-flowing and effective self in X8, as he was in X4, 5 and 6, yeah
that's sweet; I actually wanna play as him again, and he's more useable on bosses,
since his improved speed and mobility over X7 makes it more manageable to get out of
the way and avoid attacks.
Due to the similarities with X4, 5 and 6, though, there isn't much else I can say
about Zero in X8: he can double jump like usual, and his techniques, unlike Axl and
X's secondary weapons, are seamlessly integrated into the controls with intuitive button combinations.
The new techniques are cool, especially that mid-air rotation spin -- that one's sick
-- but they're also kinda been there done that, and more of a stylish factor than anything
else.
Axl, on the other hand -- where in X7 he played just like X only with a couple different abilities,
in X8 he has been altered quite a bit.
He is no longer capable of running and shooting at the same time like X still is, but as a
result of that, he can freely circle-aim with his rapid-fire gun.
This is great for taking out targets at various angles, though you're only limited to eight
directions.
Bullets do go off in between, so flicking between two directions to hit misaligned enemies
does the job, but I dunno why the limitation is even there.
Perhaps it was to equalize the D-pad and the analog stick, but if so, that's just dumb
-- can't make much more of that.
Regardless, there's also Axl's roll move, which no longer grants him invincibility frames,
making it kinda pointless now.
That said, since it's mapped to down + dash in X8 instead of a double tap dash like in
X7, at least you won't be fucking rolling into pits anymore by accident.
Credit's due where credit's due, right?
Finally, the copy shot doesn't need to be charged anymore and foes die a helluva lot
quicker from it, so experimenting with the copy ability is a more efficient process.
You can even hold onto a reploid's DNA and enable or disable it at will, allowing you
to conserve the energy, and inversely, turn back to normal if you became some useless
wanker.
Trust me, this'll still happen most of the time -- Axl himself is simply more versatile
in combat -- but at least the puzzle applications of the copy ability are a little less obvious
this time around, so that's something.
Of course, that leaves us with our good boi X.
What's rad as hell about him in X8 is that we can now mix and match armor pieces on him
between two sets: red and blue.
Each set has four pieces, making for sixteen possible combinations, and I have to say:
I found myself actively swapping around between stages.
For example, when I am facing many or tough bosses, I'd want 50% damage reduction over
being entirely invincible to weaker enemy attacks, and I'd want a faster dash with
invincibility frames over a higher jump.
However, when I'm merely hunting for collectibles, I'd prefer that higher jump, and I'd prefer
a jump that damages foes upon contact over decreased charging speed for my weapons.
Sometimes you may even face a bit of a dilemma, like do I prepare myself more for a level
itself or the Maverick fight that ends it?
It's a really natural evolution of the armor system with a degree of customizability we
haven't seen yet, and it completely fixes the X5 and X6 nonsense of being unable to
wear an armor until you gather all its pieces.
The only thing I found a little unnecessary is that a new armor piece replaces the equipped
one for the rest of the stage.
This is not a huge issue, but sometimes it's like: yo, give me that other piece back, please.
I will say, though, that I personally found X is initially somewhat outclassed.
His lack of a double jump or hover generally makes him less favorable for platforming segments,
as Zero and Axl can correct mistakes more comfortably and extend airtime, and only being
able to shoot straight ahead also proves to be a hinder at times.
With ducking removed in X8, especially, dispatching of tiny toddlers along the ground as vanilla
X can be a bit of a hassle.
By the way, I don't know why they got rid of ducking -- it made for some cool, if minor
extra depth -- but whatever.
Many opponents are now rocking shields, as well, which are shattered by Zero's third
combo slash, Axl's repeated, concentrated shots and X's full charge shot.
X is fine and can even be advantageous for this with certain enemy arrangements and bosses,
since you can charge while standing out of the way and during attack phases respectively,
but breaking shields on enemies that pop in front of you as X can mess with your gameplay
flow.
Thankfully, he does even out with his mates as you obtain armor pieces and secondary weapons;
perhaps not always in the same attributes, but in the bigger picture?
Yeah, I'd say so.
As such, preference of playstyle becomes the most important factor in picking your Hunters,
and that's exactly how I like it.
I'm glad to see X, Zero and Axl are now substantially differentiated, unlike in X7,
and that I find them all fun and worthwhile to use in their own right, unlike in X7.
I'm sure you could list more pros and cons they have under different circumstances, but
with so many variables to consider, I find that sort of thing hard to properly analyze.
Too many variables is also part of the reason I've always had trouble finding meaningful
stuff to say in all these reviews about the special weapons you gain from the Mavericks.
Unexpectedly, X8 is no different.
Like, the Drift Diamond is an ability I used to freeze strong enemies, occasionally I used
the Green Spinner to kill larger threats swiftly, but beyond that I got nothin', much less
so to go in-depth about it.
What doesn't help is that the X series has expanded ever so much with new mechanics and
features, and granted you more mobility and moves from the very beginning than Classic
Mega Man.
What was once a big deal in Mega Man 1 and 2 due to their simple and limited number of
mechanics is something that's grown largely irrelevant as far down the line as X8.
At this point, why should I go out of my way to experiment with a truckload of Maverick
abilities when I have to shift through them and possibly take potshots in doing so?
Why should I feel the need to use Axl's secondary guns when his primary one is powerful
enough and the only one that can break enemy shields, anyway?
I mean, more power to the people that see practicality in many of these tools, but me?
I'd be down for some serious streamlining done to the secondary weapons.
Reduce the number of them, for Christ's sake, and design dope, thoughtful challenges
and puzzles around that smaller pool of weapons.
Sometimes less is more, y'know.
It's not an X8 specific criticism by any means, but this is the last opportunity I
get to mention it, and being able to carry two characters into a stage at once further
accentuates the issue.
Obviously, don't take that as me dissing the duo feature, because I enjoy it just as
much here as I did in X7.
Actually, I'm lying -- I enjoy it even more in X8.
Now that the three heroes are better differentiated and balanced, it further enhances that experience
of going bitch hunting in a team effort, and you now only lose a life and thus return to
a checkpoint when both characters have run out of health.
I never thought it was a major flaw that X7 didn't do the same, as I usually switched
over before my current character was about to die, but X8 doing this switch automatically
upon a character dying is a nice luxury.
It would have been swell if the same applied to touching spikes and falling into pits,
but I'll take what I can get, I suppose.
X8 also added this Tag Assist malarkey, where you can switch to your partner to free yourself
from enemy clutches.
Sounds chill, but there's literally nothing to this at all.
It could've used like an element of risk vs. reward, and I think quick time events
would have been an excellent fit: succeed the QTE and the captured Hunter is released
without any damage, or fail the QTE and the captured Hunter is released but both Hunters
take damage.
As is, I always just swap back and forth as soon as I get caught and move on as if nothing
ever happened.
Alright...
Lastly, there is the new Double Attack.
See this meter at the top left?
That one grows by grabbing these red-blue diamonds, as well as by racking up combos.
Combos are lost either when you take a hit or when you don't deal damage for too long,
and the higher the combo the further the meter fills.
Once it's full, you can summon a spherical matrix around your character, and if this
sphere touches an opponent, your pair joins together for an orgy of bullets and saber
slashes.
This usually wipes out all regular foes on screen and bosses lose a decent chunk of their
health.
Naturally, this is the type of move you mostly reserve for the bosses.
It's a neat and flashy gimmick, for sure -- it's sick to finally see a team move
of sorts -- though I wish there was more of a punishment for failing the activation; if
you mistime or misplace the sphere, you can try again indefinitely, as the energy bar
refills over and over in next to no time.
Now, I'm not saying the entire bar should drain instantly, but I think 25% of it or
so would be sufficient to have a little more consequence to messing up.
This by extension discourages players from spamming attempts at triggering Double Attacks.
All that being said, I can appreciate how X8 improves upon ideas that were introduced
in X7, and adds some new ones on top of that.
The developers could have easily played it safer and gone back to the simplicity of X4's
mechanics, but outside of the 3D, they decided to go forward instead and I think they did
it well overall.
The opening stage, Noah's Park, is also a good tutorial for all the new play mechanics,
as well as the movesets and controls of all three characters, while managing to be fun
and natural at the same time.
Some of the more complex concepts like the enemy shields do rely somewhat on dialog from
the tutorial bitch to be explained properly, but I don't mind that for an opening stage
and you can ignore navigator calls like in X6 and X7.
X8 even allows you to disable Alia and the other pointlessly added navigators altogether,
so no more of this.
Relish in that sweet, sweet silence.
Once Noah's Park has been cleared, the eight main Maverick stages open up, and this is
where things get interesting.
Detractors of the game have their reasons for feeling the way they do about it, and
the level design is typically among those reasons.
I think it's accurate to say that X8's selection of levels is the most gimmicky of
the whole X series.
In a gaming context, however, gimmicks are not necessarily bad; in fact, when used right,
they can enhance a game's variety and help in setting stages apart from one another:
think of having to avoid security lights and traps in Central Computer in X2, and clearing
an obstacle course against a timer to achieve the highest rank in Cyberspace in X4.
It's important, of course, that these gimmicks are fun and engaging, mesh well with the flow
of the gameplay and are generally well-executed.
This is where X8 doesn't quite hit the mark for me.
I should start by talking about my favorite stages and why I like them the most: Booster
Forest and Pitch Black.
These are pretty standard Mega Man X affaires in many ways: side-scrolling running and gunning,
making your way around various hazards, and setpieces that allow you to show off your
platforming and wall jumping prowess.
What differentiates them, then?
Well, the gimmick of Booster Forest is that you can carry a Ride Armor all the way from
the start of the level to the end.
In order to do that, though, you'll need to place it on conveyor belts and pick it
up again before it falls off the stage, bring it to higher ground with raising platforms,
and not lose it to pits or combat along the way.
By no means is the Ride Armor necessary -- you can finish the level totally fine without
it -- but the further you bring it along, the more items and secrets you can reach and
find, and you can brutally murder enemies.
As for Pitch Black, the enemy facility you're infiltrating is covered in darkness by a good
bit.
This means you need to be cautious of where you're going, keep enemies that act as light
sources around to be able to see, and at one point sneak around security lights to avoid
encounters with guards.
There's even a possibility of passing through the security lights without causing trouble,
as well as turning on the lights for the entire facility, making the second half fully lit
and thus easier.
I have no idea why J hates Pitch Black (alright, let's not play fools... 'cause he needs
to git gud), but in my opinion, it and Booster Forest are quality stages; both deliver on
the Mega Man X gameplay flow you'd expect, while creating their own identity through
their unique, competent gimmicks.
Unfortunately, the remainder of the six Maverick stages…
I think they fall short, to various degrees.
Most of us can probably agree that the worst of the bunch has to be Dynasty, where you're
chasing Gigabolt Man-O-War through a rando city.
The more complex core mechanics have made place for the Ride Chaser's simpler mechanics,
and beyond that, there isn't much going on.
The stage is functional: you dodge or blow up holographic signs and traffic to prevent
damage and a loss of velocity, snag Booster pickups to gain bursts of speed, and it controls
better than the highway garbage in X7, but it just isn't eventful or satisfying.
If you fall behind too far in, it becomes a pain to catch up as Booster pickups appear
less and less, and often when you do boost, it sends you slamming into obstacles.
On the other hand, if you do well early on, you'll likely stay right on Gigabolt's
tale and finish in under a minute.
At least in that case the level doesn't overstay its welcome, but either way there
isn't much to master here.
The next example of a stage I don't care for, which does use the core mechanics, actually,
is Troia Base.
Here, you go through a series of... mini games, for lack of a better term -- kiiiind of inspired
by Gunstar Heroes, I think, for the two of you that have played that at least -- in which
you fight off enemies in a dedicated room; the better you perform, the harder subsequent
mini games are, and the more rewards you get by the end.
It's a novel shake up the first time you do the stage, but the appeal of it is lost
about as quickly as a 100 minute long Jak and Daxter review…
Oh wait.
The first mini game takes a minute no matter what -- no way to end it any earlier -- while
most others can be over in ten seconds, if that, almost as if they might as well not
exist.
Seriously, what was that?
A few seconds of holding fire and we're doneso?
I guess the stage can be considered more engaging if you aim for perfect ranks across the board
every time, but it says something about your mini games and how entertaining or satisfying
they are, when I found some of these extremely short bursts of platforming and wall jumping
in between more fun to revisit.
And that's really the crux of the issue with much of X8's level design: it's not
that I found it bad or broken -- far from it -- I just didn't find it very replayable.
When it isn't really gimmicky like Dynasty or Troia Base, I noticed there's more auto-scrolling
than usual.
Inferno springs to mind first, with the majority of it made up of sections where the camera
is panning down, and you have to stay in between the top and bottom of the screen by using
the platforms.
The first time, I enjoyed myself with this level, since I wasn't familiar with the
patterns and enemy placement, and so the speed of the scrolling was a threat.
Naturally, on every subsequent playthrough, it turns into more and more of a snorefest,
because my experience diminished the challenge, yet I can't control the pace accordingly.
The result is that I'm waiting for the game to catch up with me instead of the other way
around.
This is one of the main reasons people often don't fancy auto-scrollers too much.
Don't get me wrong, I did still die in Inferno every now and again on later playthroughs,
but the stage contains about four minutes worth of this stuff -- it's simply not compelling
for so long.
The climb at the end in particular is so repetitive and devoid of stimulating activity that it's
a mind numbing waste of time.
Granted, Inferno may be the most egregious example, but it's not the only one.
In Metal Valley, you're chased by a berserk Mechaniloid across a deserted metal quarry
field.
You can outrun it, but you'll be waiting for the Mechaniloid to catch up once you reach
the level's dead end.
Then, after clunking its head three times with a crane, you're going through the stage
backwards, where all you can do is follow the poor guy as it stomps through the level.
While not as long as Inferno, Metal Valley is more boring, if you ask me, if only because
it's never even challenging to begin with; you just sorta get pulled around like a dog
on a leash, and attack stuff on flat lines of level design.
Barely any intricacies here, and right before the showdown with the Maverick, you do the
Mechaniloid's head in with a crane again.
Back and forth, back and forth to hit the switches with no escalation...
Did I mention Metal Valley is boring?
There's also Central White, which is more Ride Chaser shenanigans.
You can dash to your heart's content, so do that as much as you safely can, but there
are still multiple segments where you're going straight on flat terrain and shooting
incoming waves of enemies.
Woohoo.
The mini bosses also drag on with extended periods of time where you cannot hit them
at all, and overly long introductions and explosions.
No joke, the first one explodes for like twenty seconds.
What's wrong with a boom and moving on?
Even the first of the final stages, Jakob, is more auto-scroller: an elevator ride during
which you kill foes for close to four minutes until you reach space.
That's all she wrote.
Now, if the combat had some depth and was engrossing, I perhaps wouldn't bat an eye
so much, but no -- you'll be taking out most of these enemies with little to no effort.
As a matter of fact, that leads me to another one of X8's annoying habits in general:
locking you into a room and having you fight waves of enemies.
All I ever do during these segments is stand in a corner and blast away as Axl, or use
the Z-Saber and its giant hitbox to wreck whatever spawns in.
This shit is in Noah's Park, three out of the eight Maverick stages -- two of them being
Booster Forest and Pitch Black, meaning even they are bogged down to some extent -- and
in all of these levels, there are not one, but two of these dedicated enemy rooms.
Sure, none of them should last longer than half a minute, but all the same it's mindless
busy work.
Integrate foes and combat with the platforming and other hazards; y'know, make more actual
level design -- not this crap.
Or do it like Pitch Black's searchlight section, where fighting guards is a punishment
for getting caught.
Add up all the complaints and you have a mix of stages that don't sport the best pacing
and lasting appeal.
Variety and each level being distinct is great, but outside of Booster Forest and Pitch Black,
I don't think X8's stages bring the best kind of variety to the table.
I'll repeat: on the first playthrough this doesn't have to be an issue at all; in fact,
I was enthused by the constant variation and shake ups.
It was like: damn, look how many unique mechanics and ideas they've crammed in.
But then as I played the game more and more, I realized many of the gimmicks are shallow
and there was a lot of time spent kinda waiting around or doing little of value.
I suppose it's subjective, of course, as I suspect not everybody will be bothered by
what I consider ''shortcomings'', here.
I mean, we all enjoy games for different reasons; perhaps you love the gimmicky approach and
auto-scroller sections, and don't find it hampers replayability.
I have no intention of taking that away from you, and I have to give X8 credit, as well,
for being pretty light on the cheap enemy placement and such.
I was expecting Central White to contain that typical, unforeseeable Ride Chaser bullshit
found in X4 and X5, but to my surprise only one or two unfair deaths occurred on my first
playthrough of it.
Beyond that, I didn't really have any trouble here because I could see what's coming up
fine.
Sometimes you'll need to be fast on the reflexes, but you can always slow down if
necessary.
You're not told you can slow down, which maybe contributes to some people having bad
experiences with Central White, but uh yeah, I was happy to see an actual decent Ride Chaser
stage for once.
Primrose is also an example of a stage with a gimmick that can kill you instantly, but
it teaches its layout flipping mechanic very naturally by employing the typical progression
of: mechanic introduced in a safe environment, mechanic combined with potential for damage,
mechanic used in an advantageous way, and then building more demanding and complex scenarios
around those fundamentals.
The escalation is a bit slow, in my opinion, and I would've liked to see more precision
and timing heavy set pieces designed around the layout tilting toward the end, which is
also the reason why I don't find the level as good and replayable as Booster Forest and
Pitch Black.
Another reason is this fucking spike room that comes straight from hell and misleads
you into death.
Combined with a harsh checkpoint, this part severely pissed me off on my first playthrough,
but it's about as unfair as the level design ever gets, I think.
Still, Primrose is probably my third favorite stage in the game for not being an auto-scroller,
and having an interesting gimmick with cool possibilities.
And pro tip: if you do this level as your third, a battle with Vile takes place in the
infamous spike room instead.
Don't know why, but you're welcome.
Unfortunately, while the level design may be fine, if flawed, there's an aspect of
X8 that can make said flaws stand out tremendously.
I'm not referring to Retry Chips, though those certainly don't help -- no, it's
100% completion...
Fuck me sideways with three mega dildos, I hate 100% completion in X8.
Let's start with the little things, shall we?
Zero and Axl cannot acquire X's armor pieces, a shittacular design choice carried over from
X7.
This is pure padding and also means that a team of Zero and Axl is a no go if you're
out for armor pieces.
The fact there are eight of them in X8 only adds insult to injury.
Secondly, four of the Rare Metals are conjured into existence using a charged up Crystal
Wall from X.
As far as I know, the game doesn't tell you you can do that, and even if you know
to do it, break a leg finding all the digging spots, dude.
Like, without outside assistance, how was I to know there's an item in front of this
power generator?
The ones in Primrose and Booster Forest are at least in suspicious locations, to be fair,
but on the whole, do you really fancy wankering around like a dumbass, digging places for
stuff?
Some clues or hot and cold pointers would have been much appreciated.
This isn't even mentioning the backtracking potential it creates; you'll need both the
correct boss weapon and one of two capable armor pieces to charge said weapon, and the
chances of a newcomer missing either before playing stages containing underground Rare
Metals are very high.
Sadly, armor capsules only opening for X and underground Rare Metals are merely the tip
of the iceberg, because will you be doing a lot of backtracking without a guide, believe
you me.
I actually don't even know where to begin with this, so let's just examine a few examples.
The worst one has got to be at the very end of Central White: you need Zero's double
jump to climb this ledge, then you need Optic Sunflower's weapon to melt these ice cubes
-- fire doesn't even work, so shoutouts to artificial solutions -- then you need X
for the armor capsule, and you'll probably need Axl to cross this gap to a Rare Metal.
You can reach it with vanilla Zero and very precise timing (or spamming characters swaps
if you're a dirty, skanky little cheater), but it's plausible somebody would resort
to Axl's hover instead.
Of course you probably won't run into all four possible roadblocks, but frankly, redoing
the entire stage once is tedious enough, let alone four times.
Booster Forest is no slouch, either, with three out of four items requiring the Ride
Armor in some capacity.
Seems harmless, except when you lose the Ride Armor or die anywhere, you have to redo the
entire level because there are no Ride Armors at checkpoints.
The last of these items can choke on my balls especially, because it took me three attempts
to figure out how to pass this series of spikes.
That's three Booster Forest revisits in full in trying to obtain the last item alone.
There's also Axl's Copy Ability and how it's mandatory for an item in three stages.
This is a double-edged sword, because I do like that the Copy Ability is used for some
clever puzzle-solving -- not the obvious rubbish as seen in X7 -- but anytime Axl isn't in
your team, that's even more backtracking to add to the list.
Normally, I'd suggest all items should be obtainable with at least two of the characters
to tackle this problem, but since the Copy Ability is so limited in use already, I can,
under this special circumstance, see why that wasn't done.
Now, those are examples of retreading of ground you can avoid by planning your stage orders
and characters, however, X8 also has some of it you literally cannot escape.
Inferno, for instance, has three items that each require a different character; if only
Zero and Axl could obtain armor pieces, we wouldn't be having a problem.
Metal Valley has an underground item, even though the boss of this stage is the one to
grant you the Crystal Wall.
Why not place that underground item in another level?
Heck, even the opening stage, has three items only reachable on a second visit.
It's for arbitrary reasons, too, like this door that wasn't open initially but now
is?
The point of this, understand I do not.
The stupidest case of the bunch, though, is Troia Base, which has one Rare Metal for perfecting
all missions in one flawless run (this is a giant pain in the gonads, by the way, but
I'll spare ya the details), and another Rare Metal for perfecting one specific mission
only.
Problem is, both rewards spawn in the exact same spot, so do the flawless run and it overlaps
that mission specific Rare Metal, forcing you to replay the entire level to get the
latter.
Are you kidding me?
They couldn't program the two items on top of each other?
You're toying with my patience, game.
Perhaps I'm beating a dead horse, but the chore that is 100% completion, particularly
the first time, is legit.
No other X title has made me reach out for the internet nearly as frequently as X8, and
the amount of possible backtracking involved is insane.
You see now why the shallow level gimmicks, auto-scrollers and combat rooms got on my
nerves?
Honestly, the ability to warp between checkpoints once a stage has been beaten would have been
sweet as far back as X1, but it was damn near essential for X8 and it's still not here.
Imagine how wonderful it would be if you could just teleport to the desired area when you
needed to bring Axl's Copy Shot somewhere.
Imagine how wonderful it would be if you didn't have to redo all of Central White every single
time you couldn't get an item.
I'm sure somebody would think of an argument against fast travel, but as far as I'm concerned,
it could never weigh up against the advantages.
It's a bummer, 'cause the substance of a fun 100% quest is there, and you can finally
see how many remaining items a stage holds again since X3.
But eh, we're not quite done, because I'd argue 100% completion doesn't even stop
with amassing items in stages.
Save files technically say it does, but there's also the R&D Lab.
Those Rare Metals I've been mentioning?
Outside of X's armor capsules, they are the only collectibles in X8's stages, and
basically what they do is put up actual upgrades and items for purchase in the lab.
Some of these upgrades and items can even be bought off the bat.
All combined, the shop goodies range from expanding character Health and Weapon Energy
bars to expanding Zero's Z-Saber combo, and from Health and Weapon Energy tanks to
one-use items like a shield that prevents you from dying on spikes instantly.
This is all done to introduce a new concept to the X series: currency, which are Metals
in this game.
Metals can be earned throughout stages by checking out nannies and crooks and simply
defeating opponents, and the higher your combo in those lame-ass combat rooms specifically,
the more Metals you're rewarded with.
For them two elements mentioned above alone, I think the shop system is a welcome addition.
It also gives options in how you buff up your team at any time, which is a nice bit of player
freedom.
Don't expect to buy everything, though, because you won't stash nearly enough Metals
by normally going through the levels.
This can be seen as a positive, considering it imposes limitations on the player, but
it can also be seen as a negative if you go out of your way to amass Rare Metals, only
to discover afterwards the stuff they unlock is simply too expensive.
You can farm normal Metals if you want, a process most efficiently done through these
Intermission Stages of which I have no idea how they actually become available, but this
is ludicrously boring busy work that I do not have the patience for.
At least the option is there for those with the will and the time to kill, so it's kind
of like an RPG in that sense, where grinding equates to better stats.
The R&D Lab is also where you buy your Retry Chips, and not maxing these before heading
out, is asking for trouble.
So, the Retry Chips, what are they exactly?
Well, X8 decided to make lives something you must buy instead of something you can find
in the stages, and something you can only bring a total of five of at once.
We're back to the rules of running out of lives, potentially right before the end of
a level, and then having to restart it from square one.
To be honest, I can see a certain appeal in having to do an entire level with a limited
pool of lives, and if that's the type of skill and endurance testing the developers
wanted to derive challenge from, I don't think that's inherently wrong.
The reason it sucks harder than Ryan last night in many '80s and early '90s games
specifically is because their design was often unfair to begin with, so the further you're
sent back as a result of cheap bullshit, the more frustrated and cheated a player will
feel.
X8 is thankfully pretty fair in that regard, as I've said before, however, it does still
have its moments: some boss attacks can happen too fast for a new player to read in time,
and on the whole, the game has a bigger fetish for pits and spikes than Exo does for GameCube,
HDMI-modded, flicker filter disabled, 4K integer scaled Enter the Dragonfly footage.
Now, outside of THIS... the majority of pits and spikes are placed fairly, so dying from
them is usually the player's fault -- unless you count the sides of spikes killing you
-- but it's so human to make tiny slip ups from time to time, and I can't be the only
one who felt agitated in those moments.
Combined with Retry Chips, it gives off a sense that the developers had trouble creating
complex and thoughtful challenges, and decided to resort to a bunch of simpleton, instant-kill
hazards and limited lives as a substitute for difficulty and longevity.
Technically not unfair design, but I wouldn't blame anybody for calling it lazy and frustrating.
So, what happens is that X8, in my opinion, is not all that hard in terms of the actual
content presented to you to overcome, if you get what I'm saying, but that it's very
punishing and unforgiving of player error.
Maybe some people dig that, but me personally, I prefer games where the moment to moment
gameplay is tougher yet more satisfying, while being able to practice endlessly; I believe
it to be a more resourceful source of challenge than being sent back to redo previous shit,
because you ran out of lives on something that may not even have been that difficult.
All of this is to say X5, 6 and 7 did good in making lives meaningless, and that the
Retry Chips seem regressive to me, especially in conjunction with the by now well dissected
level design flaws.
You can play on Easy mode, which has infinite Retry Chips, but the game in general is easier,
everything in the shop is unlocked so there are no Rare Metals to collect, and the credits
suddenly kick in before the two final bosses.
I despise when a game flips you off like that; if you can't even finish on Easy mode, who
would bother picking it?
It's a trap, man, so play on Normal mode.
You may not appreciate the Retry Chips, but I don't find X8's overall design problematic
enough that the experience is ruined by them.
Again, J is a bit of a cry baby and should bow to his master RZ.
There is one exception that irrefutably crosses the line, though: Sigma Palace.
This last stage has a Vile mini boss, many screens wallpapered with spikes, and three
bosses in a row before you win.
Sheesh, you think that's enough?
That's too bloody much to do on one set of Retry Chips, and they show no mercy with
those final bosses.
It's not like X1 or whatever where you have two shorter, less dangerous phases before
the last phase -- no, three lengthy, full-on bosses with multiple phases therein, and zero
health replenishment between any of them.
And the grand motherfucker of cheap-ass bullshit is that the last phase of the final, final
boss sports a not so obvious timer that, once it runs out, is a 100% guaranteed death.
Oh my God...
The timer isn't that strict, but why is it there at all?
Just to try everything the devs could to skim you of Retry Chips at the last possible moment?
Screw you, that's garbage!
There should have been a split between the level itself and the three final bosses, seriously.
It's left a sour taste in my mouth about Sigma Palace, which is regrettable, because
the final bosses themselves are some of the better ones in the series.
The Sigma encounter is brutal with a wide range of hard hitting and quick attacks, really
requiring great reflexes and anticipation.
It's very fast-paced with little down time, and all the telegraphs are there to be learned,
which is how I like my bosses: fair and satisfying.
The first battle against Lumine is also quite cool.
It's slower than the Sigma one, with Lumine often dancing around invincible and not doing
too much between assaults, but the premise is that he cycles through attacks from the
eight Mavericks.
This makes for a diversified fight that comes together to see if you still recognize the
various telegraphs and know how to act upon them.
The last battle against Lumine is my least favorite, however.
I'll be forever salty about the timer baloney and beyond that it isn't particularly remarkable.
We're not talking about a complete push-over, but the attacks aren't all that threatening.
I kinda like how you have to remember the positioning of these vertical spears for when
they rise back up from the ground, but the rest of it is pretty predictable.
Sigma's honestly the hardest and most fun boss of the three, if you ask me.
The good news is, the Maverick fights are solid overall in X8.
The bosses have this quality to them where every attack is telegraphed, meaning that
avoiding damage should always be possible, but on your first time you're likely not
going to notice or react upon all these tells; some of them are quite subtle, while others
are followed up by the attack very shortly.
This is the good type of trial-and-error -- so not cheap hogwash X6 is plagued with -- although
as mentioned before, this can still lead to some frustration due to the Retry Chips.
That's not a flaw of the bosses, though, because where's the challenge in a fight,
or stage for that matter, if you can master everything the first time; there's nothing
wrong with catching newcomers off-guard, so long as the tell and reasonable chance to
avoid a negative outcome was always there.
What I also enjoyed about the bosses in X8 is that all of them have three phases they
go through: the first is calm and simple, the second ramps things up a bit and the last
is where the fellas go ham with a dangerous attack.
Bamboo Pandamonium, for example, starts out only shooting a rocket and summoning these
poles from the ground, then he adds the tossing of bombs into the mix, and finally he'll
gain the ability to perform this forward supercharge that does hella damage.
I don't think I need to make much of an argument for why this is cool: having a fight
escalate multiple times progressively ramps up the intensity, and it prevents the whole
affaire from becoming repetitious.
Not every overdrive phase is as exciting as the others -- Earthrock Trilobyte summons
these crystal walls for a while, which are really easy to manoeuvre through -- but I
appreciate the attempt at spicing up the boss encounters this far into the series.
And taken together, I had a fun time with the Mavericks here.
Yes, even Earthrock Trilobyte, which in spite of his lackluster overdrive, is decently challenging
with these projectiles bouncing around the room, demanding you to adjust your positioning
as you try to sneak in hits.
My favorites, however, were probably Dark Mantis for how unpredictable he can be and
therefore requiring onpoint reflexes and anticipation, and Burn Rooster because his kick ricochets
him back and forth between objects and walls, which becomes trickier to dodge as the arena
becomes more cramped for space.
That's all fine and dandy, but there's one design choice that may put people off,
and that's how the bosses become temporarily invincible at set health percentages.
It could be seen as bogging down the pace of the battle, and I think this state of deflection
could have used some clearer visual communication to prevent any and all confusion for newcomers.
I'll accept that for what it is, though, for the benefit the boss deflection provides:
it forces players to deal with and take the various attacks of bosses seriously.
This handled itself naturally in most of the X titles considering you're a one-man army;
after all, you've only got one health bar, and so bruteforcing posed a significant risk
of dying.
With the advent of X7, you've got two characters and thus two health bars against one opponent,
so balancing measures were in order.
The game did this by simply giving bosses a boatload of health, which works, but as
a result, fights usually took forever, which made dying and starting over especially soul
crushing.
X8's bosses, by contrast, really don't have that much health, but because there are
intervals where you cannot inflict damage, you have no other choice than to learn their
attacks and patterns to some extent.
This approach, while maybe not the most elegant, is at least superior, since it reduces the
length of the Maverick encounters -- they are shorter in X8 than in X7 -- while simultaneously
tackling the problem of X6 where you could often hack or shoot away blindly without consequence.
And you didn't even have two characters there.
Oh, but don't say that, though, because X6 wasn't unbalanced or unfinished -- it
was supposed to be hard!
My dick's supposed to be hard...
Now anyway, despite the improvements, the balancing is not perfect in X8 -- not even
close.
When a character takes damage, you see these red bars, which steadily regenerate to green
if you switch over to the other teammate, or steadily disappear as long as you don't
switch.
This is not a poor mechanic at all, incorporating some small, strategic, on-the-fly decision
making, but the reality is there are so many resources available to restore health already:
you can fully upgrade each character's lifebar to max through the R&D Lab -- no dividing
Health Containers between the Hunters here -- and assuming you found all the corresponding
Rare Metals, we're back to being able to carry four Sub Tanks.
Why?
You can even refill these Sub Tanks for pocket change in the shop, and pickups within stages
still refill them, as well.
I don't think I need to spell out what this means for the boss encounters, and it's
even worse if you use their weaknesses on them.
X8's boss rush, in particular, is an absolute joke for these reasons.
Truthfully, they should have gotten rid of Sub Tanks altogether and perhaps even reduce
your possible max health; we already have two characters -- sufficient, as is -- and
it would make that health regen swap mechanic thing truly meaningful instead of extremely
redundant.
Self-imposed challenges is really the only way you're gonna get the most out of these
bosses, and even the Hard difficulty doesn't do enough to solve this; it limits max health
and throws bosses into overdrive sooner, but all Sub Tanks are still present.
Hard also reduces the number of Retry Chips you can carry to three, so that just makes
the stages with their pits and spikes more nerve-wracking to play.
Another opportunity for the game to rebalance itself was the New Game Plus mode; think of
the Ratchet & Clank titles and their challenge modes, how the difficulty is increased to
account for all your amassed upgrades and weaponry.
Unfortunately, X8's New Game Plus is not adjusted: it's entirely the same shit as
before, only with all your upgrades and items transferred over.
You can unlock the three navigators as playable characters, which is admittedly a cool bit
of bonus content they didn't have to include, but they're incredibly expensive, so I couldn't
be arsed.
Honestly, you're better off printing out this image of Alia, Palette and Layer in bikinis,
if you're craving navigator action.
This is official art in the X Legacy Collection, by the way...
Not sure I find that awesome or concerning…
So, you may have noticed I haven't brought up the story yet, and there are two simple
reasons for that: I don't like starting reviews with the typical stuff, and X8's
story was mostly one ear in out the other for me, anyway.
The basic plot is fine: there are these mass produced, new-generation Reploids that can
copy the DNA of other Reploids, which Axl was actually the prototype of.
Their ability to change their shape according to a task makes them the perfect workers for
the Jakob Project, an effort by mankind to research and colonize the moon through the
use of an orbital elevator.
This operation is ultimately an attempt to escape the ever continuing Reploid rebellions
that have been taking place on Earth for years.
All is well and good, until the leader of the project, a Reploid named Lumine, is for
unknown reasons kidnapped by Vile, who hasn't seen the light of day ever since X3.
The Maverick Hunters set out to rescue Lumine and collect information about what's going
on, and then the story just kinda grinds to a halt.
The team chit chats between every level, but most of it is filler that has little bearing
on anything: X repeats his disappointments and concerns about war for the millionth time,
Axl acts like a tryhard and the new navigator, Layer, has a love interest for Zero.
Zero's feelings for her aren't explored, though, so that relationship goes nowhere.
In fact, there isn't any sort of character development to speak of, and perhaps I wouldn't
be bothered by that, and the lack of real plot progression, if the actual dialog was
better.
Ugh, what are these lines?
Not all the small talk is bad like this, but I found none of it particularly entertaining
or thought-provoking.
The only new, relevant information that's revealed during these Hunter Base conversations
is that the copy chips of all new-generation Reploids closely resemble Sigma's DNA, however,
this falls into the background and isn't elaborated on until you reach the final bosses,
meaning more dead air until then.
Once you do reach those final bosses, Sigma tells you that he's been out for the Jakob
Project all along.
He plans to wipe out humanity and all the old-generation Reploids that don't contain
his DNA, and start a revolution with the new-generation Reploids in space.
Who'd have thunk.
But then, when you beat Sigma, Lumine steps in as the top leader of the evolution and
thereby becomes the true villain of X8.
A lot of fans really like that, and while it is nice to have Sigma not be the ultimate
bad guy for once, I found Lumine rather boring; freaky af, no doubt about it, but a forgettable
character otherwise, I suppose in part due to the severely limited screen time.
The opening also clearly communicates something's fishy about Lumine, so the plot twist he's
evil wasn't nearly as much of a plot twist as the fact he's a guy and not a chick.
Anyway, it's confusing shit, because why would Vile, who confirms to work under Sigma's
orders, kidnap Lumine?
Was the kidnap like a collaborative trick from Sigma and Lumine to lure out X, Zero
and Axl?
If so, why risk getting them involved?
That clearly wasn't the smartest of ideas.
What's even weirder is that, after defeating Sigma, Lumine says to the Maverick Hunters
that the plan has gone smoothly thanks to them…
What?
How are they advancing the plan by interfering with it?
Did Lumine want Sigma dead?
Don't see why he would, but then kill him yourself!
Like, is there something I'm missing here?
When the story is finally going somewhere after so long, it doesn't seem to make all
that much sense.
Lumine also explains new-generation Reploids sport the power of going Maverick at will,
since their copy chips were derived from hundreds of older Reploids.
This included Sigma and his philosophy of evolution.
So Sigma's DNA is part of the mix, fine, but going Maverick at will?
Isn't one of the key features of the new-generation Reploids supposed to be that they're resistant
to the virus?
After all, X4 shows Sigma getting the virus from Zero, which I assume is why he goes Maverick
later -- not his own DNA.
Perhaps what happened is the virus inside Sigma triggered the development of new code,
and the copy chips didn't read that developed code as a product of the virus...
I'd buy it, but the game doesn't answer the question, neither is it, to my knowledge,
ever defined anywhere in the series what exactly the virus does to a Reploid's mind and how
quickly it takes effect.
It's messy storytelling, which is a shame, because the lore of the X series is intriguing
in concept with a lot of potential; the execution just couldn't deliver.
Oh well, Lumine gets asswhooped, and in his dying breath he breaks Axl's crystal.
Axl's knocked unconscious and we end on a cliffhanger for what actually happens to
him.
Too bad the X series stopped after X8 and we never got an answer.
Oops.
As for X and Zero, they share a little conversation about continuing to fight the Mavericks and
their evolution, even if that goes against their own destiny, ending the game on a pretty
badass and inspirational note.
Besides that little moment, though, can't say I gave
a monkey's about X8's story, and the presentation doesn't quite pull me in, either.
Now, I'll be reasonable -- the voice performances stomp and pound all over what was in X4 and
X7.
For the first time (not counting Command Mission), we've got some acting in the X saga that's
actually competent.
Some of the Mavericks are ridiculous... and Alia sounds stilted and pronounces words
with ''L's and ''R''s in them in a weird way... but for the most part it's
all palatable and not too distracting: Lumine sounds appropriately mysterious and freaky...
Sigma has that delicious, hammed up villain quality to him... and the
heroes themselves can finally be taken a bit seriously.
X's actor, Mark Gatha, in particular, managed to deliver a confident, yet compassionate
and caring sound that fits the type of character he is very well.
Lucas Gilbertson also does a good voice for Zero, although I find his delivery is kind
of off.
It's as if he's losing his mind at the end of many of his lines.
Lastly, we have Jeffrey Watson for Axl, and I definitely like him better than the whiny
brat voice we got in X7.
It's a bit too arrogant and forced sometimes, the dialog also being part of that... but
it's fine otherwise.
Overall, the acting isn't special or anything, but I wouldn't mind seeing most of this
cast return and improve for a potential X9 in the future with better direction.
Won't happen, I'm aware.
Sssshhh.
The in-engine cutscenes are also not totally laughable, how about that?
You see the developers experimenting more with cinematic camera movement and angles,
and all of the Mavericks enter the scene in their own unique fashions instead of just
being there already.
Characters are animated more believably with more detail and their mouths actually open
when they talk.
It's doesn't classify as lip-sync, though, and choreography remains limited, with the
peeps standing in place as they banter back and forth.
We may have gone a step up from X7, but compared to something like Sonic Heroes, which isn't
even impressive presentation-wise for its year or release, X8 is still clearly a couple
ticks below that.
Makes me wonder what the budget for the game was, when you take into account, as well,
that all the Hunter Base conversations are presented in Game Boy Advance style with a
handful of 2D images of different expressions for each character.
The 2D assets aren't even scaled well: text, menus, character portraits, UI -- it's all
soft and uneven, some of the worst I've seen in a sixth generation title.
The X Legacy Collection version of X8 does polish this over somewhat, but the results,
while even, are a bit jagged, so not ideal.
As for the graphics themselves, I don't think they've aged well and even for the
time they left a lot to be desired.
What first stuck out are the character models; they're all so tall and thin and the faces
look... malformed and derpy.
It's not as jarring during most gameplay itself, but when viewed from a short distance,
they are not a pretty sight.
Dive a little deeper, and only more shortcomings come to light, like circles for character
shadows...
I mean, c'mon, this isn't the PS1, guys; for a late 2004, sixth generation title, the
absence of shadow mapping or something in that ballpark is pretty bad.
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex did it in 2001 and has more stable performance to
boot.
Sometimes X8 doesn't even draw a shadow underneath vehicles or characters at all when
it should, like in Central White here, or in the middle of this elevator in Booster
Forest.
It looks unfinished, almost, and then you move to the sides and your circle shadow magically
poofs back in, like what?
Particles can be noticeably pixelated, even from a moderate distance, and, I'm sorry,
but as soon as the game starts in Noah's Park, you see this ugly-ass, 2D foliage in
the foreground, and these ugly-ass, 2D trees and leafs in the background.
That's not a promising first impression, and the environments in general just don't
do it for me.
Many of the levels look drab and uninspired, like Metal Valley, Pitch Black, parts of Inferno
-- smeared with dull greys and browns and lacking in memorable aesthetic design.
It's even worse when in one of these levels, you have blatant pop in that the Alchemist
from Spyro 2 would be able to see.
Seriously, we're not pushing a ton of polygons here on this linear, restricted path, and
there's still staggering slowdown.
Ai...
I'll admit, a couple of the stages have good eye-candy, like Troia Base, sporting
nice art direction, as well as decent particles, various moving parts and lights, and this
neato effect when walking along the ground.
It's not so generic or boring; it's a bit lively and vibrant, and along with Primrose,
I'd say they're the two most appealing areas in the game.
On the whole, though, while I've certainly seen worse and can take it for what it is,
X8's visuals are plain underwhelming.
And no, as far as I could tell, the X Legacy Collection port doesn't enhance most of
this; it removes all the slowdown and bumps up the resolution to native 1080p, obviously,
but the rest of the graphics shebang goes untouched.
It's the version I recommend regardless, though the original is also a perfectly fine
option if you must.
It has 480p support, so with the aid of Component cables it can look pretty presentable on a
modern TV.
The 480p mode is also botched, however: the gameplay itself is flawless, yet the pre-rendered
cutscenes are off-centre with cutoff as a result, so pick your poison between that or
everything in 480i.
It really baffles me such a glaring problem was never fixed.
Another reason the XLC version is superior is the near non-existent load times, but if
I'm honest, the loading isn't that obtrusive in the PS2 original, anyway.
For one, it's only once per level (boss rush included) so that's already a massive
improvement over X7, and stuff is actually being loaded during the Maverick intros now,
which is an obvious, but a good optimization trick regardless.
Man, X7: a game so awful I'm still shocked a year after ripping it to shreds.
I guess that leaves us with the music, but what do I say?
I mean, I liked it, but broadly speaking it had a tad too much electric guitar for my
tastes and that buttrock sound to it that reminds me of Sonic Adventure 2.
Jeb's gonna murder me for that...
After seven or so playthroughs of X8, I'd be hard pressed to remember half of the tracks,
as a bunch of them are rather bland and forgettable.
There's even some ambient guitar shenanigans going on in Pitch Black, and though it fits,
it's really boring.
That said, not everything is electric guitar, and some of the buttrock stuff is pretty sick
and memorable with good composition.
X8 definitely has one of my least favorite scores of the eight titles, but nonetheless,
here are a few pieces I found myself returning to after finishing the game.
Mega Man X8 is a fine experience and I enjoyed it for what it was: from the great controls
and core mechanics to the balanced characters, and from some of the nice stages to the solid
boss fights, I can see myself picking the game up again from time to time in the future.
I think it's got quite a bit of heart with many cool unlockables and references and such,
and I'd be down to see a potential X9 build and improve from here.
On the flip side, X8 definitely is not the return to greatness I was hoping for: with
a lot of questionably executed level design, annoying Retry Chips, terrible 100% completion
and a mediocre story and presentation, the total package still bears the marks of second
stringers.
Like X5, I see a great game in here, but for me it simply lacks the consistency and timeless
addictive quality that the X series' best titles have.
There is certainly more wiggle room for X8 to be loved by players than X6 and X7, but
I'm left wondering if that's one of the main reasons it's loved to begin with.
Alright...
There we have it, the X8 review.
Thank you for watching and I hope that the video lived up to the hype.
Special shoutouts to all the lovely folks scrolling by on screen, and if you like my
endeavours on this channel and wanna support them, consider backing my ass on Patreon -- it'd
be much appreciated.
Have a fantastic day and take care.
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