ITmedia (http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/) has posted a report regarding Rockman ZX (http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/games/articles/0603/16/news040.html), which is packed with lots of new artworks, screenshots, story and even animated scenes. The translated back story is just as breath-taking as the game's visuals:
In a world where technology advanced greatly, humans and the machine lifeforms built by humans, called Repliroids, coexisted peacefully until some Repliroids began to go out of control and attack humans. Inevitably this led to a long lasting war between humans and Repliroids, which was ended by the heroic actions of some. Mankind and Repliroids again began to work toward peaceful coexistance.
Humans began to develop machine bodies for themselves and gain the power of Repliroids, and in turn Repliroids developed finite lifespans. Eventually this led to the erasing of the boundary between humans and Repliroids. Life continued like this for hundreds of years.
In time, the people of the world (who were once humans and Repliroids) managed to revive some of the former nations of the world. However, preventing further prosperity like the days of old, incidents here and there around the world began wherein some of the machine lifeforms went berserk (refered to as Irregulars), making some areas dangerous, and soon this activity obstructed exchange between nations. These areas prohibited to nations became known as "Outer."
Thus, the nations of the world became divided into areas designated as "Inner," where it was safe for people to live, and "Outer," where the dangerous Irregulars appeared. Great developments were made due to the efforts of the corporation "Serpent Company," which possesses technology unearthed from historic ruins in the Outer areas. Peaceful life was maintained by receiving the technology offered by the Serpent Company in the central areas of cities.
In the frontier regions where the crisis management of countries still doesn't reach, damage from attacks by Irregulars has occured at times. The people in these areas developed the self defense organization known as "Guardian." They defend the frontier regions and investigate the cause of the Irregular element.
In more detail, it's mentioned that the Serpent Company uses the technology developed from historic ruin finds essentially as a lifeline for the cities, providing goods to the people such as energy resources. It is not necessarily a bad thing that the company has more or less grasped the lifeline of the cities, at least for the people in those cities. The Serpent Company is named after its own president, Serpent. Serpent is considered a wonderful person who raised the company on his own by excavating the ancient techology sleeping in the Outer areas. Furthermore, he has arranged a Mechaniloid army in his company, and is said to have repeatedly saved countries from Irregular attacks in the past.
On the other hand, the Guardians in the frontier regions are considered to be unassociated private ventures. They make the "Guardian Base," a gigantic flying ship, their headquarters, and they take people on a volunteer basis to not only defend the frontier areas but also investigate the Irregular source. The original leader of Guardian disappeared during the investigation of an Outer area, and command has been taken over by the young girl named Prairie.
Vent and Aile will be playable by choice, as opposed to taking turns playing as them in certain areas, but it's unknown how much of the story will be affected if you play as one or the other.
As the story of ZX starts, Vent and Aile's senior, Silve, who carries out his own business "Silve Express" which sends anything, from letters to weapon, to anywhere, regardless if it's legal or not, receives a request from Prairie to transport the Live Metals "Model X" and "Model Z." The Live Metals, of course, are the mysterious metal unearthed from ancient ruins that are said to possess data from the past, and their use can allow one to aquire new knowledge and abilities.
Following their usual work, Silve and Vent (or Aile) arrive to the point where they are to meet their consignee. When they receive communitcation with their client from Guardian, there's suddenly an Irregular attack. Vent's/Aile's motorcycle is shot and explodes. As a result, being blown away by the blast, Vent/Aile fall down a cliff.
When Vent/Aile, who fell down to the bottom of the cliff with their cargo, surveys the area, they see a floating, shining object. Suddenly the girl declares that she's the one of Guardian who ordered their service appears. There is barely enough time for introductions as the Irregular atrtack continues. A large snake type Mechaniloid appears, putting them all in a predicament. However, Vent/Aile take the shining object, the Live Metal they were carrying, and become enveloped in light. Using the are.O.C.K. System, they activate the Model X and transform to defeat the snake Mechaniloid, wielding such abilities like the double charged shot. Their next objective is to travel to Inner.
The world of ZX has lots of highly-detailed and well-drawn visuals, which can be seen on the first page of ITmedia's report, and by going down a bit further, one may now see the first bunch of characters in art-form: Serpent, Prairie and some Guardian members. The second page contains both humorous and amazing visual scenes of Vent, Aile and Silve. The game seems to be containing Animated Footage too, and that might please lots of people.
Yanada Kiyoyuki will voice Serpent.
Hirohashi Ryou will voice Prairie.
Kazama Yuuto (Who also voiced Zero in the Zero series) will voice Silve.
This game turns out to be as amazing as when it was first announced. The screens clearly shows some improvements in the Zero series mechanics, and the updated artstyle has been improved greatly. Prairie couldn't have looked more pretty than this. The Serpent Company, on the other hand, may turn out to be enemies at some point of the game. Once again a setup, similar to the Zero series, of a privileged, catered to society versus a neglected society scraping by to maintain themselves occurs. Note also, that the Boss Meters are marked with a snake-shaped S. We shall see how ZX will truly unfold.
Credit: Atomic Fire
