I think you hit the nail on the head with Another Age. It's a good game that just lets you kinda have fun as a mercenary, but at the expense of pacing and story. Depending on what a person is looking for in an Armored Core, it's either going to be really high or really low on their list of favorites. It was actually the first AC game that I myself ever owned and beat in its entirety. Now I'm excited to see what you think of the third generation with its added Exceed Orbit cores and ranged left-arm weapons!
Now that you've learned OB and Limiter Release, it's time to learn one of the most fundamental move sets in basically all of AC for PS2. Bunny Hopping. It might not be much but in Last Raven it is essential (also because that gravity in the game is kind of different compared to everything before it). Bunny Hopping is really simple. Short boosts into small jumps. Not only does it keep you moving the whole time, it saves energy since you're not fully boosting, and the biggest one of all it keeps you at two thirds your max speed. I've only learned it recently and when I used it in AC 1 and 2, a lot of enemies had a difficult time trying to hit me since I was moving around the field so quickly. In arena it makes a lot of them a joke unless they were light weight and fast AC pilots. Now, it does work on bipedal legs and quad legs. Hover really doesn't benefit from it. I'm not sure on the results for Treads since I'm not fond of using those kinds of legs personally, but give it a go. It's great to see other's enjoying AC. I only got into the series last year and it's been a blast. Super excited for AC6 when that finally drops! Oh, get ready for Silent Line and Last Raven, especially the latter!
With hover legs, when you boost along the ground, simply letting go of the boost button forces you to a complete stop. But if you do a quick hop instead, you can keep moving. You can use this to smoothly switch between moving and boosting to vary your speed and be harder to hit.
Late to these vids but bunny hopping was really cool once I'd figured it out. It felt like this skill you could master, and energy became a lot easier to manage once you did. Also I think you turn faster while bunny hopping. In AC2's arena you could break the AI by strafing around them faster than they could lock on.
Nice video again. Yeah, this is a divisive one and not surprised you didn't care for it. I've always seen Another Age as a huge mission pack. Carrying over the save may have been a better move since AA needs a bit more flexibility for parts. Looking forward to your AC3 video since many QoL changes in AA are carried over there but keeping what made the previous games great. Not sure if you didn't mean to spoil game but I didn't see the extra hidden bosses mentioned here. That was one of the highlights of AA for me.
I actually didn't get to the extra missions because it took way longer than expected to play through this one and I just needed to get the video finished up. Weirdly, I was more hyped when I saw Stinger than I was for Seraph 😂
Ok, so first. There's one hundred AND THREE missions. You did not fight the final mission. Go back and get your Lost Field missions, they only unlock after you "beat" the game. Those are the true final missions. Good luck! You absolutely should not consider repeating missions "cut corners." These are meant to be nostalgia missions. And if you dislike it, you're going to hate Nexus, as a solid full half of that game is exact repeats of old missions just "AC3-ified." Thus the name, Nexus. AC2AA assumes you've played every other AC game before it. This is also why it's harder and economy isn't really considered. It assumes you're just here to challenge yourself. I implore you, LEARN BUNNY HOPPING. This is a ground glide technique where you do a brief pop up. It's slower than ground gliding but the vertical movement makes you harder to hit and saves enough energy that you can do it indefinitely. It is MUCH faster than running. FROM hated how bunny hopping looked so they basically made it punish you if it you did it starting in AC4, but in AC1, 2, and 3 it is essential. If you need help learning it, ask around. Any one of us can show you how to do it.
My very first AC game. Its amazing. All it is is 100 plus mission expansion set on earth. No arena, no story. Cuz you are just a normal everyday raven. You arent the hero or the villain. You are the background character that sometimes has to mop up bullshit like a giant MT or very very Old AC that should be dead. I think the reason why AC another age is so weird, is its the first AC that is truely in the ways of the dark souls story telling. You have to very much read inbetween the lines of black ink to figure out the story that is unfolding around you. I love this game. Its probably my second favorite AC game. Cuz its tag line should be "Shut up and get in the damn mech, Raven."
I love another age, but i think thats because i was marathoning the series. Since i was doing that, the removal of the arena was a massive breath of fresh air for me. Ther early arenas drown you in trash fights for like the first half of the arena and they were tedious to grind through. Also, how can you not love the ship mission?! Its one of the coolest ones in the series! Yeah its similar to the ones in previous games, but so is every other "kill all MTs" mission.
Well, not quite the same, but they did remake 3rd Gen into a trilogy, with it going AC3>SL>Last Raven with each game getting extra new hidden parts, new additional arena fights, and allowing you to load a AC3 or SL save to start with in Last Raven.
Huh, you're the first person I've seen talk about AC2 or Another Age on TH-cam recently that actually mentioned Limiter Release. It was in AC2 as well as AA, but it worked for 60 seconds or so in that game before the 60 second cooldown. They nerfed it in AA because it could have made a few of the more interesting challenges in the game far too easy, like the triple AC fight. Anyway, enjoying this series and looking forward to the next one.
Armored Core 3: Silent Line remains one of my favorite entries in the series. Another Age felt like an experiment wherein the results led to Silent Line as the follow up to Armored Core 3.
Human+, OVERWEIGHT, excellent System Link Vs maps in AC2/AA make Gen 2 my preferred AC sub-series. AC3/SL are very nice with the expanded left arm weapons, EO cores, and arm attachments but the Vs maps aren't nearly as good, OP-INTENSIFY is a weak Human+ replacement, and OVERWEIGHT is annoying af with that damn alarm that can't be silenced. I also prefer the music and part designs better in AC2/AA.
@@TexasHollowEarthI personally prefer OPI to H+, because it's more balanced. You're making a trade, and one that usually isn't even worth it for most builds, where H+ is just a passive "toggle some boons". OPI allows you to do some cool things you otherwise couldn't, like infinite flight and shoulder cannons, but at the cost of, er, everything else, so it feels really nice to build around. Also, I can't agree with you at all about the music in AA being better than SL, but that's just me!
A good breakdown but PLEASE learn bunnyhop movement, it will make your life much easier. As you noticed AC fights are harder in AA compared to 2, thats because most mission AC's in 2 dont have full health leading to them dieing in a much shorter time. p.s. there are 3 more boss fights you missed in Lost Field, 103% completion is the max for AA.
loved AC AA2, at 1 point, I was doing speed runs, prolly spend between 3-9 minutes per mission (some missions are fairly easy and short) and 20+ minutes for larger extended missions. typical builds I used favored medium range ACs with gear set ups emphasizing energy efficiency so Machine Guns, Missiles, at least 1 energy cannon or Rocket launcher, energy sword or Heat weapon offhand. I only used energy weapons on replays unless I knew ahead of time the enemy AC was geared for energy defense as Energy Weapons accrue 0 replenishment costs
Just popping in to echo what others have said: you missed the actual final boss battle(s) of Another Age! I'm sure many would appreciate you going back and making an addendum video!
You're kind of missing the forest for the trees when you're talking about the "reused" missions being cut corners to pad content. Those were some of the best parts about the franchise in my opinion. What's not to like about being able to play a particularly fun scenario from the previous generation, but in the current generation's game at the time? It's a nice nostalgic throwback from long time players of the series to be able to play some of their favorite old missions in the new engine. As far as people's preference for AA over AC2, there's one thing that stands out: balancing of parts. There were a lot of minor stat tweaks to a lot of AC parts that meant many people in the pvp scene preferred this title at the time. I was personally indifferent and I could manage with either game in pvp, and the same goes for the single player. Some of those throwback missions to AC1 or PP were hella fun, my favorite being the Giant MT mission shown towards the end of the video. The one with the ships is definitely another memorable one.
This was actually my first game. And the desperate need for answers drove me to play the whole franchise. Also, hold up, did you not do the bonus Stinger and Nineball Seraph fights in Another Age? That shit was terrifying and traumatizing to a younger me. Majorly spooky and mysterious.
Been playing AA again and yea, it feels like a big expansion pack or mission pack. In some ways it feels like it's them experimenting with some stuff. If you like the big bosses, there are quite a few in the franchise, and AC4:FA has a LOT of these giant boss battles.
I disagree with pretty much everything you said here, but I found the review interesting. I'm an AC vet and this was my first game, although I only managed to beat it a couple years ago. It became my favorite game in the series, after Silent Line and then 3. It competes with Last Raven for the hardest game in the series, FYI, so don't feel bad about struggling. Your comments about there being too many missions was interesting, mostly because there are a hundred and three missions and I remember every single one. They're all unique between each other, even with the reused maps, and no two missions feel too similar. Economy was never a limiting factor in Armored Core. In every old gen game, you can sell parts for 100% of their value, and you can just reload if you lose, so there is basically nothing preventing you from having a more or less complete build in as little as the first five missions. That being said, I wasn't aware that you could cheese the advance rewards, although I really don't think it matters for the reasons I said above. The game would really be no less difficult if you enabled a cheat for infinite credits. Also, please bunny hop! Aaaaghhh! It hurts watching you empty your energy supply!
Nice review! Although, AC1 was the first in the series to introduce massive bosses, although you might’ve missed it because there’s 2 different story paths in the original.
You need to go back and load up your finished saves for these games AC2 and AC2AA both have the best fights AFTER finishing the game! Make 1 more video after your finished this series where you go back and face the after game threats.
AA was my first AC game, so I got the best possible experience with all the reused missions. It was all just more variety to me at the time lol I think there's a lot of AC games that are better crafted, but this one gave me so much for so long. Like you said, if you're not under a time constraint the fact that this game just goes on and on and always has something new for you to do is a real positive. It blew my little teenage mind back in the day.
I've also been bingeing the series in anticipation for ac6, and you summarized exactly how i felt about this one. Though it's a little disappoiting you didn't play the 3 post-game missions since those were some of the games best. Anyway on the positive i think you will enjoy ac3 a lot more because of this game.
In addition to the fight against NineBall in Another Age, I'm pretty sure there's also another mission that lets you fight SERAPH. That right there should be a good time.
Bro you missed the REAL final boss in the unknown pit. To this day, those piano keys strike fear into my heart… Arguably the hardest boss in any game I’ve ever played. Took me weeks to beat.
This game was the best armored core because of the missions, 100 in total, and you'll never run out of reasons much to go in there, perform missions and blow stuff up, the arena mode omission was disappointing, but thats a lot of missions to do so you dont run out of things to do much. I wished there was a code for player 2 being AI in coop missions.
Another Age actually takes place on Earth, not Mars. Its a direct continuation of the gen 1 games, where the subterranean era is over, and a new age on the surface has begun. Isaac City/Neo Isaac and Gal City are areas from AC1. And its why you run into that rogue Nine-Ball. Personally, I like when AC games reuse maps. Its part of what make it actually feel like you're a mercenary. First, you're hired to attack an area. Then a week later, the other side hires you to defend the same place. That makes perfect sense. Plus, they do a good job making each mission play different, even if it is in the same area. I definitely agree that AA is a bit of a mixed bag, though. It has some of the best missions, and some of the most annoying missions in the series. I feel like if they had at least kept the mail system, so you could have a bit more story between missions, it would have helped a lot. Many of the missions in it would have been more interesting with a bit more context. That's why I like the news articles they added in Nexus.
I'm actually kind of pissed that I never noticed the game was on Earth, I guess I just assumed Mars because the corporations were all just the ones from AC2's story 😅
If i remember right, you do acquire an arena after beating the game. I want to say one of the games you get a bonus arena after you beat it. I would have to load my games to find out which one though.
These acs are way more than 30 feet tall i dont know where this weird idea started from but it doesn't make any sense. You literally can step on vehicles and are more than 5-6 times taller than a human.
You sound young so i will tell you exactly why they made the decisions they made. Back in the day, people really cared about quantity of content. It was a selling point to say "this game takes 40 hours to beat". Because back in the early 2000s, nobody wanted to spend $60 for a game that only takes 10hrs to beat. Also, literally every game reused assets. They had to. There just wasn't that much storage space on those game CDs. They couldn't have unique stages for every single mission even if they wanted to. So back then people were 100% used to and expected stages to be reused. Also, this was pre dark souls. This was back when most people thought that AgeTec was the developer. Nobody knew who or what FromSoftware even was, and they were a small developer with a limited budget. So they just didn't have the resources to make the games any better than they did. I specifically remember people being excited when a new armored core game was announced because they were sure the last AC game was going to be the last AC game. AC2AA Was most people's favorite AC game for a long time. Between AC2AA and AC3/Silent Line, it's a tough call for best AC game right up until AC6.
It's interesting that people prefer this one, because it seems to have influenced I guess similar games like Chrome Hounds or Daemon X Machina. In so far as there no tournaments, I could be wrong, I mean Master of Arena existed. But yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head in that it's basically just a mission pack, I mean think about it, DLC is so easy to distribute nowadays, EDF 4 and 5 have tons of em on their Steam page for example, where as in back in the day you'd get Pokemon Emerald or Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition. Games with extra modes ancd challenges with some tweaks to the system, even bug fixes. Which makes this seems like an odd way to attempt to emulate it, because it's just boom, import yer character and prepare for pain.
For me the problem of Another Age its the difficulty, its extremely frustrating the first time i play it , especially on the AC fights and escort missions. Honestly i didnt have any problem beating the original Armored Core 2 and Another Age has giving me trouble the first time i play it. Also, theres an easy way to destroy the massive MT, if you use the dual rockets that doesnt have lock on system you can keep shooting at the front center of the MT until its destroyed instantly.
One thing to note about Another Age is that it takes place on Earth, not Mars. So really the only connection story-wise to AC2 is that it has the same parts and corporations as 2. And the few missions with Disorder units.
My favorite after AC3, AC3 wins in terms of story and little to no bs encounters. Just a mercenary job, with no plot twists (ending aside), have fun lol. Defending place, then attacking the same place you just defended. Too bad they ditched the Disorder story. Like, they appeared ON EARTH, while there should be none at all. And then they reveal the thing controlling them is in some ancient structure, implying martians were on Earth lol. Screw this mission with 3 ACs fight.
I absolutely despise this game for the sole fact that there is to many missions and absolutely no story. That being said if you look at as being a mission pack instead then it is a decent game.
You consider Grey Cloud the hardest fight in AA??? I'm convinced you didn't fight Seraph. Grey Cloud can easily get Merc'd by using your Sawa and then hiding behind the building near where you start the fight. Overall good vid tho.
The story is a bit of a shame because it could’ve been interesting. The ending of AC2 created a power vacuum, and also put a lot of Ravens out of a job while the corporations recovered and tried to avoid the brunt of the Earth Government’s punishment. Could’ve added some light political intrigue, but it really doesn’t touch on it at all. AC6 feels like a second swing at what AC2-era games were trying to do. We’ll have to see
I was real interested in the anti corporation terrorist organization in AA and spent a lot of time trying to avoid missions where I would interfere with them and taking ones that helped them, only to eventually hit a dead end and realize that there is not actual story and im expected to do every single mission.
LIMITER RELEASE???? Are you telling me that its a thing?? AAH!.. My entire playthrough!!... All 100 missions... all the effort to build the most energy officent build just to junp over that gap.... just to asend that one vertical room LoL
It amazes me you went through Gen 2 without Overboosting. Its a very overboost centric generation with AA in particular having a lot of stages that require some ACs to overboost.
Hey dude, you forgot something… the Lost Field. It opens upon reloading your complete save, and has bosses from older games. And that alone… you did not do ac2aa justice because of this
lol how many games did you play not knowing about the overboost? like bro when i was comming up we were reading about the overboost in game magazines and talking about it at lunchtables and stuff. just a different world wow like when i playehd the first thing i did was click "R3" because at that time that was like one of the first times the analogue stick could be used as a button and analogue in general was still brand new. we would basically be like, idk what these sticks are gonna be used for one day but i cant wait lmao
Just beat AC2. I want to go to Another Age but hearing it got hundred mission really doesn't encourage me in anyway. Should I just skip to 3 or play it regardless?
Huh? I definitely disagree there. It's my favorite game in the whole franchise, and while I wouldn't call it peak, because that belongs to Silent Line without a doubt, it's far from the worst game I've played (which is honestly Nexus), and I haven't even played them all. It's definitely closer to the *top* of the list than the bottom.
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Death, Taxes, and Fighting Nine-Ball
I think you hit the nail on the head with Another Age. It's a good game that just lets you kinda have fun as a mercenary, but at the expense of pacing and story. Depending on what a person is looking for in an Armored Core, it's either going to be really high or really low on their list of favorites. It was actually the first AC game that I myself ever owned and beat in its entirety.
Now I'm excited to see what you think of the third generation with its added Exceed Orbit cores and ranged left-arm weapons!
Ah another age,I feel like another age is like the aftermath of AC2,just some usual stuff after the alien stuff back in 2
Now that you've learned OB and Limiter Release, it's time to learn one of the most fundamental move sets in basically all of AC for PS2. Bunny Hopping. It might not be much but in Last Raven it is essential (also because that gravity in the game is kind of different compared to everything before it). Bunny Hopping is really simple. Short boosts into small jumps. Not only does it keep you moving the whole time, it saves energy since you're not fully boosting, and the biggest one of all it keeps you at two thirds your max speed. I've only learned it recently and when I used it in AC 1 and 2, a lot of enemies had a difficult time trying to hit me since I was moving around the field so quickly. In arena it makes a lot of them a joke unless they were light weight and fast AC pilots. Now, it does work on bipedal legs and quad legs. Hover really doesn't benefit from it. I'm not sure on the results for Treads since I'm not fond of using those kinds of legs personally, but give it a go.
It's great to see other's enjoying AC. I only got into the series last year and it's been a blast. Super excited for AC6 when that finally drops!
Oh, get ready for Silent Line and Last Raven, especially the latter!
With hover legs, when you boost along the ground, simply letting go of the boost button forces you to a complete stop. But if you do a quick hop instead, you can keep moving. You can use this to smoothly switch between moving and boosting to vary your speed and be harder to hit.
Late to these vids but bunny hopping was really cool once I'd figured it out. It felt like this skill you could master, and energy became a lot easier to manage once you did.
Also I think you turn faster while bunny hopping. In AC2's arena you could break the AI by strafing around them faster than they could lock on.
Nice video again.
Yeah, this is a divisive one and not surprised you didn't care for it. I've always seen Another Age as a huge mission pack. Carrying over the save may have been a better move since AA needs a bit more flexibility for parts.
Looking forward to your AC3 video since many QoL changes in AA are carried over there but keeping what made the previous games great.
Not sure if you didn't mean to spoil game but I didn't see the extra hidden bosses mentioned here. That was one of the highlights of AA for me.
I actually didn't get to the extra missions because it took way longer than expected to play through this one and I just needed to get the video finished up. Weirdly, I was more hyped when I saw Stinger than I was for Seraph 😂
@@notcoleHis AC remains one of the best mech designs in the entire series as far as I'm concerned, and it looks even better here.
Ok, so first. There's one hundred AND THREE missions. You did not fight the final mission. Go back and get your Lost Field missions, they only unlock after you "beat" the game. Those are the true final missions. Good luck!
You absolutely should not consider repeating missions "cut corners." These are meant to be nostalgia missions. And if you dislike it, you're going to hate Nexus, as a solid full half of that game is exact repeats of old missions just "AC3-ified." Thus the name, Nexus.
AC2AA assumes you've played every other AC game before it. This is also why it's harder and economy isn't really considered. It assumes you're just here to challenge yourself.
I implore you, LEARN BUNNY HOPPING. This is a ground glide technique where you do a brief pop up. It's slower than ground gliding but the vertical movement makes you harder to hit and saves enough energy that you can do it indefinitely. It is MUCH faster than running. FROM hated how bunny hopping looked so they basically made it punish you if it you did it starting in AC4, but in AC1, 2, and 3 it is essential. If you need help learning it, ask around. Any one of us can show you how to do it.
yeah, that *THREE* mission, that *THREE*.
hope he can see this comment
Came to post something like this. Missed 3 of the best ones!
My very first AC game. Its amazing. All it is is 100 plus mission expansion set on earth. No arena, no story. Cuz you are just a normal everyday raven. You arent the hero or the villain. You are the background character that sometimes has to mop up bullshit like a giant MT or very very Old AC that should be dead.
I think the reason why AC another age is so weird, is its the first AC that is truely in the ways of the dark souls story telling. You have to very much read inbetween the lines of black ink to figure out the story that is unfolding around you.
I love this game. Its probably my second favorite AC game. Cuz its tag line should be "Shut up and get in the damn mech, Raven."
I love another age, but i think thats because i was marathoning the series.
Since i was doing that, the removal of the arena was a massive breath of fresh air for me. Ther early arenas drown you in trash fights for like the first half of the arena and they were tedious to grind through.
Also, how can you not love the ship mission?! Its one of the coolest ones in the series! Yeah its similar to the ones in previous games, but so is every other "kill all MTs" mission.
I always wished that 3 had it's own "another age". It's the best playing gen so getting a hundred missions in it would have been great.
at least nexus sorta tried this concept again
Well, not quite the same, but they did remake 3rd Gen into a trilogy, with it going AC3>SL>Last Raven with each game getting extra new hidden parts, new additional arena fights, and allowing you to load a AC3 or SL save to start with in Last Raven.
Silent Line is the closest thing of being the Another Age of AC3
Huh, you're the first person I've seen talk about AC2 or Another Age on TH-cam recently that actually mentioned Limiter Release. It was in AC2 as well as AA, but it worked for 60 seconds or so in that game before the 60 second cooldown. They nerfed it in AA because it could have made a few of the more interesting challenges in the game far too easy, like the triple AC fight.
Anyway, enjoying this series and looking forward to the next one.
Armored Core 3: Silent Line remains one of my favorite entries in the series. Another Age felt like an experiment wherein the results led to Silent Line as the follow up to Armored Core 3.
Human+, OVERWEIGHT, excellent System Link Vs maps in AC2/AA make Gen 2 my preferred AC sub-series. AC3/SL are very nice with the expanded left arm weapons, EO cores, and arm attachments but the Vs maps aren't nearly as good, OP-INTENSIFY is a weak Human+ replacement, and OVERWEIGHT is annoying af with that damn alarm that can't be silenced. I also prefer the music and part designs better in AC2/AA.
@@TexasHollowEarthI personally prefer OPI to H+, because it's more balanced. You're making a trade, and one that usually isn't even worth it for most builds, where H+ is just a passive "toggle some boons". OPI allows you to do some cool things you otherwise couldn't, like infinite flight and shoulder cannons, but at the cost of, er, everything else, so it feels really nice to build around.
Also, I can't agree with you at all about the music in AA being better than SL, but that's just me!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaait a second, there is *THREE* more missions, u have to play that there is the real final boses.
A good breakdown but PLEASE learn bunnyhop movement, it will make your life much easier.
As you noticed AC fights are harder in AA compared to 2, thats because most mission AC's in 2 dont have full health leading to them dieing in a much shorter time.
p.s. there are 3 more boss fights you missed in Lost Field, 103% completion is the max for AA.
Yup, trust me. It's worth your time.
loved AC AA2, at 1 point, I was doing speed runs, prolly spend between 3-9 minutes per mission (some missions are fairly easy and short) and 20+ minutes for larger extended missions. typical builds I used favored medium range ACs with gear set ups emphasizing energy efficiency so Machine Guns, Missiles, at least 1 energy cannon or Rocket launcher, energy sword or Heat weapon offhand. I only used energy weapons on replays unless I knew ahead of time the enemy AC was geared for energy defense as Energy Weapons accrue 0 replenishment costs
MGSAW my beloved
I do feel like another age is pretty exhausting mission wise, but nine ball seraph kinda makes up for it
Also want to point out this game doesn't really detail the events of the corporations on mars after ac 2 as this game takes place on earth
Just popping in to echo what others have said: you missed the actual final boss battle(s) of Another Age! I'm sure many would appreciate you going back and making an addendum video!
You're kind of missing the forest for the trees when you're talking about the "reused" missions being cut corners to pad content. Those were some of the best parts about the franchise in my opinion. What's not to like about being able to play a particularly fun scenario from the previous generation, but in the current generation's game at the time? It's a nice nostalgic throwback from long time players of the series to be able to play some of their favorite old missions in the new engine.
As far as people's preference for AA over AC2, there's one thing that stands out: balancing of parts. There were a lot of minor stat tweaks to a lot of AC parts that meant many people in the pvp scene preferred this title at the time. I was personally indifferent and I could manage with either game in pvp, and the same goes for the single player. Some of those throwback missions to AC1 or PP were hella fun, my favorite being the Giant MT mission shown towards the end of the video. The one with the ships is definitely another memorable one.
im liking this series a lot, loking forward to the next one!
This was actually my first game.
And the desperate need for answers drove me to play the whole franchise.
Also, hold up, did you not do the bonus Stinger and Nineball Seraph fights in Another Age?
That shit was terrifying and traumatizing to a younger me.
Majorly spooky and mysterious.
Oh no you missed the 3 special boss fights in post-game!
I think you would've really liked them!
Been playing AA again and yea, it feels like a big expansion pack or mission pack. In some ways it feels like it's them experimenting with some stuff. If you like the big bosses, there are quite a few in the franchise, and AC4:FA has a LOT of these giant boss battles.
I disagree with pretty much everything you said here, but I found the review interesting. I'm an AC vet and this was my first game, although I only managed to beat it a couple years ago. It became my favorite game in the series, after Silent Line and then 3. It competes with Last Raven for the hardest game in the series, FYI, so don't feel bad about struggling.
Your comments about there being too many missions was interesting, mostly because there are a hundred and three missions and I remember every single one. They're all unique between each other, even with the reused maps, and no two missions feel too similar.
Economy was never a limiting factor in Armored Core. In every old gen game, you can sell parts for 100% of their value, and you can just reload if you lose, so there is basically nothing preventing you from having a more or less complete build in as little as the first five missions. That being said, I wasn't aware that you could cheese the advance rewards, although I really don't think it matters for the reasons I said above. The game would really be no less difficult if you enabled a cheat for infinite credits.
Also, please bunny hop! Aaaaghhh! It hurts watching you empty your energy supply!
Nice review!
Although, AC1 was the first in the series to introduce massive bosses, although you might’ve missed it because there’s 2 different story paths in the original.
You need to go back and load up your finished saves for these games AC2 and AC2AA both have the best fights AFTER finishing the game!
Make 1 more video after your finished this series where you go back and face the after game threats.
AA was my first AC game, so I got the best possible experience with all the reused missions. It was all just more variety to me at the time lol
I think there's a lot of AC games that are better crafted, but this one gave me so much for so long. Like you said, if you're not under a time constraint the fact that this game just goes on and on and always has something new for you to do is a real positive. It blew my little teenage mind back in the day.
I've also been bingeing the series in anticipation for ac6, and you summarized exactly how i felt about this one. Though it's a little disappoiting you didn't play the 3 post-game missions since those were some of the games best. Anyway on the positive i think you will enjoy ac3 a lot more because of this game.
In addition to the fight against NineBall in Another Age, I'm pretty sure there's also another mission that lets you fight SERAPH. That right there should be a good time.
Another Age was my first AC game. I was not really ready for it, but do have some okay memories from it.
Bro you missed the REAL final boss in the unknown pit. To this day, those piano keys strike fear into my heart… Arguably the hardest boss in any game I’ve ever played. Took me weeks to beat.
This game was the best armored core because of the missions, 100 in total, and you'll never run out of reasons much to go in there, perform missions and blow stuff up, the arena mode omission was disappointing, but thats a lot of missions to do so you dont run out of things to do much. I wished there was a code for player 2 being AI in coop missions.
Another Age actually takes place on Earth, not Mars. Its a direct continuation of the gen 1 games, where the subterranean era is over, and a new age on the surface has begun. Isaac City/Neo Isaac and Gal City are areas from AC1. And its why you run into that rogue Nine-Ball.
Personally, I like when AC games reuse maps. Its part of what make it actually feel like you're a mercenary. First, you're hired to attack an area. Then a week later, the other side hires you to defend the same place. That makes perfect sense. Plus, they do a good job making each mission play different, even if it is in the same area.
I definitely agree that AA is a bit of a mixed bag, though. It has some of the best missions, and some of the most annoying missions in the series. I feel like if they had at least kept the mail system, so you could have a bit more story between missions, it would have helped a lot. Many of the missions in it would have been more interesting with a bit more context. That's why I like the news articles they added in Nexus.
I'm actually kind of pissed that I never noticed the game was on Earth, I guess I just assumed Mars because the corporations were all just the ones from AC2's story 😅
@@notcole Yeah, the whole 'this takes place on Earth in parallel with the events of AC 2' isn't conveyed well at all.
@@Sorain1 but man, the map is just Earth, as you go filling it out it becomes clear as day?
If i remember right, you do acquire an arena after beating the game. I want to say one of the games you get a bonus arena after you beat it. I would have to load my games to find out which one though.
These acs are way more than 30 feet tall i dont know where this weird idea started from but it doesn't make any sense.
You literally can step on vehicles and are more than 5-6 times taller than a human.
You sound young so i will tell you exactly why they made the decisions they made.
Back in the day, people really cared about quantity of content. It was a selling point to say "this game takes 40 hours to beat". Because back in the early 2000s, nobody wanted to spend $60 for a game that only takes 10hrs to beat.
Also, literally every game reused assets. They had to. There just wasn't that much storage space on those game CDs. They couldn't have unique stages for every single mission even if they wanted to.
So back then people were 100% used to and expected stages to be reused.
Also, this was pre dark souls. This was back when most people thought that AgeTec was the developer. Nobody knew who or what FromSoftware even was, and they were a small developer with a limited budget. So they just didn't have the resources to make the games any better than they did. I specifically remember people being excited when a new armored core game was announced because they were sure the last AC game was going to be the last AC game.
AC2AA Was most people's favorite AC game for a long time. Between AC2AA and AC3/Silent Line, it's a tough call for best AC game right up until AC6.
Im amazed you didnt got the bonus missions where you fight Stiger, Phantasm Unit, and 9 Ball Seraph
I really hope some of these old Ac games get rerealeased, they don't have to remakes.
it seams your unawair of the additonal human+ modifireis going in debt repeditly will give you abnother human+ that makes the game even more easier
Having 100 missions was no doubt a box that Fromsoft had to check to placate some executive who wanted that as a line on the back of the case.
Dude I'm beering and listening to tunes remind me to finish watching this and I'll subscribe. Yes I'm holding a subscribe button press hostage.
It's interesting that people prefer this one, because it seems to have influenced I guess similar games like Chrome Hounds or Daemon X Machina. In so far as there no tournaments, I could be wrong, I mean Master of Arena existed. But yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head in that it's basically just a mission pack, I mean think about it, DLC is so easy to distribute nowadays, EDF 4 and 5 have tons of em on their Steam page for example, where as in back in the day you'd get Pokemon Emerald or Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition. Games with extra modes ancd challenges with some tweaks to the system, even bug fixes. Which makes this seems like an odd way to attempt to emulate it, because it's just boom, import yer character and prepare for pain.
For me the problem of Another Age its the difficulty, its extremely frustrating the first time i play it , especially on the AC fights and escort missions. Honestly i didnt have any problem beating the original Armored Core 2 and Another Age has giving me trouble the first time i play it.
Also, theres an easy way to destroy the massive MT, if you use the dual rockets that doesnt have lock on system you can keep shooting at the front center of the MT until its destroyed instantly.
One thing to note about Another Age is that it takes place on Earth, not Mars. So really the only connection story-wise to AC2 is that it has the same parts and corporations as 2. And the few missions with Disorder units.
You miss Nine Ball Seraph? in Another Age? how could you....
My favorite after AC3, AC3 wins in terms of story and little to no bs encounters.
Just a mercenary job, with no plot twists (ending aside), have fun lol. Defending place, then attacking the same place you just defended. Too bad they ditched the Disorder story. Like, they appeared ON EARTH, while there should be none at all. And then they reveal the thing controlling them is in some ancient structure, implying martians were on Earth lol.
Screw this mission with 3 ACs fight.
I absolutely despise this game for the sole fact that there is to many missions and absolutely no story. That being said if you look at as being a mission pack instead then it is a decent game.
You consider Grey Cloud the hardest fight in AA??? I'm convinced you didn't fight Seraph.
Grey Cloud can easily get Merc'd by using your Sawa and then hiding behind the building near where you start the fight.
Overall good vid tho.
yeah I feel like he missed the hidden bosses somehow. might have just saw the credits and called it good. Also missed the extra boss in AC 2
Large rockets make it even easier
If I recall in this game there was almost an extra item for each level that you got an S rank on and I think I did that. but I can't remember.
The story is a bit of a shame because it could’ve been interesting. The ending of AC2 created a power vacuum, and also put a lot of Ravens out of a job while the corporations recovered and tried to avoid the brunt of the Earth Government’s punishment.
Could’ve added some light political intrigue, but it really doesn’t touch on it at all.
AC6 feels like a second swing at what AC2-era games were trying to do. We’ll have to see
I was real interested in the anti corporation terrorist organization in AA and spent a lot of time trying to avoid missions where I would interfere with them and taking ones that helped them, only to eventually hit a dead end and realize that there is not actual story and im expected to do every single mission.
That AC is old one i have a bad feeling raven
AC data assessment in progress...it seems to be an older model.
*Why do I hear boss music?*
LIMITER RELEASE???? Are you telling me that its a thing?? AAH!.. My entire playthrough!!... All 100 missions... all the effort to build the most energy officent build just to junp over that gap.... just to asend that one vertical room LoL
Yay new Chole video
It amazes me you went through Gen 2 without Overboosting. Its a very overboost centric generation with AA in particular having a lot of stages that require some ACs to overboost.
The double fight wasnt that final bout at all.
This was my first Armored Core 🥹
The mission where you fight the tank Ac in the crater was from AC1, not PP.
Hey dude, you forgot something… the Lost Field. It opens upon reloading your complete save, and has bosses from older games. And that alone… you did not do ac2aa justice because of this
I love for your AC reviews.
Awww, you didn't go over your experience with the post game bosses.
lol how many games did you play not knowing about the overboost?
like bro when i was comming up we were reading about the overboost in game magazines and talking about it at lunchtables and stuff. just a different world wow like when i playehd the first thing i did was click "R3" because at that time that was like one of the first times the analogue stick could be used as a button and analogue in general was still brand new. we would basically be like, idk what these sticks are gonna be used for one day but i cant wait lmao
I played this so long ago that I can’t remember. I’m wondering if my ps2 AC games still work…
You haven’t fought the true final boss of AA if you haven’t fought Nineball for the very last mission
Yeah....This one wasn't great. worse in Europe because you actually couldnt transfer your AC2 character. it had a different publisher.
wh-... where's the Nine ball Seraph fight?
Just beat AC2. I want to go to Another Age but hearing it got hundred mission really doesn't encourage me in anyway.
Should I just skip to 3 or play it regardless?
hidden weapons made this a 7 for me
No Lost Field?
You play the challenge is verry hard nine ball seraph
yeah bro most of the people complaining about AC6 wanted this kiddy mode Armored core.
I don't understand this is kiddy mode? AC6 is easier than this...lol both the games are easy.
your talking from the prospective of a gamer most of AC6s detractors are Mario odyssey grade players.@@OutrageousDragon
BEST GAME EVER FOR PS2 NO ONE CAN TELL ME OTHERWISE. LEAVE THIS GEM WHERE IT BELONGS IN THE PAST.
So you think the Final Mission is easy?
#targetverifiedcommencinghostilities
Maybe I'm wrong but did he not know of ac4 answer
That double AC fight is NOT the final boss man
lol paying in advanced eh? welp time to break the game economy
No arena in AA shocked me as well. I thought it was by far the weakest in the franchise. AC3 redeemed the franchise imo.
Huh? I definitely disagree there. It's my favorite game in the whole franchise, and while I wouldn't call it peak, because that belongs to Silent Line without a doubt, it's far from the worst game I've played (which is honestly Nexus), and I haven't even played them all. It's definitely closer to the *top* of the list than the bottom.
Seems like you did not complete ALL the missions, eheheheh
Why are you trying to speed through the game?
Also yes there are some missions you can miss but only like two or three.
No one started a new game in Another Age. There were like 12 people who played this without playing AC2 first.
Lol why would someone even do that, skip 2 and then just play AA?
on mars? it takes place on Earth?
I noticed you didnt talk about the 3 bonus missions at the end of the game after you beat the double ac battle