5 vs Iron Rain, If I already have 4.1

[Tactile]

Really enjoyed 4.1 and now they're on sale I want to try the newer released. Is it worth getting 5 or Iron rain.

I concerned 5 is too similar to 4.1

[ToKoRoSaKu]

clearly pick up the 5 its alway a good game with a lot of Fun in it

iron rain is more looking like Earth defence force Insect Armagedon : less enemie per mission more serious ambiance even if its good in a way

[NairBoT]

I bought this on the recent sale.

EDF 5 is more of the same made by the same people.
Sandlot, I think is the name of dev from Japan.
The EDF 6 that's coming is from original dev too. :)

For me, this game is still very similar but more for western audience.
I still like it but would choose original games by Sandlot if I had to choose.
I started playing this series at EDF 2017 on xbox360.
However, I think its been around since PS2.

I didn't like Armageddon but I had already played the better Sandlot games.

[sling_shot]

Four hours into Iron Rain, I can say this:

I prefer EDF5 by a long shot however Iron Rain isn't that bad, it's just very annoying at times, It pales in comparison with the mainline EDF games:

Iron Rain looks SIGNIFICANTLY better and is more stable than 5,
Everything about EDF5 screams EDF (dialogues, the iconic shoutouts, classes, items, sounds effects, playable characters apparance); Iron Rain just looks like a very polished wannabe and troops barely say anything EDF-ish.

EDF5 gives you access to very juicy and unique weapons almost immediatly and you have to clollect them on the field; in Iron Rain you're stuck with the pretty standard third person shooters weapons for muuuch longer and the good weapons you need to BUY THEM

Iron Rain as a weird deeper cosmetic customization that gives you the most boring parts almost for free, but locks the cooler outfits parts behind some weird grindwall... so yeah if you're mainly a Wing Diver like me, just buy this
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106310/EARTH_DEFENSE_FORCE_IRON_RAIN__Creation_parts_Pale_Wing/
so that you never need to look at that screen ever again; in EDF5 each class just looks the best way it possibly can and that's it which imo is better.

Iron Rain has destructability, meaning covers don't last very long.
Also, if you're a wing diver, Iron Rain has a significantly worse movement system: no dodge, dash locks in one direction and it feels less floaty overall.

EDF5 has way more interesting missions which are very ofter on very large maps.
Iron Rain has less interesting and slightly more annoying missions: you fight in relativels smaller areas with, listen to this, "return to combat area" warnings . Not only that,it expects you to play "kill confirmed" while fighting giant enemies: killing them is not enough, you have to loot them or else you can't purchase the really good weapons since enemies in IR don't drop Weapon crates, but currency gems .

[ShinkuTear]

Originally posted by Point Man:

Not only that,it expects you to play "kill confirmed" while fighting giant enemies: killing them is not enough, you have to loot them or else you can't purchase the really good weapons since enemies in IR don't drop Weapon crates, but currency gems .

While most of your points are valid, this one is a bit odd to bring up against Iron Rain.

EDF4.1 and 5 both expect you play "kill confirmed" with almost every enemy, because of the crates they drop, those crates are your Max HP Up and your new weapons. None of the games have a built in auto-loot in any sense, you have to grab it all yourself no matter what, that's not an issue with IR.

With IR, since every enemy is just dropping 1 of 3 types of money that you then spend on what you want, you can actually neglect looting to a degree, it's not quite as important compared to when every enemy could be dropping a a gun upgrade(in 5)/a new gun/max HP. Thus, it's actually mitigating some of the grind from 4.1 and 5.

A point I have against Iron Rain, is the post-mission banter. I wish I could specifically mute Livy, so that I don't have to hear her.

Point in favor though: Regardless of what class you play in Iron Rain, you can always use the same weapons. So if you are fed up with 4.1/5 Fencer being stuck with mostly slow weapons or tired of 5 Wing Diver having had 80% of her weapons nerfed into oblivion... Iron Rain always lets you use practical and effective weapons.

Iron Rain also has a Practice mode/stage, purely for trying out new guns and how they might interact with the different classes, which is something that 4.1 and 5 could have used.

[Tactile]

I ended up purchasing 5, I might get iron rain before the sale ends. I've been having a ton of fun with 5, the quality of life features make it so much easier to play.

Obviously the game a has ton of reused assets which can be a turn off for some people and still suffers from widescreen support and texture streaming causing stuttering, which I turning to on/off (not 3d dsetting) on Nvidia control panel fixed the latter.

I actually enjoy the overall style of this title more, it feels more cohesive and the focus on rebooting story.

bring back 4.1's song

[NairBoT]

I went back to 4.1 and installed this awesome mod.
https://www.moddb.com/mods/earth-defense-force-41-mod/downloads

The mod does so much for 4.1, new weapons, stages, and more.

I got 4.1 all tricked out.
Limit break mod + Special K(HDR on) + ReShade shader overlay to apply sharpening and a couple other shaders to my taste.


*EDF 5 has an awesome mod too. I will check it out eventually.
https://www.nexusmods.com/earthdefenseforce5/mods/1

[Terrenblade]

Ten minutes in, 5. 100%
I am no longer buying edf 6 without a demo.