Petition to make more ac episode for secret level's next season. But i think thats enough, hope this series continues to even more and more game francise
Apparently the episode is based on a story written by Peter Watts that was set in the Armored Core 6 universe. The ending was changed at the last second, someone at FromSoft or Amazon decided that the AC6 story was off-limits. Keanu was probably Dolmayan before the change was made. There's still an RLF easter egg in one shot and of course all of the ACs are using Gen 6 weapons. You can read Watts' blog post about it. Officially this is its own standalone story but its obvious it was meant to tie into ACVI.
Honestly for 11 minutes this was stellar, but yeah maybe a missed opportunity to fully flesh it out more. I would love a continuation which means they did good!
It just left me wanting more, but not in a satisfying way. I liked every second, but it was just too short. Like, after I watched it I asked myself, “did this tell a more interesting story than the AC6 story trailer with its longer runtime? And the answer was no.
For me it was the opposite. This made me so intrigued to learn more about the world and what the voice’s intentions might be. Keanu is basically Johnny silverhand again but with the roles reversed, and I’d love to see more of it. The grungy low fi sci fi aesthetic, jacking into the mech and the interior shots juxtaposed against the hyper maneuverability and precision of the mechs movements. Fucking awesome. Don’t get me wrong the story trailer was pretty good, I don’t even have any real critiques of it, but it also didn’t really stand out or stick with me in any way. It kind of gave some context for your characters role in the story but nothing that got me really excited. The action was pretty well done though, but imo was better in this. All the trailers and cutscenes for Elden ring and dark souls are endlessly intriguing to me though, and are a big part of what got me into those games. I’m a huge fan of blade runner and the cyberpunk genre, dystopian sci-fi and all that. Not super into mechs but I can fuck with it (I love evangelion, and pacific rim 1 had some great action). But I honestly bounced off AC6 after a few hours after really hoping to love fromsofts take on the genre. The combat was pretty dope, as expected, but the setting just didn’t grab me after 3-4 hours. This made me want to redownload it and give it another go, and the story trailer never really did that for me.
Overall I enjoyed the piece; spent so much time during my first watch pausing to absorb the design cues for the ACs and I did notice that the ACs are referred to as "Cores" too, but I'll take that on the chin. It did seem bizarre for the pilot to pass out whilst skewering their opponent high into the air, yet perfectly comfortable whilst strapped into the OAV, *shrug*. But the ending knocked me for six - since I first saw the teaser trailers I interpreted that final scene as a tender moment; compassion between opposing yet similar pilots, victims to their circumstances and the predation of the corporations... And while the Corps may very well be the cause of all the strife that necessitates ACs in that world, that pilot is truly something else. I just wish we got more, and while I've hoped for a patch that would add the depicted parts in the story to AC6, I think I'll let go of that dream and enjoy the short story for the rush it was.
I think the customization was shown passively with the pretty varied AC's in the episode, but with the limited run time i think it would have taken too much time to put any more focus on. I loved the combat shown, the way the AC's skid across the snow was super Armored Core and the seeing the weapons animated with such detail was awesome. I was personally glad they didnt go the silent protagonist/ no faces style with the short; I think that works great in the game, but when trying to show off the animation and tell a compelling story in such a short runtime that wouldnt have worked IMO. Not enough time to build a compelling environmental narrative like in the games. I do think there were some down points but this was never going to be an armored core series so what we got was awesome and frankly im just pumped we got this at all. Now hopefully AC6 DLC next lol
I'm thinking this more using Keanu as a "Walking Advertisement" for either a DLC or Sequel that will get announced soon. The parts are too heavily related to AC6 and yet all of the frame parts and some of the new weapons are completely new/foreign to AC6. I wait with bated breath for the Game Awards.
Bro, miss opportunity to showcase Assault Armor, and like you've said, when keanu was gearing up, he could've also been interacting with a device choosing his load out, and in the back ground his AC is being assembled, like a metaphor that not just the pilot but also the AC is gearing up for war/battle.
Here's some of my rambling, overall great stuff but I think the lack of ties to any particular story makes this episode a bit weaker than the other 2 I cared about (40k and Sifu). So its mostly cool but hard to say where it could lead Fromsoft with the AC franchise. Its also just... too short, all the episodes. I want to know more of whats at stake in this version of AC. If they expand on it this could be a 10/10 but for now and for only 10mins of show time, its an 8 for me. About being set in AC6, that originally was the plan from the writer Peter Watts, but Blur Studios decided to change it up to be its own contained universe (for the better according to Watts, there is a blog post that multiple people linked on Reddit) I will say it was very cool to see the upper half of a Melander AC on some unique quad legs. It seemed to be mostly identical to the one in game so Blur obviously borrowed more than just weapon assets for this episode. I dont mind the naming of the ACs/Cores, thats what they are afterall. Its not unusual to have multiple nicknames for the same thing nor does it sound wrong. Maybe I have this opinion because Im a new "Raven" Not showcasing the customization makes sense, its too short and would feel more like a game trailer otherwise. It would make sense to show those aspects in a show where you would want the audience to understand whats up. About the tech, the way Cores are piloted is interesting as well, a bit like controlling robot arms that are used in some industries, tapping buttons to change its state to do different tasks. Though I imagine with the tech they have a more intuitive way to pilot would be possible? Also, VR headset would make more sense to see the outside world but then you couldnt see Keanu's face for show purposes. All cool stuff, I like it, feels very analogue and tactile. Now the Voice, which is most interesting to me. Obviously parallels Coral but I dont think its the same here. Speculation isnt my strong suite and I find its too easy to insert head cannon in something so ambiguous but I think the voice is more like a trigger for potential tendencies a pilot might have, or a side effect. Its obviously something as mentioned in the prepping scene but because of the writing changes the show went through and the lack of mention I dont think it could be Coral. The ending wasnt a shock to me, I was actually expecting it but Im glad it went that way, I like that sinister angle and the implications of the voice manipulating the pilot or maybe be another aspect of himself. Maybe she's actually a small piece of the AC that inhabits him? (Thats a stretch but an idea nonetheless) Too many fans are fishing for clues specific to AC6 imo, we did get a small RLF nod in the bloody picture which is cool but thats just and easter egg as far as Im concerned. Dont think we can extract more from this sadly and my hopes for dlc parts is a bit uncertain which I should have expected from the start. I think thats all for now? Still a fun watch and definitely top 3 of the current episodes released. Pac-man was neat and the rest was kinda whatever honestly
Great perspective! Yeah I totally get that 11 minutes to work with is basically nothing and showing a garage menu out of nowhere would be not ideal to say the least, but I guess the main gripe really is "It's too short" if it had time to organically develop all these side worries it might've become a very interesting take on the series. I love what we got, and I'm mostly fucking around with the "Core vs AC" thing but yeah was a bit odd for me at least! In any case what really got me was the animation itself, paired with seeing humans interacting in this context.
@SilverGlint I get it with the ACs vs Cores lol. I do the same on other things tbh haha. Seeing people is refreshing as it helps contextualize the destruction these machines are capable of
@@SilverGlint It wouldn't even need to "show" a garage menu. I understand wanting to see customization since it's a core part of AC and with their time limit it might've been difficult to implement. Having a moment to pick out a weapon from a limited selection weapon rack might've visually been all we needed. There's other creative ways to show something other than a menu
A small observation I saw with the non-headset part, I thought it was fitting due to AC6’s mission intro, rather than a digital style screen it seemed more of a hologram being loaded.
I wish it was at least 1 hour, like a movie. And here's hoping for a next update with the new parts shown! nobody is talking about the missiles he fires while sliding in the tunnel scene... it comes from inside the Core, like Gen 3! So maybe, just maybe we can get some new parts on dlc or future update? (Inside, Extensions, optional parts)
It's definitely not direct canon, but it still feels like it's supposed to take place in the AC6 universe if it was. It feels more like a simple "day in the life of a raven" showcase more than something relevant to a broader scope, higher stakes narrative. I see some people saying that all AC cockpits and pilot suits look like that and that this short definitively explains how all pilots and ACs handle things like G-forces, but I don't think that's the case. You have to remember that AC parts and probably pilot suits are all made by different manufacturers, and different pilots have different levels of augmentation, so each AC and pilot is bound to look different and use different tech. I do think though that just because this short is non-canon doesn't mean we can't use it to speculate about aspects of AC6's universe.
i think a factor mostly everyone can agree on is time. you can't easily capture all of what makes armored core... Armored Core in a twelve minute long short, and for the most part, it felt like a "summary" of some nonexistent larger episode, where they took all of the most important parts out and compiled them together into the glimpse we have today. definitely needed a longer runtime to successfully achieve what a lot of AC fans were hoping for. i personally didn't mind the focus on /actual/ humans within the set universe that the episode was written in, and i'm having a lot of fun dissecting keanu's character (along with all of his little quirks revealed to us throughout the episode) with a friend of mine. the only problem i could bring up is, again, the amount of time devoted to important context about.. pretty much everything. i just want more information!! i'm definitely asking for too much, but i want to learn about the world he's in, why he's there, about the people around him, about his AC, etc etc etc. oh well. one can dream. artistically, fantastic. and i do agree with your point on it being too dark, at least in some settings. i watched it on a large TV the first two times, then switched to a laptop for the next two. everything was definitely more visible on a smaller screen, but perhaps that's just my own settings. i liked all the AC designs introduced, though i can't really say much more than that. by far, SHRIEKER was the most visually interesting out of the 5(?) mechs shown on screen, imo. the combat, animation-wise, was also really great-- smooth-- but a little too fast-moving in some places. aside from pretty much the same gripes everyone else had, including a lot of unnecessary linkage to AC6 (which i understand! it's by far the most popular AC game, i don't blame anyone for getting overly excited), i thoroughly liked the episode. visuals were clean, the story has a lot of potential, and really, its just left me wanting more. hopefully peter watts is able to release the original story he wrote for the episode before blur went through and changed things. i'd love to know SHRIEKER's actual name, lol.
Really well articulated, I definitely agree with how stellar the animation was. The weighty bounce and wind up of the ACs movements make them feel unique, I distinctly love that scene where Shrieker aims its shotgun at the camera and it gets blown back by incoming shots. Feels really reactive
It's a neat touch to see the details. His thrusters are blue compared to the other AC's he fights because the types of engines that give that effect are also the ones that provide a strength buff to the equipment his build uses. The energy blade and energy shield specifically
I think the voice in his head is AllMind and not some Coral Wave Mutation. Throughout the eipsode, the voice never really explains thing to Jhon Core outright like Ayre does in AC6. Instead, the voice keeps things vauge and states stuff like: "Shrieker(Jhons AC, is an extension of me and so are you". The only character in AC6 (and by extension othe AC games) that tend to talk to the MC in a way invalidates their individuality are the A.I.'s. This episode has only 11 minutes, which means they need to be very careful on what they focus on. And something that they bring up of 3 times, is the fact that enemy AC's are very coordinated. I think its Allmind again using other mercenaries to guide Jhon Core into that final scene where they find the lost tech of old Augmentation. Allmind would need access to this old tech so she can first and foremost, get a list of all the pilots that had C4 augmentations(C4 aug's tend to have higher affinity to coral, making them ideal for finding Coral veins and centers). It also gives her much needed extra information on how C4 and Coral Wave fluctuations interact with each other since that old laboratory 100% will have information regatding test subjects hearing "voices". Taking all this into account, the part where the voice knows when a new job is coming before it even arrives makes even more sense if she is AllMind and has backdoor access to most(if not all) things that have to do with mercenary work, including communucations for job offers.
I don't know why but when I heard the main character have a voice in their head I instantly thought it could have been Dolmayan since he was the only other one to hear a Coral voice besides us. The fact that Dolmayan was a doser and John Core had a pretty low life I thought could have been promising. That is what I initially thought until I heard John Core call his voice "Verr"? Dolmayans voice was named Seria so that was an instant debunk.
Iguazu and likely O'keefe also hear voices. Though none of them stay with Iguazu and O'keefe augmented himself out of being a gen 4. It's seemingly just an early gen thing.
For a first ever piece of media about Armored Core? Yeah, I honestly think they did a good job. I'm not going to lie. Just two thing: 1. MORE 2. From, more parts please T_T
Given the limitations to how long they could make the episode and how much of a leap Secret Level is as a project overall, I think they did well. I don't think its reasonable to put customization on screen in a short like this, given the runtime, so I think they nailed a good chunk of it. They got the questionable morality, the inhumane treatment, shitty conditions, and violently fast combat. Thats about all we could have asked for from this, so its a solid 9/10 for me
I generally agree, but I have to disagree with customization. How would they have implemented this in one episode? In a show I would have understood the criticism, but here it really would have just wasted time. I think it explored some cool concepts, but I also agree that since these episodes are in a way just ads this could have given the wrong impression. And I honestly hope the developers also don't get the impression that this is what people want from the games. I trust from, but I have seen companies make similar mistakes. One annoyance that I'm getting already is that people try to connect it to 6 a bit too hard. Like not just the universe, which I'm fine with although there are some things that point against it, but for some reason it needs to be some character we already know and just an original cast. It's a bit weird Overall really enjoyed it and didn't expect more since I already experienced Love, Death and Robots. I was a bit more impressed with Unreal Tournament and Warhammer 40K and wish AC got the same run time. Some shots in the episode were certainly good enough to become as iconic as some from the usual AC intros. Now I just hope for new parts in 6 since the style is already clearly taken from that gen
Although I can understand the gripe about calling them "Cores" I don't think it's far fetched that people on a different planet or even entire system would take to calling them that. I too wish they had a couple things referencing a company or maybe even a longer boarding scene that has a convo between "John Core" and the voice discussing what to bring or equip. As far as the faceless protag deal goes, I don't think it's a bad thing to have faces in it. My reasoning for this is due to some of the pictures that we're able to find in AC 6. While not explicitly detailed there is some there, I can def see this being more of a trailer that was made in tandem to prep excitement for either A: The next game, B: A movie, or C: Something similar to Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners. So, with all that being said, I think we should all get ready for something amazing to be announced next year.
Very eloquently put. I am grateful that the only things I didn't like about it were due to things they excluded, rather than from what they included. They excluded the word "Armored" from the name of the mechs, they excluded the Garage, the run time was short, and so on. But they thankfully didn't go out of their way to ruin anything, as is the case with a lot of these kinds of media. Too much information or the explicit inclusion of a character or something might have retroactively harmed something we already loved. They could've made it 20 minutes of crappy exposition or something, which would've been awful. Overall, it was harmless and pretty cool, even if it didn't live up to my expectations. I think if they showed 3-4 seconds of Keanu scrolling up through digital a menu to pick one weapon, it would have meant a lot to fans.
It feels extremely weird to have a raven calling his AC a "core". Also to have a raven not care that his briefing is incomplete. That sets off all sorts of alarm bells in my head. A sketchy briefing means you need to stay on your toes because you're definitely getting screwed by someone today.
I have the vain hope that the AC's showcased will be brought into AC6. It's doubtful, likely never will happen, but nice nonetheless. A right arm blade and left arm shield would be dope.
I think the video being dark could be that you were watching an HDR version of the show, and you don't have HDR turned on. I once watched an HDR version of House of the Dragon, and then I watched a non-HDR version, and realised this.
Regardless of the valid points of criticism I think AC would make an amazing fully featured film. We have never had a film like this besides Robot Jox and Pacific Rim if you can count those. Even if it wasn't the AC IP I think a mecha piolet film would be awesome. Either that or an R-Type/Darius type shmup film. Single pilot vs everything is a cool idea that has yet to be done in film.
I thought the episode was great. Of all the games Blur studios could have chosen, they picked Armored Core, which is absolutely amazing. After watching the show, I think It would be really cool if the next Armored Core game is a dark and brutal M-rated sequel similar to the Secret Level episode and like the game's animated trailers suggest.
How would you make it M-rated? You can really show gore in the games without it feeling unnecessary and don't say the language, because that would just be a childish idea of maturity
I like the episode of a lot, but I like the parts even more, they look to be a handheld shield that John Core was quick swapping too, and I wish we got that part because that sounds sick
The teaser was so misleading, I originally thought it was something for Coral-Bonding or something of the like, not a death by finger. Besides that the ‘John Core’s Core looks similar to the Aldra cores in AC4, the legs look similar to a Rayleonard design.
Generally in CG you have a much easier time making something look good in the dark, and going by the dark subject matter they would keep it that way for something you spent 10 minutes doing a short story on.
While ACs are modular in lore, I dont think hotswapping out parts on ACs is super common in universe. I think most ravens find what they like and stick with it unless the mission explicitly forces them to change things up, so I dont think a lack of mentioning AC customization is a big problem in the episode. Also pretty sure most ravens arent packing massive garages filled to the brim with extra parts all over the place. I bet that adds up quickly and the episode mentions that the hangar space in the mine is limited to 6 ACs, meaning I think space for these these is probably a premium. Just my thoughts on the matter
@Romapolitan most ravens are also poor jobbers as well. The expectation is that a raven will fail a mission. The fact that the player character strings along more than a couple successes is nothing short of miraculous and how you completely upset the order in AC1 for example
Both Warhammer and Armored core episodes felt too short while the animation was quite good to watch if you don't have prior knowledge of the franchises you won't get anything beyond some awesome fight scenes if only they could make them 30 minutes longer at least
Movies and series in the mecha genera tend to go for darker environments Look at Gundam and pacific rim for example They use it to hide some details from either the surroundings or not to make the mech look out of place Compaare the original pacific rim with the knockoff one with just pictures One looks cool and the other looks like it tries to be powerrangers
The Canon C4-621 is bedridden and unable to move or talk on his/her own, is missing limbs, requires life support systems, etc. Walter and Ayre do just about everything for us in terms of communication with corps, RLF, RAD/Carla. This is definitely a unique character developed for this episode, fleshing out the more typical kind of AC pilots than the one we play as in AC6, piloting an Arquebus AC while acting more like a member of the Redguns in his personal life.
In the Allmind records it is said that there were 3 enhanced humans who could hear the voice of the coral: Raven, Dolmayan and the third one which was never mentioned. I think that Keanu is this third enhanced human who hears the voice and fits perfectly.
I don't think that's 621, but I do think it's a 4th gen augmented human and a pulse wave mutation like 621 and Ayre. But yeah. Spooky lady in JC's head is almost a foil to Ayre, goading and cutting at JC in a basically abusive way. It's arguable that Ayre might be manipulative, but she's at least pretty compassionate towards 621.
Yea respectfully you are nit picking because... lets be real, you could be a pac man fan haveing to watch the pac man episode. Which was NOTHING like the games. Lol. I mean, i get they had no source material but...damn. that was basicaly pac man horror. And its supposed to be representing the old games. Whoever discovers packman through this is 100% gonna get the wrong impression. Lmao. Atlwast the AC one is still recognizeable as an AC animation. Lol.
Oh yeah I'm absolutely nitpicking you're right, this was a great episode. But since I like going a bit deeper with these games I just thought I'd share how I really feel. Still, props to studio Blur I enjoyed it a lot
@SilverGlint my only complaint is its shorter than the rest of the episodes. But i understand why its short, as its Armored Core. You can only drag a fast paced mech battle on for so long.
Despide the limitations i enjoy the episode. For me it felt more like an Armored Core mission (The main protagonists takes a job and complete it while fighting anyone in their way). In addition, the trailer stated that every episode takes inspiration from the games they are base on.
Erin Yvette. It's in the credits listed as 'The Voice'. She also voiced Ayre, but don't make conspiracy theories up because of that, it's just the same actress.
For the limitations it was a good episode. Besides all armored core games have missions that consist of going to point A to B while shooting everything in your way.
Why everybody like 6gen so must anyway 😑 that game is stupidly the easiest and the worse armored core in the series and I have tell you the game will not work in the long run will" AM I RIGHT STUPID FXCK NEWIBIE🤬"
In the bar scene, on the bloody picture you see that he served with the Rubicon Liberation Front.
There we go! I knew Ravens would have detective eyes! Well spotted
That ending was brutal but overall it was good i just wish it was 7 hours longer
At the Very least 7 hours
Petition to make more ac episode for secret level's next season. But i think thats enough, hope this series continues to even more and more game francise
"NOT NOW...MORE, I WANT MORE"
-V. I Freud
Apparently the episode is based on a story written by Peter Watts that was set in the Armored Core 6 universe. The ending was changed at the last second, someone at FromSoft or Amazon decided that the AC6 story was off-limits. Keanu was probably Dolmayan before the change was made. There's still an RLF easter egg in one shot and of course all of the ACs are using Gen 6 weapons. You can read Watts' blog post about it. Officially this is its own standalone story but its obvious it was meant to tie into ACVI.
You hit the nail on the head with this, they did a good job with the runtime they had but it had a few holes
Honestly for 11 minutes this was stellar, but yeah maybe a missed opportunity to fully flesh it out more. I would love a continuation which means they did good!
It just left me wanting more, but not in a satisfying way. I liked every second, but it was just too short.
Like, after I watched it I asked myself, “did this tell a more interesting story than the AC6 story trailer with its longer runtime? And the answer was no.
For me it was the opposite. This made me so intrigued to learn more about the world and what the voice’s intentions might be. Keanu is basically Johnny silverhand again but with the roles reversed, and I’d love to see more of it. The grungy low fi sci fi aesthetic, jacking into the mech and the interior shots juxtaposed against the hyper maneuverability and precision of the mechs movements. Fucking awesome.
Don’t get me wrong the story trailer was pretty good, I don’t even have any real critiques of it, but it also didn’t really stand out or stick with me in any way. It kind of gave some context for your characters role in the story but nothing that got me really excited. The action was pretty well done though, but imo was better in this.
All the trailers and cutscenes for Elden ring and dark souls are endlessly intriguing to me though, and are a big part of what got me into those games.
I’m a huge fan of blade runner and the cyberpunk genre, dystopian sci-fi and all that. Not super into mechs but I can fuck with it (I love evangelion, and pacific rim 1 had some great action). But I honestly bounced off AC6 after a few hours after really hoping to love fromsofts take on the genre. The combat was pretty dope, as expected, but the setting just didn’t grab me after 3-4 hours.
This made me want to redownload it and give it another go, and the story trailer never really did that for me.
Overall I enjoyed the piece; spent so much time during my first watch pausing to absorb the design cues for the ACs and I did notice that the ACs are referred to as "Cores" too, but I'll take that on the chin. It did seem bizarre for the pilot to pass out whilst skewering their opponent high into the air, yet perfectly comfortable whilst strapped into the OAV, *shrug*.
But the ending knocked me for six - since I first saw the teaser trailers I interpreted that final scene as a tender moment; compassion between opposing yet similar pilots, victims to their circumstances and the predation of the corporations... And while the Corps may very well be the cause of all the strife that necessitates ACs in that world, that pilot is truly something else.
I just wish we got more, and while I've hoped for a patch that would add the depicted parts in the story to AC6, I think I'll let go of that dream and enjoy the short story for the rush it was.
The "Creation of Man" scene was really mind-blowing
What if God reached out to you? More like what if he just killed you.
I think the customization was shown passively with the pretty varied AC's in the episode, but with the limited run time i think it would have taken too much time to put any more focus on.
I loved the combat shown, the way the AC's skid across the snow was super Armored Core and the seeing the weapons animated with such detail was awesome. I was personally glad they didnt go the silent protagonist/ no faces style with the short; I think that works great in the game, but when trying to show off the animation and tell a compelling story in such a short runtime that wouldnt have worked IMO. Not enough time to build a compelling environmental narrative like in the games.
I do think there were some down points but this was never going to be an armored core series so what we got was awesome and frankly im just pumped we got this at all.
Now hopefully AC6 DLC next lol
Well said, one can hope we get some sort of sequel announcement soon!
The Fact that John Core Mention a system Close to UNAC kinda neat reference
MELANDER HEAD!!!
I'm thinking this more using Keanu as a "Walking Advertisement" for either a DLC or Sequel that will get announced soon. The parts are too heavily related to AC6 and yet all of the frame parts and some of the new weapons are completely new/foreign to AC6. I wait with bated breath for the Game Awards.
I agree, they put a lot of emphasis on Shrieker and it’s parts, that evil face at the end can’t be unseen now
We need that in the game 😂
Wouldn't mind fighting against his character as a sort of tragic antagonist in the DLC
The ending is the Armored Core equivalent of the Gundam hand crush in The Witch from Mercury.
Bro, miss opportunity to showcase Assault Armor, and like you've said, when keanu was gearing up, he could've also been interacting with a device choosing his load out, and in the back ground his AC is being assembled, like a metaphor that not just the pilot but also the AC is gearing up for war/battle.
Here's some of my rambling, overall great stuff but I think the lack of ties to any particular story makes this episode a bit weaker than the other 2 I cared about (40k and Sifu). So its mostly cool but hard to say where it could lead Fromsoft with the AC franchise. Its also just... too short, all the episodes. I want to know more of whats at stake in this version of AC. If they expand on it this could be a 10/10 but for now and for only 10mins of show time, its an 8 for me.
About being set in AC6, that originally was the plan from the writer Peter Watts, but Blur Studios decided to change it up to be its own contained universe (for the better according to Watts, there is a blog post that multiple people linked on Reddit)
I will say it was very cool to see the upper half of a Melander AC on some unique quad legs. It seemed to be mostly identical to the one in game so Blur obviously borrowed more than just weapon assets for this episode.
I dont mind the naming of the ACs/Cores, thats what they are afterall. Its not unusual to have multiple nicknames for the same thing nor does it sound wrong. Maybe I have this opinion because Im a new "Raven"
Not showcasing the customization makes sense, its too short and would feel more like a game trailer otherwise. It would make sense to show those aspects in a show where you would want the audience to understand whats up.
About the tech, the way Cores are piloted is interesting as well, a bit like controlling robot arms that are used in some industries, tapping buttons to change its state to do different tasks. Though I imagine with the tech they have a more intuitive way to pilot would be possible?
Also, VR headset would make more sense to see the outside world but then you couldnt see Keanu's face for show purposes. All cool stuff, I like it, feels very analogue and tactile.
Now the Voice, which is most interesting to me. Obviously parallels Coral but I dont think its the same here. Speculation isnt my strong suite and I find its too easy to insert head cannon in something so ambiguous but I think the voice is more like a trigger for potential tendencies a pilot might have, or a side effect. Its obviously something as mentioned in the prepping scene but because of the writing changes the show went through and the lack of mention I dont think it could be Coral.
The ending wasnt a shock to me, I was actually expecting it but Im glad it went that way, I like that sinister angle and the implications of the voice manipulating the pilot or maybe be another aspect of himself. Maybe she's actually a small piece of the AC that inhabits him? (Thats a stretch but an idea nonetheless)
Too many fans are fishing for clues specific to AC6 imo, we did get a small RLF nod in the bloody picture which is cool but thats just and easter egg as far as Im concerned. Dont think we can extract more from this sadly and my hopes for dlc parts is a bit uncertain which I should have expected from the start.
I think thats all for now? Still a fun watch and definitely top 3 of the current episodes released. Pac-man was neat and the rest was kinda whatever honestly
Great perspective! Yeah I totally get that 11 minutes to work with is basically nothing and showing a garage menu out of nowhere would be not ideal to say the least, but I guess the main gripe really is "It's too short" if it had time to organically develop all these side worries it might've become a very interesting take on the series. I love what we got, and I'm mostly fucking around with the "Core vs AC" thing but yeah was a bit odd for me at least! In any case what really got me was the animation itself, paired with seeing humans interacting in this context.
@SilverGlint I get it with the ACs vs Cores lol. I do the same on other things tbh haha. Seeing people is refreshing as it helps contextualize the destruction these machines are capable of
@@SilverGlint It wouldn't even need to "show" a garage menu. I understand wanting to see customization since it's a core part of AC and with their time limit it might've been difficult to implement. Having a moment to pick out a weapon from a limited selection weapon rack might've visually been all we needed. There's other creative ways to show something other than a menu
A small observation I saw with the non-headset part, I thought it was fitting due to AC6’s mission intro, rather than a digital style screen it seemed more of a hologram being loaded.
I wish it was at least 1 hour, like a movie.
And here's hoping for a next update with the new parts shown!
nobody is talking about the missiles he fires while sliding in the tunnel scene...
it comes from inside the Core, like Gen 3!
So maybe, just maybe we can get some new parts on dlc or future update?
(Inside, Extensions, optional parts)
It's definitely not direct canon, but it still feels like it's supposed to take place in the AC6 universe if it was. It feels more like a simple "day in the life of a raven" showcase more than something relevant to a broader scope, higher stakes narrative. I see some people saying that all AC cockpits and pilot suits look like that and that this short definitively explains how all pilots and ACs handle things like G-forces, but I don't think that's the case. You have to remember that AC parts and probably pilot suits are all made by different manufacturers, and different pilots have different levels of augmentation, so each AC and pilot is bound to look different and use different tech. I do think though that just because this short is non-canon doesn't mean we can't use it to speculate about aspects of AC6's universe.
i think a factor mostly everyone can agree on is time. you can't easily capture all of what makes armored core... Armored Core in a twelve minute long short, and for the most part, it felt like a "summary" of some nonexistent larger episode, where they took all of the most important parts out and compiled them together into the glimpse we have today. definitely needed a longer runtime to successfully achieve what a lot of AC fans were hoping for.
i personally didn't mind the focus on /actual/ humans within the set universe that the episode was written in, and i'm having a lot of fun dissecting keanu's character (along with all of his little quirks revealed to us throughout the episode) with a friend of mine. the only problem i could bring up is, again, the amount of time devoted to important context about.. pretty much everything. i just want more information!! i'm definitely asking for too much, but i want to learn about the world he's in, why he's there, about the people around him, about his AC, etc etc etc. oh well. one can dream.
artistically, fantastic. and i do agree with your point on it being too dark, at least in some settings. i watched it on a large TV the first two times, then switched to a laptop for the next two. everything was definitely more visible on a smaller screen, but perhaps that's just my own settings. i liked all the AC designs introduced, though i can't really say much more than that. by far, SHRIEKER was the most visually interesting out of the 5(?) mechs shown on screen, imo. the combat, animation-wise, was also really great-- smooth-- but a little too fast-moving in some places.
aside from pretty much the same gripes everyone else had, including a lot of unnecessary linkage to AC6 (which i understand! it's by far the most popular AC game, i don't blame anyone for getting overly excited), i thoroughly liked the episode. visuals were clean, the story has a lot of potential, and really, its just left me wanting more. hopefully peter watts is able to release the original story he wrote for the episode before blur went through and changed things. i'd love to know SHRIEKER's actual name, lol.
Really well articulated, I definitely agree with how stellar the animation was. The weighty bounce and wind up of the ACs movements make them feel unique, I distinctly love that scene where Shrieker aims its shotgun at the camera and it gets blown back by incoming shots. Feels really reactive
"focus on actual humans" modern writer ahh idea
It's a neat touch to see the details. His thrusters are blue compared to the other AC's he fights because the types of engines that give that effect are also the ones that provide a strength buff to the equipment his build uses. The energy blade and energy shield specifically
Armored Core imo has a sort of grace and solemnity which this short doesnt have. Its a "cool" CG proyect with mechs, but not much else.
That's kinda downplaying how right they got the fight scenes
@@ark14700 Seconding ark here
ACs are called “cores” internationally back in the day
I think the voice in his head is AllMind and not some Coral Wave Mutation.
Throughout the eipsode, the voice never really explains thing to Jhon Core outright like Ayre does in AC6.
Instead, the voice keeps things vauge and states stuff like: "Shrieker(Jhons AC, is an extension of me and so are you".
The only character in AC6 (and by extension othe AC games) that tend to talk to the MC in a way invalidates their individuality are the A.I.'s.
This episode has only 11 minutes, which means they need to be very careful on what they focus on. And something that they bring up of 3 times, is the fact that enemy AC's are very coordinated. I think its Allmind again using other mercenaries to guide Jhon Core into that final scene where they find the lost tech of old Augmentation. Allmind would need access to this old tech so she can first and foremost, get a list of all the pilots that had C4 augmentations(C4 aug's tend to have higher affinity to coral, making them ideal for finding Coral veins and centers). It also gives her much needed extra information on how C4 and Coral Wave fluctuations interact with each other since that old laboratory 100% will have information regatding test subjects hearing "voices".
Taking all this into account, the part where the voice knows when a new job is coming before it even arrives makes even more sense if she is AllMind and has backdoor access to most(if not all) things that have to do with mercenary work, including communucations for job offers.
I don't know why but when I heard the main character have a voice in their head I instantly thought it could have been Dolmayan since he was the only other one to hear a Coral voice besides us. The fact that Dolmayan was a doser and John Core had a pretty low life I thought could have been promising. That is what I initially thought until I heard John Core call his voice "Verr"? Dolmayans voice was named Seria so that was an instant debunk.
Iguazu and likely O'keefe also hear voices. Though none of them stay with Iguazu and O'keefe augmented himself out of being a gen 4. It's seemingly just an early gen thing.
For a first ever piece of media about Armored Core?
Yeah, I honestly think they did a good job. I'm not going to lie.
Just two thing:
1. MORE
2. From, more parts please T_T
Given the limitations to how long they could make the episode and how much of a leap Secret Level is as a project overall, I think they did well. I don't think its reasonable to put customization on screen in a short like this, given the runtime, so I think they nailed a good chunk of it. They got the questionable morality, the inhumane treatment, shitty conditions, and violently fast combat. Thats about all we could have asked for from this, so its a solid 9/10 for me
I generally agree, but I have to disagree with customization. How would they have implemented this in one episode? In a show I would have understood the criticism, but here it really would have just wasted time.
I think it explored some cool concepts, but I also agree that since these episodes are in a way just ads this could have given the wrong impression. And I honestly hope the developers also don't get the impression that this is what people want from the games. I trust from, but I have seen companies make similar mistakes.
One annoyance that I'm getting already is that people try to connect it to 6 a bit too hard. Like not just the universe, which I'm fine with although there are some things that point against it, but for some reason it needs to be some character we already know and just an original cast. It's a bit weird
Overall really enjoyed it and didn't expect more since I already experienced Love, Death and Robots. I was a bit more impressed with Unreal Tournament and Warhammer 40K and wish AC got the same run time. Some shots in the episode were certainly good enough to become as iconic as some from the usual AC intros.
Now I just hope for new parts in 6 since the style is already clearly taken from that gen
Although I can understand the gripe about calling them "Cores" I don't think it's far fetched that people on a different planet or even entire system would take to calling them that. I too wish they had a couple things referencing a company or maybe even a longer boarding scene that has a convo between "John Core" and the voice discussing what to bring or equip. As far as the faceless protag deal goes, I don't think it's a bad thing to have faces in it. My reasoning for this is due to some of the pictures that we're able to find in AC 6. While not explicitly detailed there is some there, I can def see this being more of a trailer that was made in tandem to prep excitement for either A: The next game, B: A movie, or C: Something similar to Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners. So, with all that being said, I think we should all get ready for something amazing to be announced next year.
HOOOO, an arm shield and sword
Very eloquently put. I am grateful that the only things I didn't like about it were due to things they excluded, rather than from what they included. They excluded the word "Armored" from the name of the mechs, they excluded the Garage, the run time was short, and so on. But they thankfully didn't go out of their way to ruin anything, as is the case with a lot of these kinds of media.
Too much information or the explicit inclusion of a character or something might have retroactively harmed something we already loved. They could've made it 20 minutes of crappy exposition or something, which would've been awful. Overall, it was harmless and pretty cool, even if it didn't live up to my expectations.
I think if they showed 3-4 seconds of Keanu scrolling up through digital a menu to pick one weapon, it would have meant a lot to fans.
It feels extremely weird to have a raven calling his AC a "core".
Also to have a raven not care that his briefing is incomplete. That sets off all sorts of alarm bells in my head. A sketchy briefing means you need to stay on your toes because you're definitely getting screwed by someone today.
I have the vain hope that the AC's showcased will be brought into AC6. It's doubtful, likely never will happen, but nice nonetheless. A right arm blade and left arm shield would be dope.
I think the video being dark could be that you were watching an HDR version of the show, and you don't have HDR turned on. I once watched an HDR version of House of the Dragon, and then I watched a non-HDR version, and realised this.
Regardless of the valid points of criticism I think AC would make an amazing fully featured film. We have never had a film like this besides Robot Jox and Pacific Rim if you can count those. Even if it wasn't the AC IP I think a mecha piolet film would be awesome. Either that or an R-Type/Darius type shmup film. Single pilot vs everything is a cool idea that has yet to be done in film.
I thought the episode was great. Of all the games Blur studios could have chosen, they picked Armored Core, which is absolutely amazing. After watching the show, I think It would be really cool if the next Armored Core game is a dark and brutal M-rated sequel similar to the Secret Level episode and like the game's animated trailers suggest.
Like mecha knights nightmare
How would you make it M-rated? You can really show gore in the games without it feeling unnecessary and don't say the language, because that would just be a childish idea of maturity
I like the episode of a lot, but I like the parts even more, they look to be a handheld shield that John Core was quick swapping too, and I wish we got that part because that sounds sick
I didn’t think he passed out due to g forces I just thought he got overwhelmed and fainted
That might be the case but the few previous shots show him struggling with accelerating the ac up, so I really am confused by that small detail
@@SilverGlint, not to mention that you can clearly see his face skin turning droopy because of the G Force.
I bet you all these frame parts we saw are gonna be added in dlc for AC6!
Preach
The teaser was so misleading, I originally thought it was something for Coral-Bonding or something of the like, not a death by finger.
Besides that the ‘John Core’s Core looks similar to the Aldra cores in AC4, the legs look similar to a Rayleonard design.
Honestly I kind of dig how that specific story beat ended up playing with the squishy finger of death
It felt like a 30 minute story compressed into 10 minutes. But other than that Im pretty happy with the action and tone of the episode.
Generally in CG you have a much easier time making something look good in the dark, and going by the dark subject matter they would keep it that way for something you spent 10 minutes doing a short story on.
The ending scene is a metaphor for Jouster.
I wanted a garage scene of him repairing or upgrading his ac with shape memory alloy playing in the background
now we just need to wait for No Glint
While ACs are modular in lore, I dont think hotswapping out parts on ACs is super common in universe. I think most ravens find what they like and stick with it unless the mission explicitly forces them to change things up, so I dont think a lack of mentioning AC customization is a big problem in the episode. Also pretty sure most ravens arent packing massive garages filled to the brim with extra parts all over the place. I bet that adds up quickly and the episode mentions that the hangar space in the mine is limited to 6 ACs, meaning I think space for these these is probably a premium. Just my thoughts on the matter
I think most people like to forget that 99% of the characters in AC stick with one loadout, the player character is the exception.
@Romapolitan most ravens are also poor jobbers as well. The expectation is that a raven will fail a mission. The fact that the player character strings along more than a couple successes is nothing short of miraculous and how you completely upset the order in AC1 for example
Mega-Man gets 2 episodes. Dont wanna dis mega-man fans but thats F up!😂
like it or not, megaman franchise is bigger than ac. even if ac is old franchise, its still growing now
Megaman fan wait long for new content
@@midnightryse2653 wait they get 2? Damn... happy for mega-man fans but why not more screen time on some of the EPs?
Both Warhammer and Armored core episodes felt too short while the animation was quite good to watch if you don't have prior knowledge of the franchises you won't get anything beyond some awesome fight scenes if only they could make them 30 minutes longer at least
Movies and series in the mecha genera tend to go for darker environments
Look at Gundam and pacific rim for example
They use it to hide some details from either the surroundings or not to make the mech look out of place
Compaare the original pacific rim with the knockoff one with just pictures
One looks cool and the other looks like it tries to be powerrangers
And also
I think this is 621
People mentioned that the VA for the voice is the same as ayre
Can't wait for the theories to start brewing up!
Maybe I never really noticed but now that you mentioned Pacific Rim, that does make a lot of sense since 50% of the movie happens during night time...
@@R-XI_SullaThat doesn't work for multiple reasons. I won't list them here but one simple one is that the Voice does not act like her at all.
There's no way, that HAS to be us bros. That has to be Raven. Ayer, is even in hi head talking to Keanu. That's Raven, man. It's gotta be Raven, mate.
She behaves nothing like ayre, it’s not the mc.
@DaRoachDoggJrr meh. Could be right. But I still believe
The Canon C4-621 is bedridden and unable to move or talk on his/her own, is missing limbs, requires life support systems, etc. Walter and Ayre do just about everything for us in terms of communication with corps, RLF, RAD/Carla. This is definitely a unique character developed for this episode, fleshing out the more typical kind of AC pilots than the one we play as in AC6, piloting an Arquebus AC while acting more like a member of the Redguns in his personal life.
In the Allmind records it is said that there were 3 enhanced humans who could hear the voice of the coral: Raven, Dolmayan and the third one which was never mentioned. I think that Keanu is this third enhanced human who hears the voice and fits perfectly.
I don't think that's 621, but I do think it's a 4th gen augmented human and a pulse wave mutation like 621 and Ayre. But yeah. Spooky lady in JC's head is almost a foil to Ayre, goading and cutting at JC in a basically abusive way. It's arguable that Ayre might be manipulative, but she's at least pretty compassionate towards 621.
Yea respectfully you are nit picking because... lets be real, you could be a pac man fan haveing to watch the pac man episode. Which was NOTHING like the games. Lol. I mean, i get they had no source material but...damn. that was basicaly pac man horror. And its supposed to be representing the old games. Whoever discovers packman through this is 100% gonna get the wrong impression. Lmao. Atlwast the AC one is still recognizeable as an AC animation. Lol.
Oh yeah I'm absolutely nitpicking you're right, this was a great episode. But since I like going a bit deeper with these games I just thought I'd share how I really feel. Still, props to studio Blur I enjoyed it a lot
@SilverGlint my only complaint is its shorter than the rest of the episodes. But i understand why its short, as its Armored Core. You can only drag a fast paced mech battle on for so long.
so pilots not directly attached to AC, huh.
Seems that's the case here, honestly for most of the games this is exactly how I imagined it to go, just less body horror and more tech
Despide the limitations i enjoy the episode. For me it felt more like an Armored Core mission (The main protagonists takes a job and complete it while fighting anyone in their way). In addition, the trailer stated that every episode takes inspiration from the games they are base on.
I just wanna know they name of the voice actress stuck in John’s head I’ve been searching everywhere but couldn’t find her name
Erin Yvette. It's in the credits listed as 'The Voice'. She also voiced Ayre, but don't make conspiracy theories up because of that, it's just the same actress.
i think it’s peak
There is a manga about armored core . And the call it core in the games. 😂😂😂😂 and no pilot will ask for likes and shares.
bro even the ac6 story trailer has better combat than this 😭
this is just a cg battle core with Keanu Reaves in it
For the limitations it was a good episode. Besides all armored core games have missions that consist of going to point A to B while shooting everything in your way.
Na dublagem pt Br eles falam ac
It was a 8/10 but John Core the Secret Level didnt state his famoud line "every armored has its core" so 0/10
Why everybody like 6gen so must anyway 😑 that game is stupidly the easiest and the worse armored core in the series and I have tell you the game will not work in the long run will" AM I RIGHT STUPID FXCK NEWIBIE🤬"
Glorified trailers only.