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Front Mission 5 translation is out

go and get it, now you can play one of the finest console strategy games ever
http://frontmission.info/wiki/pmwiki.php

it's pretty much done, no bugs or garbage text so far, localization could have been better though, but hey it's FM5 in english.

couple of things to keep in mind:

Greatest Hits version won't work with this;

unless you have some vague notion of what Front Mission history is about, you probably won't care much about the story in this
 

Shouta

Member
It's not a great game, but not bad. Has some decent ideas but suffers a bit of what FM4 suffered from, feeling a bit too stale and slow. That said, being able to play it in English ain't too bad.
 
Slow? with the new link system battles are much faster, and friendly fire adds a new layer of strategy, so it's not just circle a dude and beat him to crap.
but it's the special touches, like the new movement menus, that really make it shine for me; plus the game looks pretty good compared to how bland FM4 was
 
Yeah I loved this game. It really perfected the link system. Way faster battle system than FM4. Felt more like FM3 to me but with friendly fire and the deeper link system. The story was kind of all over the place and didn't feel very focused(I guess that was the point though). Or maybe I didn't understand it completely since it was a few years ago when my Japanese wasn't as good.

Was one of my favorite SRPGs in a while. I might replay it again once I finish FM3 finally.
 

glaurung

Member
This was the last true FM game.

Very good wanzer (mecha) designs, intricate RPG systems - some of them incredibly deep. FM5 also made use of the in-game graphics engine to render most of the cutscenes, which were awesome and featured good voice acting.

Watch the trailer for the game here.

But what I still really love about FM5 is the soundtrack. Try this on for size.
 

MechaX

Member
Shouta said:
It's not a great game, but not bad. Has some decent ideas but suffers a bit of what FM4 suffered from, feeling a bit too stale and slow. That said, being able to play it in English ain't too bad.

I wouldn't really call FM5's gameplay slow or stale. The link system is far more effective both in battle and in the menu (in terms of setting it up) than FM4. Not to mention that the actual enemies in FM5 actually take advantage of links and friendly fire. In contrast, FM4 enemies were both braindead and were positioned in rather odd positions (typically one guy who has his entire linked team on the opposite end of the map). Once you got to the larger battles, I just start skipping the animations, which cuts down the time of battles considerably. And given the amount of bosses in this game, the missions usually try something new.

Now the story... Yeah, it is definitely aimed at some one who has a lot of familiarity with the Front Mission universe. I would personally count this as a fault, as the story tends to overindulge itself with references, easter eggs, and time skips (although, the time skips are still better represented here than in something like Assassin's Creed 2 for instance). Front Mission 1 and 2 take up a bulk of the references, one of Front Mission 4's characters show up, and the last three of so missions deal with the beginning of Front Mission 3. When considering that I'm betting that more people overseas are more likely to be familiar with FM3, well... it creates a lot of confusion. But the main plot is pretty good and it manages to nail the military atmosphere rather well.

But I thought it was a really good game and one of the better SRPGs out there. I didn't like it as much as Front Mission 3, however. Oddly enough, most of the real die-hard FM fans consider Front Mission 3 to be the black sheep of the series and FM4/5 as a return to form.
 

Shouta

Member
MechaX said:
I wouldn't really call FM5's gameplay slow or stale. The link system is far more effective both in battle and in the menu (in terms of setting it up) than FM4. Not to mention that the actual enemies in FM5 actually take advantage of links and friendly fire. In contrast, FM4 enemies were both braindead and were positioned in rather odd positions (typically one guy who has his entire linked team on the opposite end of the map). Once you got to the larger battles, I just start skipping the animations, which cuts down the time of battles considerably. And given the amount of bosses in this game, the missions usually try something new.

But I thought it was a really good game and one of the better SRPGs out there. I didn't like it as much as Front Mission 3, however. Oddly enough, most of the real die-hard FM fans consider Front Mission 3 to be the black sheep of the series and FM4/5 as a return to form.

It is definitely stale when you look at how the series has progressed since FM3. I don't say it too often but really, the last 3 FM games haven't added or changed the gameplay significantly making it feel same-y. Yeah, the link system is nice and all but it's not a game changing element. It's just a different way of handling the support attack systems present in both FM3 and FM4. If there was anything that started to change the game it was the further expansion of packs and roles. However, it still wasn't a big enough improvement. I stopped right near the end because the gameplay finally got tiresome and I rarely do that when I start an SRPG or RPG.

FM has all the basics in place but it just needs to bring up the gameplay a notch. For such a good setting and premise, it plays so simple. There could be so much they could do.
 
I don't know, but I really did feel that FM5 changed the way the series played. The way that you had to balance your links with the friendly fire system changed how SRPGs are usually played. You couldn't just mindlessly surround an enemy if you wanted you rifleman to be able to take out his arms with Arm shot.

I really liked that part of the game and it made it feel more tactical in a real life sense. In the previous games your allies would just disappear and give a free shot, but now you had to gauge distance and openings properly.

I will admit that there should have been more variety with weapons/parts/skills/etc. They haven't really changed or added to some of the core basics of the series in a long time.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Well, I never -ever- expected to play this, so now I'm really interested.

I'm one of the 'weird ones' who really loved FM4 a lot. The tone, the story, the nice grey everything about it, as well as the battle system, so I am keen to check this out.
 

ethelred

Member
It'll be pretty fun playing this in English. Glad some folks worked on a patch for the game after Square passed on localizing it. I'll have to give it a shot soon.
 

MechaX

Member
Shouta said:
It is definitely stale when you look at how the series has progressed since FM3. I don't say it too often but really, the last 3 FM games haven't added or changed the gameplay significantly making it feel same-y. Yeah, the link system is nice and all but it's not a game changing element. It's just a different way of handling the support attack systems present in both FM3 and FM4. If there was anything that started to change the game it was the further expansion of packs and roles. However, it still wasn't a big enough improvement. I stopped right near the end because the gameplay finally got tiresome and I rarely do that when I start an SRPG or RPG.

FM has all the basics in place but it just needs to bring up the gameplay a notch. For such a good setting and premise, it plays so simple. There could be so much they could do.

Personally, I do think that the link system changed the gameplay considerably from FM3 to FM5. While FM3 was mostly occupied with utilizing pilot skills (and ejections) combined with making do with four mechs in the face of stark odds, FM5's link system shifts the battle to a greater emphasis on teamwork. While the support backpacks really did not change too much from FM4, FM5 includes more frequent links and friendly fire among enemy and team-mate alike (ie, in FM4, you usually never see an enemy with a repair pack or groups that actually... do team work). In stages where enemies can do map attacks, this makes positioning much more crucial. Moreover, the way the link system in FM5 changes how some roles operate entirely (namely the melee unit) in comparison to the past titles. Since I find it rather hard to take the tactics from FM3 to FM4, and from FM4 to FM5, I would say that the new system in FM5 definitely changed the gameplay.

I'm not saying that FM5 is the deepest SRPG of all time, but can you give a comparison or a benchmark to what notch FM should be raised to? The FM games for the most part are definitely more engaging than most of the Super Robot Wars games (although, SRW definitely opens up more on high difficulties). I haven't played Radiant Dawn, but Fire Emblem games still utilize the triangle attack system and the last FE games to mix things up a lot was Thracia 776. Are we thinking more along the lines of Nippon Ichi games or Valkyria Chronicles? I'm curious on your opinion of where the series could (should have) gone next.
 
Sunflower said:
Well, I never -ever- expected to play this, so now I'm really interested.

I'm one of the 'weird ones' who really loved FM4 a lot. The tone, the story, the nice grey everything about it, as well as the battle system, so I am keen to check this out.

I haven't touched the game since it originally came out but I was really into it until about halfway through and eventually stopped a few missions before the end.

I seem to remember some odd nitpick that made battles slower or at least annoyed me enough to quit the game. Did it have something to do with how they surrendered?
 

MechaX

Member
I think you could only fast forward, but you couldn't actually skip animations in FM4. That, and the animations were slow regardless in the game. And the ammo system to non-explosives/missiles slowed things down in some of the longer missions.
 
MechaX said:
While the support backpacks really did not change too much from FM4, FM5 includes more frequent links and friendly fire among enemy and team-mate alike (ie, in FM4, you usually never see an enemy with a repair pack or groups that actually... do team work).
The support types changed quite a bit from FM4 to this. With the added function of armor coating and sensor as well, no need for yet another backpack, so the default jammer model changed a lot.

What I would like to see is the return of FM2's weight model, apparently the same team is translating it but from what I played and understood, you could mount almost as many weapons you wanted, losing movement and speed in return.
 
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