Why Are Some People So Upset With ARMORED CORE 6? 

I really think it's possible that we just don't understand some of those systems yet. The lock on may not be absolute and the turn speed may still depend on stats and be slower on heavier mechs. It's possible we just don't know how they work.

As a classic AC fan, I'm a bit skeptical on things like repair packs, but... honestly? It seems fine. The trailer looks amazing as hell.

I think the obvious reason why they added repair kits is because missions are going to be a lot longer than they were in previous games. And as far as we know, there isn't any way to upgrade how many repair kits you can carry, so maybe you will only get 3 and only use them when you really need to heal. And I doubt the game is suddenly going to automatically become easier because of things like repair kits and a hard lock on (some people like Vaati have been saying there is also a soft lock on that you switch to as well). If anything, looking back on their recent games like Sekiro, they will absolutely find ways to make the game more difficult to compensate.

Honestly, when I played AC games as a kid, I played because I wanted to be a very customizable giant robot doing giant robot stuff. As the games went on, they got smoother, faster and less stiff and I always saw that as an improvement. Hard lock, stagger and the new melee combat look like they're going to make it feel more like the robot fights I was watching on Toonami back when this series was getting regular releases. I think this looks great so far, very much looking forward to this

Aside from the healing pack, obvious stagger bar, and hard lock on. Stagger/poise was something that's always in the game, maybe y'all remember a stat called Defensive Stability/Stability, on the Legs? It even becomes a tunable stat via RS points in the 4th gen. Literally the option to switch builds just before a boss encounter is legit streamlined, and it was something introduced in ACV, because they experimented on longer mission.

Healing mid mission isn't anything new. It was just relatively rare. The final missions in the older games were typically split into two parts, and you'd get a full refill after a loading screen. There were even other missions that had dedicated healing/ ammo trucks (Defend Lawdas Factory). Of course, you could pay a massive bill if you weren't smart with it, but it was there if you needed it.

At first I was confused by a healing mechanic in AC game, but then I realized that you probably will lose money after finishing a mission if you used these repair kits (if the game has reward system similar to previous titles)

There’s also the fact that most people adjust fromsoftware games to suit their needed difficulty. Many people refused to use summons. Many people play level 1 runs. Maybe there will be a community that focused on no lock no heal runs.

Just something to mention for the repair kits, the showcase was apparently about half an hour long and it only showcased this one mission whereas most missions in previous AC games were a few minutes at most. if missions are significantly longer and have more enemies, makes sense to have a way to heal mid mission imo.

I'm an AC vet from the demo of AC1 onwards. I've been playing them for almost as long as they've existed in the American consumer environment, back when I was a little kid. Armored Core 2 in particular shaped a lot of what I like and love about mecha and science fiction. Everything I've heard so far sounds like? I'm into it, I could recommend a few tweaks to the system but I like what I'm seeing.

The only gripe I have is switching your mech mid mission, I know that it could be necessary to the new gameplay but the gameplay that I loved about old school AC games was planning the parts you'd put on your mech to approach different problems in a mission and feeling good about prepping well for the whole mission instead of just being able to switch instantaneously and skipping the trial and error/trying to make do with what you have witch was a factor I loved. Nonetheless I am very exited about AC6

If I remember correctly Miyazaki and another Dev mentioned that Loadouts and mech parts in particular would heavily influence the flow of combat in the game, so the "turn speed" is prob also a result of that change and different parts setups leading to different roles...which is something AC has always had, just given a little bit more polish and leaned into more as a method of player expression in this game. Edit: Found relevant passage, from an interview with IGN Hidetaka Miyazaki: No, we've not been making a conscious effort to try to direct it towards more Soulsborne type gameplay. First of all, let me just make that clear. The essential direction of [Armored Core VI] was to go back and take a good look at the core concept of Armored Core and what made that series special. So we wanted to take the assembly aspect, assembling and customizing your own mech - your AC - and then being able to exact a high level of control over the assembled mech. So we wanted to take those two core concepts and reexamine those in our modern environment. And, of course, what that means is taking our know-how and experiences from game development in recent years, and applying that knowledge to the development of [Armored Core VI], and reexamining it together with those core concepts of Armored Core. So the real impetus for this project, I think, or at least one of the real appeals for me comes from that aspect of assembly, and being able to really freely assemble and customize the mech, I think is what we really highly focus on in Armored Core. And having mechs or mecha as a theme, it's really about that high level of freedom that adjusting each individual part gives, and how that affects the gameplay and the properties of your mech actually in combat. We think it's a little bit more liberating than, say, just swapping out armor or equipment. There's actually a much higher degree of freedom here, and being able to see these effects both in game, and as part of the world building, and as part of your player choices, we feel like this is a very big part of what makes Armored Core special.

As a classic player, Armored Core VI looks really different to me. But so did IV, and folks aren't saying "IV isn't armored core". This is a change in direction. It may not be the heavy metal nostalgia rush some folks are hoping for, but I trust From to get their vision right.

As an original armored core fan, I am actually glad they added repair kits. This means the levels are going to be huge and From Soft will do what they do best, environment story telling, hidden parts, and ridiculous boss battles. I'm all for some change from the old model. I just hope they will have 9-Ball in the game.

A lot of my friends are guilty of this behavior: they'll assume, because a new mechanic has been introduced into a franchise they have historically enjoyed (take the wirebug in MH Rise for example), that the game is completely trashed and everything is ruined. And I always counter them with, "yeah, but don't you think the devs, who have been working on this game for several years, noticed that adding [something like the wirebug] to the old games would ruin the pacing and balance, and probably took measures to balance the game against it?" The example doesn't really work as well with Armored Core because I don't foresee a huge issue with what they've added to AC6. The games have been historically clunky, which is somewhat of a point of pride for AC veterans. I myself only played 3 Portable and Formula Front years ago on the PSP, and dropped them a short way in for this exact reason, and then bandwagoned somewhat recently and found myself enjoying the PS2 games a lot. They reminded me of old Monster Hunter games; once you get past the initial control hurdle, the games are incredibly rewarding to play and master. They tweaked and improved the movement, handling, gameplay, combat, etc, of MH games going into the future, and as someone who revisited MH Freedom 1 a few years ago, I don't think you can make a case that they should go back to the old clunkfest. The same applies for Armored Core in my opinion. Edit: I just watched the last two minutes of the video, and you basically said what I posted in much fewer words. As always, I have disliked and unsubscribed.

Im an old school AC fan, but i also really enjoyed Zone Of The Enders. I always wanted AC customization and ZoE action and maneuverability. I think this is a solid mix of both.

"They ruined the franchise by not making you fight with the camera enough" is a rare take. Might wanna save it in case it becomes collectible later.

Estus or repair module, could basicly just be thought of as a change in the health bar. You still have the same total health, since that's how missions and fights are ballanced. However, you have less health available at any one moment... meaning you are more vulnerable to large hits or burst hits than you otherwise would be. Imagine you have 1000hp in old armored core, and in the new one you have 400, plus three heals of 200 each. Same total 1000hp in either case you COULD take of damage. So arguably same difficulty, but by doing this you now need to be more careful when you take damage at any moment, one big hit could get you very close to dying if you take a second big hit right after it. While old armored core could let you take say 5 200 dmg hits before dying, now you can only take two, unless you time and use your heals. If there's a cooldown on them, then this could mean you might only be able to take a total of 3 of these hits within X period of time then. This adds a button or input people need to manage... but in exchange can make for more hectic and high stakes feeling gameplay, that more strongly pushes for certain types of play and skills to reliably avoid damage from enemies now, rather than freely face tanking when needed like in the old games to get past some areas. So, estus/repair/health etc... not that big of an issue as most people make it out. It's all about how they ballanced it in my opinion. Part of what I liked about AC4 was the regenerative armor meant you could take a few hits here and there, and recover that, but big repeated hits would dig into actual health. Meant you could play a bit more aggresive in some areas, and make taking damage not feel so inevitable in some cases. Still, some people will like that change, others won't. Overall, I fully agree with Ratatoskr on the part that, we don't know much about this game yet. We haven't played it yet, it's you can't tell how it goes until you do actually play and feel it. Clearly it will be somewhat different, but how it'll feel... can't say yet. I like how Vatiividya did his whole aproach to this. He got all the old games, on original consoles, and played them. Went through it all so he understands the games, their style, their experience... and then when he did his video on the demo footage he was able to give a good perspective from both a souls player, and an armored core player. And he did still find it enjoyable looking, and liked some changes, though also wondered about others. That all said, yes it might not be what you as a specific individual want and liked about the older ones... then don't pre order. Good advice on all games generally. Wait and see, watch gameplay later on, maybe there would be a demo, or you can try a friends copy for a mission. Just don't pre order for now, and reserve judgment till you can actually make it accurately. That all said, providing concerns and feedback for now to From Software is also still valid and valuable so if there is a big sticking point for people they can reconsider if that's something they need to look at perhaps. And if a change there will, or won't work.

only thing I think is weird is being able to change your mech mid mission. The example vaati gave in his video was the guy purposefully dies then changes his build and just respawns at the last checkpoint. Feels kind of cheap to me, I think changing the build should require you to restart the mission, especially if checkpoints are right outside the boss rooms like in elden ring. People would just switch to a cheese build outside the fog wall and kill the boss for free.

I love how so many of the arguments on both sides have just devolved into coping about how much harder their series is than the other. A lot of gamers need better outlets in their lives

I wouldn't describe those so called "souls elements" as something specific to Souls game only, but it's more of features you'll see from FromSoft. They had made a bunch of games and gained experiences from it so of course they will implement what they have learn into a new game. Game devs learn as they go and what they learned isn't exclusive to one series.

Hard lock state is a big game changer for this franchise, It might be helpful especially if you care to make your laser blade attacks more accurate than before (I think). Likewise, they have an option to avoid using this hard lock and stay for the OG Soft lock state. As an AC fan I'm really happy for those new mechanics they added especially those repair kits.

These talks about the changes in AC6 reminds me of when MH World was announced. A lot of vets are VERY critical of "dumbing down" of the mechanics and other nuances that the franchise was known for. And yet, the game turned out to be a massive success and broke the specific niche that MH always has to an even broader audience. I think this is the general goal of the AC dev team as well. Having the heals are eyebrow-raising, sure, but with how Fromsoft as a whole has continually shown, they won't just offer convenience without some sort of payoff. People should just chill out and wait for the final product. Then we could judge if it was a wrong move or not.

my question is this: are "people" actually upset? or are the people various creators seeing upset people and assuming that it's a majority, and not just a plurality?

Im skeptical on things like instaheals (even if they incur a cost) but my first thought was damn...we finally look like the ACs in the animated trailers! Its still going to be difficult and rewarding and its now just stylish. Its another end of the AC spectrum If the often reviled gen 5 skewed the meter towards a heavy, militaristic yet still very fast paced mecha sim, this embraces the innate arcadey nature of the mecha genre. Its so smooth. Like sure i have my gripes but i have faith this will be excellent. I have many of the same opinions yet its not enough to deter me from the bigger picture. I'd be more surprised and disappointed if the series remained unchanged and introduced nothing new lol.

I played all the generations of Armored Core. Frankly I am super excited to see what this new AC title bring to the table. AC titles has always change up the formula to keep the game interesting.

I can see why old fans of the series might be upset. There are some pretty big changes.. but I think it looks phenomenal and cannot wait to play it.

I'm not worried, the same thing happened with Gen 4's speed and Gen 5's size scaling. Even with how niche the mecha genre is, the fans are very diverse as well. I'm just happy for the giant robots being back on From's menu.

Great commentary as always, R. I like how you always try to be precise and just with your arguments, showing both sides and playing devil's advocate when necessary. I also agree with you that we know very little about the game at this point to make assumptions. Also, I think people could just learn that sometimes you have to adapt to new changes in your favorite franchise. You change, the world changes, and games and franchises sometimes change too. It's good to adapt, grow with them, and even, maybe, allow yourself to enjoy this new direction the franchise is heading. I am very excited for the game, and I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out. Peace.

As an AC veteran, I'm stoked as hell for the hard lock system! There were soooo many times where you have to "Destroy target convoy" and all the f*cking MT's and other shit were in the way or other such scenarios. Having a method to hard lock onto something is a huge quality of life change that should be welcomed. But it's the internet-people always gotta be losing their shit over SOMETHING.

You know your franchise has hit the big time when there are people saying the new one "isn't a true entry". Not saying it's unwarranted, just saying it's funny how this is part of the news cycle for every game it seems.

Armored Core 6 looks like the best fusion of AC3, 4Answer, and even the best parts of 5&Verdict Day. I have played almost all of the games to the end (AC3 being my favorite one) and this is close to how I thought It would be if they combined it all. Also, yes healing was a bit of a surprise since it has traditionally been rare and a big part of gameplay but I'm sure From soft knows what they are doing.

I'm fairly certain that 'snap - turn' you see has to be performed manually. When the biped mech dodges past that ball enemy in the corridor you can see very briefly that the players mech keeps heading in generally the same direction they dashed in even though the camera continues to track the target. The *player* then snaps the mech around to face the target

This was very obviously going to happen. A lot of the most elitist side of the fandom got super full of themselves and were constantly saying that there would be no changes to the formula and that this would be a niche game just for them. It was honestly ridiculous how uppity they were about it

The most frustrating thing in my mind is that so many of these people have already made up their mind on the game. When it drops 60% of them are probably going to continue bad mouthing the game without even taking the time to give it a chance.

As one of the grouches whos not entirely sold on the changes just yet im still interested in the game and where it goes, im still going to get it, and ill still probably love it for what it is. But I do really wish From Software would put out a full gameplay demonstration WITH THE HUD so we can all get a better context on things rather than having to take people who were at the event at face value. After reading all the comments about the event from attendees as well as old interviews and constantly watching the demo to see that little robot get punted into oblivion there are some things that just dont make sense to me. One of them being why does a dedicated Quick Turn exist in an environment where Turn Speed is supposedly gone and the Lock-on just snaps to targets?

That last comment was hilarious, instant heal sounds bad for traditional AC level design, but I'm going to assume the change was made to compensate for how long the missions are and how difficult some bosses may be.

Oh yes, FromSoftware; a company known for appealing to the masses for higher sales and making easy games XD

I don’t see why a repair kit is necessary, why not just have a health pool big enough to last the mission? I think it takes a lot of the immersion out of it. I never really played any of the armored cores after last raven so I don’t know about the mechanics in the games after that(soft lock on or healing stations), but I loved the feeling of having low AP and seeing your mech smoking and sparking. Especially after you just fought your way through grunts and dodging missiles and heavy artillery, and realizing you have to fight another enemy AC seeing how broken you are, and knowing you have to dodge every missile and cannon round and laser that files at you. It’s such an exhilarating experience feeling like your controlling a mech because the controller layout and inputs were raw/awkward and having to master even just maneuvering your mech smoothly and mechanically while having to aim at your enemy in three dimensions . It’s nothing I’ve ever really felt like an any game I’ve played, so seeing the lock on,healing and near instantaneous turns removing all of that refined skill in just moving and operating your LITERAL man made GOD of a machine used as the peak instrument of war and having it be so simplified is kind of disheartening. Even so I will still play the game because I know it will be good but just not in the same way the original games were

Alot of people forgetting that AC came before souls games.

I'm an OG AC pilot who started playing with original on PS1 and I'm still super excited about this title! While I'm not sold on the healing mechanic, I'm hoping that means they plan on having longer more indepth missions. Previous titles would have you blowing through a mission in less than 5 minutes if you knew what you were doing, so there's definitely some potential. Also, I'm guessing they will have a feature to turn off the hard lock on for us veteran pilots who don't want or need our hands held.

The funniest thing was the criticism of Miyazaki only knowing how to make souls when he was the director of the AC game that many of the fans seem to consider to be one of the best in the series.

I'm both a a Souls fan and an AC fan and I can see both sides of the argument... and I don't know which I support more if not both equally :s Edit: actually no, having thought about it further - this new AC style makes more sense. I mentioned this in a reply to another comment but I believe this is real life technology changing imagined expectations. In the past (say pre 2007) we could not imagine a giant machine being able spin around on a dime. But with the advancements of AI and just watching drone acrobatic videos - it is possible to imagine tuning an AI system and boosters to be able to spin a giant mecha around. Same with the repair kits - previously not an imaginable thing, but now with AI what's wrong with imagining micromachines capable of repairs on the go? Heck thinking about it I almost surprised we don't have regenerating health like in a COD game or something.

In all honestly a lot of changes and features I don't agree with but I'm more than happy to try them before blindly hating on them. I just hope PvP lastes. I NEED MECHA PvP games.

8:06 YES. The level design changed completely, it makes sense that the healing and HP system changed with it.

"You don't have the game in your hands." Let me give you an example of why I don't like the "estus" healing of repair kits without having to have the game in my hands. It changes the tone of the game. With older AC games, damage was generally permanent. You could find in-mission healing, but you had to find it, and it wasn't mobile. It was more like a checkpoint where you could refill some of your armor then continue on. More notably, you had to pay for repairs at the end of a mission. Throwing in this not-even-estus healing means that instead of wondering if there's a repair bay somewhere ahead, I'm just looking for loot crates with mecha-medpacks in them. Saying 60% HP is "unsafe" means that (probably boss) combat is going to be more focused on quick evasion and dodging of high damage, severe trauma attacks. You can see it with the chainsaw hands boss. Gives you a right, a left, a two-handed Shatner slap. It leans harder into the Soulsborne Die Twice style of "Our combat is for the bosses, not the trash packs we encourage you not to fight." And that we can 'top off' with the press of a button, means that less emphasis is being put on the integrity of our mech. Otherwise the last thing we'll do in every mission is pop a repair kit. Does it look really cool? Yeah, obviously. Are we going to end up loving it? Yeah, probably. Does it look like it's going to feel like a natural extension of Armored Core? No, not really. Is it what FROM has told us to expect from interviews? Well... Honestly, it's more like we're getting Bloodborne when we were promised Dark Souls 2. (I love both games.) What they've shown is explicitly not what FROM has promised in interviews. They promised a return to form, keeping the core identity of the old, PS2 era, games alive. It only bothers me because I love the old games. And I want a modern game with modern polish... that keeps the old meat, the shoe leather I go back to sink my teeth into, alive.

I've been a Raven, a Lynx and a Merc over the years and I've appreciated every single one of them. I've been critical of their flaws as well and yet I still love them equally. This one will be the same.

Our concerns were justified. This isn't AC. Miyazaki is a hack

Armored Core was one of my favorite game franchises when I was a kid, but I haven't played since AC3. I love what FromSoft has been doing lately and I'm so excited to see them bring AC back. Sure, it probably won't be the same Armored Core that I grew up playing, but I trust those guys to handle the series well and put their passion into it. Some people just want a reason to hate everything and nothing will ever satisfy them, so you just have to ignore that. Pandering to the fans almost always ends in an empty, uninspired 'product' and nothing more. FromSoft clearly has a lot of vision and passion and they should keep making the games they want to make, rather than trying to please anyone. There are very few games that I even consider buying at release, but I'm sure this will be one of them. Just take things for what they are and if you don't like them, move on to something else. You don't have to love everything that comes out.

I'm an Armored Core boomer, started with the og on PS1, got a PS2 just for Armored Core 2, and I could not be happier with what I see from AC6. Anyone complaining that the new game is not the old game should just go play the old game

People need to see this from the AC fan’s perspective it’s been YEARS since this title saw the light of day, we’ve gone through so many new games from software put out in good standings, the moment this was announced I was worried about all the souls fans being angry it’s not Bloodborne or Sekiro 2. I’ve seen a few angry people but a few features that were in the game before but used differently isn’t a game ended for me. Some of us are welcome to be mad about things they don’t like, just like fans that dipped with 5 and VD, I was skeptical about 4and4A, this stuff is always happening. Fans of AC see these changes as being Elden Ring stuff because we haven’t seen AC in a decade.

Hardcore fans will always be upset at core changes… from any fanbase And anyone writing them off as “petty” would’ve been upset if developers changed their favorite series lol

On the healing part, I believe the reason for it is to make the "weak" enemies actually be more of a mission failure risk to the player character. From the gameplay we have seen, there is significantly more of an emphasis on assessing and planning out how to attack these weaker enemies. In all the other AC games I have watched, several of the missions are just running past them to complete the victory objective. Most of weaker enemies aren't really a threat in of themselves, just a way to wear down health and ammo by the time you have to fight another AC or boss at the end of the mission. The repair kits essentially cut down the AC's health into smaller chunks, so if the player severely blotches an attack on a group of minor enemies, they can actually die and realize they need to plan better for that particular encounter. If the player starts the game with a massive health pool, a player might not really realize how badly they did that particular encounter, and instead keep pushing on without realizing that they're essentially already screwed by the time they actually reach the boss and may not really realize exactly where they are messing up. I think the major change in AC6 is that FromSoftware really wants the player to really strategize their attacks rather than depending on reflexes, timing, or build alone. This could be considered quite different from some of the previous AC games, but it's also massively different from the "souls" games as there really isn't that much customization you can do without releveling your character. Personally, it is this strategy and customization part of AC6 has me far more excited than before. I have no interest in mechs, nor did I have any interest in medieval fantasy before playing Dark Souls, but the worldbuilding and gameplay from FromSoftware has been able to put into their games have consistently won me over, so I have full faith in AC6.

I’ve played a few AC games and for me, all I want is the mission-workshop cycle. I want to have an ideal AC I work towards, run into a mission I can’t complete, change up my build and experience different strategies and play styles. And the repair kits seem to indicate longer and more challenging missions which I am all for.

I remember a similar situation with Monster Hunter World in how they streamlined certain elements like being able to move while healing. The hard lock on was almost a given to me. They said they wanted to have an extra focus on melee and the Assault Boost was something meant to close that gap. I mean landing melee hits in older games was iffy at best, especially against more mobile targets. Plus like you said, we can't say for sure that the hard lock is some kind of instant win button when - FCS is still a thing - We don't know what kind of range or limit it has The healing actually surprised me. When I first heard of the repair kit I thought it would have been like Silent Line where you were at a standstill for about 10 seconds while your AP filled up but it being instant was a surprise. I don't see how that dumbs the game down...if anything I'm almost worried at how difficult the game will be if we not only get healing, but healing thats instant lmao.

I played the old ACs as a kid and again recently. I certainly appreciate them and the new features definitely make me a little uneasy. The hard lock feels streamlined. I know AC4 had a sort of hard lock, but camera control was always a bit part of the gameplay. It really proved who was a good pilot. I sure hope the turning doesn't end up like it does in the preview. It'd really diminish the weighty robot feel, which I personally find important. The other things, like the scan or the repair packs just feel... inappropriate, but longer missions might require some kind of resupply, like some of the older games had. I'm still open to be surprised. I really want to enjoy AC6 and I'll try. I just hope it doesn't lean too hard into Fromsofts proven formulas too much. I remember enjoying AC4 and 4A, despite them being so different to AC 2 and 3. It looks like a new generation of AC is ushered in.

The game still looks cool but the criticisms are valid. Dark souls is a rhythm game, you memorize the attack patterns, and play accordingly. Shooters like FPS tend to be more reactive, you don’t memorize what the enemy will do, you aim and move based on moment to moment reactions. Earlier AC games struck a great balance of feeling like a shooter, with enough lock on hand holding to accommodate the crazy mech movement. This looks like a rhythm game, where memorizing enemy patterns and timings will be much more rewarding than fast reactions and accurate aiming. That doesn’t mean the game won’t be great, just that it might feel more like a well-made souls game rather than an armored core, which stings for AC fans

This is so strange. I am an absolutely massive souls fan and have been since 2010. Despite not caring that much for armored core series I was delighted for all the fans that they were getting a new one. As far as I am concerned I have been absolutely spoiled by from software with all their souls style titles so good for armored core players that they get a piece of the pie. Low and behold it turns out armored core 6 actually has some souls style stuff to it and oddly enough I am not particularly interested. I will keep an eye on it. I love the focus on customisation that you have supposedly as I tend to lose myself in that stuff but watching gameplay it just.......does not seem to be for me. It reminds me a bit of the pvp with my brother when we played ZOE on ps2 but I dont think I have interest in that style of game today. (Love the majula music in this video btw, Yes I even love dark souls 2 lol)

I have to wonder how many of the people saying that Miyazaki only knows how to make "one kind of game" remember that he got his start directing AC games? Or that those games had some of the fastest paced combat in the franchise (as well as a lot of changes to the combat before then)? Since I've actually played the older games, AND have a working memory, I'm actually looking forward to this new iteration, and I like what I see so far. Then again, I've always been of the opinion that what gave AC it's identity was it's focus on making a mech suited to your individual playstyle and figuring out how to best the enemy mechs you had to deal with (as well as the dystopian story going on), and not clunky old school controls that were a product of a time when people were still trying to figure out movement and combat in in 3d space. I guess that's just me...

I feel bad being the soul's person coming into armored core and being super excited to see some more " familiar" stuff then was expected. At the same time, I fully understand dedicated fans of this series having legitimate concerns. Modernizations of control schemes are often excuses to reduce complexity many people enjoyed from the originals. On the other hand, like we've seen with the evolution of Monster Hunter, quality of life changes don't always imply reduced difficulty.

I was thinking about the ability to change your build on the fly-- of course it sounds like you have to restart at the checkpoint at least. It both sounds cool, but I'm also skeptical about how well I will like it. Same goes with repair packs. I'm not happy that repair packs are a thing to be blunt. I'm not upset either, but It was one of the few things about the showcase that had me a little concerned. Ultimately I do not think that repair packs will make me dislike the game, not by any means, I just don't know if it's inclusion will make the game better or worse in my eyes even if either case ends up positive. Going back to the on-the-fly assembly option. On one hand it sounds pretty cool and convenient, but on the other it doesn't really make sense in context (not that that's a big deal inherently) and being about to swap things out that easily means the the challenged within each mission are more isolated. In the sense that you no longer have to envision your AC having to deal with all of these different factors during a mission, rather it just needs to deal with a single segment. Granted, when you think about the idea of being able to change loadouts right before a boss-- which people are referring to as basically baby mode; remember that old missions where much more isolated. When you fought a boss in almost every AC game... It was just the boss, again, for the most part. So in that regard is it really making the game easier if at it's core being able to restart at the checkpoint before a boss is effectively no different than doing a mission where all you do is fight that same boss? That said, the idea of having more involved missions is diminished slightly because of this. Also, no, it's not going to be easier than gen 4-- not to say that gen 4 had no challenge or whatever, but good god there was a mission where you drop down, fly over a few mines, and kill like 5 enemies. It takes you, no lie, under 30 seconds with almost literally any build with at least one weapon on it. I like all gens of AC in their own way, so I'm not shitting on 4, but I'm saying that the comments making this claim are more so just being overly emotional. Which I understand, but they need to think about this more rationally. At the end of the day, even if the worst case were true, at least in my own personal uncertainties for the game, I'm still dying to play and I believe that I'll love it. Nothing I saw or heard so far has even made me consider not picking it up and at this point I don't think anything will. And I'm still hopeful that inclusions of the things I talked about, like repair packs, will be better than I thought. Again, not happy that they are there, but I do recognize that I don't truly know what I think. I need to play it and feel it in action before I can say if these things are ultimately good or bad decisions. I'm leaning towards the later, but again, I like to be hopeful and it won't be a deal breaker regardless, not by a long shot.

As a Morrowind fan I sympathize with the fans of a niche franchise when they get Skyrim’d

I got into the Armored Core series last year, playing all the way from 1 to For Answer (still haven't beaten LR though, that game's just evil). Most of 6's gameplay seems consistent with what I was expecting and hoping for. The movement just seems like 4 but faster and more streamlined. The hard lock-on is also something that was in 4 and everyone seems to forget. Most importantly, these AC players mad about 6 are missing the point of the games. The point of the games is to build your funny mech.

Honestly, as an AC gamer back in the day, turning on a dime seems fun as fuk and is what I always wanted in the old games. Healing is annoying but I can get over it. But the fking lock on man. It took skill to aim before. Locking 4 missiles onto a target while tracking was a skill and it was satisfying when you succeeded. Hitting an enemy that was zipping around with a shoulder cannon was a skill, and again, it felt godlike hitting stuff that way. Having auto lock is by far the lamest part and will be hard to get over.

I don't understand the logic of saying that the presence of repair kits is going to make the game easier. If repair kits are in the game, that means From Software is going to make the game HARDER. They are saying, "If these repair kits weren't in the game, you aren't going to make it. You NEED these to survive." They're preparing to turn up the heat. The resupply stations immediately imply that stages are going to be an endurance run. That you are MOST DEFINITELY going to be running out of Repair Kits because of how challenging the game is and need more. Am I making sense here?

I remember being just like these angry AC old-schoolers when I got my hands on Skyrim. I grew up loving Morrowind, have put enough hours into it to be ashamed, and I was floored by how many of the systems got entirely removed, reworked, or castrated by Skyrim. Solution for me was to return the game and just ignore it. I would bitch and moan if asked, but kept it to myself otherwise.

I really enjoyed 1st Gen, 3rd Gen and 4th Gen (Master of Arena is particularly fun and the music style is very nice.) I'm going to list a couple things I can only reasonably observe with limited footage. Customization does include the very basics that Armored Core typically has and I'm sure they know people want to customize so that shouldn't be a problem. Even if it isn't as detailed as some others (why can you change your centre of gravity in ACFA), I'm sure they know people will want to do more and think about it in the future. The boss fights seem to be pretty telegraphed and might require a little bit of learning in that regard, which is a bit like Souls but Armored Core has had a couple bosses that let off their weaknesses in similar ways, but I admit this seems to be more leaning in on the former side than usual. I'm not very worried about the boss fights because Armored Core has always had some wacky bosses. (There's been more than one time something has completely split off from a giant machine and shot lasers at you or other weird stuff compared to enemies who usually only do stuff you can do. Plus, Arms Forts also exist which is a lot of spectacle too.) If there is one thing I'm more interested in with boss battles is enemy AC combat. Armored Core would be very neutered if you weren't competing against others just like you, so it would be very, very strange to not have enemy ACs fight against you at some point, mini boss or as a hazard, it doesn't really matter. I'm sure there will be some though because of the next point. They seem to be focusing more on allowing close combat weapons because their experience with Souls like games has drastically improved their AI so they no longer need to have enemies shoot you and dodge a bunch with the occasional blade or Assault Armor when you got close. They'll definitely take advantage of it for AI in things that aren't large machinery looking to be taken down by the player. I'm almost convinced there's a hard lock on because of their increased focus on melee weaponry for ACs. Aiming blades in older games was typically getting someone in front of you and then slashing them. (ACFA did have some complicated methods for melee though with quick turns to allow yourself to slash locked on targets that aren't even on your game screen yet) If there's a variety of weapons in this game, then it makes more sense to add a hard lock on to support melee builds or it would be less worth it to use those builds. (I know they're focused on balancing all the various types of ACs this time so we don't end up with flying mosquitos and giant tanks to shoot them down, or their description for the game wouldn't have mentioned that it would be slower paced with the ability to go at "break-neck speeds"). I'd like to imagine hard lock on wouldn't be as effective at a large distance, because you'd still be forced to use ranged weapons capable of tracking opponents who dodge even at midrange. FCS does still exist so I could probably assume that. It does seem to decrease the skill ceiling for keeping your enemies in your sights though, so I'll have to see more information to find out how that turns out later. Being able to heal between missions wasn't a new concept. In Gen 4 games it is absent because the mission structure doesn't really need you to ever heal during those missions. It was balanced that way, even including 2-3 enemy ACs. (ACFA liked to give you the option to have a teammate with you. Except Old King. He was a good damage sponge for a couple seconds.) Honestly I'd say most AC games were structured to not need healing mid-mission because because the goal was always pretty simple. Destroy enemy AC, destroy reactor, defend base, eliminate intruding guys or something. The only time it ever needed to heal the player was when missions were long because it would be a tall order to ask someone to get past a platforming section with turrets everywhere, fight an AC, fight 2 ACs at once, then fight a SUPER POWERED AC in a single mission. If the missions are longer they're definitely giving the ball to the player to take care of their own AP for that instead of generously healing them up during a loading screen. But we'll see how that turns out. Turn speed is interesting because in typical AC games turning your mech felt like slowly turning the head of a tank sometimes, which included the camera. This game seems to take from 4th gen and make turning and camera more separate. I don't really have much to say about it to be honest, it's kind of like a different style change for AC which has happened quite a few times. (I'm sorry Gen 5 people it was too weird for me) I'm sure people are worried about customizing turn speed, but like in the video I guess it can be customized if they want sniper builds and melee builds to exist in the same game. Light weight melee would need really fast turn speed and burst energy boosting so they can get behind others without taking damage as often. It would be pointless to have more melee weapons - which makes this build possible - if your opponent could turn at the same speed as you. It would be more logical to have a dynamic of heavier builds staying at a distance from melee in order to turn less and shoot accurately where they can't hit them rather than everyone turning really quickly and shooting melee builds down and staggering them before they can even combo. (It's weird saying combo in the context of AC that isn't a set of customizations) Overall I did have a bit of a kneejerk reaction to some things but after thinking about it, if you think about PVP in mind - which they said this game would have - a lot of the changes make a lot more sense than they seem for this new style of AC and it echoes what they mean when they said they would borrow ideas from Souls but have it absolutely be an Armored Core game. I'm going to buy this game and think of it as a bit of a different kind of style, like how Gen 4 changed things up compared to Gen 3 or how Gen 5 changed things up compared to both of them. I know I'll enjoy it and play it a lot. (Also, if you read this, goodness me you must be really invested in Armored Core. If you haven't played AC, I think AC3 is really cool. A lot of people like AC3 Silent Line. I like the whole progression from AC1 to ACPP to ACMoA. The progression of Nineball is very cool to me and the final battle in MoA is super cool. If you have played AC tell me what your favourite game is. One of my favourites is ACFA because I admit I like a bit of speedy mosquito gameplay. Have a nice day.)

I have been playing AC since project phantasma. I love the old armored core games. Still do and still play them. This is a necessary evolution for the game. Back in like 2016 when they were interviewing someone from FromSoft they asked about a new armored core game. The response to them besides the "oh we would love to" was "It HAS to have global appeal". That doesnt mean just appealing to countries outside of Japan, but all sorts of different players as well. I think people are expecting the short form 2-6 minute missions of the old armored core games. From what we hear AC6 missions are going to be MUCH longer. Its not an open world game, but it is a game that wants you to be in the world for longer periods of time. Repair packs and garage access during a mission is going to be actually nice.

It's kind of amazing how many things people attribute to the Souls series that existed way before it ever did. -Target lock combat -Healing -Dodging -I assume bosses -Stamina/energy resource (How is the energy gauge in every AC game not equivalent to stamina?) The people trying to kick up this fuss are either genuine morons who should be more or less ignored, or they're trolling people to milk some clicks because that's where we're at today. 'Oh my god! Can you believe these guys said this?!' Why yes... yes I can. I don't necessarily believe they believe or understand it though.

As a player of Armored Core since Armored Core 2, personally I loved almost everything shown in this gameplay. The one thing that slightly disappointed me is the simplified customization, with fewer parts and fewer numbers. I understand why they’ve simplified the process, but figuring out exactly what all the parts do, what all the numbers mean, and how best to optimize them was such a rewarding process. I think it’ll still be rewarding, there is plenty of customization and numbers and such, and I think I will still enjoy it. Part of me just wishes that they had kept more of the separate parts and stats.

Some good points, especially about how turning speed and lock on may not be infallible. Could've been less petty. There's plenty of concerned AC vets who didn't trash souls players. Not good enough content, those?

This happens all the time when something goes from niche to mainstream

Really, the only thing I have a major issue with is the pairing of a hard-lock with the seeming nixing of turning speed. Everything else seems great. I can imagine that the repair kits are _really_ gonna eat into your end-of-mission rewards if you do use one, though.

God, hearing the Demon's Souls character creation music at the start of the video is nostalgic as heck. I know this is totally off topic but I just had to say it, because it's such a fantastic and ethereal track, and like all things Demon's Souls, it doesn't get enough love. Just hearing it instantly transports me to a completely different time and place, when I first played that game, and evokes feelings I can't even describe. Such a mesmerizing soundtrack honestly.

I'll never get anyone's obsession with fighting the camera to a point where you only essentially see and use a third of the screen everything else was just noise. I have a feeling to lock on system though it looks automatic i think its specific models of ECMs that do this and others may have to toggle or maneuver to maintain a lock.

It seems like the only people who are defending this are those who haven't played/don't care about the series. I get this is 99% of the intended audience, but it's just a shame that one of the few unique series is going to fall victim to the boring homogenization that plagues the industry. I sincerely don't get wanting to take away the uniqueness of games. Also, I too like it when a franchise decides to branch out and do new things, but when that "new thing" is just a derivative mechanic that is only there because of laziness, I draw a line. Nothing new is being added to AC here, it's just being made more like something that already exists.

It doesn't matter if it's more armored core or more souls. It's Fromsoftware. Every game in the last years that they have made has been a masterpiece

Based on what the video entails the Naysayers were actually bragging that "In my Day" speech. It's more like I'm better than you cause I had no right stick for camera or bragging that they can beat the stress but more likely they had everything they needed and money no longer matters. I have no doubt in my mind that most of these players were HUMAN PLUS and will never admit it.

just give me my lock-on box back... that's all I want

I hope the lock on is tied to the fcs and isn't the exact same no matter the part, most old fans myself included don't like the hard lock on system simply because being able to maneuver your mech like that was a skill and not a "I press this button and it does the thing" (and if there's no way to Jam it in pvp there'd be no reason not to use the hard lock since it drives the skill ceiling way down),the estus flasks I'm pretty skeptical on because we don't know how much they heal for, or how long it takes to heal, or how long the missions are, the dumbing down of parts has me the most worried because customizing your AC/NEXT was deep and you truly made YOUR mech your own with complexity. I'm hopeful for the game but I'd be lying that I'm not let down a bit. Before the gameplay it was sitting at 10/10 now? 7/10 at most. And I hope that since from dumbed down the parts selection that at least there's a larger list to choose from.

It looks great, it's just that it's not really what I wanted from an AC game and that means classic AC gameplay is dead, which will always saddens me regardless of how great 6 is going to be. My old dog is dead, this puppy is adorable and I don't hate him, but it's not a substitute

That ending statement is just really lame, dude. Actively looking to piss people off is always lame.

I'm a "veteran pilot." Been playing AC since the PSX era. Here's my two cents: the gameplay looks great, and nothing like a Souls game aside from a couple of tweaks like the repairs and the two boss battles we've seen. Which takes me to my first problem with it: Repairs. I understand that in today's world, people expect an option to restore HP after hectic battles. However, in my opinion, it feels weird to just pop up a repair item on a mech. I would be much more in favor of repair stations across the stage and maybe the option to call a mobile one a couple times per mission, but giving it some kind of risk to balance it out. My second problem: Less part types. On one side, it makes sense to simplify some elements of mech cutomization for newcomers. A friend of mine once compared classic AC mech building to picking parts for a new PC, so it's one of the big gates to get through for people. On the other side, some of us liked the complexity. If the variety in each category makes up for it, I'll shut up about this happily. My third... promblem? Not really a problem: Boss fights. I love boss fights more than anything else in games. And I loved AC's approach to bosses. I also loved Souls' approach too. AC6 seems to mix a bit of the two. And honestly? I'm all for it. I understand why some people don't want setpiece-type bosses, they certainly were controversial in AC4A. Some people just prefer the good ol' pilot battle, but I'm sure we'll still have those.

if I had to fix the Repair kit blabber I would just put a option in the game setting when starting a new game to turn of repair kits or turn on

I think it looks good. My only real 'complaint' is due to everything being huge....the mech feels kind of small. LIke in AC4/4A you'd often be on levels with skyscrapers that made you realize that you were a giant robot. Whereas here the only sense of scale I got was from some shipping containers briefly.

Im empathetic to these people who have waited 10 years for a new AC game and now that it finally resurfaces its "re-imagined for a modern audience". That shit is so god damn depressing, speaking from experience. So even though ive always WANTED to like AC, but was never able to really get into it. Even though i love dark souls and this new AC will probably appeal to me for both of the above reasons... I DO care, and my heart goes out to those seeing something they love remade for someone who isnt them. That sucks. I wish things didnt have to happen like that.

It's almost exactly what I expected, and hoped for. I was a little on the fence about the hard lock, but I still think it's gonna elevate the combat in ways, while not alienating newcomers. Having heals makes me think longer, more complex mission structure. Which was at the top of my wish list

I’m so excited for it.

A good way to point out the difference in your point of view. I lost a lot of good game franchises - completly or to "casualty" (I like solo stealth games and tactical shooter). So yeah, to point out, that souls fans (like me) are the "winner" here is a interesting take. Even if it not feels winnig, if therefor something is taken from other fans. (sorry for my bad english, it is not my native language).

A lot of Armored Core's fundamental structure has to change, based on the change to the mission structure. Old AC games possessed small, say 5-10 minute missions (obviously some missions were longer, but that tended to be due to AC vs AC combat, or really tedious tunnel navigation that was a real pain to navigate), and switching to the large map mission scale is going to require repair kits, especially if we wanted to take older style AC missions and make them larger and longer. The other aspect which likely has a little more validity is that, yes, the game is being made simpler to control. AC veterans who really stuck with the game throughout the years love the simulator-like aspect to the controls. Equipping quick-turn parts, or later, having to manual execute quick turn. Maintaining a target in your FCS range while evading as much damage as possible. The skill ceiling for 1 on 1 AC battles is extremely high, and the focus is about being the best AC controller/pilot. A lot of those skills that many developed over the years are essentially being automated by the new systems, and naturally that is going to make the longest time AC supporters, the ones who have stuck through with the series forever when no one cared about it, a bit salty. It's not the game they loved. It would be as though Souls games suddenly incorportated Devil May Cry combo systems. It's just a totally different game altogether. The hiccup here is that there ISN'T different yet similar games like the way Souls games exist, and then there's stuff like DMC or Bayonetta for more action, and then even you have games like Sekiro which can play like a bit of hybrid having fewer menus and stats in favor of more action compared to Souls, etc etc. The mech simulator, or even just mech games in general, you have stuff like Mechwarrior for the more western approach, or Armored Core for the Japanese approach. Both of these simulators never ranked too highly among gamers, and both had disappeared from the market for many years until relatively recent revivals. Even in the narrow niche of Gundam fans, there's not really any sort of massively popular Gundam game. FromSoft is aiming to scoop up the entire mech fan market in one shot and introduce as many new people into the fray as possible, and that is for sure going to leave older fans feeling sour. Personally, I even used to play AC4 against EJRaven, the first online comment you snagged there. But for me personally, the more time I put into AC games, the more and more I wished they would play like Virtual On, or shift from less simulator to a little more 'anime' in execution, and let you do a little cooler stuff. It meant even as an old fan, I never could stay playing AC games as long as others because it would fall just short of what I dreamed of actually playing. But these guys are the ones who used 3rd party apps to connect their PS2s to play VS over the internet before anyone even bothered to even think of implementing online play. They're still out there playing the shit out of Last Raven because even AC4 and AC5 generations already weren't their cup of tea.

So most of these people complaining about new mechanics are the "Back in my day, we use to walk to school everyday, uphill, both ways" kind of people and they are afraid of change. Well, the future is now old man, so here is your shiny new mech. If they are as tough as they like to sound, then they can wait ANOTHER decade for an AC game since they have waited so long already. I will be enjoying this sweet piece of walking death-chrome thank you very much.

So ridiculous. People were always going to complain. From shouldn’t care and the sales and reception will prove them right.

i feel like the turning speed thing is a legit concern but it could be that that build of the game isnt finished and there is a missing animation. you can see the ACs thruster firing in some of those turns so its probably quick turn. i dont know what would prompt FromSoft to add a healing kit but my only problem with it is that from people who seen it there is no trade off you just get AP back. the game will probably be fine tho, still buying.

I've never played Armored Core and I am not a fan of mech games, but after hearing about the history of this series and then seeing the new demo I'm seriously thinking about buying it. Sometimes change is for the best because even when we try we often cannot capture the magic of the first go around, because it was the first go around. That's why it can be worth doing something new so we have that experience all over again. That said I feel bad for those who have waited forever and it's not living up to their hopes and dreams.

I've seen this reaction before when Monster Hunter World came out. The veterans of the series view the clunkiness and limitations as hurdles they had to overcome, and a badge of honor when they did. As a result, they see QoL improvements and streamlining as "making the game easy" or "moving away from the original experience" But guess who's usually first in line to get the game?

I trust in fromsoft, so far they haven't let me down (except multiplayer stability lol). But I gotta be honest, as someone who's never played the AC games before, I was looking forward to something that was distinctly different from the souls-games. The no-healing and weird turning mechanics did sound appealing. I'll probably still love the game even if it ends up being "sci-fi-souls" but yeah. Something completely different would've been cool

I played AC when I was a really young kid and have lots of great memories of playing AC2 so that's kinda where my AC experience lies and i have a few points based on my perspective. One positive is that the trailers for AC6 look like how I imagined my mech when I was a kid and how I felt playing and that's so cool. Another thing is that I am a sucker for fast/agile mechs and never really played tank much so the speed doesn't look too out there for me. I feel the healing being it's own unique item might be alright, I remember being able to equip different activatables back in AC2 that had limited use but different effects and i think if the healing was done through that system it would become a build option as opposed to a main mechanic. It doesn't make much of a difference to me but I think it would be more aligned with everyone's opinions. Going back to the speed thing although I primarily play fast mechs I will say it feels like from soft has been reducing the viability of tanks with each new game and i just hope that there are options for slower more deliberate and mythodical gameplay. Also i think the jump pads are a bit daft but that's my only real strong negative everything else is kinda meh All in all I'm excited, I'm all for change in my sequals and some of the more negative opinions are gonna stop me from enjoying a game that still looks very AC

As an old AC fan, I thought a lot of the issues were stupid but like, come on, what is this video? What did you add here? Your response to people worried about how things might work in the new game is "The game isn't out yet so you don't know." Of course they don't know? The game isn't out yet?? If you think implementation or unknown changes could make these mechanics better or more in line with older AC feel, talk about what you think those could be. Hearing you say "idk, maybe FromSoft will just magically make it better" made me feel like I spent 10 minutes getting baited for any actual analysis. Also, who are these people? In every screenshot, you cut out any reactions or metrics. For all I know these are 0 like facebook posts or buried comments under random youtube videos. If there's a general sentiment, yeah I want to know, but I also want to actually see that that's the case. If like 3 guys posted their whining to their 20 twitter followers, you're just drudging up drama at that point.

Great video! I share your final thoughts that we haven't seen enough to really make judgements on how well these systems work in practice. I also think it looks great and I trust that From is invested in providing a good Armored Core experience. They could have let the series go to the wayside, but they didn't. They chose to make a new Armored Core, and I fully believe it is a work of passion and reverence for their beloved series.

They could add a option to give you a way to change from the New lock on system to the classic lock on system