Armored Core 4....a new player comes for the throne.

[l337raceryo]

I know allot of people Dislike Armored Core 4. Most of the complaints is 'It's too hard!', or 'The controls sucks!', or (my favorite) 'It's too Japanese!'.

Well my only answer for you guys is 'Sucks to be you!'. Cause the Armored Core series is the some of the best, if not the best, of what the Mecha genre haves to offer. With thousands of combinations, precise controls, and awesome gameplay, this series will never ever die.

Then comes Armored Core 4

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=15567&type=wmv&pl=game

First thing I noticed is 'OMFG this game looks awesome!'. The graphics is just awesome for a AC game, and it's 5w20 smooth. I cried when I saw not 1, not 2, not even 5, but freaking TWENTY SEVEN (if not more) missiles break apart attack multiple target! Watching the core skid across the water is ORGASMIC! The explosion gives you the sense that these machines, and their pilots, are truly gods of war. The core themselves is something to worship.

But graphics isnt good enough, what about gameplay? Well I cant say much without playing it, but the maneuverability of the cores looks to be increased immensely. Watching these war machines maneuver across the battlefield at breakneck speeds, and then turning 180 degrees while keeping the same speed in the same direction IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS GAME NEEDED! My biggest complaint with the series is the slow as hell turning speed. Even with the combination of boost and turning, it's just simply TOO SLOW! But now there's no flaw to this game.

This game is perfect. I dont need to play it, no one needs to play it. You can go up to someone and say 'Armored Core 4' and they'll simply smile. Because Armored Core 4 is perfection.

[General Blaze]

I'd be careful on basing one's thoughts on the game solely from the trailer. You may turn out horribly dissapointed instead. Remember Gundam: Crossfire? Great trailers, BROKEN game.

I'd say it looks sweet, but it's a "wait and see".

PS: To prevent this thread from degenerating into a flamefest, anyone who dislikes anime styled mechs in general (that goes for 40k and Battletech fanboys) please keep it to yourselves and out of the thread. Most of us don't want to hear how "anime mechs are unreasonable etc etc."

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Elder Scrolls Oblivion or even Gundam: Crossfire? Great trailers, boring game for Oblivion

....

To prevent this thread from degenerating into a flamefest

It's too late for that, you Oblivion-hating schlong gargler.

[General Blaze]

Edited out. Sorry about that, Shoe. ^^;

[The5thElephant]

I don't think I have ever met an Armored Core fanboy before. How peculiar.

[KON Air]

...ice staking gundam with wizzard powered jet engines...

Looks fun I'll admit... hurts my eyes and decreases my intellect points but still interesting.

[General Blaze]

Not everything with two arms and two legs is a Gundam. :p

Like how not everything with chicken legs is a mechwarrior.

[l337raceryo]

Id be careful on basing one's thoughts on the game solely from the trailer. You may turn out horribly dissapointed instead.

They cant mess up Armored Core 4. They didnt mess it up the last 20 or so games, how can they screw it up now?

My only complaint, a minor one at that, is this whole 'LYNX' thing. Which is basically 'Well the reason why these AC is so much better is because they have special ultra pilots that no human can compete with'. My biggest pet peeve with just about every storyline that came from Japan. 'The reason he's so strong is because he's SPECIAL!'

To get back on topic, the one few things that can break this game is the near infinite amount of boosting you now have, and the 'near autoaim'.

[The5thElephant]

Wait, wait, wait, are you telling me that roosters are unrelated to mechwarrior!?

[Alex Drake]

One thing that still irritates me to death about the AC series.

In a game where mecha zip by at break neck speeds from literally every angle, they STILL havent seen the good sens to add QUICK TURNAROUND BUTTON. I can't tell you how many times an enemy has zipped past me and been able to auto-magically light my asshole on fire while I have to wait precious seconds lumbering the AC around. Makes no sense, you can zoom forward, backwards, left, and right, at breakneck speeds, but you can't turn around to save your own life....

/rant

[General Blaze]

@1337raceryo

That is open to debate, especially with Nine Breaker. That game was a travesty. Bad singleplayer, limited multiplayer..etc.

As for Autoaim, Virtua On had autoaim and yet is highly regarded as the best mech fighter out there, second to One Must Fall.

@heffy: Yarharhar. :p

[l337raceryo]

As for Autoaim, Virtua On had autoaim and yet is highly regarded as the best mech fighter out there, second to One Must Fall.

But the thing with Autoaim is that in previous AC games, keeping out of one targeting box was essential. If they cant lock on you, they cant unleash killer missiles of boom on you.

Then again, now that you have a near unlimited amount of boost....dodging missles is going to become critical and common practice.

Damn I'm already shaking by how fast pace and frantic this game is going to be...

[Methuselath]

I don't think I have ever met an Armored Core fanboy before. How peculiar.

Indeed, I find AC control scheme clunky and unresponsive. Before anyone saying anything about anime mechs, seriously, I like the battle-suit concept, there was this one awesome game I forgot the name on ps2, now that is how a mech game should control like.

I second the Virtual On as the best mech fighter.

PS: Transformer ftw

[Someguy]

I feel that AC4 does look good but the gameplay style is a lot different. It reminds me more of Zone of the Enders 2 than what Armored Core used to be. There are also the introduction of full barrier shields rather than arm equipped energy shields. However, it retains the popular niche of customizing your mech based on specific playstyles which has always been a plus in most From Software games.

In addition, there has always been a degree of auto-aiming. You had to keep the enemy in the targeting box for your weapons to achieve lock for your shots to hit.

Lastly, I always thought that the controls were were not so precise. You had to use the shoulder buttons to look up and down which feels awkward and required some practice. This is true when you play the game the for first time.

[l337raceryo]

Yeah the controls were confusing at first. But let see you fly a Fighter Jet for the first time!

After awhile the controls will become one with you, as soon as you figure out how to hover indefinitely, the controls is second nature.

[Methuselath]

Ah, ZoE... That's the game I was talking about. Now, if AC4 can get a control like that going (ie fluid) I would pick it up in a second, however, basing the game from it's past predecessors, it's rather unlikely.

Anyway, anyone here played SLAI?

[Shin]

It's not a real Armored Core game if it's not hard to control.

That's how the games pass QA.

Test Lead: "Did you get a nose bleed while trying to control your AC?"
Tester: "No"
Test Lead: "Inform QA that the testing of the controls has failed."

[General Blaze]

Shin wins the thread and one free internet.

Back on topic: If the new Armoured Core has indeed faster and more responsive controls, then I may actually consider it because the somewhat clunky unresponsive controls was what turned me off Armoured Core for a while.

[l337raceryo]

To the ones who is so low that they have a problem with Armored Core controls,

Did you have problems with Gunvalkyrie?

[Methuselath]

Eh, Gun-whatnow? Never heard of the game to be honest.

[l337raceryo]

*sighs*

A quick refresher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVmjZ5kRYt0

Gunvalkyrie was a another classic game, on the Xbox, that was criticized because of its controls. Fact is, the controls is very good. There's just a steep learning curve that one have to figure out. But one you figure it out, it's possible to play the entire game without ever touching the ground.

[Methuselath]

Oh, it's on the Xbox. No wonder I didn't know anything about it (Xbox games are bloody hard to find here)

No, it's not the control scheme I'm talking about, it's the overall feel of the mech. Example: With the melee attack, you'd expect to be able to use boost + melee to attack the enemy en passant. Unfortunately, after the melee attack, the game forces you to stop of a second before moving away again. There are more problems like that but the melee thing is one of my pet hate. Like I said, it's clunky and at times, unresposive.

[TheLoneKnight]

I always liked the AC games. The premise, the style, all of it.

Except for one niggling little problem: I suck at them all. Embarassingly bad. Inexplicably horrendous.

I've tried several iterations and always come up short. AC4 would be no different, I imagine, since I always find myself lacking the funding to get an AC that suits me and lack the ability to take a basic AC and win enough missions to obtain that funding. :p

Nice trailer, but it doesn't change the fact that I won't play it.


P.S. Macross owns you

[atromoby]

This game certainly looks Ok, but I dont have any positive feels for its developer after their unsuccessful Mech assult clone Chrome hound.
I hope this is not another gundam-like game for the only purpose to feed japanese gamer's appetite.

[Rafta]

Personally I think the game looks medicore from the graphical point of view, I hope there will be some more bling, it's next-gen!
Gameplay wise, I never played an Armored Core part but I like mechs and this game looks like some nice fast action and I love fast nice action, so sign me in.
Also I like Chrome hounds!

[Alex Drake]

Y.O.U C.A.N.T. T.U.R.N. A.R.O.U.N.D.

How can this STILL not be in the game?

[Deaths Abyss]

It may effect game balance. Generally game designers know about these sort of things but they want you to play the game the way they designed it. Core seems to be about speed more than ever before and a turn ability would negate the effect of this. Well thats what im assuming.

[Alex Drake]

If that's really their excuse, than AC must have some of the most obtuse and mentally handicapped designers in the industry. Thats almost like designing a NASCAR title without the ability to make left turns.

[Thunderbolt]

i played the first AC on a friends playstation so long ago..... *gets nostalgic*

is this AC going to jump platforms or is it still playstation only ?

:off topic: Chromehounds is great if you find a semi serious online squad to fight the wars with :D :on topic:

it would be great if AC went cross platform because i will never own a playstation no matter what number is after it.

[l337raceryo]

Y.O.U C.A.N.T. T.U.R.N. A.R.O.U.N.D.

How can this STILL not be in the game?

....

You can turn around. In fact you can turn around in all the AC titles. The only difference here is that you can turn around INSTANTLY, watch the trailer before you go around spreading miss information. :rolleyes:

And AC4 is stated to be released for the 360 and the PS3.

[Alex Drake]

I watched the trailer, several times, the turning issues are the same as in AC3, your lockon tilts the camera a bit a you zoom past a target, however not once did I see the player twitch turn to follow, same ol' lumbering movement. The main improvement I see is that the booster control seems alot smoother, and you can more easilly dash left and right while airborne (something they really screwed up in Ninebreaker). mind you, the place where this hurts the most is when you lose the lock and have to site the enemy to relock, emanwhile, they melee/blast the shit out of you.

Previous AC titles were totally broken, the only real way to beat the tournament was to go all missiles, wait for the enemy get in range, fire fire fire, then dash away and repeat, because melee was completely spooty (not to mention randomly inaccurate), and most other guns (even the lasers) were rpetty much useless compared to a missile-boat.

For God's sake, Kojima basically perfected the damn control scheme in Z.O.E., you'd think they'd take a break from milking the AC franchise to atleast learn from the few titles in the genre.

[Chad Ghostal]

I'm probably the most qualified AC (Armored Core) player, here. I played every game since the first one on playstation and own most of them. AC is like a faster paced Mechwarrior with greater customization. In Mechwarrior you got your joystick and throttle and what not, you tweak armor, weight and mix and match weapons. AC takes that customization to a ridiculous level and has a steep learning curve, but it is very rewarding once you get it down. My opinion is if you like Mechwarrior, you'll like AC if you can deal with the a bit more anime themed.

[Boomstar]

God that trailer is so fuckin awesome, I love AC, been playing since the first one. But lets just hope they finally fix up the controls so you can pull off the crazy stuff they show off in the trailer without the need of 6 fingers or and extra hand.... And its coming for xbox 360 yay:)!

[Prophaniti]

AC3 was decent IMO, though the gameplay and how the missions were determined were quite annoying (i havent played in years, so if i went back to it i would probably have an easier time).

AC4 looks pretty nice from the trailer, but im still skeptial if I'm purchasing the same gameplay/mission style I bought with AC3.

Damn I miss Steel Battalion...

[l337raceryo]

I watched the trailer, several times, the turning issues are the same as in AC3, your lockon tilts the camera a bit a you zoom past a target, however not once did I see the player twitch turn to follow, same ol' lumbering movement. The main improvement I see is that the booster control seems alot smoother, and you can more easilly dash left and right while airborne (something they really screwed up in Ninebreaker). mind you, the place where this hurts the most is when you lose the lock and have to site the enemy to relock, emanwhile, they melee/blast the shit out of you.


What are you talking about? There is no targeting box!

*Wheres the lock sight gone
The lock sight is now what you can see on your screen
The lock cursor is adjusted to the enemy closest to the centre of the screen


And look at the trailer again. There's multiple examples of a near instant 180 turn. The best example is at 1:30 were you see the core smoothly turns around while maintaining its speed and direction of travel.


*Do you play a next type AC (being a LYNX)
Yes

*Wheres the radiator?
We're planning on creating the newtype AC as a goal
We took a second look at the part categorys
To make the movement system better they took out the heat

*Can i get in a normal AC?
No

*Are there float legs?
Nope, but all the leg now have the ability to float

*Wheres the lock sight gone
The lock sight is now what you can see on your screen (YAY)
The lock cursor is adjusted to the enemy closest to the centre of the screen

*What control schemes are there
Type A and Type B

*Can i play seperate screen?
Yes, in 1v1 matches with you and guy sitting next to you

*Is there part destruction like in LR
No

*Is there an arena?
Maybe

*Can i use past AC data?
No

*Will there be the karasawa and moonlight?
Parts which are series specific are probably not going to be in there
Parts which have been in all the serieses such as KARASAWA and MOONLIGHT will stay

*Degrees of hardness?
Normal + Hard difficulties

*Can i import emblems from PS2 data?
No

*Tell me how the online play works!
TEAM PLAY:
1v1
2v2
4v4

DEATHMATCH
4 player or 8 Player

*What is the television type?
the game is played in 16:9 format (widescreen)
If yur TV is a regular 4:3 format it will shrink it to fit inside the resolution

*Will there be motion sensing?
no

*When i see a bullet coming can i dodge it?
Yes, depending on the type and if your're good with the quick boosters

*Is online play free?
yes

*What happens with primal armour?
When you take damage it gradually decreases, when it's inactive you gain the shield points back

*Are there hangers?
Yes, small weps only

*What do stabilizers do?
Not much in the way of stats, it helps weight balance and the aesthic look.


*Does the story relate to the past games?
no

*Does overboost exist on cores?
No, overboosters are equipable on all cores now, along with side, main and back boosters.

*Are there L and R only specific weapons?
No, you can equip ANY arm weapon on EITHER arm

[Penitent]

Armoured Core was much fun of the PS1, and Armoured Core 2 wad the first game I bought for my PS2. I had much fun hopping around like a maniac in my light AC annoying all my friends by being impossible to hit, although it did nothing for my shoddy accuracy. I actually liked the controller setup after the initial awkwardness of getting used to it. They should really concentrate on making everything worth using, because the choice of weapons and parts in the previous games was often an illusion if you intended to win.

[ZellFish]

I'm probably the most qualified AC (Armored Core) player, here.

I have to strongly disagree. I believe we're equally qualified. I competed in 16 local tournaments (no prizes, just bragging rights) for AC1/2/3/ Silent Line, and won 11 of them. there were about 30 some odd players a piece. Exelent games, all of them.

Also, Race.. Where are you getting your information? surely you cant judge all the core changes from a video or three.

[DatonKallandor]

And infact, you could turn around with a boost in previous AC titles aswell. It's (and most likely still is) one of the internal upgrades.


Daton

[l337raceryo]

Also, Race.. Where are you getting your information? surely you cant judge all the core changes from a video or three.

Mostly from translated sources, since information in english is down right limited.

From what I am reading, it looks like Software is getting rid of the clunkyness, and going all out on the insane high speed combat. Which is why probably why they gotten rid of hover legs and given all legs hovering abilities. Though I dont understand why they would still have thread legs then.....

[Chad Ghostal]

I think it's armoredcore.net where most of them gather their info from, I usually go to neoseeker's AC forums. But Armoredcore.net is the japanese official site, but I heard SEGA has one, now that Agetec is no longer doing the translations in the US.

[Shuma]

I Must... Have Patience...

I own all the Ps2 Games of Armored Core, of course i'll get this one.