Trying to Explain my Complicated Relationship with Armored Core: A Ramble
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- I love Armored Core. I hate Armored Core. But more than anything else, I miss Armored Core.
The gameplay used in this video comes from around CZcams as well as from myself. The channels are linked below. Go check them out! They're better at these games than I am...
In order of appearance:
/ @goodgamewalkthroughs
/ @kgbx988
/ @acfoxeye
/ @nogod21
/ @videogameheaven
/ @cdmmxm
/ @egoxeno
/ @videogamedatabank
/ @_ongbal
/ @glp
[Grabs the popcorn]
Oh, boy. this is going to have more tangents than a geometry class.
"I love Armoured Core, fuck Armoured Core!"
Ah yes the true Armoured Core experience
I definitely agree on the bosses. It's not that there's too many, it's that it's just one after another. Spreading them out more between missions or even having some be their own dedicated mission would have helped relieve that and improve the pacing.
Thanks for the video Mage Leader, we’ll done. I feel you on the “they don’t make games for people like me anymore”
AC seems to have the same problems Dark Souls does. It focuses heavily on spectacle bosses, but doesn't give you the core tools to deal with them and resorts to crutches instead.
To give a Souls example, I did a SL1 run on DS1 and didn't truly struggle until the midgame. For all the accusations of the game being slow and clunky, it's actually so forgiving that you can play like a total moron and still succeed. But trying the same on Bloodborne or Elden Ring was absolute hell.
I don't feel like Elden Ring or AC6 respect me as a player. The answer to running into a wall on DS2 was "if you calm down and pay attention, you'll realise the boss is not that scary; your build just requires a more patient playstyle and to only go for the larger openings". The answer to Elden Ring bosses is "Mimic Tear".
And that's how AC6 has left me feeling. The answer to any challenge is Shotguns and Songbirds. Not to learn the dance, or build something that maximises my preferred approach, just bring a tank with Shotguns and grenade launchers.
I have had a lot of fun with AC6, but just like Elden Ring I can't shake the feeling I'd be having even more fun if From Software was less focused on making their bosses look amazing and more focused on making me feel like a badass.
Mimir tear and shotgun/songbirds are not the "answer", you chose to use them while you can clearly beat the game without them. You really talk like some mysterious thing forces you to use broken builds. Not saying it shouldnt be nerf (it should) or anything btw.
One more thing connecting AC and BT is mech designer: it's same guy who did AC4 art and japanese BT art.
And you may look at stagger mechanics as gyro overload. Still meh, yet somewhat headcanonable.
No wonder I love AC4 the most
I am definetley that guy you talked about at the end. Only vaguely heard about the series and interest was somewhat piqued because the game that made me a gamer was Mechwarrior 2: 31CC but I never tried it until AC6 (and i'm not a Soulsborne fan, I respect em, but I find they take too much mental investment, I dont mind hard, but I want the game to respect my time too and the capra demon tapped me out) and boy oh boy am I having a blast! I was wondering how older fans felt and well, now I know!
That said I still...oddly agree with you with AC 6 in some ways. While the bosses can be fun to fight in off meta builds they do limit build options (at least you can change after dying but yeah....they probably should have been one off missions) and the economy...doesnt really matter that much in the end if you are willing to grind. Nevermind like in AC4, good luck getting into Debt to begin with (but I still built an Economy build after realizing my heavy alpha-strike explosive tank that took out Baltaeus was costing me a pretty penny in CH2 and that opened the floodgates of mission tailored builds, but man imagine this game with something like Battletech's Merc management/Contract management mechanics and proper Sniper/Artillery builds, and more system options, heck I heard one of the older AC's had different OS voices depending on the heads you equipped which is a very cool touch)
Here's to getting the older ones released somehow! (And future ones pushing the economy and customization further) but in the meantime I'm still gonna tear through rubicon in my roomba of death
I find myself agreeing with you, basically. AC3 was the high point, and everything since then has been.. eh? I disliked 4/5 enough that I was wary that new-From's Souls focus would leak into 6, and it did.
Did you not get to play 4 Answer? Generally considered the series high point even if 4 wasn't the best.
@@SymmetricalDocking I hate 4A in particular. The DBZ fights aren't my thing. It just felt spectacularly low effort, and given all of From's development was on Souls, it probably was.
Good Vid Mage, It's interesting to hear what an older Raven thinks of how AC is at the moment. I grew up watching and playing AC4 and 4A so my perspective was skewed the opposite of yours on some points. Hopefully From will create some more AC stuff in the future to let fans of the older games have their day again or maybe just remaster the older games so they can be enjoyed on modern hardware.
To be fair, you can sell every other part but your starter kit. I assume this is because From Soft thinks their players are stupid enough to sell all their gear to buy something new only to realize their short, before having to resell and rebuy all the gear they had before to get a functioning AC. Regardless though the whole reselling mechanic massively pushed the melee only builds in previous editions since there was no way to earn more money if you hit a wall so you had to maximize your profits while knowing how to build your AC for the next fight, adding tedium to the trading that the grinding of older missions alleviates, to a certain degree.
Also of note, I too started with AC: Last Raven, so I know your pain.
Played it the game, AC1 was funnest for me. Thanks for the brutal but fun AC1 gameplay explanation. I do like your views of AC1-3. Not sure I would like later ones, I have played off and on AC4 and 5, didn't really care for them. I'm not sure the 60 buck price tag for newest one for me.
Great video
I'll gladly fold the clothes of anyone who plays AC6 on Xbox oh and you will still be in them when I do (also first)
Ah. I hope you've been practicing your jiu-jitsu well.
@@Jfund12 bold words for somebody in Pile Bunker distance
@@nerofoxkrell
Laughs in Assault Armor...
@@Jfund12 *laughs in two charges of assault armor*
Laughs in random militia
Last Raven isn't the first game to have duel analog stick controls, that was Nexus... also Ninebreaker (if you count it) had that. Still, I don't blame you for not knowing the details on this.
Edit: You are just, objectively wrong on Balteus. For the way you were fighting him, yes, that specific build was the only way at the level of analysis of the boss you did. But it is in no way required. I don't mean 'if you were a more skilled player' either, because people playing at roughly the level in your footage have done it with the starter parts. Plenty of people did it without that one specific build you found that worked.
I would be curious to hear the direction you wanted the series to go, because I'm sure you have a solid idea there and I'd like to know what it is.
I first tried an Armored Core game at a friend's house. Unfortunately, it was AC5 and no matter how much I tried to get into it, I just couldn't get the feel for it and that has irrevocably tainted my perception of anything Armored Core ever since.
Understand, the Mechwarrior 4 trilogy were the games I started my journey in Battletech with and that franchise, not AC, was what I grew up with. Consequently, my taste of mecha gameplay is very heavily influenced by all the control schemes and heavy, ponderous movement that I was used to in Mechwarrior games and contributes to why I could not for the life of me like Armored Core. In Battletech/Mechwarrior games, you are piloting a 20 meter tall bipedal tank. It's not a flashy, precision tool or Gundam grade duelist, it's a big, slow, walking death machine that deletes mountain ranges with biblical exchanges of thermonuclear ordanance. Even when in a medium or light mech, I am firmly planted into the ground and can more readily approach a mission with a strategic, thoughtful edge. By contrast, Armored Core is just too lightweight, too twitchy, and too fast for me to keep up with in a way that's just hard for me to put an exact finger on as to why. This is also not helped by a foreign control scheme.
Granted, AC5 is widely considered by many of my friends as one of the very worst in the series and described as: not Armored Core, which I found interesting when you mentioned it. Further compounding the problem, I also grew up with a PS1 in a PS2 era. We lived in North Dakota where getting anything in the early 2000s was difficult and expensive, we were very poor at the time, to the point where even replacing the PS1 should something have happened to it was a daunting proposition and we never had many games at all. The older games of AC do look fun and it's interesting to see the perspective of someone who has played most of the games. Unfortunately, these games were not in my childhood and will probably remain in the periphery of my attention for the forseeable future. I respect the franchise, and I probably would agree that the older games up to AC3 and some of the spinoffs are better games than a good number of modern titles. Mechwarrior itself has
similar issues as time marches on like we've seen with 5 and Online.
They just don't make them how they used to.
Good video, Mage. Looking forward to whatever you put out next.
To be honest, i enjoying a lot of armored core six, and to be fair, I've challenged myself (and suffered as a result) by using a light weight melee build, but at the end of the day, I feel as if it were to mix the economy/shop design of the older games with a slowed down version of its current games movement system, and just remove stagger, i think i will enjoy what comes next since they're planning on resurrecting the series again. Great video though, wish I could play those older games again...
My first AC I owned was A2:Another Age. Got to play Armored Core one borrowing from a friend.
thanks for the review I'll just keep playing the first three AC from the PS1 on my PS3. oh the one thing i liked about them is you can take you build over the the next game
You should give a try to front mission series. They perfectly merge the Japanese and western mecha aspect into one particular theme
I plan to at some point.
@@mageleader3699 when bro
@@dotmbarricade3424 Soon. Maybe I'll stream it.
@@mageleader3699I recommend you front mission 4. Hopefully you stream it this week
@@mageleader3699you should steam front mission 4 now!
I went back and played armored core 3 after playing armored core 6 and my god
what i found was an entirely different game, that in so many ways is just kinda better.
Old game jank aside, there is just so much more to it. Lots more builds are viable, non-boss enemies actually feel like a challenge. The entire arena is so much better, with so many enemies having a personality beyond just getting better, faster, stronger (which even that is debatable, considering how easy the S rank guys are in AC6).
Like AC6 is a fantastic game that i thoroughly enjoyed, but man AC3 is on a whole another level.
Thanks for the recommendations
i kina wish there was human plus in the new campaign, just so i can unlock more parts easyer. but game is wonderfull and I have waited over 20 years for an armored core to come to pc
The player character is Human PLUS canonically
well it Shure don't come with the characteristic benefits like firing shoulder weapons on the move in bipedal ect.
@@InquisitorJack
@@charlesballiet7074I'm just saying that's the story, not that the game mechanics translate. The old AC games didn't have a stability mechanic if I understand correctly
I'm a huge AC fan and I own all of the console AC games, just not the portable ones as they are rare as hell. Aside from that I have been a big fan of this franchise, and I am so happy they made AC6 after a decade of nothing but souls like games that I wasn't interested in. I'm still playing it and I will soon go through all the AC games I haven't fully beaten yet as, well you guessed it, the janky controls. But they are still fun and I cannot think of another mech series other than BattleTech that's batter than this. Dying is fun while you're screaming in excitement and laughter....also for other people....while you're screaming in excitement and laughter.
My favorite part of all the battletech games I've played AND the tabletop is the customization. My favorite games developer is Fromsoft. The fact I've never played any AC titles is becoming ridiculous
an excerpt from a AC4 patch sheet that I wrote up. wont bring everything down but it will bring back the skill of energy management. my question is regarding your thoughts on the mission statement
generator: objective - light builds flying, medium builds falling slowly, heavy builds dodging
more capacity and higher boost costs will force more planning and bring us closer to earlier game energy economies, forcing players to walk if they want to start a fight with a full tank, or get a quick regen of now precious energy
note: not entirely satisfied with these numbers. I'd want any high output generator to have a low capacity to ensure a generator that can enable flight has a disadvantage
Thanks for that intro Mage, really cleared up my mood after work since i grew up with Last Raven and Nexus
And yeah I really love those two but at the same time remember the middle schooler me broke the controller after defeating Pulverizer.... on the easiest route
Also agree with your opinion about not many parts to choose in AC6, i really liked window shopping and finally buying that expensive part really felt satisfying
Good video Mage, I like ACVI but I admittedly haven't played a lot of the older games. I have played pretty much all of the Souls Games except Elden Ring. And funnily enough I got excited for ACVI becuase of getting into Battletech. Thanks for sharing your honest opinion on things.
I love Silent Line, it's AC 3 with more stuff I still replay it as a comfy game every now and then
Never heard of armored core... only watch the whole video because Mage Leader. Would live some more 'Twist of the knife'
Played AC4 on GameCube around 2000. What a game. Customization to the max. New one is sick
Anyone know the song that plays at 27:52?
Great video, Mage Leader.
Agree wholeheartedly. And I love Gundam and also Zone of the Enders.
But, that's the thing. The Gundam Breaker games gave us Gundam. ZoE was Zoe. Armored Core was its own thing.
The second I saw that stagger meter I was worried and I was right. This soulification of the series is something that is really not for me. I liked the game alright but... for me it is too far removed from what I loved about the AC series.
To answer your question, the song is called "Get Off Him," from the game Air Combat.
@@mageleader3699 Much appreciated, sir!
Theres a gamestop now? There used to be only an electronics boutique in the mall. Sorry you're stuck in the backwoods, I certainly don't miss it.
thank you for the video. if I'm going to have a chance to truely fix AC4, I needed to hear your words on AC3 and before. great vid, great help
"Last raven" was my first and let me say someting:
Hey this mission require Night Vision.
Your AC has the only head that has that on the entire game?
No?
To bad, reset your save game. Lol
I'm pretty sure I still got a copy of silent line. But doing the carry over from 3, you're kinda missing out.
Loved AC4. I like the new one too cuz I'm a customization whore. But I definitely agree with the market mechanic in the new one. Saving for that crazy expensive part was amazing in AC4
Good video Mage, understandable opinions all around.
I think you got a little confused at times. AC4 is definitely Zone of the Enders like you said, but you kept saying Gundam while almost every Gundam is closer to AC1-3.
What's also fun is I've seen complaints that AC6 is too close to AC3 instead of 4A.
Heheh....AC V Verdict Day was my first Armored Core game 😅 loved my cannons and quads.
honestly, i've thought about trying AC6 someday, but got turned off after seeing the difficulty it has, but AC3 does look like something i would probably enjoy
I disagree with a lot of what you said but I can understand and respect your perspective.
Starting off for AC6’s shop and economy I do think they drastically nerfed how heavy repair and reload costs are because it’s been so long since the last ac game and a lot of new players would despise suddenly having to deal with massive debt seeing it as horrible artificial difficulty. Vets may see it differently but it’s a view that needs to be respected. You still won’t be rolling in cash till the end of the campaign without replaying missions and yes they could’ve locked replay behind completing the campaign but you can also just chose not do replay any missions till you beat the campaign. Pick your own difficulty. As for locking parts behind progression I don’t think it’s just to control difficulty. If you see everything there is to buy except for a few hidden and challenge parts from the start why not just b line toward whatever build you want? Unlocking new parts as you progress becomes a point of encouragement to keep going. Even if you’ve found a build that works well having new parts show up makes you wanna try something new to see what it’s like.
Moving onto weapons equipment, while I do some weapons need to be buffed to be as fun as other stuff I don’t feel they lock you into a certain style. In my first run I beat both balteus and the sea spider in 2 attempts using a long range plasma based build which honestly had terrible stagger ability but my dps was so high I lost one of my attempts against balteus because we killed each other at the same time. Yes there are setups that can trivialize these missions but that’s inherent to most games that allow you to customize your setup to such a degree while going up against ai that have set patterns. I think the no hit runs and thematic build runs of bosses perfectly show the follies inherent to ai’s set patterns.
Finally I understand the frustration with the stagger system and it could probably do with some refinement but I personally feel it’s makes more in-tune with my mech. Rather than just watching a chunk of my health disappear I take heavy blow from a latter cannon and feel my mech lerch to a stop in response. I don’t just take machine gun fire and watch my health whittle away but get stumbled by a concentrated burst. Heavier mechs shove off the stagger build up much better but light builds recover faster when they do get staggered. It’s overall a decent way to show the kind of damage your taking in a game like this where as something like mech warriors part loss system just doesn’t work and ends up feeling arbitrary in a game that plays like this.
I’m not saying ac6 doesn’t have its flaws and hasn’t been casualized in some aspects to bring in newer audience but I do think it’s one of the most well polished ac games while both bringing it up to modern standards and straddling the line with the old fan base who’re split up among the various generations of ac that vary more than most other game series. One major thing I hear a lot that I don’t think is talked about enough is how natural the movement feels to people. Whether they be first timers or old vets many mentions how quickly they felt in tune with the movement. I honestly can’t wait to see what the future holds with this as a stepping stone.
"If it wasn't in a Bangor bargain bin"
Well ooh-la-dee-da Mr. Fancy. Some of us had to settle for Ellsworth!
Kidding aside, very similar experience on my end. Started with 2, loved it and 3 and when I finally got hold of some of the spin-offs I ran into some of the BS difficulty. Eventually I got 4 and... I actually had a very hard time with it cause I was so locked in how the previous games worked. Needing to switch to speed when I legit enjoyed being Mr. Tank really hindered me and I ended up not really liking the direction, similar to what you mentioned for Balteus. Skipped 5, not a multiplayer guy, and now... Eh... Eventually I might get 6.
After so much time I've come to understand the speed aspect but still think I prefer the classic style so it's lower on my buy list. I like ZoE, but I liked it for being ZoE. I like AC when its AC, and honestly I think they went the wrong direction. I would have gone for more of a strategic shooter than all out speed so... Oh well.
I have Silent line and man does it bust your ball if you are not on point! But I kinda like it~!
I havent played Armored Core 5 or 6. My experience with Armored Core goes way back when I first played AC Master of Arena at a Game-X-Change back in 1999.
Years later I got Armored Core 2 Another Age from a Wal-Mart, and discovered you really wanted to get Armored Core 2 for the Human+ bonuses. I collected most of the Armored Core games for the Playstation 2, but I ended up selling them for some stupid reason, but also found faults with the series overall.
Personally I like Armored Core 1 series best. While the Ps-1 graphics are old, the weapons in that game are amazing. There is a Bazooka with 50 rounds. Pulse Rifles with the range of sniper rifles and 180-200 shots. Pulse and Laser Cannons with high ammo counts and low weight.
Armored Core Master of Arena started a bad trend of Nerfing equipment between games. Presumably this was done to facilitate PVP/Arena fights.
Armored Core Core 2 started another trend of introducing new elements(Extensions, Inside Parts, Core Special Moves) to games but not actually fulfilling what I wanted, better equipment.
Armored Core 3 series was bloated with 5-6 games, Armored Core 3, Armored Core Silent Line, Armored Core Nine Breaker, Armored Core Nexus, Armored Core Last Raven, and Armored Core Formula Front for the PSP. I remembering hating Nexus because it got rid of the Human+ special bonuses entirely, just making the game difficult. I havent played Last Raven, but I heard with was an extremely hard Finale. They had 7 games on the Playstation 2!
Armored Core 4 was a big change to the formula of the games. Now you has Primal Armor forcefields and could fire multiple weapons simultaneously instead of switching through each one. That sounds cool, until I realized that meant I expected to have a huge thumb to push every button simultaneously every combat. I remember a cool thing in that you could make a build with a low booster to drain to basically continuously Fly.
Behind the scenes FromSoftware were releasing expansions which was very unusual for game consoles. That added another problem in which case you greatly benefited and were expected to buy the previous games. While computer games often had expansions PS1 games didnt.
The problem overall with the Generation 1-4 series goes back to part balance issues and 1V1 fights. Armored Core 1 was designed more like a PVE game so the weapons parts were very effective as mentioned before. In later games I hated that the parts were often so poorly balanced that the games were often not fun. From Gen 1-3 unless you had Tank Legs or the Human+ bonuses you couldnt use Cannon type weapons while moving, limiting you to either Missiles that would often get shot down or Manually-Aimed Rockets. It was like you had all this equipment, but only a handful of weapons were actually useful. I generally took a Laser Rifle and a couple Laser Cannons in the back slots while using tank legs. More and more as the series went on you were expected to fight what were basically boss battles. Other Armored Cores, Giant MTs, Arms Forts, etc.
The series was kind of going to a Dark Souls format of making these big cool looking boss battles. Dont get me wrong, I love the Souls' Series, but in those games you could upgrade your equipment so a difficult boss battle could be an easy boss battle later.
Kinda get your take and why I did not play ac 4 and 5 though I did enjoy AC 6 but hey we all antiquated boomers here who enjoys actual good games
Have you ever tried the Front Mission series of games? Most are turn based and story driven games, until Square Enix made Front Mission Evolved into a shooter game more like Armored Core.
I haven't, but I've always meant to
Evolved isn't armoured core like. It's front mission like. The gameplay is very votomish. If you watched armoured trooper votoms anime you would know
@@mageleader3699the 4th title was really fun. I would recommend it
Why do you miss it? The new game has been out for over a week
My first AC game was Nine Breaker for the PS2, wasn't very good at it (the controls broke me) but enjoyed tinkering with the mechs. Having a blast with AC6 tho!
I would absolutely love to get into the older armored core games but the absolute tragedy that is the controls of those games prevent me
Look into the True Analog Control patches.
I actually like Last Raven and considering one of the best games in the series next to Silent Line, For Answer, and Verdict Day.
19:58 this smg pistol is the laser blade in AC 6 lol
You mentioned Gundam and Ive played some of them. Armored Core is better in my opinion. In Armored Core games you can pick Machine Guns with huge ammunition stores and rapid fire, Bazookas with high power but slow firing and low ammunition, and various types in between. Even from the beginning you could mix weapons. Carry a machine gun, a grenade launcher cannon, a guided missile launcher, and the traditional laser blade.
Gundam Crossfire on Ps3 has to using a mobile suit and leading a team. The robots you drive are clunky, which gives the game a roleplaying aspect because you are using Generation-1 mobile suits which were like World War 2 tanks. You could upgrade individual machines for you team, but not do something like take a weapon off one mobile suit and put it on another. The upgrades are more like a RTS game where you upgrade a slightly better gun. Most of the upgrades I picked were the ones to just carry more ammunition. It doesnt matter if you have 5% better offense or defense. It does matter if youre carrying 50% more ammunition.
Compare that to Journey to Jaburo on the Ps2 of which is half about the campaign mode that covers up about 2/3rds of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime. The other half is a unusual side-story of completing scenarios and unlocking robots with no stories or upgrades. You just play it to unlock more mobile suits to pilot. Oh and fun cutscenes of characters congratulating you. Its weird how happy seeing Gihren Zabi telling me I did a good made me.
Then compare those to Dynasty Warriors Gundam that are all hack-and-slash/beat-em-ups the same as most Dynasty Warriors games. In these ones you can upgrade your unit stats, but not actually changes weapons or the like.
====================================
I don't like everything about FromSoftware's games, but they do understand Variety in gameplay. In their Dark Souls games there are numerous weapon types so a short sword, an ultra greatsword, and a spear operate very different.
Its a problem when something you like gets changed in other games because they seem to hate routine. I still remember how in Demon Souls you had a regenerating mana meter. That got replaced in Dark Souls 1 with limited spell charges. Dark Souls 1 has some powerful spells. Those spells were nerfed into nearly useless states in Dark Soul 2. Its about understanding the Patching Paradigm between their games.
Armored Core, Project Phoenix, Master of Arena, AC 2, AC 2 Another Age, AC 3. Beat and mastered all of them! Back in the day you could carry your saves to the next game. It was amazing!!!
Ive owned AC 4 and 5 but haven't really played them just bought them for nostalgia reasons. Their controls were a little... 😢
I gotta disagree with the series losing itself it's been slowly building up a more advanced tech setup in the first game you can barley boost things slowly advance I gotta approve of that even if they advance in dumb ways on occasion
There's a fine line between games that challenge and games that aggravate the player to the point of hypertension. When a game becomes, 'work' ... I'm out.
What ?
man on that note, last raven is... Alot of work
maybe im not that good but damn that game kicks your ass
twin chainguns aren't overpowered in ac6, and you do not need to play around stagger.
There's about a dozen weapons that are better than chainguns, once you start seeing the nuances of each of them and if you build your AC for these options. You're also not funneled into using specific builds. I use medium to long range harris rifles, which are available after spider as far as I know, everyone tells me this is shit and I'm more than happy to show them that it shreds without compromises. I'm not trying to sell the harris rifles there, I'm trying to sell the idea that build diversity is actually fairly wide. I feel you haven't engaged enough with Armored Core 6 to offer a reliable assessment, and I'm sorry you haven't, it's a great game once you take it away from the expectations you might have of it.
Actually, not even from told you to expect an armored core game, the marketing paint it as a reboot, the tagline on steam is this: "A new action game based on the concept of the ARMORED CORE series that uses the knowledge gained from FromSoftware's recent action game development."
Continuing into the video: There's 5 boss encounters across the entirety of your 3 playthroughs that require effort. Most are about as seamless as the mission itself. and of these 5, there's 2 you need to beat three times, the subsequent two times are really trivialized by having much better options, and another you need to beat twice, little bit less trivialized, but still much easier on your second go around. There's something like 50 missions ?
Am also an older gamer, and to me, this game nails the retro feeling of playing a fast paced boomer shooter just right, and the thing you're dunking on the game for don't stand once you engage on a deeper level than "haha chainguns make meter go brr". I also feel your perspective is tainted by your nostalgia for old armored core, which clearly holds a special place in your heart.
I am a "gaming boomer" (atari pong/combat honestly this kind of classic AC fan only seems to make me glad I never played the other AC's.
the 2 common themes i see from old AC fans in regard to the New AC basically boil down to 1)an argument revolving around "darksouls bosses in AC make game too hard"
2) complaints about the gameplay feeling different from the older ones(that everyone admits controlled like DOG-ISH).
the thing I don't get is why let your love for old games taint your appreciation of the new ones?
I really wish people would take in new games as they are,........ try and actually play the game in the way devs spent years of thought/work into making. It may actually be more fun when played objectively, than what you already love.
no sequel is gonna be perfect so the real question is, Is it fun? if it's as fun, or more fun than the others why complain?
"You don't need to play around stagger"
Objectively false. Direct hits are too powerful to ignore. Zimmerman and Stun Needle Cannon are as OP as they are specifically because of their ability to both put you into stagger and their insane damage on staggered targets. Needle cannons in particularly are magnificently lethal as they can both take a target over into a staggered state and then take advantage of direct hit bonuses with their delayed secondary damage in the same singular shot.
Its basically Poise in DS, and direct hits are more or less a more accessible way to achieve the same effect as a back or front stab on a poise-broken target. Sure you can 'not play around stagger' like how you can 'ignore backstabs' in DS, but in doing so you give up a significant advantage for nothing which can and at some point will cost you the match. Take a good long look at the pilebunker (In addition to the previously mentioned Zims and Needle cannon) and tell me the game doesn't heavily incentivize you to generate and take advantage of stagger.
Now, I don't have an opinion yet as to if this is a good or a bad thing, but to say you don't need to play around it (Which implies having the ability to ignore it both offensively and defensively) is, I don't mean to be rude, one of the more ridiculous statements I've heard so far regarding this mechanic. Even Oroboro's HAL9000 relies on staggering the opponent just before the coral nukes land. There's more I'd like to respond to, but that would muddy the point and invite a protracted argument that I am not interested in dealing with today, so I'm leaving it here.
@@CountSpartula I've had this discussion 10,000 times already, I play with linears at range, and I s-ranked all the boss by using chip damage, not bullshit burst with meme weapons. I litterally play like that, it's not because you don't know you can that it can't be done.
Stagger do happen, but they're a happy coicidence, not a necessary thing.
Edit: Not saying that playing around stagger isn't a legit choice either. I'm saying that there's playstyle diversity.
@@FlavorsomeMusic Four things. Firstly, the number of times you've had this conversation is an utter irrelevancy.
Secondly, are you incapable of having a disagreement without being a rude little shit? Far be it from me to infringe on your expression, I just want to note that it hampers you far more than anything else. Older gamer my ass, I'd expect some maturity from you with a tagline like that.
Thirdly, with the number of hours i've dumped into this already I'm fairly certain that I do know how to play that way. Infact, it is my preferred playstyle which is why I find the PVP rather frustrating. So please dispense with the asinine presumptions towards a person you know exactly squat about and to this point has made efforts to be actively polite.
Lastly, you are aware that a disagreeing viewpoint, unless otherwise stated, is not an innate invalidation of how YOU play the game yes? To assume so is childish.
Now with your hissy fit out of the way, perhaps I can do the heavy lifting of the conversation and elaborate to ease your utter dearth of understanding towards my point.
I never said it couldn't be done, I said that you needlessly give up a very significant advantage. I am also speaking primarily in terms of the PVP side of the game, where what I say is very much the case, and even still however it is also not up for debate that the game heavily encourages staggering and direct attacks even in the singleplayer mode. To summarize for your tiny brain: You can do it, but everything in the game's design is telling you NOT to ignore stagger. Even you, with your playstyle (See: My playstyle), you have admitted to taking advantage of it when it happens even if you don't intentionally seek them out.
You might speak from experience, but so do I. And by the sounds of it, I perhaps speak with a little bit more in areas of the game you clearly haven't touched. Now next time, either engage with the points or go pound sand, no one has the time or care to deal with your infantile offense-taking.
@@CountSpartula
you don't "NEED" to play around anything,.....it just makes the game easier.
I have a long range full energy weapon build, on a super light mech. it just happens to be one of the most versatile builds i play. I basically ignore stagger on that mech because, trying to burst stagger certain enemies just overheats my guns while i could be doing constant damage to his hp. if i ignore the stagger bar and focus on my distance/overheat enemies die faster than if i had tried to focus my damage on stagger periods. with that build stagger is just a bonus and not so much a thing "you need to play around". it's also one of 3 builds i have that are versatile enough to clear missions with bosses at the end.,...and i don't have to worry about switching load-outs or conserving ammo(the other 2 have melee weapons to compensate).
Good retrospective and review.
Master of Arena is the best Gen 1 AC game by far. Also, Why the heck with all of the amazing soundtracks to all of the Armored Core games did you use so much music from other games? I mean the moment you dropped a track from Air Combat on top of the trailer footage of Armored Core 4... It just doesn't fit the tone of that game, or any of the Armored Core games for that matter.
Because Ace Combat has better music. Fite me.
Have you ever play S.L.A.I. (Steel Lancer Arena International) [PS2] or Phantom Crash [X-Box] ?
Would you cover them or are they not of interest to you?
I haven't played them, but I may give them a try.
@@mageleader3699saw this intensely cultured gentleman's comment, and I must say, you really should dig into them. I would recommend starting with Phantom Crash, personally, as SLAI is a lot more complex outside of the core loop, but by all that is stompy robit games, are they both wonderful.
gotta majorly disagree on the acs armored core 2 sucks because every little shot in the early game staggers you fuck that I"d rather have a bar
... For Answer was the only AC I was ever able to muck about with. Glad to know it was a terrible example of AC.
If you have a PC, try the original game with the DuckStation emulator.
@@mageleader3699 I think it's closer to a potato than a PC but I'll look into it.
It's not a terrible example at all. He's just an old gen diehard, and that's fine. I started out with AC2 and played on from there. I've loved all of them except 5/VD for many reasons. I also just go into each entry with an open mind instead of instant skepticism. Dude simply enjoys slow lumbering mechs. I prefer them to have decent agility. Otherwise, they're just slow walking targets. FA is great, definitely better than 4 and yeah it has Gundam influence... FromSoft has made Gundam games in the past.
@@SSpider41 To be fair, I kinda liked Chromehounds. I haven't had the twitch reflexes for the hyper fast paced games since highschool.
Yeah.. after watching the gameplay.. it really is a skill issue. I wouldnt be able to enjoy most of these titles either if i had problems with the controls like that. I mean from the gameplay itselfe it seems the player has the object permanence of a goldfish XD Still.. respect that you uploaded your own gameplay..
V and Verdict day however really where black sheep.. From soft went all in on multyplayer, wich they sucked at... hard. They sacrificed 2/3rds of the game for a feature that was poorly balanced and thought out and that no one played. The result was that the game felt like it had about 10 enemy types only and relied heavily on enemy AC encounters every second mission or so.
Anyways, as other From soft titles that put the studio on the spotlight with other industry titans Armored core 6 demands that you are good at playing video games, and if youre good you get a cookie... if youre not good however? You get punched in the face till your skill improves. But that is exactly what made From Soft successfull. If this isnt for you.. thats fine... the game isnt for you. But calling it a bad game because it doesnt match your prefered gameplay style? Yeah no XD Sorry but this time i have to disagree with you.
ALSO:
First you bemoan that AC6 is keeping the overpowered builds from you in order to "curate" its difficulty curve and you cant build a OP AC from the word go... and then you bemoan the fact that the dual miniguns are to OP? Could you make up your mind my dude? XD
The fact that some old AC fans hate AC6 just left wondering if AC should have been brought back at all. Either way, these kind of players are never satisfied. No new game = angry. New game is not like the games i remember = also angry 😐.
And? At least we are not brain dead hivemind like you NPC people who latch on anything what is mainstream. Do you think people would give single f about Armoured core if it wasn't from a popular developer like fromsoftware. Just look at front mission, gungriffon and other mecha franchises who have born and gone by . Yet nobody cared about.
@@dotmbarricade3424 lol, lmao even. Thinking knowing about some lesser know genre, games or franchise makes you unique or superior in any way is pathetic, elitism at its worst. Firstly, AC6, is far from mainstream, even tho its the most "popular" AC game. Ask your average gamer if they know about AC as a franchise or AC6, or if they even care about it rofl. I swear you ppl are so stuck in your little bubble that you forgot what mainstream really means. Don't complain "nobody" care about mech games in the west, because if it wasnt, if it was popular, you would also be mad, because previously very niche games/franchise don't become popular without change.
Thats kinda of a gay ass retrospective