Yeah 1/2 are both wonky, 3 is where things really got good though.
Gen 3 didn't add nearly as much as gen 2 did.
it's just so weird to me there was that whole phase of megaman where they'd develop a game, it'd be ready for release, and then they'd just fucking scrap it last second (or immediately after the trailer dropped in some cases) At least people that got the demo before it wasculled have that, and there's some footage of the megaman stage maker game and the first person metroid prime style X game. Never saw shit about the canned co-op mmo megaman game where there was some freaky time travel shit involved in the plot going by the trailers. Some "info" people have said about it is that it's not time travel but weird clone stuff but the thing is light and wily are alive in the teaser trailers that use animated cutscenes from the game.
X9 isn't a problem, they clearly set up a cliffhanger at the end of x8 and it's sigma chips all the way down. so MORE sigmas. god damn so many sigmas. you thought one sigma was fucking irritating for the robo police to deal with wait till you get sigma clones not relegated to the sigma moon cult palace base
Sigma's like that episode of Spongebob where Plankton has a simulation where he runs the Krusty Krab, and Krabbs is the one stealing the formula. "Oh, but I will. Even if I have to come back tomorrow! And the day, and the next day, and the next day, etc." He'll never stop!
There's a number of funny things involving sigma even though X is the more "serious" plotline compared to the classic megaman games where it's wily doing wacky stuff to take over the world because Light pissed him off one too many times. Sigma's kinda casual "oh hey how's it going X?" shit he does when he's not manic rage screaming about how he's gonna kill X, the fact he sometimes goes into actual tard rage mode when screaming about how he's gonna kill X. he literally got his incorporeal immortal virus man powers by punching zero in the head and incapacitating him like the actual boss mechanics of the megaman games, to boot. ALSO the fact that in x5 He just fucking shows up and drops that he met "this friendly old man that hates X as much as he does that gave him this new body" (Which is blatantly just fucking wily inexplicably being alive still and giving sigma's gamma's body from megaman 3). The "wily is still alive" plot is never fucking brought up again after this save for one time in X6 where it's HEAVILY implied Wily was puppeteering Isoc, the researcher guy working for gate that looks like wily, the whole time.
It wouldn't be bad in theory but you know they'll fuck it up trying to squeeze whales dry.
The problem is the Cyber-Elf bullshit you mentioned. Unless they're willing to say "fuck it, alternate timelines where MMZ doesn't happen ahoy," the existence of Inafune and IntiCreates' Marty Stu fanfiction means the X series can never do anything but spin its wheels.
The Zero series is honestly tied with the X series as my favorite in the franchise, so I'm not quite sure what the problem is. Though I do agree that some stuff does need to be worked around in order for it to sensibly lead up to it.
Battle Network 2 I've always heard was one of the better games, what do you mean a slog? Like if you can play 4 with all the fetch quests and tournaments then you shouldn't have any problems with 2. Battle Network 1 on the other hand is just too unrefined to the point where it's just raw, id recommend Operation Shooting Star if you really want to play that. It's not much but there are some minor QoL improvements that make it more bearable, but not by much.
There is always Patch, besides if zero can be in the game, why not sigma, or a new villain altogether?
It's the cloak, which was lifted from Casshan Robot Hunter.
I don't remember what in particular people take issue with but I've just always heard it can be a slow and frustrating experience to get through.
Tournaments and fetch quests are literally all the game is, that and Kojima and Boktai cameos.
Depending on what the differences are I may give it a shot. If they are pretty small overall then I'll probably just go with the original game.
The biggest flaw in Battle Network 2 is the fact it's the forerunner of the worst staples of the series. Tedious "license" segments involving finding X thing and defeating a series of viruses, lot of conversation chasing with NPCs, cryptic or convoluted hints/mechanics, hunting for NPCs and items in obscure places, etc.
