Armored Core V • Retrospective • [The History of From Software]

Armored Core V is a 2012 third-person shooter mech video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation and XBox. The game is the fourteenth entry in the Armored Core series.
The series has thus far explored the idea of mech warfare in a gone wrong world and it ruminates a lot on the nature of power.
In the last generation, Hidetaka Miyazaki got his first taste of game direction but now he's out and Nabeshima is firmly back in the control.
The 5th generation is yet another series overhaul and it focuses more on urban warfare.
Hope you enjoy watching this video
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:21 Creative Stuff
06:35 Story
15:03 Gameplay
39:25 The Player
46:03 Conclusion
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My From Soft videos:
SinclairLore : Armored Core Series Discussion
• Armored Core Series Di...
Armored Core Videos:
Armored Core 1: • Armored Core • Retrosp...
Armored Core 2: • Armored Core 2 • Retro...
Armored Core 3: • Armored Core 3 • Retro...
Armored Core 4: • Armored Core 4 • Retro...
Armored Core 4 Answer: • Armored Core for Answe...
ARMORED CORE 1 CHAT: • Themes in Armored Core...
Dark Souls Videos:
ANALYSIS: • DARK SOULS • The Ultim...
LORE: • Exploring the Story of...
TRANSLATION: • Gwyn's Story • Dark So...
Sekiro Videos:
ANALYSIS: • Sekiro • Analysis (Ful...
LORE: • Exploring the Story of...
Bloodborne Videos:
ANALYSIS: • Bloodborne • Analysis ...
LORE: • Exploring the Story of...
TRANSLATION: • Bloodborne's Story • T...
Demon's Souls Videos:
ANALYSIS: • A Look Back At • Demon...
LORE: • Exploring the Story of...
TRANSLATION: • Re-Exploring the Story...
King's Field Videos:
King's Field 1: • A Look Back At • King'...
King's Field 2: • A Look Back At • King'...
King's Field 3: • A Look Back At • King'...
King's Field 4: • A Look Back At • King'...
Shadow Tower Videos:
• A Look Back At • Shado...
• A Look Back At • Shado...
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Interfaces & Immersion video:
• Interfaces & Immersion...
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Patreon: / medievalmegaman
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/aesiraesthetics
Discord: discord.gg/uP6pbrFFXA

[@fusioncell7669]

There's one detail in the Japanese version didn't get translated into the English dub that I'm kind of sad about. Whenever Chief gets serious, he loses his chaotic attitude and becomes very monotone, which is a callback to how the Japanese version of Nineball also becomes monotone and robotic during the final mission of MoA.

[@mirage548]

yeah cuz he is crazy voice like "hazama" in blazblue, it sound pretty cool

[@akaiju9281]

Anytime anyone has something positive to say about V and Verdict Day, I feel a weight lift off my shoulders. These things are so fascinating to behold and discuss ten years on. Excellent work as always!~

[@AesirAesthetics]

thank you :)

[@xianfa1708]

the only reason why you see a lot of people didnt like 5 is because they started on 4, and you will know if they started from the previous series depending which game Patch(es) the character was first introduced btw, the very first Patch was from Armored Core: Master of Arena. And not Patch the goodluck from AC4 For Answer Owo

[@alastor8091]

Damn, what's wrong with it? I'm loving the hell out of AC6 as a newcomer.

[@serraramayfield9230]

@@alastor8091what's wrong with 5/VD, you mean?

[@alastor8091]

@@serraramayfield9230 yeah. I'm an AC6 newbie but I love the hell out of the game. Might have to go back and pick up a new system and some of the older games.

[@QuantumTelephone]

More like Aesir Anesthetics because these videos numb my workday

[@AesirAesthetics]

Is that good? I hope that's good :)

[@hunn20004]

2 words: Digital Opium

[@OcGuy1]

also if I'm not mistaken, the lore behind Ultimate Weapons was that they were made with the scrap from the design meant for ACs from age before the resource war that led to the timeline of V (basically ACIV), implying that they were basically weapons meant for NEXT strapped on a miniaturized Normals

[@AesirAesthetics]

:0

[@slimebuck]

this is true, armored core 5 not said specifically to be after AC4, but the story makes it really seem that way, its a few hundred years later and tech as regressed, AC's became smaller and simpler, yet every once in a while ancient NEXT's would be found and they would strip them and use the parts on their new smaller AC's

[@eyescreamsandwitch52]

@@AesirAesthetics Yep, and we get more of that if you play Verdict Day which ties 5th gen directly to 4th gen. Hell, with enough crack, you can tie 5th gen as the great war that sent humanity to live underground in Gen 1 and 3. PS: The multiplayer of Verdict Day is still "Alive"

[@scion9588]

@@eyescreamsandwitch52 The recent Zullie the Witch video about Armored Core size and scale has the Gen 1 ACs as being about the same size as the Gen 5 ones, which I took as further indication that Gen 4 and 5 are prequels to everything else.

[@xianfa1708]

i believe gen 1 are a lot smaller though 'w'@@scion9588

[@TroidHunter]

So, hai, as someone who played generation 5 armored core when it was new, ultimate weapons had a very funny niche use that actually made them extremely popular! (I made videos out of ACVD and included PvP footage of builds in some of them back in the day.) During the whole sequence where your camera is glitching and you're taking damage from the stress placed on your AC, the game actually gives you infinite energy, as sort of a limit removal on your generator. At first this doesn't seem terribly useful, since your weapons besides the ultimate weapon are disabled, but, you still have your feet! This meant that triggering an ultimate weapon with a long activation time (like the mass blade or the giga missile) would give you a long window with infinite energy, allowing you to glide boost and high boost your way into your opponent's face and shove your boot through their core. This was.. surprisingly effective, especially for heavier ACs like tanks or heavy bipedals, and that combined with the option to just, use the ultimate weapon in it's intended way, with some weapons being capable of multi-kills in a 4v4 game with no respawns, made them an extremely powerful, if somewhat niche option. They weren't the sort of things you'd see in "serious" team compositions, but they were more than useful enough to justify themselves. This is actually why ultimate weapons actually received a significant nerf in ACV's sequel, ACVD. In ACVD, ultimate weapons also include a cooldown period where your generator malfunctions and a huge drain is placed on your EN supply, which could leave you with no boosters, no energy weapons, and no FCS for an extended period of time, making UWs extremely risky, but still popular. Their damage being able to bypass defense and oneshot anything also made them useful as trump card that could beat the KE/CE/TE triangle if you don't get a chance to prepare for the enemy's defenses beforehand, which happened often in the game's main game mode of 4v4 team fights over territory. In private duels and free-for-alls, you saw something much closer to the dueling cultures of 3rd gen, 4th gen, and now 6th gen. Just much less balanced since the game was intended for 4v4 and not 1v1 combat.

[@AesirAesthetics]

I love how people have come to the defense of the Ultimate Weapons :) Shame I never got to test this out online :(

[@TroidHunter]

@@AesirAesthetics 5th gen, ACV in particular, is really gutted without online. I hope one day people can some form of its multiplayer working again

[@RippahRooJizah]

@@TroidHunter While I acknowledge that ACV is gutted without online, I also have to admit I only say this after the fact. As in I didn't actually feel like I was missing much when I went through it the first time a few years ago. I knew the servers were down but I had no idea the game had a tuning system until about when I almost beat it the first time, and even then I didn't read much into it and figured I wasn't going to the right place or something.

[@Ikcatcher]

Ngl I really like the aesthetic of the AC’s in V and Verdict Day

[@apophis7712]

FINALLY! Someone else who loves 5th gen's drip. In fact, some of it carried over to AC6 with the BAWS and RaD parts

[@Lyvein1]

as far as ultimate weapons went online. I played V on 360 at launch and there was a pretty devastating build, light weight dual pulse guns and mass blade. would quickly run in and KO someone. a team with 2 of these were rough. I played Verdict Day on PS3 for about 2 years. and Giga blade and giga cannon were used. I would even use the giga cannon on a build that can get off 2 shots at the start of a match.

[@KaikuPen]

ChromeHounds is a title that isn't mentioned much in this AC renaissance we're experiencing. I played it back in the day and met my circle of Xbox Live friend's playing it. Of course back then; FromSoft was to me at least, Just white text on a black background that faded in and out when I put a mech game in my console. It wasn't till I played AC4 and was greeted with the exact same emblem editing UI as Chromehounds that it all clicked and the Darksouls revolution happened a few years later.

[@brunocar02]

This is probably the best ACV video i've seen so far, thanks aesir!

[@AesirAesthetics]

Wow, thanks!

[@zorain2354]

-About ultimate weapons, they were use in multiplayer for terror tactics and taking down online bosses, they also disable ACs limiter and you can infinite boost for a short period of time. -5th gen are not slow, you could go fast as AC4 but people didn’t knew how to built fast AC in V/VD or play them right -Damage types was mechanic that carried over to Bloodborne -Armor Break is another mechanic that also carried over to Sekiro and AC6 but with a tweak -I recommend you listen carefully to father’s speech in first story mission

[@WFoong98]

Good video. And oh yeah the map boundary does absolutely plays into combat engagement in multiplayer. There was a JP clip for VD I saw I while back where a light reverse bipedal and tank was trading fire in the corner to bait one another, insane stuffs. As for flying, the game doesn't communicate very well but, while you don't get free flight, you can make the most out of hover with Glide Boost in Scan Mode since you can get a lot of mileage out of it. It is a more intuitive than OB as you can move in any direction you want. With it your light weight will feel much faster and crucial to surviving online. The other thing is, KICK, it is very useful for close quarter stuff, hard to land due to being tied to QB but it is a much better option for light weight to deal with tank by circling to the back and kick. For OW, while not all of them are useful, the online matches are death match not respawn based so they do absolutely works. The charge speed is based on some stats of the core and generator. The usual stuff people use are cannon, legion pulse and giga missile. Otherwise they are also very good for shooting down raid/world bosses, those things are tanky. If not some build can use OW to bulk themselves up to increase their kick damage. Oh yeah as for Zodiac, you can actually encounter 2 or 3 of them in the main campaign... under really tough condition. Another I want to say is, you should check out the JP voices of the game, the game localisation has a lot of issues so characterisation gets lost and some translation is just flat out wrong like calling every machine (even the enemy mob) AC in the briefing screen. The JP voice acting does goes quite ham for enemy ACs in order mission which makes it very entertaining. There are also DLC for the game where you get the main casts as your com voice which is amazing. Overall I just want to say I do appreciate your take on the story. While yeah it is kinda lame they left it in the supplement novels but they are fairly well thought out and underrated.

[@hijous]

even though I've only play verdict day for 1 hour, I'm having a blast. I wish I play a bit longer but playing at cyber cafe and not enough money, I can only afford an hour. my biggest regret! I really dig the gameplay.

[@Sorain1]

I look forward to your video on Verdict Day, especially because you left out the connection between 4th and 5th gen story wise... just as AC 5 essentially did. So seeing it all evaluated by you on the VD video is something that will be a treat. I can remember back at the time, the speculation that AC V was post For Answer, and which ending it was. At the time, I settled on 'likely yes, and deliberately vague enough to be any of them' though I leaned towards the League ending, as thematically it made the most sense to me. Kicking the can down the road leads to the horror world of AC V and things being settled with shockingly primitive equipment compared to what was, because people _will_ fight.

[@grahamflatt5838]

Verdict day is my favorite game in the whole franchise. The multiplayer was incredible.the sheer amount of depth to every mechanic was the deepest the franchise ever had.

[@scion9588]

Every time you talk about how Armored Core 3 pushed the series as far as the old gen gameplay and story presentation could go, it bugs me so much because of how much basic ignorance it shows about Nexus and Last Raven. Like, your analysis is good, usually, and I respect you a lot, but it's just this huge, glaring, visible gap. Like, I agree with your decision to skip some of the non-numbered games. Aside from adding the arena, Project Phantasma doesn't do much new, and neither does Master of Arena. Another Age definitely doesn't, and as much as I love Silent Line on its own merits, calling it "just more Armored Core 3" isn't exactly wrong. What changes it does make are more minor and additive than anything else. And I would never ever think anyone should absolutely have to suffer through Ninebreaker if they hadn't already. Nexus is different, though. Nexus's change to the control scheme just with adding a second analog stick to control the camera and aim instead of tank controls is big enough, but it also changes how the arena works, how heat works, it makes it so some of the missions have different outcomes and cutscenes leading to different missions depending on if you fail them, and its ending is maybe the most cinematic the series has ever been. I don't think all of the changes it makes are necessarily good ones, but they are definitely changes, and honestly going to Nexus from 3 or to Nexus from Silent Line is a bigger change than any in the past. Bigger than 1 to 2, or 2 to 3. Like. Personally, part of me genuinely thinks Nexus should have been called 4, and then Last Raven For Answer. And I think ignoring Last Raven is a major mistake in terms of Hidetaka Miyazaki's career, not so much in terms of how much he affected that game, but in terms of how much Last Raven affected him. If Ico was the game that inspired him and made him want to make video games, Last Raven is the game that taught him how video games are made. For starters, storytelling-wise, I think a lot of the characters in Last Raven echo in future games, as Gwyn and Gherman, Lady Maria and Malenia, Genichiro and Iguazu. Last Raven is also, I think, the closest the Armored Core series ever really comes to a "mech sim" because even with the dual analog camera, it adds a lot of new repair costs and a lot of the physics and stats are changed so you have to think about your build more. And it has probably the best, or, at least, the most story, of any of the games in the series. There's like 6 different endings and dozens of different story paths. And a seventh ending after all the others. And it definitely has a role to play in the conversation about difficulty in From Software's games, and especially Hidetaka Miyazaki's.

[@AesirAesthetics]

this comment does make me want to check it out

[@scion9588]

@@AesirAesthetics Like, I love Master of Arena and Silent Line as games, they're among my favorites, but in terms of your project, looking at the series as it develops, all the gameplay styles it has, their presentations and tones, how they advance and regress and streamline and update the formula, and, to a lesser extent, looking at Miyazaki's career as a developer and auteur, and From Software as a studio, I actually agree with you that they're fine to skip and not include and not do videos on because they don't contribute much to those discussions and analysis. I can understand and respect that decision. Honestly, going one further, if you did a Nexus video that only covered Nexus's disc 1 "EVOLUTION", I could even understand and respect that. The Disc 2 "REVOLUTION" of Nexus is, fundamentally, not a step forward, but a look back. You talked about possibly doing a video only talking about the stories of the non-numbered games, and while I think Disc 1 of Nexus legitimately deserves a real analysis video of its own, looking at its own unique gameplay and presentation and formula, Disc 2 of Nexus would be just fine relegated to something along those lines. It'd even be fine if you just didn't play Nexus disc 2 at all. It's neat that they included it, and a cool bonus feature, and it has some interesting, like, lore for the PS1 games, but it is, ultimately, not revolutionary, despite the name. Except maybe in the revolving door sense. Also, Nexus Disc 2 makes more sense if you played Project Phantasma and Master of Arena, because it remakes levels and story beats from those (especially the former) and I'm trying to say that you don't have to cover those if you don't want, and I think it wouldn't add too much to your analysis if you did. Both disks of Nexus have the same changes to the gameplay, Nexus Disc 1 has a new story that's presented in some new ways for the series, while Disc 2 has remakes of some of the missions from the PS1 games, with some of the story moments that happen in those missions, but without some of the connective tissue like the emails or cutscenes like the fall of chrome or murakumo, and without some of the big plot missions like destroy floating mines, so some of the mission stories don't actually make any sense on their own. It's the same problem Another Age has, where it's a bunch of new missions without a lot of context, and there's an asterisk next to the word "new". Nexus disc 1 I think is legitimately worth talking about, in terms of its design, its gameplay and its story and presentation, and Last Raven definitely is. I think an understanding and analysis of the series in terms of its history and game design philosophy is incomplete without them both. Miyazaki's career in games literally started with Last Raven, and I think an understanding of him as a developer is incomplete without it. It was, essentially, his tutorial boss on how to make video games, in the same way that his games have tutorial bosses on how to play them.

[@val1703]

Nexus is definitely worth covering sometime, I agree that it very well could easily be called AC4. Among the fanbase it's called 3.5 gen (N-series in the JP crowd) for good reason. They overhauled basically everything in response to SL's PvP scene, and the two games are basically polar opposites when you view it from that angle. The philosophy for structuring the singleplayer base also drastically changed, but IMO for the worse. You can see NX's singleplayer philosophy extend into LR, and all the way until FA.

[@Sorain1]

I second this assertion. Nexus was _THE_ leap to the new control scheme and being incompatible with what came before, it really was it's own generation. Weirdly enough, it was the first 'two and done' instance in the franchise... which every game since has been. Nexus-Last Raven, AC4-For Answer, AC4-Verdict Day. Three two game 'generations' in which the formula was changed, and then polished before moving on to a new formula change from the basis of 3ed generation. Last Raven is definitely important in both the sense of 'this is how Miyazaki learned' and in that it was essentially the 'final exam' and culmination of AC's formula, with Nexus being the prologue to it. The branching story paths were the slightly over enthusiastic first shot at what we would see in AC4/FA and now in AC6, better refined and integrated due to experience. (practice making perfect.)

[@dhoffnun]

I honestly did not like the 5th gen when it comes to my own gameplay tastes, but this video is a gigachad take and gives me respect for these games that I didn't have before.

[@Gripheenix]

Not sure if anyone's chimed in on the ultimate weapons in multiplayer at all. They were actually used relatively often. They weren't 'meta' or required equipment by any means, but there was a team composition and strategy that involved them. Essentially, in the 4v4 game mode, a team using an UW would have one team member with the selected weapon. Their other weapons were ones that did high enough base damage to not have to worry about defenses, things like sniper rifles, high-damage battle rifles/laser rifles, or melee weapons. Most often, they were the vanguard, activating the UW immediately and rushing the enemy team for a guaranteed one-shot kill, usually on the opposing team's heaviest AC. When activated, UWs give the player momentary infinite energy, which makes this rush possible, and even makes it possible for the user to get back out of enemy territory before the activation period ends. It also allows for infinite kicking, should the UW fail to kill, and these kicks would deal more damage due to the added weight of the UW. Many times, this rush would end in a trade, one kill for one kill on each team. But with an adept user of this strategy, you could turn a 4v4 into a 3v4 or even a 2v4 if you were lucky, before the fight even really began. This strategy mostly went away in Verdict Day, when the UWs got the very harsh nerf of completely draining the user's energy for about 30 seconds after its activation period, making the player a very stationary sitting duck. There were still some players that used them for very niche purposes. Usually, they were activated when the player knew they were going to die anyway, to use the infinite energy and potential one-shot kill to at least force a trade of kills. But this was not at all common in VD.

[@Raganui]

Woot, Armored Core V! Another entry into what has rapidly become my favorite review of the series.

[@Kirby-Krios]

Excellent retro and analysis ^_^ I do feel it was a underrated gem. I prefer the urban grit setting over the 4-sterility as well.

[@slaps9402]

Ultimate weqpons were pretty fun to use as a desperation attack in 1v1 pvp duels. Also gives a practically 1 hit kill kick too

[@stikkykikZ]

Love that patreon subscription! Keep it up kid! Your killin it!

[@AesirAesthetics]

thank you for your support 🤝

[@Red_PlaysYT]

I’m so glad the next part came out, after platting ac6 I’ve been needing some more ac content! Love this series! :D

[@StarFlash250]

I've been watching the videos coming up and just finished for answer, my amazement when I saw this video released 20minutes ago

[@AesirAesthetics]

lol. 2 more to go!

[@portsilpa]

Awesome, saw the video as soon as I left my home to walk! Thanks, Aesir, for the entertainment, gonna watch it now!

[@AesirAesthetics]

enjoy :)

[@Th3_L30n]

I was really looking forward for this video Aesir. I was itching to hear your thoughts on ACV

[@AesirAesthetics]

Hope you enjoy

[@arsarma1808]

I think the ultimate weapons ended up being fairly popular, but really only the reliable ones. IIRC, the missile launcher was good when you had a buddy launching drones to spot enemies, so you could hunker down and nuke people from far away. The hammer was generally decently reliable. I think both could get 3 attacks out with the right build, enough to wipe a team. The grind blade was super bad, though, since it ejects your arm. Taking up your back slots was bad but being down to 1 or 2 weapons out of the potential 4 or 5 ( depending on what you do with your shoulder) sucked. Also I love the boost kicking and the diagetic interface/HUD of this game. I think AC6 did a good job bringing those forward, but I wish wall kicking and scaling also made a comeback. Those made really good use of the environment.

[@linkkicksu]

I think a large reason why people think AC5 and VD are 'too slow and clunky' and 'have no vertical play' is because they don't build a fast and vertical AC. Make your ac lightweight, slap some RJs on there and pick your generator and boosters for maximum output and suddenly you have a high speed machine rocketing around that can clear a small skyscraper in one jump, regenerates energy faster than it can spend it while overboosting in scan mode, and pinballs off walls through the air like a chihuahua on crack. But if you make your AC heavy and chunky, then your AC will handle heavy and chunky. I think people were too used to 4A where every build that wasn't a tank played exactly the same way: a quickboost spamming aerial fighter Like just watching your gameplay where you spent most of your time slowly gliding around on the floor with the occasional quickboost and only using wallkicks to climb instead of wallkicking away from walls to gain speed and altitude or overboosting to close distances or dodge missiles. Overboost is omnidirectional in this game by the way, not just forwards.

[@xianfa1708]

infinite flight RJ snipers are worse than cookie cutter tetras Owo

[@lesslighter]

Ultimate weapons are basically the Limiter Release mechanic from AC2-AA revisited yes your AC hobbles around HOWEVER YOU HAVE INFINITE ENERGY when the weapon is activated which is why you can only use it for 30 seconds? with a weapon that 1 hits anything once fully charged which depending on how you setup your AC (core energy output being relative to how fast you can charge) makes you thing of possibilities how the ultimate weapons are viable in online play, while I do not like how the ACs in 5th gen looks its has a solid gameplay sure it has some flaws but again nothing should be perfect. It has some good ideas but still has some clunk, the scan mode is still the same in AC6 for better or for worst

[@TheRaven621]

Excellent work Raven 🐦‍⬛

[@allanbergsma3256]

Great job Aesir!

[@AesirAesthetics]

thank you :D

[@SinclairLore]

Good stuff!!!

[@IBx27]

I felt so betrayed by V clipping the wings that I had to wait to buy AC6 until I saw gameplay footage showing we could fly again. If you want us to play under a ceiling then put us back in the tunnels.

[@AesirAesthetics]

LOL

[@WFoong98]

So how do you like being kneecapped now that 6 doesn't let you fast regen mid air anymore even compare to 3?

[@xianfa1708]

with the right assembly and proper usage of scan mode you might want to rethink how you played 5 owO it's pretty much provides the most freedom on builds among the series, considering it doesnt even rely on spec tuning on the parts (what i hate is that they added the RNG stats on weapons in verdict day)

[@IBx27]

@xianfa how about the right assembly of boosters that let me play AC the way it’s supposed to be

[@xianfa1708]

by "the way it's supposed to be" you mean like 4 or its predecessors? @@IBx27 because 4 is basically a zone of the enders knock off owO

[@rob5541]

Really sucks the servers are gone. Wish more of these older games had a place to live. Guess thats the magic of collections, liek the MCC which is finally working.

[@Shipfish]

this video is great!! was looking for your opinion on this one. the GRIP

[@AesirAesthetics]

densetsu no AC mochi is love densetsu no AC mochi is life

[@loughtthenot]

My main problem with ac5 is that it hurts my eyes to look at... So much bloom, motion blur, particle effects, screen glitches. I know they were going for immersion but I play games for fun not to hurt my eyes

[@Reaper_bot40k]

Can't wait for you to do a video on Armored core 5 verdict day

[@AesirAesthetics]

Already done! :)

[@SA-mo3hq]

Unrelated, but your signoff reminded me - did you know Fromsoft made a medieval mecha game for the dreamcast, Frame Gride? Think Escaflone by way of AC. Japan exclusive, but eng fanpatched. Might be worth your time...

[@ZaricaLP]

some people forget how much their publisher hampered their games for a bit. Elden Ring and Amored Core 6, is them without a restraint on them.

[@TheRaven621]

The best online AC ever

[@okami473]

ur nuts how are you slinging these videos out can't wait for VI don't wana hear about it from anyone but you

[@AesirAesthetics]

:)

[@iron8586]

I feel like V very much informed the design decisions of 6 (hence AC VI)

[@RippahRooJizah]

Yeah, although since a lot of people either hate Gen V or didn't play it there seems either be some emphasis on what Old Gen and Gen 4 did (which, to a degree, is fine), or the occasional view of just saying V didn't add much of anything to what AC6 had.

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

@@RippahRooJizah my guess is that is that 4A just pumped a lot of the player's power fantasies and V just shattered them, so they shat on it and oh boy are they dedicated to it.

[@RippahRooJizah]

@@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120 Not to say V is not without issues but, yeah, I think part of the issue is that V doesn't have the instant gratification FA has. Honestly, though, power fantasy can be fine but not a headspace I want to stay in for long.

[@dowmein]

I know Chromehounds had a major influence on ACV with its multiplayer system, but Metal Wolf Chaos actually influenced some of the gameplay mechanics and visual design of the ACV.

[@bidogobedelhobadalo6263]

man, have you ever played wow on a guild called Kaizen? I'm almost sure there was a Aesthetics in there with a similiar voice

[@AesirAesthetics]

Nope

[@xianfa1708]

i want to add that you didnt mention that reversed joints have a very distinct effect of arms firing stability aside from it's vertical superiority i understand that you havent played the multiplayer aspect of the game, but tank builds as defense snipers became a meta at some point of the game, especially when they introduced weapons specs and weapons mining and grinding were introduced in verdict day, i really hope they never bring back the stats RNG aspect in 6

[@val1703]

They might be (hopefully) playing on patched ACV, HRJ's wack arm stability buff was nerfed during V's lifespan. (I believe their buff to arm firing stablity was completely removed altogether.) Shame it had to come at the cost of the entire leg type being partially gutted, but man are those legs cracked on launch ACV.

[@xianfa1708]

@@val1703 theyre nerfed it, but you can still see how the arms fire differently compared to normal bipeds, as it still provide a bigger dps when using he same weapons compared to bipeds, at least the last time i played on verdict day

[@Supercohboy]

I kept seeing ChromeHounds' DNA in ACV and AC6, this explains so much. I'm so, so, so happy that the ChromeHounds project DID in fact get sequels in a sense; Armored Core V ended up being a hybrid of AC and CH, while AC6 perfected the core of AC while making modern concessions and learning from previous robot combat games of all kinds. This is all thanks to the main Directors and the combat design lead especially, which is awesome. I hope we continue to see AC6 adapt, evolve, and grow, and for FromSoft to eventually make a good Gundam game finally lmao, that would be a great bonus to top it all off someday.

[@xianfa1708]

5 is my favorite amongst all when it comes to realistic simulations for armored core 4 is my least favorite for being a zone of the enders knock off 6 is a good balance between the 2, so basically, if anyone wants an easier playstyle after playing 6, they go for 4 and if anyone is looking for a more technical playstyle after playing 6, they go for 5 Owo and yes, i've always told people that 5's controls feels like playing a prototype souls game, of course a lot of people frowns upon me saying that 5 can be considered a soulslike imagine how people reacted when i said soulslikes are created to trick new people into playing armored core, as to bloodborne is created to trick new people into playing dark souls back in the acv days and look where we are now after elden ring boom... well well well... of course everyone who disagreed with my sentiments back then are now joining the AC bandwagon =w=;;

[@RippahRooJizah]

I mean, I've heard some people called Demon's Souls "Unarmored Core".

[@lonewolf646]

For all the things i like in armored core v, like the design of the city and the more grounded and tactical gameplay in which the environment mattered more, it really betrays the core fundamentals of the entire franchise. Shure they may still exist, but that's in name only. The corporation exists in v and other corporations exist in verdict day, but they are not actual companies, They aren´t trying to make more money or increase their influence on the economy and marked. In verdict day they are just groups of people trying to grab land. While in v it is just an ai, that sees the player as a treat because he was fighting over an unimportant city that, it didn´t even care about. Shure in previous games there were ai that tried to eliminate the player, but that was because the player was an active treat, that was destroying the system and status quo of the society which the ai was trying to maintain.

[@RippahRooJizah]

ACV doesn't really betray much of the core fundamentals of the entire franchise. Not more than some other previous games did, thematically.

[@zorain2354]

-Corporation in V wants to prevent the second Strayed and protagonist in V is so strong that’s why they want us die -The foundation in VD want to destroys humanity

[@raesluder4260]

Engagement

[@wanderingbufoon]

I love the movement in the 5th gen. 4th gen's movement was too weird. It felt like you might as well just get rid of legs since you're just boosting everywhere. 6th was ok. They went back into 4th gen but at least made legs into something else by giving them different game mechanics. Still, the purpose of legs isn't just for load (which what legs ended up being as on the 4th gen) but mobility. Boosting isn't supposed to be what it is now: legs. Basically boosters replaced legs and quick boosting replaced regular boosting. So you might as well not even have legs at this point. 5th at least gave more mechanics to legs. 4th gave more mechanics to the core with quick boosting and primal armour and assault armour. 5th gave back having legs. Legs from previous titles gave you certain advantages like higher vertical leap or removal of the back heavy weapon penalty (for tanks/quad). 6th knida messed it all up but tried patching it back with leg mechanics (hover, turn speed, higher jump, etc). It would've worked well if it hadn't been for the auto-boost abuse. You just look like you're traveling with the boosters instead of legs. Previous titles had you to cheese booster movements at least. Now using legs is essentially like using walk on an open world RPG. You only do so when you're bored

[@RippahRooJizah]

I wouldn't say AC6 went back to 4th gen, it's movement is kind of its own thing. But 6 still gave legs their purpose. Even quick boosting does change based on your legs. It's also a reason I prefer 5th gen over 4th gen, being how 4th gen minimized the unique aspects of legs.

[@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120]

its part of why i prefer V, its more grounded and you arent an isekai hero of which everything before melts into nothingness

[@wanderingbufoon]

movement is closer to 5th gen. I actually loved 5th gen. It just got a bad rep because it was heavily multiplayer reliant, not a lot of budget was put in. New fans liked 4th gen and old fans like 1st gen and both saw 5th gen as a cop out to appease both fanbases. It was a shame. Granted, there were some awful things that 5th gen had like the visuals. They're too distracting (which I suppose was the case). I mean, quite a lot of things in the game were simply executed poorly. Again, mainly due to budgeting (Souls were getting the main attention) as well as losing half of the department (some made Daemon x Machina). I'd say that VD is almost there and 6th gen is the perfected 5th gen. There really wasn't much any difference with 6th gen ftom the 5th gen outside of a new setting and story. All mechanics weren't changed. They actually dropped the UNACs and Ultimate Weapons. In exchange, they brought back Primal Armor and Assault Armor. I suppose the thing that 6th gen brought in is melee. 5th gen actually had em with the boost kick but 6th added punches. @@RippahRooJizah

[@wanderingbufoon]

I think that was the whole point of 4. It was a shift to a more fantastical aspect of sci-fi instead of just being modern reality grounded. While I still hate space magic like Gundam (UC), I think that sci-fi needs that fantasy element, otherwise, it'd just be modern reskinned. Think Mass Effect series. I think that's a series that did sci-fi proper. AC basically didn't have those out of reach elements. It's just humans vs AIs on mechs. 4th at least introduced that element of disbelief with the inclusion of boosting, shield and nukes. Things that are quite physically impossible were made so realistically. @@lelagrangeeffectphysics4120

[@RippahRooJizah]

@@wanderingbufoon I wouldn't call AC6 Gen V perfected, as it's too different. Not even any wall jumping. That said, I don't mind UWs being dropped, but UNACs being dropped is something that saddens me, but I understood. Better for AC6 to concentrate on re-establishing AC to the masses rather than bog themselves down with too much stuff.

[@daib0ok]

Any dev would be an idiot to not scale to pvp while story may hold sway it does build a base in this day and age. While I like the stripped down mexh to adding parts though story mode only. Pvp is hollow shell of no comms lobbies, shallow game play and no progressives. Even implementing barebone chromehounds progress war and sq based would up the ante if no new rewards were given, but clout. This would have extend the life span of the series with only a little more effort then what we have now.

[@jimboslam]

Im no graphics snob, but is it me or does ACV look like a significant downgrade in visual quality than AC4/4A? I spent an embarrassing amount of money for complete physical ps3 AC4A and ACV due to AC6 shaking memories loose from when i played those games back in the mid 2000s. I just dont remember ACV looking as "jaded" as it does.. Nonetheless your video helped with my buyers remorse of ACV. I heard it was as good as useless now that the servers are offline but glad to see something substantial can be pulled from the campaign. Subscribed!

[@timo5229]

You just like the art style of 4 more, V is a step up in terms of quality but it has a grittier style.

[@dowmein]

I just think the screen filter is too heavy handed.

[@xianfa1708]

yes, they did a soft downgrade on graphics to accommodate the multiplayer aspect, but it has far more details when compared to 4 in terms of specs and animations, especially on verdict day when they added more transformable stuffs

[@ArchOfficial]

I tried to emulate AC5. It ran at sub-30FPS and the controls and movement felt like shit. I think that's enough AC5 for me. I say this as someone who prefers 3rd gen.

[@ethanspaziani1070]

5 + verdict Day really aren't exactly my cup of tea however I do love the atmosphere of those games taking place in the destroyed world of 4 /fa the designs are really neat the concepts are really neat it's just not where I wanted the game series to go and keep going unfortunately they have with 6 and it just disappoints the hell outta me but five and verdict Day have things that make them distinctly still armored core and almost every armored core game in my eyes is still a good six or seven out of ten

[@eyescreamsandwitch52]

I wonder how many people realized how much mechanics from 5th gen went to 6th gen. Having the Arena be a part of the story is nothing new but I never worked so I don't know what were they smoking when they decided to try it a third time. There was Armored Core Another Age, Nexus and now V.

[@xianfa1708]

ac5 was like a prototype soulsborne control, with scan mode/combat + fcs be how your target lock will perform now with the soulslike boom going on, ac6 "lock on aid" is basically how you lock targets in any soulslikes

[@LunaPPK]

I really would love to meet these people who claim 4 and 4A ruined the series lol if anything IMO 5 and VD did

[@timo5229]

People that played the PS2 era games first don’t like 4th gen, people that played 4th gen first don’t like 5th gen

[@LunaPPK]

@timo5229 disagree had no issue with 4th gen it was just a smart evolution to me and i guess many others since 4A id highly praised

[@xianfa1708]

im from the pre 4th gen era, and i didnt like 4, and anyone who played 4 didnt like 5 it's surprising that this video mentioned that, because, there are more playerbase that came from 4 that made the idea that "ac5 ruined the ac franchise" more prevalent than from the opinion of people started from the first game

[@exile650]

I liked V but it is easily my least favorite gen. I hated the changes to AC movement and wasn't a fan of the mech design either. Thankfully AC6 fixed most of my complaints with it even if it added new annoyances (Attitude).

[@billythenarwhal1579]

I feel like ACVI did to the movement what ACV was trying to do.

[@DeathMetalThrasher]

I personally hated v and verdict day. The combat is just not my cup of tea. For one, bouncing off buildings and structures to maintain airtime like an ape is dumb. It just makes everything slow, and armored core isn't best as a tactical cover shooter imo. I'm glad they didn't go this route in AC6

[@xianfa1708]

it's actually a mix between 4 and 5 scan mode exist and lock on advantage behind structures is actually a mechanic in 6 and believe it or not, you can make an infinite flight assembly on 5

[@01trixor]

copium