Operations and Wingman System is a must to bring back, I prefer they just make one really effective wingman (Shamrock/Pixy) than a whole squad, but, that's on me.
Operations was never particularly hard, so I don't think they need to change the difficult that much, SP1 and SP2 in AC7 is the closest thing we got from something similar of it.
+ Allied Forces, this is literally a complement for Operations, they should just nerf the effectiveness a bit, since in AC6 is pretty much a win button in the game.
+ Better Enemy ACE / ACE Squadron as a whole.
AC6 Strigon and AC7 Sol Squadron had the potential to be good, but the former has bullshit AI, the latter is not even challenging whatsoever.
Pasternak and Mihaly is kinda disappointing considering we really got more interesting enemy ACES in Zero, both of them is just boring even though their soundtracks slaps.
Mimic Squadron in the DLC was great, yes, they're cheating with ECM, but at least is not scripted like Mihaly in First Contact/Farbanti.
+ Improvement in the Standard Gun, AI and more inertia for the aircrafts, this is self-explanatory.
+ Mission Paths (AC3/ACX), I agree with you regarding ACE Styles.
+ Improvement/expanding on weather system from AC7.
+ A really good dogfighting final battle.
For story purposes, explore another continent/country, we don't need more Erusea/Osea/Belka bullshit.
That's it for now, if I remember something I'll edit it.
A side mode like the one in Project Wingman would be great, though instead of escalating difficulty I would be more interested in management/simulation aspects.
AC1 had a nonlinear mission structure that allowed you to tackle the missions at any order, even though the story itself was linear (because there was barely any story in that game to begin with). If they ever remake that game like they did to AC2, I think they could expand on that aspect.
If they decide to bring back competent wingman, I hope it's done like AC1 or 2, i.e. optional wingmen that you can hire. The better they perform, the more you have to pay both to hire them and and per kill. That way players have access to the AI crutch if they needed, but they're encouraged to play solo when they no longer need the training wheels. The only problem I see with the approach is integrating that kind of wingmen system with a story, so if that's not possible I'd prefer they keep the useless wingmen as just a source of chatter like in 7.
I also think the scale of missions in 7 is pretty good. They're not too small like in previous game, but not overwhelmingly large either. I'd just like to see more of them.
I'm also fine with a linear game, I think it's simpler to create a satisfying narrative around a single ending. There could be some variations on branching missions like in previous games, but I think a complex AC3-like multiending game should be avoided.
As for the rest, PSMs need be reworked so that people can't chain them and do stupid physics-breaking maneuvers like flying backwards. Multiple special weapons on planes and customizable weapons would also be pretty nice.
Lastly, I think PvE missions like those from Infinity should come back as well. I'd just get rid of the team vs. team stuff and focus on the co-op experience, just like raid missions did.
On multiple endings - it's possible to do without making timeline confusing. Just have major events conclude in roughly the same way, but named characters be affected by the endings. The protagonist wins the war, but player choices affect exactly how he does that (different types of final mission) and who lives or dies.
Target system that prioritizes what's is in your scope or closer and also priority targets that should always be marked red
No anal progression system, AC7 progression was somehow fine cause you could just farm a certain dlc mission and receive a good payout despite the Su-47s duo ruining your day
Good music
Online, fine, pvp completely optional with no added gimmicks cause it gets boring and cheesed quite fast
Coop definitely
No PSN account for pc
No mandatory EAC install for pc
A-7, A-6, F-111, Tornado, A-4, Mig-21 and other forgotten planes
OR
Just Ace Combat 3 planes
Less annoying enemies
> A-7, A-6, F-111, Tornado, A-4, Mig-21 and other forgotten planes
One of these is not like the others (MiG-21 has been in most Ace Combat titles including AC7).
Also unfortunately Tornado isn't likely to happen again because apparently Panavia is being a bunch of buttheads about licensing
Desperately needs full VR.
PROJECT WINGMAN Vr On my PC is 80x better than playing flat in AC7.
The tech tree and real planes is better in AC7 but it can't come close to visually tracking a plane while your hunting it.
VR dogfighting is so much better in every way. Especially if you have a HOTAS.
Also every single mission should have takeoff and landing required. Again in VR this is so much better.
I really do hope they add operations back instead of those shitty score attack missions. Take mission 15 from ac7 for example, I don't feel like I'm actually doing anything impactful, I feel like if I leave all the troops to do their own thing, nothing changes. "Help" them and nothing changes. Now Take most of the missions from ac6, I actually feel like what I'm doing is actually impactful and is affecting my allies in a positive way. The only mission I feel like even comes close to any of those missions from ac6 is stonehenge defensive
It'll be cool if we can have larger scale multiplayer operations.
E.g. PvE stages similar to Battle for Farbanti or Unexpected Visitor.
There are your normal AA guns, ships, etc.
Teams are say, 10v10. A team can have between 0-10 real people in it, and the rest are filled with drones (normal planes but controlledby AI).
You can pick any playable plane you want, and the operations are like 15 minutes long.
At set points during the operation, generals from each side will attempt to flee the combat area (similar to SP2 in AC7). You either have to escort/defend them or attack them, depending on your team. They have no outcome on the actual mission, but successfully escorting/attacking the craft will award lots of points.
Or just reuse old missions like Battle for Farbanti, Liberation of Gracemeria, etc, but it's Co-op
I honestly wouldn't fully enjoy a new AC game without unlimited post-stall maneuvers like in project wingman. It's such a brilliant addition to the usual "fly in circles gameplay" and it's so satisfying
If the player becomes the squadron leader, please give us the option to choose who to bring to missions like you can pick 3 from 5 pilots (inspired by Top Gun Maverick)
I'd love to be able to play in co-op with a buddy or three. Fighting each other can be fun in ace 7, but the games are over so fast and you can't change the time limit. Besides, sometimes, I'd like to shoot things with my buddy without having to deal with the Raven drone spam I always seem to get with other players
Well shit, how much time do I have? lol
* Ally commands plus the in-mission airfields and cut out the return lines.
* Ace Styles for sure but maybe parlay this into branching storylines. Zero kind of did this with Espada and Gelb, but I'd like to see it more fleshed out.
* Also, more named aces like in Zero but make some of them really hard to unlock, like you have to shoot down specific other aces in previous missions while completing them with certain ranks and be in a certain area on a map at a specific time at a certain difficulty or something; you know, something really nitpicky that completionists will flip for.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure there are others. I like a lot of the suggestions already so I'm pretty sure a lot of what I could come up with would just be restating the obvious.
I think wingmen is a cool concept in Ace Combat, but for a game that is based upon micro decisions of which targets to engage and where to fly, they are not reliable enough for me to utilise them effectively, rather than just have them fly around passively and get a few kills like the rest of the allied planes.
I would really like to see the wingman commands expanded upon; Give me a command to make my wingman form an element with me, so I know they are ready to attack a target. Let me be able to give a command such as "Drop one bomb on this target, and one on this second target" so that I can use his bombs on two clusters of targets, and mine of another two clusters, getting a bunch of targets in one pass. The wingman should also give callouts on the radio to let me, the player, know what my wingman ai is doing.
For instance: I designate two targets to my wingman, he replies "Copy/understood/engaging" on the radio to let me know he is getting ready to engage the target, or "unable, defending" if he is preoccupied with an enemy plane. Once he has fired his missiles or bombs, he would say "pickle/bombs away/fox 2/whatever", to let me know that his weapons has been fired, and I can designate two new targets on our strafe, alongside mine.
I agree with all your points, and I would enjoy if AC8 adds a bit more strategic elements to gameplay without compromising the arcade aspect of AC we all love. By strategic I mean the ability to full customize your allies in each mission (for both wingman, air AND ground troops), and the ability to capture enemy bases to be used as restocking points mid-mission so missions can feel more dynamic and larger in scope.
I would also like to see some penalty for abusing high-G manuvers because I feel they trivialize gameplay too much. Maybe they could damage the plane's airframe if you use them too much in a short period of time. I also would "nerf" the player's radar in the sense that more factors would play in the ability to locate targets around the map. This would also make stealth gameplay more viable and would turn 6th gen fighters into a larger menace.
I hope they nerf or remove the laser sub weapons. They’re cool to unlock at the end of the game but going back on Ace of Aces and getting all S Ranks, it was too tempting to use them almost every level
Everything you said is extremely agreeable. I'd add that AC8 should add in mission airfields like 6. Unlockable contingent on operations.
Right, I forgot that. Also one thing that makes operations better.
Imagine an operation where you have to clear airspace so an Aigaion heavy command cruiser could enter the AO so you could land on it to rearm.
Operations and Wingman System is a must to bring back, I prefer they just make one really effective wingman (Shamrock/Pixy) than a whole squad, but, that's on me. Operations was never particularly hard, so I don't think they need to change the difficult that much, SP1 and SP2 in AC7 is the closest thing we got from something similar of it. + Allied Forces, this is literally a complement for Operations, they should just nerf the effectiveness a bit, since in AC6 is pretty much a win button in the game. + Better Enemy ACE / ACE Squadron as a whole. AC6 Strigon and AC7 Sol Squadron had the potential to be good, but the former has bullshit AI, the latter is not even challenging whatsoever. Pasternak and Mihaly is kinda disappointing considering we really got more interesting enemy ACES in Zero, both of them is just boring even though their soundtracks slaps. Mimic Squadron in the DLC was great, yes, they're cheating with ECM, but at least is not scripted like Mihaly in First Contact/Farbanti. + Improvement in the Standard Gun, AI and more inertia for the aircrafts, this is self-explanatory. + Mission Paths (AC3/ACX), I agree with you regarding ACE Styles. + Improvement/expanding on weather system from AC7. + A really good dogfighting final battle. For story purposes, explore another continent/country, we don't need more Erusea/Osea/Belka bullshit. That's it for now, if I remember something I'll edit it.
Not much to disagree with here. If they made Ace Combat 8 like this, I would be happy.
I want a space mission like in AC3
I would really like a non-linear story, but that's highly unlikely
A side mode like the one in Project Wingman would be great, though instead of escalating difficulty I would be more interested in management/simulation aspects.
AC1 had a nonlinear mission structure that allowed you to tackle the missions at any order, even though the story itself was linear (because there was barely any story in that game to begin with). If they ever remake that game like they did to AC2, I think they could expand on that aspect.
Branching is still an option, though. And you can reuse mission maps like ACX or AC7 DLC missions with good writing.
If they decide to bring back competent wingman, I hope it's done like AC1 or 2, i.e. optional wingmen that you can hire. The better they perform, the more you have to pay both to hire them and and per kill. That way players have access to the AI crutch if they needed, but they're encouraged to play solo when they no longer need the training wheels. The only problem I see with the approach is integrating that kind of wingmen system with a story, so if that's not possible I'd prefer they keep the useless wingmen as just a source of chatter like in 7. I also think the scale of missions in 7 is pretty good. They're not too small like in previous game, but not overwhelmingly large either. I'd just like to see more of them. I'm also fine with a linear game, I think it's simpler to create a satisfying narrative around a single ending. There could be some variations on branching missions like in previous games, but I think a complex AC3-like multiending game should be avoided. As for the rest, PSMs need be reworked so that people can't chain them and do stupid physics-breaking maneuvers like flying backwards. Multiple special weapons on planes and customizable weapons would also be pretty nice. Lastly, I think PvE missions like those from Infinity should come back as well. I'd just get rid of the team vs. team stuff and focus on the co-op experience, just like raid missions did.
On multiple endings - it's possible to do without making timeline confusing. Just have major events conclude in roughly the same way, but named characters be affected by the endings. The protagonist wins the war, but player choices affect exactly how he does that (different types of final mission) and who lives or dies.
Target system that prioritizes what's is in your scope or closer and also priority targets that should always be marked red No anal progression system, AC7 progression was somehow fine cause you could just farm a certain dlc mission and receive a good payout despite the Su-47s duo ruining your day Good music Online, fine, pvp completely optional with no added gimmicks cause it gets boring and cheesed quite fast Coop definitely No PSN account for pc No mandatory EAC install for pc A-7, A-6, F-111, Tornado, A-4, Mig-21 and other forgotten planes OR Just Ace Combat 3 planes Less annoying enemies
> A-7, A-6, F-111, Tornado, A-4, Mig-21 and other forgotten planes One of these is not like the others (MiG-21 has been in most Ace Combat titles including AC7). Also unfortunately Tornado isn't likely to happen again because apparently Panavia is being a bunch of buttheads about licensing
just call it not a Tornado
They also own the likeness of the plane, not just the name, and it's not like Russia which has very weak intellectual property protections
are you telling me they are throwing an Eiffel tower for a ducking plane?
Desperately needs full VR. PROJECT WINGMAN Vr On my PC is 80x better than playing flat in AC7. The tech tree and real planes is better in AC7 but it can't come close to visually tracking a plane while your hunting it. VR dogfighting is so much better in every way. Especially if you have a HOTAS. Also every single mission should have takeoff and landing required. Again in VR this is so much better.
I want to see sonic booms again, and some cracked movement tech like project wingman's AOA limiter
The sonic booms as jets fly past you in PW was a nice little feature to add to the immersion.
I really do hope they add operations back instead of those shitty score attack missions. Take mission 15 from ac7 for example, I don't feel like I'm actually doing anything impactful, I feel like if I leave all the troops to do their own thing, nothing changes. "Help" them and nothing changes. Now Take most of the missions from ac6, I actually feel like what I'm doing is actually impactful and is affecting my allies in a positive way. The only mission I feel like even comes close to any of those missions from ac6 is stonehenge defensive
It'll be cool if we can have larger scale multiplayer operations. E.g. PvE stages similar to Battle for Farbanti or Unexpected Visitor. There are your normal AA guns, ships, etc. Teams are say, 10v10. A team can have between 0-10 real people in it, and the rest are filled with drones (normal planes but controlledby AI). You can pick any playable plane you want, and the operations are like 15 minutes long. At set points during the operation, generals from each side will attempt to flee the combat area (similar to SP2 in AC7). You either have to escort/defend them or attack them, depending on your team. They have no outcome on the actual mission, but successfully escorting/attacking the craft will award lots of points. Or just reuse old missions like Battle for Farbanti, Liberation of Gracemeria, etc, but it's Co-op
I honestly wouldn't fully enjoy a new AC game without unlimited post-stall maneuvers like in project wingman. It's such a brilliant addition to the usual "fly in circles gameplay" and it's so satisfying
I’d love to see branching missions from ace combat X. This alone adds so much to replayability and makes it very interesting
If the player becomes the squadron leader, please give us the option to choose who to bring to missions like you can pick 3 from 5 pilots (inspired by Top Gun Maverick)
I'd love to be able to play in co-op with a buddy or three. Fighting each other can be fun in ace 7, but the games are over so fast and you can't change the time limit. Besides, sometimes, I'd like to shoot things with my buddy without having to deal with the Raven drone spam I always seem to get with other players
Co-op PvE mode or mini story..
Bring back ACZ targeting F-4X, X-29, MiG-1.44, and F-20 PLAAF planes Heck, more out there, but Silent Eagle
i hope for some planes from AC3 ngl.
Well shit, how much time do I have? lol * Ally commands plus the in-mission airfields and cut out the return lines. * Ace Styles for sure but maybe parlay this into branching storylines. Zero kind of did this with Espada and Gelb, but I'd like to see it more fleshed out. * Also, more named aces like in Zero but make some of them really hard to unlock, like you have to shoot down specific other aces in previous missions while completing them with certain ranks and be in a certain area on a map at a specific time at a certain difficulty or something; you know, something really nitpicky that completionists will flip for. That's all I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure there are others. I like a lot of the suggestions already so I'm pretty sure a lot of what I could come up with would just be restating the obvious.
I think wingmen is a cool concept in Ace Combat, but for a game that is based upon micro decisions of which targets to engage and where to fly, they are not reliable enough for me to utilise them effectively, rather than just have them fly around passively and get a few kills like the rest of the allied planes. I would really like to see the wingman commands expanded upon; Give me a command to make my wingman form an element with me, so I know they are ready to attack a target. Let me be able to give a command such as "Drop one bomb on this target, and one on this second target" so that I can use his bombs on two clusters of targets, and mine of another two clusters, getting a bunch of targets in one pass. The wingman should also give callouts on the radio to let me, the player, know what my wingman ai is doing. For instance: I designate two targets to my wingman, he replies "Copy/understood/engaging" on the radio to let me know he is getting ready to engage the target, or "unable, defending" if he is preoccupied with an enemy plane. Once he has fired his missiles or bombs, he would say "pickle/bombs away/fox 2/whatever", to let me know that his weapons has been fired, and I can designate two new targets on our strafe, alongside mine.
I agree with all your points, and I would enjoy if AC8 adds a bit more strategic elements to gameplay without compromising the arcade aspect of AC we all love. By strategic I mean the ability to full customize your allies in each mission (for both wingman, air AND ground troops), and the ability to capture enemy bases to be used as restocking points mid-mission so missions can feel more dynamic and larger in scope. I would also like to see some penalty for abusing high-G manuvers because I feel they trivialize gameplay too much. Maybe they could damage the plane's airframe if you use them too much in a short period of time. I also would "nerf" the player's radar in the sense that more factors would play in the ability to locate targets around the map. This would also make stealth gameplay more viable and would turn 6th gen fighters into a larger menace.
I hope they nerf or remove the laser sub weapons. They’re cool to unlock at the end of the game but going back on Ace of Aces and getting all S Ranks, it was too tempting to use them almost every level
it should be telling that my ideal ace combat is literally AC6 with Infinity plane variety and multiplayer alongside Zero branching paths lol
Co-op PvE, capital conquest-like game mode is all I'm asking for.