Armored Core

[PHILLIP BANKS]

>put stars and lines on my robot
>play spec ops the line ost

YUP ITS GAMING TIME

 

[Alter Ego]

Armored Core has never really been all that subtle of saying that corporations are bad (The first mission in AC1 is killing a bunch of squatters). In most of the games you're a gun for hire that just kind of follows orders for money.

While that much is true, it doesn't really seem to me that Armored Core has much to say about the corporations as they're often just a backdrop that your character is completely indifferent to while some greater threat emerges in each game, AC6 included. Calling them corporations at all is also just for flavor when they're really just nations in all but name. Even in the few instances in which some greater government body does come up, such as in AC2 (LLC) and AC6 (PCA), they can easily be viewed as United Nations-like entities.

AC1 probably puts the most effort into portraying corporations as despicable given missions like the one you just mentioned, but even that game turns out ultimately be about an AI overlord controlling the way of the world in secret.

 

[Snekposter]

While that much is true, it doesn't really seem to me that Armored Core has much to say about the corporations as they're often just a backdrop that your character is completely indifferent to while some greater threat emerges in each game, AC6 included. Calling them corporations at all is also just for flavor when they're really just nations in all but name. Even in the few instances in which some greater government body does come up, such as in AC2 (LLC) and AC6 (PCA), they can easily be viewed as United Nations-like entities.

AC1 probably puts the most effort into portraying corporations as despicable given missions like the one you just mentioned, but even that game turns out ultimately be about an AI overlord controlling the way of the world in secret.

To be honest I wish the PCA got fleshed out in AC6. "Wait, who the hell are these guys and their massive fleet of warships?" They seemed like a legit foe we'd have to fight what with those killsats in the intro being under PCA control and all that, with the war on Rubicon feeling like the battle between Arquebus and Balam was just what they could sneak on world past the PCA and their kill sats and beam-turret protected monitoring stations to fight for any hint of Coral they could exploit. Instead we take down the giant snake and Arquebus does the kill shot off screen, and the PCA disappears into thin air with Arquebus stealing all their superior technology before turning it against Balam. I'm incredibly disappointed they turned out to be a wet fart considering they're the ones who controlled the kill sats and the Sea Spider in the cargo launcher mission, and that's before they show up with a fleet of warships and demand everyone lay down their arms.

 

[Jaimas]

Armored Core has never really been all that subtle of saying that corporations are bad (The first mission in AC1 is killing a bunch of squatters). In most of the games you're a gun for hire that just kind of follows orders for money.

As for the difficulty, most of the major bosses got nerfed in the first patch, they used to be crazy difficult.

No, they were bullshit and overtuned. I'm sick of hearing how the bosses have been ruined because slightly more people will be able to beat them when the majority of players who zero efforted them in the first place were running shit like Dual Zimmermans that absolutely trivialized the bosses anyway. And I'm free to make that determination because I already beat the game prior to the first patch.



There are 4 main bosses that got nerfed, and with the exception of one that got an HP reduction, all the others were the same type - an attack tracking nerf. The bosses effected by this were unilaterally ones you had to dodge perfectly to have so much as a chance if not taking damage against, Including the first chapter boss's missiles (which could turn 75 degrees to track you), and the fourth chapter boss's crossblades and blade dive, the former of which was basically unavoidable except on the lightest builds and the latter was basically an instant kill on some AC designs if you failed to properly dodge the first dive.

 

[ProfDongs]

Did they fix the Balteus being able to pop shield on stagger or is that a feature?

 

[Jaimas]

Played a couple hours of this game. I’m generally not a fan of mech games or mechs in general, but this one has surprisingly kept me invested. My only complaint is that the game, and maybe this is because I’m autistically godlike at games (at least according to my dad), is that it feels a little too easy. It also feels a little too forgiving at times (it is optional though restarting from checkpoint is not required).

Otherwise I’m having fun with it, it’s a decent 7/10 game for me so far. Story is boring and predictable though (it’s going to end with corporations evil isn’t it?)

An interesting thing about the Corps in AC games is that they're rarely outright evil, so much as short-sighted. For every one of them that tries to blow up their enemies with a space laser or creates giant insect monters, there's ones that do humanitarian projects like fix atmospheric processors in underground city-complexes. For all intents and purposes, the corporations in your average AC game have superceded the nation-state in the myriad AC universes, and many of them play with this concept in interesting ways. AC6 is one of the more robust examples because you see the good (Pater, Rusty, Red, Michigan) in the likes of Balam and Arquebus and their very worst (Snail, Iguazu) in a way you really haven't before in this series often.

Even in earlier games, when you do work with the corps you get the idea that they're a mixed bag, which is why they endure the way they have. In fact it's usually the case that the corps with the best PR are usually the ones doing the most heinous shit behind-the-scenes (such as Murakumo's human experimentation in AC1 or Zio Matrix's "colorful" research into energy physics in AC2).

One of my favorite exchanges on the matter is actually with a Gal City Guard unit in AC1 after a mission, which is along the lines of: "Yeah, we know they're doing stupid shit and are at war with one another, but they keep the lights on and we just work here."

Did they fix the Balteus being able to pop shield on stagger or is that a feature?

He still does that, it's HP-based. There's pre-set points where he'll immediately recharge for phase transitions.

 

[ProfDongs]

I know the Phase transition is intentional, it seemed like there is a hard timer prior to and after that that ignores whatever state the boss is in and reapplies itself.

 

[M3xus]

Got my last S-ranks. Some of the requirements are surprisingly tight, and some of them are more lenient than I thought. Ice Worm took me a few tries and a lot of praying to RNGesus.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

So is there actually point in the choice missions for the two original endings? Or can you choose the ending you want irregardless of the decisions?

 

[ProfDongs]

So is there actually point in the choice missions for the two original endings? Or can you choose the ending you want irregardless of the decisions?

I think they're mainly there for variety when you do NG+.

 

[ShitLurker]

Finished chapter 3

So Gillete worm, yes, it was the patented fromsoft gimmick fight... BUT IT WAS METAL AS FUCK!

Went in with the obligatory gun (more on that later) a songbird, a zimmer and laser sword with reverse joints... and died like a bitch confused on what the hell was happening. Immediately shifted over to tretapod since my lizard brain was telling me that hovering would help and jesus fuck was it right.

Still died on round 2 once things got hectic after nailing it twice and not respecting the pulses. Attempt 3 added the pile bunker and swapped the zimmer for a rifle for more rate of fire during the pods face and success was had. Great high.

I was also trying to not default to double songbird always but ended up finding double zimmer instead and now that I have upgraded the double shoulder laser cannons to the ones used to kill the worm... well, tha lambo tank had a very bad time. I'll probably give myself a self imposed zimmer, songbird and fuck you laser ban, or at least till something mildly annoys me.

On a final note, I fucking love the laser spear, was trying it in the arena and ramming in full charge with the first hit breaking and the second making the enemy AC explode while I had barely more than 100 AP was a huge "FUCK YEAH" moment (truly pierced the heavens). I love how this game makes you feel like a god of death AND that you still pulled through the skin of your teeth.

Hopefully I'm managing to stay blind for the most part outside of hearing about "Ibis" and it being defined as ballbusting and a screencap here and there.

 

[YumeNoHero]

With AC games being the literal "This game is made for me!" and AC6 being the latest game to reinforce it, I no doubt will vote it for GOTY award(s) when nominated. However, I'm more interested in what new players think of the possibility of it getting any GOTY award at all considering how niche this series is up to this point. The closest example I can think of is Sekiro but for that game, while plays completely different from Souls games, still functions almost like one with shifted, more narrow focus onto gameplay mastery so it's easier to see why it won GOTY.

EDIT: Bricky and his AC6 adventures.

 

[AWizard]

Clocked it twice but man, the story kinda sucks. A lot. A chunk of the dialogue has that dumb japanese flair.

 

[Becomemysoulreaver12]

Finished all the ps1 games, I think MoA is the one I liked the least tbh, the arena is fun, but the missions were very simple and not that great.

 

[Snekposter]

Presented without any commentary thankfully.

Well, okay, there is a snrk of derision when Rusty says he got there quickly in the Wallclimber video in the description, but you can't blame the guy at all considering the amount of fast-forwarding necessary.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

To be honest I wish the PCA got fleshed out in AC6. "Wait, who the hell are these guys and their massive fleet of warships?" They seemed like a legit foe we'd have to fight what with those killsats in the intro being under PCA control and all that, with the war on Rubicon feeling like the battle between Arquebus and Balam was just what they could sneak on world past the PCA and their kill sats and beam-turret protected monitoring stations to fight for any hint of Coral they could exploit. Instead we take down the giant snake and Arquebus does the kill shot off screen, and the PCA disappears into thin air with Arquebus stealing all their superior technology before turning it against Balam. I'm incredibly disappointed they turned out to be a wet fart considering they're the ones who controlled the kill sats and the Sea Spider in the cargo launcher mission, and that's before they show up with a fleet of warships and demand everyone lay down their arms.

The PCA are something that aren’t fleshed out all that much in the game, but are in flavor text and the data logs you find every so often. They’re Feds being told what to do by an AI, The System, that at some point basically runs everything. They’re peak bugmen who really only have an edge due to numbers and technology, they really don’t have a strategy beyond letting the AI handle things.

Armored Core has it’s beloved tropes it falls back on or are basically motifs. Typically the AI are a bloated bureaucracy that stoped functioning at some point and has gone from benign force to malignant force. Corps are either self-interested or horror shows.

The question in Armored Core 6 is if Allmind is the System and is basically trying to manipulate everyone for its own benefit. Allmind is also retarded, she literally glued two guns together and calls it a day.

 

[Punished Benis]

she literally glued two guns together and calls it a day.

Speaking of the Karasawa, does everyone at Fromsoft have a grudge against Yasuyoshi Karasawa or something? The gun has sucked since Nexus.

I'm not asking for OG/AC2 tier, but can we get a version that isn't underpowered, usable for ten shots, prohibitively heavy, nearly impossible to hit with, or some combination of the above?

After finishing NG++, I downloaded this mod so I could play around, but the AC6 sawa just looks all retarded.

 

[DOUBLE_WHEEL]

To be honest I wish the PCA got fleshed out in AC6.

I actually don't mind that the PCA immediately get wrecked when the two mega corporations stop fighting and team up, it makes sense to me that would happen because from what I can tell the PCA is only centered on Rubicon and who knows how wide a playing field the corporations have. That said I think From could have made more missions of working with the corporations to wreck PCA shit as it would have been a perfect chance to flesh out the corporations and their AC teams a bit more.

 

[Alter Ego]

The question in Armored Core 6 is if Allmind is the System and is basically trying to manipulate everyone for its own benefit. Allmind is also retarded, she literally glued two guns together and calls it a day.

Allmind may be more than just a mercenary support program gone rogue, but it is certainly not the System. Allmind never uses PCA assets and has even been shown to combat directly against the PCA ("Obstruct the Mandatory Inspection").

Additionally evidenced by the existence of Chatty, it seems pretty clear that there are just numerous AI entities around as a normal, accepted part of AC6's setting, and they can come into conflict with each other rather than being a monolithic force.

 

[YumeNoHero]

Speaking of the Karasawa, does everyone at Fromsoft have a grudge against Yasuyoshi Karasawa or something? The gun has sucked since Nexus.

More like it has been the most OP weapon since AC1 up until Silent Line. The amount of power it carries plus no ammo cost since it's energy weapon means that you can break the game's economy and delete ACs and bosses easily. They gradually increase energy drain cost and weight while nerfing damage output and ammo capacity until it become unusable in Nexus then get some minor buffs in Ninebreaker and Last Raven. Since then From has been trying to make it fits the "high damage per shot" category of energy weapons and balances around that. CANOPUS (Karasawa for 4th gen) have good damage but slow ass firing and projectile speed so it misses more often than not, even more so as you go into AC4A where everyone is on permanent speed drug. ACV and VD have decent Karasawa variants but the damage typing really hamper its use in most situation where autocannons on tanks and lightweight battle rifles rule.
As for the KRSV in AC6? It's now my favorite variant alongside MoA's. You get your regular laser shots like AC1 to MoA, charged AoE plasma shot similar to 3rd gen versions and a big "Fuck this guy and everything in the vicinity is particular" final charge level, pretty useful is multiple situation. Build your AC with generators that has decent energy weapon boost stat and you have a nuke on hand. Still quite heavy and drains a lot of energy but if you can build an AC around it, it can pump out absurd amount of damage or instant ACS break for comboing.