Nexus was easily my most anticipated game when I started playing through it's series. After watching the intro, I was sold on the entire franchise. Massive, weighty mechs with slick designs boosting everywhere and blowing shit up against the backdrop of an amazing Kota Hoshino piece. It was (and still is) one of the rawest things I have ever seen in my entire life; genuinely some personality-warping shit. So much so, that I decided right then and there I was going to play every game in the series no matter what; not even PCSX2 was gonna stop me.
In an unexpected twist, instead of being a direct follow-up to the previous AC game (Silent Line), Nexus started what is now known as "late gen 3", due to the large amount of changes made between the two games. New part types were added, some were removed, and a LOT of rebalancing happened. Radars became more important, lockboxes are smaller, left arm weaponry has been fully realized, hangar cores can store extra weapons, etc. You can even "tune" part stats slightly to better accommodate for your build. However, the most infamous change has to do with heat. Not only is overheating more dangerous now, as it drains your energy to cool down instead of just eating health. but boosting also generates heat this time around. Gone are the days of ignoring the radiator while you upgrade everything else; you better balance your cooling and heat generation or else you'll spend half your time on fire. But even with extra consideration for cooling, heat will still be a huge problem as Fromsoft was a little overzealous with the rework, to the point where playing around it can and will be annoying. Thankfully, it mostly just stayed at mere annoyance; Nexus isn't too difficult, so I could safely fuck around with the new mechanics and figure out what worked for me without abject frustration or anything.
Everything else, for the most part, is business as usual as far as Armored Core goes. Take missions, complete the objective, get money, yadda yadda. Mission design itself, on the other hand, is noticeably a bit worse than previous games, at least in Disc 1. Maps don't feel as varied, mission objectives feel a tad bit more repetitive, and exploration feels railroaded. At the end of the day, it's still Armored Core, so I enjoyed it, but combine this with some of the aforementioned balance changes and I just wasn't having as much fun as before.
In stark contrast, the music in this game is PHENOMENAL; it's straight up the greatest OST in the old generations. Just listen to this. It's not an unexpected outcome, what with the venerable Kota Hoshino at the helm of most of the soundtrack, but it is what it is. Any shortcomings that the actual gameplay had were compensated for by banger after banger. And although I felt generally ambivalent about the story up until the final cutscene, I REALLY like the new style of cutscene direction this game has. It's far more dynamic than the old gens, so much so that they feel stiff in comparison. Mix both of these elements together and you get an experience that matches the tone of the intro cutscene I love so much.
I haven't even touched on Disc 2 yet though, which is comprised of remakes, remasters, and reimaginings of various sorties from the PS1 games. Said missions are even expanded upon too, usually by either by providing additional missions with more context, or even letting you experience them from the opposing side. Speaking as someone who started with those earlier games, it was really cool experiencing them again with a fresh coat of late-gen 3 paint. And better yet, Disc 2's OST is composed of great remixed tracks from across the WHOLE series. And naturally, where there's Kota Hoshino, there's an elevated experience. You haven't lived until you've comitted acts of terrorism against a city of innocents, culminating in a battle against the tough Valkyrie, all while a remix of the best song from Armored Core 3 plays. "Good luck and have fun." Believe me mission client, I did.
Nexus gets a lot of shit from the Armored Core community for, well, not being as good as the other games in the series, and I do, at some level, understand their grievances. Disc 2's gen 1 mission design in particular makes it a little too clear that Disc 1 slacked a bit on that front, and I'm not a fan of spending half of the game overheating. However, I really can't bring myself to not love this game; it's got too much going for it. As I said before, it's still good 'ol Armored Core, with a soundtrack for the ages, a presentation and tone that resonates with me, and a nice trip down memory lane in the form of Disc 2.
In an unexpected twist, instead of being a direct follow-up to the previous AC game (Silent Line), Nexus started what is now known as "late gen 3", due to the large amount of changes made between the two games. New part types were added, some were removed, and a LOT of rebalancing happened. Radars became more important, lockboxes are smaller, left arm weaponry has been fully realized, hangar cores can store extra weapons, etc. You can even "tune" part stats slightly to better accommodate for your build. However, the most infamous change has to do with heat. Not only is overheating more dangerous now, as it drains your energy to cool down instead of just eating health. but boosting also generates heat this time around. Gone are the days of ignoring the radiator while you upgrade everything else; you better balance your cooling and heat generation or else you'll spend half your time on fire. But even with extra consideration for cooling, heat will still be a huge problem as Fromsoft was a little overzealous with the rework, to the point where playing around it can and will be annoying. Thankfully, it mostly just stayed at mere annoyance; Nexus isn't too difficult, so I could safely fuck around with the new mechanics and figure out what worked for me without abject frustration or anything.
Everything else, for the most part, is business as usual as far as Armored Core goes. Take missions, complete the objective, get money, yadda yadda. Mission design itself, on the other hand, is noticeably a bit worse than previous games, at least in Disc 1. Maps don't feel as varied, mission objectives feel a tad bit more repetitive, and exploration feels railroaded. At the end of the day, it's still Armored Core, so I enjoyed it, but combine this with some of the aforementioned balance changes and I just wasn't having as much fun as before.
In stark contrast, the music in this game is PHENOMENAL; it's straight up the greatest OST in the old generations. Just listen to this. It's not an unexpected outcome, what with the venerable Kota Hoshino at the helm of most of the soundtrack, but it is what it is. Any shortcomings that the actual gameplay had were compensated for by banger after banger. And although I felt generally ambivalent about the story up until the final cutscene, I REALLY like the new style of cutscene direction this game has. It's far more dynamic than the old gens, so much so that they feel stiff in comparison. Mix both of these elements together and you get an experience that matches the tone of the intro cutscene I love so much.
I haven't even touched on Disc 2 yet though, which is comprised of remakes, remasters, and reimaginings of various sorties from the PS1 games. Said missions are even expanded upon too, usually by either by providing additional missions with more context, or even letting you experience them from the opposing side. Speaking as someone who started with those earlier games, it was really cool experiencing them again with a fresh coat of late-gen 3 paint. And better yet, Disc 2's OST is composed of great remixed tracks from across the WHOLE series. And naturally, where there's Kota Hoshino, there's an elevated experience. You haven't lived until you've comitted acts of terrorism against a city of innocents, culminating in a battle against the tough Valkyrie, all while a remix of the best song from Armored Core 3 plays. "Good luck and have fun." Believe me mission client, I did.
Nexus gets a lot of shit from the Armored Core community for, well, not being as good as the other games in the series, and I do, at some level, understand their grievances. Disc 2's gen 1 mission design in particular makes it a little too clear that Disc 1 slacked a bit on that front, and I'm not a fan of spending half of the game overheating. However, I really can't bring myself to not love this game; it's got too much going for it. As I said before, it's still good 'ol Armored Core, with a soundtrack for the ages, a presentation and tone that resonates with me, and a nice trip down memory lane in the form of Disc 2.