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Another Century's Episode R |OT| Manly mecha actions joins the HD generation
- Thread starter distantmantra
- Start date
Hi-Nu would make an awesome boss character that gets unlocked later.TreIII said:THIS to the nth POWER. This is a nice little foretaste, but I'd like to think our course is set for no later than next summer. Especially if GEV stands to take notes and put in Hi-Nu as well...
VSExtreme is going to be painful as fuck until they announce a Console port, if they even do.
I know I am going to be watching Vids like a little bitch (hell I will probably even watch Destiny and IJ an usually refuse to watch these guys.) praying and hoping.
Bebpo said:
Any highlights?
donkey show
Member
Last dude must've been a huge ass Macross Frontier fanboy. :lolBebpo said:
TruePrime said:
I just thought the range was funny, but in terms of actual review text:
http://so94atg8.blogspot.com/2010/08/dps478.html
Pros:
+High speed battle feel is great (2 guys)
+good story
+new systems are great [I DISAGREE]
+you feel the love put into the robots
+there's tons of content
+nice to be able to start with any series
+BGM edit is a fun feature
Cons:
-Camera/Targeting is bad & stressful (2 guys)
-can't change difficulty mid-game,
-unskippable cutscenes are annoying after retrying from deaths (2 guys)
-even with the tutorial the controls/systems are hard to understand,
-unfortunate that each series intro missions are wildly different in difficulty and don't tell you beforehand how hard they are.
-occasionally keeping track of the enemy is difficult
-lack of unique combination attacks is disappointing
and one guy says for the next game he wants to fight with an army of allies at once.
Bebpo said:
Got to say some of those Pro's seem kinda out of place after what I watched/read.
Alot of Content? I thought it was all pretty much recycled and reused outside the first three missions? That and the Combat system seems like a compete and total downgrade from ACE III.
Eh, well I haven't played it so I can' treally judge for myself.
Well in Japan apparently heavy re-use of content to bloat out a 20-25 hour game into 100 hours is a postive!
To be fair, there are about 55 unique missions in the game (3 x 11 intro missions, 19 missions and a 3-4 mission branch) and if you actually read all the intermission text dialogues and stuff it's about 30-60 mins per mission, so there is a fair bit of content.
But they just make it a real pain to see it all on one save file.
To be fair, there are about 55 unique missions in the game (3 x 11 intro missions, 19 missions and a 3-4 mission branch) and if you actually read all the intermission text dialogues and stuff it's about 30-60 mins per mission, so there is a fair bit of content.
But they just make it a real pain to see it all on one save file.
donkey show
Member
How is the new system great in comparison to ACE2/3? :lol The whole archaic "flip through pages of weapons" sucks. There's a freaking d-pad with 4 buttons that could've been accessed for that. =/Bebpo said:
Macross units seem pretty good in space just for the cheap tension multi-lock missile that either kills lots of enemies and builds tension or kills bosses.
Kind of annoying you can't boost in the middle form since it's sloooow, also the plane form seems pointless since it has basically no attacks. And I don't really get the 4 cost nuke missiles. They don't fire at the enemy you're locked onto and usually doesn't hit anything!
From what I've seen I think Gainer has the most PS3 looking model. It's really a huge step up from the ACE3 version and ACE3 models in general.
Overall I'm enjoying it a bit more now that the story has picked up. It's still got a zillion issues but the plot is engaging to a degree. I think a big problem with the pacing is that the first 3 unique missions are interesting and then NOTHING HAPPENS IN THE PLOT for like 2/3rds of it. You are just going around an empty world from one plant to another fighting zakos and bosses with nothing happening. It's not until the last 6-7 missions that the plot actually picks up. If they weren't going to have a plot for 2/3rds the game, they should've just gone SRW/ACE3 style and covered the major events from each shows story.
Kind of annoying you can't boost in the middle form since it's sloooow, also the plane form seems pointless since it has basically no attacks. And I don't really get the 4 cost nuke missiles. They don't fire at the enemy you're locked onto and usually doesn't hit anything!
From what I've seen I think Gainer has the most PS3 looking model. It's really a huge step up from the ACE3 version and ACE3 models in general.
Overall I'm enjoying it a bit more now that the story has picked up. It's still got a zillion issues but the plot is engaging to a degree. I think a big problem with the pacing is that the first 3 unique missions are interesting and then NOTHING HAPPENS IN THE PLOT for like 2/3rds of it. You are just going around an empty world from one plant to another fighting zakos and bosses with nothing happening. It's not until the last 6-7 missions that the plot actually picks up. If they weren't going to have a plot for 2/3rds the game, they should've just gone SRW/ACE3 style and covered the major events from each shows story.
I only found the nukes useful during space missions where you had clusters of Vajra everywhere. I'd fire off some of the locking missiles and, while waiting for them to recharge, I'd fire off the nukes. Most of the time they'd take out at least a few enemies and, in those few missions, I was able to rely almost entirely on those two weapons with my tension maxed most of the time.Bebpo said:
Shouta
Member
Yeah, the reaction weapons are good for clusters, if you can land it on a larger enemy, it ain't bad either but the micromissile spam is just a lot more effective.
On that note, I absolutely hate how small the micro-missile targetting window is, can't get many enemies at all or they fly out of it too easily. >=|
On that note, I absolutely hate how small the micro-missile targetting window is, can't get many enemies at all or they fly out of it too easily. >=|
Cacophanus
Member
Here's a vid of the Spring boss fight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRQu8m1PRL0
Review will be forthcoming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRQu8m1PRL0
Review will be forthcoming.
donkey show
Member
It shouldn't even be called a mission, tbh. You can literally not move your controller and be alright throughout the entire minute and a half you actually get to play.Shouta said:
Cacophanus
Member
http://www.mechadamashii.com/reviews/reviews-another-centurys-episode-r-510/
Genuinely depressed at how disappointing this was.
Genuinely depressed at how disappointing this was.
Cacophanus
Member
Xater said:Kinf of OT:
That's a pretty cool website you have there. Also anyone who appreciates Border Break as much as I do is A-OK in my book.
Now a favorite and folowing you on twitter.
Thanks. It's been going about a year now and I started it purely because I was tired of all the crap/non-existent coverage for mecha games.
donkey show
Member
Mecha Damashii is all kinds of awesome. Always good work on there, Cacophanus!
:lol :lol :lol I took a pic of the same thing a while back but forgot to post it here. And people are begging them to do an english translation for importers... :lol
Bebpo said:Look From/Banpresto, I know you don't care about English with you're whole NOT SKIP CUTSCENE and all
But c'mon
You have it spelled right in THE SAME TEXT BOX
:lol :lol :lol I took a pic of the same thing a while back but forgot to post it here. And people are begging them to do an english translation for importers... :lol
Arghhh.
I finished the last mission which took me over 90 mins because of all the loooooong cutscenes and that I use a different unit every mission so I tried out Infinite Justice and it turned out that the only attack he could hurt the FOUR GIANT BOSSES with was his pea-shooter square attack every 4-5 seconds for tiny damage. The fights took foreeever. Autumn was the worst since it kept pushing you away from her out of the map bounds and she barely ever opened her stupid weakpoint.
Anyhow, I recorded the credits, but they just popped up suddenly and I didn't have time to adjust the camera so since it's all white tiny kanji they became blurred and the entire thing is unreadable. FFffuuuu
So if I want to try to record the credits AGAIN I have to play through that entire last mission with all those terrible giant bosses. Ugh... doesn't seem worth it. Can anyone else record the credit roll?
I finished the last mission which took me over 90 mins because of all the loooooong cutscenes and that I use a different unit every mission so I tried out Infinite Justice and it turned out that the only attack he could hurt the FOUR GIANT BOSSES with was his pea-shooter square attack every 4-5 seconds for tiny damage. The fights took foreeever. Autumn was the worst since it kept pushing you away from her out of the map bounds and she barely ever opened her stupid weakpoint.
Anyhow, I recorded the credits, but they just popped up suddenly and I didn't have time to adjust the camera so since it's all white tiny kanji they became blurred and the entire thing is unreadable. FFffuuuu
So if I want to try to record the credits AGAIN I have to play through that entire last mission with all those terrible giant bosses. Ugh... doesn't seem worth it. Can anyone else record the credit roll?
donkey show
Member
LOL, I can if you want. But just in case, have you checked the movie section to see if its there?Bebpo said:
The director of ACE:R is the director of ACE1-2, and one of the producers of ACE3. The program director of ACE:R is the program director of ACE1-3. The most glaring omission in the ACE:R credits is 谷村唯. He is the game designer and scenario writer of ACE1, the game designer of ACE2, and the director of ACE3. His game design credit is a sole credit, and separate from the other planners, so he's definitely the main man behind the gameplay in ACE1-3. I guess that explains why ACE:R looks and runs a lot like ACE1-3, but plays nothing like them.
Yeah, it sounds like that guy had a lot to do with what made ACE so good if he was promoted from game designer to director over the games and the one he directed played the best.
I also wonder though if a lot of the problems have to do with the game being rushed. You often hear that a lot of games are complete messes until a few months before release where they are fine tuned. "Complete mess" is exactly what I think when I play ACE:R. It has all these systems, all these ideas, but nothing comes together. So I wonder if part of this is a problem of the game simply being "not done" but having a release deadline they couldn't push back. This might explain why no gameplay footage was shown until less than a month before the game's release.
With mainly the same staff, it's hard to imagine how a game goes from a 8 or 9/10 title like ACE3 to being ranked with a 3/10 average as the "worst action game on PS3".
http://www.psmk2.net/title.php?title=616
When it's doing worse than Genji 2 and X-blades you know you have a real problem.
I think the big question is if Banpresto can come back from this. Even if they take a look at customer dissatisfaction and completely rehaul the next one...how many people are going to buy it blind? I think what burns people the most was that they had the nerve to sell this game for 8300yen after tax knowing the quality of the product. I don't actually think ACE:R is worse than X-blades or Genji 2, but those games didn't cost over $80, so I think that is playing in to just how much people feel burned by this game. I would say they could do a huge patch, but it's already too late. I'm sure most people in Japan who bought it have sold their copies back by now or will this week. I think Banpresto's best bet would be to take a step back and make ACE:R2 based on ACE3. Like specifically say in the initial announcement that the game is the SUCCESSOR TO ACE3 and features all of ACE3's controls/camera/systems with slight improvements, HD graphics, and new series. They need to distance themselves from ACE:R as much as possible and tie themselves to ACE3 as much as they can. Regardless I'm pretty sure it'll open at 1/2 the sales of this one, but if it's actually good then word of mouth should help and the re-release should sell well and give ACE:R3 a better chance.
Good read. It's been long enough since I played ACE3 I'd forgotten some of the differences you bring up.
I also wonder though if a lot of the problems have to do with the game being rushed. You often hear that a lot of games are complete messes until a few months before release where they are fine tuned. "Complete mess" is exactly what I think when I play ACE:R. It has all these systems, all these ideas, but nothing comes together. So I wonder if part of this is a problem of the game simply being "not done" but having a release deadline they couldn't push back. This might explain why no gameplay footage was shown until less than a month before the game's release.
With mainly the same staff, it's hard to imagine how a game goes from a 8 or 9/10 title like ACE3 to being ranked with a 3/10 average as the "worst action game on PS3".
http://www.psmk2.net/title.php?title=616
When it's doing worse than Genji 2 and X-blades you know you have a real problem.
I think the big question is if Banpresto can come back from this. Even if they take a look at customer dissatisfaction and completely rehaul the next one...how many people are going to buy it blind? I think what burns people the most was that they had the nerve to sell this game for 8300yen after tax knowing the quality of the product. I don't actually think ACE:R is worse than X-blades or Genji 2, but those games didn't cost over $80, so I think that is playing in to just how much people feel burned by this game. I would say they could do a huge patch, but it's already too late. I'm sure most people in Japan who bought it have sold their copies back by now or will this week. I think Banpresto's best bet would be to take a step back and make ACE:R2 based on ACE3. Like specifically say in the initial announcement that the game is the SUCCESSOR TO ACE3 and features all of ACE3's controls/camera/systems with slight improvements, HD graphics, and new series. They need to distance themselves from ACE:R as much as possible and tie themselves to ACE3 as much as they can. Regardless I'm pretty sure it'll open at 1/2 the sales of this one, but if it's actually good then word of mouth should help and the re-release should sell well and give ACE:R3 a better chance.
Cacophanus said:
Good read. It's been long enough since I played ACE3 I'd forgotten some of the differences you bring up.
eh, judging by the review and couple of gameplay videos, this has moved from my get list to maybe. Kinda disappointed, and i was excited to see Nineball seraph in the game. I'm not sure how the SRW produce team is involve in development, but i was under the impression that the all the ACE games are always under SRW team's direction.
Not having played the original ACE games I at least won't have their shadow lingering over me when I get my copy soon. Watching the gameplay video on the Mecha Damashii site the game actually looks fun to play although I can see some of the "jankyness" present in the camera and animation.
I've considered not opening my copy and just trying to sell it in the original shrinkwrap to recoup some of my investment on ebay but I still think I'd like to give the game a try and at least play through the series' that I enjoy.
It's a real shame that this ACE isn't living up to the hype. Talk about a colossal letdown for some people. At least I'm aware of the game's flaws before I actually jump in and realize what I'm getting in to!
I've considered not opening my copy and just trying to sell it in the original shrinkwrap to recoup some of my investment on ebay but I still think I'd like to give the game a try and at least play through the series' that I enjoy.
It's a real shame that this ACE isn't living up to the hype. Talk about a colossal letdown for some people. At least I'm aware of the game's flaws before I actually jump in and realize what I'm getting in to!
Tried FMP for my 2nd run. The units are pretty neat. I thought the first stage boss fight was actually a lot of fun. Dodging around building up tension to do damage attacks.
The 2nd stage was ok, but it went on foreeeever. Also you end up depending on up+O to get around the stage quick and it looks totally ridiculous to see the FMP units flying through the air from enemy to enemy like superman. Especially when you fly through groups of buildings ^^;
The 2nd stage was ok, but it went on foreeeever. Also you end up depending on up+O to get around the stage quick and it looks totally ridiculous to see the FMP units flying through the air from enemy to enemy like superman. Especially when you fly through groups of buildings ^^;
So I have a question for some of the other players. What happens if you use a non-flying unit for the chase mode in the final Mac F stage? Does it still do chase mode? I did it with the main Mac F unit and it made sense being a top-gun flying chase. But what about if you use like an FMP unit? Or Aquarion?
TreIII said:
Maybe they rushed this out and quickly made L because they needed some money since OG3/Z2 are taking so long and aren't ready for release? I've always thought the timing of the two "big" console teams is really stupid. They have them working close to each other, so one releases a big game and then the other releases a big game 6-12 months later. But then there's 2 years of no big SRW until the cycle repeats. They release should alternate so one team releases a big game in the wait for the other team's next one.
They have to get their next big console SRW out by April for that 20th anniversary though.
donkey show
Member
On one run I used Arbalest for shits and giggles. He just floats around like any other "flying" mech would if you chose them. But I got my highest score using it and only missed 1 ghost thanks to the shotty.Bebpo said:
And with Aquarion, you can only pick the single units.
Anyhow, now that I finished the story once here's my overall thoughts:
Positives:
+They handled the uniqueness of the units well. The FMP units play really different than Aquarion who plays different than Macross who plays different than Geass.
+The framerate is good
+load times are short after install
+The opening CG is great looking
+Lelouche/Suzaku made me realize that even though I hated Geass the show, I can't wait for Geass in SRW
Negatives:
-Lack of coherence. The greatest example of how thrown together the game feels as a whole is the final Mac F mission where you have unskippable cutscenes that are 30fps mixed random bits of 60fps, seconds of CHASE gameplay that feel like an NES shooter, random horrible 2d animation bits, generally no actual idea of what's going on, and then your 3d model hovering in front of giant 2d people at 60fps cutscene. That was just...weird. I have no idea what they were actually trying to do with that mission, and that's basically how I feel about the entire game.
-Only 3 weapons on-screen at once and d-pad/l1 to flip through pages of attacks. Feels bad/confusing.
-Tension system sucks
-no free camera on right stick, targeting enemies is a total pain
-you move VERY SLOW when moving around and then SUPER FAST when overboosting. Nothing feels right.
-Why does O exist. The whole FLY AT DUDES TO ATTEMPT TO GRAB THEM (let me answer this for 99% of the time: you can't) Why dedicate an entire button to WARP TO ENEMY. It's like they did this because they realized the game didn't work, but then you fix the game you don't add oddball solutions like this.
-Same for giving you various melee combos. The timing is so strange I doubt anyone does anything besides mash triangle or mash triangle while spinning the analogue up and down and hoping for a better combo.
-There is no balance. At all. None. Zero. Nada. Zip. This is pretty important! It's like they made the game, then they made the units and they just made them according to their TV shows without actually making them work in the game. Some units have stuff that basically instant KOs bosses like Macross homing missiles where you lock 10 onto a boss and let go. Or Gainers hand grenade. Other units have normal big beam attacks that do a snippet of damage. And then support units omg they break everything. Want max tension at any time? Just use support! Want to kill a boss in 1-3 hits from infinite distance, just use support! Want HP back? Just use support! Why do anything else in the game? When I replayed the final boss I just sat at the start point and did 3 support attacks back to back and he died before he could move.
-Most awful hit detection on giant bosses. Whenever you get near them you are MAGICALLY PUSHED AWAY. Between this and annoying hit stuns when you get hit, it makes melee characters VERY FRUSTRATED against giant bosses. Really to beat them you either abuse support attack or use a beam/missile character.
-The camera is pretty bad on giant bosses. It's really hard to move around them, which sucks when you need to get to their side (SUMMERRRRRRRR) or back (AUTUMNNNNNN).
-You have no sense that your support units exist besides when you abuse them. You don't get the launch sequence with them and the support attacks really don't make up for lack of combination attacks where you worked together one at a time and beat up and enemy.
-The missions are fairly bleh designed. Lots and lots of waves or bosses.
-Story is ok. It's not good, but it's not terrible. It's actually at its best imo when it covers Mac F even though Mac F sucks simply because when it's actually covering an anime story it's more fun than when it's not. Unfortunately Mac F is the only anime series that gets it's story played out.
-The graphics suck. I'm super disappointed in this aspect. It looks like a launch PS3 game. Everything looks low-res and jaggy and most models are barely above PS2 quality. Plus the way it does shadows makes it so in most of the cutscenes there's these ugly flickering shadow stuff all over the models which is distracting. Would have rather had no shadows and clean sharp HD models.
-The music sucks. No vocal songs, missions are mainly original BGM and even if you use the custom BGM option, normal songs are like 5x louder than in-game BGM so in the middle of a voiced cutscene all the sudden your song comes in and is SUPER LOUD OH MY EARS TURN DOWN THE VOLUME and then the cutscene is ruined.
-The cutscenes are mixed. The action ones are enjoyable enough, but the majority of them are the robots sitting still while minutes of dialogue play out and you go zzzzzzzzz
-The portraits are kind of bad. They would be fine if they BLINKED but since they don't it looks cheap. Also some of the cutscenes go on waaaay too long. The final mission is like MGS4 level of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
-Leveling up your pilots/mechs is grindy and means everything sucks early on. Especially lame you have to unlock "moves"
-Branching is bad. Reverse branch where everyone starts out separate with unique missions and then after 3 it's the same game every time. But if you want to unlock units you need to go through it all again each time before trying the next new three. Or you can just not care about unlocks and do 3, reset, do 3, reset which is probably what I'll end up doing.
-Game is pretty short really. Even reading all the stuff it took me <13 hours for one run. ACE3 was pretty short around 15 with 2 totally different routes, but this is even less. Otoh, I'm glad it's short because I kind of just wanted it to end.
-No online anything. No online coop (AC4A had it), No offline coop (ACE3 had it), no leaderboards, online vs, nothing.
-I swear barely any units have lock-on multi-enemy attacks and even those that do have not much range for the lock-on so you usually end up shooting 10 missiles and 8 of them hit one enemy instead of spreading out and hitting 10 enemies.
-Some of the units with charge moves charge so slow and you can get knocked out of the charge with a single hit, so it's annoying. Or if you have to charge and then by the time you're done the enemy is killed by your support or he's moved somewhere far away so you miss :\
Overall it's fun. But the fun is more like "this satisfies my curiosity about what it would be like to play as an FMP unit in an action game. Or what it would be like to skate on walls in a Geass action game. Once you get past that, it stops being fun because it's just a bad action game. I will buy the next one because I'm a sucker and I want to believe, but I hope it's much much much much better than this one.
6/10
Positives:
+They handled the uniqueness of the units well. The FMP units play really different than Aquarion who plays different than Macross who plays different than Geass.
+The framerate is good
+load times are short after install
+The opening CG is great looking
+Lelouche/Suzaku made me realize that even though I hated Geass the show, I can't wait for Geass in SRW
Negatives:
-Lack of coherence. The greatest example of how thrown together the game feels as a whole is the final Mac F mission where you have unskippable cutscenes that are 30fps mixed random bits of 60fps, seconds of CHASE gameplay that feel like an NES shooter, random horrible 2d animation bits, generally no actual idea of what's going on, and then your 3d model hovering in front of giant 2d people at 60fps cutscene. That was just...weird. I have no idea what they were actually trying to do with that mission, and that's basically how I feel about the entire game.
-Only 3 weapons on-screen at once and d-pad/l1 to flip through pages of attacks. Feels bad/confusing.
-Tension system sucks
-no free camera on right stick, targeting enemies is a total pain
-you move VERY SLOW when moving around and then SUPER FAST when overboosting. Nothing feels right.
-Why does O exist. The whole FLY AT DUDES TO ATTEMPT TO GRAB THEM (let me answer this for 99% of the time: you can't) Why dedicate an entire button to WARP TO ENEMY. It's like they did this because they realized the game didn't work, but then you fix the game you don't add oddball solutions like this.
-Same for giving you various melee combos. The timing is so strange I doubt anyone does anything besides mash triangle or mash triangle while spinning the analogue up and down and hoping for a better combo.
-There is no balance. At all. None. Zero. Nada. Zip. This is pretty important! It's like they made the game, then they made the units and they just made them according to their TV shows without actually making them work in the game. Some units have stuff that basically instant KOs bosses like Macross homing missiles where you lock 10 onto a boss and let go. Or Gainers hand grenade. Other units have normal big beam attacks that do a snippet of damage. And then support units omg they break everything. Want max tension at any time? Just use support! Want to kill a boss in 1-3 hits from infinite distance, just use support! Want HP back? Just use support! Why do anything else in the game? When I replayed the final boss I just sat at the start point and did 3 support attacks back to back and he died before he could move.
-Most awful hit detection on giant bosses. Whenever you get near them you are MAGICALLY PUSHED AWAY. Between this and annoying hit stuns when you get hit, it makes melee characters VERY FRUSTRATED against giant bosses. Really to beat them you either abuse support attack or use a beam/missile character.
-The camera is pretty bad on giant bosses. It's really hard to move around them, which sucks when you need to get to their side (SUMMERRRRRRRR) or back (AUTUMNNNNNN).
-You have no sense that your support units exist besides when you abuse them. You don't get the launch sequence with them and the support attacks really don't make up for lack of combination attacks where you worked together one at a time and beat up and enemy.
-The missions are fairly bleh designed. Lots and lots of waves or bosses.
-Story is ok. It's not good, but it's not terrible. It's actually at its best imo when it covers Mac F even though Mac F sucks simply because when it's actually covering an anime story it's more fun than when it's not. Unfortunately Mac F is the only anime series that gets it's story played out.
-The graphics suck. I'm super disappointed in this aspect. It looks like a launch PS3 game. Everything looks low-res and jaggy and most models are barely above PS2 quality. Plus the way it does shadows makes it so in most of the cutscenes there's these ugly flickering shadow stuff all over the models which is distracting. Would have rather had no shadows and clean sharp HD models.
-The music sucks. No vocal songs, missions are mainly original BGM and even if you use the custom BGM option, normal songs are like 5x louder than in-game BGM so in the middle of a voiced cutscene all the sudden your song comes in and is SUPER LOUD OH MY EARS TURN DOWN THE VOLUME and then the cutscene is ruined.
-The cutscenes are mixed. The action ones are enjoyable enough, but the majority of them are the robots sitting still while minutes of dialogue play out and you go zzzzzzzzz
-The portraits are kind of bad. They would be fine if they BLINKED but since they don't it looks cheap. Also some of the cutscenes go on waaaay too long. The final mission is like MGS4 level of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
-Leveling up your pilots/mechs is grindy and means everything sucks early on. Especially lame you have to unlock "moves"
-Branching is bad. Reverse branch where everyone starts out separate with unique missions and then after 3 it's the same game every time. But if you want to unlock units you need to go through it all again each time before trying the next new three. Or you can just not care about unlocks and do 3, reset, do 3, reset which is probably what I'll end up doing.
-Game is pretty short really. Even reading all the stuff it took me <13 hours for one run. ACE3 was pretty short around 15 with 2 totally different routes, but this is even less. Otoh, I'm glad it's short because I kind of just wanted it to end.
-No online anything. No online coop (AC4A had it), No offline coop (ACE3 had it), no leaderboards, online vs, nothing.
-I swear barely any units have lock-on multi-enemy attacks and even those that do have not much range for the lock-on so you usually end up shooting 10 missiles and 8 of them hit one enemy instead of spreading out and hitting 10 enemies.
-Some of the units with charge moves charge so slow and you can get knocked out of the charge with a single hit, so it's annoying. Or if you have to charge and then by the time you're done the enemy is killed by your support or he's moved somewhere far away so you miss :\
Overall it's fun. But the fun is more like "this satisfies my curiosity about what it would be like to play as an FMP unit in an action game. Or what it would be like to skate on walls in a Geass action game. Once you get past that, it stops being fun because it's just a bad action game. I will buy the next one because I'm a sucker and I want to believe, but I hope it's much much much much better than this one.
6/10
Shouta
Member
donkey show said:
Yep. In fact, the shotty is so good in Chase Mode, Arbalest is definitely the best for it. It's just weird seeing it do that.
Aquarion not being a unit similar to Shin Getter (i.e. no separate forms, allowing teammates) was a big oversight. Aquarion has such low HP that it would've really benefitted from HP restore.
It's kind of funny that it wasn't even until the 3rd to last mission in the game that I got to experience CHASE MODE for the first time and even then it was only for 90 seconds of space invaders shooting ^^;
When I started as FMP and did the chase mode in mission 1 it was a lot better. Was an ok little mini-game thing.
When I started as FMP and did the chase mode in mission 1 it was a lot better. Was an ok little mini-game thing.
Cacophanus
Member
duckroll said:
Very true, the whole reason Banpresto went with From Software in the first place because they'd had a long run of failed mecha action games. So they were resigned to let From Software get on with, which they did and ACE was born.
It's clear after the success of the first game, Banpresto tried to include more SRW elements into ACE but due to their stingy funding From Software were able to keep the core game intact - as Banpresto couldn't hold From Software accountable when they weren't really willing to pay for new features.
In ACE:R though it's obvious Banpresto spent a lot of money and as such wanted to protect their investment, hence the involvement of the SRW production as a means of monitoring the game's development. It also meant, on account of the new hardware the game was developed on, the original codebase wasn't really usable - so a full re-write was required (meaning that Banpresto could shoehorn stupid crap in).
Honestly, there are so many design decisions in ACE:R that positively reek of publisher middle management. It's no wonder the ACE3 game director bailed.
So here's my question: If I've never played an ACE game before, like anime and mecha and enjoyed Gundam Musou 2 for 40+ hours is it likely that I will get some enjoyment out of this one?
The clips I've seen certainly look like fun and the subject matter is fantastic but the user reviews here are certainly giving me pause.
The clips I've seen certainly look like fun and the subject matter is fantastic but the user reviews here are certainly giving me pause.
Hard to say. Have you played anime action games before? Because in general they tend to not be very good games and you just play them because you like the anime. ACE2/3 were exceptions to this, as was One Year War and a couple others, but generally anime games = mediocre games. If you've played anime games and enjoyed them regardless of game quality underneath the fanservice, then you'll like this.
Gundam Musou isn't really a good comparison. The Musou games are pretty sound in their mechanics at this point and sure they are repetitive and maybe kind of sucky, but they aren't frustrating games with broken mechanics. I loved GM1 and put over 70 hours into it, didn't care for GM2 so much but still put a good 30-40 hours into it fwiw.
Gundam Musou isn't really a good comparison. The Musou games are pretty sound in their mechanics at this point and sure they are repetitive and maybe kind of sucky, but they aren't frustrating games with broken mechanics. I loved GM1 and put over 70 hours into it, didn't care for GM2 so much but still put a good 30-40 hours into it fwiw.
For those who can read some slight Japanese, Bandai/Banpresto actually has a super detailed survery you can fill out by entering the code at the bottom of the 3rd to last page in the manual.
http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/cs_support/enq/index.php
I was able to get across all my issues with the game and tell them what I thought it did well and where I was coming from. For the sequel I pretty much said "Make it like ACE3 and improve the graphics". For the three series to add for the next title I couldn't think of many real robot series that haven't already been in ACE so I just put Gundam OO, Gundam V, Eureka Seven.
http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/cs_support/enq/index.php
I was able to get across all my issues with the game and tell them what I thought it did well and where I was coming from. For the sequel I pretty much said "Make it like ACE3 and improve the graphics". For the three series to add for the next title I couldn't think of many real robot series that haven't already been in ACE so I just put Gundam OO, Gundam V, Eureka Seven.
donkey show
Member
^ Good man.
It depends on how much you like mecha in general.matmanx1 said: