Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Armored Core 6 Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

Blessing, Mike, and Barrett give their thoughts on Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon. Time Stamps - 00:00:00 - Start 00:01:00 - Housekeeping 00:02:12 - Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Review 00:29:08 - Who is this Game For? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August is almost over, and that means the kind of funny Patreon Pledge Drive is about to wrap up. If you love what we do, please know we couldn't do it without your support on patreon.com slash Kind of Funny, and it would mean the world to us if you tossed us a sub, even if it was just for a month. What's up and welcome back to the Kind of Funny Games cast. Of course, I am Tim Gettys, and I'm joined by the Mech Poppy himself. Blessing at AEOA Jr. What's up, Tim? We're also joined out today by the Master of Hype, Snowbike Mike, all the way from the kind of funny X-cast, grazing this table.

Meck Poppy, Pilot Poppy. Ooh, I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that.

I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. I think pilot, poppy. Pilot Poppy, I think, is the way to go. Oh yeah. Yeah.

You also looks very good in light blue. You do. You also look very good. Light blue. You're not a night of them. Like blue brothers. Yeah. Of course, Barrett, Courtney will also be given his.

thoughts on Armored Core 6 because that's what we're talking about today. He's running the show, but he has the voice of God power, which is going to be really exciting for him. There we go, a little preview of what's to come. But of course, this is the kind of funny games cast where each and every week we get together to talk about video games and all the things that we love about them. Of course, you can get it on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games or roosterteeth.com if you're looking for the video.

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You get the show ad free. You get a whole bunch of bonus content. It's a great deal if you ask me. Today we're about to you by BetterHelp, but I will tell you all about that later. I want to get right into it. Today is our review of Armored Core 6, Fires of Rubicon. A name that never gets less cool, you know? God. But my question, you bless, as the lead reviewer here, kind of funny four, Armored Core 6 fires of Rubicon, what do you give it on the kind of funny scale?

Yeah, so I think for me, the way I would lead off this review would be to say that this is the first time while reviewing a game, that kind of funny, that I've played the game twice. By the time I've sat down for this review, I've completed the game two times. And that is because I fucking love this game. And so for me, you know, this is one where, if I had to put my expectations on where this lands in the review roundups when the embargoes up, when this goes live for everybody, I expected to land on the eights and nines range. You know, I don't know how many of one versus the other it's going to get, but like, I expected to get eights and nines. For me personally, I'm giving this game a five out of five on the kind of funny scale. I think this game is incredible. I think it's easily dingable in some places just for the fact that, you know, in my first play-through, the story felt kind of dry, right? And I think that's the thing that a lot of people might take issue with or a lot of people might have to, I guess, wrap their minds around the fact

that this game kind of takes its own route when it comes to how it wants to deliver its narrative. The fact that all the dialogue is through Kodak calls. All the dialogue is through just dialogue, right? You're not seeing people's faces. You're not meeting characters face to face. And I think that I assume that is an armor core thing. I should mention that this is my first armor core game. But yeah, like, I think that was a adjustment thing for me, right? The fact that the story is in entirely, you know, Kodak calls, but then also it is a lot of jargon. It is a lot of like, oh, yeah, you have the Archibus Corporation. And they're in battle with the PCA, who's also in battle with the Rubicon Liberation Front,

who's also in battle, like, there are so many different organizations and jargon stuff that goes on to the point where if you're somebody who looks at your phone during cutscenes, like I have that habit sometimes, you will miss something and you will probably have to go back and rewatch that thing again. Like, you have to pay attention to what's going on if you want to follow the story. but for me during my second play-through, that's where I started to really take things in and really appreciate the story for what it is,

which is something that is in support of creating the best mech fantasy that you can imagine. And I think that's what Armored Core 6 does for me that is really special. It's the fact that I can't imagine making a mech game that is as thoughtful about how it wants you to really be in the mech fantasy is this one, right? Like you have all the dope customization.

You have all the different parts of your meck that you can customize between the legs, the core of it, the arms, the different weapons that you can equip, different expansions and stuff in terms of the internals of your mech, the generators, the boosters. You have all these different parts that you can get in your Duffy of mixing and matching, and there's a lot of them. Like, there's a lot of different things you can get into

as you play through the game and unlock all these different things. Let alone that you have the colors that you can mix and match the different color schemes that you can do. You can make some dope-ass-looking mecks, and I had such fun making my own mex. And then when you get on the field, right, when you get into the combat, it is just fun, right? And I think that is where the from software aspect of it shines through.

It was the fact that these guys know how to do boss battles now. Like, these guys are really good at creating a really intense boss fight. The difficulty is there. And once you get past it, you have that feeling of overcoming something that you thought you could never get through, right? That feeling is maintained as a from software game. But at the same time, this is the most fresh from software games in years and years and and years and years.

I don't think it's the best from software game in years and years, right? But I think this definitely lives up to what my expectation is from them. And that is a game that is really good with action, has a really different vibe. It is something that I want to keep coming back to you. I think they've succeeded with that with Armored Corps 6. And I absolutely adore this game. You said so much so that I want to jump off. But first I want to get some other people's opinions.

Mike, how much have you played of Armored Corps 6 and where are you at with it? I'm about five hours in. I'm struggling at a current boss battle that I'm going to need blessing to beat for me. but I am having so much fun with this game. I think it is the coolest game of the year. Like, it is visually stunning. When you kick this thing on and you first drop in to whatever mission you're on and you see the backside of your mech, you're like, man, this is going to be cool.

And then you thrust forward and take to the skies. It is visually the coolest game around. It is also on a gameplay level, so much fun to play. It is you in the mech. It is the fantasy of being a mech pilot, like Blessing said, where I am at Total Control. of the moment to moment, wherever I want to go, whatever I want to do, whatever stunning move I want to pull off, you get to do that. And I love that power fantasy. On the side of customization,

I have never been into customizing something as much as I was back in the Halo two days. This is capturing that, where I am every single piece of decal I want to customize. I haven't seen a great character creator like this in a long time where you can import your own images, put them onto your mech. This is given some. really cool vibes of like, I can't wait to see blessings. I can't wait to see Andes and Bairds and the whole world's me. Because man, it is super dope. And so, yeah, for me, I'm having a ton of fun with it.

My small frustrations are you're going to need to get good. And you're going to need to learn how to really think quickly on the piloting side of things. And I think if you do the trainings, if you do the arenas, if you follow it and you're like really get in tune with it, I think you're going to get over that hump because it is a full 3D world, right? Like, I'm so used to boots on the ground in a lot of these FromSoft games. Now, you are in this 3D flying up in the sky, trying to keep an eye on what's coming at you, where it's coming from, and you need to be mindful of that. You've got to really work that camera. And there's some frustrating parts where you get lost in the mayhem of the battle.

And if you're not quick on that, it's going to punish you. And I think that's where I have my biggest like, like, ah, moments. But that's what I like from From Software games. I like that challenge. or overcoming it and figuring out the new tactics in the battle, right? Whether it be the quick turn that you can unlock inside of the shop, where now I can quickly do a 180 and figure out where I'm repositioning, anything like that, I think it's really, really well done. So for me, this game blew my skirt up and I'm jazzed up about it. I like it.

Are you planning to continue through? Do you think you're going to beat this one? Yeah, there's no stopping on this, Tim. The moment you jump into this, I think any from software fan, any MEC fan, the moment you turn this on, you're going to say, oh gosh, I can't stop with this. And yeah, I'm going to be playing this for a long time. And then the arenas, we haven't even talked about multiplayer.

Oh, my God. The idea of being able to go 2 v2 or 3 v3 people. It's 1v1 or 3v3. Get out of town. I'm in. This is going to be so much time. I did that a bit with Mitchell Salsman the other day. And I mean, to everything you're talking about in terms of the customization

and uploading your Mac, I beat Mitchell Salsman's ass. Hell yeah. Three out of five times. Okay, go, go, good, yeah. There you're up. You're up. I went back and forth. I was up.

I was up. And, you know, I have beaten the game twice. at that point he'd beat in the game once. And so the more you play, the more things you unlock, and I had more access to different parts and stuff. And so, like, being real, I had a better arsenal of things to, like, go to and bring in. But there was a point where toward our last fight, where he was like, dude, what is that?

And I'm like, I got you. I'll upload it and I'll share the idea of this mech with you. And it's really cool that you can do that, right? There is this personalization aspect that carries forward that I think is really cool because of how much ownership you have over the mex that you can make. But yeah, I had a really good time playing multiplayer. And I can't wait for the game to be in everybody's hands. Multiplayer is going to be so cool, seeing everybody's builds.

And then really quick, just to touch on the story, the story is cool. Right? Like, I love the narrator talking to you. The handler that you're going to be. It is like Metal Gear Solid vibes. It is the ultimate like mech fantasy vibe where it's like they're coming in over the telecom to you. And you're like, oh yeah, I'm about to go get it for you right now. And you feel like a mercenary.

It's cool. And that's where I'm coming from when I'm talking about the mech fantasy of it. One of the first things I have here in my notes is just a bullet point that says mech Turismo and for me that is the idea of you know you go into like a sim game wanting to get into your bag of oh I'm a racer I am role playing as a racer and I am you know taking all these different parts of my car and building this car in the way that I want to grant or not grant trismo um armor core six lets you do that right and you have like the the calls with your handler that's telling you about these different things of our Archibis corporation need somebody to do

this as an independent mercenary are you down and you're like yeah let's do this and it feels it feels like it's trying to curate this reality of I'm just taking admissions. Like I am just doing these missions because I am in a hired Merck. It doesn't matter if on the good side, doesn't matter if I'm on the bad side. I am just hired to do these things. And I think they set things up for that pretty well in a way that again, I think could come down as dry on the storytelling side of things, but they take that also and do interesting things with it later down the line in the story that I think keeps things interesting and fresh as well. And so yeah, like I think the mech fantasy part of it is the part where it succeeds the most. Yeah, what side am I on? And then the ultimate

mec fantasies when you square up 1v1 versus a boss or another Mac where it's like, oh, he's talking to me and like you're getting a little bit of story. And then he's looking at you and it's like, here it comes. We're going to battle. And then you clang into each other. And it's on from that moment. It's very cool stuff. Barrett, I know you've been playing a lot of this too. What are your thoughts on it so far? How far are you? Have you beat it? Yeah. So I rolled credits on Sunday morning. I think it took me like roughly 20 hours to get through, get through that. But yeah, the thing I've been saying to Blessing, and this is like my official score for Armor Core 6, is this game fucking rips. This game kicks so much ass.

Like, so yeah, I completely back up Bless with the five out of five score right there. Yeah, and backing up everything that both Bless and Mike have been saying, it really, like I'm not a MEC guy, really, but this like made me like a believer of just like getting into the mech fantasy making it your own. I wasn't doing too much customization of like the colorways because I very quickly found like, okay, this is kind of like the what my mech, what I wanted to look like. And then from there on out, it was just like replacing parts and all of that, which was nice of like the quick shout out of like if you have a gun and you have like already a set colorway, but then you replace it with a different thing. It'll already set it to like whatever you're left like,

gun arm is already. So if you find a kind of color scheme that you like pretty early on, you don't have to like constantly like re-update things once you're kind of hot swapping things out. But yeah, I really, really had a fun time with this. And the more I talked to Bless about like stuff, late game stuff, I'm like, damn, do I want to do another play through of this, which is insane. And I totally get why, like, for Bless, this was like your first game of like playing through it twice before the official review.

because it's that addicting. It's that fun. This is the same combat lead from Sekiro. Right? And I wasn't super into Sekiro, but I definitely see the comparisons there. And it's just like really quick action fun. I love how tough it gets.

And I love the kind of approachability it has with that, right? Where, you know, a lot of like soul stuff that we know from modern from software, right? where, you know, let's say you get to a boss in Eldon ring, Mike, and you've got this certain build, and it's been working well for you, and then you get to a boss, and it's like, oh, man, this build is not the right thing for this, for this boss, right? And there are ways to counteract that. You can go and, like, re-spec if you're a certain part of the way through the game, or you have, like, different weapons at your disposal here.

Whereas an armored core, it's like, oh, man, I'm having a tough time with this boss. Maybe the weapons I have equipped aren't best suited for this boss, and, the way the levels kind of work out, you'll have checkpoints. So it's like, oh, if you die at the boss checkpoint, it gives you like a little tad that's like, hey, do you want to like respect your mech here? And then you can go right back into the boss fight.

Granted, that is limited to what you already own if you need to like, if you have other things that you don't own and you need to go back to the store, then you have to kind of quit out of the mission. But I love that ease of access of like, hey, you're a certain build and it's not really working out right now, play around with all of these other things and get right back into the action, which I think that that's really what they wanted to focus on, was just like getting into the action as quick as possible.

Yeah. It is the most, some of the most hype moments I think I've had this year in video games are just in this game. I know Bless was a little bit, like, it takes a little bit, it took a little bit for you, Bless to really get into the story. But I was just, I was loving it the entire time. Shout out to, I'm blanking on his name. I think it's Patrick Stites, who voices Endeavor from My Hero, who also voices your handler in this game. And he just does a more, like, subtle endeavor.

And like Mike said, it's like a very, like, metal gear kind of vibe. And I just absolutely adored it. Like, the story is very surface level metal gear, but they know, like, certain moments are going to hit when they hit. And it's just, I got excited every single time, like a certain character would be reintroduced or a certain twist and all this.

That's the thing that really impressed me as I got further into the game is the fact that, like I said earlier, you're not seeing these characters faces, right? Like, you're not seeing the animation. You're not seeing all the stuff. You're just hearing their voices. Like, that's all of what you're hearing from them. And there are moments where I come face to face with a character in a mission. And I'm like, oh, you're this guy. But then you say face to face.

You mean mech to mech. Yeah, yeah. You get mech to mech. Well, like, it's that idea of like, oh, this is like what your mech looks like. And then also, like, this is your weapon set. And it's that cool thing where all of it is transferable for the most part. there are some big bosses where it's like, okay, that's definitely not a thing I can use. But so many of the fights, probably most of like those encounters, you're facing off against

mecks that you can just go back and make yourself, you buy all the parts and stuff. And like, I think oftentimes you'll finish mission and then unlock the parts of the mech that you just defeated. And it's, yeah, it's really cool. Because it's like, now I can pretty much just play as this character for wanting to. And shout out to like, you know, like, yeah, there's not like a lot of like character, kind of like big arts and we're not diving into these characters. like in a super in-depth way, but I love of like, you know, they're all certain kind of

archetypes. And it was like really satisfying when you, when you are mech to mech with certain characters you had, you'd only seen on codec calls where it's like immediately of like, oh, of course you have this type of mech and all that stuff. Of course this is what you look like. Yeah. So they do just enough where it's like, okay, it comes together in really cool ways. And so, yeah, like, top level stuff is like, yeah, I'm really high on this game. I think so far it's probably my second favorite of the year.

Yeah, it's probably pretty high up for me as well. And one thing I want to shout out, you know, Barrett mentioned that. You said it took you like, what, around 20 hours, Barrett? Yeah, 20 hours to roll credits. Yeah, and that sounds about right. Like, for me, the first playthrough was about 16 hours, but I had sped through the first chapter because I got to do that during a preview. It's already knew all the ways to do it.

I think naturally would have taken me probably closer to 20 hours to do. And then in a total, I put in around 30, let's say 31, 32 hours, just going back and replaying it again and then also doing a little bit of multiplayer. So the way you're talking about it, it sounds like the game really opens up, even after you're talking about with Mitchell, of getting all the new abilities and weapons even after beating it. Does it feel like that is part of the intended experience? 1,000%. This is a game that wants you to play it multiple times. As you play, during my second play-through, I was still unlocking new parts and stuff.

Like, that just feels the way it's balanced. And one of the cool things is, yeah, they introduce some new content in the new game plus that makes it worthwhile to go back. I can play a second time. And that's not a, I believe that's a thing that Armour Corps has done before where they have like different ending

than different decisions that you make to like affect what your play through looks like. Like I believe, based on the people I've talked to it sounds like that's an armored core thing. But yeah,

elements of that are here too. And so there's a lot of reason. And I think that is the main reason why you're, why it is on the quote unquote shorter side. I know 15 to 20 hours is still a long time. But yeah, that's why like I beat it

and immediately started again because I'm like, wait, actually I want to go back and see what else I can do. And also I just like playing this game. It's a really funny game to play. Yeah, anytime I'm not playing, and this is the highest compliment I can give it, or it's like similar to the tiers of the kingdom earlier this year.

This is the second time whenever I'm not playing this game, all I'm thinking about is playing this game. Yeah, getting back to it. It's so good and it's so addicting. Like I'm interested to see like different story stuff, but it's more just that itch where I'm like, oh, God, like the combat sings, man. Like when I'm constantly just hitting R2, L2, R1, and L1, one all at the same time and like cycling between all these weapons while I'm fighting a bunch

of different people it it fucking rips yeah so bless I have a a multi-layered question here that all is building to a similar similar thing uh bear was talking a lot about specking out your meck and being able to at checkpoints realize hey this boss is kicking my ass I can respect generally as a gamer are you somebody that likes to respect or are you somebody that likes to hey I found what I like and I just want to triple down on it and then the follow up to that is is now that you've been in the game, now that you're replaying it, now that you're getting more abilities,

are you now finding, oh, this is my load out, and this is what I want to do, and it works. So I'm somebody who typically I rely on the build that I make. Like, I double down on the builds that I make, and I don't really, I'm not a big respect person. I did actually quite a bit in Eldon Ring, but that's for other reasons, right?

That's because I saw a cool shot on the internet and went, actually I want that instead. But for the most far, I build a thing, and I'm like, okay, this is what I want to do. Armored Corps, at least in the first play-through, doesn't really want you to do that, right? They want you to, you want you to experiment with different things. Different types of enemies will have different weaknesses to, like, certain kinds of weapons and all that stuff.

So you kind of have to constantly think about what the kind of enemy you're fighting is, and then account for that. And Armour Corps does make it easy. Like, that is the thing that it complimented on is the fact that, yeah, going back into the assembly menu, you have your four weapons that are all mapped to the four different shoulder buttons. And then you have arms, body, and legs, right? and all those have sort of different functions

and how they affect your mech. So like something like legs might carry like certain kinds of weight so you don't get overburnt or something. Or there's like four main different kinds of legs you can have, right? There's like the regular legs, there's tank legs that you can rock with that'll make you speedy. There are reverse jointed legs that make it so that you can jump real high. And there's more, right?

There's like a four-legged set that you can put on that like you're looking at it right now. once you equip those, you can kind of float in the air and stuff. And so, like, all of them have their different stuff that they affect, their different stats and stuff and different properties. But then, yeah, like, arms have a different thing. Core, like, Barry, if you find something that, like, shows what the cores do. Honestly, I was mainly focused on the legs and the weapons. But, yeah, like, why was that?

Just because, like, I feel like the legs affected the most, right? In terms of how it feels to move around. Like, I think cores and arms are more so, like, stats type stuff. But legs is like, yo, I want to feel. feel this certain way. So, yeah, legs definitely, I think, are twofold movement for sure of, like, how you want to move around, what feels comfortable for you, what makes sense during certain boss fights.

Like, I did the four-legged one only once because I felt like in the first play through, you kind of needed to be able to float around so you're not getting messed up on the ground. Yeah. But I think it also helps with load limit as well. and that's just like when you're talking about overburdens essentially like all these different weapons have different weight right like the

like holding two gatling guns isn't going to be the same as holding just like like a first machine gun or something yeah exactly so those gatling guns are cool though yeah and like double gatling gun is one of the coolest things I've been this one of my typical build is like I'll go into a level with two gatling guns because then those like easily bleed through

like normal enemy like health and then once you get to a boss fight if you're getting close enough like those will easily like build up the stagger bar and then I'll also like once that's done I'll swap them out for two shotguns just to like take out a bunch of health all at once. Oh that's really smart. And like that'll be my basis for going into a level. But then if I find myself like struggling with that, that's when I'll go in and kind of like respec especially in that first like time through there.

Like the boss that Mike is on right now, that's one where that was like definitely like that that feels like the father gascione fight where it's like this is what this game is and this is the cycle of like you're going to die you're going to experiment now with this type of weapon and now this type of weapon and see what works what gets the shield down what staggers him easily all that stuff so yeah and for me my second play through i did have a go-to you like there's i have a favorite build it is there's like some tank legs that are small short like smaller than the tank legs that you've seen on screen um those and then like i have a my gags battling gun. There's a Zimmerman shotgun that I love that I keep on my left arm and then like a

bazooka and then then some missiles on my left shoulder. You'll realize how cool this sounds, right? It's very cool. Like this sounds like the dopest game ever. It's fucking sick. When you actually do it, it's even cooler. Yeah. Yeah. They very much encourage you like you've been getting out. It's like you buy these guns. You try these guns. Don't be afraid to try. Like you're going to get money back. It's going to be just fine. You should be trying everything in this game and going forward with it. And there's so much. It's so cool. If I should, if I showed you some video They'll blow your mind. Like, in terms of the footage we have,

like we're pulling off of all the trailer footage, right? Once they get later to the game, there's some weapons that are fucking sick as hell, dude. Like, I had, like, kind of fully accepted, like, Bless it was like, all right, like, I'm getting into New Game Plus and all this stuff. And I was like, oh, that's cool. I haven't beaten the game yet,

but I'll probably just do one play through and all this stuff. And then Bless sent me, like, a video of just, like, some of the new stuff that he unlocked in, like, late game, post-game stuff. Or I was like, God damn. That's cool as hell. I want to play like that. Yeah, but even then, like, when I was going through the game, I'm mostly stuck to that one, but there are certain types of missions where, here's one thing I should shout out about this game, right?

They have different types of missions that kind of require different things of they have Defend the Point style missions where you have two things and you have a bunch of enemies that are coming at you in waves. It's not my favorite kind of mission in this game, but it does require you to switch up how you think because for a lot of, for my tool set, I like to go close quarters, right? The shotgun is close quarters. The bazook I had was close quarters. and like even the missiles and the gatling gun, I'm getting in your face and I'm like taking people out and that's how I'm going through levels and that's how I'm dominating.

With those kinds of missions, it's better to have stuff that is long range. And like some missions is better to have stuff that is more widespread, right? Because for a shotgun, for example, that's a focus on one person kind of weapon, right? For my bazooka, that's a focus on like one or two people kind of weapon. And all your weapons have to recharge

if they get overheated or if you have to reload. And so you have to think about that time spent when you don't have that weapon available. Whereas if I know I'm going to fight a bunch of different enemies that are coming at me from like these different directions and I need that long distance, maybe I will get a 10 hit missile launcher. That way I can lock on to all these people in a row and then like fire at all them at the same time. Right. And like those are the now I have to think about using those weapons instead. And so they have different kinds of missions that will pretty much ask you to switch up the way you play.

And so even though I had that base thing, there are some missions where I'm like, no, I can't use this. I got to use something else because this isn't going to work for this kind of mission. And so on one hand, right, I mentioned like the, like, hold down your point kind of mission. Not my favorite kind. They have some other kinds of missions where I'm like, this is fucking brilliant. Like I mentioned this during the preview event, but there's a mission early on that feels like a shadow of the colossus situation where you find this big walker that's in the distance in this desert. And like you get closer to it, it slowly gets revealed of what it is. And you're like, whoa, this is cool.

Bear has footage for watching the video version. But you get closer to it. It's like, whoa, what the fuck is this? and then you climb it and then you take it out from the top. And like for any mission where it's like, okay, this is kind of whatever, there's another mission that's like, whoa, there's a fucking cool-ass idea here.

And so they play around. If I had any feedback for the next game, it is like, hey, building more of these kinds of moments and get rid of the, like, stand-your-ground kind of missions, but I do like the fact that they have variety. I think that's a strong thing. And all the missions for the most part

are like short to medium-length. There's not really any really long missions. Yeah, never felt like they ever, overstayed their welcome. I think some of the beginning ones are very quick where like Blessings said like you're going to want to replay these things, right? You're going to want to come at it even with a better arsenal. And I'm excited to

see like when this is game, when this game is out to the public three months later when we see this at GDQ and this guy is like no hit running this speed running it. Like this game encourages you to be like, hey, that mission wasn't that long. Go back. Show me what you got. Be even better. And it's like,

oh, okay, I can't wait to do that with the new. You can get ranks for all the missions. Like once you beat it the first time. If you go back and replay, you can rank up all the way to, like, S rank. And that's part of the trophies. The main reason I'm not platinum in this game is that one of the trophies is to S rank everything. I'm like, fuck no. I'm not doing that. And like, collecting literally every mech part. Like, yeah, I went through the trophies as well. I thought about it. If it wasn't for the S rank thing, I think I think I would do it. The other thing is like, there's logs that you collect. And I hate just, I hate staring at guides

to like collect things. The logs are cool, though. I encourage you to read the logs. Like, if you want to get into like the mech universe, reading the logs, are nasty, right? Because it's like, they're talking about, oh, man, this mech came, and we didn't know who they were, and they're killing us on the battlefield. Like, it's bad stuff.

And then like, like, the ending one is like, oh, I know who it is. And then it's like, oh, that person's dead, though, too bad. It's crazy. I definitely want to keep talking about armored core six fires of Rubicon. Again, a name that I'm going to say, the full title of any chance I guess. Hell yeah.

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So, Bless, who is this game for and who is this game not for? Obviously, from software, we've been talking about this a lot over the last couple years since Armourcourt 6 was announced of, is it going to be more of a Souls type game? Is it going to be a different genre for them? Is it meeting in the middle somewhere? And what does that mean for the general public, especially a general public that I feel like if they didn't know now they do when it comes to from because of Eldon Ring and its success last year?

What do you think? Yeah, I think this game, I think this game is going to be for a lot of people, surprisingly. You know, Armour Corps historically hasn't been that, right? Like, Armour Corps feels like it has been more for the armored core fans. And, you know, it's not really had that mainstream splash. This feels like when they're teeing up to have a bit more of a mainstream splash. Again, I don't think it's going to be Eldering in conversation. I don't think it's going to be Bloodborn.

It might be Sekaro. Like, it might be one of those things where it's like, oh, this is actually really fun. And you see a lot more people get into this. Securo, one game of the year. Securo did win Game of the Year in 2019. Yeah, 2019, I believe. And so, yeah, I think it's a strong contender for action game of the year, right? Like, I think it has that going for it.

And honestly, like, it's hard for me to think of people that, like, are super not going to be into this game. Like, if you like a third-person shooter, if you like an action game, if you don't like hard games, right? Like, hard action games, then, yeah, no, this is not going to be for you. But I could, like, I could see you being into it, Tim. Like, I could see you picking it up and having a good time with it. I think Andy's probably going to love it. I could even see Greg picking it up. And I say that like Greg has never played an action before, but more so just the idea of like,

from Soft isn't necessarily Greg's bag. I could see Greg picking this up more so just for like the, um, uh, bite size mission structure where it is, hey, you go in, do a mission? Cool, I'm done. That took me 10 minutes. Like, I can go on and play something else. I can go to Starfield or whatever I'm doing. So really, really quick, sorry, just to jump off of that with like who is this game for and

all this stuff. Uh, I will say like the biggest thing I will say about this game. And this is not a new conversation. comes to from soft games is accessibility for sure is a big thing like the fact that i can't like bump up text size is insane in 2023 uh but i will say like i believe you can there are like control sets uh they presets and all that i think you can make your own like custom uh like remapping of controls so there is that um just to you know have that out there of like this like most from software games it's not the most accessible but there's you know at least uh remapping controls and stuff

but yeah let me make the text bigger it's so small it's so small uh you were bringing up grant terismo earlier and how this is like a mech sim in some ways is that mainly just in the setup on the menus building the meck out when it comes to the actual gameplay it looks a little bit more arcady to me it looks like it looks like it is a lot more action focused like does it does it feel that way or does it kind of feel like yeah i mean i mean i that's actually a really good question I wouldn't say it feels like super simmy, and I guess in the way that you think of when you think Grant Turismo,

like it still has that fun, fast, frenetic, almost arcade style to it. But then it's that plus the punishing aspect of From software. And so I think when you combine those two things, like it is, it almost feels simi and only a mech, in the way that you want a mech game to be, right? It's like that happy medium where,

again, you feel like you have that mec fantasy. I even say simi in the way that you can get into your duffy of the stats of your parts. Like there are so many different parts that you can add into building your me by the time you reach the end of the game. And you can really get into stat management if you want to. I didn't. Like I built the mecks that I wanted to make.

And like I do the things that I view are important, right? Like is my AP good? AP being your health. Is my health good for what this build is? Is my attack power good? Like those surface levels things were the things that I was mainly looking at. And if they were, then I'm good to go, right? Speed, energy consumption, that kind of thing.

but you could get even deeper than that. There's a button you can press to like open up that stats menu more. And anytime I would open that up, I'd get a little scared and then close it back down. Oh, I can't do this. But yeah, no, like if you're somebody who wants to get into your mech Duffy, then for sure, like this is going to be for you. But also you don't have to get in that Duffy, right? You can come into it in a more laid back way and still enjoy it for what it is. Mike, talk to me, bro.

Your hands. You're holding this controller. Do you feel in control of this thing? Are you trying your best? Are you doing like the claw thing all the time? Because it seems like there's a lot going on, a lot of buttons that need to be pressed at once. Yeah, there's a lot of mental hurdles that you have to get over trying to understand

where you are on the battlefield, where your opponent is, what you need to use. You kind of brought up like the semi aspect of it. There are resources that you need to be mindful of, right? Like are your guns on cool down? Can you blast off and take to the sky and get away from this opponent? Or is that now on cool down? You're going to have to hit the ground and kind of get that re-boasted back up. I think there's a lot going on here.

I think on the hand side of things, there's nothing cooler than seeing Blessing come up to your desk who is putting the work on this game and like just start clanging these buttons in cool ways where it's like, oh, you can feel it, right? Like there is a beginner, there's a novice, there's an intermediate, and then there's an expert level to this game.

And I love seeing that progression, especially in these kind of games where you see it clicking someone's mind of like, oh, you just got that. Oh, now you're going to go to the next level and you're going to go on beyond that. Like, that's what this game is. And for me, what I'm really excited for is taking it into the multiplayer arenas, right?

Like Blessing said, 1v1, 3V3, there are moments in the single player campaign where you team up with two other mechs. And it is like the coolest experience ever of like, here's your two road dogs and they're both completely unique. They're their own people. They look super dope. And you're going and terrorizing this opponent's base. And it's awesome looking, right? Now the idea of like teaming up with two others and going in a 3V3 arena is going to be awesome because you're going to see each person. is going to have their unique touch and flavor to their mech, how it looks, the color,

how it presents. And then on top of that, you're going to see what guns work, how they make it work. I think there is this fun kind of power fantasy in this video game. And in mecks in general, like, the pilot is always the best, right? It's not what kind of mech I got or the weapons I got. If I can outpilot you, I can win. And in this game, yeah, you can beat your head against the wall and probably do that, but you are going to have to find the best weapons.

But there's going to be a moment here where you've unlocked everything, just like everyone else. And now it comes down to like, what is your skill style? What is your play style? How do you outpilot other people, right? Because man, oh man, I'm like blessing. I like being up close. Right. I had a shotgun in the sword and I'm trying to energy swords you all the

time. There's a sniper rifle in this game that if you can get enough distance and really power it up, it does damage, right? So I think there's a lot going into this on the controller side of things, but you feel it, right? The moment that you take off and start flying, you understand it, right? You click,

to the one side. You dodge that way. You feel it. You get it right. It's just going to come down to can you comprehend the battlefield in the full 3D space of? Is it underneath you? Is it above you? It's behind you now. Like there's a lot going on and it's fast. It's dope. Plus, you were telling me that this game made you a believer of the dual sense edge. I was going to say I've never played a better advertisement for the dual sense edge. And that's just because there's so much going on. Like we've mentioned, the four different weapons you get are mapped to the four back buttons, right? Are one, 2 L1L2 and I am like I'm cranking away at those buttons at the same time as I am trying to keep up with where my enemy's at the same time is moving around right because you have a you have a boost that's mapped to

square I am like boosting everywhere I am keeping my movement going because you want to stay moving because it is it gets very bullet hell at times and so I'm doing all of that but then you have things like health health reparation where which is mapped to up on the D pad and picking my thumb off of the do the stick and hitting up on the d-pat is such a fucking sacrifice that like i had to like i i really did have to pick up my dual sense edge and go all right what am i going to do here like i put i i mapped the um the health to one of my back buttons right and i mapped my dash i believe to like my right back button and that way i didn't have to take my hands off of or my fingers off of the sticks and i could just like focus in on just doing this and not having to go crazy um it got to

the point where I would show up to work and then I get a minute I work to play some Armored Core 6 and then remember that I have my Dual Sense edge at home and I'll get bummed out because now I have to play with a regular Dual Sense. That's how much I really love playing this game with the Dual Sense Edge and I would recommend if you like if you really want to like get in your Duffy with this game pick up the Dual Sense Edge or pick up the Xbox Elite controller or like I'm gonna cry right now. Yeah I'm tearing up I mean welcome to the future gaming blasts. Back buttons for life bro. Yeah that's how it goes from now I'm so glad to hear that you have really taken to that because

Oh yeah. Man oh man. That Xbox Elite controller that has been what gaming's all about now. It's like having those extra buttons to assign the paddles and be able to do things where you're not taking your fingers off for certain aspects that you need the most. It's beautiful, blessed. You're making me cry right now. I love it. I'm so happy

to hear that. I can't believe you said that. Barrett, what was your experience like with the controller? Uh, yeah, I didn't play on the edge, so I was just playing on a regular dual sense there. I don't know. It was just, it felt good, especially some particular boss fights where I'm constantly dodging around and like I was saying earlier, just using all for like the both triggers and bumpers, like pressing them constantly all at the same time. It felt really good.

There were like a couple of gripes I had. Like, I always struggled, Mike, like I had unlocked the ability to like do the quick 180 turn. But I never felt like I could do it correctly. Like there are little things like that that I didn't love. There's some weird buttons that They make you want to combine things Like there's manual reload And it's like

Manual reload is weird Click this button plus the gun That's needing to reload Yeah I can never do that It just never feels quite right Doing these weird button combinations There's another one where like if one of you You get core expansions in the game

Right which is just another part And like usually what those activate Is some sort of shield ability That'll like bubble you from incoming damage And I believe to activate those is like L3 plus triangle Yeah And L3 is also your boost button

and so that also becomes a little bit of a hindrance, especially if I'm just trying to move around. And then I maybe slightly accidentally clicked in L3. So now I'm boosting to a part of the arena that I don't want to be because I was focused in on like a boss fight. The lock-on system is a bit finicky too, where if you press R3, you'll have like these kind of lines that pop up in your corner.

And I'll tell you that if you look at an enemy, it'll then like lock onto them right so your cameras fall on them the whole time but it's just like it's kind of it's very um like faint like you don't always see uh when you have it activated and like it's also just weird to activate in the moment like it's one that i had to like stop at the beginning of every boss fight and go all right are three yeah cool now go am i on am i locked on my locked on i don't know yet but man you add that plus the glide feature tim it's unbelievable tell me about this it's cool to have just like the boots on the ground you're moving but like they have this glide that really just the game becomes so fast and like you're moving you're sliding left and right

you can take to the skies you can get back on the ground but like this glide feature is really really well done are you just talking about like the boost mode where yeah just in general just like light gliding another great of mine yeah just put us always default boost mode dude i don't need to be walking around as the take but it's a fast game where i'm speaking around all this stuff and like i don't Especially like if I'm boosting and then I stop to do something and then it retroactively puts me back in walking mode. It's like, I don't. Give me here faster. They definitely do that just because.

Faster with more emotion. If they didn't do that, you would never walk in your mech. And like they put in the animation. They're like somebody's going to watch this walking animation. I maybe walked maybe three to five percent of my entire. The only time I walked is when I wanted to see myself walk. I'm like, I'm like, how does this me look if I'm just going regular? Give me the E3 camera.

Yeah. There's all the set piece moments where you're going to E3 camera this. Blessing talked about the big giant one. When that thing goes down, you whip that camera out and it is like the coolest meck walking out of the battlefield moment. It's so dope. There's a

screenshot that I'm saving for when the embargo goes up just because there's so, like, and not even in gameplay, but just like ending cut scenes for some missions where it's like, God damn, this is such a movie game. The environment's really good. The sky is sick as hell. The worst part about playing these games being under embargo is I want to take all the

screenshots of these dope moments, but I'm so scared that it will just slip through and, like, I'll break the embargo, but like, there are moments in this game where it's like, oh, give me the dope photo mode. Like, when you fight someone 1 v1 and you feel it and then you defeat them and their mech is just like burnt up to a crisp down on the ground, it's like, oh yeah, let me take a photo. Photo mode I can already dominating you. Mike in a 3V3 fight where he's battling, he's on a team with him, Andy and Nick. And then Andy and Nick are going to be like, Mike, where are you?

And Mike is just in the background trying to get a cool camera. I do wish there was like some kind of co-op mode. Like I understand that that's not their vision, right? They just didn't have that. Like the only most player they have is the PVP 1V1 3V3. But man, if there was a co-op mode that was, even if it's wave-based, even if it's more of a horror mode type situation, I feel like that'd be such a win because this is the type of game

that I think would benefit from having fun with their friends in that way. I think this is a win. Like this is a big win from this team where it's like, oh, you're going to get me excited. And I'm sure the general public excited about this where it's like, give me more. Like I want another big mech game. I want you to make more armored core now. So that's the big piece.

Jumping off of that and talking about the multiplayer modes in particular. We talk about games a lot where it's like there's the single player, then there's the multiplayer. And sometimes the multiplayer just feels like an afterthought. Sometimes the single player just feels like an afterthought. This sounds like from the way you guys are talking that there is a nice blend between the two of like you unlocking everything in single player than being able to use it in multiplayer, being a bit more personal to your mech. Do you bless somebody that I wouldn't say is the biggest, multiplayer guy. You get in there every once in a while.

Yeah. But I'd say that you were going into Armicor as a single player game, right? Are you seeing this as like, oh man, this is a multiplayer game? No, I mean, I would say it's a single player game. That said, I think I'm going to get maybe a fun week out of multiplayer. Right. Like the multiplayer is there.

I wouldn't call it an afterthought, but it does feel like more of a side thing as opposed to being, you know, in that same slice as single player. It's like, no, this is something you do when you want to break from it or something you do afterwards when you wanted to see, like, how your mecs match up against. random people online. I could be wrong, though, like, if I get into it and there is a rank system that keeps me going, and I just

want to keep fighting mex, I think, you know, maybe there could be that, but I'll think that if they want to go all that direction, then you add in different modes, you add in like a capsule flag thing, and like you go crazy with finding different ways people can go. Like, it is just 1V1 and 3V3 in different maps, but I am very excited to play it, because

I had such a fun time doing it with Mitchell, and I have just such a fun time making the mex that I think there will be juice there, and I know previous armor cords have had the same thing too. Like I was talking to somebody at Imran's wedding actually, uh, who was like a big armored core fan and they were talking about going online and like how fun it is is fighting mex against other people's mex. And so I think it is one of those, oh, we've had this before and this is part of the series. And so we're going to keep doing it type situations. But I don't

see it as a, I'm buying this game for the multiplayer. I think you're still coming through to play the single player first and foremost and then have fun with that as the side thing. It'll give a good legs. And there will be a diehard community, just like we see in Dark Souls and Eldon Ring, right? When they added the Coliseum to Eldon Ring, people were very excited about that. There is an arena PVP aspect of these games that people go crazy for, and that's what this will

get, especially with like a brand new audience jumping in and the excitement that they'll have during single player, the idea of like, oh, I can team up with two of my buddies and do this, if you make that approachable where I'm not getting matched up with blessing who's put in a thousand hours, like if there's just the right

amount of balancing where you start to feel the progression of, oh, I'm playing someone who can barely tie their shoes. Oh, this guy's been in the mech. Oh, this guy is a god at the mech. Like, if you feel that, it's going to make for a great experience that will go really well and compliment a great single player. Yeah, one of the things I want to bring up during my preview, I did an interview with Yamamura, who's like the lead designer on the game. And one of the things they mentioned is that like they hope that this game could be the start

of a new meca action game revolution. Right? And they're also talking about how, like, you know, one of my question was, what does this do for From Software? Like, why do you go into the direction of Armour Corps as opposed to, like, something that is, again, in the Souls category? And they talked a lot about the freshness that something like this brings, right? We want to have more pillars than just the Souls type of titles. And I think they're succeeding with this. Like, I don't, again, it's, it's that weird thing where, you know, I don't think this is going to get the acclaim and all the stuff of a Ellen Ring or, like, one of those big Souls titles.

But I would probably still compare it to Demon Souls. Like that was the energy I was getting as they were talking about it of we want this to like be the start of this new pillar for us slash like the revival of an old pillar because our core is deep in their history. And when he said it immediately I was like, okay, this could be the demon souls of mech games or the demon souls of armored core games, right? Bring it back and make it like that big first step so that when armor core seven comes through it feels like dark souls. Then armor core eight comes through and it feels like blood-borne, right? Like, you know, this feels like the groundwork being placed so that they can go bigger and better. and I'm very happy for what the start of this looks like right now for From Software. And I'm excited to see where they take it because I hope they continue this as the years ago.

You've already made some comparisons here. And I'm only asking just because I want to know if it does rank higher than any previous from game that you've played. You said it's not up there with the Blood Borns and Eldon Rings, but like where's it rank otherwise? So, I mean, it's tough for me. So for me, the From Software games I played have been BloodBorn, Sekiro, and Elvin Ring. So this would have been my fourth from Software game that I played. I wouldn't say this is as good as those three but also those three in our top like 20 games

of all time and so it's really a tough thing to compare to. It's like it's number four for me but it's like a very strong number four and I'd be curious to talk to more people who have played like the soul's titles and see like you know what in those longer rankings like can armored core six really come through

and make a dent? I could see another armored core game coming through and replacing a bloodbore on my list or a second on my list. It'll be tough because those games are so fucking good but again, this is like a really, really, really good first step into getting from software back in that ecosystem and trying to make mech games a bigger and better thing. Just to make the kids mad out there. I've only rolled credits on two from software games, Eldon Ring and this.

And I really love this more than, like I really loved Eldon Ring, but this is this overtakes Elden Ring. Wow. Wow. It kicks so much. Wow, that's awesome. That's dope. But also Eldon Ring is really good. I understand why people really adore it and love it.

But this game is so good. So, I mean, you know, we got to have the conversation the game of the year. Where, where, where are you thinking right now? And of course, everything can change. We're still got a couple months left. Yeah. I mean, oh, man, I'm pulling out my list right now because I have my notes app. Because Tears of the Kingdom is still probably my number one.

Borders Gate 3 is probably somewhere in there, too. Final Fantasy 16 is probably somewhere in there. High-Fi rush is probably somewhere in there. I think, I mean, it's definitely top of it. Is this in that conversation? Is this in the blessings, high-fi rush, Final Fantasy 16? I think it's in that high-fi rush Final Fans 16 sphere. I could see it being above Final Fantasy 16 for me, honestly.

Like, that's how much I love the gameplay in particular? That one will be definitely like the day. When we get into ranking, rankings, how do I feel that day? Between which one I put higher. But Armour Corps 6 is, like Mike said, right, it's just so fucking cool. Like it has that cool factor down. And also, one thing that I'll shout out to is just the fact that it is truly unique. You know, like I love Final Fan 16.

I played plenty of games that are like Final Fantasy 16, right? Like I played at Devil McRye. I played other Final Fantasy's. Even things like, even the other big games of the year, right? RA4. I played other games that are like RE4. I've not played many games like Armored Core 6. It is so unique and fresh.

And I think that does a lot for it in terms of why I'm sticking. In terms of why it's hitting so much for me, it feels like I'm playing something different, something cool, but also something that is really good at being what it is. And that does a lot for me in these conversations. And, you know, actually, I should have asked this earlier, this being your first armored core. Do you feel like you're missing out? By not playing the previous ones? Yeah, like when you play this, like, do you

feel like it is, because it's Armored Core 6, right? That's in the title. It's in the title. Like, they're, they're kind of letting you know, hey, there have been other iterations of this. Like, do you feel like you're behind on story stuff or behind on like, even gameplay elements or like, is there anything about it that feels like this was a bad jump on point? Definitely not. Not at all.

I don't know if this goes for all the Armour core games, but this game, at least, the story is so different. Like, it's not connected to the other armored core games, at least in any obvious way, as me coming into it for the first time. I believe with armored core and people can correct me from wrong,

I believe it's like, based on the number title, it's like a final fan situation almost where each one is its own thing. Because I know they have like armored core four and then they have armored core for something, right? Like usually there's like spin-offs and stuff that continue those individual stories.

But story-wise, narrative-wise, this was very easy to jump into. Gameplay-wise, also pretty easy to jump into. I didn't feel like I missed out on that regard. And even in the, the idea of jumping back and playing previous ones, I don't feel the need to. And I think part of that is just knowing that the previous ones were, what, over a decade ago. Yeah. I like the stories I hear of like the people holding their controllers upside down to play some of those older games. It's just like,

yeah, that doesn't seem. Yeah. Like I have the idea of like I imagine those might be more difficult to go back to now. And so I think for me, if I want that hit, I'm just going to replay ArmourCore 6 as as opposed to taking up old ones. Unless somebody out there is like, you know, you got to play this. Then I'm like, no,

I'll just play you on record core six. Yeah. Well, you guys have any closing words on armored core six, fires of Rubicon? I got one. Go for it.

If they continue on, if this becomes like a true pillar of the modern from software, will they ever come up with a subtitle that goes as hard as fires of Rubicon? No. I don't think it's possible.

Honestly, I mean, they named a game Bloodborn, which is also pretty pretty, Yeah, which is really cool. And then they named a game, Sekiro, Shadows died twice. They're really good. They're pretty good.

They're pretty good. They do great things to you with like just the title of fires a Rubicon and some of the dialogue in the game itself. I'm just sitting there like, why is this so fucking cool? Like, this is ridiculous how cool this shit is. I wonder how many copies of this game are getting into sold just because it's cool. Yeah. God. Well, let us know in the comments below what you're thinking about Arm and Core 6.

If you're going to pick it up, this review has swayed you one way or another. and just how you're going to deck out your mech? Yeah, let's know. Deck your me. We, I'm sure, we'll be streaming this at some point. I'm excited to see Mike and the boys get in there. Little PVP, see what's going on. But until next time, I love you all.

Goodbye.