velka
Despite the Souls games and mecha anime being two of my greatest long-term obsessions, I'd never gotten into Armored Core. I tend to bounce off mecha games for having weird controls, stiff, slow combat, or both. One of the few things I knew about AC was its infamy for at least the former. So I wasn't sure whether to get AC6 or not, from its announcement up until very shortly before it came out, when I gave in and preordered mostly out of FOMO. I'd be embarrassed about being the kind of person who does that, but clearly I'm a genius, because it was way, way more than worth it. I literally cannot remember the last time a game changed my brain chemistry as drastically as Armored Core 6.
It's hard to know where to start; for one, you probably don't have to worry about the controls. Having gone back and played the older games now (like. it's been a major obsessive life-consuming project), 6 has easily the most intuitive in the series. The lockon might give you a little trouble at first, mostly because you have to learn not to try to keep adjusting it, but movement feels fluid and really good pretty much right away, and the nature of the lockon system means you don't really have to worry about shooter-style aiming (although you can opt for manual aim just to prove you're hot shit, if you want), so it's much, much easier to get the hang of the basics than I'd been expecting.
The combat is pure dopamine with one of the most rewarding learning curves I've ever seen, the kind of game where you tilt to the point of screaming against a boss on your first playthrough, then come back around on your second and style on it like you're the coolest person in the universe.
But if you're the same kind of autistic as me, you'll happily spend just as much time in the garage. One of the things Armored Core has always been notorious for is the complex and mystifyingly opaque stats on the various parts you'll be building your sweet ride out of, and this is one area where Fromsoft have absolutely stuck to their guns. I can certainly understand finding the build process intimidating--I did, at first--but if you get the taste for it it's honestly addictive to agonize over once-impenetrable minutiae like QB Reload Ideal Weight or Post-Recovery EN Supply; there's a ton of depth to the customization that makes it uniquely satisfying to put together a really effective AC.
And, of course, it goes without saying but still deserves to be said: wow! cool robot!!!
On the story front, I'm not gonna get into the weeds of spoiling and analyzing it, but it's fantastic, mostly for what is easily FromSoftware's overall strongest cast of characters to date.
In somewhat hasty conclusion: I don't care about trophies, like, congenitally. I CANNOT care. I'm not that particular kind of completionist.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is the literal first game I have ever Platinumed. I was just looking for excuses to play it more. I can say, having dismissed the fear of attributing it to recency bias, that this is one of my favorite games of all time.
It's hard to know where to start; for one, you probably don't have to worry about the controls. Having gone back and played the older games now (like. it's been a major obsessive life-consuming project), 6 has easily the most intuitive in the series. The lockon might give you a little trouble at first, mostly because you have to learn not to try to keep adjusting it, but movement feels fluid and really good pretty much right away, and the nature of the lockon system means you don't really have to worry about shooter-style aiming (although you can opt for manual aim just to prove you're hot shit, if you want), so it's much, much easier to get the hang of the basics than I'd been expecting.
The combat is pure dopamine with one of the most rewarding learning curves I've ever seen, the kind of game where you tilt to the point of screaming against a boss on your first playthrough, then come back around on your second and style on it like you're the coolest person in the universe.
But if you're the same kind of autistic as me, you'll happily spend just as much time in the garage. One of the things Armored Core has always been notorious for is the complex and mystifyingly opaque stats on the various parts you'll be building your sweet ride out of, and this is one area where Fromsoft have absolutely stuck to their guns. I can certainly understand finding the build process intimidating--I did, at first--but if you get the taste for it it's honestly addictive to agonize over once-impenetrable minutiae like QB Reload Ideal Weight or Post-Recovery EN Supply; there's a ton of depth to the customization that makes it uniquely satisfying to put together a really effective AC.
And, of course, it goes without saying but still deserves to be said: wow! cool robot!!!
On the story front, I'm not gonna get into the weeds of spoiling and analyzing it, but it's fantastic, mostly for what is easily FromSoftware's overall strongest cast of characters to date.
In somewhat hasty conclusion: I don't care about trophies, like, congenitally. I CANNOT care. I'm not that particular kind of completionist.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is the literal first game I have ever Platinumed. I was just looking for excuses to play it more. I can say, having dismissed the fear of attributing it to recency bias, that this is one of my favorite games of all time.