I feel a little shameless plugging of Armored Core 5 is in order. The guys at From software released this game with very little fanfare last week, and I doubt the Giant Bomb staff is going to give it any attention.

And I feel this game deserves a little attention. If you like the From Software guys because they make games that are challenging, have depth and require a bit of effort from the community to learn the systems than this game might be right up your alley. The setting is definately not as popular in the west as the dark fantasy of the Souls games, but it has that hallmark quality of sucking you in and consuming you if you let it.

It is more multiplayer focused with teams fighting over territory, but personally I am also just having fun with building different AC's (basically big robot suits) and going through the story and side missions in the game. All of the missions can be done in co-op, with team members or you can even hire other players as mercenaries to help.

Feel free to ask me questions about the game, but think of it as the first week of Dark Souls - everybody is still figuring stuff out. There are also teams on the xbox360 and ps3 should you want to play with some duders from this community.

It was released to no fanfare?

You're...you're joking, right? It's Armored Core. It has a niche audience that will snatch it up immediately and that's it. I would've picked it up already, but I had to pay for tags on my car this month. I plan on buying it ASAP though after that. Love me some Armored Core, and I just didn't think that For Answer was as good as everyone said.

I also like that they changed to 5 meter from 10 meter, and it seems that a lot of the community feels the same way. I've heard that it plays a lot closer (in terms of strategy) to the original games rather than their newer counterparts because of it.

@jakob187 said:

It was released to no fanfare?

You're...you're joking, right? It's Armored Core. It has a niche audience that will snatch it up immediately and that's it. I would've picked it up already, but I had to pay for tags on my car this month. I plan on buying it ASAP though after that. Love me some Armored Core, and I just didn't think that For Answer was as good as everyone said.

I also like that they changed to 5 meter from 10 meter, and it seems that a lot of the community feels the same way. I've heard that it plays a lot closer (in terms of strategy) to the original games rather than their newer counterparts because of it.

Well, as far as I understand, never played older Armored core games, this one is more of a mash-up between Chromehounds and the older AC games. I reckon they did that to attract a broader audience, so giving it a little marketing might not be such a bad idea. I heard the chromehouds game was highly critically acclaimed.

That is pretty much the point of my post, the Souls games have become quite popular. It might broaden the audience for the Armored Core games with people looking for games that have that From Software touch.

Sorry, I really tried getting into these games on the PS2. Those controls...man.

I think I'll hold out for that MechWarrior game coming out this year.

I've played most AC games in existence. All the recent 360 ones included, but for some reason I just can't bring myself to purchase this one. Maybe when it's cheaper I'll pick it up.

Someday From and Sega will reunite and give me my Chromehouds 2: The Morskoying.

I got to know FS because of AC. Ive been a fan for some years now of the series. Though I still dream of the day they add more stylized frames to the series. Getting tired of the big bulky mechs already. Im currently importing Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. A PS3 game by From that seems more streamlined since it uses an already established universe, but looks really really good in motion. Will give more details once it arrives in 3-4 weeks xD

My desire is to see an AC with more designs similar to the ones in Anime and stuff. The series classic designs is growing stagnant right now, with more or less 10 games with almost similar mechs.

I loved the last two Armored Core games and if i had the dough to buy it i would

I love Dark Souls but never really liked a mech game so as much as I would love to support From, I can't see myself buying this game.

I was an AC fan back in the ps2 days when I had way more time and patience for badly designed games.

@Doctorchimp: They've changed the controls pretty drastically since the PS2 era. AC5 handles somewhere in between an FPS and a character action game. Anyone who can deal with dual analog controls should be able to pick it up fairly easily.

I wish I had money for that game right now. Looks amazing.

I always liked the look of AC games. The few that I played were a bit intimidating though.

Armored Core 5 is possibly more confusing at first than Demon's Souls was (And I played that in Korean). I still love it.

@jakob187 said:

It was released to no fanfare?

You're...you're joking, right? It's Armored Core. It has a niche audience that will snatch it up immediately and that's it. I would've picked it up already, but I had to pay for tags on my car this month. I plan on buying it ASAP though after that. Love me some Armored Core, and I just didn't think that For Answer was as good as everyone said.

I also like that they changed to 5 meter from 10 meter, and it seems that a lot of the community feels the same way. I've heard that it plays a lot closer (in terms of strategy) to the original games rather than their newer counterparts because of it.

Yes it was released to no fanfare. The very small cult AC following is not fanfare. There was no damn marketing behind the game and plenty of people don't even know it exists. Much more could have been done to let people know about this game and wtf it is.

@StarvingGamer said:

@Doctorchimp: They've changed the controls pretty drastically since the PS2 era. AC5 handles somewhere in between an FPS and a character action game. Anyone who can deal with dual analog controls should be able to pick it up fairly easily.

Yeah, the controls seem really easy. My 6 year old son was zooming around the battlefield (in AC test mode) almost immediately, boosting and wall climbing like a pro. The complexity of the game comes more from all the different configurations you can use for building your AC, all the different weapon and damage types, and the whole system of defending and conquesting territory for your team (clan) .

yeah i been checking it out with reviews and all and it does not seem like the mech game for me, I'll just wait for ZOE HD collection to come.

I am one of those AC die hard fans that bought it day 1.

And sold it already. If your a long time fan of the series it changes a lot of what made Armored Core special. Not saying its a bad game, its good in its own way. I liked the direction they took with more skill needed for in game combat and strategy. Armored Core V is less about a rock, paper, scissors system for parts like the last ones, and more of learn the maps and a fighting style.

Oh and also they made the game like almost completely multiplayer based. A odd choice considering the very small fan base that game has. I don't imagine seeing those servers up for no more than 2 years at most.

You cant free fly like you used to in the other games. Your restricted to the ground, jumping, and jumping off buildings. No radar anymore, you send out drones that find the enemy (cool idea, badly implemented).

Ps3 has frame issues and game doesn't look good. I'm not a graphics whore but when the action picks up its extremely hard to tell whats happening.

@thehuntsmen5434: Yeah, I heard that the ps3 version has more problems. Haven't noticed any framerate problems on the 360.

@jakob187 said:

It was released to no fanfare?

You're...you're joking, right? It's Armored Core. It has a niche audience that will snatch it up immediately and that's it. I would've picked it up already, but I had to pay for tags on my car this month. I plan on buying it ASAP though after that. Love me some Armored Core, and I just didn't think that For Answer was as good as everyone said.

I also like that they changed to 5 meter from 10 meter, and it seems that a lot of the community feels the same way. I've heard that it plays a lot closer (in terms of strategy) to the original games rather than their newer counterparts because of it.

Yes it was released to no fanfare. The very small cult AC following is not fanfare. There was no damn marketing behind the game and plenty of people don't even know it exists. Much more could have been done to let people know about this game and wtf it is.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@James_Giant_Peach said:

@jakob187 said:

It was released to no fanfare?

You're...you're joking, right? It's Armored Core. It has a niche audience that will snatch it up immediately and that's it. I would've picked it up already, but I had to pay for tags on my car this month. I plan on buying it ASAP though after that. Love me some Armored Core, and I just didn't think that For Answer was as good as everyone said.

I also like that they changed to 5 meter from 10 meter, and it seems that a lot of the community feels the same way. I've heard that it plays a lot closer (in terms of strategy) to the original games rather than their newer counterparts because of it.

Yes it was released to no fanfare. The very small cult AC following is not fanfare. There was no damn marketing behind the game and plenty of people don't even know it exists. Much more could have been done to let people know about this game and wtf it is.

I played the first few ones and enjoyed them. I was not even aware they are up to this number of the game. I saw no advertising.

My local retailer was almost sold out of copies! (I bet they only had 2...)

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@James_Giant_Peach said:

@jakob187 said:

It was released to no fanfare?

You're...you're joking, right? It's Armored Core. It has a niche audience that will snatch it up immediately and that's it. I would've picked it up already, but I had to pay for tags on my car this month. I plan on buying it ASAP though after that. Love me some Armored Core, and I just didn't think that For Answer was as good as everyone said.

I also like that they changed to 5 meter from 10 meter, and it seems that a lot of the community feels the same way. I've heard that it plays a lot closer (in terms of strategy) to the original games rather than their newer counterparts because of it.

Yes it was released to no fanfare. The very small cult AC following is not fanfare. There was no damn marketing behind the game and plenty of people don't even know it exists. Much more could have been done to let people know about this game and wtf it is.

I played the first few ones and enjoyed them. I was not even aware they are up to this number of the game. I saw no advertising.

My local retailer was almost sold out of copies! (I bet they only had 2...)

One of the things I love about AC is the controls. They're so bad they're good. Maybe is too much of a black/white word, but it's something. I am definitely going to pick thsi game up sometime in the future... just not now because I literally have 5 games to play and The Witcher 2 is on it's way.

@xyzygy said:

One of the things I love about AC is the controls. They're so bad they're good. Maybe is too much of a black/white word, but it's something. I am definitely going to pick thsi game up sometime in the future... just not now because I literally have 5 games to play and The Witcher 2 is on it's way.

The controls is this one are way more streamlined than in the older versions, or so I have heard. It pretty much plays like a FPS.... well, one where you can shoot 3 weapons at the same time while wall jumping on the side of a skyscraper :)