[Ganon: Beast of Darkness]

I was looking on Wikipedia and I was researching Mega Man Legends 2. It said, at the end of Megaman Legends 2, something called the "Elder System" was activating. my question is, What exactly is the Elder System and why has it not been mentioned until the end of Legends 2?

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

... The Elder System is talked about during the game. Why not actually PLAY Legends 2 before making a thread asking "Y they no talk about it 'til end of game?". If you can't, go watch a YouTube playthrough. Either way, "What exactly is the Elder System and why has it not been mentioned until the end of Legends 2?" is completely useless for this thread. Since it's your question, it also makes this thread useless.

[Phi-Zero]

Ganon: Beast of Darkness, on 27 April 2011 - 12:13 AM, said:

I was looking on Wikipedia and I was researching Mega Man Legends 2. It said, at the end of Megaman Legends 2, something called the "Elder System" was activating. my question is, What exactly is the Elder System and why has it not been mentioned until the end of Legends 2?

We don't actually know what the Elder System is. All we know is that the Master System was created to oppose and contain it. Chances are the Elder System reactivating is really, really bad.

[Oakie620]

Rasengan_Boi, on 27 April 2011 - 01:40 PM, said:

... The Elder System is talked about during the game. Why not actually PLAY Legends 2 before making a thread asking "Y they no talk about it 'til end of game?". If you can't, go watch a YouTube playthrough. Either way, "What exactly is the Elder System and why has it not been mentioned until the end of Legends 2?" is completely useless for this thread. Since it's your question, it also makes this thread useless.

I have a better proposition: drop the deriding attitude and prove your claims. I do not recall a single mention of the Elder System prior to the ending and would very much like to see at least one example. Unless you haven't actually played the game or watched the playthroughs.

All that's known about the Elder System is that it was shut down by the Master's people at some point in the past. It was Sera's responsibility to monitor the Elder System and presumably prevent its reactivation. Based on the dialogue, it can be inferred that the Elders and their machines are dormant across Terra, and their activation would threaten the Carbon population. More details should be revealed in Legends 3 (assuming Capcom greenlights the full game).

[Phi-Zero]

Just because i feel like it, here's my theory of what the Elder System might be, based upon various discussions with other people on this website. I don't claim at all that this is remotely accurate.

The Elder System was the original collective of the Reaverbots. Reaverbots are in some ways similar to the kind of new life-form envisioned by Master Albert in MegaMan ZX: Advent: a life-form evolutionarily distinct from humans, Reploids, Humanoids, or MegaMen. If anything they most resemble the advanced Mechaniloids of the ZX series.

There was no infighting among the Reaverbots because they all obeyed one hive-mind or master. They reproduced and evolved into new forms, but never overpopulated or diverted from their purpose. They were all united by a single goal. It is easy to see how they or those responsible for them believed them to be superior to the overly individualistic, selfish Humans. So the Elder System attempted to exterminate Humankind, but the Humans fought back via the Decoys (a.k.a. "Betas" or "Carbons") and (possibly) their own "Reaverbot" machines. The Elders couldn't tell the difference between Decoys and Humans. So the true Humans remained safe while they built Elysium while the Decoys fought for them.

Eventually, Elysium was complete, and with it the Master System. The Master System overrode the Elder System and deactivated the Elders' leaders. The oceans rose, covering up almost all of the Elder System's facilities. Any remaining Reaverbots fell under the control of the Master System and its Mother Units, Sera and Yuna. And so the perfect utopia for the Humans was born, while the Decoys were allowed to live on Terra, governed by the units of the Master System, for as long as the Humans existed. However, either because the rest of the Humans died out in the war or because they all chose to die at different times, eventually the only Human left on Elysium was the Master.

As according to plan, the Decoys were to be disposed of and Humanity restarted on Terra once the last Human died on Elysium. Presumably, the new Humans would be advised and guided by the units of the Master System as they rebuilt civilization. The Humans of Elysium never really viewed the Decoys as equals to begin with, so allowing the Decoys to continue existing after the war was viewed as a mercy by the Humans. To avert future conflicts between Humans and Decoys (like what happened between the old humans and Reploids), the Decoys would be destroyed once Humanity was reborn on Terra.

That said, the Master prolonged his life for an extraordinarily long time because he was developing increasing sympathy for the Decoys. This eventually led the Master to ask MegaMan Trigger to destroy the Master System, while the Master himself died on Terra (perhaps due to being exposed to Terra's disease). Because the Master becomes an energy ball in Trigger's memory, maybe he became a Cyber Elf too, although it's also possible that this was meant to be symbolic rather than how the Master literally died.

Anyway, when Trigger succeeded in shutting down the Master System in MegaMan Legends 2, he prevented Humanity's rebirth but he also saved the Decoys. But ending the Master System had an additional effect; because the Master System was keeping the Elder System suppressed, the Elders can reactivate now that the Master System is no more....

So that's my two cents. It's a theory, but who knows how accurate it really is.