![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Long time no see, bud.
I've only played AC1 and 4A
started with 4A years ago and enjoyed 1 much more.
Great post. And because I've played many of the games myself, Id like to add some things:Despatche wrote:Alright folks, time for the Armored Core breakdown. Ignore all reviews of these games, they're always intentionally low scores puked out by idiots. It's like Musou scores but so much worse.
Gen 1 is the PS1 games. The exact sequence of events is unclear, and it's believed that Master of Arena is meant to be at least a partial remake of the first game. I'm not sure what's going on with Project Phantasma, it feels like a prequel story though, or maybe it's just totally a gaiden. Either way, later gens were more civilized with the sequence of events.
[*]Armored Core is a solid singleplayer experience. It's commonly recommended for this, and it's the most thorough singleplayer of gen 1. You can play multiplayer in it, but you want the next game for that. If I remember right, you will need to carry over Human Plus from this game.
[*]Project Phantasma is the game that introduced the Arena mode everyone likes so much. However, it also has a smaller singleplayer to make up for it. That aside though, it's also the best-playing of the gen 1 games competitively, due to having the overall best balance, as well as a very useful movement glitch (inherited from the previous game) that doesn't break the game and actually makes a lot of strategies more viable.
[*]Master of Arena is a great example of doing too much. It has a hilarious amount of singleplayer content (specifically, an entire disc of Arena fights), but there are a lot of silly parts and they removed the great movement glitch. Seriously, fuck the Finger. Unsurprisingly, this is also the game that commonly gets recommended. Dumb.
Gen 2 is the first set of PS2 games. They are intended to be distant sequels to the PS1 games, after all the old corporations were destroyed, and new corporations come in that take the fighting to Mars.
[*]Armored Core 2 is an excellent balance of Missions and Arena. Great as a singleplayer game. Multiplayer would be okay but the next game was made to fix most issues; this will become a thing going forward. As with AC1, you will need to carry over Human Plus from this game. Supposedly, there's a bug where the maximum Human Plus level doesn't work properly in this game (supposed to have been fixed in Another Age), but I've got no idea what's really going on there.
[*]Another Age is a love letter to Mission enjoyers and hate mail to Arena enjoyers. It has the absolute biggest set of Missions in any Armored Core game ever, multiple games worth. It's also one of the best multiplayer games.
Gen 3 is the second set of PS2 games, and is meant as a reboot. The setting resembles the gen 1 setting a lot, and feels almost like a genuine remake. These seem to be the most well-liked of the entire series, because of just how appropriately unsettling they are, while also having an excellent balance of all things people like about Armored Core.
[*]Armored Core 3 is simply very good, while having a few competitive issues that were fixed in the next game, just like Armored Core 2. This gen does not have Human Plus, and you instead unlock a cool cheat part called OP-INTENSIFY when you beat the game normally, which does similar things. Probably the better way of doing this, the Human Plus unlock is kinda annoying.
[*]Silent Line is simply one of the best games in the series, if not the best. Everything good about AC3, plus adjustments to multiplayer to elevate it to the top.
Around this point there was a game called Formula Front. This game has absolutely nothing to do with any other Armored Core game and is meant as an entirely unique take on the concept altogether. Play it or don't, it's a pretty strange game. There are many different versions of it, and I'm no longer sure which one is "best". Possibly the PSP game called Formula Front International...?
The next gen is commonly thought of as gen 3, but is largely a unique generation with its own gameplay changes and aesthetic. I believe the name "Gen N" gets thrown around on the internet. It is a sequel to gen 3, taking place about 50 years or so after. War never changes, though. Crazy shit happens in gen N.
[*]Nexus is a polarizing game. Funny enough, it's disliked for the reasons people liked Master of Arena. It's similar to Master of Arena in various ways, including entirely too much content (this time, an entire disc of remakes of older missions, especially from ye old PS1 games), and some very funny ideas of balance. Supposedly, the Nexus we got was an entirely different project from a previous game that was closer to AC3. Why the previous project was shitcanned is a mystery, but I'm gonna assume dumb company politics as usual.
[*]Nine Breaker is... everyone hates this game, but it's far more like Another Age and Silent Line in that it's a very good competitive game. People say they hate it because it has zero Mission content, yet nobody seemed to mind that Another Age had zero Arena content. It's also the ULTIMATE tutorial on classic Armored Core. Instead of Missions, you have extremely elaborate training stages. You get good at these, and you'll have a better idea on how to play every PS1/PS2 AC game than literally anyone who hasn't. Some people are starting to realize what Nine Breaker is really about, now, finally, but it's still going to take a long time for anyone to really care.
[*]Last Raven is even more like Master of Arena than Nexus. Nexus has the sheer content, Last Raven has the "doing too much" with the balance. Sadly, because everyone hates Nine Breaker, everyone says they like Last Raven instead as the best Gen N game, just like Master of Arena. Dumb 2.
Gen 4, if the above gen N is not already gen 4 enough for you, is when the series becomes completely different. This is full on head ass super robot nonsense now. Obviously, this is a total reboot, and is about as far removed from the gen 1/3 setting as you can get.
[*]Armored Core 4 is exactly like Armored Core 2 and 3, except with the wildly different gameplay of gen 4.
[*]For Answer is the game everyone plays competitively. It remains the one game people really care about, probably because it's always had actual netplay while also being P2P. There are still For Answer gods out there to this day.
Gen 5 is the gen everyone loves to hate, even more so than gen N. This is because of a combination of factors that don't really have anything to do with the game's quality: it attempts to return to the pre-gen 4 style, which was seen as a "regression"; and it was primarily a team-based game, which remains an utterly hated concept. See: people constantly trying to be lone wolves in every team-based game ever. In particular, these games had a strong online focus, which was not as liked then as it is now. The game itself is great, of course. It's a distant sequel to gen 4, in a time when everything has gone right back to gen 1/3-level shittery.
[*]Armored Core V is exactly like Armored Core 4 with the gen 5 gameplay, etc etc. The singleplayer is a bit lean, but it's about like Project Phantasma or something.
[*]And then Verdict Day is the game people play for multiplayer. Amazingly it's still up, but I imagine it'll get taken down when AC6 comes out. Shame. Verdict Day has more singleplayer though.
Daemon X Machina absolutely needs to get mentioned here. Some former From folks worked on this game in lieu of an actual AC6. This first game really feels like what AC6 would turn into, it's kinda like AC4 but a bit more reined in. This game has an excellent PC port on Steam, be sure to check it out. ALL that DLC is cosmetic, don't worry about ANY of it unless you actually want it.
And now, after 10000000000000000000000000 years, we have an actual gen 6 coming. Is it an actual reboot? Is it a distant successor to some previous game, in the most cameo-of-cameos way possible? Who knows.
[*]Fires of Rubicon is also the first game of a gen to have a subtitle. Maybe we're in the era of one-game gens, finally? So far the game appears to be similar to gen 4, but reined in a bit. Still looks like a crazy character action game though, just like AC4.
There's also a sequel to Daemon X Machine in development, Titanic Scion. Not sure when it's coming or if it'll even actually release at this point, with AC6 coming. Seems to be pretty far in development though. Since AC6 is coming out in fucking August, and they only showed off Titanic Scion last month, this will probably be a while, hopefully after all the hype for AC6 has calmed down.
So that's about 25~26 years of WOW!! COOL ROBOT!!!. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
By the way, I've written Reviews of AC1 and 2 for those who are interested (and can read germanDespatche wrote: Ignore all reviews of these games, they're always intentionally low scores puked out by idiots. It's like Musou scores but so much worse.
Certified first KF2 moment!Lander wrote:I died to the sea within 30sec, and to a giant squid shortly after
We've all been there! Or falling from the staircase in the nearby tower as you try to work out how not to accidentally throw yourself off it.Lander wrote:Only had chance to wander around a bit and find the first save, but it certainly has that signature From feel - I died to the sea within 30sec, and to a giant squid shortly after
Yeah, it's something that's been lost from games with rapid respawning checkpoint systems, a feeling of deaths carrying more "weight" to them makes that progress more meaningful.Getting dumped directly back to square one on death is great as well. Bit annoying to do the slow memory card load every time, but there's a sense of distance evoked by delving too deep into the underworld, getting immolated by something, and then waking up naked on that dim shoreline again.
I did! Spied it as soon as I found the pirate's map. Bit of a surprise to find a skeleton in such a safe place seeing how dangerous they are at the start - would have been a nasty shock if I'd been wallhumping from the get goSumez wrote:Did you find the chest with the skeleton behind a hidden door? This is mandated King's Field stuff.
That whole section is great. Nautical tightrope walking under fire, terrifying narrow corners, pretty setpiece, and double treasure! All the more tense for the player not having their tank legs yet.BareKnuckleRoo wrote:We've all been there! Or falling from the staircase in the nearby tower as you try to work out how not to accidentally throw yourself off it.
Just caught that live, and it didn't give me any mech souls doomer vibes. If anything I'd say they purposefully showed more traditional AC stuff - no sword combos, more box-dodging autoaim gunplay, a comfortably maximalist UI.KAI wrote:Damn, some people apparently already tried AC6 and the opinion is not good at all. They are also saying the music is super lame compared to the previous titles.
Seems like fromsoft really turned this game into mech souls after all.
Gameplay preview on yt scheduled for tomorrow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcDjyestr4Y
Some people from the biggest ac discord claimed they saw or played the game this weekend, but who knows if it was true. The music on that gameplay video was crap as they claimed tho.
Bahahah.. to quote the old JoJo meme.
There's two ways to go. Either you play the highlights and appreciate all the great experiences (KF2->ST->KF4->STA) or you do the whole shebang and follow the ups and downs, appreciating both the things they improved and the things they didn't (KF->KF2->KF3->ST->ER->KF4->STA)
BIL wrote: "Small sack, LOTS OF CUM" - Nikola Tesla