General Gaming Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon (PlayStation/Xbox/PC) - 2.8 million units sold worldwide

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

[Keyser_Soze]

Surprising that it's coming next year.

[Brian]

From Software’s output is fucking insane. 

[Dodger]

Looks incredible, might be my AC game.

[Zaku3]

Well guess we know what's gonna be GOTY for 2023.

[Bacon]

Man, I hope this is MechSouls so I can play it. 

[Keyser_Soze]

ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON on Steam

STORE.STEAMPOWERED.COM

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By combining FromSoftware’s longstanding expertise in mech games and their signature robust gameplay, ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON will be a new action experience.

 

[Dre801]

I played the utter hell out of the original Armored Core on PS1.  

[Bacon]

4 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

mech games and their signature robust gameplay

[skillzdadirecta]

50 minutes ago, Dre801 said:

I played the utter hell out of the original Armored Core on PS1.  

So did I... was one of the first games I researched and printed out an F.A.Q. for... I think i still have it.

[Keyser_Soze]

The last one I played was the one that launched with the PS2.

[Moa]

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. I think I played two armored core games and had a lot of fun with both, but even for the time the mission design was incredibly bland. From has obviously grown a shit ton since then, and it'll be cool to see what this game is like if they apply some of the lessons they've learned from making the souls games.

[Greatoneshere]

MechSouls is back finally. Been wanting them to bring back Armored Core for so long. Time for deep, deep mech stat min/maxing (like the old games). Very curious to see how this one turns out. Interesting to see a direct sequel to Armored Core 5. 

[skillzdadirecta]

2 hours ago, Moa said:

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. I think I played two armored core games and had a lot of fun with both, but even for the time the mission design was incredibly bland. From has obviously grown a shit ton since then, and it'll be cool to see what this game is like if they apply some of the lessons they've learned from making the souls games.

Agreed. I'm REALLY curious to see what a modern armored core game will look like. I fully expect co-op and pvp to be included. That said I expect the game will STILL be pretty niche. Armored Core 4 was completely online right? I think I only played Armored Core one and two and one of the expansions. What system did Armored Core 5 come out for?

[legend]

Maybe this will be the first From game I like? I keep hoping.

[Mr.Vic20]

Just now, legend said:

Maybe this will be the first From game I like? I keep hoping.

This is how I feel about Rockstar games! I buy, and try, to make myself like them but I never do! 

[Keyser_Soze]

30 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

This is how I feel about Rockstar games! I buy, and try, to make myself like them but I never do! 

 

Not even Table Tennis? You monster!

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

[Mr.Vic20]

40 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Not even Table Tennis? You monster!

Not even table tennis. I'm sorry! 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Exclusive: The First Armored Core 6 Details With Hidetaka Miyazaki and Masaru Yamamura - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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In an exclusive new interview with IGN, FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki and Masaru Yamamura.

 

Quote

 

It’s easy to forget that FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki got his start working not on Dark Souls or Demon’s Souls, but Armored Core – the dense and gritty multiplayer mech series that defined the studio’s identity for almost a decade. Having decided to pursue a career as a game designer after playing Ico, Miyazaki’s first project was Armored Core: Last Raven, which was released in the heyday of the PS2 in 2004.

 

Looking back on Armored Core 4, which marked his directorial debut, Miyazaki muses in an exclusive new interview with IGN, “[It] was a time when I had to learn a lot in regard to both the technical aspect and the design aspect of game development. So you could really call it my starting point for game development.”

 

Since then, FromSoftware has established itself as the Soulsborne studio, reeling off hits like Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. It reached its apex with Elden Ring, which was released to rave reviews and went on to sell 17.5 million units. So how do you follow what is generally regarded as the best game of 2022…and possibly one of the best games of all time? For Miyazaki, it’s by rewinding the clock.

 

Announced during last week’s Game Awards, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is another fresh start for the series, this time setting its action on a remote planet called Rubicon 3 – a world where companies and organizations battle over a “mysterious new substance” that causes a planet-wide catastrophe. Miyazaki himself is largely taking a step back from this project (he jokes that he’s excited to play as a fan), instead providing the concept to Dark Souls veteran Masaru Yamamura, who previously served as Sekiro’s lead designer.

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

So sounding more like a classic AC game than anything having to do with a souls game, which is what I had initially assumed. Just because all they've made is those type of games for years doesn't mean they'd revive this game and do the same.

 

Quote

IGN: Is it fair to say that Armored Core VI will be closer to the Soulsborne games than the series has been in the past?

 

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.

 

[Greatoneshere]

It doesn't need Soulsborne mechanics - Armored Core was already a hard game with a lot of stat tracking. It was Dark Souls before Dark Souls. You don't need the respawn/death mechanic specifically, just make the game hard with intense mech battles. I'm sure it'll just be more (hopefully great) Armored Core. 

 

As to how this game fits in, wasn't AC4 a reboot?

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Greatoneshere said:

It doesn't need Soulsborne mechanics - Armored Core was already a hard game with a lot of stat tracking. It was Dark Souls before Dark Souls. You don't need the respawn/death mechanic specifically, just make the game hard with intense mech battles. I'm sure it'll just be more (hopefully great) Armored Core.

 

Indeed and I almost mentioned the thing about the difficulty myself. I look forward to playing one of these with a modern control scheme. As I mentioned earlier the last one I played was the one on the PS2 and don't remember much but the old games you had to look up and down with the triggers I believe.

[Keyser_Soze]

Missed this, I guess it was from a couple of weeks ago it's just a long interview.

 

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Someone pulled the game's key art from the Xbox marketplace:

 

 

Also, the game has been rated in Korea:

 

[skillzdadirecta]

So where thinking summer release?

[Xbob42]

There were a lot of mech games when I was a kid, and I don't recall liking very many of them. Is this one of those ones where you spend like 30 minutes in a menu putting little parts on the mech? Cause I hate that shit. It's just a better looking Gummi Ship from Kingdom Hearts!

Now, if it's just choosing a few parts and changing them out like gear, I'm cool with that and am interested.

 

What's a good Armored Core to try out for someone who may or may not have played some of these games in the past, has no memory of them specifically, but wants to give it a shot?

[Keyser_Soze]

I started going through these from the first game, which I have played in the past. And AC2. I tried From Answer for a bit and it felt weird. But I do want to try them all before the new one hits.

 

8 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

There were a lot of mech games when I was a kid, and I don't recall liking very many of them. Is this one of those ones where you spend like 30 minutes in a menu putting little parts on the mech? Cause I hate that shit. It's just a better looking Gummi Ship from Kingdom Hearts!

 

You only choose the head, arms, legs, torso and weapons but you don't have to. But you probably should because the whole idea of the game is to make money to buy more powerful parts.

 

10 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

What's a good Armored Core to try out for someone who may or may not have played some of these games in the past, has no memory of them specifically, but wants to give it a shot?

 

Depends on how archaic you like them. If you go back to the originals you might have to tweak the controls. Back then there was no dual analog controls so looking up and down was controlled with the triggers. Duckstation has retro achievements for them that include leaderboard times so if you care about something like that, try it out.

 

I eagerly await you having a multi page thread shitting on the game though.

[Xbob42]

8 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

You only choose the head, arms, legs, torso and weapons but you don't have to. But you probably should because the whole idea of the game is to make money to buy more powerful parts.

 

 

Depends on how archaic you like them. If you go back to the originals you might have to tweak the controls. Back then there was no dual analog controls so looking up and down was controlled with the triggers. Duckstation has retro achievements for them that include leaderboard times so if you care about something like that, try it out.

 

I eagerly await you having a multi page thread shitting on the game though.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

 

And I only shit on it if it's bad! 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

Thanks, I'll give that a shot.

 

And I only shit on it if it's bad! 

 

If you like it you'll just have multi page good shits.

[Dre801]

Will be playing day one.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

So where thinking summer release?

 

That's a fair assumption.

[Greatoneshere]

On 4/19/2023 at 7:30 AM, Xbob42 said:

There were a lot of mech games when I was a kid, and I don't recall liking very many of them. Is this one of those ones where you spend like 30 minutes in a menu putting little parts on the mech? Cause I hate that shit. It's just a better looking Gummi Ship from Kingdom Hearts!

Now, if it's just choosing a few parts and changing them out like gear, I'm cool with that and am interested.

 

What's a good Armored Core to try out for someone who may or may not have played some of these games in the past, has no memory of them specifically, but wants to give it a shot?

 

There's definitely a decent amount of stat/part tracking. Expect to spend a good amount of time in menus to maximize the abilities of your mech because many of the Armored Core games are almost Souls-level hard or worse (see SFLUFAN's earlier picture of the Armored Core franchise in this thread). Most recommend starting with Armored Core 3 on PS2 as the entry point. Armored Core's 1+2 (and their sequels) are one universe, all of Armored Core 3 is a different universe, all of Armored Core 4 is yet another universe and all of Armored Core 5 is yet another fourth alternate universe storyline. So you can jump into Armored Core 3 without worrying about the (often barebones) story/plot. I like the Armored Core games, but they are definitely for "hardcore" game players, particularly mech game fans. But AC3 is a good entry point. 

 

Going by the fanbase, the PS2 Armored Core's are by far the "best" and most popular. Those are Armored Core 2 and its expansion Another Age and Armored Core 3 and its three sequels: Silent Line, Nexus and Last Raven (Armored Core: Nine Breaker is an unconnected game on PS2 all on its own, it's good but can be ignored). If playing or emulating the PS2 Armored Core's is simply too old, you can try Armored Core 4 and/or Armored Core 5 since they are considerably newer but unfortunately they just aren't nearly as good (though it's interesting to note Armored Core 4 and its sequel (For Answer) were the first games directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki before he went on to do Demon's Souls). Armored Core 4 is just okay, but fans really loved Armored Core 4: For Answer, so if you want to get to that game it might be worth it. Either way Armored Core 5 and its sequel can be skipped entirely (but it is the newest one).

 

Armored Core 6 will be another reboot, the fifth time for this franchise.

[stepee]

4 hours ago, Xbob42 said:

There were a lot of mech games when I was a kid, and I don't recall liking very many of them. Is this one of those ones where you spend like 30 minutes in a menu putting little parts on the mech? Cause I hate that shit. It's just a better looking Gummi Ship from Kingdom Hearts!

Now, if it's just choosing a few parts and changing them out like gear, I'm cool with that and am interested.

 

What's a good Armored Core to try out for someone who may or may not have played some of these games in the past, has no memory of them specifically, but wants to give it a shot?

 

If you want to play as mechs and also have fun then you need to stick to Virtual On 

[Keyser_Soze]

I'm playing through the first one (as I said earlier) and it's a bit challenging in that in order to maximize profits (to buy new parts) you need to get hit less because you have to pay for the repairs. But it's kinda janky so you take a lot of damage most of the time so those upgrades come slow.