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BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK







welcome to the thread for Armored Core VI hype and series chat



:siren: Released Date: August 25 2023 - PS5/PS4/X|S/Xbone/Steam :siren:

Launch Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KS88JstVnU

Karl Urban
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQTFXMQU7I

Reviews are in!




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A R M O R E D _ C O R E _ S I X _ F I R E S _ O F _ R U B I C O N




MEDIA

Reveal Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpRIt6o7waE

Gameplay Reveal Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khP047JyVXM

Full Gameplay Preview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwymxKLId4c

Story Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs2piSWfofQ

Q&A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iwDkLHVhEc

Overview Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVDe1P3Z9Rk

-

:homebrew:


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SYNOPSIS



FROM SOFTWARE posted:

A mysterious new substance was discovered on the remote planet, Rubicon 3. As an energy source, this substance was expected to dramatically advance humanity’s technological and communications capabilities. Instead, this substance caused a catastrophe that engulfed the planet and the surrounding stars in flames and storms, forming a Burning Star System.

Almost half a century later, the same substance resurfaced on Rubicon 3, a planet now contaminated and sealed off by the catastrophe.

Extra-terrestrial corporations and resistance groups fight over control of the substance. The player infiltrates Rubicon as an independent mercenary and finds themself in a struggle over the substance with the corporations and other factions.



Game details:

quote:

Engage in high-speed mech combat

Those whose primary experience with FromSoftware comes from games like Bloodborne or Elden Ring might be curious about what to expect from Armored Core VI. 

You play an augmented mercenary piloting a huge, customizable mech. Yet while the pace and structure of mech-piloting action fundamentally differ from other games in the studio’s catalog, players can rest assured that the smooth, responsive controls they’ve come to expect in FromSoftware games is still here–just in a different context. Think giant, heavily equipped robots with the ability to zip around across ground and air, reacting at lightning-fast speeds to attacks and threats while trying to one-up dangerous foes with even more firepower at their disposal.

Rubicon, the ruined planet

Armored Core VI is a new story that takes place on the planet Rubicon, where a powerful energy source called “Coral” has been discovered. But this isn’t stuff that looks pretty in aquariums–Coral is extremely volatile, and it’s already caused a massive disaster that nearly turned all of Rubicon to ash many years prior. But those futuristic megacorps just can’t resist the siren song of Coral and continue to war for it to this day.

The various areas of Rubicon are filled with contrasts, as the hollowed-out industrial ruins from the aforementioned disaster smolder beneath a shiny shell of state-of-the-art mining constructs encasing the planet. 

“It’s an intricate and multi-layered world, brimming with mega-structures and enormous underground facilities built by its former inhabitants. These structures cover a planetary surface wracked with extreme cold and contamination in the aftermath of the great disaster, and the player will be exploring these various environments as they proceed,” says game director Masaru Yamamura. 

The expansive environments will deliver an incredible sense of scale, maintaining the quality we’ve come to expect from FromSoftware’s world-design maestros. And with your Armored Core’s (AC for short) advanced movement skills, you’ll be able to explore these large, open spaces to your heart’s content. You’ll be encountering lots of different scenery and objectives as you advance through the game’s mission-based progression structure (like previous entries).

“There will be missions where you’re fighting across sweeping battlefields–very combat-oriented,” Yamamura explains. “But you’ll sometimes be recovering data logs from wreckage and doing other side objectives too.” 

Combat features 

Assault Boost: One of the biggest new features in Armored Core VI is an instantaneous switch between long-range gunfighting and close-range melee, thanks to a button-activated movement skill called the Assault Boost. 

“Assault Boost is an offensive action that helps close the gap between enemies and lets you quickly go from long distance to close range,” Yamamura tells us. It will also provide some incredible chain abilities when fighting, as he describes vividly: “Say you activate Assault Boost to make your approach while using machine gun fire and a missile salvo to stagger the enemy, then use your pulse blade to score a direct melee hit once you’re up close.”

Stagger: Another addition to the series’ combat is a “stagger” element: if an AC takes too many hits over a short period of time, its Attitude Control System will be overloaded, making it vulnerable for a short time. Both continuous hits and big, powerful strikes will cause stagger damage, encouraging you to keep up the pressure on the opponent. The damage inflicted to an enemy’s stagger gauge varies from weapon to weapon. It can also be affected by factors like distance, adding additional strategy in equipping and using these armaments in combat. 

We asked Yamamura how the pace and feel of the game compares to previous entries. 

“The average movement speed across the game is somewhere between Armored Core 3 and Armored Core 5,” he replies. “But Armored Core VI has been developed to bolster the changes of tempo and combat. With instantaneous bursts of speed and sudden changes of tempo, combat can often reach the dizzying heights of say, Armored Core 4.”

Fight challenging bosses

The series’ big boss encounters are back, and the metal monstrosities you’ll encounter look bigger and more intimidating than ever. 

“There will be a rich variety of powerful enemies of all shapes and sizes,” says Yamamura. “Huge combat helicopters, heavily armored mobile turrets, and unmanned heavy demolition machinery that’s programmed to indiscriminately crush intruders. Armored Core VI will offer a number of explosive battle experiences that challenge players to fight against the odds and overcome these ginormous, more abnormal mechs.”

In addition to these larger bosses, you’ll even fight against other ACs and humanoid mechs in high-octane duels. And in grand FromSoftware tradition, it may take several attempts and some experimentation with your AC’s equipment to fully learn and adapt to a boss’s quirks. So better prepare yourself, as Armored Core VI will offer numerous cathartic explosive battles that’ll truly test your skills.

Build the perfect AC 

Customization is a key part of the Armored Core experience. You have access to an assortment of parts to upgrade and fine-tune the power of your AC. Four slots for holding weaponry–one in each hand and two on the back–give you a lot of space to experiment with custom loadouts.

What kind of weapons are we talking about? Bazookas, gatling guns, split missiles, plasma rifles, and all the perennial favorites. There are a bunch of new close-range weapons, too. 

“One aspect we focused on in Armored Core VI is melee weapons, exclusively equipped to the left hand,” Yamamura continues. “These can include a cluster bomb thrower, a chainsaw or pulse blade, lances, and other more idiosyncratic weapons. Since the main weapons are firearms, the melee weapons are more focused on that strength of individuality.” 

Add in custom paint jobs and liveries and you’ll be able to create a unique AC that’s all yours. 

The Arena is back

There’s more good news for longtime Armored Core fans. The Arena, a much-cherished mode where you can fight a series of battles against a wide array of specially customized mechs, makes its return in Armored Core VI as a “combat aptitude evaluation program” (simulated training exercise). 

“There are a lot of different AC frames and a lot of colorful characters to fight in the Arena, so we hope the players confront them all and aim for the top rank. You can even encounter the real version of these opponents while out on missions. These are more formidable than their simulator counterparts, and will confront the protagonist with their own ideals and motives in the heat of battle.”

Perfecting your combat skills won’t be the only reason you’ll want to return to the frontline: there will be multiple endings to Armored Core VI’s narrative, with new paths opening up on subsequent playthroughs, giving players plenty of incentive to explore the world and story thoroughly. What will be the ultimate fate of Rubicon? That’s all up to you."





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"Yo goon, what is this?"



Orbital-dropped from the blue upon the Game Awards 2022 crowd with a marvelously bleak fakeout trailer, I'm sure a good number of the newer FROM fans (Masochistic Psychogamers all) expecting Elden Ring DLC simply muttered :what: , but I have a feeling a whole bunch of people around these parts know what the gently caress is up. Armored Core is one of the true granddaddies of action/shooter mecha gaming (alongside MechWarrior/BattleTech in the late '80s and early '90s) as well as FROM SOFTWARE's prototypical 3rd person action game series. A long-running bread&butter franchise that was put on the backburner for quite some time as the developer/publisher went off to redefine itself, the dark fantasy genre, and pretty much the entire gaming landscape in the meantime. The original game was published in the US by SCEA and released mid way through the original PlayStation's lifespan to become an unlikely slow-burn hit due to demo-discs and word of mouth, this at a time when jrpgs and platformers were the prime system sellers. The PSX game eventually received two expansions, Project Phantasma and Master of Arena, that could accept save imports from the original title, and more than a dozen sequels/expansions over 2 subsequent console generations. Though, due to its rather obscure nature, complex sim like elements, and dated controls the series would become more and more of a niche item throughout the 2000's, changing publishers half a dozen times while focusing more and more on pleasing a small but devoted fanbase.



The game series to-date has primarily centered around accepting contract missions from private partners and large, unscrupulous interstellar corporations, outfitting yourself with whatever parts/stats that will balance out and get you by, and completing the missions to the letter in order to satisfy sponsors who are bidding for your skills. Tonally, the series wears its cynicism about the future on its sleeve and maintains a larger than life, brutalist, hard sci-fi aesthetic that is meant to feel cold and alienating in scope. You are a mercenary who's main goal is to hit the big time, slow and steady, use clout and money to further upgrade and customize your huge, modular mech or 'A.C.' , while navigating the increasingly thorny corporate intrigues of a future dominated by galactic colonial interests, urban warfare, terran environmental collapse, free-market cloning/exploitation, and industrial AI. Along the way you'll face off with intimidating opponents, both reputable and notorious, who are also looking out for their own interests, and perhaps even engage in a little arena combat for sport. FROM's flagship mech series already featured a number of familiar design elements that would later come to define their award-winning fantasy games throughout the 2010s after the arrival and stewardship of director/president Hidetaka Miyazaki: a shattered social fabric, unconventional narrative delivery, nameless player characters, rpg-inspired customization, new game+, [emergency edit]Patches![/], PvP, The Moonlight Blade :grin:, and a perpetually ambiguous sense of purpose amid a huge landscape of pragmatic war-makers, profiteers, space pirates, and violent thrill-seekers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2l-YezVI28

Armored Core VI, the first entry in literally a decade, and likely the first in the series to be graced with a decent development budget (thanks Elden Ring!), also carries a certain expectation that the once indie developer now industry powerhouse might have learned a few lessons in game development while working on universally acclaimed action/rpg titles like Sekiro, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and recently Elden Ring. That is to say that despite being a numbered entry in a storied series there are rumors that the scope of this new game will be much larger than before, the environments more open-ended, the tone more in line with the apocalyptica of their fantasy titles, and...yeah, I'd say the trailer bears that out.[edit; confirmed! AC VI is mission based! :woop:] It looks amazing, fresh, a blast from the past with new ideas to garnish. I'm ready to get hype! so let's nuke this loving place!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojtl4UdCDYM

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ETC.

New to the series?

Curious about its history, lore, possible entry-points? Drop into the Appreciation Station and look around.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3901774&pagenumber=1&perpage=40

here's a thoughtful chart from reddit regarding series entry points



--

LPS

Notably, a few Let's Plays have been posted in the retro thread over time:

ArclightBorealis posted:

A new sub forum for retro game opens up, and shortly afterward an AC appreciation thread is made. It's like the best birthday gift I could ask for.

Also, I actually did Let's Plays for the 1st Gen Armored Core quite a few years back (even being the first LPs I did on this site). They're complete, and already up on the LP Archive if you want to add them to the post, OP.

nine-gear crow posted:

ACES CURE PLANES also did LPs of Armored Core 2 and Another Age. A couple of randos also did LPs of 4 and 5, but they're buried in the LP forum now, so good luck finding them.

Flair posted:

I have found the Armored Core 4 LP to add to the OP: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3819022

Flair posted:

I have completed the mission set forth by nine-gear crow all those years ago: I have found the LP for Armored Core V: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3674831

--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxnSp_GQH64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBPHnZCY9bU

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Q/A

Q/ How do I S-Rank _____ level?
A/ https://thefifthmatt.com/ac6-rank-calculator



(forthcoming)

BeanpolePeckerwood fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Sep 22, 2023

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Looper
Mar 1, 2012
armored floor (where my jaw is)

Chillgamesh
Jul 29, 2014

Wonder how the poison swamps in this game will work

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



:allears:


you KNOW he's gonna

incorporeal
May 6, 2006

Chillgamesh posted:

Wonder how the poison swamps in this game will work

Didn't armored core games have levels where there was high levels of radiation in parts of the stage that would just drain your health in seconds if you went in? Might be thinking of a different game

History Comes Inside!
Nov 20, 2004




Finally

Big Scary Owl
Oct 1, 2014

by Fluffdaddy
Brb im going into debt so i can be human plus

ShadowMar
Mar 2, 2010

HERE IS A
GRAVEYARD
OF YOU!


incorporeal posted:

Didn't armored core games have levels where there was high levels of radiation in parts of the stage that would just drain your health in seconds if you went in? Might be thinking of a different game

armored core 1 had a level flooded with corrosive gas that drained your health slowly over time, the concept of poison swamps are just from software tradition at this point

CharlieFoxtrot
Mar 27, 2007

organize digital employees



Love that "Burning Star System" is a proper noun

The Chad Jihad
Feb 24, 2007


Give me the core I want to see the core

Bugblatter
Aug 4, 2003

Miyazaki said in the middle of the year, a few months after ER came out, that the studios next game was “basically finished.”

Given that they waited this long to announce it and it still doesn’t have a release date, I wonder if ER profits haven’t been put into building this game out more.

I hope the delay between pre-rendered trailer and actual gameplay reveals isn’t as long as normal for the studio. Very curious to learn more about how this one will play.

Buschmaki
Dec 26, 2012

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿Lean Addict︵‿︵‿︵‿
Miyazaki a fool for this one!!

PsychoInternetHawk
Apr 4, 2011

Perhaps, if one wishes to remain an individual in the midst of the teeming multitudes, one must make oneself grotesque.
Grimey Drawer

ShadowMar posted:

armored core 1 had a level flooded with corrosive gas that drained your health slowly over time, the concept of poison swamps are just from software tradition at this point

Xbox FromSoftware game Otogi gave the player a constantly draining magic meter that killed you if it emptied, it's like the whole game is a poison swamp!

Also where the gently caress is my Otogi sequel/remaster From, do that next

Mordja
Apr 26, 2014

Hell Gem
My only experience with the Armored Core series:
-Playing AC 4 once or twice at my-friend-who-owned-a-PS3's house, sticking swords on a robit and zoom-slashing people do death
-Building a model kit and feeling kinda disappointed with its lack of colour separation and articulation. It would later shatter into a million pieces and I threw it in the trash

Suffice to say, I am very much looking forward to this game.

Shardix
Sep 14, 2011

The end! No moral.
Looking forward to Patch the Good Luck kicking me into a pit of Nineballs

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
THE ARMORED CORE

IS REAL!

Ratios and Tendency
Apr 23, 2010

:swoon: MURALI :swoon:


Plot-twist: this is the elden ring dlc.

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

Oh yess...


YESSSSSS


HA HA YESSS

lets hang out
Jan 10, 2015

PsychoInternetHawk posted:

Xbox FromSoftware game Otogi gave the player a constantly draining magic meter that killed you if it emptied, it's like the whole game is a poison swamp!

Also where the gently caress is my Otogi sequel/remaster From, do that next

fwiw if you've got an xbox they're backwards compatible and available digitally. replayed the first one just recently, still fun!

Bugblatter
Aug 4, 2003

A while back the writers of The Expanse books said they worked with FromSoft to craft the story of an unannounced sci-fi game. Wonder if it’s this or if From has something else sci-fi up their sleeve.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.

Ratios and Tendency posted:

Plot-twist: this is the elden ring dlc.

You enter the Elden Ring boss arena. Schizo piano music starts to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoGMJHbV4Wk

cool av
Mar 2, 2013

looks sick

Big Scary Owl
Oct 1, 2014

by Fluffdaddy

MonsieurChoc posted:

You enter the Elden Ring boss arena. Schizo piano music starts to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoGMJHbV4Wk

Makes me wonder how the soundtrack for this game is gonna be like

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.

Big Scary Owl posted:

Makes me wonder how the soundtrack for this game is gonna be like

The trailer music was EXTREMELY Vangelis.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


I'm already drawing unreasonable conclusions from the trailer regarding the setting and continuity.

Bugblatter
Aug 4, 2003

The mysterious substance that caused the star system to burst into flames was called Melange in an earlier leaked draft, so OBVIOUSLY this is Miyazaki’s Dune inspired sci-fi epic. What else could it be?

free hubcaps
Oct 12, 2009

PsychoInternetHawk posted:

Xbox FromSoftware game Otogi gave the player a constantly draining magic meter that killed you if it emptied, it's like the whole game is a poison swamp!

Also where the gently caress is my Otogi sequel/remaster From, do that next

Otogi was such a great game and looked fantastic, definitely deserves a remaster

Also holy poo poo im so loving pumped for armored core. I wonder if it will still have the sadistic ammo/ repair cost mechanics that always made me finish missions in debt in the old games Lol ofc it will

EightFlyingCars
Jun 30, 2008


this series completely passed me by. where do i start

fez_machine
Nov 27, 2004
Titbit from the Steam page:

quote:

Development Team
Hidetaka Miyazaki will be involved as the Initial Game Director. Based on the initial development, Masaru Yamamura has taken over as Director.

So maybe no poison swamps and maybe more Sekirobo.

Bugblatter
Aug 4, 2003

Hey Sekiro had a poison swamp! A small one but it was there.

EightFlyingCars posted:

this series completely passed me by. where do i start

Probably with this game. The PS1 and PS2 games were well loved but aged poorly. The PS3 games aren’t regarded as well, though some people say kind things about For Answer.

free hubcaps
Oct 12, 2009

What was everyone's favorite leg type on the old games? I always loved the light reverse jointed ones, both aesthetically and for their jumping ability

EightFlyingCars
Jun 30, 2008


Bugblatter posted:

Hey Sekiro had a poison swamp! A small one but it was there.

Probably with this game. The PS1 and PS2 games were well loved but aged poorly. The PS3 games aren’t regarded as well, though some people say kind things about For Answer.

i'm pretty jank-resistant, a little while ago i decided to try out king's field and i actually liked it

WaltherFeng
May 15, 2013

50 thousand people used to live here. Now, it's the Mushroom Kingdom.
For Answer is probably the template for all the modern AC games going forward and even 6 has the tagline High Speed Robot Action which is what FA was known for.

Aipsh
Feb 17, 2006


GLUPP SHITTO FAN CLUB PRESIDENT
Ty BP - time to get unhealthy hyped over this. Never even played any armoured core and the shame of fromsoft neglect will only grow

Bugblatter
Aug 4, 2003

EightFlyingCars posted:

i'm pretty jank-resistant, a little while ago i decided to try out king's field and i actually liked it

Oh, wow.

Well just hop into one of the early titles then.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



EightFlyingCars posted:

this series completely passed me by. where do i start

Hard to say, maybe 4? The older games are quite ancient but they were excellent for their day. You could probably grab PSX AC1 on PS3 and spend a few days with it. Simpler times. The PSX titles -> AC2/Another Age was probably the biggest jump in graphical quality between games. I myself skipped a number of them in the 00's. It's a series that became known for treading water for a long time, kind of got hammered critically. By the time Bandai became the publisher in the 2010s and put out V ...FROM was well into focusing most of their resources on other things. Miyazaki directed 4 and 4A, but that was when he first got into the games industry prior to DeS even, I think, and even then FROM's development culture just wasn't the same machine that it is now. So we're really looking at an interesting situation here because there are now millions of new FROM fans that have never even heard of or played their stuff before the PS360. And with the momentum of this and Sekiro my bet is that Miyazaki is probably planning King's Field V in some form as well.

SIGSEGV posted:

I'm already drawing unreasonable conclusions from the trailer regarding the setting and continuity.

Draw away. I'd personally like to hear wild speculation.

Sleng Teng
May 3, 2009

I am ready.

BeanpolePeckerwood
May 4, 2004

I MAY LOOK LIKE SHIT BUT IM ALSO DUMB AS FUCK



this is etched onto my brain like a caryll rune. hundreds of hours in the menu to this 1 minute loop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCLzxoPI0zo

AtomikKrab
Jul 17, 2010

Keep on GOP rolling rolling rolling rolling.

free hubcaps posted:

What was everyone's favorite leg type on the old games? I always loved the light reverse jointed ones, both aesthetically and for their jumping ability

Heavy regular joint legs, I just like the aesthetics and that's the sole reason I use them.

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Basticle
Sep 12, 2011


I haven't palyed an AC since 2 and remember it being almost unfairly difficult* (I know, FromSoft m i rite) were the 360-era games any better in that regard?


* It's been 20 years but I seem to remember it controlling very stiffly and the enemies being way faster and better aim than you

Basticle fucked around with this message at 14:33 on Dec 10, 2022

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