Gonna play Daemon X Machina (Finished it)

[Gerbera]

I'll just post my review of it here.

6.5/10 Buy Armored Core 6 First, Then This

I'm mixed on this as Daemon X Machina's strongest aspects is the Arsenal/Mech combat on the player's end, concepts for combat encounters, its visual artstyle and its music. I enjoy all of that.

However everything else ranges from mediocre to boring and awful. This will most likely sour the taste for most a bit.

I'll start with the Negatives as they truly bring down the overall experience

Lackluster, Monotone Story

Its the negative you see every other review talking about. Daemon X Machina and Armored Core 6 have extremely similar plots, but the former executes it in the most boring, unimaginative way possible. The story in this game suffers from a lack of subtlety with regards to telling the player exactly what is going on as it does so with mind numbing paragraphs of exposition by extremely uninteresting characters (will get to those later). In addition, the story itself suffers from major inconsistencies with regards to tone as some scenes and characters feel extremely out of place in certain scenarios.

Final issue the story has is its predictability (and this will tie into gameplay but we will get there). This game tries its best to throw a plot twist or a surprise at the player around every corner and they all land flat because most of the time you are expecting it already. So overall it feels monotone, flat and sort of lacking in focus.

Horrible Dialogue and Mixed Characters

Characters in this game falls into two categories.

• Either A, they are very one note in who they are and not much else in terms of character. They are just kinda there and don't really grow per say.
  
  
• Or B, they are a generic anime stereotype that has nothing interesting going in with them other than other than their cliche personalities/behavior. Armored Core 6 has these as well to a degree, but that game also adds some unsuspecting traits to them to make them interesting. In addition, AC6's lore with the factions, other characters and the story overall makes you connect with most of them.

In my opinion, DXM voice actors and actresses are extremely talented. But the problem is that the material they are given along with the directing is so poor and awkward that they cannot save it.

Dialogue especially have a tendency to keep going for too long and especially into philosophical territory.

Mission Design is Infuriating

This game is plagued with escort and defense missions that are so irritating to play that you will want to take a break after you finish them. Couple with this is the fact that the game, just like the story, likes to throw curve balls in these missions nonstop. Perfect example I can think of at the top of my head is one where there are two objectives to defend and two enemy mechs present. Your first instinct up until that point is to fight these two but guess what, even though they appear on your radar and screen as enemies, you can't damage them but they can damage you. What you are suppose to do is the busy work by killing extremely small groups of fodder enemies coming towards the objectives while you hear your allies fight and argue with those 2 pests of mech pilots.

There will be a ton of moments (like every two missions) like this where you the player feel like if you have little to no control over the game you are playing and everything is heavily scripted. It is infuriating because you will be playing the game how you think you are suppose to play it but nope, let a cutscene play and the whole mission changes and you probably wasted your ammo on that one guy for no reason.

Enemy Variety is Lackluster

This game is filled with too much filler enemies that cant really do much to you unless you stay still and spread your cheeks. And they literally throw nothing new at you.

Enemy Arsenal AI is Inconsistent

Arsenals are the mechs you along with non player characters pilot in this game. The enemy Arsenel AI however ranges from good to "No thought, head empty". I have no idea why they sometimes just stop moving or doing anything for the matter and let you hose them down with the wrath of our lord and savior.

Bosses are Boring

Bosses in this game are spectacle for sure and are auditory feasts. But that is all they really are. Other than being giant bullet sponges, they really don't do much to attack the player per say so they come off as boring.

The Good

Combat

DXM's combat is essentially Armored Core i.e., 3 dimensional movement via the use of boosters but your body will always be oriented mostly parallel to the X axis and you have 4 weapons at your disposal. DXM's twist to it is that it has implemented a heavier emphasis on moving throughout the air so you see why some other reviews say this feels like a mix between AC and Zone of the Enders (that has a lot of air combat).

In addition, its combat has additional features not present in AC games such as the femto modifier system which essentially allows the player to augment a feature of themselves mid combat to perform better in that aspect which can be seen with the clone you can spawn of the movement modifier.

All of this is great tbh and it will make anyone want to keep going through the negatives to finish the game.

Artstyle and Music

You've already seen the artstyle and its great. Though it kinda bites the gameplay in the a s s as it can be a bit difficult to see what is going on sometimes. But nonetheless, its great. Music is fantastic as well as well.

Final Thoughts

Daemon X Machina is a good-ish game carried by its strong fundamentals with its arsenal combat, visuals and music. However, it is held back badly by those negatives. I have mixed opinions on it and I do recommend you get it. However, if you gonna buy this, get it at a discount. I hope they improve a lot of the gameplay/negatives elements in the future as I know the story writing and character quality isn't going to.

I like the game but it needs some work.




EDIT:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3213442098
I just realized I spelt his name wrong this entire time lmfao

[Dakota]

played it back when it came out, was pretty nice.

[D. Flame]

It's great.

[Speed Malus]

DXM is like Borderlards 3, gameplay is really good but story is really trash

Though not as extreme.

[Kain]

Yeah, it's a pretty fun game. Not as indepth as Fires of Rubicon but still fun to switch parts. Also, I really dig the aesthetics and it has something I wish AC had more, ginormous enemies.

[Chibbity]

Let's be real guys, the story in AC6 or really any of the AC games, isn't exactly Shakespeare lol; and the characters can often be just as goofy and one dimensional.

[Kain]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Let's be real guys, the story in AC6 or really any of the AC games, isn't exactly Shakespeare lol; and the characters can often be just as goofy and one dimensional.

Characters, absolutely, but they do make interesting world with little details about their themes.

AC6 specifically, some characters are one dimensional, like Michigan that I still love. Others not so much, like Walter that goes through a transformation through a very well done character building, from seeing the mercenaries under him as just resources to actually be happy by their accomplishments and letting go of his pursuit once he understands that the coral aren't as simplistic as he initially thought.

Even Iguazu shows some maturity and will power later on and is used perfectly as a foil to the main charater. Maybe it's not shakespeare, but AC6 has a legitimaly good story.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by Kain:

Maybe it's not shakespeare, but AC6 has a legitimaly good story.

Well, "good enough" anyways.

Just saying, it's the accepted norm in giant mecha games that the story prolly won't be anything spectacular, and that it will be filled with trope characters; so that should generally be your expectation realistically.

[Kain]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Originally posted by Kain:

Maybe it's not shakespeare, but AC6 has a legitimaly good story.

Well, "good enough" anyways.

Just saying, it's the accepted norm in giant mecha games that the story prolly won't be anything spectacular, and that it will be filled with trope characters; so that should generally be your expectation realistically.

Yeah, but my point is that the story is legit great. Plus, we do have other examples of mecha games with great stories, for example Xenogears.

Still, what is considered 'great' will change from person to person.

[Gerbera]

Originally posted by Kain:

Originally posted by Chibbity:

Well, "good enough" anyways.

Just saying, it's the accepted norm in giant mecha games that the story prolly won't be anything spectacular, and that it will be filled with trope characters; so that should generally be your expectation realistically.

Yeah, but my point is that the story is legit great. Plus, we do have other examples of mecha games with great stories, for example Xenogears.

Still, what is considered 'great' will change from person to person.

The easier thing to point out is if a story is legitimately so uninteresting or the characters are so bad that you zone out from the experience.

As at the end of the day what is good to someone is up to preference and stuff.

But AC6 has by far the most solid story being sold in the franchise with some legitimately great characters. The liberator of Rubicon path is a perfect example of this. And if they are not great from being in depth, Fromsoft's magic of using context and the lore itself the add intrigue to them (even if its very little) is there for most of them. It won't be everyone's cup of tea yes but it is a solid AC game that has some kinks it definitely needs to iron out (as per every entry in this series that does something new).





Daemon X Machina's story however, whilst I haven't fully played through it yet, seems to be just kinda there from what I'm seeing from people. When a story is just kinda there, players will not care for it. There is little to no intrigue behind any faction or anything so far from what I'm seeing so far.

And the characters especially are atrocious. They range from "I don't mind this guy. he ain't interesting but he isn't irritating me" to "This is why I barely watch anime (or at least bs aimed towards teenagers)".

Daemon X Machina's greatest strength is its gameplay, aesthetic and music which nobody can deny. But everything else outside of that is pain.

[Chibbity]

I gotta be honest, I preferred the classic AC game's where the story was just 90% faceless corporations backstabbing each other with you caught in the middle; instead of what we have now.

Too much "Only you can save the universe chosen one!" for my tastes.

It's not bad, but it's not great either.

[Gerbera]

Originally posted by Chibbity:

I gotta be honest, I preferred the classic AC game's where the story was just 90% faceless corporations backstabbing each other with you caught in the middle; instead of what we have now.

Too much "Only you can save the universe chosen one!" for my tastes.

It's not bad, but it's not great either.

And I respect thou's opinion .

or is it thy?

idfk lmao wheres Zanyfish with his fact checking essays when you need him

[D. Flame]

DxM story isn't bad if you like late =-80s, early-90s anime. Things like Bubblegum Crisis or EYES of Mars.

[Zany Fish]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

DxM story isn't bad if you like late =-80s, early-90s anime. Things like Bubblegum Crisis or EYES of Mars.

IDK, I, personally, preferred Bubblegum Crisis 2040 over the OG.

The biggest issue with DxM's story IMO was whoever thought it was good design to force the player to have to advance the text comm chats by continuously having to press a button to do so. Yeah, it isn't the greatest story, but the length of pauses and being force to wear out the controller vs just having an adjustable auto-flow really bugged me.

Originally posted by Gerbera:

Originally posted by Chibbity:

I gotta be honest, I preferred the classic AC game's where the story was just 90% faceless corporations backstabbing each other with you caught in the middle; instead of what we have now.

Too much "Only you can save the universe chosen one!" for my tastes.

It's not bad, but it's not great either.

And I respect thou's opinion .

or is it thy?

idfk lmao wheres Zanyfish with his fact checking essays when you need him

Whut? Suddenly I'm the ol' english of the community? Whence forth did thou becometh?

And yes, AC's story was always faceless. The closest we ever got to seeing a face of anyone was that they'd show up piloting an AC or boss MT thing and spout some lines at us. The only time we even saw humans was in either Nexus or Last Raven as they added infantry units but they were a used in like only 2 missions to my memory and I don't think they were even to scale.

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by Zany Fish:

Originally posted by D. Flame:

DxM story isn't bad if you like late =-80s, early-90s anime. Things like Bubblegum Crisis or EYES of Mars.

IDK, I, personally, preferred Bubblegum Crisis 2040 over the OG.

The biggest issue with DxM's story IMO was whoever thought it was good design to force the player to have to advance the text comm chats by continuously having to press a button to do so. Yeah, it isn't the greatest story, but the length of pauses and being force to wear out the controller vs just having an adjustable auto-flow really bugged me.

I wish every game out there had the ability to skip right to gameplay for those that want it, so I won't argue against that.

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

DxM story isn't bad if you like late =-80s, early-90s anime. Things like Bubblegum Crisis or EYES of Mars.

Basically this^

If you grew up watching early anime, you'll be used to the eye rolling, groan inducing characters; and at times you can even enjoy it somewhat lol.