[PS2] Ace Combat Thread (a.k.a. We Do Not Have Air Superiority)

Avalon's not hard. I might try bombs next time because the special AAMs don't do a whole lot against Pixie. This Burst Missile thing is slightly dissapointing because is only "hits" the ace squadrons. It should kill them in a single blast! I never get tired of using it though

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I guess I am the only one who dogfights with triangle for the whole fight . It makes the whole dogfight incredibly bad ass and cinematic to me, so I never let go of the button. (sometimes I end up crashing on the floor, but i've gotten so good at it, it rarely happens anymore)

Is the F-14 tomcat in the game? that's my favorite plane of all time, I want to unlock it and try to beat pixie with it. I don't find any fun in using some bad ass plane to beat the last missions. Although I gotta admit, I even had a hard time using the X-02 against him.

FELIPE NO

Oh I use the triangle button all the time when dog fighting, it helps me yaw better and turn into the fighters. Ever since AC3, . And yes, The SUPER Tomcat is in the game. It's pretty badass, it has some cool paint schemes so far including...the Razgriz paint scheme !

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

Sucks that they stopped using tomcats, I wouldn't care if they kept the design, but they totally dropped it XD. To me it just has the best looking ... I dunno... arche-type for a fighter jet.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Mobius One

Avalon's not hard. I might try bombs next time because the special AAMs don't do a whole lot against Pixie. This Burst Missile thing is slightly dissapointing because is only "hits" the ace squadrons. It should kill them in a single blast! I never get tired of using it though

The burst missile is not very effective agaist airtargets*, no. Especially since it only does in damage the equivalent of one regular missile one each target. Against groups of groundtargets however, it's like a wet dream.

*

Spoiler:

The XB-0 is an exception.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Seanne, that big mofo only took 3 FAEBs =\

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

You know what's unfortunate? In the long missions [Bastion, Lying in Deceit] instead of continuing on with the mission and racking up more points and money, you hit that certain point mark, and that's it. You stop. I don't see why they couldn't just allow you to continue flying, like in the AC 4 missions, Whiskey Corridor and Invincible Fleet.

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

Probably because people were complaining about the half-hour long missions with no checkpoint (see IGN review).

The burst missile is effective against groups of air targets, you can take out bomber formations like there's no tomorrow. It's not very effective against the ace squadrons though, against them it only does the damage of a single missile. It is somewhat useful though because unlike most special AAMs, the aces can't really dodge the burst missile (one of them dodged it once and it detonated miles away).

Does anyone else think the XB-0 is kinda weak? It's not really so much a "super weapon" as it is an excuse for a mission. It should have been more challenging.

I was speaking idiomatically.

My problem with the XB-0 was that it wasn't epic enough. It should have been more like the Arkbird in 05. That battle was nice.

What they should do for the missions where you have to earn points is that when you reach the limit you can return to base to end the battle, or you can wait out the time and keep destroying stuff. That way everyone is happy.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

What this game lacked was storyline options. There was no "yes or no" options. I would love it if they introduced that again but make it more meaningful.

Unsung War's story is so much more epic, now that I beat Zero, I can see that it wasn't so much about the war itself, but about the mercenaries after the war that had a secret battle over the future of the continent. While this was awesome, it didn't have enough cut scenes, and it was more about digging up archives about what happened. It's too bad they didn't make pops and the captain main characters, I was hoping the last mission would've been when the nukes went off in the main cities, because like they said: that was the end of the war.

Of course the mercenaries had an epic battle afterwards, but none of that was said in part 5, so I was kinda expecting the wrong thing.

Eh, I ramble on too much.

FELIPE NO

Each game has it's story, but for some reason...I really was drawn to AC 5's. Options, Planes, and Gameplay aside...It really is a story I think as human beings, we should take very much into consideration. I mean, the theme of The Unsung War is IMO, peace. I think the game producers and director really wanted to get that across. Yea, some people might think it's cheesy that Nagase, Archer or Chopper kept on talking about peace, but I think it's something we should strive for in this world. I mean, who's to say there won't be a country that would do something drastic like using WMDs on their own selves? [Well I guess Iraq comes to mind] Anyway, I just think that the theme of the game should be what's important, and be noticed by all who play it.

Most amazing jew boots

Iraq wouldn't bomb themselves. But apparently the USA did. Hard to imagine I live in this country and act like nothing happened.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I like the XB-0 from a nostalgia standpoint. It's pretty much like the final mission of Air Combat, or those floating fortresses from AC3. My problem with it is that there was no real build up for it. It wasn't some looming evil threat that plagued us the entire game, it was just "oh, here's this gunship thing. Kill it!". Plus it wasn't really all that powerful. The thing had no balls.


I didn't really like the "Yes" or "No" options in AC5. My friend REALLY hates them. I guess Namco really listens to the responses it gets because Zero doesn't have alot of the annoying quirks of 5, like seemingly pointless missions. In any case, They opted to decide your next optional mission depending on your playing style rather than "yes or no" responses, which I think it a little cooler. Plus it helps differentiate Zero from previous AC games.


One thing to remember about Zero is that the story is told from the perspective of the Narrator 10 years in the future (2005). Because of this, it didn't have the immediacy or the human qualities that 5's story had. Zero's story was more about various pilot's experiences fighting "Demon Lord" durring some aweful war that happened and not so much about the character's personal experiences or feelings about the war overall (since the Narrator is only concerned with finding out about Cipher that's what the story focuses on). In this way I like Zero's story. It's very different from 5's. It's not told from the pilot's perspective so we don't have to know everything that the pilots did. Zero is more to the point, only focusing on the most important missions that happened. Whereas 5 is told in the present tense and we experience things as the pilots are experiencing them, Zero is told from the past tense and we experience things as a recreation of what already happened. And I think the ending was more epic than 5's. At the end of 5 only one city is threatened, but the end of Zero threatened to nuke the entire world in order to "reset everything to zero".

One major question about the story has yet to be adressed: who was the Narrator? Why was he so obsessed with finding Demon Lord? He said that there was "a reason for my obsession", yet we never find out what that is. I hypothesize that Ace combat 6 may revolve around this very Narrator.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

There's a reason why I think AC5 has a more climatic ending, even if it's just one city. It's because the whole world was watching in awe, neither country knowing which city was going to be hit, after they found out, you start out your last sortie in the city that's going to get hit, but you take off from that run-way. Then it doesn't even become a battle, it's more like a last mission of desperation.

Zero is more of "the ultimate battle", and AC5 is more about "the ultimate suspense climax".

Plus the fact that you even get attacked on the last mission really adds to that desperate situation. If you kill them fast enough, your wingmen start talking about what tomorrow may bring and it just all starts getting really gloomy and sad, the piano song plays while you see the timer counting down to eventual apocalypse, and of course, when the counter hits zero and you hear AWACS tell you that the target is in range, and the final song plays, it really adds to that "hopelessness" to the mission, the whole last mission is so well planned, in a way it's better than Zero's final battle, but they're honestly two different things. Zero is all about the dogfight, because honestly I couldn't care less about the V2, I was solely concentrated on this whole duel of Aces. Though I think Cipher should've pursued the V2 after he defeated Pixie (instead of it blowing up), and it should've been a self-sacrifice, heh... unless the ace combat team has some future plans for all the Aces of all the games.

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

Originally Posted by Karasu

Each game has it's story, but for some reason...I really was drawn to AC 5's. Options, Planes, and Gameplay aside...It really is a story I think as human beings, we should take very much into consideration. I mean, the theme of The Unsung War is IMO, peace. I think the game producers and director really wanted to get that across. Yea, some people might think it's cheesy that Nagase, Archer or Chopper kept on talking about peace, but I think it's something we should strive for in this world. I mean, who's to say there won't be a country that would do something drastic like using WMDs on their own selves? [Well I guess Iraq comes to mind] Anyway, I just think that the theme of the game should be what's important, and be noticed by all who play it.

They did touch on this in Zero, though briefly. I believe it was the Annihilation of the Sword mission where PJ and Pixy have a conversation. PJ says something about wanting to be a warrior for peace and Pixy quickly blasts him, saying something like "while your fighting for peace in the air, blood is being shed on the ground [...] You can't stop bloodshed with more bloodshed." Pixy also says something about how PJ shouldnt be flying with these notions in his head. While this is just one part in the game, I loved hearing this because of course It added a bit of story and depth to the characters in a game that seems more about the actual fight than the story behind it.

Also, as people have said before me, AC5 was about 4 or so characters and how horrible war is and the hopelessnes of it. AC0 is about the mercenaries in general, how they profit from war and in a sense and aren't necessarily victims of it. They chose to be there, and in a way, were having fun. I think the whole "Round Table" deal adds to this. I like to think of the round table as just that, meeting ground where warriors meet/clash and the victor walks away with something more (based on your play style, a knight might walk away with a sense of honor, having just defeated a tough foe, a soldier might walk away with a stronger sense of determination and duty and a mercenary with a much bigger wallet, pride and ego.)

I might just be reading too much into things but thats my .02 on Zero and I guess, why i love it too.

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

I don't know, I thought Zero's ending was a little more cinematic. With V2 launching in the background and Pixie flying straight at you with that music playing, it's fairly epic. The sense of "oh man, this is awesome!" was what Zero's final battle was all about. 5 was more like "oh shit, I better stop this thing!" The notion that Cipher/Pixie's battle was covered up at the end makes the victory a little more sweet. The world almost ended that day, and nobody knew the story of how the Demon Lord saved everyone. He's an unsung hero that was quietly erased from history.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Yea, Avalon's music is epic sounding and makes you feel like you're in the Climax of a war film. And as someone said, Zero is more about the glory of being a pilot and choosing what kind of pilot you are, rather than fighting a war with unanswered questions, and what not.




and for the record....the mission Merlon is a pain the frickin' ass, and i'm on Expert only. WTF, mate? It's not hard in 'normal' and 'hard' mode...but for some reason, I just cannot get around the Excalibur at all. I love the fact this game is ridiculously challenging...but this laser is pissing me off lmao.

Double Post:
Like someone said, the game Zero revolves around the glory of being a pilot and fighting against other pilots, where as The Unsung War is about peace and how we must strive for that. I do agree though that Avalon is very epic with the music going on. You feel like you're in the climax of a movie.


And for the record....the mission 'Merlon' on expert is a pain in the ass. The Exaclibur laser keeps on getting me, and I'm trying so hard to avoid it. I'm not sure what i'm doing wrong either. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this challenge in this game, it's by far the best AC when it comes to that...but this laser thing is pissing me off, lmao.

EDIT: Nevermind, I just figured it out. I wanna slap myself, because it's so simple to avoid the laser when you're NOT keeping the afterburners on non-stop. lol

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'll have to jump in and say that I agree that Zero's last battle was better than 05's. There you are facing off against your buddy, one-on-one. It was far more personal and emotional than 05's. 05 was more about the grand scope of things, while Zero was just so much more personal. It was all about you. The war was really only a backdrop.

Plus I've been waiting for an AC to end with a dogfight.

FELIPE NO

Yeah, Expert gets a bit more challenging. I switched to the Falken for its laser for the Excalibur mission instead of the Morgan with its burst missile. The laser takes out Excalibur instantly whereas the burst missile only damages it slightly. I wasn't taking any chances with Excalibur, that goddamn lasr fires once ever 5 seconds!

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

Originally Posted by Rei no Otaku

Plus I've been waiting for an AC to end with a dogfight.

So true.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Does anyone have any good shots of Pixy from the cutscenes? I want to make an avatar.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Why dont they have a save replay feature? lol the replays in Ace Combat have always been awesome and they should add a save option like in Gran Turismo.

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

They need to make the replays a little more interactive. With stop, pause, fast forward, rewind, etc, and even a free 360 degree camera control, so you can control the action as you go. Would make for some really fun times.

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

I like how I suck at this game. I got shot down in the first mission...

I was speaking idiomatically.

Wow. That's just the improved A.I. (Normal mode right? Don't start on Hard). I guess the trailer was right when it talked about "survival". Keep at it, it's a great game!


Has anyone beaten Gauntlet yet?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?