Armored Core: Formula Front Is A Really Unique Handheld Game...
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- For those that might not remember, or those who are simply too young to, handheld gaming was a big deal in the mid 2000’s. There was the Game Boy Advance, The Nintendo DS, and most importantly today, the PlayStation Portable. And before the release of the PSP in Japan, FromSoftware was approached by Sony and given an offer to make a launch title for the new system. And interestingly for us today, FromSoft decided to take that offer, giving us Armored Core Formula Front. So how did the first and only Armored Core game developed exclusively for handheld work, and was it any good? Well, let’s talk about it.
Full Armored Core Series: • A First Timer's Journe...
Armored Core: Formula Front is a mecha video game developed by FromSoftware and published by Agetec. It was a launch title for the PlayStation Portable in Japan, and the 10th main installment in the Armored Core series.
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If stuff like Verdict Day and Smash Ultimate have taught me anything, it's that designing/training AI controlled characters and making them fight can be really addicting. Maybe this can come back as a feature in an expansion for AC6 but I doubt it.
I wouldn't expect them to, but imagine how cool something like that could be with AC6's core gameplay...
I feel like this could really shine as DLC if it has its own missions and PVP aspects! I know AC6 came out later so it's not really the best comparison, but I honestly feel like a kind of "Handler" to the AI ACs in Formula Front and it'd be really cool to be able to pit your own unmanned mechs against ones other people have made, and maybe even have a mode to spectate/bet against other AI matches
AI cockfights are badass
You should try monster rancher then
man the verdict day ai designing required like a mfin doctorate to grasp
I loved this game as a kid! It was really nice to see what the Armored Core universe would look like in a world not embroiled in war.
My headcanon is that this is the "Good End" for the Gen III. Universe. Dove, Ibis, the Internecine, and the Last Raven all fading into distant memory, and the weapons of war that these fierce legends once used are now but amusements for a new, civilized age.
Kinda dig the more colorful sporty aesthetic of Formula Front. It's wild how good PSP games look if you just upscale them.
Fun Fact. The PS2 version of the game has the one at a time Team on Team battles you suggested. Don't worry, it gives you the option to change the language of the Text
Here's another one:
There's an updated re-release of Formula Front exclusively in Japan, called "Armored Core Formula Front International", which not only added more opponents for you to fight, but also includes the English language option from the PS2 version. However, since some parts of the menu tooltips and in-game tutorial videos were remained untranslated, it was advised to play the patched version of FF International, which replaced the tutorial videos with the ones from the Extreme Battle release and has the tooltips fully translated.
I'm glad you like this AC title as much as some of us do, and I hope this and Nine Breaker prepared you well for the ball-busting, controller-crushing and rage-inducing next title after Formula Front:
ARMORED CORE LAST RAVEN
Good luck, Raven!
@@OverDriver05 ah yes, last raven. My first AC game, truly a rage inducing game
Correction: It doesn't let you change the language
The last version of Formula Front, International, has an additional "international" arena with a lot more opponents. Though, the most fun thing is, BT Wyvern and Team Ogre make a return with new ACs and you get one additional mail when you're being defeated by them.
Team Ogre just says "I KNEW I WAS ALWAYS BETTER" while BT Wyvern says "Finally, I could surpass you, but I know you're not done. This is just a temporary victory because I know, you'll rise even higher than before"
Awesome video as always, a few notes: there are actually 4 versions of this game, the 2 you mentioned (OG japanese and extreme battle) but there are another 2 that released after each of those: the PS2 version, japanese only and before extreme battle BUT IT HAS A TEAM BATTLE MODE EXACTLY HOW YOU DESCRIBED, and international, a japanese only version that brings all the extreme battle changes + 50 new post game battles, and unlike the PS2 version, this one comes with all the english translation as a setting you can just switch on and off.
Also, its worth noting that this is the only AC game not fully developed by From, they did all the planning and handed the assets and engine but the development itself was handled by artdink, another note worthy mech game dev, they mostly did macross and gundam licensed games but some of the better ones, however, they made a game for PSX called Carnage Heart, thats essentially this game minus the part where the mechs themselves are premade, you just program them, so it was a match made in heaven for them to essentially make a simplified version of that game on the gen 3.5 AC engine, also, they went on to make a carnage heart sequel on PSP after making formula front thats quite good too.
I'll have to check out that team battle mode some day, sounds 👌
Thats interesting considering how ACVD actually baked Formula Front into the main game
Man thanks for the background info, I loved carnage heart and was thinking about it the whole video.
I literally just commented how this game reminds me of Carnage Heart lol - now I know why!
It's just there to somewhat satisfy your cravings for AI vs AI.
Just like when you want to watch your AI teammates fight the enemies in games both in & out of the AC franchise.
Yeah.... it's why I always skipped this one. Even Monster Rancher 1 & 2 on PlayStation let you give commands to your monster during battle. Their loyalty determined how well they followed said commands. I love those 2 games.
I do think you should have covered the manual controls. I know it's not a feature in the Japanese version, but it is a feature in a version of the game, so it should be here. It would have been interesting to see how they mangled the controls to work with fewer buttons.
I just start playing this game a few days ago and I decided to grind with melee weapon only in manual mode. It was super fun. Finding ways to evade the bullets / missiles while getting close to it was super challenging. But when you successfully 1 combo 2 hit KO the opponent, it was super satisfying.
Fun Fact: Formula Front International is the most expansive and content-packed version of the game. You will only have to deal with the occasional Japanese menu, but still easy to figure out.
Edit: Imagine if ACFF had the programing system of Gladiabots AI Combat Arena!
Pro Tip: setting the AI behaviors and performance to extremes will show you more about how those stats work than minor tweaks. For example, a low navigation performance may barely affect most matches, but leave your u/AC unable to locate the enemy on mountainous terrain!
I loved the game, played a lot of multiplayer at school, never knew about the AI system or I just don't remember. But I have fond memory of the duels I had against friends. This was my 1st AC game.
Aw man! That must've been more hype then Pokemon battles! While I beat this game I can't imagine how much more fun local wireless multiplayer would've been.
Bro same! Beat the whole single player without ai tuning once 😅
When I beat ACFF originally, I used the manual controls. There are some advantages to manual control, because you aren't limited by the head's AI stats, and you can change tactics at will. The game used the older style controls (pre-Nexus) with vertical aim being AI-controlled to compensate for the limited hardware inputs. I played this so much that, when my PSP had a broken latch, I just taped it shut with this in it.
However, I eventually wanted to play this on an Android-based emulator, and not having physical buttons gave me a new appreciation for the AI mode. Once you understand it, you don't even really need to use chips. It's a very passive, casual experience that was clearly designed for playing in public with distractions/interruptions.
This makes me wanna give Formula Front another chance and play the way it was meant to be played.
I would honestly recommend it! It's not the best experience the franchise offers, but it's a fun little distraction 🙂
In the international version you can pilot the AC as normal and has way more stuff in general.
Imagine AC6 impelementing these mechanics wherein you make an Arena Data (parts and AI) that players can fight (which isn't far off because Carla literally uploaded her data in AllMind whic you can fight).
All other Arena combatants you fight are reconstructed from battle data by AllMind. Carla got to corrupt her data to leave a voice message. And maybe spectate your match.
@@pikadragon2783 I remember her saying that it's a data she made. But maybe I am wrong.
It definitely would be awesome. Imagine there also being a sort of ranking between all players that have uploaded their ACs.
Maybe setting it apart from normal PvP as rather than fighting yourself, you have your programmed AC fight them instead.
The idea that it would be difficult to control Armored Core on the PSP made this game unique.
The light soundtrack music and cheerful atmosphere made it an unforgettable experience.
The chip usefulness definitely depends on the chips in question as some are definitely more effective than others. There is certain ai like a flanker for example that cant be done without the right chips.
Although that particular fight in the snow against the ac eith vertical missiles and snipers makes a lot of setups not work right.
On a side note its actually kind of funny and unintuitive how puting 0 points in attack or defense actually makes acs work really well.
Dude I wait for this a whole week! Thx!
AC Formula Front:
ALLMIND: Let me introduce myself
Visually, this is a phenomenal looking game. It showed the potential of the PSP's visual capabilities that became apparent in titles much later in its life cycle.
Still Have This Game on my PSP
In some ways this reminds me of an old PS1 game called Carnage Heart - you might get a kick out of at least taking a look at that one. The concept they share is computer controlled robots that the player "programs" - but the programming is a lot more complicated in CH.
Edit: someone else pointed out the developer of CH worked with From on this game, how 'bout that
To add to this, there's a Carnage heart on the psp called Carnage heart exa
Im so excited for the For Answer video
I had this game. It was pretty good for what it was, but it wasnt what i expected from an AC title. The PSP had the power to do more.
Oh, my god, no way, this is where the unix system came from i thought it was only acv5 that had this system this is cool to find out
... didn't know about the manual control in the U.S. version!? I'll have to give it a try. Thanks Chole 🖐😎👍
Great video. I didn't even know An Armored Core game released for PSP
Welp- you made me want me to try FF in AI mode, i have been trying to control the acs manually but it hasnt been going well.
Great video as always, cant wait to see the rest!
Manual Control despite it being a thing the game actively discourages from using it, the AI, including your own cheat even harder than later AC opponents in the series and can do things and gain bonuses the player can not and if it wasnt enough theres also baked in input lag with an in-universe reason being its because you are piloting the AC via remote control instead of actually being in it.
But I really did love the AI building in this game, slowly watching your AI get better and better as you tweak it, or worse in some cases and trying again and watching it beat other ACs is an experience different to the rest of the series even if its still rooted in the fundamentals of customization being a core design philosophy.
And I loved that in that vein the AI system wasnt something separated off from your ACs assembly but both could compliment each other with some part choices on your AC allowing your AI to function better in the way you want it to.
Can't wait to se ur ac 6 review. it's gonna be sick
Formula Front was the first AC game I tried. I strongly disliked it at the time, since I didn’t bother with many mechanics besides just building something random, then trying to fight with it. I got washed a few times, then gave up, and didn’t touch the franchise again until some time before 6’s original Announcement, where I would play AC MOA, and have an absolute blast. I’m 5 games beaten in, and beating more day by day, and this made me kinda wanna retry playing this game, now that I’m not struggling to understand anything about it like I was so long ago. Really Great Stuff it seems.
maybe if they made it backward compatible or release a collection on next gen more people would know about the series in general
Masters of Arena all over again.
personally i feel like nine breaker and formula front should be cannon to give life to the people of the world because who wouldn't fight ACs in a Rock'em sock'em robots fashion?
i think they're just not canon because they don't make sense in the point in time they're in, as in right after the world was basically ending in Nexus... But the arena battles are like that too in the other games, if you read the descriptions of the pilots you'll see that there's a lot of hype and favorites
This is NBA Courtside of the AC franchise
Thanks for the information 👍❤❤❤
It's like a mini version of Master of Arena
Definitely heading to my local game store to find this
good luck friend, these ones can be hard to find these days 😅
@@notcole the local game store where i live has pretty hard to find games im just surprised ive never encountered that psp game back then but i still got my ps1 with memory card with project phantasma and the first ac i like the concept of formula front though i like watching ai fight in games
After finishing this video the game looks very fun and Formula fronts soundtrack is amazing and it slaps. Like I listen to every armored core soundtrack since last year and I'm doing it again now and it's hard to pick my favorite armored core music because a lot of them are masterpieces but still formula front is like my top 5 or 10.
Yep this the game that made me me buy the Handheld PS i was so very excited to play and i was really hyped to make my own 9ball.
I imported the JP versions of all the Armored Core game durring the PS2, PSP and PS3 eras before they would come to the USA (usually 6 month between release from JP to Eng). I did this because I could never wait for the next game lol.
Anyway the ability to control the AC in FF was a happy welcome for me. I do like FF's AI tuning better than the later AC5 series' AI sidekicks who learn based on your play style. Problem with the AC5 ones is that they only learn up to a certain point so if you mix your style too much with each match then they will bug out and be dumb.
Well that explains a lot
This system was first implemented way back on the PSX with Armored Core: Master of Arena's Second Disc. You could design AC's and create AI's for each of them, all of which would form your own Arena. AC FF just makes this system more feature rich.
Despite how different tonally it may be, from someone who hasn’t played the game this seems like it would fit in perfectly. Yet another show of corporate shenanigans, but one much more akin to the entertainment industry. It should be canon I think
I never even knew this game existed.
This is like how arena mode is suppose to be.
The only AC games I have never played are the PSP ones. Mostly because I was never able to find any of them in any stores around me when they first came out. But also because most of them just seemed like worse versions of the PS2 ones I already had.
I was always curious about Formula Front, though, since it is actually an original game, and not just a port. But since I never really enjoyed the Ranker Maker part of Master of Arena, or training the AI AC in Silent line, it never felt worth it to hunt down a copy. Even if Fake Fever is a sweet theme song.
But, from your video, It looks like the AI tuning system is more interesting in FF than before. So maybe I'll finally have to grab a ROM and check it out.
I actually never used the AI outside of repeatedly hitting the battle skip button to see if I could cheese the RNG to progress the game easier.
I played manual control throughout the majority of the game.
Finally, the best one
An interesting game, but I would stick to manual controlling ACs as I just enjoy that more.
This along with Ninebreaker, Nexus and V are the only games I haven't played. I feel like Formula Front should have went further with the visuals by letting you add decals to the u-ACs as they were models you messed around like Gunpla
I was so bad at this game as a kid. My english was pretty much nonexistent back then so i had no clue what was happening
I cannot wait for you to get to last raven, in so excited.
If you don't import, you will suffer. I did that and it was painful.
My favorite thing sbout this game is its auto vertical aim
Brother i loved this game as a kid, beat the whole damn thing without ever tuning one ai 😅😂 didnt know where that menu was i guess
Before you get to play ac4/fa
for review, and many veterans properly said this already. This is never really said in game and more learned when playing, learn to second stage quick boost when charging your analog triggers!
AC: Formula Front (Product Demo, the game)
Never even heard of this game till I was already playing 4th gen, and while I liked the idea of tweaking my AC to be run by AI, but at the end of the day I only like games like that when I am controlling more then one unit at that point, so I decided to avoid it due to the fact that I could only do this with one mech.
Pretty sure the uac thing comes back in 5th gen.
Absolutely zero hate intended here.
I wanted to give some well-intentioned come constructive criticism, please don't take this as an insult, as you're doing a GREAT job here! This IS a good video!
The way you sort of "lift" your voice at the end of every couple of words is a bit distracting and comes off less confident than I think you really are (And you have every reason to be confident!). It's like you're asking a question every few words and it sort of hits the ear oddly.
3:38 is a good example.
"And personally? I think this system is mostly? Best ignored? Since you can never really? Accurately predict? What will be happening?? At like the 30 second? Mark of your match. But! I think that this could have been handled a lot better?? With one simple change."
Once you hear it, you'll notice it throughout the videos.
Its -how- you're speaking, not your voice itself. Your voice is lovely and really nice to listen to at length. It's just the inflection. A more even, strong tone and a more confidant cadence, I feel, would help showcase how informed you are in these videos. Keep up the great work, love what you're doing!👍
no offense taken, I appreciate the feedback!
@@notcolemost don’t care. I didn’t even notice any of this.
How about Ko-Fi and/or Patreon?
I've considered them in the past, but I don't feel like I'm really able to offer enough extra for supporters on those platforms due to time constraints. If people were worried enough about the revenue split I could try to set one of them up 🙂
PSP was so good
I like the video but there more armored core game on the psp there 4 like armored core 3 SL LR on the psp and the game you play on this video
yeah I'm aware of the other games that got ported to it, when I say it's the only one developed exclusively for it I just mean it's the only one that was completely designed around being played on the PSP 🙂
@@notcole oh ok now i understan and i like the video and i learn the game how from software want the new experience keep up the good work
Cole my mom hates me :(
Do you deserve it though?
I'd also like to know that. 🤔
immagine the ranks would switch like the other ranks would keep fighting untill thay meet you