Armored Core 2 • Retrospective • [The History of From Software]
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- Опубликовано: 1 июн 2024
- Armored Core 2 is a 2001 third-person shooter mech video game developed by FromSoftware for the PlayStation. The game is the fourth entry in the Armored Core series.
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Chapters
00:00 Intro
02:58 Historical Context
07:17 Story
13:54 Gameplay
31:31 The Player
38:48 Closing Thoughts
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I love this series dude. Grabbing a cup of coffee rn
GRAB IT QUICK!!! :V
You know it's a good day when Aesir uploads.
:)
Armored Core 2 was the first one I played and the one that got me hooked on the series. I went on to play 3, Silent Line, 4, and Verdict Day. I kind of want to go back and play the Nexus trilogy before 6 comes out.
nice!
I really wonder what Mars would have looked like a few years later.. if your Raven hadn't intervened. Excellent retrospective, thanks for all your hard work.
thank you for watching :)
Aesir you are one of the few Fromsoftware related channels I truly respect
I appreciate that, thank you :)
My absolute favourite game of the series. Glad you gave this legendary game justice.
thank you :)
Great gameplay,story and psycological analisis of the game as always. Your the only one I know that actually analises the message behind these games and its really cool. Great video, waiting for the 3rd one already!
script it half finished!!! :D
I kind of love how people can end up building entire alternative timelines and plots for the AC series like this. What do I mean? Your view on Project Phantasma and Master of Arena make me smile.
As I understand it: Master of Arena was essentially 'Armored Core 1, but done better' to the point it supplanted AC 1 in my memories until I went back to check. Project Phantasma was a follow up (timeline wise) to AC1/Master of Arena. The funny thing is, you nailed AC 2 even so. The problems are the same and when Klien's plan to control things (To fix his mistake in destroying the AI on Earth) starts to fall apart due to a single powerful mercenary... well he draws the parallels himself. Hence the fake out red/black AC and his 'Die Rebel!' at the start of the actual fight.
One thing I really wish had been expanded on was the Mars ancient tech situation. We don't learn anything about what happened there, if it was aliens or humans, if this is leftovers of a struggling, cut off from a devastated in the great destruction Earth colony or what. Even Another Age just raised some questions like "How much tech from Mars did they take back to Earth?"
It really is funny to me that AC 1 was basically remade twice. First as Master of Arena, which I think really did nail what they were going for. Then in this new spin in AC 3, a sort of 'What if the AI hadn't hid it's existence?' take on the premise. Silent Line sadly never gives us the chance to see how IBIS ran things and if that differed from Dove/The Controller. AC 4-5VD was doing it's own thing, and worth considering in parallel to the older games story I think.
Anyway, I enjoyed your work here, thank you. Looking forward to more of your work.
didnt IBIS only existed to "observe" the world and test the people if they are worthy enough to stop a bigger threat hence it being the Silent Line and the events of Nexus and Last Raven was what some people think why the AIO was doing what it thought was best for humanity, and one of the ruined layered shows exactly what happens when people arent prepared and this again pops up in the events of Nexus culminating into the events of Last Raven
Like ac3 is to ac1 silent line is the masters of arena in gen 3
Just a small fun fact about AC2’s development. Originally, it was going to be released on the Dreamcast, but was later pushed to be a PS2 title. This is why most of the games maps remain quite small (aside from a few standouts). Which sort of ties into its very visually appealing texture work, and makes it stand out amongst the other titles.
that also explains the controls, since the Dreamcast only had one analog stick
yooooo, that explains a lot!
You’re the only RUclipsr that I know of that has actually been devoted to fromsofts history way before it was cool to do so and people getting 1kil views off of shitty kingsfield videos that are half assed and 1/16th as long or as good as yours. Thanks for everything you do man
Perfect timing.
6 months after the first vid but here we are
AC2 is the quintessential AC game for me, but that might just be bias since it was the first one I played. Still I loved everything about this game, from the subdued thought provoking story, to the revelation of the human+ system, but mostly just the building my sexy chicken mech. I will add that the arena fights are not fatal to either you or the other pilots, so I'm not really sure that it says anything about the ravens willingness to go after each other. This is demonstrated in game by your ability to go back and challenge anyone you have already beaten, and also many of the arena pilots also show up in missions regardless of whether you have beaten them or not. I find the latter to be particularly interesting as it fleshes out the world and other ravens a bit more than just being a ladder to climb. However the fact that there are several Ravens pilots that your pitted against in missions and you do actually kill makes the original point all the same.
Let's go. Best channel on the platform.
:) ♥🥰
Great analysis as always Aesir. All this mecha talk got me pretty excited for armored core 6 and I've never been into mech games at all. I really want to try this type of game now
thank you for watching :)
Watching through these retrospectives is a very nice way of getting a condensed history of how these games progressed in their scope. It's fascinating and makes perfect sense how Fromsoft would begin with a game that entirely focuses on the story of the corporations but slowly changes to try and highlight more of the player's actions in their own importance
:D
Thank you for continuing this series!
More to come!
Hi, I don't know if the footage is yours this time, but in order to fix the shaking effect in PCSX2 you must tweak the "Deinterlacing" option to see what works best for that particular game.
I would never admit to emulation, but thank you :)
@@AesirAesthetics eh, I think there should be more awareness that you can play old games exactly how they were (with software mode + an old CRT) or upscaled, with widescreen, high framerate patches and customizable controls. I prefer the latter, since I really appreciate what devs achieve despite the limitations of old hardware.
Going back to old games is often hard even not counting on the resources and efforts it takes to obtain original functioning game copies, consoles and peripherals (the hardest to find in usable status).
It's important to keep alive older games, especially if they did something unique that was never replicated afterwards and can't be experienced at their best on modern hardware, this way we can count on the chances that sooner or later amazing but old concepts may see the light of day again in newer (and hopefully) better titles.
Fantastic video! Always looking forward to your content.
Much appreciated!
I also appreciate yugioh thumbnail!
35:10 Personally I believe it wasn't necessarily an ai misinterpretation, but more a primary directive to keep the status quo at all costs, and we're potentially a threat to the system it's programed to keep intact. Granted it's been years since I played it so I should go back and check again. Very good summary btw! really love this series
Great video. I really appreciate the point of how the limitations of what the creators could make shaped the methods in which the story was conveyed. In particular, hearing a possible reason why From were so reluctant to change to dual analog control really surprised me. I enjoyed the tank controls of 1st and 2nd gen, but it still confused me as to why they didn't change sooner. I would have said that the change allowed the series to grow in terms of mechanical scope and appeal... but that's starting to sound like the current discussions of making AC more "souls-like". It's amusing.
The reading of the Arena's narrative purpose was really interesting. I thought for a second that you were implying that Arena fights were lethal for your opponents and was going to correct you in this comment, but it dawned on me while I was writing that I was falling for the game's tricks. I was going to say "The Arena isn't that nasty, the Ravens aren't out to kill each other like they might in missions"... but that still shows a great disregard for human life. I was thinking to myself "Tomboy's not dead, I'm sure she'll be able to raise money just fine"; but who knows how important that specific payday might have been? It's fun seeing how easily I can fall for things when they're presented as simple facts.
Now that I reflect on it, the series seems to repeat similar story arcs quite often. I haven't played enough of the later games to see how they can convincingly reuse these beats and themes while not letting it grow stale, so I'm curious to see how you'll handle having to recap these ideas even more, lol. I do hope you place a bit more focus on the non-numbered games in the future, though. The way each followup iterates and improves on the numbered titles' unique gameplay and plot ideas tell very interesting stories in their own right, and are worth analysis.
I love your content! I can't wait to see the AC3 video. ❤
Coming soon!
Fantasic video. As usual, your analysis is comprehensive and insightful.
My lone criticism is the bob deinterlacing used for much of the 480i footage - I highly recommend finding a capture method capable of motion adaptive deinterlacing as it will look *much* better, in my opinion.
thank you for the feedback, I wasn't super happy with the footage either but didn't know how to fix it
Sooooooooooooooo I know this is totally unrelated, but I finished Snail *i think* and wanted to say holy shit it's rare to see a person talk the talk and then walk that walk as well as you did. I think you've created the first Twin Peaks atmosphere in a game. The ambushes were glorious with the disorientating mechanics. Really dug it and gonna keep this comment short cause I want you to go build more games. Next time charge money.
thank you 😁
Yo, Aesir, glad to see you're still around! I just binged your old Silent Hill videos from a few years ago and found myself going "y'know, I feel like I haven't seen anything from him in years. What a shame". Totally didn't know you still made videos. Good ol' crappy RUclips algorithm and all that.
good to see you didn't forget me!!
Great lore video as always! This was my first AC many years ago.
Thank you :)
You are welcome!@@AesirAesthetics
Another video covering AC, yes! I also noticed you upgraded your thumbnail game, it's nice to see.
Glad you like it!
Nice talks/ rant / comments here man. I have played through AC1, ACIII this week and slept on 2... but now playing 2 I am finding it to be my personal favorite for all the stated points here. Just the general feel of the combat, missions and visuals of the maps in this one are best. Liked and Sub'd my dude.
Thank you :)
AC2 took a good few missions before it set for me. After the ps1 titles the movement felt very clunky due to the added weight to the feelings, but once you get used to it it felt fantastic. I havent played V or Verdict day yet, but AC2, AC3, and Silent Line are definitely my favorites. I like the aestetic of 4 and 4A but 4 was way too easy, I didn't like the schematics and how customization worked and I hated how "simulations"/arena fights worked. 4A runs like a slideshow sometimes (I am not finished it yet), the Arena is BETTER in 4A though
Ac2 isn't a spinoff its a sequel. Klein is the protagonist from moa
That's exactly what he said in the video...
"Transforming into jets"
My man Shoji Kawamori trying to make a Macross game thats not Macross. Shoji Kawamori being one of the big name Mecha designers for Armored Core, hes famous for his work on other mecha franchises before such as Macross, Escaflowne, and Patlabor
Holy crap, this is THE definitive AC retrospective series. Any new blood heading into AC6 without this is doing themselves a huge disservice.
As an aside, were the Disorder units ever explicitly stated to be alien in origin? I remember as a wee young Raven wondering if they were remnants of the pre-Destruction terraforming technology...
the fact you need Bio Sensors to get a lock on them says something else.... they are EVA units
Yeah, I think I got the "ancient martian" thing worng.
I assumed ancient aliens but in hindsight it's probably an ancient human civilization whichperished
@@AesirAesthetics To be fair, I don't think it's ever explicitly stated one way or another. The 'pro' argument would be that human-engineer huge insectoid bioweapons were pretty common in the early AC series and a self-replicating/sustaining terraforming biotechnological system would be ideal to terraform a planet. Plus you could argue that the visual effects of the Disorder units closely resemble that of the ACs and other human technologies (though more likely just an asset-reuse on behalf of From). Additionally, Disorder units are present on Earth within ancient human structures in Another Age.
I guess the 'anti' is they are never referenced again after AA and big alien bug monsters isn't exactly a scifi rarity.
Stoked you decided to cover the series and arent just jumping on the modern releases. Have you ever heard of a game called Fear and Hunger? Its an incredibly dark , punishing and strange RPG maker game (one of the best Ive played) I think you could make some great videos on it. It doesnt get enough coverage.
I have not heard of "Fear and Hunger".
sound cool
Wonderful work sir
thank you for watching :)
Great vid!!!
thank you :)
I hope we get an Armored Core collection one day.
Thanks for the vid
thank you for watching :)
Absolute banger yet agen
thank you for watching :)
Perfect timing once again. How does he do it?!
wait for the right time to strike pretty much
>Starts Armored Core Retrospective
>New Armored Core comes out
Please, proceed!
If they pay me I'll make that Beyond Good & Evil video to force Ubisoft's hand 😄
@@AesirAestheticsHow much for a Gothic vid lol
@@AesirAesthetics Please cover Bioshock 2 and its DLC at some point next year.
you got a sub will love to see you play AA
maybe some day :)
Loved 2 so much. My mission choices had me work for each company literally right before they get shooed out by the story, and then a cowboy told me to stop Big Boss from dropping the moon onto Mars.
Absolute fucking peak.
lol
I will play it before watching this. Thank You.
:)
Thank you for this video! I played the second part in the Japanese version and I didn't understand anything about the plot. Now with this knowledge I will try again!
nice!
What's interesting about the ancient Mars civilisation is that it was in all likelihood a human civilisation. In Another Age, the Raven finds a disorder unit control hub in the depths of some pre-Great Destruction ruins. Unless aliens planted that thing on the Earth and the ruins have been built around it, it seems to be quite clear that the disorder units are terrestrial in origin. Moreover, we can see the pinnacle of the disorder units in AC2 and it's just some very advanced armored cores.
Basically, it's impossible to tell how many times mankind has stood at the same precipice we see in AC2 in the past, with terrestrial and martian civilisation rising and destroying their planets over and over again.
Incidentally, this is why I have fun theorising that AC3 simply shows the Earth's state centuries after AC1, while men keep living on Mars, unbeknownst to the Earth dwellers, trapped in their little apocalypse. I started thinking about this after discovering that you can encounter Nineball in AC Nexus, refusing to chalk it up to a mere easter egg.
So, my running timeline theory would be: Gen 4 -> Gen 5 -> Gen 1 & 2 -> Gen 3 -> Gen 6
Great vid
thank you:)
Song in the background? GREAT VIDEO BY THE WAY!
It's just assorted songs from the AC2 OST.
Thank you for liking the video :)
Haven't started the video yet, but this game has the second best soundtrack in the series and one of the best soundtracks ever.
EDIT: The true villain of Armored Core will always be capitalism and the military-industrial-complex.
Your tangent about the arena is actually an excellent summarization of how systems like capitalism will always aim to turn us against one another for the sake of it's own proliferation, alongside it's constant promise of "shiny new toys" at the cost of exploiting the "weak".
you should probably talk about the later games in the same generation (project phantasma ans master of arena for gen 1, another age for gen 2, silent line, nexus, and last raven for gen 3, for answer for gen 4, and verdict day for gen 5)
there are so many O_o
But maybe one day :)
AC1 and project phantasm are games I enjoyed, so I don't know why I didn't get to another AC game until silent line, and no AC besides. Guess I was more of an Earth/Starsiege mech game sort. Maybe finding these videos is a sign i need to jump back into AC.
Thanks for the lovely AC videos, have a sub and likes.
I guess some Kingsfield videos are in my future, while i work.
thank you and enjoy
Will you be doing analasies of future "expansions" (spinoffs like last raven, for answer
maybe.
I'm more interested in explroing the ways the gmae' swere designed and directed, and most of the spinoffs (that I've played) dont relaly add a lot of unique flavour to the numbered title that came before them.
I am 100% doing a video on 4:Answer but if there's interest, I might touch on the other spinoffs some day :)
I'd be a wretched pilot. All the corporate speak and undertones went over my head as I just had too much fun being uber-pilot
loool
Huh. I guess left field aliens aren't a new thing in AC6. I think it's just as jarring and weird in this instance as it is in the newest installment, so Im happy that's a series tradition lol. The fact they had this estabished series and at at least two different occasions went "oh yeah there's aliens lol" is very funny to me.
In AC2's cade though, it shared another universe with other games, _and_ the aliens are martian which I'd argue is a much more strange and jarring move than having a reboot in a new interstellar setting that revolves, to some degree, around said aliens who also are from a planet very far away from earth.
Hype
It's a theory that Leos is the main character from MoA. There is no official information that confirms this. I know some people believe this, but it is a theory and not a fact.
Mechanical Guidance and the old official website strongly support this theory. Even in the AC2 emails, Nell mentions that he is the original Ninebreaker, and Klein often refers to himself when talking about the Raven.
I liked Armored Core 2 because there were wacky alien mechs, it made for some of the most unique bosses in the series. I'm easy to please I guess.
heh
it is indeed a good watch
:)
Epic
thank you, it only took six months :D
Well done!
Algorithm tax ✌️😘 👍
wait... now that Ithink about it if Keniichiro Tsukuda happens to be part of the AC2 team then now I realize why the story of DxM is the way that it is.... its a direct reference to AC2
DxM pulls from AC2?
@@AesirAesthetics yeah in most ways the story beats are trying to deviate from the AC2 formula but ends up with an AC2 formula just without Phobos crashing to mars.... as the moon no longer wholly exists in DxM
He was trying to be the next Nine-Ball by mind uploading in Phobos.
:O
@@AesirAesthetics :O
I know we did some questionable shit, but Nell wasn't that bad a boss, really.
Yesssss!
Algorithm tax ✌️😘👍
🎉
Klein was "A" ninebreaker, not "The" Ninebreaker
there were many of them?
MARS RAVENS
Among AC1, AC2 and AC3, I personally think AC2 aged the worst out of the three. It probably wasn't a bad game when it was released, but I can't find any reason to recommend it over almost every other AC game.
I feel the same.
I think they maybe were a bit too ambitious with what the PS2 would let them do and they maybe needed to reign the game in mid-development?
Feels that way, especially compared to AC3 which is scaled down a bit and better pruned
Spoilers D:
it's a retrospective 😭
@@AesirAestheticswe need a mech apocalypse
Thumbsticks ruined Armored Core.
I feel they basically took the framework established in AC1 as far as it could go by the 3rd gen.
Thumbsticks enabled fine tuned movement which enabled more precision placement in battles which enabled gignatic mongo bongo bosses.
Whack
:)
Damn, you’re dropping frames like a divorce dad drops one dollar bills at a strip club.
looooool
hello Aesir another deep dive meticulously researched on the Armored Core series a primer is essential has the series has existed for decades having its demanding Core Fans I adore FromSoftware Games hopelessly useless at SoulsBorne but loving them and buying them All thank you for sharing your wisdom dedication and knowledge
thank you for watching :)