I only played AC 1 for a little bit before dropping it, but feeling like I wanted to give it a second try, and wanting to play all Fromsoft games I had some sort of interest in, I popped into Project Phantasma.
While Project Phantasma has mostly the same exact gameplay as AC 1, it feels... better, somehow. There might be some slight changes here and there, a sound effect might be different, the lock-on might act slightly different, etc., I'm not really sure, but it feels a bit nicer to play, enough that I could see past the clunkiness and into what makes Armored Core special - customizing your mech, taking into account your limitations and desires, and trying to take whatever the game throws at you with what you can make.
The Arena is a genius addition to the game. I know there were AC fights in Armored Core 1, but they weren't accessible at your leisure, they happened as you progressed the game like story events. Here you have 49 fights (is that how math works? I think so) up the rankings in the arena, fighting a large variety of opponents in stages of your choosing. You can replay these as much as you like without penalty, which is great, and beating opponents allows you not only to fight the next, but rewards you with cash and sometimes exclusive parts for your mech. Some of the fights are really tricky, and may require you to change around your mech to be a good match for your opponent. The Arena really forces you engage with the AC customization system on a deep level, which is pretty fun. The fact that penalties are not deducted at all from Arena battles also helps the player earn some cash to buy new parts a lot easier than doing missions ever was in AC 1, although here it's definitely a requirement since all of the actual missions are linear, story-advancing fair. Nothing to help grind there.
Regardless, it was a really fun trip up to Rank 1 in the Arena, and that was by far the most enjoyable part of this expansion-thing.
Second to that are the actual missions. It's a mixed bag, but I'd say about 50% of the missions are fun to play. Not a great ratio, but considering the Arena is where most of the actual game is, and the Arena is super fun, it's not too bad.
The story is intriguing, if bland. The threat of an unknown WMD being created by secret societies is nothing new or novel in the world of fiction, especially science fiction, but the rival character, Stinger, has some good moments. I also love how he never fails to bring up his catchphrase, 「俺は面倒が嫌いだ」 in some way each time you meet him.
Speaking of that catchphrase - being in Japanese and all - IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, PLAY THE JAPANESE VERSION OF THIS GAME. Having seen some of the English translation, I can say for sure that ASCII Entertainment was not on their A-game here. Shortened, changed, or poorly translated/flavorless text seems to be all over the place in the translation, not to mention the godawful voice acting. If you're a fan of that, don't let me stop you, I'm always up for a good trash fire myself, but I personally think the poor voice acting and translated text isn't charming here, just bad. The Japanese is quite difficult in this game, with an abundance of technical terms and long strings of kanji, but if you can stomach it, I'd say to go for the Japanese version if at all possible. The voice acting for Stinger in particular is quite good.
Overall, good game. Looking forward to playing Master of the Arena in the future! If the title is anything to go by, it should be right up my alley.
While Project Phantasma has mostly the same exact gameplay as AC 1, it feels... better, somehow. There might be some slight changes here and there, a sound effect might be different, the lock-on might act slightly different, etc., I'm not really sure, but it feels a bit nicer to play, enough that I could see past the clunkiness and into what makes Armored Core special - customizing your mech, taking into account your limitations and desires, and trying to take whatever the game throws at you with what you can make.
The Arena is a genius addition to the game. I know there were AC fights in Armored Core 1, but they weren't accessible at your leisure, they happened as you progressed the game like story events. Here you have 49 fights (is that how math works? I think so) up the rankings in the arena, fighting a large variety of opponents in stages of your choosing. You can replay these as much as you like without penalty, which is great, and beating opponents allows you not only to fight the next, but rewards you with cash and sometimes exclusive parts for your mech. Some of the fights are really tricky, and may require you to change around your mech to be a good match for your opponent. The Arena really forces you engage with the AC customization system on a deep level, which is pretty fun. The fact that penalties are not deducted at all from Arena battles also helps the player earn some cash to buy new parts a lot easier than doing missions ever was in AC 1, although here it's definitely a requirement since all of the actual missions are linear, story-advancing fair. Nothing to help grind there.
Regardless, it was a really fun trip up to Rank 1 in the Arena, and that was by far the most enjoyable part of this expansion-thing.
Second to that are the actual missions. It's a mixed bag, but I'd say about 50% of the missions are fun to play. Not a great ratio, but considering the Arena is where most of the actual game is, and the Arena is super fun, it's not too bad.
The story is intriguing, if bland. The threat of an unknown WMD being created by secret societies is nothing new or novel in the world of fiction, especially science fiction, but the rival character, Stinger, has some good moments. I also love how he never fails to bring up his catchphrase, 「俺は面倒が嫌いだ」 in some way each time you meet him.
Speaking of that catchphrase - being in Japanese and all - IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, PLAY THE JAPANESE VERSION OF THIS GAME. Having seen some of the English translation, I can say for sure that ASCII Entertainment was not on their A-game here. Shortened, changed, or poorly translated/flavorless text seems to be all over the place in the translation, not to mention the godawful voice acting. If you're a fan of that, don't let me stop you, I'm always up for a good trash fire myself, but I personally think the poor voice acting and translated text isn't charming here, just bad. The Japanese is quite difficult in this game, with an abundance of technical terms and long strings of kanji, but if you can stomach it, I'd say to go for the Japanese version if at all possible. The voice acting for Stinger in particular is quite good.
Overall, good game. Looking forward to playing Master of the Arena in the future! If the title is anything to go by, it should be right up my alley.