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by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 10:23am PDT |
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The gearhead shit has been cranked up to 11, though they've stripped out heat/cooling. Instead they replaced it with stabilization and deeper tuning. You can play versus on LIVE and there was a ranked arena thing, they even "patched" the game about 6 times to eliminate cheap strategies.
RPG bullshit aside, it's one of those Virtual-On esque games where you get a "fast" dash that will let you avoid enemy fire, but at the end of your dash you're immobile for a split second, opening the door to being hit by your opponent if they react quickly enough.
I never was a big fan of Overboosts, I was more of a regular-boost + strafe kind of guy and I just riddle you with MG fire. They've been toned down some in AC4 but they're still there, not to the extent of abuse they were before (in my opinion)
In Armored Core, the analog mouselook does not aim your guns, but instead moves a big square, and when enemies are within the square, your weapons slowly lock onto them, depending on the quality of your targeting system.
Changed. FCS's now mostly just control how big the lag is between where you aim and where he is, there's no more targeting "box", it just covers the entire screen for the most part.
While the generic "MT" enemies may be slow and clumsy, their failure to be as complex as a core also means that several anti-core strategies don't work against them. Did you custom build a fire-weapon core to cripple your opponent with overheating? Fuck you, MTs don't have heat mechanics. Do you carry a supersuper weapon with a limited number of shots? Fuck you, here are 20 enemies spread out over these various dark rooms and corridors. Go rebuild the "correct" type of robot for this mission.
AC4's mission design, except for a few escort missions, is mainly centered around taking out a few high-value targets in a mission and then bugging out. There are a lot of enemies on screen at once but you can completely ignore them (and should, for the ammo bonus, armor bonus, and time bonus) . No more endurance runs, thank GOD! It's really fucking funny that they've given you a shit-ton of more guns to work with, since you can even carry two "Backup" guns in your shiny metal ass and yet it's all completely unnecessary except for on one single mission so far. I have seriously run a mission that was "DEFEAT THE ACE PILOT'S AC" and beat it in 20 seconds because I blew the truck his AC was lying on to bits before he was able to power up and get on his feet.
The customization is a headache. Instead of being like battletech, where it's pretty much stuffing your tonnage with as much weaponry as you can, this works more like Gran Tourismo. Match weight, power requirements, cooling, armor, and a zillion other inter-dependent stats. Then tune the parts! Fuck it up, (and you will fuck it up) and you get a crippled mech. This was the only video game I ever bought the strategy guide for and it still didn't help. This is customization you do on paper with a calculator in hand before you even think of turning on the PS2. No dicking around in this game's customization, mister!
Well, yeah. I don't know what I can say to this. It is a niche product somewhere in the geek heirarchy, and if you like it you like it and you don't you don't. I loved Master of Arena because I built a dream AC that was insanely fast and did a lot of damage and came in 9 points under weight. The fucking FCS chip was the key component that would have ruined the entire thing if it was overweight! A SILICON CHIP! That's just fucking awesome. Armored Core 4 comes with a shitload of premades depending upon your preference, and they're fairly competent designs. They've stripped out a lot of the "mediocre" parts, leaving you with "Arms that are heavy and armored" "Arms that are light and weakly armored", "Tank Legs" vs "No Tank Legs", etc. You're never going to like an Armored Core game except the Playstation and AC2 versions (where there was no heat/cooling and in the Playstation version there wasn't even Exceed Orbit cores or Overboost) if Armored Core 3's design complexity is a pain in the ass to you. And again, I hate heat/cooling as a game mechanic too and still find AC3's customization the most obnoxious in the series (Silent Line introduced losing an ARM in a fight, and Last Raven took it even further and forced you to buy new parts!!!)
Armored Core 4 DOES offer an auto-stabilization/tune for you however, if you want to skip that crap. I found that option pretty handy!
And the plot is crap.
AC plots are always crap. Armored Core 3's plot was a rehash of Armored Core 1. Silent Line was, strangely enough, ALSO a rehash of AC1/3. Ninebreaker was a rehash of Master of Arena. Hell For Answer reminds me a lot of Armored Core 2's superweapons that you had to kill. I'm not going to smack you upside the head and be like "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING PLAYING A ROBOT GAME FOR PLOT?!", I'll freely admit I don't think much of it most times, but I forgive this series for it.
Phantom Crash and S.L.A.I. do everything this game series does, only better and not taking itself so goddamn seriously.
Fuck yeah! It just took them 8 more years to do it!? I mean I've never played either so I have no frame of reference, but the way you played it in Nexus was the same way I was playing it in AC1 sans heat/cooling and overboost/exceed orbits. Yeah, they're fucking chumps for not fixing it for as long as they have but "someone did it better 8 years later" isn't fair. |
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Review Request: Armored Core Nexus and/or Last Raven (MischiefMaker respond!) by Fortinbras 06/30/2009, 1:02pm PDT 
Armored Core 4 First Impressions: HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS AWESOME by Fortinbras 06/30/2009, 3:38pm PDT 
The new menu interface is terrible though, what the hell HOW DO I FUCKING BUY PA NT by Fortinbras 06/30/2009, 3:40pm PDT 
Oh I press X. Other things that are WAY DIFFERENT: by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 12:09am PDT 
This is gonna make House Party look like House Party 2! NT by Chris Rock 07/01/2009, 1:27pm PDT 
Armored Core and SLAI as told by Chris Rock in a Kevin Smith movie by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 1:36pm PDT 
Everything I know about Armored Core I learned from Roboto-chan ^_^ by Jerry Whorebach 07/01/2009, 12:02am PDT 
It's awesome but only for a select demographic of the geek heirarchy by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 12:15am PDT 
belongs in the qt3 thread NT by irony 07/01/2009, 12:20am PDT 
He thinks Silent Line and Ninebreaker were better games than Nexus, he's a moron by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 12:22am PDT 
My god they're BOTH weeaboos NT by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 12:33am PDT 
Nexus is more about the Revolution disc by Ollie Barder 07/06/2009, 4:20am PDT 
Your bento box isn't here, sorry by Fortinbras 07/06/2009, 10:29am PDT 
Re: Your bento box isn't here, sorry by Mysterious Stranger 07/07/2009, 2:34pm PDT 
Above post is by me, in case anyone was wondering NT by Ollie Barder 07/07/2009, 2:35pm PDT 
Re: Your bento box isn't here, sorry by Fortinbras 07/08/2009, 11:14pm PDT 
Re: Your bento box isn't here, sorry by Ollie Barder 07/16/2009, 3:37am PDT 
Are you stalking Ollie Barder, Jerry? by Fortinbras 07/02/2009, 10:31am PDT 
My Armored Core Nexus recollections by Mischief Maker 07/01/2009, 9:20am PDT 
You might, MIGHT like Armored Core 4 (rent it) by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 10:23am PDT 
Re: You might, MIGHT like Armored Core 4 (rent it) by Mischief Maker 07/01/2009, 2:55pm PDT 
You were slamming the series as a whole, you schmuck NT by STOP FUCKING SKIMMING 07/01/2009, 2:56pm PDT 
Perhaps you shoul stop SKIMMING the post titles NT by Methodical Maker 07/01/2009, 3:05pm PDT 
OVERRULED! (gavel bang) by Judge Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 3:10pm PDT 
You owe me $10 for S.L.A.I ! by FABIO 07/01/2009, 1:50pm PDT 
Re: You owe me $10 for S.L.A.I ! by Mysterious Stranger 07/01/2009, 2:50pm PDT 
I guess playing for money is the same as playing for score by FABIO 07/01/2009, 3:57pm PDT 
I wish I had gotten in on the ground floor of Chromehounds NT by Fortinbras 07/01/2009, 2:57pm PDT 
Re: Review Request: Armored Core Nexus and/or Last Raven by Ethan Steele 07/02/2009, 9:12pm PDT 
Armored Core 4: For Answer DIVE DIVE DIVE HIT YOUR BURNERS PILOT by Fortinbras 07/03/2009, 2:44pm PDT 
Lame. by Mischief Maker 07/03/2009, 6:20pm PDT 
AC4:FA Co-Op review: NEGATIVE! by Fortinbras 07/06/2009, 1:45pm PDT 
AC4:FA Co-Op review:POSITIVE by Ethan Steele 07/06/2009, 3:05pm PDT 
Armored Core 4 online play: Good, fun, but nobody plays it - NEGATIVE by Fortinbras 07/08/2009, 11:03pm PDT 
Peaked with 2 NT by Worm 07/13/2009, 6:12pm PDT 
Peaked with 2:AA NT by Fortinbras 07/13/2009, 7:55pm PDT 
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