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.

[⚡Snake⚡Plissken⚡]

Too many tropes, not enough investment in the single trope.

[King Fossil]

AC7's story is still one of the better ones in the series. It doesn't turn stupid towards the end like 5/0 and it isn't the most dull thing ever like 6, so really, it's doing okay.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Snake Plissken の投稿を引用：

Too many tropes, not enough investment in the single trope.

That's just Japanese writing in general, pile on tropes and explain piled on tropes with mountains of exposition.

King Fossil の投稿を引用：

AC7's story is still one of the better ones in the series. It doesn't turn stupid towards the end like 5/0 and it isn't the most dull thing ever like 6, so really, it's doing okay.

The subject matter I really like, and I agree, it's the best since Ace Combat 4, but the composition is just so crazy.

Basically, they needed an editor, lol.

[Neo]

King Fossil の投稿を引用：

AC7's story is still one of the better ones in the series. It doesn't turn stupid towards the end like 5/0 and it isn't the most dull thing ever like 6, so really, it's doing okay.

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

In all seriousness, some of the ridiculousness is fun though. Like come on, huge targets to hammer on like the acrbird or submarines was fun. The final "jousting" duel(?) I guess you can call it in 0 was OK fitting the theme of that game. You were the "Ace of all Aces" and every time you got this "interview" about those other pilots got shot down. So I don't think it was far fetched that it ended the way it did.

[JtDarth]

King Fossil の投稿を引用：

AC7's story is still one of the better ones in the series. It doesn't turn stupid towards the end like 5/0 and it isn't the most dull thing ever like 6, so really, it's doing okay.

Yeah, 7's story is actually pretty okay. I'd still place 3(JP) and 4 over it, but it's at least on par with 5 and 0.

5 got overly anvilicious about 'war is bad' and managed to go full tard at the end. Nagase just wouldn't stay off her ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ soapbox long enough for the game to not tank in story quality after they rescue Harling.

Zero's wouldn't have felt so stupid if they hadn't cut so much of the dialogue during Hoffnung. Pixy is a lot more relatable and understandable. Still went way over the line, but you can see why he broke.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjaxwB8pTXA

As for 6, I shouldn't need to say anything more than (and I'm quoting a nephew of mine here) "why the ♥♥♥♥ is 'go dance with the angels' their battle cry? What happened to 'May the golden king smile upon you'? That was way more badass".

[King Fossil]

Neo の投稿を引用：

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.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Ace Combat 4 wasn't over the top. All things considered, the "Belka did nothing wrong" is a fairly new phenomenon. Starting with Ace Combat 5/Z

[Young Erusean Officer]

AC4 had the best story. Regardless, the reason why the story is this way is because the game had to be remade. So story likely got disjointed.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Young Erusian Officer の投稿を引用：

AC4 had the best story. Regardless, the reason why the story is this way is because the game had to be remade. So story likely got disjointed.

[Posts in Megalith]

[Sevicler]

Young Erusian Officer の投稿を引用：

AC4 had the best story. Regardless, the reason why the story is this way is because the game had to be remade. So story likely got disjointed.

Is it Ace Combat 7 that got remade? or AC4?

[Nicholas77]

I think Ace Combat 7's story is pretty decent for the standards of Ace Combat games. Def not perfect, needed to cut at least 1 plot thread.

Ace Combat 6's story was exciting in my opinion. Sure "go dance with the angels" was cheesy as all hell but the rest of the plot inolving the Emmerians taking back their homeland, and Voycheks observence of the hardships the Emmerian citizens endured at the hands of the Estovakians was interesting.

[Blaze]

King Fossil の投稿を引用：

AC7's story is still one of the better ones in the series. It doesn't turn stupid towards the end like 5/0 and it isn't the most dull thing ever like 6, so really, it's doing okay.

Are you kidding? 5's story was the one I was most invested in and I think it ended on a pretty high note.

0's only good part was the end with the Nuke and showdown with Pixy. If that wasn't there, it would have been a super bland story with the insufferable community theater live action cutscenes that made no sense.

I agree with OP. 7's subject matter was great but it's story could have used a lot more cohesion.

Ultimately, nobody expects Ace Combat stories to be genius or make perfect sense. The whole premise is ridiculous to begin with. It's pretty much an anime story.

[VaLKyrieR1D3r]

I really like Ace Combat 7's story to be honest. I do very much agree with the idea that it's trying to be 4 & 5 at the same time. The problem with the story is that it's "all over the place." All they had to do IMO was organize it better (should have been 27 missions instead of 20). I do think people generally give the story too much flak. Pretty much all Ace Combat games, excluding Assault Horizon, have had good storylines, again IMO.

[King Fossil]

Blaze の投稿を引用：

Are you kidding? 5's story was the one I was most invested in and I think it ended on a pretty high note.

That's cool. That doesn't mean the story doesn't do a complete 180 on its themes. The start of the game is war is bad and the world would be better if everyone could get along. The end of the story is that the Belkans are bad guys doing bad things and force is the only way to make them stop. It goes from war=bad to war=sometimes justified and necessary. I can accept either of these ideas, but putting them in the same story is bizarre. And bad.

[Hobo Misanthropus]

I liked Ace Combat 5's up until like, the last 3 missions. It kind of flew off the rails once an entire international fleet starts singing.