Mechanical Critique of Armored Core VI

[@TheGemsbok]

Quick Note: A commenter has brought to my attention that being unable to skip notifications and messages after a mission's end is a bug in the game. It happens if you disable the subtitles (at least on keyboard; haven't tested other controls). If you have subtitles turned on, it is possible to hammer a button to advance through the text. I stand by all commentary in the video on the pacing, presentation, and abundance of the game's messages---but the specific remark about the post-mission ones being unskippable only holds true for those with subtitles turned off.

[@professormike6506]

Very fair and good correction, much respect

[@IntrusiveThot420]

I loved the game enough to beat every mission with just the starter AC, and the point I agree with most is part balancing. In Souls games, gear doesn't need to be balanced very well, because it is highly unlikely that a typical player will A) find all the OP stuff B) have the stats for it when they do or C) even recognize what makes it OP. None of those issues are there in armored core. It's like being able to go to the shop and buy Rivers of Blood at level 20, and instantly have the requirements to wield it. So, just like souls games, OP stuff exists, but unlike them, accessing it is trivial. Fromsoft's balance patch for parts would need to be extraordinarily aggressive to tamp down on the cheese weapons like zimmers, haldemans, stun needles, etc. The issues with mission design and really most problems with the game stem from it being casualized. Mech games are extremely unpopular, and I think Fromsoft wanted to play it as absolutely safe as humanly possible to nurture a new audience. Yamamura even explicitly said he wants to bring back more intricate mechanics and a more punishing debt system, so I'm pretty hopeful for the series future, and the core of the "stagger, punish, reset" sekiro-style combat loop is incredibly fun, especially without an OP build. Great vid, subbed! Another thing that makes me hopeful is the excellent parts balance in the previous entry, Verdict Day. Competitive VD still has no banned parts to this day, in the JP or EN PvP communities.

[@gjmc0207]

don't know what you are talking about, all dialogues and cutscenes while I was playing where skipable... no need to hammer down any button, if you press one button, it gives youn a prompt to skip.

[@TheGemsbok]

If you press one button and then receive a prompt to skip a segment in its entirety, you are watching a cutscene. The pinned comment above pertains to the messages which follow missions, where you instead receive a prompt that shows a button alongside the word 'Next' to advance a line of dialogue. To advance through _all_ lines in such a scenario, repeated presses are required. (And with subtitles disabled in the same scenario, no manual advancing is possible.)

[@IntrusiveThot420]

@@TheGemsbok oh hey you're still commenting down here! An update a few weeks later: I think the parts balance is pretty good for pvp now, but Fromsoft doesn't seem like they're gonna change how easy it is to buy a tank and steamroll every encounter with high-stagger, high-damage weapons. I think AC6's campaign will never be difficult enough to be called challenging outside of one or two encounters. Initially, I thought tightening the energy economy would be the solution, where increasing DPS or burst stagger / stagger per second (depending on weapon type) cost a LOT more energy across the board. But the existence of coral gens makes that a HUGE problem. Because of how much energy they return after going dry on EN, there's very little reason not to completely max out your EN load on a coral gen. If other gens have to leave 30-40% of their output unused to get good energy regen rates, while the coral users can stack to the moon, then we'd have the same exact problem of wayyyyy too much stagger output as before, only with even less viable generators. Have your thoughts on improving parts balance changed much since making this video?

[@GREATGAIWAIN]

I love this game to death and this is the best negative review of it I have seen.

[@gusonian8637]

These mechanical critiques are incredibly well-done and super interesting. Please do more! Everything you make is well worth my time.

[@TheGemsbok]

Thank you for that very kind comment! There will definitely be more critical looks at game mechanics on this channel in the future---although I think my very next game video is going to be on the literary/philosophical analysis side of things.

[@gusonian8637]

@@TheGemsbok Love those too! That reminds me - it's about time to rewatch your Dark Souls philosophy video. Definitely some of the most underrated stuff I've watched

[@flora4402]

As much as I enjoyed ACVI, I can't bring myself to disagree with the points you raised. Thank you

[@IAmEnormous]

I didn't even try a heavy build, or hear anything about their reputations, but even by the Sea Spider I was thinking, "I bet this game is STUPID easy if I just build the biggest brick possible." Thankfully, I'm addicted to speed, so the game was pretty fun with my light build. In AC3, I actually had a similar experience, where I built the heaviest, killiest mech I could just to see if it would make the game super easy like I thought. And it did! But then I fought fast ACs, and they ran circles around me, literally turned me into one of those anime goons who goes, "W-what?! He's fast!" before getting exploded. Just wish AC6 had more of that dynamic; more tradeoffs, more advanced movement mechanics. Make things just a pinch clunkier to give depth to the game. EDIT: 7:03 The devs are the funniest people alive for this. They really took Dark Souls' death loop boss design and put repeating dialogue over it. "This spot marks our grave. But you may rest here too, if you like," already made everybody insane in DaS3, they multiplied that by a hundred.

[@S_F_S]

Since you seem to be a veteran, I ask you a question. I played AC6 as my first mech game and was absolutely blown away, it was probably my goty together with lies of P, and seeing how incredibly refined its gameplay is, I struggle to think that other past Armored Core entries could even hold a candle to AC6 in terms of both gameplay and general structure. Is AC6 THAT superior to the other entries? Or are they still worth playing ?

[@BigBait12]

Yeah, I agree with almost everything you said. I love the game at it's core, but I also feel there's a lot of untapped potential due to balancing issues and the general inconsistent quality of the content in the game. When I'm fighting the bosses in AC6 or doing some of the missions where the challenge is properly ramped up I feel like I see what the game could've been, but a lot of the time the AI is very dumb and disposable which leads to some of the missions feeling like busywork. On NG+ and NG++ it was a bad feeling to play repeated content with all of the OS chips and absolutely roll through things without any challenge, even stuff I was looking forward to repeating like Balteus and Cel were trivialized. It would've been really nice to see even simple changes like health and damage increases for NG+ and ++ playthroughs.

[@liquidreality472]

The missions may be busy work to get you familiar with the load out you are using before the boss, ie ranges, cool down times, energy, etc. Just a thought.

[@cardmossdn8058]

This was a weird experience because despite agreeing with most of what you had to say, I still think this game is absolutely fantastic. I can’t wait for more AC games in the future

[@TheGemsbok]

Not too weird from my perspective. As I say toward the start of the video, I like both halves of its primary gameplay. Despite its many missteps, it's still a fun experience---noticeably better than most games that release in any given year ("solidly above-average," as I put it in the conclusion).

[@RyanLBC]

balancing is more of an issue because the devs chose to dumb down the overall game a bit whereas there was a real debt system in previous games so much that you will get a complete game over and start from the beginning or like in ac1 you will be put on ransom in to the human plus system. also they took out shoulder armaments and defense armaments like missile flares/chaffs, anti-lock and radar jammers.

[@KOPPEN-mx8xq]

Playing through AC 1 after 100%ing AC 6 made me really wish optional parts were in AC 6

[@ni9274]

There was not a debt system in every previous armored core, and the previous armored core were absolutely not more balanced than AC6.

[@brynnerjayantiquesa7441]

@@ni9274 you are very wrong about that, try playing ac1 and play badly. You will incur debt

[@hikarihakai1285]

@@brynnerjayantiquesa7441that comment is about every previous game not one in specific

[@voidgivenfocus]

@@brynnerjayantiquesa7441debt is a complete nonissue in fa and fa is considered one of the best in the series, everyone's just complaining that ac6 isn't a carbon copy of *their specific favourite ac game* 6 was never going to satisfy every single armored core fan ever, especially when it's main goal was to create *new* armores core fans

[@quassigio7395]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on lies of p

[@thehotwindblowing]

Hopefully they were just playing it "safe" for the first game in a series revival, and AC7 can be more in tune with the design philosophies that are missing from 6. I will say that as a mecha game, one moment where I knew they had captured my heart was the photo mode. I think almost half the appeal of a mech game for me is just customizing and building a rad looking ass mech. When I saw that there was an inbuilt photo mode in the pause menu with like 9 different sliders for the most perfect possible angle and lighting for my beautiful clunker. I knew that whoever was making this game loved mecha. I don't know if the slow-mo on elite/boss kills felt excessive or out of place to other people but to me it felt like it was meant to be a cue "yeah go ahead pause the game and take that sick screenshot of your Gundam pile bunkering Balteus".

[@RedWolf777SG]

AC7? Em, don't you know that in every Armored Core main number title comes with several subtitle sequels. Before FS actually move on to the next major sequel. But yeah, I get what you mean. Hopefully they take the safety bars off in the next sequel subtitle. Can't blame them for playing it safe since this is the first actual AC title after over decade.😅

[@lynackhilou4865]

The game director did say they went kinda easy when he was asked about debt , he said soemthing along the line of : i love the debt system and how oppressive it was but since this is the first game in a long time , we didn't do anything too crazy

[@linkkicksu]

The AC6 expansion will hopefully address most of the issues, but I really hope AC7 will be a return to the glory of gen 3, with overheating boosters and all

[@bruoche]

​@@linkkicksuTo be honest AC4 and 5 where already huge departure from the first three (and eachothers too), and 6 is now a whole departure from all of them, so it's maybe unlikely we get a new AC game that redo things like those specifically... But we may get again a whole new kind of design philosophy that takes influences from both the first and last games, wich is still exciting too I'd reckon

[@voidgivenfocus]

@@linkkicksuac is never going to return to a specific gen, if u want to play oldgen, play oldgen, if u want to play 4th, play 4th, if u want to play 5th, play 5th It's crazy how ac fans are still somehow surprised when the new ac generation plays nothing like *their* favourite generation

[@Raziel_XIV]

I agree so much regarding the MT and general unit AI. Its like they are sort of still running the ranged AI logic of the soulsborne games as opposed to being trained mercenaries or security teams that works in squads or wolf packs who have a good understanding of the threats they will face... Like an Armored CORE!? do they have no sense of self preservation? I know it sorta worked in Soulsborne Gank Squads but not in Armored Core XD

[@dasanoneia4730]

These are valid critism hopefully From can acknowledge and improve as a veteran since title 1 i love Ac6 but can definitely be improved

[@rob5541]

There will be patches, but I'd guess we'll get an expansion game or something that will hopefully address the invisible walls and lackluster smaller enemies. Although. I do enjoy blowing them up. Jack in the box and tetrapods offer a good challenge when getting acquainted with the game. Actually really like how NG+ and ++ is handled

[@KnightCrown]

The UI section was a homerun

[@gymonstarfunkle136]

AC2 had a similar problem back in the day re: tank legs. The ELC-DISI legs were just genetically superior to other legs, and had surprisingly good turn speed, meaning you could roll the arena on raw stats alone. Not sure how they fared against Ares (the arena champ) and his Karasawa tho.

[@YGOstratPlayer]

To me the number 1 dissapointment (besides the constant stuttering on PC even with process lasso which thankfully was fixed at least for me in patch 1.03) is the mission design and lenght. Most missions just aren't memorable enough and pretty much all of them besides "Infiltrate Grid 086" felt too short. Grid 086 also feels extremely different in it's overall structure and layout compared to other levels, more of an "Area" than a mission if that makes sense, it was probably one of the first levels designed when they still weren't sure how the rest of the game will shape up. I really wanted longer and more complex levels, not necessarily like grid 086 exactly in design style but more levels like it instead of levels like the rest of the game.

[@drewbydoobydoo2918]

I semi-agree, but from what I understand, short bite-sized missions are a feature of the Armored Core franchise. I would like to see some longer missions with multiple teammates/large scale battle. There are a couple which are close, but not quite. I do enjoy that I can get off work and play a few missions if I only have 20-30 minutes to play.

[@serraramayfield9230]

It isn't wrong that AC6 is a more distilled version of AC for a much broader audience, pros and cons both. Hope that a DLC/sequel leans into the more hardcore side akin to the older games.

[@Conradh13]

i really like your videos, and your choice of avatar, the oryx is a highly under rated animal

[@szalyn8849]

Lesgo baby, another video from Gemsbok, gotta get the food ready for this one >:D

[@gembocobo9484]

Much respect for articulating on points I have yet to see in the other AC6 reviews I've been watching in the last few weeks. It is much appreciated as someone without any ability to run the game to begin with. I am hopeful that with its success a demake mod might be a thing later on. I hope the enemy AI issue you pointed out on the mooks standing still gets addressed later on. It would be awesome if the folks at FS learn from this release and that is always a win for players to demand better output. I admit that I am a bit biased towards favoring the AC series in general but I am willing to acknowledge that it has flaws and addressing these will only improve the overall quality of the games. Been Loving all the AC6 vids I am getting from the reco feed. I hope one addition that FS gives later on in either an update for AC6 or for AC7 is the option or a set of weapons or parts that focus on electronic warfare to hack an enemy mech to disable them non lethally. Also opens up the option to harvest parts or weapons from enemy mechs so we can use them on our own mech or sell them for funds. Would be extra awesome if this was doable for boss fights too maybe just make it more tricky to perfectly pull off but still doable and lets us get special parts or weapons from harvesting from boss units! Up to FS if they decide to make that available from the start of new game or just give that option after NG+++++. Something that might let us go for what can amount to a pacifist run specially when we consider how FS played with the story for this game. Having to fight characters that we grow to like can suck so bad. Having the option to disable their mechs without blowing them up or having the capacity to pull off Kira Yamato style non lethal mech destruction BS moves would be a nice thing specially if they design it where it'd be extra tricky to do somehow. Dismembering a parts off the enemy mechs would be cool too. Pulling out the enemy FCS unit out of their mech or whatever lets them pull off the moves they abuse during their respective boss fights and letting players use a copied version of the Boss unit's moves would be nice too. Albeit adjusted for balance purposes of course. I also hope Bamco lets FS make their next Gundam game or maybe the next Another Century's episode. Maybe a FS tactics edition ripping off or straight up improving the style used in the Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 3. SEGA shat the bed so bad with that game series that it made me wish that style gets ripped off wholesale for the next Super Robot Taisen or whatever action game gets a tactical rpg spin off.

[@taninrobertson2262]

Damn bro you went in. While I loved the game, every thing you said was absolutely true

[@thecountbassy_]

Great video as always! I agree with basically every point you raised, and still had the most fun of any game I’ve played this year. :-)

[@harrybenson6731]

What a relief to finally hear somebody voice these concerns about the game.

[@JustNoAmbition]

I won't watch this yet because I want to fully finish the game myself first. But I wanted to comment just to say that I love your videos! I can't wait for more philosophy content on games, you are one of the best around on youtube. Well read, great voice, and superb writing!!!

[@Datightguy]

I enjoyed AC6 a lot despite agreeing with just about everything you said. Previous Armored Core games are also guilty of some of these issues but for some reason AC6 doesn't live rent free in my head unlike AC1, Master of Arena, AC3/SL, Last Raven, and AC4A. I hope some patches can revive my interest in the game.

[@Seraphiel29]

I was ready to hate this video and dislike it, but damn. I agreed with nearly everything you said.

[@sird31mos]

I ran into nearly everything you critique in this video, and I have to say I'm fully in agreement with the sentiment that AC6 simply isn't a landmark title by any stretch of the imagination. However, I simply chose to ignore the imperfections. From Software is steadily building a longer and longer history of failing to learn from success and failure both--which rather suits the image I hold of them as a company that simply does what they wish to do, regardless of industry standards. I assign no inherent virtue to that apparent development philosophy, but I am nonetheless compelled to experience and find enjoyment in what they have to offer. I spend a lot of my time (perhaps far more than I should) replaying From's relatively recent games, and over time the shortcomings of any individual title blend with all the others in my internal experience. The way I experience playing has adapted to ignore what might be described as shortcomings; underwhelming or samey enemies become inconsequential, because many of the more significant enemies are handled with adaptations of the same core strategies; unbalanced equipment selections lose their incentive to pick the big number in favor of internal gratification through theming and experimentation, and so on. I tackled AC6 with much the same mindset, and I came away from it having the most fun I've had with any game in years. My favored build ended up being an ultra-light AC wielding dual stun guns with a laser dagger to swap and a single grenade launcher for an occasional damage/ACS spike. This is arguably weighted toward the stronger end of the spectrum, but to play it is much more deliberate than the dual Zimmermans experience. There's no real conclusion or principle to this comment, and it certainly isn't "objective," but while AC6 may not be _the_ game of the year, it is _my_ game of the year.

[@tonyolo4591]

there is a conclusion that i'm starting to grasp from this......I ran through the game with the understanding that fromsoft builds their difficulty into the items, not menu's. if you use the right build/spell/weapon you change the whole experience of the game. I made my mech's with that mentality, so whenever i saw something that was so good it trivialized the game, i stowed it away . ran through most of the game with a light mech, dual handguns with a swappable phaseblade on my left back......I used my right shoulder for versatility. swapping out for what i needed in that mission. my conclusion is that the folks who went tank treads, dual gattling, and whatever else "hits the hardest" had a completely different experience for their first playthrough, and it jades your opinion. similar to the situation where almost everyone who got the LoR ending thought the story in this game rocked while, most of the people who got the fires of raven ending thought the story was mediocre. the conclusion i get is: fromsoft games are what you make of them,....if you want to take on an epic challenge then don't min/max so much, and if you want a power fantasy go look up the most broken OP builds. dual zimmermans/ comet azure/rivers of blood/BKS/Drake sword, and so many other items trivialize fromsoft's games difficulty, so much so that each boss fight has a whole different feel. if you are blowing through bosses before you even learn their attack pattern, you are doing yourself a disservice.

[@kosmosXcannon]

@@tonyolo4591which is ironic since apparently enough people complain about the difficulty of the games to the point some bosses receive a nerf. Seems like alot of people refuse to adapt, when the devs gives you plenty of tools to work past a solution. Balteus and Radahn are probably good examples. The game literally tells you to use pulse weapons to get past his shield, which you should have gotten prior to the level if you completed the training sims. People must have been running some really slow mechs to not be able to auto boost around the missile barrage with the occasional quick boost. I almost beat him multiple times with my dual Ludlows, only thing holding me back was running out of ammo. As soon as I switched to the bubble gun, it vaporized his shield. Only real problem I had with the fight was the melee attack. In classic souls fashion it has problems hitting you if you stay near the boss. Radahn's fight wasn't really made for you to solo him. His was more like a boss where you need to use many people. Which was why there was summoning markers around the map to use so they can draw aggro.

[@mahghuuuls]

Loved AC6 and this analysis

[@cokeMONSTERps3]

Haha loving all these cheeky quotes.

[@triplea657aaa]

I think it's pretty obvious that AC6 didn't have the same budget as the souls titles.

[@RedWolf777SG]

Hope FromSoftware rebalance the AC parts in the next game patch. We need more clear separations of the weight classes. Because heavy ACs or tetrapod/tank ACs are just too OP, in my opinion. Especially in both PvE game play or PvP matches. Need more variety.

[@journeration1]

You might get flack for this one from fanboys but I honestly think you nailed it here, after 10+ years of straight bangers FS went and made a real normal video game. With most of the bad stuff that comes with that. Still fun, but only thing it does better than FS's other recent games is run properly on a PC on launch day.

[@Bodzio2M]

Would argue with straight bangers. Demon and Dark Souls were superb but the rest was mechanically boring.

[@ramen3643]

​@@Bodzio2M DS1 and DeS are legit the most mechanically boring games in fromsofts catalogue bruh 💀

[@ramen3643]

I would argue it's not just a "normal" game, the boss fights are still really cool and fun, the characters are actually some of the most likeable characters I've seen (for example, a game like GoW has well eritten characters, but I don't have a connection with any of them, but in AC6 I actually connect with the characters even though I never see their face) and the story is pretty good and not many games have the whole mechanic of NG+ adding more to the story and requiring you to beat the game multiple times for the full experience. the only other game I know that does that is neir automata.

[@yhavinmiles]

@@Bodzio2Mimplying that Sekiro is mechanically boring is an insane take

[@Nabrashaa]

I havent played much of this game yet, but I noticed some of these issues even in the TUTORIAL. Like, the way they "teach" you mechanics is not intuitive - by the end of the tutorial I had no idea how the HUD worked, which was confusing and frustrating. Like a million games have figured out how to teach you mechanics seamlessly, the "powerpoint" slides feel super outdated 10/10 video

[@kosmosXcannon]

At least it didn't have the issue of counter intuitive controls like their earlier games. If I remember correctly the R2 and L2 buttons were used to look up and down instead of using the joystick on the PS2 controller.

[@ReelRai]

I agree with a lot of the stuff said here, and especially the equipment balance issues are apparent in PvP. It's a shame, as I was really excited to get into a fresh AC and deep dive into the PvP, being a big fan of the PvP in the older titles. Hopefully they'll manage to fix it in future patches, but I dont have high hopes, the issues run very deep and would need almost an entire rework of the combat system. I still loved the game, have 100% completed it, but it is a bit disappointing how terrible the balance is.

[@SevenPr1me]

Ive gotten into the habit of checking the builds of people on lobbies before I ready up. If I see they're all just dual wielding Zimmermans I just leave and find a different lobby. I love encountering people with exotic builds and cosplays

[@ni9274]

every AC games had balance problems in PVP, AC6 is not less balanced than the other.

[@Nabrashaa]

New Gemsbok video yaaasssss

[@blakenielson1455]

I love you gemsbok plzzz return!! One day your videos will pop off promise many are on timeless topics and have perfect quality!! I watch all I require more brother I will spread the word of our savior gemsbok

[@vladi3784]

well said

[@stockehistorica1349]

I wonder if they'll ever return to AC Nexus/Last Raven-level difficulty and balance

[@Eladelia]

The invisible walls are really the most egregious thing. I’m not altogether against the use of invisible walls in games, but this implementation is shockingly lazy and sloppy and I was truly dumbfounded while playing the game when it sank in that this is really how they wanted certain missions to work. Some of the other things you dislike are features I appreciate, but the invisible wall implementation is baffling.

[@gamedominatorxennongdm7956]

I mean would you like to go out of bounds out of nowhere with barely any warning.

[@Eladelia]

@@gamedominatorxennongdm7956 I’d rather be on maps and missions that are well designed to mitigate the problem. Instead, AC6 has some maps that seem almost designed to ensure the invisible walls cause issues.

[@gamedominatorxennongdm7956]

@@Eladelia I dunno bud, the level design here Seems fine, I think you're just nitpicking now just four the sake of argument. If you don't like the invisible walls here, fine, but saying the maps here sucks shows how little appreciation you have for these. After all, it's either these or the barren flats in AC4A we call maps

[@acethemain7776]

@@gamedominatorxennongdm7956 it was perfectly fine when i thought i could hit baltaeus but then the invisible wall showed up. NO IT FUCKING WASN"T

[@gamedominatorxennongdm7956]

@@acethemain7776 you just got unlucky and is now forever salty I get it. There's no point in telling you my thoughts so let's stop here.

[@MarionetteDuAuguste]

I wonder if at least one of the reasons behind some of the more baffling decisions (like the poor environmental storytelling and the lack of respect for player autonomy) is that the creative director for the game ISNT hidetaka Miyazaki. A lot of the hallmarks of From game design that have garnered them so much acclaim over the past decade can be directly traced back to his influence.

[@Fachewachewa]

Haven't played this one but definitely on From Soft not learning for their successes, it often feels like they have no idea why people like some stuff more than other so they just.. rebundle everything hoping it works again.

[@franklinshure960]

" THE DIABOLICAL TRINITY " 😄lmao awesome

[@daboos6353]

Wish it had as much customization as AC3, weapon arms, optional parts, interior parts etc. Also in that game you can totally customize the HUD

[@dasanoneia4730]

yeah removing exention parts like interceptor and the mapping function is a drag

[@minigamez5879]

I definitely have to say the AI is a major disappointment for what you've said, to the point where it doesnt feel like theres any intent in their actions. The only one that caught me of gaurd with my first playthrough is VI freud whenever i was close to AC loaded or did get overloaded he would charge his sword. And whenever he was about to be ACS'd he used his pulse armor. Felt like he had actual intent and a plan to take full advantage of the ac load. If the rest had similar AI with a bit more dodging and a buff to ACS strain along with a slight nerf to a few of the weapons impact. That would resolve a few of the issues. Also ive noticed that most of S ranks can stil be achieved with using a check point but just once, and even using all of your repairs. Other then that just purely blitzing everything😅

[@ni9274]

These are fodder enemies, they're not supposed to be strong or move around a lot, they're literally in universe supposed to be very slow, weak and bulky compared to your AC. And the AC AI are really good, they just aren't supposed to take you more than one try to beat, they're not boss with patterns.

[@minigamez5879]

@ni9274 fair enough for the fodder enemies, but i honestly cant say any other ac acted the way frued did. Are they actually supposed to take one try? I dont expect them ALL to be good but yknow like frued and maybe raven at least?

[@franklinshure960]

Agree on all points - definitely a nice game, but definitely not on the level I was expecting/hoping

[@rostokk2706]

i hope stagger gets shitcanned in the next ac game. it's impossible to balance i feel

[@Daniel-vx5vc]

Through the course of my playthrough my AC underwent some...Logical Increments. 😎

[@adolinkholin3137]

So where can we see your list of top games of all times?

[@TheGemsbok]

I won't be publishing it, sorry. The reason I scrapped the relevant article is that I don't want to expend even the tiniest amount of time justifying why any given game is positioned in the place it is, nor the relative position of a game compared to any other game on or off the list.

[@mr.beamless1609]

I feel like they were trying to please everyone, old armored core fans and new souls fans, but those groups have very different wants. So they end up in the middle with a slightly smoothed out armored core game, which isn't what either group was really looking for.

[@tonyolo4591]

i think this was far more fun than a game that truly pleased either fanbase would have been though.....if AC 6 was everything AC fans wanted, would the game be as fun? If AC6 was what the souls community wanted would it be as fun? I think fromsoft wasn't trying to please either fanbase, and was instead trying to make a new generation of AC fans by making the funnest(that word bothers me) game possible with that I.P.

[@dantespardaposter5315]

Any thoughts about Daemon x Machina?

[@Always.Smarter]

man your videos are excellent. I would love to hear your take on Warframe.

[@saulgoneman]

I agree on balance, grading, some of the levels feeling like time wasters, and now that you've made me think about it the continent hopping. I think you are far too uncharitable on some stuff, like invisible walls - the reason there are invisible walls rather a bunch of giant walls, chasms etc. isn't because Fromsoftware just forgot how their games work, its because they are going for a different experience that prioritises high mobility coupled with the aesthetic of massive realistic-ish landscapes. They wanted the game to look cinematic, not like a videogame level with contrived giant barriers everywhere (and they would have to be giant, given you can fly). They also sometimes use them to slow the player down so the characters can yap at you, to stop you dragging one AC fight into the next, to stop you skipping past or cheesing enemies they want you to fight, to keep you in an aesthetically fitting location, to enable aesthetic variety (without invisible walls what are you gonna do, put every AC fight indoors?) and stop you bringing an enemy into terrain their AI isn't equipped to handle. When the player and enemies are given so much mobility these things become much bigger challenges than they would be in a Souls game. They could still probably be designed around, but it would be far more time consuming than just using invisible walls, and most players don't give a shit. Its still fair to not like their use, or to think that they are sometimes unecessarily restrictive (especially in instances like the PCA helicopter being able to attack you from behind the invisible wall), but I don't like calling it "lazy". This applies to many other game developers too, people are too quick to accuse dev teams of laziness without really thinking about the potential rationale and tradeoffs behind game design decisions.

[@danny1ft1]

I'll be honest I don't even hate the helicopter invis wall, I consider it a feature lol, you can't sit on it's head you have to lure it back towards you.

[@littlelw319]

i can agree with some of the point -weapon and build balance -lackey canon fodder -the rank grading -sortie screen(however i'd argue the second confirmation screen should stay. the entire point of it exist because of the last minute decision what kind of build you want to bring into this mission not just on the first playthrough and this include to 2nd playthrough as well) but jesus, the pretentiousness is real when you talked about "Autonomy of the player" and cutscene. it is borderline implies "how dare the devs make a linear game with linear story and how dare they put a cutscene in the game" that isn't a critique it's rant and your own biased. edit: also you don't the fighting game player nor you play mech game regularly, do you. stating "subtly varying mech game" and show Gundam EXVS series when it carried the entire competitive 2v2 Arena Fighting Game scene on its back for more than 10 years is quite a telling.

[@Jirekianu]

I think expecting a planet that was a burned out hellscape only 50 years prior to be different from a bleak and industrial place is like expecting a forest on the moon. The monotonous color palette is kind of the point. It's to drive home the bleak atmosphere of the living conditions on the planet. I also think that even if the color palette is similar, there's quite a bit of variety in the industrial areas. The different grids have substantially different layouts. You get nice visuals going up to fight the sea-spider and dodge orbital lasers. And then going down to fight honest brute is like delving into a dungeon in a giant cavern due to its position inside the megastructure you're inside. I'm not saying it isn't flawed in some respects, but they do a fairly good job of varying the layouts and environments within the strictures of the setting they were trying to establish, imo.

[@linkkicksu]

My major complaint is just how gutted the customisation is in comparison to gen 3. Gen 4 and 5 gradually stripped back the depth of customisation too but made up for it in other ways, like gen 4 having 3 different boosters on your AC at once and gen 5 having each part of your AC being super impactful on the performance and playstyle. Gen 6 sort of feels like it got rid of the customisation and didn't do much to fill in the gap, especially with how head parts are basically just cosmetic when in gen 3 they were sometimes overly complicated with various radar and sensor stats and abilities. Also in regards to the invisible wall complaint, in prior games you'd simply fail the mission if you go out of bounds. Here I suppose they decided to just prevent that possibility because you can't fail missions, you just restart. I somewhat disagree with your complaints about the briefings though. Those have always been a part of AC's flavour, but I suppose with the reduced emphasis on the mercenary roleplay in favour of more focused story, it just doesn't hit the same as past titles where you were just 'some guy in a robot' rather than 'the coral's chosen one'

[@christianlachniet5785]

With some of these critical takes on ac I can't believe you are serious just 2 things, the barriers are obviously in place because of the map size and your mobility and you can skip all briefings and cutscene things. It's wild that you critique that

[@jamesiewalters2360]

yeah, even that felt off to me; world building and emersion, mate; and they're hardly that intrusive.

[@PRVTDickStryker]

Imagine complaining about how immersion-breaking having a barrier as the limit of the area of operations is while ignoring how every single location in Lordran or Lothric is either a box canyon or a plateau

[@blackestyang7528]

--1. the way people critique basic enemies always takes them into a 1v1 arena vacuum and not thinking about placement and numbers --2. the different angles of approach and mission objectives significantly change how maps play out --3. the target reticle stays on-screen when hard locked onto an enemy --3.1. the assembly menu shows weapon damage types --3.2. the training area is for acclimating to new weapons or builds --3.3. might I ask how you forget what you put on? *or not see it on-screen?* --4. ACVI being intuitive and smooth to pilot while still having the gameplay feel of a mech puts it well above the dogpile

[@boomertiro1422]

While i disagree on some of the points about builds, I must say spot on about the HUD, Letter Grading, structure, invisible walls...

[@john-paul3271]

He sounds like a mad speed runner at times. “They didn’t allow me to break the game.”😢 😝 He made some good points though. Regarding builds, I prefer faster/lighter AC’s on the last bosses in the game. I found a heavyweight melee build over-tuned whenever fighting other AC’s in-game and the arenas. I didn’t like a heavy build ever when fighting the three end game bosses.

[@randomaj237]

this was a really interesting and great analysis, this was my first AC game and I’ve played the rest of Fromsoft Souls catalogue. Despite being fairly into game design and production as a hobby, I absolutely loved Ac6. Enough to make it on of my favorite Fromsoft games, behind Ds1 and Bloodborne. If you aren’t using a totally busted build I found the difficulty to be on par with the rest of the from soft catalogue. No boss in Ac took me over an hour or so, and neither did any boss in the souls games. I personally found a lot of enjoyment in the different between normal enemy mt’s and their competence compared to enemy ac’s and bosses (although I do think enemy ac’s needed to be stronger in most cases). I think it goes to show the difference in hardware as well as piloting skill, in the mission “attack the red guns” Michigan even comments in this. The hud displaying your expansion ability obnoxiously large was something that stuck out to me as well so it’s nice that someone mentioned it, I will say the hud on an ultrawide monitor never bothered me but I can see how i’m a 16:9 it might. Overall i’ve seen a lot of unfair criticism of armored core so far, but as usual you come with pretty fair and understandable critiques, always look forward to your videos.

[@mateomarroquin8632]

The points on build crafting are strange, because I ran a lightweight dual SMG build almost the entire game, and rarely ran into issue. But when i tried to switch to a tetrapod or tread build I started having a harder time because of the way that I play game. My tetra build was good on certain levels where my main build lacked, but I think play style and how your brain connects with the controls plays a bigger role than just straight up builds. Not to say that the game is perfectly balanced, but I think they did a good job

[@danny1ft1]

Love this, I'd argue balance isn't as bad as you think but you hit the nail on the head, play style is everything, people shit on speed builds but if you got the skills speed builds are great fun.

[@aidanklobuchar1798]

@@danny1ft1 They're the most fun, sure, but they're objectively underpowered. If you suck with Tetras, than you're either building it wrong or it's a skill issue. They get the best kick. Assault boosting with the Buerzel boosters is broken and so are kicks, of which Tetra's have the best one. Stability in PvP is super important, something Quads and Treads dominate in. You get 80-100% more health. Better access to back weapons, etc. I say this as someone whose build until I got the S-ranks was a super-light Nacht leg/Rifle+pistol build. But Verril legs + Dual Zimmies + strong shoulders + proper boosters/generator combo makes anything a total joke.

[@chasedean4032]

I hope we get fa levles of speed next ac game

[@snuffles5897]

I agreed with alot of your points initially but the latter half of this video basically just devolved into asking why this wasn't Souls

[@serraramayfield9230]

Yeah

[@TheGemsbok]

To be perfectly frank, I'm tired of seeing that very silly response to videos like this one. People implying that soulslikes are the only games to employ the low-level design virtues I list in the conclusion of this video (and I don't mean to single you out, as you're not the only one) are way off-base. The early Souls games just happen to be the instances of this approach that appear in the career of the exact development team being discussed. I don't know how I can be more clear than saying it's not about the mechanics or the genre, but the underlying design philosophy. Here's a list of other games off the top of my head that fulfill most or all of the relevant design virtues: Return of the Obra Dinn, Half-Life, Super Metroid, Myst, Super Mario World, Dead Space, The Witness, Inside, The End is Nigh, Breath of the Wild, Portal, Shovel Knight, Papers Please, Riven, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, A Short Hike, Jak & Daxter, Terraria, and Journey. Feel free to let me know which of those games are 'basically just Souls.'

[@snuffles5897]

@@TheGemsbok As I awake in the middle of the night from my slumber, remembering this comment after having long since forgotten it; I rush to my computer, frantically scan through my comment history, and return here to finally reply: My bad OG. In general your criticisms of the game are valid but there were a few that I found odd, something that incensed me to the point of leaving my half-assed comment. Those in particular being your thoughts on the UI, level design, all the pre-mission stuff, and invisible walls. While I myself am not gushing over this game's UI (especially in comparison to its predecessors), I can't help but disagree with your critiques there, you made the UI sound like a modern AAA nightmare meanwhile I haven't ever found it cluttering the screen nor providing me with not enough information, the UI is unobtrusive to the point when I focus I barely notice anything other than the reticle. In terms of level and world design I have to disagree with you but I feel this is more of a taste preference. One of the examples you compared ACVI's world to was Dark Souls III's Lothric, and I personally couldn't have more of a disagreement on your conclusion there, I'd argue Lothric is arguably From's ugliest looking world especially in comparison to Rubicon. The reason I love Rubicon stems from Fromsoft's ability to use the world's barrenness to its advantage, yes the planet is covered in vast industrial hellscapes and snowy ash (which I'd argue is the point) but From's use of lighting and especially the Coral in the sky gives each location its own personality, the difference in lighting can also help make revisiting certain missions with a few exceptions fresh. Your whole bit about the pre-mission loading screens and briefings and what-have-you also struck me because of how odd they were. You can skip literally everything and go straight to the mission itself in no time, and the beginning of the mission where your OS activates is also a non-issue because of how short it is. In my nearly 200 hours of playtime there hasn't been a single time those frustrated me, which says a lot considering at my most impatient I have the tendency to completely skip dialogue my first time through in many games. As for your criticisms of the invisible walls, they're annoying, I guess. I probably would've preferred the series' previous limits that let you go out of bounds but failed you for straying too far but it's not like they're a fundamental sin that ruins the level design here. Lastly what got to me was your dismissiveness towards "mech games" and Fromsoft's pre-souls works at the end, specifically your remark about "not innovating on the old mecha genre nearly enough". My issue with this attitude is multi-faceted. First of all I find your dismissal of From's earlier titles a mark of incuriosity about how the company did their games before Demon's Souls, it's not as though DeS was the beginning of all of From's game design philosophies, as though Miyazaki singlehandedly saved the company from the jaws of obscurity with his autuer fantasy masterpiece, this especially goes in hand with how you say the previous Armored Cores simply weren't innovated on enough; games like Last Raven and For Answer are some of Fromsoft's best work and to have them dismissed in a single phrase from someone who didn't even bother is disheartening to say the least. Then there's your comment about mech games as a whole, saying ACVI slots in nicely with the deluge of every single game in the genre. This statement is frankly baffling, to compare any Armored Core game with Mechwarrior, Zone of the Enders, or Front Mission for example is extremely bewildering considering none of those games have anything in common with one another except for having giant robots I guess. That's like if I were to bunch up and dismiss games like Devil May Cry, Dark Souls, and Fire Emblem, after all they're all just "Sword Games". This was much longer than I intended it to be but in general I'd like to apologize for my abrasiveness and to once more re-iterate that much of your mechanical critiques with the game are ones I myself have, particularly in regards to balancing and the triviality of the regular enemy types. Your's is the best "negative" review of the game especially in comparison to some of the braindead takes I've seen in these past eleven months, it's just that there were a lot of critiques from you I had countering opinions on. I doubt you'll read all of this but thank you for your time.

[@customersupportdeer6150]

I haven't watched the video yet, and I also haven't finished the game, since I got bored halfway through. But if I had to make a prediction for your (usually amazing and spot on) content for an AC6 critique, I bet it will be about overpowered weapons, and how the simplest build of double gatling guns trivializes everything. Edit: called it :) spot on as always

[@customersupportdeer6150]

Btw, I'm very interested in your top 30 (or more) games! You have an excellent understanding of good game design, so I'm curious what (hidden?) gems you would consider the best.

[@TheGemsbok]

Ha, well, I'm not necessarily opposed to _someday_ releasing all or part of the list. But for now, I'm keeping it to myself because I currently have no interest in spending any time at all justifying my choices/positioning of games. With that being said, though, I think I'll end up covering most of the top 30 in dedicated videos here on this channel eventually. I've covered about a third of them already.

[@customersupportdeer6150]

@@TheGemsbok Of course, why rush a possibly controversial list if we can look out for many great analyses :)

[@triplea657aaa]

I think the best part of AC6 is the core gameplay system, which is the best of any game I've ever seen (UI notwithstanding). Everything else is pretty mediocre though.

[@iliaskaramanis2884]

I am sorry to say but the part on balance is completely wrong

[@nano_sweet]

I just wish they never nerfed the bosses. It was so much adrenaline running a light weight build against the first iteration balteus.

[@jacksonvonpfostl6978]

I know you basically said you wouldn't publish it but I'm dying to see that top 100. Do DeS and/or DS1 crack the top 5?

[@TheGemsbok]

I won't be publishing it specifically because I don't want to expend even the tiniest amount of time justifying why any given game is positioned in the place it is, nor the relative position of a game compared to any other game on or off the list. But I don't mind telling you that, yes, Dark Souls 1 is in the top 5.

[@jacksonvonpfostl6978]

@@TheGemsbok Understandable. Your DS1 philosophy vid is one of my favorites on this accursed platform. Keep up the great work!

[@steeltarkus58]

As much as the mechanical aspects of the game you highlighted here are true, frankly I found your interpretations of them to be completely taste based and they don't really take the design of the game into account, for example, the the MTs/drones/smaller enemies serve the same function as the regular soldiers or dogs in Sekiro, they are weaker enemies that use their numbers to put pressure and force you to keep moving and to pay attention to them instead of bigger threats like snipers, quad MTs, turrets or even other ACs, this design choice is brought to it's peak when you battle G1 Michigan; if the enemies were stronger these type of missions would become almost unbeatable for the majority of the player base. Of course the game has defects, but most of these points sound more like you didn't like their design choices (which is completely OK), rather than their design not being up to par. What I completely disagree with is you conclusion, saying that this game is a far fall in quality from FROM's output is frankly wrong.

[@TheGemsbok]

If you think minor enemies in Sekiro have as little an impact on progress as minor enemies in Armored Core VI, I can only assume it has been a very long time since you've played the former.

[@steeltarkus58]

@@TheGemsbokOf course they don't, Sekiro features way less enemies on screen, plus you do have the option to expand your healing capabilities and to fall back to recover them. AC6's weaker enemies are also there to balance the fixed amount of repair kits you can use on a single mission.

[@ucvu4751]

​@@steeltarkus58 but " balance it out " in what way ? Can I just restarted at check point to get full heal, full ammo ?

[@danny1ft1]

​@@steeltarkus58I'd also argue they are there for story it's to show the power fantasy of what an AC can do, in reality what MT's would be doing is panicking and abandoning their MT to run for the hills, but most the time you hear comms it feels like they haven't seen an AC in battle and think they stand a chance only to be horrified as you fly past them like a god obliterating them, the only thing that would improve this for me is more comms chatter of panick as you make them realise they're fucked lol.

[@danny1ft1]

​@@steeltarkus58also when grading for such missions it's usually a speed run mission for S rank to avoid damage and score as many points in a b-line, that's what those missions are, personally I love it.

[@redhairbabyface]

only tried tetrapods and threads once, they were too fucking UGLY so I never used them again, played through most of it using only bipedal and the game was a blast

[@Mord12gp]

Yea, same here. If you don't want to use them you don't have too. Yes we're not gaining advantages but we work with what we got. Yea i can make a tank that can one shot something, but where's the fun in that. Some people will like that but not everyone.

[@dorkmoonblade4315]

I feel like this video has this pervasive underlying assumption that Fromsoft only began to make truly excellent games when they released Demon's Souls, and the stuff before that point can be mostly forgotten as standard industry shlock. Maybe that is not the intention but that is what it feels like at moments like 27:16. I don't even have the experience to disagree with you on this, I only became a Fromsoft fan after DS1, but I think there should be an acknowledgement of other viewpoints because I know for a fact that there are people out there who prefer the Armored Core series to the Souls games, or even think that Fromsoft's finest days were back when they made more obscure games like Kuon. AesirAesthetics has made a number of videos covering some of the older games made by Fromsoft. In general, I agree with your issues regarding the weapon balancing, the fodder enemies being too easy, the time waste in mission loadout, and the obscurity of the S ranks. From my understanding of past games it seems like AC's and weapon loadouts were often better balanced in past games because this game introduced a lot of Quality of Life features like hard lock and instant turn speed, which ended up giving increased tracking and mobility options to heavier AC's that previously didn't have them. And the stagger system is completely new as well. I do also wonder if you putting this game so much lower than games like Elden Ring has more to do with these legitimate faults, or whether it has to do with your personal taste away from these types of games.

[@journeration1]

This is a pretty wild rant for you to write, Dorkmoon Blade, if you haven't explored their early games yourself. Sure there are die hard fanboys of Kings Field and Armored Core despite the jank in those series... but the quality difference is still there, and besides that a huge part of what FS were pumping out before Demons Souls was shovelware like Metal Wolf Chaos, Ninja Blade, Shadow Tower, Echo Night, Forever Kingdom, Murakumo, Shadow Assault, Enchanted Arms, Evergrace, blah blah blah... This is not a secret. It wasn't just niche, it was them constantly throwing stuff at the wall with super low budgets and super low production times to see what sticks. It would be un-imaginable to see them put up garbage like that today. Demons Souls was going to be another turd on that pile before the company gave the project to a certain visionary.

[@snuffles5897]

@@journeration1 I’d say the average AC game is honestly more fun than the average Souls game and that’s what actually matters but if you wanna be pretentious that’s fine

[@xsubzerox3412]

​@journeration1 video games are built up of those "garbage" games, back in the 2000s every body was throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, but there also wasn't such a huge divide between AA and AAA games back then. mayazaki can't take credit for all that souls game is, his contribution mainly lies in world building/lore/themes and making combat satisfying (combat satisfaction, he states is important to him in many interviews) not that he literally makes the combat system but he's the one that gives the green light to weather the game feels right, no coincidence dark souls 2 feels like shit to play combat wise. Everything demon souls was it owes to an iterative design process dating back to kings field 4, shadow tower and even armroed core. From levels design, difficult and oppressive levels to 3rd person action I wish fromsoft would actually go back and make more expirenmental shovelware games (obviously not 60 dollors), they would be far more interisting than 90% games coming rn and 100% more unique

[@Squirberus]

Man I'm surprised you raked this over the coals! Didnt you do like a soul level 1 challenge? heh, to each their own, fair criticisms for a lot of it. I was never great at souls games, but i loved the arcade style of this and using the absolute lightest, boostiest mech ever with peashooters one one nade launcher. You made me feel kinda cool lol. I kinda liked how video gamey it felt. I didn't want to contemplate the items in ac, i kinda just wanted to paint my robot and blow stuff up and was kinda surprised by the story. I wanted it to be a lot more punishing though. Didnt mind the hud as much as you but those are good points. Nice vid overall as usual.

[@mrickard3621]

They should have let that poor dog sleep. DOGS NEED REST. This is animal abuse.

[@brian9967]

Many of the things you refer to as "design virtues" from their other games would be completely inappropriate here. Looking at my mech being shuffled around in the hangar prior to the sortie is badass. Waiting what, 2 seconds? for the game to then say MAIN COMBAT MODE at the start of a mission is something else that adds that extra bit of personality to the game that makes it so enjoyable to experience. If you could just start walking around the instant the game was ready to go and before the screen was even done fading in from black, like in Elden Ring, it would just not feel right for a mech game. I'm reminded a lot of the arguments from when RDR2 came out and a lot of people were upset by how long it took to do everything. It ultimately boils down to personal taste. There are people who just want to experience the gameplay as quickly as possible and let the game "get out of the way" and there are those who appreciate the experience that the developers are trying to create with all of those little elements added into the presentation. In the case of Armored Core 6, I would agree that it would be a lot less compelling if you simply don't care about any of that. But it would be a real shame if you didn't, because a large part of the game's appeal comes from From Software leveraging their storytelling and worldbuilding strengths in the most appropriate possible format. The ridiculous and thoroughly played out system of finding a random NPC in the middle of nowhere and speaking to him until he repeats his dialogue, only for him to eventually appear somewhere else and die saying "Gemsbok... forgive me..." ? Totally absent. But the memorable personalities and voice work from previous games can now service a proper narrative. Don't know how to animate lips speaking dialogue? Tell it all through phone calls and close ups of robots with no mouths. So much of the plot is told while you're in the hangar, be it through calls or sortie meetings, giving it an almost diegetic feel, as though you the player are actually interacting with the characters and taking jobs and working on your mech. Sure, there are bits that could be tightened up here and there like that last loading screen, but it seems that what you find to be annoyances, I find to be very immersive and full of personality. This video is primarily a mechanical critique, but the final product is a synthesis of visuals, sound, story, and gameplay. It is difficult to divorce them in such a clinical way, in particular for Armored Core 6. It is abundantly clear that a top priority for Fromsoft was using their budget to go for as much style and mecha fantasy as possible and the gameplay experience for those who click with this design goal is going to be enhanced compared to someone who is indifferent to it. Agreed on how easy it is to trivialize the building aspect of the game though. There is a massive amount of variety and depth to building and optimizing mechs but basically none of it is necessary to complete the campaign content. It's more relevant in PVP but even there, there are certain options that are so overwhelmingly powerful that they require serious skill for other players to fight against, or specific counters. I think they need to give heavy mechs some more weaknesses and retool the impact system a bit. Chaining staggers together is ridiculous.

[@TheGemsbok]

There's more to immersion than the right kinds of cutscenes. Many of the suggestions I offer, like giving heavier mechs and weapons genuine tradeoffs in performance, reducing the dramatic overabundance of invisible walls, maintaining a consistent sense of distance and time between missions across the gameworld, setting the presentation of all tutorial information in-universe rather than in-text-box, crafting distinctive and realistic landscapes, being able to work in the garage while listening to notifications, offering a maximalist and thoroughly informative HUD, and allowing enemies with legs to attempt to dodge incoming fire---are suggestions that would make it feel _more_ like one is actually piloting a mech. Those are suggestions that aid immersion in-game, even if I do advocate the removal of some minor sources of friction from transitioning in or out of gameplay. Now, if you find watching a hook move your mech for five to ten seconds before each mission to be all you need for immersion, then that's great. You'll be very satisfied by the immersive potential of AC6. But it's not as though it's otherwise a terrific mech sim, where you pilot an expensive machine from a first-person perspective with a fully diegetic HUD and feel every step as it lumbers across the landscape. Instead, it's a game where parts can be bought or sold for equivalent rates, where even the heaviest machines accelerate to jet speeds instantaneously, where mechs of every leg type glide and turn across the land like figure skaters when boost is enabled, and where you are never even threatened with debt for choices or actions as was possible in past AC titles.

[@fAcod13]

Good job making the video. While the game has many flaws; this critique is a bit incoherent imo. For instance how come does the "dystopian merc sim" argument undermine the "power fantasy" argument in 5:20 but does not support the barren landscape in 10:32 . Also some of the flaws mentioned in the video such as "enemies standing still" are deliberate mistakes in game design only when examined in a vacuum(which you do in this video multiple times); since having more agile grunts would make long range builds even more useless and nudge players into even heavier more AOE based mechs which would go against your other gripe of "heavy mechs being too strong". So the critic fails on its own merits imo but I hope to see more of your channel. Good job.

[@rainbowkrampus]

I agree with all of the mechanical critques. They really harm the overall experience. I like to say that there are only two builds in AC6. A high impact + burst build or anything else. The critiques of the aesthetics and visual storytelling completely miss the mark though. The world is monotonous and monotone for a reason. The world is muted grays, browns and red for a reason. There's a reason the very last image in the game features brilliant cerulean hues. They are telling a story. They are in fact making a pointed critique through the use (and non use) of color and samey industrial stylization. The fantastic mega city you called a missed opportunity? That's the point. Even at the cutting edge of technological progress, narratively at the grand mystery, there is a lifelessness. The people from half a century ago were in the same garbage situation you find yourself in. Fromsoft often deal with rot, decay, corruption. Here they tell a story of an entire space faring civilization gone to rot and ruin. Everything looks kinda the same because there is no art or creativity. Everything is about function at the lowest cost. Everything is about money. If you're in the US and you stop at any of those small towns along any interstate, you will know exactly what From are trying to describe here. There is no way to distinguish between these places. They are nowhere towns. Siphoning what money they can from speeding motorists who will never bother learning the town's name. Not that it really even matters. They all have the same fast food joints. The same shitty hotel. The same oversized gas station. Are you starting to see the critique being made here? The one spot of color you will see consistently in AC6 is in ACs. This too is trying to tell you something. Anyway, glad to see someone being slightly more critical of the game. I've seen so many people say that this is game of the year material and I just have to wonder how many games they've actually even played this year. It's fine to love it. But there's love and then there's blind infatuation. It shouldn't be this easy to accidentally trivialize the game. It shouldn't be this easy to trivialize the game at all. If there was a category for best philosophy in a game, AC6 would win it hands down. I do actually think it's a contender for best story even if it is intensely tropey.

[@danny1ft1]

People that speak negatively of this game fail to realise what it is, it's a stepping stone to reignite the mech genre and all us mech fans should love it for that, AC6 isn't perfect or the end product I want but it's the stepping stone to getting that perfect mech game so we should all embrace it so the next time we see it, it's not a C-tier budget game it's a flagship S-tier game.

[@rainbowkrampus]

@@danny1ft1 Sorry man, you're huffing pure copium. Hoping something you want comes of this down the line isn't an excuse for turning off your brain now. The game stands or falls on its own merits and should be criticized as such.

[@danny1ft1]

@@rainbowkrampus I don't know how you get copium from what I said but clearly you're too dumb too grasp that if you like something you support it so the devs know it's something we want more of, or you can shit on it and not support it then complain that no one makes good mech games. 🤡

[@eanderson9599]

A hard mode would fix a lot of problems with the game ironically Imagine if enemy bullets did 2000 damage instead of 20. You’d have to give them some respect

[@808pitfallseed]

I think you have some strong points that their strength is diminished by a lot of points that are basically nitpicks or taste complaints but you sound as if theyre of the same importance. Also even elden ring is also full of horrible balancing issues between builds and has the opposite problem where no one understood the boss mechanics at all and people still generally dont get the full extent of stagger and how to approach bosses outside of challenge runners so i feel like a lot of complaints where you compare it to souls games also deducts strength as those games have a lot of their own unique critical issues that weve simply gotten used to. You mention using briefings as loading screens among other things but this segment was a bit messy to keep up with as you keep interweaving both skippable and unskippable sequences together and some of the extra menus arent really a hassle especially when youre using the replay function. The invisible wall point and ranking points were definitely really good though i 100% agree there. Also with build variety i think that was just a personal skill thing cause i found bipeds the most effective by far and cant really use tetras or tanks that effectively. The game is generally too easy with just any build its not really that theyre super different in PVE. Definitely a tone inconsistency though compared to the story

[@IamLmoon]

You’re incredibly accurate with your critique, you channel is a true hidden gem of game criticism. I wish you wouldn’t include these movies footage and dialogues. It really susbstracts from the phenomenal writing you’re doing here, I signed up to listen to your criticism not to see movie footage.

[@Verminator4]

Yeah, the balance on some weapons is scuffed. I’ve basically forced myself not to use certain weapons because they break the game over its back, which means less variety in practice, that much is true. Game could have done with better playtesting in that regard. On that same note they could have scattered in some tougher enemies more frequently in levels, they had stuff like the quad MTs and more advanced PCA craft in the later game, they could have made more liberal use of them to beef up the challenge of stages so there’s not that much of a drastic disconnect between them and boss fights. And yeah, the entire concept of chapter 2 doesn’t make that much sense in context unless you’re willing to come up with your own excuses on the game’s behalf. Otherwise though the rest of your complaints are pretty much non-issues for me. I’m a huge mech lover so maybe I’m biased, but IMO the game is easily up there with the rest of Fromsoft’s recent output and is streets ahead of the rest of the series that came before this with only Last Raven and For Answer in the same ballpark.

[@zviyeri9117]

"FS isn't learning anything from the souls games" it's because, and i say this as a newcomer, this isn't a souls game lmao most of your critiques are based on personal taste and you know what. I'll accept that. but ultimately there's very few things I've seen said about this game that i disagree more

[@Shinkirou_]

For the sluggish sorties, that's part of the fun in mech games. You may choose to view it as unnecessary downtime between the fun, but for a lot of mech fans those things *are* part of the fun. Seeing the mech you built get hoisted by giant metal contraptions, deploying from a helicopter, having your mech slowly come to life as the system boots up, attending a mission briefing that feels like a corporate powerpoint presentation, receiving random calls from people back in base. It's all part of the mech fantasy. It's also why the UI has seemingly useless information like altitude. Those values aren't there to provide information to the player, they're there to make it seem like you're piloting a mech. The whole thing is designed to mimic the HUD you would find on a Gundam cockpit, rather than providing information to the player in an efficient way. It's all for "rule of cool" purposes, rather than practicality.

[@RedMoonLoop]

Exactly you phrased this much nicer than I was going to. Most of this criticism is missing the point. Armored core is about being a mech pilot first and foremost. Souls games are about the world. It's fine to have preferences but so much of this review is not understanding that these two series have very different goals in mind that inform the decisions they make.

[@TheGemsbok]

There's more to immersion than the right kinds of cutscenes. Many of the suggestions I offer, like giving heavier mechs and weapons genuine tradeoffs in performance, reducing the dramatic overabundance of invisible walls, offering a maximalist and thoroughly informative HUD, maintaining a consistent sense of distance and time between missions across the gameworld, setting the presentation of all tutorial information in-universe rather than in-text-box, crafting distinctive and realistic landscapes, being able to work in the garage while listening to notifications, and allowing enemies with legs to attempt to dodge incoming fire---are suggestions that would make it feel _more_ like one is actually piloting a mech. Those are suggestions that aid immersion in-game, even if I do advocate the removal of some minor sources of friction from transitioning in or out of gameplay. Now, if you find watching a hook move your mech for five to ten seconds before each mission to be all you need for immersion, then that's great. You'll be very satisfied by the immersive potential of AC6. But it's not as though it's otherwise a terrific mech sim, where you pilot an expensive machine from a first-person perspective with a fully diegetic HUD and feel every step as it lumbers across the landscape. Instead, it's a game where parts can be bought or sold for equivalent rates, where even the heaviest machines accelerate to jet speeds instantaneously, where mechs of every leg type glide and turn across the land like figure skaters when boost is enabled, and where you are never even threatened with debt for choices or actions as was possible in past AC titles.

[@Shinkirou_]

For the record, I don't disagree with the rest of your points in the video. I agree with most of them, especially the point where traditional MT cannon fodder and checkpoints that give your full health back make for a poor combination. I just disagree with this specific point regarding the slow startup between missions. Those do add things to the game, and are purposely sluggish for that purpose. It wouldn't be the same thing if they were fast. As for a few points in your reply, a lot of your arguments are addressed to points nobody in this reply chain made. Nobody argued that a few cutscenes were good enough for immersion, nor did anyone argue that Armored Core 6 was a perfectly immersive game. These are strawmen.

[@TheGemsbok]

@@Shinkirou_ "I don't think the fact that AC6 isn't the most immersive mech sim means that it shouldn't try to have immersive elements in it." I strongly agree. Hence the first half of my reply. And you'll notice I don't advocate the total removal of seeing the mech moved around the garage and dropped into the landscape; I advocate showing that kind of material before the first mission of each play session (like an establishing shot in a film). Cutscenes _can_ aid immersion, but must be used sparingly. When overused, they quickly become counterproductive by distracting from a gameworld in which one is otherwise immersed.

[@Shinkirou_]

Aye, that is one of the complaints about overly cinematic games that are more movie than game. But I think a couple of seconds of a crane hoisting your mech up in the air every mission, or a few seconds of your mech powering up before you actually gain control are hardly intrusive enough to break immersion. They're more like long animations than cutscenes. If anything they serve to add even more immersion because that's the type of thing you would expect to have wait for in a mech. Being able to answer "codec calls" while tinkering is a nice idea though. Also, being able to walk around in your garage a la MechWarriors 5 would have been really nice.

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

excellent video. I really hope the FROM fanboys really seethe and get a reality check. The FROM hype is long overdue being put in its place. And I say that as someone who plays these games. I'm just so tired of gamers picking a dev, acting like they can do no wrong, pouncing on people who point out flaws, only to after a few years, admit said dev, wasn't all that.

[@eanderson9599]

The absolute worst part is when you criticize the game and people call you a scrub or bad. We’re gonna be entering the *mid* age of FromSoft soon it seems 😢

[@satyasyasatyasya5746]

@@eanderson9599 Honestly, FROM is already in its mid phase. Elden Ring was kinda meh. It was DS3 in all but name only spread on a larger map which, works against it. ACVI is just more obviously meh.

[@Kinos141]

I disagree with the look of AC6. The colors are drab, but are still memorable. The layout is very important and matches the enemies used in the level. This game's layout is hell of a lot more better looking than some pretty looking, empty game levels.

[@noahmattingly4474]

Damn, I'm early

[@Duad]

big mech go brrr Y'know, this game is definitely not as cohesive as FROM's other projects, but I had way more fun actually *playing* it than I did with Elden Ring.

[@demon5649]

I mean, the invisible barrier is better than invisible kill barrier in Acvd. Though I agree on alots of points. I think the stagger system is dumb, I thought the defenses would help reduce stagger from certain damages, but instead it's just ignored stat that used to be important. That bringing only kinetic would be a loss in PVP. Now, you stack KE and stagger resist to try defending again Zimmer's. I hope they learn from there mistakes in the patches.

[@acethemain7776]

16:08 you can skip the mission briefing, the screen after that is for any last minute changes, the ac moving animation can also be skipped, the cutscene at the beginning of the missions can also be skipped

[@acethemain7776]

you can also skip the phone calls, i dunno what you're on about

[@LainIwakura]

Yeah that's also what I was thinking when I saw it. Just hit tab twice and tada, cutscene or call skipped.

[@TheGemsbok]

The notifications, messages, and calls after missions being completely unskippable is a bug in the game. It happens when subtitles are disabled. I didn't know that was the cause at the time of creating the video, but I have now pinned a comment clarifying that. As for cutscenes being skippable, that's great; that makes repeat playthroughs bearable. But no one in their right mind is going to skip all of the narrative material in a first playthrough of a game. Just as the pacing and presentation of exposition scenes in a film are not off-limits from criticism because of the existence of the 'fast-forward' button, so the pacing and presentation of cutscenes in a game are not off-limits from criticism because they can be skipped.

[@LainIwakura]

@@TheGemsbok definitely not me who skipped 95% of cutscenes on my first playthrough

[@NicholasLaRosa0496]

I agree with everything you said with the exception of invisible walls and the environments. The invisible walls being a linear level design choice and the environments being a part of the apocalyptic Fires of Rubicon theme. My biggest disappointment was the weapon balancing because of the impact system. Most weapons are outright useless in comparison to others. You either dont do enough damage or dont have enough ammo. My favorite combo is a medium weight AC with duel laser rifles and duel trail detonation missiles. I bounce around a target at medium range spamming lasers at targets while the trail detonations keep the target off balance and doing a lot of impact damage.

[@HyMyNameIsMatt]

Honestly this all feels like pretty surface level critique for such a scathing final statement at the end. Large period of time dedicated to gripes about invisible walls, long dialogues, and "What if"s about the ui. Maybe it's the structure and time spent on these ultimately smaller topics, but your conclusion feels bizarre by the time it's reached, especially when your gameplay critique towards the end is so vague as "Should have done more", where as the group of people you are dismissing are at the same time demonstrating more detailed and studied feedback. Ultimately the conclusion does seem presented as "Not as good as dark souls", without providing a point of why it should strive to be that way other than because you like those games more. It would require you to build a really solid image of AC6, talking about the positives and negatives of the game while considering the tradeoffs the designers made to get there, then start talking about where those decisions would need to change. As it stands, this feels less like a critique and more like a rant by another gamer, not really informed enough to express more than their reactions.

[@franklinshure960]

Serious irony right there, since your comment only makes sense by ignoring big specific complaints in the video and talking of minor gripes lol. First half of the video he spends talking about the weapon/frame balance is way out of wack, level design is bland/forgettable, and normal enemy balance is way out of wack AND bland/forgettable. That's not minor stuff, my guy. Talking of other stuff he's just being thorough.

[@Warpded]

Ayre is pushing me towards double gat and songbirds. Maybe I'm just bad, but she feels a tad unfair with a light build

[@koalatysleep]

'It's neither exceptional, nor memorable, nor unique, nor innovative' To each their own I guess.

[@dylanmah7791]

When it comes to the fodder enemies, Armored Core traditionally derived its difficulty from attrition, rather than any encounter being particularly difficult. You can still feel flashes of this design philosophy in missions which are stingy wish checkpoints. The best example of this is “Eliminate G1 Michigan” where you have to defeat well over 40 fodder MTs alongside Michigan’s AC with only the resources you bring into the mission. Unfortunately, that nailbiting intensity is completely lost on missions which are designed to not push your resources to their limit. It feels like a case of FROMSoft trying to please both souls fans and AC fans, which as is often the case pleases nobody.

[@Pontif11]

Kinda mixed on this video. All the "this isn't designed like in souls" criticisms feel misplaced. Like, i don't disagree that invisible walls aren't the best way to bound the player to the area the level is meant to happen in but this not being an exploration based game put that so far down my priority list i never even thought about it despite how often i run into those walls. In Elden Ring it would have been appauling but here i apreciate not being allowed to wander off more than necessary, its not a game where wandering fits with the more pervasive loop of the mercenary so efficient he had to be sci fi lobotomized into that level of skill. Every other instance of "souls didn't do it like this" came off similarly. Outside of those i tend to agree, i don't think many would go more positive than neutral on weapon baalnce and i hadn't wuite put my issues with UI quite like that but i agree completely.

[@franklinshure960]

First!

[@fantactics3252]

You have a couple valid points so I’ll respect your opinion but I love this game it’s actually fun to play something majority of games struggle with and pvp customization shine’s especially after a couple patches I can see it being extremely fun most missions had a real sense of accomplishment especially on the first playthrough And let’s be honest here if you made a build off of somebody else’s KZbin video or Reddit post you did yourself a injustice and didn’t play the game the way it was intended But good video game is not perfect by any means but one of the best games in awhile

[@MFGod_Hand]

Aside from some other gripes I have with points in this video, I don't quite understand the point about S Ranks. Before going for the achievement myself I had been told that the requirements were inconsistent, but after completeing them myself it's very clear that you need to simply excel at the objective of that particular mission aside from just being effecient with time/ammo/AP. Defend mission = objective needs to be untouched, eliminate with bonus for kills = kill EVERYONE, data mission/boss mission with no bonuses = max out time/ammo/AP effeciency. Almost zero deviation.

[@TheGemsbok]

So, in a mission like the one depicted at that part in the video---which includes a 'bonus for kills' requirement yet doesn't need you to kill the BAWS tetrapod miniboss nor all regular enemies to get an S (only some of them)---how did you know exactly what was required if not intuition or trial-and-error? And similarly, why are you under the impression that the phrase "max out time/ammo/AP efficiency" involves no internal ambiguity?

[@MFGod_Hand]

@@TheGemsbok Time is the only truly ambiguous factor here, ammo and AP comes directly out of your final pay which is what your letter grade mostly comes from. Time is only applicable to your letter grade when it is a timed mission or if you were actually EXTREMELY slow because of exploration or the like. As for not needing to eliminate all enemies in X mission, it's all about your final pay. If you took a lot of damage and used a ton of ammo, the COAM from the few enemies you missed can help offset your ammo and repair costs. However if you perform exceedingly well you will have much lower costs and won't need the extra COAM to get an S.

[@triplea657aaa]

Big heavy mechs are the shields of AC6. That's part of why they're there... they're the easy mode.

[@kazukishah6595]

Well it's a dystopian world on another planet. All they did is farming Coral and fight each other. And yeah the fire of ibis pretty much destroy the planet. And you expect Teletubbies playground in there😂

[@TheGemsbok]

I have this weird feeling that I can remember some random company that managed to make a bunch of games in the past with a drab apocalyptic artstyle and yet still a lot of visual variety, with memorable architecture and geography. Company name was something like 'Crumb Software,' 'Plum Software,' 'Drum Software' . . . eh, oh well, I'm sure I'll remember it later.

[@Jirekianu]

I also found myself changing builds for bosses way more often than you were. Against Ibis I found myself needing the lighter weight tread legs because otherwise I was still eating too many hits from being too slow on boosting. And things like the "x" attack would always hit without having a boost speed above 315-320. Meanwhile, on grid missions you'd want a tetrapod build for hovering for more convenient movement and ability to loiter in an area. But then on missions against ACs like the alt dam mission, or when fighting Sulla. A heavy tread build was really strong. Same for most of the arena fights. But at the same time I'd swap to lighter builds for fun/variety or for speed when going for things like s-ranks. So I never felt like the game just handed me win after win when going heavy. I felt like my build benefited most depending on the mission. Heavy builds were usually possible, but not the best choice in every instance. I think the biggest flaw that 6 has is the stagger system being so impactful and so omnipresent. I'd get some enemies having stagger like ACs, but larger enemies I feel them having stagger was a bit of a mistake. It also ends up trivializing certain play styles compared to previous armored core games. I.e. you could do a missile heavy build for much of the earlier armored core games, including bosses, and do fine. But in AC6 missiles are mostly intended for just peppering smaller enemies throughout the level. Because most enemies are either able to mostly shrug off missile damage, or move too quickly for missiles to track in and hit outside narrow windows. Compared to previous games, the missiles in AC6 are too weak to start, and are clearly meant to be a backup weapon to some kind of explosive or energy primary. And inexplicably. The handheld missile weapons are so much stronger than the back weapons you get.

[@lynackhilou4865]

I don't agree with some of the points like with dialogue and architecture/ missions and some complaints are nitpicks more than anything , however i think your video is well done and the criticism to game balance is warranted , and it's always good to hear all different kinds of feedback that can hopefully improve the expansion or sequel of this game

[@Indescriptable]

I think a lot fans who were first exposed to FromSoftware through Dark Souls developed very ambitious notions of them as a company - that they're a studio of trend-breaking mavericks who set out to shake up the industry, or something. The reality is that From is a very modest, conservative company. They recycle a lot of design elements and themes across games, and slowly iterate and improve on them through sequels. The success of Demons/Dark souls was more an accident than critics realize - an auteur director's fantasy vision combined with some very anachronistic gameplay elements, fully voiced in English and released at a time when western video games felt stagnant. It's similar to how I see M. Night Shyamalan's career - his early success was because he made weird horror movies about things people could relate to (ghosts), rather than things people couldn't relate to (trees making people kill themselves). So a lot of the criticisms in this video just didn't land for me. Because to me, AC6 was a welcome iterative improvement on the old Armored Core games, with a few elements brought in from Souls and Elden Ring. A lot of the things you're complaining about were present in some form in previous titles. The only thing that did stick out to me (that is a new thing) is how easy it is to retry missions with no penalty, and the extremely generous checkpoint system that invalidates a lot of the difficulty of longer missions. Was honestly hoping for more of a narrative critique of this game - the weird dissonance between the game's humanistic plot and the lack of any human figures or human-scaled environments on Rubicon stuck out to me, a lot more than the red area boundaries and loading screens.

[@xsubzerox3412]

The dissonance is very intentional, the themes and story of armoured core take place in a dystopia world where everything is dehumanised. Many large places don't feel like they fit human sizes because they are not, they are ment for the easy transportation of mechs and other large equipment, not to mention, tho not shown in game, alot of the facilities were probably built by giant mechs so it makes sense that it was scaled to them rather than humans, except for the big cities like xylem and the institute city. contact is rarely done face to face, war is not fought my humans on the field but giant mechs, the games reward system is literally money with constant fee reduction for ammo cost and damages to your mech. It is a hyper capitalist dystopia where humans don't have names, cooperations have enough power to go to war with literal governtments and human lives are cheaper than the mechs they operate. But one important thing that armored core always puts out there is the preservance of the human will, and how that is the most important thing. ACs - Armored cores and their pilots are second to non, that is why you can easily go through chums of lesser mechs and take down AI powered systems, there isn't any specific lore reason for it but it's heavily implied AI cannot replace the human will, hense why All-Mind created the mercenary support system, to learn from different pilots and get better but ultimately couldn't match up to us and needed to assimilate iguazu and other real pilots in order to beat us but in doing so, iguazu, probably the worst human being in the game was still able to overpower the AI in the end and be the one in control when he fights us one last time.