Armored Core V Deserved Better...

So ever since my journey with Armored Core started, there’s one thing that has been abundantly clear to me. Everyone either strongly dislikes Armored Core V, or at the very least, believes it to be one of the weakest entries in the franchise. The team at FromSoftware had found a formula that worked really well with the Gen 4 games, but their new director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, had left the Armored Core team to go work on another little title you might have heard of once or twice. But going into Gen 5, the Armored Core team had a new director, Naoyuki Takahashi, and he was looking to take Armored Core into yet another bold new direction. So, how did this new team approach designing Armored Core V, and how did it turn out? Well, let’s talk about it.
Full Armored Core Series: • A First Timer's Journe...
Armored Core V is a mecha-based video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Namco Bandai Games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is the 14th main installment in the Armored Core series and a return to the more traditional style of gameplay found in the original series of games.
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[@Nihirizumunomonogatari]

The reason your generator regens faster in scan mode, is because during scan mode, the energy costs of your non-frame parts are disabled.

[@thomasp506]

Yeah, your weapons are disabled so they don't draw power. The boost in regen you get in scan mode will depend on your weapon EN load.

[@Человек-Вархаммер]

Someone said to me that energy cost of your weapons isnt just turned of - it turned BACK. You regenerate same amount of energy your weapons and FCS "eat" in addition to normal output.

[@brandongo9365]

Heard years ago the reason for the big changes in ACV was that people complained about how ACFA was just all about speed and no tactics. So they scaled down the AC size as well as speed and made more of the conflicts in urban environments so that players can hide behind buildings and have a more tactical feel

[@dhoffnun]

I also remember an interview with the director, and he was talking about how the team felt they'd pushed the speed-focused gameplay stayle as far as it made sense to push it, and that they wanted to focus on a different style. Seems like a good portion of the devs and players alike wanted to try something else at that point, though for me the move from faster-than-baseline to slower was jarring. As far as overall cognitive demand on the player, I don't think 5 is any easier or "slower" - even if the machines are smaller and moving shorter distances by the same scale. It's less twitchy / reactive, but not necessarily less demanding of skill.

[@khalilmason]

@@dhoffnunFrom experience, it was totally refreshing to play AC in a new way. It’s a very unique experience within the franchise.

[@blackmage471]

Ironically, it made the game less tactical in that verticality was essentially gone. With your wings clipped, you can only fight on a 2d plane. You weren't going to bother jumping/falling to avoid incoming shots, or get an angle to evade your opponent's line of sight. Instead, it came down to timing quick boosts - and with the quick boost delay whoever quick boosted first got a face full of bullets and missiles.

[@neutron4799]

@@blackmage471 simply wrong, verticality was more important than ever since you couldn't just fly up lmao thats the point

[@GriFFonRec4]

@@blackmage471 It was way more tactical because it was more about map control. You needed to control the towers and tall buildings to get a height advantage on your opponents and cover was massively important too. The game was extremely active in Japan and there were a lot of serious team battles going on over there with different comps and things like snipers and operators and such. The game never really picked up over here on the west, so you were limited to the VERY few teams and time of day to play, but the game had a lot more macro strategy going for it than ever before.

[@YukitoOnline]

Too much entities being rendered in-game, barely any entity culling. Which caused the infamous FPS lags of Gen 5 on consoles back then.

[@hiddenmaster6062]

It wasn't the number of entities, otherwise the game would run smoother if everyone was dead. Even the desert ran at sub 20 FPS.

[@YukitoOnline]

@@hiddenmaster6062 "Entities are the individual objects in your game - a player, an enemy, a platform, or any other game object." Buildings & other crap are part of the entities.

[@hiddenmaster6062]

@@YukitoOnline And when there's hardly anyone but the ground you stand on there, that means it's not a problem of having too many entities. It's a problem akin to uploading bitmaps instead of png or even having 8K res tile textures on a PS3 sandy desert sand.

[@grahamflatt5838]

I was a top ranked team leader in ACV and VD. Chole is the first person in the post 6 content creation surge to notice how important scan mode is. So much of the meta was melee and boosted energy weapons, constantly cycling between combat mode and scan mode to in order to squeeze every bit of energy possible out of the ac. Scan mode gives you back the energy of all the weapons plus the fcs. In VD this allows certain builds to achieve infinite flight.

[@eftultima]

I wish they would implement the multiplayer of this game into AC6

[@lynackhilou4865]

Personally i'm really happy AC6 is single player focused , as with AC 5 all of the online content was lost since the servers are shut down .

[@S.G.W.C.]

here's to hoping in the sequel they make a focus on multiplayer/longevity

[@April480p]

No. Gen 5 is awful because of that. They went the Call of Duty route, focusing on a massive multiplayer experience, turning the core game into a subpar "campaign", and it backfired massively. There's a reason why 6 is back to the old formula. Armored Core isn't a multiplayer series.

[@InternetHydra]

@@April480pIt’s less a CoD thing and more the particular co-op trend of that time period. Lost Planet was a victim of this too, and a few other franchises I can’t recall atm.

[@Sabbathfaax]

Maybe for dlc 🙂

[@madmaximperialknights9101]

Finally, someone who says 5 is not hot garbage for being different

[@WaywardRobot]

I love the Gen V, I was a huge fan of 4A when it came out, but it's also the time when I was getting into more "lower scale" Mecha shows like VOTOMs, Dougram and Gasaraki, so it really clicked for me. I just wish I had taken advantage of the multiplayer features when it was still active, I locked myself out of the platinum.

[@ArtificialNinea9]

This game NEEDED a PC release with how they went all in on multiplayer, the fact it was stuck on 360/ps3 was the real reason it died so fast. Also the wall jump was the best part of the game, especially with reverse joint legs, It really sucks they took it out in 6

[@Helldiver450]

I feel like ACV's problem is it's predecessors. Going from Gen 4 to Gen5 was a major downgrade, and without any explanation about why everybody got nerfed, it just feels flat on its own. I wish there was a story about banning NEXT technology

[@lesslighter]

It all comes to ACVD why it happened.... let's just say it became... forgotten technology not exactly "banned", which again is one of the re-occuring themes in the major timelines of the series

[@cnhnx]

Every numbered titles are reboot with new timeline on their own (or in case of AC2, far future from AC1 timeline), I don't see the need to explain why AC5 is different than its predecessor, same thing now with AC6. So ACs in this timeline are smaller and slower, OK fine, that's just how this universe works I guess. Even if Verdict Day later hinted connection with 4th gen, I personally think it's better to treat each and every gen as their own.

[@lesslighter]

@@cnhnx its partly due to muscle memory since a lot of techniques from AC4-ACfA dont mesh well with the new mechanics of 5th gen. Especially when you consider that AC1-ACLR played more or less the same if we ignore the heat mechanics revision in Nexus

[@zettovii1367]

Funnily enough, as someone that got to play ACV after trying Formula Front on emulator, ACV seems to flow well with older gen games. Gen 4 may just be its own beast. Kinda how the NEXTs are on another league than normal ACs.

[@theneer-do-well3240]

its only a downgrade if one fails to understand and fully utilize the movement mechanics and the new damage-threshold system, and impact/armor break system.

[@ElEscolta]

Definitely getting some remaster of gen 4 and gen 5 would be great, specially if the kinks, textures and glitches could be fixed and improved for newer consoles

[@Mathwayb]

Watching your review and being able to see so much gameplay footage I'm amazed at how many features of AC6 were actually just re-used or tweaked from AC5.

[@TexasHollowEarth]

... not the ACs and hopefuly.... not the AC5 dlc practices. AC5/VD stans NEED to come clean about that dlc fuckery 🙄

[@starhammer5247]

​@@TexasHollowEarthSecond comment from you under this video that shows a disdain for a decent game. How about you just stop? No one asked you to start trash-talking like a Twitter user.

[@neutron4799]

@@TexasHollowEarth i don't get what you're talking about, the garage and cosmetics dlcs? seriously? the part unlocks that are useless since without playing the game yourself you're shit and won't be able to use them properly? the voice dlcs? what advantages do they give? is anything of that required to play the game at 100%? except for the cosmetics, you are actively crippling yourself for not progressing through the game and learning it by buying the unlocks. I dislike paid content of all kind but you're acting like this is some top secret conspiracy lol

[@BlueAsterismSolstice]

I actually loved AC5. If the online features were available, could experience the sort of squad mode against special crafts like the Red Exusia, and other behemoth crafts like that big 5 legged thing. Verdict Day also had this mode. Verdict Day takes place after 5. In 5 you first worked for the corporation, chasing down the resistance leader, later working for that very resistance after seeing a side of them more clearly in death of their leader. Rosarie tries leaving her life behind of Men of Honor to work with you and Franny. The outskirt region of the final battle takes place by one such forever warped site of the past that lead to their current world. You get a more clear history lesson in paying attention in Verdict Day. Allies you once knew in AC5 now lead two forces in Verdict Day.

[@Daiyuki117]

The only thing I miss about AC5 is being able to kick off buildings. If AC6 kept just that feature, the movement would be a lot more interesting

[@dhoffnun]

While it's not the same at all in terms of movement mechanics, it is possible to satisfyingly boot enemies off of ledges in AC6 with the assault boost kick. If they are already staggered of the kick is enough to stagger or kill the enemy they will go flying - and they can fly right off the edge of sky-high platforms or tall buildings.

[@EliPorterMahn]

why the hell would you do that if you can literally ascend as high as your energy bar allows... you're alone in this

[@LutherTaylor]

@@EliPorterMahn he's not alone in that, the energy drain in ac6 is brutal to begin with, and i felt the strong need to boost kick off walls. if they brought it in, the movement would have helped that initil entry into 6. now im use to it without it.

[@EliPorterMahn]

@@LutherTaylor you can fly just as much as you could in gen 1-3 you just gotta get your stats right chief, gens dont quite behave like they used to

[@linkkicksu]

@@EliPorterMahn Because wallkicks aren't just for ascending Wallkicks give you a massive burst of speed in any direction if you kick away from a wall. It makes combat in enclosed spaces super fast paced and frantic. So no, they're not alone in this. Pretty much everyone who's played gen 5 and understands its mechanics agrees the wallkicks and the omnidirectional overboost are both sick.

[@nonope4390]

12:39 your generator’s energy output is increased to the level it would be if you hadn’t equipped any of your weapons! They “deactivate” freeing up their energy load.

[@jacktheripper7935]

AC V/VD are great games to me. The overall pace being slower may be confusing at first but when you get the hand of it, it becomes quite enjoyable because you feel there's a more realistic vibe to it and I liked that even though I loved being on steroids in 4A. And tbh, I hope they'll bring the multiplayer of AC V back, going on territory defense or boss raids with friends was incredible, I had great memories with it.

[@khalilmason]

ACV’s multiplayer was the most fun I’ve ever had with an AC game; Wish they’d have added something like it to 6. Co-Op would’ve been a blast, team creation/battles is a dream for mech game lovers. So much potential with the AC series.

[@Stammer6]

I'm glad you gave AC5 an honest shot. As a fan of the Old Gen games, I wasn't as big of a fan of the speed of the 4th generation, so I liked the more "grounded in realism" 5th-gen games. But seeing as how a huge chunk of the AC fandom is based in AC4/FA, it's no surprise that AC5 isn't for them. Like most of the series, the expansion is where this generation really shines. I look forward to seeing your take on that!

[@deviancepurplehaze6045]

5th gen is my most favorite AC. The multiplayer contents in this gen is just too good. Btw, AC in this gen is not slow by any means. It is very fast when u got a grip of the movement methods

[@everthealtruist]

I loooooooooooooooved playing as operator back when online play was still live on this game.

[@deviancepurplehaze6045]

@@everthealtruist It is a very important position! I was an operator once and I was really bad I ruined my team!!!

[@elihill4476]

AC 5 and VD are amazing games, my most fave armored core games, the multiplayer was so fun. It's not something that really exists out there. The more grounded and tachical part of the game made it so much better imo.

[@TheAzureGhost]

While AC3/Silent Line was my favourite part in general. Gen5 was the only one where i rly enjoyed multiplayer. Arena Duels aren't rly my style.

[@everthealtruist]

@@deviancepurplehaze6045 It was always fun to slowly win over my team and for them to start to listen to me. They were always glad whenever we'd get in sync and start wrecking through the competition.

[@tylersmith9942]

I don't know much on ACV but I was hoping you'd touch up on the ultimate weapons this game had. Oversized overkill weapons half the size of your AC that made the screen shake!

[@notcole]

ah shit, I meant to bring them up but I forgot 😭 Unfortunately, they're unlocked when you finish the story, so nowadays they're only usable when replaying the game.

[@bett431]

ACV is my favorite AC game together with Verdict Day. The depth and how different every kind of build plays and feels is pretty unmatched. The problem is just, that the real fun of being able to use more creative stuff is kinda locked behind a certain skill or experience treshold that everyone who played the game for 30 minutes while moving like a MechWarrior wont have.

[@neutron4799]

spot on, thank you

[@Eisenight]

Been playing since AC:MoA and before 6 came out ACV and ACVD prolly the best AC for me. It's grounded, punchy, weighty and the aesthetics are just satisfying. Sadly it came during the era where games like this aren't exactly appreciated.

[@JinTekyta]

I never played AC4 or FA, but I did play AC3 right before going into ACV, and I personally enjoyed ACV a lot. It's flawed, like any game is, but I never understood the strong disdain for it. For me, I had the understanding that each numbered AC was trying to be its own thing and I personally appreciated it not being as fast as AC4 looked, with a focus on the enviroment and tactical gameplay rather than zipping and zooming around.

[@pokeng]

If only y'all played it during its hay day. The boss raids were some of the hypest shit ever.

[@forrestgumball]

I remember that gigantic Blocky Red Dinosaur Digger one. Shit was unreal. I ran out of ammo on that one.

[@neutron4799]

A video appreciating ACV? On KZbin? No way. Can't wait to watch this later. Might edit this into a very angry rant later.

[@Duke_of_Petchington]

my personal theory on the the AC in ACV/ACVD is they are Super Normal type AC from the AC4/ACfA design to close the gap between the normal which is replacing the MTs in all combat role except for Civil enforcement. which is why they are more modular and quicker than the original normals, but smaller and lack the features of NEXTs such as Primal Armour, Kojima Reactors and ability to fly.

[@dadaygaming22]

Hey Chole, I watched your series the entire night upon stumbling to one of your RE reviews and man what a journey this was. I admire your patience on the AC franchise as I didn't have it back then. I started playing ACPP when I was still in 1st HS. I didn't have a ps1 of my own so I have to rent. Yeah, we have that kind in the Philippines where my gaming days are made. Though, AC was so hard for me, that I stopped playing. I got a chance to own a PS3 console in 2018 and bought Verdict Day and I was so amazed by the changes it had since Project Phantasma, but still so hard for me hahaha I wasn't able to finish it. Not to mention I was so overwhelmed with the controls too haha! All I wanted to say is hands down to you sir! Through your AC videos it sparked my interest again in the AC franchise. Have a good one sir!

[@Glinty945]

ACV was such a fun game with friends, wish the multiplayer was still up. I never played Verdict Day unfortunately

[@JustAnotherPest]

17:03 I was playing V on day one and eventually came to be on one of the major VD teams for PS3 and this pretty well nails it. I got to see it firsthand. The biggest issue fifth gen had, especially V, is that it was a radical departure from fourth gen and none of the previous knowledge worked. Spamming quickboost just left you without energy and got you killed and you had to really learn the game's movement before you could do anything nuts. So basically, fifth gen stopped holding the player's hand and this caused a lot of people to pus out. Combine this with a playerbase that's actively afraid of multiplayer and it's easy to see where the reputation comes from.

[@joshcannon6704]

How come every KZbinr showing 5th gen footage never shows glide boosting? It’s literally the main staple of movement in this gen along with the wall jumping.

[@no-sleep]

movement feels slow on the surface, but the pvp meta quickly devolved into light mechs wall-boosting back and forth at ridiculous speeds

[@notcole]

I did look at some PVP footage while researching, and it looks pretty awesome!

[@johnaaaa3239]

1:07 Noob Saibot? What ya doin there lol

[@THEGRUMPTRUCK]

Gen 5 had two major problems going for it. 1. The campaign ASSUMED you were playing co-op, since even single player has such a high amount of enemies you'll chew through ammunition on most weapons insanely fast. This was a problem because a lot of people didn't want to play online when doing story mode, so a lot of early,and mid game builds struggled unnecessarily because extra co op enemies were MANDATORY. Secondly, from gen 1 to gen 4 we saw a slight linear progression in speed which made Armored Core games (and then Gen 4 ramped that up) feel like big unstoppable robots. A lot of people associate Armored Core with gundam in the sense that big robots shooting lasers, bullets, and missiles can be. We don't do it intentionally, but there's often been a trope in pretty much anything Mecha that eventually the robot(s) NEED to go fast. When Gen V slowed down a lot it was a whiplash that hit a lot of the long-term playerbase who were used to the gradual progression in speed as technology for gaming devices improved to allow games and frame rates and processors to handle that speed. It isn't that Gen V was bad, but that it undid a lot of what people loved about Armored Core as an identity for the franchise. It's why 6 drew a middle line between making the game faster again, because people want that feeling of piloting a death machine that, whether big stompy bipedal legs, hovering Tetra/quadruped, or buff tank legs, there was always the element of going "fast" to various degrees. Maybe not fast in mobility-wise for the average tank treads, but then you have larger or faster Quick-boosts, to help you mitigate damage further or close in on your target.

[@noelvermillia]

ACV is my favorite Armored Core game. I never understood the complains of the game being "online oriented so singleplayer took a back seat" because as you mentioned even without multiplayer features ACV has the longest missions and the longest campaign with great part variety. And on top of that the game had 5v5 battles with operators, territory battles, and my favorite co-op 4 people missions against giant raid bosses.

[@blackmage471]

Armored Core has always been a single-player experience first; it _needed_ to be a single-player game first, because it was such a niche title, in order to carry From Software onward. So a largely single-player player base is the audience it fostered. To suddenly create an AC game with such hyper-focus on multiplayer was an incredibly short-sighted attempt to cash in on the popularity of online multiplayer. As someone who hates multiplayer, AC5 is an unplayable steaming pile of dog shit. AC5 and VD are the only AC games I haven't completed. Sure, I could play it by myself, like Chole, but I don't think it's worth the simultaneous bore and frustration.

[@TheEshy]

I recall disliking being forced into making or joining a clan. I also had a hard time enjoying the customization because I was hemorrhaging money buying and selling different variations of parts. The jumping was weird and hard to control. I think id enjoy it now that im older, but I did not have the patience to learn it when it came out.

[@GoodwillWright]

Lol, would agree that the steep cost in ammunition and repairs would turn people off. It's a very anti-player mechanic. But personally I loved it. It gave a bit more personality for me during the playthrough. Like being flat broke and having to run smaller weapons and play super conservatively. But the time you are rich you decide to bring out double railguns because you can afford to throw money away. This was doubled up when you played co-op Verdict Day and it was some of the most chaotic fun ever.

[@astreakaito5625]

I bought a PS3 for ACV back then. Man, what a giant disappointment. The region locked online meant I couldn't play with most of my friends. Literally and actually running 10FPS average in most missions makes the whole game feel laggy and unfun, garbage RPS armor and the scan mode turns pretty much the entire game blue because of how it works. Made me so disgusted with AC that it took me years to go back and buy AC4/ACFA. Never played VD, so the wait for AC6 was even more painful for me :( Still finished it fully, I liked the style, the HUD, the music, some of the bosses and especially the Overed Weapons and I'm glad From never forgot about them, wink wink.

[@pancholopez8829]

Surprise and glad you love 5th Gen. I do admit it is my entry in the series, though that will be the next game, VD. Which I won't spoil much. But I will say this. It's the reason why 5th gen connects to 4th gen. As for the Lore for ACV, well, it's a doozy. I will stick to ACV period, so dont worry for ACVD spoils. So according to the artbooks. And yes, we have to use the art books as sources. It is implied the Cradles fell from FA. And seeing how dangerous NEXTs were, the corporations made the ACs that we use in the game. Along with making Arms Fort, though smaller than those in FA and aligned to the older games. There was a big war that lead the surviving human race to live underground. While the League went into space. As for the NEXTs, destroyed for the most part. But the ACs that we used were abandoned and buried in sand as time went on. We dont know how long the time gap is between FA and V, but we could guess it was a long time. During some years before ACV's stoey began, humanity got out and started to rebuild. Granted, they are limited due to the wasteland and radiation from the now forgotten named Kojima Particles to the people. Though war is brewing as ACs are dig up and used again. As for the story, SM00 follows your character originally in the side of the Corporation and Father. Though a year later, you switched sides to the Resistance with the former leader's daughter, Fran. And Rosary, the pilot that drops and picks you up. And i wanna say about the first third of the Order Missions are with the Story Missions, 01 to 09. Which involves the war against Father. Now if you did some special requirements in SM 01, 04 and 06, you will encounter a new force known as the Zodiacs. But more on them on the last third of the Order Missions. Now obviously, the SM has you fighting Father. Which the lore behind him is that he and Fran's father were once friends. But after Fran's father left for something and he grew concerned with the resources of the city, Father became maniacal and created an apartheid state from his loyalists and poor. Hence the Resistance fighting him. But as you say, the Corporation later betrayed Father and killed two birds with one stone in SM07. As for Chief, he AND Carol are AIs, or Phatasm in 5th gen's case, which were to observe humanity on what makes them tick. A weird remnant from the League of all things. And the Exusia, what Chief pilots in SM09, is probably a weapon used during the big war after FA. This includes to some of the online bosses that you can find videos of on KZbin if you look hard enough. Oh, and i should mentionrd that Chief's 5th Gen AC is a "prime". Which is a more powerful version than the salvaged ones we pilot. Which explains why the Ultimate Weapons he used are unlimited compare to us having a one time use for them. Weird you didn't mention them as you get them after beating the SMs. Now for the Order Missions. So the second third of these, you wound up encountering Rosary's sister, Reagan. Turns out Men of Honor was her mom's mercenaries. And she ruled them with pride. Though she died of old age, but had 3 daughters. Who each had a feud on who to run thr MOH. Rosary left as she feels its too strict for her. But Reagan got paranoid and feel she must kill her just to be safe. Though as your progress, you also notice that Reagan gets lonely as she scares the MOH away with only a loyal subordinate left. Though she died by the third faction, the Zodiacs. Now for the final third of the Order Mission story. The Zodiacs. Which has you follow orders by Fran and Rosary to hunt and kill them. As for the Zodiacs and who they are, they are Designed, basically 5th gen's version of Human Plus or Lynxs from AC4. The Zodiacs were super humans from science and surprisingly were okay learning about this fact for the 12 of them. Even offer to help their operator, Angie. Who is collecting data for the Designs to create the "Ultimate Human", as she puts it. Though iring Rosary's wrath for killing Reagan, she orders the Zodiacs to kill you. Though one, I believe Number 2, defy her and asked if you are their enemy. Showing that while their puprose is to be Ultimate Humans, they do want more in life. Now, i did mentioned you can fight the Zodiacs in 3 story missions. And i will say, good luck with that since it was built with COOP in mind. Take SM01 as an example. You need to reach the train in 4 minutes, complete all kill objectives. Oh, and you have to take less than 5k damage. Other than that, if you read this comment and make it to the bottom, hope that helps for ACV. And trust me, there's more to ACV lore but that requires spoiling a bit of VD. Hope this helps.

[@RLQFK]

I don't know what it is, but the frame parts of 4A, V and VD look exponentially better to me than the ones we got in AC6. The parts in gen 4 and 5 just look so much more complex and mechanical, a lot of the ones in 6 feels too bubbly and alien.

[@brandonbackup873]

TBF, with the RRI parts, that's the point.

[@yushion5804]

RI parts are really based on alien tech XD

[@RLQFK]

Yeah I know, I just think it looks a bit odd haha. I feel like they took the perfect turn in artstyle in 4A and V/VD and now they went back to the early gen, 'bulbous' look.@@brandonbackup873

[@naamio04]

you're insane, AC6 mechanical design is much better and they have many more moving parts and such.

[@RLQFK]

I'm not talking about the detail or animation quality obviously, ac6 came out a decade after 5... I'm talking about the art direction, half the parts in the game don't look robotic enough imo. The art direction of 4th and 5th generation, being way more militaristic, is IMO vastly superior@@naamio04

[@AskJoe1]

These videos are great, cant believe you're plowing through the series so fast. Really glad you're making these, it really seems like I'm watching a documentary with the quality you've givin it. Awesome job, keep up the great work _Raven_

[@rpamungkas13]

the thing that I dont like on ACV is the energy recharge is affected by entering scan mode.

[@CarlosaFernandeza]

From a fellow AC veteran, having played them all, 100 glorious percent each. You sir, will adore AC6. Peace. Long live the Karasawa.

[@shayminthedoctor9663]

I've always felt that AC5 was the lowest point in the series. It isn't a *bad* game, no, but when surrounded by greats like 4 Answer and Last Raven, it just doesn't feel the same That said, i have a buddy whose favorite entry in the franchise is Verdict Day, even after AC6 came out, so gen 5 certainly has its fans. It just personally isn't for me

[@TexasHollowEarth]

... no it's BAD. Even the dlc was hateful and predatory. This is prob FROM's lowest point.... then there Verdict Day 👎

[@hare75]

The problem with 5th gen is it feels like chromhounds than armored core gameplay

[@Eisenight]

As someone from east side if the world, games like AC4 and AC4A is kinda common. Fast spammy zippy mech, open area and all that (ACE and Macross series for example). Seeing ACV and ACVD is like refreshing for us. Grounded, methodical and terrain centric.

[@starhammer5247]

​@@TexasHollowEarthACVD looks pretty good to me, especially in terms of story and gameplay.

[@darkwhispersstories47]

​@@starhammer5247yeah as far as I am reading here the main problem everyone seems to have it's the fact it was not ac4 Idk I only played AC6 so can't comment anything on the rest

[@sancarlos4]

You glossed over a ton of important aspects, especially not mentioning th edamage triangle at all and barely mentioning the new energy economy, the two biggest complaints most people have with the game

[@wolfiewoo3371]

I know most people don't like this game but I have to agree, this game has my favorite UI, AC designs and vibes in the whole franchise. I love the bulkier, boxier, heavier ACs and the more realistic military aesthetic. I much prefer this to zooming around like a fighter jet in AC4 and AC4A.

[@deadjuice1880]

10:34 Reverse Joint legs where my fav since AC1 as a kid, just because aesthetics and the extra jump height, practicality aside in combat. I've been meaning to give V a chance, as all the time I had with it was a few minutes of playtime, and a lot of negative from friend and family and online AC fans. The way I look at it currently, I want a slower paced causal leaning AC entry to get into. I just got a Steam deck [LCD version], and having a blast emulating my library of games from PS1 to PS3, and some I missed. I loved and played the series since AC1, and 4 Answer was fking awesome. V is gonna be upper mid way through my playback. First will be AC1, PP, Arena, then 3, V, then 4 Answer. I remember dueling my older brother in Answer, and my fingers hurting. I look forward to playing that game again, but my fingers dread it. XD 4 Answer was amazing.

[@todd3143]

i think ac5 did get what it deserved through ac6 if that makes sense. weapon bay comes back, our ac feels like a juiced up tank, we can change setup midway, etc. whatever worked in ac5, despite how poorly it received, came back. i’m just contrasting this off of something like assassins creed unity, from the other ac series, where the devs found mechanics and artstyles that worked, but instead of improving upon and giving it what it deserved, they downscaled it and then scrapped everything. ac unity deserved better, but didn’t end up influencing future games in positive ways like ac 5 did. also both are technically ac5’s of their respective series

[@guyblack172]

For this game I found that arm Firing Stability is a key stat. You can literally change the game and smoke anything is moments. Please give this a shot, use the CE arms KT - 4S2/Svlr I found you can nearly double the firing rate of all arm weapons with these arms, so your DPS rates jump up like crazy. Dual shotguns with these arms becomes the stunlock lord. Full unit loadout: Hi Mobility, Hi Defense Head - Beowulf HD103 Core- KT-106/Dazhbog Arms- kT - 4S2/Svlr Legs - ULG - 21 FCS- FCS-09 Yasakani Gen- UGN-70/Ho Vital Booster- KT-ZR3/DaFeng I use the chem rifle/ shotgun/Karasawa/pilebunker combo - but the arms are the most important part (for anyone that cares - probably nobody lol)

[@sladevalen2120]

Armored core 5 and Verdict Day were my intro to the series and they are still my favorite to this day. They have the best multiplayer and verdict day lets me have fun with uACs. The heftiness of the ACs is also more fun to me over the mach 12 gameplay of 4.

[@zettovii1367]

Armored Core V was the first AC game I ever owned. Been into the franchise ever since 4A was a thing, and I gotta say when I tried ACV it was blast to play. Loved the customization, the combat (especially when you hit enemies with their weakness) and also the movement. Main thing that sucked about it, is that the PvP, for as many awesome modes as it had, was pretty much dead on arrival. It was already a ghost town when I got my hands on the game... So I had to be content with just playing the online missions solo, which was still pretty fun. Overall, it had an entire element of faction wars between players, with you being able to conquer parts of the map with your team... But I missed out on that as I joined too late. Overall, there is a lot of things from Gen 5 that I hope they reintroduce to future entries. Such as the entirety of the Conquest mode, the Walljumps, the Overed/Ultimate Weapons, the recon units, walljumps, inbuilt weapons, the option to equip melee on both arms, ability to turn off boosters mid air... And also Walljumps.

[@trashkitty8736]

Acv is one of my favorites, i really wish they had made a similar multiplayer mode in ac6. Btw, youre absolutely right abt the last order mission, it took me so long to finish it, and once i did, my headphone wire touched the eject button on my 360, so i had to do it all over again lmfaoo

[@proxy9573]

The 5th gen of AC was the first enjoyable experience I got in the franchise. This was because I couldn't handle the raw speed of 4th gen years ago, and my attempts with AC on the PSP was very difficult to adjust for. I'll add, I played 4th gen years later, and was able to handle it much better after becoming familiar with missiles. Missiles trivialized 1v1 fights, but for the ultimate fights in AC4A, i had to use machine gun arms to have enough ammo.

[@Shack11]

I really loved Armored Core V's general aesthetic, but I think that the 360/PS3 era just was not right for it. The performance was wacky on that system and not in a good way. ACV sold better than AC4/FA, but I think it's telling how it has such a diminished reputation among fans. It was just too much of an overcorrection. ACVI might even be an overcorrection to *that*, unfortunately, as it dropped everything multiplayer-related other than a very basic 1v1/3v3 mode.

[@neutron4799]

we would live in an utopia if ACV released on PC

[@MakisuBee]

Honestly with all it's restrictions, it felt like I was playing with a customizable MT. This was like the "Halo 3: ODST" of Armored Core.

[@TorterraJayeon]

Gen 4-5 era Armored Core fan here. I've actually been playing Armored Core V recently after running out of stuff to do in VI, and I can appreciate it more now seeing what the latter took from it (among other things I've now learned from my experience with VI). People just gave it a lot of shit back in the day, and it doesn't help how different and multiplayer oriented it is from the rest of the franchise.

[@TexasHollowEarth]

... it's an atrocious game; Especially for an AC game! Is everyone BLIND to the dlc price gouging in AC5/VD?! Also, what's the point of robust online features when they get shut off in only a few years? .... yall ruining gaming.

[@TorterraJayeon]

@@TexasHollowEarth Well I’m blind to the price gouging because I don’t pay attention to the DLC. I do have bad taste though, LMAO.

[@TorterraJayeon]

⁠@@TexasHollowEarth also, funny you should mention the online features going off after a few years considering FromSoft made the decision to keep Verdict Day’s servers online for around a fucking decade for some reason and not V’s lol

[@premiumsockets]

AC V was my first AC game, and i first played it years ago on my family's xbox 360. i didn't do much more than make a pretty mech and run around with it in the testing grounds; i'd tried my hand at the campaign but couldn't really figure out the controls and got stuck on like, the third level or something. However! a month before AC VI came out, when all the youtubers started coming out of the woodwork to promote the game, i got excited enough about the revival to pick up AC V again, and this time it clicked. I'd been learning more about the franchise and now understood the gameplay loop of "fail level -> go back to garage," and HOOO boy did it really hit the second time. fell in love with the game AND series from there!

[@ktvx.94]

Hey, could you tell me how you fixed the glitch in the textures? Been meaning to play this game for a while but couldn't because of it. Were you running Xenia or RPCS3?

[@avryduckworth5213]

There's were a lot of problems I had with this game, but the one that bugged me the most was the stair stepping camera motion. It's like it couldn't move diagonally, it would rapidly calculate horizontal and vertical movement and made aiming really chunky and difficult to control. AC6 is such a godsend 🙏🏾✨

[@TaranTatsuuchi]

Verdict Day was actually still available digitally on the console stores last I checked. And the online was still, online.

[@theskipper7305]

So the theories of 4th and 5th gen being in the same timeline come from the sequel to AC5, Armored Core Verdict Day. Unfortunately one of the connections could only be viewed in multiplayer so i'll just have to say it: your fighting a half buried Spirit of Motherwill (the big walking gun battery White Glint fights in ACFA's opening cinematic) The second I want you EXPERIENCE Chole. Both the Final Boss and it's boss music will have blatant connections to AC4 and ACFA so be prepared to enjoy and be afraid...

[@dhoffnun]

Underrated reception: I don't think this game stood a chance with the existing AC fanbase for one big reason: expectations. Before this game, there were 13 others, 11 of which mostly only made slight incremental changes from previous versions - while this game is a much larger change from the previous entry. That, and AC's identity up to that point had been exclusively single player and local multiplayer - while this one is incomplete without online multiplayer. It could be the most well-executed on a technical level, most well-balanced, most fully-realized version of the game yet, and it would still turn off series fans simply because it's such a departure from what the fans had been conditioned to expect. Outside of annual sports titles, AC was probably the most incremental game series out there, and fans actually appreciated that. Me, for example - I just wanted more Armored Core 1, so just about every new game up until 4 was an easy slam dunk. (Not you, Nine Breaker) If they'd marketed this game as a spinoff (like 2002's Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit) instead of a numbered entry it might have gotten a little more love - IP names come with expectations. See: the Final Fantasy movie, PREY 2017, Project Cars 3, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts... 4 was a departure, but still enough a logical evolution and familiar enough to previous entries to keep interest. 5 might have been the same if it hadn't come immediately after 4 - it's like taking a hard right turn and then jerking back to the left even farther. The destination isn't a bad place - but it's not where we thought we were going. Golfing fans might get a kick out of seeing Tiger Woods in a paintball match, but that's not why they showed up to see. I think it would be great if someone could make something of a bot server to connect to, just so folks who didn't play while the original servers were up could experience the game something like it was intended - I would like to go back and give this one the time it deserves.

[@linkkicksu]

Gen 5 is incredibly fun, but just the fact that it came off the back of 4A that brought in a huge wave of new players led to a ton of vocal opposition to a less cocaine-fuelled playstyle. It's so absurd that it becomes just sad how many myths exist around gen 5 from people who've never played them. "Gen 5 is the slowest game in the series" "Gen 5 has no vertical play" "Gen 5 got rid of flying because Fromsoft thought aiming vertically was too hard" "Gen 5 has no singleplayer content at all" People should just play the damn games instead of coming up with weird nonsense. Also my general instruction to people who think gen 5 too slow: Use overboost, learn how to use wallkick to gain momentum and learn when to toggle your boosters. A light RJ will pinball around maps effortlessly if you learn how to play right.

[@xQc_Enjoyer777]

Thanks 👍

[@neutron4799]

finally someone who gets it. wow a game needs you to learn how to play it, so bad!!! downgrade!!

[@linkkicksu]

@@neutron4799 yeah. People got too used to gen 4 where you could rub your face on the controller and still win. People love to call AC6 'casual core' for hard lock but 4A still holds that title to me, outside of a handful of missions.

[@neutron4799]

@@linkkicksu PVE gen4 is definitely a piece of cake but I still have a lot of respect for high-level PVP play in all gens however, in FA its so blatantly obvious how the difficulty and power scale is so fucked that the only way they can raise difficulty is just to throw more acs at you lol, not that oldgen was any better but at least the hyped cover AC was not paper like a certain Raven

[@TheGundamsword]

Honestly, my biggest complaint was the lack of information in the game that really explained the changes or general gameplay. It kept me from getting into the game.

[@HanJia879]

The opening CG of this game is just the best

[@Azfargh]

May I ask what emulator and config have you used to make this game run on your pc? I am trying here but the game keeps getting stuck on the instalation screen. The bar has completed, the game is not frozen or crashed but seems to be an issue.

[@lonewolf4689]

I really want to play all the armored core games :( even if some of them are considered bad by the community.

[@TinStarShark]

In AC5 you could also level up your weapons, and they would get different stats, so it was a good idea to level multiples of the same weapon in order to get the stats you want. I had a lot of fun in AC5. The story missions became long winded, and alot of the weapons where pretty much useless, like sniper cannons. in my opinion ACVD though was one of the best AC games. It improved so much over AC5, but it just had too much against it.

[@allenmitchell8993]

Having played all the Armored Cores outside of a couple from the first gen, I can agree respectfully with your rating. I don't want to give it a rating because it would be low for reasons of... personal taste. My favorite AC part designs were from AC2, AC3, and AC4. (Now 6 too) But AC5 having more of a... short tank with legs just doesn't appeal to me. While I love the level of customization it still had, it is one of the few Armored Core games I've not played through multiple times simply because I never liked how my mech looked.

[@onigojira]

Armored Core 5 doesn't make ANY effort to connect itself to 4th gen. We don't get told it's connected until Verdict Day, when you start running into levels and enemies which have stuff from For Answer. Oddly, the story for Verdict Day also doesn't really make any effort to connect them. I will say you probably liked RJ legs more simply because they're actually super powerful in 5th gen. They're just flat out better than any other leg type, and you pretty much only saw RJ use in multiplayer versus. Unfortunately it seems you have to miss out on the multiplayer bosses.. Or maybe it's fortunate. I often say 5 has the hardest but simultaneously worst and most unrewarding boss fights. There's just no real sensation of hard won victory after defeating the St. Elmo ships, Type D isn't exactly thrilling despite its size and aggression. Just over all the fights feel like you're dealing with game devs who haven't mastered the art of a properly hard boss fight yet so they just shoved ridiculously high HP and damage into their bosses and said "LOL Good luck." It's a trend that doesn't continue into Verdict Day, thankfully. But I'm not sure you'll get a chance to try them either. I do hope you get at least a chance to fight one of them, though. Definitely try finding people who still play the game online and joining up with them.

[@zorain2354]

You have to look more in missions environment and parts designs to connects between Gen4 and Gen5 -Father speech in the first mission area told us about people in ACFA go to space while left the rest of humanity on earth -KE core was made by Rosenthal/Omer -CE core was made by GA -TE core was made by Interior Union and Torus -Chief AC parts are based on Y01-Tellus and Argyros legs -Scavengers was made by remnants of Rayleonard -TE weapons were made by remnants of Akvavit -AK look alike was from Eqbal/Algebra -CE weapons were made by Arisawa heavy industries -Karasawa made by Aspina/Omer -St.Elmo is BFF battleship -The city in trailer of V is the same city in ACFA trailer

[@aggelosaggelos5696]

now that i played verdict day (yes im kinda late) i have to say that im so happy that gen 5 happened,its so satisfying to me

[@Betito1171]

I love how influenced by its time this game is. Made something pretty unique

[@Tera_GX]

I hope they're not too discouraged by the lack of success with AC5. I didn't play it simply because of the point in history it came out. I was pretty done with consoles, and not in a position to keep up a subscription fee. I like a lot of the ideas that AC5 focuses on. AC4A was my entry point and I'm glad to have gotten such an amazing experience. But I think most AC4A fans can agree that its environments were a little lacking (all the spectacle was in the action). Swinging the other away and encouraging using terrain as cover sounds great! Also I hope they do a follow up game for AC6 that is multiplayer-focused. PvP is not too bad, but I don't enjoy just throwing myself at the enemy perpetually for hours. AC is full of missions with varied focuses, so expand multiplayer with variety. Personally I think "payload" objectives have made so many multiplayer games shine, or at least asymmetric control points.

[@LunaPPK]

Ac6 sould 2mil so there will most likely be a 7 but lol miss me with that MP focus shit

[@CodeRed001]

Can you tell me what the best weapons are for single player? I have been playing V and my team level is 50 is i have all the weapons unlocked except for any of those ultra/legendary weapons or whatever they are called. I'm curious to know what the OP weapons are.

[@arkgaharandan5881]

"there is no lack of single player content in ac v" thats one way to put it, i prefer the most common perspective that the game focused too much on multiplayer and verdict day fixed that.

[@Cretaal]

I think I played V more than any other, and I remember it more fondly than 4A until kinetics got nerfed and EN weapons became godly, then the tanks became overbalanced. Fromsoft was very heavyhanded with its updates back then, so they didn't balance the board as much as they just flipped it entirely. Multiplayer went downhill because of a faction called ninebreakers running quad-gatling builds, and then others ran quad-shotty. My glory days was with two tanzy rifles and a sword on a reverse joint. Practically permaflight with wallkicking.

[@meanhedgehog]

The focus on damage types is really what killed fifth gen for me

[@chumooskie5527]

Around when will you be starting AC6? We are yearning to watch you stream it on twitch as you chew through the new gameplay 😯

[@DooderMcAltair]

There's a serious problem with the premise of these videos that manifests here more than in others, which is the fact that you're playing this emulated at a playable framerate. Maybe you don't have access to a PS3 or a 360 to play this on, but you can't go "It's not that bad I don't understand what everyone's problem was back then" and then ignore how back then you were happy if this game ran at a double digit framerate. I never gave 5 a shot back then because it always looked ugly and choppy. And I don't mean ugly like the way they meant to make it, I mean it just sucks to look at a lot of the time. They got the "brown and gray" memo everyone else was getting and rolled with it. The only way to see any color in 5 is to change your HUD between missions. 4 and 4A have more color in it, and those games look totally washed out. 4 and 4A feel great to play not just because you can fly around so freely but because even at the blistering speeds those games can move at they're still perfectly legible. 4 and 4A could hit similar lows in framerate to 5, but the highs were always higher. And I know Verdict Day wasn't any better even without playing it because even promotional trailers that showed gameplay looked like PowerPoint presentations. And playing 4 and 4A now I will never feel like I'm missing out on something because of multiplayer elements being gone. There are too many barriers to all the cool things in the game.

[@SirSaltythe1st]

KZbin unsubed me, I didn’t know the issue was real

[@ohdeer1823]

tbh I kinda just wish ac6 couldve been like an improved acvd, absolutely love the aesthetics of V, especially the OW and weapoon arms

[@TexasHollowEarth]

NO 🤡

[@xQc_Enjoyer777]

I wouldn't of minded it either cuz I don't like the look of most AC parts in 6 sadly. You can make some funny mechs but most just aren't very cool or "mech-y"

[@seedmole]

I was a diehard AC2 and AC4FA stan (and a fan, just less so, of AC2AA and AC4 as well), but I sadly missed *all* the odd numbered entries. I've since checked out 3 and some of its followups (love them, sad I missed them back then they were the cutting edge), but 5 and VD both have still eluded me for now. I have a strong feeling that if I happed to play them back then like I happened upon the even-numbered ones, I'd be one of those people going around telling everyone to play them.

[@ethanspaziani1070]

I want armored core 5vd kind of coop with 6 and customization was actually supposed to be even better in this game you were supposed to be able to customize Shields and stuff similar to stabilizers and yes this takes place after the closed plan Chief and Carol were created by the league of corporations from fa they were given guardianship of the planet and basically told to fix it

[@AeroWraith901]

Not a bad game but it is kinda weird jumping into after playing the other games. But you adjust after a while. Although some gameplay changes I’m still not a big fan of. Constantly going back and forth between scan mode and combat mode for the energy recharge for effective movement kinda gets annoying after a while. Also the defense system from what I recall kinda got significantly more important which made some fights just screw you over if you don’t bring enough of 1 damage type which isn’t so bad for single player cuz you could just retry but it became more glaring online since you can lose territory to enemy teams and losing in a rock paper scissor kind of game with the defense stats just feels rough. So it’s kind of a low point for me in the series but would definitely love it if some aspects were carried over like the co op missions or ultimate weapons. Also Chief was best character

[@zacheryeckard3051]

Hey, your story approach will make VD well worth it. The campaign is far stronger, IMO, and it's actually quite fun!

[@RyukagiRen]

5th Gen is actually my first AC i ever play, i actually loving ze AC design here.. its small and militaristic plus love their Boost.. it just rocket strap on ze core lul

[@rebeccachambers4701]

There's like a timeline with the games and it's like certain games follow different timelines

[@angellara7040]

If you havent read the day after, the conclusion to the story of acv I'll just explain it if you want because verdict day explains nothing

[@ANormalOnion]

I honestly liked 5th gen's aesthetic and choice for smaller ACs that specialize in urban combat It's certainly a far cry from the vast open spaces that 4th gen had but if we look at it from the perspective that ACs are products of the time, technology and conflicts for which they're built like any weapon of war then at least I think it makes sense that they would make 5th gens the way they are. Kojima Technology was an extremely potent power source that allowed for NEXTs to operate the way they did, but at the same time the radioactivity of it made it impractical for use in defense of inhabited locations. 5th Gen ACs were smaller and more grounded weapons of war with loadouts potentially more versatile than conventional weapon systems and the abundance of aerial units most likely added to the decision to leave 5th gen ACs as they are. It could also be reasoned that the focus shifting to urban warfare made it so that the ACs use less lightweight material and opted for much heavier armor to make them as durable as they are (Verdict Day's Final Boss as an example of durability).

[@wadewathen5828]

I've been critisized in the past by my thoughts on this game, but I can genuinely say that Armored Core Verdict Day is my favorite Armored Core game gameplay-wise. Story-wise I go back and forth between Last Raven and 6, but 6 for me was too boring after I completed everything. That surprised me very much since I'd been dying for a new AC game, but I digress. Armored Core V was always underrated in my eyes, but the story lacked a bit and the new mechanics took some getting used to, but it was fun. AC Verdict Day only expanded the fun for me and to this day has the most number of hours logged of all the games. I'm a sucker for the AI as the bad guy trope, and Nine-Ball is my favorite villian period, but the gameplay of the 5th gen games was just very refreshing for me. Not many agree with me on this - and yes that's fine - but I wish more people would give these games a chance/break. Imo

[@DarkstarArchangel]

I like how you point out and make fun of the game for having generic names: the city, the corporation. It's like that episode of Everybody hates Chris with no-name brands.

[@선조-y6n]

To be honest, I think ACV's voice is better in the Japanese version, Chief's voice was really legendary in the Japanese version.

[@pancholopez8829]

Yep. RIP Keiji.

[@justabreadguy7688]

Great video, but just for the record since you shit the bed real hard with the lore: AC5 is a direct sequel to AC4 and AC4A. The loss of the Cradles crippled humanity and set them on the Mad Max timeline that you see in 5 and Verdict Day. You fight a reconstructed Spirit of Motherwill in either 5 or Verdict Day (Can't remember which one), and Verdict Day's final boss is a clone of Joshua Obrien from Armored Core 4 in a reconstructed slapdash version of the White Glint pattern. I believe AC5 takes place roughly 200 years since AC4A, and then Verdict day is another maybe 100 years after that.

[@lesslighter]

It isnt bad that is true but its soo far removed from AC being AC its not even Ace Combat nor Armored Core but.... hear me out.... FRONT MISSION and we can see where AC6 comes from since the framework/skeleton of AC6 stems much from this game Imagine if From Software was tasked by SQENIX to make a Front Mission game.... this game would be it.... it makes sense Nabeshima would make a Front Mission entry which has the same issues its soo removed from Front Mission that its not even a Front Mission game.... but.... Metal Gear Survive Ohh yeah here's another quirck of the 5th gen games when you fire or holding any "attack" this includes shoulder weapons if you have any since the shoulder unit has been replaced a a hybrid traditional back weapon, inside part or option part button the game will soft lock into the nearest target on your crosshair giving you hybrid soft-lock and manual aim And the Ultimate weapons are such an eye candy to look at the fact its also the overlimit mechanic from AC2 revisited makes it even hella useful, in the expansion another returning mechanic will be revisited and since you already played it it should feel familiar to you

[@joelevy3042]

Perfect way to describe it.

[@neutron4799]

i will never understand how people call ACV the biggest departure yet call AC4 logical evolution when it is gen 4 that stripped and simplified the game to the base level in practically every aspect also yeah front mission AC sounds like a blast.. what a shame

[@lesslighter]

@@neutron4799 personally for me its the esthetics, which gen 4 still seems to have the vague "ambiguity" of looking like ACs gen 5 really doesnt

[@dhoffnun]

Timelines: At very least, there's some implication that 5th gen takes place subsequent to one of the others, and there are some spoiler reasons why it's definitely 4th gen. Non-spoiler: most of those implications are in the pre-rendered intro sequence and setup of the game. AC technology in this game isn't invented, but re-discovered from the past. The ACs in 5 are created by a society that went through technological regression after the apocalyptic destruction caused by the LYNX War. Nobody knows how to build or even power a NEXT anymore, but there are pieces of them everywhere - so we get these weirdly-proportioned, reverse-engineered, stapled-together looking mechs. From recovered parts and records, their designers knew what NEXTs could do and had similar ideas, but just didn't have the technology or fuel (Kojima) to make them move at the scale and speed they did before the technological collapse. AC5 ACs are what we get when humanity has the concept for advanced and exotic technology, but only has access to gasoline and arc-welders. As for AC6, it could honestly be in the same universe as any of the other games. There is a spoiler story beat that implies a tenuous connection to [any given past game except maybe 4], but it isn't specific to any of them. It takes place on a far-away planet that's had its own struggles and technological evolution and could definitely stand all by itself, but those tenuous connections are there. My *personal* headcanon is that 3-6 are a continuous line (and 3 is a reboot of 1 anyway, so really all of them). Even by the events of the first game, humanity had lost touch with its historical roots, living underground (in an AI controlled society) for so long it knew nothing else. By the time 5 rolls along, they'd gone through another social collapse and rebirth or two, but it isn't necessarily a different universe.

[@warrantyV0IDED]

When people measure an AC game by how easy it is to just finish a mission at all, I stop listening. What matters is how difficult it is to S rank the missions. By that metric, V&VD is hell. Rage inducing, even.

[@TheSnaveeelPlaysGames]

It was too jarring for me. If I had played five before For Answer I think I would have enjoyed it more. As it happened though, I went into five completely blind and expecting an evolution of four and got, what felt like, a step backwards. (Although, in hindsight, it’s more a step to the side and not back)

[@theneer-do-well3240]

just wait until you boot up Verdict Day and realize slowly normal boosting around is suicide. The primary mode of transportation in 5th gen was actually either horizontal wall jumping and quick-boosting with high power boosters, or constantly glide boosting (overboost) with high acceleration boosters.

[@AWholeLegionary]

ACV was tons of fun when the server's were still up. The world bosses were absolutely nuts! But now, its just an ok game... VD made 5th gen great given Weapon Arms and the ability to do a "Pitiful MT" challenge.

[@TrevonneMcdonnough]

id love to see a remaster and a PC port of ACV and verdict day .

[@mattduncan3869]

I had no idea this even had a single player campaign. All I remember from the advertising at the time was them pushing the team mechanic and seeing like, heavily rehearsed gameplay trailers that made me laugh because of how hilariously off-base they were with how real people in an online team environment would behave.

[@Intothefunko]

Ima go give it another shot… played it after 4 and had a rough start and didn’t come back