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  It’s the deep breath before the plunge. This is the sixth entry in our larger look at the Ace Combat series’ Strangereal-based games. Much like the previous LPs I helped create with my partner in LP Crime Blind Sally, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Killzone/Killzone: Liberation/Killzone 2 /Killzone 3, this LP will also be an in-depth look at the fictional history, politics, setting, and characters of Ace Combat’s Strangereal shared universe as told over the course of multiple games and done in in-universe chronological order. HOWEVER! Ace Combat X actually takes place after Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown in the timeline, but rather than end this project on a whimper PSP game we’re going to be tackling X first before finishing up this project once and for all with Skies Unknown later in the year. Games covered thus far:
  The “dawn of a new chronicle” is Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception’s production tag line, when really it should have said “the end of an era”. Because it and Ace Combat 6 were the last two Strangereal games made before the franchise drifted off into la la land with the likes of Joint Assault and Assault Horizon. Ace Combat X is one of the more oddball entries in the mainline Ace Combat franchise, in that it’s clearly a part of the franchise, yet it’s also one of the more easily ignorable parts of it, being set off in the “distant” future of 2020 and set for the first time in the southern hemisphere of Strangereal and involving virtually no mainline country we’ve seen thus far outside of Osea, albeit obliquely. It inhabits the same kind of “if you want to, I guess” canonicity zone as Assault Horizon Legacy and Electrosphere do—in the outer orbit of the “Golden Trilogy + 6 & 7” tentpole zone. The Aces At War: A History 2019 art and lore book that came with the Strangereal/Aces At War editions of Ace Combat 7 doesn’t even include X as a footnote, so that shows you where Project ACES stands on it as of real world year of 2020 itself. And this is very much by design. Because X is inescapably a PSP game. It’s one of the PSP-est of PSP games. Because only lunatics release a game for a handheld platform that has actual continuity ramifications for the rest of its console-based series. Hence the X in Ace Combat X, which might as well be Ace Combat * for what it’s worth. It’s Project ACES’ way of hedging their bets on it. It’s a side game for the PSP and they didn’t want to glorify it with a number like they at least did with Zero. Otherwise X would be the true Ace Combat 6, Ace Combat 6 would be Ace Combat 7, and we’d all be celebrating the glorious return to form that was Ace Combat 8: Skies Unknown right now. So what does this game concern itself with, now that I’ve spend three paragraphs telling you how  ? Well, Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception tells the story of the war between the Democratic Republic of Leasath (a stand-in for every South American military dictatorship since the 1800s) and the Federal Republic of Aurelia (Strangereal’s stand-in for Australia, since a physical Australia analog does on exists/is replaced by Usea). The main narrative is relayed to us by our old friend Albert Genette of the Osea Times, the narrator of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. Genette has come to Aurelia to cover the war for the Times as a war correspondent and has found himself trapped in the southern hemisphere now that the country has fallen under Leasath occupation.However, as the Aurelians launch a desperate counterattack to retake their homeland from Leasath, Genette finds himself falling into the inner circle of Leasath’s dictator, General Diego Gaspar Navarro. Genette quickly surmises that something is amiss in the southern hemisphere, and it’s not just the war. For Navarro is a man of secrets and lies, and uncovering his deceptions could once again turn the tide of history. Ace Combat X also spawned two other games from its engine, the non-sequel Ace Combat: Joint Assault (also called Ace Combat X²: Joint Assault), which was set on real world Earth, and Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion, a halfway port/prequel made for the iPhone and iPad iOS platform. Skies of Incursion tells the story of the ten days leading up to the start of Skies of Deception’s storyline from the perspective of Falco Squadron, a B-Team group who cross paths with Gryphus 1 near the end of Deception. It was released in 2009, but pulled from the AppStore at some point before 2015 for unknown reasons. Meaning copies of it in the wild are exceedingly rare. That said, SA goon Ashsaber is one of the lucky(?) few who still has a functioning copy of Xi and has volunteered to give us an after action report on it and where it lines up with relevant events in X. So stay tuned for those as well between updates. I have yet had anyone offer to take a swing at Joint Assault, but if anyone feels up to it, you are more than welcome to try just so that it’s not the one that got away… Also for the record, this LP is utilizing the Ace Combat X HD Texture Pack created by Super Ostrich. The pack utilizes the texture replacer feature in PPSSPP’s Developer Tools options to replace the stock SD textures for playable and enemy aircraft, HUD readouts, and tactical map displays with high definition ones. This makes the game look infinitely more presentable when played via an emulator on the PC. A similar pack is also available for Joint Assault too.   Project ACES' Ace Combat franchise is a sprawling mass of games spread out over many different consoles and handheld platforms with several wholly unrelated continuities depending on which sub-set of games you want to look at. The games most people are familiar with and have played, however, are the ones we will be covering over the course of this Mega LP: the ones set in Strangereal. These of course are That said, I will not be covering the following games: 
  Now, the uninitiated among you might be asking yourself “What the gently caress is a The majority of the Ace Combat games are set in a shared universe setting that has been dubbed by fans as the “Strangereal” world. The name originated from a trailer for Ace Combat 04 which contained the phrase “A strange, real world.” Fans compacted the phrase into the portmanteau of “Strangereal” to describe the setting of the game. As you can see by the two world maps (the left one is “canon”, the right one is fan-interpolated conjecture), the world of the Ace Combat series shares a number of similarities to our own while also being radically different. Namco itself would come to adopt the term Strangereal to describe the setting in more recent Ace Combat games such as Ace Combat: Infinity. It has also been implied that the Ridge Racer series also takes place in Strangereal, as background worldbuilding elements and settings from the Ace Combat games appear various Ridge Racer games, particularly the character of Reiko Nagase, who is implied to be a relative of several other Nagases who appear throughout the Ace Combat franchise. Project Aces also previewed a trio of concept games at the dawn of the PlayStation3-era that used the Strangereal setting as well. They were, in no particular order, Brave Arms, a Metal Gear Solid 4/Bionic Commando third-person action/espionage game set in the Kingdom of Sapin; Second Season 01, a first-person cop drama game which appeared to be set in Oured, Osea; and Chain Lim!t, an Alpha Protocol-style action spy game with multiple user-determined solutions to action problems. All three games were either cancelled shortly after their announcement or were just internal proof-of-concepts that somehow were teased to the public as actual games before being pulled. Either way, they remain just another aspect of the enduring enigma that is Strangereal. The Strangereal world is a massive, intriguing, and reactive place that gets developed a little more with each Ace Combat game set in it and elements of this setting speak to each other across multiple games. We’re going to be looking at this setting from a near-pedantically scholarly viewpoint, so I hope you all have your over-analysis caps on like I do! Because this is a thinking man’s LP, not one of those “Shoot Visari in the face—RICO NO!!!” LPs. (Actually it is one of those LPs, don’t tell anyone though!) For the purpose of this LP series, we will be following the games in (mostly) in-universe chronological order from 1995 to 2020. The order we will be going in will be Zero > 2 > 04 > 5 > 6 > X > 7. X ultimately comes after 7 in the timeline, but 7 makes for a better finale, but if you’re that desperate for rigid continuity, then just read/watch it after 7, if you’re so inclined. For more information about the Ace Combat franchise, please consult Acepedia, the Ace Combat Wiki. (Note: there’s a lot of bullshit conjecture stuff on the AC Wiki, so read at your own risk. Also, lots of unmarked spoilers for the whole franchise.)  I’d prefer you didn’t post spoilers, if you are one of those people who do know what happens in this and subsequent games. So try to avoid letting huge things that could ruin the game for people who are experiencing it fresh slip out like how Gryphus 1 is actually Santa, or that Diego Navarro is just a pastiche of every South American dictator ever. Because that poo poo just sucks. 
Prologue nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Dec 15, 2023 |
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  Hello, Ashsaber here. I'll be covering Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion, the mobile game made based on X, as a sibling game to X. Back in 2010 I watched TyrantSabre's LP of Ace Combat 6 and was entranced, and I decided I needed to get into the series. I devoured my way through 6 and X, but lacking a PS2 of my own and knowing that the Golden Trilogy was old enough that it would have been nigh impossible to find any of those games I turned to Xi, released in 2010 on the itunes store. It was not exactly able to live up to expectations. While I lack the ability to do video, I assure you you aren't missing much, especially not my fat thumb flying. The game is fairly slow and awkward, and all coms chatter is pretty much ripped straight from X because Skies of Incursion is not exactly a story heavy game, nor does it really expand upon the world. What it does have is fairly simple, and mostly outside of game play, but I will try to show off what is relevant. 
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Time to bust out my dancing shoes 
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Skies of Deception Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Attract Movie Mission 1: Skies of Deception – October 20th, 2020 | (Redo) Ace Combat X moves us ahead four years from the end of the Emmeria-Estovakia war of 2015/2016, and one year past the end of the Lighthouse War between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea in 2019. It also begins one year after the end of the Leasath Civil War, which raged from an unspecified date until late summer/early fall of 2019 as well. With the civil war over, a new military regime led by General Diego Gaspar Navarro has seized power in Leasath and has sworn to bring all of South Osea under Leasath rule as “retribution for years abuse”, starting with their southern neighbor, the Federal Republic of Aurelia. Leasath struck suddenly and mercilessly, pushing the Aurelians back to the very southern cost of the country with the might of their military and their super weapon, the invisible flying fortress Gleipnir and its shockwave burst missile ordinance (SWBM). In only 10 days, they have seized control of 90% of the country and have entrenched themselves in the Aurelian capital city of Griswall. At this point all seems about lost for the Aurelians... Overview: A flight of Leasath bombers is approaching Aubrey Air Base at Cape Aubrey, the last standing Aurelian military facility in the country. If Aubrey AFB is destroyed, the war is over. Gryphus Squadron is scrambled from Aubrey Base under the command of a young AWACS operator named Eugene Solano (codename Crux) and a pilot known only by the TAC Name Gryphus 1.   GRYPHUS SQUADRON Aurelian Air Force 207th Tactical Fighter Squadron* Members:
Squadron Composition: F-5E Phantom II (x5), later Player Determined An Aurelian Air Force squadron based out of Aubrey AFB in Cape Aubrey. Little information is known about Gryphus Squadron directly prior to the start of the Aurelian counter-strike operation against Leasath. Even their official squadron number is still in dispute thanks to the general disarray in materials and information created by the sudden attack on Aurelia and the AAF’s hasty retreat and reformation around defense lines in southern Aurelia. Photographic evidence taken by unknown sources prior to the squadron’s disastrous encounter with the Gleipnir over Cape Aubrey list it as the 247th Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Aubrey AFB, while later intelligence material disclosed by the Republic of Emmeria Air Force lists Gryphus as the 207th Tactical Fighter Squadron from Aubrey. The Aurelian Air Force has thus far declined to comment on the discrepancy. Regardless, Gryphus’ first flight under its new commander and AWACS operator Eugene “Crux” Solano proved devastating to the squadron, as the mission was interceded by an attack from the Leasath flying fortress Gleipnir and its SWBM weapon. While Aubrey Base was saved, Gryphus 2, Gryphus 3, and Gryphus 4 were all shot down and killed as their planes were torn apart by the SWBM’s shockwave. Only Gryphus 1 survived the attack unscathed, while Gryphus 5 escaped with moderate damage to their plane. Lacking the manpower to restore the squadron to its proper five ship formation, Solano was forced to deploy Gryphus from that point on as a single plane flight element consisting of Gryphus 1 alone and supplemented by additional unaffiliated units where possible. Solano had remembered the success a single ship flight element had had during the Shattered Skies War on Usea in 2004 and hoped beyond hope that a little bit of Mobius 1’s magic would rub off on the scared but surviving Gryphus 1.    GRYPHUS 1 Real Name: Unknown (Player Determined) Callsign(s): Gryphus 1, Sir, Southern Cross, Nemesis Age: Early 30’s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: Player choice (F-22A Raptor or XFA-24A Apalis in all canon material) Voice Actor: None Captain, commander, and flight lead of the Gryphus Team. Much his personal history is sealed under order of the Aurelian Air Force’s Intelligence Division. The only known facts about him at present is that he is, or rather was, functionally, the flight lead of Gryphus Squadron stationed at Aubrey Air Force Base just up the coast from Cape Aubrey. Being stationed at basically the last air base on the extreme southern tip of Aurelia proved a stroke of immense luck for Gryphus 1 when it came to the Leasath blitz invasion of Aurelia. It left him and his squadron mates as virtually the last operational squadron left in Aurelia as the Leasath forces solidified their grip on northern and eastern Aurelia. His surviving the SWBM explosion from the Gleipnir while the rest of Gryphus Squadron was wiped out is a testament to his skill as a pilot, or perhaps just his sheer luck… As a matter of trivia, Gryphus 1 is the only player character who can potentially have a real name, albeit in a meta-game sense. When you create a new save file on your PSP for Ace Combat X, you are asked to input both a real name and TAC name for Gryphus 1. Neither of these are referenced anywhere but on your save data, but it is a nice little piece of minutia regardless.  CRUX Real Name: Eugene Solano Callsign(s): Crux Age: Late 20s – Early 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: E-767 Voice Actor: Michael Naishtut A young Aurelian Air Force AWACS operator recently cleared for flight operations at Aubrey Air Force Base. Though nervous and inexperienced, Solano is a fast learner and a dedicated soldier to his homeland. The loss of 4/5ths of his primary fighter squadron on his first mission as battlefield control steeled his resolve to never lose another plane under his care so long as he could help it. He is clearly an admirer of Gryphus 1’s from even before the start of the game, becoming slightly flustered when having to deal with him directly, and constantly referring to him as Sir, despite possibly outranking him. (Acepedia speculates he may in fact only be a 2nd Lieutenant and thus actually an inferior officer to Gryphus 1, who would be a Captain as the flight lead of Gryphus). Much like Keynote from Assault Horizon Legacy, Crux will be pulling double duty as both our intel officer overseeing our briefings and debriefs, and our in-field AWACS operator too.  GENETTE Real Name: Albert Genette Callsign(s): None Age: 42 Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: None Voice Actor: Peter von Gomm Our old buddy Albert Genette returns from Ace Combat 5 to once again fill the role of narrator for Skies of Deception’s interstitial story cutscenes. We catch up with Genette ten years after his career-making exploits covering the Circum-Pacfic war between the Osean Federation and Union of Yuktobanian Republics from the very heart of the conflict. A decade’s worth of time and experience however have turned the slightly naive and optimistic man seen in Ace Combat 5 into a more jaded and cynical reporter at the mid point of his career and finding himself in the midst of yet another war. He has come to Aurelia to cover the Leasath invasion for the Osea Times as a war correspondent, but has found himself drawn into the inner circle of General Diego Gaspar Navarro, the supreme commander of Leasath’s military and head of its junta government, now residing in Aurelia’s capital city of Griswall. With the occupying Leasath forces exercising tight control over media sources and keeping journalists on a short but lavish leash, Genette has become increasingly bored of simply being a stenographer for Navarro’s repetitive propaganda speeches and a captive guest at his dinner parties at his provisional capitol palace, Gaiuss Tower. At the outset, Genette doesn’t seem too invested in one side or the other’s victory. He just hopes someone wins period, and wins soon so he can go home back to Osea. However, as news begins to filter in to Griswall about the little squadron that could bearing the Southern Cross from Cape Aubrey, a touch of his old fire returns, inspiring him to start pulling the threads on Navarro’s coat of lies that his fellow reporters in Griswall seem utterly oblivious to...  NAVARRO Real Name: Diego Gaspar Navarro Callsign(s): None Age: Mid 50s Sex: Male Nationality: Leasath Signature Plane: None Voice Actor: Uncredited The commanding officer of the Leasath military and its de facto head of state. He also has strong ties to Leasath’s private sector arms manufacturing industries. Navarro rose to power in the Fall of 2019, almost unnoticed as the world was plunged into chaos by the disruption of the global satellite network during the Lighthouse War between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea over the International Space Elevator in Gunther Bay and the death of a beloved leader and visonary. Navarro emerged as the commander of of the victorious faction of the Leasath Civil War, which swept the impoverished nation’s unstable civilian government out of power in favor of military rule. Upon the declaration of ceasefire between the combatants, Navarro proclaimed himself dictator, seizing Leasath’s capital city of Alendal, executing his rivals and enemies and enshrining his closest lieutenants into power as a de facto government, not at at all unlike Gustav Dvornik and his Generals did in Estovakia in the northern hemisphere nearly a decade prior. General Navarro’s early rule consisted of a massive consolidation of power and wealth and expansion of Leasath’s military forces, as well as the commissioning of the terrifying Gleipnir heavy command cruiser to serve as Leasath’s flagship for its implementing military takeover of South Osea. Both military strategy and political maneuvering come naturally to Navarro. Not only did he win the civil war for his country’s reigns of power, but his invasion of Aurelia was also a smashing success, taking over 95% of Aurelian territory in under 10 days with minimal losses thanks in large part to the Gleipnir and its SWBM super weapon. Since then, Navarro has been strutting around the world stage acting as though he has already won, declaring victory over Aurelia and transitioning his forces from invasion to occupation. His raw charisma has made him a media darling, even if global media has shown him to be a warmongering lunatic in line with Waldmarr Rald, Gustav Dvornik, Rosa Cossette D'Elise, and the old Belkan Grey Men. Regardless, at the moment, Diego Gaspar Navarro has every right to feel like an invincible victor. However, there seems to be a darker shadow behind his calculated bravado and the dictatorial opulence he presents to the world. His rhetoric of retribution for years of abuse and exploitation of Leasath by the richer nations of the world like Osea, Emmeria and Aurelia does not seem to jive with official records of aid efforts organized by the Assembly of Nations and how Navarro seems to have amassed such vast personal wealth with virtually no paper trail. So far the world seems to be buying Navarro’s official state-sponsored story on Leasath’s rise to power. But sooner or later people are going to start asking questions about how one of the poorest nations on the planet produced one of the most powerful militaries in recent history and the most advanced flying fortress since the P-1112 Aigaion stalked the Fuscum Sea.  RICK Real Name: Rick [LAST NAME UNKNOWN] Callsign(s): Gryphus 2 Age: Early 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: F-4E Phantom II Voice Actor: Uncredited Our dearly departed #2 on the Gryphus Squadron totem pole. Though perhaps that’s for the best, seeing as he routinely buggered up even basic combat flight protocol such as using real names and ranks over open radio frequencies, was openly insubordinate against a superior officer, and then had a meltdown panic moments before his death at the hands of the Gleipnir. And that’s on top of doing relatively jack poo poo all mission. The supplementary short story to Mission 1 Eugene Solano's Memoirs: Skies of Deception does little to salvage Rick's character either, despite being the featured character of its narrative. Described by Solano as rude and a major goofball, he has little time or use for Crux... until it's suddenly too late for him and he dies screaming in terror. Here lies 2nd Lt. Rick: he somehow managed to be a worse wingman than even Shamrock in only 5 minutes of screen time. He will not be missed.  ROY Real Name: Roy [LAST NAME UNKNOWN] Callsign(s): Gryphus 3 Age: Early 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: F-4E Phantom II Voice Actor: Uncredited The recently deceased Gryphus 3. Poor Roy gets comparatively little dialog next to Rick, but he’s shown to at least be calmer and more professional and competent than Gryphus 2. Unfortunately, he is also caught in the blast that kills Gryphus 2 and Gryphus 4 and knocks Gryphus 5 out of commission indefinitely, all in the name of showing you that Leasath isn’t loving around. RIP ROY. He was not our boy.   CAPE AUBREY Home of Aubrey AFB, the small coastal city of Cape Aubrey on Aurelia’s west coast is one of the few population centers in Aurelian territory yet to be occupied by the invading Lesath forces. It is the hometown and home base of Gryphus Team, including Gryphus 1 and their operator Eugene “Crux” Solano. The city features a thriving industrial sector along its coast, but is largely insignificant and regarded as a low-priority target by the Lesathian forces. It was this underestimation that allowed for Gryphus Squadron to fly under the radar and survive the invasion up until now, placing them in prime position to spearhead the counterattack… assuming they can defend Aubrey AFB. To the east lies the Puna Planes and Puna Air Base, and to the south lies the transport hub city of Port Patterson, where Aurelia’s western naval fleet once lied at anchor. Both locations have since fallen under Leasath occupation are are being used as staging areas in strike operations against Cape Aubrey and Aubrey AFB.  GRYPHUS The name Gryphus is derived from the species name of the Andean condor, “Vultur gryphus”. Found in the Andes mountains running down the western coast of South America, the Andean condor, also known as just the condor is the largest flying bird in the world with a wingspan of 10’10” and an average weight of 11 to 15 kg. The condor is also the national bird and symbol of Chile (along with the huemul), one of the nations Aurelia is primarily based upon. As such, the emblem of Gryphus Squadron is a condor clutching the Southern Cross constellation in its smug rear end beak.  THE SOUTHERN CROSS Known by the asterism the Southern Cross, the constellation Crux (from where Eugene Solano gets his TAC Name) is one of the more easily recognizable constellations in the southern hemisphere and is the counterpart to Cygnus, also known as the Northern Cross. The four stars that comprise the cross of the constellation (Gacrux (γ Cru), Mimosa (β Cru), Acrux (α Cru A), and Imai (δ Cru)) have an apparent visual magnitude of +2.8, making them among the most visible stars in the night sky. The stars of Crux were known to the Ancient Greeks, and the astronomer Ptolemy erroneously cataloged them as a part of the constellation Centaurus, which is about 20° higher in the southern sky than Crux is. The four (sometimes five) stars comprising Crux are featured on the flags and iconography of a number of nations in the southern hemisphere including Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, the Australian state of Victoria, and on the battle flag of the Australian Eureka Rebellion, among other places. Basically, get ready to hear the term “Southern Cross” thrown about with reckless abandon, as the emblem of Gryphus Squadron is going to become shorthand for the team and Gryphus 1 in particular. This also further confirms that the cosmology of Strangereal is pretty much a 1:1 parallel to that of real world Earth’s as this is now at least the fifth major constellation mentioned or alluded to in an Ace Combat game after Aquila, Cygnus, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia.  GLEIPNIR Much of the data on the Leasathian airborn fortress codenamed Gleipnir is currently unavailable due to the information disruption experienced by the AAF’s battle network as a result of the invasion. More details are certain to emerge in time, but at present only a few key facts are known about the craft through the few survivors of direct engagements with it. The craft appears to be a massive heavy command cruiser type airship akin to creations like the Belkan XB-0 Hresvelgr, the Erusean XB-10 Big Bad Mama, or the Estovakian P-1112 Aigaion, though nowhere on the scale of the latter. And with the destruction of the AAS-01 Liberty and AAS-02 Justice Arsenal Birds during the Lighthouse War one year ago, the Gleipnir is now the largest airborne object currently in existence. The craft appears to be entirely of Leasathian propriety design, though Aurelian Intelligence has not yet ruled out any possible involvement from Belkan ex-patriots, or firms such as North Osea Gründer Industries in its development. The craft has one known sister ship, its own prototype, codenamed the Gandr, which was pressed into service on Navarro’s order over the objection of Leasath Air Force brass and subsequently destroyed by the Falco Squadron of the Aurelian Air Force several weeks prior to the attack over Cape Aubrey that wiped out Gryphus Squadron. The Gleipnir’s currently know capabilities include launch abilities for devastating Shockwave Burst Missiles (SWBM), and a revolutionary 360° optical camouflage system utilizing retro-reflective paneling and stealth technology on the aircraft’s hull to effectively render it invisible to both visual and radar detection. MORE DETAILS FORTHCOMING, STANDBY The name Gleipnir itself is derived from the magical binding forged by the Dwarves in Norse mythology that holds the mighty wolf and child of Loki, Fenrir, at bay. Fenrir slipping loose from Gleipnir’s bind and devouring Odin is one of the key events of the Norse apocalypse, Ragnarok. The Gleipnir binding itself is said to be made of six impossible ingredients: the sound of a cat’s footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of bear, the breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird.  GAIUSS TOWER The tallest building in the southern hemisphere and centerpiece of the skyline of the Aurelian capital city, Griswall. Few buildings rival it in height, among them being the International Space Elevator off the southern coast of Usea. The conjoined twin towers were originally built to be a symbol of Aurelia’s longstanding peace and prosperity and were a hub of commerce and finance, but since the invasion, the Leasath forces have encircled the building and turned it into their central command headquarters in the occupied nation. Since taking Griswall, General Diego Gaspar Navarro has assumed residency in Gaiuss Tower and has taken to holding nightly banquet parties in the observation lounge of tower, playing host to his own military underlings, the international press, and various Leasath, Aurelian, and international oligarchs who have come to Griswall to bask in Navarro’s opulence. Few question where Navarro is getting the money to hold such lavish events on such a recurring basis, though it is clear to anyone paying attention that they are paid for with the plundered wealth of Aurelia, to an almost spiteful degree of excess. The general public has been barred from entering or approaching Gaiuss Tower while Navarro occupies it, and the Leasath military is currently in the process of fortifying its surroundings and modifying the Atmos Ring encircling it for some as yet unknown purpose. The name Gaiuss is derived from Gaius, a Latin given name popular among citizens of the Roman Empire and second only to Lucius in popularity. One possible origin of the name comes from the word gaudere, meaning “to rejoice.” It also shares an uncertain linkage with Gaia (also spelled Gaea), the Greek personification of the Earth and one of the primordial deities who birthed the Titans and their descendants the Olympians.    AURELIA Full Name: The Federal Republic of Aurelia Capital: Griswall Continent: South Osea Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) Government: Federal parliamentary representative democracy Real World Analog: Argentina, Chile, Australia The beacon of the south. Comprised of a mixture of indigenous peoples and settlers from northern Osea and the Kingdom of Sapin who arrived during the Middle Ages, the nation of Aurelia has a long and storied history of both war and peace. Its capital city of Griswall’s founding dates back the Age of Exploration and can be found on many early maps of the world. Eventually, the fractious Aurelian states consolidated into a single federal republic capitulating to a government in Griswall and comprised of four provinces. The Federal Republic of Aurelia is both the southern most and largest nation in South Osea, as well as the richest. Its position in the southern hemisphere protected it from the ravages of the Ulysses 1994XF04 impact in July of 1999. And with its economy and infrastructure intact while Usea, Anea, North Osea and Verusa spent a decade in recovery, Aurelia has emerged as a world leader in various scientific and technological sectors. Its proprietary aerospace firms have even mass produced several models of fighter aircraft presently unseen anywhere else in the world, including the alleged XFA-27 Scarface, previously thought lost at the end of the Usean Continental War of 1998. Aurelia also saw an influx of refugees from areas afflicted by Ulysses, being one of the few remaining safe and stable places on the planet in the chaotic aftermath of Ulysses Day. Much like its diametric counterpart in the north, Emmeria, Aurelia welcomed these new citizens with open arms and provided them with safe housing and work in its economy, catapulting its GDP to unprecedented heights and it remains a world leader to this day, especially with the Osean Federation just beginning its recovery process from the so-called Lighthouse War a year earlier. In recent years, Aurelia has begun full scale research of meson energy production through particle accelerators in an attempt to better understand the nature of the universe. One of these particle accelerator facilities, the Atmos Ring, is the pride of the Aurelian capital of Griswall and a counterpart to its main landmark, Gaiuss Tower. The name Aurelia is a feminine derivative of the name Aurelius, which is derived from the Latin word for gold, aurum. Names of various locales around Aurelia are also derived from words in various South American native languages.   LEASATH Full Name: The Democratic Republic of Leasath Capital: Alendal Continent: South Osea Head of State: General Diego Gaspar Navarro Government: Military dictatorship Real World Analog: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, various South and Latin American dictatorships Also known as the Peoples Republic of Leasath. If its southern neighbor Aurelia is one of the shining post-Ulyesses success stories, then Leasath is one of the world’s most infamous failed states and most well-known remaining military dictatorships now that the Federal Republic of Estovakia has restored civilian leadership to its nation following the death of its dictator Gustav Dvornik at Sonne Island and its military’s official surrender in April of 2016. Leasath’s economy had been in shambles for years prior to Navarro’s rise to power, and social unrest was rampant, leaving it a veritable tinderbox just waiting for a spark to set it ablaze. When simultaneous anti-satellite strikes by the Kingdom of Erusea and the Osean Federation created a Kessler Syndrome catastrophe in orbit and knocked out the global information network in late September of 2019, Leasath was one of several nations around the globe that erupted into civil war during the chaotic aftermath. Eventually, forces led by Diego Gaspar Navarro emerged victorious. Prior to Diego Navarro seizing power, stable governments in the nation were a rarity, and often fell through political weakness or civil unrest, and Navarro is far from the first military strongman to sit in the government palace in Alendal. For years, the world’s richer nations have supported Leasath through generous aid donations in both food, supplies, and money. The Osean Federation, Republic of Emmeria, and Federation of Central Usea are among its top benefactors, but its single largest donor of relief aid and funds is its southern neighbor, the Federal Republic of Aurelia. Despite this, the Leasath government routinely claims it is being exploited by these nations. And there is a kernel of truth to this claim, as Osean and Yuktobanian oil and resource companies have plundered Lesathian oil and mineral resource claims for decades, taking advantage of constant unrest in the nation while their governments send meager recompense in return. As the world’s attention was tuned to the fighting on Usea between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea over the International Space Elevator in Gunther Bay, the latest round of tensions flared in Lesath and exploded into a full-blown civil war. After months of fighting, and with the Osean military and International Union Peacekeeping Forces occupied on Usea, there was no one to step in and quell the conflict and eventually General Diego Gaspar Navarro emerged victorious from the fray. Navarro quickly disposed of his enemies and consolidated his power in Alendal, but his real plan was to unite all of South Osea into a single state in what he promised would be an unending series of wars with the alleged intent of challenging the Osean Federation and its allies around the world, or at least holding enough clout to extort them even more than he already was. One of the great modern mysteries of the post-Circum Pacific War era world is where exactly all the aid money from the superpowers has gone in Leasath. By all outward accounts, the people of Leasath are largely impoverished and suffering, with a non-existent middle class and rampant inflation leaving most Lesathian households pulling in the equivalent of barely Ƶ1,000 OFD a year with at least three working family members. And yet, the Leasath army, air force, and navy are among the most advanced and strongest military branches on the planet, claimed to be a match at the very least for the Kingdom of Erusea in strength at the outset of the Aurelian War. And that doesn’t even factor in Lesath’s flying fortress and Navarro’s personal pride, the Gleipnir. The story of Navarro’s financial deceptions are just sitting bare waiting to be broken to the world and to the people of Leasath themselves. And as it happens, one of the world’s best journalists has the dictator and his pocketbook at arm’s reach now...   OSEA Full Name: The Osean Federation Capital: Oured Continent: North Osea Head of State: President Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic Real World Analog: The United States of America As is par for the course, the Osean Federation’s shadow looms long across Ace Combat X. Having just suffered a brutal pyrrhic victory in the Lighthouse War against the Kingdom of Erusea, the Osean Federation is left to gaze into Harling’s Mirror and think upon their sins and their losses. With their naval fleet decimated by Erusean precision attacks and the Osean Air Defense Force in a state of upheaval after events still classified from public view, the “world police” are in no condition to interfere with anyone’s affairs at the moment, let along Aurelia and Leasath’s. So as the Southern Hemisphere ignites below their borders, the Osean public watches with perhaps mild interest, if any at all. Covering the war for the Osea Times is award-winning photojournalist Albert Genette, but that is basically our only real connection to Osea’s presence in the game. The standard refrain, “Osea is not the good guys” remains in effect, but they are thankfully hands off for the duration of Ace Combat X. For now, just keep what I’ve said in mind, because after we’re done here, we’re gonna take a step back in time one year prior and find out just what exactly happened to knock Osea off its high and mighty rocker...  As a part of the supplementary materials for Ace Combat X published on a now-defuct portion of Project ACES’s website, there were three short stories written as well. Two of them are told from the perspective of Eugene Solano, and recount his point of view on the events of Skies of Deception and Standoff in the Skies II. The third story is written from the POV of the captain the Gleipnir, Frank Burlington, and recounts Standoff in the Skies II from the Leasath perspective. All three stories also include never before seen supplementary artwork done by the game’s cutscene story artists. They also confirm at the very least that both Ice Bound and Standoff In the Skies II are the “canon” versions of Missions 6 and 7, and also depict Gryphus 1 as flying the XFA-24 Apalis during Mission 7. Two of these stories were translated into English by the folks at Electrosphere.info. The third one, “Standoff in the Skies II: Leasath Side” was done by me for this LP. EUGENE SOLANO’S MEMOIRS: SKIES OF DECEPTION quote:To tell the truth, I had a hard time growing fond of the emblem of Gryphus Squadron. I couldn't help but feel that its design, a condor wearing a complacent smile, beefed up the atmosphere of a provincial base. It just wouldn't make me feel fit.  Now that we’re passed Ace Combat 6 the Assault Records section returns to being an Artifact Title. Named Aces return in Ace Combat X and can be spawned in each mission by completing certain hidden sub-objectives. Shooting them down will unlock a special paint scheme for their respective planes to be purchased upon the completion of Single Player Mode. Unlike previous Ace Combats except for Ace Combat 2, Named Aces will spawn in a first time playthrough of Ace Combat X. In prior games, Named Aces would only spawn in New SP Game runs or on Hard difficulty or higher for a first run game. Skies of Deception also introduces a second type of spawnable enemies: Star Units. Denoted by a ★ beside their target name, Star Units will appear in various maps as optional targets that, when shot down, will unlock new parts to customize your aircraft with. Star Units begin appearing in Mission 3B and later; there are no Star Units in Mission 1, 2, or 3A. 
MANTA   Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Soundtrack Composers: Hitoshi Akiyama, Maiko Iuchi, Seiji Koike, Akira Yamasaki Release: 2006* (No official soundtrack release) Discs: None Tracks: 41 Being a PSP game, Skies of Deception did not receive a proper soundtrack release. Information on its soundtrack is highly fragmentary at best, as there is no official track listings for any of the songs that appear on it, let alone official names. The onboard music player doesn’t list any track names or give any indication of a playlist order, and is incomplete as well, with the multiple tracks from the game left out. So it’s basically a free-for-all in terms of what you want to go with. I will be uploading the soundtrack on my YouTube page with best guess approximations of a playlist order and track names, as the complete soundtrack is not available on YouTube and otherwise only available through  . Track names are based on the missions they appear in or what gameplay segment they appear over.The above “cover art” for the soundtrack was made by me, styled after a lower-res version made by a user on the A9VG BBS forums whose user name I couldn’t readily find and also appears to have been banned so RIP that guy, I guess. If you would like to use my version of it for whatever purpose, *wink wink*, by all means, go right ahead. Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC X
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Jan 18, 2023 |
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Mar 1, 2019 19:47
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Navaro can go dance with deez nuts. I regret a little.
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Mar 1, 2019 20:46
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Ok, I get it. We're cops, right? Plane cops.
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Mar 1, 2019 20:51
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It certainly looks like a duck, and kinda quacks like a duck. But it is really a duck? Also feels like I should finish AC7 before long.
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Mar 1, 2019 21:47
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Hello, Ashsaber here. I'll be covering Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion, the mobile game made based on X, as a sibling game to X. Back in 2010 I watched TyrantSabre's LP of Ace Combat 6 and was entranced, and I decided I needed to get into the series. I devoured my way through 6 and X, but lacking a PS2 of my own and knowing that the Golden Trilogy was old enough that it would have been nigh impossible to find any of those games I turned to Xi, released in 2010 on the itunes store. It was not exactly able to live up to expectations. While I lack the ability to do video, I assure you you aren't missing much, especially not my fat thumb flying. The game is fairly slow and awkward, and all coms chatter is pretty much ripped straight from X because Skies of Incursion is not exactly a story heavy game, nor does it really expand upon the world. What it does have is fairly simple, and mostly outside of game play, but I will try to show off what is relevant.   For the purposes of this thread I will be doing a new playthough of the campaign, on normal difficulty.       This game does not get pretty briefings, it gets text dump briefings that contain all of the game's plot, thus I will endeavor to bring you it unaltered. Right now we are at the very beginning of the war, and Aurelia is getting its poo poo pushed in by Leasath's surprise attacks. Now we need to defend our air base, which is close to the capital from bombers. So, this is the standard Ace Combat opening mission, take down some bombers and their escorts. Don't want to be too overpowered, so lets use something low level, like the Fishbed.  Wait, what? Yes, all real world planes in this game are paid DLC, which I don't think I could get even if I wanted to. Therefore lets go with what we actually have available.  That's more like it, one of the total of five planes you can use without DLC, the XFA-27 is both the best I have open to me and the only one we've seen in previous games, and it is only available since I beat the game once before on Easy. Why do we not get access to real world planes? Do note the lack of both special weapons and ammo counts in the hangar. The game is quite simple, so special weapons aren't possible, and on at least anything under hard you don't have a limit on missiles either. Now, when you start the game you get a tutorial every time. I'll be covering most of it myself, but there is something that needs to be understood.  The default control scheme is tilt controls. This is not very good, for a number of reasons. Most importantly, you cannot re-calibrate without going back to the title screen, so if anything goes even slightly wrong you are careening into the scenery. In addition I am playing this game on an iPod Touch, which has a screen smaller than a credit card. Holding it at arms length and trying to both see what is going on and control everything is a nightmare. Now, lets actually get into the game play.   Well, would you look at that. We actually have a squadron, I feel like this is the only mission in the game where we actually have them with us. They're useless as hell, but they're here for moral support. Not sure why they're in Migs rather than Apalis, kinda breaks the idea that we're supposed to be an experimental squadron, but whatever. Now, before I explain all the controls, and how things go, say hello to our lovely AWACS, AWACS. AWACS is Crux without any personality at all, literally. All his soundbites are straight from X, but you only get the generic ones. Onto actual important stuff, clockwise from top:
As to the opposition here, its a few bombers and a small number of Fishbeds that fly in mostly straight lines.   Enemies who also steal all their lines from the mooks in the first mission of X proper. Not the interesting lines that allies may react to, just the boring ones. The major saving grace when playing this is that missiles are very, very generous about hitting enemies. Generally make sure they are at least towards the center of the screen when locked on and you will likely score a kill, regardless the orientation. Also, the Migs at least only took a single missile to kill each, though from a combination of series wide habit and difficulty in quickly swapping targets and firing I used two for each.  To be quite honest there really isn't much to say about this mission, its early game guff. Hell the first half of this game is early game guff. There really isn't much to show for quite a while, but I will do my best to show you what there is. Due to me having difficulty with the controls the mission took two and a half minutes, not too bad. What were the results?  A total of ten enemies. No, we don't get a debrief, or a replay, those are a bit too much for this game, so all we can do is go back to the menu or continue onward. Next time, we defend another base. An important one!   Falco Squadron Experimental Flight Technology Evaluation Squadron "Falco" Members
The squadron mostly uses experimental, mostly COFFIN equiped craft, such as the XFA-24A Apalis (seen on the title at the top there), the YR-302 Fregata and the XR-45 Cariburn. Since we've never seen any of these craft before, I decided not to let your first exposure be on the tiny little screen of my old ipod, but instead be in the main game, though that won't be for quite a bit. Falco squad also has access to multiple standard planes, such as the MiG-21-93 and the F-22, though the player doesn't without shelling out real money. The emblem for Falco Squadron, like Gryphus, features the southern cross heavily. Mostly, it seems, so we can be called the Southern Cross to save on audio recycling. And, no, that isn't just me being lazy on the members of the team. They are never even given a simple callsign like Falco 2 or Falco 3, as that would probably require more voice work, so it was never going to happen.   Phuku Lagolla Air Base An air base just southwest of Griswall, home to the Falco Squadron. Not really much else to say about it, though.  ?Falco To be serious, Falco is Italian for Hawk, and mostly serves to reinforce Aurelia's bird naming scheme for it squadrons.
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Mar 1, 2019 22:14
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The entirety of Xi takes place between the war beginning and the first mission of X. I will be posting one update for each of the first eight missions of X, as by that point we should be past the only thing that Xi could possibly spoil about X. Trust me, you aren't missing anything by getting the cliff's notes on the missions, nothing plot relevant happens during the missions themselves.
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Mar 1, 2019 22:22
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Man, trying to play an Ace Combat game on an iPhone sounds absolutely miserable to me. Kudos to you for tackling it.
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Mar 1, 2019 22:35
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Ground floor on an already great thread. May the southern cross protect our sanity
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Mar 1, 2019 23:25
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Ground floor, bitches! Hell yeah! Been eagerly waiting for this LP ever since 4 ended. Also, baldurk needs to get off his butt and archive the other LPs in this series; getting tired of seeing 404s when I click those links!
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Mar 1, 2019 23:45
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X has always felt like one of the more underrated games in the series to me. Sure the gameplay's trimmed back a bit due to PSP hardware and the plot is just kind of there in comparison, but I love the trance/techno feel of a lot of the soundtrack and Project Aces knew how to squeeze every last drop of fun gameplay out of this. Also I appreciate the references to the clusterfuck that is the fallout of the plot of Ace Combat 7 in the write-ups. It just emphasizes how messed up things got during it...
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Mar 1, 2019 23:45
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Yay, first page! I've never played X nor have I watched an LP of it so this is the first time I'm ever seeing this game. I think the only interaction I've had with things from X are some Pokemon/Ace Combat crossover pics with the Gleipnir. The voice acting has something off about it, I think. Feels like they're half-assing it. I continue to appreciate your efforts to incorporate X into the larger canon of Strangereal, crow.
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Mar 1, 2019 23:51
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bingsu posted:Yay, first page! I've never played X nor have I watched an LP of it so this is the first time I'm ever seeing this game. I think the only interaction I've had with things from X are some Pokemon/Ace Combat crossover pics with the Gleipnir. The voice acting has something off about it, I think. Feels like they're half-assing it. Yeah, there's a lot of PSP caliber "cheapest actors available" performances in the game. They run the gamut from actually trying, to not giving a poo poo, to TRYING TOO HARD, so it's going to be one hell of a trip. Like, this was done in the same timesphere as 5, Zero, and 6, which had relatively competent big name voices attached to them. So again this is clearly as case of "PSP money" strikes again, like how Brian Cox is in every Killzone game except Liberation because Guerrilla couldn't afford him on PSP money.
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Mar 2, 2019 00:01
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I do like this game even though it was hell on the hands when I played it back on my (first generation) PSP. The music is, as usual for a Ace Combat game, pretty dang good as well.
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Mar 2, 2019 01:30
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Excited to see another AC LP, and godspeed to Ashsaber for jumping on this particular grenade.
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Mar 2, 2019 03:29
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Awesome, I never got around to checking X out. Looking forward to seeing what's in store.
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Mar 2, 2019 04:30
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First time seeing this game here too. The most disappointing thing for me so far is that the voiceovers during missions are compressed to hell and back.
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Mar 2, 2019 04:48
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Oh hell yes, more planes. Oh... hell... more PSP jank...? Good to see you back in action regardless, Crow!
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Mar 2, 2019 08:44
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Ohh man, nice to see this getting LP'd! Loving the writeups making it all canon like and stuff. I played an absolute load of this back when and I think I even 100%'d it somehow. Seconding it being hell on the hands though.
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Mar 2, 2019 11:02
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Never heard of this one, so it'll be interesting to watch.
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Mar 2, 2019 16:49
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Looking forward to seeing more Strangereal!
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Mar 3, 2019 04:50
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"In recent years, Aurelia has begun full scale research of meson energy production through particle accelerators in an attempt to better understand the nature of the universe. One of these particle accelerator facilities, the Atmos Ring, is the pride of the Aurelian capital of Griswall and a counterpart to its main landmark, Gaiuss Tower." Clearly Aurelia is either trying to destroy the world with a Black Hole, or is actually run by ALIENS and is trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD. Leasath did nothing wrong  .Seriously though, Ace Combat X causes some serious continuity problems for Ace Combat 7, because we get to see some sweet COFFIN tech all over the place here, and NAMCO apparently forgot that poo poo even exists for Ace Combat 7. In point of fact, Ace Combat X probably has the best original planes in the series overall, because it's the only game that seems to recognize how silly it is for planes dating literally from the Belkan War to still be near top-of-the-line after the emergence of so many awesome prototypes. We're 20 years out from Electrosphere and all they've managed to do is make the TLS inferior to bog-standard guns. Also, consider a spoiler warning specifically for Ace Combat 7 in that entry blurb: most people here have probably beaten it thrice by now, but there are bound to be a few exceptions.
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Mar 3, 2019 06:29
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thetruegentleman posted:"In recent years, Aurelia has begun full scale research of meson energy production through particle accelerators in an attempt to better understand the nature of the universe. One of these particle accelerator facilities, the Atmos Ring, is the pride of the Aurelian capital of Griswall and a counterpart to its main landmark, Gaiuss Tower." I'm trying to keep the spoilers for 7 to a minimum in the update posts and the commentary, but yeah that's probably a good idea.
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Mar 3, 2019 06:39
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The controls for ACX always stopped me getting past around mission 3, so I can't wait to see what actually happens in this gamethetruegentleman posted:We're 20 years out from Electrosphere and all they've managed to do is make the TLS inferior to bog-standard guns. To be fair even in Electrosphere UPEO and General are still flying the same old planes, albeit modified to use COFFIN systems and sometimes with a few extra canards thrown on for flavour.
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Mar 3, 2019 08:35
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Icedude posted:The controls for ACX always stopped me getting past around mission 3, so I can't wait to see what actually happens in this game I was the same way, not going to lie. Playing it on PPSSPP is so far the only way I've been able to make any real progress on it, and that's kind of a crying shame. It was a game that deserved to be on the PS2, but came out after the PS2 was dead and buried and wasn't up to snuff enough to be on the PS3 or Xbox 360, so it was suck on the PSP with no where to go. I've recorded commentary for the entirety of Part 1 of the game now and the general through line of commentators who weren't experienced with it seems to be "this game looks really solid and good and does some cool things with the hand it was dealt, what is it doing on the PSP?"
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Mar 3, 2019 08:47
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I agree with the general through line of commentators! This game is great and has some really neat ideas going on!
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Mar 3, 2019 16:42
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It's been too long! Good luck, Crow!
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Mar 3, 2019 20:19
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Excited for this! I was stuck between the last two options on the poll, but in the end "CRIMES! CRIMES! CRIMES!" won out. Sorry, "shoot visari."
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Mar 3, 2019 20:33
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MayOrMayNotBeACat posted:Excited for this! The man has been shot enough already, perhaps it’s for the best. CRIMES!, however, are very much in season lately.
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Mar 3, 2019 22:08
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Glad to see this series back on. Never got ACX despite owning a PSP, should be interesting to see what they do with it. It's a bit interesting that they put this far enough out that it's technically after AC7 but I wonder if by the time this was in development they were already shifting their thoughts toward their non-Strangereal titles so figured "eh whatever".
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Mar 3, 2019 22:55
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And just like that, we've got our first portion of the soundtrack! Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Soundtrack Composers: Hitoshi Akiyama, Maiko Iuchi, Seiji Koike, Akira Yamasaki Release: 2006* (No official soundtrack release) Discs: None Tracks: 41 Being a PSP game, Skies of Deception did not receive a proper soundtrack release. Information on its soundtrack is highly fragmentary at best, as there is no official track listings for any of the songs that appear on it, let alone official names. The onboard music player doesn’t list any track names or give any indication of a playlist order, and is incomplete as well, with the multiple tracks from the game left out. So it’s basically a free-for-all in terms of what you want to go with. I will be uploading the soundtrack on my YouTube page with best guess approximations of a playlist order and track names, as the complete soundtrack is not available on YouTube and otherwise only available through . Track names are based on the missions they appear in or what gameplay segment they appear over.The above “cover art” for the soundtrack was made by a user on the A9VG BBS forums whose user name I couldn’t readily find and also appears to have been banned so RIP that guy, I guess. Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC X
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Mar 5, 2019 21:46
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Out of the Fire Mission 2: Out of the Fire – October 22nd, 2020 (Redo) Overview: The severely depleted Gryphus Squadron launches a surprise attack on Puna Base, a Leasath-build front line base on the Puna Plains. Their objective is to strip the base of its defenses and destroy the fleet of B-52s parked on the runway so the army can move in and claim the supplies stockpiled there.  Guest Commentator: I am joined today by the always fantastic Trizophenie, aka the Man Who Made Assault Horizon Legacy possible. Over the course of this LP project he has gone from not knowing a thing about Ace Combat to being one of the lucky few to buy the full bore Strangereal Edition of Ace Combat 7. ...Because he lives in Europe and Namco didn’t release it in North America  He may or may not be working on an LP of Digital Anvil’s cult classic space sim Freelancer, which I may or may not be appearing in.  PUNA BASE A hastily constructed military storage and staging area utilizing the natural flatland of the Puna Planes to build a runway. The base itself is not Aurelian in origin, it was build by the Leasath army during their blitz across western Aurelia, cannibalizing a rural municipal building into an on-site HQ. Puna Base has been the principle staging area for operations in western Aurelia by the Leasath Air Force and served as the base of operations for the flying fortress Gleipnir. Though the massive craft appears to have left Puna Base for parts unknown further south. Taking Puna Base from Leasath will give the Aurelian ground and air forces a massive cache of supplies to repurpose in their war effort, as well as give them a key staging area to launch a planned invasion of Port Patterson to retake the port city in the coming days. 
ARI Tracks featured in Mission2: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 6, 2019 21:04
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This game's soundtrack sounds like Electrosphere, which is good.
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Mar 7, 2019 00:47
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Welcome back to Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion.     Mission 2 introduces us to probably the most important location in this game, Base Sallqa, which is likely the most important remaining base in our country. It houses both air command and logistics command, so if this base falls everyone in the Aurelian armed forces will have trouble getting things like food, fuel and ammo. It is also pretty much the only line of defense between the capital and the enemy army. We lose it and the war is pretty much lost in an instant.  Today the MPG displays BASE, but it really means the number of allied units that have died. The bar fills up for every ally that dies, if it fills all the way you lose. I did at least try to get some shots of the base, but again, mobile game from a decade ago, no free flight mode, awkward controls. It was difficult just getting this much.    Pictured, pretty much the entire base, including the whole five allied units/buildings we need to protect. I suppose all the ground forces that could have been used to defend the base must have been sent to the frontlines already.  Pictured, the biggest enemy in this mission, the ground. When you need to fly low to hit tanks and AA guns and the like it becomes exponentially more dangerous to fat finger your controls. In my tests before capturing these pictures I lawn darted at least four times on this mission, I will admit.   This mission was a lot harder than the previous one at least, mostly due to needing to spend so much time near the ground. Similar to the last mission's Migs the tanks in this mission only required a single missile each. Still not worth trying to switch targets mid attack run to get more than one at a time though, too much potential to crash while fumbling buttons. There were a couple Migs in the air that I ignored since there was a time pressure, but the attack added up to 14 units overall, which gives you an idea of the scale of the game. ...Yeah. That was really kind of short, but there really isn't much else to say about it. Next time, we bop some botes.  Base Sallqa Positioned between the border and the capital, Base Sallqa also houses Aurelia's army logistics and air defense command. The base is essentially the most important asset in the continued fight against Leasath invaders, being both a major line of defense and the nerve center for Aurelia's remaining military. ...Still could probably done with keeping a couple of tanks in reserve to keep it safe though.
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Mar 7, 2019 02:11
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Prelude Mission 3A: Prelude – October 27th, 2020 (Redo) Overview: The battle to retake Port Patterson has begun. Gryphus Squadron must prevent the Leasath Navy’s Transportation Corps from landing troops inside the harbor. If Leasath can get enough landing ships into the bay, they will be able to repel the Aurelian forces in the city.  Guest Commentator: I am joined in something of an LP cultural exchange by GrandmaParty and his horribly offensive cat-hating avatar. Grandma is responsible for one of two dueling LPs of Ackk Studio’s monumental indie disaster YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG, a game that Toby Fox did a music track for and then quietly disavowed after its launch because it was that bad. Along for the ride is his wife, and cat, and a rotating stable of guest commentators including myself. Seriously, YIIK is a thing that needs to be witnessed, I can’t do it justice in this tiny blurb. He also LP'd Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass a beautiful, heartbreaking game infinitely more worthy of of attention than YIIK and actually managed to be everything YIIK tried and failed to embody. He's also LPing Chrono Cross... for some reason.  PORT PATTERSON The seaside metropolis of Port Patterson is the gateway to western Aurelia and its principle port city in the Pacific. Aurelia’s pacific naval fleet was also stationed at Port Patterson, but was driven out to sea by the Leasath attack, escaping with the help of Falco Squadron’s cover early in the war. With the city back under allied control, Aurelia once again has an operational naval port and the Aurelian 1st and 3rd Fleets are due back at Patterson once their operation at Terminus Island against the Gleipnir has concluded.  THE MULTI-PURPOSE GAUGE (MPG) Ashsaber kind of bigfooted me on explaining this one, but that’s because Skies of Incursion whips out the MPG in its first mission. Skies of Deception holds off until the third mission before unveiling the MPG… with literally no fanfare or explanation. In it’s most simple terms, the Multi-Purpose Gauge is your countdown to failure/success bar. Appearing in the upper right hand corner of the screen just below the mission timer during certain missions, the MPG will help you gauge the flow of the mission and how well you are doing on mission-critical parameters. At the start of each mission or at relevant mission updates, Crux will explain what each particular MPG readout relates to. Usually your objective is to prevent the bar from reaching maximum, at which point you will fail the mission. The higher the MPG bar goes, it will turn colour from green, to yellow, to red. In this instance the MPG is tied to the number of landing ships that make it through the Port Patterson bridge. If more than three ships make it into the harbor, the gauge will reach max and it’s game over. However, certain missions will feature an inverted MPG which starts at maximum and you will have to bring down to zero, usually by destroying a sufficient number of enemy targets. There are also certain missions where you will need to fill up the MPG by inflicting damage on targets as well. The MPG is exclusive to the X Ace Combats: Skies of Deception, Skies of Incursion, and Joint Assault, mainly as a means of making the most of the limited resources of the PSP and iPhone/iPad. 
SABER Tracks featured in Mission 3A: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 9, 2019 22:36
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Situation Report #1 Tactical Briefing, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY Overview: Port Patterson has been retaken, and it is finally time to go on the offensive to retake the rest of Southern Aurelia. The ultimate objective of this phase of the campaign is to retake the major metropolis of Santa Elva, but there are multiple routes available to get there.  That’s right, I’ve lost my mind. So I’m going to throw the floor open to the masses and let YOU, yes you reading this right now, choose how things are going to play out for the foreseeable future, within reason of course. So take a look at the tactical map here and watch the first situation report video from Crux linked up above to get a feel for where things stand before making your choice.    Keep in mind though that Ace Combat X features an active battlefield map. This means that if you choose to do certain missions, they may have unforeseen consequences, both negative and positive for how the rest of the game plays out. The tactical options are infinite and your choice will set us the road to one of two possible versions of the finale in Santa Elva (there are a bunch of smaller variations to both missions but they’re only seen if you skip or gently caress up missions, which we’re not going to). So, here is your first slate of choices:
Please state your chosen mission, and, if you feel like it, a rationale for your choice if you want to win others over to your side. Voting will remain open until Tuesday at midnight PST, and the winning mission will be posted the following day, and you’ll just have to live with the consequences. CHOOSE WISELY nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Oct 4, 2021 |
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Mar 9, 2019 22:45
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Hooray Viggen.  That marks of at least all the major SAAB jets at least. Maybe some day we'll see Lansen and Tunnan in game but I highly doubt it. Never did see the last season of PoI, my interest just kinda ran into the sand after the third one. Might get around to watching it at some point again. Also I hated season 2 Root with a passion.
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Mar 9, 2019 23:06
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