[another god]

Can someone compare/contrast this with ACVanil? I loved ACV superficially, but it just didn't want to love me back. Phantom Crash crossed with ACV would've made me so happy, but it was so slow paced... ugh....
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interdimensional

[Guillotine]

I'd like to say it feels a tad faster than 5 because boosters have better performances overall, but I don't really remember much about 5.

Anyway I've been checking the programmable AI, and holy hell. It's pretty overwhelming at first but after a bit the amount of depth and options starts making sense, I feel like I could spend days just tinkering with that thing.

Sadly (luckily?) you get only 1 spot for your own customizable core+AI, I suppose to keep a multiplayer focus. You can however launch a sortie in world mode with a team of AIs (yours and 3 premade if you're playing alone), while you play operator. I did it once and I'm not sure I even had any kind of impact, but my bots won against a team of 3 humans +1 AI!

[halken]

[Guillotine]

I got to fight some of the online bosses, it went like this:

1 - unmoving? giant platform, would shot batteries of giant homing missiles, I could almost get near enough to hit it! but not quite. My UNAC lasted a good bit more than me ;_;
2 - Some vaguely dragonesque mecha, would fly around and shot laser/plasma stuff, tons of hp, I believe something like 900k? The true Armored Core starts here
3 - A flying vehicle which well, was so fast that it was HARD TO SEE. Couldn't even get a lock on it, it would just fly back and forward at insane speed, the only moment I could literally just catch a glimpse of it was when it was about to ram on my face. This was all kind of awesome, no idea how people go around killing this thing though. maybe a direct hit would bring it down for a bit?

Regrettably I didn't try out the other 4, anyway these encounters are possible when the war ends and there's this brief window of truce, maybe an hour or so.

[Felix]

dammit that sounds good

aaaaand: http://us.playstation.com/games/armored-core-verdict-day-ps3.html

down to $30 on PSN finally

who wants to get serious about mechas and venereal disease with me?

[Drem]

Oh huh, it's permanent price drop. I was at GameStop the other day and saw they were selling it for $30 so I picked up a copy for PS3.

[Felix]

bought. fuckin' doin' this!

... after the playoffs

[Glam Grimfire]

I just bought this!
I gave some of singleplayer a whirl and fucked around with my AC
Things I immediately noticed (I haven't played a game in the series since Silent Line

+The 'new' (to me) control scheme is -vastly- improved over the other AC games. It seemed less smooth at first, but that was just me getting used to it. There's more weightiness to it, which I very much like.

+More customization, possibly than any AC game before it? I dig all of the charts and numbers when building an AC, especially because you can tell they actually matter. I can feel the difference between a 450 attack weapon and a 950 attack weapon.
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##SKELETON PARTY (new article as of 04/26/14)Grim

[Felix]

I'm gonna get started this evening. y'all want to aim for some co-op'ing next weekend? or is that not the sort of thing that you're cut out for in this game after the +/- 5 hours I'll have realistically put in by then?

the last AC game I played was actually the original since the PS2 games looked so sterile to me at the time so I'm pretty psyched

[Glam Grimfire]

Fuckit, we'll do it live.

i'm down Felix
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##SKELETON PARTY (new article as of 04/26/14)Grim

[Felix]

Okay I turned it on and joined the SB faction

I can't tell how the L3 function is supposed to work and the patching process is pretty clumsy

ROCK AND ROLL

[Glam Grimfire]

The L3 function functions like the original boost in the first Armored Core games, moving you a lot faster while draining your boost gauge It's effective for putting distance between you and other AC's, or closing gaps. The reason it slowly lifts you off the ground is to skip over small objects it looks like,
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##SKELETON PARTY (new article as of 04/26/14)Grim

[Felix]

yup, I worked that out. was having trouble with it initially because I thought it was more of a "fly" ability than a quasi-hover and it wouldn't let me do it from a standstill.

beyond that, the only other major "huh" moment I had so far was when outfitting my AC, I pressed R2 practically by accident and all of a sudden there were all of the junk parts that I presume came along with my $5000 stack-of-crates "warehouse"! that sure helped my early game outfitting options. I pretty much bought the crates on nothing but faith in videogame logic telling me that I should probably buy the cheapest thing in this category that has no apparent value.

four missions in and have probably spent at least half my time in the customization screen so far. having a grand old time. though the sword doesn't seem to be as widely useful as I remember from 15 years ago. that's probably reasonable.

I also don't have any kind of feel for how important the various kinds of defense are (beyond knowing objectively what they do), and I have had very little trouble with heat and energy consumption limits so far (though I've spent substantially more money on cores and legs than on weapons thanks to the warehouse kit, so that probably has something to do with it).

the environments really are incredibly shitty. and this is coming off of playing Nier which was also criticized for being very spare. but the HUD and the mechs are nice so whatever. I can appreciate them going shader-heavy because it is often more aesthetically original, takes less time than modeling environments and the PS3 is really only powerful enough to do one or the other anyhow. but those are still some crappy environments.

oddly I can't think of a mech game with non-spare environments.

[Felix]

okay, one thing that's puzzled me -- I got a big ol' "ready position required" left arm machinegun, and I no longer seem able to press triangle + L2 to swap weapons as I could with every other weapons configuration. however, it does automatically switch to my secondary left arm weapon when the machinegun runs out of ammo.

is this just an additional restriction that's not documented very well or am I missing something?

that hillside mission was excellent, I feel like that was when the game officially switched from "act 1" to "act 2." from what I've read the game has difficulty maintaining this complexity curve, looking forward to seeing whether that's the case as I really dug the first couple hours.

[Guillotine]

ready position guns can't be switched. btw tanks can use them while moving, albeit they can't switch em either.

I'll join back the SB team, but we'll need booji to give someone active the leader position, so we can select a faction if we want to get smacked online.

[boojiboy7]

I just wrote a note on my hand to do that tonight.

Might get back into this soon.

[Drem]

I just signed up for the team as well although I'm not sure how active I'm going to be just yet. For some reason I find it really weird to hear nice music in this game. I can't even remember whether the previous games had good music or not but maybe I'm just having trouble coupling it with the brown, grungy aesthetic.

[boojiboy7]

What PSN name am I giving leadership to?

[Felix]

not me, I'm not expecting to be active enough

thanks for confirming, guillotine. trying to think of how to strategize around a weapon I'll only be using once a primary part of my arsenal is depleted... right now I have a weaker, non-ready-position-required, different-type-of-damage machinegun in there, and I might just keep it for lack of a better idea.

also, as much as I love jumping, I might try a tank AC just so I can use a howitzer while moving...

the sniper rifle seems sort of overpowered given that you don't have to aim it once you've gotten a lock-on so you can aggressively dodge around corners

[Gironika]

man, that sounds like a thing I wanna try. This weekend it is? I'll try to be there.
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[Gironika]

man, that sounds like a thing I wanna try. This weekend it is? I'll try to be there.
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[boojiboy7]

Glam Grimfire, you are now arbitrarily selected as select_button's team leader.

I trust you will accept all the responsibilities of this meaningful title or something.

[Felix]

This game is excellent

the "war" "stopped" for a second while I was playing tonight and I was tempted to challenge one of the super bosses but I didn't have a partner. Four people have joined the SB team in the past few days! I unlocked UNACs and can't seem to finish a mission with one without losing a huge amount of money!

[Felix]

is there any reason to use the energy sword over the piledriver other than the highly limited ammo? I'm in melee range so seldom that the increased damage from the latter seems like a no-brainer...

[Guillotine]

I didn't really melee yet but I think blades have better (and variable) range, and there is the thing about defences as well, albeit a clean hit from a pile is likely a 1 hit kill. Some blades seem to go over 10k though!

Btw a rather hefty patch should hit tomorrow, so if anyone was getting into number crunching builds, yeah don't get crazy on them today.

[Felix]

thanks for the heads up. I doubt they'll nerf my 12-missions-into-story-mode equipment too severely.

the environments are getting a little less bad as the game goes on, by the way! and I finally sat down and tweaked all of the little UNAC AI parameters.

this is actually a very good game, you guys. I'm not sure why so many people seemed to want to call it middling. well, sure, a lot of important UI stuff is initially undercommunicated and the first mission is likely to be the worst time you'll have with the game for a number of reasons (bland level, bland stock weapon config, etc.). but it's completely great by the one hour mark as long as you make half an effort to understand its various systems.

I am however very grateful of its lukewarm reception because I think that's been a direct contributor to this being the first game I've played in recent memory that has no comprehensive faq/wiki information anywhere I can find on the internet.

I'm using a chargeable x-buster as my main weapon now. Very satisfying.

[jjsimpso]

I got back into this last night. My priority is finishing the story mode , but I played a few 1v1 arena battles last night as well. I just unlocked the UNACs, so I probably have a ways to go on the story missions. I assume I need to complete at least most of them to have enough parts to be of much use online. We should think about joining a faction soon though, now that we have enough players to actually do something online.
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PSN: TaipeiGamer

[Felix]

join the sb faction! booji posted the details earlier in this thread and it's gone from 4 members to 8 in the past week. I'm still working through story mode before I try doing much online as well, but having a great time and should be ready to wade into those waters by this weekend.

[jjsimpso]

Already a member! Actually, I think I may have been the first one to join after booji. What I was referring to was picking a side. I think we have to pick a side before we can enter the war and start fighting for territory.
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PSN: TaipeiGamer

[Felix]

oh. I see. let's join the green party.

[boojiboy7]

I think the leader has to pick one, but yeah, go for it. Someone PM Glam Grimfire if he doesn't, as he is the current leader.

[Felix]

I just checked and I have completed 43% of the missions apparently

this would definitely be on my list for last year

seriously, highly recommended.

[boojiboy7]

You didn't play ACV, did you Felix? unfortunately, it still has a lot of the problems of that game (oh god, it takes like 5 minutes to get to a 30 second long mission, ARGH, and such being one of them).

[Felix]

Honestly I haven't found the load times or the menus to be an issue at all. Maybe because I'm playing off the hard drive?

soon I will be RANK D

[boojiboy7]

Eh, they weren't a huge thing, but they just sorta add up over time. Like I end up feeling like I am spending a lot of time not actually playing the game. It doesn't ruin it, but I just wish they'd improved it more. It's sorta like the camo menu in MGS3, and how eventually it just meant I didn't bother changing camo ever.

[jjsimpso]

Slow menus are my biggest complaint as well. The ACV series UI in general feels a lot worse than in AC4.

I'm still excited that I now have a chance to actually play this online with a team though.
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PSN: TaipeiGamer

[boojiboy7]

Yeah, in general I just liked the 4 series much better than 5. I still like a decent amount of 5 though. Just felt like a bit of a step back.

[Glam Grimfire]

Oh whoah hey i'm the team leader, cool
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##SKELETON PARTY (new article as of 04/26/14)Grim

[jjsimpso]

For Answer was incredible. Verdict Day does seem to be a step down in terms of the game system and UI, but I'm hoping the online play will at least give it a unique appeal. The slower pace of the game seems to have at least improved the quality of the online experience. The UNAC system seems really interesting as well. I definitely have more positive things to say about Verdict Day than vanilla V!
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PSN: TaipeiGamer

[Glam Grimfire]

I heard Vanilla V was probably one of the worst games in the series from a few different people!


in honor of me sometimes forgetting if i'm more glam or grim, let's take a vote on which party to join!
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##SKELETON PARTY (new article as of 04/26/14)Grim

[Felix]

yeah, I held off on Vanilla V because I had heard not-great feedback (also because I didn't have that much fun with the JP-only demo and it didn't get a digital release, which is kind of a big factor for me on PS3), though frankly I didn't hear that many good things about VD (more that I really wanted to give a recent installment a shot and it at least sounded good by comparison) and I am enjoying the hell out of it, so

to be honest the main reason I haven't looked into 4/4A is because I have a distrust of all PS3/360 titles made before 2009

and all of the comparisons people make (aesthetic, UI, pacing, etc.) are to aspects of VD I really actively like, so I'm not too interested