Es como el 4, pero mejora un poco las armas y el combate. Aun así, casi igual de malo
this is my favourite Armored Core game. i think the one that stands ontop of all of them is For Answer, as much as armored Core 6 is an amazing game, I think that the adrenaline blast that is ACFA is enough to keep me replaying this game over and over again, i adore this game, even though it aged a bit, I think that the combat is like nothing I've ever played, and to me, is one of the most fastest, and thrilling games
we love corporates. the story is fucking awesome btw
we love corporates. the story is fucking awesome btw
you guys sold this like it was gonna be so much better than this
WHITE GLINT SUPREMACY
Absolute zoomies. No player character in game of any genre has ever matched the speed and power of a well-tuned NEXT
Armored Core: For Answer (get it 4 answer) is Armored Core 4 fully realized. If you haven’t played the previous title, then don’t worry, you don’t have to. AC4A is an extremely fast-paced third person mecha shooter. Some time is required to get used to the controls, but after that, the feeling of controlling a mech that can go the Mach 1 in an instant is unmatched. Compared to the AC4, AC4A is an improvement in every way. I would highly recommend this game, if you’ve enjoyed the previous one, or just want a fast-paced mecha game.
Story
In a world with no nations, corporations’ rule. The surface of Earth is too polluted to be lived on, so most of humanity lives in the atmosphere in massive spaceships. You however don’t have that luxury, instead you are a mercenary who pilots a NEXT (an extremely powerful mech) and are hired by the companies to do their fighting. Often you will be fighting against a company in one mission, then fighting for them in the next. There is one common enemy, however, the anti-corporation Line Ark.
There are 3 ending. You are locked into the first ending on your first playthrough, the others are unlocked with subsequent playthroughs.
Overall, the story isn’t a masterpiece, but I did enjoy my time with it.
Mechanics and gameplay
Movement is the same as AC4, but faster. Walking is useless. The step above – boosting is your main way of getting around and flying. Quick boosting is instantaneous speed in one direction. Lastly, there is overed boosting, which is like quick boosting, but for sustained periods of time at the cost of your PA (basically armor). All of these take up different amounts of energy.
Combat is very hectic, especially against enemy mechs. To help you, there is automatic lock and tracking, as long as they are in your field of vision. A task harder, then, might be expected. There is also melee, which while hard to hit, can deal a lot of damage.
Build variety is at the core of AC4A. You can change anything in your mech and instead of listing all of them I will give you some of my build as an example. A mech designed to get a lot of airtime quickly and fire off a gigantic barrage of missiles, a heavy mech that holds two miniguns and once they run out, switches to two bigger miniguns strapped to its back. You get the idea, if you want to make, you probably can.
Mission variety is massively improved compared to AC4. They can range from anything as simple as infiltrate an enemy base to, hey go take down that skyscraper sized walking armored fort, also no support. There is also an arena where you fight mechs 1v1.
Overall, the gameplay is probably the best part of AC4A and a definite 10/10 for me.
Graphics and artstyle
As a PS3 game the graphics are a bit outdated, but honestly, I was going too fast to notice anyway.
You will notice quite quickly how little color this game has. This is intentional, as it correlate to the atmosphere.
Atmosphere
An endless cycle of war, fought for no reason. A planet too destroyed to house any life. The only thing left on the surface are warmachines, fighting until their destruction.
Soundtrack and sound effects
Sound effects are okay, nothing caught my attention.
The OST is great as always. This time it's heavier and more depressing, leaning more into the atmosphere. My favourite part is “Remember”.
Final Thoughts
I wonder how many White Glints there will be once AC6 releases.
Story
In a world with no nations, corporations’ rule. The surface of Earth is too polluted to be lived on, so most of humanity lives in the atmosphere in massive spaceships. You however don’t have that luxury, instead you are a mercenary who pilots a NEXT (an extremely powerful mech) and are hired by the companies to do their fighting. Often you will be fighting against a company in one mission, then fighting for them in the next. There is one common enemy, however, the anti-corporation Line Ark.
There are 3 ending. You are locked into the first ending on your first playthrough, the others are unlocked with subsequent playthroughs.
Overall, the story isn’t a masterpiece, but I did enjoy my time with it.
Mechanics and gameplay
Movement is the same as AC4, but faster. Walking is useless. The step above – boosting is your main way of getting around and flying. Quick boosting is instantaneous speed in one direction. Lastly, there is overed boosting, which is like quick boosting, but for sustained periods of time at the cost of your PA (basically armor). All of these take up different amounts of energy.
Combat is very hectic, especially against enemy mechs. To help you, there is automatic lock and tracking, as long as they are in your field of vision. A task harder, then, might be expected. There is also melee, which while hard to hit, can deal a lot of damage.
Build variety is at the core of AC4A. You can change anything in your mech and instead of listing all of them I will give you some of my build as an example. A mech designed to get a lot of airtime quickly and fire off a gigantic barrage of missiles, a heavy mech that holds two miniguns and once they run out, switches to two bigger miniguns strapped to its back. You get the idea, if you want to make, you probably can.
Mission variety is massively improved compared to AC4. They can range from anything as simple as infiltrate an enemy base to, hey go take down that skyscraper sized walking armored fort, also no support. There is also an arena where you fight mechs 1v1.
Overall, the gameplay is probably the best part of AC4A and a definite 10/10 for me.
Graphics and artstyle
As a PS3 game the graphics are a bit outdated, but honestly, I was going too fast to notice anyway.
You will notice quite quickly how little color this game has. This is intentional, as it correlate to the atmosphere.
Atmosphere
An endless cycle of war, fought for no reason. A planet too destroyed to house any life. The only thing left on the surface are warmachines, fighting until their destruction.
Soundtrack and sound effects
Sound effects are okay, nothing caught my attention.
The OST is great as always. This time it's heavier and more depressing, leaning more into the atmosphere. My favourite part is “Remember”.
Final Thoughts
I wonder how many White Glints there will be once AC6 releases.
You won't believe how fast this game is it's so fast it's unbelievable how incredibly fast this fast game can be so fast
When you when you do the what do the do the what oopsie whoopsie the what do, but it is what it is
My favourite Armored Core game and the first one to make me go lightweight because the movement is SO FUN. Maybe there's only one bad mission, it's the most consistent games in the series and the story is good. Not Last Raven good, but it is good. The NEXT designs are my favourite too.
My favourite Armored Core game and the first one to make me go lightweight because the movement is SO FUN. Maybe there's only one bad mission, it's the most consistent games in the series and the story is good. Not Last Raven good, but it is good. The NEXT designs are my favourite too.
This review contains spoilers
Old King is so fucking useless. You have to step up and handle the ambush yourself
This improved AC4 so so so much for me in every way it's kinda crazy. The arena implementation and how it changes depending on the route was great, the missions themselves were really fun and solid, the game wasn't as pushover easy as 4 (it even has one of the hardest missions in the entire series depending on which route you go) and I was super engaged in the story. The Armored Fortresses were so fucking cool man.
Before following up Demon's Souls with Dark Souls, Hidetaka Miyazaki followed up Armored Core 4 with Armored Core: For Answer. The man has many talents, but one quirk, at least early in his career, was being a master of the Second Draft.
AC4 was a fairly bold game, mechanically--for all its faults, it innovated heavily on the Armored Core formula with drastically higher speed gameplay, revised lockon/aiming mechanics to better suit that speed, looser build restrictions, and more. Nonetheless, as a complete experience it was janky and threadbare, and the new mechanics just didn't quite coalesce into truly great action.
For Answer fixed it. Not only is the core combat enhanced with even more freedom of movement, new techniques, heavy balance changes, and, of course, More Parts; not only that, but the content of the game is now actually designed to take advantage of it.
Apart from having more interesting objectives and conditions than 4's, most missions take place in huge, huge environments, vast playgrounds to over(ed)boost across in seconds. Normal enemies are barely roadbumps, but the story prominently features Arms Forts, gigantic setpiece bosses that make even your ten meter tall flying robot look like a mouse, or in some cases perhaps an ant. But even Arms Forts are seldom as threatening as other NEXTs.
Sorry--a NEXT is a player model AC in gen 4, contrasted with Normals, which are literally just generic enemies. This is why you're so much faster and more powerful than in the rest of the series; think of NEXTs as being to Armored Cores what Gundams are to Mobile Suits. Pretty much every game in the series has you fighting other ACs built with the same parts the player has access to and obeying the same mechanics (unless they cheat. they do frequently cheat), but perhaps moreso than ever, these duels are the heart and soul of For Answer. The action is both lightning fast and prone to becoming a tense, protracted struggle; after all, anything you can do, enemy NEXTs can do, too.
There are some rough edges, of course ; it didn't delete all of 4's jank. For one thing, you may want to change the regulations to something earlier than the default, up-to-date 1.4 (there is a simple menu setting to do this). At least in the PS3 version, the later regulations cause severe slowdown in some fights, particularly if you're fighting over water or there are a lot of explosions happening. That's right: they actually patched framerate issues in to a game that was fine on release. And then, judging by 1.4 being the final version, they never fixed it. I've literally never heard of such a thing.
But hey, at least it's fun to experiment with the different regs, because the balance swings all over the place between them to an insane degree. Want extremely generous energy requirements on boosting, meaning you can basically be flying around at top speed at all times? Try 1.20. Want infinite energy, as like a joke god mode? 1.15. Want seemingly generic missile launchers to be the most absurdly overpowered weapon you've ever seen in a game? 1.0, baby. Just be aware that these are changes to how NEXTs and their parts work, not specifically the player; the game's main enemies will also benefit from whatever gonzo shit you're giving yourself.
The story... is it one of the better Armored Core stories? Honestly, that can be a tricky question with this series. For better or for worse, it's more in line with the earlier games than 4's, with more of a focus on politics and worldbuilding than character drama. But it does feature the protagonist of 4 returning as a badass (and still silent) heroic rival character, piloting one of the coolest robots in the series, and honestly that kind of thing makes it easy to get swept up in the hype. For Answer's story is vague but very big, almost feeling like a mythology more than anything. It's also one of the few Armored Core games with multiple endings, which helps it feel like there's more meat on the bone than in 4 even if a single playthrough is still very short.
For Answer is one of the Armored Core games that you most often see people cite as the best one, and it's easy to see why. Are there areas in which it's handily outdone? Certainly. But above all, for a game built mostly off of another one's bones, it's absolutely one of a kind. You can't get robot fights paced like this anywhere else. Accept no substitutes.
AC4 was a fairly bold game, mechanically--for all its faults, it innovated heavily on the Armored Core formula with drastically higher speed gameplay, revised lockon/aiming mechanics to better suit that speed, looser build restrictions, and more. Nonetheless, as a complete experience it was janky and threadbare, and the new mechanics just didn't quite coalesce into truly great action.
For Answer fixed it. Not only is the core combat enhanced with even more freedom of movement, new techniques, heavy balance changes, and, of course, More Parts; not only that, but the content of the game is now actually designed to take advantage of it.
Apart from having more interesting objectives and conditions than 4's, most missions take place in huge, huge environments, vast playgrounds to over(ed)boost across in seconds. Normal enemies are barely roadbumps, but the story prominently features Arms Forts, gigantic setpiece bosses that make even your ten meter tall flying robot look like a mouse, or in some cases perhaps an ant. But even Arms Forts are seldom as threatening as other NEXTs.
Sorry--a NEXT is a player model AC in gen 4, contrasted with Normals, which are literally just generic enemies. This is why you're so much faster and more powerful than in the rest of the series; think of NEXTs as being to Armored Cores what Gundams are to Mobile Suits. Pretty much every game in the series has you fighting other ACs built with the same parts the player has access to and obeying the same mechanics (unless they cheat. they do frequently cheat), but perhaps moreso than ever, these duels are the heart and soul of For Answer. The action is both lightning fast and prone to becoming a tense, protracted struggle; after all, anything you can do, enemy NEXTs can do, too.
There are some rough edges, of course ; it didn't delete all of 4's jank. For one thing, you may want to change the regulations to something earlier than the default, up-to-date 1.4 (there is a simple menu setting to do this). At least in the PS3 version, the later regulations cause severe slowdown in some fights, particularly if you're fighting over water or there are a lot of explosions happening. That's right: they actually patched framerate issues in to a game that was fine on release. And then, judging by 1.4 being the final version, they never fixed it. I've literally never heard of such a thing.
But hey, at least it's fun to experiment with the different regs, because the balance swings all over the place between them to an insane degree. Want extremely generous energy requirements on boosting, meaning you can basically be flying around at top speed at all times? Try 1.20. Want infinite energy, as like a joke god mode? 1.15. Want seemingly generic missile launchers to be the most absurdly overpowered weapon you've ever seen in a game? 1.0, baby. Just be aware that these are changes to how NEXTs and their parts work, not specifically the player; the game's main enemies will also benefit from whatever gonzo shit you're giving yourself.
The story... is it one of the better Armored Core stories? Honestly, that can be a tricky question with this series. For better or for worse, it's more in line with the earlier games than 4's, with more of a focus on politics and worldbuilding than character drama. But it does feature the protagonist of 4 returning as a badass (and still silent) heroic rival character, piloting one of the coolest robots in the series, and honestly that kind of thing makes it easy to get swept up in the hype. For Answer's story is vague but very big, almost feeling like a mythology more than anything. It's also one of the few Armored Core games with multiple endings, which helps it feel like there's more meat on the bone than in 4 even if a single playthrough is still very short.
For Answer is one of the Armored Core games that you most often see people cite as the best one, and it's easy to see why. Are there areas in which it's handily outdone? Certainly. But above all, for a game built mostly off of another one's bones, it's absolutely one of a kind. You can't get robot fights paced like this anywhere else. Accept no substitutes.
idc if May Greenfield does nothing in the mission, her just being there makes me play 100x better.
"Oh shit we forgot to put actual missions in AC4" - Miyazaki coming up with For Answer, probably
Just like Last Raven before it, For Answer follows up on a mediocre game and turns it into something great, although for reasons completely different than Last Raven; LR is the hardest AC game, but FA is definitely the easiest one so far.
FA saw the good points of AC4 and doubled down on them: never before have you been so fast, flying around infinitely is now basically a given and it rules. In AC4, sometimes you'd feel like a badass because you're just controlling a huge mech and blowing up everything (something cool on a fundamental level), but it never lasted long enough for it to ever feel that good. FA solves this by making missions longer, and more varied: from destroying huge fleets of dozens and dozens of battleships to fighting city sized forts, the variety of stuff to blow up in FA is extremely good, and even having to replay missions for the different endings doesn't feel like a chore. The final chapter of the last ending is just literally insane and something i'm sure to remember for a long time, truly the second best AC game to me (LR still clears) and definitely the one i'd recommend the most to people willing to play one of the older AC games
Just like Last Raven before it, For Answer follows up on a mediocre game and turns it into something great, although for reasons completely different than Last Raven; LR is the hardest AC game, but FA is definitely the easiest one so far.
FA saw the good points of AC4 and doubled down on them: never before have you been so fast, flying around infinitely is now basically a given and it rules. In AC4, sometimes you'd feel like a badass because you're just controlling a huge mech and blowing up everything (something cool on a fundamental level), but it never lasted long enough for it to ever feel that good. FA solves this by making missions longer, and more varied: from destroying huge fleets of dozens and dozens of battleships to fighting city sized forts, the variety of stuff to blow up in FA is extremely good, and even having to replay missions for the different endings doesn't feel like a chore. The final chapter of the last ending is just literally insane and something i'm sure to remember for a long time, truly the second best AC game to me (LR still clears) and definitely the one i'd recommend the most to people willing to play one of the older AC games
xd
first route has one of the biggest quality drops I've seen in a game, the last missions fucking suck for so much reasons
first route has one of the biggest quality drops I've seen in a game, the last missions fucking suck for so much reasons
Movement ? Amazing . Controls ? Divine . Soundtrack ? Some experimental shit with some holy sounding vocals if its your thing. Combat ? Fine , fun sometimes , but really the game is a breeze no matter the build. 3 story paths , bunch of mission variety. Game needs only a few minor settings changes to run fine on the ps3 emu. If you want to be a gundam , play this game or any other AC game.
This review contains spoilers
To be clear, I think Armored Core 4 was an aggressively mid game. A mid game with interesting foundations, but a mid game nonetheless. Everything from its mechanics to its story were major nothingburgers that stand out among not just this franchise, but the catalog of one of our medium's most storied directors. While iffy on a lot of For Answer at first, to say this game grew on me would be an understatement. I've nearly completed it 5 times at this point, finished every mission on both difficulties and S-ranked every mission on normal and hard. I think that says it all.
But beyond that, I think the gameplay is great and consistently thrilling, if not a bit lacking in the precision and strategy that I so loved from previous AC games. For what it lacks in its "AC-ness" it makes up for in fulfilling 4's goal of making fights feel as spectacular and as "anime" as possible. Seeing your NEXTs zip and zoom around these vast and empty landscapes, taking down colossal Arms Forts in a Herculean manner, dueling other NEXTs in high-octane combat, of which are among the series' most fun encounters despite lacking the mechanical finesse that oldgen duels had. Customization and garage-tinkering are as fun as ever, and it's a thrill coming up with some monster of a build to throw into this game's wide open sandbox levels and see it wreak havoc on some poor normals and MTs. It's all just a blast, though I think you really need those multiple playthroughs to really click with it; I don't think one playthrough does this game justice. I would know since I didn't quite love my first go-around. Still, you know it's fun when the rewards are damn near nonexistent and I still continue playing. I'm not the busiest person in the world, but I still need to manage my time which is why I rarely replay games unless I think they're worth replaying, and boy is this game worth replaying and then some.
Monumental a highlight as the gameplay is, I really want to zero in on the story here because I think it's probably what struck me the hardest about this game. I think the thing that 4A consistently does better than even the great works that Miyazaki would go on to direct would be the feeling of dread present. Miyazaki's games are known for their dread, but all with a tinge of hope as to not feel completely devoid; I think someting like Bloodborne stands as an example of this, and a game more hopeful than most give it credit for. While 4A does retain this lingering sense of hope, he hadn't quite found his footing as far as organically weaving it into the narrative.
For Answer is, however, the master of the simultaneous desolation and sentimentality that characterizes Miyazaki's style. His Ueda influences are as clear as ever, with the giant, spectacular Arms Fort fights, the meditative nature of the setting, and Kota Hoshino's complementary OST feeding into the quietude and desolation that Miyazaki so loves to imitate and integrate.
One thing I didn't quite love about the game's story on my first go-around was the mission structure. In past experience, it most resembles its direct predecessor, as well as ACVI. I've gone out of my way on social media to critique how VI's mission and chapter structure is pretty weak and overly linear compared to oldgen, and how I'd love a return to form with a sequel or something. Good to know that 4 and 4A were the progenitors of those ideas, with set chapters and a more concrete narrative structure.
Where For Answer just about outdoes VI in this regard are the sanctions in places within its structure. VI has a handful of choice missions that force you to choose between 2, sometimes 3 missions, often of little consequence until NG++. 4A, at face value, seems pretty similar, though the limited number of missions per chapter (an element that I didn't love at first but eventually grew on me) and the more involved nature of the corporations in its mission pathing (compare this to VI, where the corps only ever exist in the story and have no bearing on branching paths and new mission unlocks throughout your three playthroughs) put 4A handily over its indirect successor for me.
I also commend and appreciation 4A's use of perspective within its different routes. A lot of multiple ending based games do this, though more so than a lot of them, For Answer's potent ideology-focused narrative benefits from perspective the most. While oldgen AC's approach to siding with rivalling corps bordered on almost comical at times, 4A's approach is a lot more serious. NG+ has you playing from a whole different perspective compared to the first playthrough, from siding with Line Ark, to attacking Arteria Carpals instead of defending it, to killing Wynne D as opposed to fighting alongside her. This approach really lends some dimensionality to the world that would otherwise be lost with a single playthrough, and takes oldgen's "haha I'm siding with two rivalling corporations at the same time" and really gives it the gravitas it needs to be a powerful narrative tool; one that befits Miyazaki's narrative style and inspires 4A's dichotomic hope and dread alike.
Nowhere is the dread more present in For Answer as it is in the game's endings. I think the endings prove better than anything the sheer uncompromising and unforgiving nature of For Answer's world. Miyazaki took a page out of Judith Jarvis Thomson's book here and really pulled out all the stops to make the game's ethical dilemma feels as hopeless as possible. You can imagine just how much pressure weighs on the shoulders of Thermidor, Wynne D, Old King, Malzel, White Glint & Fiona, and hell, basically everyone in this godforsaken world, though the former two take precedence, especially in the game's final missions.
"Is this really my fate? To lose... everything?"
"To treasure a life... is that something to laugh at?"
"You think it's your right to choose who lives and dies?"
It's much harder to be a good, or event a decent person than to be a bad one, and nowhere is it more evident with not only with Wynne and Thermidor, but yourself as well. You can imagine just how much pressure even living in a world as hopeless as this is putting on Strayed. It's a wonder they didn't break sooner than they did prior to siding with Old King, like an actual genuine marvel of human willpower, and it's also even more disheartening to know that "Destroy Cradle 03" is probably the easiest mission in the whole game. Strayed breaks under pressure and decides "fuck it lmao" and takes the easy way out: to fight for absolutely nothing whatsoever, and the weird this is that as fucked up as it is, I don't blame them; the world is fucked either way, why go through all this trouble to fight for it?
I can respect idealists like Wynne D and Thermidor (and hell, even Old King to a certain extent) because they at least tried to fight for what they believed was right, even if the only options were to kill or let die (or whatever the hell the Closed Plan was). I finished the third ending instilled with a sense of dread (and frustration at Arteria Carpals, fuck that shit lmfao), knowing that no matter what, this world is doomed, and that Strayed fought for naught in the end. An ironic twist on the platonic ideal of the Raven that the series has been pushing since 1997, even more so if you have the WG core equipped in that final cutscene: Strayed flies off into the sunset on a pair of false raven wings to bring death to billions for no good reason, for a purpose that wasn't even their own, for the goal of a man who was tenfold as maniacal but tenfold as purposeful, that same man now presumably lying dead as that goal is carried out by a broken, young, purposeless Lynx. It's unimaginably tragic, perhaps the most tragic thing Miyazaki's written, and given his track record of those kinds of stories, I think that says it all.
Still, what struck me most wasn't that ending, but what came after: the end credtis, in which you hear the title screen theme: 'Someone is Always Moving on the Surface'. An apt description of what I took away from this game. Dim as it may be, the faint hope that is so characteristic of Miyazaki's style prevails. Despite the plague, famine, and desolation that has befallen Earth, someone is always moving on the surface.
"Is that your answer? So be it..."
But beyond that, I think the gameplay is great and consistently thrilling, if not a bit lacking in the precision and strategy that I so loved from previous AC games. For what it lacks in its "AC-ness" it makes up for in fulfilling 4's goal of making fights feel as spectacular and as "anime" as possible. Seeing your NEXTs zip and zoom around these vast and empty landscapes, taking down colossal Arms Forts in a Herculean manner, dueling other NEXTs in high-octane combat, of which are among the series' most fun encounters despite lacking the mechanical finesse that oldgen duels had. Customization and garage-tinkering are as fun as ever, and it's a thrill coming up with some monster of a build to throw into this game's wide open sandbox levels and see it wreak havoc on some poor normals and MTs. It's all just a blast, though I think you really need those multiple playthroughs to really click with it; I don't think one playthrough does this game justice. I would know since I didn't quite love my first go-around. Still, you know it's fun when the rewards are damn near nonexistent and I still continue playing. I'm not the busiest person in the world, but I still need to manage my time which is why I rarely replay games unless I think they're worth replaying, and boy is this game worth replaying and then some.
Monumental a highlight as the gameplay is, I really want to zero in on the story here because I think it's probably what struck me the hardest about this game. I think the thing that 4A consistently does better than even the great works that Miyazaki would go on to direct would be the feeling of dread present. Miyazaki's games are known for their dread, but all with a tinge of hope as to not feel completely devoid; I think someting like Bloodborne stands as an example of this, and a game more hopeful than most give it credit for. While 4A does retain this lingering sense of hope, he hadn't quite found his footing as far as organically weaving it into the narrative.
For Answer is, however, the master of the simultaneous desolation and sentimentality that characterizes Miyazaki's style. His Ueda influences are as clear as ever, with the giant, spectacular Arms Fort fights, the meditative nature of the setting, and Kota Hoshino's complementary OST feeding into the quietude and desolation that Miyazaki so loves to imitate and integrate.
One thing I didn't quite love about the game's story on my first go-around was the mission structure. In past experience, it most resembles its direct predecessor, as well as ACVI. I've gone out of my way on social media to critique how VI's mission and chapter structure is pretty weak and overly linear compared to oldgen, and how I'd love a return to form with a sequel or something. Good to know that 4 and 4A were the progenitors of those ideas, with set chapters and a more concrete narrative structure.
Where For Answer just about outdoes VI in this regard are the sanctions in places within its structure. VI has a handful of choice missions that force you to choose between 2, sometimes 3 missions, often of little consequence until NG++. 4A, at face value, seems pretty similar, though the limited number of missions per chapter (an element that I didn't love at first but eventually grew on me) and the more involved nature of the corporations in its mission pathing (compare this to VI, where the corps only ever exist in the story and have no bearing on branching paths and new mission unlocks throughout your three playthroughs) put 4A handily over its indirect successor for me.
I also commend and appreciation 4A's use of perspective within its different routes. A lot of multiple ending based games do this, though more so than a lot of them, For Answer's potent ideology-focused narrative benefits from perspective the most. While oldgen AC's approach to siding with rivalling corps bordered on almost comical at times, 4A's approach is a lot more serious. NG+ has you playing from a whole different perspective compared to the first playthrough, from siding with Line Ark, to attacking Arteria Carpals instead of defending it, to killing Wynne D as opposed to fighting alongside her. This approach really lends some dimensionality to the world that would otherwise be lost with a single playthrough, and takes oldgen's "haha I'm siding with two rivalling corporations at the same time" and really gives it the gravitas it needs to be a powerful narrative tool; one that befits Miyazaki's narrative style and inspires 4A's dichotomic hope and dread alike.
Nowhere is the dread more present in For Answer as it is in the game's endings. I think the endings prove better than anything the sheer uncompromising and unforgiving nature of For Answer's world. Miyazaki took a page out of Judith Jarvis Thomson's book here and really pulled out all the stops to make the game's ethical dilemma feels as hopeless as possible. You can imagine just how much pressure weighs on the shoulders of Thermidor, Wynne D, Old King, Malzel, White Glint & Fiona, and hell, basically everyone in this godforsaken world, though the former two take precedence, especially in the game's final missions.
"Is this really my fate? To lose... everything?"
"To treasure a life... is that something to laugh at?"
"You think it's your right to choose who lives and dies?"
It's much harder to be a good, or event a decent person than to be a bad one, and nowhere is it more evident with not only with Wynne and Thermidor, but yourself as well. You can imagine just how much pressure even living in a world as hopeless as this is putting on Strayed. It's a wonder they didn't break sooner than they did prior to siding with Old King, like an actual genuine marvel of human willpower, and it's also even more disheartening to know that "Destroy Cradle 03" is probably the easiest mission in the whole game. Strayed breaks under pressure and decides "fuck it lmao" and takes the easy way out: to fight for absolutely nothing whatsoever, and the weird this is that as fucked up as it is, I don't blame them; the world is fucked either way, why go through all this trouble to fight for it?
I can respect idealists like Wynne D and Thermidor (and hell, even Old King to a certain extent) because they at least tried to fight for what they believed was right, even if the only options were to kill or let die (or whatever the hell the Closed Plan was). I finished the third ending instilled with a sense of dread (and frustration at Arteria Carpals, fuck that shit lmfao), knowing that no matter what, this world is doomed, and that Strayed fought for naught in the end. An ironic twist on the platonic ideal of the Raven that the series has been pushing since 1997, even more so if you have the WG core equipped in that final cutscene: Strayed flies off into the sunset on a pair of false raven wings to bring death to billions for no good reason, for a purpose that wasn't even their own, for the goal of a man who was tenfold as maniacal but tenfold as purposeful, that same man now presumably lying dead as that goal is carried out by a broken, young, purposeless Lynx. It's unimaginably tragic, perhaps the most tragic thing Miyazaki's written, and given his track record of those kinds of stories, I think that says it all.
Still, what struck me most wasn't that ending, but what came after: the end credtis, in which you hear the title screen theme: 'Someone is Always Moving on the Surface'. An apt description of what I took away from this game. Dim as it may be, the faint hope that is so characteristic of Miyazaki's style prevails. Despite the plague, famine, and desolation that has befallen Earth, someone is always moving on the surface.
"Is that your answer? So be it..."
For Answer follows up on where AC4 finished but if the last game ended up on a hopeful note now For Answer tries to destroy all sort of hope. The protagonist of the last game and his assistant tried to create an independent corporation where everyone can join to achieve a better future but all the “free” individuals left to join are either spies or criminals, their utopia is crumbling. The corporations are still kicking, maybe even harder and pulling the strings to satisfy their wishes, without giving a damn about who is in the middle. Due to the contaminations the NEXTs produce the environment is near irreparable and you are just trying to get your next paycheck.
AC For Answer maintains all the gameplay revolutions AC4 brought to the series and went beyond with it. Focusing more on speed and movement mechanics asking the player to refine their skills, adding more customization options, adding the Arms Forts to create missions where you can feel like a one mech army against an impenetrable colossus size mech, refining the NEXTs fights making them feel even more like dog fights that go over 1000 km/h. The game is certainly easier than AC4 and pretty much the easiest out of all the AC games but this is in normal difficulty, hard mode is one of the biggest ass whooping you’ll get if you don’t try to understand all the ins and outs of the gameplay and optimize your mech to the thinnest detail. For me, AC For Answer is the peak of the AC formula, it truly makes you feel like your piloting a war machine capable of causing destruction to a country single handedly while asking to be mindful that a NEXT configuration won't work in all scenarios, thus keeping the loop of experimentation and optimization that makes Armored Core stand out.
Of course it’s not perfect, heavy builds are no longer viable, you can optimize your NEXT as you wish but it will gravitate towards a speed and high damage focused one and compared to other Armored Core games this entry is more “bland” artistic wise. The mech parts and user interfaces are one of the best the series has to offer but all scenarios rotate towards big empty maps with some buildings, so pick your poison, empty dessert or empty flooded city? It makes sense when you remember that story wise all nature is practically dead and bigger open maps are better for the faster movement based gameplay but damn put some beauty to this dead world, New Vegas did it, Nocturne did it and many others.
For Answer is a nihilistic game. In the first two endings no matter what you do the corporations win and screw everyone else, even yourself. For them, you are just another pawn to satisfy their desires. There’s almost no room for ideals left, you are a wage slave, so get to work. On the third and final ending the game gives you a solution. The world is beyond destroyed, there are no more heroes, might as well give them a villain and YOU DO. The solution is to burn it al down, causing a genocide just to screw on the corporations making you their number one problem. Who cares right? So far you’ve seen that there’s no solution left so what gives? You survive the corporations collective effort to eradicate you, showing them the ultimate NEXT pilot they created and that they are next on the line of your destruction. Edgy? kinda but god does it perfectly creates a fiction where you basically break your chains and rebel against the system that treats you like dirt.
So yeah, Armored Core For Answer is peak fiction, is an extremely well executed power fantasy, its gameplay is the best the series has to offer and its story is presented in a simple but entertaining way. Go play it and White Glint kept on fighting by pure will power, what a chad.
AC For Answer maintains all the gameplay revolutions AC4 brought to the series and went beyond with it. Focusing more on speed and movement mechanics asking the player to refine their skills, adding more customization options, adding the Arms Forts to create missions where you can feel like a one mech army against an impenetrable colossus size mech, refining the NEXTs fights making them feel even more like dog fights that go over 1000 km/h. The game is certainly easier than AC4 and pretty much the easiest out of all the AC games but this is in normal difficulty, hard mode is one of the biggest ass whooping you’ll get if you don’t try to understand all the ins and outs of the gameplay and optimize your mech to the thinnest detail. For me, AC For Answer is the peak of the AC formula, it truly makes you feel like your piloting a war machine capable of causing destruction to a country single handedly while asking to be mindful that a NEXT configuration won't work in all scenarios, thus keeping the loop of experimentation and optimization that makes Armored Core stand out.
Of course it’s not perfect, heavy builds are no longer viable, you can optimize your NEXT as you wish but it will gravitate towards a speed and high damage focused one and compared to other Armored Core games this entry is more “bland” artistic wise. The mech parts and user interfaces are one of the best the series has to offer but all scenarios rotate towards big empty maps with some buildings, so pick your poison, empty dessert or empty flooded city? It makes sense when you remember that story wise all nature is practically dead and bigger open maps are better for the faster movement based gameplay but damn put some beauty to this dead world, New Vegas did it, Nocturne did it and many others.
For Answer is a nihilistic game. In the first two endings no matter what you do the corporations win and screw everyone else, even yourself. For them, you are just another pawn to satisfy their desires. There’s almost no room for ideals left, you are a wage slave, so get to work. On the third and final ending the game gives you a solution. The world is beyond destroyed, there are no more heroes, might as well give them a villain and YOU DO. The solution is to burn it al down, causing a genocide just to screw on the corporations making you their number one problem. Who cares right? So far you’ve seen that there’s no solution left so what gives? You survive the corporations collective effort to eradicate you, showing them the ultimate NEXT pilot they created and that they are next on the line of your destruction. Edgy? kinda but god does it perfectly creates a fiction where you basically break your chains and rebel against the system that treats you like dirt.
So yeah, Armored Core For Answer is peak fiction, is an extremely well executed power fantasy, its gameplay is the best the series has to offer and its story is presented in a simple but entertaining way. Go play it and White Glint kept on fighting by pure will power, what a chad.
There is a somber tone about this game that is persistent from the title screen to the end credits sequence. It depicts war in a manner that encourages the player to form their own opinion on the conflict and choose the factions they agree/believe in. I think that AC:4A is a beautiful depiction of a war torn setting. The only caveats about this game stem from it only being available to play on the PS3 where it suffers with some major performance issues. However if you do want to experience this gem of a game I recommend using RPCSX3 to emulate it.
“Millions Will Die, Exciting Don't You Think?”
“Millions Will Die, Exciting Don't You Think?”
In comparison to AC 4, For Asnwer says fuck it, we ball and absolutely goes all out in expanding and maximizing 110% of all its systems and features, turning it into, with no shadow of a doubt, the best entry in the series and successfully bridging the new with the old.
Be The Turk The Japanese think you are
I liked going fast
Booting up this game was one of my biggest mistakes of 2024. I wanted to study for my next exam this month because "why not let's start the year with one less exam" but then I try this game out and suddenly I have clocked 13 hours and done all the routes of this game and it's still not enough. I need more. It's kinda sad for me knowing we don't get to see more games in the series with this direction in gameplay, because it's easily my favourite as of now (I still prefer LR overall, mind you, but this one is a close second).
Mission quality is straight up amazing, customization is insanely good as well, replayability-well if after 3 routes I felt like I wanted more (and there is, with hard mode and some missions left to unlock) that should speak volumes on how replayable this shit is, and overall it's insane how much of a glowup this game is from base 4!
They just saw the base and said "yeah make all the areas open and make the player go batshit insane with the builds, so much he can't even see himself on the screen for how much you can chainboost and overboost yourself". Game also features Arms Forts which are these giant machine bosses which is not a new concept per se but the way they implemented them in the game just wipes mostly everything they went for before this. Don't you ever give me "mAsSiVe Mt" after Spirit of Motherwill istg.
Sadly, chapter 4 missions are kinda frustrating and not as fun as the other ones, but it's absolutely forgivable imo for a game this experimental. What a mistake, man, how do I study without thinking about this game for the next month???
Mission quality is straight up amazing, customization is insanely good as well, replayability-well if after 3 routes I felt like I wanted more (and there is, with hard mode and some missions left to unlock) that should speak volumes on how replayable this shit is, and overall it's insane how much of a glowup this game is from base 4!
They just saw the base and said "yeah make all the areas open and make the player go batshit insane with the builds, so much he can't even see himself on the screen for how much you can chainboost and overboost yourself". Game also features Arms Forts which are these giant machine bosses which is not a new concept per se but the way they implemented them in the game just wipes mostly everything they went for before this. Don't you ever give me "mAsSiVe Mt" after Spirit of Motherwill istg.
Sadly, chapter 4 missions are kinda frustrating and not as fun as the other ones, but it's absolutely forgivable imo for a game this experimental. What a mistake, man, how do I study without thinking about this game for the next month???
Really good controls and not that difficult. It's fine but way too fast for my liking to the point that it makes the action feel a bit meaningless. You have to beat it multiple times but at least you unlock new stuff each time like ACVI
chuds in mechs
Better than ac4 in every way and the main missions are much harder especially the missions on the second and third ending.
White Glint
da best ac that isnt ac6
utterly stomps the shit out of its predecessor in every regard. way better missions, music and narrative. definitely starts with its weaker leg forward, but those last two endings - the fucking audacity of this game - it's unreal
unfortunately the localization is a bit muddy, but that's true of 4 as well. voice acting's still top notch but you might need to look at a wiki to grasp some of the character motivations and other behind-the-scenes stuff. not a big deal, but worth noting nonetheless
by the way: zinaida was still harder than that one mission - even on hard. if you've played it, you know the one
unfortunately the localization is a bit muddy, but that's true of 4 as well. voice acting's still top notch but you might need to look at a wiki to grasp some of the character motivations and other behind-the-scenes stuff. not a big deal, but worth noting nonetheless
by the way: zinaida was still harder than that one mission - even on hard. if you've played it, you know the one
me gusto
god almighty above cannot stop me from shilling this game. it's everything 4 should've been and more. the music is goated, the gameplay is goated, the AC designs are goated; this game is just goated