I'm interested in trying newer Armored Core (4/For Answer/V/Verdict Day) since i have a PS3 now, where should I start/should I start?
>>14049934
If you have money, time and access to the games: AC4 then ACFA then ACV then ACVD. None of them are so bad that you shouldn't play them, excepting MAYBE ACV if it's over 5$.
If you don't have any of the above, ACFA and ACVD are mandatory. AC4 is a simpler version of ACFA with a more boring story and way less customization, but a really nice OST and some very good missions, whereas ACV has around 50-60 filler super-boring missions and it doesn't work really well as a singleplayer experience.
>>14049934
ACFA is the best game. It's a direct sequel to AC4 so play that first.
V is absolute garbage that also requires you to play online to accomplish anything, except the servers all went down so you can't. Enjoy.
VD is slightly better than V but still garbage.
Thanks for the information, I was going to pick up Yakuza 5 with my tax refund but I've barely done anything in Premium Adventure on 4 so I was like "shit i should get into Armored Core again".
>>14049934
Decide for yourself. There are about 4-5 different reasons to go with one over the other, depending on what matters the most for you. Can't stand graphic issues or low framerates? Don't get FA. Don't want to learn math? Don't get VD. Etc. Here's a rundown:
AC4/FA: (FA is better, 4 is acceptable)
Difficulty: Easy
Style: Super fast Anime Mechs
Single Player Content: Short
Characters: Memorable
Multiplayer: Nonexistence
Balance: Unbalanced
Stability: Lots of bugs/framerate issues
Commitment level: Low
Complexity: Timing/gracefulness
ACVD: (V is awful)
Difficulty: Hard
Style: Super fast Anime Mechs
Single Player Content: Tons of content, many hours of gameplay available
Characters: Less defined, less intersting
Multiplayer: Integral to the game, very important
Balance: well balanced
Stability: Very stable, solid gameplay
Commitment level: High
Complexity: Math/stats-heavy
Review of ACFA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-27UF23z7K4
Review of VD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkLDoO3Yfo
As you can see, FA is much easier to jump into and play, VD requires commitment and research. FA is more of a traditional single player game, VD more complex PvP-oriented. etc.
For the record, I think that VD is the vastly superior game. But I'm also a hardcore player who loves the metagame/pvp/stats oriented side of things and hated For Answer's annoying style.
To me, For Answer sucks because you don't have to do much customizing to beat everything in the game. So for me, it's easily a win for VD. But not everyone agrees.
>>14049934
>I'm interested in trying newer Armored Core (4/For Answer/V/Verdict Day) since i have a PS3 now, where should I start/should I start?
Also, I would recommend emulating some of the PS2/PSP games too. They're an entirely different style and generally better quality, though more "retro" than the PS3 titles, which were focused more on pleasing publishers, graphics and multiplayer than on gameplay.
My advice is start wherever you want except for Last Raven.
You will want to play Last Raven, it's an amazing game, but it will tear you apart if you have no idea how to AC.
Even building the wrong kind of AC can set you up for failure on a given mission.
>>14050058
FYI >>14050164
is a lying faggot, ignore his garbage he's retarded
>>14050164
Copy/paste issue from my previous post, use this instead:
AC4/FA: (FA is better, 4 is acceptable)
Difficulty: Easy
Style: Super fast Anime Mechs
Single Player Content: Short
Characters: Memorable
Multiplayer: Nonexistent
Balance: Unbalanced, lots of overpowered weapons
Stability: Lots of bugs/framerate issues
Commitment level: Low
Complexity: Timing/gracefulness
ACVD: (V is awful)
Difficulty: Hard
Style: Super slow realistic mechs
Single Player Content: Tons of content, many hours of gameplay available. Has programmable AI and multiple hard modes for replay ability
Characters: Less defined, less interesting, less important to the plot
Multiplayer: Integral to the game, very important.
Balance: well balanced, very few overpowered weapons
Stability: Very stable, solid gameplay, but not as engaging/interesting.
Commitment level: High
Complexity: Math/stats-heavy
Fixed
>>14049934
FYI
>>14050235
>>14050164
This retard is full of shit, literally everything in his posts is nonsense, disregard.
>>14050351
Offer your own opinion then. I don't think you're going to convince anyone that FA has slower realistic mechs, has more single player content, or is harder than VD. These are just obvious facts and if you played both games for an hour you'd realize it.
>>14050810
get lost shitposter
>>14050235
>This nigger
>AC4/FA: (FA is better, 4 is acceptable)
4 is great, FA is fantastic and best AC game.
>Difficulty: Easy
lol no
>Style: Super fast Anime Mechs
FA only
>Single Player Content: Short
Multiple routes with replay value in hard mode, which changes the missions themselves instead of just increasing stats
>Characters: Memorable
True
>Multiplayer: Nonexistent
You can still get a few games going by looking for people on message boards online, otherwise yeah it's dead
>Balance: Unbalanced, lots of overpowered weapons
People who suck at the game say this and cry about laser blades, they just suck and are faggots. Also ACV/VD are just as "unbalanced".
>Stability: Lots of bugs/framerate issues
True. Also, FA 360 version installed to hard drive runs tons better than the PS3 version, especially with load times (seconds in 360 version can be minutes in PS3). I own both versions so I know.
>Commitment level: Low
What the fuck is this faggot even trying to say?
>Complexity: Timing/gracefulness
See above.
>>14050235
>ACVD: (V is awful)
VD is also awful. Not as awful as V but still worse than every other entry in the entire AC series.
>Difficulty: Hard
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no
>Style: Super slow realistic mechs
Slower than FA but still HAHAHAHAHAHA no. Dumbfaggots who never played the games prior to 4 keep saying this but no, it's nothing like the older games.
>Single Player Content: Tons of content, many hours of gameplay available. Has programmable AI and multiple hard modes for replay ability
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA has a hundred one-minute-long nonsense missions all of which just spawn a bunch of shitty enemies in a random shitty map. 90% of the game is this sort of rubbish filler.
>Characters: Less defined, less interesting, less important to the plot
This this fucker even play the games? ACV and VD have more defined characters than 4/FA, and V has a far more easy-to-follow plot. Not necessarily a good thing.
>Multiplayer: Integral to the game, very important.
Also very shitty, and since it's integral to the game you have no choice but to play shitty multiplayer. It's absolute shit. This cannot be stressed hard enough. And once the servers go down like V's did you're fucked.
>Balance: well balanced, very few overpowered weapons
Yeah this faggot is retarded.
>Stability: Very stable, solid gameplay, but not as engaging/interesting.
By "stable, solid gameplay" he means "shitty, repetitive, rock-paper-scissors gameplay".
>Commitment level: High
what the fuck does this retard even mean by commitment
>Complexity: Math/stats-heavy
>implying any AC game isn't stats-heavy
>implying maths is needed in anyway
1/10 obvious bait but so retarded it made me reply
FYI OP
>>14051587
>>14051567
This retard is full of shit, literally everything in his posts is nonsense, disregard.
>>14051615
go away shitposter
>>14049934
Start with 4, then move on to FA.
There is literally no point to playing V anymore because it's online-centric but the servers are dead.
VD is pretty bad, you could check it out later if you don't have anything else to play, but I wouldn't recommend paying more than $5 for it.
>>14051887
Go away shitposter
V/VD is shit.
>>14051887
If you can get VD for free it's worth it, but it's barely an upgrade to V
VD is still the only one worth getting if you want actual multiplayer/pvp
fa is still laggy as shit online
Why all the hate against 5th gen? Is it just because of the defense mechanics? Or because of the online nature of it?
I honestly don't get how boosthopping in gens 1-3 or hovering+quickboosting randomly in 4th is more fun than bouncing off buildings and tackling enemies for 50% HP.
>>14049934
Armored core 4 and For Answer are where its at. Ive played from armored core 2-VD and 4 and for answer are my favorites. Honestly speaking play those 2 and if you want more just get as ps2 emulator and play 2- silent last raven. The controls are a bit off so you may have to adjust them in the controller settings but they are all solid and have good soundtracks. They also give you more insight into what created the world that you experience in 4 and for answer.
>>14049934
To offer a fresh perspective besides those guys that keep screeching at each other about how 4A is easy and short or VD is shit and terrible:
4 is pretty fun. A bit unpolished, with kind of limited parts selection and a somewhat poor translation that missed some key points. It's still plenty enjoyable, and the ost is fantastic.
4A is my personal favourite AC game. It has a lot more parts and a lot more content than 4, including a (slightly) branching story, plus the gameplay feels a lot smoother than in 4. Oh, and yeah, the characters are pretty memorableMay Best Lynx.
V is...not great. The mobility style is kind of neat, but the new weapon and defence mechanics really limit your selection of equipment and reduce your options, and the single player is a chore. A handful of long main missions that far outstay their welcome, plus dozens upon dozens of repetitive side missions mopping up the same three enemy types. The main story is utter mince, but the side story is passable. I did barely any AC design in V, my heart just wasn't in it. That was not the case for the next game.
VD is to V what 4A is to 4: a refinement that adds content. More parts (and more relevant weapons), a tweak that makes defence a bit more tangible to comprehend and thus easier to build around. Alas, the issue with certain builds necessitating specific parts still limits creativity, but the addition of customised versions of certain parts with adjusted stats helps expand your options a bit. The story is better, and largely hangs on a pair of memorable operators (also IMO, the one shot mercenaries were more colourful than V as well). Most significantly, it has a feature where you can design an AI controlled AC and program its behaviour to a pretty thorough degree, then have it back you up in combat. This UNAC system could have been a whole game by itself, and it's really fun to play with.
>>14054442
>This UNAC system could have been a whole game by itself, and it's really fun to play with.
Well, it actually kinda is; it's based off of Armored Core Formula Front, the program battler spinoff for the PSP.
How do I git gud at Verdict Day?
>>14053945
>They also give you more insight into what created the world that you experience in 4 and for answer.
None of the games before 4 have anything to do with 4's world.
>>14054572
Yeah, I don't know what he's on about. 4 takes place so near in the future that people still remember what the countries used to be called.
>>14054528
>How do I git gud at Verdict Day?
Think of it this way: Every AC has 10x more weaknesses to exploit than it has strengths/advantages. So VD is all about covering a wide variety of weaknesses (low turning speed, low defenses, low muzzle velocity, lock on range, lock on size, low firing stability) where if one of them is exploited, can make/break your build.
This creates a "build gap" between two ACs on a certain map, where one AC might require far less skill to beat the other AC on that map. Winning VD is about maintaining a positive build gap against equally experienced players, while also practicing to maintain a positive skill gap when you have a disadvantage.
Example: pure-melee pile driver light weights have tons of weaknesses to exploit. But they also have one intense strength: one hit kill potential. So players who use them practice them repeatedly so that they can both maximize their strength (hitting accurately against a variety of enemies) and nullify the inherent build gap they have (avoid damage entirely). But if the skill gap is narrow, they have no build advantages to make up for it. So piles usually work really well against newbies or player who are overwhelmed/in team matches, but are awful in 1v1s against skilled players who know how to predict and dodge them.
You can also use a build gap to get over a skill gap. Some super-skilled player sniping you constantly? Throw up a KE shield. Now they are forced to try to get behind you or switch to a different weapon type to break the shield.
Short answer: a third of the game is predicting what your opponent is going to use, the other third is knowing how to play to a certain map, and the last third is practicing so that you can use skill to cover any weaknesses that would set your build behind
>>14054528
>How do I git gud at Verdict Day?
People who reduce verdict day to just rock-paper-scissors don't understand that verdict day is like RPS-25 where you have 10 hands to throw at once.
Any decent player at ACVD doesn't lose because of their defenses, but any newbie almost always loses because of their defenses.
>>14054442
>Alas, the issue with certain builds necessitating specific parts still limits creativity,
The max number of viable frames I could build only used 6 heads, 9 cores, 8 arms, and 17 legs. The only way I saw to increase that number was to get into super-niche builds or knowingly equip inferior combinations.
UNACs require DLC if you want to use more than one of them FYI. It's like $5 to unlock enough to fill a team up.
>>14057576
>The max number of viable frames I could build only used 6 heads, 9 cores, 8 arms, and 17 legs.
*37 legs
>>14057552
Metagame, design, play skill.
It's like MTG, but with giant robots.
Now if only FROMSOFT could write netcode that wasn't designed around the idea of playing in Japan only.
>>14057576
>viable frames
This sounds excessively min-maxy and is probably irrelevant unless you want to do multiplayer. What I meant was things like all the high camera performance heads having only CE defence, or all the light legs having only KE defence and thing like that. It means that certain types of AC are always forced to have specific weaknesses.
>>14057576
>UNACs require DLC if you want to use more than one of them
Yeah, but that's only if you want to play multiplayer by yourself but still control your whole team. I enjoyed VD plenty and never touched the multiplayer. One UNAC is all that's needed for the campaign, that is if you need it (though I often brought mine anyway for the fun of it).
>>14050177
>To me, For Answer sucks because you don't have to do much customizing to beat everything in the game. So for me, it's easily a win for VD.
It really depends on what regulations you are playing on. This is absolutely true for vanilla regs but some of the more restrictive ones, a bit of extra weight on one side can mean a world of difference in manuverability.
>>14058390
I fuckin love 1.15.
>>14053853
V's turrible online turned a lot of people off
>>14050177
>>14058390
>Approaching AC as a puzzle game to achieve optimal stats
I mean, that's a viable way to derive enjoyment, but the only game in the series where the campaign was meant to be like that was Ninebreaker, and it was much maligned. I prefer messing around with combinations until I settle into one that's cool and fun, and damn optimization. That's why I liked FA, just about any combination is viable. I guess that might annoy people with this attitude, since to them it means there's basically no game there.
>>14058280
All AC types have specific weaknesses but all weapons have specific weaknesses too.
CE weapons always have low muzzle velocity, KE weapons are easily blocked, TE weapons are either short-range or long-range, there's no middle ground.
So if you build a lightweight, you don't really need CE defense.
Also, there are at least 1 KE and TE heads with good (>850) camera in VD. Just like how there is a TE leg set with high recoil resistance, a CE leg set with high turning, a KE leg set with high defense, etc. While there are general "trends" they don't always dictate.
And yes, it is a total multiplayer perspective, aka "Getting gud". If you're buying VD for the single player, you don't really need all this information to help you, the game explains most of what you need to know already.
>>14058809
Optimizing is the best way to play if you're doing multiplayer. VD and FA are both much more competitive/multiplayer focused games (and VD even more so).
>>14061862
>So if you build a lightweight, you don't really need CE defense.
Heat machineguns?
There's other stuff too. For instance, why would you ever build a sniper without quad-legs because of the bonus they give you? If you want to reliably hit targets you'd want CE arms, but CE parts also have horrible energy efficiency etc etc
I do agree that VD was a bit better about this because of the customised parts with tweaked stats.
>>14062386
Heat machine guns have abysmal muzzle velocity. You can throw them off by just using decent acceleration.
Snipers are actually the most variable weapons, you can use them on any legs. People only use sniper quads when they're using sniper cannons, and even then, tanks are more common with sniper cannons than quads.
Most quads are actually focused on maintaining AP leads in 1v1s or stacking karasawas.
CE arms have low energy efficiency, but scan mode doesn't count arm drain, etc. Firing stability is more for reload time, not accuracy (120 FS vs 199 FS is about the same as 97 firing accuracy vs 99 firing accuracy).
Basically: Everything that seems obvious on the surface becomes less obvious when you start doing PvP because the metagame dominates more than just what the descriptions are.
>>14062386
Probably the one area where the stats are the most unbalanced is head camera performance. Only CE heads have decent camera performance.
There is 1 TE head and 1 KE head with camera performance, but the TE head has really high drain, and the KE head has almost no defense.
It's the one area where sacrificing the stat can't be made up in other areas and can cripple a build if the other player has longer range.
OP here again, thanks for all the input.
one more question unrelated to the original intent of this thread: how bad/good are the psp entries or should I just go for getting them on ps2
>>14064743
The PSP entries are FUCKED. They're perfect translations of the Ps2 games, but they lack a PS2 CONTROLLER'S BUTTONS AND YOU ARE FUCKED WITHOUT THEM.
They're playable on the Vita.
>>14064749
Ah, okay. I figured that'd be the case.
>>14050164
>>14050164
Holy fuck. Where did this windowlicking milk drinker come from?
>Baw it's complex
>It should be watered down for my casual consumption
>>14064743
>how bad/good are the psp entries or should I just go for getting them on ps2
Pretty great ports if you don't mind getting adjusted to the lack of two buttons.
Formula Front has real bad FPS drops though.
>>14064749
They are also easy to emulate where you can then use a controller
>>14064749
>fucked without them
Raven please, I've gotten all but one ending in LRPortable using the default configuration.
You don't need triggers to master bunnyhopping.
>>14065282
That was the opposite of what he was claiming, which was that only true patricians play VD, whereas 4A is for babby casuals.
>>14065814
>I've gotten all but one ending in LRPortable
Yeah but Zinaida can go fuck herself with a rusty karasawa
>>14066299
Still beatable.
The hardest part is the goddamn crawl up to her where the game just burns away your AP for no reason besides fuck you.
>>14066321
The final battle in every path of LR except, like, one I think is just a big old thorny cudgel up the ass.
It's just that Zinaida's stage is especially thorny.
>>14066329
Not entirely, at least the JackO engagements have some acceptability to it.
But Zinaida is like the giant robot version of crawling through concertina wire on a bed of broken glass and rusty caltrops before you get to am endurance match against a pristine enemy who you know is on performance enhancers.
>>14064743
PSP versions make for better emulated games, but the PS2 versions are better on the original devices.
>>14066299
>Zinaida can go fuck herself with a rusty karasawa
PSP Zinaida is hardly a fair fight, she has infinite EN and goes airborne in the port.
I mean, I killed the final Pulverizers with a blade by abusing its dumb AI, I regularly stake 90% of the cast to death but PSP Zinaida in her ending is bullshit of the highest degree EVEN when you use the tailored way to kill her in that version, it takes a lot of skill and practice and quite a bit of luck to kill her, god have mercy on your soul if you even want a S grade.
>>14068666
PSP Zinaida is exactly the same as PS2 Zinaida, but with worse controls.
Best way to deal with Zinaida are linear weapon arms and break her legs early on. I think that's one area where she doesn't have an advantage, the Human Plus AI still has their parts broken at regular intervals. Once her legs are broken, she's slow enough you can beat her into submission.
ECM helps a bit too, though you need to spam it to get any result.
There's also an AI glitch where she will fly to the top of the ceiling with you any time you do, making it much easier to blade or hit her with heavy weapons with a horizontal FCS. Fly up, her her hard, drop down, repeat.
Did From kill AC or what? Why aren't we getting more games?
>>14069873
Every time until something happens:
"With regards to Armored Core, there are several barriers that From Software as a whole needs to overcome in order to give new games to the fans. If the fans out there really want that, I suggest contacting Bandai Namco."
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/dark-souls-3-interview-this-is-a-turning-point-for/1100-6429569/
>>14069873
Too busy milking Souls.
