Ace Combat 7

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Well I need to go change my pants now. Can it be 2018 already so I can get my hands on this game?

Gah, I really want to know what brought this conflict on now especially since it takes place after 6. Eursea has some balls taking on Osea and it's well trained and well equipped military (especially their Air Force, I wonder if Razgriz Squadron is still around (then again this takes place 9 years after 5 so who knows, would really like to fly with Blaze and Edge again)).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Nothing new, but I like this one because I don't play in cockpit mode, I play in this one. Once again I'm overjoyed to see Dogfight mode not in this game.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Bah, you're not a true ace pilot until you beat a mission on Aces of Aces using cockpit mode only with no missiles and your vulcan

In all seriousness I actually prefer cockpit mode depending on what plane I'm flying but I might just have to make an exception just because that dynamic cloud system looks fucking amazing.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Bandai Namco, y u no give release date?! I have a feeling this is gonna be a 2019 release.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

So we're a prisoner this time? Interesting, I like where this is going. Should make the story a lot more interesting as compared to the normal Air Force/Mercenary Ace angle they keep going for.

As for the release date I suppose they're not saying anything since it can be played in VR and I suppose that's holding development up (not a good fucking excuse Bandai Namco, you've made we wait 11 years for another Strangreal Ace title and that's to fucking long. This better be out this fall or heads will roll).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

 

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

I need this FUCKING now! God damnit Bandai Namco, January is to far away.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

How about some more torture? Finally some gameplay by someone that's not complete ass like anyone from IGN.

 

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

That motherfucking AWACs is going to drive me crazy (I so hope we get to shoot him down). Outside of that god damn that player is good. Those were some damn fine moves and if that's what I can expect from gameplay I'm even more sold. So can't wait for this to come out.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

You know its gonna be cliche where he apologizes near the end and then dies from someone else's missile.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Oh no, it will be my missile even if I have to break the game to do it (I mean we are a murderer, hence the the three strikes, might as well act the part ).

Sadly that's most likely what will happen. That or he'll apologize and we'll all be friends, like none of what he said actually happened because the power of friendship and all that shit.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

So, I finally got to sit down and play a few missions. Finally, classic Ace Combat is back... no stupid dog fighting.. but even more, the "skill-tree" is quite nice... even though I'm making a direct line to the F-22A buy buying stuff I don't really need to progress to it. For now I'm swapping between the F-16, F-14D, and A-10.. I love the A-10 so much for ground missions... flying through a sandstorm trying to find fuel trucks was a blast... you just can't beat that stability. The music is outstanding and so are the visuals.

The mission variety is nice, although I'm getting a little tired of the "destroy X many targets before time runs out" repeating itself a little too much. The story is interesting but the premise that is advertised is definitely not what we're getting, at least as far as the player character goes... at least not to the extent I thought it would be. Whether that pays off in the end we'll see.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Oh man you won't get the F-22 until after mission 17 when you'll finally have enough points to buy it (depending on if you went the F-15 or F-35 route to unlock it, I went the F-15 route (as well as difficulty and what rank you pull on a mission, I'm going through normal with mostly A and B rankings with a few C's added in there). It's worth the wait but I honestly hate how far down the tree it's locked (which is something I'll get into once I actually beat the game, I still have to beat missions 19 and 20). Honestly though this game has been a blast and I'm so freaking happy to have old school Ace Combat back, I've missed this so much it's not even funny.

As I said above I'll give my full thoughts on it once I finally beat it this weekend because I don't want to give this anything less then my full opinion but I will say it ranks up there as one of my favorite Ace Combat titles to date but I do have my issues with it. I just can't wait to play through Ace Combat 5 again (I bought the Deluxe edition so I could get it).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I went F-35 because I wanted to try it out. It's a monster at multi-role. Its everything the A-10 is as far as ground attack, but can hang with the best air to air. 

Plus I liked all the upgrade parts along the way. So it seemed like the path for me.

Mission 19 should have been the finale tbh. I got the F22 around 17 or 18 like you said. Mission 20 was a farce, I destroyed the drones, flew into the tunnels, and flew out. The tunnel was throwback staple of Ace Combat, but the drones were way too easy compared to Mister X. 

Overall I loved it, I really liked the mission variety. I didn't like the time limits at times. I felt like I didn't have time to find any named aircraft. The only mission that really frustrated me was the laser targeting one. Particularly the one target in the windy updrafts, which was just absurd even with upgraded Performance and yaw. I used the A-10 for maximum stability... and then I had to chase down damn ballistic missiles with the slowest aircraft in the game.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Heh, that mission sucked balls. Can't remember what I flew it in though, it was either the Strike Eagle or Tomcat (all I know is even with a multi-role plane it was a bitch due to the game's constant need to auto-correct you every time you pull moves it doesn't like (it took me 5 tries to finally beat it due to that)).

See I've never liked the F-35 (both in game and in real life), such a waste of the F-22's tech but since I do plan on unlocking all planes (yea I'll probably play this like 10-15 times completely through) I'll give it a shot since it's also got some of the better equipment unlocks down that tree. Sadly though that will have to wait since I just found out the X-02S unlocks after you beat the game and since it's 2 million points I'll have a lot of grinding ahead of me (the X-02 is my favorite plane in the Ace series, such a beast of a plane). I have a thing for the F-15 so that's why I went that tree (and the upgrades weren't all to bad, especially the Vulcan upgrades (that tracking assist is so nice when you have lock-on)). Kinda sucks to hear that mission 20 is lackluster, was hoping for one hell of a finale (like AC4, 5 and 0).

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

Oh, mission 19 is satisfying, mission 20 feels like an epilogue showpiece. I figured you'd already have beaten it since I was on mission 10. I think I manually restarted that laser guided mission 3-4 times... then when I ran out of time with one silo left the mission kept going. I dont know at one point it fails or keeps going. 

Auto-correct? Maybe that's why it felt so jarring. Like I was fighting with it harder than I felt I should have. The constant pull up warnings kinda irritated me. It's cool to do it one or two times when you hit the threshold, but I like to fly low for a lot of things, no need to keep telling me about it. Especially in the canyon with spotlights.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

Nah, I ran out of time to get it beaten over the weekend due to FFXIV and anime watching (I was close to beating it since I stopped after 18 but I just ran out of time on Sunday) and I don't really have the time during the week to devout to the game. I'll beat it tomorrow (I'd do it today but I called out sick from work (no that its a big deal, it's only overtime doing shit I've never done before but meh) and I have a thing about playing games when I'm out sick, don't feel it's right to be playing games when I'm home sick from work (though I may say fuck it and beat it anyway)).

Yea, it auto-corrects you constantly when you try flying upside down like when you're in a dogfight. It pisses me off and has been in the game since 6 (though 6 was nowhere near annoying). It also does it when you're pulling high g's as well. None of the games prior to 6 had it and you could fly the whole mission upside down if you had the skills, makes dogfighting a lot harder (especially in the Mister X fights, I died multiple times due to the stupid auto-correct) and dodging missiles and bombing runs suicidal. I need to go through the options and see if there's a way to shut it off because when I do my hard play through I can't have this shit happening.

[Strider Hiryu 2,704]

So I just decided to go ahead and beat it tonight since it would free up some time for me to get other shit done tomorrow and allow me to start my easy play through to round out the points needed for the X-02S (and to start the path toward a few trophies) and maybe start playing through 5 again.

Overall I love this game and its nice that Bandai Namco finally decided to give Ace fans what they wanted after all these years. The story is very well written and as noted earlier in the topic takes place roughly 10 years after the events of 5 and it was nice to see all the little references and major plot points that linked back to the previous story (though I'm still pissed there was no reference to Wardog/Razgriz squadron nor do you even get to fly with/meet them in combat (though the ending redeemed that a little bit in my eyes with that transmission from Kei)). Boy did they pack in the references to the previous games, I was seriously loosing it when we fought at Stonehenge (a place I remember taking out in 4, yea all that damage you see there is caused by you in 4) and the briefing map having Megalith listed was awesome. Was nice seeing some of the squadrons I wiped off the map in 0 come back (Mage I'm looking at you) and one of those prisoners is from 0 as well. I really thought those were nice touches and really tied the story of all the games together (though I still haven't really seen a reference to 6 whose events took place only 4 years prior to this). Overall I thought the story was extremely well done though there were places I feel the writing could of used some work (like the whole throwing us in prison over something we didn't do).

The mission variety was nice but I do agree with DX on the timed missions, they are aggravating as hell when you're given only 30 seconds to destroy 7 targets before the mission fails (I'm looking at you end part of Mission 20). I also had a problem with the "score so many points to either end or progress the mission" missions. It's aggravating as hell when most of your targets are worth little to no points but you still need to score 15,000 points before you can move on (oh and waste your ammo causing you to resupply if the mission even has a resupply line). Overall though there was a nice mix of aerial combat and ground combat mixed in (though that flying through the canyon mission still pisses me off, god damn those fucking spotlights).

Combat was fun though I still feel there is some room for improvement. While a lot the aerial fights are fun I still feel 6 has far superior engagements to 7 (the Pasternak fight will always remain one of my all time favorite engagements in any Ace game). Drones were, while easy, an annoying part of a lot of missions and I can't stress enough how much that missile lock on alarm annoys the hell out of me because of these damn things. The crowning jewel of the combat comes with your engagements with Mister X. While not as fluid as the Pasternak fight they are extreme adrenaline rushes as he's one mean son of a bitch and those damn moves he can pull off are spectacular. I honestly wish he was the final fight in the game instead of those knock-off drones. I will admit though I had problems with the cloud systems they put in place as it really through me off my grove when fighting in or around them, while they're a nice touch I really would of preferred they not be there (and don't get me started on being struck by lightning, so fucking annoying).

As usual the soundtrack was stellar (though I still prefer 5 and 0's soundtracks to this) and the voice acting some of the best in the series (will have to do a play through in Japanese to see if that's just as good). It goes without saying the graphics are amazing even on the old school PS4 and is probably one of the best looking games I've played in awhile (Detroit is still much better looking but damn does it come close). My only real gripe is the Aircraft tree system as I prefer the old method of acquiring planes through beating missions. It was extremely annoying knowing that I had to spend over a million points just to get the chance to unlock the F-22 and then another 920,000 just to get it and 220,000 to unlock all sp. weapons (which took, as I mentioned before, until mission 17 to acquire said points). I do, however, like the whole parts system they put in place as it allows you to customize you're plane to your liking (because you know making you're F-22 go faster is always a good thing).

Honestly this game was a blast to play through and ranks up there as one of my favorite Ace titles taking second only to 5 (which isn't surprising as it's the parent story to what's going on specifically in this one). I write this all, however, having not played the multiplayer aspect because I honestly have no interest in playing it (I might give it a shot like I did 6's but quite frankly I never though multiplayer had a place in the Ace series outside of co-op missions (which I notice there is an extreme lack of those)). I also, obviously, don't have the ability to play the VR missions but I do here they are quite fun (I wish I could play them but I'm not dropping that much money to be able to play and handful of missions). Overall a solid entry in the franchise and I hope going forward that Bandai Namco sticks to the the Strangereal universe and doesn't give us anymore duds like Assault Horizon.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I haven't read a news site review in years, but I heard either IGN or Kotaku docked it because it was "too hard". Seriously? While it had some frustrating moments, it was certainly not the most difficult. Like you said, go back and do the Pasternak fight, which is probably the crowning achievement of the series as far as intense dog fights. The dog fights were less intense in this one. They did require a little bit more out of your piloting skills... although I can see the canyon spotlights being easier with the novice controls... I have no idea how you'd do the final mission without the pro controls. I haven't used the beginner controls since Air Combat. I remember quite a few times previous Ace Combat games made you resort to finishing up enemies with the main guns because you just weren't going to ever get a clean lock on harder modes. This game has crazy special weapons, along with buffs to homing, lock on speed, and damage, you can pretty much always rely on them so long as you can control your aircraft and keep the enemy on your TV screen.

The only time I got my ass handed to me truly was because I was being super lazy with the A-10, and it caught up with me on the Stonehenge mission. Trying to evade Arsenal Bird's missile barrage along with the drones protecting it presented an interesting challenge when trying to take out the propellers within the time limit. Being that slow, made me regret my choice.. I had a bad habit of looking at the air and ground target breakdown pre mission and being like "A-10 time!" The mutli ground target missile special is just great, and the F-35 has an even more powerful version of it which is nuts. Like you said about the constant missile warnings, I pretty much made it a thing to take out all the SAM and XSAMs I'd find just to ease my ears of that damn alert.

That Fleet destruction mission was indeed annoying because of the time limit, I think I came up short by 2-300 points twice and started getting irritated. I eventually figured out that I needed to target the main ship, and ignore all of their SAM and guns. Even with a strafe run (WARNING PULL UP PULL UP PULL UP 🙄) and missile and bomb barrage all at once, some of those ships were damn beasts when it came to damage intake. The frigates and destroyers went down fast but the ships with the missiles, I think it was VAL or something, took 2 runs of perfect barrages... which was a little much. The Aircraft carrier, I understood since it was worth an ass load of points. But once I got that down, I could take out the first  eastern fleet with plenty of ammo to spare and about 8 minutes left.. even then I'd still go to replenish because it was the closest to the base. As long as you took out that whole fleet, it would get you a little more than half way there, after that I took out the smaller array of ships on the way to that base that looked like a massive oil rig.. I guess they both did, but the one out in the open water. That would push me over, but I still think I was down to about 2 minutes or less by the time I was done. They did a good job of tucking some ground targets in places where the standard missiles would hit the ground or wall they're in. Don't get me started on having to manual ID in that night city escort. As much as I loved that mission overall because of how it looked, damn they made some annoyingly placed targets to ID and then take out.

The aircraft tree was nice, but you're right, the aircraft unlocks should have not been apart of it. Plus half of the upgrades you didn't really need. Like the Queen's touch, or any of the performance enhancers... yeah they were good on lesser fighters, but for the better ones, you're better off going with capacity and weapon upgrades. Thats one of the reasons I didn't go the F-15 route, the ice up part i felt, and found out was completely useless. I never wished I had it at any point in the game... the only time it remotely became a thing was when you're out flying to avoid the radar zones on the way to the space elevator near the start of the game. I think I iced up one time chasing fighters into heavy clouds... the only upgrade I could have used, if it exists was a lightning strike resistance.. that was kind of annoying when it happened.