Mikey's ideas for 12/14/14

Idea #1: The base stats of all currently available opponents need a refit.

I sound like a broken record, already, I know, but, hear me out for a bit. For those that don't know, all currently available robots have a total of 400 base stats; that is, their HP, Attack, Defense and Speed all combine to make 400. This goes for all 38 bots.
Now, I've been told by Prototypers [not including Adrian] over the months that having all playable robots with 400 total stats means that they are even. That none are better than the others. That, if it wasn't this way, there'd be favorites, like in the Pokemon series. What they didn't know is that there's already favorites REGARDLESS of stats.

At the same time, I've had a couple of people tell me that bots with 405 total stats, and others with 415, and others with 410, and others with 430, and others with 420 would be a good thing. They'd be much more diverse, for starters.

Originally [see this pastebin I previously suggested: http://pastebin.com/XJw0jEXb], I just tacked on extra numbers to the already existing stats. More recently, I've realized that Tails was comepletely and totally right--that was stupid. All RM's need a complete refit, though, seeing how overpowered the MM1 bots are, and how underpowered the res of the playable bots are to fight.

These are the stats I have in mind for the main robots, and for the MM1-MM6 robots. I'll also be posting this in a thread on the Community. Remember, we can always discuss how to readjust and tweak them [and future robots] for a better and more challenging middle for Prototype.

Just don't suggest all 400's, again; we already see how GREAT [not really] that's working out.

http://pastebin.com/ASfPSpeT

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Idea #2: More Robots need attacks that are theirs and theirs alone.

This ALSO increases diversity among robots. Did you know that as it currently stands, only Mega Man, Bass and Proto Man have attacks that only they can use?

Oh, sorry, I forgot that EVERY MECHA IN THE GAME also has an attack that only they can use. That says a lot about how much the same every Robot Master is--MECHAS ARE MORE DIVERSE THAN ROBOT MASTERS.

the attacks I've previously had in mind are ONLY the abilities that MM collects in the Classic series, so, for example, only Copy-type bots and Cut Man could have Rolling Cutter, and only Copy-type bots and Top Man could have Top Spin, and only Copy-type bots and Time Man could have Time Slow, and only Copy-type bots and Snake Man can have Search Snake, etc.

If this doesn't tickle your fancy, then, Tier 3 moves are needed for each robot that is theirs and theirs alone, just like Mega Man [Mega Slide], Bass [Bass Baroque] and Proto Man [Proto Strike] does. All the Robot Masters are too much the same as it is.

Speaking of Mechas.....

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Idea #3: Mechas don't have to be a joke.

I know I've done this idea to death, too, but, it really is true. The fact that all v1 Mechas have 200 total stats is pathetic, and if you think it isn't, just wait until later on, when you see that MM7 and MM8 v1 Mechas go down just as easily as MM1 v1 Mechas.

That...makes no sense. Again, the game should not still be treating you like a beginner 7 chapters into it. We don't even keep Mechas for permanent use, so, why can't we also have mechas that have gradually increasing stats as you progress through the game?

Don't tell me that Mechas are supposed to be easy, either. TThat shouldn't be the case when you're 1/2way through the game.

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Idea #4: Critical Hits need to go.

This one is pretty self explanatory. For those wondering what I'm talking about, Critical hits are a [mostly] random occurrence where the the game mechanics decide that an enemy's attack on you does more damage than it's supposed to. Critical hits do different amounts of damage depending on the game you're playing; in the Pokemon series, Criticals do anywhere from 1.2x to 3x damage. In Prototype, from what I've had other Prototypers tell me, it's ALWAYS 2x damage [though, only Adrian would really know this, I assume].

Note the words 'a [mostly] random occurence'. That's PRECISELY what it is; it's almost entirely dependant on luck as to whether or not a Critical hit occurs, and in my case, and the cases of a few others, Critical hits happen more TO you than FOR you, ESPECIALLY in the beginning of the game against MM1 bots, which are already difficult enough for beginners as it is.

Critical hits are just as annoying and non-beginner-friendly in this game as they are in the more recent Pokemon games. It's already bad enough that there are MM1 opponents with a base Attack Stat of 282 on their field [which is higher than any other available opponent in the game on an non-Fusion Field, by the by]. When Critical Hits happen in the beginning of the game as often as it happened to me when I first started playing Prototype, it lets you know from the offset that your skills almost don't matter at this point, which is ludicrous; at no point in this game [or any game, for that matter] should blind dumb luck play more of a factor than your overall skill in completing a game. That's just the truth. The game shouldn't be able to have the ability to punish you just because it says so; it should only EVER be punishing you for being unprepared and unskilled.

Criticals need to go. Sooner rather than later. Skill deserves to be rewarded more than luck does.

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Idea #5: No damage-dealing attacks should ignore stats.

Do you have any idea how broken Rain Flush and Needle Cannon is [and how potentially broken Drill Blitz can be]? It's horrible. Read their actual descriptions for them about how they ignore Defense. This makes them even more broken.

If it does damage of any kind, be it to a bot's HP or they stats, it shouldn't be ignoring stats that take time and effort to build up. If a bot acts first in a Turn, it should be because they have a higher speed. If it attacks, Defense should be doing it's entire job in minimize damage.

In short, Your HP matters, your Attack matter, your Defense matters, and your Speed matters, so why are there attacks that can ignore any of these?

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Idea #6: Attacks that deal with percentages are broken.

This is a long list: Atomic Fire, Bright Burst, Bubble Bomb, Crash Bomber, Danger Bomb, Fire Storm, Hard Knuckle, Ice Slasher, Leaf Shield, Oil Slider, Rain Flush, Rising Cutter, Shadow Blade, Spark Shock, Super Arm, Thunder Beam, Time Arrow and Time Slow all either deal a percentage of damage to the enemy, increases the user's stats by a percentage, or decreases the enemy's stats by a percentage. The Prototypers that have a large chunk of the 1,024 Star Force Stars currently available in the game end up seeing that the attacks that have Star Force beefing them up end up adding or subtracting WELL over the standard percentages they'd do without any Star Force, making most of them an OHKO against virtually any opponent almost irregardless of stats, even maxed out robots with 9999-9999-9999 stats.

In fact, attacks like Thunder Beam which do a static amount of damage [with AND without Star Force beef-ups] to bots AND increase or decrease stats by a percentage seem have a tendency to increase or decrease stats based on how much damage the attack actually did, which, for Thunder Beam, if you have most of the Stars, will almost always beef up your Attack Stat to 9,999 in one shot. In the case of Fire Storm and Atomic Fire, which is supposed to TEMPORARILY increase your Defense and Attack stats respectively, they end up getting STUCK at 9,999 PERMANENTLY for the rest of an entire battle. That.....is ridiculous.

This also causes problems with the stat cap becoming 99,999 after the MM5 update, to accommodate Boss stats; you'll have bots that are able to have stats that go PAST 9,999, and be TRULY hyper-broken.

You also have attacks like Bass Baroque, Bass Buster, Buster Shot, Cossack Buster, Disco Buster, Light Buster, Mega Buster, Mega Slide, Proto Buster, Proto Shield, Proto Strike, Rhythm Buster, Roll Buster and Wily Buster having the potential to BE broken when Neutral Stars are finally added, what with percentages being extremely beefed up when you've collected a lot of stars of the same element.

This is why I suggested the 50 Status ideas that I suggested in my 4th Ideas thread, seen here: http://rpg.megamanpoweredup.net/community/general/866/mikey-s-ideas-4-abilities/
This way, you can keep the attacks, yet be able to program them to not be so broken by making sure that the attacks always increase or decrease stats by the intended percentage regardless of how many of the over 8,000 planned Star Force Stars you end up having when you use the attack.

Either that, or remove them altogether. Giving them static increases or decreases like say, +/-50, for instance, won't matter when Mega Man's Attack, Defense and Speed are maxed out at 4,462 each.

You know what? Fudge it. It needs to be said. Speaking of Star Force.....

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Idea #7: Star Force is extremely broken, and should go.

Go ahead. Crucify me all you want, but, broken is broken is broken. How many times have I mentioned Star Force in a negative light just in this Pastebin?

Let me tell you all about what happens when you've collected all 1,024 Star Force:

Cutter, Flame and Electric attacks all do 19.9x the amount of damage they're supposed to do,
Earth, Explode, Impact, Missile, Nature, Shadow, Swift, Time, Water and Wind attacks do 13.6x the amount of damage that they're supposed to do,
Crystal, Freeze and Space attacks all do 7.3x the damage they're supposed to do,
and dual-element attacks [like Fire Chaser] combined with Robot Weaknesses, Critical Hits and Field Multipliers mean that attacks can do over 1,000x base damage and even more.

Even with the moderation of their power output come the MM5 update, Stars still don't affect Defense, and will still affect all of the abilities listed in Ideas 5 and 6 in ways that will STILL make them broken, just not quite as much. Adrian's Coreforce idea won't be able to help this in any way, because it either won't increase defense enough, or it'll increase defense too much.

As I've mentioned before, stats take a while to build up. They take time and effort to maximize them; just ask [Ice]TailsMK4, MerryBossMan [MegaBossMan] or Shadownnico. Star Force allows even my teams to dispatch of even Tails's teams as if they were scrap. Stars make stats almost worthless, not to mention the ease of which post-storyline Bosses and Superbosses will be easily dispatched of once sufficient amounts of Stars are collected.

.....stats may matter again if thousands and thousands of Stars aren't beefing them up like crazy.

Before you tell me that Prototypers do a lot of work for these stars, please know that this suggestion comes from a guy who has all 1,024 Stars. I'm already aware of how much work it takes to get all of those things. However, I'm also aware of how broken they will make Prototype. That's why I'm suggesting their removal in the first place; this game is already easy and simple enough as it is.

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Idea #8 [last one]: Level 100 isn't enough.

Now, my previous idea for the level cap to be Lv. 250 instead of Lv. 100 doesn't go smoothly with the general Prototype population, either, even when I said that it didn't have to be Lv. 250, but, as I've stated, before, with the storyline bots going up by one level for every 'stage' you beat, and with over 150 confirmed characters--both playable and unobtainable--set to be in Prototype before all is said and done, this means you'll eventually hit a point in the game where all opponents will be at Lv. 100, and the game will no longer get any harder, save for minibosses, bosses and superbosses. Lv. 100 isn't enough.

I've had prototypers [not Adrian] tell me that this will encourage mind-numbing grinding, and that it'll make bots broken. So do the Star Force, and people are happy to grind to get 100, 200, 400, 700 or, in the case of me and 6 others, ALL [1,024] of them. If you're happy to grind for those--which, by the by, power you up just as levelling up does--what's the problem?

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These are ideas that I feel as though would make the game a more enjoyable and challenging experience for all. Contrary to popular belief, easy does not always = enjoyment.