So you can't buy it back like standard parts? Oh well, it's a bit niche.
Let's Play Every Armored Core Game In Release Order [Now Playing: Project Phantasma (1997)]
- Thread starter Rhymes
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Can, yes. Will, no.
hghwolf
Bird of contempt
This immediately seemed wrong to me because it would be exclusive to AC1 were it so... but also kinda plausible as AC1 is... AC1 and it HAS been 25 years so I went to check real quick.
Result : You're wrong. Back rockets, even larges, do not require taking a firing position even if you're not PLUS.
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Armored Core (1997) Part 4: Corporate Warfare (Missions 7-11)
Hello again, everyone, and thank you for your patience. I have freed myself from the confines of the Bethesda game prison and return to you with another installment of Giant Robot Mercenary game. Today, we'll be exploring some alternative builds and watching the corporate warfare pick itself up in earnest.
Let's see what we've got this time.
I'm not your fucking eviction service, assholes.
Several options here, some more ominous sounding than others. I tackle the cheapest looking mission first, since that seems easier.
That's unpleasantly vague. Wonder what kind of problem causes the robots to go "out of control?" Clearly they want a Raven so that they have somebody else to blame if somebody takes out half the power grid. Fun. I'm already kitted out, so I just sortie right away.
After a quick admonishment not to hit the generators from command, I make my way into the facility, which is full of these weird little guys.
Look at them! They're adorable!
I really don't get what's so troublesome about these things. They have no weapons, and they're not even damaging the equipment. All they do is back away from me very slowly. The hardest part of the mission is getting them into a spot where I don't risk swiping the generator with my laser blade (I'm not spending ammo on unarmed opponents). After a very patient few minutes, I walk away with an even 10k plus a 7k advance. Easiest money I'll make today. Next, I decide to take the mission that's offering parts instead of cash.
Okay, see, I know that one corporation asking me to wage war on another corporation is not, like, good? But also, Chrome has already earned enough of my ire that blowing up their shit sounds like fun. Since this mission involves targeting a fixed emplacement, I decide to bring along some heavy equipment. Time for a tank build. As you might recall, tank builds are heavy, featuring the heaviest armor and the highest carry weight in exchange for ditching external boosters. As it happens, they also ditch external radar units, which means I need to do more swapping to come up with a suitable head unit. My thinking here is that, since I'm getting parts and not a flat fee, I should get my ammo costs down by using high-powered energy weapons (so no pulse guns). I toy with grabbing weapon arms for a dual trigger setup, but they're so expensive that I decide to just equip a laser rifle and an over-the-shoulder plasma cannon instead.
Cool.
I start the mission and immediately get hotdropped into a clusterfuck. The base has a bunch of flying drones that immediately swarm me, and the cannons that are my primary objective are shooting down on me the whole time. There's a small sea wall surrounding the base that gives me some cover, but I'm going to have to go up and over it to get at the guns. For a start, I focus on staying mobile—barely, and swatting the drones, before swapping to the heavy plasma launcher to crack the guns open. The shoulder weapon hits hard, and it only takes a couple hits, at most, to take out a gun.
The smoke trails the wreckage of the cannons gives off when they're destroyed is a nice touch.
I clear the mission down about 1500 AP from various sources, which, since I'm not getting paid, eats directly into my balance, and I spent my credits way down to get the tank build running. Fortunately, I made sure to leave a little left over for precisely this issue, so I'm not in debt, and even if I were, I could sell some of the parts back (including the new ones I got from the mission). Completing the mission also nets an email from Murakumo.
Listen, I'm not stupid, I can practically feel the slime oozing off these people. I know it's going to turn out that Murakumo is up to its eyeballs in a solid dozen atrocities per week. It's a megacorporation—they're all awful more or less equally, and if they're not, it's only because they haven't been given the opportunity. That said Murakumo hasn't asked me—directly or indirectly—to assist in a bunch of heinous shit yet, and Chrome has, so I have exactly negative problems with blowing up one of their weapons emplacements. Also MM gave me a new pair of lightweight biped legs, so clearly they can't be all bad
I decide to take on the mission about stopping some terrorists next—not feeling like embracing my inner bad guy to go after squatters again.
"Imminent Storm," huh? That name sure has some uncomfortable associations. There is absolutely no way good things could come from them continuing to have a meaningful presence. Let's fix that.
Since this assignment looks like it's more of an endurance run, I decide to swap into a quadruped build with a pulse rifle and a chaingun before launching.
This is the build I settle on. Note the new generator, the GBG-10000—it's the most powerful one in the shop, so that ought to put an end to my EN worries for a while.
The level itself is similar to the underground level from earlier, but much longer and with more dead ends. The blue City Guard MTs are virtually useless. I've barely spawned in before one of them is already downed by one of the mooks, and every other one I find ends up dying equally stupid deaths.
The whole map is identical tunnels that look like this. I mean, I know it's a sewer, but man.
I methodically explore every pathway and down each MT I find. The pulse rifle isn't great, with unimpressive damage and a terrible fire rate, but it has such high capacity that I put up with it. Having a quad with a chaingun means that I can hose down anything that gets too annoying, but I try to save it for the end. Eventually, I get a message that I'm coming up on the leader.
He's operating the same MT as everybody else in this mission, but red. Clearly that makes him three times faster.
Unfortunately for this guy, he's no Char Aznable, and stands out in the open while I immediately unfold the chaingun and empty the magazine into his mech until it explodes.
By the time it's all said and done, attrition from the ammo, damage, and losing the security guards eats up a lot of the reward. Fortunately, I made up a lot of ground by wiping out the MTs, so I end up making about 13,000 credits (from a total of about 31k). That's not, like, great, but I am making consistent profit. My balance from mission to mission tends to stay low, but that's mostly because I have a lot of it bound up in higher-performance parts.
One thing I'm finding so far is that while it tends to be difficult to do fantastically well in a given mission, it's not hard to stay profitable so far, as long as I pay attention to the briefing and build for the mission. I can see where someone else might go wrong though, especially if you keep failing or aborting missions and trying them again without reloading a save. At this point, it feels like going significantly into debt isn't a major threat for me, which is good, I think?
Anyway, moving on to the mission board, we see that the squatters mission has dropped off the board, but a new one has shown up.
I'm sure they're fine. Definitely.
I check out what this terrorist pursuit mission is about.
Uhh how the fuck is an AC gonna fit in a parking garage? They're like ten meters tall.
Whatever, it's a video game, I should really just relax.
I decide to try out a lightweight build this time, since the brief says it's one unit and I'm guessing it's going to be pretty nimble (thus the warning about all the cars). I swap in the new legs I got from Murakumo, grab an upgraded MG, and go to work.
The mission . . . does not go well. The rogue MT is really fast and fairly durable, and I spend more time worrying about not blowing up the (comically oversized) cars than shooting it, and the damn thing makes it all the way down to the bottom level, which belongs
To Chrome executives.
God fucking damn it.
Fortunately, the VIP level has a security guard down there, who makes amends for his useless brethren last time by cleaning up the MT, leaving me to get the credit and the reward.
My kill getting stolen.
Well, that was embarrassing. Maybe I should take on something a little less challenging, like a fuel depot. That sounds like a nice easy target for unrestricted corporate warfare. I get an email from the nest that a few new leg parts have been added, including some heavy and mid-weight biped legs with high load capacity, a high-cap quadruped, and some heavy tank legs. The cheapest of them is still like 49k, so there's nothing that I really want right this second, but that's useful useful for future reference. The mission board on the other hand has a fuel depot raid, plus a few other options. . .
Sigh. It just keeps getting worse.
Fuel depot please. Not touching that last one with a ten foot pole unless the game forces me.
Seems simple enough. Probably going to end up regretting letting MM get access to whatever gnarly shit Chrome is cooking up, considering that chemical weapons are something they consider so mundane they're happy to let it on the highways. Oh well.
Since I know I'm going after a bunch of big stationary targets, I swap some parts around so I can have my laser sword, the MG-AR1000, and a dumbfire rocket pod, and launch the mission. My choice of loadout turns out to be an even better idea than I thought, because as soon as I start the mission and enter the depot, my lock-on stops working as I get bombarded by energy turrets!
Lock-on jammers.
FromSoft put lock-on jammers in a game where the free aim is incredibly clumsy to use.
Sadists.
My kingdom for a flyswatter.
The actual culprits, though, are these little flying drones. They seem to be ECM units of some kind, but a spray in their general direction with the machine gun takes them down. This is a pretty obvious gear check: any weapon that can fill an entire space, like a machine gun, a shotgun, or explosives, will do pretty well here, but anything that relies more on precise aiming and powerful single hits will be in for a rough time poking these things out.
After I kill the jammers and the turrets, it's a simple matter of lining up shots on the fuel tanks and watching them go boom. They have a nice big fireball with a bright flash, and they tend to take out adjacent tanks at the same time. There's a few that are sequestered in various alcoves, which require some delicate jumping to take out safely, but the biggest collection is all the way in the back of the second room. Clearing the last of the tanks spawns a few security MTs and gets me a message to head back the way I came and out the exit. But before I do that, I spot something on the ground where one of the tanks used to be.
Hello there.
It's obviously a weapon, and I pick it up before turning around and heading back. The security MTs are only as much of a threat as I allow them to be, and ain't nothin stopping me from bringing this new toy home.
Sorry man, wrong place, wrong time.
I actually only end up making a few thousand credits from the mission, which I don't love, but hey, maybe the new weapon will make up for it. The new part has an unusual name: the WG-1-KARASAWA, and I go to look at it in the Garage. What the hell, I figure if it sucks I can always sell—
It does HOW MUCH damage?
We'll, uh, we'll be right back.
Let's see what we've got this time.
I'm not your fucking eviction service, assholes.
Several options here, some more ominous sounding than others. I tackle the cheapest looking mission first, since that seems easier.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 7,000c
Upon success: 10,000c
A problem occurred in the No. 7 power plant of Isaac City. Due to security system trouble, the worker robots are out of control. Most of the robots have already been captured or destroyed, but some of them have entered the grounds of the power plant. Luckily, no major accident has occurred so far, but we cannot leave the situation as is. Because of the location, ordinary measures are useless.
This is where we need your help. We want you to destroy all of the robots within the power plant, but do not damage the generators or you risk causing a major explosion. If you destroy a generator, we will deduct compensation for the damages from you pay. The worker robots have no attack capability at all, but you must move cautiously.
That's unpleasantly vague. Wonder what kind of problem causes the robots to go "out of control?" Clearly they want a Raven so that they have somebody else to blame if somebody takes out half the power grid. Fun. I'm already kitted out, so I just sortie right away.
After a quick admonishment not to hit the generators from command, I make my way into the facility, which is full of these weird little guys.
Look at them! They're adorable!
I really don't get what's so troublesome about these things. They have no weapons, and they're not even damaging the equipment. All they do is back away from me very slowly. The hardest part of the mission is getting them into a spot where I don't risk swiping the generator with my laser blade (I'm not spending ammo on unarmed opponents). After a very patient few minutes, I walk away with an even 10k plus a 7k advance. Easiest money I'll make today. Next, I decide to take the mission that's offering parts instead of cash.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: AC parts
We want you to destroy a Chrome gun emplacement. The gun emplacement construction site is located in an ocean buffer zone just barely outside Murakumo territory. Our repeated warnings to halt construction have been completely ignored. Chrome offers only transparent excuses about maintaining security but their intentions are clearly a pre-emptive military attack.
We now have no choice but to use force. This time we have prepared an AC part as your pay. It is a prototype of the highest quality. We are counting on the Ravens.
Okay, see, I know that one corporation asking me to wage war on another corporation is not, like, good? But also, Chrome has already earned enough of my ire that blowing up their shit sounds like fun. Since this mission involves targeting a fixed emplacement, I decide to bring along some heavy equipment. Time for a tank build. As you might recall, tank builds are heavy, featuring the heaviest armor and the highest carry weight in exchange for ditching external boosters. As it happens, they also ditch external radar units, which means I need to do more swapping to come up with a suitable head unit. My thinking here is that, since I'm getting parts and not a flat fee, I should get my ammo costs down by using high-powered energy weapons (so no pulse guns). I toy with grabbing weapon arms for a dual trigger setup, but they're so expensive that I decide to just equip a laser rifle and an over-the-shoulder plasma cannon instead.
Cool.
I start the mission and immediately get hotdropped into a clusterfuck. The base has a bunch of flying drones that immediately swarm me, and the cannons that are my primary objective are shooting down on me the whole time. There's a small sea wall surrounding the base that gives me some cover, but I'm going to have to go up and over it to get at the guns. For a start, I focus on staying mobile—barely, and swatting the drones, before swapping to the heavy plasma launcher to crack the guns open. The shoulder weapon hits hard, and it only takes a couple hits, at most, to take out a gun.
The smoke trails the wreckage of the cannons gives off when they're destroyed is a nice touch.
I clear the mission down about 1500 AP from various sources, which, since I'm not getting paid, eats directly into my balance, and I spent my credits way down to get the tank build running. Fortunately, I made sure to leave a little left over for precisely this issue, so I'm not in debt, and even if I were, I could sell some of the parts back (including the new ones I got from the mission). Completing the mission also nets an email from Murakumo.
Article: Chrome's tyrannical conduct is becoming more and more violent every day. We would never stoop to the kind of wrongful use of force that they embrace, but we have no choice but to fight. I hope that we can count on you the next time the need arises.
Listen, I'm not stupid, I can practically feel the slime oozing off these people. I know it's going to turn out that Murakumo is up to its eyeballs in a solid dozen atrocities per week. It's a megacorporation—they're all awful more or less equally, and if they're not, it's only because they haven't been given the opportunity. That said Murakumo hasn't asked me—directly or indirectly—to assist in a bunch of heinous shit yet, and Chrome has, so I have exactly negative problems with blowing up one of their weapons emplacements. Also MM gave me a new pair of lightweight biped legs, so clearly they can't be all bad
I decide to take on the mission about stopping some terrorists next—not feeling like embracing my inner bad guy to go after squatters again.
Article: Requester: Isaac City Guard
Advance: 0
Upon success: 22,000c
We have managed to obtain vital information on the terrorist group "Imminent Storm". The scum plan to hide inside the city sewers and build their headquarters there. "Imminent Storm" has perpetrated many terrorist acts on Isaac City in the past, and the Guard has suffered bitter defeats. We will never let them build their headquarters. Yet we hesitate to act with only our weaponry. This why we have asked the Ravens for help. Already several Guards have gone ahead, but it is too dangerous for them alone.
Your operation has two objectives: protect the Guard detachment and destroy the terrorist leader. We will deduct 1000 C from your pay for each Guard killed.
Ravens, we are counting on you.
"Imminent Storm," huh? That name sure has some uncomfortable associations. There is absolutely no way good things could come from them continuing to have a meaningful presence. Let's fix that.
Since this assignment looks like it's more of an endurance run, I decide to swap into a quadruped build with a pulse rifle and a chaingun before launching.
This is the build I settle on. Note the new generator, the GBG-10000—it's the most powerful one in the shop, so that ought to put an end to my EN worries for a while.
The level itself is similar to the underground level from earlier, but much longer and with more dead ends. The blue City Guard MTs are virtually useless. I've barely spawned in before one of them is already downed by one of the mooks, and every other one I find ends up dying equally stupid deaths.
The whole map is identical tunnels that look like this. I mean, I know it's a sewer, but man.
I methodically explore every pathway and down each MT I find. The pulse rifle isn't great, with unimpressive damage and a terrible fire rate, but it has such high capacity that I put up with it. Having a quad with a chaingun means that I can hose down anything that gets too annoying, but I try to save it for the end. Eventually, I get a message that I'm coming up on the leader.
He's operating the same MT as everybody else in this mission, but red. Clearly that makes him three times faster.
Unfortunately for this guy, he's no Char Aznable, and stands out in the open while I immediately unfold the chaingun and empty the magazine into his mech until it explodes.
By the time it's all said and done, attrition from the ammo, damage, and losing the security guards eats up a lot of the reward. Fortunately, I made up a lot of ground by wiping out the MTs, so I end up making about 13,000 credits (from a total of about 31k). That's not, like, great, but I am making consistent profit. My balance from mission to mission tends to stay low, but that's mostly because I have a lot of it bound up in higher-performance parts.
One thing I'm finding so far is that while it tends to be difficult to do fantastically well in a given mission, it's not hard to stay profitable so far, as long as I pay attention to the briefing and build for the mission. I can see where someone else might go wrong though, especially if you keep failing or aborting missions and trying them again without reloading a save. At this point, it feels like going significantly into debt isn't a major threat for me, which is good, I think?
Anyway, moving on to the mission board, we see that the squatters mission has dropped off the board, but a new one has shown up.
I'm sure they're fine. Definitely.
I check out what this terrorist pursuit mission is about.
Article: Requester: Isaac City Guard
Advance: 0
Upon success: 23,000c
Just now, several MTs, thought to be terrorists, appeared in an urban district. Indiscriminately, they attacked the surrounding buildings and fled. Guards rushing to the scene cornered one terrorist in a nearby parking garage, but the garage has only one large entrance, so it is not easy to get him.The rest of the gang is still fleeting and we cannot spare any more men. Go to the scene ASAP and cooperate in destroying the terrorist.
Several civilian vehicles remain in the garage. Damage to the vehicles will be deducted from your pay. Sorry, but we've got budget problems too. Good luck.
Uhh how the fuck is an AC gonna fit in a parking garage? They're like ten meters tall.
Whatever, it's a video game, I should really just relax.
I decide to try out a lightweight build this time, since the brief says it's one unit and I'm guessing it's going to be pretty nimble (thus the warning about all the cars). I swap in the new legs I got from Murakumo, grab an upgraded MG, and go to work.
The mission . . . does not go well. The rogue MT is really fast and fairly durable, and I spend more time worrying about not blowing up the (comically oversized) cars than shooting it, and the damn thing makes it all the way down to the bottom level, which belongs
To Chrome executives.
God fucking damn it.
Fortunately, the VIP level has a security guard down there, who makes amends for his useless brethren last time by cleaning up the MT, leaving me to get the credit and the reward.
My kill getting stolen.
Well, that was embarrassing. Maybe I should take on something a little less challenging, like a fuel depot. That sounds like a nice easy target for unrestricted corporate warfare. I get an email from the nest that a few new leg parts have been added, including some heavy and mid-weight biped legs with high load capacity, a high-cap quadruped, and some heavy tank legs. The cheapest of them is still like 49k, so there's nothing that I really want right this second, but that's useful useful for future reference. The mission board on the other hand has a fuel depot raid, plus a few other options. . .
Sigh. It just keeps getting worse.
Fuel depot please. Not touching that last one with a ten foot pole unless the game forces me.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: 21,000c
We want to perform a secret survey of a Chemical-Dyne Co. research lab located in the East region.
We have heard many troubling rumors about a certain company's research. From the information that we've gathered so far, this seems to be Chrome's doing. Your mission is a diversionary action in support of the survey team entering the lab. Attack the fuel depot adjacent to the lab and blow up all of the fuel tanks inside.
The survey team plans to enter the lab during the commotion. You must escape from the depot after blowing up all the tanks. If discovered by the guards, you'll have trouble. There is probably a large number of tanks in the fuel depot. Be careful to avoid damage from the explosions.
Seems simple enough. Probably going to end up regretting letting MM get access to whatever gnarly shit Chrome is cooking up, considering that chemical weapons are something they consider so mundane they're happy to let it on the highways. Oh well.
Since I know I'm going after a bunch of big stationary targets, I swap some parts around so I can have my laser sword, the MG-AR1000, and a dumbfire rocket pod, and launch the mission. My choice of loadout turns out to be an even better idea than I thought, because as soon as I start the mission and enter the depot, my lock-on stops working as I get bombarded by energy turrets!
Lock-on jammers.
FromSoft put lock-on jammers in a game where the free aim is incredibly clumsy to use.
Sadists.
My kingdom for a flyswatter.
The actual culprits, though, are these little flying drones. They seem to be ECM units of some kind, but a spray in their general direction with the machine gun takes them down. This is a pretty obvious gear check: any weapon that can fill an entire space, like a machine gun, a shotgun, or explosives, will do pretty well here, but anything that relies more on precise aiming and powerful single hits will be in for a rough time poking these things out.
After I kill the jammers and the turrets, it's a simple matter of lining up shots on the fuel tanks and watching them go boom. They have a nice big fireball with a bright flash, and they tend to take out adjacent tanks at the same time. There's a few that are sequestered in various alcoves, which require some delicate jumping to take out safely, but the biggest collection is all the way in the back of the second room. Clearing the last of the tanks spawns a few security MTs and gets me a message to head back the way I came and out the exit. But before I do that, I spot something on the ground where one of the tanks used to be.
Hello there.
It's obviously a weapon, and I pick it up before turning around and heading back. The security MTs are only as much of a threat as I allow them to be, and ain't nothin stopping me from bringing this new toy home.
Sorry man, wrong place, wrong time.
I actually only end up making a few thousand credits from the mission, which I don't love, but hey, maybe the new weapon will make up for it. The new part has an unusual name: the WG-1-KARASAWA, and I go to look at it in the Garage. What the hell, I figure if it sucks I can always sell—
It does HOW MUCH damage?
We'll, uh, we'll be right back.
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<Googles WG-1-KARASAWA>
Ohh, yeah, now I recall that thing. I recall using on a number of mechs, treating it like a cannon and picking up rapidfire back parts to sub in for a normal hand weapon.
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
They should have called it the OG-1-KARASAWA. It's actually not the strongest gun in first gen, but it's strong strong.
- Location
- Alberta
Ridiculous damage? Check. Energy weapon, so you don't have to pay for ammo? Check. Sells for enough to buy a bunch of other parts on the off chance the player doesn't have room for it in their build? Check. Available really early in the game? Check.
The Karasawa: It's just stupidly good.
The Karasawa: It's just stupidly good.
Armored Core (1997) Part 5: KARASAWA (Missions 12-14)
Welcome back to Armored Core, where I have just recovered from being stunned by the firepower of the KARASAWA.
Gonna post the statblock again because holy shit.
Messing around with it in the test arena already gives me a decent sense of its strengths and weaknesses, and hooooooo boy are there things to talk about.
Let's start by getting the obvious out of the way: at 1550 base damage, the KARASAWA is, on a per-shot basis, one of the strongest right-hand weapons in the game, only edged out by the bazookas and some of the higher-end back weapons.
Now, of course, per-shot damage isn't the whole story; you may recall that I've gotten plenty of use from machine guns, which have pretty terrible per-hit damage, but have perfectly acceptable damage per second because of their extreme rate of fire (or, to use the game's parlance, short reload time). Thing is, the KARASAWA comes out on the high end of that race, too. With a reload time of 8 (on par with the WG-HG512), our new friend does 193.75 damage per unit reload time, beating out every arm weapon except the flamethrower (which is weird and doesn't count). What's more, it's an energy weapon—it's called a plasma rifle, for some reason, but it clearly fires a laser, dunno what's up there—and while the drain is high in terms of pull relative to other weapons, it's still perfectly manageable. The result is a fast-firing weapon that does insane damage to anything it hits.
The ACs used in the Test Arena, for example, which normally take a lot of punishment, get dropped in five shots, meaning I can clear the Test in a matter of seconds if I decide to be super aggressive.
Sounds great, right? Well, there's a catch. A lot of catches, actually.
For starters, the KARASAWA gets only 50 shots, which means that it's really not an endurance option for longer missions. The damage is so high that it's definitely possible to stretch the reserves out, but missing shots is going to hurt. And missing shots is not hard to do, because that SPECIAL lock box makes it less than ideal for close combat or evasive targets. The shot velocity isn't great either (don't ask me how a laser has muzzle velocity, I'm chalking it up to video game balancing).
The real killer, though, is build compatibility. This thing is heavy, weighing in at an even 1,000 WP, and, what's worse? Because of its size and weird shape, it can't be mounted on quad or tank legs, only biped legs, and even then, one of the heavier options (the LN-SSVR) also can't mount it.
What all this shakes out to is that the KARASAWA is a centerpiece weapon. Most of my builds have oriented around a particular playstyle or were meant to counter specific threat types. Using the KARASAWA really requires building around using the KARASAWA and either leaning into its strengths for a high-alpha, death-or-glory playstyle, or compensating for its limitations with other parts while staying within the weight and EN budget.
This next mission, "Guard Freight Train," is a good showcase of both how this weapon works. . . and how it doesn't.
They don't mention who the enemy is (probably Chrome) or why this train is so important (probably something horrifying, if the pattern holds). Since I want to break the new rifle in, I pull together a quick middleweight build, with a side-kill dual missile launcher and a laser blade to serve as backup options., and then sortie.
The build du jour.
This is another hotdrop mission, this time in the middle of the desert, where I and the train are immediately swarmed by, of all things, jets. As a student of the Omicron School of Looking Shit Up Rather Than Bothering Hunting Pixels, I know there's a hidden part in the pile of cargo containers near the middle of the map, so I rush over to it. This approach has the "advantage" of also kiting most of the enemies so they harass me, who can shoot back, rather than the train, which cannot. This is good, because it takes me a hot minute to find the hidden part (a head unit) by destroying each container, and I'm getting pestered by the jets the whole damn time.
Beware of low-flying planes
As flying enemies that spend a lot of time circling over my head, the KARASAWA is not a good counter to them: one shot is enough to put them down, but the problem is finding the opportunity to fire that one shot. Eventually I get them all, only to get a warning from my Operator that there's a new target approaching.
And it's an Armored Core.
No explanation, just this guy screaming in out of the desert to ruin my day. What a chad.
Now, one might think that the first encounter with an enemy AC would be a pitched battle to keep him away from the train long enough for it to finish refueling and escape, where even surviving would be a victory and getting the kill would be a nice bonus.
Unfortunately for him, I have a KARASAWA.
The AC prioritizes the rear cars of the train rather than the locomotive, which gives me more than enough of an opening to tear him the fuck apart.
So much for him.
It's not all sunshine and roses, though. I burned a bunch of AP and ammo on the jets, and losing the back end of the train through mysterious circumstances (*cough* noideahowthathappenedcertainlynotmeshootingit *cough*) cost me a pretty hefty bonus I would have otherwise picked up, so I only made about 8,000 credits, not including the 12k advance or the part, which is a kinda mid head unit, the HD-X1487, that I sell for another 19,000.
Biosensor and Noise Canceler, but no radar or map? Pass.
Murakumo also sends me an email on this Red AC, which is helpful, because he doesn't show up in the Rankings.
Interesting. Murakumo's choice of phrasing here frames the background as the pilot just randomly "going rogue," either by disappearing mid mission or failing to come back after one went sideways. But a single unit going around randomly attacking people? There's got to be more to the story than that, and the fact that this is coming from Murakumo suggests that they have something to do with it. The plot thickens.
Going back to the mission board, I decide to pick up that mission to rescue the survey team—it's gotten pretty stale and if it's staying on there this long, they must be in dire straits.
Stuck behind a locked door, huh? Man, I bet they're gonna be eating shit for that for a while.
Alright, so, from the map I can tell this is going to be a long mission, so I better spec for endurance. I don't need weight so much as I need armor, so I decide on a heavyweight biped build, bringing along the WG-AR1000, leaving the split missile launcher, and taking along the WR-S100 rocket pod.
Going nowhere fast, but hopefully it can go the distance.
Insertion involves dropping down a long, long shaft, before I begin trudging through the corridors, taking out MTs with my massive arsenal. The mission is full of these little spiders which cluster together in groups and only fire pulse guns very slowly.
Adorable little security bots moments before eating rockets
Lining up rockets to one shot them is pretty trivial, and some of the long sloping hallways actually let me use the missile launcher to arc shots around corners or "over the horizon" of an incline to take out targets from behind cover. At least, it does when the missiles don't decide to veer wide (or high) and slam into a wall. Not a fan of the missile tracking in this game, I'll tell you what.
After a nice, leisurely stroll through the facility blowing up security MTs, I finally make it to the end, find the control panel for the door these scientists got locked behind, and put a rocket into it. Job done, credits got. Good way to decompress after a very stressful week.
So.
I want to take a second here to talk a little about this mission and how I've been approaching this playthrough.
As I mentioned back at the start, this is not actually my first time playing through this game, but I've tried to ignore my prior experience and talk through things as if it were all new to me, since I think that's more interesting that way.
Here, though, I'm breaking that rule a little bit. I do remember certain things about this mission, which is why I picked this loadout, instead of guessing at a different build that another player might make and muddling through to make the same point. In full transparency, I could have done it that way, but, frankly, I didn't want to. Instead, we're going to take a step behind the curtain for the moment so I can say this:
As much fun as I had playing through this mission, I don't think this is a well-designed mission.
It's a big, big maze, filled with a lot of weak enemies that cluster together to wear the player down through attrition, by chipping away armor and soaking ammo. The player experience clearing this labyrinth is built on what kind of build they bring, and while I totally respect "build for the challenges in the mission," since, y'know, that's a core pillar of the game, I don't think the things that a player should be building for are signposted well here.
There are two components to the challenge of this mission, as, indeed, for most missions: the map, and the choice of enemies. For this map, From drops you in a maze—by far the biggest maze at this point in the game, consisting of two pieces—a long, winding corridor, and a big room with pillars in it—repeated several times. It's easy to get turned around unless you're taking your time, which naturally incentivizes building for endurance—lots of AP, lots of ammo. By itself, this is fine; mildly annoying at worst.
The two kinds of hallways this mission has. Very easy to get lost.
Adding in this particular choice of enemies, though, creates a potential problem. Like I said, these dinky little MTs are not scary by themselves, armed with nothing more than a slow-firing pulse gun. Trouble is, there's a whopping seventy-six scattered throughout the complex, and they're highly resistant to energy weapons, which are normally a very attractive endurance/cost-saving option. Kinetic weapons drop them fast, to the point where the whole mission devolves into a relaxing turkey shoot with, say, a build like mine. But a player who's specced into energy weapons on their build would likely run into a lot of problems hammering through all these guys, even if they've built for endurance.
Now, a min-maxing player will say that if the build is underperforming, the better choice is to abort the mission rather than risk failing, eat the smaller cost to AP and ammo, and come back with a better build. And, to be fair, that seems to be the intended move, given how the mission plays with the right toolset.
Here's the problem: the game never tells you anything about these enemies. An equally viable reading of the enemies, if you confront them with energy weapons only, is that they're meant to be turtles—slow enemies with weak offense whose main threat that there's a lot of them and they individually have lots of health and armor to tank hits. They even look like turtles if you squint. They're not—they're just fodder, but the only way you know they're only cannon fodder is if you already know that the MTs die easily to kinetic weapons, either by doing the mission or reading about it elsewhere. In other words, you can do the mission the "wrong" way and struggle immensely through it without ever realizing that it's not supposed to be that way. Contrast this with the last mission—the briefing expressly didn't say what kind of enemies to expect, but once I saw the jets and how they move, it was obvious that the KARASAWA I had brought was a bad fit, because they were tough to hit and I couldn't afford many missed shots. Whether a weapon is effective against flying enemies is pretty obvious since the main challenge they pose is hitting them at all: An effective weapon against flying enemies can hit them reliably. An ineffective weapon misses a lot. If you've brought an ineffective weapon, you can intuit that you've done so because you can't hit shit. You know, while you're muddling through, that you made a mistake. Here? I could have struggled through the whole damn mission and never known I was doing anything wrong.
To be fair, I'm making a mountain out of a molehill: most of the weapons in the game are kinetics, and there's quite a few options with deep reserves, so there's a wide universe of builds that won't have this particular problem with the mission. But, as much as I've been enjoying my time with the game, I think this mission is kind of a miss from a design perspective.
Alternatively, a pilot who's just done with the whole thing could fly through to the end and free the survey team, since the MTs are completely optional. Granted, you'd miss out on a chunky bonus, but just saying "fuck it" is a completely valid option, in grand FromSoftware tradition. Does that completely undercut my whole analysis? Iunno, maybe, but "fuck it, just run" in From titles is usually the sign of either a frustrating area or the player trying to conserve resources during the eleventy billionth run back to a hard fight (which may be the same thing heyo).
Moving on, completing this mission earned a couple new emails (read: lore dumps) from R:
Seemingly nice faction that will inevitably turn out to be morally dubious. That tracks with them going digging in a military base as opposed to something. . . less dangerous.
Huh. A cybernetic enhancement program developed by Murakumo and used by lots of combatants, including Ravens. I wonder if that's why Red fucked off and became a murderhobo? Maybe he had some enhancements and they messed with his head, a la cyberpsychosis from Cyberpunk (tabletop/video game). I just know there's either some control mechanisms in there or that they're doing it to "volunteers" and not just actual volunteers or something else involving horrifying violations of bodily autonomy.
Right, so, since the tech has been mentioned, this is probably the best time to discuss something else that I'm not likely to stumble into organically at this point:
Human PLUS is a gameplay mechanic.
Remember how I mentioned that there was something that happens if I go too far into debt? Well, that something is that when my debt goes over 50,000, your character sells their body to Murakumo for use in the Human PLUS program, in exchange for clearing the debt. There's even a cutscene for it:
After the cutscene plays, you get kicked to the title screen and have to start the whole game over from the first two missions, with the debt cleared and a balance of zero. In exchange, not only do you get to keep all the parts you already own, but you get an enhancement to your capabilities, and you can do this multiple times, getting different enhancements. Getting surgery once gives you a permanently integrated radar, and lets the laser blade fire energy waves while on the ground like a certain celestial edged weapon from other FromSoft titles. After four surgeries, heavy back weapons no longer require a firing stance, and after six, booster energy drain is cut in half.
The best/worst part? The game is not exaggerating when it says that some of the top-ranked Ravens are Human PLUS. Some of them can do all this shit, and they absolutely will use it to fuck you up.
These bonuses are also really strong for a player, as well, to the point where the use of Human PLUS in a build is a deeply controversial subject depending on who you ask. They're also difficult to stumble upon by accident unless you're really struggling with the game, because it requires persistently failing hard enough to get 50k in debt, or, what I think is more likely, messing up one mission really badly and being locked into a build that can't complete missions effectively, because debt prohibits you from buying new parts, leading to a doom spiral.
And, like, I want to be clear. I haven't been playing the game that optimally. Some of my builds have been mismatched for the mission, and even when they were all right, a lot of my runs are really messy. Planning ahead and making use of the save function for particularly severe fuckups does a lot to ensure that you're always making at least a modest profit. My read is that, on the player side, this mechanic on is mainly there as a stopgap in case something really goes wrong—it ensures no progress is wasted, since even a doom spiral ends in getting a bigger toolkit to try again. It's a neat touch. On the AI side, it's transparently a method to make fights with elite Ravens more challenging, since the enemies in this game are just not very smart.
For the record, I will not be using Human PLUS, mainly because A) I'm not going into debt just by playing, so I'm not likely to get it without deliberately chasing it, and B) grinding up Human PLUS bonuses and having to make up all this progress sounds unfun.
Will I regret this decision? Most likely.
One more mission:
Free money to break Chrome's shit. Sounds good. I'm sure this will have no lasting consequences.
Creepy looking thing, isn't it?
After a bit of zipping around, CHAOS decides to stand out in the open and shoot at me. I shoot back with the machine gun. It dies. I get paid.
Cue sad trombone.
Good use. Sure.
I get like 25k from that mission, so I'm pretty flush with cash at this point. Checking the mission board shows that the old missions have cleared out and there's now only two options:
Decision point.
Here's the twist: from checking the descriptions and the map? The Secret Factory Recon mission is a contract from Murakumo to locate a hidden Chrome factory.
The Guard Factory Entrance mission? Is to stop Murakumo from hitting the factory.
And I have to pick one, and no doubt risk seriously alienating the other sponsor.
What to do? Who to pick? I've been hating on Chrome pretty good, but at this point the uglier side of Murakumo is starting to show itself with their Human PLUS stuff.
Gotta give this one some thought, so I'm going to stop here for now (also because I've written like 4000 words lmao). Tune in next time, when I inevitably make some enemies.
Gonna post the statblock again because holy shit.
Messing around with it in the test arena already gives me a decent sense of its strengths and weaknesses, and hooooooo boy are there things to talk about.
Let's start by getting the obvious out of the way: at 1550 base damage, the KARASAWA is, on a per-shot basis, one of the strongest right-hand weapons in the game, only edged out by the bazookas and some of the higher-end back weapons.
Now, of course, per-shot damage isn't the whole story; you may recall that I've gotten plenty of use from machine guns, which have pretty terrible per-hit damage, but have perfectly acceptable damage per second because of their extreme rate of fire (or, to use the game's parlance, short reload time). Thing is, the KARASAWA comes out on the high end of that race, too. With a reload time of 8 (on par with the WG-HG512), our new friend does 193.75 damage per unit reload time, beating out every arm weapon except the flamethrower (which is weird and doesn't count). What's more, it's an energy weapon—it's called a plasma rifle, for some reason, but it clearly fires a laser, dunno what's up there—and while the drain is high in terms of pull relative to other weapons, it's still perfectly manageable. The result is a fast-firing weapon that does insane damage to anything it hits.
The ACs used in the Test Arena, for example, which normally take a lot of punishment, get dropped in five shots, meaning I can clear the Test in a matter of seconds if I decide to be super aggressive.
Sounds great, right? Well, there's a catch. A lot of catches, actually.
For starters, the KARASAWA gets only 50 shots, which means that it's really not an endurance option for longer missions. The damage is so high that it's definitely possible to stretch the reserves out, but missing shots is going to hurt. And missing shots is not hard to do, because that SPECIAL lock box makes it less than ideal for close combat or evasive targets. The shot velocity isn't great either (don't ask me how a laser has muzzle velocity, I'm chalking it up to video game balancing).
The real killer, though, is build compatibility. This thing is heavy, weighing in at an even 1,000 WP, and, what's worse? Because of its size and weird shape, it can't be mounted on quad or tank legs, only biped legs, and even then, one of the heavier options (the LN-SSVR) also can't mount it.
What all this shakes out to is that the KARASAWA is a centerpiece weapon. Most of my builds have oriented around a particular playstyle or were meant to counter specific threat types. Using the KARASAWA really requires building around using the KARASAWA and either leaning into its strengths for a high-alpha, death-or-glory playstyle, or compensating for its limitations with other parts while staying within the weight and EN budget.
This next mission, "Guard Freight Train," is a good showcase of both how this weapon works. . . and how it doesn't.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 12000
Upon success: 20000
We have an emergency! We have been informed of a plan to attack our long-haul freight train, "Boulder". We are unsure of the enemy's exact target, but it is likely that they are after the confidential cargo in the lead car.
The train's next stop, Heavensrock's supply depot, has very little cover. We feel that this would be an opportune location for the enemy to attack.
Go ahead of the train ASAP and head for the supply depot. Give highest priority to ensuring the safety of at least the lead car. The cars further back are not particularly important at this time, but we will up your pay by 10000 C if all the cars are safe. We're counting on your, Raven.
They don't mention who the enemy is (probably Chrome) or why this train is so important (probably something horrifying, if the pattern holds). Since I want to break the new rifle in, I pull together a quick middleweight build, with a side-kill dual missile launcher and a laser blade to serve as backup options., and then sortie.
The build du jour.
This is another hotdrop mission, this time in the middle of the desert, where I and the train are immediately swarmed by, of all things, jets. As a student of the Omicron School of Looking Shit Up Rather Than Bothering Hunting Pixels, I know there's a hidden part in the pile of cargo containers near the middle of the map, so I rush over to it. This approach has the "advantage" of also kiting most of the enemies so they harass me, who can shoot back, rather than the train, which cannot. This is good, because it takes me a hot minute to find the hidden part (a head unit) by destroying each container, and I'm getting pestered by the jets the whole damn time.
Beware of low-flying planes
As flying enemies that spend a lot of time circling over my head, the KARASAWA is not a good counter to them: one shot is enough to put them down, but the problem is finding the opportunity to fire that one shot. Eventually I get them all, only to get a warning from my Operator that there's a new target approaching.
And it's an Armored Core.
No explanation, just this guy screaming in out of the desert to ruin my day. What a chad.
Now, one might think that the first encounter with an enemy AC would be a pitched battle to keep him away from the train long enough for it to finish refueling and escape, where even surviving would be a victory and getting the kill would be a nice bonus.
Unfortunately for him, I have a KARASAWA.
The AC prioritizes the rear cars of the train rather than the locomotive, which gives me more than enough of an opening to tear him the fuck apart.
So much for him.
It's not all sunshine and roses, though. I burned a bunch of AP and ammo on the jets, and losing the back end of the train through mysterious circumstances (*cough* noideahowthathappenedcertainlynotmeshootingit *cough*) cost me a pretty hefty bonus I would have otherwise picked up, so I only made about 8,000 credits, not including the 12k advance or the part, which is a kinda mid head unit, the HD-X1487, that I sell for another 19,000.
Biosensor and Noise Canceler, but no radar or map? Pass.
Murakumo also sends me an email on this Red AC, which is helpful, because he doesn't show up in the Rankings.
Article: We never imagined that the guy in the red AC would show up. The owner of that red AC was originally well known as a very able Raven. Then, one time he failed to complete a mission and was never heard from again.
The AC reappeared several years ago. Since then, every time that he appeared on a battlefield he would act like a mad dog, indiscriminately attacking anyone, over and over. There are some who say that he was just looking for a place to die. Now, no one will no the real reason for his actions.
Interesting. Murakumo's choice of phrasing here frames the background as the pilot just randomly "going rogue," either by disappearing mid mission or failing to come back after one went sideways. But a single unit going around randomly attacking people? There's got to be more to the story than that, and the fact that this is coming from Murakumo suggests that they have something to do with it. The plot thickens.
Going back to the mission board, I decide to pick up that mission to rescue the survey team—it's gotten pretty stale and if it's staying on there this long, they must be in dire straits.
Article: Requester: Earth Environment Reclamation Committee
Advance: 0
Upon success: 25000
We want you to break into an old military facility remaining above ground to the southwest of Isaac City.
This facility has been completely abandoned, but we have reason to believe it had been used as a testing ground for prototype weapons prior to the Great Destruction. If any of the Companies get wind of this, a fight for this facility is inevitable. We immediately sent a survey team to find out the truth but they ran into trouble.
A gate within the facility suddenly closed and scrapped security MTs began operating. After barely making it back to the 1st floor, the team is stranded behind the locked gate. The security MTs have been repulsed for now, but we don't know how long this will last. We want you to rescue the team ASAP.
Stuck behind a locked door, huh? Man, I bet they're gonna be eating shit for that for a while.
Alright, so, from the map I can tell this is going to be a long mission, so I better spec for endurance. I don't need weight so much as I need armor, so I decide on a heavyweight biped build, bringing along the WG-AR1000, leaving the split missile launcher, and taking along the WR-S100 rocket pod.
Going nowhere fast, but hopefully it can go the distance.
Insertion involves dropping down a long, long shaft, before I begin trudging through the corridors, taking out MTs with my massive arsenal. The mission is full of these little spiders which cluster together in groups and only fire pulse guns very slowly.
Adorable little security bots moments before eating rockets
Lining up rockets to one shot them is pretty trivial, and some of the long sloping hallways actually let me use the missile launcher to arc shots around corners or "over the horizon" of an incline to take out targets from behind cover. At least, it does when the missiles don't decide to veer wide (or high) and slam into a wall. Not a fan of the missile tracking in this game, I'll tell you what.
After a nice, leisurely stroll through the facility blowing up security MTs, I finally make it to the end, find the control panel for the door these scientists got locked behind, and put a rocket into it. Job done, credits got. Good way to decompress after a very stressful week.
So.
I want to take a second here to talk a little about this mission and how I've been approaching this playthrough.
As I mentioned back at the start, this is not actually my first time playing through this game, but I've tried to ignore my prior experience and talk through things as if it were all new to me, since I think that's more interesting that way.
Here, though, I'm breaking that rule a little bit. I do remember certain things about this mission, which is why I picked this loadout, instead of guessing at a different build that another player might make and muddling through to make the same point. In full transparency, I could have done it that way, but, frankly, I didn't want to. Instead, we're going to take a step behind the curtain for the moment so I can say this:
As much fun as I had playing through this mission, I don't think this is a well-designed mission.
It's a big, big maze, filled with a lot of weak enemies that cluster together to wear the player down through attrition, by chipping away armor and soaking ammo. The player experience clearing this labyrinth is built on what kind of build they bring, and while I totally respect "build for the challenges in the mission," since, y'know, that's a core pillar of the game, I don't think the things that a player should be building for are signposted well here.
There are two components to the challenge of this mission, as, indeed, for most missions: the map, and the choice of enemies. For this map, From drops you in a maze—by far the biggest maze at this point in the game, consisting of two pieces—a long, winding corridor, and a big room with pillars in it—repeated several times. It's easy to get turned around unless you're taking your time, which naturally incentivizes building for endurance—lots of AP, lots of ammo. By itself, this is fine; mildly annoying at worst.
The two kinds of hallways this mission has. Very easy to get lost.
Adding in this particular choice of enemies, though, creates a potential problem. Like I said, these dinky little MTs are not scary by themselves, armed with nothing more than a slow-firing pulse gun. Trouble is, there's a whopping seventy-six scattered throughout the complex, and they're highly resistant to energy weapons, which are normally a very attractive endurance/cost-saving option. Kinetic weapons drop them fast, to the point where the whole mission devolves into a relaxing turkey shoot with, say, a build like mine. But a player who's specced into energy weapons on their build would likely run into a lot of problems hammering through all these guys, even if they've built for endurance.
Now, a min-maxing player will say that if the build is underperforming, the better choice is to abort the mission rather than risk failing, eat the smaller cost to AP and ammo, and come back with a better build. And, to be fair, that seems to be the intended move, given how the mission plays with the right toolset.
Here's the problem: the game never tells you anything about these enemies. An equally viable reading of the enemies, if you confront them with energy weapons only, is that they're meant to be turtles—slow enemies with weak offense whose main threat that there's a lot of them and they individually have lots of health and armor to tank hits. They even look like turtles if you squint. They're not—they're just fodder, but the only way you know they're only cannon fodder is if you already know that the MTs die easily to kinetic weapons, either by doing the mission or reading about it elsewhere. In other words, you can do the mission the "wrong" way and struggle immensely through it without ever realizing that it's not supposed to be that way. Contrast this with the last mission—the briefing expressly didn't say what kind of enemies to expect, but once I saw the jets and how they move, it was obvious that the KARASAWA I had brought was a bad fit, because they were tough to hit and I couldn't afford many missed shots. Whether a weapon is effective against flying enemies is pretty obvious since the main challenge they pose is hitting them at all: An effective weapon against flying enemies can hit them reliably. An ineffective weapon misses a lot. If you've brought an ineffective weapon, you can intuit that you've done so because you can't hit shit. You know, while you're muddling through, that you made a mistake. Here? I could have struggled through the whole damn mission and never known I was doing anything wrong.
To be fair, I'm making a mountain out of a molehill: most of the weapons in the game are kinetics, and there's quite a few options with deep reserves, so there's a wide universe of builds that won't have this particular problem with the mission. But, as much as I've been enjoying my time with the game, I think this mission is kind of a miss from a design perspective.
Alternatively, a pilot who's just done with the whole thing could fly through to the end and free the survey team, since the MTs are completely optional. Granted, you'd miss out on a chunky bonus, but just saying "fuck it" is a completely valid option, in grand FromSoftware tradition. Does that completely undercut my whole analysis? Iunno, maybe, but "fuck it, just run" in From titles is usually the sign of either a frustrating area or the player trying to conserve resources during the eleventy billionth run back to a hard fight (which may be the same thing heyo).
Moving on, completing this mission earned a couple new emails (read: lore dumps) from R:
Article: The Earth Environment Reclamation Committee has recently made a name for itself in the public eye. Professing the goal of reclaiming the above-ground environment, the committee has some of the most prominent scientists in the world as its members. However, there are many questions in regard to its true nature. There are rumors that it is actually an organization with some other purpose.
I'll be in touch.
Seemingly nice faction that will inevitably turn out to be morally dubious. That tracks with them going digging in a military base as opposed to something. . . less dangerous.
Article: Are you aware of the "Human Plus" project?
The Human Plus technology developed by Murakumo is an advanced technology whereby the organs of the body (mainly the nervous system, bones, and muscle tissue) are replaced with artificial replacements which give the subject abilities vastly superior to those of an ordinary man. People who have undergone this operation are called the "Plus", the ranks of which include soldiers and bodyguards for VIPs.
Rumor has it that several of the top ranking Ravens are also "Plus".
However, the reason why Murakumo, supposedly an industrial manufacturer, originally developed this technology is still a mystery even now.
I'll be in touch.
Huh. A cybernetic enhancement program developed by Murakumo and used by lots of combatants, including Ravens. I wonder if that's why Red fucked off and became a murderhobo? Maybe he had some enhancements and they messed with his head, a la cyberpsychosis from Cyberpunk (tabletop/video game). I just know there's either some control mechanisms in there or that they're doing it to "volunteers" and not just actual volunteers or something else involving horrifying violations of bodily autonomy.
Right, so, since the tech has been mentioned, this is probably the best time to discuss something else that I'm not likely to stumble into organically at this point:
Human PLUS is a gameplay mechanic.
Remember how I mentioned that there was something that happens if I go too far into debt? Well, that something is that when my debt goes over 50,000, your character sells their body to Murakumo for use in the Human PLUS program, in exchange for clearing the debt. There's even a cutscene for it:
After the cutscene plays, you get kicked to the title screen and have to start the whole game over from the first two missions, with the debt cleared and a balance of zero. In exchange, not only do you get to keep all the parts you already own, but you get an enhancement to your capabilities, and you can do this multiple times, getting different enhancements. Getting surgery once gives you a permanently integrated radar, and lets the laser blade fire energy waves while on the ground like a certain celestial edged weapon from other FromSoft titles. After four surgeries, heavy back weapons no longer require a firing stance, and after six, booster energy drain is cut in half.
The best/worst part? The game is not exaggerating when it says that some of the top-ranked Ravens are Human PLUS. Some of them can do all this shit, and they absolutely will use it to fuck you up.
These bonuses are also really strong for a player, as well, to the point where the use of Human PLUS in a build is a deeply controversial subject depending on who you ask. They're also difficult to stumble upon by accident unless you're really struggling with the game, because it requires persistently failing hard enough to get 50k in debt, or, what I think is more likely, messing up one mission really badly and being locked into a build that can't complete missions effectively, because debt prohibits you from buying new parts, leading to a doom spiral.
And, like, I want to be clear. I haven't been playing the game that optimally. Some of my builds have been mismatched for the mission, and even when they were all right, a lot of my runs are really messy. Planning ahead and making use of the save function for particularly severe fuckups does a lot to ensure that you're always making at least a modest profit. My read is that, on the player side, this mechanic on is mainly there as a stopgap in case something really goes wrong—it ensures no progress is wasted, since even a doom spiral ends in getting a bigger toolkit to try again. It's a neat touch. On the AI side, it's transparently a method to make fights with elite Ravens more challenging, since the enemies in this game are just not very smart.
For the record, I will not be using Human PLUS, mainly because A) I'm not going into debt just by playing, so I'm not likely to get it without deliberately chasing it, and B) grinding up Human PLUS bonuses and having to make up all this progress sounds unfun.
Will I regret this decision? Most likely.
One more mission:
Article: Requester: Chrome
Advance: 0
Upon success: 28000
Come participate in a combat test against a new weapon currently under development. Anyone is OK, as long as they can fight. We want combat data for the current prototype.
Your opponent, "CHAOS" is a completely automated robot, and the location is inside our lab. No need to be timid. Give it all you've got. However, you get paid only if you win. No slacking off. This may not be much of a challenge to you Ravens, but you can make a fast buck. Think of it as an easy job.
Free money to break Chrome's shit. Sounds good. I'm sure this will have no lasting consequences.
Creepy looking thing, isn't it?
After a bit of zipping around, CHAOS decides to stand out in the open and shoot at me. I shoot back with the machine gun. It dies. I get paid.
Cue sad trombone.
Good use. Sure.
I get like 25k from that mission, so I'm pretty flush with cash at this point. Checking the mission board shows that the old missions have cleared out and there's now only two options:
Decision point.
Here's the twist: from checking the descriptions and the map? The Secret Factory Recon mission is a contract from Murakumo to locate a hidden Chrome factory.
The Guard Factory Entrance mission? Is to stop Murakumo from hitting the factory.
And I have to pick one, and no doubt risk seriously alienating the other sponsor.
What to do? Who to pick? I've been hating on Chrome pretty good, but at this point the uglier side of Murakumo is starting to show itself with their Human PLUS stuff.
Gotta give this one some thought, so I'm going to stop here for now (also because I've written like 4000 words lmao). Tune in next time, when I inevitably make some enemies.
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- Location
- Alberta
Worth noting for anyone trying to calculate stuff with weapon damage: Fire rates in classic Armored Core are given in total frames to reload, which given the first generation AC games run at something like 22 FPS or so (no idea why the hell it's that number specifically, maybe a lag mitigation thing?) means firing for one second gets you 3 shots and most of a fourth.
Anyway, my personal read on Human PLUS is that it doesn't really feel worth it for how I play—the free radar sounds nice but it's not like adding radar to your build is even remotely difficult, the energy wave just looks like a rocket you can't aim vertically (unless you can in which case it's slightly better but still situational), and reduced energy use would probably matter more to me if I didn't favour biped builds that can save energy by boost hopping everywhere. The cannon thing, then, is the only benefit I'd actively consider, and it's locked behind enough rounds of surgery to be truly tedious to unlock.
I love the concept of it, though. Getting sold as a lab experiment as a game over/new game+ mechanic is just the perfect cyberpunk gimmick.
Anyway, my personal read on Human PLUS is that it doesn't really feel worth it for how I play—the free radar sounds nice but it's not like adding radar to your build is even remotely difficult, the energy wave just looks like a rocket you can't aim vertically (unless you can in which case it's slightly better but still situational), and reduced energy use would probably matter more to me if I didn't favour biped builds that can save energy by boost hopping everywhere. The cannon thing, then, is the only benefit I'd actively consider, and it's locked behind enough rounds of surgery to be truly tedious to unlock.
I love the concept of it, though. Getting sold as a lab experiment as a game over/new game+ mechanic is just the perfect cyberpunk gimmick.
That is extremely helpful and it would have been nice if they had put that in the game. At least it's reporting the actual stat tables and not just providing arbitrary made-up values with no relation to actual performance (looking at you, FreeSpace)
Yeah I think all of those are fair criticisms of the system--it's basically something where you either commit to unlocking it right away when you don't have a lot of time invested already or pass it up because it's just a pain in the ass to grind for and you don't actually need it.
Or you stumble on it organically once and then make that decision. Either way.
- Location
- Amman, Jordan
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
So found this suggested under Omicron's FF thread, and decided to check it out. Something tells me it's worth a watch. I've heard of the series and even read a few articles in wikipedia, but this is probably going to be the more in-depth, first person view of the franchise and its events.
BTW, Fromsoft game are infamous for their "Great Filter", i.e. the one point in the game that separates the casuals from those willing and able to put the effort into the game to advance. Does this apply to their older games as well, or is it just something from the Soulslike series onwards?
hghwolf
Bird of contempt
The 'Great Filter' is a self-aggrandizing narrative by the type of player who thinks they're hot shit for beating a FROM title.
With a couple of exceptions - AC2, AC4, 'AC'4A, AC6 - Armored Core definitely leans on the harder side, with some games(Last Raven mostly) approaching 'bullshit hard' but even the older titles are, overall, not expecting 'near perfect play' from you at all. It's not a series for someone who has never played an action game but they're not even in the same realm of difficulty as, say, WizIV(again, except Last Raven)
With a couple of exceptions - AC2, AC4, 'AC'4A, AC6 - Armored Core definitely leans on the harder side, with some games(Last Raven mostly) approaching 'bullshit hard' but even the older titles are, overall, not expecting 'near perfect play' from you at all. It's not a series for someone who has never played an action game but they're not even in the same realm of difficulty as, say, WizIV(again, except Last Raven)
Yeah, so far, I tend to agree. The challenge seems to rest less in the execution and more in bringing the right tools for the job.
If anything is a "great filter," it's that FromSoft games have a pattern of delivering rough introductions where the player is either stumbling over the controls, hamstrung by lack of access to the full systems of the game, or both.
- Location
- Alberta
This. The filter in AC1, such as it is, is them throwing you into a fight with two moderately tough MTs the moment you hit new game, without giving you any chance to get used to or even try the controls you only half memorized when you were going over the manual.
Connelly
As useless as a penguin with mittens
- Location
- Salamanca, Spain
Don't forget to check the optional parts in the shop. They're not body pieces, but weightless addons that you can just switch on and off (up to a limit per core. The starter one has 8 slots, and each part occupy 1 or more of those). Things like a jammer for enemy missiles, impact absorbtion, energy increase, energy weapon mods...
And distasteful as it is, I suggest you to save, and at least check the terrorist attack mission. Just know that something that happens in it is needed for the 100% completion.
And distasteful as it is, I suggest you to save, and at least check the terrorist attack mission. Just know that something that happens in it is needed for the 100% completion.
My first AC (and mostly only one, besides emulating the PSX games) was Last Raven. It put me off the series because there was no sign anywhere to let you know that it was a hardcore expansion to a more sane game. :_D
Armored Core (1997) Part 6: Decision Point (Missions 15-17)
Welcome back to Armored Core, where I've been asked to decide whether to side with the evil megacorporation that currently runs things, Chrome, or the evil megacorporation that wants to run things, Murakumo Millennium.
Hmm. I don't feel like I have a great narrative reason to favor one over the other. I know I've been doing the whole bit about hating Chrome because, like, they suck, but the intended read is very clearly "both corporations are awful," and I get that. Maybe the combat scenarios will be more helpful?
Let's look at the briefings and see what might be more fun to play.
Okay, so the Murakumo mission is less recon and more, essentially, paratrooper operations. Drop in, smash anything that gets in the way, open the factory, and get out before the attack goes off. Six minutes could be an eternity or it could be really close to the wire depending on how things shake out. What about Chrome?
Guard this factory, they say. It'll be easy, they say. Yeah, right.
Reading between the lines, this is a straightforward defense mission: stand outside the factory entrance and kill anything that gets close. Less interesting, but probably easier to pull off.
Ah, what the hell, gimme a challenge. Let's do the Murakumo mission. I figure I can come around to the Chrome mission on whatever this game's idea of a second playthrough is.
Since the mission is a big open snowy area (and isn't that an interesting change of environment) I think something that can handle longer range engagements might be a good idea. Haven't taken out any of the long rifles since ditching the starting gun, so I decide to try one of those.
Alas, there's no ghillie suit to put on the AC.
The mission starts with insertion by a dropship that is, as has become the pattern in this game, getting shot up by enemy air defenses. The actual spawn area isn't that hot, but there are a couple of missile emplacements that take an interest. The mission area isn't dark, per se, but the range of visibility is pretty short, presumably to simulate the illusion of darkness masking anything that's not right on top of you. Shifting to an arctic environment after so many missions of tunnels, buildings, and the occasional desert is a striking change, but it also demonstrates why most of the previous missions were not in a place like this, to wit:
Some very primitive-looking pine trees.
First thing I do is beeline for one particular corner of the map to find a bunker that's nestled behind a hill. Blowing up that bunker reveals . . . another hidden part (a missile launcher). I very gingerly walk over to pick it up—picking up items uses the same button as swinging the laser blade, which causes the mech to lunge forward. Normally, that's no big deal, but here, if I miss, it'd send me out of the mission area.
Pic taken right after grabbing the part. Notice how close I am to the red lines on the radar showing the out-of-bounds area.
That done, I start scouting the area for this factory. The sniper rifle I brought does decent damage, but I discover, much to my surprise, that it has incredibly poor muzzle velocity for some reason, on top of the naturally narrower lockbox. Against the big stationary guns, that's no big deal, but I end up getting pounced on by flamethrower drones too. Which fly. I'm maneuverable enough to keep from taking too much damage from them but clearing them out but, well, it takes a while.
Two minutes and change, oof.
After that it's kind of a scramble to find the entrance and blow it open. I don't get a lot of good screenshots either because I'm rushing not to fail the mission (sorry about that). Turns out it's crammed in another corner of the area. Blowing the door controls gets me a short cutscene of Murakumo air units moving in, and then the mission ends.
Minute and a half to go.
Fortunately, despite the ammo and repair costs, I end up making a fat bonus from destroying so much of the defenses. Final take is about 27k, plus a hidden part, which I'll look at some other time. Murakumo also sends me an email about the results of the battle.
Okay, first of all, for the umpteenth time, bullshit. Second, I'm not sure how faithful a translation of the original script that email is, but wow is that clumsy. This isn't the first instance of the game's English script having some obvious translation issues, but I've slide because the game is fighting against character limits and has been doing a serviceable job conveying meaningful information, even if it's awkward. This, however, is so awkward that it actually briefly takes me out of the experience. Still, at least it's comprehensible, as opposed to certain other games from this period I might name (*cough* Final Fantasy VII *cough*)
Whatever, moving on. Next miss-
LeoPointing.gif
On an intellectual level, I know that there is no possible way a gang called "Dark Soul" has any intentional connection to the Souls franchise. I mean, hell, Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't even working at From in 1997. But, on the other hand, if you had told me before I reached this point that FromSoft had a group called "Dark Soul" in one of their games, and then made a game called "Dark Souls" years later and those two things were completely unconnected, I would have called bullshit instantly. That is amazing.
I gotta see what this one's about.
Desert terrain, filled with mines, enemy in tanks. I think that means it's time for a tank duel.
Heavy bazooka plus all the missiles I could stack onto a tank build. See if you can figure out the mistake I'm about to make.
Aww yeah, let's fucking go. Hitting sortie dumps me into yet another hot drop mission with the dropship getting rounds put into it yet again.
At this point I should make it a drinking game!
There's not much in the way of dialogue and no explanation of what this gang is or what they want (besides stealing a bunch of tanks--which, fair enough!) All I really know is they have tanks with guns and missiles. Unfortunately for them, I also have a tank with guns and missiles.
The mines hurt a little, but, more importantly, they knock the AC back a little, even in this heavy tank configuration, so I do try to drive around them while putting shells downrange.
A tank getting chunked by a bazooka.
I take some extra hits mixing it up for variety by swapping to missiles. Unfortunately, the tracking on the missiles is still bad and I would have been better off just blowing them up with the bazooka. It's really kind of frustrating that they are so bad—if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with the way the game handles shots being fired from a moving platform, since they tend to be better (but not great) when standing still.
A hard-earned missile kill.
Still, I'm having fun, and after a nice little rampage, I clear them all out and collect my paycheck
Wait a second. . .
Pictured: me, a fucking idiot.
God damn it I forgot I was getting paid in parts!
Whatever, it's fine, I have plenty of cash. Also, the part I got is the SP-AXL, an optional part that shortens missile lock times when equipped--I'll talk a little more about those next time. I'm probably not going to be using it because, as I just got done saying, missiles kinda suck.
The mission list is narrowing at this point: I have the choice between Guarding a Wharf Warehouse and Stopping a Security MT. I'm feeling like a guard mission at this point because I hunger for more (in)discriminate violence.
I don't really have anything to add here. Murakumo seems like they know what's up, for once. I return to a biped build and decide, what the hell, let's bring the KARASAWA back out to play. I also decide to upgrade to the highest tier of laser sword currently available, the LS-3303, and slap on some new legs for better armor.
Yeah, I know I left the missiles on. Sue me.
Launching dumps me onto a big flat plain in the middle of the night in front of several hangars. Fortunately, I don't have to wait long before I get a warning that enemies are incoming. The first wave is a bunch of heavy flying drones, very similar to the ones used at the gun emplacement I hit way back when—which makes sense, if those are Chrome assets. Lining up shots with the KARASAWA is mildly tricky but not nearly as bad as those jets, and they still pop with one shot. A second wave follows shortly after, supported by ground walkers this time.
It's actually kind of neat that the enemies can be engaged from beyond visual range like this.
The final wave is more interesting because it's composed entirely of ground units who spawn from behind. Just, like, popping up in the middle of the depot. What the hell?
My confusion notwithstanding, dealing with this new threat is only a minor inconvenience. The KARASAWA annihilates most of them in short order, but I decide to try out the new laser blade on the last one. The results are. . .
Well, see for yourself:
Note that this guy was undamaged before I cut him down.
This time I actually get paid in money, to the tune of 28,000 credits. More than enough to leave me sitting pretty for the time being. Nothing new in the emails, so might as well check out the mission board.
Yikes.
That's quite an escalation. Rewards going way up just in time for the missions to get really spicy and the Corporate War to fully kick into gear. Hoo boy.
Not as much to say this update. The biggest thing of consequence is obviously deciding which faction to side with on the factory mission. I'm still waiting for the story to come together for this game, and at this point it's not looking like there's all that much of one beyond just a basic framing device for the missions. That's hardly unique for this era (or, really, any era) but. . . I dunno, I was hoping for more?
Fortunately, the bit about banging robots together is a lot of fun even if the connective tissue justifying each engagement is. . . thin. Still, I kind of wish I had more to say about it beyond "wow this cyberpunk future sure is hellish!" Only so many ways to milk that.
Gonna stop here for now since I'm at the image limit, and this big escalation seems like a reasonable place to pause. Tune in next time for even more unrestricted corporate warfare!
Hmm. I don't feel like I have a great narrative reason to favor one over the other. I know I've been doing the whole bit about hating Chrome because, like, they suck, but the intended read is very clearly "both corporations are awful," and I get that. Maybe the combat scenarios will be more helpful?
Let's look at the briefings and see what might be more fun to play.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: 32000
Our intelligence has determined that Chrome has an underground factory in the snowy region of Whiteland. We plan to send our Special Forces to destroy the factory. We are looking for someone to scout out the entrance to the factory in advance of the attack. Your mission is to find the point of entry and destroy the door lock system.
There is no particular need to engage the enemy, but we will pay an 800 C bonus per enemy MT destroyed. The main force will attack 6 minutes after you start, so your executing the mission within this time limit is absolutely necessary for the surprise attack to succeed.
Due to its nature, this mission will be a night maneuver.
Okay, so the Murakumo mission is less recon and more, essentially, paratrooper operations. Drop in, smash anything that gets in the way, open the factory, and get out before the attack goes off. Six minutes could be an eternity or it could be really close to the wire depending on how things shake out. What about Chrome?
Article: Requester: Chrome
Advance: 0
Upon success: 32000
We have uncovered a plan to destroy our underground factory in the Whiteland area. We think that Murakumo is behind it. We are not sure of the specific details, but since the factory is underground, they can't do anything unless they get inside. So we want someone to guard the entrance of the factory. The gate cannot be opened from outside as long as the lock system is not destroyed.
We will need several days to put up a full-scale security system. Of course we will pay you during that period whether or not there is an attack.
Not a bad job, huh? Do it well.
Guard this factory, they say. It'll be easy, they say. Yeah, right.
Reading between the lines, this is a straightforward defense mission: stand outside the factory entrance and kill anything that gets close. Less interesting, but probably easier to pull off.
Ah, what the hell, gimme a challenge. Let's do the Murakumo mission. I figure I can come around to the Chrome mission on whatever this game's idea of a second playthrough is.
Since the mission is a big open snowy area (and isn't that an interesting change of environment) I think something that can handle longer range engagements might be a good idea. Haven't taken out any of the long rifles since ditching the starting gun, so I decide to try one of those.
Alas, there's no ghillie suit to put on the AC.
The mission starts with insertion by a dropship that is, as has become the pattern in this game, getting shot up by enemy air defenses. The actual spawn area isn't that hot, but there are a couple of missile emplacements that take an interest. The mission area isn't dark, per se, but the range of visibility is pretty short, presumably to simulate the illusion of darkness masking anything that's not right on top of you. Shifting to an arctic environment after so many missions of tunnels, buildings, and the occasional desert is a striking change, but it also demonstrates why most of the previous missions were not in a place like this, to wit:
Some very primitive-looking pine trees.
First thing I do is beeline for one particular corner of the map to find a bunker that's nestled behind a hill. Blowing up that bunker reveals . . . another hidden part (a missile launcher). I very gingerly walk over to pick it up—picking up items uses the same button as swinging the laser blade, which causes the mech to lunge forward. Normally, that's no big deal, but here, if I miss, it'd send me out of the mission area.
Pic taken right after grabbing the part. Notice how close I am to the red lines on the radar showing the out-of-bounds area.
That done, I start scouting the area for this factory. The sniper rifle I brought does decent damage, but I discover, much to my surprise, that it has incredibly poor muzzle velocity for some reason, on top of the naturally narrower lockbox. Against the big stationary guns, that's no big deal, but I end up getting pounced on by flamethrower drones too. Which fly. I'm maneuverable enough to keep from taking too much damage from them but clearing them out but, well, it takes a while.
Two minutes and change, oof.
After that it's kind of a scramble to find the entrance and blow it open. I don't get a lot of good screenshots either because I'm rushing not to fail the mission (sorry about that). Turns out it's crammed in another corner of the area. Blowing the door controls gets me a short cutscene of Murakumo air units moving in, and then the mission ends.
Minute and a half to go.
Fortunately, despite the ammo and repair costs, I end up making a fat bonus from destroying so much of the defenses. Final take is about 27k, plus a hidden part, which I'll look at some other time. Murakumo also sends me an email about the results of the battle.
Article: First, let us report the results of the battle. A Murakumo detachment was wildly successful in infiltrating the factory with excellent results. The success was all thanks to you.
It was a beautiful job.
I wish that Chrome would change their tactics, even a little. They are too forceful, don't you agree? The right leaders are necessary in order for all of humanity to be able to return above-ground.
Chrome is not suited for this.
Okay, first of all, for the umpteenth time, bullshit. Second, I'm not sure how faithful a translation of the original script that email is, but wow is that clumsy. This isn't the first instance of the game's English script having some obvious translation issues, but I've slide because the game is fighting against character limits and has been doing a serviceable job conveying meaningful information, even if it's awkward. This, however, is so awkward that it actually briefly takes me out of the experience. Still, at least it's comprehensible, as opposed to certain other games from this period I might name (*cough* Final Fantasy VII *cough*)
Whatever, moving on. Next miss-
LeoPointing.gif
On an intellectual level, I know that there is no possible way a gang called "Dark Soul" has any intentional connection to the Souls franchise. I mean, hell, Hidetaka Miyazaki wasn't even working at From in 1997. But, on the other hand, if you had told me before I reached this point that FromSoft had a group called "Dark Soul" in one of their games, and then made a game called "Dark Souls" years later and those two things were completely unconnected, I would have called bullshit instantly. That is amazing.
I gotta see what this one's about.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: AC parts
The gang "Dark Soul" broke into our property at Heavensrock, stole several tanks and fled.
Since they stole tanks, we cannot leave them alone. Go and defeat them as soon as possible.
Judging from their direction of escape, they seem to be hiding in the Zahm Desert. In that area many mines remain, left from the war. Be very careful.
Note that your pay for this mission is not cash but AC parts.
Desert terrain, filled with mines, enemy in tanks. I think that means it's time for a tank duel.
Heavy bazooka plus all the missiles I could stack onto a tank build. See if you can figure out the mistake I'm about to make.
Aww yeah, let's fucking go. Hitting sortie dumps me into yet another hot drop mission with the dropship getting rounds put into it yet again.
At this point I should make it a drinking game!
There's not much in the way of dialogue and no explanation of what this gang is or what they want (besides stealing a bunch of tanks--which, fair enough!) All I really know is they have tanks with guns and missiles. Unfortunately for them, I also have a tank with guns and missiles.
The mines hurt a little, but, more importantly, they knock the AC back a little, even in this heavy tank configuration, so I do try to drive around them while putting shells downrange.
A tank getting chunked by a bazooka.
I take some extra hits mixing it up for variety by swapping to missiles. Unfortunately, the tracking on the missiles is still bad and I would have been better off just blowing them up with the bazooka. It's really kind of frustrating that they are so bad—if I had to guess, I'd say it has something to do with the way the game handles shots being fired from a moving platform, since they tend to be better (but not great) when standing still.
A hard-earned missile kill.
Still, I'm having fun, and after a nice little rampage, I clear them all out and collect my paycheck
Wait a second. . .
Pictured: me, a fucking idiot.
God damn it I forgot I was getting paid in parts!
Whatever, it's fine, I have plenty of cash. Also, the part I got is the SP-AXL, an optional part that shortens missile lock times when equipped--I'll talk a little more about those next time. I'm probably not going to be using it because, as I just got done saying, missiles kinda suck.
The mission list is narrowing at this point: I have the choice between Guarding a Wharf Warehouse and Stopping a Security MT. I'm feeling like a guard mission at this point because I hunger for more (in)discriminate violence.
Article: Requested by: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: 32000
We want you to guard a new type of radar for ACs that we have developed. A prototype model is new stored in a warehouse at the wharf, but for some reason the security system does not function at all.
There is a good chance that someone intentionally sabotaged the system. It is probably the work of Chrome agents. You must protect the radar for your mission to succeed. We do not know the enemy's target, but you must not let them steal of destroy the radar.
Do not let anyone near the warehouse until the system is restored. We are counting on you, Raven.
I don't really have anything to add here. Murakumo seems like they know what's up, for once. I return to a biped build and decide, what the hell, let's bring the KARASAWA back out to play. I also decide to upgrade to the highest tier of laser sword currently available, the LS-3303, and slap on some new legs for better armor.
Yeah, I know I left the missiles on. Sue me.
Launching dumps me onto a big flat plain in the middle of the night in front of several hangars. Fortunately, I don't have to wait long before I get a warning that enemies are incoming. The first wave is a bunch of heavy flying drones, very similar to the ones used at the gun emplacement I hit way back when—which makes sense, if those are Chrome assets. Lining up shots with the KARASAWA is mildly tricky but not nearly as bad as those jets, and they still pop with one shot. A second wave follows shortly after, supported by ground walkers this time.
It's actually kind of neat that the enemies can be engaged from beyond visual range like this.
The final wave is more interesting because it's composed entirely of ground units who spawn from behind. Just, like, popping up in the middle of the depot. What the hell?
My confusion notwithstanding, dealing with this new threat is only a minor inconvenience. The KARASAWA annihilates most of them in short order, but I decide to try out the new laser blade on the last one. The results are. . .
Well, see for yourself:
Note that this guy was undamaged before I cut him down.
This time I actually get paid in money, to the tune of 28,000 credits. More than enough to leave me sitting pretty for the time being. Nothing new in the emails, so might as well check out the mission board.
Yikes.
That's quite an escalation. Rewards going way up just in time for the missions to get really spicy and the Corporate War to fully kick into gear. Hoo boy.
Not as much to say this update. The biggest thing of consequence is obviously deciding which faction to side with on the factory mission. I'm still waiting for the story to come together for this game, and at this point it's not looking like there's all that much of one beyond just a basic framing device for the missions. That's hardly unique for this era (or, really, any era) but. . . I dunno, I was hoping for more?
Fortunately, the bit about banging robots together is a lot of fun even if the connective tissue justifying each engagement is. . . thin. Still, I kind of wish I had more to say about it beyond "wow this cyberpunk future sure is hellish!" Only so many ways to milk that.
Gonna stop here for now since I'm at the image limit, and this big escalation seems like a reasonable place to pause. Tune in next time for even more unrestricted corporate warfare!
Thank you. I'm sorry to be such a hardass, but after seeing how careless people get in some other lets plays, I really don't want that to take root here.
e: Also, I've updated the ground rules to spell out the spoiler policy of the thread more clearly for everyone.
e: Also, I've updated the ground rules to spell out the spoiler policy of the thread more clearly for everyone.
Last edited:
- Location
- Amman, Jordan
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
"We've replaced Rhymes' mecha sword with explosives. Let's see if he notices..."My confusion notwithstanding, dealing with this new threat is only a minor inconvenience. The KARASAWA annihilates most of them in short order, but I decide to try out the new laser blade on the last one. The results are. . .
Well, see for yourself:
Note that this guy was undamaged before I cut him down.
Seriously, yikes! That's a serious melee upgrade.
Also, sucks about losing that much money on the tanks mission, but you seem to have rolled with it pretty well.
The optional part sells for 24,000, so it wasn't that big a hit. I was more annoyed that I forgot it was a parts mission than I was at how much money I lost.
Armored Core (1997) Part 7: Mad Science Edition (Missions 18-21)
Welcome back, everyone, to Armored Core. In today's installment, I finally run out of patience with SV's image limit and shell out for a subscription so I don't have to deal with that image cap anymore!
Also, the corpos start pulling out the weird shit.
Alright, so where were we again?
Oh yeah, this mess. All of these look like they're going to be different flavors of narratively horrifying and mechanically. . . interesting, but the Plus Escapee mission jumps out because of it's low reward. 5,000 credits is way below the payout of even easier missions from earlier in the game. Let's see what that's about.
Eeeyup, called it. Unethical Human PLUS experimentation, possibly inducing psychosis.
Also, I think this is the first time the game has actually mentioned that hidden parts are a thing. Up till now I've been relying on the power of googling things to uncover those secrets because, much like my LP forbears, I do not respect the pixel hunt. With that said I can totally see someone missing the hidden parts and only discovering that they exist here—thus missing out on some of the really good parts that I've already dug up on their playthrough.
I stick with a biped build for this mission. I might end up regretting not bringing a reverse-joint build, considering the mission is on a skyscraper, but humanoid ought to be good enough. I also take the time to kit myself out with some optional parts, which I haven't actually talked about up to this point. Probably should do that!
Optional parts, as the name implies, are optional parts that can be slotted into an AC to boost its performance in specific areas. Each of the three core units has a different number of slots, and the slot count is the other main differentiating feature besides weight and armor. For example, the middleweight XCA-00 core I'm currently using has 8 optional part slots. Optional parts are strictly beneficial, with no tradeoffs to slotting them in other than taking up slots that might be used for something else. There are eleven to choose from:
SP-ABS: reduces stagger from hits by kinetic weapons. 1 slot.
SP-AXL: Reduces missile lock time. Got this one as a reward for destroying the tank gang last update. 2 slots.
SP-CND-K: Boosts generator output, consumes a whopping 4 slots
SP-EH: Increases fire rate of energy weapons. 1 slot.
SP-E+: Increases damage of energy weapons(!) 1 slot(!!)
SP-E-SCR and S-SCR: Reduces energy and kinetic incoming damage. 1 and 2 slots, respectively.
SP-JAM: Sends out pulses to disable enemy missile lock. 3 slots.
SP-M/AUTO: Automatically launches a missile when locked. 1 slot.
SP-MAW: Adds incoming missile tracking to radar. 1 slot.
SP-SAP: Reduces recoil of heavy back weapons. 1 slot.
So, obviously, some of these stand out as potentially very strong and/or valuable. The main barrier up to this point was price—when credits are tight, new main parts are a much more attractive option, especially if you have to build for a mission. At this point, though, I've got enough that I can spring for a couple. I prioritize the SP-S-SCR, since my gut is that kinetics are going to be a popular choice for a while, and the SP-E+, because KARASAWA go pew pew pew.
Hey, I'm a simple man with simple pleasures. Don't judge me.
On launch, the mission starts me on an elevator traversing up the side of a skyscraper in the dead of night. The enemy is hanging around a couple of ruined towers off in the distance, but I'm not going to deal with him yet. Instead, I'm grabbing the generator—which is located on a ledge on the outside of this building. Two levels down.
Is this a bad time to mention I'm afraid of heights?
Nosing my way around the building is interesting, especially since bipeds require you to complete a full stride in their walk cycle to actually move forward, and with no analog movement, you can't inch forward the way you can with tanks and quads. This is especially nerve-wracking because the new generator is hanging out on the absolute edge of the structure.
How did this thing even manage to stay there?
After grabbing the generator, I jump back up to the top of the skyscraper (well, actually I shoot way over the top of it with by my boosters) and sight in on the target.
Cheeky fucker.
He's a little slippery since he's far away and likes to stay in the air, but then he makes the mistake of camping out on top of one of the other structures. Easy prey for my big green laser rifle.
I'm sure that has absolutely no implications for anything in the future.
I don't get paid a lot, not that I care—I took very little damage and fired only laser shots, plus I got a new generator.
A really good new generator. Damn.
After completing the mission, R sends me an email update on the Human PLUS program:
Well that explains frustratingly little! It's obvious from the way this email phrases things that there's some translation issues here. My best guess is that it's suggesting that we've already encountered someone who's gone cyberpsycho because of these experiments, which would make this email confirmation that the Red AC pilot is another Human PLUS subject gone rampant. Am I leaning in favor of this explanation because it means that I guessed right, earlier? Absolutely! But I also think it's the one that makes the most sense.
I decide to tackle the "Repulse Enemy Attack" mission next.
Okay, so fighting on a blimp means probably trying to stay as stationary as possible, but I still want some mobility in case I get knocked around. I stick with the same build as last time, save for installing the new generator.
Launching the mission puts me on a structure connecting two aerostats.
This is Murakumo's idea of a blimp, apparently.
The attacking force consists entirely of jets, just like the ones that hit the train in the desert a few missions back. This time, however, they spend a lot more time attacking various parts of the airship, which has its own defenses, than they do focusing on me. As a result, the long linear trajectories they follow when going for an attack run makes them much easier targets for the KARASAWA.
Target-rich environment.
There's no bonus tied to the state of the airship, so all I have to do is make sure that they don't shoot it down or knock me off the thing. After several minutes, the scopes show clear and the mission ends, netting me a good 27,000 credits and a notification that some new parts have unlocked in the store, including a large missile launcher, a linear rifle, and a heavy laser cannon. That last part is coming with me on the next mission.
That's right, it's time for another dive into the military facility. Since missions in that place tend to be really long and full of targets, I spec for more endurance with a quadruped build.
Bringing the MG for its ammo capacity and the Laser Cannon for heavy firepower.
The mission drops me into the same stark white corridors near where the APC got stuck—there's even the same shot-out door switch. At first, I'm greeted by a mix of slow-firing stationary turrets and some fast-moving dog-like robots that fire missiles at range before switching to guns up close.
A dog robot, encountered later on in the mission.
This portion of the facility is obviously designed around repelling hostile incursions, seeing as it has lots of static defenses, including turrets, energy barriers, locked doors, and bunkers complete with firing ports.
A laser fence. If there's a way around it I don't find it, but there's only one of them and it only does about 100 AP in damage.
A dog robot shooting out of a firing port. Actually shooting back through this port is trickier than it looks.
The actual targets are visible on the map, but this level is so complicated that I have to make my way through pretty much every room to ensure that nothing will jet out to shoot me in the back. The controllers have no innate defenses of their own, but they only blow up if you hit them in the right spot. Accomplishing this with non-analog PS1 controls is something of a challenge.
A controller. Yes, the big red circle is the sweet spot.
The last target is protected by a different type of MT—the only one actually showcased in the mission briefing. I would say they're more challenging, but, well, my MG running empty notwithstanding. . .
A walker getting a laser shiv between the ribs.
I stroll up to the last controller, shoot it in the big red circle, and go home. Attrition costs on this run were pretty high, but wiping out all the MTs got me a substantial bonus, so I end up walking away with 36,000 credits on a 38k credit mission. Not bad!
Alright, I've dodged the creature in the room long enough. Time to check up on this "Exterminate Organisms" mission. Is it a stand-up fight or another bug hunt?
Bug hunt it is. Get all your Aliens references out of the way now.
Speaking of which, that reminds me, there was a biosensor option for the head parts. I think I just found what it's meant for.
Might be a good idea to grab one of these.
I'm keeping the KARASAWA for heavy firepower for this one, but throwing on dual rocket pods for crowd control.
Mission start drops me right in the middle of the city, where there's a big ol' hole in the cavern wall with a single tiny bug coming out to greet me.
Well, tiny compared to a giant fucking robot, anyway.
Right off the bat I can tell I've made the right call swapping head parts. The biosensor is a necessary component to lock onto biological targets—which makes sense, since a software suite that's designed to ID the hull profile, heat signatures, or emissions of an MT or AC might well have trouble if asked to pick out a person-sized bug from the background. This is helpful for when I break out the KARASAWA to delete something right this second. For less urgent or more crowded situations, it's less important because my rocket pods are dumbfire to begin with.
My new friend introduces itself by spitting green goo at my mech. I respond by hurling a couple rockets back at it.
Rude.
I make my way into the hive, carving my way through endless swarms of the little critters. I'm not exaggerating about the endless thing, as there's these little holes near the ground in certain open chambers of the tunnel complex that spawn new bugs endlessly.
I know a swarm of giant bugs should probably be scary, but between the low-res rounded models and the bright colors, they're just kind of cute.
The level is kind of a maze, and the identical brown fleshy corridors make things more confusing. Fortunately, there's a trick: the corridors slope, and as long as you keep heading downhill, you're going the right way. Following the path eventually takes me past several large spawning chambers, before reaching an even bigger chamber at the end with:
The queen.
Before I engage, though, I dart off to one corner of the room to pick up a shiny new fire control system that's laying on the ground. Not sure why it's here: maybe one of the little 'uns thought it was food?
Mine. Lower left.
With that out of the way, I turn back to the queen. She's clearly intended as a boss-type enemy, with a unique design, lots of health, and a high damage energy shotgun blast fired from the eye. . . antenna . . . feeler . . . things she's got sticking up from her abdomen.
Lol KARASAWA go pew pew.
Clearing this mission gets me about 22,000 credits including a bonus for killing bugs, after expenses, plus an email from R confirming what you all have probably already guessed:
Well, I mean, yeah. Giant bugs capable of taking on a building-sized mecha is a gigantic indicator that somebody's engaging in some creative genetics, and, to the game's credit, it doesn't act mysterious about it. If anything, the existence of the bugs is what's meant to be a surprise, not that they're bioweapons.
As for who made them? That's actually not immediately apparent. Chrome has already demonstrated a willingness to use other weapons of mass destruction—remember the chemical weapons on the highway? And they generally have a much more cavalier attitude about collateral damage, so they definitely wouldn't blink at dumping bioweapons in a city to "see what happens." On the other hand, Murakumo has a lot of experience messing with biology thanks to the Human PLUS program, so I could see them deciding to move on from augmenting human biology to developing entirely new biology to weaponize.
Something to think about.
I'm going to pause here for now, since I think the next block of missions is one I should address on their own. Why? Well. . .
Next time: I get punked. A lot.
Also, the corpos start pulling out the weird shit.
Alright, so where were we again?
Oh yeah, this mess. All of these look like they're going to be different flavors of narratively horrifying and mechanically. . . interesting, but the Plus Escapee mission jumps out because of it's low reward. 5,000 credits is way below the payout of even easier missions from earlier in the game. Let's see what that's about.
Article: Requester: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: 5000
A subject from the "Plus" next-generation experiments has escaped from the lab.
We cannot divulge any details, but a certain experiment seems to have adversely affected the mind of the subject. An eye witness said that the subject is completely deranged. An ex-Raven, he ran amuck with his AC in the city, mowed down a Guard detachment and ran away above ground. We found him in an abandoned skyscraper in the old city.
If we leave the situation as is, we don't know when he will start running amuck again. Go to the skyscraper now and destroy him and his AC. We regret having to resort to such measures, but there is nothing else we can do. The footing is very poor at the site, so if you enter into combat, be very careful not to fall.
When he escaped, he took a prototype AC part with him. You don't have to return the AC part. If you find it, it's yours.
We are counting on you.
Eeeyup, called it. Unethical Human PLUS experimentation, possibly inducing psychosis.
Also, I think this is the first time the game has actually mentioned that hidden parts are a thing. Up till now I've been relying on the power of googling things to uncover those secrets because, much like my LP forbears, I do not respect the pixel hunt. With that said I can totally see someone missing the hidden parts and only discovering that they exist here—thus missing out on some of the really good parts that I've already dug up on their playthrough.
I stick with a biped build for this mission. I might end up regretting not bringing a reverse-joint build, considering the mission is on a skyscraper, but humanoid ought to be good enough. I also take the time to kit myself out with some optional parts, which I haven't actually talked about up to this point. Probably should do that!
Optional parts, as the name implies, are optional parts that can be slotted into an AC to boost its performance in specific areas. Each of the three core units has a different number of slots, and the slot count is the other main differentiating feature besides weight and armor. For example, the middleweight XCA-00 core I'm currently using has 8 optional part slots. Optional parts are strictly beneficial, with no tradeoffs to slotting them in other than taking up slots that might be used for something else. There are eleven to choose from:
SP-ABS: reduces stagger from hits by kinetic weapons. 1 slot.
SP-AXL: Reduces missile lock time. Got this one as a reward for destroying the tank gang last update. 2 slots.
SP-CND-K: Boosts generator output, consumes a whopping 4 slots
SP-EH: Increases fire rate of energy weapons. 1 slot.
SP-E+: Increases damage of energy weapons(!) 1 slot(!!)
SP-E-SCR and S-SCR: Reduces energy and kinetic incoming damage. 1 and 2 slots, respectively.
SP-JAM: Sends out pulses to disable enemy missile lock. 3 slots.
SP-M/AUTO: Automatically launches a missile when locked. 1 slot.
SP-MAW: Adds incoming missile tracking to radar. 1 slot.
SP-SAP: Reduces recoil of heavy back weapons. 1 slot.
So, obviously, some of these stand out as potentially very strong and/or valuable. The main barrier up to this point was price—when credits are tight, new main parts are a much more attractive option, especially if you have to build for a mission. At this point, though, I've got enough that I can spring for a couple. I prioritize the SP-S-SCR, since my gut is that kinetics are going to be a popular choice for a while, and the SP-E+, because KARASAWA go pew pew pew.
Hey, I'm a simple man with simple pleasures. Don't judge me.
On launch, the mission starts me on an elevator traversing up the side of a skyscraper in the dead of night. The enemy is hanging around a couple of ruined towers off in the distance, but I'm not going to deal with him yet. Instead, I'm grabbing the generator—which is located on a ledge on the outside of this building. Two levels down.
Is this a bad time to mention I'm afraid of heights?
Nosing my way around the building is interesting, especially since bipeds require you to complete a full stride in their walk cycle to actually move forward, and with no analog movement, you can't inch forward the way you can with tanks and quads. This is especially nerve-wracking because the new generator is hanging out on the absolute edge of the structure.
How did this thing even manage to stay there?
After grabbing the generator, I jump back up to the top of the skyscraper (well, actually I shoot way over the top of it with by my boosters) and sight in on the target.
Cheeky fucker.
He's a little slippery since he's far away and likes to stay in the air, but then he makes the mistake of camping out on top of one of the other structures. Easy prey for my big green laser rifle.
I'm sure that has absolutely no implications for anything in the future.
I don't get paid a lot, not that I care—I took very little damage and fired only laser shots, plus I got a new generator.
A really good new generator. Damn.
After completing the mission, R sends me an email update on the Human PLUS program:
Article: For better or worse, the Human Plus technology is extremely advanced and complex. For this reason, it almost certainly has some extremely unstable side effects. We cannot be sure that this kind of incident has not happened in the past.
Yes, I am referring to "that man."
I'll be in touch.
Well that explains frustratingly little! It's obvious from the way this email phrases things that there's some translation issues here. My best guess is that it's suggesting that we've already encountered someone who's gone cyberpsycho because of these experiments, which would make this email confirmation that the Red AC pilot is another Human PLUS subject gone rampant. Am I leaning in favor of this explanation because it means that I guessed right, earlier? Absolutely! But I also think it's the one that makes the most sense.
I decide to tackle the "Repulse Enemy Attack" mission next.
Article: Requested by: Murakumo Millenium
Advance: 0
Upon success: 32000
Recently, our transport blimps have been attacked one after another. We don't know what they want, but the blimp is always shot down so the target is probably not the payload. Perhaps they are simply intending to interrupt our operations at someone's instigation. We could provide full-scale escorts, but this risks marring our reputation. These incidents have not gotten out to the public, so we want you to ride secretly in the blimp and repulse the attacking group.
Note that we expect the battle to be fought on the blimp, so be careful not to fall.
Okay, so fighting on a blimp means probably trying to stay as stationary as possible, but I still want some mobility in case I get knocked around. I stick with the same build as last time, save for installing the new generator.
Launching the mission puts me on a structure connecting two aerostats.
This is Murakumo's idea of a blimp, apparently.
The attacking force consists entirely of jets, just like the ones that hit the train in the desert a few missions back. This time, however, they spend a lot more time attacking various parts of the airship, which has its own defenses, than they do focusing on me. As a result, the long linear trajectories they follow when going for an attack run makes them much easier targets for the KARASAWA.
Target-rich environment.
There's no bonus tied to the state of the airship, so all I have to do is make sure that they don't shoot it down or knock me off the thing. After several minutes, the scopes show clear and the mission ends, netting me a good 27,000 credits and a notification that some new parts have unlocked in the store, including a large missile launcher, a linear rifle, and a heavy laser cannon. That last part is coming with me on the next mission.
Article: Requester: Earth Environment Reclamation Committee
Advance: 0
Upon success: 38000
We have a mission for you regarding the old military facility where we previously sent a survey team.
The survey of the first basement level is complete, but a passage thought to lead to the lower levels was found during the survey. However, just past it was an extremely powerful security MT that we could not defeat with our weapons. Oddly, it never comes out of the passage to attack us. It seems to be protecting something. Anyway, this facility still has many mysteries.
According to a structural diagram of the place found on the first floor, there are several control panels for the Security MTs in the back. We want you to destroy them.
That's right, it's time for another dive into the military facility. Since missions in that place tend to be really long and full of targets, I spec for more endurance with a quadruped build.
Bringing the MG for its ammo capacity and the Laser Cannon for heavy firepower.
The mission drops me into the same stark white corridors near where the APC got stuck—there's even the same shot-out door switch. At first, I'm greeted by a mix of slow-firing stationary turrets and some fast-moving dog-like robots that fire missiles at range before switching to guns up close.
A dog robot, encountered later on in the mission.
This portion of the facility is obviously designed around repelling hostile incursions, seeing as it has lots of static defenses, including turrets, energy barriers, locked doors, and bunkers complete with firing ports.
A laser fence. If there's a way around it I don't find it, but there's only one of them and it only does about 100 AP in damage.
A dog robot shooting out of a firing port. Actually shooting back through this port is trickier than it looks.
The actual targets are visible on the map, but this level is so complicated that I have to make my way through pretty much every room to ensure that nothing will jet out to shoot me in the back. The controllers have no innate defenses of their own, but they only blow up if you hit them in the right spot. Accomplishing this with non-analog PS1 controls is something of a challenge.
A controller. Yes, the big red circle is the sweet spot.
The last target is protected by a different type of MT—the only one actually showcased in the mission briefing. I would say they're more challenging, but, well, my MG running empty notwithstanding. . .
A walker getting a laser shiv between the ribs.
I stroll up to the last controller, shoot it in the big red circle, and go home. Attrition costs on this run were pretty high, but wiping out all the MTs got me a substantial bonus, so I end up walking away with 36,000 credits on a 38k credit mission. Not bad!
Alright, I've dodged the creature in the room long enough. Time to check up on this "Exterminate Organisms" mission. Is it a stand-up fight or another bug hunt?
Article: Requester: Gal City Guard
Advance: 0 Upon success: 30000
Theater of operations: Gal City Office District
This is the Gal City Guard. Our city is now occupied by unknown giant organisms. I don't even know if "organism" is right, but I've never seen anything like 'em before.
The things are extremely fierce and attack anything that moves. Our citizens have suffered many casualties from the animal horde. We have no way of fighting back.
A biological analysis of their behavior patterns shows a social structure much like that of ants of bees. There must be a "queen" somewhere that directs the swarm.
Investigators found an unfamiliar hole in a wall in the office district, so this might be the beast's nest.
Your mission is to find and destroy the "queen". If you can take out the leader, the swarm will become disorganized and we can take it from there. We are counting on you.
Bug hunt it is. Get all your Aliens references out of the way now.
Speaking of which, that reminds me, there was a biosensor option for the head parts. I think I just found what it's meant for.
Might be a good idea to grab one of these.
Mission start drops me right in the middle of the city, where there's a big ol' hole in the cavern wall with a single tiny bug coming out to greet me.
Well, tiny compared to a giant fucking robot, anyway.
Right off the bat I can tell I've made the right call swapping head parts. The biosensor is a necessary component to lock onto biological targets—which makes sense, since a software suite that's designed to ID the hull profile, heat signatures, or emissions of an MT or AC might well have trouble if asked to pick out a person-sized bug from the background. This is helpful for when I break out the KARASAWA to delete something right this second. For less urgent or more crowded situations, it's less important because my rocket pods are dumbfire to begin with.
My new friend introduces itself by spitting green goo at my mech. I respond by hurling a couple rockets back at it.
Rude.
I make my way into the hive, carving my way through endless swarms of the little critters. I'm not exaggerating about the endless thing, as there's these little holes near the ground in certain open chambers of the tunnel complex that spawn new bugs endlessly.
I know a swarm of giant bugs should probably be scary, but between the low-res rounded models and the bright colors, they're just kind of cute.
The level is kind of a maze, and the identical brown fleshy corridors make things more confusing. Fortunately, there's a trick: the corridors slope, and as long as you keep heading downhill, you're going the right way. Following the path eventually takes me past several large spawning chambers, before reaching an even bigger chamber at the end with:
The queen.
Before I engage, though, I dart off to one corner of the room to pick up a shiny new fire control system that's laying on the ground. Not sure why it's here: maybe one of the little 'uns thought it was food?
Mine. Lower left.
With that out of the way, I turn back to the queen. She's clearly intended as a boss-type enemy, with a unique design, lots of health, and a high damage energy shotgun blast fired from the eye. . . antenna . . . feeler . . . things she's got sticking up from her abdomen.
Lol KARASAWA go pew pew.
Clearing this mission gets me about 22,000 credits including a bonus for killing bugs, after expenses, plus an email from R confirming what you all have probably already guessed:
Article: You may have already noticed this yourself, but those things were in no way organisms. They are undeniably weapons that are disguised as organisms. From the looks of things, it appears that this outbreak was really a field exercise to test a new weapon.
Such large-scale testing could only have been done by Murakumo or Chrome, so one of the two must have been behind it. Regardless of which it was, I feel that it will not be long before we see the confrontation between the two come to a head.
I'll be in touch.
Well, I mean, yeah. Giant bugs capable of taking on a building-sized mecha is a gigantic indicator that somebody's engaging in some creative genetics, and, to the game's credit, it doesn't act mysterious about it. If anything, the existence of the bugs is what's meant to be a surprise, not that they're bioweapons.
As for who made them? That's actually not immediately apparent. Chrome has already demonstrated a willingness to use other weapons of mass destruction—remember the chemical weapons on the highway? And they generally have a much more cavalier attitude about collateral damage, so they definitely wouldn't blink at dumping bioweapons in a city to "see what happens." On the other hand, Murakumo has a lot of experience messing with biology thanks to the Human PLUS program, so I could see them deciding to move on from augmenting human biology to developing entirely new biology to weaponize.
Something to think about.
I'm going to pause here for now, since I think the next block of missions is one I should address on their own. Why? Well. . .
Next time: I get punked. A lot.