Thegigabrain - TheGigaBrain

"Natsuki! I just discovered that there is a whole genre of manga with my name! Perhaps I will finally try some, you seem to have a few of the titles I saw online right here in the closet--"

"YURI, NO--"

One of the things I liked about Armored Core VI is how it really shined a light on how corporations exploit their workers, particularly by the “we aren’t a company, we’re a family” mentality.

You can really see this with both Arquebus and Balam, particularly in the Vespers and Redguns.

On the Vesper side, you clearly have a lot of dynamics going on. O’keefe cares about the people under him, as evidenced by the way Pater speaks about him in the true ending. Plus Hawkins and Pater’s relationship. There’s also Maeterlinck, who respects Snail as her superior and looks up to him. And Snail, as the firm company man who see himself as the embodiment of Arquebus, exploits ALL of this. He knowingly sends Maeterlinck to die by your hand, exploiting her loyalty. He constantly throws those under his command out on useless missions just because he can (as evidenced by the dialogue between Hawkins and Pater). He doesn’t care about anyone or anything but himself and sees himself as the true future for Arquebus.

On Balam’s side you have the Redguns. A fucked up military family lead by Michigan. Michigan knows the names of those under his command, even the grunts in MTs. He cares about everyone under his command and Balam exploits the shit out of that. The Redguns are sent on suicide missions constantly. They clearly seem to be underfunded compared to the Vespers and Balam tried to rush out ahead of Arquebus to their downfall to make up for their financial shortcomings.

The corpos don’t care though. They see the family dynamic in their Ace AC squads as another tool in their belt. ACVI is good.

Armored Core VI is like. one of the first "everyone is playing the new game that came out!" events where I'm actually one of the people. maybe my first ever. it feels odd. I like it

Prepaints by Morota

god i love that ac6 has you able to overhear enemy comms. it's so nice to actually be able to hear people talking. it's also a good reminder that you are straight up fucking murdering people for profit like holy shit it makes me feel bad to watch these people get steamrolled by an AC pilot coming out of literally fucking nowhere

most of what i've played only allowed voice over from enemy ACs/NEXTs so it's kind of chilling to hear MT/Normal pilots start to panic as you get close. it's really upsetting! i love it!!!

I’m very sorry, Laura Bailey, but my pal Thermidor asked me to kill you and your friend.

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There have been many good video game bosses. Most of them in Soulsborne games if we're being honest... But nothing will ever make me forget the first time fighting Spirit of Motherwill in Armored Core: For Answer (incidentally, also a game by From Software... go figure)

The fact that the battle begins as soon as you load into the level, how you have to dodge its long range artillery before you even get in sight of this mechanical monstrosity while you're doing mach fuck across a desert. Then once you're actually in close enough to start shooting, it's so big. IT'S SO BIG. it's only ("only") the first boss, but by now you're used to your mech needing an entire 10 lane highway to stand, towering over buildings and literally crushing huge tanks underfoot. But Motherwill... It actually takes a long time to fly around her. But of course, you won't really have time to check because there is a CONSTANT barrage of AA guns, missile salvos, tiny mechs (in comparison to you but still bigger than a Gundam) flying out of her two hangers. You need to be constantly moving in two directions and using your limited (!!!!) supply of flares to survive the onslaught, all while chipping away at her superstructure. She doesn't even have the decency to display a health bar, none of the AC:FA bosses do. But if she did, you'd realize right away (instead of 15 minutes into the fight, like me) that you literally don't have enough ammo for this. You HAVE to bring a sword because your guns, missile launchers, grenade cannons, railguns, and more will simply run out of bang bangs before Motherwill stops trying to kill you. When the victory cutscene plays, and your mech poses next to a piece of wreckage with "Motherwi" written on it, the rush comes to an end and you finally realize you were holding your breath for way too long. The mission complete screen loads up and you get paid, despairing at the repair and ammo costs, and then. Instead of returning to the hanger like usual, the chapter end cutscene plays, and you get another tidbit of lore.

And THEN, two hours later, you fight the SECOND BOSS OF THE GAME and get absolutely rinsed because oh yeah. The folks that made this game went on to create Dark Souls.

Spirit of Motherwill was the best video game boss I've ever faced, and she was only the warmup for Armored Core: For Answer. Over a decade later, I've yet to play anything that comes close to giving me such an experience.