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  This is it. This is the seventh and final 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. As always, before we begin, credit where its due: I was preceded in LPing Ace Combat 7 by Professor Duck and Dewgy. I wish I’d gotten around to it first, but there were a number of factors that precluded it. Still, these guys did a great job at it, and if you enjoy my stuff then give these guys a look too. Games covered thus far:
  And here we are at last. Kazutoki Kono’s Wild Ride comes in for a landing. As of the time of this writing, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the latest game in Bandai Namco’s long-running Ace Combat franchise. It marks a new beginning for the franchise and a return to form after a decade lost in the wilderness after games like Ace Combat 6, Joint Assault, and Assault Horizon were met with intense disappointment from fans. And a welcome return it was, having sold well over And just as well too, as Skies Unknown was a make-or-break game for Project ACES, after languishing in that aforementioned lost decade and utilizing Ace Combat Infinity as a springboard to create what had the potential to be their last Ace Combat game ever. Because let’s never forget that Namco is just as big of a prolific franchise serial killer as EA or Konami is and ALSO possesses their selfsame ravenous hunger for sub-studio blood. And while Skies Uknown is indeed a massive crowd-pleasing showstopper, there’s also a palpable air of finality hanging over it in many ways. Maybe I’m reading my personal situation into it a bit, but it feels like this is Project ACES going “If this is it for us, then we’re leaving it all on the field.” Indeed, this line of thinking is exemplified by series soundtrack maestro Keiki Kobayashi, who said that he treated scoring the game’s signature track, “Daredevil”, as if it were going to be the last song he ever wrote for an Ace Combat game, maybe even his last song period. Befitting its place at the end of this whole ordeal, Ace Combat 7 is the game that takes most of the various strands of the Strangereal universe, threads them all together, ties them in a knot, and then cuts the cord. Just about every game we’ve covered is represented here in 7 in ways vast and minute, from the obvious ones like The Unsung War and Shattered Skies, to the surprisingly suddenly relevant ones like Ace Combat 2 and Electrosphere. Centered around a war between the global superpower, the Osean Federation, and the only country that somehow survived multiple Allied curbstomps, the reformed and renamed Kingdom of Erusea, Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is the rare universe-uniting late-stage sequel to both the big budget summer blockbuster (Ace Combat 5) and the mildly popular indie foreign film (Ace Combat 04) that actually somehow works both on its own, and as a sequel. Skies Unknown picks up nine years after the end of The Unsung War, and returns us to both Osea and Usea to catch up with how the world has changed since we were off dancing with the angels of Anea and exposing some shady deception down south in Aurelia. Much like its predecessors, Skies Unknown is also a brutal hamfisted indictment of war and fascism, but has also now picked up a third topic to rail heavily against, automated warfare, particular encapsulated in drones. And just like the previous games, the story is told through multiple POVs: the player character, Trigger, for the gameplay, and two dueling narrator characters, one providing the Osean POV on matters, and the other providing the Erusean POV. Ace Combat franchise brand director Kazutoki Kono initially described Skies Unknown’s story as focusing on three key binaries: “Rookie vs. Master”, “Perception vs. Reality”, and “Man vs. Machine”. Keep these three themes in your head as we go through the game so we can discuss how well it pulls them off or not. “Rookie vs. Master” will be seen in the rivalry between Trigger and Mister X, the fresh young recruit bursting with raw talent against the aged veteran, whose skills have been honed and seasoned through a lifetime of experience. “Perception vs. Reality” will be tackled via the game’s multiple viewpoint characters and the comments from the peanut gallery in missions. Multiple big and ambiguous events happen over the course of the game, and the objective truth of things becomes incredibly muddied, even when you see it happen right in front of your eyes. Often times, people’s interpretations of events are what ultimately become the “truth” of the matter. Your input on events carries just as much weight here as the game’s. And lastly, “Man vs. Machine.” Well, we’ll just see how that one plays out in due time, won’t we...   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, our final game together. So try to avoid letting huge things that could ruin the game for people who are experiencing it fresh slip out like how Trigger is the protagonist of the game, or that Mihaly is a stupid edgelord boomer. Because that poo poo just sucks.  Welcome to the penal unit, convicts. As of this moment, from now until when I decide, you are all prisoners in this thread and the mods are the guards. This means anything you say and do in this thread that strikes them the wrong way will result in a six-hour trip to Solitary. This could be anything from general shitposts, to goading them into swining the hammer, or even posting the accursed phrase from the last thread. You’re at their mercy. You can also tip the balance in whatever way you'd like by smashing that  button and ratting out your fellow inmates to direct the guards’ ire onto them. Whoever makes it out of the thread with the  HIGHEST amount of time spent in Solitary will get DELUXE EDITION of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown for PC courtesy of awesome and extremely generous anonymous goon benefactor. So really put your asses into those shitposts.Additional prizes might be given out for second and third prize, perhaps the aforementioned forums upgrade and/or a piece of DLC for the PC version of the game depending on factors like if you have the game for PC or now and what DLC you may or may not have. I’m flexible. BEWARE THOUGH, in this thread, I am Bandog. Meaning that Sally, Fedule, and Danaru will be informing me when the thread is over of who among you were dirty rats. You’ll be given three strikes to blow through. Three free reports that you can use. If you use a fourth, you’re disqualified from the competition. So consider this and extended prisoners' dilemma game. Make your shots count, and you’ll come out like a champ, just don’t go too far or you might get full banned. Dismissed. Also yeah this is a funny ha ha thread gimmick, but actual solitary confinement is a form of torture and a violation of basic human rights, just throwing that out there. 
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Charge Assault Let’s Play Ace Combat 7 New Years Trailer Mission 1: Operation Deer Horn – May 15th, 2019 | NO COMM Overview: An unidentified flight of bombers has been detected approaching the IUN Peacekeeping Force base at Fort Grays island. Mage and Golem Squadrons of the Osean Air Defense Force contingent of the IUN-PKF are scrambled to assess the situation and defend the base. A fledgling pilot known by the TAC Name “Trigger” takes off for the first time as Mage’s number two plane.   MAGE SQUADRON Osean Air Defense Force, 508th Tactical Fighter Squadron (IUN-PKF) Members:
Squadron Composition: F-16C Fighting Falcon (x2) A two-plane flight element stationed at Fort Grays Air Base off the coast of south-eastern Usea. While officially an Osean Air Defense Force squadron, it is currently under the operational jurisdiction of the International Union Peacekeeping Force as part of its Usea deployment. Regularly deployed alongside Golem and Skeleton Squadrons as part of Fort Grays’ combat air patrol, Mage is ordinarily a short-range air defense and rapid response flight. They are a part of the first line of defense from any potential eastward from the likes of Sotoa or Yuktobania. However, they remain constantly on alert from any potential incursion from the Kingdom of Erusea in the west as well. At the moment, however, Mage is functionally a flight trainer squadron, with it’s flight lead, Mage 1 Clown serving as a flight instructor to newly minted nugget pilot Mage 2 Trigger.  GOLEM SQUADRON Osean Air Defense Force, 506th Tactical Fighter Squadron (IUN-PKF) Members:
Squadron Composition: F/A-18F Super Hornet (x4) The lead squadron of the OADF’s contingent to the IUN at Fort Grays. Its flight leader, Golem 1 Knocker, serves as the Commander Air Group (CAG) of the base’s combat air teams, including Mage Team. Flying a four-plane formation of F/A-18F Super Hornets, Golem often sorties on maritime deployments from the aircraft carrier Albatross stationed at Fort Grays’ naval port as well. Much like Mage Team, Golem is currently serving in peacetime as an informal flight trainer squadron, with two recently flight-cleared nuggets, Brownie and Faun, swapping in and out of Knocker’s flight element in order to train under his direct supervision.   TRIGGER Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): Trigger, Mage 2, Spare 15, Strider 1, Three Strikes Age: Early 20’s Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: Player choice (F-22A Raptor in all promotional material) Voice Actor: None A brand new rookie pilot for the OADF contingent of the IUN-PKF detachment on Usea stationed at Fort Grays Air Base about to depart on his first combat flight. Nothing else is known about him beyond that because he has no real record or history to pour through. Trigger as a character and as a concept lies at the center of the game’s three core themes: Rookie vs. Master (or rather talent vs. experience), Perception vs. Reality, and Man vs. Machine. We’ll talk about each of them in depth as we progress through the game, but for now let’s just focus on Perception vs. Reality, as a lead in to what’s to come. As par for the course by now for Ace Combat player characters, Trigger is the quintessential “faceless solider”. Anything we learn about him over the course of the game will come second hand from other characters making assumptions and inferences about him which may or may not actually be true. One of the main themes of Ace Combat 7 is subjectivity vs. objectivity, and whether an “objective reality” even exists. The thing about Trigger’s nature as a silent, faceless protagonist is that he cannot correct the record on anything that anyone in the game says or thinks about him. Their opinions are effectively gospel, even if they may or may not be wrong. The same goes with both the player and audience reaction and opinion of him. Whatever both you, the reader/viewer of this LP, and I, the guy actually playing the game and yammering away in the videos and in text, think about Trigger are both equally valid and “correct,” even if they prove to be wildly different. Essentially, we’re right back to where we started with Cipher. Where we’ve always been, if you think about it. Trigger will be the eyes we see the game’s missions through, but in terms of the rest of the story, we will find ourselves in the company of other, more talkative folks to guide us through the events happening outside of the cockpit, such as...  AVRIL Real Name: Avril Mead Callsign(s): The Scrap Queen Age: Early 20s Sex: Female Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: F-104C Starfighter Voice Actor: Abby Trott Avril is the first of our two main narrator characters in Ace Combat 7, three if you include David North in the DLC. Other characters will chime in in certain circumstances, but it'll mainly be Avril and a certain someone we will meet in due time. The daughter and granddaughter of Osean Air Defense Force fighter pilots, Avril Mead is a civilian homebrew aircraft mechanic and engineer. Neither her father nor grandfather wished for her to join the military, but encouraged her to explore other avenues to indulge her obsession with aircraft, flight, and aerospace engineering. Her grandfather was a veteran of the Belkan War, flying the same skies as legendary aces such as the Demon Lord Cipher, Solo Wing Pixy, and Huckebein The Raven (later identified as “Peter N. Beagle”). Her father, following in his footsteps, joined the OADF and served in the Circum-Pacific war, but was shot down and killed over Yuktobanian territory when an aerial engagement went awry. Avril blamed then-President Harling for her father’s death, regardless of the facts that later emerged of the Belkan manipulation of both Osea and Yuktobania. She was sent to live with her grandfather after that, and spent years in the company of his aging air force veteran friends from prior wars. Her grandfather was friends with the superintendent of a scrapyard out in the desert near McCord, who let him and his war buddies—and Avril—have the pick of any aircraft parts they wanted in order to build anything they dream of, provided it wasn’t armed. They set their sights on rebuilding an old F-104C Starfighter from the ground up, a project that spanned close to a decade. As Avril grew up and her old geezer friends grew older, she eventually became the chief mechanic on the build, as her hands and eyes were the only ones that worked well enough to preform the complex work needed to return the Starfighter to the skies. One by one, the old vets passed away, including her grandfather, until it was just Avril on her own with a finished plane and a lot of ghosts. Her first flight in it just so happened to be fated to land on the same day as Erusea’s drone blitz attack on the Osean Federation’s homeland military installations. She quickly found herself in the middle of an engagement between an OADF F-15C and an Erusean MQ-99 drone, with no radio and no IFF transponder. The OADF tagged her as hostile and shot her down… In contrast to prior Ace Combat narrator characters, like the Storyteller Boy, Brett Thompson, Albert Genette, or Melissa Herman, Avril is markedly more cynical and foul-mouthed. She is Strangereal’s first Gen Z narrator, and carries herself with the typical resentment for institutions, militaries, politicians, and just the general bullshit of the world shared by a generation that has seen things go progressively to poo poo for them personally, while the privileged few of high society continue to see the good times get even better. She is perhaps the first, and potentially last, hostile narrator the franchise has had. Others over the game refer to her as a “bad tempered tomboy,” but we’ll see soon enough she has every right to her miserable attitude and her tendency to tell every aspect of Strangereal to go gently caress itself every chance she gets.  CLOWN Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): Clown, Mage 1 Age: Late 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: F-16C Fighting Falcon Voice Actor: Brad Venable The flight lead of the OADF’s Mage Squadron as a part of the IUN-PKF Usea detachment at Fort Grays Air Base. Clown has been assigned as Trigger’s immediate squadron commander as the leader of Mage Team and his field mentor on his first combat engagements. Despite being an outwardly warm and caring individual, Clown is actually quite opportunistic, though never to a malicious degree. An example of this is how Trigger is even a part of Mage right now, as Clown lied to the base commander and claimed the rookie with zero actual combat experience was really a skilled pilot. Because of this, Clown has a vested interest in Trigger’s success with the OADF, and is going to take extra close care of his new nugget pilot, no matter what. As a matter of grim real world trivia, Clown’s English voice actor, Brad Venable, passed away in early 2021 from a heart attack possibly linked to a recent COVID-19 diagnosis. He was 43 years old.  KNOCKER Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): Knocker, Golem 1 Age: Late 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: F/A-18F Super Hornet Voice Actor: Doug Erholtz The flight lead of the OADF’s Golem Squadron, and the Commander Air Group (CAG) of the Fort Grays Air Base IUN-PKF air contingent. Something of a stern martinet, Knocker is known for his no-nonsense style while in the air and commanding his flight teams. He tends to keep rookie pilots on a tight leash, including his own trainee Brownie, and expects Clown to do the same for Trigger as well. A veteran of combat engagements and peacekeeping operations alike, Knocker has become somewhat desensitized to the harrowing realities of war and air combat. While Clown is our immediate superior in Mage Squadron, Knocker is our capital-B Boss out there in the field so long as we’re a part of the IUN-PKF.  BROWNIE Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): Brownie, Golem 2 Age: Early 20s Sex: Female Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: F/A-18F Super Hornet Voice Actor: Erica Mendez A fellow rookie fighter pilot alongside Trigger in the OADF stationed at Fort Grays as a part of the IUN-PKF. Brownie is to the Golem Team what Trigger is to Mage, although Knocker seems to have her on a tighter leash than Clown does with Trigger. Brownie is headstrong and determined, but ultimately untested by the rigors of true combat. She’s out to prove herself to Knocker, and prove that she’s better than Trigger, whom she considers a rival in the IUN’s flight roster. Her determination is tempered, however, by naivety and idealism, two things that Knocker is quite driven to stamp out of her in short order to make her a better pilot. Whether she has what it takes to flourish in the air force is yet to be seen...  SKY KEEPER Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): Sky Keeper Age: Late 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: E-767 Voice Actor: David W. Collins Sky Keeper is our AWACS (Airborn Waring And Control System) operator as a part of the IUN-PKF. He is a model AWACS operator in the vein of SkyEye, Eagle Eye, and Ghost Eye; calm and professional (mostly), and always abreast of the changing situation. There is nothing really more to say about Sky Keeper, ultimately. He is just there; a cog in the system, bereft of eccentricities, which in an Ace Combat game renders you essentially invisible. Even his official “character” portrait/icon published by Project ACES is the most bland, and functionary thing you could think of to portray an AWACS with.  INTEL Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): None Age: Mid 40s Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: None Voice Actor: Uncredited Our briefing guy, as always. Much like Sky Keeper, Intel is just kind of… there. At least for now, without spoiling anything, he’s not going to be the last briefer we encounter between here and the end of the game, and some others may or may not have a little more personality to talk about in comparison. Anyway, the Fort Grays Air Base briefing guy is incredibly dry and by-the-book, as is befitting a military intelligence officer. He is our primary source of pre-deployment intel for each mission of the game, outlining what you will expect to find in the area in terms of enemy deployment, disposition, terrain and weather hazards of interest, and the story context surrounding each mission. While he can give you an idea of what to expect, he’s not a fortune-teller, and can’t predict any unexpected developments once you are actually out in the field. However, as always, paying attention to what Intel says for context clues is key, and you ignore him at your peril.   FORT GRAYS ISLAND One of a number of islands off the south-eastern cost of the Usean mainland. Fort Grays Island is the home of the Fort Grays Air Base, currently operated by the International Union Peacekeeping Force or IUN-PKF since the end of the Continental War in 2005. Prior to that, the base was operated by ISAF, and before that, the Usean Allied Forces. Fort Grays Island itself is also the namesake of the FCU aircraft carrier USS Fort Grays (CV-04) (previously appearing in Ace Combat 04 as the Fort Grace, a mistranslated of Fort Grays). The Fort Grays Air Base itself is also home to a modest naval port, and is the home base for the FCU aircraft carrier USS Albatross, the pride of the Usean Navy. The broader Fort Grays Islands are a popular vacation destination for peoples from all around the globe. While the tourism industry in the islands was devastated by the impact of Ulysses 1994XF04, it has recovered quite admirably, and the islands are once again dotted with picturesque vacation resorts and villas. However, the tsunami ravaged ruins around the rim of Newman crater and other smaller asteroid fragment impact sites are still off limits to human visitation by FCU government order. That has not stopped many an intrepid urban explorer... The islands were once the sight of a massive battle during the Usean Rebellion of 1998, when Special Tactical Fighter Squadron Scarface participated in a strike on a Rebel carrier group off the coast of Fort Grays during the Allied Forces Operation Alphaville campaign. In recent years, the Usean mega corporation General Resource Ltd. has repeatedly petitioned the FCU government to purchase the property rights to the Fort Grays Islands for the sake of a massive development project they’ve proposed. The FCU has thus far remained cool to GR’s overtures, no matter how much money the firm floats each time. Aerospace and information technology conglomerate Neucom Inc.’s offers have also met with similar resistance.   IUN The International Union. The IUN is the peacekeeping military arm of the Assembly of Nations, and consists of land, sea, and air forces from multiple AN member states, such as the Osean Federation, Union of Yuktobanian Republics, the Federation of Central Usea, the Republics of Emmeria and Aurelia, and the Kingdoms of Sapin and Nordennavic, among many others. The IUN-PKF has conducted peacekeeping operations around the world since the 1990s, and into the 2000s and 2010s. The organization normally operates in areas rife with regional tensions and strife that could erupt into full-scale war, or in the aftermath of wars to ensure all sides adhere to ceasefire treaties. In the days leading up to the impact of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid, the IUN-PKF operated around Osea, Usea, and Anea in preventing the outbreak of panic conflicts, assisting refugee relocation, and operating impact shelters across projected impact areas. Following the impact event, the peacekeeping force was deployed in a crisis management capacity in the chaotic aftermath. Following the end of the Usean Continental War and Operation Katina in 2006, ISAF was folded into the IUN-PKF to bolster its presence on Usea as a counterweight to Erusea. The IUN took over post-war peacekeeping duties from ISAF across Usea, and oversaw the disarmament and transition of the Federal Republic of Erusea into the restored Kingdom of Erusea. In 2014, the IUN led the effort to protect Usea from the threat of the resurgent Free Erusea paramilitary terrorist organization, seeking to restore military rule to Erusea once again. Many criticize the IUN as a front for Osean military hegemony around the world, and Erusea included IUN bases around Usea as a part of its initial strike against Osea at the outset of the Lighthouse War.  DRONES One of the main buzzwords of Ace Combat 7. The advancement of unnamed aerial vehicles (UAVs) has come a long way since the flimsy marker drones for the Aigaion’s Nimbus burst missiles in Ace Combat 6, or the sluggish Vogels deployed by the Arkbird and the SLUAVs launched from the Hrimfaxi. While Arvil mocks the flying trashcan seen buzzing over her gramps’ breakers yard as a kid, the drones we will be running into in the present day timeframe of Skies Unknown are another matter entirely. Precise, deadly, and constantly learning, automated weaponry is the looming boogeyman over the world of Ace Combat 7 and for good reason. As stated earlier, one of the three key themes of Skies Unkown is “Man vs. Machine,” specifically in the matter of unmanned weaponry. The game presents a world on the cusp of the last remaining cord being cut on the puppet strings of drone warfare, and human oversight and control being completely removed from the equation of warfare. Ostensibly in Strangereal at the moment there is a single thread left, as shown through the MQ-99 drones, which still need to be activated and given orders by human operators, but that thread is rapidly fraying as more advanced drones make their way onto the battlefield. And once that genie has slipped out of its bottle, there is no putting it back in again. Without spoiling anything, Ace Combat 7 comes down firm and hard on the “Man” side of “Man vs. Machine,” as to who should come out on top, but it’s not about to make it easy for humankind to pull out the win, that’s for certain. Especially because flesh and blood humans are vastly outmatched by the physical and thinking capabilities of automated weaponry and unbound machine intelligence. The concept of a “robopocalypse” driven by a self-aware artificial intelligence or artificial super-intelligence (ASI) has been the fodder for harrowing stories for decades, from Terminator on down, largely because of how completely defenseless we are if we ever manage to build something that can out-think and out-act us as a species and as a civilization. There’s an old joke in the field of artificial intelligence science that states something to the effect of “When scientists brought the first ASI online, the first thing they asked it was ‘Is there a God?’ and the machine replied ‘There is now.’” Is Strangereal staring down that barrel? Or are we just being alarmist here? These flying trashcans don’t look anything like gods, now do they?    OSEA Full Name: The Osean Federation Capital: Oured Continent: North Osea Head of State: President Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic Real World Analog: United States of America For the past 70 years, the Osean Federation has been, and remains the world’s preeminent superpower, rivaled only by the Union of Yuktobanian Republics in size and strength. In many ways, it’s Osea’s world, everyone else is just living it. Or trying to, anyway. The past decade has been one of triumph and trials for Osea. The nation has slowly worked to rebuild its image around the world in the wake of the Circum-Pacific War with Yuktobania 9 years ago, which saw both superpowers clash in a conflict driven by false pretenses, their governments overthrown by foreign actors, and atrocities committed on both sides in each nation’s name. Former President Vincent Harling’s last days in office were dominated by grand humanitarian efforts towards the aggrieved, and the rest of the world writ large. Perhaps the greatest of these being the construction of the International Space Elevator (ISEV), off the coast of south-eastern Usea. However, for many around the world, Osea’s reputation has been irreparable for a long time even before the war. Many look suspect upon the Federation’s acts of charity and its commitment to global peace and prosperity. In addition to its humanitarian rebuilding, the new post-Harling administration has also spent considerable capital rebuilding and modernizing its already gigantic military. While the post-war START III treaty signed between Osea and Yuktobania saw the further reduction of the superpowers’ nuclear arsenals as part of their return to normal relations, conventional weaponry still saturates the globe. Moreover, the Osean army and air force still maintains numerous overseas military bases on allied nations’ soil. Factor in Osea’s troop and material contributions to the Internation Union Peacekeeping Force (IUN-PKF) around the world, and that number nearly doubles. As the world prepares to enter the 2020s, criticism of the “Osean Empire” is approaching an all-time high. Osea claims its involvement on Usea is primarily humanitarian in nature, helping the ravaged continent continue its rebuilding efforts from the damage wrought by Ulysses 1994XF04 and the Continental War between Erusea and ISAF, but heavy cynicism follows wherever the Osean military trudges, no matter the reason. The construction of the International Space Elevator, for example, has been a subject of great controversy of late, with many critics arguing it has exposed the “two Oseas”. One being a progressive-presenting utopia that builds technological marvels ostensibly for the benefit of all mankind, and the other a brutal hegemony that tramples on the rights of other nations and deploys heavily armed and monstrous automated weapons like Arsenal Birds to defend their interests with lethal force. Which one is the real Osea? That’s a hard question to answer up front. Maybe by the time we’re done you’ll be able to say for yourself what side that coin lands on. Either way, the old refrain remains even as we climb back into the cockpit of another OADF fighter jet. They might be the hero nation of the story once again, but as always, “Osea is not the good guys.”   ERUSEA Full Name: The Kingdom of Erusea Capital: Farbanti Continent: Usea Head of State: King D’Elise Government: Constitutional Monarchy Real World Analog: France, China The largest single nation on Usea, rivaled directly by the Federation of Central Usea or FCU, the federal political umbrella comprised of the remaining nation states on the continent. When we last left Erusea, its fascist government had been overthrown at the end of the Continental War in 2005, and an interim governing council had been established to plot the nation’s course to the future as it worked to re-enter the global community. Its internal struggles have been well documented. In 2006 and again in 2014, a collective of disgruntled former officers and soldiers from the old Erusean military attempted to overthrow the country and restore military rule under the banner of “Free Erusea”. In both instances, the insurgent group was defeated by ISAF and later its successor force, the IUN-PKF, with the legendary Mobius Squadron leading both efforts. In 2011, the interim council decided the restoration of Erusea’s monarchy was in the nation and its peoples’ best interests. The rationale being that the people needed a strong and benevolent symbol to rally around in the midst of the chaos in the aftermath of the fall of Farbanti. The royal family had been deposed in the early 90s in a military coup that placed the former Supreme Commander in charge until his suicide at the Battle of Farbanti on September 19th, 2005. Eventually, the surviving members of the D’Elise dynasty were located (all were living quiet civilian lives either in Erusea or in exile elsewhere in Usea or overseas since the revolution) and the rightful monarch identified. However, his reign was short-lived. In 2017, the king and his immediate heirs were killed in an auto accident, throwing the line of succession into chaos, as only male heirs were legally eligible to ascend the throne as per the Erusean constitution. The current Erusean king, a distant cousin of the former monarch, was previously a tailor living in Farbanti until just a few years ago. This rise from humble obscurity has given the new royal family an air of relatability among the common people of Erusea. Their only daughter, Princess Rosa Cossette D’Elise, has become a veritable overnight celebrity within the nation, while still staying true to her populist roots. However, despite being chastened by one military loss after another over the recent decades, Erusea still remains an international belligerent state. Frequently the target of international scorn and criticism for its human rights abuses, repressive domestic policies, and frequent saber rattling, the world’s hopes of Erusea becoming a more amicable global neighbor have been routinely dashed. While the king may be the nominal head of state, it is still to this day the military that holds the real grasp on power within Erusea. Militarily speaking, Erusea is barely an afterthought compared the mighty forces of Osea or Yuktobania. Even a country like Emmeria is perhaps more than a match for Erusea in an open fight. With their army depleted and their navy and air force crippled by ISAF, the Kingdom has begun to avail itself of other means to secure its borders and, if need be, strike out at opponents. The Erusean military, as a result, has drifted away from being a corps of fighting men to one of fighting machines instead. The Erusean Air Force (Armée de l'Air) is now the world’s largest purchaser and deployer of drone combat aircraft. Supplied by firms such as Gründer Industries, General Resource Ltd., Neucom Inc., and MacMillian Heavy Industries, the EAF is now comprised of nearly 35% drones, and climbing. Erusea has also invested heavily in electronic warfare. Erusean hackers, both civilian and military, are some of the best in the world and have been able to infiltrate and co-opt some of the most secure systems on the planet, including the Osean Department of Defense. Tensions between Osea and Erusea have begun to reach a boiling point, primarily over the Internation Space Elevator constructed on what was, until recently, Erusean-occupied territory. When Selatapura seceded from Erusea after its capitulation at the end of the Continental War, the city-state became a veritable special economic zone, attracting an influx of money from corporations and other private groups from around the world, while Erusea reaped nothing from its lost territory. The final straw was the construction of the space elevator itself, which Erusea publicly decried as a looming threat to its sovereignty and the ultimate expression of Osean expansionist hegemony. While Erusea vowed retribution for the perceived injustice, Osea’s explanation for the placement of the elevator near its boarder being a “geographically optimal” position fell on deaf ears. Especially since there was ample land on Usea near the equator to built it on that was nowhere near Erusean territory. Whether anything will come of this bellicose speech, from the princess and others in her government, is yet to be seen. However, Usea once underestimated Erusea to its peril. Will Osea make the same mistake?   FCU Full Name: The Federation of Central Usea Capital: Expo City, Bulgudarest Continent: Usea Head of State: Prime Minister Government: Multinational Democratic Federation Real World Analog: Japan, South Korea, European Union A political union of the majority of states on the Usean continent. While the various nations of Usea are all independent and autonomous states, they ultimately capitulate to an overarching federal government in Expo City that acts as a political entity serving the interests of the entire continent save for Erusea. The FCU, as it’s known for short, is still struggling to rebuild and restore order across Usea even 20 years after the impact of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid in July of 1999. Its war with Erusea in 2004 also significantly set back recovery progress, as material losses from the conflict and Erusea’s use of the now-destroyed Stonehenge Turret Network as a weapon of mass destruction cost the union greatly. Which is why the FCU has taken the controversial step to accept not only financial aid from the Osean Federation, but also allow an Osean military presence on the continent in perpetuity as a part of the International Union Peacekeeping Force. The old Independent States Allied Forces (ISAF) has been absorbed into the new IUN-PKF and comprises nearly 35% of its military presence on Usea, with Osean forces comprising the bulk of the remaining portion, along with smaller contingents from nations like Emmeria, Yuktobania, Aurelia, Nordennavic, Ustio, and the Kingdom of Sapin. However, many see the move as a ceding of Usean national and international sovereignty to Osea. In many ways, the Osean Federation has finally accomplished what it set out to do back in 1998 with its ill-fated sublimation treaty with the southern Usean states. Osea now has a concrete military, material, and financial foothold on Usea, and they were welcomed in through the front door this time by the FCU itself. The claim is that it’s all in the name of restoring the FCU’s power and authority to the heights it once enjoyed prior to Ulysses Day and the Erusean invasion in the early 00s, but so far little sign of that recovery has emerged so far. With the expansion of Osean hegemony across the continent, the Federation of Central Usea teeters on the edge of becoming yet another phantom state, eclipsed and absorbed by the superpowers of the world. Is it any wonder the Eruseans have bristled at the prospect of the same fate befalling them as well?  *  SELATAPURA Full Name: The Republic of Selatapura Capital: Selatapura City Continent: Usea Head of State: President Government: International trust overseen by the International Union Real World Analog: Singapore A city-state located on the tip of Gunther Peninsula on south-eastern Usea, in territory formerly claimed by the Kingdom of Erusea. Following the defeat and eventual dissolution of the Federal Republic of Erusea in 2005, the city-state of Selatapura gained its independence and the entirety of the Gunther Peninsula was carved out from Erusea’s borders. The once tiny and underprivileged urban area saw a sudden and explosive development surge in the 2010s as corporations from across the globe began investing in country, catapulting its GDP upwards by 500% over a ten-year period and turning the city into a virtually unregulated special economic zone. As of 2019, the city of Selatapura is now one of the most populous and advanced metropolises anywhere in the world. A common saying is that if you want a glimpse of the world’s future, look for it in Selatapura. The city is home to multiple major league sports teams, theme parks and attractions, a bustling night-life in its downtown core, a rustic old town section, and a vast international airport that serves as a hub for Osea Airlines, Emmeria Airways, and Air Erusea, among other carriers. And that’s saying nothing about the space elevator. Constructed in the seaborne crater of an asteroid fragment from Ulysses 1994XF04, the Internation Space Elevator or ISEV for short is the glittering star attraction of the city. The elevator, sitting 20km off the city’s shore, dominates the skyline and is the city’s principal source of power, generating some 75% of its total energy supply from the massive solar farm stretching up the vertical reach of the elevator’s 12 kilometer-tall windbreak. A memorial to the more than 30,000 people killed by the tsunami generated from the asteroid impact lies at the base of the bridge connecting Selatapura to the ISEV in Gunther Bay. The existence of Selatapura is a sensitive issue for the Kingdom of Erusea, which still considers Gunther Peninsula and the city itself as a part of its territory. The Assembly of Nations has gone so far as to list it as a currently “disputed” region, and has deployed the International Union and its peacekeeping forces to the city permanently in order to ensure Erusea’s compliance with the new post-war borders. The city is currently overseen by an IUN trustee organization as an interim authority… seemingly in perpetuity, however. The city/nation’s name comes from the Malay word “selatan”, meaning south, and the Sanskirt word “pura”, meaning city. Effectively “Selatapura” means “South City”. * Flag not canon.   BELKA Full Name: The Principality of Belka Capital: Dinsmark Continent: North Osea Head of State: Prime Minister (Conjecture) Government: Federal Republic Real World Analog: Germany A country that no longer exists. It’s been 23 years since the Principality of Belka detonated seven nuclear weapons on its own soil in a grand national suicide after a miscalculated war of ravenous aggression against its neighbors. In 2019, its slow, freezing death of two decades’ waste is now virtually complete. Its last grasp at revenge, the engineering of the Circum-Pacific War between the Osean Federation and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics in 2010 turned to ash in its hands when the treachery of the Gray Men was exposed and the war averted. Instead, Belka simply visited even more punishment and suffering upon itself and its people as a cost of its addiction to grievance. Now, nearly a decade on after even that, the ghosts of Belka seem to have finally fallen silent. The world, it seems, has at long last put the misery of Belka behind it, but are the lost children of Belka willing to do the same? Nord Belka is now a frozen tomb. The question is… is an empty grave?  Once again, just like other games, Ace Combat 7 has a roster of enemy aces in its Assault Records section. These elite aces of the Erusean Air Force sport unique names and paint schemes, which can be unlocked for use by the player if they can be shot down. Named Aces will appear in replays of mission on Normal difficulty or higher either on a New SP Game run or in Free Mission mode. There are 24 Named Aces in total appearing in Mission 1 to 19. A 25th Named Ace, Hempel, was intended to appear in the game at one point, appearing in Mission 20 as a special enemy spawn, but removed for whatever reason. Speculation has it that it Hempel was possibly going to be an F-4E Phantom II, and was removed when the Phantom was partitioned off from the main plane roster into pre-order DLC. The unlockable skin that possibly would have belonged to Hempel is thereby available to the player by default as a part of the F-4E DLC. They are the equivalent to the non-existent Named Ace #0, Biela, from Ace Combat 04, in that they don’t appear in any missions, yet you still gain access to the skin for their intended plane. And ironically enough, in both instances, that plane is the Phantom. I'm also including a series of non-canon Ace Combat 6-style Ace bios written by Ace Combat 7 modder Calamitous aka CloakedEnigma or Cola, author of the Skies Restored, Know Your Enemy, True Canon Pack, and Ace Combat Zero-styled Squadron Intro mods, among many others. The bios are part of the Better Assault Records mod that aims to expand the Assault Records section of 7 to add a little more flavor to the game. He has generously allowed me to include them with each Assault Record update from here forward. Any discrepancies between the squadron numbers given by the game and the ones in Calamitous's write ups are a stylistic choice on his part to reflect the fact that realistically speaking, and in-universe speaking, Erusea would not have anywhere near as big of an air force as those numbers boast. 
Hempel Unknown - -, N/A, N/A, Erusea 
Pyro Huang Xuan Tai 40, Male, Captain, Erusea Erusean Air Force 72nd Air Division, 19th Reconnaissance Squadron quote:Captain Huang Xuan Tai   Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Original Soundtrack Composers & Artists: Keiki Kobayashi, Ryo Watanabe, Mitsuhiro Kitadani, Hiroshi Okubo, Junichi Nakatsuru, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Nobuhide Isayama,Yusuke Kudo, Yukiko Miyagi, Kohta Takahashi, Go Shiina, Mao Morita Release: 2019 Discs: 6 Tracks: 22, 17, 17, 26, 23, 20 Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC 1
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Feb 24, 2024 |
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Jan 1, 2022 21:09
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Well, this is the motivation I need to keep going through the game so you don't catch up with me. Fell in love with AC last year so glad to be bottom floor on one of these.
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Jan 1, 2022 21:24
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Oh hell to the yes.
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Jan 1, 2022 21:32
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Ground floor
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Jan 1, 2022 21:41
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I am ready to ruin some crisp white sheets.
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Jan 1, 2022 21:48
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This game owns and I'll post a sad emote at anyone who feels otherwise
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Jan 1, 2022 21:57
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Also I just want to give a shout out to my pal (and YOUR pal) CJacobs for helping me get through that first video just "off stage". I was incredibly nervous about recording it compared to the other solo first mission I've done for these games, so him being there and bringing up things for me to talk about helped immensely.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:03
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Finally, I get to laugh at your bad piloting from a game in this series I have played.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:07
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It is time What is the probation meme this thread
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Jan 1, 2022 22:08
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Also sorry, but I'm gonna eat while I watch this LP.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:10
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Go dance with the angels! E: Seriously though, looking forward this LP.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:12
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Psycho Landlord posted:It is time Let's wait till Mission 5 before we decide that, shall we...
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Jan 1, 2022 22:12
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Pythonicus posted:I am ready to ruin some crisp white sheets. take your dirty boots outside 
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Jan 1, 2022 22:17
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Well. This is a little somber. I'll miss this a little bit, but if this is the end, it was a hell of a run.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:30
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It's so hard to pick a favorite AC game. I feel like 5, 0, 6, and 7 all have things they do better than the others, but none of them is the clear winner.
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Jan 1, 2022 22:36
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Oh, yes. Being on PC, this is the first and only AC I played and I loved (most) every minute.
anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 1, 2022 22:42
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I don't actually speak French, so I am currently vocalizing the most nasal laughter I can muster to the tune of the end theme with a couple "baguettes" thrown in. May JPEG Dog guide you through your last journey.
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Jan 1, 2022 23:23
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nine-gear crow posted:Also I just want to give a shout out to my pal (and YOUR pal) CJacobs for helping me get through that first video just "off stage". I was incredibly nervous about recording it compared to the other solo first mission I've done for these games, so him being there and bringing up things for me to talk about helped immensely. Nice, I was briefly considering doing PW, HAWX 1-2 and JASF and would've loved to have someone just throwing topics at me since I'd probably be doing it solo (like I know people lol) and my last attempt at it went awful and why I went with subtitles in the first place. Edit: I'd be game for multiplayer I would like to add. Cooked Auto fucked around with this message at 01:02 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 2, 2022 00:38
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Aw yeah, AC7. Looking forward to it, nine-gear!
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Jan 2, 2022 01:07
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Interesting that you talk about Trigger as a blank, because he really feels like the most characterized protagonist in the series. I don't want to speak too much about later game events, but even in the first mission, he's called out as a hothead, going ahead of orders to more quickly down bombers. Although we don't get an internal view beyond what the player decides, there's enough consistency to suggest that Trigger is a specific person, rather than a variable figure like Cipher. He's also one of the few Strangereal protagonists to actually appear outside his plane. We can even see him without his helmet, although his image pretty obscured.
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Jan 2, 2022 01:28
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This is by far the wildest ride in the series and I am eager to see how the thread reacts to everything that's gonna go down. As well as the inevitable shitposts, because dear lord this game has amazing meme energy.
Dr. Snark fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 2, 2022 04:12
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o7
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Jan 2, 2022 04:13
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Dr. Snark posted:This is by far the wildest ride in the series and I am eager to see how the thread reacts to everything that's gonna go down. As well as the inevitable shitposts, because dear lord this game has amazing meme energy. Not to mention some absolute bangers when it comes to music. I can think of like one really bad track in the soundtrack as a whole.
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Jan 2, 2022 04:36
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I love this series, but this was the first AC game to ever make my heart pound, and I was playing on easy! once they take the cuffs off the AI things get nuts. can't wait for more!
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Jan 2, 2022 04:55
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Cooked Auto posted:Not to mention some absolute bangers when it comes to music. Funny. I can’t think of any bad tracks on this OST.
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Jan 2, 2022 07:06
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Dr. Snark posted:This is by far the wildest ride in the series and I am eager to see how the thread reacts to everything that's gonna go down. As well as the inevitable shitposts, because dear lord this game has amazing meme energy. considering how out there some of the previous games could get, i am indeed looking forward to this one!
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Jan 2, 2022 08:00
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This was the first Ace Combat I completed, and I greatly enjoyed it. Now that I have a better computer I could get back into it actually, as time allows, but I'm glad to be on the ground level for this, can't wait to see Crow get wild and do dirty, dirty things.
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Jan 2, 2022 08:42
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ground floor of a legendary LP
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Jan 2, 2022 10:22
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Ooh, I've really been enjoying these LPs, the effortposts are always a treat to read. If this game is meant to be the one that ties up the modern era of strangereal, it'll be interesting to see if there's room for more games before ac3 or whether they'll try a remake or reboot...
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Jan 2, 2022 13:10
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Woof, Ace Combat 7! The first and only game in the series I've actually played myself. Fortunately, it's been long enough since then that I don't remember everything. Hold on to your goggles, everyone, this one's a doozy.
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Jan 2, 2022 16:03
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I'm sure everything will go perfectly fine in this new war, no war crimes for sure!
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Jan 2, 2022 17:24
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I think Strangereal is all tapped out of superweapons, too. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 2, 2022 17:26
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I've been waiting for this LP! I really liked the previous Ace Combat LP's so I'm excited to see the conclusion to StrangeReal! Good Luck!!!
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Jan 2, 2022 17:34
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Waffleman_ posted:I think Strangereal is all tapped out of superweapons, too. That just means they're in the process of making new ones.
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Jan 2, 2022 21:35
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Thanks for the shoutout on the OP! Sorry we sniped you, but I LOVE the AC series (except Assault Horizon, 'cause gently caress that noise) saw that 7 was coming, and told Dewgy we were absolutely doing it. Excited to see someone who most likely is a better pilot than me take the helm here! EDIT: I also can't say enough about how FANTASTIC the soundtrack is on this. Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Jan 2, 2022 |
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Jan 2, 2022 22:10
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I find the lore of these games far more interesting than I do most other games. Your summary was a delight.
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Jan 2, 2022 22:27
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Waffleman_ posted:I think Strangereal is all tapped out of superweapons, too. Maybe the real superweapons were the
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Jan 2, 2022 22:55
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Ace Combat 7 isn't the best game ever made, but it is a hell of a lot of fun and a great return to form for the series. Looking forward to the rest of the LP!
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Jan 3, 2022 00:15
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