Man, what a game.
It's not a perfect game, I have my issues with it, and I do wish NG++'s endgame was a bit longer, but goddamn, what a game.
I think I can easily say that this is my favorite modern From Software game. The combat is fast, frenetic, and fluid, the world is interesting, filled with characters both grand and not, and the music and sound design are great.
I've become incredibly mechpilled this year thanks to Gundam The Witch From Mercury and this scratched the itch for me 1000% and then some. Being able to customize my mech's paint job, the decals, all of the parts, and the name, to get just what I wanted, is a lot of fun, and that's genuinely just the tip of it.
There's a lot of fun build variety available, and considering this is a game that's steeped in ease of customization, it really shines because of it: you can return parts you don't gel with at the same price you bought them, you can easily replay missions to get money, and there are lots of ways to test out weapons and parts to see what you like. While some bosses may be made easier by specific parts, it's not impossible to beat them with your build, and even if you're having trouble, it's so easy to switch parts, get used to them, and start right back at the checkpoint at the boss ready to rumble.
The combat is definitely the shining selling point, but it has to be said how great movement is in general: quick boosting, big jumps with reverse joint legs, hovering as a tetrapod, there's so much intricacy to good movement, and while it's something I never mastered (I'm kind of bad at this game even as much as I love it), I came to love lightweight reverse joint builds just for the ease of movement and the ability to zigzag in and out of battle. The levels are really fun to traverse around, and by NG++ as I truly started to get really good at the game, I was speeding through areas, taking pot shots, and jumping around enemies and obstacles to lowkey speedrun through earlier chapters. It's so much fun.
The world itself is also, in my opinion, well up to FromSoft's best, with lots of details you get from various lore pieces to discover in stages and ambient dialogue you can hear around stages or between fellow/enemy combatants. There are characters that you come to love, characters you love to hate, and characters that are just very fascinating. I love Ayre and Rusty obviously, but then there's characters like Carla that were just a blast and I enjoyed whenever they were in a scene. I also love the decision that you have no idea what any of these characters look like, they're all just in their AC's and I think that's such a cool thing. Especially because the (English) voice acting portrays their characters so well just through their voices and how they speak. I think FromSoft did a great job with it.
There are some bosses I felt a little too frustrated at, ones that took me a day or two (which doesn't sound like that long, but also, this is across long play sessions), and I think the final chapter of NG++ is a bit short and I would've loved more in it, but the ending boss fight is great.
Overall, I think it's a fantastic game, and I hope that if we don't get another Armored Core entry soon, we at least get some DLC for story and new weapons and parts, because god, I would just love to play this again.
It's not a perfect game, I have my issues with it, and I do wish NG++'s endgame was a bit longer, but goddamn, what a game.
I think I can easily say that this is my favorite modern From Software game. The combat is fast, frenetic, and fluid, the world is interesting, filled with characters both grand and not, and the music and sound design are great.
I've become incredibly mechpilled this year thanks to Gundam The Witch From Mercury and this scratched the itch for me 1000% and then some. Being able to customize my mech's paint job, the decals, all of the parts, and the name, to get just what I wanted, is a lot of fun, and that's genuinely just the tip of it.
There's a lot of fun build variety available, and considering this is a game that's steeped in ease of customization, it really shines because of it: you can return parts you don't gel with at the same price you bought them, you can easily replay missions to get money, and there are lots of ways to test out weapons and parts to see what you like. While some bosses may be made easier by specific parts, it's not impossible to beat them with your build, and even if you're having trouble, it's so easy to switch parts, get used to them, and start right back at the checkpoint at the boss ready to rumble.
The combat is definitely the shining selling point, but it has to be said how great movement is in general: quick boosting, big jumps with reverse joint legs, hovering as a tetrapod, there's so much intricacy to good movement, and while it's something I never mastered (I'm kind of bad at this game even as much as I love it), I came to love lightweight reverse joint builds just for the ease of movement and the ability to zigzag in and out of battle. The levels are really fun to traverse around, and by NG++ as I truly started to get really good at the game, I was speeding through areas, taking pot shots, and jumping around enemies and obstacles to lowkey speedrun through earlier chapters. It's so much fun.
The world itself is also, in my opinion, well up to FromSoft's best, with lots of details you get from various lore pieces to discover in stages and ambient dialogue you can hear around stages or between fellow/enemy combatants. There are characters that you come to love, characters you love to hate, and characters that are just very fascinating. I love Ayre and Rusty obviously, but then there's characters like Carla that were just a blast and I enjoyed whenever they were in a scene. I also love the decision that you have no idea what any of these characters look like, they're all just in their AC's and I think that's such a cool thing. Especially because the (English) voice acting portrays their characters so well just through their voices and how they speak. I think FromSoft did a great job with it.
There are some bosses I felt a little too frustrated at, ones that took me a day or two (which doesn't sound like that long, but also, this is across long play sessions), and I think the final chapter of NG++ is a bit short and I would've loved more in it, but the ending boss fight is great.
Overall, I think it's a fantastic game, and I hope that if we don't get another Armored Core entry soon, we at least get some DLC for story and new weapons and parts, because god, I would just love to play this again.