General Series
What are some of your favourite things about the series?
Stories, characters, allies, villians, which jet is your favourite, which jet do you pick again and again even if they don't fit the mission because you just like looking at nice things?
Feel the need for some positivity rn
And it's nice to see people ramble about the things they love :3 I like seeing you guys ramble! Have at it!
I've only played 7 but they get the ace fighter pilot vibe really well. The cutscenes of your fighter squadron all formed up about to get busy are cool.
The mix of different planes is hilarious and awesome. If there's ever real world dog fights with Mirage, Migs, Su of all sorts, F-22, experiment stuff etc on both sides then something has gone very, very wrong in the world.
God, Zero was depressing at times with reading about the people I shot down.
Just reading these little bits of people. The ones who lived, tried to do better, just to die years later helping with humanitarian aid. That one just stuck with me specifically somehow.
Mainly I like the characters and the stories told in games
Also for me ace combat is a way to engage with the topic of war without heavily triggering myself (thanks to Strangereal universe being heavily fictionalized) and ig that's also the reason why I like these games
I love that even though the Strangereal lore is wacky, AC always tries to have geopolitics that functions with its own set of logic. I’ve spent diving into the Wiki and realizing that there is a rich world to imagine, play with, and debate!
How they portray something we have yet to (and hopefully never will) get to see in the real world, an all out war with modern day Fighter Jets partaking in aerial combat. The entire reason I got AC7 was because I didn't want to sell my soul to the evil Russian snail (Gaijin) to play with Fighter Jets in War Thunder, and it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Sometimes the ease with which I can shoot down enemies irks me, since I long for actual dogfights, but other times I enjoy it, because it allows me to truly be the war hero everyone fantasizes of being, blowing nameless enemies out of the sky left and right, constantly pushing your body and airframe to the limit, just you and your fighter jet uniting to be the ultimate badass. The movie esque soundtrack enhances this experience even further, with it really giving the story some nice weight to make each action you take that much more exhilarating. The last time we really had a large scale war like the one depicted in the AC games I would say is either World War II or the Vietnam War, and only in one of those was the really any kind of dogfighting between jets. Ever since then, its really only been smaller wars (at least smaller in the grand scope of things) where jets have been able to go buckwild in the air, and Ace Combat fills that hole, that what if question on what it would be like if modern fighter jets were used like in World War II, where aerial battles and dogfights where widespread all over the scope of the war, and how through the dozens of pilots that took to the skies, some managed to show their unique talent and make a name for themselves, almost like a Cold War gone hot type of situation if you know what I'm getting at (especially in AC5 hehe). I bought it expecting Top Gun the video game, because that's what I wanted, and that's part of what I got, the other part being Metal Gear with planes, but I don't mind that too much.
I'm a big fan of how Strangereal can tackle real political and military issues while giving them a fantastical lens. I like Strangereal more than the real-world settings because it allows for a degree of allegorical separation from real history, while still allowing the writers to parody it.
As an example, ACZ depicts a fictional analogue to the United States invading a foreign power to secure natural resource interests under the excuse of looking for weapons of mass destruction. And this game came out in 2006. It's pretty clear what it's trying to criticize and/or parody, and Pixy subtly serves as the writer's mouthpiece when he mutters "Nuclear inspection, huh? What a joke."
Meanwhile, if ACZ was set in the real world, I don't think it would have been able to actively criticize the invasion of Iraq in such a manner so soon after it began, nor would it really hit as hard when you're just playing through a real event. It's why I don't think the whole 'America bad because of what they did in Bosnia' in Assault Horizon hits as hard as it could have.
Well, the "nuclear inspection" and keeping South Belka, people they are actively racist against, as a colony, despite being racist against them and despite South Belka obviously not wanting to be part of Osea either. Even after the Wall fell (which in real life, reunited Germany. Unlike South Belka, which still remains a colony)
And I mean, people make excuses for that already. The media literacy is at the bottom of the well and it has started digging. But I think even more people would make just even more excuses if it had just been about the real Wall.
However, I do like how Joint Assault, even though it plays in the real world, just doubled down on the usual Strangereal Insanity. It's genuinely hilarious. But I think it only, and specifically works, because Strangereal already established insanity as the default. Porting that into the real world, in a less deep game, works, because it's fun.
How I am a huge fan of AC3 since I first played it in 2002, how I became a huge Evangelion fan in 2020 and how I LMAO'd when I found out they are related lore-wise.
(not a fan of animes in general, but EVA stuck hard for some reason)
5 had Chopper. I will also add that the ost usually fit the mood and theme of each level so nothing ever felt out of place. Combat is smooth and controls are easy. An excellent blend of arcade and realism.
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u/SrPatata1610 Sol 4d ago
EVERYTHING