News: Armored Core V Site Re-boot
Posted on : 07-03-2011 | By : Cacophanus | In : News
Hardware: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
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4Gamer has a piece today about Armored Core V’s site re-boot, covering off lots of new ground regarding the operator setup. The epic 7 page Dengeki Online interview with Toshifumi Nabeshima we mentioned previously actually ties in with a lot of this new information thankfully. Specifically, operators are indeed separate from the mecha control entirely. Seeing the battlefield in map form and coordinating their team-mates. Information is actually imparted via the AC’s on the ground to the operator, so the team have to do recon basically. This was done to allow less functionally skilled, though strategically adept, players to help their team. In addition, parts and AC type balancing have been purposefully skewed to make sure that there are complimentary configs in a match. Meaning that certain configs will sympathetically outmatch one another, forcing players to work more in a team in most situations. This means that skilled players will have a harder time if they decide to go up against an AC that’s their config nemesis so to speak. Player skill is still hugely important though and apparently older players will still be able to transfer their skillset over to how ACV works. The reasoning behind this design choice was to emphasise team work in taking and holding onto territories. Despite all this Nabeshima was confident that players can still play the game in a singleplayer way (despite still being online). All in all, this is sounding more and more like ACV is going down the Monster Hunter / Lost Planet 2 route. The 4Gamer piece also has some lovely new mecha design artwork, which is suitably industrial.
Sounds interesting,I wonder which console will have the larger community?
I suspect the Xbox will have the larger community. In the circles in my area and whenever I look online outside of Japan its where alot go for their mecha games since the first xbox. Prolly why it was called mechbox as a joke…
But with PSN getting better since then and social setting improving perhaps. But I know I’ve moved mostly to my xbox for games. Although I do all my imports obviously for PS3 since its got alot of region free games.
Ehh… I don’t believe this, there was some mech exclusives for the Xbox but isn’t that because Microsoft bought the Mechwarrior license when FASA decided to get out of the market?
But I do think that English speaking community, NA, will be larger on 360, but as for the overall number of players I expect the PSN to be the largest because of Japan.
Frankly, I’m almost wishing that From ONLY releases on 360 in NA. I hope they do this for the sake of the community to keep everyone together. I mean, if you own a PS3 you can always just import to play with the Japanese if you want. Heck, I don’t even own a 360, and probably won’t for the foreseeable future. I hope From does this for the sake of the community, and to forge a cohesive online player base.
AC5 exclusive to 360 in NA. Do it FROM! :p
Worst idea ever.
Still wating for some game-play, looks good, but I have too much uncertainty about how all of this will work.
As Greg said, I would like to know which console will have more players too.
Thanks for the news 😀
So eve if the single player needs you to be online does it mean that if the ACV servres get sutdown we will never play the game again? man that sucks,
Also, having to be only all the time sucks to, what happens if people that don’t have a internet connecion for their consoles want to play?
Going the lost planet 2 route isn’t something that sounds good to me. i loved playing lost planet 2 but the story sucks big time, hope that ACV gives as a decent story mode. with characters you know not just faceless pilots, a man can dream
+1
If they don’t have an internet connection why would they want to play a game almost exclusively meant for multiplayer?
He means uninformed people that just saw a couple videos on internet and just wanted the game to play it for a little while.
Also for people that sometimes have connection problems (me for example).
Shame on the former,no shame on the later.
I think what we’ll get is something like a more refined and focused version of Chrome Hounds online war and Armored Core’s online in general. Both were very solid and the early play in Chrome Hounds was very engaging, especially when there was a large group playing. I feel that trying to make teams take a diverse mech loud-out coupled with the commander mode and view could really be something that brings people in.
Just be patient, that big article at GPARA.com mentioned that their next major update will include details on single player mode. So sit tight for a minute before you start calling foul on single player.
[ramble]
Even if its going the way of the dodo quite possibly improve the multiplayer that much more.
Though, in all honestly, if you design and balance for multiplayer first, you can then build the single player around those mechanical assumptions so that you have your cake and eat it too.
[/ramble]
Sound logic.
First AC I’ve been excited for, should try to set up a group in my “local” mech nerd group.
This is starting to remind me of the Savage games on the PC. That’s okay, since Savage is a lot of fun.
My concern is the community, the AC scene is small in NA. If after six months to a year after the game launches it might be hard to even find a populated match. Also, there is the language barrier. I don’t know about 360 but in the PSN FA multiplayer, it’s mostly Japanese — I greatly admire their love for the game, they’re just that dedicated and good. But I’ll be upset if I pick up the game a year after release and can’t communicate with anyone I’m playing with because everyone is Japanese. (Though I am a hypocrite in this regard, since I don’t play FA anywhere near as much as I should.)
Also, what makes me love AC is the 1vs1 competitive aspect of it, or duels. It seems that this isn’t going to be that type of game where one player can rule the battlefield based on how good the player is. I love games that has really high skill caps. My worry is because of the team oriented aspect of the game the amount of impact a single player has will be lost or severely mitigated.
Back to Savage, the problem with the commander in that game is that usually no one wants to play it. And playing without a commander in Savage is almost a insta loss and not fun. The operator will be behooved to have a mic as well, again, look up on PSN and communication issue as well as player population.
Those are my thoughts right now, my bad for the length.
Your first concern is simply the nature of B list games, after a year or less people go back to playing Call of Duty or Halo.There will probably be a drop in the player base but hardcore fans will stay and depending if they don’t split the game into regional servers the Japanese will be there as well.
Your second concern should be alleviated by this screenshot
http://www.armoredcore.net/acv/#/core/screenshot/page3
Also,one person NOT being able to dominate the battlefield is the entire point of a team based game.
Your third concern is valid though.I can’t see a whole lot of people lining up to sit on the sidelines but I don’t think the Commander is an optional role.The whole mic thing isn’t much of an issue though.
On the first point, all I’m saying is with teambased centered games, the less players playing, the less people will play. It has that critical playerbase mass that’s necessary for a functional online community.
On the second point what I meant to say is that I want a large gap between the worst player and a top player, that’s all.
Yeah, on the Operator role, I think it’s too early to tell. We need to know how a match is made up, and if the role is going to be optional or required. I’m thinking optional, since you wouldn’t want to enter a match and be forced to be operator. Some people simply would just prefer to pilot AC’s and not mess with that part of the game.
I don’t know the specifics of what the operator actual does. In savage, the commander handled base building and buff management to key players. The two roles might not be comparable if operator is not a necessary or overly important role.
Also, how is the operator not having a mic not an issue? The whole point of the role would be to communicate information to the other members. I don’t think a in game messaging system can replace voice chat.
Your logic sounds a little circular but you may be right on this point.
I’m sure that the skill gap still exist and has even been broaden by the team aspect.What will separate the crap players from the good will of course be their builds and how they use them but what will separate the good from the great will be the tactics they use with their teammates.
The Operator views the battle from a map screen and lays down waypoints,notifies the team of the enemies location as well as their loadout, and might be able to direct the cannons and MTs.The Operator is not God though, the information used to give orders is provided by the players in the field through a scanning mechanic.
The Operator not having a mic isn’t a problem since what idiot would be an Operator without one.The odds are at least one person out a group of five will have a mic (three on average) and I can’t see how four people are going to play a game as a team and say “yeah,we don’t need mics”.
In all, the Operator seems like a pretty important (they wouldn’t have added it if it weren’t) gameplay elements so I’m doubting it optional.
Needless to say, I think this is cancelled.
Is Cacophanus and company okay over there?
The Enterbrain fest still seems to be happening (which is at the same location as the demonstration),the banner on the main site saying when it will be happening hasn’t changed, and the streaming site has actually recieved a facelift, twitter chatbox, and still lists the same time as before.It looks like they’re giving Mother Nature a big middle finger.
Nevermind.I just put a few of the post from Twitter though Google translate and it looks like the stream is cancelled
My bad, I meant to post in the live demo thread, not the game.
I hope Cacophanus is okay, he lives in Japan doesn’t he?
Cacophanus seems to travel around a lot–no one country can contain him. Makes talking to him online awkward sometimes, because you never know which way he’s shifted in time zone.
Last I knew, he was in Britain, so hopefully he should be okay. I’m keeping him and his family in my prayers regardless. I’ve got family of my own in Japan, and while they’re okay it seems like things are really chaotic even in the parts which haven’t been affected as much.
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