Which of the Armored Core games is most recommended?

TianXia7541

I played Armored Core: Another Age way back when and now I sort of feel like blowing up shit again with a customizable mech. Which of the Armored Core games is the best?

IceBurner

I believe it's still a toss-up between Project Phantasma and Master of Arena for PSX, with Armored Core (the original) closely behind. If you want something a bit more recent, try Armored Core 4 for 360/PS3 as it's good and finally has proper online vs, but also rather different. I think the changes were needed and long overdue, but some long-time fans object.

None of the other PS2 titles actually top Another Age in terms of balance, gameplay, and content. Armored Core 3 and Nexus are probably the most decent of the remaining bunch. Armored Core 3 is likely the better game and has an interesting story going, while Nexus has an awesome package with a 2nd disc full of retro AC content such as remade missions, remade parts, promotional posters, sound tracks from AC. AC2, & AC3, the rendered movies from each, and more.

Silent Line and Last Raven--dear word Last Raven--are ridiculously skewed toward the "obsessed pro-level JPN AC tournament whore" and rather difficult to actually have fun with. Nine Breaker is not so much a game as it's like a VR arena bonus disc that should have been packed in with something else.

Edit: You can try Chrome Hounds, also by From Software. It's rather like AC4 minus any aerial combat.

Casually Hardcore

I rather like AC4 a lot. It's a much needed update to the gameplay, controls, graphics, and mechanics.

The only downside is that the game is way too short.

IceBurner

I believe many poeople who liked AC4 noted the part selection is very limited compared with recent AC titles; about the size of the original Playstation game's selection.

At the same time, online vs, the ability for the game to get rebalanced via patches, and the ability to select which patch you want to play with before any sortie, even for online matches (both players must use the same one obviously) is outright awesome.

Tiemler

AC4 has a narrower selection of parts, but a wider range of good parts thanks to the balance fixes. And the player has more control of the aesthetic appearance of a mech than in any previous title. There are awesome little flourish parts that are ostensibly used for shifting the AC's center of balance but also can be loaded on to make it look cool. Great variety of paint schemes, too.

If you get nostalgic for AA, then AC2 is a must-own. Good story and classic gameplay from a simpler time when ACs always carried a blade and would occasionally walk around a bit.

Delzhand

Oddly enough, this thread reminds me - wasn't Square planning an MMO Front Mission? What happened with that?

Cherrn

Is For Answer ever coming to the West? The whole "Shadow of the Colossus with mechs" part always appealed to me.

I've never been able to get into AC, for whatever reason. I love Mechwarrior, and I love the customization aspect, but the combat feels wrong, and I always get killed within 5 minutes.

The Burnin8or

Cherrn wrote: »

Is For Answer ever coming to the West? The whole "Shadow of the Colossus with mechs" part always appealed to me.

I've never been able to get into AC, for whatever reason. I love Mechwarrior, and I love the customization aspect, but the combat feels wrong, and I always get killed within 5 minutes.

Ubisoft is releasing it this Fall.

randombattle

The Burnin8or wrote: »

Cherrn wrote: »

Is For Answer ever coming to the West? The whole "Shadow of the Colossus with mechs" part always appealed to me.

I've never been able to get into AC, for whatever reason. I love Mechwarrior, and I love the customization aspect, but the combat feels wrong, and I always get killed within 5 minutes.

Ubisoft is releasing it this Fall.

Holy shit I love you so much right now

Klyka

For Answer looks so amazing. Look at this and tell me you don't want this:

(boss spoilers)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=19rzJ29LyJM&feature=relatedhttp://youtube.com/watch?v=_axF88RGrtA&feature=related

Forever Zefiro

I never played the PS1 AC games, and I'm not sure if I would be able to get into them now. I've tried several PS2 ones and they were always hard to get into, though I don't think I ever played Another Age, I might give that a try.

But then I finally tried AC4, and it just feels so much better to me. Being able to do the little dodge boosts is awesome.

And fuck yeah for For Answer coming to the US. I made the original thread for that, but lost hope because it seemed like it would never come here.

Tiemler

Delzhand wrote: »

Oddly enough, this thread reminds me - wasn't Square planning an MMO Front Mission? What happened with that?

If you mean Front Mission Online, it's been out for nearly three years, but was never localized.


Edit: God fucking bless Ubisoft. That came out of nowhere.

Delzhand

Klyka wrote: »

For Answer looks so amazing. Look at this and tell me you don't want this:

(boss spoilers)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=19rzJ29LyJM&feature=relatedhttp://youtube.com/watch?v=_axF88RGrtA&feature=related

Holy shit, DO WANT

The Burnin8or

Those videos are awesome. Pretty cool to watch a mech fly by a building, and be half or more as tall as the building, then roll up on something that immediately makes the mech look like an ant.

Thank you Ubisoft indeed!! :^::^:

Dartboy

Yeah, I'd recommend AC4. It's a reboot of the franchise, which brings with it some much needed purging of the excessive amounts of crap parts and skewed preference towards tournament play. As people said, there's about the same number of parts as the original game, but they're all actually balanced and useful again, rather than having "starter parts" that you'll ditch and never look at again, which made the "ZOMG OVER 9000 PARTZ!!" kind of pointless.

I also like the direction they took things in it. It's geared more towards high speed action, with them just cutting out the middleman and giving you infinite boost on the ground, and made it really easy to have infinite flight. This along with dodge boosters built in and simply assigned to a button means it plays more like a jet fighter with legs than a tank that can sometimes fly.

And yes, For Answer coming out this fall makes me happy.

corin7

For Answer is day 1 purchase no qustion.