Story Makes No Sense

[ComradeWinston]

Something about drones, something about war being bad, something about space elevator bad. Evil drones dead! War over, peace and stuff! Elevator fine! Oh look, a returning space mission!

I loved Ace Combat 5 for a lot of reasons, the story was great. This seems more like a random collection of stories someone forgot to organize, and a few missions got lost in a snowstorm.

[Canniballistic]

Basically.

If I had to rationalise it Id say its an anti war, anti borders, sensationalists view of war and the surrounding politics, as seen from the perspective of a naive teenager.

Thats as charitable as I could be... I mean one minute they want to destroy the elevator and the next they dont, then they do, then its the salvation that gave space to man or something... idfk.

[os]

i understood the point of the story, and the meaning behind it [from what i understood] is that humans should be the ones flying planes in the sky, not drones.

regarding the story itself, i genuinely hated it.

why? for one simple reason
Trigger [ the character you play as ] has no real effect on the outcome aside from "wooo we won war yaay no more drones"

never actually mentioned aside from the circle jerk of his prisoner friends that slowly die off, or early on in the story. the only time i can remember a relevant character mentioning Trigger in a cutscene past mission 10 was when the princess said "the three strikes" or something and then literally never brought it up again. i wish the main character had some sort of actual relatability, as it's just a mute that is perfect in every aspect when it comes to flying planes. there's no real character development or anything.

but, i am aware the story is not at all what ace combat is known for. i just wish that they put a bit more effort into the storytelling.

the gameplay itself is great, i just dont like how i spent so long playing a story with one of those endings where you'll forget about it when you wake up the next day.

[Canniballistic]

Originally posted by giga greg:

i understood the point of the story, and the meaning behind it [from what i understood]

"I understand the parts I understood" lol

The mute PC that the story revolves around is a Japanese story telling trope. Armored Core is the same for instance.

Another trope is non sensical plots lol.

Though, like OP says its like they just threw together a bunch of short stories and some of them are interesting, like your stay in the 444th and the ways that the members leave such as the unfortunate accident after commenting how intelligence gathering is a life or death business.

Was it an accident? Was it not? Its fun on its own.

[os]

Originally posted by Canniballistic:

Originally posted by giga greg:

i understood the point of the story, and the meaning behind it [from what i understood]

"I understand the parts I understood" lol

The mute PC that the story revolves around is a Japanese story telling trope. Armored Core is the same for instance.

Another trope is non sensical plots lol.

Though, like OP says its like they just threw together a bunch of short stories and some of them are interesting, like your stay in the 444th and the ways that the members leave such as the unfortunate accident after commenting how intelligence gathering is a life or death business.

Was it an accident? Was it not? Its fun on its own.

just because japanese companies do it doesn't justify it as a good story.

[H1tSc4n]

I actuallt liked it.

Sure it's not the best story out there, but it's serviceable.

[HATFPWDCATE]

Originally posted by giga greg:

Originally posted by Canniballistic:

"I understand the parts I understood" lol

The mute PC that the story revolves around is a Japanese story telling trope. Armored Core is the same for instance.

Another trope is non sensical plots lol.

Though, like OP says its like they just threw together a bunch of short stories and some of them are interesting, like your stay in the 444th and the ways that the members leave such as the unfortunate accident after commenting how intelligence gathering is a life or death business.

Was it an accident? Was it not? Its fun on its own.

just because japanese companies do it doesn't justify it as a good story.

so right i hate when ppl r like well this is how its always been done or something along those lines and im just thinking that doesnt mean its not ♥♥♥♥ or could be better ur just making excuses

and can we all agree that silent protagonists shouldnt be allowed in any single player game period it completly ruins it there is no good reason its laziness one less VA that needs to be hired one less character and script to write

[Canniballistic]

Originally posted by giga greg:

Originally posted by Canniballistic:

"I understand the parts I understood" lol

The mute PC that the story revolves around is a Japanese story telling trope. Armored Core is the same for instance.

Another trope is non sensical plots lol.

Though, like OP says its like they just threw together a bunch of short stories and some of them are interesting, like your stay in the 444th and the ways that the members leave such as the unfortunate accident after commenting how intelligence gathering is a life or death business.

Was it an accident? Was it not? Its fun on its own.

just because japanese companies do it doesn't justify it as a good story.

Dont put words in my mouth I never said it was a good story.

Seeing as youre not asking my opinion, I think the story is mediocre, barely passable at best.

That said, the idea of a silent protagonist isnt new or preclude a good story. Halo 1 after all.

[ComradeWinston]

Originally posted by HATFPWDCATE:

and can we all agree that silent protagonists shouldnt be allowed in any single player game period it completly ruins it...

Isn't the protagonist always silent in Ace Combat? I know previous ones had a little yes/no option in conversation every now & then but that's it.

[Kameraden]

Originally posted by Canniballistic:

Basically.

If I had to rationalise it Id say its an anti war, anti borders, sensationalists view of war and the surrounding politics, as seen from the perspective of a naive teenager.

Thats as charitable as I could be... I mean one minute they want to destroy the elevator and the next they dont, then they do, then its the salvation that gave space to man or something... idfk.

I wouldn't go that far. I mean the cutscene "offline" states it best. The entire continent fell into Civil War as every individual country part of Usea and Erusea fractured and wanting to be independent. Which implies a continent of unhappy people under large union states. Like say the USSR, USA, EU, etc. All which are very fragile.

Even the core friction explained at the beginning of the game talks about the first war between Erusea and ISAF was caused because of mass refugees being forced upon Erusea by Usea and Osea. Ironically that is a bit that was written all the way back as the background story for Ace Combat 4 and how dangerous it can be.

[ComradeWinston]

Originally posted by Kameraden:

I wouldn't go that far. I mean the cutscene "offline" states it best. The entire continent fell into Civil War as every individual country part of Usea and Erusea fractured...

That was, bar the insanity of endangering the whole orbit by destroying so many satilites, actually one of the higher points in my book. One of my biggest problems with it is that there isn't an extended period of getting to know the enemy or anything. Some angry man threatens you with "solitary" for half the campaign.

Never mind how they don't even try to sell the whole 'you killed Harling' thing. Why not just have your computer get hacked by the evil Belkans or something? Actually shoot him but have it be Putin and his dastardly hackers screwing with IDs or whatever. Mistake his chopper for an enemy one coming to reinforce the elevator. Literally anything is better than 'oh no, he took a missile so it must be the protagonist.'

There are so many missed opportunities to do interesting things, the missions feel so disjointed, they must have had five different people put the story together and threw darts at missions.

[Young Erusean Officer]

This thread looks like solitary. OP gets the switch teams.

The cutscenes are weak sauce but I loved the ingame dialog. I'd preffer AC4's lowkey/atmospheric style to story. I was hoping for that here but can't be a winner in absolutely everything

Bandog best AWACS

[Kameraden]

Originally posted by ComradeWinston:

Never mind how they don't even try to sell the whole 'you killed Harling' thing. Why not just have your computer get hacked by the evil Belkans or something? Actually shoot him but have it be Putin and his dastardly hackers screwing with IDs or whatever. Mistake his chopper for an enemy one coming to reinforce the elevator. Literally anything is better than 'oh no, he took a missile so it must be the protagonist.'

There are so many missed opportunities to do interesting things, the missions feel so disjointed, they must have had five different people put the story together and threw darts at missions.

Well they did explain that "Osean" aircraft with drone computers broadcasting an Osean IF signal shot down Harling, on top of that fact they did the same with the aircraft he was in. It was a "Trap." It was done intentionally to make Harling a Martyer in the eyes of both Belkans and Oseans.

[Useless Bunny]

The constant disapproval of borders and countries and all that actually makes sense because Usea will become ancap in the future, as we can see from AC3's story.

I agree the story could've been better. Character interaction was lacking, we never even meet Mage 1 again. The game missed several chances to make great cut scenes during missions too like Wiseman being shot down.

[HATFPWDCATE]

Originally posted by ComradeWinston:

Originally posted by HATFPWDCATE:

and can we all agree that silent protagonists shouldnt be allowed in any single player game period it completly ruins it...

Isn't the protagonist always silent in Ace Combat? I know previous ones had a little yes/no option in conversation every now & then but that's it.

yea and i never said anything about ace combat i simply stated i think silent protagonists shouldnt be allowed in single player games because they ruin them at worst and at best add nothing and make the story seem weird and master chief wasnt a sp in halo CE he had a few lines in cutscenes for what its worth

[Medic Medulla]

Originally posted by giga greg:

i understood the point of the story, and the meaning behind it [from what i understood] is that humans should be the ones flying planes in the sky, not drones.

regarding the story itself, i genuinely hated it.

why? for one simple reason
Trigger [ the character you play as ] has no real effect on the outcome aside from "wooo we won war yaay no more drones"

never actually mentioned aside from the circle jerk of his prisoner friends that slowly die off, or early on in the story. the only time i can remember a relevant character mentioning Trigger in a cutscene past mission 10 was when the princess said "the three strikes" or something and then literally never brought it up again. i wish the main character had some sort of actual relatability, as it's just a mute that is perfect in every aspect when it comes to flying planes. there's no real character development or anything.

but, i am aware the story is not at all what ace combat is known for. i just wish that they put a bit more effort into the storytelling.

the gameplay itself is great, i just dont like how i spent so long playing a story with one of those endings where you'll forget about it when you wake up the next day.

Avril Mead "Scrap Queen" Mentions Trigger at least three times in cutscenes, Doctor Schroeder mentions him once, Princess Cossette mentions him before her plane gets shot down not in a cutscene but a lot of the discussion and story elements related to the player are not told in the cutscenes they are typically discussed by the other pilots or ground forces during your missions. The cutscenes and overall story is told from a separate point of view typically parts are pieced together by rumors they have heard like alot of these people haven't meet you and alot haven't even heard of you like how the hell could they you're not some celebrity for the most part now toward the end of the game the other factions are aware of you but only as the distinctive marking on your tail that you have for most of the game the three slashes.

If you pay attention you pick up what they are talking about without them directly needing to say it. I love this style of story telling reminds me a lot of Halo ODST.

Not to say it's perfect it has a few cringe moments that even in AC universe are a little bit silly but for the most part I loved this story

The ending or lead up to the ending did feel a bit forced tho I know they had to include the space elevator and the space contact that leads into the next game timeline wise (Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere) along with a section of the story being separated for VR only content before the story starts in the main campaign