@MegaBossMan : "The game does have difficulty options, it's Dr. Light, Wily, and Cossack stories. Each one is harder."

I'm not entirely sure I've unlocked Wily and Cossack, but, that's not what I meant, anyway, good sir. I meant that CutMan should have an Easy diff, where Cutter-type attacks on his stage do 1.5x damage, a Medium diff where they do 2x damage, and a Hard diff where they do 2.5x damage, and an Expert diff where they do 3x damage.

Alter the attribute bonuses to be harder or weaker for each stage based on what diffifculty the player wants. Higher difficulties should naturally result in bigger rewards--more exp, better items, easier character unlocks. You can also, obviously, increase his stats as well on higher diffs--higher defense higher speed, giving him items, new attacks on the higher diffs, etc.

@Mikey76500 : I know what you meant, but it's basically the same. Metal Man is basically a harder Cut Man, with a harder field bonus. The game is actually quite easy if you have your copy-cores up to level 10, and Chapter 3 will give you so much EXP that it's a joke. The game does require some grinding, but after that, it's smooth sailing.

@MegaBossMan : I know you have lots of experience at this, but, try to put yourself in the mindset of a player with less then 1/10,000,000th the BP total you have.

Cut Man can hit you 3x in one turn, making damage add up REALLY quick [and will wreck Bomb Man and Elec Man],
Guts Man has high attack and defense and is constantly forcing you to change [and will wreck Cut Man],
Ice Man can make it so that switching out is impossible [and will wreck Roll, Fire Man, and Oil Man],
Bomb Man can damage EVERYONE on your team at once [and will wreck Guts Man],
Fire Man can increase his defense at WILL [and will wreck Cut Man and Oil Man],
and Elec Man has absurd attack power [and will wreck Mega Man and Time Man].

Now, I haven't tried Time Man or Oil Man, yet, but, anyone who's played the original Mega Man will likely choose one of the original 6 RM's first.

No matter which one they choose, they'll be--please excuse my portuguese--f***ed. Their Mega Man will be at Level 2, and their Roll at Level 1, both woefully underpowered, losing fight after fight after fight due to either absurdly powerful side effects of the RMs' attacks, the pure offensive powers of the RM's concerning the elemental bonuses each stage has, or just due to simply not knowing enough to protect themselves and to make battles last.

Now, I know that some of this can be blamed on the beginner for not snooping around the game's menus and gathering information, first. That's a given in any RPG, for the most part. However, you have to admit, Boss, there's a lot of this game that considers luck into it [and yes, a formulae that you cannot trigger at will that randomly decides what is and isn't a Critical Hit doesn't have skill involved in it at all, and that makes it luck-based] MUCH more so than your own skill.

Again, keep a beginner's mindset, here, pleaseandthankyou; Until you level up your team--which will likely be stuck at MM and Roll for AT LEAST the entire first chapter, by the by--the Met in Chapter 0 is supposed to do the grinding, for the most part. I have to grind the first enemy in the game over and over and over again just to become strong enough to beat ONE boss?

You have to admit, Boss, even the Zero series was more friendly to newcomers and beginners than this.

Edit [43 minutes later]: Time Man can decrease your Speed pretty much at will [and wreck Guts Man]. Makes perfect sense, I have to concede, but, still, that's not easy on beginners at all--he already does enough offensive damage.

Edit [70 minutes after that]: Oil Man can attack any member of your party at will [and wreck Elec Man]. His speed--combined with the random-osity of critical hits--means that this is almost completely luck all by itself.

I've played the game from the start multiple times after each update, and I think you're just having terrible luck. The strategy here is that you find another boss to fight after losing one battle, in a cycle. A great strategy that I've used is to use your weaker characters to fight the mecha and damage the boss, repeating until the weak guys you have are all dead, use Mega Man and Mega Buster them to death. Really, I don't know why you're having so much trouble from this, I rarely ever get criticals. I think your luck is really messing you up.

@Acting Mod Reisrat : BN5 would've been great if it weren't for those blasted 3-Turn time limits on the Liberation Missions. That kills all the fun in the whole game for me, really, especially as Lib Missions are the main course in BN5.

@MegaBossMan : "I've played the game from the start multiple times after each update, and I think you're just having terrible luck."

Exactly, Boss. While I do agree that maybe luck could play a secondary part in the completion of an RPG, it should NOT be the main course; luck isn't a viable substitute for skill sets and actual strategy, you know?

@TailsMK4 : You seem to be under the impression that this game is easy for *beginners*, Tails.

20 elemental types to keep track of, elemental bonuses for each boss, making them unneededly tough [yes, even Oil Man, what with his high Speed], chance critical hits and chance negative statuses plaguing the beginner through Light Chapters 1 and 2, and a lack of zenny in the game overall, save from selling items and screws [both of which are also chance rewards, by the by] makes this game extremely dependent on luck. For the *beginner*.

When a game is as dependent on the starting player having good fortune as this game does, it's not easy.

Maybe MMRPG will have it's skill-required moments in the chapters and bosses ahead; I'll keep on keeping on to find that out, but, for the beginner that's used to the pure strategy of the Battle Network games [i.e., me], RPG is a big-time diversion from that, with all of its random missing, random negative statuses, and random multi-hitting. Some simpler difficulty setting in Chapter 2 may help get to grips with the game.

Either that or decrease the elemental bonuses of the stages in Chapter 2; Ice Man's and Fire Man's stage in particular. Ugh.

Edit [35 minutes later]: Look at all the times that I've said 'chance' and 'luck' in just this post alone. If I weren't so stubborn, It'd be really depressing. x)

Eh, I didn't have many problems with it, the game's really good at giving you several different ways to clear the field at once.

I'd say some lower difficulties with crippled stats would be good, with higher ones available as well. Something like
Very Easy: 50% stats
Easy: 75% stats
Normal: 100% stats
Hard: 150% stats
Very Hard: 200% stats

Maybe some with higher percents, and maybe with fun names like DooM or Heretic have.

So, I just had a bunch of my robots hit Level 100 [or Level 100* according to the in-battle status ticker.

I naturally think, "Oh. Great. Now, they can't get any stronger" only to find out that I'm wrong, and that they CAN grow stronger.

This, folks, SOUNDS great on paper, and likely looks great, too, but, there's a hugantic glaring issue with it; It makes every Robot virtually the same. Evert Robot has an absolute maximum HP of 595 [Save for Roll and likely, Disco and Rhythm; don't have them, yet.], an absolute maximum Attack of 9,999, an absolute maximum Defense of 9,999, and an absolute maximum Speed of 9,999. None are TRULY different, stats wise, from the others, save for their elements, Weaknesses, Resistances, Affinities and Immunities.

You could make the argument that diversity already exists between the Robots if I'd just look at the Database. I have. Many times. None of them mention the fact that every single Robot has the EXACT. SAME. ABSOLUTE. MAXIMUM [9,999] for all non-HP stats.

There HAS to be an absolute maximum Level if there will truly be true diversity. If there will truly be robots with superior Speed over others and Superior Attack over others, then, each Robot Master's Level cap should limit. You could give items or Zenny instead of Experience.

As for what I believe the Maximum Level should be, I think Level 250 would be excellent. Level 99/100 caps are for REGULAR RPGs, this is better than that. x)

@Mikey76500 : Holy cheese and crackers, I'm not alone. Mikey, did you read my idea of 2nd Cores? It's on page 26 (and somewhat touched on at page 31) and I want to see what you think. I'm not saying it's a foolproof idea and it could definitely take time to decide the 2nd Cores, but the main idea is diversification, and that's what I'm aiming for here.

@TheDoc : Holy cheese and crackers, *I'M* not alone! I just find it extremely weird that Bright Man, for instance, is ONLY Time-type, when there's CLEARLY electricity involved.

Thinking about your idea, and the attacks that the RM's use throughout the first 8 Classic games [Never played 9 and 10, yet], here's what I believe each of the 68 RM's in the original original series should be.

Proto Man - Copy/Shield
Mega Man - Copy
Roll - Neutral
Cut Man - Cutter
Guts Man - Impact
Ice Man - Ice
Bomb Man - Explode/Swift
Fire Man - Fire
Elec Man - Electric
Time Man - Time
Oil Man - Earth

Metal Man - Metal
Air Man - Wind
Bubble Man - Bubble
Quick Man - Swift/Cutter
Crash Man - Explode
Flash Man - Time
Heat Man - Fire/Impact
Wood Man - Nature/Shield

Needle Man - Missile
Magnet Man - Electric/Missile
Gemini Man - Crystal/Laser
Hard Man - Impact
Top Man - Impact/Cutter
Snake Man - Nature
Spark Man - Electric
Shadow Man - Shadow

Bright Man - Electric/Time
Toad Man - Water
Drill Man - Earth/Explode
Pharaoh Man - Flame
Dust Man - Wind
Ring Man - Space/Cutter
Dive Man - Water/Missile
Skull Man - Shadow/Shield

Gravity Man - Space
Napalm Man - Fire/Explode
Stone Man - Earth
Star Man - Space/Shield
Gyro Man - Wind/Cutter
Wave Man - Water/Impact
Charge Man - Fire/Impact
Crystal Man - Crystal/Laser

Blizzard Man - Freeze/Impact
Centaur Man - Swift/Time
Flame Man - Flame
Plant Man - Nature/Shield
Knight Man - Shield
Tomahawk Man - Nature/Cutter
Wind Man - Wind
Yamato Man - Cutter

Bass - Copy
Freeze Man - Freeze/Crystal
Junk Man - Earth/Shield
Burst Man - Water/Explode
Cloud Man - Electric/Wind
Slash Man - Nature/Cutter
Shade Man - Shadow/Laser
Turbo Man - Flame/Swift
Spring Man - Impact/Explode

Tengu Man - Air/Cutter
Frost Man - Freeze/Impact
Grenade Man - Explode/Swift
Clown Man - Electric/Shadow
Astro Man - Space/Impact
Sword Man - Cutter/Flame
Search Man - Explode/Nature
Aqua Man - Water

Chances are this won't happen, but, still, Level 250 Cap would be a great Plan B.

well, a suggestion. go on the chat so we can talk. lol. any way, that is true, and i would like to see a character customizer.

@Mikey76500 : So you're thinking of dual-coring more RMs? That could work, but it doesn't cover ALL of the robots. Now, that's not a deal breaker by any means; I'm just saying to keep in mind that it doesn't diversify the robots 100%.

I know. A Level cap of 250, and different HP ratings for ach Robot would, for sure, though.

And before anyone complains of evert robot having the same HP in every game [28 for MM's 1-7 and 9-10, 40 in MM8], need I remind you of the arcade games? Bosses could have anything up to 128 HP in that one [yes, I counted, because I'm a dork :P ].

Ok, I want to see a character customizer, ignore the thread i made. :P

Y'know, the fact a mech/robot can only ever have a max of 10 WE is kind of boring, so I say either add a merchant who sells increases to the maximum amount of WE for all your robots, or for individual robots, but even if you have the Mecha Support ability, Mechas can't have a max higher than 10.

@Coolcat : I believe this is what you're looking for.

I suggest a change of Turbo Man's type to Swift.

Am I the only one that thinks RMs showing battle damage is a good idea?

"Probably."