So like I said I would, I began to play through the whole series. Got through all of Gen 1&2, so five games so far, now starting AC3.
First off, the controls are completely whack compared to our modern expectations, but that's just typical before the revolution of Halo: Combat Evolved. Fortunately, a combination of in-game button mapping and emulator settings allows for adequate twin-stick controls, though getting to AC2 required me to get another tool DS4Windows because the sticks were sensitive to the point of unplayability with just PCSX2. Pretty weird that the PS2 games use the L3 R3 buttons but completely disallow stick movement, though. I certainly pity the original console players who only had the in-game mapping options and, at best, can only emulate twin-stick controls with the face buttons.
Started off on AC1 with just these default controls and got my ass kicked over an hour, unable to make credits for better gear as missions just get harder without being able to replay. Then I just went back to New Game with the remapped controls and save-scumming (not emulator save states) out of lost missions to do much better. I didn't even know about the Human Plus handicap feature until after I was done with AC1. I then continued through each game to 100% progression, including extra missions and Arena matches, with import saves when able and without Human Plus nor Overweight builds, Normal difficulty for Gen 2. Only referred to guides to find hidden parts in a game after finishing everything else. Except when it came to the cheating superbosses Matthias (AC2) and Nine-Ball Seraph (AC2AA), who I eventually got fed up with to go looking for outside help. Even then, recommendations were hard to come by for such old games with many players using Human Plus, and when I finally heard what seemed like good builds and strategies, the fights were still tough to execute. Oh, I also looked up the cheese hallway strat against Nine-Ball in AC1 for 100%, because I wasn't going to put up with that bullshit when I discovered the
second Nine-Ball after all the pain of a surprise platforming segment and defeating the first Nine-Ball in an incredibly awkward column space.
Protip on getting 100% in AC2: If you find that you're stuck at 98%, even after eliminating all of the in-mission rival Ravens, you might have to replay the final mission. I only got to 100% when I did that, at which point the in-mission Ravens were also revived in the Arena for a total of 58 entrants. Seems that existing instructions for getting 100% in this game are few and unclear, with some people claiming that you don't have to replay the final mission at all. I think the difference might be in whether you initially beat the final mission before the Arena.
My favorite build is with the heaviest quad legs, enjoying the smooth 360-degree movement and flexibility of back guns. The Karasawa and other energy weapons are my go-to, or otherwise high-capacity machine guns if ammo is a concern, or full tank with grenade launchers if I need maximum DPS. Missiles and rockets always seem too unreliable on top of the ammo cost, especially in interior environments. For missions, I pretty much always take a back radar. Now having a start on AC3, I'm dismayed that quads have been changed such that they have a slowed backstep like other legs, though it is funny that it's only now that quads will actually walk instead of apparently hover.
I found that you can kneecap harder Arena matches in Gen 1 by selecting the parking garage map, in which case the low ceiling stops the opponent from jumping all over the place. And if an opponent is still too tough, there's a small tunnel to one side that provides you with safety as it confuses the AI. No such low-ceiling map in Gen 2, though, so I had to play all of those Arena matches straight.
Very barebones when it comes to story, comparatively outdone by Ace Combat. Still, I can see the signs of From's vague style of storytelling. Project Phantasma tells the most straightforward story, but it's also laughingly basic. Amusingly, Another Age is the most mission-intensive game so far, but it feels like it has the least amount of story, complete with an arbitrary non-ending to credits.