Armored Core and it's influence on From Software

[Ataxtia]

View: https://youtu.be/SlSfr6Wa5sc



With the gameplay trailer for Armored core 6 coming out, I wanted to see what kind of experience any of you have had with the series. I absolutely loved the series, even though it took me like 3 years to actually understand most of the game's quirks.

For those of you who don't really know about the series, it used to be From's flagship series, with new titles and sequels releasing almost yearly from the PS1 to the beginning of the PS3's lifecycle. It was a mission-based third-person mech combat game, with a heavy focus on customization. Half the game was really just fine-tuning your AC (the term for the giant robot you pilot), while the other half was tackling the missions or the PvP style arena. After the divisive (and in my opinion disastrous) Armored Core five, the series went silent. That and also From was dealing with its newfound success with Dark Souls, a series that really needs no introduction, it makes sense that they would jump ship to a new series.

For me I always loved big robot games, luv me front mission, luv me Robotech, simple as. So when I picked up Armored Core I loved the gameplay and could overlook its god-awful control scheme, and really enjoy the combat. It's no secret that Dark Souls has hugely inspired the current AAA and and especially Indie gaming scene, for better or for worse. But I think that Armored Core is a bit of an unsung hero in this inspiration, as it is where From honed its third-person action formula. Sure Kingsfield was the de-facto hard medieval RPG of their works, but it lacked that fast-pacing. Without Armored Core, I don't think we would have any of the Souls games.

 

[Sketch Relics]

Played most of em, Last Raven remains my favorite, followed closely by 4A
Secret starter hint for anyone interested in the series, the ps1-ps2 games have full controller remapping, so you can set camera to right face buttons, strafing to left stick, and the action buttons to the shoulders to have a much more modern control scheme.

This guy used to take ACLR designs submitted by his users for videos, these are all the ones I submitted

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajv2EB-K1wY


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaVK8pA_ap8


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEu2qXIMNF4


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEalhRjG9xo


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3dmWiGfjs


He has a few hundred of these videos for Last Raven

 

[Andy Kaufman]

I only got into Fromsoft games via Dark Souls and have been sleeping on AC. I watched some gameplay footage here and there but it never really caught my eye.
Even in this trailer, I think mechs just standing there as you fly/drive with the limbs stiff, propelled by tracks or jets looks kinda goofy. Why get a humanoid shape for your fighting vehicle when it's just gonna hold a stiff pose throughout, aesthetically speaking?
It's kinda missing the dynamics of body animation like Transformers or Gundam (although the latter does this sometimes as well).
I'm gonna wait and see how the game actually plays and if I can configure my own mech I'll just make sure to give it a shape apporpiate to its movement.

 

[Ataxtia]

Played most of em, Last Raven remains my favorite, followed closely by 4A
Secret starter hint for anyone interested in the series, the ps1-ps2 games have full controller remapping, so you can set camera to right face buttons, strafing to left stick, and the action buttons to the shoulders to have a much more modern control scheme.

This guy used to take ACLR designs submitted by his users for videos, these are all the ones I submitted

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajv2EB-K1wY


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaVK8pA_ap8


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEu2qXIMNF4


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEalhRjG9xo


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3dmWiGfjs


He has a few hundred of these videos for Last Raven

You submitted those? I didn't know man, those are super cool looking! I never actually finished last raven, It's been on my list but I just got so mad at the fact that the AI got Human Plus and kicked your ass, while you had to use a gimped AC or cheese some fights with missiles.

I also liked 4A, something about the ultra fast-paced, almost Gundam-like aspect of it was really appealing. Terrible for online multiplayer, but being a tweaked out mech going 1000 km per hour alwasy felt so satisfying.

 

[Ataxtia]

I only got into Fromsoft games via Dark Souls and have been sleeping on AC. I watched some gameplay footage here and there but it never really caught my eye.
Even in this trailer, I think mechs just standing there as you fly/drive with the limbs stiff, propelled by tracks or jets looks kinda goofy. Why get a humanoid shape for your fighting vehicle when it's just gonna hold a stiff pose throughout, aesthetically speaking?
It's kinda missing the dynamics of body animation like Transformers or Gundam (although the latter does this sometimes as well).
I'm gonna wait and see how the game actually plays and if I can configure my own mech I'll just make sure to give it a shape apporpiate to its movement.

I never thought about them looking stiff, but on a second glance you're totally right about that. However in my experience that stiffness melts away when you immerse yourself in the combat, as it's either focused on speed or precise movement and shooting control. I never really played long-range heavy AC's, so maybe me statement is less true if you enjoy a more methodical approach to the combat.

I recommend AC as a souls fan, but it has always been a niche game even in Japan. I am curious to see how well it performs in the US with the clout of Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and Sekiro backing it.

 

[Sketch Relics]

You submitted those? I didn't know man, those are super cool looking! I never actually finished last raven, It's been on my list but I just got so mad at the fact that the AI got Human Plus and kicked your ass, while you had to use a gimped AC or cheese some fights with missiles.

I also liked 4A, something about the ultra fast-paced, almost Gundam-like aspect of it was really appealing. Terrible for online multiplayer, but being a tweaked out mech going 1000 km per hour alwasy felt so satisfying.

It actually plays into why it's my favorite game, due to the bizarre mixture of how simultaneously accurate and inaccurate weapons are, once you learn how to move and interact with the auto-lock the game becomes something of a dance where you can gracefully dodge just about everything while having to time shots inna specific way in order to hit through the same thing being done by your opponent. At that point, the human plus advantages enjoyed by your opponents kinda fades away. In addition, most of them are not fully human plused, they often only have a few select H+ active which can give different AI opponents different weaknesses.

If you wanna play LR with human plus yourself, you can play the PSP version and use a gameshark code to enable it.

 

[Andy Kaufman]

I never thought about them looking stiff, but on a second glance you're totally right about that. However in my experience that stiffness melts away when you immerse yourself in the combat, as it's either focused on speed or precise movement and shooting control. I never really played long-range heavy AC's, so maybe me statement is less true if you enjoy a more methodical approach to the combat.

I recommend AC as a souls fan, but it has always been a niche game even in Japan. I am curious to see how well it performs in the US with the clout of Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and Sekiro backing it.

Yes, I hope it feels different when you actually controll the thing.
Nevertheless, I will be waiting for release and then see what people I can usually trust with vidya opinions have to say about it.

 

[Sketch Relics]

I only got into Fromsoft games via Dark Souls and have been sleeping on AC. I watched some gameplay footage here and there but it never really caught my eye.
Even in this trailer, I think mechs just standing there as you fly/drive with the limbs stiff, propelled by tracks or jets looks kinda goofy. Why get a humanoid shape for your fighting vehicle when it's just gonna hold a stiff pose throughout, aesthetically speaking?
It's kinda missing the dynamics of body animation like Transformers or Gundam (although the latter does this sometimes as well).
I'm gonna wait and see how the game actually plays and if I can configure my own mech I'll just make sure to give it a shape apporpiate to its movement.

Ironically, it's actually the "realistic" way of handling the concept. Due to how fragile and easy to disable an actually mecha's legs would be, having jets propel them around everywhere would give them a much better fighting chance. Heck, Gundam had to invent two reasons to make them viable war machines, the first being the presence of a substance that kills computer targeting, making manual visual aiming a must which arms due a good job of in 3D space. The other being that the human body shape allows the mecha to orient itself in space without using fuel.

I never thought about them looking stiff, but on a second glance you're totally right about that. However in my experience that stiffness melts away when you immerse yourself in the combat, as it's either focused on speed or precise movement and shooting control. I never really played long-range heavy AC's, so maybe me statement is less true if you enjoy a more methodical approach to the combat.

I recommend AC as a souls fan, but it has always been a niche game even in Japan. I am curious to see how well it performs in the US with the clout of Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and Sekiro backing it.

Probably far better now that Fromsoft is a household name for anyone that plays vidya, it will most definitely outsell all previous entries in the series and I am sure it will have From's trademark jank as fuck PVP balancing like every other From title has on release. To be fixed at a later date.

As an aside, Deus X Machina 2 is being worked on atm, I wonder if they will receive a boost from this as well and whether or not they will have enough differentiation to avoid being called a knockoff on release. I mean obviously not from journos since they don't play video games.

 

[【Ｏｂｓｉｄｉａｎ Ｐｉｌｇｒｉｍ】パラダイス・]

By the way, seeing OP knows a story good, Hidetaka Miyazaki didn't have anything to do with old AC games, right?

​

 

[Sketch Relics]

By the way, seeing OP knows a story good, Hidetaka Miyazaki didn't have anything to do with old AC games, right?

​

He wasn't involved until 4.

 

[№56]

I'm kind of curious about the new game, but I've never played any of the previous entries. Is jumping right into 6 a good idea, or should I emulate one of the older games?

 

[Sketch Relics]

I'm kind of curious about the new game, but I've never played any of the previous entries. Is jumping right into 6 a good idea, or should I emulate one of the older games?

Either or really, 1~3, 4, 5, and 6 all play fundamentally different from each other and are not linked by story.
3 and 4A are generally considered a good starting points and I think 6 is another good starter.

 

[Ataxtia]

I'm kind of curious about the new game, but I've never played any of the previous entries. Is jumping right into 6 a good idea, or should I emulate one of the older games?

It's totally fine, each game in a generation (I.E. 4 and 4 answer, 3 and silent line, Nexus and Last Raven) has no real connection beyond references.

 

[Voicedrew]

Been having a lot of fun playing AC6. After the dumpster fire that was Elden Ring, I was sure that they would never be able to make a great game again. Glad to see it was just a one of thing.

 

[№56]

Either or really, 1~3, 4, 5, and 6 all play fundamentally different from each other and are not linked by story.
3 and 4A are generally considered a good starting points and I think 6 is another good starter.

It's totally fine, each game in a generation (I.E. 4 and 4 answer, 3 and silent line, Nexus and Last Raven) has no real connection beyond references.

Thanks for the advice, I ended up getting 6 and have been enjoying it a lot so far. The game really makes you feel like a Gundam pilot, and when I say that I mean that fighting Balteus made me feel like this:

I did get him in the end, though. The process of gitting gud by figuring out both the movement mechanics and the customization is very rewarding. Definitely going to be putting some hours into this one.

 

[Mеченый Яков]

Anyone remember Mechwarrior? Mercenaries was my favorite of them all, we need more games with PMC Mecha ultraviolence.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp87Jc6k1w4

 

[deepfreeze]

I don't have any insightful analysis here, I just came to say that I just finished NG++ and holy shit this game was a fucking blast. I've not had a hole in my heart after finishing a game since Automata. The music that plays when

Spoiler

Rusty comes to your aid and you're fucking everybody up together

was actually epic. And

Spoiler

dunking on Iguazu one last time by kicking him to death in the ALLMIND fight

is now one of my most smug gamer moments.

 

[Antoine]

If we want to talk specifically about influence...

Armoured Core's plot from 4 onwards is basically the souls plot. But where souls is fantastical (indirect, suggestive, less logical and direct) Armoured Core is very direct conceptual science fiction. Both are concerned with the dilemmas of a sick and dying world. Souls is more just depiction. A mood piece in which you can still read the ideas, but they aren't as strongly present. But Armoured Core really brings these issues up front and center and wants you to face them. Think about the later Armoured Core games as Souls plots. See if that makes sense in your head.

Other interesting influence to other From works, is the idea of the player having some kind of modular tool to engage with combat problems. People love Souls for builds to a degree I always found offputting. It comes at some expense of the other fine things in those games. But it still is deliberate. These are the Armoured Core guys. It's like building a battle-robot. Only instead you're decking out a knight with gear and abilities. And then the way fighting plays out, again, very methodical, stiff and rigid inputs you have to commit to. Also true of King's Field, From's knights have always handled a bit like robots.

People are right when they play around with fashion in the Souls games. It's obviously intended that you mess around trying things on, and swap things in and out to meet situations. This was something they leaned far deeper into with Evergrace 1 and 2 (yes there are two of them, the sequel has you dressing up three characters at once to constantly update their builds. A fashion-combat game).

I believe that if played is intended you should be constantly changing how you look and act in a From game. Probably something that came together as a key idea first in Armoured Core.

 

[№56]

Post your robots.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvUDCx1nb5E

 

[Mеченый Яков]

Post your robots.
View attachment 77023
View attachment 77022

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvUDCx1nb5E

I love the customization in the game, someone should make the agora battlemech