With ZX having been released yesterday, many have played through and beaten the game, allowing me to say the following. All information is credited to either the Undersquare, Atomic-Fire, RPM, or GameFaqs.

First things first, we all know that before activating ROCK ON, you play as the human versions of Vent(Van) and Aile(Eeru). Why would you want to be them? Answer is revealed. There are certain areas where you have to be them to access. Remember how in Rockman7, you needed to take off the Super Adapter at some points to slide because the armor was too bulky? Same case here.

Differences between Vent and Aile:

Remember how in Biohazard 1 you could play as Jill or Chris, with Jill being weaker but having an easy story and Chris being stronger but having a harder story? Same case here. Only Vent is the easier game and Aile is the harder game while at the same time, weaker.

-Vent is slower but doesn't take much recoil from enemy attacks.
-Aile is quicker and takes a good amount of recoil.
-Vent has a powerful double buster charged shot with Model X.
-Aile has a more efficient dash.

Overall, you should start with Vent, and when your skill goes up, play with Aile.

The design is the same as the Zero series though much more exciting with the two screens.

Now for the Spoilers:









MASSIVE SPOILERS, TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED









Throughout the game, you can obtain the following.

-Model X
-Model ZX
-Model HX
-Model FX
-Model LX
-Model PX

You begin with Model X. This is really basic. Has all the abilities that X had plus a Double Buster.

Through the beginning of the game, you understand what the Live Metals actually are. Live ie meant literally...these metals are the living essense of the past Repliroids and they guide you. So for the first part of the game, X will be your mentor. At some point in the game, your sempai, Girouette, will be greatly injured. From that point, you will have Model ZX. That's right, you can no longer single ROCK ON to Model X. ZX is your default Live Metal. It's okay, you still have Model X's abilities other than the Double Buster. You also gain the ZX Saber and ZX Buster. Some other abilities will be enhanced as well.

Before that point though, you will have obtained Model HX, FX, LX, and PX. You're going to be using this more than ZX. Upside is that they are waaaaay stronger and you won't want to use ZX. Down side is that they are element based (Lightning, Blaze, Ice, Shadow) and you should be careful. These four also have overdrives that are neccessary to use at some points. Your attacks gain elemental properties. HX has electic double Sabers for his overdrive, FX burns everything with attacks, LX freezes everything, and PX gains Shadow Dash to pass through attacks unharmed.

You obtain each of the Shitennou's Live Metal's twice. The second time upgrades your charged attack.

For example, HX starts out with Plasma Bit, an eletric ball, and goes to Plasma
Cyclone, a tornado.

LX's charged shot is a halberd swing that creates ice platforms to ride on. Level 2 is an ice dragon instead.

FX is the powerful Megaton Crusher shot from the Knuckle Busters. Level 2 is the Ground Break shockwave technique.

PX starts with a large fuuma shuriken and for the second attack, creates a shield aura.

HX and LX are your best friends in travel (air or water) as well as close range. FX and PX are your best friends in range, and PX is the master of stealth. Also, as Harpuia was intelligent in his living days, HX will provide you with boss weaknesses throughout the battles. PX also has the radar and night scope for certain missions and can hang from the cieling or walls while FX has the buster edit ability, allowing you to aim with the touch screen.

Weapons:
-X: Double Buster
-ZX: Zet Saber (Vent), Buster Shot (Aile)
-HX: Double Sabers
-LX: Halberd
-FX: Knuckle Buster
-PX: Kunai

Who's the enemy of this game? The one leading all the Irregulars? Early reports revealed the human Serpent to be an antagonist character....but just a human???

Dr. Vile is back. Yes, we thought we killed him at the end of Zero 4 but he too became a Live Metal. He is controlling Serpent. He's not the only one to come back. His pet Omega's here too, in the form of Zero once again.

But that's not so bad because we can play as him too. Not Model V...(who wants to play as some old doctor with a fish tank on his head?).....but Model O....or OX actually.

Btw, Bosses regain health. No more sitting around.

By combining Rockman Zero 3 and Rockman Zero 4 into the Nintendo DS W-gate, you can face off against four bosses from each game.

Rockman Zero 3:
-Childre Inarabitta
-Deathtants Mantisk
-Blazing Flizard
-Hellbat Silt

Rockman Zero 4:
-Pegasolta Equrell (I can't spell this guy's name >.<)
-Fenrir Lunaedge
-Noble Mandrago
-Sol Titanian

Beating all eight will result in a Live Metal object known as "Strange Stone". This later will be traded for Model O. Through Double ROCK ON, you can become Model OX.....which is nothing more than the form of Omega Zero you fight at the end of Zero 3. In other words, you are the final boss and you will have the saber abilities from the past games when using Overdrive. Pretty neat.

"Isn't OX nothing more than a stronger ZX?"

Model OX is way better than Model ZX. ZX has no O.I.S. (Overdrive Invoke System) and therefore is nothing more than a slightly weaker yet advanced (or stronger depending on how you look at it) version of Model X. Model OX is a super version of ZX. At first it does nothing more than turn you into Zero with the standard Zet-Saber. However, hit A and activate Overdrive. First thing you'll notice is that Overdrive lasts FOREVER. Not only that but you have all three elements at your disposal. Fire for Ryuusenjin (Up + Attack), Elec for Sonic Boom (Down + Attack), Ice for Kuuenzan (Attack in the air), and neutral for Rakuhouha (Down and buster). Also, ever shot from the Buster is a charged shot though you lose the Saber charge.

I forgot to mention that when Serpent uses Model V, he can control enemies. I should also mention that Girouette is not a human, but half human half Repliroid. After you obtain Model Z, Girouette sadly dies and becomes a Cyber Elf. He's gone off to join Zero and all the other dead heroes. :(

In the next month we hope to release a visual walkthrough at TUS so you can see the game step by step.

I find it weird that the fact that when a reploid dies, they become cyber-elves but over time- their 'shell' become fossils or 'Live Metal'. These metals are meant to aid you, and they are your mentors- meaning that they can talk since that's the one of the few ways that they can help you out besides lending their awesome power that they once had.

If those metals can talk, it also means that cyber elves return to their former shell. The only connection I see is somewhat on the spiritual side of the Eyptians. How the spirits of the dead travel back and forth and tend to go back to their original mummified body. I'm also weirded out by Live Metal X and Z. I thought they were both blown into smithereens; X by Eplizo, whatever his name his and Zero at the end of Megaman Zero 4. I also thought that Phantom went out with a boom.

Guts everywhere.

And yet, his Live Metal is intact just like the others. With this Live Metal concept is going on, you gotta wonder what happened to the other dead reploids in pre-Megaman X5.

Live Metal's don't come from the body. I believe they're born from the Cyber Elves. Apparently when Cyber Elves expire, they don't disappear completely, but instead become the Live Metal which holds the power of the original Repliroid. Also, I don't think the Cyber Elf stage is neccessary. Omega and Dr. Vile didn't neccessarily become Cyber Elves.

Since you mention Elpis though....Model E would be interesting.