I figured out why the story "Sucks".

[Hobo Misanthropus]

I've been trying to think of a way to articulate why the story feels as much of a mess as it is, and the answer is pretty simple.

It's trying to tell two different stories, from four different perspectives.

The two main stories are the Drone Program (POV characters: Mihaly, Schroeder)

And the Osean's War perspective (POV characters: Trigger, Scrap Queen)

In essence, it's also trying to be both Ace Combat 4 and 5 at the same time.. Remember, Ace Combat 4 was just a simple war story, told to you, from your perspective through Briefings and In-combat chatter, and the Erusian perspective was told by the Orphan of San Salvacion. Ace Combat 5 was a complex narrative of conspiracy and betrayal, told only from the perspective of Wardog Squadron, so the complexity of the plot was much easier to follow.


The game simply isn't long enough to fully flesh out any more than two perspectives in one simple story (Ace Combat 4 style) much less some complex plot around Belkan technology/conspiracy.

I think either one of these stories could have been completely removed (ideally the Scrap Queen thread, because all the info we get is handled in briefing/mission chatter already) and the game would have been improved considerably in terms of narrative cohesiveness.

[Neo]

İlk olarak King Fossil tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Neo tarafından gönderildi:

I thought turning stupid was the best part of the story :(

In all seriousness, some of the ridiculousness is fun though.

Oh, the over the top stuff is fine. I like that. What I'm complaining about is the writing genuinely just getting stupid though.
AC5 goes from a game that thinks war is bad and peace is good to a game about killing all the Belkans because they're evil and they deserve it. They completely drop the peace theme. And the entire Belkan plot is pretty stupid too, since they get up to a lot of ridiculous stuff. They kidnap the president and nobody notices. They fly to a foreign country to dig up nukes and nobody notices. They secretly get agents onto the Arkbird and nobody notices. They can do whatever they want and nobody notices. It's not good.
AC0 turns stupid at the end just because AWWNB are the dumbest organisation ever. Their goal is dumb (we hate the concept of countries so we'll launch a nuke, because somehow that'll fix things!). The idea that hundreds of people would go along with that stupid plan is dumb. The idea that nobody noticed those hundreds of people just disappear along with all their equipment is dumb. Them bombing your base with the Hresvelgr for no reason other than to get your attention so you go kill them is dumb. It's so dumb.
The games are still fine if you don't think too hard about the story, but I wouldn't act like 7's plot is somehow worse than the norm. It has plenty of problems, but it's been a very very long time since we got an AC that didn't.

Ah yes, i think what you have problem with is the "casus bellum" for the stories. I agree that usually the ways wars are started in this game series are very.... unique. The reasons are indeed strange and the way the Belkans operate is as if they are some shadow government that controls many of the major countries' key facilities/agencies.

Basically, the Belkan's don't have a country anymore but they are the source of all problems and always try to pit other countries into a war with each other because... revenge? Hatred towards anyone non-Belkan? The "others"?

I mean the scientist in AC7 (schroeder? can't exactly remember his name) appears to have been made to represent the Belkan motivation and why they want to start wars but the means by which they accomplish things are a bit ridiculous. How can the Belkans have so much influence everywhere and why are they ALL on the same page? I don't think I've seen Belkans fight each other but other nations always seem to have traitors in their midst. Whether they are Belkan in origin or just bribed to help them.

I think they need to work on the "casus bellum" for these stories. Maybe the next game should have a similar "4+5/20-9" type event *winkwink* to justify the next war.

[TheJournier]

Ace 7 is not that bad if you dont think logically, and literally become dumping for all its themes. However it feels incomplete and there so many plots that they exactly explain follow.
-Fullband was a halfass way to kill off someone. Champs death made more sense, or high roller. We didn't exactly get a clue as to what he "discovered
- aside from I'll tell you later.
-what behind the friendly awacs that branded the conservative genraal as target #1.

With zero and 5 you felt certain about the plot and why was going on. Hell, even Harling's death didn't feel real to me. I kept expecting him to show up somewhere not a dead.


On a positive note you got a juicy bit of foretelling based on how you killed the drones.
- with machine gun you didn't fire a missle so your reaction would be wtf I didn't do it"
-flipside your first reaction be oops. I Tought Iwas firing at a drone.

[C󠀡󠀡HAMPION]

Too bad that game don't allowed choose our side like for example was in AC 3. That was really cool. It give you more missions, more planes, and diffrent endings.

[GroundDeadFilip]

What's the exact issue that people have with AC7's story presentation? Was easy to follow and explained things well enough. Except Fullband part. What the hell did he find out on that PC he got password for.

[Young Erusean Officer]

İlk olarak GroundDeadFilip tarafından gönderildi:

Except Fullband part. What the hell did he find out on that PC he got password for.

By then Spare was already set to be transferred into Wiseman's posse. Since that meant a top secret elite air group with a last ditch effort to strike the enemy's capital...

[JtDarth]

İlk olarak Young Erusian Officer tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak GroundDeadFilip tarafından gönderildi:

Except Fullband part. What the hell did he find out on that PC he got password for.

By then Spare was already set to be transferred into Wiseman's posse. Since that meant a top secret elite air group with a last ditch effort to strike the enemy's capital...

Actually, only Count and Trigger were slated for that transfer. Everyone else was to be sent to Tyler island.
That said, regardless of 'what' he found, he is a convict who admitted to bribery/hacking into stuff he really shouldn't. In doing so over open air like that, he implicates every member of spare squadron who heard him admit it into being an accessory to the crime, including Bandog. Bandog actually gives him MULTIPLE warnings to shut his mouth about his 'intel' during the mission, and does seem to sigh aweful hard after the second or third warning. He does seem to have given him quite the chance to still live.
Bandog may even have taken that measure to avoid Full-band's stupid from harming Count and especially Trigger's chances of getting out of spare squadron. As well as protect the rest of spare squadron (whoever's left at that point, some unnamed spares and Tabloid, iirc) from being caught up in Full-band's punishments.
The following mission, Bandog's dialogue implies that the Commander did not authorize the actions and that the lot of them could get in trouble for it. Could also read regret into it, given how harshly he shuts Count up. He also openly rebukes Count about Trigger being the worst convict there, and proceeds to make mention that for a fraudster, Count is bad at sniffing it out.
If you happen to follow full-band's craft you will see that it is count who shoots him down in-game, and that his IFF is still indicating friendly to presumably everyone but Count, which does very much implicate Bandog.

[SolidusPrime]

It's no masterpiece, but I have found it to be enjoyable enough. I thought it was just the right length on normal, myself.

[I Am Groot]

The story is great in my opinion.
And the final mission is a bomb. Reminding me my Jack Bartlett and the legendary Razgriz Squadron.

[GroundDeadFilip]

İlk olarak JtDarth tarafından gönderildi:

So the transfer was already decided by the time that mission was up. Explains stuff.

[TheJournier]

Yeah, by the way Bandog is my favorite awacs. He is like an onion and he is funny.

1.) The whole "don't worry about dying and smearing of sins" was partially an act. Remember he is a prison guard somewhat. So he has to be tough brutal to try and get criminals to do his bidding.

2.) He freaks out over the whole drone F/A-18F friendly fire incident, if he truly didn't give a damn... he wouldn't have reacted that way.

3.) He really doesnt like the commander. If you let him get shot down Bandog will say he wasn't a load worth saving.

I like longcasters fascination with food though. I picture a chubby black guy trying eat and keep an eye out everyone.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Full Band found out about Trigger's innocence, and the fact that the Belkan Drone F/A-18s were the ones that shot down Harling.

Bandog is Complicit in the war. Remember, there is a conspiracy on both the Osean and Erusean side. Remember, much of the 444 Squadron has no warm feelings about Osea.