Environmental storytelling and Man-Bot

[RingsOfReznor]

In Mentor continues the work of Tom Taylor trying to cure Man-Bot's unstable energy. Mentor observes that Energy X attunes itself according to the traits of the hero, which Man-Bot dismisses, conflating his powers with his self-reported egomania.

This actually appears to be the case - in his origin story Ted Taylor is said to inherit the looks, and the money, that won him the affections of every beautiful woman in patriot city. Upon his transformation Ted once again "gets it all", inheriting so much raw unattuned Energy X that he struggles to contain it.

His powers have no alignment and no equal - his starting kit is aptly named Contain Energy and Focus owing to the concentration required to direct his overwhelming energy and suppress accidental detonation. As Man-Bot progresses his control enables flight, mastery over the energy reserves of others, and the tremendous detonation Release.

Unlike other heroes Man-Bot holds back in combat, often apologizing to his enemies. In captivity he even sympathises with Timemaster's selfishness, although ultimately his warning is left unheeded. Ted's patience survives through to the final events of until Mentor convinces him to remove all barriers to his true potential, energizing himself to such a degree and so quickly that even Entropy, who is draining him to manipulate reality, cannot expend it fast enough to mitigate the eruption that severs her from her own powers.

For the little exposition we do get, the narrative design of these games does an excellent job of telling the story of the most reclusive hero and his abilities.

[RingsOfReznor]

As a bonus tidbit, the % chance of triggering Unstable Energy appears to be the damage received.

This can be modified through the environment variable RPG_UNSTABLE_ENERGY_CHANCE - by default this is set to 1, meaning 1x the damage received is the chance of an unstable detonation. Setting this to 100 will cause all received damage to trigger.

[spydermann93]

Man-Bot and The Ant were my two faves in the games. Great analysis on him! A truly tragic hero but one that really stands out. Would've loved to see his evolution in future games. Sadly, that won't seem to be happening.

[UnkoMan]

That's very interesting. I never even really thought of that before, but of course it must have been the intent.