Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

[Hero-of-Time]

From Software are digging into their back catalogue of IPs and returning to the AC franchise. The lead designer of Sekiro is directing the game. Good news for me but bad news for drahkon.  

[drahkon]

13 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The lead designer of Sekiro is directing the game.

 

Sent the trailer to a mate who grew up with the Armored Core series and you could say he's reasonably excited. "OH MY GOD, FUCK YES!!" 
 

[Dcubed]

Great to finally see From Soft get out of the Soulsbourne mines and remember that they used to make other kinds of games

[Julius]

Rated in Korea:

Not surprising considering that it was slated for release this year, but hopefully this gives us a bit more of a solid reason to think it'll actually make it out this year and not slip into 2024 

[Julius]

A new trailer means a release date: 25th August?!

I know it's been in the rumour mill a lot these last few weeks after rating in South Korea but hot damn are From on something else! Also FINALLY more people releasing games in July and August, FINALLY!! 

This coming out in August when it could easily come out later in the year suggests to me that maybe the Elden Ring DLC is due by year's end? Or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself 

Also the Premium Edition is nuts

Edited April 27, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

Previews have shadow dropped following some demos behind closed doors at Summer Game Fest:

Kind of crazy that this is out in two and a half months and we've seen virtually nothing, but the customisation looks great! 

[Julius]

Launch trailer:

Previews have looked great, the game continues to look amazing...but I'm not sure I'm quite in the mood for a From game coming off the back of FF XVI. Need something a bit more mindless and then going to try diving into BG3, but I know I'll get to this before the end of the year 

[drahkon]

Pre-loading now, thanks to my mate.   He loves the series and is way too excited

First Armored Core for me and I know almost nothing about it.

[Julius]

2 hours ago, drahkon said:

Pre-loading now, thanks to my mate.   He loves the series and is way too excited

First Armored Core for me and I know almost nothing about it.

Nice! Look forward to hearing your thoughts, especially on the customisation 

I cancelled my pre-order on Monday, just before it was set to ship out, trying to be a Sensible Adult™. Even though I think I'll probably just commit to BG3's co-op campaign with friends for now (until all the patches and stuff are out before a solo playthrough, so years from now), I've got plenty of other games to be getting on with (and games to return to!), and really don't think I'm quite in the mood for such a combat-heavy From game after XVI, so I think I'm okay to wait. But I'm sure I will be in the mood for it by the end of the year, especially when we all start talking about GOTYs 

2023 has been stacked, and early 2024 doesn't look like it'll be letting up either! It's a great time to be gaming, whatever you choose to play 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Julius

[drahkon]

Welp, I've played this for 2 1/2 hours straight

Still getting used to the controls. It's very demanding, in my opinion. Aside from Share, Options and the touchpad you basically have to use every single button all the time
I'm actually using my index and my middle fingers for the shoulder buttons. It's weird as fuck when you've pressed these buttons with only your index fingers your entire gaming life.

Other than that...the game is intense!

I had similar experiences when I played my first (and so far only) Ace Combat game, when I engaged in Returnal's combat and when I fought

Spoiler

Baldur.

Pure gaming bliss

The customization is a little daunting, I gotta say. There's sooo many values and numbers involved. I'll probably spend most of tomorrow grinding some money in order to buy every part available to me. Then I can experiment properly. Right now I can't try out some weapon/equipment combinations because I exceed my weight limit and/or EN load.

[drahkon]

7 hours in, chapter 4 reached, 60% of the campaign done.

Not to brag, but I expected this game to be a lot more difficult. The tutorial boss kicked my ass once because I was struggling with the controls. Beat it on my second try and haven't died since.

This is supposed to be a From game?

[Julius]

51 minutes ago, drahkon said:

7 hours in, chapter 4 reached, 60% of the campaign done.

Not to brag, but I expected this game to be a lot more difficult. The tutorial boss kicked my ass once because I was struggling with the controls. Beat it on my second try and haven't died since.

This is supposed to be a From game?

Damn, sounds like you're making light work of it!

If I'm remembering right you also made light work of Sekiro's bosses (though I think you were a bit more split on the overall experience, it sounds like you're enjoying AC quite a bit so far?), and this game is directed by the guy who was the lead designer on Sekiro (and considering their schedule, I imagine a lot of the team on AC overlaps with the team that was on Sekiro), so I wonder if it's something about their work/combat/approach to bosses in particular? 

Or you're just killing it, which is also possible  I was just as surprised that I didn't really have a hard time with Bloodborne earlier this year outside of a certain boss or two, at least compared to my experience with other From games, and I really feel like that was down to the combat in that game being exactly what I wanted from the combat in all of the other games I've played of theirs. 

I'm still trying to not pick this game up, the last few days I've definitely been tempted, but I'm a session or two away from XVI's Plat, then I can return to Like a Dragon...just got to keep myself busy playing everything else! 

[drahkon]

28 minutes ago, Julius said:

Or you're just killing it, which is also possible  

I did some digging and found out that I was basically running a, if not the meta build: Lots of HP AP and weapons that deal high amounts of stagger damage (I went with gatling guns and some good old fashion explosives - using energy weapons is apparently the better choice, though).
I steam roll everything. The final arena fight took me 22 seconds.

My mate told me that in the older games you had to adjust your AC build for certain missions/encounters or you'd get your ass whooped.
With this installment? I started to run one build right when a certain part became available to me and that was it. Aside from switching weapons and increasing my AP even more, I changed nothing over the course of my playthrough (which is apparently 70% complete).

28 minutes ago, Julius said:

it sounds like you're enjoying AC quite a bit so far?

It started with a bang and was amazing. After chapter 1 it fell off hard. I've simply been going through the motions with no challenge at all. Doesn't help that the missions are short and not very interesting.

I've adjusted to the controls, but man...the camera is a disaster. NEVER EVER lock on to anything and go into close combat. The camera goes haywire trying to follow enemies' movements. Thank goodness I don't get motion sickness from playing video games.
There's also some FPS dips which can be fairly noticeable and distracting, especially during fights.

The sound is awesome, though. Had to turn down SFX and voices so I could hear the music but now it's perfection.

Overall...not as good as I expected.

Gonna finish it and see what NG+ has in store. Maybe that's where the real Armored Core begins.

Edited August 25, 2023 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Nah, I'm done. Halfway through chapter 3 on NG+ and I'm bored. I'm simply not having fun anymore.
NG+ doesn't increase the difficulty and I can't be arsed to play through all the missions again (and yet again for NG++) just to see all endings and unlock a few more missions.

On 8/25/2023 at 2:43 AM, drahkon said:

Pure gaming bliss

That didn't last very long.

[Julius]

Thanks for the thoughts, @drahkon!

Shame you didn't love it and that it fell off so harshly for you, but at least it sounds like you had a great time at the start? Really curious to see what I think of the game when I get around to it, as I find we aren't usually a million miles apart on our gaming opinions 

Would love to see your AC design! I've seen a lot of emblems today (someone shared their Outer Heaven one, which looks and seems perfect?!) and really just want to dig into customising my mech 

[drahkon]

8 hours ago, Julius said:

Shame you didn't love it and that it fell off so harshly for you, but at least it sounds like you had a great time at the start?

It was awesome, yeah.
But it became repetitive pretty quickly.

For NG+ I changed my AC quite a bit (bipedal instead of tank treads and one melee weapon for example). I obviously had to pay a little differently but in the end it was kind of the same as before: Stay close to enemies and smack 'em. There's no denying that Sekrio's lead designer was involved

8 hours ago, Julius said:

Would love to see your AC design!

Eh, it was just a red tank. I didn't bother with colour/emblem customization.

[Julius]

Decided to boot this up after a post-BG3-opening power nap (don't ask), just to have a quick go at things, and well...

...I already can't put this game down 

I'm having a blast so far. I love the mission-based level structure. The number of customisation options are absurd. The bosses so far have been fun (although, nothing on other early game bosses by From, based on what I've seen so far at least ), and the checkpoints have been really generous. The story, or what scraps there are of a story, are more than enough to keep me hooked. This feels like a PS2 game, and right now for what I want and need from a game, it's certainly scratching an itch I didn't even know I had!

Going to throw some stuff on (and footage of my time with!) the bosses in spoiler tags...

Spoiler

So, I heard going into this that some people have had SERIOUS issues with this boss, spending hours on it...and I'm a little confused as to how? I beat it on my sixth attempt, around 15-20 minutes of trying, and I think that was largely down to getting to grips with the controls - you don't really get a chance to before you get to this boss, imo. After the first attempt or two (where I think even From veterans who have been told to just go ham might still play it safe!) it was crystal clear what they wanted from me: play as aggressively as possible. And so I have been. And it's worked every time since then, and I kind of love that I get to be this aggressive in a From game. 

Anyways, not a spectacular boss by any means, but a nice way to get to grips with things I think. 

After the first boss/mission, I spent some time going through a few more missions, and eventually found myself replaying a mission where you are one-on-one against a trainee AC pilot...and I watched him die. Again. And again. And again. That kid made me a millionaire  after a few attempts I swapped out the default rifle for a machine gun, and my replays immediately jumped from C to A rank, and so it became clear that, for me and the way I want to play this game, that was the way to go. Then went and picked up some missiles for my left shoulder to match my right, kept the laser sword in my left hand, and this is the result, my first AC: Gawain. 

I spent well over an hour on trying out different colours and parts, but eventually I gave up and decided that I'll likely stick with a very basic look my first time through all of these missions, because until I have all the parts purchased, I'm going to be making changes nonstop anyways  anyways, my Gawain strat is fairly straightforward: don't let up with the machine gun, fire missiles to force a stagger, and when the enemy is/is about to be staggered, it's laser sword time. I love it! 

Spoiler

No problems with the second boss, beat it on my first attempt. Very clear after this boss that the strat for bosses so far - and which I imagine could easily hold true for the rest of the game - is to find an open spot, stay airborne, and go for it, timing your use of energy consumption with where you position yourself. 

Again, not a spectacular boss, but good fun all the same 

Best way to showcase my play style with Gawain is probably to just show how my Advanced Mercenary Certification went, so:

To nearly round off my first session I took on a mission where I had to pick up as many logs as possible, which led to this extremely close call after an enemy AC turned up at the last minute:

And then it was time for the arena, which, well, early doors, but Gawain made incredibly light work of: all three F ranks taking less than a minute to complete each! 

Spoiler

And that's a wrap on my first session with AC VI, I'm really having a blast! Look forward to picking up more parts and eventually getting all of them to go as ham as I want to in customising my ACs 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

Another AC update, probably not super in-depth, but that's what the videos and screenshots are for  going to preface all this by saying I had a good few framerate drops today, especially for the final Rank D encounter in the Arena. 

First things first: my black AC, Gawain, got renamed to Percival (yes, they're getting named after the Knights of the Round Table). No real reason other than Percival seeming like a more suitable name for a black AC than Gawain, which sounds very knightly to me! 

Anyways, got to the next boss, a certain someone from the trailers who fires a BUNCH of missiles, and Percival didn't have a great time...a few times. So I went back to the drawing board, as I just felt a bit too slow, so picked up some new parts and tested out my build a couple of times: rather than going tanky (which probably would've made the fight a lot easier), I wanted to up my speed, because I really enjoy darting around and dodging everything that I can at a breakneck speed. Gawain's weapons - missile launchers on shoulders, machine gun in the right hand and a laser sword in the left - would still do the trick, but the body needed to shed some weight, a new generator could come in handy, and obviously a new AC means a new paint job! 

Which brings me to the testing and creation of my second AC: Tristan. Obviously using that poor new AC pilot as the testing grounds and showcase of my new AC! 

Absolutely love this build, Tristan just absolutely flies all over the place, and it's such a joy to strafe, dodge, launch a bunch of missiles and chase that up at insane speed with a laser sword slash! 

Anywho, as for the third boss...

Spoiler

Balteus is easily the most I've died to a boss in this game so far, yet weirdly I don't think it's too much to do with the fight itself being difficult, at least not in the Soulsborne sense. I'll get into that below. 

Definitely took me a little while to get the timing of missile barrage dodging down - but that has now come in super handy elsewhere! - and to figure out the best way to deal with the shield, but yeah, even though it took me a bit over an hour, I wouldn't say the fight was necessarily difficult (in the same way that some have been saying the first boss is?), but rather, it's just...well, it's very different to everything else we really get in action-based boss fights. Let me explain:

While there is still certainly a sense of needing to learn your enemy's patterns and know your own build inside and out - when you've got the capacity to fire, to boost, or to dodge - I think what makes the bosses in this game so different - rather than difficult - and require some adjusting to is just how omnidirectional the battles can get; I simply don't think there are many other games making truly 3D boss encounters in this way, not even in the other From games.

For example, think about how Ornstein and Smough chase you around the room in Dark Souls, pillar to pillar...in a very two-dimensional sense. There's left and right, backwards and forwards, but there is no up and down to contend with. Even in Elden Ring, a game in which you can jump and there's a newfound sense of verticality to exploration, boss fights are still very much the same as they have been in Souls games for a long time: they're two-dimensional. Not in the "this lacks substance" sense, but rather, in the way that you could capture an attack from above and from in front and you would have the complete picture of what is going on mechanically, and what you need to pay attention to. 

In Armored Core VI, for both better and worse (so far), I find that you also need to pay attention to your verticality (which is presented very differently from boss to boss)...and all of your systems. Energy. Ammo/capacity for FOUR different attack inputs. Keeping your enemy centred. Paying attention to audio cues. 

It's a lot, and at times, a little bit overwhelming; again, just because it is a different approach to a boss fight than what we typically get these days, and what's more there are a BUNCH of systems to pay attention to on top of that. At times - against bosses in particular, I find - I've found myself spamming attacks from a place of feeling overwhelmed rather than of purpose, which has occasionally resulted in death, but at other times seems to genuinely work out. Heck, there's been one or two times where I've just lost track of what's going on, and what buttons I'm pressing - like an 8 player game of Smash - because there's so much feedback I'm taking on mentally from the game at certain moments. I do think it's this, though, which leads to an approach like the one @drahkon mentioned being an almost one-size-fits-all solution for bosses: get in the enemy's face and just go absolutely ham. This approach also just removes or minimises a lot of the other noise I was mentioning before from the equation. 

And while I have enjoyed the bosses and don't mind spending an hour or so getting accustomed to one for it to finally work out in my favour, it weirdly doesn't feel skill-based, and it's such a shame because I think it almost casts a shadow over where the absolute gold is in this game: the one-on-one AC combat.

Taking on an AC one-on-one, whether in the Arena or any other time a pilot turns up to face me down in the campaign, has been absolutely brilliant. It's why I can't stop replaying the mission where you're one-on-one against a trainee pilot: it's great practice and a good way to test a new build, but despite the fact that it's super easy, I think the one-on-one fights are where I'm by far having the most fun in the game. This game honestly seems like such an inverse of Soulsborne games in that sense, as in those games I feel that I struggle most with boss fights where you are one-on-one against another human NPC (maybe it's down to the sizing or the angle of the HUD, I don't know) and have the most fun with the bigger than life boss fights, whereas AC VI I'm having the most fun in one-on-one scenarios. 

Anyways, this is all to say that I blitzed through the E ranks, and just like yesterday: all in under a minute. 

Spoiler

Anyways, the next boss was another interesting case of needing to change my build for the occasion, and this time, it worked out immediately in my favour.

But not before one of the funniest exchanges I've ever had walking into a boss arena for the first time in a From Software game... 

Spoiler

The Roomba™! So this one took me a couple of attempts to figure out my standard Knight build for Tristan wasn't working out (see: the first part of the video), and so after a few attempts and realising I simply couldn't stay in the air long enough to land sufficient damage AND avoid going to ground at a poor time, I hopped into Assembly and swapped out my reverse joint legs for a tetrapod, to get some decent air time, and swapped out my laser sword for another machine gun. 

Yeah, that worked like a charm (see: the second part of the video). First time after making the change! 

After this it was soon onto another boss fight, but not before a satellite-made minefield. That was fun to navigate after I decided to go back to the drawing board on my build. So anyways...

Spoiler

This was an interesting fight in that after my first couple of attempts, I got the Sea Spider all the way down to somewhere between 25% and 30% of its health, and just straight up ran out of ammo in my machine gun (only one in my right hand, laser sword in my left - reverted back to my Knight build after the Roomba incident). Punch the thing a couple of times, I eventually die, no big deal, I figure I'm out of range which is causing the bullets to ricochet/not provide as much impact. So I try again, this time playing even more aggressively, and make sure as few bullets and missiles as possible are fired at anything but short range. And then? I ran out of ammo again. And one more time for good measure after that, because I figured there's no way that'd be a thing, right? 

Turns out it is. I looked it up quickly, and turns out this seems to be the boss it happens on most, too. Whatever, back to the drawing board: I find missiles which pack a meaner punch and have more ammo (I land on plasma missiles) and swap my machine gun - you know, the gun that kept running out of ammo on me - out for the basic assault rifle you get at the start: more of a punch, slower rate of fire, a bit less ammo, but the plasma missiles should help space things out anyways. 

And it works like a charm, because of course it does  and this, Tristan: Knight Mark-II was born. 

After that it was back to the Arena, this time for D ranks, and finally a few of these took me longer than a minute to complete. I got close a few times - excruciatingly so! - but the last AC in D ranks gave me a wonderful bit of trouble, which meant a whole lot of fun for me! For these I've been committing to getting through each ranking with the AC I start out with, so in this case, it meant Tristan, and it just adds that bit more fun knuckling down and just going with one build. 

Spoiler

I rounded off my time today with AC getting to work on my next build: I wanted a bipedal AC with normal joints, a bit bulkier to take a hit but still be pretty speedy, with some big ass heavy ammunitions, a laser sword (of course!), a faster rate of fire than just a machine gun could offer; basically, I want to fire nonstop to wear down their stagger (I think it's called attitude in the game?) meter, quickly dodge out the way, timed right to then deliver a heavy blow with either a sword or a big gun. Oh, and obviously, a cool name and an even cooler paint job. 

Enter: Artorias. 

I am so, so happy with how it turned out! 

Having an absolute blast with this game, and let's end this post on something I don't think I've said about the game yet: this is by far, without question, the coolest I've ever felt in a video game 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Julius

[drahkon]

Happy to hear that you're enjoying it @Julius

7 hours ago, Julius said:

get in the enemy's face and just go absolutely ham. This approach also just removes or minimises a lot of the other noise I was mentioning before from the equation. 

Yeah, as long as you stay close to enemies they usually can't hit you with most of their attacks. Boss #3 and #5 are perfect examples of this.

7 hours ago, Julius said:

It's why I can't stop replaying the mission where you're one-on-one against a trainee pilot: it's great practice and a good way to test a new build

I've fought that noob many times, too. But for a different reason: Farming money

 

Keep them videos coming. I enjoy watching you take out those mechs

[Julius]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

Yeah, as long as you stay close to enemies they usually can't hit you with most of their attacks. Boss #3 and #5 are perfect examples of this.

Yeah, exactly! Like I say, I really just don't think it brings out the best of the game mechanically, and what I forgot to mention is that while a whole host of options are available to build your mech and so any build of the mech itself will do the job, in terms of weapons and approach, it just makes the idea of entertaining anything long-range pretty pointless in those fights...and so pointless in the game overall. 

I think it looks awesome, but yeah, at least so far, they just haven't done anything to stop getting up in a boss's face from being the solution. Maybe that's what Boss #3's shields were for, but then the direct damage you can do with a laser sword or missiles again just means getting up close and personal to deliver those attacks is the way to go 

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

I've fought that noob many times, too. But for a different reason: Farming money

Haha yeah that's fair, certainly sweetens the deal a bit, that's for sure! Also just makes me look way better at the game to crush his hopes again, poor guy must think he's stuck in a Live Die Repeat/Edge of Tomorrow situation 

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

Keep them videos coming. I enjoy watching you take out those mechs

Will do! 

[Julius]

Pretty gargantuan update in store from playing more of this the last couple of days, I'm at the start of Chapter 5 now - which based on the story I imagine is probably the last chapter in the game? Oh, also, the definition of what is and isn't a boss fight gets super weird - I'm generally just counting as when there's a health bar and it feels important (they're typically introduced with cutscenes or at the end of a level), so yeah, just so you know, the definition of a boss in this feels very different to other From games, which I think are much more consistent about what gets the big health bar at the top or bottom of the screen. 

Anyways: HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS! 

 

04.09.23

First up on Tuesday was V.VII Swinburne. Now, from the multiple endings other From Software games - specifically the Soulsborne stuff - I'm no stranger to having to make choices in these games, but I didn't quite expect to come across one so soon in Armored Core (more come later with choices made in which missions you take on at certain points in the game). About halfway through the battle, where you've been hired and given the task of hunting down Swinburne by an opposing force, Swinburne sees the writing on the wall, stops fighting, and offers to pay you well for letting him go: which you can either Accept or Refuse.

Naturally, I didn't answer and just started backing off and shooting, which he wasn't a massive fan of, giving me a proper earful and letting me know as much! Eventually I downed him but wanted to see the other outcome and also to see if there was more unique dialogue - the first time around he commented on me sneaking up on him - so the next time around I positioned myself in front of him, and after a solid 10 seconds, he moaned at me for pretending to be one of his guys  eventually I got him down to half of his health, Accepted his offer, and my original contractor then sent a tougher guy out to handle me for betraying for them. Love it. And then, From being From, I figured there must be a third option related to gunning him down after accepting his offer...and sure enough, there was, with even more unique dialogue! Such a lovely touch  

Anyways, next on the agenda was another boss fight...

Spoiler

This one took a couple of attempts, but wasn't too bad - I switched over from Tristan to Artorias to ensure I had the firepower to quickly stagger these guys individually, rather than race around the screen and quickly find myself out of energy to expend. Good fun! 

After this it was back to the Arena for Rank C programs. A couple of these took over a minute, but still a few sub-60 seconds in there  

Spoiler

Then it was onto the return of a familiar face with the next boss fight...

Spoiler

Feels very Demon's Souls to have the first boss show up a little later, albeit not as just a standard enemy, but still! This one wasn't too bad at all, honestly if anything the toughest thing was navigating the city below while locked on and occasionally finding myself dodging into walls!

The next boss gave me a bit more resistance, even forcing my hand into making a new build: Gaheris. I didn't use him for the fight (and haven't used him much since), but I figure I might as well show him off!

From another run against the trainee I got this beautiful kill shot, where he succumbs to plasma missiles as he goes in for a laser sword slash, the slowdown resulting in this slow-mo shot of my AC dodging the sword slash and firing off what looks like a killing blow with its plasma rifle. Beautiful stuff! By far the coolest thing I've done in this game so far  

Anyways, back to that boss...

Spoiler

This one actually took me a little while, its shield and charged lance attack making the fight tough on my trusty and speedy Tristan AC. So, instead, Artorias is out in Prancer form (tetrapod) for a bit of a health and flight boost, allowing me to stay in the air and fire off massive amounts of damage before pinning him against a wall and trying to keep him there. 

Honestly, the toughest part of this mission wasn't the fight, it was the lack of checkpoints meaning you needed to restart the mission - it's not particularly long, it's just not that fun to kill fodder over and over, and it's time consuming in a way other bosses haven't been. This game is generous 99% of the time so the one time it isn't feels a bit out of place 

Oh, also, it was part of the same mission being attempted so might as well show off another cool, with some absolute BM in spinning around while dodging! 

Then it was some missions and another boss...and I'll also show you how we drew the first time around too, so I had to do it a second itme. That darn cheat, Rusty just pick me up and take me home! 

Spoiler

Watch the slow-mo after I go down and watch the last remaining enemy AC go down...WHY?!?!?!?! Won't be the last time there's a close call, mind you...

As for the second, successful attempt:

Loved taking on two speedier units at once. 

Then the Arena was the place to B (heh)...

Spoiler

Wanted to show off one of my Rank B kills, just because of the speed of it all (Tristan is life):

Then another boss (I love it but man this game seriously has a lot of them! Though not all equal  )

Spoiler

Eh, this one was pretty meh, I won't lie. The arena kind of sucks. 

And then, from that, to one of the coolest entries and boss battles in the game, after one of the coolest openings to a mission so far...

Spoiler

DUUUUUUUUUDE THIS REVEAL AND FINDING OUT EVERYONE WHO WAS UPPOSED TO BE THERE HAD ALREADY BEEN DECIMATED?! So anime - love it  

And then it was time to wrap things up on a weird and recurring enemy...

Spoiler

I'll give it to From, their gimmick boss fights have got SO, SO much better, and this has to be one of the coolest. The Ice Worm coming up to attack us and things going silent after like 20 seconds of a charging electrified noise followed by Rusty nailing the tension to the wall after his line becomes increasingly distorted with regards by going "I won't miss" and just blasting the Ice Worm's secondary shield down is one of the coldest moments in gaming, period. So. Freaking. Anime.

First attempt went terribly wrong though, I'll admit  I was riding around and then the Ice Worm came up and rode out right under me, butting me out of the way very awkwardly  and to a quick and confusing demise. 

 

05.09.23

Started yesterday with coming up all Aces  the arena finally started to offer something of a challenge here, but nothing I was stuck on for particularly long. 

Spoiler

After this, though, it was time for a mission which ended with a boss that did take me a good few attempts! Also by far the closest I've come to losing in this game while coming out on top in a one-on-one - I was left with just 3 - 3!!!!!!!! - AP at the end of this fight. 

Spoiler

A lot of time spent just trying my different builds, but eventually landed in my Tristan MK-III, which isn't as speedy as MK-I, but makes use of plasma missiles and a chaingun. And still: super, super, super close finish!

Following this it was back to the Arena to face off against the cream of the crop: the S ranks. 03 and 02 definitely took me a couple of attempts to adjust to - again defaulting to Tristan for speed and to pick up on their attack patterns - but I managed to beat 01 - the top ranking AC, unless there's more to come in this playthrough or NG+/NG++? - on my very first attempt. 

Spoiler

Following this was a mission I got stuck on for a few attempts, mainly because a boss - an S Rank! - turns up halfway through the mission while getting swarmed by a bunch of other ACs, which meant I was out of ammo by the time I got to the very end of the fight and had cleared the room to face the boss one-on-one. Naturally, this meant back to the assembly line, and a new AC: Bors. 

The focus here was on trying a different type of laser sword - or, in this case, a lance - and trying the laser handgun (a fast enough rate of fire with enough damage to be useful, with an option to charge) and plasma missiles too. Unfortunately I struggled to get an S Rank clear against the trainee pilot because of the cost involved in my ammo, after a run I swore up and down was an S Eank, no question. Nice to know recession hits some parts of the future, AC-fearing galaxy too. Anyways, well, I beat the boss and the mission first time with this build!

Spoiler

Screw you Michigan. Absolutely love some of the OTT voice acting and lines in this battle, though! 

After this it was time for a boss fight which I feel I knew was coming but didn't want to admit...

Spoiler

Damn it, buddy! Fun fight with our speedy builds though. 

After this it was time for what I think was only the second serious wall in a boss I've hit in this game, after deciding on a build to stick with...

Spoiler

CEL 240, or as I'll name her, Mech-lania, Blade of Coral. The arena and some of her design and moves definitely makes it easy to see what From were going for here  

This one took me a little over an hour and a half to beat, the only boss so far taking me 20+ attempts - it took me 24. Which, I kid you not, I just checked in my Elden Ring notebook where I jotted down how many attempts each boss took me...and Malenia, Blade of Miquella did take me 24 times. WTF. 

As for the fight itself: speed didn't cut it with Tristant most of the time, though I did get her close a few times during her second phase, it was just so much more skill-based, which is not suited for 20+ attempts, let me tell you - you get tired from focusing so much very quickly. Swapped over to Artorias, eventually threw a Stun Needle on its right shoulder (considering the fact we needed it to help down another Ibis-class AC in Ice Worm, I figured this would hep, and it did a whole bunch! - and after fully committing and learning its attack pattern, CEL 240 did go down. 

Even with Artorias being a chunky boi with big guns, its boost speed is 350, si it is no slouch - and it is a little frustrating how hard the dodge timing is on some of CEL 240's attacks; heck, I'm convinced that some of those are coin flips. That burning phoenix swoop was some BS, let me tell you. My eventual plan was to stay on the ground as much as I could just to keep my energy bar up in order to dodge, stun needle + songbird for immense staggering, and the using my chaingun and laser sword in close quarters. And it was still close! But I'll take it.

Also was not expecting a second phase at all, the first time I downed its first phase, hoo boy. I love getting stuck on a fight but between this and Balteus this game certainly isn't short of potential filter bosses - and this is so far the only one to actually feel like a modern Soulsborne boss. 

Anyways, still loving the game, bunch of builds and paint schemes to try out yet, as well as the rest of the story to finish. I did look up the strat for that final boss I downed on YouTube after, as well as some others, and it's crazy just how broken some of the meta builds are (big guns for stagger, which funnily enough I ended up on naturally for that last boss), I've seen some people beat that boss in less than 60 seconds with the right build - but at least it still takes some skill with the dodge timing and learning its moveset. The other bosses though seem to just roll over at the sight of certain builds, and it's such a shame, because while I think experimentation is awesome and finding these things for yourself is cool, I feel a lot of people are robbing themselves of some fun challenges and experimentation by just going straight to those from the off (I'm mainly talking anyone who has looked up a broken build going into this game). A build video I watched yesterday someone was trying for the fastest AC they could make and be somewhat balanced made it clear why I love my fast Tristan build so much: I'm just getting so much joy out of learning attack patterns for some of these bosses, zooming around and slicing things up, that's exactly what I love about mechs, the impossibility of their speed; it feels like there's a higher skill ceiling going with a faster build, and so there's space to learn so much more about the game. I might toy around with some even lighter builds - his video gave me some ideas - as well as some of the heavier and broken builds if I get into NG+ and NG++, because I'm super interested to see if I still have as good a time with the game playing in a completely different way. That's also what makes the game and its many customisaiton aspects so intriguing, though!

I'll leave that there, and to be clear I'm not hating on people using broken builds - play how you want to play! - but I think there's a conversation to be had that could be interesting about games having an Easy mode - like so many seem to want from From - vs having busted builds, and if that's a suitable replacement for an Easy mode. 

EDIT: oh, also, forgot to mention...

Spoiler

Getting to play as a little chonker AC was so funny and cute, running out of ammo then punching my way out of there was a blast! 

That's all for now folks 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Julius

[drahkon]

Tristan is love, Tristan is life.
TRISTAN IS SPEED!

 

[Julius]

Wrapped up Chapter 5 today, which was indeed the final chapter of Armored Core VI. So, let's cover the rest of it, shall we? I'm just going to stick my thoughts on the remaining boss fights and missions in a single spoiler tag this time around, as there really wasn't much left!  

Spoiler

Protecting the Xylem tower was okay, I went with Bors considering how well he did against Michigan and his band of merrymen, and while I cleared it, it wasn't remotely close to the onslaught the mission briefing had me expecting (I was worried I'd run out of ammo, hence: Bors). 

After that it was probably the centrepiece of the entire game, taking out that fleet of ships in the upper atmosphere of Rubicon. Music was immense, and obviously, it felt cool as heck. And then it just got more hype when Rusty turned up for a second round...

Man, with that music? Felt anime as heck! Took me 3 attempts but got there in the end, not too bad, and obviously I wanted to stick whatever was left of the game through with Tristan. Also: love Rusty's new head, definitely going to be centrepiece of a few builds I think! Taking the gloves off with unlimited EN was crazy. 

And, after that, it was time for the final boss: Ayre. 

Okay, so this one took 10 attempts, still wasn't too bad but did toy around with Artorias a bit (just a bit too bulky and heavy on EN consumption to get on with this fight), and ran her close a few times with Tristan going as fast as possible before that but wanted to see if Artorias offered anything new to the equation.

In the end, I kind of accidentally found a cheese strat, which I use above, and is based on Ayre's burning phoenix swoop attack: I found that the best way to dodge it was just hovering upwards, but Ayre clearly tracked me and awkwardly spirals upwards to chase me. I then realised that pretty much all of Ayre's dangerous attacks are either horizontal or diagonal in nature, meaning that the best way to dodge her tracked attacks? To constantly fly above and sneak underneath her, in a straight line in line with her, with a steady barrage of plasma missiles and rounds being fired off; with EN as a concern and wanting to save it for dodging, I'd reach the apex of my ascent before letting go of the thrusters and just dropping down as at awkward an angle as I could figure out, which managed to help me dodge most of her attacks on my descent. There was the occasional time I'd need to dodge, but overall, worked like a dream, and it kept me in close enough range to just go ham whenever I wanted with my laser sword. 

Yeah, sorry Ayre, I would've loved to beat you with my all out speed like I was so closing to doing (like three times!), but I'll take that as a win 

Yeah...suffice to say I'm not done with the game yet. There are more mechs to build and paint, and I want to see everything this game apparently has to offer (with new missions in NG+ and NG++). Not sure if I'll go for the Plat - I'll see how realistic that even is to attempt after trying to get a few more S rank mission completions under my belt - but all being well, well, I think I'll go for it. 

I said not too long ago that though it might not be the best game I play this year, Final Fantasy XVI will be the GOTY in my heart, because I enjoyed that game so much. We'll see what else Rubicon has to offer, but all I'm saying is...

...maybe there's room in there for two. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

Spent *a lot* of time this evening looking up some ideas for builds, then testing, re-testing, and painting some new ACs for NG+. Time to show off the outcome! 

Gawain

First up is Gawain, based on what I read was a completely broken build wielding dual Zimmerman shotguns and dual Songbird missile launchers. And well, yeah: it's busted as all hell (as you'll see later on in this post), because both of those weapon types chip away chunks of the stagger gauge at a time, and both hit for plenty of damage normally, too. Combined? It's honestly obscene just how crazy this thing is. You'll see...I tuned it to my liking otherwise (as I have all these builds - spent hours replaying the trainee mission and tweaking things!), a build with a bit more heft, some more EN to stay in the air a bit longer, and a super high boost speed for snappy dodging and running around. 

Anyways, paint job started going a certain direction subconsciously, and I realised it's loosely based on the Wolf Ranger from Power Rangers: Wild Force! You know, one of the coolest Power Ranger designs of all time? 

 

Galahad

Next up is Galahad, filling a role I'd certainly not been serving in my AC roster during NG, and that's a walking nuclear wasteland of destruction. It brings the heat, that's for sure. 

 

Lancelot

For over an hour I toyed with different colour schemes for Lancelot after deciding he should be a medium build and a bit of an all-rounder: originally the plan was white and gold (based on its namesake from Code Geass), but it just never looked right, and I had a hard time deciding whether to go with a deep, dark blood red or an ocean deep dark blue to accompany the white and gold...so I settled for both, each taking up the theming for one arm, while the white I decided was better served more yellowed/bone-like to compliment the gold. The green eyes were a mainstay from the Code Geass inspiration. 

...and then, 5 minutes after completing it's paint job, what did I realise had caused me to go with gold specifically around the "gems" on its lower torso? Oh gee, I wonder...totally wasn't Arceus! 

Oh, and here's a bonus clip of Lancelot destroying the trainee pilot with a brutal boosted kick:

 

Tristan

So, in earlier posts I talked about finding a lighter build I wanted to try out...and I wasn't a fan. Heck, it's boost speed wasn't remotely close to Tristan's, in any MK variant! So, instead of making a new build from scratch, I decided to use my Tristan MK-III (the chaingun variant) as the basis for MK-IV, focusing on a lightweight and speedy build. Plasma missiles were a carryover from before, just making sense to fire off when I need to back away and regenerate some energy/stamina before charging in with my boosters; the machine gun had to stay, too, though I decided to go with a different type to MK-I's; and then, for the melee weapon, I decided to go with the laser dagger, after seeing it be used so effectively in some boss battles towards the end of my NG run. 

I. Freaking. Love. This. Build!

It's so fast, tight, and is everything I wanted an upgraded Tristan to be. It also got a nice paint job update, going for a lustrous palette (treating it like a second season of a show refresh, of course!) and swapping white out for silver. Super happy with how it turned out. 

 

NG+: A New Beginning

After all this, I put a little bit of time into NG+...and flew through the entirety of Chapter 1 without so much as a second thought. Other than one mission where I used Tristan MK-IV to skip around quickly (to collect combat logs), I've exclusively used Gawain to see how broken my take on that build turned out, and well...yeah, it's busted. The closest I came to dying was when I simply stopped paying attention because I got cocky with how stupidly OP the build was, and that honestly just happened being targeted by massive lasers early in Chapter 1. I think getting S-Rank on these levels is going to be a breeze with Gawain. 

Now, NG+ doesn't make use of the tutorial boss, which messes the numbering of bosses up a little, so what I'll do is reuse the boss numbers from before to make it easy to compare the two. Spoilers: both go down without me dying once, and the second one was one of the tougher bosses for me in NG, for sure. 

Spoiler

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely ridiculous! This boss wasn't tough in NG, but Gawain blitzed it's way through the battle. Love it. 

Spoiler

This one's absurd because the first time around it took me 19 tries, and this time I beat it first time without giving it my complete and undivided attention in the way you do after a few attempts at a boss. Did come close at the start, mind you, from ending up standing in front of Balteus with my back to it and fully exposed after forgetting to lock on at the start! But yeah, that continuous stagger gauge chain of destruction is absolutely mental. 

Really curious to see how Gawain copes with some of the other bosses I struggled with after seeing how it coped with Boss #3. I'm thinking it's time for a little payback! 

After all this, I got called back to the Arena for some NG+ exclusive fun...

Spoiler

Not too bad so far, was caught a bit off guard by the first AC's aggression, but I've adjusted.

Curious to see where this goes: the set-up seems to be that I'm doing analysis for All Mind...am I training the AI and going to get a secret boss at the end of all this?  

Anyways, at this point, I'm going to announce my intention of going for the Plat. I absolutely adore this game and can't put it down, I've looked around a little for points on how to get to the Plat, and I've already come across an instance where new options were available in the middle of missions which seem to all cumulatively lead me down the road of two other endings, besides the one I got originally. 

Can't wait to see more of what this game has to offer, and how much of it Gawain can kick ass against 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Julius

[Julius]

Pretty major update has gone live today: 

Seems to patch some of the bosses people have had more issues with: 

Spoiler

Man, patching the second major roadblock people seemed to hit in Balteus kind of sucks, and nerfing Mech-lania really sucks - it's the closest thing to a Souls boss in this game by some margin. Even with my busted NG+ build it took me 4 attempts to re-learn the fight and take it down, I really enjoyed that fight. 

C-Spider is the only one which really makes sense to me, as it just wasn't capable of being taken by certain ammo-based weapons with their complete ammo set, so upping the damage it takes makes sense so that people don't find themselves left with no ammo with a third of its health bar still to go. Ahem. 

Bit of a shame, really, but then I also thought it was a shame that Radahn was heavily nerfed in Elden Ring. I feel like it just weirdly sets up this contrast between Day 1 players/early adopters and those who play the game a couple of weeks later, and find it comparatively easier? Making changes to online makes total sense to me, but bosses - unless completely broken in some way, such as the last boss mentioned in the spoiler tag - I'm not too sure about. 

Anyways, as for my Platinum journey, I've already finished NG+, finished that up on Saturday to get the second ending. Yesterday I started NG++ to get the third ending, and have started hunting down Combat Logs and Parts as part of this run, as well as completing some missions at S-Rank. Can already tell some are going to be a real pain! I'll be back for one final update, once the Plat is mine