From Software 'n such

[bcass]

I'm still playing it, despite having completed NG++ weeks ago. Replaying bosses and certain missions with different builds is still fun. After all the recent AC4 / AC5 talk in this thread I really want to move on to those soon. I'm interested to know what the sales numbers of this are. I know online articles have stated >1.3 million for Steam in the first few weeks. At a guess, I imagine it's going to do Sekiro numbers (around 5 million total), which I recon will be above their estimates. I don't think this will get DLC. It's clearly a B-team release, which is not an issue given that From's B-team is better than everyone elses A-team. It's a shame, as I would at least like a mode where all the bosses can be selected individually, rather than having to go through missions to get to them.

[bcass]

As an aside, I think this game is sorely missing co-op. I think there should have been a special co-op mode where you can co-op harder versions of all the missions - more aggressive enemies, greater number of enemies, enemies / bosses with more HP. That kind of thing would have kept me playing for many more months.

[evil_ash_xero]

As an aside, I think this game is sorely missing co-op. I think there should have been a special co-op mode where you can co-op harder versions of all the missions - more aggressive enemies, greater number of enemies, enemies / bosses with more HP. That kind of thing would have kept me playing for many more months.

Agreed. I'm surprised it's not in this game. As said, some odd choices made here.

[Lander]

While I love talking about older games... a new AC just came out. Nothing more to say on that one?

Still cooling from the S-rank burnout, myself though I'm already looking forward to returning for some full-committal gimmick runs once the series' full measure is fresh in my mind.
The Sekiro-esque ninja parts in particular look like great fun, and then there's exploring the arena schematics, that one ultra light build I didn't put time into... 6 is going to be a keeper for sure.

Speaking of special runs, I saw someone do a Nuzlocke of Last Raven - 5 totally randomized ACs, permadeath on each one, random mission choices, earnable rerolls on mission success - and it's the most interested I've been in such a run, despite failing very quickly due to the game's punishing build difficulty.
Seems like it could be an interesting thing to do for 6, since the pool of viable parts is wider than the old games, and there are tons of weird ones that are otherwise easy to pass up.

Plus, the balance patch! I hear they buffed a bunch of weapons and nerfed Balteus / Sea Spider a bit.

I'm going thru NG+. It's not my favorite thing, as the difficulty doesn't increase. It does have some harder missions, but you're coasting thru a lot of the others as you have late game
weapons and chips.
There's a lot of balance issues I have with this game. That's my only major gripe. I'm pretty baffled that NG+ isn't harder overall. Very strange design choice.
Maybe they just wanted to make sure people played it three times to get the whole story?

In retrospect, it's essentially the play-it-again structure of Nexus, Last Raven and For Answer, but with the expectations of a Souls-y NG+. 3 / Silent Line (and I assume 1, 2 / Another Age) just give you the full set of missions in Free Play once you're done, with missing rank indicators handily demarcating stuff you haven't played.

It made a bit more sense for the classics, since they have explicit loyalty bars determining which missions the corps will trust you with. Though only LR and 4A actually tie unique endings to their branches, where the others just use it to dictate how the war plays out before converging on the finale - 4A even does the same thing of hiding major route switches until playthroughs 2 and 3, which seems maybe unnecessary outside of gating certain super hard missions.

If I were to put my designer apologist hat on, I'd guess it's to better frame alternate paths within the story structure; Unrestricted Free Play and an EX Arena at the end would have been convenient, but but also would have thrown out any sense of narrative structure for the other routes.

[bcass]

I just completed AC4 using RPCS3, US version with all the patches (regulation files) installed. Works perfectly, mostly a solid 60FPS except during a few of the larger explosions. Initially had a few crashes, but setting the NVIDIA driver to force v-sync for RPCS3 fixed it. NOTE: do not have RPCS3 v-sync and NVIDA v-sync active as it will make things worse. This is my first AC game after having just completed AC6 NG++. Here are my observations:

- Out of bounds is very annoying, would much rather have the invisible walls from VI.
- Music generally forgettable.
- Feeling of connection with weapon hits often feels woolly and unsatisfying.
- Art style is decent, as epected from From.
- Controls feel very unrefined compared to VI.
- No non-AC boss battles (I'm guessing this goes for most or all of the prior AC games).
- Probably the worst menu system ever seen in a video game.
- Lots of unique missions / designs that are not used in VI.
- Some of the prerendered video cutscenes are actually really good and hold up well.
- Mission goals occasionally obtuse.
- Story ~ mostly nonsense, easily ignorable and unobtrusive (as it should be).
- Has the same weird mission balancing as VI that lurches from comically easy to frustratingly hard with not much in between.
- The Chapter 5 "Jardin de Chavalier" mission is hilarious - just stand at the opening she tries to enter from, and keep firing genade launchers - S-Rank without ever having to move.
- "Kojima"

Other than all that, much of the combat feels familiar to VI. Working out which loadouts work for each mission isn't super-complicated, and it has the same satisfying hook when you work out a good loadout for a mission. Any knowledge gained in VI will be useful here. I've read that this is a lesser AC title, and I can definitely see that. Luckily you don't have to complete every single mission to complete the game, with some of the more annoying ones being avoidable. I have little desire to go back and complete the couple of missions I didn't complete. With all that in mind, if you have just finished VI as a previous AC-virgin, AC4 should probably not be your next choice, although it isn't awful by any means, just an above average game that I would suggest putting further down your list. Overall, 7/10. I read that For Answer is a superior title, which is what I may play through next.

In both game's favour (IV and VI), I really like how bite-sized they are. They do not overstay their welcome, and they know when they are done. I really hope all the games are like this in this respect. It's a refreshing change in design pace. Small games that leave you wanting more are sorely missing these days, and this genre fits the bill perfectly.

[bcass]

AC For Answer completed (using RPCS3). Here are my observations:

- You will need to pay more attention to builds in this game compared to AC4.
- Mission variety generally more interesting compared to AC4.
- Some of the music is improved over the previous game, the eerie pieces remind me of the unusual style found in Demon's Souls. The "rock" / "guitar" tracks are the lesser tracks, it's obvious why stuff like this doesn't appear in AC6.
- Out of bounds is doubly annoying in this. Really comes across as very poor game design, a big surprise for a From game, even an early one.
- Super clean graphics, they look great.
- Some very poor frame rates at certain points very early in the game, that even RPCS3 can't overcome. This is rare though. Still, watching some old youtube videos of the game running on original hardware made me grateful for not having to play it on those platforms.
- Interface vastly improved over previous game.
- Combat feels tighter compared to AC4.
- Better feeling of weapons actually hitting targets compared to AC4.
- Really like the way you can buy combat support in some of the missions (ACs that help you at cost). They're not always especially useful, but it's a fun option and some of their dialogue is mildly amusing.
- Some cool cinematics.
- Some mission objectives still obtuse.
- Generally more challenging compared to AC4.
- Too many time-limit missions - even back in the early 2000s this was lazy game design.
- Some neat gimmick missions.
- Not a fan of the extreme levels of customisation. I think they balanced it better in AC6. That said, you probably won't need to go too in-depth if you just want to clear the game, with the more detailed customisation geared more towards PvP and S-Ranking missions.

Overall, definitely a step-up from AC4, but still a long way from the refinement in AC6, at least in terms of non-PVP content. I will likely come back to this to do whatever missions I may have missed on my first playthrough. Final score: 8/10, a nice improvement over 4.

[Lander]

That was quick!

Gen 4 is nicely paced - 4A is probably my favourite of the older campaigns, since it can be blown through quick and branches + consequences are distinct.

Definitely worth going back for, though word to the wise: Look up the mission path ahead of time for playthroughs 2 and 3, since picking wrong can waste a run, and you'll already be sinking time into challenges that make Defend Arteria Cranium look easy.

Out of bounds is very annoying, would much rather have the invisible walls from VI.

Yeah, this has been a consistent annoyance in my trip through the older games - I'll take invisible walls over invisible death zones any day.

Gen 4 at least has universal radar and sensibly-defined bounds; some of Gen 3 has a nasty habit of putting the boundary a few meters before a perfectly good actual wall, or having enemies freely move in and out of it during combat. It could be seen as a sim thing of the corporations trying to rob you on a technicality, but there's nothing fun or experience-enriching about it.

Probably the worst menu system ever seen in a video game.

Plenty more where that came from, with the exception of Last Raven

I thought data-only parts were neat in 4, but the awkward nest of menus and one-at-a-time part display makes it more difficult to care about customizing. Definitely an aspect you have to reach a compromise with to get the most out of the older games.

- The Chapter 5 "Jardin de Chavalier" mission is hilarious - just stand at the opening she tries to enter from, and keep firing genade launchers - S-Rank without ever having to move.

Oh

I was ready to rush to 4A at that point, so hard-way'd it with my plasma cannon + machine gun build; wild dashing around the cramped box room to keep out of blade range, and hoping that spray-n-pray would wear her down despite the dirtbag lock-on disabler.

From seem to have a thing for female AC pilots with ridiculous fast mechs and paradigm-breaking strategies. Valkrie from Gen 3 is similar, except flying, and the player is the one picking a garage map to try and get an edge.

[bcass]

For the final duo boss in For Answer, I got each one of them to chase me (one at a time) down the narrow alleyway that you start the mission in, which stopped them dashing out of view every 2 seconds. Made the mission much easier.

[guigui]

I lay somewhere between the beginning and the end of an Elden Ring blind run.

That is a big map, and there are plenty of burnt and crazy in it.

[evil_ash_xero]

How difficult is VI compared to the older games? Cutting out the major boss battles.

And I don't mean like running out of time or money. Just in terms of getting killed. I played a batch of missions in For Answer and everything was cannon fodder. My biggest
enemy was time and resource management (and turning around). That being said, VERY early game. So, I have no idea what's coming up.

[bcass]

Can only talk about IV and For Answer, but I would say that generally they are easier than VI.

[evil_ash_xero]

Can only talk about IV and For Answer, but I would say that generally they are easier than VI.

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure if I'm going to finish 4A.

Also, it was announced that Sekiro sold 10 million copies. I guess it got that ER boost. Great to hear. Such a brutal game, so it's cool to see it sell that well. Too bad we never
got DLC for it.

[Lander]

Gen 4's difficulty is less even than VI's. It tends to swing between easily stomping on mooks to reinforce the NEXT power fantasy, challenging duels with competent PvP AIs, and getting stomped into the ground by an axe gang or particularly nasty arms fort.

Chapter 1 is mostly easy walkovers, with Chapter 2's Defeat White Glint and Chapter 3's Defeat Red Rum & Starka setting the pace for duels and ganks respectively.

Chapters 4 and 5 are where the really tough stuff is, though the biggest challenges are gated behind playthroughs 2 and 3, similar to VI.

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, I was very curious where it ranked in terms of difficulty. Mainly stages, and not the boss battles. Because we all know the
gap between those in VI.

I guess I was just thinking "why would From make this series easier, when they have gotten notoriety from making hard games?". So, I'm assuming this
is kind of the norm. Well, at least compared to Gen 4.

I still REALLY wish they would add hard versions of stages like For Answer has. From have gotten very stubborn about everyone having the "same experience".
And sometimes I see the point, but I don't see how it would hurt here.

[KAI]

I would say old games (gen 4 and 5 in particular) are easy, but the controls can be really hard to master, while 6 is easier to control but has harder missions and bosses.

Btw, beated ACV a few weeks ago and now Im planning to replay VD with data transfer. Still cant believe how stupid the last boss from V was. Since that dinosaur was massive, only took me 15 secs to beat it by unleashing rockets nonstop at close range. That must have been the most broken thing I've seen on this series so far.

[Lander]

Btw, beated ACV a few weeks ago and now Im planning to replay VD with data transfer. Still cant believe how stupid the last boss from V was. Since that dinosaur was massive, only took me 15 secs to beat it by unleashing rockets nonstop at close range. That must have been the most broken thing I've seen on this series so far.

How is Gen 5 for single-player experience? I passed it over as soon as I saw the words "multiplayer centric", but have a latent curiosity after hearing that it plays quite differently to the rest of the series.

[bcass]

I'm a fair way into V (xenia 60fps with AC textures sacrificed) and it's proving to be more of a slog compared the 4th-gen. It's not awful by any means, but it does feel like a very different beast compared to 4th-gen and VI. Slower pace, very grounded combat. There's a decent number of side missions, which I actually prefer to the main (longer) story missions. There seems to be a decent wedge of game left despite all the online stuff no longer working.

[KAI]

How is Gen 5 for single-player experience? I passed it over as soon as I saw the words "multiplayer centric", but have a latent curiosity after hearing that it plays quite differently to the rest of the series.

I had a lot of fun with V, loved how tactical it could be and its excellent mechanic-wise imo. It takes some time to get used to switching between scan and combat mode, but once it clicks, the game feels a lot more immersive and fast.

I've heard a lot of people saying the online content was a lot of fun and the actual selling point of that gen, but I think it can be enjoyed as a solo experience, even if the story gets turbo cringe sometimes, and the english dub is horrible and most characters sound alike and its impossible to know who's talking in the middle of a mission.
AC4 had the same problem and I completely missed the plot twist on the last mission because the actor voicing the last boss sounded like any other male character on that game

Spoiler

unlike the jp version where is friggin Joji Nakata and the twist goes super hard when you hear his voice out of nowhere

Gen 4 and 5 were carried a lot by the japanese VAs, and sadly a lot of context is lost if you dont play undbub versions of those games.

which I actually prefer to the main (longer) story missions

Yeah, order mission all the way. The main missions length was all over the place and didnt enjoy most of them.

[guigui]

I'm lost very far away in The Lands Between, blind run is great. Still cannot fathom how huge this map really is.

Apart from that I'm not sure what to say about the game, it leaves me speechless.

Good time is being had for sure, as I'm thinking about what I could do in the game when I'm not playing it, which only happens when I'm really hooked. Also it gives this sensation of filling my gaming needs for the moment since I'm not attracted at all to other games I could play.

Maybe I'll get burnt in one point, like almost NPC in the game btw, but not yet.

[bcass]

AC-V completed. This took considerably longer than both 4-th gen titles, which took a couple of evenings each to complete, while AC-V has taken weeks. Here are my observations for anyone thinking of playing this one:

- Best played on Xenia emulator, but if you want to play at 60fps you have to sacrifice textures on ACs (including yours). Given the abysmal framerate it ran at on PS3 / 360 hardware, this is a worthwhile trade-off IMO. I also read that kicks do not work properly at 60fps, though I wouldn't know as I never used nor felt the need to use kicks during my playthrough.
- Plodding combat pace, not necessarily bad, but will be a big shock for players coming from IV, For Answer, and VI.
- Some decent ideas, like the story mission 7 boss, but usually poorly executed (having the boss 2nd phase spawn right next to you, killing you instantly).
- Some of the story missions go on way too long, and although they have checkpoints (which are often not well judged / placed) you can not return to a story mission checkpoint if you exit the mission.
- Often extremely frustrating. I can see why the series took such a long hiatus after this and VD. The balance between challenge and frustration is way off and all too often is simply not fun.
- Non of the refinement you would expect from a FromSoftware game. Sometimes it feels like a complete mess.
- Missions lurch from laughably easy to super-hard. A very significantly more difficult game than IV, For Answer, and VI.
- Decent OST. Not amazing but more interesting than the 4th-gen titles.
- Sub-par art style, nothing stands out, very bland visually. Almost everything looks like present-day surroundings, not at all futuristic.
- Seems to have been a very online-centric game (even without PvP) - these components are all now sadly not available, not even on the original hardware (PS3 / 360).
- Has 10 story mission, some of which are very long. Before playing I read that these can be 40+ minutes long, but these estimates are way off and some will take significantly longer. There are lots of short non-story missions (60+?) that are decent. Most of the story missions are not interesting enough to warrant their length and are not particularly well designed. Story missions have optional garages that allow you to repair, respec, and restock ammo at certain points (at cost). Although these are not always as useful as you might expect as on several occasions I couldn't activate them when enemies were nearby, and all too often I would have this happen when there were no enemies nearby. Possibly a bug, don't know, but is another element to add to much of the poorly designed gameplay elements. Most story missions feel like they were balanced for co-op.
- Plodding pace and unremarkable art style give this game a very dated feel.
- Wall jumping is fun when it works, but not as fun as having a faster and more nimble AC (as in IV, For Answer, and VI).
- Out of bounds is at its most horrifically awful in this game.
- Forgettable story, poorly written, poorly acted. Most of the in-game chatter is utterly banal, and I just wanted them to shut up.
- The core mechanism of tweaking your mech for different missions is still very much present, especially with the rock, paper, scissors style damage types, although the progression of accessing new parts is odd. You appear to have access to almost everything immediately via the shop, the idea being that you complete missions so you can gradually buy what you need.
- For anyone revisiting old AC games, I can see most people not bothering to finish this one. It just doesn't have the gameplay finesse that the games immediately before / after it have.
- Final score: for the story missions it would be 3/10; for the non-story missions 6/10. Extremely unlikely to ever come back to this one. Easily the worst From game I've ever played. That said, it's the only From game I've played that I would class as low quality. There's a really good game wanting to get out here, but the design doesn't allow for it to be realised for it to be much fun. If this game had been released with only the non-story missions I would probably give it a 7/10.

Next up is Verdicy Day. I sincerely hope that this significantly improves on AC-V as I do not want another experience like that. VD still has fully functioning co-op on the PS3, so I will try and play through as much of it cooperatively as possible on original hardware as it's the only AC game that still has this feature available.

[Angry Hina]

- Wall jumping is fun when it works, but not as fun as having a faster and more nimble AC (as in IV, For Answer, and VI).

I liked the idea of that and also the feel of it. I thought the much heavier and ground based feel suites a Mecha game better and even its not typical for the AC series, I thinks it works good as well. But some better missions would be great but in other classic ACs there are many forgetful missions as well.

[bcass]

Wall jumping is definitely one of the better ideas to come out of 5th-gen. Something else I forgot to mention in my analysis - AC-V has a proper boss in it that isn't an AC and isn't overly frustrating. It's actually pretty good and is suitably epic in scale, but sadly is the only one in the game, and they make the mistake of using it in more than one mission which I think diminishes its impact.

[Angry Hina]

Which one? Its long ago since I played this game for longer then just 10 Minutes.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I've had a lot of fun with Dark Souls lately but before I shelve it and move on I'm gonna try doing a deathless run on it. Obviously, not counting the mandatory Seath death that gets you into the prison (you can skip this by doing a tricky jump, I don't have the knack for this and if you do this skip I don't think you can enter the prison area). I think I've gotten a handle on the game to the point where I'm familiar with the weird pitfalls in the map, where you can safely fall and can't, and how to deal with some of the nastier areas in the game reliably. Just gotta have a run with no major screwups. After that, an SL1 run could be fun too!

It occurs to me I've never actually fallen off the catwalks in the building with the painting before but I find it way less stressful lately to deliberately overburden myself by equipping heavy stuff in all the slots. No risk of slipping off by accidentally running!

[bcass]

Which one? Its long ago since I played this game for longer then just 10 Minutes.

It's the one that towers into the sky, like a giant tripod. You have to shoot the cores that appear on it's legs.

[Necronopticous]

Obviously, not counting the mandatory Seath death that gets you into the prison (you can skip this by doing a tricky jump, I don't have the knack for this and if you do this skip I don't think you can enter the prison area)

As an alternative, I like using a Ring of Sacrifice there. Only a death by a technicality!

Surprisingly I’m not sure if I’ve ever done a full deathless run of Dark Souls. O&S, Bed of Chaos and even Gwyn would give me pause…would be fun to try, though. What level of completion are you gonna go for? Gun it for the end, or try to do most of the optional stuff? If you stream it I’d tune in!

[Sumez]

Pretty sure I've done a few runs where I only died to Bed of Chaos. But on the other hand I probably died a few times there >_>
The game gets a lot harder to fail in when you just run past all the enemies. For Gwyn I'd just equip full Havel's so it doesn't make a difference if I take a hit, and then parry Gwyn to death. I'm not fond of Souls parrying, but that one is very easy to pull off, and it takes very few hits to murder him that way.

[Sima Tuna]

Bed of Chaos deaths shouldn't count towards a deathless run, because everyone in the entire Souls community can agree Bed of Chaos is badly-designed horse shit.

[Sumez]

Lol that's what I told myself

[BareKnuckleRoo]

As an alternative, I like using a Ring of Sacrifice there. Only a death by a technicality

Haha, yeah, I always grab the Rare Ring of Sacrifice that's by ol' Ricard for that!

I suppose you could go a less hardcore route and play it as if each ring is an extra life, undo your hollowing at the start and no going back to hollow!

What level of completion are you gonna go for? Gun it for the end, or try to do most of the optional stuff?

I'll likely try and do it once without the DLC (I'm not consistent on Artorias or Manus quite yet!) and then perhaps again with. Bed of Chaos is extremely silly, but after having practiced it repeatedly I've got a route down. So as long as I don't screw up one of the ledge jumps I can keep out of the way of the hand swipes. There's a safe path along the back wall that avoids the main thing that'll knock you into the pits, namely the hand swipes and the flaming scythes. I've yet to have a screwup on the last phase where you have to drop down to the tree branch, the trick seems to be simply running off the edge without jumping or rolling.

My PC sadly isn't good enough to stream this and play it at the same time (same for Sekiro, stutters like hell) so I've been playing the Switch version.

I don't find Gwyn too bad, but I definitely don't know the parry timing. I tried a few times to figure it out and got owned hard, was easier baiting his attacks and dodging, or using a heavy shield and punishing him when he had an opening. Havel's is cool, but I'm even more fond of the moss covered Stone Guardian armor, it's pretty rad aside from the helmet which you can swap with a few other things for fashion.

I've also been fond of Golem Helmet + Black Cleric Set lately for funsies.

My game plan is using either a Partisan for its rad combination of pokes and swipes, or a katana or Great Scythe to have the bit of extra bleed support. Spears have good reach for punish, they have a proper kick unlike rapiers or scimitars (no accidental backwards ledge tumbles), and Partisan's got a swipe for enemies that are awkward to hit with the poke. Shield turtling is sometimes handy too but it's so damn slow that I rarely use it, and wouldn't miss it if you couldn't turtle.