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Welp, I was about to ask how this game compares to FM3, the only title in the series I've played - I went through Alisa's campaign and thought it was a pretty fun game. The main character was an rear end in a top hat, but most of the others were pretty likeable, I enjoyed the general pretense of being a bunch of whistleblower guerilla mercenary types on the run from the law, and I'm pretty terrible at strategy games so it was about on my level. Plus the fake internet thing was pretty cool, too. I got some way through Emma's campaign (once I learned it existed - doesn't it hinge on you deciding whether or not to go shopping with your buddy right back near the start or something similarly trivial?) before some kind of recurring glitch in the emulation got me frustrated enough to drop it (random crash during 3d sequences) - the disc is pretty old and scratchy. Should I try and play 5 or just sit back and watch the LP? Also, I really like the mech aesthetic in this series; they're juuust blocky and tanky enough without being too utilitarian-looking, and they also occupy that nice early gen armored core space of being in the sweet spot between being satisfyingly heavy and stompy, and being fast and agile enough to justify actually having arms and legs.
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Mar 9, 2015 11:21
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Wait a sec, am I mistaken or is it possible for shots to land on body parts that are already destroyed? That's a pretty raw deal. And it looks like they've simplified the movement system since FM3. I thought it was cool how they separated boost range from walking range, but limited boosting/skating to straight lines in cardinal directions. All boost, all the time seems a little less interesting. Weapons firing twice in one attack is good, though, it makes the combat a bit more fluid. You mentioned that enemies was dual wielding, how does that work in this game? I really badly wanted to upgrade one of my dudes in FM3 to dual-wield rifles, but it ended up being pretty worthless on account of dual-fire only ever working as part of a randomly-activated skill.
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Mar 12, 2015 10:29
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Wait, they just did a 1-year flash forward after the missile strike, and apparently not much at all has happened in the intervening time other than someone hacking the training simulator so they can gamble? Also, Glenn is looking more and more like end boss material even though we've only met the guy a few times. Although it would be pretty awesome if the final plot twist ends up putting Randy in those shoes. Good job on the wanzer roundup too, the background fluff is always pretty entertaining - I never knew the kyojun was supposed to be a gunner, given that the guy who gets it in FM3 defaults to a machine gun and that it's a bit less accurate but more mobile than most other snipers like the shangdi or rekkson. I'm about to watch the mission 3 video, but if you haven't yet, can we get bitchin' paint jobs for our main posse?
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Mar 20, 2015 07:27
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But the 6-move legs you got off captured enemy kasel M2s in FM3 were just so good! I was even putting them on my launchers for a while, until I realised there was no real point since they didn't have enough AP to make use of the added range. Hmm, is the capture mechanic still in FM5? Or did they get wise to me loading up on eject/pilot damage skills and just stealing everything in FM3, including that boss mech with the beam gun.
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Mar 20, 2015 22:57
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Well, all this has got me motivated to finally finish Alicia's storyline in FM3. I'm almost at the end now! Heavy shields are saving my rear end pretty much every mission, is it feasible to give some to your dudes? It seems like Christine, Jim and to a lesser extent Damon could really use them. Or did they get nerfed? Those helicopters are brutal - would it make sense to have your sniper team up on each one with your launcher? Or are the missiles better used on enemy wanzers? [edit]Just saw the next mission preview. Jesus. Six of you versus over ten enemy units AND a boss? The game definitely isn't pulling punches now. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Apr 10, 2015 |
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Apr 10, 2015 14:02
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MaterialConceptual posted:Oh don't you worry, I will make good use of the Grapple Oh yeah, my team are all pretty badass now. The two launchers and sniper all know Arm Smash, the launchers also know Salvo and have backpacks with three reloads each, the melee specialist has a ton of HP, a heavy shield and has been one-shotting people lately with shield bashes. The two shotgunners are a bit fragile as I left them in their default shotgun/melee configuration, but their sheer damage output makes up for it most of the time. Nice to see that sniping people from the rooftops is still a viable tactic. Can you upgrade the boosters so you can jump directly up to rooftops instead of having to take the long way up? Just catching up from the latest wanzer roundup now, Purple Haze were pretty cool dudes and it was a shame to have to off them all right at the start of Alicia's campaign. I was hoping they'd be recurring enemies who would eventually turn friendly  Is there any particular meaning behind the names of the Japanese wanzers - Enyo, Jinyo, Shunyo, Kyojun? Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Apr 11, 2015 |
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Apr 11, 2015 14:10
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Thanks, MaterialConceptual! While I'm asking stuff, what's the deal with Christine not having any weapons equipped (unless I'm mistaken)? Are the giant knuckledusters just bonus damage now? That last update was brutal, but I feel it was kind of necessary since up til now, everything's pretty unreal in the sense that nobody seems to be realising the gravity of the situation - two world superpowers have declared war, people are dying and the bullets they shoot might actually kill people. Everyone's been so chilled out, considering they're frontline troops. Great voice acting, though. And, I guess, there go my hopes of Randy turning out to be the moustache-twirling villain pulling the strings behind the scenes I for one think it's pretty suspicious how many people in the army come from these "Homes". Almost like the're being kidnapped or even bred for it... Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 09:35 on Apr 15, 2015 |
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Apr 15, 2015 08:42
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So, having just finished FM3, I'm having a go at FM4 now. Is there anything I should know before I get too far into the game? The mechanics seem a lot more like 5 than 3, it's an interesting shift. But I miss the emphasis on terrain height that was in 3, getting one up on my opponents by having higher ground always felt fun. [edit]I'm at the point where Darril has just been introduced. I'm actually getting drawn in by the story now, namely what the hell he'd have to do to redeem himself to where he is in FM5. Unless the bit where you meet him in 5 is chronologically before 4. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 10:40 on May 18, 2015 |
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May 17, 2015 07:04
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MaterialConceptual posted:Honestly, I'm not an expert on FM4, but I do know that launchers are very strong in that game. Use grenades in the USN side and missiles in the EC side. And, well, if Darril is back in the UCS army again after FM4 then he must be one hell of a bad dude who saves presidents all day, I guess. I for one approve of the game having one of your protagonists be a total slacker who gives no shits about his job and jumps at the chance to desert and steal a bunch of embezelled gold bullion along with his unit's wanzers, as opposed to Elsa, who's much more generic green-but-suspiciously-good-at-everything (but at least has a pretty neat accent). Also, is it worth putting a turbo backpack on your second melee wanzer to try and eke out a bit more damage? And is it ever going to be worthwhile to equip your grapple with knuckledusters? My mind is rebelling at the idea of hardblow being higher damage than knuckledusters. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 09:03 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 19, 2015 08:59
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Actually, that last question about outfitting melee wanzers was about FM5 / your squad (sorry for the derails! Back on topic now). How much is it worth upgrading early-game weapons (in FM5) versus hanging on until you can buy a better base model? Or can all the parts hold their own throughout the game provided they're upgraded enough? Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 13:27 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 19, 2015 13:24
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Hey, don't sweat it, these videos seem to end up being pretty epic in length and in any event, real life is always more important!
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May 25, 2015 14:33
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Are the people in your squad anyone particularly special? I'm always torn in games like this between keeping the people who've been in my squad gathering experience for longer, versus some new hotshot who needs more training but just might have better stats in the long run. Or is it like pokemon where you can basically just pick your favourite dudes and still be OK?
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May 28, 2015 10:05
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Koorisch posted:Oh man, the next mission is going to be good!
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Jun 1, 2015 12:49
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Well done, that mission was brutal. Do the kyojuns keep spawning every few turns at the end there, or was that one that arrived "late to the party", as you put it, the final one? And Ed's grin is the picture of smugness in that scene when you wake up. I was wondering about the Kouren - for a minute I thought that the name was Chinese and that the DHZ was involved somehow. Is there ever any acknowledgement or explanation about why the Recson is subpar just about every time it makes an appearance? ...actually, come to think of it, if you have grenade reloads in your backpack, can you reload the turrets? Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Jun 7, 2015 |
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Jun 7, 2015 14:06
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Tae posted:The director is a former Armored Core guy so....not looking forward to it.
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Jun 9, 2015 14:07
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All I can say after that, then, is that I really hope they don't screw it up (too much). Good things do happen sometimes, though, like with Human Revolution being a decent game, and I hear that the new X-Com game was really good as well. You're not involved in the game industry yourself, are you? Or are you just an avid follower of the Front Mission games and the development behind them?
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Jun 10, 2015 11:05
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Hey, this may be a pretty epic LP but there's no sense losing sleep or risking your health over it... How do the hover legs stack up against what you would normally have equipped? And what happens in that mission if you don't equip them? Also, it's further from the verbatim translation and I don't speak a word of Japanese, but how about something like "time is of the essence"? I for one find your little asides about the translation pretty interesting. Same with the intrigue around the unmarked enemy wanzers, the significance of the grille sechs ("griller", is close enough to the pronunciation, I think), etc.
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Jun 20, 2015 06:58
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MaterialConceptual posted:Here's the next episode! This one is definitely a mixed bag with its ups and downs, but it does have a big reveal. Did you ever consider deliberately changing of some of the bits of dialogue that you hated? And I don't mean any offence but what's up with the choice of font for the dialogue? It really clashes with the clean future-military style that everything else has. I'm guessing it's one that already existed in the game assets?
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Jun 28, 2015 04:08
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Hey, I wasn't talking about a rewrite, that would be a ridiculous amount of work! I was just wanting to know about your process when you were doing the translation.  Always good to hear more about the behind the scenes stuff about how the patching/hacking works, though.Man, that next mission looks like a pretty nasty situation. I'm assuming that they don't all bum rush you at once?
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Jul 3, 2015 11:10
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Just saying that your effort is much appreciated and even though this isn't the fastest-paced game in the world, it's still very enjoyable to watch and can be nailbitingly tense at times. Do you get to use the prototype wanzer you captured in the last mission? Holy poo poo the AI in the arena is terrible, if the other characters didn't sometimes just wander off aimlessly I'd wonder if there was actually a bug in the code making Darril's striker move as if it had ranged weapons. Speaking of Darril, is there a particular reason you don't move him before your ranged dudes to maximise the number of punches he gets in each turn? Or is friendly fire too much of a problem to do this? Also, blast shot is the most underwhelming thing in the world when it misses.
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Jul 15, 2015 12:08
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Hey, take it easy if you're feeling under the weather. I think it's more that the situation of that mission itself seemed a little filler-ish, not so much your play or commentary. I've been ill myself the last week or so, and having your last couple of videos to watch through a fog of cough syrup and paracetamol made things just that little bit more bearable. How does the next mission play out - where are the enemy units running to, the exit by where you start or the one on the other end of the map? What strategy are you planning on using?
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Jul 23, 2015 09:24
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Nice work, I'd have thought it'd be impossible to get those bonuses without doing some brutal grinding beforehand. Glad you're using Darril more too, he's an utter beast at causing large amounts of pain to a single target's body while also being an effective damage sponge. I love me some giant robots, and the only thing better than giant robots shooting stuff is giant robots punching stuff. Is there a (reasonable) way to increase Patrick's accuracy, either with the EMP pack or his flamer? It's goddamn painful how much he misses... although it can be golden when he hits. Anyway, here's a little thing I made from the end of the last video! What's the plan? Assuming the goal is to kill everyone and there's no horrible time limit, my instinct here is to rush down the two launchers on the western edge of the map, then move east along that corridor to take down the other two dudes they share a link with. Take a turn south through that 4-square-wide gap and go after the squad with the striker in it - hopefully without aggroing the boss squad or the guys in the southwest - then move into the southwest corner before rounding on the boss. The boss looks like a total rear end in a top hat, especially with two mechanics in tow. Plus the T-xa's off hand looks like it might be some kind of beam weapon? Although those still seemed to be very much still experimental in FM3 so hopefully I'm wrong here.
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Jul 26, 2015 09:32
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What are the other good 'sniper' arms available in the game - is the Kyojun one of the better ones or just the best available right now? Just for the record, too, I'm not trying to be a backseat driver with the map; I'm just hoping to spark some strat discussion with whoever is following the thread
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Jul 26, 2015 12:02
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MIDAS? Oh snap. FM3 was my introduction to this series, and from what I know of that game I don't expect this one to end well anymore... I'm looking forward to the gatling gun, though. Who gets the chop? Julius kind of feels like the weakest link right now, except when Patrick forgets to bring his glasses with him. Doubly so if you can jimmy things so that Hector can use the Artassault. Having the extra mechanic has saved you a few times, though, I think. Come to think of it, Patrick's a bit of an oddball. The weight of the jammer pack and also that arms with decent accuracy are usually high weight/crappy HP seem to be at cross purposes of his needing to be at close range (i.e. getting constantly shot up) if he wants to use his flamer. But when he does hit with the EMP and flamethrower, he hits like a truck. As far as what to play next goes, I don't know much about interesting fan-translated/hacked games but I have a few ideas for things of a similar vein to FM5: Play it again, Sam: my laptop isn't really powerful enough to run front mission 4 smoothly (and it was never released in my region, so I can't even play it on my PS2), if you're not sick of front mission by now. On the theme of robots: if a translation was ever done for any of the Another Century's Episode games, I'd love to see one of those. Obscure squad tactics: there's a fun little game with a cool (western) comic aesthetic called Shadow Watch, based on a Tom Clancy novel. It's light on plot and has a few flaws but is still pretty fun - I've played the hell out of it myself and could try helping with commentary if you like.
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Jul 31, 2015 11:58
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This is the point where I'd be paranoid enough to strip Hector of his guns and just have him heal/soak damage every round. So nobody gets that prototype wanzer? Even though you captured one intact in the jungle and took a further 6 (or at least 6 wanzer-sized crates' worth of things) when you took out the dire wolf and chums? Also, how far in the future is FM3 from where we are now in FM5? The "space" references could also be alluding to the ending of FM3 where in Emma's route (we're going to run into her, or her parents at the lab, aren't we?) you finish the game by doing a HALO jump in wanzers from a space shuttle, crashing a press conference on the white house lawn. I think I also remember another mission where you fight off OCU assassins in a deep-sea tunnel between Taiwan and the mainland or something similar...
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Aug 4, 2015 13:05
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MaterialConceptual posted:I'll have to double check the date on the next mission, but I believe we are already in 2112 at this point, which is when FM3 starts. I'm pretty sure those base dialogues were references to those things in FM3 though. How much grinding do you have to do to get a newly-recruited pilot up to speed on a weapon they don't specialise in? Like, is it going to be much of a handicap having Duke use a gunner rather than assault class weapon?
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Aug 5, 2015 08:14
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So what advantage do quads give you in that mission, other than looking badass? Sorry if I missed an explanation in the video, but the 3 AP penalty to move over rough terrain seems super harsh.
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Aug 12, 2015 10:00
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Actually, I wonder if everyone commenting on Emir's appearance has something to do with her being an Imaginary Number, i.e. that she's been genetically engineered and looking sharp was probably part of the design brief. But more to the point, god drat it japan. Why is there so much awkward sexual harassment in my giant robot future military drama tactics game.  So are S-types generally better than regular pilots or do they have downsides?
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Aug 16, 2015 12:33
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MaterialConceptual posted:Yeah they get access to the best skills in the game (such as All-Hit) so they're definitely better than regular pilots. As for the whole Imaginary Number thing, I'm sure you're right about that but it's still at odds with the way she's portrayed in FM3. I don't mind the basic idea, but it's pretty weird having almost the whole base section being about how everyone wants to get with her. You'd think she'd have some kind of complex with all that attention. 
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Aug 17, 2015 11:19
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Nice work, those were some pretty tense situations. It's a pity that they kept Bernard's motives almost entirely under wraps until now except for "he's a terrorist AND a mad scientist" - I know they had to save some reveals and twists for later, but they could have gone a lot deeper into the nationalism/globalism thing much earlier in the game. Especially since crazy future-politics is the core of the series. Well, crazy future politics and giant robots punching things with giant robot knuckledusters. Kudos to the writers, though, for coming up with a different and relatively sane reason why Bernard would obsess so much about the S device. Use it to create an army of super-soldiers, sure, but everyone knows that if you do that they'll turn on you sooner or later. Use it so that you not only get an army of super-soldiers but also get to hop between bodies, making you not only ageless but very, very hard to kill, now that's a much better idea. It seems pretty apparent, too, that gunners still suffer from the same problems that they did in FM3: their attacks consume so much AP that you ideally want them to move as little as possible so they can get more shots off per round. But more often than not, you need to equip high-mobility legs on them so that they don't waste turns just getting into position. Fast legs, heavy rifles and high-accuracy arms use up your weight limit pretty quickly, meaning that you end up trading HP/defense in the body order to make everything fit on the mech... and even this isn't offset by the range advantage all that much - launchers will still outrange snipers. Maybe that's why (non-boss) missiles suck so much in this game. I love the rifle sound effects in this game, though. So meaty and punchy. Does Hector have enough spare capacity to equip a shield? Might be useful to combo with the artassault's remove-limit perk. And is that an armored core-style folding cannon on Glenn's shoulder?  When did they start poaching AC devs for the front mission games, again?
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Aug 23, 2015 02:43
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Woo, final boss time! Is this a straight up fight to the finish, or do they throw some curveballs at you like a time limit or some weird side effect of the forcefield?
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Aug 26, 2015 11:06
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Thank you! As I mentioned long ago, I feel like the biggest flaw this game has is the lack of the fake-internet from FM3, and the background lore you've provided is filling that gap nicely.
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Aug 28, 2015 08:41
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I haven't had time to watch the last few videos yet but let me also say thanks for all your effort. It's been great having your insight into the game and series, especially given my limited exposure to it, but at the end of the day it's been a hell of journey. Makes me want to go play through FM3 again... [edit]Hey, they have credits for the entire orchestra by instrument. That's a really, really nice thing to see. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 08:28 on Sep 5, 2015 |
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Sep 3, 2015 11:33
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