ARMORED CORE SIX

Armored core six is the dream game for every sweaty, degenerate, mech-suit loving, hydraulic obsessed
man-child that has ever existed. With an absolute FUCK ton of parts, weapon types, and possible builds,
this game not only wants you to play it thrice to “complete the story” but also encourages you by locking
the W I D E S T torso in the game behind an ending.

The armored core series has existed for ages, being one of Fromsoftware’s earliest forays into video
games, the first of the series being produced right after their very first series, King’s Field. Armored core
1 has gameplay that can be described as… interesting. The controls are miserable, the game itself is
incredibly difficult, with limited resources and a harsh system that makes every mission you fail, A
PERMANENT FAILURE. Let me be clear, I have not played any games other than armored core six and
Armored core 1. For Answer looks EXTREMELY tempting, however. But the difference in gameplay from
AC1 And AC6 is incredible. With simplified, intuitive controls similar to their souls’ games, (emphasis on
similar, not identical), a story that works completely through voice lines and environmental detail, and
customization SO detailed I had to read AND watch multiple guides before understanding jack shit about
it. It also has some of the most exciting and MASSIVE boss battles in pretty much all of video game
history. I do not say that lightly. The worm is massive.

GAMEPLAY

In armored core six, you will spend most of your time in the hangar. You WILL struggle and play as the
equivalent of a depraved build for your first six hours, before you realize completing the tutorial gives
you the weapon that allows you to cheese almost all of the bosses. The cheese being using bullets. A lot
of them, at a very high velocity. Soon, however, you will get completely filtered by any fight with another
mech, in which, you will very quickly realize that bullets do not hit very often against a war machine
moving at 200 miles per hour towards you while firing missiles. Hypothetically, CAN you beat all of
armored core 6 without customizing your mech? Sure. Can you also beat it without literally ANY
weapons? Also, yes. Will you enjoy it?

N O.

At EVERY. GODDAMN. OPPURTUNITY. The game allows you to rebuild your AC and modify it to the
situation to SLAM your opponent. The parts shop allows you to buy parts and sell them back for the
EXACT price you bought them, allowing you to fuck around with literally every part in the game for pretty
much free. In conclusion, if you do not rebuild your mech after every mission to optimize the shit out of
your runs you are playing the game objectively wrong.

Customization is difficult, with every part having a spec sheet that looks like hieroglyphics, Terms like
“Specialization” “Optimization” “Attitude” “QB Speed” and a number of options that is just as
bewildering as they are expensive. The terms “Overloaded” and “Energy Insufficient” will soon be
burned into your eyeballs as you place your final piece into your perfect mech, only to get an error sign
which immediately shatters your dreams and rush to mod the game. Thankfully, due to the brainrot and
weaponized autism I have, I can attempt to now condense, 4 hours of swallowing guides into a short run-
through of each part.

The parts you can customize are

Arms:

Other than making your mech look cool, the points to look out for while customizing arms is
Specialization and AP. Arms Load Limit is also present, which just prevents you from putting a giant
bazooka onto a twig. Specialization is basically the spec that selects the accuracy your mech has with
ranged weapons, or melee weapons. AP is the spec that decides the health bar in the game.

Head:

The head is not only the key point in the aesthetic of your mech, but it also decides Attitude Stability,
and Recovery. Attitude Stability decides how much stagger damage you can take before your mech
undergoes ACS overload, also known as “Get fucked and take a shit ton of damage for 10 seconds lol”.
Attitude Recovery decides how long you stay stunned after an ACS overload.

Left and Right Back Units:

These are the weapons that go onto your back. The two slots are identical, except for shields, which can
only go onto the left unit. Back units are either missiles, straight shooting projectiles, “orbits” and
drones, which hover around you and act as independent damage units, and straight up giant cannons
that are too heavy to carry in your hand.

Left Arm Units:

Guns. SO. Many. Guns. Shotguns, Bazookas, Pistols, Snipers, Gatling guns, LMGS, A Flammenwerfer, and
also world destroying prototype rifles.

Right Arm Units:

In addition to being able to dual wield everything available for the left arm, Right Arm units have
exclusive Melee weapons, which range from a basic laser sword, to a flailing plasma whip, to a dynamite
on top of a metal rod with the range of a lollipop. Melee weapons do INSANE damage, close distance
between you and the enemy, and are usually the key to winning or losing a fight with a single target.

Core:

The core of your build pretty much decides how much HP you’re effectively carrying into battle. With
most of the specs being focused on defense, the smartest thing to do is to go for one that has enough AP
to prevent you from being one-shotted, without completely using up all your energy on it. The core is
also the Heaviest part in an AC, which makes it vital in making a mech later on when you understand the
terms Light, Medium and Heavy as important information rather than types of cream.

Legs:

Legs are the literal foundation of your mech. Legs decide your weight limit, also known as “how tank can
I make this” limit. This because obviously, gravity exists. Trying to put a massive arsenal on top of skinny
little sparrow legs is not just a terrible idea, it will also crush the baby little suspension in those legs.
Hence, you can choose to just become a living Tiger Mark IV, or a Wheelchair, or a fucking floating star
destroyer. These are the tank-type legs, which have a shitload of weight capability, with the sacrificing
being dodge distance and speed. Except for the wheelchair, which is completely broken. They also
cannot use boosters, which we’ll get to later.
The other types of legs are Quadrupedal legs, which allow you to hover mid-air, have a high weight
capacity, and make your mech into a terrifying spider demon, Reverse Joint legs, which allow you to
jump high and engage quickly in aerial combat, as well as dodge farther, their drawback being a
significantly lower weight capacity, as well as allowing too much mobility at times, causing you to
Haikyuu your way into a fucking missile, or dodge so far that you fall off the fucking map. Lastly, bipedal
legs. They’re extremely versatile, allowing for a range of builds, with one pair having the same capacity
as the fucking tank treads. This specific part is a borderline exploit. Because you can combine them with

Boosters:

Boosters are the pars that decide you fast you spend your fuel, how fast you dodge, how often you
dodge, and how broken you can make your movement. Ironically, you also get one of the best overall
boosters, from the optional tutorial.

FCS:

This is the BIOS of your entire goddamn mech. It decides how fast your automatic lock on system can
actually do its job, and what ranges it can do its job at. It is also one of the most energy hungry parts in
the game, with the wrong FCS turning your perfectly built mech into an absolute cripple.

Generator:

This is basically your fuel tank. Bigger generators are heavier, but supply more power, while smaller
generations are lighter but provide less power. The two main specs to look out for are EN Recharge and
Supply recovery. EN recharge decides how fast your fuel replenishes after a dodge or a jump, while
Supply recovery decides how fast your bar recharges after you deplete it completely. There is also energy
firearm specialization, which makes your energy weapons better. etc. etc. More importantly, you should
finish your first run as soon as possible, because the late game Coral Generators make your jets glow
Red. Hell yeah.
Core Expansion:

This is basically your “Ultimate”. There’s Assault Armor, in which you explode out an energy wave to stun
your enemy and erase incoming fire for a second, Pulse Armor which gives you an extended I-frame to
recover from an extended assault, Pulse protection which sets up a massive barrier to hide behind, and
Terminal Armor, which allows you to have a Last Stand against the opponent, engaging a shield when you
hit 1HP. Except for termina Armor, all core expansions are activated on command, and enemy ACs can
also use them, adding for another layer in combat.

Customization at first is an extremely daunting task, and simply going for a “BEST BOSS KILLER BUILD” is
highly tempting, you’d be missing out on the entire fun of the game. While making the “best” build with
the highest numbers and fastest kill times is pretty easy, AC6’s friendly customization encourages you to
build a mech that is truly yours. You could also, hypothetically, build multiple mechs and buy every part
in the store to swap between them easily and have your own little “fleet” of mechs.

Combat in game ranges from insanely easy to insanely difficult. Most missions feel like an endurance
test, with a swarm of small enemies chipping down your HP while you struggle to hit their tiny hitboxes,
and the actual boss fight at the end of the level. In short, there are 4 types of enemies in the game.
Grunts, small enemies that get taken out in one or two shots, only existing to chip down your hp and
waste your ammunition. They will never dodge. They are not incapable of doing so. They have simply
accepted their deaths and live with the sole purpose of being an inconvenience. Elites are tougher
grunts, who can dodge and sting a lot harder than normal grunts. They exist to make you consider
uninstalling the game, as one of them stun locks you for the 11th time with a ranged missile, allowing his
comrades to get their damage in, forcing me to heal and sacrifice important resources for the boss fight,
which I SWEAR I could’ve won if I had ONE MORE REPAIR KIT. Repair kits are your healing in this game,
with each mission starting you off with 3, rarely allowing you to resupply midway or right before one of
the two remaining enemy types. ACs are agile, deadly and extremely efficient at making you very angry
very fast. They have the exact abilities the player does, including healing, dodging, running away and
firing missiles from afar and kicking your shit in. Additionally, if you die to an AC, the pilot will always
have a few loving words to deliver to you posthumously, either gloating about their strength or
complaining about how weak you were, with the rare occasional remark about pitying your worthless
existence.

Bosses are full scale events in this game. Considering the mech you operate is 10 meters tall, a
juggernaut tank double your size or a GIANT LAVA SPEWING INCINERATOR ROOMBA are examples of
both insane scale, and insane ideas. A couple of them have a “weak spot” or a gimmick to make the fight
easier, but most of the time you’re stuck fighting against very VERY bad odds unless you can learn attack
patterns. As with all games, you can make a build that can melt every boss in record time, and
successfully bore yourself out of any excitement from the game. Hell, I did it myself when I got stuck on
the game’s “filter”, Balteus. Just remember though, not even the “strongest build” can clear every
mission. (overlay of redgun storming mission)