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Not Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 20.1 hrs on record (6.2 hrs at review time)
Posted: 25 Aug, 2023 @ 7:29pm
Updated: 12 Sep, 2023 @ 12:58pm

Now the first half of the game isn't a series of overtuned boss checks, guess what? I still do not recommend this game, but now it's more of a "soft" no as opposed to GTFO

UPDATE : They fixed Baltheus. Yes. Fixed. Not Nerfed. We'll discuss what they -did- nerf a bit later.

Is it hard? Yes. Is it -inaccessible-? Not any longer. The changes made to Baltheus have seriously taken the sting out of getting over the chapter 1 hump (which is where a lot of more casual players would be tapping out). More people getting their ass kicked by the Sea Spider and IBIS is a -good- thing, because by those points you have the -correct- tools to reliably handle those bosses.

Baltheus needed -fixing- and hard. Not because the boss was inherently difficult beyond the overload of hard tracking spamfire, but because at that point in the game your toolbox was -extremely- limited and your options were lacking. People who faceroll the game with twin Zimmermans are going to see their OP build get nerfed soon enough, that makes me somewhat smug for the fact I'm closing on NG+ and I didn't -need- to use a crutch build.

"Git gud" to all of you running 2x Zimmerman and 2x Songbird. Your time is coming.

This game can still get you killed before you even begin a mission through sub-optimal parts choices, and for all the bravado of people suggesting you can win with any configuration? The answer is no, no you can't, not unless you're doing something really sketchy to the game code. It's already been proven that you can't no-hit this game (Balteus pretty much removes that idea from the off) and I suspect even no-death true "S" runs are going to take time before we see unedited footage showing that someone has mastered the art of zen in this game.

The first two chapters are still an unenjoyable mess, not least because critical component unlocks are gated off until you get into Chapters 3 and 4. Once you -have- a diverse enough toolset to start really experimenting with builds that suit you, the game improves -drastically- and goes from "Meh" to "OUTSTANDING"

One lesson I've taken from this review - FromSoft's community is one of the more toxic cesspits I've gone near. You lot really need to go and touch grass.

To respond to the most typical arguments -

"It's not for you" - Gatekeeping is a terrible look, and whilst I entirely agree there's a space for these games to exist, if the skill requirement wipes out the majority of the people before they get to the "meat" of the game, that's overtuning. We saw that back in the day with World of Warcraft and TBC and it took them multiple adjustments to dial in the difficulty so that there was a space for -most- skill levels to participate.

"Git gud" - has become so toxic that at this point it no longer qualifies as a means of argument, it has no place in any community and needs shooting with fire. If that's your sole response then perhaps Gaming as a -whole- is no longer for you. Go touch grass.

And anyone running dual Zimmermans are automatically disqualified from having any opinion, regardless of which NG+ you happen to be on. Go sit in the corner and wait for your crutch to be kicked out, then we'll chat.

This game veers a strange line between actually difficult and somewhat brainless. The difficulty curve isn't a curve, it's a set of spikes, between some very deep valleys. In some senses this -is- the easiest FromSoft game out there, but it's also the most inconsistent for difficulty pacing.

1.02 has changed the calculus quite a bit, with Balthus no longer being a total wallblock that sanded off a lot of players unwilling to run crutch builds or being willing to find ways to cheese out the mass of spam that Baltheus threw about. He's a legit boss now as opposed to just a dumb, unfun mass of grind.

I am -less- happy about the nerfs to Sea Spider (they were kinda unwarranted though I suspect they're laying the ground for a Songbirds nerf), and Ibis really didn't need modifying as at that point you -have- the toolset to cope with what's being thrown at you and by this point you've learned the cadence the game expects from you.

However....

Much like others, I absolutely do not recommend it to AC fans (it's not a proper AC game imho), and I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who plays a turtle in DS, you -have- to be fast and able to avoid lots of tracking fire or you're going to have a very, very bad day.

Note for the comments section

If you're going to leave a comment, make sure it has something constructive or useful to add, otherwise your comment doesn't get to stick around. Free speech doesn't apply here. My house, my rules.
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72 Comments
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Hobbes 5 Sep, 2023 @ 4:37pm 
I'm siding with Veles in terms of where Balteus feels like it should have been - Namely either mid or end of Chapter 3 (the Ice Worm is less a boss encounter and more a puzzle with guns, so perhaps putting it behind or as a decision path option might have been a better plan).

Chapter 1 should have been capped off with something more comparable to Vordt of the Boreal Valley (DS3) or Godrick (Elden Ring), both of these had the capacity to really ruin your day but both of them were perfectly beatable using a number of options as long as you learned their attack patterns, either that or move Smart Cleaner to end Chapter 1 and then flesh out chapter 2 with something a bit more interesting than a handful of basic missions and then the Sea Spider (who -was- appropriately placed).
Veles 3 Sep, 2023 @ 9:07am 
Exactly. Just because you can do something doesn't mean it's fun - I can file my taxes, sure, but is it fun? Not really.

And people compare Balteus to Pulverizer/Nineball Seraph, from what I've seen - problem is that these are the final bosses for their respective games. Everything after Balteus is significantly easier (not because I got better at the game, but because the weapons given to you after chapter 1 are downright busted). It feels like he was just shuffled around from his possibly original place in Chapter 3 to Chapter 1 because when I finally got to IBIS, it felt like a step up from Balteus unlike the previous end-of-chapter bosses - IBIS actually took the fact that you're going to be a walking arsenal into account (And I love IBIS - one of my favourite fights in the game, actually).
Ralathar44 3 Sep, 2023 @ 8:38am 
And anyone who does one of those "but you can beat the entire game with only fists!" arguments misses the point. Not only because that's highly misleading, fists are pretty good because of high stunlock, but because its not about whether some sweat lord can beat the game with whatever mech builds. It's about whether the average player can. THAT is what determines weapon and build viability, not sweat lords.

Just like people CAN do bow only runs in Elden Ring, but you watch these runs and they skip enemies and get key items instantly and usually rely mostly on the shotbow and condition stacking. Basially avoiding longbow/greatbow and straight damage and most of the enemies/bosses that cause the weapons to underperform relative to much better options.
Ralathar44 3 Sep, 2023 @ 8:31am 
@AbsolutE But ironically this shows just how much the game alienates the Armored Core community as a departure from everything Armored Core Was. What made the series was a moderate level of difficulty where you could freely play around building all sorts of mech designs. It was about freedom and customization and variety. The idea of building and playing your personal cool mechs and playstyles. Needing to "git gud" at building your mech wasn't a big thing. Things were never perfectly balanced but a wide array of crazy mech builds were not just possible for some sweaty player, but realistically usable by the average player.

The only AC game that bucked this trend was Last Raven whic, similar to AC 6, had much harder bosses and forced builds even though people liked its base gameplay. And Last Raven heavily divided the community and alienated a massive amount of Armored Core Fans. Like just Imagine you took Dynasty Warriors, Devil May Cry, or God of War and made it Siekiro hard.
AbsolutE 2 Sep, 2023 @ 12:28pm 
@glug is correct, 50% of the difficulties are solve by completing your mech build, if you are bad at building your mech then of course it will be harder.
@Hobbes minigun are not the strongest easy mode weapon for clear. I've cleared NG++ fight will get alot harder if u keep using mini gun
dr sex 1 Sep, 2023 @ 9:42pm 
This game made me want to pick out my nose hair with a chainsaw on console, all because of Sea Spider. I love the game but hate the bosses, at least Smart Cleaner made me laugh for being a death roomba.
Glug 1 Sep, 2023 @ 5:38am 
@Ralathar44 I completely agree. I actually think Elden Ring is pretty hard, provided that you're avoiding the worst offenders when it comes to broken equipment/summons. I still think Sekiro is harder, but the difficulty comes down to the player's familiarity with the game's mechanics, not which sword they decided to use.

I think a large portion of the From Software community is cringeworthy. To them, it doesn't matter if a game is actually any good or not; the most important thing to them is that they can use its difficulty as some sort of badge of honor. I have so many gripes with this game that have nothing to do with difficulty (Lack of content and the prevalence of filler being one of them.), but it's all forgiven by these plebs that didn't even know about From Software before Elden Ring, just because they think "Difficulty = Good game".
Ralathar44 1 Sep, 2023 @ 5:17am 
@Glug Yeah its alot like Elden Ring in that regard, with the exception that most of what trivializes the game doesnt open up until after the tutorial boss and the chapter 1 boss. Which is why the Dark Souls community that has completely taken over Armored Core discussion areas (seriously, check the subreddit stats for /r/armoredcore , almost all subscribers are from the last year) refers to them as "the great filter" in their elitism.

So you can't avoid the challenge really until a certain point. But yeah, the weapon imbalances and lack of meaningful content outside of bosses is also a problem. Its like a 15 hour game that basically has 5 hours of filler and 10 hours of boss rush where experimentation is crippled by horrid balancing. Sold for $65.
Glug 1 Sep, 2023 @ 5:05am 
I have to agree with AbsolutE. I found this game to be one of the easier From Software games (I never finished Demon's Souls so I can't say for sure if it's the easiest or not.). That said, I think that based on equipment choice, two players could be playing two entirely different games. I haven't explored different loadouts quite as much as some others, but I have seen enough to know that some things in this game are wildly overtuned and will trivialize any challenge in the game (Which is bad, by the way.).

Funnily enough, one of the reasons for my own negative review on the game was that it was too easy . Non-boss content is a breeze.
Hobbes 1 Sep, 2023 @ 2:40am 
See, I don't get people who say Demon Souls is harder, it's really not. None of the Souls series games were -that- tricky, they just required you to not rush about and were more about knowledge as opposed to twitch reactions / solving everything with 20mm Gatling guns.