and boy am i glad to see it! frequency is a top band for me, and evergrace II's ost is one of my favorite albums, ever. i'll take any chance to go hog wild about kota hoshino
real.... its such a bop this ac type of music the metal vibe to it its just ahhhhhh best shit oh and the 4th gen music with the religious combined with it its peak imo
back here at the end of summer break, now with time to watch this (final projects are hell) armored core soundtracks are indeed, such bops, and re finding the garage theme from ac1 is quite literally a godsend
It's the beat that got me After beating Balteus and totally gain PTSD from it, it gave me a Monster Hunter moment where i jumps in to fight that enemy again because the music slaps and eventually mastered it
Jokes on you most if not all of these are on my playlist already because a random person in a drive through knew it was Armored Core music and that gave me an ungodly amount of confidence.
Thank you so much for making this! This is a video that needed to be made, and you are just the Raven that needed to do it, I've been a fan since your unorganized Armored Core Playlist videos! Armored Core's soundtrack and the people behind it are honestly amazing, exquisite and one-of-a-kind for this industry. The musical ideas and evolutions over this long-running series are something I have never seen anywhere else and is truly special to me and you, whether this is the first time you are hearing these tracks or the nine-thousandth time, you can feel this is something insanely passionate and unique. Thank you, Kota Hoshino, Tsukasa Saitoh, Keiichiro Segawa, Shoi Miyazawa(Giovansen),FreQuency, and thank you for carrying this passion over into this video Silver Glint! I hope so many Ravens new and old see this and carry this fire with us, as it Takes Us Anywhere!
Thank you so much for backing me up Raven. I know full well there are others like us out there, that are filled to the brim with fervor, love and appreciation for these games, and I want to spread that as far as possible. Most of it is raw art and it transcends anything I could ever make to describe it, but I hope I got near enough to hitting the emotional notes I was aiming for! Big hug.
I love every Armored Core OST, but "Cinders" literally made me cry. It was fucking beautiful, i can't even imagine what kind of mission it should be to have such a banger.
When you started pulling fan albums, I was kind of hoping you'd bring in Keisuke USUDA's absolutely ascended remixes/covers. But since he doesn't categorize his work into albums and really just releases everything as singles on Twitter and TH-cam, I guess his stuff can't really be organized into a tierlist like this unfortunately. I didn't cry while listening to Goodbye, Thinker but the 20th Anniversery Disc on the other hand... In those times it wasn't unrealistic to believe this was it, the end of Armored Core. And the music felt that way too, it's so rich. A few summers ago I started going on walks in unusual places, mainly industrial or tucked away commercial complexes for really specific needs, usually, like, services for other companies. Places like that in the afternoon always kind of reminded me of AC. One of those days when the sun was getting low, I played Reminiscence. I'm glad I was alone then. That's also the video I left my corny "ACVI finally ravens" type comment when the reveal trailer dropped. Also that mini MAD you put together for Long Way to Go was really nice. No you're right, ER/DS can't touch the heights of AC's OSTs and I'm convinced they kidnapped Rio Hamamoto for the guitar on 4 The Answer. Disc 3 and Armored Core VI is... ALL WE WANTED ALL WE NEEDED ALL WE WAITED ALL WE'VE GONE THROUGH See you on the next battlefield, Raven.
I'm so grateful for you sticking around through the end, I'm glad we share the same vision for what AC music represents to us Ravens as it really does transcend the game medium itself and becomes more of an integral part of our personal journeys, that's how powerful it is - even outside it's intended context. Thank you for Watching!
Oh absolutely, I don't think there are any bad AC soundtracks, they all nail their purpose just with varying degrees of success and quality! Right on, Raven.
"Halfway Unit". You're a hard worker Silver Glint, making sure we got the best tunes to rock out when we're in our ACs. It was really nostalgic as someone that started with the PS1 era games to listen to all these familiar tunes once more. Keep up the good work
1:15:47 The instrument you were talking about is the organ. The thing is if that organ layer is removed, the song easily becomes a solid 8.0 imo. Great video dude. Cheers :)
@matthewbullion7935 I like the organ yes. But in this particular song if they just extended the notes and not made it sound a little goofy, it would be fine.
About the DLC OST for ACVD: Most of those tracks replace the main mission tracks, for example, day after day plays in mission 9: forgive an angel, where you fight maggy. Cosmos replaces mechanized memories in mission 10. With this context i think you seriously undersold the context in which this tracks are used. But just my opinion, still, great dedication for doing this whole video.
Thank you so much for sticking around and watching. Yeah for sure, I am the least familiar with gen 5 especially VD multiplayer. I understand I might be underselling it because I lack a lot of the context and "you had to be there" energy. Big ups Raven
The fact that I JUST now found this video is criminal. Incredibly done, I love it. I'm holding you personally accountable for the tears streaming down my face as the nostalgia hits though.
Hey man this is a really good music review. It's comprehensive and analytical with some really good descriptions of how the music makes you feel, all without yapping over the music and letting the listener hear what you hear. Great job!
Awesome, thank you so much for giving it a go! Your feedback is really appreciated, I hope I managed to convince you to add some of these to your playlist, if not, hopefully you vibed to some of it! Big cheers
First of all, this was an incredible video, the amount of effort and dedication you put into this is very impressive. AC4 & AC4A will always be peak Armored Core for me. Soundtrack alone, it was pure bliss. Right behind it would be the 20th anniversary, which brings back that same nostalgia from past Armored Core’s by remixing some of the best tracks in the franchise. Disc 2 especially, is banger after banger. Thank you for this video
Generation 4: If Nexus represented the first initial transition to the Kota Hoshino-led garage rock feel, 4th Gen pretty much solidified it as a mainstay of the franchise for some time. That said, I do love and appreciate the more intense orchestral tracks as well, and how they're made into rock hybrid tracks, like all the remixes of Overture that exist in the soundtrack (With Heat, Mr. Adam, etc.). I do wish there was one full, definitive version of Overture that encompasses all the best parts of each individual track that borrows its melody and leitmotifs, but we do have USUDA to thank for putting out a remix recently that comes relatively close! Panther is one of the most nostalgic songs for me in the entire franchise. Getting to the first full level of AC4 and hearing that piano for some reason gets me emotional, and not because the song is sad in any way. I do agree with your assessment that despite 4's strengths, there are a few tracks that show this new musical style needed refinement (which it would eventually get in For Answer). Grid Room and Pump me Up feel tonally off for the vibe AC4 tries to capture, and a small handful of those riff heavy tracks could've used some curating. My biggest criticism is less with the soundtrack itself and more with how FromSoft integrates songs into the game itself. A lot of the best tracks you hear in the arena and then later in the campaign to the point where they feel ill=placed and hampers their impact. The lone exception to this is Thinker, which is an all time classic song that inspired some of the best remixes ever. Soooo I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything when it comes to For Answer's soundtrack: Someone is Always Moving on the Surface is my favorite song in the entire franchise, and one of my favorite video game songs ever. For Answer gets #1 on this list for me for this song alone, its a truly transcendent piece. There's a reason why even people who have never played or barely know about Armored Core are familiar with this song, it's primal and moving on a level that's beyond what words can really do justice. Songs like Scorcher and Remember help to remedy the issue I have of previous AC games sorta throwing random songs in for missions inappropriately. In the former's case, it's the theme of Strayed, so the fact that it plays for the final mission of the Destruction Path where remnants of ORCA hunt you down (as you are the biggest threat in that ending) makes lots of sense. Remember's lyrics "Oh I'm scary/So I'm scary" feel apt given the two-man genocide you're partaking in. (Weird fun fact, Old King hums "Thinker" over the com in the Japanese dub of the game, I think they just changed it to him humming a nondescript melody in English, HUGE missed opportunity). I honestly completely forgot how good Cicada was until you played it here, so thank you for that. In general, For Answer resolves the issue I had with the tone of some of 4's more rock-heavy tracks. Nothing truly feels out of place or too upbeat/positive for the game, so I feel as if both its highs are higher and lows are higher in turn. The Answer is, top to bottom, the most consistently great album in the franchise. I usually put a pretty fat asterisk next to both the Tribute and Remix albums because they're not official soundtracks featured in the games (well, until Verdict Day), but I can't deny that all but maybe one track is on a playlist for me. They really dug deep into the bag of less immediately popular AC songs to sample melodies from in these tracks, rather than just (re)playing the hits. Morning Thinker and Goodbye Thinker are two of my favorites, and yes, the latter does get me similarly emotional-- another one of my all time favorite tracks in the franchise. FreQuency Reprises is actually not an album I remember all that well shockingly? Though the tracks I do recall I am certainly a fan of. Their remix of Nine reminds me a lot of what they would do in Super Smash Bros. when remixing and giving a facelift to old songs from dated Nintendo franchises (though maybe I'm just making this comparison because I saw a fanmade trailer for a Nineball mod in ACVI that used Nine -novem- as the bgm, not sure). I will say though that I vastly prefer both the original and Nexus remixes of In My Heart over the Reprises remix, though I do very much appreciate the drums. Generation 5: ACV's soundtrack feels, in a word...like sludge. It perfectly captures the tone of V as a game and for that reason I think it's a success. My only issue is that I don't particularly like V;s visual direction all that much, and in turn the soundtrack doesn't do as much for me! The very gritty, crude and dreary color palette of V feels reflected in the grimy, abrasive bass tones> Both the visual style and sound of V feels like FromSoft's attempt at capitalizing off the popularity of gritty western titles like Gears of War (though I could be extremely wrong in this assessment), deviating significantly from the visual tone and style of 4th Gen in a way I found rather offputting. V and Vulture as songs reflect this well. Describing the OST as something close to the "Sound of War" is something I very much agree with, which is why I can at least respect V's soundtrack even if it doesn't speak to me. Well, I would say that, but the start of Lament Over the Howling Age reminds me WAY too much of Teardrop by Massive Attack for me to take even remotely serious. Idk, I love Massive Attack I guess. Despite my criticism, I do really love tracks like Mech Dinosaur, Stain, and especially Why Don't You Come Down. The latter track feels like the musical equivalent of trying to breaststroke through a tar pit, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible. Sunrise has maybe the most comfy album cover of any AC album, I'm certainly a fan of that at the very least. It's prolly my least favorite FreQuency project (but that's not saying much, cause it's still very good). Verdict Day was the answer to all my negatives of V, both as a game and a soundtrack. It manages to both capture the same tone and feeling as V while also adding so much more depth and dimension to its sound. Dirty Worker as the opening level track is the perfect example of this, the first 30 seconds of that song still give me chills every time I hear it. A lot of Verdict Day's strengths relative to its predecessor remind me of what made Silent Line stand out relative to 3, Trickster gives me that same cinematically intense Call to Arms vibe that I adore. Verdict Day does still have that sludgey component that V embodied, particularly with On the Land of Barking Smell, but I found those tracks in VD slightly less grating. I always found it especially intriguing that V as an AC game was largely disconnected and devoid of even slight references to previous games in the franchise, and yet Verdict Day feels in many ways like a love letter to the franchise; from minor details like character names referenced in menus, to full remixes of older tracks used for multiplayer stages (High Fever: Sweetest Thing is prolly the least emotional song to ever get me emotional, but any time they remix the first level song in a franchise, I'll prolly react that way). This sort of hit its apex with Mechanized Memories, definitely an all time classic track and a perfect final boss theme (at least, until before the DLC released). Speaking of which, peak music alert. Day after Day? Classic. Love that it's used as the alternative track for the Blue Magnolia fight in Chapter 9. Cosmos new version? Even better, probably a top 5 AC song for me and though its maybe technically less fitting for a final boss theme than Mechanized Memories, I think I may still prefer it overall. The other tracks are pretty good, but I love the music expansion for those two tracks alone. I can empathize with those that thought the 20th anniversary album was effectively the end of Amored Core as a franchise, and with the way some songs in particular elicited a climactic and bittersweet feeling, it's hard not to look at it as such. Fallout remains an incredible track. We Still Have a Long Way to Go is a song that I don't think I have the heart to listen to a second time. Felt a little TOO hard the first time I listened to it and it's a bit difficult to relive that.
Honestly I'd rank Rubicon at the lowest. Not because it was bad, but because it just feels so jarring when compared to everything else. The composers who did those did the Elden Ring tracks and I love those too. But when the Raven came down I at least expected something to make a return. Saying all this makes me feel like the old AC fans complaining about AC4 & FA lmao. Solid tracks for sure though. I'm just happy AC is back ❤
Yeah, but you do have a point it's very jarring! Once you throw your preconceptions of what it should sound like(based on previous games) it is quite amazing though! But I totally get you
@@SilverGlint For sure. It did what it was suppose to do though. The game was a reboot to bring in potential new fans from the souls series who liked their games as well. The music was probably picked for that reason in mind. Going back and giving everything a listen again, I really did enjoy a lot of the new tracks.
Yeh I’d also put 6 into the lowest tiers. It is in a literal sense a “game soundtack”, where it serves to add that feeling within the gameplay to enhance it and make it atmospheric. In that area, it’s probably the best in the series hands down. Unfortunately, there are so little songs that are pleasing to listen to while I’m doing anything else but playing the game. In that sense, it’s similar to Last Raven. But hey at least it’s not last raven.
I think the best AC6 music is together with the best of AC4, FA and 5 myself and it doesn't feel jarring to me when they do change a bit of styles and music from each generation, but I can understand why people don't like it compared to others. Though I could never be putting it together with last raven that has actual mediocre to bad songs in it, I like some couple songs on that game but its definitely an average ost as a whole, though I have take a liking to some due to stockholm syndrome prob XD, loved the difficulty on that game, having to spend couple of hours trying to get a nice build to defeat a level was peak AC experience
Maybe I’m weird, but I find a lot of the AC6 music to be pretty nice to listen to (I’m a new fan). The new songs have definitely replaced some of the originals (like steel haze), but there are still a bunch of base game songs I think are great. Contact with you, steel haze (both songs), rough and decent (both), cries of coral, the man who burned it all, echoes of coral, fires of rubicon, hearing things, resolve, silent encounter, hell even a lot of chapter bosses I think are great (C weapon, ice worm, allmind). Granted some of these songs might sound similar in some aspects, but the point still stands. To each their own tastes, I’ve been listening to some of the older songs and finding them to be awesome as well. As silver glint said, it does immersion really well. But for me personally, the context from a song makes it feel really replayable to me.
There was this one reddit post that used Cinders for the Walter fight and oh my god I was actually close to crying, the lines of Walter wishing us a good life got stronger
I really enjoy this format for soundtrack reviews, it lets the audience absorb the music while you can make commentary. Would love to see more videos like this but with different franchises. Also extremely based Scorcher take
1:15:45 That instrument is a Hammond Organ, common in protestant church music and jazzy music. Also thanks for including Rain in the video, it's a severely underrated track from AC4, which kind of speaks to how amazing 4's OST is but Rain feels so introspective and the title just seems to fit so well. The lyrics were never released but I always hear, "All is ending, all the time." which is really melancholic.
Just got here after dipping my toes into Nexus after getting to AC3, just to experience alil of "ds2 AC", and I BEAT THE WHOLE GAME WITH A BUILD I'M GENUINELY HAPPY WITH WHILST ENJOYING MY TIME WITH IT??? Truly, AC Nexus is the DS2 of AC, as with the right build (fast reverse leg sniper build), the game is so much fun. With all that said, AC:Nexus Shinning S teir, everything else E teir for not being Shinning, and Nine-Ball theme to NB teir.
Literally brings a tear to my eye to see the series getting the attention it gets these days. It sat dormant for so long, like something out of one of its own plots. I hope they make more, and that they tap into vibes of the old music. AC6 needed more breakbeat/jungle stuff.
23:20 I think the most effective use of Stutter is the mission in Zearm Desert where you shoot down the drop pods before they land. That mission's always stuck out for me.
Pd : My favorite song is Mechanized Memories in the end, especially the aniversary version. God I pass my college final exam with this song in mind, if that's not inspiring I don't know what that is.
Pd2: Oh GOD! Remember -on yor memory- I listened this version 10x times more than the original. Man, if they do an official port to pc from the ACs before VI i would inmediatly bought them all. Day after day I've been thinking about this.
Vaati dropping the AC6 lore video, AC6 1.07 update, and now this? what a week! EDIT: I pray to god that this video gets attention EDIT 2: In twitter, Kota Hoshino himself mentioned that The Encounter World is the "most refreshing (or pleasing to hear) song in all of AC series" (ORIGINAL TEXT: AC史上最高の爽やか楽曲The Encounter World。). this song deserves to be in a playlist EDIT 3: Writing this on half way point. I am surprised how much I can disagree to your opinions, while also being able to agree. Funny what different tastes can do, huh? EDIT 4: "What the fuck is actually happening in this one?", ill tell you whats happening: Chief is happening. and he will do whatever the fuck he wants. this, along with stain is his theme that represents him very well. EDIT5: ISTG everyone in Japan loves Life in Ash (and day after day),,, thats not saying much because the series isnt too famous EDIT6: Peak A Boo feels like a song that would play when fighting biological weapons, maybe because those funny looking guys do look like biological weapons EDIT7: speaking of day after day, im not sure about this but this song can replace the final fight with maggie, because the song is about her. This song for me was an anthem for us who have been waiting for a new game "day after day... staying around far away". (also whats up with AC characters losing their arm?) EDIT8: It's the first time listening to point five remix, but it kinda reminds me of AC6. EDIT⑨: Just finished watching the entire video. Good shit! As a new fan (been a fan for only 3, 4 years) to the AC series and had no damn clue on how to access the games, music and lore (mostly music) was the majority of my AC experience. Sure there were some points in the video where I wouldn't necessarily agree, but it was mostly reasonable and even insightful and interesting. And for the points that I agree to, it helped me understand more on why I liked that particular song, and was fun to listen to. I'd like to thank you, as a fellow Raven for posting a hell of a video. Through this video, I hope that new players may listen to the OST's of AC games and discover hidden gems. Sorroy for the long comnet
As someone who has only played Armored Core 6, this was really cool to listen through! Definitely makes me want to try out the other games in the franchise as well. Though I will say, the comment at 2:22:11 is a little weird considering the guy responsible for the Rusted Pride remix and Takes Me Anywhere (as well as a bunch of other bangers from AC6) also made some of the best tracks in Elden Ring. Don't wanna start a flame war, just wanted to point it out, we don't have to pit two kings against each other :)
a product of pure love to armored core's fantastic tunes on par to the 146 track mix. also the beautifully designed graphic to go with the songs. the hud? the audio visualizer??? the DIALOGUE BOX? UGH. equally entertaining and substantial. this video is truly well-done. an amazing format for music review. also: justice for BEATMASK??????
Justice for BeatASS, seriously though, thank you so much for watching and paying attention to all the details I tried cramming in there. It took me a long time to get it all done and seeing positive comments like yours is what makes it all worth it. Thank you Raven
nice to see some shining appreciation i dont see that song talked about enough its the most emotional and soulful ac track to me and probably my favourite out of every game also last raven being so low is criminal tbh to me it has the most consistently good ost and pride of lions is a top 5 track in all of ac for me its rare to see people giving ac music the appreciation it deserves to this extent so this is a sight for sore eyes
Been hoping to see someone put out a video like this where they also take into account things like the missions the songs were used in. Well done! Only a quarter of a way through the video but will definitely be finishing this as a fellow huge fan of the Armored Core OSTs. Also love that you included the "non game" albums like the Reprises and Sunrise.
I'm glad you're enjoying it! Yeah I think getting the context right was a big thing for me in this video, I wanted to get as close to the intent as possible
Beautifully crafted video, it was a pleasure to watch it until the end! I found it endearing how i had different opinions especially in regard to how Sunrise and Reprises would be ranked, as i think they were some of the best songs the team has ever made. Awesome video!
I'm new to the franchise as of Fires of Rubicon, but I fell in love with it, 100% completion and now you have me wanting to hunt down the older games and their soundtracks
Every time I see something spinning, even if the Unit only goes Halfway, I can't unhear Shape Memory Alloys. It's a Brain Poison that's permanently altered the way I view reality. Every time something spins, it's DUN DUN DUNNA... DUN DUN DIN DUN DUN.
Man i commend the effort put in this video. I unfortunately never got to play the older AC's but found out about them through they'r music which i grew to love. 20th anniversary disk having a special place in my heart. Now having platinumed 6 i cant wait for what else is to come.
Thank you so much, means a lot to me! A lot of people haven't gotten around to trying out older generations of armored core but there are some serious bangers (both games and soundtracks) buried deep in there!
I’m a new Raven, got in to armored core at ac6 and instantly fell in love. It’s my 2023 game of the year and was so good. One thing I’ve been doing since playing and 100% ac6 is going back and playing the older games to see what ac was like before. So far it’s kinda been a struggle with the controls but otherwise having a blast. I’m a huge music nerd but I haven’t really heard much of the ac music other than the must listen music like The Answer. This video was super cool to all the games music and how it has changed over the years. I overall agree with the tier listing, but personally I think Stargazer should have been higher, that song is such a love letter to the community and an invitation letter for the new comers like me. This franchise has already cemented a place in my heart and I can’t wait to see where the franchise goes in the future, both in gameplay and in music. Fly high ravens
Great video, someone is always moving on the surface is my favorite track. Sounds goofy but it represents the extrram tragedy of the human condition and the beauty of us as well to me anyways
I've been jamming to armored core music for over a decade now and continue to do so, absolute bangers within the series. Personal faves involve monkey likes daddy and whiz drop nutty
I played nexus the most and didn't remember nothing but 1 cinematic in this video when I heard the first 3 seconds "shining" They have brought life back to my empty body Great video!
I was going to praise the restraint you exercised despite describing Verdict Day's soundtrack as chock full of anthems, but my man, the scores for Vendetta and Forgive an Angel! Stain! I would have love to see them higher. That was a very fun ride, thanks.
Thank you so much for watching it all, I hope you had fun. And yeah I tried to stay strict to my criteria, otherwise AC4 an FA would've stolen the show! Stain is very good, just maybe not on my particular interest!
Watched this whole video non-stop. Great job! You put a lot of time and effort into this! I played the first Armored Core on the original PlayStation back in the early 2000s and have played them all since as they came out (except I missed out on Verdict Day). Your rankings of each game pretty much match up where I would expect mine to rank so I think we pretty much agree there. I think our opinions only differ on a handful of individual songs. Anyways, keep up the good work!
Halfway Unit reporting. I've never actually listened to the Disk 3 tracks before this video, and I'm extremely satisfied with it. Also, the third generation of games is my favorite generation as well. Thank you very much for this gem of a video.
re: pump me up mystery instrument yeah im like 99% sure thats an organ of some kind that said, its good to see so many other people that are as insane about this franchise as me!
I am not done with the video yet (currently at 1:35:53) but honestly... thank you for creating this video. Armored Core has been a part of my life for years, from the first time playing a demo of AC4 on PS3 as a kid to nowadays where I am emulating the older games on my PC and playing the hell out of AC6. What always captivates me and makes me feel happy is.... just the atmosphere, the music especially. I love Mecha as a genre and then you have this absolutely amazing music here, which almost always manages to draw every emotion out of you, whether that be joy or sorrow, excitement or fear... or hope and despair. AC4 and For Answer especially really captured my heart with their soundtracks and they're still on my playlists today and I'll never stop listening to them. Thank you for taking the time out of your life and sharing this great list with us, because of you I discovered some older tracks that I would've otherwise missed from my favorite franchise. Keep up the great work, you are what is so great about this community.
armored core 4 overture i love it so much. It's orchestral yes but not as much as dark souls games or elden ring, mainly due to budget reasons i imagine as FS was not as rich back then, but it fits thematically . In previous games ACs are war machines, in AC4 NEXTs are more than that; they're man made gods that replace the old , religion based gods.
To me my top OSTs are Gen1, Silent lines and Gen4. AC5:VD has a few that I love and so does AC6. AC2 I only really like Red Impulse. Awesome video man. I love it.
Well I have to say this is fantastic work Glint! Its like a journey through the ac games with songs and of course a great pair of narrators giving us laughs and thoughts. Morning lemon tea, shining, shape memory alloy 2, Fake facer along with a lot of the ff sound tracks, thinker, sunrise and rough decent among many others are some of my favourites and this video I feel proves that the music of ac is something special. Halfway unit and the all the way to the end too. Keep up the good work as always.
Thank you so much ACL, your support has been paramount in me continuing to try and do different things around the franchise, ever since I started. Halfway Unit Chad. I hope it was a good journey :)
It always so wild to me how so much of the original soundscape is has such a different vibe to it than everything post ps2. The 4/5/6 games all have such different but memorable soundtracks compared to the 11 games that came before them. To my surprise though, 6's sound track kinda goes halfway to unite the old gen and new gen armored cores. A good compromise to reboot the series for a new era of gaming. I just hope (and that disk 3 makes me really hopeful) that wherever the 6 dlc/part 2 goes next it tries to establish itself more rather than invoke nostalgia for the entire series.
For AC6 i think Cries of Coral is the unintended start of the show, 11/10, it's the most powerful and emotional song in the game, it conveys everything that Fires of Rubicon is. Sadness, solitude, individual power of will despite everything
Nice video, to clarify the track take me anywhere, using the whole dev team to sing was inspired by NieR Automata's track, Weight of The World. Ending E that, as far as I'm aware, first used that technique. In context one of the greatest moments ever in video games. If you've not played it, I highly recommend it.
This was a great listen while at work, though my memory lane is shorter than some others as I played the most Silent Line and was never able to play Gen 4 & 5. What great sound design I missed and I’ll have to pick them up someday. Thank you, Raven.
(Continued, because I hit the character limit again) Generation 6: I am so relieved that you are an ACVI soundtrack enjoyer. I've seen so much negativity over the last year from AC fans about the approach they took to VI's soundtrack and how they prioritized building an immersive soundscape over catchy melodies. Don't get me wrong, I adore when they get in their bag with the melodic ballads, but there's so much to appreciate about VI's music and audio design that gets disregarded by both critics and fans. One brief story I have is that there's a handful of tracks in VI that invoke the feeling of an engine moving and overheating, and when playing the game on PC, I actually thought my device was overheating trying to run the game, only to realize that it was the BGM that was sucking me into the experience so much that I became paranoid that the game would burn a hole in my desktop if I played for sustained periods of time (it didn't because the PC version is shockingly well optimized). I can never think about something like this and not give Hoshino his flowers. My favorite tracks in VI are, admittedly, the melodic tracks and fan favorites like Contact With You and Rusted Pride, but I'd like to give a special shoutout to both versions of Rough and Decent for bringing some unexpected swing-tempo jazz into the mix and still keeping consistent with the atmospheric, droning vibe that permeates the whole soundtrack (it also just fits Carla as a character perfectly). Anyway, I believe in Disc 3 supremacy, and frankly, I think everyone else does too. This disc is genuinely all hits, no misses. Every original track and remix is so out the ballpark that I can't even add much of value, other than to say that Takes Me Anywhere manages to invoke a similar feeling for me as We Still Have a Long Way to Go, but with a uniquely positive and uplifting spin. It's probably tied with Someone is Always Moving on the Surface for my favorite song in the franchise, though that may be recency bias speaking. I am so glad that FromSoft picked up Shoi Miyazawa, as he has been an absolutely indispensable member of the music production side Bloodborne, and I'd honestly love if he took the reigns from Hoshino for the next Armored Core entry to show exactly what he's capable of. Additionally, I am an absolute sucker for the "development team sings the chorus" trope for video game songs. Loved it with Nier Automata and Weight of the World, and Takes me Anywhere is no different. I sincerely doubt that VI will be the last AC game, given the commercial and critical success it was, but if for whatever reason this is where things end, it's hard not to look at Takes me Anywhere as an extremely fitting sendoff. My overall soundtrack rankings (based on your metrics) look pretty different from yours, but it's probably something like. 1. 20th Anniversary Singles 2. Fires of Rubicon Disc 3 3. The Answer 4. For Answer 5. Nexus (Disc 1) 6. Silent Line 7. Armored Core 1/Project Phantasma 8. Verdict Day 9. Verdict Day DLC 10. FreQuency Reprises 11. Armored Core 4 12. Armored Core 2 13. Armored Core VI 14. Nexus (Disc 2) 15. Master of Arena 16. Another Age 17. Nine Breaker 18. Armored Core V 19. Formula Front 20. Armored Core 3 21. Last Raven 22. Mobile Missions Anyway, excellent video once again. I spent way too much time typing this shit out lol.
Your comment thread has been such an amazing read, I love seeing other being as nerdy, passionate and obsessed with this as I am, and although we disagree on some things, that's the beauty of subjectivity - in the end we all agree that there are no Bad ac soundtracks and that they all try doing their thing with varying degrees of success. More importantly we all love this franchise like our life depends on it, and that's the most beautiful thing of all - seeing Ravens come together to appreciate it.
I was actually impressed by how some people don't actually like AC6 music much and say its outright bad, which is basically incorrect lol, Its very immersive soundtrack and ticks all boxes on music production to fit a medium, especially in videogames. OFC most of the soundtrack of other games ticks those boxes of fitting the theme, immersion, action... but AC6 really takes the cake on that one, I think my favorite OSTs are prob AC4, 4A and 6 especially for this reason, they have some nice groovy songs, some more immersive ones that are more on the melodic side and fits so well with the sound effects like you said in giving mechanical engine sound moving and etc. I think its more down to the nostalgia factor that people didn't appreciate as much even though older games, especially last raven, had always some couple of mediocre music in a few levels (thankfully those are usually in high action fast levels so you don't notice as much XD) or just people not knowing much that a good ost is not groovy beats only but also fitting the setting and story, which honestly AC6 hands down nailed that part incredibly well compared to past games, felt like I was playing some ace combat game in terms of attention to story and characters on a simple hectic quick action game
Ayy, nice to see you finish your list! I still remembered doing mine a while ago like it was yesterday, trying to do it all in one sitting but it took a week to do lmao. Then only compiled the A and S tiers into a playlist for mecha related games.
Thank you so much for the dedication and passion, Even from the briefest of glances I can tell this is important. God bless From Software and FreQuency for all they've given us. It shall forever remain for my entire life and onwards. Gen 4 is my favorite time not for music but game play, story, motifs, and characters.
Armored Core 4 has its issues, but in my opinion it has the best soundtrack of any armored core or even any video game that I have ever played, even better than For Answer. I genuinely listen to panther, fall, speed, and twist it outside of playing the game quite often. Also thanks for making this and I will be watching this in chunks over the next few days.
Yeah for me it was the music that got me into AC!!! NOW I'M A RAVEN FOR LIFE!!!! When I first heard the music it brought me to tears! Even though I've never played the games it felt like they were a part of my childhood and for that I will always love this series dearly!!! Thank you be safe & take care! (: A few of my favorites are Shining, Stain, Fall, Cosmos/NV, MM, Remember & Morning lemon tea a cup of love!!!!!
A bit odd desicion to add smth like 'mech dinosaur' to playlist but say no to "cosmos" and "remember" lol, but still, man, what a great job you've done, glad people like you make such passionate projects
Yeah a lot of people seem to miss Remember from the FA section, but it's a compromise I had to make for making the video more interesting and hopefully more even in track distribution! But there's Remember reprises in there, and Cosmos is there too in two versions
Every game has a final section ranking every song, and there's also a pdf file ranking every individual song with all the related scores up on my Patreon if you're interested.
"ranking every song from ac" finally. a video made just for me and the five sickos next to me.
There are a a lot of us completely invested in it ahah
and boy am i glad to see it! frequency is a top band for me, and evergrace II's ost is one of my favorite albums, ever. i'll take any chance to go hog wild about kota hoshino
it’s so cool that someone else is as obsessed with AC music as me.
I hope there are a lot of Ravens like us out there, because AC music is the gift that keeps on giving
real.... its such a bop this ac type of music the metal vibe to it its just ahhhhhh best shit oh and the 4th gen music with the religious combined with it its peak imo
back here at the end of summer break, now with time to watch this (final projects are hell) armored core soundtracks are indeed, such bops, and re finding the garage theme from ac1 is quite literally a godsend
The music in the game is ethereal
I go to bed with for answer music on while sleeping.
"... Rated every single track ever produced for the series..."
aight, Bring out the whole ocean!
The "Contact with You" disrespect smh
Maybe it was stockholm syndrome (thanks Balteus) but that song goes so fucking hard, def a 10/10 for me
Agreed, always getting goosebumps hearing that soundtrack
Also that's such a great title for it that it's immediately moved up a peg for me
Felt like 95% of the ost was too "ambient". Can only remember like three-four tracks including contact with you. Need more vocals.
It's AYRE'S THEME! HOW CAN ANYONE NOT LIKE _HER THEME???_
It's the beat that got me
After beating Balteus and totally gain PTSD from it, it gave me a Monster Hunter moment where i jumps in to fight that enemy again because the music slaps and eventually mastered it
Jokes on you most if not all of these are on my playlist already because a random person in a drive through knew it was Armored Core music and that gave me an ungodly amount of confidence.
Goddammit random person, well at least your playlist is already goated!
Karasawa to your head, name five AC: Mobile songs
ALSO HOLY MOLY A 2 AND A HALF HOUR SLIVER GLINT VIDEO LET'S GO
UHM UHM UHM, Mobile Mission part 1, part 2 part3, mobile mission 3 opening, mobile mission 3 ending lmaoooo
*karasawa 🤓👆
Top 5:
Bravado
Dirty Worker
Morning Lemontea
Autobahn
Fall
9:02 no way you would not add Apex in Circle to your playlist, it’s such a bop
I wouldn't add THAT version, but maybe some other later down the video 😎
@@SilverGlintok ok. fair enough. but my favourite version is probably the original or the new one
@@SilverGlint have u heard the new apex in the circle from the new disc of ac6 its just such an upgrade imo
@@IO-BLANK-OI nah, the original still sounds better, but I'd be a filthy liar if I said the remix didn't sound good
I'd rather have it as a ringtone
'Someone is always moving on the surface' it's the best track in the ENTIRE AC franchise.
i agree with this wholeheartedly. its the one i ALWAYS come back to
Nah.
Thank you so much for making this!
This is a video that needed to be made, and you are just the Raven that needed to do it, I've been a fan since your unorganized Armored Core Playlist videos!
Armored Core's soundtrack and the people behind it are honestly amazing, exquisite and one-of-a-kind for this industry. The musical ideas and evolutions over this long-running series are something I have never seen anywhere else and is truly special to me and you, whether this is the first time you are hearing these tracks or the nine-thousandth time, you can feel this is something insanely passionate and unique.
Thank you, Kota Hoshino, Tsukasa Saitoh, Keiichiro Segawa, Shoi Miyazawa(Giovansen),FreQuency, and thank you for carrying this passion over into this video Silver Glint! I hope so many Ravens new and old see this and carry this fire with us, as it Takes Us Anywhere!
Thank you so much for backing me up Raven.
I know full well there are others like us out there, that are filled to the brim with fervor, love and appreciation for these games, and I want to spread that as far as possible.
Most of it is raw art and it transcends anything I could ever make to describe it, but I hope I got near enough to hitting the emotional notes I was aiming for!
Big hug.
i love it when high speed mecha action is paired with guitar leitmotif soundtracks.
even in anime it fucks so hard
Some of the best OSTs of all time belong to OldGen in my opinion. Will fight anyone to defend this.
I agree! And that's what the list ended up reflecting, self fulfilling prophecy
You're absolutely right.
Take Me Anywhere should instantly make Disc 3 skyrocket into “Disc 3” tier above Ninebreaker
Ahaha yeah I kinda agree with that
Cosmos and Cosmos NV always give me Knights Of Sydonia vibes
I love Knights of Sydonia, I totally get what you mean!
A YO!! i thought I was the only one who loves Knights of sydonia, glad I'm not alone
@@steelfox8468 Blame! And Sydonia are peak
@@SilverGlint i am a big fan of APOSIMZ and BioMega too. I dont like Sydonia's "harem" line. Nihei's Tower is looks good too
YOU AND I MUST FIGHT FOR OUR RIVES
Glad to see Someone Is Always Moving On the Surface getting the perfect score it deserves. Definitely my favorite track in the series.
I love every Armored Core OST, but "Cinders" literally made me cry. It was fucking beautiful, i can't even imagine what kind of mission it should be to have such a banger.
Fun fact: Nine novem is the version used as Nineball Seraph's boss theme in Another Century's Episode R.😊
i regret not getting into the series before AC6, silent line's ost is so fantastic it hurts
halfway unit bb, thank you for the wonderful video
Don't worry you're still in time to play the oldies, they are outstanding games! Thank you for watching Raven!
When you started pulling fan albums, I was kind of hoping you'd bring in Keisuke USUDA's absolutely ascended remixes/covers. But since he doesn't categorize his work into albums and really just releases everything as singles on Twitter and TH-cam, I guess his stuff can't really be organized into a tierlist like this unfortunately.
I didn't cry while listening to Goodbye, Thinker but the 20th Anniversery Disc on the other hand... In those times it wasn't unrealistic to believe this was it, the end of Armored Core. And the music felt that way too, it's so rich. A few summers ago I started going on walks in unusual places, mainly industrial or tucked away commercial complexes for really specific needs, usually, like, services for other companies. Places like that in the afternoon always kind of reminded me of AC. One of those days when the sun was getting low, I played Reminiscence. I'm glad I was alone then. That's also the video I left my corny "ACVI finally ravens" type comment when the reveal trailer dropped. Also that mini MAD you put together for Long Way to Go was really nice.
No you're right, ER/DS can't touch the heights of AC's OSTs and I'm convinced they kidnapped Rio Hamamoto for the guitar on 4 The Answer. Disc 3 and Armored Core VI is...
ALL WE WANTED
ALL WE NEEDED
ALL WE WAITED
ALL WE'VE GONE THROUGH
See you on the next battlefield, Raven.
I'm so grateful for you sticking around through the end, I'm glad we share the same vision for what AC music represents to us Ravens as it really does transcend the game medium itself and becomes more of an integral part of our personal journeys, that's how powerful it is - even outside it's intended context.
Thank you for Watching!
USUDA mentioned.
His remixes and covers can cause any Raven to lock in.
@@DynoSkrimisher ONLY TRUTHS SPOKEN HERE
when he dropped the first fires of rubicon remix w/ original lyrics, i was chewing my tongue in excitement
the description of Mister from last raven really caught me off guard lmfaoooooooo
Ahaha it does kinda ring true doesn't it??
@@SilverGlint it really does not gonna lie lol
I love how the tier list doesn’t have a downright “bad” tier. It’s all so good but in various levels of awesome
Oh absolutely, I don't think there are any bad AC soundtracks, they all nail their purpose just with varying degrees of success and quality!
Right on, Raven.
"Halfway Unit". You're a hard worker Silver Glint, making sure we got the best tunes to rock out when we're in our ACs. It was really nostalgic as someone that started with the PS1 era games to listen to all these familiar tunes once more. Keep up the good work
Thank you so much Raven, I try the best I can. And yeah everyone should have easy access to such incredible tunes
Cant believe more people are into Nine Breakers soundtrack, its basically workout music armored core edition
1:15:47 The instrument you were talking about is the organ. The thing is if that organ layer is removed, the song easily becomes a solid 8.0 imo. Great video dude. Cheers :)
Yeeees exactly glad you think that way too!
Actually I kinda like the rock organ. Gives the song a prog feel. Real 60s and 70s era stuff like the Doors.
@matthewbullion7935 I like the organ yes. But in this particular song if they just extended the notes and not made it sound a little goofy, it would be fine.
About the DLC OST for ACVD:
Most of those tracks replace the main mission tracks, for example, day after day plays in mission 9: forgive an angel, where you fight maggy.
Cosmos replaces mechanized memories in mission 10.
With this context i think you seriously undersold the context in which this tracks are used.
But just my opinion, still, great dedication for doing this whole video.
Thank you so much for sticking around and watching.
Yeah for sure, I am the least familiar with gen 5 especially VD multiplayer.
I understand I might be underselling it because I lack a lot of the context and "you had to be there" energy. Big ups Raven
The fact that I JUST now found this video is criminal. Incredibly done, I love it.
I'm holding you personally accountable for the tears streaming down my face as the nostalgia hits though.
Hey man this is a really good music review. It's comprehensive and analytical with some really good descriptions of how the music makes you feel, all without yapping over the music and letting the listener hear what you hear. Great job!
Awesome, thank you so much for giving it a go! Your feedback is really appreciated, I hope I managed to convince you to add some of these to your playlist, if not, hopefully you vibed to some of it! Big cheers
I will always remember...
First of all, this was an incredible video, the amount of effort and dedication you put into this is very impressive.
AC4 & AC4A will always be peak Armored Core for me. Soundtrack alone, it was pure bliss.
Right behind it would be the 20th anniversary, which brings back that same nostalgia from past Armored Core’s by remixing some of the best tracks in the franchise. Disc 2 especially, is banger after banger.
Thank you for this video
Thank you for watching Raven, I'm glad it was enjoyable to sit through it and jam a bit! Much appreciated and cheers!
A 2,5 hours long video on my favorite videogame franchise from a youtuber i never heard of? splendid way to spend my evening
Glad to have you Raven! I hope you enjoy the ride!
kinda sad the handler walter boss theme isnt there but you included some bangers that i havent heard before. Thanks!
You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it Raven.
Generation 4: If Nexus represented the first initial transition to the Kota Hoshino-led garage rock feel, 4th Gen pretty much solidified it as a mainstay of the franchise for some time. That said, I do love and appreciate the more intense orchestral tracks as well, and how they're made into rock hybrid tracks, like all the remixes of Overture that exist in the soundtrack (With Heat, Mr. Adam, etc.). I do wish there was one full, definitive version of Overture that encompasses all the best parts of each individual track that borrows its melody and leitmotifs, but we do have USUDA to thank for putting out a remix recently that comes relatively close!
Panther is one of the most nostalgic songs for me in the entire franchise. Getting to the first full level of AC4 and hearing that piano for some reason gets me emotional, and not because the song is sad in any way.
I do agree with your assessment that despite 4's strengths, there are a few tracks that show this new musical style needed refinement (which it would eventually get in For Answer). Grid Room and Pump me Up feel tonally off for the vibe AC4 tries to capture, and a small handful of those riff heavy tracks could've used some curating. My biggest criticism is less with the soundtrack itself and more with how FromSoft integrates songs into the game itself. A lot of the best tracks you hear in the arena and then later in the campaign to the point where they feel ill=placed and hampers their impact. The lone exception to this is Thinker, which is an all time classic song that inspired some of the best remixes ever.
Soooo I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything when it comes to For Answer's soundtrack: Someone is Always Moving on the Surface is my favorite song in the entire franchise, and one of my favorite video game songs ever. For Answer gets #1 on this list for me for this song alone, its a truly transcendent piece. There's a reason why even people who have never played or barely know about Armored Core are familiar with this song, it's primal and moving on a level that's beyond what words can really do justice.
Songs like Scorcher and Remember help to remedy the issue I have of previous AC games sorta throwing random songs in for missions inappropriately. In the former's case, it's the theme of Strayed, so the fact that it plays for the final mission of the Destruction Path where remnants of ORCA hunt you down (as you are the biggest threat in that ending) makes lots of sense. Remember's lyrics "Oh I'm scary/So I'm scary" feel apt given the two-man genocide you're partaking in. (Weird fun fact, Old King hums "Thinker" over the com in the Japanese dub of the game, I think they just changed it to him humming a nondescript melody in English, HUGE missed opportunity).
I honestly completely forgot how good Cicada was until you played it here, so thank you for that.
In general, For Answer resolves the issue I had with the tone of some of 4's more rock-heavy tracks. Nothing truly feels out of place or too upbeat/positive for the game, so I feel as if both its highs are higher and lows are higher in turn.
The Answer is, top to bottom, the most consistently great album in the franchise. I usually put a pretty fat asterisk next to both the Tribute and Remix albums because they're not official soundtracks featured in the games (well, until Verdict Day), but I can't deny that all but maybe one track is on a playlist for me. They really dug deep into the bag of less immediately popular AC songs to sample melodies from in these tracks, rather than just (re)playing the hits. Morning Thinker and Goodbye Thinker are two of my favorites, and yes, the latter does get me similarly emotional-- another one of my all time favorite tracks in the franchise.
FreQuency Reprises is actually not an album I remember all that well shockingly? Though the tracks I do recall I am certainly a fan of. Their remix of Nine reminds me a lot of what they would do in Super Smash Bros. when remixing and giving a facelift to old songs from dated Nintendo franchises (though maybe I'm just making this comparison because I saw a fanmade trailer for a Nineball mod in ACVI that used Nine -novem- as the bgm, not sure). I will say though that I vastly prefer both the original and Nexus remixes of In My Heart over the Reprises remix, though I do very much appreciate the drums.
Generation 5: ACV's soundtrack feels, in a word...like sludge. It perfectly captures the tone of V as a game and for that reason I think it's a success. My only issue is that I don't particularly like V;s visual direction all that much, and in turn the soundtrack doesn't do as much for me! The very gritty, crude and dreary color palette of V feels reflected in the grimy, abrasive bass tones> Both the visual style and sound of V feels like FromSoft's attempt at capitalizing off the popularity of gritty western titles like Gears of War (though I could be extremely wrong in this assessment), deviating significantly from the visual tone and style of 4th Gen in a way I found rather offputting. V and Vulture as songs reflect this well. Describing the OST as something close to the "Sound of War" is something I very much agree with, which is why I can at least respect V's soundtrack even if it doesn't speak to me. Well, I would say that, but the start of Lament Over the Howling Age reminds me WAY too much of Teardrop by Massive Attack for me to take even remotely serious. Idk, I love Massive Attack I guess.
Despite my criticism, I do really love tracks like Mech Dinosaur, Stain, and especially Why Don't You Come Down. The latter track feels like the musical equivalent of trying to breaststroke through a tar pit, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.
Sunrise has maybe the most comfy album cover of any AC album, I'm certainly a fan of that at the very least. It's prolly my least favorite FreQuency project (but that's not saying much, cause it's still very good).
Verdict Day was the answer to all my negatives of V, both as a game and a soundtrack. It manages to both capture the same tone and feeling as V while also adding so much more depth and dimension to its sound. Dirty Worker as the opening level track is the perfect example of this, the first 30 seconds of that song still give me chills every time I hear it. A lot of Verdict Day's strengths relative to its predecessor remind me of what made Silent Line stand out relative to 3, Trickster gives me that same cinematically intense Call to Arms vibe that I adore. Verdict Day does still have that sludgey component that V embodied, particularly with On the Land of Barking Smell, but I found those tracks in VD slightly less grating.
I always found it especially intriguing that V as an AC game was largely disconnected and devoid of even slight references to previous games in the franchise, and yet Verdict Day feels in many ways like a love letter to the franchise; from minor details like character names referenced in menus, to full remixes of older tracks used for multiplayer stages (High Fever: Sweetest Thing is prolly the least emotional song to ever get me emotional, but any time they remix the first level song in a franchise, I'll prolly react that way). This sort of hit its apex with Mechanized Memories, definitely an all time classic track and a perfect final boss theme (at least, until before the DLC released).
Speaking of which, peak music alert. Day after Day? Classic. Love that it's used as the alternative track for the Blue Magnolia fight in Chapter 9. Cosmos new version? Even better, probably a top 5 AC song for me and though its maybe technically less fitting for a final boss theme than Mechanized Memories, I think I may still prefer it overall. The other tracks are pretty good, but I love the music expansion for those two tracks alone.
I can empathize with those that thought the 20th anniversary album was effectively the end of Amored Core as a franchise, and with the way some songs in particular elicited a climactic and bittersweet feeling, it's hard not to look at it as such. Fallout remains an incredible track. We Still Have a Long Way to Go is a song that I don't think I have the heart to listen to a second time. Felt a little TOO hard the first time I listened to it and it's a bit difficult to relive that.
Honestly I'd rank Rubicon at the lowest. Not because it was bad, but because it just feels so jarring when compared to everything else. The composers who did those did the Elden Ring tracks and I love those too. But when the Raven came down I at least expected something to make a return. Saying all this makes me feel like the old AC fans complaining about AC4 & FA lmao. Solid tracks for sure though. I'm just happy AC is back ❤
Yeah, but you do have a point it's very jarring! Once you throw your preconceptions of what it should sound like(based on previous games) it is quite amazing though! But I totally get you
@@SilverGlint For sure. It did what it was suppose to do though. The game was a reboot to bring in potential new fans from the souls series who liked their games as well. The music was probably picked for that reason in mind. Going back and giving everything a listen again, I really did enjoy a lot of the new tracks.
Yeh I’d also put 6 into the lowest tiers. It is in a literal sense a “game soundtack”, where it serves to add that feeling within the gameplay to enhance it and make it atmospheric. In that area, it’s probably the best in the series hands down. Unfortunately, there are so little songs that are pleasing to listen to while I’m doing anything else but playing the game. In that sense, it’s similar to Last Raven. But hey at least it’s not last raven.
I think the best AC6 music is together with the best of AC4, FA and 5 myself and it doesn't feel jarring to me when they do change a bit of styles and music from each generation, but I can understand why people don't like it compared to others. Though I could never be putting it together with last raven that has actual mediocre to bad songs in it, I like some couple songs on that game but its definitely an average ost as a whole, though I have take a liking to some due to stockholm syndrome prob XD, loved the difficulty on that game, having to spend couple of hours trying to get a nice build to defeat a level was peak AC experience
Maybe I’m weird, but I find a lot of the AC6 music to be pretty nice to listen to (I’m a new fan). The new songs have definitely replaced some of the originals (like steel haze), but there are still a bunch of base game songs I think are great. Contact with you, steel haze (both songs), rough and decent (both), cries of coral, the man who burned it all, echoes of coral, fires of rubicon, hearing things, resolve, silent encounter, hell even a lot of chapter bosses I think are great (C weapon, ice worm, allmind).
Granted some of these songs might sound similar in some aspects, but the point still stands. To each their own tastes, I’ve been listening to some of the older songs and finding them to be awesome as well. As silver glint said, it does immersion really well. But for me personally, the context from a song makes it feel really replayable to me.
旧作ACまで愛してくれてうれしい･･･ああ、嬉しい、楽しい、思い出が蘇る。私の戦場、私の心の場所
楽しんでいただけたようでとても嬉しいです。
旧世代の AC は私のお気に入りなので、私の心の中で特別な場所を占めています。
There was this one reddit post that used Cinders for the Walter fight and oh my god I was actually close to crying, the lines of Walter wishing us a good life got stronger
Seeing your gameplay makes me want to replay all the games again, dammit.
I'm evil like that, yes, play the games 😎
Dooryard Track seems like it was inspired by folk dance music, those tones and beats are so similar.
I really enjoy this format for soundtrack reviews, it lets the audience absorb the music while you can make commentary. Would love to see more videos like this but with different franchises. Also extremely based Scorcher take
Noted! I would love to go into Nier, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy etc... Eventually. But I think this is a cool format! Thanks Raven
1:15:45 That instrument is a Hammond Organ, common in protestant church music and jazzy music.
Also thanks for including Rain in the video, it's a severely underrated track from AC4, which kind of speaks to how amazing 4's OST is but Rain feels so introspective and the title just seems to fit so well. The lyrics were never released but I always hear, "All is ending, all the time." which is really melancholic.
Thank you for the info! Yeah Rain is absolutely one of my favourites.
The tier list I've been waiting for
Came to the right place then Raven :)
Just got here after dipping my toes into Nexus after getting to AC3, just to experience alil of "ds2 AC", and I BEAT THE WHOLE GAME WITH A BUILD I'M GENUINELY HAPPY WITH WHILST ENJOYING MY TIME WITH IT??? Truly, AC Nexus is the DS2 of AC, as with the right build (fast reverse leg sniper build), the game is so much fun.
With all that said, AC:Nexus Shinning S teir, everything else E teir for not being Shinning, and Nine-Ball theme to NB teir.
Thanks for this video! I never knew about the AC6 special discs I'm def checking them out now!
Literally brings a tear to my eye to see the series getting the attention it gets these days. It sat dormant for so long, like something out of one of its own plots. I hope they make more, and that they tap into vibes of the old music. AC6 needed more breakbeat/jungle stuff.
Oh and Remember was good enough that it's the one full videogame cover I've ever done. It's soooo good.
Remember is stellar.
You're right it's so poetic in a way, the actual franchise had a sort of plot development similar to what one can find actually in game!
23:20 I think the most effective use of Stutter is the mission in Zearm Desert where you shoot down the drop pods before they land. That mission's always stuck out for me.
Armored 4 and For Answer are just absolute PEAKS, not only in the videogame perspective. These are just one of the best albums I've ever heard
Pd : My favorite song is Mechanized Memories in the end, especially the aniversary version. God I pass my college final exam with this song in mind, if that's not inspiring I don't know what that is.
Pd2: Oh GOD! Remember -on yor memory- I listened this version 10x times more than the original. Man, if they do an official port to pc from the ACs before VI i would inmediatly bought them all. Day after day I've been thinking about this.
Thanks for watching along Raven!
Yeah these albums are some of the best music composed out there, period.
Morning, Lemontea... Oh you poor thing. :( One of my top 5 in the Franchise.
love to see other people so similarly obsessed with the AC OST's!! They're such underappreciated gems
Vaati dropping the AC6 lore video, AC6 1.07 update, and now this? what a week!
EDIT: I pray to god that this video gets attention
EDIT 2: In twitter, Kota Hoshino himself mentioned that The Encounter World is the "most refreshing (or pleasing to hear) song in all of AC series" (ORIGINAL TEXT: AC史上最高の爽やか楽曲The Encounter World。). this song deserves to be in a playlist
EDIT 3: Writing this on half way point. I am surprised how much I can disagree to your opinions, while also being able to agree. Funny what different tastes can do, huh?
EDIT 4: "What the fuck is actually happening in this one?", ill tell you whats happening: Chief is happening. and he will do whatever the fuck he wants. this, along with stain is his theme that represents him very well.
EDIT5: ISTG everyone in Japan loves Life in Ash (and day after day),,, thats not saying much because the series isnt too famous
EDIT6: Peak A Boo feels like a song that would play when fighting biological weapons, maybe because those funny looking guys do look like biological weapons
EDIT7: speaking of day after day, im not sure about this but this song can replace the final fight with maggie, because the song is about her. This song for me was an anthem for us who have been waiting for a new game "day after day... staying around far away". (also whats up with AC characters losing their arm?)
EDIT8: It's the first time listening to point five remix, but it kinda reminds me of AC6.
EDIT⑨: Just finished watching the entire video. Good shit!
As a new fan (been a fan for only 3, 4 years) to the AC series and had no damn clue on how to access the games, music and lore (mostly music) was the majority of my AC experience. Sure there were some points in the video where I wouldn't necessarily agree, but it was mostly reasonable and even insightful and interesting. And for the points that I agree to, it helped me understand more on why I liked that particular song, and was fun to listen to.
I'd like to thank you, as a fellow Raven for posting a hell of a video. Through this video, I hope that new players may listen to the OST's of AC games and discover hidden gems.
Sorroy for the long comnet
Yeah I swear it was not on purpose ahah, me too! One can hope vaati sends his legion towards this video 😎
As someone who has only played Armored Core 6, this was really cool to listen through! Definitely makes me want to try out the other games in the franchise as well. Though I will say, the comment at 2:22:11 is a little weird considering the guy responsible for the Rusted Pride remix and Takes Me Anywhere (as well as a bunch of other bangers from AC6) also made some of the best tracks in Elden Ring. Don't wanna start a flame war, just wanted to point it out, we don't have to pit two kings against each other :)
I'm heartbroken you didn't include not 1 of the 3 versions of Stain. Such a banger. But I did love this ranking so much.
Thank you Raven! A lot of people indeed mention stain a lot, I personally don't really think it's amazing but I find it good!
a product of pure love to armored core's fantastic tunes on par to the 146 track mix. also the beautifully designed graphic to go with the songs. the hud? the audio visualizer??? the DIALOGUE BOX? UGH. equally entertaining and substantial. this video is truly well-done. an amazing format for music review.
also: justice for BEATMASK??????
Justice for BeatASS, seriously though, thank you so much for watching and paying attention to all the details I tried cramming in there.
It took me a long time to get it all done and seeing positive comments like yours is what makes it all worth it.
Thank you Raven
nice to see some shining appreciation i dont see that song talked about enough its the most emotional and soulful ac track to me and probably my favourite out of every game
also last raven being so low is criminal tbh to me it has the most consistently good ost and pride of lions is a top 5 track in all of ac for me
its rare to see people giving ac music the appreciation it deserves to this extent so this is a sight for sore eyes
Thank you so much for the kind words, it's all really special to me so I think it deserves that kind of attention!
Been hoping to see someone put out a video like this where they also take into account things like the missions the songs were used in. Well done! Only a quarter of a way through the video but will definitely be finishing this as a fellow huge fan of the Armored Core OSTs. Also love that you included the "non game" albums like the Reprises and Sunrise.
I'm glad you're enjoying it! Yeah I think getting the context right was a big thing for me in this video, I wanted to get as close to the intent as possible
Beautifully crafted video, it was a pleasure to watch it until the end! I found it endearing how i had different opinions especially in regard to how Sunrise and Reprises would be ranked, as i think they were some of the best songs the team has ever made. Awesome video!
Thank you for watching it all Raven, I really do appreciate it
MEMORIES and MECHANICAL MEMORIES , Flood of Life
I didn't know about the song at 2:08:44 "We Still Have A Long Way To Go" and I've fallen in love with it.
It's fantastic isn't it?
Add to playlist?
HELL YEAH!!
I'm new to the franchise as of Fires of Rubicon, but I fell in love with it, 100% completion and now you have me wanting to hunt down the older games and their soundtracks
I'm really glad that's the case, these older games can't be slept on
Every time I see something spinning, even if the Unit only goes Halfway, I can't unhear Shape Memory Alloys.
It's a Brain Poison that's permanently altered the way I view reality.
Every time something spins, it's DUN DUN DUNNA...
DUN DUN DIN DUN DUN.
DUN DUN DUN DUN, doot doot doot doot
Man i commend the effort put in this video. I unfortunately never got to play the older AC's but found out about them through they'r music which i grew to love. 20th anniversary disk having a special place in my heart. Now having platinumed 6 i cant wait for what else is to come.
Thank you so much, means a lot to me!
A lot of people haven't gotten around to trying out older generations of armored core but there are some serious bangers (both games and soundtracks) buried deep in there!
thx for making this vid ! will play this background while i playing games
Awesome! Thank you so much for watching
Super Monkey Likes Daddy is a Legit jam. It's literally in my soundtrack.
I’m a new Raven, got in to armored core at ac6 and instantly fell in love. It’s my 2023 game of the year and was so good. One thing I’ve been doing since playing and 100% ac6 is going back and playing the older games to see what ac was like before. So far it’s kinda been a struggle with the controls but otherwise having a blast. I’m a huge music nerd but I haven’t really heard much of the ac music other than the must listen music like The Answer. This video was super cool to all the games music and how it has changed over the years. I overall agree with the tier listing, but personally I think Stargazer should have been higher, that song is such a love letter to the community and an invitation letter for the new comers like me. This franchise has already cemented a place in my heart and I can’t wait to see where the franchise goes in the future, both in gameplay and in music. Fly high ravens
I played ac6 with ac2 and ac3 soundtrack, there were moments where the music fit perfectly, I love those old games, also beatmask is a gem
Great video, someone is always moving on the surface is my favorite track. Sounds goofy but it represents the extrram tragedy of the human condition and the beauty of us as well to me anyways
One of my favourites too, totally get what you're saying! It's quite beautiful
I've been jamming to armored core music for over a decade now and continue to do so, absolute bangers within the series. Personal faves involve monkey likes daddy and whiz drop nutty
I played nexus the most and didn't remember nothing but 1 cinematic
in this video when I heard the first 3 seconds "shining" They have brought life back to my empty body
Great video!
Thank you, glad to revitalize your Raven energy!
I was going to praise the restraint you exercised despite describing Verdict Day's soundtrack as chock full of anthems, but my man, the scores for Vendetta and Forgive an Angel! Stain! I would have love to see them higher.
That was a very fun ride, thanks.
Thank you so much for watching it all, I hope you had fun.
And yeah I tried to stay strict to my criteria, otherwise AC4 an FA would've stolen the show!
Stain is very good, just maybe not on my particular interest!
Watched this whole video non-stop. Great job! You put a lot of time and effort into this! I played the first Armored Core on the original PlayStation back in the early 2000s and have played them all since as they came out (except I missed out on Verdict Day). Your rankings of each game pretty much match up where I would expect mine to rank so I think we pretty much agree there. I think our opinions only differ on a handful of individual songs. Anyways, keep up the good work!
Thanks a lot! Crazy that you managed to sit through the whole thing, I'm happy to know that!
26:47
45:47
58:08
1:25:57
1:36:47
1:42:30
1:50:38
1:59:28
2:24:46
i love this
Silent line is a 10 for me just for the track Scrambling Film, it feels like I’m stuck under a never ending storm
Mildly bummed that Resolve from VI didn't get some love here. The somber piano notes do a lot in making it memorable for me.
Halfway Unit reporting.
I've never actually listened to the Disk 3 tracks before this video, and I'm extremely satisfied with it. Also, the third generation of games is my favorite generation as well. Thank you very much for this gem of a video.
You're welcome Raven, happy to be of service!
re: pump me up mystery instrument
yeah im like 99% sure thats an organ of some kind
that said, its good to see so many other people that are as insane about this franchise as me!
I am not done with the video yet (currently at 1:35:53) but honestly... thank you for creating this video.
Armored Core has been a part of my life for years, from the first time playing a demo of AC4 on PS3 as a kid to nowadays where I am emulating the older games on my PC and playing the hell out of AC6. What always captivates me and makes me feel happy is.... just the atmosphere, the music especially.
I love Mecha as a genre and then you have this absolutely amazing music here, which almost always manages to draw every emotion out of you, whether that be joy or sorrow, excitement or fear... or hope and despair.
AC4 and For Answer especially really captured my heart with their soundtracks and they're still on my playlists today and I'll never stop listening to them.
Thank you for taking the time out of your life and sharing this great list with us, because of you I discovered some older tracks that I would've otherwise missed from my favorite franchise. Keep up the great work, you are what is so great about this community.
Thank you so much for your kind words, it means a lot to me.
armored core 4 overture i love it so much. It's orchestral yes but not as much as dark souls games or elden ring, mainly due to budget reasons i imagine as FS was not as rich back then, but it fits thematically . In previous games ACs are war machines, in AC4 NEXTs are more than that; they're man made gods that replace the old , religion based gods.
To me my top OSTs are Gen1, Silent lines and Gen4. AC5:VD has a few that I love and so does AC6. AC2 I only really like Red Impulse.
Awesome video man. I love it.
Thank you so much, glad you liked it! I appreciate your list
1:24:35 jokes on you, I already did it with ゴジラ (gojira/godzilla). Good luck getting that one out of your head :3
Fuck, you had me with that ahah
As much as I love ACLR, I'm glad there are others who also feel the same why I do about the OST
For Answer definitely inspired AC6's soundtrack, it kinda carries that "ghosts of the ones who've died" vibe that they do so well in AC6
Well I have to say this is fantastic work Glint! Its like a journey through the ac games with songs and of course a great pair of narrators giving us laughs and thoughts. Morning lemon tea, shining, shape memory alloy 2, Fake facer along with a lot of the ff sound tracks, thinker, sunrise and rough decent among many others are some of my favourites and this video I feel proves that the music of ac is something special. Halfway unit and the all the way to the end too. Keep up the good work as always.
Thank you so much ACL, your support has been paramount in me continuing to try and do different things around the franchise, ever since I started.
Halfway Unit Chad.
I hope it was a good journey :)
@@SilverGlint Glint it was a very chill and enjoyable journey. In fact i even put my own video on hold to listen, i knew i had too.
Awesome to know that, hopefully it didn't delay your schedule too much ahah
@@SilverGlint Ha ha nah. But i knew i had to give my full attention to it. Again fantastic work.
I've always had the urge to do this with so many videogame series I can't believe I'm not alone
We are together, alongside many other Ravens, in being completely obsessed with this.
"[Ai...hostility...]" - 9-Ball (Reprogrammed by Vertoz)
It always so wild to me how so much of the original soundscape is has such a different vibe to it than everything post ps2. The 4/5/6 games all have such different but memorable soundtracks compared to the 11 games that came before them.
To my surprise though, 6's sound track kinda goes halfway to unite the old gen and new gen armored cores. A good compromise to reboot the series for a new era of gaming. I just hope (and that disk 3 makes me really hopeful) that wherever the 6 dlc/part 2 goes next it tries to establish itself more rather than invoke nostalgia for the entire series.
Absolutely and I see what you did there Raven!
For AC6 i think Cries of Coral is the unintended start of the show, 11/10, it's the most powerful and emotional song in the game, it conveys everything that Fires of Rubicon is. Sadness, solitude, individual power of will despite everything
Nice video, to clarify the track take me anywhere, using the whole dev team to sing was inspired by NieR Automata's track, Weight of The World. Ending E that, as far as I'm aware, first used that technique. In context one of the greatest moments ever in video games. If you've not played it, I highly recommend it.
This was a great listen while at work, though my memory lane is shorter than some others as I played the most Silent Line and was never able to play Gen 4 & 5. What great sound design I missed and I’ll have to pick them up someday. Thank you, Raven.
Thank YOU Raven 🐦⬛, for sticking through the end and watching my project.
AC2 pitch drop as the AC squad drops in, containers break and so does the beat into raw percussion into more shdfdddd
(Continued, because I hit the character limit again)
Generation 6: I am so relieved that you are an ACVI soundtrack enjoyer. I've seen so much negativity over the last year from AC fans about the approach they took to VI's soundtrack and how they prioritized building an immersive soundscape over catchy melodies. Don't get me wrong, I adore when they get in their bag with the melodic ballads, but there's so much to appreciate about VI's music and audio design that gets disregarded by both critics and fans. One brief story I have is that there's a handful of tracks in VI that invoke the feeling of an engine moving and overheating, and when playing the game on PC, I actually thought my device was overheating trying to run the game, only to realize that it was the BGM that was sucking me into the experience so much that I became paranoid that the game would burn a hole in my desktop if I played for sustained periods of time (it didn't because the PC version is shockingly well optimized). I can never think about something like this and not give Hoshino his flowers. My favorite tracks in VI are, admittedly, the melodic tracks and fan favorites like Contact With You and Rusted Pride, but I'd like to give a special shoutout to both versions of Rough and Decent for bringing some unexpected swing-tempo jazz into the mix and still keeping consistent with the atmospheric, droning vibe that permeates the whole soundtrack (it also just fits Carla as a character perfectly).
Anyway, I believe in Disc 3 supremacy, and frankly, I think everyone else does too. This disc is genuinely all hits, no misses. Every original track and remix is so out the ballpark that I can't even add much of value, other than to say that Takes Me Anywhere manages to invoke a similar feeling for me as We Still Have a Long Way to Go, but with a uniquely positive and uplifting spin. It's probably tied with Someone is Always Moving on the Surface for my favorite song in the franchise, though that may be recency bias speaking. I am so glad that FromSoft picked up Shoi Miyazawa, as he has been an absolutely indispensable member of the music production side Bloodborne, and I'd honestly love if he took the reigns from Hoshino for the next Armored Core entry to show exactly what he's capable of. Additionally, I am an absolute sucker for the "development team sings the chorus" trope for video game songs. Loved it with Nier Automata and Weight of the World, and Takes me Anywhere is no different. I sincerely doubt that VI will be the last AC game, given the commercial and critical success it was, but if for whatever reason this is where things end, it's hard not to look at Takes me Anywhere as an extremely fitting sendoff.
My overall soundtrack rankings (based on your metrics) look pretty different from yours, but it's probably something like.
1. 20th Anniversary Singles
2. Fires of Rubicon Disc 3
3. The Answer
4. For Answer
5. Nexus (Disc 1)
6. Silent Line
7. Armored Core 1/Project Phantasma
8. Verdict Day
9. Verdict Day DLC
10. FreQuency Reprises
11. Armored Core 4
12. Armored Core 2
13. Armored Core VI
14. Nexus (Disc 2)
15. Master of Arena
16. Another Age
17. Nine Breaker
18. Armored Core V
19. Formula Front
20. Armored Core 3
21. Last Raven
22. Mobile Missions
Anyway, excellent video once again. I spent way too much time typing this shit out lol.
Your comment thread has been such an amazing read, I love seeing other being as nerdy, passionate and obsessed with this as I am, and although we disagree on some things, that's the beauty of subjectivity - in the end we all agree that there are no Bad ac soundtracks and that they all try doing their thing with varying degrees of success.
More importantly we all love this franchise like our life depends on it, and that's the most beautiful thing of all - seeing Ravens come together to appreciate it.
I was actually impressed by how some people don't actually like AC6 music much and say its outright bad, which is basically incorrect lol, Its very immersive soundtrack and ticks all boxes on music production to fit a medium, especially in videogames. OFC most of the soundtrack of other games ticks those boxes of fitting the theme, immersion, action... but AC6 really takes the cake on that one, I think my favorite OSTs are prob AC4, 4A and 6 especially for this reason, they have some nice groovy songs, some more immersive ones that are more on the melodic side and fits so well with the sound effects like you said in giving mechanical engine sound moving and etc. I think its more down to the nostalgia factor that people didn't appreciate as much even though older games, especially last raven, had always some couple of mediocre music in a few levels (thankfully those are usually in high action fast levels so you don't notice as much XD) or just people not knowing much that a good ost is not groovy beats only but also fitting the setting and story, which honestly AC6 hands down nailed that part incredibly well compared to past games, felt like I was playing some ace combat game in terms of attention to story and characters on a simple hectic quick action game
Ayy, nice to see you finish your list! I still remembered doing mine a while ago like it was yesterday, trying to do it all in one sitting but it took a week to do lmao. Then only compiled the A and S tiers into a playlist for mecha related games.
Bro really went over the Nexus and FA OST without even MENTIONING World Navigation or Remember by name, still an amazing video though.
I'VE GOT CHROME HEAD, FIND IT, POUND IT
I'VE GOT STEEL ARMS, TIME IT, BEAT IT!
Great video! An absolute halfway unit!
Halfway Unit gang, adding one more to our ranks.
Thank you so much for the dedication and passion, Even from the briefest of glances I can tell this is important. God bless From Software and FreQuency for all they've given us. It shall forever remain for my entire life and onwards. Gen 4 is my favorite time not for music but game play, story, motifs, and characters.
Thank you Raven, we have been given a lot by them over the years, I'm just celebrating it all with everyone
Armored Core 4 has its issues, but in my opinion it has the best soundtrack of any armored core or even any video game that I have ever played, even better than For Answer. I genuinely listen to panther, fall, speed, and twist it outside of playing the game quite often. Also thanks for making this and I will be watching this in chunks over the next few days.
I often find myself doing the same thing! You're welcome, glad you like it!
Yeah for me it was the music that got me into AC!!! NOW I'M A RAVEN FOR LIFE!!!! When I first heard the music it brought me to tears! Even though I've never played the games it felt like they were a part of my childhood and for that I will always love this series dearly!!! Thank you be safe & take care! (: A few of my favorites are Shining, Stain, Fall, Cosmos/NV, MM, Remember & Morning lemon tea a cup of love!!!!!
Let's fucking gooo
Man! This brings back memories. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I cant unhear it after you described Mister as sounding like Mister Krabs walking.
I am sorry (not 😔)
A bit odd desicion to add smth like 'mech dinosaur' to playlist but say no to "cosmos" and "remember" lol, but still, man, what a great job you've done, glad people like you make such passionate projects
Yeah a lot of people seem to miss Remember from the FA section, but it's a compromise I had to make for making the video more interesting and hopefully more even in track distribution!
But there's Remember reprises in there, and Cosmos is there too in two versions
I did expected a ranking of every song, maybe one day i will do it
Every game has a final section ranking every song, and there's also a pdf file ranking every individual song with all the related scores up on my Patreon if you're interested.
for answer is just the best. SOmeone is always moving on the surface is fromsoft's best theme ever