Ace Difficulty is too easy?

[Mistress Spitfire]

I'm a long time veteran when it comes to the Ace Combat franchise, and I've been polishing up most of my medals before I do my Ace difficulty run, and after that go for each of the S ranks but I was confused once I saw that a drone's missile struck me and I only took 35%~ damage or so.

In the older titles, Ace difficulty put you on level playing field with all of the other planes, where just a single missile would be enough to down you, and a very small burst of AA fire or machine guns could do the same. Why doesn't the difficulty feel any different from Hard difficulty? Why have they made it so much easier than it was before? It'd be nice to see this changed, one of the biggest thrills for me was taking down the Arsenal Bird, no damage, machine gun only, I wish Ace difficulty could go back to being what it once was.

[FerSantander]

Escrito originalmente por Mistress Spitfire:

Escrito originalmente por Vanacutt:

Yeah, it's too easy when you use end game plane, parts and convenient special weapon...

I'm using a Typhoon in my current Ace difficulty run and I'm not struggling with it at all. I've gotten all S ranks so far and I've just gotten past Long Day.
It's too easy no matter what.

ah the Typhoon in this game. It was the best non-fictional from ac5 to 6, and the second best on ac4. However, it is clearly the worst top tier plane this time, and without parts it handles like an F4 lol. Also, dat stability at low speed with this ac7 Typhoon...

This is one of the things I don't like about having parts in the system. All planes without them are so so slow at rolling. Why?, roll was perfect in AC4, where even low tier planes could roll very fast like they do in real life, and the pitch speeds were pretty damn good too when it comes to realism. Then ac5 came with the new engine (which is still same as today lol), and pitch became laughably arcade whereas roll went the clumsy way.

Just imagine an ac3-4 engine with todays graphics. Also, lower FOV was better imo in third person view. AC3 will always proof to that

[Mistress Spitfire]

Escrito originalmente por Insanity:

I like the lax Ace damage for AC7, playing Zero and Unsung War and getting instagibbed by either Gault / Sorcerer or trying to outrun Grabacr Squadron in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ A-10 is brutal and often frustrating. I finished two of these games already so I can say that while AC7's Ace is a step down, it's really meant for the more casual dudes.

The hardest difficulty in the game, one that isn't even unlocked from the get-go, should not be a mode for the 'casual' audience. The big appeal of the older games is that Ace difficulty levelled the playing field and made it so you were just as strong as your opponents. This game takes that away from you by letting you sponge for damage a ridiculous amount. With the bulletproof fuel tank and the health regen upgrade on Ace difficulty, the only way you can die is if you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ TRY to die. That's not how it should be. Casuals need not apply.

[Young Erusean Officer]

A lot the AA guns would be unavoidable though. Regular ones would be 10% per hit while the big ones like on ships and special ground tgts around 30% armor/health damage per hit. There's the lasers too.

Personally I'd like more a mode where both you and the enemy dies in one missile and every enemy has the AI of an Ace/Squadron.

[Mistress Spitfire]

Escrito originalmente por Young Erusian Officer:

A lot the AA guns would be unavoidable though.

That's not true at all though, you can easily clear each stage on Ace with an S rank, and without taking a spot of damage, even with the lower tier aircraft.

[aG| Wardog]

Escrito originalmente por Insanity:

I like the lax Ace damage for AC7, playing Zero and Unsung War and getting instagibbed by either Gault / Sorcerer or trying to outrun Grabacr Squadron in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ A-10 is brutal and often frustrating. I finished two of these games already so I can say that while AC7's Ace is a step down, it's really meant for the more casual dudes.

The “more casual dudes” can play at any of the other difficulties though. If they’d prefer less of a challenge, that’s what they should do, not have one of the bits that veterans love be dumbed down for them so that they can say they finished the game on the highest difficulty, when it’s just as easy as the one below it.

Thinking like that is almost as entitled as the people who whinged about Cuphead being too hard.

[Mattoropael]

Escrito originalmente por Mistress Spitfire:

In the older titles, Ace difficulty put you on level playing field with all of the other planes, where just a single missile would be enough to down you, and a very small burst of AA fire or machine guns could do the same.

No, old Ace was making you more fragile than any AI plane to compensate for their overall lack of intelligence. They die to a short burst of your gun or two missiles, not one missile or three stray bullets.

On the other hand, AC7's Ace went too far on the other end. Enemy aggressiveness is greatly improved, but they simply do not deal enough damage to be a threat, especially on higher-tier planes with armor and extinguisher.

[JtDarth]

Escrito originalmente por Wardog:

Escrito originalmente por Insanity:

I like the lax Ace damage for AC7, playing Zero and Unsung War and getting instagibbed by either Gault / Sorcerer or trying to outrun Grabacr Squadron in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ A-10 is brutal and often frustrating. I finished two of these games already so I can say that while AC7's Ace is a step down, it's really meant for the more casual dudes.

The “more casual dudes” can play at any of the other difficulties though. If they’d prefer less of a challenge, that’s what they should do, not have one of the bits that veterans love be dumbed down for them so that they can say they finished the game on the highest difficulty, when it’s just as easy as the one below it.

Thinking like that is almost as entitled as the people who whinged about Cuphead being too hard.

Or maybe we can get an ACE+ dlc/update down the line that will add a harder difficulty.
Basically it sounds like you are wanting an in-between difficulty to take the place of the current ACE.

[aG| Wardog]

Escrito originalmente por JtDarth:

Escrito originalmente por Wardog:

The “more casual dudes” can play at any of the other difficulties though. If they’d prefer less of a challenge, that’s what they should do, not have one of the bits that veterans love be dumbed down for them so that they can say they finished the game on the highest difficulty, when it’s just as easy as the one below it.

Thinking like that is almost as entitled as the people who whinged about Cuphead being too hard.

Or maybe we can get an ACE+ dlc/update down the line that will add a harder difficulty.
Basically it sounds like you are wanting an in-between difficulty to take the place of the current ACE.

I’d be down for that, but it should have been in the game from the start. I want a difficulty that’s actually a challenge, even in high end aircraft.

[Mistress Spitfire]

Escrito originalmente por Mattoropael:

No, old Ace was making you more fragile than any AI plane to compensate for their overall lack of intelligence. They die to a short burst of your gun or two missiles, not one missile or three stray bullets.

Considering in the older games the enemy planes only shoot one missile at a time, and the usual strategy against other planes is to fire a salvo of two missiles in return, it makes sense to me.

Escrito originalmente por JtDarth:

Or maybe we can get an ACE+ dlc/update down the line that will add a harder difficulty.
Basically it sounds like you are wanting an in-between difficulty to take the place of the current ACE.

It would be nice to see an Ace of Aces mode come in down the line that makes the difficulty as it should be, but my main gripe is that I genuinely can't tell the difference between 'Hard' and 'Ace'. Asides from the score requirements, which I don't even notice as I usually blitz them, they both feel just as easy.

[Useless Bunny]

Escrito originalmente por FerSantander:

Escrito originalmente por Mistress Spitfire:

I'm using a Typhoon in my current Ace difficulty run and I'm not struggling with it at all. I've gotten all S ranks so far and I've just gotten past Long Day.
It's too easy no matter what.

ah the Typhoon in this game. It was the best non-fictional from ac5 to 6, and the second best on ac4. However, it is clearly the worst top tier plane this time, and without parts it handles like an F4 lol. Also, dat stability at low speed with this ac7 Typhoon...

This is one of the things I don't like about having parts in the system. All planes without them are so so slow at rolling. Why?, roll was perfect in AC4, where even low tier planes could roll very fast like they do in real life, and the pitch speeds were pretty damn good too when it comes to realism. Then ac5 came with the new engine (which is still same as today lol), and pitch became laughably arcade whereas roll went the clumsy way.

Just imagine an ac3-4 engine with todays graphics. Also, lower FOV was better imo in third person view. AC3 will always proof to that

Typhoon is not a top tier plane, lmao, it also is a very good plane which is almost identical to the Rafale that is considered one of the best of >2500.

Is there even anything you actually like about this game? It's a shame you couldn't refund it.

[Useless Bunny]

Escrito originalmente por JtDarth:

Escrito originalmente por Wardog:

The “more casual dudes” can play at any of the other difficulties though. If they’d prefer less of a challenge, that’s what they should do, not have one of the bits that veterans love be dumbed down for them so that they can say they finished the game on the highest difficulty, when it’s just as easy as the one below it.

Thinking like that is almost as entitled as the people who whinged about Cuphead being too hard.

Or maybe we can get an ACE+ dlc/update down the line that will add a harder difficulty.
Basically it sounds like you are wanting an in-between difficulty to take the place of the current ACE.

That DLC would have to be free. Charging people for that would be outrageous.

[lemit]

Most of the difficulty that comes from this game is either from the noticeably shorter time duration and the ridiculously fast drones. They're not necessarily difficult to adapt to, but It just takes the fun away from the game and It's what made fights such as Arkbird from the Unsung War so tedious.
If Ace difficulty was to be made more challenging , Bulletproof Tank and Fire Extinguisher should be excluded, AA cannons should do more damage and the max amount of missiles one can take should be two as missions such as lighthouse may be a bit too difficult if the "one missile and you're out" rule was still in place.

[Mistress Spitfire]

Escrito originalmente por BorkWoof:

Most of the difficulty that comes from this game is either from the noticeably shorter time duration and the ridiculously fast drones.

It makes sense that they're hard to hit though, there's no pilot in them and they're AI driven so dodging missiles for them is a breeze. They make for really great Machine Gun practice.

Escrito originalmente por BorkWoof:

...missions such as lighthouse may be a bit too difficult if the "one missile and you're out" rule was still in place.

I highly disagree with this one. Most people see a big cluster of targets in the arsenal bird and complain that avoiding damage is too difficult, but it's all in the strategy. So long as you focus on the pulse lasers first and flee from the mass amount of missiles, it's not so hard to make a fly back around for the missile systems it's carrying.
After that, the arsenal bird can't lay a finger on you, so long as you don't fly directly underneath and collide with the laser. Most people try to rush it and destroy the propellers as quick as they can, but if you take the time to clear the MQ-101s out first, and then the Pulse Lasers, it's not so difficult at all and it's pretty simple to make it out without a scratch.

[Useless Bunny]

If you are getting hit by missiles while taking down the arsenal bird in mission 19, you are just too slow. Even if you could get killed by a single missile, all you have to do is just fire your own attack and then dodge, there's no time pressure in that mission or anything, you don't need to force yourself to attack the targets for as long as possible while risking being hit by drones. Not to mention the amount of special weapons available in the game makes life much easier.

[JtDarth]

Escrito originalmente por Mistress Spitfire:

Escrito originalmente por BorkWoof:

Most of the difficulty that comes from this game is either from the noticeably shorter time duration and the ridiculously fast drones.

It makes sense that they're hard to hit though, there's no pilot in them and they're AI driven so dodging missiles for them is a breeze. They make for really great Machine Gun practice.

Escrito originalmente por BorkWoof:

...missions such as lighthouse may be a bit too difficult if the "one missile and you're out" rule was still in place.

I highly disagree with this one. Most people see a big cluster of targets in the arsenal bird and complain that avoiding damage is too difficult, but it's all in the strategy. So long as you focus on the pulse lasers first and flee from the mass amount of missiles, it's not so hard to make a fly back around for the missile systems it's carrying.
After that, the arsenal bird can't lay a finger on you, so long as you don't fly directly underneath and collide with the laser. Most people try to rush it and destroy the propellers as quick as they can, but if you take the time to clear the MQ-101s out first, and then the Pulse Lasers, it's not so difficult at all and it's pretty simple to make it out without a scratch.

The AAMs on the arsenal bird are a bit of a pain in the rear to actually hit, though.