I fell in love with this franchise back in March by knowing the soundtrack, then my first game I experience is AC3, then PS2 Trilogy and PSP, later as well engage with lore of Strangereal, it's just amazing flying planes with intense sim-cade dog fight experience so far, thanks for covering the series so far...
@@invertedv12powerhouse77 Yeah... in fact, Yuktobania actually made the Alicorn. It was supposed to be deployed in the Circum-Pacific war, but it's steam-powered catapults failed, and was laid up. Eventually, some company in Usea (General Resources LTD.) bought it and added electromagnetic catapults instead. Eventually, in 2017 (or 2018 I forgot), Erusea bought it and christened it. It sailed out for its shakedown voyage, but as we now, it got stuck at the bottom for two years. And then blah blah blah, the DLCs and lore shit happened yeah.
The reason why it was actually called “Air Combat,” and not Ace Combat is because of the region naming. The Japanese release was called “Ace Combat,” but for the North American and European region releases, it was renamed “Air Combat,”. Until later installments stuck with one name. Also awesome review, Chole!
To add further context, Air Combat was initially supposed to be a Playstation 1 port of an arcade game with the same name. However during development they realized that it wasn't realistically possible to create a truly faithful port, and so decided to just make the game "based off" the arcade game rather than a port. Because of this difference, they decided to call it Ace Combat in Japan as they thought of it as a different game whilst in North America it was released under the title Air Combat so that it would have some level of name recognition and due to the underlying similarities between the arcade game and the Playstation 1 game.
Yup, on the ADF-11F there's even a Z.O.E. marking indicating that it's the same type of AI, and apparently Nemo from AC3 is a further evolution of that same AI.
Discovering the fan translation of the complete AC3 game was the greatest thing that could happen to me. I wish they would release remasters (NOT REMAKES) of these old games.
Ace Combat games are absolutely not simulation games, they are arcade shooters. If you want to get into real flight simulation with modern jets, I recommend you try DCS. You will see that it's completely different from Ace Combat.
always gotta be that one guy. not everything has to be ball bustingly hard to be a good sim. And every fight in DCS just revolves to people circle strafing 500 feet above the ground to line up a burst of mg fire every 5 minutes. soo good and inspiring /s.
@@roninjedi2494 its like people who compare Gran Turismo and Forza to iRacing. They are all sims. The definition of sim is to recreate an experience. Aces recreate a pilot experience, thus is a sim. An arcade sim for sure, but still a sim.
I don't know why I picked up Ace Combat 4 at the time. Must've read a review or comment, but man, that game hooked me. It was the first Ace Combat I had played, and it was for me a near perfect game. It was probably the first combat flight game I've ever bought.
Same here, for me I was first introduced into Ace Combat with AC4 and after watching these reviews the only thing I would've wanted from AC4 is a personal squadron to have help you out or have them do specific tasks in the missions. I love the friendlies in the game but they always felt either useless or you never noticed if they did do anything. Won't deny though, absolutely love the chatter in that game.
First with Ace04 here too , Though it is Sad And Upsetting how not everyone sees that it’s really the best in ALL Aspects And what ever Ace Combat title one plays Just gets to their heart or whatever and they’re too In love with that one to see other great or better ones
@@mrandrossguy9871 the only thing I'd say that is bad about AC4 is the lack of a squadron for the player. I would love to have at least a wingman or something to customize and help me out on missions rather than just a bunch of unnamed friendlies in the sky.
What I kinda love about this franchise is how it basically hasn't changed at all in like 25 years. I bought AC7 on a whim one time because it was on sale, and I hadn't played any other entry since the PS1 days when I was like 7 years old, but everything was immediately familiar to me, right down to the controls. AC laid the blueprint, and AC2 was basically everything the franchise would go on to be, fully formed.
The way you review these games was so, cold and analytical... you never lush on the characters much, or the particular story beats. I can't believe you went through Ace Combat 5 without mentioning Chopper's final flight, or the dramatic swell of its finale. You have a kind of machine like approach to reviewing these games. You'll say you like the stories, but I can't even see how from the way you talk about them. You speak of in-mission character interactions like they were a burden. I think it's because you focus on the plot at the end of each review in isolation, instead of how it effects the _emotional experience_ of each mission. The way you experienced Zero's storyline, was so damn clinical. Like that final cutscene with Pixy _didn't touch you at all?_ You just don't seem very easily moved... As good as these were, that kind of killed my enjoyment in seeing you go through the series.
Feel like I’ve been on a real journey here with you in this video watched the entire length throughout the day while running around doing housework etc and just reignited those nostalgia vibes for me - needed a good watch today so thank you 😊
A gameplay feature that didn’t get mentioned about AC7: you can do post-stall maneuvers such as the kulbit and cobra in certain planes. You could do them in assault horizon as well, but they were quick time events rather than actual maneuvers you have direct control over
Hello, i just finished the video, it was great, but one thing, YOU DIDN'T PLAY THE DLC CAMPAIGN OF AC7, THAT'S ONE OF THE BEST PARTS OF THE SERIES, please play it's really good and funny
I still pop AC6 into my 360 every now and then. I love sitting up close to a big screen TV and playing in first person. Loving your videos. I just watched your every armored core video! Definitely subscribing for more
some context, the arsenal birds werent erusian weapons, they were originally oseas but when erusia took control of the lighthouse, they took control of the arsenal birds
1:30:49 i like how your stream shout outs show you with facial hair in one clip and without facial hair in the next. I legit thought you were 2 different people for a second 😅
The beard got insanely long because of an event we were running for the streams, so as soon as it was over I cut the whole thing off, leading to that jarring cut 😂
i will say personally Ace Combat 7 had potential to release more aircraft of the vintage variety and lesser known, with revisits to previous titles for planes like the F5(?) and the F20. they have added aircraft over the years, some just copy pastes... looking at the top gun planes specifically, and others that were kind of good. However i really wish there was a revisit to adding aircraft, as far as i know, not including DLC, there was only 2 dedicated ground strike planes, the A10 and the SU34. But that was it base game, i feel there were missed opportunities to add Jaguars, Tornados, Harriers, and the SU25. I feel they missed out with asian aircraft as well (Of the Pacific variety). with that in mind i felt i was playing the same plane most of the time, F15s, the 3 F16s (Which 2 were of Japanese production), the Su30s of different variety, the token european planes, and the few stealthy boys. However for AC7 being my first ever Ace combat game, i loved it, it had that beautiful arcade feel, very forgiving if you messed up, and has so much replayability. The story gave you enough to understand previous games without any prior knowledge of them and to dig into it if you felt you were missing important pieces and it genuinely held up well. The levels didnt last too long, but didnt go by so fast, the complete and utter level the map missions were fun just a bit tedious and painful if you goofed up before a checkpoint, and the "boss fights" if you will were good, one fight i spent most of the mission trying to beat it... dont use the F4.. DLCs were good, and really cheap most importantly, they added aircraft to the game such as prototype models and paper models that i dont believe were actually produced and aircraft from the previous games. The Top Gun DLC, i loved and hated, yes it gave more planes, but they were copy pasted, however where credit is due, they did have their own weapons separate of the base game models giving you some incentive to use say the F18 or the SU57 as the "different" (But same) planes could be used for various missions and allowed you to stick with one plane, maybe of the same type, for the entire campaign but have more than the three different weapons to pick from and not feel forced to switch to a different plane. TLDR: Great game, felt there was a missed opportunity, my first AC game was AC7, I loved it.
Not sure if anyone mentioned but I believe it’s possible to get a cinematic camera that follows missiles and bombs by holding down the launch button instead of tapping it as far back as the ps2 trilogy. You mentioned it in the Assault Horizon review as though it were new.
God, watching this hurt. I guess it's different when you don't grow up playing the series. Ace Combat 5 and 6 are the two I grew up with. Played most of them now (not the mobile or handheld), and I still believe 5 and 6 are the best. I respect AC4. But 5 and 6 are just the best feeling games. 6 has more....realistic missile tracking and just felt more like you're flying a big metal bird. But that's how I feel
29:20 I'm sorry if you say this later in the video, but the Z.O.E. planes are not flown by pilots, but by Ai, it's a pretty big plot point, the zoe system also appears in AC7 on the final drones
some batshit crazy lore about the Ace Combat games and how they connect to other Namco games. Ace Combat 3, the game at end of the AC timeline is at the beginning of the Galaxian timeline(of which Galaga is a part of). Ridge Racer is hinted to be part of the Ace Combat timeline, with Ridge Racer R4 having a character explicitly stated to be related to Kei Nagase of Ace Combat 2. Xevious and Tales of Eternia(yeah, aka Tales of Destiny 2 on PS1) was ambiguously connected to the Galaxian timeline(so part of the Strangereal history of Ace Combat) by virtue of having the same organizations and languages used in it(Tales of Eternia had a language that was set to be used in a cancelled game set in the same universe. Xevious uses the same organizations for its barebones plot)
I love Armored Core and Ace Combat. I seem to have an affinity for games that simulate not having bones... or any of the human limitations that make quick-boosting and stall maneuvers impossible. G-force and I are in a bitter rivalry, you see.
2:36:18 so funnily enough I know of an even longer mission. If I recall correctly if you played AC4 on the very easy difficulty, then on mission 6, probably one of the top 5 largest missions you'll do in sheer size and density of targets, YOU GET 90 MINUTES TO DO IT! meanwhile, on hard mode you only get 15 minutes to do it meaning you need to seriously pedal to the metal if you want to win and blow up as much as you can. yeah difficulty in AC4 adjusted your time, how much damage you took from enemies, and how many missiles you needed to destroy an enemy. Easy and below: stupidly long timers, and one missile. Normal: still lenient but need two missiles to destroy aircraft. Hard: You are never getting more than 15 minutes save for 2 missions and every enemy needs 2 missiles and you die to 2 missiles.
In Ace Combat 3 Japanese version, you always have at least one wingman in almost every mission, except in one final mission "Electrosphere" where you're completely alone if you chose to follow Dision all the time. Even in "Geopelia" mission after you successfully take control of one of enemy's aircraft, your original aircraft still follows you around behind your newly controlled enemy's aircraft. While in international version, you're almost always alone with no friendly aircraft to aid you aside on the third mission where you're supposed to mimic Dision's acts. Even in "Geopelia" mission, your original aircraft vanished after take control of one of enemy's aircraft.
12:20 Having only played AC04 the moment I heard in Air Combat you could have a wingman I nearly lost my mind. I know installments after 04 have wingmen but even earlier ones had them? man why didn't we get that in 04? I love 04 as its my only Ace Combat game but I am a sucker for squad ai buddies and I gravitate to those games like a moth to a flame so I'm really upset that 04 didn't give you at least one wingman. At least the chatting was always fun and it even hurt when I heard the enemy saying they got a kill, knowing that they downed one of my friendly pilots.
in assault horizon i and im sure a few other people, had a similar experience of crashing after initiating dfm on enemies, in the mission blue on blue, theres a little canyon a fighter you have to dfm will fly through and sometimes if you take out the target too quickly, youll end up flying straight into the end of the canyon, or there are times in missions enemies will trick you into hitting the ground by diving while youre in dfm, ive learned its best to let them go when i see them dive while pretty close to the ground
knowing geopolitic in strangereal is something else, i never expected such flight shooter game has serious business in stories and music... long live usea
I've played Ace Combat 2 through many times... Only one time do I remember looking and seeing a wingman doing a single useful thing and shooting down 1 airplane. 🤣
wonder if he'll ever do a project wingman review? considering it's basically a love letter to the franchise and only added to the burning passion of the revival of Ace combat
In Joint Assault you forgeot one of the most rare features. You can unlock 2 WW2 Aircraft, that you can play in any normal mission. They dont have Missiles
sorry for all the comments but this will be my last one, understandable you werent aware but another mechanic in ac7 is psm or post stall manuevers, allowing you to manually perform the acrobatics from assault horizon. thank you for giving this amazing series a look at and i hope youll continue enjoying it, maybe ill see you in the skies someday nugget
in ace combat 2 what actually determines the 2 endings is what operation you choose close to the end game, alphaville or belissima, the first one leads to the normal ending at that facility you need to fly in and destroy the missile, the second one has the game end right after you take back the capatol, dont even get to do the next mission with the sub and cruise missile that leads to the bad ending if you fail
if you didnt know, theres another version of acl/cross rumble 3d where if you own certain amiibo, you can give your aircraft skins based on nintendo characters, idk what its called in japan but in the us its simply called assault horizon legacy +
Ace combat 6, well the issue with its poorer sales was that no one on the xbox side of gaming really knew much about it. Ace combat 6 was my introduction to the series and i fucking loved it. But it wasnt very well known outside of that. Remember that when it came out, finding out about new games was still often what console you had and what was in store. If the game was on a different console and more niche you probably wouldnt find out about it. And mmaaaaan for your showcase of 7... why did you choose 2 of the least recognizeable soundtracks to show. There are so many amazing ones in 7.
you say ac6 had the worst missile tracking in the series but theres acually a mechanic you havent noticed thats been in the series since i believe 4, while dogfighting, if you wait for the perfect angle there will be a message that appears saying fire, if you launch your missile when that message appears, the missile will have an easier time hitting its target, in ac6 the mechanic is more noticable cause an audible tone will be made when firing at the right time another note about shooting planes with one missie, thats usually the case with older aircraft like f4s and 14s, though i believe with 6 the difficulty you play on also determines how many missile hits and gun shots it takes to shoot enemies down
What an amazing review series! I have also been doing a shortened version of this set by only doing the Strangereal games so it was really fun to see the ones that I am missing. PS: Be sure to play Project Wingman too! It takes a ton of inspiration from Zero and is almost as visually stunning as AC7!
These were great reviews! Awesome to see a new fan experience the series!! Now you’ve gotta play Project Wingman, which I would say is sort of a Spiritual Successor to Ace Combat 0. It’s honestly my personal favorite arcade sim air combat game. And I’ve been a lifelong AC fan!
@@notcole I think you seriously underestimate how amazing the DLC is it's imo better than a lot of the base game stuff. You'll probably regret not including it in this series.
AC6 was my first ace combat Played it while i was traveling canada in 2020 and my accommodations had an old 360 with a few games, Ace6 being one of them. (better late than never i guess?). The fact that they removed the wingman commands in 7 was a bit of a downgrade ngl. cant wait to see what project aces has in the oven next!
in acah if you play on ace mode, the hardest difficulty in the game, you dont regenerate health, which made beating the story mode very difficult and requires you to have some sort of strategy in the missions
Do emus not have all the features from the base game? I kept waiting for him to bring up the fact that Ace Combat has a super awesome Missile cam feature. Small I know but a cool thing nonetheless that deserved at least a mention.
actually, if people did enjoy using the bomber, people can use it in multiplayer in modes like conquest and i believe domination, but in conquest its only available if your hq is close to being destroyed, ive only been lucky to use a bomber in mp a couple of times
So what did you do on the weekend what do you mean? Its Saturday no its Monday. What I only watched 3 videos… ahhh chole I blame you I missed my weekend.
@@Lone_Wandering0 it's not just Sony, it's RB-D2 himself and his community management (or rather mis-/lack of) and his chase for a quick buck on a hype train (or I assume it is, because there's zero feedback from him) - I assume that the only reason that clunky Xbox One port exists is the GamePass deal, and I'm pretty confident there was the same reasoning being PSVR2 exclusive deal. Should I mention that almost non of post-launch promises were delivered upon, game still contains critical bugs that prevent a lot of people from even playing it, update 1.5 with cut content introduction has never arrived, but instead we have this and 2.0 beta with a resource-heavy effects changes no one asked for, and all that under a complete radio silence - all the announcements since the initial game release three years ago (beyond the already mentioned milestones) could be counted with one hand. Basically, he went over his supporters heads and people didn't really enjoyed that, as you might expect. The only scenario where it's not his fault is if he's held at gunpoint by Humble Bundle. I would've liked to hear his honest explanation on the situation at least, even if it would be exactly what I've implied - at least that would be a feedback.
throughout the series theres been multiple "edge" characters, theres one in ac4 but shes a civilain airliner pilot and her name nagase is pronounced diffirently then the one in 5
Bingo in pilot language means you reached the lowest point of fuel while being still able to return to your base. It’s ridiculous that they used Bingo for hits instead of using the right term splash…
From the get go, in my opinion, your ratings appeared to be partially influenced by the advancements of technology. The original game was amongst the first 5-10 games available for the official release of the PS1 so the graphics were top notch the rating should be no less than 8.5 .
Ace Combat story formula: 1) Friendly nation is unjustly invaded by evil belligerent 2) oh no turns out they've got a super weapon as well! 3) Complete string of missions leading up to destruction of super weapon. Destroy super weapon. 4) Retake friendly country's capital. 5) Oh no!!! They've got an omega ultra super weapon! Destroy this weapon and complete the game 🤣. Rinse repeat.
it sucks you were too late to try out infinity but actually that game did have the equipable parts like in x and x2, the game also had a level up system for each plane so if you played long enough, the gameplay can be super quick and fast, almost like assault horizon
Pretty easy explanation. Same as dragon warrior/dragon quest. The Japanese thought Americans would buy more copies of a game called air combat than ace combat. Then 2 comes around and they were like ah screw it just name me the same. (As with dragon warrior/quest)
Btw, little Easter egg; Nagase is a recurring name in namco games. In ace combat she's also the first officer on the airline you escort in one of the missions in AC04.
Great undertaking, but my man didn't pay much attention to the Ace Combat Zero story, i think? explanations of 6 towards the end was a bit wonky as well i think? Played while streaming?
i think Assault Horizon would have been a lot better received if they had just gone whole hog teamed up with Activision and made it a CoD tie-in game. we're just happy AC7 was a return to form.
