I'm gonna be real with you guys. I didn't plan on playing this one. Master of Arena looked better and I wanted to respect my time a bit more. But then I learned you can't transfer your AC straight from Armored Core to Master of Arena. You have to do it like this: Armored Core -> Project Phantasma -> Master of Arena. I decided that if I was going to download a rom of the game buy it to transfer my AC anyway, I might as well throw the idea of respecting my time on this Earth out the window and play it.
Ultimately, Project Phantasma is moreso an expansion of the original; It's akin to a standalone DLC campaign, like Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den or something. It does add the arena, which lets you climb the Raven Ranking for cash and rewards, but this is ultimately a shorter experience with a few more AC parts and customization options. And that's just fine, and it doesn't stop from there being a few improvements. Already the oversaturation of cramped indoor levels from the first game has been solved here though, so it's clear the developers were trying to improve to some extent.
Then there's the story, which is far more conventional the original's. The story of the original game is very impersonal and loose, but I rather enjoyed it. This one is kinda dumb though. You're helping this good Raven who wants to stop the creation of a superweapon... for some reason. You're a blank slate and just go along with whatever she says. Also, she somehow hired you to help her escape from a prison and do other tasks? How did she do that? And then there's the main villain, Stinger, who just shows up and is like, "Heh, I guess I have to take you out so you don't get in my way" right before being utterly defeated. You fight him like five times. In a longer game that probably would've been neat, but it's just annoying here and makes the world feel smaller.
The more focused story also creates another problem where you're given far less freedom for which missions you can do. In the first game, you usually had at least three missions to choose from, but here, you may have a choice between two missions. Otherwise, you're just doing the next one in the story. I wish there were optional side missions one could do in between the story missions or something (The arena kind of fits this description, but short 1v1s are far cries from actual missions, especially with the sub-par AIs of the enemies).
However, even if the story structure didn't work, I appreciate that they tried something different, especially since pretty much every other AC game has a story more similar to that of the first's from what I can tell. However, it didn't work ultimately and I'd far sooner replay the original Armored Core. I'll give this one a 7/10, but I could lower it to a 6.
Ultimately, Project Phantasma is moreso an expansion of the original; It's akin to a standalone DLC campaign, like Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den or something. It does add the arena, which lets you climb the Raven Ranking for cash and rewards, but this is ultimately a shorter experience with a few more AC parts and customization options. And that's just fine, and it doesn't stop from there being a few improvements. Already the oversaturation of cramped indoor levels from the first game has been solved here though, so it's clear the developers were trying to improve to some extent.
Then there's the story, which is far more conventional the original's. The story of the original game is very impersonal and loose, but I rather enjoyed it. This one is kinda dumb though. You're helping this good Raven who wants to stop the creation of a superweapon... for some reason. You're a blank slate and just go along with whatever she says. Also, she somehow hired you to help her escape from a prison and do other tasks? How did she do that? And then there's the main villain, Stinger, who just shows up and is like, "Heh, I guess I have to take you out so you don't get in my way" right before being utterly defeated. You fight him like five times. In a longer game that probably would've been neat, but it's just annoying here and makes the world feel smaller.
The more focused story also creates another problem where you're given far less freedom for which missions you can do. In the first game, you usually had at least three missions to choose from, but here, you may have a choice between two missions. Otherwise, you're just doing the next one in the story. I wish there were optional side missions one could do in between the story missions or something (The arena kind of fits this description, but short 1v1s are far cries from actual missions, especially with the sub-par AIs of the enemies).
However, even if the story structure didn't work, I appreciate that they tried something different, especially since pretty much every other AC game has a story more similar to that of the first's from what I can tell. However, it didn't work ultimately and I'd far sooner replay the original Armored Core. I'll give this one a 7/10, but I could lower it to a 6.