In today's post that has some breaking news, I'm talking about a turn-based JRPG that I hadn't talked about in ages. And that is one of the turn-based JRPGs in my childhood, Mega Man X: Command Mission. Now, I played Mega Man X: Command Mission when I was a kid back in the day. I hadn't played this game for decades and guess what? It's apparently changing because Mega Man X: Command Mission is officially announced at State of Play to launch on the classics catalog September 15. If you're not familiar with this game, I'll explain it now.
Mega Man X: Command Mission is a turn-based RPG spin-off for the Mega Man X sub franchise primed to launch on PlayStation Plus Premium on PS4 and PS5. Command Mission contains the original characters that never appeared in any of the mainline games, the citizens of a manmade island known as Giga City. The original story involves X and his team's struggle against a criminal organization in Giga City known as the Rebellion Army, led by Epsilon. Their goal is to turn Giga City into their nefarious... Holiday Inn resort to make Reploids a part of the Rebellion. It's up to the Anti-Rebellion League to stop the Rebellion Army and bring peace to Giga City.
During combat, it uses a queue window to determine who is next to perform an action and is manipulated with decreasing or increasing speed. There are sub attacks that consume a small amount WE and Action Triggers that require at least 50% WE. The higher the WE, the more powerful they are. Each character has a Hyper Mode transformation, which offers temporarily fortified armor and augmented power. But not all characters have one Hyper Mode transformation. X and Zero have two Hyper Mode transformations and they are acquired after defeating optional bosses.
If you need a better plan, you can equip Force Metal, trinkets that augment the character's stats. I equip Analyzer on all characters to unlock Analyze on the combat menu. With it, I can pinpoint the enemies' weakness and strength. If the enemy's data shows that it can take 150%-200% damage from water, 100% damage from thunder attacks and 50% damage or absorb fire attacks, it is intended to show that the enemy is weak against water, but strong against fire and neutral against thunder attacks. Now this a sound strategy that is basically coined to explain how we exploit weaknesses in Visions of Mana and Pokemon.
But very loosely, it basically means the enemy is weak against water attacks, but resistant against fire attacks. Mach Jentra is weak against water, but resistant against fire. Another way to determine weakness is to switch things around. In this case, the enemy is weak against lightning, but resistant against water. The perfect examples would be Silver Horn and Ferham because they are weak against thunder, but resistant against water. And finally, the enemy is weak against fire, but resistant against lightning attacks. Examples would be Wild Jango and Scarface, the ones that are weak against fire. Now, this is important to remember that equipping weapons that exploit weaknesses is a sound strategy.
The thing is, Capcom gave it a shot at making a turn-based RPG spin off for the Mega Man X franchise. While a fan favorite, it turned out to be a fail. If we look at the Metacritic scores and the sales for both versions, the PS2 version scored a 69 out of 100 and sold 36,635 units. The GameCube version scored a 67 out of 100 and sold 18,599 units. The PS2 version is relatively better than the GameCube version in terms of the rate of random encounters. One battle system designer has expressed his stark interest in making a sequel, implying that a hypothetical Command Mission 2 would have enemies present and visible on the field instead of annoying random encounters and new features while Nintendo Life listed it as a game they like to see on the Switch. And guess what? Since we have GameCube games on the Switch 2, the GameCube version could one day be playable on the Switch. But I prefer the PS2 version.
Fortunately, there is one good news. With the success of Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Mega Man: Dual Override and a brand new Okami on its way, Capcom is looking to follow SEGA's footsteps by reviving more of their IPs that have been dormant for decades. Other than collections and the mobile game, Mega Man X could one day make a comeback. If Capcom acquired the Command Mission trademark, we can see a remake and sequels. And not just Mega Man X. Whether you're a fan of Asura's Wrath, Viewtiful Joe, Darkstalkers, Final Fight, Breath of Fire, whomever you can think of!
Speaking of Breath of Fire, this leads me to my point. Since Mega Man X: Command Mission will be the first turn-based RPG of the mid 2000s by Capcom to ever launch into the classics catalog, the notorious Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter now has more of a chance to launch into the classics catalog. This allows a precedent to be set, especially for fans of turn-based PS2 JRPGs in the golden age of gaming.
I know what you're trying to ask. Am I gonna revisit Mega Man X: Command Mission? Obviously. This is one of the games I wanted to revisit. In fact, a lot of people hailed Command Mission as one of the games that has more seriousness than most of the mainline games and the same level of seriousness as that of the original Teen Titans because of its serious tone I missed experiencing. That's why I liked the original Teen Titans better than Teen Titans Go! and its Johnny Test-style tone. And revisiting it is likely gonna happen since it's coming to PlayStation Plus. But this time, it's gonna be way different than the time I played this game in my childhood. How is gonna be different?
Well, during my childhood, it was hard because I kept on escaping battles and rushing through the game. But I can change that by spending a little more time levelling up the party until I'm satisfied. Equiping stronger weapons and weapons that exploit weaknesses is also sound, especially when defeating the bosses after a fewest amount of turns, so when I'm going against Wild Jango, I need to equip fire-imbued weapons because thunder-type enemies like Jango are weak against fire.
However, defeating Epsilon is gonna require spending more time in the oven levelling up the party. Here's the beauty to this. If I get the party to lv. 35, I'll have a better chance of kicking Epsilon's butt and will be overkill during round two with Scarface. But if I get the party to lv. 40, I'll have a very overkill chance of defeating both Scarface during round two and an overkill chance of defeating Epsilon in a fewest amount of turns taken. In the sprit of commerce, I think I'll get the party to lv. 35, because I think it can give me a better chance of defeating Epsilon and subsqeuently quelling the Rebellion Army in the fewest amount of turns.
I have a Let's Play series planned for Command Mission, but for some reason, somehow, Remote Play shuts off on its own without warning despite plugging in an Ethernet cord, so sadly, it won't be until I figure out why it shuts down without warning. That or until someone makes a PC port.
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