If I'm understanding part of this video correctly, FromSoft is trying to make sure that western audiences "get" what Armored Core is about by incorporating familiar musical and cinematic elements from western media, which are analogous to or associated with themes present in the series. Something like non-verbal analogies, which definitely sounds harder to do but also easier to understand, since language might be a *barrier* to understanding in this case; it's something that's *felt* rather than *said*.
Well for what it's worth, I hope they don't sacrifice the identity of the franchise's music to achieve that affect. The music of this series is absolutely one of my favorite things about it. The eclectic mix of electronic, drum n bass, j-rock, and even some orchestral stuff by Verdict Day. Kota Hoshino is a fucking incredible composer and I want FromSoft's new fans to get an unadulterated earful of what that man's capable of. I honestly wouldn't even mind hearing some Dune or Bladerunner inspired tracks, I think that makes perfect sense for the increased scale of this production. But we shouldn't sacrifice any of the older ingredients for our new inspiration. I can absolutely imagine a version of "Herald of the Change" from Dune's OST with Armored Core instrumentation, electric guitars and synths blaring in synch with a beautiful orchestra. I'm hopeful, FromSoft haven't missed in a long time and I'm confident they don't want to alienate old fans of the series based on that IGN interview. In a perfect world, this soundtrack is everything I want and everything I didn't even know I wanted all rolled into one.
@@BobtheX A good creative knows that the identity of a work is a complex and nebulous challenge to navigate and get right, and FS is a great one. Having anticipated and played 90% of AC games as they released, this is the least fearful I’ve ever been of its development. They’ll have spent 4-7 times longer developing Rubicon than any other AC they’ve made, and judging from the trailer, it shows in spades. They’ve left no room for fear. The only thing I’m nervous about is how robust or not the PVP will be.
I'd argue Armored Core is already a pretty westernized sci-fi setting by Japanese standards. The premise almost certainly took influence from battletech.
Considering that Battletech and MechCommander and other franchises from the west are heavily political with the matters they treat, honestly, when I started playing AC for the first time years ago I was like "Yup, this is Japan's take on Battletech"
@@OCTO358 You're not kidding lol. Battletech has its charm for sure, but they're bizarre looking machines. It's no surprise the Madcat was used in all their promotions for years because it's the closest thing they had to Armored Core. Fromsoft just improved it in every way.
I hope frequency does some of the music while fromsoft does most of it. Save frequency's music for the points where it matters. Should make it a lot more impactful.
I hope Tsukasa Saitoh is involved somehow myself as well. He's one of the best at Fromsoft and has a really special sound. He did that great King's Field IV OST, and some of the best tracks in Bloodborne.
The backtrack for the teaser trailer gives me chills every time I hear the synth come in at the FromSoft logo. Not to mention, every view they show has an air of seriousness to it. The choppers, the chain-gun, the optics manipulating in the core's eye, especially the shot of that driver spike with the oil coming coming off of it. Every second screams "Look at this. Remember This. This is Armored Core." I'm excited to see what they bring forward with the game (hopefully it'll get western studios looking at giant robots again *cough* Titanfall *cough*), but FromSoft games are not just about the games, but the experience the player has while playing it, and if anything, I feel like AC6 is going to be an interesting one.
The FoR trailer music really struck a chord with me, pun intended I'm sure. The music and the color pallette of the whole thing stirs up this intense, futuristic bleakness. Lots of western sci-fi is very militarized and bleak which AC itself isn't shy of itself. So it definitely seems like a beautiful meeting of lines to be crossed.
@@serraramayfield9230 the designs? Perhaps. On a whole, it was a muddy mix of washed out browns and grays and even the cores themselves looking like they're made of plastic.
@@OCTO358 The Armoured Cores didn't look plastic to me, though you are correct about how washed out everything was. Constant blandly coloured environments will make your eyes bleed. ACV at least looked visually pleasing with its colours.
There are significant differences in mood, timbre and tempo between the bladerunner tracks and the Rubicon music to the point where I feel there's probably a better comparison/inspiration.
Different keys as well, and the music escapes the little similarity that exists as the track progresses. Most of the remaining inspiration likely comes from ACV, but stripped of its wild range of instrumentation. I can’t think of anything else.
Playing games since Commodore games. AC6 is one of the best games i ever played. Everything in this game is exactly as i love it. Art design, colors, sounds, music, story...everything. Armored Core is back.
To be honest, I thought the trailer music sounded very similar to that of Gen V, just less coarse and softer vocals. I may just be naive, but I do think and hope that this is just another development of series' music headed by Frequency.
Gotta tell you, I watch a ton of video essays on YT on a regular basis, mostly in the genre of media & culture critique and analysis, and for this being your channel's first video, you are KILLIN' IT. Keep it up, fam! 🤘
End of the day, the only thing it probably means is that it’ll be darker than ever, and that they want to remove once-and-for-all the comic book superhero association that anime mech often evokes for viewers in America and Europe.
@@b.e.wooten dont think it can be darker than 4fa nor "appealing to westerners" should mean going darker or brighter in tone for fromsoft, as both Zin and Miyazaki stated, they simple both like to make worlds that are dark and entire fromsoft team shares that
Honestly, when you get to the parallels between Armored Core VI and the Terminator films in regards to colors we’ve seen, you started making it sound like From Software is some kind of Sci-fi Artificial Intelligence analyzing the world like Skynet, and then developing new ideas based off of those observations.
The more I watch the new trailer, the more it feels that Appleseed were a big influence in the designs (the movies, at least). As a japanese take on the post-apocalyptic western trope, it sure feel fitting.
Hi, would be a great idea to revisit this topic now that the full soundtrack has been released. Tracks such as "The Man Who Passed The Torch" has distinctly Blade Runner synths at 1:50 & 2:20 parts of the song. Most of the other tracks also retain those bit-sounds we often associate with 2010 futuristic games and arcade games so the spirit of AC is still there and the westernization works imo in great favor to the overall atmosphere and theme of this Armored Core. Its good to hear Kota Hoshino back in his element, accompanied by the talented Takashi Onodera and Shoi Miyazawa, as well as their vocalists.
Omg, if they used Blade Runner as the inspiration for the soundtrack, AC FoR is going to be epic. Also, amazing 80's cut at the end, got chills of how perfect they sync, god I miss 80's oldskool anime.
Love you brought the popularity of mecha genre in the intro, it's that underrated as it's niche genre, hell Im still even waiting for Gundam Breakers 3 or NEXT to be ported in PC. AC6 being not an exclusive game is a big step forward when it comes to opening potential playerbase.
I've been a mecha fan the moment we saw Macross/Robotech on tv when we were kids. fell in love with Battletech from then to today. but Armored Core captured the original fast-paced Japanese style of combat & nimbleness plus the customization of Gran Tourismo of PS1. I can't agree more about the SFX being a gigantic contributor to gameplay. the famous AWP of Counter-Strike can be credited for the game's longevity and influence in countless games. your video analysis is amazing, thank you for putting this together. the Blade Runner OST always gets me. subbed!
A lot of that first trailer definitely made me think of 2049 and it's focus on "brutality" as Villenuve put it. Both Armored Core and the cyberpunk genre (which I'd pretty much consider Blade Runner a part of) have a huge focus on gigantic uncaring corporate entities consuming people as cogs in a bigger machine, to the point where the human element disappears and you might forget what being human is in the first place.
Very well made. Fromsoft has demonstrated to make high quality games of various genres. I hope AC6 would finally kill the "niche" stigma people has towards mecha
Hard disagree, his music examples of previous armored core evidence is absolutely biased toward proving his point. Both armored core 4 and 5 have trailers with the style of music from armored 6. The music for armored core Rubicon is very much like the armored core V cinematic trailer.
Lol its a 14 minute video that just says "The music in the new Armored Core trailer is very similar to the Blade Runner soundtrack". Not exactly cutting edge analysis...
@@loganemmert1392 no he use that as an example of how he gonna predict FromSoft direction with the game. I said it is the best but I never said it is the most accurate video analysis. This is very similar of how soul fan supposes to enjoy the game guess and predict the game in their own way. Even if he is wrong it is still an entertaining video to watch
"Whatever they decide to do, I have faith they'll make the right choices". This seems to always be the biggest take when analysing FromSoft's game design. There's always so much more going on that what meets the eye(or ear), and they've proven that they just get it and manage to nail it every time.
the music on this game feels to me like a mixture of blade runne and the second most recent game, Armored Core V and Veredict Day. it has the same, heavy and gritty drum style, but with the addition of the sythwave style as well.
One thing I’d like to mention and correct, is that the true western analog to anime mecha is comic book superheroes (in the minds of average Americans,) and even though AC has always been dark, that association still lingers. I think this is something FromSoft wants to kill once-and-for-all, and is why I suspect they looked for western sci-fi that featured mechs and robots so that western audiences not warm to mecha would see dark science fiction, rather than the corny idea of mecha they might’ve acquired elsewhere.
Blade Runner's themes of transhumanism and cyberpunk corpo-dictatorship also really resonate so well with Armored Core. i believe that you're spot on with the analysis. the chord progression of the clip you showed and the rest of the score for the trailer (with the heavily edited humming) just FIT
@@b.e.wooten exactly. it's just too much of a coincidence to not be an actual inspiration of the devs. hope you're also pumped for the Feb. 2 Taipei Game Show showcase!
@@TR-qf2gt if they mention Blade Runner it'll blow up maybe, haha, but I seriously doubt they will. However it'll be great content for follow up videos until the release.
I don't really think it's really the franchise or the genre's fault that westerners can't really distinguish real robot from super robot, they're going to have to do a lot to kill that notion. Even Titanfall kind of suffered from this and it's not even from Japanese developers.
I don't mind the tone and style of the series changing, as long as the core concept stays intact. It's changed a lot over the past 5 generations and if more western influences will help the series thrive I welcome it. All I want is more Armored Core.
Armored Core was always a slightly more "Western" style of mecha setting, if only because of the slower, bulkier feel of the machines. Japanese mecha tend to be flashier and more fast-paced (see Gundam for example). I always felt that AC was right in the middle between something like Zone of the Enders and Battletech.
I've heard over the years of people dissing western influence. They think that something like Armored Core would simply be ruined by any amount of that. As you said, the souls games did just that but those turned out great, especially terms of theming. Westernization if Armored Core could be big or small, good or bad, but just like you I have faith in them to do it right whatever course they may take. I've loved all of the AC games, even 5 and VD, but the new trailer got me so hyped. God I hope they give us at least a drop of gameplay, 2 seconds even, during that event a week from now. My only concern is the music-- I say that still expecting to fully enjoy it no matter how it goes, but I really want the same people to return to do the music. If it's good, it's good, but I'm dying to find out more. Regardless, this was a good video and I like your voice. I've been absorbing all of the AC related content I can in anticipation
I don't mind AC6's music. Stuff like Rusted Pride and Contact With You are fantastic but it really feels like the soundtracks lost so much unique identity compared to previous games.
The old games’ music were much more like a collection of tracks from a dj/rock band, whereas AC6 was made like a film score. There is overlap in the end result, but the overall sound seems to lean toward the latter. Film scores certainly include lots of down time that doesn’t exist in “albums.” I’m also not opposed to musicless areas of the game, and even think that silence is undervalued as a tool for gamer experience, so I don’t mind that there’s lots of sound-space that’s low-key. I wonder if the same people who weren’t moved by the music in AC6 are the same who only listen to purely musical works, and not film scores. I think I feel about the same as you, except for feeling like it lost its identify. Feels more like a paradigm shift, but with the same motifs.
I don't care what they do, as long as it's an outstanding Armored Core game and more people give AC the attention it deserves. This replaced Legend of Zelda as my most anticipated game once it was announced.
I do like how the new music so far seems less like the techno with chanting choirs we're used to and more like hybrid espionage with a lot of synth brass. It's a bit of a shock but I get it. Less violins, more violence!
The music also seems inspired by the sounds of an AC. Similarly, the composer for Terminator used unlikely instruments such as sheet metal and trash cans to allow the music to feel like an extension of the antagonist T-800 itself.
I'm not sure this is quite From's first time doing this. Last Raven's soundtrack had occasional moments of this sort of movielike synth, and watching the video I especially had its intro in mind.
Nice video, I just wanted to add that the story seems to be inspired by Dune. The fight for resources on planet Rubicon 3 is very similar to Dune's planet Arrakis that produces the special resource 'Melange'.
I heard about them calling it Melange in early development as well. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was on their reference board, but the similarities might end with it being a red-colored scarce fuel resource (though it was only used as fuel in Dune by navigators, who didn’t “fuel” a literal engine but instead their own mind, with which they bent space.) Who knows though-perhaps there will be a Human-Plus angle to it, and it will share even more similarities with Spice Melange. Edit: The new Dune also wasn't released until 2021, four years after FromSoft had already started and were beyond the conceptual phase, so though it's in the neighborhood I don't think they put that much stock in it as a reference-maybe a nod toward it at the most.
@@b.e.wooten I agree with you that the reference might end there. I just thought it was interesting that they had called the resource 'Melange' in the beginning of the production. Nevertheless, the release date of the new Dune movie does not matter as the information is already there from the books.
@@jegyoj.166 Yea, it’s been around a very long time. I had a hard time deciding what to include in the video and what was too deep of a rabbit hole to mention. I decided to address only what was present in the trailer against the interviews, as well SFX as an “honorable mention,” but in hindsight I ought to have mentioned the melange and moved on, reserving the bulk of it for another video pending new information about the game.
Absolutely amazing video. Like, just out of the blue comes this guy and posts one of the most interesting and well put together trailer analisys *yet* . Bravo, instant sub!
Original armoured core came out in 97 I believe. By this point, at least the high profile anime movies AKIRA and Ghost in the Shell were both well known in the west, and the subculture was sizable and influential.
It is known: Synth = Blade Runner. Seriously though, I hope FreQuency pick it up where they left off. Armored Core's soundtracks were only ever rivaled by Ace Combat's, and that's a damn impressive thing.
What a refreshingly skeptical yet positive take on this. Everyone liked the music, but I don't recall anyone articulating the obvious cyberpunkinator vibes it has, while also keeping that uncanny AC mecha mysticism. I specifically recall some people opining it was somewhat "Black Metal", of all things! So, this is a very welcome tone to the speculation on what AC6 might soon offer. Distinct audio issues with the voice though, which ended up being apt in a discussion about metahuman mecha aesthetics, oddly enough!
Haha! The voiceover was definitely the most difficult part, and it shows. I’ve been looking at better mics. Someone in here even thought it was a synthesized voice, but alas, just me. 🤖🤖
The part that hit the hardest was when the final armored core mech puts on the visor and blasts out of screen, that hit so hard I was sold almost immediately on a franchise I already loved.
As a composer and player, I *love* FreQency and hope they come back for AC6! The music from the Rubicon trailer instantly struck me by how amazing it fits the whole vibe of the darker, dystopian parts in the series and lore. Especially the second part of the track that enhances the dark cyberpunky mood with a choir, then adds such an intensity together with the visuals. Absolute S-Tier. 🥺 I'm so hyped for the game.
Good video, I still hope they don't shy away from mecha trope too much though, specifically real robot tropes. Part of why I love Armored Core so much was basically because it's a real robot anime you can play.
You must have seen my top comment on Bandai Namco reveal trailer 🤣🤣 it is 100% inspired by Blade Runner - no mistake either / by design to be sure, and it’s not just the music although it is most prevalent there - the art design and the muted tones of the visuals with bursts of color - the shot of the mech being lowered with the red lense flare could be right out of Ridley Scott’s original - they nailed it. The most exciting thing about AC6 is you have this incredibly talented studio now emboldened by the massive success of Elden Ring, along with what is sure to be a massive injection of capital and man power - I expect From at the peak of their power with AC6 and a level of polish to be found we have yet to see from any FS game. They still have 6 months or longer to polish and have hired a massive amount of new talent. Great video! Can’t wait!
This is such a good video. When I heard your promt at the start, I was so suprised to see an 18 minute video and not a longer one because this is the type of thing people really draw out. Each edit was eye opening and I'd really be interested in this kind of dive from you into the inspirations when the game comes out. Also Sci-fi Tatoo Artist? That sounds pretty cool as well!
This video is amazing! I’d head back to watch the trailer after this video and all clicked in it’s very own place. My compliment for this amazing video, the production quality is insane
The similarities between the music were astounding to me. Regardless of their intend everything just clicks together so nicely in the trailer. And I PRAY that they manage to pull it off because god does it look good.
I wonder how much an influence Battletech had on AC. That's what I think of when it comes to western mechs. Admittedly, there is cross over even there, if you look into the history of the "unseen" mechs.
I’m cool with them taking inspirations from the west but what makes eastern sci-fi unique is their own culture. I mean Akira and ghost in the shell , and even vampire hunter D are great. So hopefully they use a blend of cultures and not just copy the west.
It's no surprise that they are putting in the quality for AC 6's sound quality. Listen to Elden Ring with a decent set of speakers or speakerbar. I havent heard sound in game this good since I played Deadspace 1. They clearly put sound on par with visuals which always makes for a wonderful experience. Many skimp on sound, but take a colossal weapon in Elden Ring and smack some furniture or a destructible object. It sounds amazing, like I really just destroyed wood and metal with a giant sword. I cant wait to try this game out. I watched some Gundam as a kid but it wasn't until after I got out of the military that I really enjoyed Mechanized warfare. I was an M2A2 Bradley driver. I got into Mechwarrior and tried to play more of the AC games afterwards as well.
Man I hope you’re right. Chunky and brutal sound design is all I’ve ever wanted added to armored core… aside from the shoulder-fired cannons and missile pods from the AC3 days
Blade Runner music has this "peace in desolation" feeling - I think it would be a hint on how ACVI's story and theme is presented, maybe more "personal" to the protagonist.
I’d feel vindicated if there’s a big twist where you discover you were a human+ already, and were unaware you were a manipulated pawn in the game until later. That’s pretty much a parallel to Deckard discovering he was a replicant.
Hell of a video man and that’s a fantastic ear you have. I watched your video and went back and watched the Bandai Namco trailer and man, you’re spot on with your assessment. I wonder what motivated FromSoft to use similar syn like Blade Runner used.
I felt like I misused “westernization” due to its use in these political climates, but it was much shorter to say than “europeans and americans.” Not sure what you’re referring to by real mecha though, which goes back as far as 1956 in japanese manga (Gigantor) and featured, you might guess, a child protagonist.
@@b.e.wooten there are two main sub-genres of mecha. Supers are, well, magic, while real tend to be, if not realistic , at least plausible. Rise of real mecha started with og gundam and Macross but it's high was in the eighties, right next to the western dark futurism, going neck to neck with it in bleakness of future visions. For me, Rubicon is going back to the roots of this particular niche - japanese animation, science fiction really, cyberpunk especially, *borrowed* alot from the West, or came to the same ideas at roughly the same time. This trailer gave me shivers for a very simple reason - it felt like, after roughly three decade, I was coming home.
Both 80’s anime mecha and dark western sci-fi totally shared bleak war-torn visions of the future, you’re right. The only difference being their respective lineages, even if one did borrow from the other… it was enough to separate them in the mind of the average American/European consumer, especially since one was always animated. Now, enough time has passed, works evolved, and graphical prowess has grown strong enough to possibly close that gap. I definitely don’t mean to say that Armored Core will be losing anything at all, mostly because of the reasons you listed. These connections already existed, which was one of the points I should have made in the closing statement. I’m glad you pointed this out.
@@b.e.wooten "These connections already existed, which was one of the points I should have made in the closing statement. I’m glad you pointed this out." Welp all the more reason to make a follow up video or more content in general. I'll be really looking forward to that.
I know the association of wars over resources and America is on all of our minds, but I never said anything about that. This is about the flavor of music.
This is such a well put together video. I'm keeping a close eye on it because I feel like your channel will grow so much off this one video. Hell you've already got 10 more subs than you had yesterday when I watched this video! including one from me. Edit: This is just cool to observe and watch. Your first video and its been getting over 1k views a day and you've quadrupled in subs since I first saw this video!
It’s pretty wild to watch for me too! Coming from Instagram where posts will be get crushed if they don’t perform well enough in the first hour, TH-cam’s algorithm is very refreshing.
AC is weighty and dark. I can feel the scale come through in the tailer, that feel of speed combined with weight, and the old games had a very anti corporate message, and that seems like it would be popular for obvious reasons.
According to the IGN interview, the story seems to be inspired by Dune. Specifically the fight for a particular substance that can advance tech. The interview says you'll be a solo pilot looking to gun for it for yourself before the rebels or corporations can get it. Though, that mcguffin trope has been used in AC 4 with it being the reason for the primal ACs being a thing and so strong compared to older ACs.
Saw that. There are also ancient AC6 documents that call it Melange, much like spice melange. I think if it’s going to resemble spice in the final game, rather than kojima particles, it’ll have to have some connection to human-plus (AC1) and pilot themselves, and act as something more than just an energy source. I find this to be unlikely at the moment, but we’ll see as new information comes out.
@@b.e.wooten There's also the opportunity in sequel games for alien invasion wars, cause space. Pulling from Starcraft/warhammer40k. It's a surprisingly exciting time for AC, where as 4 and 5 gen were pretty stale to me. Them pulling in western inspiration can lead to some very epic games if done right.
i think what matters is where they draw western inspiration from. for example ac5 seems like it was drawing from the west too with the modern milatary shooter craze and at the time with it's aesthetics and colour scheme, hell the intro compared to 4 and for answer really shows that difference of how prevalent that influence was, if the mechs weren't there you'd think it was a trailer for a war film in Irag or Afghanistan, i think many can agree it wasn't a great approach, i agree with you they likely took inspiration from western stuff with 6 too, but this time something richer like blade runner, terminator and based on what we know of the story on interviews and leaks, dune.
Grew up loving Gundam (UC universe). Wing is WAY too melodramatic. Loved Armored Core because it felt like I was playing Gundam before actual Gundam games came to the US. Can't wait for this game and your video here is excellent exploring it's inheritance.
"Ashen Blues and Nuclear Reds" is the most metal way to describe armored cores aesthetic I've ever heard. The prose of this video was an absolute joy to listen to!
Except it was never the "armored cores aesthetic". I sure hope it's just a stylistic choice for the trailer and the actual game won't look anything like it.
@@OCTO358 The aesthetic varies from game to game. As far as I know, the only one with washed-out colours was AC4 and ACFA. Every other AC game had a standard colour pallet suitable for the environment. Some AC games had missions in verdant green forests, after all.
Still watching video might cover it, but I've always loved that synth-y feeling of armored core, AC3's music honestly sounds amazing and conveyed so much emotion even as a kid I felt like the music fit the theme so well
I am american. HOWEVER I DO want the themes in Elden Ring and Dark Souls. I want to experience a sense of realism and futurism from a JAPANESE point of view. This is why I like so much the games produced by From Software. The more rare, non western, extraneous and foreign these games look and feel giving a good game play experience, the BETTER. I want From Software takes their time in this one and RELEASE THE GAME ONLY FOR THE PS5 and next generation of PC. I don't want a PS4 hold them back. This game must show all of its glory and intricate detail it deserves DURING gameplay.
This sounds like a semantics obstacle. See… a Japanese creator can’t give any other POV than their own Japanese one. It’s just impossible to do anything else. Add to that, Souls is entirely western in inspiration and subject matter. By the logic you presented, you’re looking for Sekiro or Miyazaki’s rumored “very abstract” next game. If anything, ACVI is much more purely Japanese than Souls could ever be. But instead of knight armor and gothic castles, they’re using much more subtle inspirations from the west, like the timbre of synth used in Blade Runner.
I also got a serious Terminator vibe and not just because of the fire, but because of the face on the mech and the soundtrack... That sounds very similar to OG Terminator ost in the futuristic scenes.
It's actually kind of funny you bring this up. When the trailer came out the music immediately reminded me of "Nebula" by Dance With The Dead, and wondered how a track like that might feel in an AC game. If your theory is correct and they're leaning into some 80's synth for this game, that might end up not being too far from the truth.
Just took a listen, and can’t believe I never heard of this group before! Also, I found another clue yesterday to it’s retro inspirations: armoredcore.net’s background has a CRT scanline effect! Hahaha.
If I'm understanding part of this video correctly, FromSoft is trying to make sure that western audiences "get" what Armored Core is about by incorporating familiar musical and cinematic elements from western media, which are analogous to or associated with themes present in the series. Something like non-verbal analogies, which definitely sounds harder to do but also easier to understand, since language might be a *barrier* to understanding in this case; it's something that's *felt* rather than *said*.
You said it best! Thank you so much for rephrasing it that way.
Well for what it's worth, I hope they don't sacrifice the identity of the franchise's music to achieve that affect. The music of this series is absolutely one of my favorite things about it. The eclectic mix of electronic, drum n bass, j-rock, and even some orchestral stuff by Verdict Day. Kota Hoshino is a fucking incredible composer and I want FromSoft's new fans to get an unadulterated earful of what that man's capable of. I honestly wouldn't even mind hearing some Dune or Bladerunner inspired tracks, I think that makes perfect sense for the increased scale of this production. But we shouldn't sacrifice any of the older ingredients for our new inspiration. I can absolutely imagine a version of "Herald of the Change" from Dune's OST with Armored Core instrumentation, electric guitars and synths blaring in synch with a beautiful orchestra. I'm hopeful, FromSoft haven't missed in a long time and I'm confident they don't want to alienate old fans of the series based on that IGN interview. In a perfect world, this soundtrack is everything I want and everything I didn't even know I wanted all rolled into one.
@@BobtheX A good creative knows that the identity of a work is a complex and nebulous challenge to navigate and get right, and FS is a great one. Having anticipated and played 90% of AC games as they released, this is the least fearful I’ve ever been of its development. They’ll have spent 4-7 times longer developing Rubicon than any other AC they’ve made, and judging from the trailer, it shows in spades. They’ve left no room for fear. The only thing I’m nervous about is how robust or not the PVP will be.
I think is way more simple: just implementing realism instead of playing a unicorn pink gundam with flashy wings.
Music really is the universal language
I'd argue Armored Core is already a pretty westernized sci-fi setting by Japanese standards. The premise almost certainly took influence from battletech.
And I wouldn’t argue against that.
Considering that Battletech and MechCommander and other franchises from the west are heavily political with the matters they treat, honestly, when I started playing AC for the first time years ago I was like "Yup, this is Japan's take on Battletech"
Well, the designs look better than in Battletech, that's for sure
@@OCTO358 You're not kidding lol. Battletech has its charm for sure, but they're bizarre looking machines. It's no surprise the Madcat was used in all their promotions for years because it's the closest thing they had to Armored Core. Fromsoft just improved it in every way.
@@OCTO358 nope, I like my mechs tanky and militaristic,
Armored Cores look goofy as hell
I hope that frequency makes the music and oshino the sound design, those people are on another level
I hope frequency does some of the music while fromsoft does most of it.
Save frequency's music for the points where it matters. Should make it a lot more impactful.
@@utisti4976 better be all of the music
I hope Tsukasa Saitoh is involved somehow myself as well. He's one of the best at Fromsoft and has a really special sound. He did that great King's Field IV OST, and some of the best tracks in Bloodborne.
@@utisti4976 You realize FreQuency are all fromsoft empolyees right?
I hope it won't sound like anything from AC4 or AC4A.
The backtrack for the teaser trailer gives me chills every time I hear the synth come in at the FromSoft logo. Not to mention, every view they show has an air of seriousness to it. The choppers, the chain-gun, the optics manipulating in the core's eye, especially the shot of that driver spike with the oil coming coming off of it. Every second screams "Look at this. Remember This. This is Armored Core."
I'm excited to see what they bring forward with the game (hopefully it'll get western studios looking at giant robots again *cough* Titanfall *cough*), but FromSoft games are not just about the games, but the experience the player has while playing it, and if anything, I feel like AC6 is going to be an interesting one.
There’s a prodigy song called clim literally have the main sinth
Pretty sure it wasn't oil, but rather the blood of another pilot
The FoR trailer music really struck a chord with me, pun intended I'm sure. The music and the color pallette of the whole thing stirs up this intense, futuristic bleakness. Lots of western sci-fi is very militarized and bleak which AC itself isn't shy of itself. So it definitely seems like a beautiful meeting of lines to be crossed.
I hope it won't be as bland visually as AC4 or 5.
@@OCTO358 4 looked slick tho
@@serraramayfield9230 the designs? Perhaps. On a whole, it was a muddy mix of washed out browns and grays and even the cores themselves looking like they're made of plastic.
@@OCTO358 The Armoured Cores didn't look plastic to me, though you are correct about how washed out everything was. Constant blandly coloured environments will make your eyes bleed. ACV at least looked visually pleasing with its colours.
Lol bleak colors isnt western lmfao. Even seen ghost in the shells?
There are significant differences in mood, timbre and tempo between the bladerunner tracks and the Rubicon music to the point where I feel there's probably a better comparison/inspiration.
Different keys as well, and the music escapes the little similarity that exists as the track progresses. Most of the remaining inspiration likely comes from ACV, but stripped of its wild range of instrumentation. I can’t think of anything else.
Playing games since Commodore games. AC6 is one of the best games i ever played. Everything in this game is exactly as i love it. Art design, colors, sounds, music, story...everything. Armored Core is back.
To be honest, I thought the trailer music sounded very similar to that of Gen V, just less coarse and softer vocals. I may just be naive, but I do think and hope that this is just another development of series' music headed by Frequency.
Gotta tell you, I watch a ton of video essays on YT on a regular basis, mostly in the genre of media & culture critique and analysis, and for this being your channel's first video, you are KILLIN' IT. Keep it up, fam! 🤘
I legitimately don't hope it has been over-westernized.
End of the day, the only thing it probably means is that it’ll be darker than ever, and that they want to remove once-and-for-all the comic book superhero association that anime mech often evokes for viewers in America and Europe.
@@b.e.wooten dont think it can be darker than 4fa nor "appealing to westerners" should mean going darker or brighter in tone for fromsoft, as both Zin and Miyazaki stated, they simple both like to make worlds that are dark and entire fromsoft team shares that
@@Kubadaniels Dark may have been an obtuse and bland word choice on my part.
@@b.e.wooten Removing the comic book superhero association that anime mech often evokes is extremely lame though
@@BxnnyBride No it isn't lame, any move away from capeshit is progress in my books
The feeling of Blade Runner being in ACVI was remarked on pretty accurately in this video.
Honestly, when you get to the parallels between Armored Core VI and the Terminator films in regards to colors we’ve seen, you started making it sound like From Software is some kind of Sci-fi Artificial Intelligence analyzing the world like Skynet, and then developing new ideas based off of those observations.
The more I watch the new trailer, the more it feels that Appleseed were a big influence in the designs (the movies, at least). As a japanese take on the post-apocalyptic western trope, it sure feel fitting.
Hi, would be a great idea to revisit this topic now that the full soundtrack has been released. Tracks such as "The Man Who Passed The Torch" has distinctly Blade Runner synths at 1:50 & 2:20 parts of the song. Most of the other tracks also retain those bit-sounds we often associate with 2010 futuristic games and arcade games so the spirit of AC is still there and the westernization works imo in great favor to the overall atmosphere and theme of this Armored Core. Its good to hear Kota Hoshino back in his element, accompanied by the talented Takashi Onodera and Shoi Miyazawa, as well as their vocalists.
Also, the AC6 menu theme reminds me of Terminator.
Omg, if they used Blade Runner as the inspiration for the soundtrack, AC FoR is going to be epic.
Also, amazing 80's cut at the end, got chills of how perfect they sync, god I miss 80's oldskool anime.
Thanks man, glad you sat for the whole thing! I miss the 80s and 90s of anime myself.
Love you brought the popularity of mecha genre in the intro, it's that underrated as it's niche genre, hell Im still even waiting for Gundam Breakers 3 or NEXT to be ported in PC. AC6 being not an exclusive game is a big step forward when it comes to opening potential playerbase.
I've been a mecha fan the moment we saw Macross/Robotech on tv when we were kids. fell in love with Battletech from then to today. but Armored Core captured the original fast-paced Japanese style of combat & nimbleness plus the customization of Gran Tourismo of PS1. I can't agree more about the SFX being a gigantic contributor to gameplay. the famous AWP of Counter-Strike can be credited for the game's longevity and influence in countless games. your video analysis is amazing, thank you for putting this together. the Blade Runner OST always gets me. subbed!
I never played CS but just watched a comparison between 2013 and 2017 AWP SFX. That’s insane!
A lot of that first trailer definitely made me think of 2049 and it's focus on "brutality" as Villenuve put it. Both Armored Core and the cyberpunk genre (which I'd pretty much consider Blade Runner a part of) have a huge focus on gigantic uncaring corporate entities consuming people as cogs in a bigger machine, to the point where the human element disappears and you might forget what being human is in the first place.
Absolutely incredible video. I was already excited for this game, it's how I found this afterall, but you somehow have me even more hyped now.
The hype is so powerful in me that I had to make these. SO pumped.
Very well made. Fromsoft has demonstrated to make high quality games of various genres. I hope AC6 would finally kill the "niche" stigma people has towards mecha
this is probably the best Armor Core 6 analysis video since the the trailer drop.
Hard disagree, his music examples of previous armored core evidence is absolutely biased toward proving his point. Both armored core 4 and 5 have trailers with the style of music from armored 6. The music for armored core Rubicon is very much like the armored core V cinematic trailer.
@@closm1180 not really.
Lol its a 14 minute video that just says "The music in the new Armored Core trailer is very similar to the Blade Runner soundtrack". Not exactly cutting edge analysis...
@@loganemmert1392 no he use that as an example of how he gonna predict FromSoft direction with the game. I said it is the best but I never said it is the most accurate video analysis. This is very similar of how soul fan supposes to enjoy the game guess and predict the game in their own way. Even if he is wrong it is still an entertaining video to watch
"Whatever they decide to do, I have faith they'll make the right choices". This seems to always be the biggest take when analysing FromSoft's game design. There's always so much more going on that what meets the eye(or ear), and they've proven that they just get it and manage to nail it every time.
the music on this game feels to me like a mixture of blade runne and the second most recent game, Armored Core V and Veredict Day. it has the same, heavy and gritty drum style, but with the addition of the sythwave style as well.
One thing I’d like to mention and correct, is that the true western analog to anime mecha is comic book superheroes (in the minds of average Americans,) and even though AC has always been dark, that association still lingers. I think this is something FromSoft wants to kill once-and-for-all, and is why I suspect they looked for western sci-fi that featured mechs and robots so that western audiences not warm to mecha would see dark science fiction, rather than the corny idea of mecha they might’ve acquired elsewhere.
Blade Runner's themes of transhumanism and cyberpunk corpo-dictatorship also really resonate so well with Armored Core. i believe that you're spot on with the analysis. the chord progression of the clip you showed and the rest of the score for the trailer (with the heavily edited humming) just FIT
@@TR-qf2gt If you mean 6:49, that was 100% unbroken audio from the film (as well as the impact at 6:36). Just happened to have the perfect timing.
@@b.e.wooten exactly. it's just too much of a coincidence to not be an actual inspiration of the devs. hope you're also pumped for the Feb. 2 Taipei Game Show showcase!
@@TR-qf2gt if they mention Blade Runner it'll blow up maybe, haha, but I seriously doubt they will. However it'll be great content for follow up videos until the release.
I don't really think it's really the franchise or the genre's fault that westerners can't really distinguish real robot from super robot, they're going to have to do a lot to kill that notion. Even Titanfall kind of suffered from this and it's not even from Japanese developers.
I don't mind the tone and style of the series changing, as long as the core concept stays intact. It's changed a lot over the past 5 generations and if more western influences will help the series thrive I welcome it. All I want is more Armored Core.
this is the first video to talk about Sound Engineering perspective for AC6. I'm sub for you first. let's see how it go.
Armored Core was always a slightly more "Western" style of mecha setting, if only because of the slower, bulkier feel of the machines. Japanese mecha tend to be flashier and more fast-paced (see Gundam for example). I always felt that AC was right in the middle between something like Zone of the Enders and Battletech.
I've heard over the years of people dissing western influence. They think that something like Armored Core would simply be ruined by any amount of that. As you said, the souls games did just that but those turned out great, especially terms of theming.
Westernization if Armored Core could be big or small, good or bad, but just like you I have faith in them to do it right whatever course they may take. I've loved all of the AC games, even 5 and VD, but the new trailer got me so hyped. God I hope they give us at least a drop of gameplay, 2 seconds even, during that event a week from now.
My only concern is the music-- I say that still expecting to fully enjoy it no matter how it goes, but I really want the same people to return to do the music. If it's good, it's good, but I'm dying to find out more.
Regardless, this was a good video and I like your voice. I've been absorbing all of the AC related content I can in anticipation
I believe it’s still FreQuency. Of course I haven’t heard Miyazaki say this, but that’s what I read everywhere.
And thanks!!
you should hate western influence its what ruins Japanese games, we buy Japanese games so they stay japanese.
I don't mind AC6's music. Stuff like Rusted Pride and Contact With You are fantastic but it really feels like the soundtracks lost so much unique identity compared to previous games.
The old games’ music were much more like a collection of tracks from a dj/rock band, whereas AC6 was made like a film score. There is overlap in the end result, but the overall sound seems to lean toward the latter. Film scores certainly include lots of down time that doesn’t exist in “albums.” I’m also not opposed to musicless areas of the game, and even think that silence is undervalued as a tool for gamer experience, so I don’t mind that there’s lots of sound-space that’s low-key.
I wonder if the same people who weren’t moved by the music in AC6 are the same who only listen to purely musical works, and not film scores. I think I feel about the same as you, except for feeling like it lost its identify. Feels more like a paradigm shift, but with the same motifs.
Very thought provoking, and also exciting for us westerners. More so because it shows FromSoftware's determination
Can't wait to get my Karasawa and Moonlight back.
I couldnt put my finger on the music but it resonated with me ur insight gave me a new perspective. Very well crafted analysis Brad.
Great video man! 😊 Keep it up! Do more music analysis type stuff. I loved this video!
Thank you Elden Ring players for funding this game's production
Brad keep making videos like this. This is next level quality. I feel honored that I got to discover you before you get to 100k plus subs.
I don't care what they do, as long as it's an outstanding Armored Core game and more people give AC the attention it deserves. This replaced Legend of Zelda as my most anticipated game once it was announced.
I do like how the new music so far seems less like the techno with chanting choirs we're used to and more like hybrid espionage with a lot of synth brass. It's a bit of a shock but I get it. Less violins, more violence!
The music also seems inspired by the sounds of an AC. Similarly, the composer for Terminator used unlikely instruments such as sheet metal and trash cans to allow the music to feel like an extension of the antagonist T-800 itself.
I'm not sure this is quite From's first time doing this. Last Raven's soundtrack had occasional moments of this sort of movielike synth, and watching the video I especially had its intro in mind.
Nice video, I just wanted to add that the story seems to be inspired by Dune. The fight for resources on planet Rubicon 3 is very similar to Dune's planet Arrakis that produces the special resource 'Melange'.
I think it may be confirmed in early leaks the substance in ACVI was called melange then they changed it
I heard about them calling it Melange in early development as well. Wouldn’t be surprised if that was on their reference board, but the similarities might end with it being a red-colored scarce fuel resource (though it was only used as fuel in Dune by navigators, who didn’t “fuel” a literal engine but instead their own mind, with which they bent space.) Who knows though-perhaps there will be a Human-Plus angle to it, and it will share even more similarities with Spice Melange.
Edit: The new Dune also wasn't released until 2021, four years after FromSoft had already started and were beyond the conceptual phase, so though it's in the neighborhood I don't think they put that much stock in it as a reference-maybe a nod toward it at the most.
i doubt it was as much dune but rather lost planet 1-2 that the were inspired by
@@b.e.wooten I agree with you that the reference might end there. I just thought it was interesting that they had called the resource 'Melange' in the beginning of the production. Nevertheless, the release date of the new Dune movie does not matter as the information is already there from the books.
@@jegyoj.166 Yea, it’s been around a very long time.
I had a hard time deciding what to include in the video and what was too deep of a rabbit hole to mention. I decided to address only what was present in the trailer against the interviews, as well SFX as an “honorable mention,” but in hindsight I ought to have mentioned the melange and moved on, reserving the bulk of it for another video pending new information about the game.
Quality content.
I cant wait for Armored Core 6!
Absolutely amazing video. Like, just out of the blue comes this guy and posts one of the most interesting and well put together trailer analisys *yet* . Bravo, instant sub!
Little did I know I was training for years with Davinci Resolve to start an Armored Core channel. Lots of work to do with my microphone setup though.
My feeling exactly. With this one video, he has all those Fromsoft and Armored Core TH-camrs beat. glad to be among the first 200 subs.
Your views and takes in this video is amazing and fresh look. Thank you
Thanks! I’m glad you got it. It was very hard to write.
Original armoured core came out in 97 I believe. By this point, at least the high profile anime movies AKIRA and Ghost in the Shell were both well known in the west, and the subculture was sizable and influential.
Peanuts compared to today.
Armored core has had some amazing tracks
It is known: Synth = Blade Runner.
Seriously though, I hope FreQuency pick it up where they left off. Armored Core's soundtracks were only ever rivaled by Ace Combat's, and that's a damn impressive thing.
What a refreshingly skeptical yet positive take on this. Everyone liked the music, but I don't recall anyone articulating the obvious cyberpunkinator vibes it has, while also keeping that uncanny AC mecha mysticism. I specifically recall some people opining it was somewhat "Black Metal", of all things! So, this is a very welcome tone to the speculation on what AC6 might soon offer.
Distinct audio issues with the voice though, which ended up being apt in a discussion about metahuman mecha aesthetics, oddly enough!
Haha! The voiceover was definitely the most difficult part, and it shows. I’ve been looking at better mics. Someone in here even thought it was a synthesized voice, but alas, just me. 🤖🤖
The part that hit the hardest was when the final armored core mech puts on the visor and blasts out of screen, that hit so hard I was sold almost immediately on a franchise I already loved.
As a composer and player, I *love* FreQency and hope they come back for AC6! The music from the Rubicon trailer instantly struck me by how amazing it fits the whole vibe of the darker, dystopian parts in the series and lore. Especially the second part of the track that enhances the dark cyberpunky mood with a choir, then adds such an intensity together with the visuals. Absolute S-Tier. 🥺
I'm so hyped for the game.
I just hope it won't sound like anything from AC4 or AC4A.
@@OCTO358 Hey some of the best tracks are from AC4 and FA 😭
@@MaxiGoethling I agree.
@@OCTO358 i hope that it will sound exactly like 4 and 4a. remember is amazing.
Good video, I still hope they don't shy away from mecha trope too much though, specifically real robot tropes. Part of why I love Armored Core so much was basically because it's a real robot anime you can play.
You must have seen my top comment on Bandai Namco reveal trailer 🤣🤣 it is 100% inspired by Blade Runner - no mistake either / by design to be sure, and it’s not just the music although it is most prevalent there - the art design and the muted tones of the visuals with bursts of color - the shot of the mech being lowered with the red lense flare could be right out of Ridley Scott’s original - they nailed it. The most exciting thing about AC6 is you have this incredibly talented studio now emboldened by the massive success of Elden Ring, along with what is sure to be a massive injection of capital and man power - I expect From at the peak of their power with AC6 and a level of polish to be found we have yet to see from any FS game. They still have 6 months or longer to polish and have hired a massive amount of new talent. Great video! Can’t wait!
theres just one thing all you described can litteraly be said about armored core 3
@@yokai1235 elden ring getting game of the year is not close to early successes around AC3 ‘a creation, sorry man
@@yokai1235 The color grading in the new trailer is really special.
1:35 Based PG GP01 enjoyer
This is such a good video. When I heard your promt at the start, I was so suprised to see an 18 minute video and not a longer one because this is the type of thing people really draw out. Each edit was eye opening and I'd really be interested in this kind of dive from you into the inspirations when the game comes out.
Also Sci-fi Tatoo Artist? That sounds pretty cool as well!
Armoured core has amazing music.
I hope they keep frequency It gets me pumped up!!!
Yo wtf, the production quality and mixing is better than what a ton of big channels provide. Damn good video
This video is amazing! I’d head back to watch the trailer after this video and all clicked in it’s very own place.
My compliment for this amazing video, the production quality is insane
The similarities between the music were astounding to me. Regardless of their intend everything just clicks together so nicely in the trailer.
And I PRAY that they manage to pull it off because god does it look good.
I wonder how much an influence Battletech had on AC. That's what I think of when it comes to western mechs. Admittedly, there is cross over even there, if you look into the history of the "unseen" mechs.
Look at Chromehounds
Considering how many of the Battletech plots about megacorpos and political power they have taken, I would say that quite a lot
In terms of mecha design, it's the other way around.
@@francesco3772 Thats not true, Battletech came to be in the 80's the first armored core comes out in 1998 or so.
Battletech is where good mecha design goes to die
I’m cool with them taking inspirations from the west but what makes eastern sci-fi unique is their own culture. I mean Akira and ghost in the shell , and even vampire hunter D are great. So hopefully they use a blend of cultures and not just copy the west.
I just want the ephemeral choir man.
Nexus OP and ACfA title music are my favorite tracks.
It's no surprise that they are putting in the quality for AC 6's sound quality. Listen to Elden Ring with a decent set of speakers or speakerbar. I havent heard sound in game this good since I played Deadspace 1. They clearly put sound on par with visuals which always makes for a wonderful experience. Many skimp on sound, but take a colossal weapon in Elden Ring and smack some furniture or a destructible object. It sounds amazing, like I really just destroyed wood and metal with a giant sword. I cant wait to try this game out.
I watched some Gundam as a kid but it wasn't until after I got out of the military that I really enjoyed Mechanized warfare. I was an M2A2 Bradley driver. I got into Mechwarrior and tried to play more of the AC games afterwards as well.
Man I hope you’re right. Chunky and brutal sound design is all I’ve ever wanted added to armored core… aside from the shoulder-fired cannons and missile pods from the AC3 days
Me too. I’m so excited to see how they’ve used their new gargantuan budget for SFX.
cyberpunk theme was always inside armored core. OP intesify --cough cough--
insert astronaut’s view of earth meme
Blade Runner music has this "peace in desolation" feeling - I think it would be a hint on how ACVI's story and theme is presented, maybe more "personal" to the protagonist.
I’d feel vindicated if there’s a big twist where you discover you were a human+ already, and were unaware you were a manipulated pawn in the game until later. That’s pretty much a parallel to Deckard discovering he was a replicant.
@@b.e.wooten deckard isn’t a replicant or probably not. However K is.
Hell of a video man and that’s a fantastic ear you have. I watched your video and went back and watched the Bandai Namco trailer and man, you’re spot on with your assessment. I wonder what motivated FromSoft to use similar syn like Blade Runner used.
Good analysis, spot on!
It's not westernization as such, it's going bacl to dark futurism roots of real mecha. '70&'80 sound is very fitting.
I felt like I misused “westernization” due to its use in these political climates, but it was much shorter to say than “europeans and americans.” Not sure what you’re referring to by real mecha though, which goes back as far as 1956 in japanese manga (Gigantor) and featured, you might guess, a child protagonist.
@@b.e.wooten there are two main sub-genres of mecha. Supers are, well, magic, while real tend to be, if not realistic , at least plausible. Rise of real mecha started with og gundam and Macross but it's high was in the eighties, right next to the western dark futurism, going neck to neck with it in bleakness of future visions.
For me, Rubicon is going back to the roots of this particular niche - japanese animation, science fiction really, cyberpunk especially, *borrowed* alot from the West, or came to the same ideas at roughly the same time. This trailer gave me shivers for a very simple reason - it felt like, after roughly three decade, I was coming home.
Both 80’s anime mecha and dark western sci-fi totally shared bleak war-torn visions of the future, you’re right. The only difference being their respective lineages, even if one did borrow from the other… it was enough to separate them in the mind of the average American/European consumer, especially since one was always animated. Now, enough time has passed, works evolved, and graphical prowess has grown strong enough to possibly close that gap.
I definitely don’t mean to say that Armored Core will be losing anything at all, mostly because of the reasons you listed. These connections already existed, which was one of the points I should have made in the closing statement. I’m glad you pointed this out.
@@b.e.wooten
"These connections already existed, which was one of the points I should have made in the closing statement. I’m glad you pointed this out."
Welp all the more reason to make a follow up video or more content in general. I'll be really looking forward to that.
THIS IS YOUR FIRST VIDEO!? damn dude.... Keep these coming. Subbed.
This was an amazing analysis, it really shows just how much thought Fromsoft puts into everything
This game feels like it was designed for me specifically
Umm yeah so I'm subscribing if you're planning on making more content like this. This is incredible.
Thanks, and yes! Can’t wait to have more info to comb through.
I don't get this video. Armored Core has always been like this. Corporate Wars over resources is the bread&butter of the franchise since the 90s.
I know the association of wars over resources and America is on all of our minds, but I never said anything about that. This is about the flavor of music.
I actually don’t think blade runner synth is a bad direction for AC.
Man the T1 animation still creeps me out
Me too.
This is such a well put together video. I'm keeping a close eye on it because I feel like your channel will grow so much off this one video. Hell you've already got 10 more subs than you had yesterday when I watched this video! including one from me.
Edit: This is just cool to observe and watch. Your first video and its been getting over 1k views a day and you've quadrupled in subs since I first saw this video!
It’s pretty wild to watch for me too! Coming from Instagram where posts will be get crushed if they don’t perform well enough in the first hour, TH-cam’s algorithm is very refreshing.
Awesome video, congrats. Sounded like blade runner and for some reason gave me mass effect vibes too.
Well, mass effect was heavily inspired by it, among other things.
WOW!! I really appreciate how well-executed this video is and how you outlined your argument with great sources. Thanks for sharing, just subscribed!
AC is weighty and dark. I can feel the scale come through in the tailer, that feel of speed combined with weight, and the old games had a very anti corporate message, and that seems like it would be popular for obvious reasons.
To me the beat and vibe was more Terminator-esc. Maybe a bit of both now that you bring it up
According to the IGN interview, the story seems to be inspired by Dune. Specifically the fight for a particular substance that can advance tech. The interview says you'll be a solo pilot looking to gun for it for yourself before the rebels or corporations can get it.
Though, that mcguffin trope has been used in AC 4 with it being the reason for the primal ACs being a thing and so strong compared to older ACs.
Saw that. There are also ancient AC6 documents that call it Melange, much like spice melange. I think if it’s going to resemble spice in the final game, rather than kojima particles, it’ll have to have some connection to human-plus (AC1) and pilot themselves, and act as something more than just an energy source. I find this to be unlikely at the moment, but we’ll see as new information comes out.
@@b.e.wooten There's also the opportunity in sequel games for alien invasion wars, cause space. Pulling from Starcraft/warhammer40k.
It's a surprisingly exciting time for AC, where as 4 and 5 gen were pretty stale to me. Them pulling in western inspiration can lead to some very epic games if done right.
It's more dune-blade runner like n the theme song is everything, brings tears .
Do sheep dream of electric LX Cannons?
Great video, fascinating idea. Excellent first video man.
Glad you enjoyed it!
It is fucking nuts that armored core games haven’t been on PlayStations online store or PlayStation plus
i think what matters is where they draw western inspiration from. for example ac5 seems like it was drawing from the west too with the modern milatary shooter craze and at the time with it's aesthetics and colour scheme, hell the intro compared to 4 and for answer really shows that difference of how prevalent that influence was, if the mechs weren't there you'd think it was a trailer for a war film in Irag or Afghanistan, i think many can agree it wasn't a great approach, i agree with you they likely took inspiration from western stuff with 6 too, but this time something richer like blade runner, terminator and based on what we know of the story on interviews and leaks, dune.
I first followed you for the tattoo art but I had no idea you were *this* based
Good to know there is some overlap between the groups!
Grew up loving Gundam (UC universe). Wing is WAY too melodramatic. Loved Armored Core because it felt like I was playing Gundam before actual Gundam games came to the US. Can't wait for this game and your video here is excellent exploring it's inheritance.
"Ashen Blues and Nuclear Reds" is the most metal way to describe armored cores aesthetic I've ever heard. The prose of this video was an absolute joy to listen to!
Except it was never the "armored cores aesthetic". I sure hope it's just a stylistic choice for the trailer and the actual game won't look anything like it.
@@OCTO358 The aesthetic varies from game to game. As far as I know, the only one with washed-out colours was AC4 and ACFA. Every other AC game had a standard colour pallet suitable for the environment. Some AC games had missions in verdant green forests, after all.
@@OCTO358 why u so mad about it
Still watching video might cover it, but I've always loved that synth-y feeling of armored core, AC3's music honestly sounds amazing and conveyed so much emotion even as a kid I felt like the music fit the theme so well
Video was a little too long to get deep in to the music history, but I’m making that video next. Btw, I adored the older music.
Third gen of AC was truly its peak.
Big, heavy, slow, mechanical. This is what Mech players want.
I WANT FREQUENCY!!!!
Blade Runner-ish Armored Core is all I ever wanted.
Sounded like a mix of blade runner and original terminator soundtrack.
I am american. HOWEVER I DO want the themes in Elden Ring and Dark Souls. I want to experience a sense of realism and futurism from a JAPANESE point of view. This is why I like so much the games produced by From Software.
The more rare, non western, extraneous and foreign these games look and feel giving a good game play experience, the BETTER.
I want From Software takes their time in this one and RELEASE THE GAME ONLY FOR THE PS5 and next generation of PC. I don't want a PS4 hold them back. This game must show all of its glory and intricate detail it deserves DURING gameplay.
This sounds like a semantics obstacle. See… a Japanese creator can’t give any other POV than their own Japanese one. It’s just impossible to do anything else. Add to that, Souls is entirely western in inspiration and subject matter. By the logic you presented, you’re looking for Sekiro or Miyazaki’s rumored “very abstract” next game. If anything, ACVI is much more purely Japanese than Souls could ever be. But instead of knight armor and gothic castles, they’re using much more subtle inspirations from the west, like the timbre of synth used in Blade Runner.
I also got a serious Terminator vibe and not just because of the fire, but because of the face on the mech and the soundtrack... That sounds very similar to OG Terminator ost in the futuristic scenes.
Damn, you children seriously need to play the previous games to appreciate this new one
@@doopclann3428 oh... Darn. Maybe I SHOULDNT buy this game. 🤔 Thanks bro; ill wait for a sale. Maybe GTWOA it.
Brilliant first video. More than happy to subscribe
Excellent video and great breakdown on the musical composition.
It's actually kind of funny you bring this up. When the trailer came out the music immediately reminded me of "Nebula" by Dance With The Dead, and wondered how a track like that might feel in an AC game. If your theory is correct and they're leaning into some 80's synth for this game, that might end up not being too far from the truth.
Just took a listen, and can’t believe I never heard of this group before! Also, I found another clue yesterday to it’s retro inspirations: armoredcore.net’s background has a CRT scanline effect! Hahaha.
I just love that the bots movement looklike the designers just said "has enough to be used" while also having the stylish design.
Vangelis and Hans Zimmer 😙🤌 * chefs kiss *
Great video! I’ve been looking for armored core 6 content to enjoy during the wait
Me too, and I wasn’t seeing it so I made some!