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Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown |OT| Game of Drones
- Thread starter emotion engine
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- OT
Mission 7 so far.
Damn this game is fuckin overlooked.
I love every single second of it. Visuals are amazing (especially on PC with draw distances pushed further up), soundtrack is top tier and I love the cast.
And daaaamn these missions. I wished flight stick support was native but shiiit even with x360ce it gives amazing sensations.
My only gripe with the game so far though....
*Bip bip bip* Missile *bip bip bip* Missile :""")
Damn this game is fuckin overlooked.
I love every single second of it. Visuals are amazing (especially on PC with draw distances pushed further up), soundtrack is top tier and I love the cast.
And daaaamn these missions. I wished flight stick support was native but shiiit even with x360ce it gives amazing sensations.
My only gripe with the game so far though....
*Bip bip bip* Missile *bip bip bip* Missile :""")
This was my first Ace Combat game (I'm running through 5 now!) and it has already payed off in the real world! Thanks to this blessed game I, a dude who used to have negative interest in planes, saw one of my students reading a book about the F-35 and was able to make it seem like I had at least SOME idea of what that was.
Ace Combat is giving me cool guy points!
Ace Combat is giving me cool guy points!
Be sure to set the correct RGB-range on your console/TV. On PS4 it is calles "RGB Range" on Xbox "Display Mode (TV/PC)", i think. In TVs this setting has a lot of names. My TV calles it "HDMI black level".
Thing is: Both your console and TV should be set to the same level. Either both with limited range or both with full range - the latter in theory is better since it offers a wider range of brightness, but the difference is not really visible.
If your settings conflict, you get either flat, muted colours. What should be black is dark grey, what should be bright white is light grey. Overall the picture is a bit shite. That happens with limited RGB-range on the console and a TV expecting full RGB-Range.
The other way around (console sends a full-range-signal, TV expects a limited one) you have crushed blacks and whites. That means dark parts of picture are too dark. Where there should be some detail visible, you get solid black. Same for bright stuff. You get white without detail, where there should be some.
Maybe your problem is related to that, so maybe look into your console- and TV-settings for that one. See if it makes a difference. Also be sure to deactivate most of the picture-enhancers your TV is offering. Those do not have a benefit for gaming.
Cheers!
Lol I remember my first introduction to the F-35 through Ace combat 5, I thought the plane was so bad ass and then I began reading up on it and how hilariously disastrous it's development has been. The money pit the project has become is terrifying yet kind of funny.
Those screens are a beat, FarSight. I haven't had much time to play, only on mission 6, but anyone getting slightly unresponsive menus? I noticed the air craft tree and hanger menus started slowing down a little... on pc by the way.
The last plane I have left to unlock is the YF-23 the first end game plane I unlocked was the SU-57 and I gotta say, while I love the versatility of the SU-57 the more I look at the SP weapons offerings on the YF-23 the more I wish I had unlocked that one first lol.
That being said you can't really go wrong with either.
Yeah, knowing my skills the yf-23 is more useful but the su-57 just looks cooler
The Gripen E with the SASM's is my go to for 2250 or under rooms. It's insanely good. Especially if you pair it with +homing and +flight speed on special weapons. If you skimp out on parts you can even make it work in 2000 or under rooms.
I think this article on EMEAA sales provides some useful figures. Yes, the article is mostly centred on RE2's success, but scrolling down a bit you'll find that AC 7 has dropped yet continues to stand at 9th overall in the month for combined physical and digital sales. Note, though, this information is accurate up to January 27th, before KH3's launch.
Another important detail I'd say is that these figures don't count the UK, and only counts physical sales from a narrower pool of countries than digital sales (found in the article itself).
That's... A very good point. I'm sitting on a million Ace bucks the next time I play, I'll pick.
I went with YF-23 on first playthrough (cheapest of the final three, plus i went the top line on the tree). Like it well enough, especially the HVAAs. Also UGBs are a lot of fun in ground attack missions, especially with the YF-23's hilarious speed, shallow dive bombings are really effective and safe.
True ground multi-target capability isn't often needed. Upgrading bombs with larger blast radius (and perhaps more bombs) takes care of most things, not sure but i suspect the bombs are among the most powerful weapons in the game, never need extra damage for them.
True ground multi-target capability isn't often needed. Upgrading bombs with larger blast radius (and perhaps more bombs) takes care of most things, not sure but i suspect the bombs are among the most powerful weapons in the game, never need extra damage for them.
I feel like I need to watch a longform tutorial or something. I totally sucked during the normal campaign. Too often it was too frustrating to be enjoyable. First time I've done this poorly in a Ace Combat. But I don't think it's just my lame ass skills, several of these missions seem poorly balanced for those that aren't hardcore players, especially the timed missions with scoring goals. Although then there's facing off against over a dozen fighters and getting hit with two missiles at the same time. Or the times where this game straight wasted plenty of my time over and over because it didn't implement checkpoints when it really should have.
So my issues are mainly with what I consider an unbalanced challenge, as a moderately casual Ace Combat fan. Because most everything else is pretty great. The controls and gameplay are top fucking tier and AC7 proves that you don't need any gimmicks like Assault Horizon to make Ace Combat exciting and interesting to play. There's a surprising amount of variety in the mission design, and the weather and clouds system add more than I was expecting. And those post-stall maneuvers are super cool... Even if I never managed to pull one off in a way that would've be benefited me. :P The story is kinda whatever but I appreciate the return to a minimalist presentation akin to Ace Combat 4. It really tries hard, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. The script probably could've used a few more passes and frankly maybe plenty of editing. But it's fine, it's enjoyable. It's not crap like AH. But you can almost see the foundations for something much more interesting.
The music is fantastic. Keiki Kobayahi is godike.
The highs are SUPER high, but the lows for me are lower than anything in AC4/5/0, all related to difficulty. I felt genuine anger multiple times getting wrecked in this game.
Still I'm willing to learn how I fucked up playing this game and give the campaign another go.
So my issues are mainly with what I consider an unbalanced challenge, as a moderately casual Ace Combat fan. Because most everything else is pretty great. The controls and gameplay are top fucking tier and AC7 proves that you don't need any gimmicks like Assault Horizon to make Ace Combat exciting and interesting to play. There's a surprising amount of variety in the mission design, and the weather and clouds system add more than I was expecting. And those post-stall maneuvers are super cool... Even if I never managed to pull one off in a way that would've be benefited me. :P The story is kinda whatever but I appreciate the return to a minimalist presentation akin to Ace Combat 4. It really tries hard, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. The script probably could've used a few more passes and frankly maybe plenty of editing. But it's fine, it's enjoyable. It's not crap like AH. But you can almost see the foundations for something much more interesting.
The music is fantastic. Keiki Kobayahi is godike.
The highs are SUPER high, but the lows for me are lower than anything in AC4/5/0, all related to difficulty. I felt genuine anger multiple times getting wrecked in this game.
Still I'm willing to learn how I fucked up playing this game and give the campaign another go.
I dunno, I haven't played an Ace Combat game since, I think Shattered Skies on PS2? And I didn't find the campaign overly difficult on Normal, I don't think I had to retry any mission section more than a couple times at most and a lot of these levels I beat without having to restart a checkpoint at all - other than that last one where I crashed several times during that tunnel crap. Replaying missions on Hard, at this point feels easier than the first go - better planes, familiarity with the missions etc.
Not saying anyone is wrong for finding the game frustrating, just a counter-opinion, I found the campaign just about perfectly balanced, never too easy, never too punishing - when I died or failed it was almost always pretty clear what I did wrong.
Not saying anyone is wrong for finding the game frustrating, just a counter-opinion, I found the campaign just about perfectly balanced, never too easy, never too punishing - when I died or failed it was almost always pretty clear what I did wrong.
Any tips on the MG only run ? Specific plane ? A10 got a better MG or it's not accurately modeled in game ?
Do MGP count as MG ?
Can I do it in free mission ?
Do MGP count as MG ?
Can I do it in free mission ?
I was seeing the opposite. Darks were too dark and whites were too bright with my TV forced to HDR10 and the PS4 Pro providing a presumably SDR image when playing AC7. Thing is, this is the only game I've ever had this problem with. Maybe it just hasn't been as noticeable in anything else. My HDMI range is set full on both PS4 and TV.
Setting the TV HDR setting to Automatic rather than HDR10 seems to have cleaned it up. It's still not perfect, but I can at least see the hud most of the time now.
I also ended up restarting on easy and I'm having a much better time so far. I think it's finally starting to click, things like "oh I really shouldn't just be holding R2 all the time. Braking is important". I have the controls on expert, they just make more sense that way.
MGP counts, which does make the MiG-21 rather good option for the run, though for nearly pure ground missions the A-10 or Su-34 are good options due to their durability.
Can be done on easy. Can't do on free mission. Always check you got "guns only" or some such bonus during score screen. The target designator in mission 13 can be used naturally BUT the guided bomb should never kill anything but the missile silo.
Note the game seems to effectively have two different machine gun types. US planes sport Vulcan cannon, high rate of fire but less damage, while Russian planes (excluding the MiG-21, which has functional equivalent to US planes) sport autocannons with lesser ROF but higher per-bullet damage. European planes have autocannons as well but can't recall off-hand if they're faster than their Russian counterparts, have flown rather few missions with European planes so far. The A-10 has even higher rate of fire than the Vulcan but i don't think it is any more powerful, it is aligned downwards slightly though, so you can fly level and still hit ground (the Su-34 seems to have similar gun alignment).
I recommend picking all three MG upgrades, Queen's Custom (overall excellent value as upgrades go), Automated Fire Extinguisher (you'll be taking fire), maybe the missile jammer upgrade, and Superior Maneuverability and ECU to allow very low speed approaches.
Auto-strafing upgrade may be substituted over something depending whether you're good at firing the MG or not. If you do, you may wish to drop the MG range upgrade because it ups the range from about 1000 meters to 2000 meters or so, but the automated MG never acquires targets beyond 1000 meters.
The aim assist upgrade for machine guns is a mixed bag, IMO. Kinda OK for ground attacks, but against air targets it may cause more trouble than it is worth, especially in the boss battles.
Naturally just about everything here's YMMV.
Been testing out the TLS again, this time with all laser upgrades (range, damage, hit area), and it feels much better. Powerful vs aircraft if you can hit them, which isn't too hard as long as you have 4-6 klick distance from target and the range and hit area upgrades. Especially useful vs bombers. Theoretically could be useful vs drones, if you can sweep them all when they approach. Still need to try the TLS vs ground and sea targets.
I don't recommend using it without at least damage upgrade though.
I don't recommend using it without at least damage upgrade though.
Funny detail, if you fly low over a city and start firing, there will be air sirens. At least this happens in the mission 10.
On mission 15 if you fly low into the ruined / flooded area of farbanti and you manage to hit the ruined building either with GUNS or a lucky missile they collapse and can even collapse on top of boats and destroy them.
For whatever reason I decided to reinstall Assault Horizon on my PC, I guess because I wanted to check out some of the models in-game.
Other than the idolmaster/tekken/pac-man skins, it's so bad
like, i have no idea how they made it so bad after a run of three amazing games and a decent enough sequel on 360.
Other than the idolmaster/tekken/pac-man skins, it's so bad
like, i have no idea how they made it so bad after a run of three amazing games and a decent enough sequel on 360.
It's extra sad because the 3DS game which is technically just a remake of ace combat 2 is phenomenal but was forced to use the assault horizon branding so everyone ignored it.
When did a spaceship even get mentioned anywhere in the game, where did it come from and why am I, as the player, responsible for it coming back?!?
Campaign finished ! Quite a classical, nonsense strangereal story. Enjoyed it a lot but I knew what kind of stuff was coming.
Gameplay was enjoyable, not that flying games can be that varied. My only gripe is that there era a lot of weapons you can equip that have no real use in game, bombs in particular.
AGM 4x do the trick for every ground assault mission.
I find multiplayer entertaining too. Hope it will remain populated in the long run.
Gameplay was enjoyable, not that flying games can be that varied. My only gripe is that there era a lot of weapons you can equip that have no real use in game, bombs in particular.
AGM 4x do the trick for every ground assault mission.
I find multiplayer entertaining too. Hope it will remain populated in the long run.
"Harling's still president in my eyes, he build the space elevator and launched a spaceship from it", says the AWACS guy in mission 4.
UGB and SFFS are much, much better at clearing clustered ground targets in certain missions.
UGBs with expanded blast radius are ridiculously good. One can fly very high and safe, and do superb damage.
SFFS need damage upgrade if dropped from high attitude to get spread-out effect, otherwise you might as well use UGBs in my experience.
I find AGMs to be largely pointless. If i'm in a hurry, i'll use LACMs or LAGMs vs ground targets from very long distance (or LASMs in missions with ships), if not, UGBs suffice.
And 8xAGM is utterly pointless. They're powerful enough you really don't need double-missiles per target, yet at the same time the game rarely has situations where you need to engage 8 ground targets at once, not to mention that the targeting system really likes to do multiple-lock-ons on same target, making the weapon difficult to use!
GPBs are kinda pointless as well, since UGBs are effective enough, especially once one has skill to use them.
Haven't tried SODs or whatever the bomb thing on F-22 is.
SODs were OK in AC6 but it had usually far more ground targets and they were more spread out than in this game, so i'm not sure there's much use for them.
SFFS need damage upgrade if dropped from high attitude to get spread-out effect, otherwise you might as well use UGBs in my experience.
I find AGMs to be largely pointless. If i'm in a hurry, i'll use LACMs or LAGMs vs ground targets from very long distance (or LASMs in missions with ships), if not, UGBs suffice.
And 8xAGM is utterly pointless. They're powerful enough you really don't need double-missiles per target, yet at the same time the game rarely has situations where you need to engage 8 ground targets at once, not to mention that the targeting system really likes to do multiple-lock-ons on same target, making the weapon difficult to use!
GPBs are kinda pointless as well, since UGBs are effective enough, especially once one has skill to use them.
Haven't tried SODs or whatever the bomb thing on F-22 is.
SODs were OK in AC6 but it had usually far more ground targets and they were more spread out than in this game, so i'm not sure there's much use for them.
This is annoyingly how I feel about 8AAM's as well. 4AAMs and 6AAMs are more useful and efficient 90% of the time.
The multi missile lock on one target just isn't very useful. Even in a situation where they might be useful like swarming Mihaly or the ADF-11 drones with so many missiles that something is bound to hit, there is always something more useful you could bring like QAAMs lol.
I miss the XMAA's from AC04, 5 and 0. They were so good lol.
Honestly, i don't find 4AAM (or 6AAM) particularly useful either. They're reasonably powerful but... that's about it. Figure some extra range and speed from HVAAs or LAAMs is more useful, or just using QAAMs or those burst missiles for better close quarters results.
Pretty sure XLAAs (4AAM-equivalent) in AC6 were more accurate and had longer range, making them overall rather good anti-air option often. 4AAMs require upgrades for that, upgrades i'd rather spend on improving standard missiles and making my plane better (SPW capacity is the only common SPW upgrade i use).
Pretty sure XLAAs (4AAM-equivalent) in AC6 were more accurate and had longer range, making them overall rather good anti-air option often. 4AAMs require upgrades for that, upgrades i'd rather spend on improving standard missiles and making my plane better (SPW capacity is the only common SPW upgrade i use).
Yeah you're right, most of the multi target missiles in AC7 feel like all they do is miss. The XMAA's in AC5 had great homing, high damage, good lock range and I think they could lock on up to 6 targets.
Honestly the only standard missile upgrades I use are homing+ and flight speed+, lock range is nice but 200 more to range isn't really significant enough most of the time. Power is useless since you cant get enough power to reduce the number of missiles to kill most things, standard missile load is also pointless, flight distance is nice when paired with speed and homing and is usually the next one I go to when I have an extra slot available since it really helps against very spastic opponents like SOL squadron and drones.Lock on time reduction is weird, it's kinda pointless but I could see it being handy if you're not comfortable with the game controls maybe? Then there is missile reload speed which is a nice to have thing but I dont think i've ever felt like I have wanted to use it outside of multiplayer.
Honestly the only standard missile upgrades I use are homing+ and flight speed+, lock range is nice but 200 more to range isn't really significant enough most of the time. Power is useless since you cant get enough power to reduce the number of missiles to kill most things, standard missile load is also pointless, flight distance is nice when paired with speed and homing and is usually the next one I go to when I have an extra slot available since it really helps against very spastic opponents like SOL squadron and drones.Lock on time reduction is weird, it's kinda pointless but I could see it being handy if you're not comfortable with the game controls maybe? Then there is missile reload speed which is a nice to have thing but I dont think i've ever felt like I have wanted to use it outside of multiplayer.
Homing and speed are superb upgrades for standard missiles. Really would love the green missile boost module from multiplayer in single player though, would combine very well with the other upgrades.
Targeting distance was quite useful in no-damage run, made killing AA guns easier. OK, it is really difficult to fire the missile at 2200 meters, but usually i could manage it at about 2000 meters, whereas without the upgrade i'd fire missiles at about 1800 meters (there's just enough delay in intending to fire and doing it), and that difference occasionally meant avoiding a hit.
I use standard missile power upgrade because it allows me to finish off badly damaged targets with a cannon burst very easily. It should be more useful in general though.
Reload speed is awesome in target-rich environment. Downing 4 targets in rapid succession is very possible with it.
I never could figure what use "flight distance" is. Because i either hit or miss within the range, no plane can really outrun the missiles. Standard missiles evidently have sufficient flight distance to fly well over 2200 meters (and quite likely over 3000 meters), but they don't have sufficient agility to turn well enough even when upgraded to hit sharply turning targets, or zig-zagging targets.
Lock-on time reduction is mostly useful in clouds and when weaving around and trying to hit ground targets. There is ever so slight delay when you acquire a new target, especially big deal when flying fast over targets. Could pair well with reload speed but ultimately not quite useful enough.
Targeting distance was quite useful in no-damage run, made killing AA guns easier. OK, it is really difficult to fire the missile at 2200 meters, but usually i could manage it at about 2000 meters, whereas without the upgrade i'd fire missiles at about 1800 meters (there's just enough delay in intending to fire and doing it), and that difference occasionally meant avoiding a hit.
I use standard missile power upgrade because it allows me to finish off badly damaged targets with a cannon burst very easily. It should be more useful in general though.
Reload speed is awesome in target-rich environment. Downing 4 targets in rapid succession is very possible with it.
I never could figure what use "flight distance" is. Because i either hit or miss within the range, no plane can really outrun the missiles. Standard missiles evidently have sufficient flight distance to fly well over 2200 meters (and quite likely over 3000 meters), but they don't have sufficient agility to turn well enough even when upgraded to hit sharply turning targets, or zig-zagging targets.
Lock-on time reduction is mostly useful in clouds and when weaving around and trying to hit ground targets. There is ever so slight delay when you acquire a new target, especially big deal when flying fast over targets. Could pair well with reload speed but ultimately not quite useful enough.
I think flight distance is just how long the missile can fly around before it disappears. It basically means the enemy had to dodge it for longer.
Yeah obviously, but its usefulness is really dubious. If my target is dodging well enough, the missile isn't agile enough even with homing upgrade to hit it, if they're not, i'm not gonna need extra flight distance!
Against standard missiles, i regard doing a 90 degree turn a sure way to lose them, especially if done late. Alternatively pitching up or down sharply when they're close makes them under- or overshoot, and they're not ever coming back from that.
Perhaps it is more useful in multiplayer if one uses those improved homing etc. upgrades, they might make the missiles agile enough to truly benefit from flight distance.
Yeah good point, the only time I ever think they might be useful anyway is against drones or any target that has bursts of sudden acceleration. And even then it's not like it has a likely hood if being very useful in most dog fights with such targets.
Am I the only one on my first playthrough who thought that
Colonel Johnson, the pilot of Harling's helicopter in mission 4 was Captain Snow from AC5? The dude looked just like him, had the same voice actor (Beau Billingsly), and mentioned that he was previously in the air force.
I played the game on Hard and got Photon Blitz medal while at it o.O
I wasn't even trying to get it.
Honestly wasn't that hard on Hard. Not a big difficulty jump from Normal, played several missions with mid-tier planes to boot. Think AC6 felt harder.
Wonder about Ace...
I wasn't even trying to get it.
Honestly wasn't that hard on Hard. Not a big difficulty jump from Normal, played several missions with mid-tier planes to boot. Think AC6 felt harder.
Wonder about Ace...