So I've played Armored Core 6. And long
story short, the game is just good...
I've never felt so privileged to show off a game before. I know I'm biased since I have this channel and everything - but the game is just so special: it marks the point where an old franchise is coming back to life. It represents a
genre that so many new people will get to try for the first time, and yet it's still undeniably
a From Software game, with so many familiar hallmarks of their modern game design.
But, if you are a newcomer to the series, you might be thinking that this combat and UI is overwhelming. And you're right - it is. But trust me when I say that
it's worth taking the time to understand it all. So let's start at the beginning...with
the first mission of Armored Core 6. The game starts with you being sent
to infiltrate the planet "Rubicon 3". But... it doesn't exactly go according to plan.
Clearly, the Rubiconians don't want
anyone entering their airspace. ...and it wouldn't be a Fromsoft game if you
didn't start the game half dead already.
The man speaking here is your Handler
"Walter". And you are his hound, trained to follow his every command. With this, we're shot closer to
where we were supposed to be. This is the mech you start the
game with. It has an assault rifle, a laser blade, and multi-lock missiles. In this next section, I'll try to break down how the game plays. What I'm doing now is called an
"Assault Boost". It's the most efficient way to cover great distances.
It's also really, really good in combat..you can even dodge during it, like this.
If you come to a stop while grounded, you will walk, like this - but gliding with your
boosters on is generally better. and this is your quick boost - your dodge.
Then there's one button to jump, and ascend.
All of this requires energy, which
recovers really rapidly while you're grounded. This marks the first AC wreck that we've found. So there are multiple paths through this huge city...
...and it's swarming with enemies.
Thanks to the dialogue in this game, missions are really
engaging. Either Walter's telling you something, or you're eavesdropping on enemies, or your
foes are freaking out because they have to fight you. It's fun.
Let's talk missiles. By default, all missiles go to
a single target, like this. But if you hold down the fire button, you
can launch at multiple enemies, instead. You're going to be outnumbered a lot
in Armored Core, so staying mobile and constantly firing off missiles
is just a good way to play. I overcome multiple enemies
here by firing missiles, and by making use of line of sight
to avoid enemies while I reload. There's one last AC wreck to find.
And this is the pilot whose legacy you pillage, to obtain your new name.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's time to prepare for a boss fight...so as you can see -
I've toggled on my target assist, shown here. This is an automatic hard lock mode that's
great for focusing on a single enemy.
It's your typical early Fromsoft boss -
an enemy that you probably won't be able to defeat unless you're comfortable
with the fundamentals of the game. You need to always keep moving, to avoid enemy
fire. Get hit too many times, and your stability will break. Watch and
listen for warning signs. Try to stay close, and use your blade. Use the environment to block enemy attacks. And while all this is going
on, you need to make sure you're using all four of your weapons efficiently, so that you can break
through enemy defenses, and deal massive damage. If you've played previous AC games...you
know how good it feels to hear that. After you've listened to all of your new messages,
you'll enter this; the garage. Here, you can customise your AC. Sell its old parts.
Buy new parts...and inevitably realise that the new parts are too heavy for your legs. So:
buy new legs. And on, and on it goes. You can get lost in a sea of complex cost benefit
analysis here - or you can just buy the biggest gun you can carry, and remember that
red numbers bad. Blue numbers good..and get by that way, instead. Whatever your approach; it's
surprisingly fun, once you get the hang of it.
But that's not all you can do in the garage. You
can also practice in the training simulator, earn upgrades in the arena..and replay old missions. Then, when you're ready -
you can Sortie onto your next mission. Except - I can't show you the next mission. I
actually can't show you the next four missions. I can actually only show you 20 minutes of
footage from missions 1, 6, 7, 8, and 11, so please forgive me for all the screenshots
I've been showing you to save time here. Anyway - over the course of the next four
missions that I can't show you, I worked my way towards constructing an AC design that I call
"Black Flint". This build had gotten me through previous Armored Core games, so I figured it would
be able to get me through this game, as well. I love this build. It basically uses two sets
of missiles to break open enemy defenses...which often enables me to land direct hits
with the bazooka and assault rifle. But the biggest upside of this build was
that it was easy to pivot to better suit the mission. If an enemy was a large target that
needed to be stance broken, I could switch to double bazookas and break their guard for days.
Or if the enemy had an agile moveset that demanded all of my attention - then I could switch to dual
assault rifles; mindlessly hold down the triggers, and just focus on dodging, instead.
This build was more than enough to take me past the final boss we were
allowed to fight in mission 11. The end. But not really..Because simply
beating missions isn't really the endgame in Armored Core. The real test of your skill
is replaying those missions, and attempting to achieve a perfect S rank in them. I felt like there was a chance I might unlock something cool if I S-ranked a few misisons, so I gave it a shot.
To better my chances, I decided to quickly create a set of 4 diverse builds that I thought
might be better suited to each mission. So I made a tank build for mission 6.
A flying quadruped for mission 7. A lightweight melee build for mission 8.
And a heavy energy weapon biped for mission 11. Let me take you through each mission with
these builds. Starting...with mission 6. In true Armored Core fashion, each
mission starts with a briefing: I can't show all of this..but basically: Balam is
one of the big corporations that wants to break through the locals' defenses here on Rubicon.
And for this task, they've enlisted two of their own AC's, as well as you. An independent mercenary. As I fight this enemy AC, I need to talk
about these tread legs I'm equipped with. They completely change the way the game
plays - it feels more like driving around in a vehicle with these - and there's an incredible sense
of weight and momentum to everything...which comes in handy whenever you decide to
overboost charge into enemies, like this. What's more - tank and quad legs absorb
recoil from your weapons - meaning you can stay mobile while firing heavy weaponry. Then I destroyed the dam, I completed the mission, and even though I thought I played
perfectly..I only received an A rank. So I attempted to S rank this mission one
more time - with this, a reverse-jointed dual machine gunner. I danced circles around
my enemies, ignored the AC fight at the end, and simply focused on blowing up the
dam as fast as possible instead. With this, I finally received my S rank. So mission 6 was handed to you by
Balam Industries..but in mission 7, another corporation named "Arquebus" has
tasked you with taking on the STRIDER, a mobile resource base that has been extensively
weaponized by the Rubicon Liberation Front. To destroy this thing, you need to take out the
Eye, a giant laser cannon shielded by four main generators. These are your targets. That is,
if you can get close enough without the Eye incinerating you. The sheer scale of this enemy is absolutely
staggering. Previous games have had Arms Forts like this before, but they've
never looked this good. As you climb, you hear the Strider personnel
progressively get more panicked. They literally try to detach parts of the Strider to try and
get rid of you. But it's no use. In my S-rank attempt for this
mission, I made this energy weapon, quadruped build. The unique thing about
quadrupeds in this game is that if you tap the jump button while airborne, you can hover
in place. It probably goes without saying that this was extremely useful in this mission..
Just for some perspective though, here's what I looked like on my first attempt. This goes on for a while. But even then, I still
somehow managed to destroy the Eye. With the strider down, Arquebus are
impressed with you, to say the least. This gets a foot in the door for your handler
to ask for a spot...in Operation Wallclimber. Operation Wallclimber is epic in scale - not because you're taking out a large enemy or
anything...but because it's a long mission. First you have to find a way to get behind
two gatling cannons defending the city. Then you have to break through the
city itself...all while avoiding fire from the 16 snipers positioned on the wall. If you remember: in mission 6, the redguns were bragging that they'd be the first over the wall. But if you take the time to explore the city here, you'll find the wreck of Gun 4 Volta - your Redgun teammate, dead in the streets. I'm not sure what killed him, but the first real challenge for you
is defeating the Tetrapod MT, tucked away underneath the Wall's main gate.
These things are so much fun to fight. And my build here excels at one-on-one combat, with
dual handguns and missiles to break the enemy's guard, and a pile driver you have to pull out
of the weapon bay at just the right moment. And then after making your way all the way up and through
the wall, it's time to face the final boss. This boss is easy in enough in the
first phase when you have a co-op partner. But it's extremely difficult in
the second phase, when your partner leaves. Without IV Rusty on my side, I failed my S rank attempt against this mission. But when you fail a mission in Armored
Core 6 - you don't always have to start from the beginning. Usually
you'll have unlocked a checkpoint, and can re-attempt the part where you died with
replenished health, healing, and ammunition. What's more, you're actually able to switch
up your assembly mid-mission as well. So when I failed in my first
playthrough on this boss, I simply switched to double bazookas, and kept
the juggernaut staggered almost indefinitely. Yeah...so checkpoints are a powerful tool. And honestly I think the game's difficulty is based around You needing to make use of checkpoints. Checkpoints are what give From Software the design space to create long missions and difficult encounters within those missions. But naturally if you die and use a checkpoint then you're not going to get an S rank for the mission. So when I failed my S rank attempt, I simply switched to double bazookas again,
and overcame the mission that way, instead. Might as well finish the mission, and
claim those extra credits, right? The last mission I can show is
mission 11. Another long one. The first part of the mission involves
fighting your way past two fields of enemies with long-ranged weaponry. Later there's a 1v1 fight against an enemy AC named Sulla - who clearly
has a history with your handler. and finally, there's a boss battle - a bullet
hell against the autonomous craft named BALTEUS. This enemy has an insane moveset. The way I overcame this on my first playthrough
was by pivoting to dual assault rifles so that I could just mindlessly hold my fire button
downs and focus on predicting and dodging its attacks, instead. And that worked. Just.
For my S rank attempt, I created Samus - a plasma weapon build with dual pulse guns, a laser
cannon, and a shield...and it was awful. Or maybe I was awful, I'm not sure. I had some really cool moments,
but between dodging, and flying, and using my shield, and charging my cannon, and managing the
overheat on my pulse guns..piloting this build was just way beyond me, and I got hit. A lot.
So yeah. Even with the checkpoint system, the game is tough..and while I'm proud of the S ranks I did achieve, I failed at achieving them
for the longer missions with the limited time that I had. So I've used up just about all of the unique footage I have to show you today. But I still have more to reveal! If you want to stick around, I'd like
to go over a bunch of new game mechanics that I haven't mentioned yet, and at the end I'll also
share some deeper thoughts on the game, along with some details I learned from an interview
with the game's lead producer, and director. So..do you remember when I fought an enemy AC,
back in mission 6? His name was Index Dunham, and his was an optional AC fight
where you kind of just overwhelm him with two teammates. So this fight is actually optional. But it's still absolutely worth doing - because - you see this little icon
here? That's a combat log marker. It's a resource for something called Loghunt, which rewards
you with new parts for handing in combat logs, and rising through the ranks. Very cool.
At any rate, you can actually rematch Index Dunham..and a lot of other AC fights too
for that matter - in the Arena. In glorious, simulated, 1v1 combat. Which..I don't think
I'm allowed to show you. All I can show are these menu screens from the garage..where
it reveals that you are rewarded for these fights with credits, seen here..but more
importantly; with OST chips, as well. OST stands for Operating System Tuning, which
is also accessible in the garage. And it's here that you can spend your OS chips earned from
the arena across four different categories. First are system unlocks, which give you
new baseline abilities. Some of these, like Boost Kick and the Weapon Bay I'd argue are
almost essential. Boost Kick lets you press your assault boost button at the end to deal huge
impact damage to enemies, like this...and the Weapon Bay lets you equip arm weapons to
your shoulders. Note that you can't fire these shouldered arm weapons at all times like
you can with regular shoulder weapons. Instead, you have to switch to them manually, like this.
Then there's core expansions, which are special offensive or defensive abilities. I experimented
with Assault Armor, which does a huge AOE, like this...I used Pulse Protection, which puts a
barrier in place like this...and I tried Terminal Armor, which will keep you alive at 1AP in a
situation where you usually would have died. Finally, there are Attack Control and Damage
Control categories, which simply increase the % of damage you deal, or the amount of damage you can
heal, or reduce a % of the damage you can take. So upgrading your OS is a way to straight up make
your AC a bit stronger, or a bit more versatile. This is in contrast to the general customisation
process, where every part is balanced by being strong in some ways, but weaker in others.
Next, I want to quickly talk about energy weapons. Energy weapons don't work like
they did in previous games. Back then they required a part of your actual energy bar to
fire, now their gimmick is that energy weapons will overheat if you fire them too quickly. So
they don't reload in the conventional sense.. Which means you have the option to either fire them until
they overheat, or to use them sparingly to prevent them from overheating. Additionally,
it seems energy weapons can also be used to cancel out energy defenses of the same type.
Finally, let's talk lock-on. Lock-on is actually automatic, meaning as soon as an enemy is close
enough and in your sights, your Fire Control System will target them. As mentioned before,
there's a soft lock state where you have more free movement, but there's also a hard-lock state
called "Target assist" where your character and camera will perfectly follow the enemy. To my
knowledge, this hard lock cannot be broken, and your AC will automatically quick turn
perfectly to face your hard-locked target. So...target assist is very powerful. However,
you might have noticed that a lot of the time I played with soft-lock and moved my camera manually
instead. Now: I was pretty comfortable playing in this manner because I have played a lot of
previous Armored Core games, so it felt more second-nature to me. And playing in this manner
DOES give you some benefits. Your motion is a bit more free, and whichever enemy is closest
to the center of your screen will be targeted, so you also have more control over who
you're firing at - which is especially useful when you're surrounded by enemies.
HOWEVER the downside of moving your camera manually with the right stick is that it means
you don't have your thumb free to press the face buttons required for dodge, and ascend. And I
found I couldn't really claw grip to hit those buttons either. Remember, your pointer
and middle fingers are on all four of the weapon triggers. So...if you want to play soft
locked and control your camera with your thumb, it essentially means your thumb will have to
dart over and tap the buttons for dodge and flight. Which - can be done, but you have to stop
controlling the camera for a moment to do so. Therefore, I think most people will naturally
gravitate towards playing with target assist turned on most of the time so that they
can be hard locked to enemies instead. Yes, this means giving up a bit of control and aim, but
it frees your thumb for dodging and flying, and I think those things are generally more important.
Speaking of aiming, let's finally talk about the FCS part. The FCS part essentially determines
how accurate your aim is. See that little reticle trailing the enemy within my lock box? That
reticle is not always on point. At certain ranges, it will waver, or trail the enemy.
So each FCS has three main variables. Its close-range assist, its medium-range
assist, and its long range assist. Basically, these values define how good your FCS will be
when tracking enemies at these ranges - meaning you have to think very critically about what sort
of weapons you're wielding, and how close you will be to enemies, before choosing your FCS part.
FCS also determine the time it takes your missiles to lock onto enemies, and also how long it takes
to acquire a multi-lock on multiple enemies. Finally, I'd like to give some more
personal thoughts on the game.
First, the story: It's hard to get this point
across with limited footage, but as missions play out and you're slowly introduced
to all the characters and corporations, you really start to feel..small. Like you're
just some small piece of the puzzle within your handler's plans, who is himself a small
part of the larger corporation plans, who are all a small part of this huge war over
a resource that is unfolding on Rubicon. I am in love with the vibe of this game..and the amazing
soundtrack is playing a huge in that as well.
In terms of endings, the game is confirmed
to have multiple.. and from my interview with Director Yamamura-san and Lead producer Ogura-san,
it sounds like endings will work a lot like they did in the fourth generation of Armored Core,
where new missions will be revealed in NG+, and those new missions can be used to
take you towards different endings. Next let's talk gameplay. I could talk for an
hour on this point..but what I really want to convey to you is how good the movement feels in
this game. And it all comes down to the leg types. When you're piloting a reverse joint, you feel
like your legs can really claw into the ground and fling you off to the side, or high into the
air. When you throw on a pair of tank treads, you really feel like you're driving a heavy
vehicle with weight and momentum. Or if you want a feeling of weightlessness, then you
can opt for quad legs. I don't know of many games that let you change the way your character
controls on such a fundamental level, and it's so much fun playing with different builds.
Now...considering the recent success of Elden Ring, a big question on a lot of people's minds
is: will Elden Ring fans enjoy Armored Core 6? And I think they will. Because..while
this is a very different genre of game, it's also the first Armored Core to have a lot
of things in common with Souls. For example, Armored Core 6 now has a completely decoupled
camera. Your mech has fast turning speeds. You can heal. There are checkpoints. Bosses have
heavily telegraphed attacks. There's a visual stagger system, a timed block system, and a
hard lock too. Yes, I know other games have these things. But Armored Core traditionally has
not. And I know a lot of people did not expect these things to be quite so present when Armored
Core 6 was first announced. But they are now, and it absolutely makes the game
more accessible for Souls fans. What I'm really happy about is that it
still feels a lot like an Armored Core game even with all these things. Most
importantly, it's shaping up to just be a good game with these things..and that's all
most people care about. This is just yet another familiar generational shift in the gameplay of
Armored Core..and I'm here for it, personally. That said, I do still have some concerns about
the game. These aren't terrible problems or anything..it's more that they're things that I'm
not really sure how From Software will handle. First and foremost: PvP. 1v1 PvP in Armored
Core has traditionally been about getting out of your opponent's sights and outmaneuvering
them, but with the way target assist works in Armored Core 6...I just don't see a way you
can outplay people in this manner anymore. So I actually got the chance to ask Yamamura-san,
the game's director..about how skill expression in PvP would work with hard lock being a
thing..and he replied with a few insights: 1) First, he stated that target assist
actually forces you to move and fight with a certain angle of attack, so it's possible
soft lock could help with your evasion. He also mentioned that flying over the top of enemies
might help to prevent you getting hard locked, 2) Additionally, he says you have to consider enemy stagger meters, as well as your own. The
way you fire weapons to build up stagger and then make use of exposed defenses plays a role
in skill expression, and you often won't get away with just firing all four weapons at once.
3) And then there's the need to maintain optimal distance, which plays a part in dealing
the right amount of damage. Therefore, both players will be fighting to maintain
that ideal distance at all times. 4) And then there's timing, of course, which
is also very important to dodge enemy fire, and when to fire your attacks so that they land.
Lastly though - we've just learned that Armored Core 6 will feature 6-player multiplayer. And
I will say: I think that target lock should be less impactful in 2v2 or 3v3 combat, as
those game modes would also require to be very aware of what's going on around them,
rather than just honing in on one player. But then another reason I'm curious PvP is..I
just think it's going to be extremely hard for From Software to balance the fact that you
can fire four weapons at once, in this game. When I asked Yamamura-san about the biggest
challenges they faced when developing Armored Core, he answered that balancing weapons was
a key focus for him and the team. And I can see why! In a lot of games, naturally, there are
overpowered weapons. But remember, AC6 is unique in that..you can fire four weapons at once. So if
you're firing four "overpowered" weapons at once, just think about how much that exacerbates any
power imbalance. And in this online age, naturally everyone is going to talk about and recommend
the use those overpowered weapons - especially in PvP. So From Software will absolutely have
their work cut out for them in balancing this game after release. I think to be the best
experience possible, it's going to need more high quality balance patches than they usually
put out. But they're aware of this, I'm sure. In terms of difficulty, encounters seem
hard enough - don't worry about that. My limited footage naturally kind of shows my best
moments, but I struggled a good amount at times, trust me. Checkpoints make the difficulty
less inconvenient - for sure..but what I kind of worry might be overpowered about
checkpoints is the ability to switch up your mech's assembly halfway through a mission. As
a fan of the older games, I find think changing your mech halfway is a bit immersion breaking
and I think it might also risk being a bit too forgiving..but hey, maybe it's too early to say.
The last thing I want to talk about is debt. In previous games I kind of loved the threat of
going into debt by playing badly and losing credits..but going into debt is not going to be a
thing in Armored Core 6. They've confirmed that. I also want to note however, that AC6 is extremely
generous with the credits it gives you. Not only that, but it's very easy to replay missions,
so you are going to naturally have a lot of credits. And that's by design: when I asked him
about this, Yamamura-san basically said that From Software felt that too much debt might dampen
the fun of the assembly aspect. And I get that: The benefit to having more credits is that it
encourages you to buy parts, and experiment with things, and having more parts that you own
also allows you more freedom to switch up your assembly mid-mission, which, as mentioned before
- is clearly a big part of this game now.
But do you know what else Yamamura-san said?
He admitted that he too was a big fan of the debt you could accrue in previous games. And
that even though it was a punishing system, he said he liked the feeling it
gave; that sense of a severe, oppressive mercenary lifestyle.
And so the last point I'll leave you on is what he said right afterwards. He said
that if they have some nice ideas in-house, they might try to revisit the concept
of debt in some form in the future.
So...Fires of Rubicon sequel..confirmed!? Probably
too early to say for sure..but I know employees of From Software have a soft spot in their hearts
for this franchise..and I really hope that Fires of Rubicon resonates with people so that they
can get the greenlight to make more of these games. Especially if it means that Fromsoft will
start reintroducing some of the more hardcore, more traditional elements..of Armored Core. If you're curious about what those traditional elements are, consider watching my video
where I play through every single prior Armored Core game. Or come and ask me in real
time! I'm currently live on Twitch right now, attempting to answer everyone's questions
about my time with Armored Core 6. Other than that, thank you for listening to me
ramble..subscribe and be sure to switch on the bell notification so you don't miss new Armored
Core videos..and I'll see you in the next one.
