[Multiplatform] The Official Armored Core 4 thread. Gentlemen, start your boners.

We don't do enough official threads for games anymore.



Developer: From Software
Publisher: Sega

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General Information
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Genre: Simulation/Action
Mode(s): Single player/Multiplayer
Rating(s): CERO: A; ESRB: T
Platform(s): Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Media: BD-ROM (PS3), DVD (Xbox 360)
Price: $59.99 USD

Release dates:

PS3:
- December 21, 2006 (JP)
- March 20th, 2007 (NA)
- April 27th, 2007 (PAL)

360:
- March 20th, 2007 (JP)
- March 20th, 2007 (NA)
- Achievement list.




Links:
Official English Site
Official Japanese Site
Wikipedia

Previews:
Gamespot
IGN
Demo Impressions

Reviews (Coming soon):
IGN: 5.9
Gamespot: 7.7

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Key Features
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Overed Boost - Every Core has this sytem, and it's apparently faster than ever before.
Quick Boost - For emergency evasion and retardly fast turns, there's this new feature.
Step-by step AC assembly - The AC creation process has been streamlined, apparently making it faster and easier than ever before.
Tuning - You can store and save and tune your AC schematics and then trade them with other players over the internet.
Parts - Totally new part line-ups, including never before seen catagories.
New HUD - The HUD has been redesigned and is now much easier to use.
Garage mode - Similar to photo mode in Gran Turismo and other racers, it allows you to look at high poly models of your ACs.
Updated personalization - You can apply decals, much like in Chromehounds, to any part of your AC to create a unique beast.

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Media
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Screenshots:




More:
IGN
Gamespot

Video:
IGN Videos
Gamespot Videos
Gametrailers

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Discussion
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So who's interested in this besides me? I know we have to have at least a few AC heads here. Playing this over Live will be fucking WONDERFUL. And I simply can't wait. The new features sound like a blast, and I hope that it plays as good as it looks. Anyone else looking forward to it?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Crazy Redd

I'm set on getting the PS3 version. I'd prefer the Xbox 360 version just because the game supports voice chat and would have a wider online playing audience but I lack that console. For some odd reason the PS3 version has no voice chat for online play. You'd think they could do it like Resistance did and use headsets, but no.

Yeah, I don't understand that lack of voice support when it could be very easily done on both consoles. A shame. Ther'es also not as robust an online system as Chromehounds had, since ther'es no persistent world or whatnot, but hopefully that won't get missed too much. The deathmatch and team deathmatch options should be plenty slick.

How ya doing, buddy?

Quote:

Source

来る2月28日(水）、Xbox Live マーケットプレイスにて体験版のダウンロード配信が開始されます。
振動コントローラーへの対応など、Xbox360ならではの機能により、臨場感溢れるハイスピードバトルが 体験できます。

この機会に是非体験版をプレイしてみてください。

What does this moonspeak say, you ask?

It says that on the 28th, a demo will go live on the Xbox Live marketplace.

Much like the Chromehounds demo before it, we're not getting it in this region. It'll be locked to Japan only, and the only way to get it is with a Japanese gamertag. MS has cracked down on these cross region tags and deleted a bunch of them, but I tested my old one from WAYYYY BACK (I basically made it just for the CH demo months and months ago) today, and it still works.

Expect impressions when I get a chance to download it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You've always been able to download content, premium or not, with a silver account.

Edit:

Achievement list. Starting post updated.

Still no demo at the time of this posting but I'll keep checking every couple of hours.

Additional Spam:
Ah, the reason the demo's not up is because there was a scheduling conflict with Xbox Live. Instead, it'll be up on March 1st. So another day to wait then. =o

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Uh, all the designs remain consistent. The mecha look like they're from an AC game. This one's no different. You were expecting Battletech or something?

Anyway, demo impressions are as follows.

It's about 740 megs or so, which isn't too bad. Only took me about 20 minutes to download. Like I might have mentioned earlier, it's a Japan only demo, so you're going to need a Japanese Live account to download it, if you feel so inclined. On a side note, every time I fired the demo up it logged me out of my English Live connection. I dunno why this is, but I'm just letting you know that you won't be able to voice chat/messaging/whatever with others if you download and play it.

The entire thing's in Japanese, of course, so trying to understand the story bits of the demo is futile. There's also a tutorial, and it's got lots of Japanese text on the screen, but there's also a couple of English words that just happen to be the important ones. "Movement" is one of them, and so forth. There's also a diagram of the controller on the screen with the buttons that do things highlighted, so it's easy to figure out what you have to do to do the required function. You can also skip if if you're so inclined. Overall though, it's not hard to stumble through the japanese if you don't know it. I'd say the langauge friendlyness is about a 7/10, 8/10 if you're already familiar with Armored Core.

The demo is three missions long. Well, four if you include the tutorial, but I don't think it counts. The first one has you in a city with lots of buildings. The buildings take damage visually, but never collapse. That was kinda disappointing. I was hoping the environments would be more destructable, outside of just visual damage on structures after you hit them with a missle barage.

Anyway, the first mission has you in this city where it's your task to destroy helicopters, tanks, the occasional biped, and two large mechs that resemble Metal Gear Rex. It's a short mission. Might only take you 3 minutes. The second screenshot up top there is this mission. I just hope not all the missions are as short as this one and the other two here. None of them lasted longer than 5 minutes.

The next two missions are available in any order. One that's based in the desert, and one that's based in what's basically a half-submerged city. The buildings are sticking out of the water but the roads and whatnot are all under it.

The desert mission pits you against one other AC, a fast moving model with plenty of missiles. This is a hard battle, and the first time I played it I almost died. (Had like, 400/25000 or so health left). It's the mission from the third screenshot up there in the OP.

The water based mission is featured in one of the trailers. In this mission you're tasked with taking out some enemy boats. Some are small missle boats, one is a giant cruiser with a retarded amount of guns. There's also the requisite large number of helicopters firing at you. I died a few times in this until I used the right AC model, which was called "Sunshine", according to the diagrams you view when selecting an AC.

Which brings me to my next point. There's no customization options in the demo. You can go to the garage to look at a nice high res pic of your AC, but you can't actually modify it. That was a kick in the pants, but I figure if we did there'd be way too much japanese to sort through and I wouldn't understand half the stats listed. So in the end it's not as big a loss as it seems.

Anyway, graphically, the game's nice. The environments are pretty, although some of the architecture isn't that great. The buildings and city you fight in don't stand out too much from any other city, but it's quite servicable. It's hardly BAD, but it's not great either. The Cores themselves look fantastic, though. The weapon effects are also pretty nuts, with tonnes of explosions all over the damn place. Missile trails were also nice. Frame rate was constant for me, so all the slowdown mentioned elsewhere seems non-existant for me. It could be because the missions I did weren't filled to the brim with epic battles though. Or perhaps I got lucky, or something? I don't know. Gonna have to wait for the retail release on that, or perhaps it's been adjusted since the PS3 version came out in Japan. I dunno.

Musically, I think most of you have heard the soundtrack already, right? I personally like it, but that's just me. Hoshino's work is suitably fast paced for the speedy battles you have. I can put the soundtrack up on my webspace if anyone's interested.

Aurally, the sound effects and sound design are pretty spot on. I couldn't find anything wrong with the way things sounded, missiles and explosions were suitably loud and present, but nothing mindblowing like the audio from recent heavyweights like Gears. Some of the guns sounded underpowered, but they were entry level guns, so maybe that's why.

Controls are interesting. They're similar to older ACs, but seeing as how boosting along the ground now doesn't eat up your boost meter (Only Overed, vertical normal boosting, and quick boost eat that now), you're pretty much constantly boosting. The weapons are fired from the three face buttons. One controls your left arm, one controls your right, and one controls your shoulder. You cycle between the weapons each arm is holding using the bumpers. The left trigger is your regular boost, and the right is your quick boost. The last face button is your Overed. This is functional , but it also means that you're pretty much hitting a SHITLOAD of buttons all at once, and it can get overwhelming. It's not bad though if you know what you're doing.

Gameplay is standard AC. It's very fast paced, shooting down shit is relatively difficult since quick boosting ACs are all OVER the fucking place. That desert mission got to be quite tough seeing him dodge 70% of the shit you throw at him. It's not revolutionary for the franchise, but it doesn't have to be either. I can't wait to try it over Live, since some REAL multiplayer for once will be pretty grand. Overed seems relatively useless now though with quick boost not devouring your energy like it does and doesn't take any charge time. The distance covered isn't so good but 'eh.

Anyway, in conclusion, it's a good demo and it's got me hyped for the retail release. It's wroth the download if you got a japanese account. And even if you don't, it's worth setting one up to grab it. I hope that helps~

How ya doing, buddy?

Thanks for the info, Infernal. Updating the first post as required~.

April 27th, to be more precise. A shame the 360 version isn't getting released over there. I wonder why?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

So I've been fucking around a bit more with the demo, and from what I can tell the game runs at an almost constant 60 FPS. This is a marked improvement over the Japanese PS3 version, which often ran at 30, with bouts of the action dropping even farther.

I've also read (but can't confirm) that AC4 runs off of the same engine made for Chromehounds, which would explain some of the 360's optimization, although the time frame between CH's launch and the PS3 release of this game should have given From enough time to compensate, but I guess not.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Monkey King

(seven? eight?) games

10. AC4 is the 11th. (Yikes, that many already, eh?)

Quote:

No radiators, unlimited ground boosting, and five digit APs? Not saying any of that is a bad thing, but it's gonna make things a lot different. But as long as I can build my four-legged walking artillery platform again, I'll be happy.

The unlimited ground boosting changes a LOT. The pacing is very different because of it. However, having the larger health bars changes little, since the weapons are a bit more powerful than before and a single hit will drain you of a lot of health. Seems like a bigger number just for a bigger number's sake,

You'll totally be able to do a model like that, and actually, one of the premade ACs in the demo is very similar to that description.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by aragornmarsden

BottomLine: I’m willing to overlook the horrid mission design if… and only if… the core gameplay is fun. Is it fast? Is it challenging? Is it visceral? Is it enough to carry the game?

After some hands on time with the final game, the answers are "yes", to those questions.

It's fast, it's hectic, and it's pretty crazy. I enjoy it a lot. I dunno what else to say. It's a good entry into the franchise, but I'd say you'd have to at least have some love for the series before you're gauranteed to like it.

Quote:

star trek legacy

What. Legacy was pretty simple. I'd say this game is a bit more complex than that. You're right though, saying that AC4 is simpler than the previous titles. Not a big loss, to be honest, and it's not like it's Zone of the Enders button mashing or anything.

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For starters, please tell me you can turn off that "target aquired" crap.

Mmhmm, no such voice exists. It is just a lock on beep now.

Quote:

And, do you still have to pay for ammo after the mission is over?

Yes you do. Damage over the specified amount, ammo over the specified amount, and time over the specified amount all cost you cash at various increments. It's usually like 4 bucks per AP, 300 per second, and various amounts for the ammo.

Quote:

Oh, did they change the beam saber?

Not much. I think the range is a little beter on them but that'd be about it. Still hard to use, but still do impressive damage. Good for a few missions where you're fighting slow moving things. Pretty fucking hard to use against ACs though.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

Does the game still have the shoulder anti-missile launchers? I liked that in AC2.

Yeah, one of the default mechs I played with had flares, for example, and I believe I saw some other anti missiles systems there when I was fucking around in the customization area.

Spat, you can replay older chapters, but the main reward purse is gone. If you replay on Hard, it's back again, but only once. Any time you beat the stage after that, you only gain the money for beating the stage under the preset parameters. IE, take less damange than allowed, use less ammo than allowed, and take less time than allocated. If you're super fast and don't take many hits you can get a bit of money from that.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

And......bump.

Ok, so who plays this other than me? I know Iwata and Miles have both given up on it, but there are others like Plarom and Ronz that still enjoy it.

I've been unable to S rank everything or beat all the missions on hard, but I'm working on it. So far it's quite fun. The Angel Wings are pretty awesome, but don't even get close to the rockin' that is the SIRIUS Hi-Laser Cannons.

What's everyone's favorite Revisions File? I'm still partial to 1.00 myself but the improvements to PA that come with the latest versions are a fresh change. I still do singleplayer stuff with 1.0 though.

There's also an English Demo that's been out for a while, dunno if anyone's had a chance to try it or not.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Oh, fuck me.

ARMORED CORE for Answer | ƒA[ƒ}[ƒhEƒRƒA@ƒtƒH[ƒAƒ“ƒT[

Trailer for Armored Core: For Answer: YouTube - Armored Core: For Answer - Trailer (01-11-2008)

Giant giant GIANT enemies, holy mother of fuck. That's most certainly awesome.

SCANS:

http://cacophanus.net/extra_images/ac4fa_1.jpg
http://cacophanus.net/extra_images/ac4fa_2.jpg
http://cacophanus.net/extra_images/ac4fa_3.jpg

Wanna know what that says?

Quote:

Weapon power has been increased greatly.
Primal Armor (PA) strength upped by about 4 times.
You can blow up your PA shield as an attack (called Assault Armor feature. I don't know if it is AC specific or not).
Normal boosting speed about double (don't know about Quick Boost).
Normal Over Boost power increased.
Just over double the amount of parts.
40(42?) missions
You can play single player missions Co-op online and offline with either another player or an AI player (in single player, AI players are available as consorts, but choices depend on how the single-player game goes).
VOB in used in only a few missions (don't know if it is available online).
Omer, GA, and Interior Union are the three major groups. They each have sub-factions and such (don't know about some of the other corporations, but apparently they exist. BFF has their own armed fort).
Multiple Endings.
Missions are longer.

FUCK YES. YOU ARE THE BEST EXPANSION EVER.



Large booster makes you go retardedly fast. 2000 km/h. Twice as fast as the fastest overboost you could do in AC4.

How ya doing, buddy?

As per the usual AC shenanigans, it's an expansion. Hence being in the same thread.

I was speaking idiomatically.

So, anyone picked up 4 Answer yet? It dropped the other day and I've heard nothing but good things. Mainly how it's 4's answer (lmao) to Last Raven. (Aka a much better game over all. Better mission design, more part variety, and so forth.)

Plus that whole co-op thing. Anyone had a chance to try it yet?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?