Armored Core V Catch-all

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4aim...
That is very very pretty.

It seems there's more to do than just piloting an AC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoS4N...

I've tried some of the previous armored core games and I've always wished they were more like chromehounds in the speed dept. Just not a fan of the jet skating around. The trailer looked interesting though. If it is some where in the middle between chromehounds and amored core I'll probably like it.

I'd love for them to slow the game down some too.

What I want is Chromehounds 2 god damnit!

Will this do until God listens?

Mr.Green wrote:

What I want is Chromehounds 2 god damnit!

Will this do until God listens?

+1 for chromehound 2!

Once they decided to close the chromehound servers they should have patched the game to still offer a way to do free battles.

Brizahd wrote:
Mr.Green wrote:

What I want is Chromehounds 2 god damnit!

Will this do until God listens?

+1 for chromehound 2!

Once they decided to close the chromehound servers they should have patched the game to still offer a way to do free battles.

I'd pay money for it. I'd even consider breaking my MMO rule if they decided to double down on the persistent world thing.

I had no idea Chromehounds had a following. It was the game in the kiosk at Gamestop the first time I'd ever seen a 360, and it unsold me on the prospect of buying the console.

I'd fold about a year and a half later, of course, but still. Learn something new every day.

Oh, Armored Core. I dig 'em. I'll likely buy this at some point.

Uh... BOTH! And then some. Gorram budget..... razzle-frazzin'.... dayjob.... mumble mutter....

And while we're at it, Smith and Tinker can get off their duffs and get us that Mechwarrior game they announced.

momgamer wrote:

Uh... BOTH! And then some. Gorram budget..... razzle-frazzin'.... dayjob.... mumble mutter....

And while we're at it, Smith and Tinker can get off their duffs and get us that Mechwarrior game they announced.

I heard the reason why it got shut down was because the folks behind Macross were suing them for "similiar designs"... Just a rumor, so take that with a grain of salt.

That trailer looks amazing. I love me some AC action, but always felt it waned once they did away with the Human+ effects. I heard they dropped it because people complained that other players' cores were too overpowered. Overpowered?! DUH! I frickin' earned that right, so quit Female Doggoin'!

Blind_Evil wrote:

I had no idea Chromehounds had a following. It was the game in the kiosk at Gamestop the first time I'd ever seen a 360, and it unsold me on the prospect of buying the console.

I'd fold about a year and a half later, of course, but still. Learn something new every day.

Oh, Armored Core. I dig 'em. I'll likely buy this at some point.

GWJ had a group on Chromehounds for a while there. I'd say we really put the game through its paces. We even took down one of those crazy ridiculous huge mega robots... even though I was playing artillery and SOMEONE kept trying to shove me out from behind cover!

I've always liked the idea of Armored Core and I love building robots, but it feels like From is punishing me for that. Armored Core has always had extremely awkward controls. Apologists tell me that it's to emulate how awkward it would be to pilot a giant robot but I don't really buy it, especially when From also made a Japanese-only game called Frame Gride... where you pilot giant robots that control extremely well, even with a Dreamcast controller.

Don't ask me what a Gride is. I have no idea. Is it Grid? Is it Glide? I don't know.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Don't ask me what a Gride is. I have no idea. Is it Grid? Is it Glide?

It's both!

WipEout wrote:

That trailer looks amazing. I love me some AC action, but always felt it waned once they did away with the Human+ effects. I heard they dropped it because people complained that other players' cores were too overpowered. Overpowered?! DUH! I frickin' earned that right, so quit Female Doggoin'!

Damn right WipEout! Although really I just miss overweight ACs.

While I enjoyed AC4 a bit I really miss being overpowered with a really fast AC and carrying enormous weapons.

From what I remember of AC4 you could choose from different rule sets in multiplayer that could alter the fundamental qualities of weapons and ACs. Why not have a rule set with no penalty for overweight?

Also it looks like ACV will be quite different from the AC4 series.

I love the idea behind Armored Core but the last one burned me and even though they've started to make the controls a little more intuitive, they're still awful compared to From's Frame Gride (on the Dreamcast).

I'll pick this up when it hits $20. So, by the end of March.

Frankly, I'd rather have another real Front Mission than Armored Core. I know, different dev and all, but ...

garion333 wrote:

Frankly, I'd rather have another real Front Mission than Armored Core. I know, different dev and all, but ...

I loved Front Mission 4. It easily one of the best SRPGs I've ever played. Front Mission Evolved was really a huge disappointment.

The Front Mission SRPGs were great but I hate how they all switch between two storylines. I'm OK with a game that tells two stories, or one story from two perspectives, but it sucks that I just earned all this XP and gear and I can't play with it until I've done a whole other mission.

I believe I've hyped myself into this game. I hope some reviews (okay, one will do) hit today because it really does sound like From Software has tried to make this more like Chromehounds than AC4.

I didn't really get that impression.

Garion if you do take the plunge let us know how it goes. I'm particularly interested in whether they've gone back to the old interface that was at least usable or if they're still using that impenetrable garbage from the last one I played.

I had a dream the other night that Gimpy Butzke, a friend and myself were trying to kill each other in ACs. It was awesome and now I want this game in the hopes that I may one day fulfill said dream in some capacity.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KILL ME?!

Gamefly for some reason has refused to send ACV to me so far even though I have nothing else but a Vita game on my rental list. I am a little relieved that I don't have it yet because I am really enjoying ME3 right now.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I didn't really get that impression.

Smaller mechs. Using terrain. Emphasis on mp.

Edit: and I read it somewhere in a preview. The devs might not have said that, but the person previewing said that because he played Chromehounds, etc. Many reviews are mentioning Chromehounds in reference to the persistent online aspects of ACV. You're also on the ground a lot more, so there's that too.

Here's what Tom Chick (take a drink) had to say:

When you see the From Software logo, you probably associate it with Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls. But there was a time that logo meant something else to a select group of people. There was a time the From Software logo meant an almost absurdly complex, elegant, strategic, and online only giant robot game called Chromehounds (pictured) that never found an audience. That time is here again. You may not have known this about Armored Core V — I certainly didn’t — but it is From Software’s Chromehounds mulligan. I say that with equal degrees of enthusiasm and trepidation. Stand by for the review later this week, because this is a game that will live or die (sadly, the latter is most likely for a variety of reasons) based on the multiplayer community.

Okay, so I've played for a couple of hours and here's my take.

AC customization: Don't know as I'm getting a server error when trying to buy anything new. Apparently this is widespread since they turned on the servers. It was working before today for reviewers.
AC Decals/Emblems: They start you off with some stuff but you have to buy the rest. For some reason this doesn't give a server error. Weird. I actually spent a good chunk of time in here messing around and came up with an okay looking emblem. It was certainly better than using one of their stock images.
Graphics: Suck. They need a new engine or something.
Sounds: Suck-ish. Guns sound pretty good, but I was expecting the bass to hit harder. No big deal, really.
Story: Oh my. It's so confusingly incoherent that I want to shake the hand of the person who wrote it.
Missions: The non-story missions are really short. Like, two minutes or less. While there's 80 of them I'm hoping some of them are longer as they're a bit too short for my liking. Story based missions, of which there are 10, are definitely longer and more interesting, but without being able to upgrade my AC I'm not going to get very far here. I also did one faction mission
Menus: Oh man, From Software just doesn't make great menus. The manual is 6 pages and it's useless. The Demons' Souls manual had more info. Like their other titles, though, hitting select (or something) will allow you to get tooltips on items. This is how you begin to learn the game. Everything requires more button presses than it should.
Controls: Good, actually. They're a bit floaty, but only for movement. Aiming works really well. I might be missing something, but I picked the buttons up rather quickly.
Gameplay: Really digging it so far. It's nice to involve terrain as you're smaller than buildings and use them for strategy. There's very little time spent in the air, which is also nice. And while the game is still fast paced, it's not lightning fast, which I think is fantastic.

With the lack of interesting content on the sp side, I can see how the persistent mp angle will keep the gameplay fresh. Right now I'm still comp stomping around on side missions and whatnot, but I've already gotten my butt handed to me on a faction mission which are clearly designed for multiple people.

Thin_J wrote:

Garion if you do take the plunge let us know how it goes. I'm particularly interested in whether they've gone back to the old interface that was at least usable or if they're still using that impenetrable garbage from the last one I played.

I haven't played any of the AC's from this generation, but what game did you play this gen and what did you play before?

garion333 wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

Garion if you do take the plunge let us know how it goes. I'm particularly interested in whether they've gone back to the old interface that was at least usable or if they're still using that impenetrable garbage from the last one I played.

I haven't played any of the AC's from this generation, but what game did you play this gen and what did you play before?

I played all of the Armored Core games from the Playstation up through all the various versions on the PS2, IIRC Silent Line was my favorite, but lots of love for AC3 in there too. Then I got the first release for the 360 which I think was AC4. AC4 had quite possibly the worst interface in the history of videogames. The older ones were incredibly clunky but you could at least muddle your way through and figure things out. I played like six hours of AC4 and never did manage to customize a mech. I tried a lot, but when I'd get into a mission nothing I'd done was ever there. I gave up and traded it in after maybe a couple weeks.

My experience with 4 scared me away from even trying For Answer (worst title ever) when it came out.

*Small error in my memory, I apparently skipped a PS2 game called AC: Formula Front. Huh.

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/UiXrW.jpg)

From what I can tell of AC4, this is better. It's a tweaked version of what AC4 had, but since I can't buy anything atm I can't say that I've made it into the field with new stuff equipped.

Looking at AC For Answer it appears the customization is very similar to that game, but that doesn't help us much since neither of us played it.

Anyway, for whatever reason you still have to buy parts separate and then equip them. I just don't understand why this is still a part of the series. A "quick equip" option after purchasing seems like such a simple thing it blows my mind it's still not in there.

Are all the ACs that fat? The variety of legs and treads in the older AC games was great, but all the trailers are showing these big chunky fellas, rather than the slim ACs I tended to favour.

Gamefly has sent the game to me finally, although I likely won't get it until Thursday or Friday.

Can you only buy new parts if you are connected to PSN? I don't even know if this game is out for 360.

My favorites are easily the AC2 games. I didn't really like the design of most of the AC3 parts even though the gameplay systems worked fine. After AC3 they systems got extremely weird for me. I think it was Silent Line that had ridiculous overheat system where I was felt it was impossible for me to finish one of the early missions where every enemy used high heat weapons with drastically more maneuverability then I could build into my AC.

Redwing wrote:

Are all the ACs that fat? The variety of legs and treads in the older AC games was great, but all the trailers are showing these big chunky fellas, rather than the slim ACs I tended to favour.

Yeah, they seem to be chunkier. I think this has to do with them being half as tall.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

Can you only buy new parts if you are connected to PSN? I don't even know if this game is out for 360.

It is out for the 360 and I still don't know about buying parts. I need to fire it up again today with my internet connection turned off and see what happens.

Edit: Gamefaqs is saying you can play offline, but the things you do won't carry over to your online profile, which is the crux of the game, so ...