SO, RAVEN... WHO NEEDS YOU?

ARMORED CORE'S CYBERPUNK DYSTOPIA IS A STRONG PART OF HOW THE SERIES HAS ALWAYS FORMULATED ITS WORLD AND HOW THE PETTY WARS BETWEEN CORPORATION AND CORPORATION THAT GRINDED THE WORLD TO DUST EVOLVE TO MUTUAL DESTRUCTION. HAVING ONLY PLAYED FOR ANSWER TO COMPLETION BUT TRIED OTHERS IN THE SERIES TO UNDERSTAND, FIRES OF RUBICON STANDS OUT AS INSTEAD OF BEING PURELY ABOUT THE CYBERPUNK STAPLE OF MEGACORPS FIGHTING FOR SUPERIORITY IT INSTEAD PIVOTS TO CRITICIZING COLONIALISM IN A MANNER WHICH BOTH FITS IN A CONTEMPORARY AND HISTORICAL SENSE BUT ALSO DEVELOPS AND REPRESENTS HOW IT WOULD LOOK IN A SCI FI SETTING.

RUBICON, ITS PEOPLE AND ITS RESOURCES, ARE NOTHING MORE THAN FUEL TO CONTINUE RAMPING UP THE INNATE DESIRE OF A MEGACORP TO GROW UNRELENTINGLY. IT DOESN'T MATTER TO THEM THE PEOPLE THAT IT GRINDS TO DUST. IT DOESN'T MATTER TO THEM THE REALITY OF CORAL NOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF PLAYING WITH FIRE. CORPORATIONS HAVE NO SOUL AND THEY ARE SIMPLY PRIMED TO GROW AND CONTROL. IT DOES NOT ALSO PURELY GRIND THIS PLANET TO DUST BUT IT ALSO GRINDS EVERYONE WORKING UNDER THEM. NONE OF THESE PEOPLE YOU TALK WITH AND MEET REALLY HAVE ANY FREE WILL. NOT EVEN YOU AS THE PLAYER HAVE IT; YOU LIVE UNDER THEIR BOOT WORKING FOR THE HIGHEST BIDDER REGARDLESS ON IF YOU PARADE THE FLAG OF BEING AN INDEPENDENT MERCENARY. IT SPEAKS VOLUMES EVEN THAT IT REINFORCES YOUR ROLE AS A WEAPON OF WAR OR A HOUND, DESPERATELY CRAWLING FOR CREDITS TO BUY BACK YOUR INDEPENDENCE.

HOWEVER ONE MUST ALSO THINK THAT WHY EXACTLY DOES 621 NEED TO BUY THEIR INDEPENDENCE? THAT FREE WILL HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN THEM, SOMETHING THAT'S ONLY TRULY UNLEASHED ONCE THE PLAYER DEFEATS THE PREVIOUS RAVEN AND LEARNS OF ITS TRUE MEANING; A HERALD OF CHANGE WILLING TO MAKE ITS OWN CHOICES. THE REALITY IS THAT BOTH IN OUR MODERN ERA AND IN THE DAYS OF THE CORAL WAR THAT WE WILLINGLY SUCCUMB TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD DESPITE ITS LACK OF NATURAL SOURCE. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF JORDAN PETERSON TALKS ABOUT LOBSTERS; CRIMES ARE NOT NATURAL CRIMES NOR ARE PUNISHMENTS NATURAL CONSEQUENCES; THEY ARE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS TO CREATE A SEMBLANCE OF ORDER ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.

IN THAT SENSE THE TWO ENDINGS YOU CAN CHOOSE TO TAKE REPRESENT THAT VERY TRUTH. YOU DEFEATED THE PREVIOUS RAVEN AND HAVE COME TO THE INNER REALIZATION THAT YOU YOURSELF HAVE ARRIVED AS AN ADVENT OF CHANGE. YOU FOUGHT RUSTY AND HAVE BEEN CONFRONTED OVER YOUR LACK OF IDEALS. AND BY CHAPTER 5 YOU ARE PRESENTED WITH A CHOICE; ABIDE WITH WALTER ON THE SIDE OF THE OVERSEERS OR DEFECT WITH AYRE TO THE RUBICON LIBERATION FRONT?

IN REALITY THESE TWO OPTIONS REPRESENT WHAT I HAD SAID BEFORE ON THE REALITY OF SOCIETY'S LAWS AND FREE WILL. ABIDING WITH WALTER MEANS YOU WHOLEHEARTEDLY ACCEPT SUBMISSION TO THE SYSTEM REGARDLESS OF THE CONSEQUENCES. TO YOU IT NO LONGER MATTERS WHAT RUBICON WAS AND IS BUT RATHER AIM TO DESTROY IT AND EVERYTHING THAT LIVES INSIDE IT. IT IS NO WONDER RUSTY FIGHTS AGAINST YOU AS DESPITE SEEING YOUR POTENTIAL TO RISE AGAINST THE WORLD YOU STILL DECIDE TO ABIDE WITH THOSE VERY LAWS THAT ALLOWED SOCIETY TO HAVE THESE MEGACORPS TAKE OVER AND PRIORITIZE HEARTLESS GROWTH.

ALTERNATIVELY, DEFECTING WITH AYRE IS A DIFFICULT BUT NECESSARY CHOICE AS YOU STEP ON WALTER'S LAST WISH AND DECIDE TO FIGHT FOR A WORLD'S LEGACY AND INDEPENDENCE AGAINST THESE MEGACORPS. RUSTY DECIDES TO STICK WITH YOU AS HE RECOGNIZES YOU AS BIRDS OF A FEATHER AND RESPECTS YOU. THE QUESTION OF "WHO NEEDS YOU" IS TRULY ANSWERED HERE: RUBICON NEEDS 621. NOT IN A WHITE SAVIOR WAY WHICH IS A VERY SIMPLE TRAP TO FALL IN THESE KINDS OF STORIES AS FOREIGNERS SAVING AN INDIGENOUS GROUP BECOMES AN INHERENTLY RACIST IDEA BY REPRESENTING THE WHITE MAN AS A MESSIANIC FIGURE BUT RATHER THE RAVEN STANDS AS THE TRIGGER TO FOSTER HOPE IN THE HEARTS OF THE RUBICONIANS. BOTH PARTIES HAVE BECOME TOOLS IN THE HANDS OF MEGACORPS AND BOTH GROUPS REALIZE THE FOLLY OF THAT AND REBEL AGAINST IT. EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY IS THAT WALTER HIMSELF RECOGNIZES THIS AS A POSITIVE: HE IS HAPPY THAT RAVEN WAS ABLE TO ACQUIRE A FRIEND LIKE AYRE AND SOMETHING TO STAND FOR. WALTER MAY HAVE OWNED 621 BUT HE CARES FOR HIS PILOT REGARDLESS AND THIS TRUST AND CAMARADERIE IS FOSTERED AS WALTER REALIZES OUR POTENTIAL AND WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF.

IN THAT SENSE ARMORED CORE 6 DOES NOT CRITICIZE THE INDIVIDUAL FOR LIVING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF A MEGACORP BUT IT DOES CRITICIZE THE INDIVIDUALS THAT BENEFIT FROM THIS. THE ARQUEBUS GROUP ARE THE BIGGEST EXAMPLE AS RUSTY IS CONSIDERED THE ONLY GOOD PILOT FROM ARQUEBUS BECAUSE HE DEFECTS FROM THEM AND USED THEM FOR HIS OWN END. THE REST ARE COMICALLY EVIL INDIVIDUALS BECAUSE THEY STAND PURELY AGAINST RUBICON, SUCH AS V.II SNAIL IN AYRE'S ROUTE AS HE RAGES AND SEETHES OVER YOU NOT ABIDING TO THE WORLD'S STRUCTURE. ALTERNATIVELY BALAM IS ALSO REPRESENTED AS A NEGATIVE BUT THEIR INDIVIDUAL CAMARADERIE IS RESPECTABLE AND THE LEGACY THEY LEAVE BEHIND AS WELL.

IT IS ALSO APPARENT THAT THE INDIVIDUAL IS NOT CRITICIZED COMPARED TO THE COLLECTIVE MEGACORP IN THE ENDING OF CHAPTER 3 WHERE EACH MAJOR FACTION IS UNITED TO DEFEAT THE ICE WORM. THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND THIS ARE NOT MORALLY WELL BECAUSE IT CONTINUES TO ITERATE ON THE EXPLOITATION OF RUBICON HOWEVER IT ALSO SOMEWHAT STANDS AS AN IDEA OF THE POTENTIAL HUMANITY COULD HAVE IF UNITED RATHER THAN DIVIDED DUE TO THE CONFLICTING AIMS OF THESE MEGACORPS NEEDING AS MUCH OF THE SHARE AS THEY CAN GET OF THE PRODUCT OBTAINED IN RUBICON, AND YET ALSO HOW THESE GROUPS WERE ABLE TO COME TOGETHER AND FORMULATE A PLAN TO TAKE DOWN THE WORM. OF COURSE IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT THAT ARQUEBUS IS THE FIRST TO LEAVE; THEY ARE THE MOST PROFIT INCENTIVIZED AND THE ONE MOST REPRESENTED AS VILLAINOUS. COMPARED TO THAT, CHATTY AND THE BALAM MERC CAN LEAVE IF DAMAGED ENOUGH. THE ONLY ONE THAT STICKS BY YOU IS ONCE AGAIN RUSTY AS HE IS THE ONE THAT STANDS MOST BY YOU IDEOLOGICALLY AS BOTH ARE ABLE TO ACHIEVE SIMILAR POTENTIAL.

PIVOTING A BIT FROM THE PURE STORY AND ENTERING TOWARDS THE GAMEPLAY OBVIOUSLY A LARGE PART OF ARMORED CORE IS THE AC’S CUSTOMIZATION; THE GAME HAS MULTIPLE STATS TO TAKE COUNT OF AND TO BUILD YOUR PREFERRED PLAYSTYLE BOTH FOR THE MOMENT TO MOMENT BUT ALSO FOR SPECIFIC STAGES AND BOSSES. BEING READY TO SELL YOUR PARTS AND BUY NEW ONES FOR YOUR FIRST PLAYTHROUGH IS SOMETHING TO EMBRACE FOR YOUR FIRST PLAYTHROUGH AS YOU LEARN HOW THESE BOSSES TICK AND HOW THEY ARE FULLY CANCELED OUT WITH SPECIFIC LOADOUTS, MAKING YOU EXPERIENCE A DIVERSE LOADOUT AND ALLOWS YOU TO LEARN WHAT REALLY MAKES YOU ENJOY ARMORED CORE’S FAST PACED HIGH RISK HIGH REWARD GAMEPLAY. FOR MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH I UTILIZED A QUAD LEGS BUILD WITH DUAL GATLING GUNS AND SONGBIRD, EXCHANGING MY WEAPONS OCCASIONALLY. FOR MY SECOND ONE I UTILIZED A MIDWEIGHT BIPED ENERGY WEAPON LOADOUT WITH AN ENERGY LANCE AS MY MELEE OF CHOICE. FOR MY THIRD OPTION I WENT WITH A REVERSE LIGHTWEIGHT DUAL ZIMMERMAN BUILD WITH THE MOONLIGHT BLADE AND A SONGBIRDS CHOICE. IT IS TRULY A GOAL FOR FROM SOFTWARE THAT I FOUND EACH OF THESE WEAPON LOADOUT TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE MOST CONFRONTATIONS; IF NOT ALL WITH THESE LOADOUTS EXCLUSIVELY. IT IS NOT SIMPLY A PROBLEM WITH A BUILD BUT ALSO YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE OF THE BOSS THAT DEFINES YOUR DIFFICULTY. I CONSIDER THIS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: IT BOTH SUPPORTS THE WORLDBUILDING AND THE USE OF ACS BUT ALSO ALLOWS PLAYERS TO FLEX THEIR OWN CREATIVE FREEDOM IN FINDING WAYS TO DEFEAT BOSSES.

LOOKING AT THE AC CUSTOMIZATION FROM A PURELY UTILITARIAN VIEW HOWEVER YOU START TO DRAW PARALLELS TO THE THIRD ROUTE’S ENDING AND THE MISSIONS LEADING TOWARDS IT; ALLMIND IS AN AI. IN THAT SENSE HOWEVER ALLMIND DOES NOT FUNCTION AS AN AI WITH A SOUL OR CONSCIOUSNESS RATHER IT WORKS AS THE AI THAT EXISTS NOWADAYS; IT ONLY ACCUMULATES DATA AND REPEATS IT. THUS IS THAT THE ARENA EXISTS HERE NOT AS A WAY OF RANKING MERCS BUT RATHER FOR ALLMIND TO EXTRACT MORE INFO ON PILOTS TO BUILD STRONGER REPLICAS FOR THEIR AIMS; TO MAKE CORAL RELEASE. HOWEVER WHILE CORAL RELEASE IS CONSIDERED A POSITIVE AS IT IS AYRE’S WISH FOR HUMANS TO COEXIST WITH CORAL’S CONSCIOUSNESS ALLMIND’S GOALS ARE NOT THAT AND ARE MORE SO TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL HUMANITY; TO TURN CHAOS INTO ORDER AS THEY SAY IN THE FINAL MISSION OF THEIR ENDING. THIS BECOMES LESS DISMANTLING THE SOCIAL ORDER THAT MAKES THE WORLD RELY ON MEGACORPS REACHING TO IMPLOSION AND MORE OF A HEARTLESS UTILITARIAN SOCIETY. THAT IS WHY WE GO AGAINST ALLMIND; IT IS THE WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO AND IN A SENSE THE ENDPOINT OF A MEGACORP OBTAINING A MONOPOLY ON THE WORLD. BY THE END AYRE REAFFIRMS THIS; WE PULL THE TRIGGER FOR CORAL RELEASE. WE BRING ABOUT A NEW ERA TO THE WORLD TO IMPROVE UPON THE HOUNDING OF CAPITALISM THAT TURNS EVERYONE INTO TOOLS, COEXISTING AS HUMANS, CORAL, AND AC.

BY THE END I CAN ABSOLUTELY SAY THAT I ADORED ARMORED CORE 6 AS A GAME AND AS FROM SOFTWARE’S PEAK OF STORYTELLING. THEIR WAY OF HANDLING LORE EXISTS IN THIS GAME AS A METHOD OF CREATING INTRIGUE HOWEVER PIVOTING TOWARDS A MORE DIRECT STORY CREATES A GREAT SET OF CHARACTERS WITH CHARISMA AND INTRIGUE. THERE WERE MANY TIMES I WAS TASKED TO KILL A UNIT I HAD FOUGHT ALONGSIDE AND I ATTEMPTED TO LOOK AWAY WITH THE CAMERA BUT IT STAYED FOCUSED ON THEM: I HAD TO LIVE WITH THE ACTIONS I TOOK AS A HOUND OF WALTER. PACKED ALONGSIDE A SOUNDTRACK WHICH BY ITSELF APPEARS MEDIOCRE BUT WHEN COMPOUNDED WITH THE WORLD ENHANCES THE PRODUCT AND A VISUAL DESIGN THAT IS UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL IN THE WAY IT IS TERRIBLE, ARMORED CORE 6 PRESENTS US WITH A WORLD THAT FUCKING SUCKS. AND THAT IS WHY WE LIVE IN IT, EMBRACE IT, AND FIGHT TO REMAKE IT INTO SOMETHING BETTER.

Ruina and the SMT franchise are two of the game series I think just sum up my taste in media as a whole. They're both, on the surface level, very "cool" media. They are very hard, but they are cool. It's cool to use Yesod in endgame where he absolutely demolishes everything. It's cool to defeat the Reverbration Ensemble Distorted, where the Library is falling apart but your LIbrarians are still fighting, as a tried and true victory lap (despite the major difficulty), it's cool to fight the Head and Claw while Binah's third theme plays, in a tried and true conclusion of everything the game's been building up to. Roland's furioso is an amazingly satisfying finishing attack. It's cool. It's satisfying.

It's satisfying because there is so much context dripping with everything we do. Everything in this game builds up to something else. YOU are learning, developing, struggling, to grow the Library, to get stronger, and to eventually reach the end point. The very process of winning a reception and burning the books to use is contextual. Just losing a fight is contextual. Everything fits into this grand narrative, where we are putting everyone's wills and emotions against Angela's thirst for knowledge and power. It's the same thing as Shin Megami Tensei, where we, both as players and in the narrative, grow and develop. But while Shin Megami Tensei excels at this grand, suffocating atmosphere, with world-changing implications, Ruina excels at much more personal development.

The emotional crux of Ruina is entirely dependant on three things; Angela, and how she's changed from Lobotomy Corporation (which is also an excellent game, although for different reasons), Roland, and his perspective on the City, and the denizens of the City, all with their dreams, wills, and personalities. It's not a stretch to say every character you meet in Ruina has their own motivations and personality that expands much more on how the City operates, and how these are pit against the City. Even the Rats, which are worthless bums in the eyes of the City, have their dreams. Pete wants to become a Finger, for exampe; it's these small things that make it become a personal fight between the Library and the denizens. Even larger scale fights, like Xiao, are personal fights, where she wants to tear down a Star of the City as vengeance as she burns herself alive.

Roland also has his own motivations, although these aren't really explored until mid to endgame, with his Realizations and everything from the Reverbration Ensemble and onwards. His entire motivation is revenge, as a pseudo reimagening of Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso, as the Twelve Knights of Charlemagne are now twelve Fixers led by Roland (or Orlando, for his original name), where his wife Angelica dies and he lashes out in revenge. Project Moon seems to be a very big fan of reusing these novels to tie them into the thematic narrative of the universe (especially Limbus Corporation), but it never exactly feels like a lazy rehash, but as if it were an original idea, because it links to what the City is.

And to explain what the City is, we'll be moving quickly to Angela. Angela's is a bit of a hard topic to talk about, as it's entirely founded on her development in Lobotomy Corporation, and that game is a lot. But to expand on it in a simpler sense; Angela is about breaking out of a cycle. Lobotomy Corporation was a literal time loop for Angela, and she struggled to realize the Seeds of Light project. She was, once and for all, able to realize it, but that only lead to the Library, another cycle. This time, on her terms, as she employs the same skills as she did in LobCorp, gaining through death and tragedy. She's entirely about breaking out of her selfish desires and understanding what Ayin's goals were, as she eventually understands and reinstates the original Seeds of Light project, creating, once again, a ray of hope for the denizens of the city.

At the end of the day, that's what Ruina is. It's breaking out of a cycle. Everyone is stuck in a cycle of tragedy for various reasons, such as revenge for Roland, but it's only by breaking it that the cast was able to shine and gain a "happy ending". Despite the harsh circumstances, everyone we fought and killed had their own reasons to succeed. Despite Angela desperately wishing to become human, she still discarded it to finish Carmen's work. It's all just about breaking from a cycle.

Gameplay's really fucking fun it's probably my favorite gameplay out there.

Music's amazing yeah.

Art is great too.

Fuck XBox.