I've been playing this for about the last hour or so online. Figured it might be nice to share my thoughts, and make a thread for everyone else to share their's.

• The game forces you to join or create a team upon first booting into the game. I joined one with some people in it from another forum. The reasons to join a team flow into the game's multiplayer.
• Game is very much multiplayer-focused. Every single mission - even "single-player" ones - lets you bring along at least one other person.
• Contrary to what I've read before, there's more than 10 missions, although 10 of them may be just story. Story ones are longer from what I've seen, though.
• The storyline itself makes no damn sense, but I don't expect anyone to be buying the game for the story.
• You join a team so you can do conquests, where you own territories in the game world and compete against other players' teams. Not sure what conquest will do yet, though.
• The multiplayer strikes me as a mix of Chromehounds and Armored Core. Less players than Chromehounds, and smaller maps, but everything moves faster.
• Also, your team's level determines what items are available in the shop. So it pays to join a group.
• It's very much an Armored Core game. Expect to pore over spreadsheets showing off red, blue, and white numbers as you try to min-max your mech.

So far, I'm enjoying the game. It's pretty fun and frantic. The addition of gliding around reminds me of skiing in Tribes. I hope it can retain my interest.

Hmmm, so I should be looking for a team before I get my copy of the game tomorrow? Can I just join any team or do I have to be let in?

@StarvingGamer: Some are set to open, and you can just join. Some are set where you need a password to join. There are currently Giant Bomb teams on both consoles if you are interested.

@Rawson Can you provide an Armored Core primer or point me in the direction of one? I am interested in mech games and it has been a while since I played one (Mechwarrior 2 or 3 on PC). Other than Steel Battalion it seems this is the only other one coming out in this recent waves of Mech Games that isn't Free-To-Play. I know a higher barrier of entry doesn't free me from shenanigans but it'll help.

Thanks for this overview.

@Grnd_Lb_Knt said:

@Rawson Can you provide an Armored Core primer or point me in the direction of one? I am interested in mech games and it has been a while since I played one (Mechwarrior 2 or 3 on PC). Other than Steel Battalion it seems this is the only other one coming out in this recent waves of Mech Games that isn't Free-To-Play. I know a higher barrier of entry doesn't free me from shenanigans but it'll help.

Thanks for this overview.

Armored Core is a third-person action series built primarily around building and customizing your own giant robot. There's tons of parts to choose from, including weapons and physical components. Each one of these parts has its own stats, making part of the game about choosing the right components to balance your mech's stats. You take your robot out on single-player/co-op missions, and online in PvP matches. It differs from Mechwarrior in that it's third-person and anime-inspired, meaning that you're not so much a walking tank (although you can have tank treads instead of legs), as much as you'll be flying and zipping around the game at extraordinary speeds.

In a way, the game is pure giant robot porn.

If you're interested in a more in-depth look than what I can possibly provide, I recommend checking out the folks over at Armored Core Universe.

How is online so far? Well-populated?

I'm a super-huge fan of Dark Souls/Demon's Souls. That's how I cottoned on to FROMsoftware. I'm not expecting similar experiences, of course, but their name is specifically what drew my attention. What kind of learning curve is a complete newb going to face?

@MuttersomeTaxicab said:

How is online so far? Well-populated?

I'm a super-huge fan of Dark Souls/Demon's Souls. That's how I cottoned on to FROMsoftware. I'm not expecting similar experiences, of course, but their name is specifically what drew my attention. What kind of learning curve is a complete newb going to face?

Online looks like it has a decent enough amount of people on PS3. As for player longevity, I'm not sure. Hopefully longer than a lot of other games, given the cult fanbase the series has.

As for difficulty? Single-player and co-op isn't very difficult, but this is quite a different game from the Souls series. It's more along the lines of a competitive multiplayer shooter, and that portion definitely has its own set of challenges and learning curve associated with it. It's partially why I'm recommending joining a team so much, if not simply so you have others you can talk to, play with, and learn from.

I've noticed that this game also has quite a bit of jank to it. During missions I've gotten stuck on some of the level's surface and had to quit out early.

I am kind of bummed that they didn't continue the story of For Answer, especially since it looked like they were beginning to show signs of a story in the game for a change. Now, it's all over the place and things are happening and... I can not tell you what's going on. But, big robots with bigger guns, so whatever.

As far as the game goes, I'm not sure what kind of game it is. I'm playing single player since I don't have a gold account anymore, so I can't tell if I'm missing something. Also, if this is meant to be played with two people all the time, I'm not seeing it. So far, it's been fairly easy with a standard medium bipedal mech.

Fuck what did they do to boosting? Do they still have secret items you have to either find in a mission or clear a mission with certain prerequisites?

@Rawson said:

@MuttersomeTaxicab said:

How is online so far? Well-populated?

I'm a super-huge fan of Dark Souls/Demon's Souls. That's how I cottoned on to FROMsoftware. I'm not expecting similar experiences, of course, but their name is specifically what drew my attention. What kind of learning curve is a complete newb going to face?

Online looks like it has a decent enough amount of people on PS3. As for player longevity, I'm not sure. Hopefully longer than a lot of other games, given the cult fanbase the series has.

As for difficulty? Single-player and co-op isn't very difficult, but this is quite a different game from the Souls series. It's more along the lines of a competitive multiplayer shooter, and that portion definitely has its own set of challenges and learning curve associated with it. It's partially why I'm recommending joining a team so much, if not simply so you have others you can talk to, play with, and learn from.

Yeah, considering the servers for Dark Souls are still reasonably occupied, I imagine Armored Core might have a similar kind of cult following. But yeah, I imagine the gameplay is very different. It`s been a donkey`s age since I played any kind of mech game, but consider my interest piqued. Is there a lot of teamchat on the PS3?

@StarvingGamer said:

Do they still have secret items you have to either find in a mission or clear a mission with certain prerequisites?

This is the kind of shit that will get me to fall in on this game. Hard.

@MuttersomeTaxicab: The teamchat was fine, but my group uses Skype instead of the PS3. So your mileage may vary.

@StarvingGamer: I'm honestly not sure about secret items. Keep in mind that I only played it for ~3 hours total, though. It doesn't look like getting S rank on a mission will earn you items, according to an Armored Core Universe thread.

And yeah, the boosting has been changed. The game's aerial combat as a whole seems less about sustained flight, and more about falling slowly and blasting around with quick bursts of speed.

I can tell you what my first impressions were upon hearing this game was coming out. Oddly enough, they are the same as hearing that the dotHack series was also returning:

"YEEEEAAfuck."

I'm kind of getting that feeling right now, despite how optimistic these posts read.

How is the learning curve? I haven't seriously played an AC game since 2 and 3 came out and I doubt I was any good back then. Making dope-ass-looking robots, though? Totally different story.

I have Armored Core IV and have yet to beat the fourth mission. Those games are tough if you have no clue.

@GooieGreen:

@benspyda:

Armored Core 5 has a much less steep learning curve and overall frustration level, it starts off at a pretty submissive level then ramps up in appropriate doses.

yep liking the game so far , feels crazily different to begin with then all the changes sink in and shit makes sense .. hard to say if super fast mechs are still gonna be a pain in the ass or not but im enjoying the heavy mech gameplay so far , havent bothered with online as the serves have been up/down .. and yes a classicly confusing as fuck armored core story , are they aware that using 3 identical sounding voice actresses in the intro scene is crazily confusing ..

Man I really don't know about this game. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the new boost mechanic and lack of flight. Also I don't like the lack of radar and how stripped down the HUD feels.

But I'll keep plugging away at it.

its really jarring at first, i guess its still jarring now but im shedding all my previous habits , there are some longer / higher jump boosters i hear later on so hold out your hopes there , starting jump boost is like lol what.

also i like the hud but it is a bti too small for all the info , miss my energy bar on the side but thats about it

@envane said:

its really jarring at first, i guess its still jarring now but im shedding all my previous habits , there are some longer / higher jump boosters i hear later on so hold out your hopes there , starting jump boost is like lol what.

also i like the hud but it is a bti too small for all the info , miss my energy bar on the side but thats about it

The energy bar is still there, though. It's part of the bars that surround the targeting reticle. The energy is in the lower-right quadrant.

idk about this game, i been playing it but i buy parts and they dont appear in my assembly list, i have been using the crappy starter mech for a while now and it moves extremely slow, its really taking away from me enjoying the game, i want to get into making my own mech, its unfortunate

@StarvingGamer:

WTF? No flight???? How is this an armored core game? How do you balance out mobility vs fire power?

Also how slow did they make it? I'm die hard on AC, but i have papers up the wazoo to do.

@Luca717 You've gotta do more multiplayer missions. I helped out a bunch of the Giant Bomb crew and that's when I started accumulating real cash.

I've played maybe 3 hours or so since I got it. I've never played much of the AC games in the past, so there's a lot to get used to. Enjoying it so far though.

The whole thing just seems ancient and decrepit. It is as if nobody in the past 12 years has sat down and THOUGHT about this game or the concept. They just seem to churn them out always under a "way of thinking" that just seems too fixed and too rigid. I really liked the first two games back in the day, but they they just stopped thinking or exploring.