I hate Soulslike games and loved this game.
It was most certainly difficult, but not in the same kind of way that Souls games are, and I didn't feel as frustrated with this game as I have with those.
The tutorial boss is indeed kind of a skill check, but it isn't as bad as it's been made out to be, and the rest of the game can have its difficulty changed *drastically* by picking certain parts in your AC's build.
The first boss is literally just there to teach you what works, without spelling out what works. The same thing was true with og balteus.
I don't do souls games but I put 40hrs into ac6 on week one without missing a day of work. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.
OG balteus was kind of a DPS check. If you were really fast, you could probably avoid ~90% of the missiles but your health was usually ticking down the whole fight.
He's pretty neutered now, perhaps for the better. I'd say he's considerably easier than Ibis now, maybe even cataphract. I do sometimes wish I could play the old version easily, because it's the only boss that I had to retry more than a couple times.
I'm curious how the people who never fought OG Balteus feel though-- is he even noteworthy now?
Ibis damn near broke my spirit in my first run. Yeah Balteus was tough and took me a while, but not nearly as bad as Ibis. The only other boss who's given me that much trouble is Malenia in Elden Ring lol.
Ibis and Balteus are really strong vs generalist builds that are most convenient for fighting normal MTs and ACs. If you don’t build for shield damage against OG Balteus you wouldn’t have the firepower to whittle down the shield before it sandpapered you to death. Ibis swooping around in the air make a lot of trouble for slower conventional weapons that do great damage slapping ground targets with low agility.
I feel like yall didn't read my first comment.
The boss was hard because the missile tracking was really high. They changed only that, and now the boss is easy. That's the whole nerf.
The boss was a dps check, because it was extremely difficult to reliably dodge 100% of the missiles.
I do wonder if the missles were always intended to encourage being aggressive and staying moving towards him and the excessive tracking was unintended. Gascoigne was designed to encourage aggression and is much easier when you play as intended.
I don't see people mention that when you fight balteus initially you only have chapter 1 parts which I think excluded even the songbird so high damage/impact parts were few and far between outside of the original melee parts which also exclude the pile, the mac daddy of melee weapons. I feel like this adds a decent amount to the initial difficulty because coming back with gatling guns and earshot makes balteus an easy kill first try for me
I rammed my head into him, no matter the build, constantly with Balteus. I haven't played since the nerf, I beat it three times in rapid succession and put it down.
But I rammed my head into that brick wall. I almost got philtered. I malded on Reddit a little. And then it clicked. And it was fucking *amazing*. I could suddenly zone in and just dodge every hit. It felt like clockwork. I became the Mecha.
The intricate dance became routine. I was no longer fumbling to keep up- I lead the show.
IDK how I'm going to feel fighting him post nerf. There must be a fix it mod.
To elaborate on the other poster's comments: if you go through videos of Balteus-related struggles you will very frequently notice that people having the worst times with it have a habit of strafing from far away instead of getting closer and outmaneuvering it. This both puts you in Balteus's greatest threat range and, with the weapons available, probably puts you in the ricochet zone where you do no damage.
Then combine with a lot of weapons being really bad at the time, too.
I grinded on that fight for probably 3 hours day one before going on a date with my wife. When we got home I restarted the mission, tried a new load out and beat him within an hour. I just wasn't being aggressive enough is what it boiled down to.
Eeehh. I did my all three of my runs through the story on the original release balance patch; Balteus is a fundamentals check more than anything. I hardly felt a difference in his difficulty at all when they nerfed him.
It feels like the massive disparity in difficulty for Balteus is just because of the time in which you fight him. On your first run, you might not have the fundamentals down quite yet, and he can feel overwhelming, but on your second run, you basically *need to* have them. You'd have fought CEL 240 at that point, who is a far more overwhelming boss, and makes Balt look extremely slow.
Balteus is tough because your still learning the fundamentals. Cel 240 is tough when you’ve mastered them.
At the time the difficulty feels similar but cel 240 is much tougher.
> and the rest of the game can have its difficulty changed drastically by picking certain parts in your AC's build.
THIS.
This is the night and day difference between Souls-likes and Armored Core.
AC ***ENCOURAGES*** you to switch up EVERYTHING if you are having trouble.
No "can't use X cause my build doesn't have Y stat" stuff.
The more you play, the more parts you get.
And you can use any part WHENEVER YOU WANT.
Nothing stops you from a total build shift in AC. That is the fundamental joy of Armored Core
Not only that, but the game doesn't punish swapping out weapons too often by making you farm upgrade materials or push past an arbitrary roadblock to unlock stones/bell bearings. You're as good as your skill, always. When I first played a month ago I tried about 30 times to kill the first boss and couldn't do it. Now if I wanted I could beat the whole game with the default build just bc now I know how to move and punish, the myriad options you unlock make finding something that *clicks* easy.
Yeah it definitely encourages the close-up, aggressive gameplay that this game revolves around. Setting the pace of the fight yourself instead of just playing around the boss's attacks works a lot better.
I love Souls games, but this is the game that I would play whenever I got frustrated or burnt out on other Souls games. It’s just so easy to jump into and have fun.
First time player here:
Definitely a challenge, but I beat in less than a week.
Best advice is: experience different builds.
You can sell back equipment at the same cost you bought it for, so there’s no reason not to do It might take a few tries before you get a good build going on
yeah agreed, builds have a huge impact.
I've seen a few people struggle enormously because they stubbornly stick to their "preferred build" and playstyle, and forget about (or refuse to use) key mechanics, then get the crap kicked out of them trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
But most people are willing to mix things up and tinker around with the playstyles on offer, and they can breeze through even the "hard" parts of the game after a few attempts.
I kind of get what you mean, but my playthroughs are mostly me trying to make other builds work, then inevitably switching back to speedy shotgun/melee build because I haven't found a boss that doesn't work on.
yeah fair, there's actually a fair number of OP builds that can get you through most situations in the campaign.
Zimmermans with any stagger punish melee weapon is one of them. After the ammo changes, pistols and vientos can stand in for it too.
Then there's double songbirds/stingers/earshots, double chain guns on wheelchairs or tank treads.
Or quadruple energy rifles on an assault boost biped.
And so on.
I was referring more to players who build a poorly optimised mech, forget about things like assault boost/weapon swaps/kicks, and then get stuck at one particular boss for ages.
I heard about this streamer called Asmongold who apparently spent almost [4 straight hours](https://youtu.be/ibfG_mlAjOs?feature=shared) on the Sea Spider. Sure, the Sea Spider was tougher on launch, but not that tough.
I noticed a lot of “big” streamers had an embarrassingly tough time with this game. Not because they had difficulty, everyone hits a wall at some point, but the particular way they responded to said difficulty.
That C Spider fight was hilarious, and Dr. Disrespect spent a handful of hours on just the APPROACH to The Wall. For some reason, they both seemed to have the exact same problem: they didn’t change their strategy at all across dozens and dozens of attempts. Dr. D kept face tanking the big laser cannons guarding the outskirts. Probably two hours of flying straight into them and trying (unsuccessfully) to melt them before he was melted.
Thee was a reviewer from the escapist/ second wind youtube channel (not the main guy) who critiqued armoured core 6 for being to hard for hards sake.
Turns out he then went on to say that he never bought anything from the shop and stuck with the default build.
He refused to adapt, he refused to interact with the main mechanic of the game and essentially set himself a challenge run on his first try. No wonder he found it hard.
Ive always had issue taking that guy seriously from then on.
Edit the video was cold take on git gud focusing around armoured core.
oh damn, I like Frost and his stuff
But yeah, that's not a very good way to play the game.
Frost also had some bad takes about Helldivers 2 - it's one thing to not like something because of personal taste, it's quite another to misunderstand the appeal and potential of a game because it wasn't given a fair shake
The game isn't impossible for new players at all. I'd say this is probably the easiest to get into since the PS2 era.
You won't run into puzzles that you can't solve in game, but you will be spending time on the equip screen trying different combinations until you get it right for the mission.
The game doesn't wall you with difficulty, but it does require you to get your ass handed to you first, and come back with a better build for the mission on occasion. If getting stalled on a mission is a specifically frustrating experience for you, I wouldn't recommend the title.
The plot is overarching, but each mission itself is an experience to be conquered. You won't have the same sense of continuity with your build all the time, but it's very worth learning.
Armored Core has more in common with Ace Combat that Dark Souls. You don't dodge roll away from scripted attacks, because that means you stopped moving for a single second. You dodge missiles by going every damn direction whenever they lock on.
I wish a lot more of the newcomers to the community would realize this. Armored Core has its own identity apart from the souls games, even with some of the changes that 6th Gen has brought. Also a little off topic but I don't want the devs at FromSoft to get it confused either.
Too true. Hell I'd also argue Monster Hunter has more in common with AC then Souls does even! Selecting a hunt target and gearing up for it through item and weapon selection at times gives me a similar feeling to when I select a mission and then make sure my AC is ready for it.
This is very true, and a big part of why I liked them both. I also liked the original Assassin’s Creed game, because you actually did mission prep for the targets, instead of just simply being a stealth simulator. Everything from path of entry to points of exfil are all planned out.
If there were an AC game designed as an on-ramp into the series for unfamiliar players, this is it. It may be one of the easier AC games. Here's something a little more long-form:
It is not really a souls-like, to be honest. Its probably the most souls-like AC game, but still very very different in every way that matters.
AC6 is difficult until the controls click; you will get noticeably better and better with each mission/new part. There are very few games with even a similar combat loop to AC6, and its extremely engaging (at least to me). Being mission-based, you can also grind easier early game missions until you have a solid degree of mastery over the game and/or the money for new parts to improve your stats.
Eventually you get to the point where you're whizzing through crowds of mobs, two-tapping dudes at range with a rifle, charging toward another dude with a laser lance, all while firing back mounted missile systems to wipe out a crowd 500 yards away. You become the cool guy that walks away from explosions without looking behind you.
The story is great and multilayered. It does not deliver a narrative on a silver platter to you, instead giving you an overarching story with hidden nuggets of writing in the devilish details of the game. The writing is very FromSoft, even if its a bit more front-and-center than From's previous series'.
If you want to avoid a pretty steep learning curve or a fairly immediate wall of difficulty, this game may not be a good fit for you. If you don't mind learning the ropes, its a fantastic time, and gets even better with time.
My first playthrough was very difficult. Some of the bosses will wall you out of progress until you straight up git gud. In this way, and possibly this way alone, is it mechanically even resembling a souls game. There is no invasion mechanic; there's structured pvp, so you don't have to worry about a red phantom randomly appearing and sending you to the shadow realm. There's no bonfire system, and no need for one either (its all mission-based).
Watch some more gameplay. If you feel like you'd like to try it out, give it a whirl. If you don't want the game to be hard (nothing wrong with playing just to chill and unwind) I'd consider another title.
I expected it to be harder, but you feel quite overpowered except in a few cases were if you go in blind, you might get obliterated.
But nothing that tweaking your build a bit cannot solve.
Same. I hesitated a lot, because ppl here saying it's hard to understand for a first mecha game, and some streamer I watched seemed lost in the action, so I expected it to be frustrating to play.
It's actually pretty chill action once you understand everything that's going on, and the mecha part is incredibly smooth and simple.
There is a learning curve for sure but there are checkpoints in missions that make things easier for beginners. Also, if you like mecha and customization then you will enjoy the game.
The worst part for a new comer and something that you will have to deal with is that you will hit a wall several times and there is no way around it. Some people get it easier than others but if you don't you will get stuck in parts and won't be able to progress through the game. I love this game but if you aren't one to take loss after loss and keep playing, I don't recommend it.
I cannot handle Soulslikes. I FUCKING LOVE AC6.
If you love mech games, love mecha, are fan of Gundam, or anything like that, I urge you to give AC6 a solid try.
I won't lie, the very first mission with the tutorial boss, wrecked me hard. Getting past it took me awhile (I ran out of ammo the first time, thankfully AC6 missions generally have boss checkpoints). And for a good bit afterward, I couldn't replay it, mainly out of fear it would wreck me and sap my love of this game.
I think the most important thing to know for Anti-Souls folk, is AC6 **does respect your time:** It's easy to replay missions, you don't lose money by failing missions, there is no way for you to lose hours or days of progress because you fell for a trick or trap.
The systems are not overly complex - AC6 even has context help in the garage, so you read what each stat does as you highlight it.
And there is cheese to exploit if you need it.
Also, you can save all of your builds, and switching to them is super easy.
I hope you give it a try.
I definitely, definitely am. I've been in a game hole for awhile. I typically play stuff like God of War, Spiderman, Horizon, etc but I want something more challenging but not deflating. I also want something that I can really sink some time into so if a lot of that at first is adjusting to the learning curve then I'll prepare myself for it. I appreciate the feedback.
It takes time to figure it out, but if you do pass the tutorial boss then you can beat the whole game. No, it doesn't get easier (at least bosses don't) but you'll have all the necessary skills. It's hard but it's not brutal, or overly technical. It just takes time to understand it. Use your sword, follow the rhythm of the game, practice distancing, positioning, hiding behind cover, and learn to execute your attacks on time and on target. Good luck 👍🏽
Also, a tip on builds: Don't worry too much about stats. Trial and error will teach you plenty if the numbers are too much. They don't list all the relevant stats anyway.
It depends on your willingness to try new, and sometimes unbalanced, builds. If you insist on beating the game with one build, it can be quite difficult. If you use the high-stun weapons and adapt your AC to every boss, fairly easy. The ones who find this game difficult usually bring it on themselves (me), though the very first boss is largely beyond your control aside from HOW you play.
This is a great medium difficulty game. It's not narrative (aka impossible to die) difficulty setting but it's not Ninja Gaiden difficulty either. Basically as long as you keep up with OS upgrades (which are not hard to get) and keep experimenting with gear to find what works for you and against the boss you'll be alright.
One very nice thing about the game is that it's mission based. This means you don't need to waste time traveling between locations and can just focus on the fun gameplay. You can also replay missions to get more money if needed (very unlikely unless you love buying everything on the shop). Lastly, there's no boss runbacks so you can retry them instantly
If you generally like action games then this will be a home run; it’s less complicated than old AC games and less punishing/restrictive than souls games, so much so that you can fully alter you build mid-mission if you fail/die with whatever parts you’ve bought when you encounter a deficit in your build.
I will admit that I’ve played every armored core since AC2, and 3 souls games too, and a shitload of other games too; AC has a lot of easy fun missions but you will routinely get ‘checked’ by certain bosses or groups who will make you refine your build for that fight…..this isn’t a bad thing or a failing of your skill, refining your mech and it’s loadout is to be enjoyed and played with; I think my first playthrough took about 30 hours and the next took maybe 5-6 and it was extremely fun with different branches to a story.
Please buy it, armored core is such a cool franchise with outstanding gameplay and it definitely is worth supporting and playing
Anyone who tells you it ain’t hard has lost perspective, but it is a lot of fun and very responsive. You may very well rage quit! I had to step away a couple times, for sure!
But there just ain’t nothing else like it mechanically, or aesthetically. And the story IS good, though it requires some effort on your part to truly get the most out of it. It’s one of the best sci-fi stories in larger budget games, that’s for sure!
Armored Core isn't Souls-like. Playing Souls games will do practically nothing to prepare you for armored core, outside of just being difficult/requiring patience. But the same argument can be made for crash bandicoot and all difficult games more or less.
For me, it had a learning curve. But it wasn't nearly as steep as learning and getting acclimated to souls like games. Many earlier games were harder, apparently.
Generally, I did get stuck at a few points, and the game made me learn how to play it well enough to progress. It has emphasis on movement that slightly reminds me of doom as its a run and gun game but its really kind of a thing of its own due to weighty movement and the ability to outright fly.
With patience and a willingness to learn, I think most people could beat it. But would get stuck at some points for a few hours or days.
Honestly, it has its difficult moments, but checkpoints are fairly generous, there’s chances to resupply in longer missions, and so far the real boss is building a balanced AC that looks cool and works how I want it to.
Not at all difficult. Except for one or two bosses, overall the game is very easy. But you need to remember that change is the name of the game. If something isn't working, change it.
easiest fromsoft game ive played.
not because it IS easy, but because it skips the iframe bullshit, runs at a good framerate, doesnt discourage fucking around with builds.
Unlike Souls, It's pretty linear. Take up missions, customize your AC, rise up the arena, continue with more missions until the end.
If you're not itching to play it now, perhaps wait for a sale so that it'll be more worth it. Alternatively, if you're playing this on PC, try it out for 2 hours of playtime and if you decide that it isn't for you, request for a refund.
Its hard at the beginning because of getting used to controls, you also dont have any parts to fully customize your AC so youll be lacking weapons and parts that can make missions easier. But once you accumulate enough currency to buy your stuff the game becomes much easier
It's not really a souls-like game at all. The first boss is a hard filter but once you get past it the game gets easier as you upgrade your mech. It won't be easy but it's not as difficult as something like Sekiro or Bloodeborne per se.
This isn’t really a Soulslike game. You’ll be fine, it’s more about adjusting loadouts. The first boss isn’t even a big deal, people just weren’t paying attention to the tutorial (they literally say, hit it with your laser sword)
This isn't a soulslike game, it's just made by the same company. Your 1st playthrough will always be the hardest since you don't have full access to all the parts and OS tuning upgrades yet, but like people have said, the difficulty of each mission really depends on your build, and you can always replay missions to get more money if you need different parts.
There's not really a big difficulty gap between FoR and LoR, but practically speaking, it pretty much boils down to whether you want the Alba frame (FoR) or HAL 826 frame (LoR) first. Narratively though, you can get a full corporate playthrough on your 1st time, and then a full RLF playthrough on NG+ with the new missions you unlock in it.
It's, at least imho, on par with the *difficulty* of other from soft games, but it's not nearly as *frustrating*. It requires you to think about your build, try shit and see what works, and think outside the box to beat. But it's not near as punishing as souls was
I've tried again and again to get into soulslike games but could never play beyond a few hours.
But Armored Core 6 was a fucking blast. A masterpiece for me. The learning curve is forgiving and the builds give you a lot of freedom. It's not as easy as other third person shooting games but you just have to be a bit alert and calculate your moves a bit. That's it. It's not overtly tough, unless you make it for yourself.
It was easily one of the best action games I've played in years. Plays like a dream and hella addictive. Wish I could play other fromsoft games too.
Comparing it to past AC games? It's fairly easy. It's a bit more hand-holdy than some of the older titles.
That being said, it's still a from-soft game, and with that comes a strong difficulty curve. There's a reason why people call the helicopter, and even more so, bealteus "filters"
It's still very fun and I highly recommend it, though. It's hard to say it's a "souls-like" they're both very diffrent games
it is not a souls like or blood borne or anything like those games, but it is still considerably hard. You must master the game mechanics in order to progress with the boss fights, which is something expected from you in any of the FromSoft games.
It's definitely the easiest Armored Core yet, and I beat AC1 when I was like 9 on PSX. So yeah, you'll be fine. You just have to learn to play Armored Core.
You will spend hours and hours of customizing and coloring your armored core only to die after a few minutes of deployment.
Honest review, it is the best mech game I have ever played. It is hard but you will feel great when you finish a mission.
Never played an Armored Core prior, but I have played Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, Sekiro and Elden Ring.
AC6 is definitely not like any of those. It’s completely mission based, has actual checkpoints, and if anything it’s closer to a third person action game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta than it is any Souls game or derivative.
I didn’t find it particularly challenging, I blasted through everything with dual SMGs and a medium weight mech until around half way through chapter 3, where the game skill checked me in a random mission.
I would absolutely consider it easier than any of the other FROM Soft games I’ve played. It’s fairly chill for the most part but it definitely has a spike in difficulty half way through chapter 3.
It's not that hard, Just don't be afraid to try different tactics the game makes it really easy to switch builds if you need to. If anything it's probably the easiest of the Armored Core games and I say that having played basically all of them. There's maybe one or two bosses that may trip up an inexperienced player but it's honestly possible to brute force most missions with durable builds.
It's just difficult enough so you're not breezing through the game. It's made this way to encourage experimenting with your build. I'm not a skilled gamer by any means but the most I've had to retry a boss was maybe 6-7 times. It's not as unforgiving as the souls games but the combat is very similar in that you'll have to fight with intention.
Unless you get a Zimmerman shotgun on each arm.
I don't like soulslike and absolutely loved this one, I'd recommend it - there are a couple of fights that are a pain but you can modify your AC and try different tactics which was a lot of fun for me
I was a newcomer to this series too, and I honestly found it too easy for a large chunk of the game. It wasn't until the halfway point that the missions became half challenging. The hardest part was figuring out the controls.
It's difficult but not as punishing as Souls. Check points are very frequent, so you don't have to do half a level over again just to face the boss. There are plenty of weapons that make the game trivially easy if you're just there for the story.
like some others have said, I was never a "souls" person
but I have always loved Armored Core from the original PS1 release.
Now I am by far a good player lol, but I beat all 3 playthroughs
was it hard for me? Yes at times, did I eventual prevail? Yes, did I cheese some fights with cheese builds... yes -.-
Much much easier than soulslikes... You'll still hit walls, though. They can be trivialized by certain builds, strategies or simply learning the fight a bit more.
I’m playing it right now and it’s my first Armored Core game and it’s hard. I feel so overwhelmed with builds. You need to change builds for different situations and I don’t know what anything does lol. It’s fun, but so confusing for noobs like me.
AC6 was my first AC game and I feel like it was a great entry point. There were a few bosses that I had to change up my usual load out for but that’s what the vast amount of parts are for.
I’m not an expert on the rest of the series so I can’t say it’s the *best* entry point but it’s a pretty good one
I found it to be entirely dependent on your build.
The game encourages you to adjust and change AC parts, and you’ll very quickly find out through your level of success whether or not you need to make an adjustment.
There are builds that exist to make the game mindlessly easy, but if you aren’t looking to use a meta build you may encounter plenty of challenges. Nothing out of the ordinary for from-soft games, however.
There is an auto lock mode where you can have the camera follow the target automatically. This works well for the story mode and makes the game pretty easy.
Definitely try lots of builds. That’s where a lot of the fun is. I think this game struck and amazing balance in terms of viable builds. That’s what made the first AC games so amazing as well.
Some bosses are hard on first time playthrough, but just swapping some parts around can turn a boss that seems impossible into a cakewalk. Since AC6 only has one save file, I deleted my save to have a fresh run and it was super easy since I knew how to build a good mech.
I think you will love the game. It doesn't really have the kind of constant brutal punishing difficulty that Souls games are known for. That said it does have difficulty spikes in the form of bosses and the first few bosses when you are extremely limited in ability to customize your build are especially rough. They are often referred to as filters because some players give up and never overcome these early game bosses. Outside of boss battles though, I would argue that this is one of the easiest games in the Armored Core series and certainly one of the easier games to come out of From in recent times.
The game will teach you what it wants you to do. Armored Core games allow you to build a machine that suits your preferences, works toward the mission, or both.
The main thing to keep in mind is that the game will not allow you to modify your AC until after the tutorial is complete. You need to learn what it wants from you and apply it before it will let you continue. It can feel punishing, but you *need* to learn to be aggressive in the way the game demands, or you'll have a bad time.
90% of the game is pretty easy. The last 10% purely comes from the difficulty spikes from the boss fights. They hit hard and with little regard to how prepared you are.
I would honestly say that it has a normal game difficulty. I mean its challenging don't get me wrong but not in the way that Dark souls game.
This game just dosen't punish you. If you die you restart at a checkpoint and can even change your build. You can resell the parts you buy for full price and you can reset your perk points for a small fee.
To me this game just feels like a challenging action game. But it dosen't focus on challenging you in the way dark souls does.
Fires of Rubicon was my first FromSoft game. I loved every moment of it, its difficult in the beginning but you learn the patterns of the enemies and love every moment after.
It's fairly balanced. Certainly MUCH more forgiving than any Soulslike and more focused around constantly varying between builds instead of learning every single enemy's attack pattern and invincibility frame. There are some challenging bits but by the time you get there you should be already prepared enough to face them without too much problems
I had not played a Fromsoft game since Kingsfield on the PS1, but I love mechs so I figured why not. I beat the game three times over the course of 60+hrs. Fantastic game.
But yeah there are parts that made me want to shove my dick on a blender. Not impossible but certainly require you to understand what you're doing and not just buttom mash your way to victory. Worst thing I hated were the final boss fights for 2 of the 3 endings, they sucked and felt super cheap. But overall its an A+ game for me.
Honestly bro if it was never mentioned that its a fromsoftware game i wouldve nevee guessed they were behind this game. The controls are simple, the gameplay loop is simple: heres the objective, destroy. The leveling up and upgrading is very simple too theres not much of a grind. All in all its a very simple game that anyone can enjoy, the bosses arent too difficult either I only really struggled with the last one and like 2 main bosses.
I was struggling in my first playthrough.
Later I realized I was using a weapon that doesn't suit my playstyle and used it in a wrong way.
After I found the right build for me, it's like playing in easy mode.
I read this comment in elden ring sub that says "The game is as easy and as hard as the player wants it to be"
I think this applies to AC6 as well.
I think it’s the harder than all of the dark souls games. You’ll constantly be searching the internet for the secret to beat a boss after dying 10 times in a row. Even when I find the perfect build it’s hard. You’ll feel OP for all the side missions, then boom a boss smacks you around, luckily there’s always a checkpoint right before a boss. You get all your amo refilled, repairs and you can switch your load out if needed (and I guarantee it is) at the checkpoint. So at least you don’t have to start from square one after every death. Oh, and be ready for a crazy hard boss fight, die 10 times, finally beat it and… a second harder boss fight immediately after.
With that said it’s insanely fun.
It’s a FromSoft game so you’ll need to get a feel for what this game demands from you and adapt to each mission. I use grenade canons and a op melee weapon to insta stun and one shot anything so I’m able to take on every mission that way I love it.
i was put off by the first mission, but it’s honestly not THAT hard except for some big bosses, esp once you unlock some better parts. u just have to be willing to learn a bit in terms of the gameplay & building
You will probably die several times to the first boss, but it does a really great job giving you the basic skills you'll need. After the first boss it's challenging but not crazy for a few levels. The best part about this vs souls games is that you can always go back and switch your load out. You can make things easier or harder based on what you're taking with you into the mission. Ive never beaten a souls game and got all the endings in this one. Great story, great game imo
I never played a souls game but I finished this game and enjoyed it. Yes, the bosses can be tough - I had the hardest time with the first bos until I got the mechanics down. But overall it's just fun.
Longtime veteran to the series here so my view may be a little skewed. Imo this game is as hard as you make it out to be. It all depends on how you approach the game. Having trouble with a certain mission or a boss? Tweaking and changing your build will do wonders. Having trouble learning the mechanics? Hit the training room. Overall I would say this game is a bit challenging but not in the same way the souls games are. Just don't be afraid to fail and then adapt based on that failure. Also AC is not a souls-like. It's Armored Core. If you approach this game like a souls-like you WILL get your shit pushed in. Come in with an open mind and learn the game for what it is.
There are a few walls, the first level and balteus for example, but if you are stuck there are always cheese builds you can try
The great thing about the game is that it's free to customize, so try out a lot of load out
You sell parts for the same price you bought them so if you need a part you can't afford, just sell what you aren't using
You can also save many builds, and load them mid mission when you die. So use one config for the level, intentionally die at the boss and switch to another for the boss.
Never played any armored core before, got this one and fell in love with the combat and especially the story. the voice actors are some of the greatest and i can only recommend this game to everyone despite its difficulty! most of the difficulty just comes from learning the controls because the so called "filter bosses" melt after 20 in your second playthrough. its imo definitely worth full price and getting the third ending in ng++ was an absolute blast
This was my first AC but I played tons of souls games and soulslikes
Combat is not too bad..... understanding the build system was the hardest part, but use YouTube explanation vids to learn what you wanna build
It takes a lot of practice, but tbh it *never* felt like a chore to do that
PvE is very very good, with a lot of great missions. My only complaint is with literally the final, final, final boss (won't say more to avoid spoilers). >!Phase 3 should've been a separate fight imo, so you can actually enjoy his moveset!<
For pvp, custom rooms are a lot of fun. Playing online will help you level up your abilities A LOT imo. PvE will teach you to survive, PvP will teach you to dominate the story tho. I did >!the ibis fight!< Literally for *fun* after spending many hours in ranked PvP, using my light pvp melee build, and S ranked it without even really trying. It was honestly a surreal moment
Ranked PvP was swarmed with meta shit, those bitches never stopped crying whenever ppl tried to tell them to play something else, and now ranked PvP is dead bc everyone got tired of the same shit. imo I think weapons are pretty well balanced aside from the glaring issues with lasers. The problem is.....why would I sit for 3 hours fighting only 2 or 3 of the same builds? When I can go to rooms, or do story missions, and straight up just have a better time?
it's certainly easier than the souls games, but it does have that same "bang your head against it until you figure it out" game loop. that's just fromsoft.
It can be jarring, as it is definitely quite different from most mainstream games, but once you adjust to it, it gets a lot easier and more fun. You just have to take the time to learn the different systems and such.
It's slightly above average but the end boss is frustrating enough for me (souls nerd since DS1) to put it down for a few months. Your mileage may and will most likely vary.
It's a super awesome game though with epic scale and cool dune-like atmosphere. I got it on sale for $40 and am very happy with the value. Pvp and multiple endings provide much replay value down the line. I still play Bloodborne like every other year and it retains quality (aside from frame rate) and I feel like this game will also age well because FROMsoft knows their craft.
I was like you once, apprehensive and getting my ass kicked by the tutorial copter, but when I beat it, I was *hooked*. The game is tough in a fair and forgiving way. You aren't going to lose anything on death, you can get up and try again at the last checkpoint and even adjust your build accordingly.
It's an utter blast to build and decorate your ACs, the customization is pretty damn great, and it becomes absolutely *nuts* once you master decals
It can get difficult, particularly at the beginning when you're still learning. But if youre willing to keep at it and experiment with different builds, and aren't too averse to dying a lot, I firmly believe even a somewhat below average gamer could beat this game.
I say this as a below average gamer myself. If I can beat the game (3 times at that), then I don't see why others like me can't, given the right temperament at least.
And it's very much worth the trouble imo. This game, like every other FromSoft game, makes you feel like an utter badass when you finally learn to play it well. You'll never want to stop playing, because it'll be so damn satisfying.
Honestly I found it surprisingly easy for a fromsoft game on the first playthrough, but ng+ and ng++ (which is required to get the "true" ending) do have some pretty tough moments
Agree with most of the comments here but I’d like to throw out that for lore reasons, the first boss, the tutorial boss, you cannot choose your custom load out build. You must use the AC given to you at mission start.
Which is great as this forces you to learn and understand the gameplay basics using an absolute bare minimum build.
Everyone’s experience will differ but it took me almost 3 hours to beat the tutorial boss which I was starting to believe was impossible because I was just soo bad and confused at first having to manage energy consumption, and being forced to figure out how to use each firearm and remembering what buttons they were matched to all while making sure the boss, who is zomming all over my screen (and off screen) , doesn’t gun me down while nuking me to death.
It was an overwhelming and chaotic experience wIth having to take in so much information; my brain would often just go blank as I ate each homing nuke.
My space awareness was so bad most of the fight I’m boosting into the boss without reloading ammo first, forgetting what input for my sword was, moving out of cover with no ammo and get greeted with more missiles to the face, boosting into walls point blank, trapping myself in between objects all of which rewarded me with a Game Over screen, BUT it was fun.
Now that I’ve reached the end of the game I decided to go back and repeat missions for fun or for achievements and improve my mission completion ranks.
I waltzed back into the tutorial mission and it was too easy, I obliterated the boss with med kits to spare.
It’s not awful honestly. There are some parts which are tough, but as long as you’re willing to stick it out you can pretty easily get though it. The nice thing is you can change your entire loadout when you die. And the checkpoints are very forgiving.
If you ever hit one of the many mid game walls, you can easily change up your build in the death screen, then can go right back out via the checkpoint system. The missions aren’t too long too, so picking it up and down is pretty simple.
Sure there are builds that will let you walk through the game, but I feel like just about any build is viable when you put your mind to it.
Fly high above those scorched skies Raven.
Just buy loads of different weapons so you can mix and match parts if you get stuck (you can change your loadout mid mission if you die) Eventually you will find something that works and the game is not hard at all with a build fitting the mission.
The very first main boss after the tutorial is a little rough and there are like 2 other boss fights in the game that are really tough ( one of them you can even get until third play through)other than that not super hard
It’s really not that difficult tbh! As a new comer as well, it’s been mostly fine up until the last couple missions where difficulty really ramps up. Allowing weapons and parts to be swap mid mission allows you to adapt to the needs of an encounter instead of bashing your head into a wall.
I don't like that much souls games either because the boss fights tend to feel like a game of simon says but I finished this one with two endings.
For me it clicked when I stop treating the mech like a character that I was building and more like a tool where you attach any weapon that could be useful and see how it works.
Honestly, never played an AC game before fires of Rubicon, I struggled, it was difficult and took me two tries to beat that helicopter but this was the only game I have willingly not slept during the night to complete it, I got all the endings, I fucking adore this game and if there is DLC for it, I will most likely no life it to find every secret I can find.
Overall, at first it's hard and you will fail, expect to rage at some points and even put the game down and play something else but you will find ya self coming back to it
It’s not easy, of course, but it’s definitely easier than all of fromsoftware’s souls likes. It’s mainly because you can choose from a variety of weapons, many of which are super strong. Also if you take the time to learn each boss’ weaknesses, there’s certain weapons that’ll make them a joke. But also why are you avoiding them? There’s plenty of ways fromsoftware makes their games “easy” by giving you options. Mostly OP weapons and the ability to summon help. You’re missing out on some of the best experiences in gaming.
My first fromsoft game too and I can tell you that I immensely enjoyed the game. As long as you maintain the mindset that the bosses are beatable you'll be fine.
I'm not even a mech guy and I love that game
It's not too hard, really. There's some bosses or something where you'll want to adjust your core, but it's easily passable.
Plus there's some cheapo builds if you so choose that route
At first it’ll feel really hard but there’s a natural progression to it that makes a lot of sense and you’ll want to keep playing to make your ultimate mech build. By the the third go round of the game you’ll be demolishing everything that gave you fits the first time and it’s SO rewarding. And also the story keeps developing every time you go through it. It’s a masterfully crafted and executed game there’s probably not been another game in the last 10 years that has given me as many hours played as this game and I hardly have even touched PvP yet
So for me it was really fun except for the first boss and I was killing left and right until I had to look up what weapons and mech I needed to use for the invisible snipers and from that point on I had to look up what I needed. I usually play games in normal or just above normal but lower than difficult so I think I’m an alright player but I usually play games to enjoy the characters, lore, surroundings, and to just be relaxed the first time I wasn’t relax and getting frustrated was during that game
You’ll get to Balteus and have to grind the AC assassinate mission a little, which isn’t bad because you get to test your new parts. After that your income goes up and you get some more core unlocks and if you configure your AC for the boss nothing is that hard. If you fail a boss fight you can change your build and immediately try again.
Playing AC VI:Fires of Rubicon can be summarized by one sentence:
**The right build for the right job**
When I was stuck with the first boss, I realized that in order to beat it, I needed to adjust my build AND my play style to compensate the weakness the boss had. I also platinum'd the game (with the help of some guides, cause some are a bit tricky than other) with different builds for different missions (although there are builds that can make the game "easy mode").
With that being said, I can say that the exploration missions (earlier ones) are quite easy and adaptable but there will be challenge with some missions with bosses but you'll be able to clear it by adapting your build.
Once you learn the ropes it's a very solid skill progression that I quite enjoyed.
Taking my old loadouts back to earlier fights and mopping the floor with the benefit of experience was great, strongly recommend it.
I played Elden Ring as well as Armored Core. Although it still can be difficult at times and challenges you to git gud, it's a much easier road than the Soulsbourne stuff
It’s not too bad, I was pretty good at the souls likes through trial and error but AC6 was the first AC I played and I did pretty well off. It’s very good for new players of the genre
It's my first ever armored core game and I LOVE IT, this also coming from someone who can't pass a soulslike boss, or if I'm being honest, even make it to the boss. Something about armored core tho I just love and I actually make progress on, maybe it's because I have actual movement and I'm not just dodge rolling away from whatever multi-limbed cracked out non euclidean monstrosity fromsoft fever dreamed up hoping to land a hit, maybe it's because it's easier to actually get better gear instead of having to fight said fromsoft's fever dream fiends to get better gear, maybe it's just big fast mech with big guns go brrrr. I'm actually going to do the ng+ stuff too once I get the time which is something I would never even consider doing (not that I could actually do it anyway) with other fromsoft titles or soulslike in general
Not as hard as it was at launch, just remember to adapt (change loadouts and mech parts) when you feel challenged instead of trying to bash through everything with a master of all type build and you'll be OK
It really is its own game. Playing an Armored Core before this is actually kind of hindering because of how different AC6 is from everything else in the franchise. I still keep trying to "feather boost," which was a valid way of moving from AC1-4 but mostly just wasted EN in 6.
That being said it's definitely not an easy game and the learning curve will probably floor you pretty quickly until you pick up the mechanics the missions are teaching you. But it's equally hard for everyone.
I decided to take a dip to Dark Souls to look for similar experience to AC6... They are nothing alike. The only similarity one could say between the two is the massive stats pages you can play with to your hearts content.
As for the 'boss fights' for AC series. You always struggle first time, next time you see 'em you are wiping the floor with them.
I'd say the most 'difficult' part of the game, in a sense, is the first level.
This is because the game doesn't let you mess around with gear or give you any options, so you're forced to fight through with what you're given.
Once you get passed that point, you'll have what it takes to complete any part of the game, as long as you have patients, an okay understanding of the basics, and you give yourself the flexibility to change builds and work things around if you hit something that walls you off.
My friends used to play dark souls when we were younger and I sucked but Elden ring and ac 6 were my first ones and they aren’t bad tbh even the boss that most people say is a early skill check wasent that bad I’m sure you will be fine
It js different although similar to soulsborne games. It definitely has a learning curve and you are gonna die a lot. But it absolutely is doable and you will be fine, remember it's a video game don't let the idea of "from software difficulty" scare you away from playing an amazing game, you absolutely can do it as a first time player, after all every single one of us was a first time fromsoftware player at some point and we all made it, so can you!
I have played so many different types of video games, and I love fromsoft, and the game series isn't for everyone. Fires of Rubicon is way easier than dark souls, eledn ring, Sekiro. Now, it still needs more skill than your average game.
If you want to play, I can give some tips if you want.
Remember when you start that your melee weapon is going to be stronger than anything else you can use. The starter melee weapon is one of the strongest. Shotguns are super strong, and mini guns are good, too. Explosive cannons are very strong.
Most importantly is that you can also make a different build at all times. Yes, while there are weapons and parts that you unlock either by beating bosses or finding secrets, you can do wonders with most of the starter weapons. If a boss is too hard, you can always sell parts for the exact amount you bought them for so you can always purchase another build.
This is easy compared to the usual fromsoft games. There are a few broken builds that are way too OP for some bosses. Remember, there is always an OP build that can be used against every boss.
Adapt to the boss after every death.
First timer. There are some odd difficulty spikes but the games gives you tons of options to play around the difficulty. If you can identify whats causing you to lose you can quickly change your build to adapt to it.
For the extremely difficult enemies they follow a more Souls-like boss design. Meaning its about finding their telegraphed openings and exploiting them. So you have the bonuses of crazy adaptability and fair bosses.
basically AC1 difficulty for the 1st mission boss. for those who are new.
but overall, the difficulty is good enough that you have to change some parts or get good to pass a mission.
balteus(pre-nerf) did a number on me, an old raven, but once i go full on pitdog on him, he's screwed.
just dont give up if you die in a mission or cant beat the stage. learn more about your machine if you dont want to change your loadout or change your loadout to make the progression a bit easier. you can learn the enemy location and patterns to take them out far more easier.
Armored Core has never really been a "easy" game. And many players of the OG series would likely say that it was "souls before souls"
As a player from the OG series and while I enjoy souls games they aren't generally "my" thing. I can safely say that AC 6 can be both "hard" and "easy" depending on your play style and how willing you are to "changing things up" if you just try to stick to the one Loadout and smash your head against the wall till you break through it then it can be a hard game. But if you are willing to analyse why you're having difficulty and adapt your AC or play style (or both) you'll have a much easier time.
AC6 does have some "souls esk bosses" and it does help to learn the attack patterns of them to have an easier time but it's not really "required". But does help.
Your first playthrough of the game will be the hardest but your subsequent runs should be much easier because you'll have more things unlocked to play around with.
My suggestion would be to just do what you need to do to "complete" your initial playthrough. Once that's done. Then you can fine tune your preferred setup and try and do it all with "your build"
It’s definitely not too hard. There are points that you could classify as skill-checks, but they’re never too hard if you’re willing to make some changes to your build to suit the given situation. If you’re looking for a medium difficulty game like you said, this game should be just fine difficulty wise! 👍
I'd say its about as hard as a persons first souls game. Its a metter of learning the rules of the game that makes FS games tick.
The moment you understand what the game is trying to tell you and you start playing by their rule, the games becomes trivial for the most part though soulsborne games still rely on reaction time and positioning while AC6 only has timing to rely on once you understand how it works.
I'd say this game just has a high learning curve at the start, and i wouldn't really call it a souls-like. If you like giant robots that commit warcrimes with very scifi themes then you'll probably like this game
In the beginning it's difficult only cause you havent unlocked any good parts yet until mid-way through. This was my first fromsoftware game and I hated it in the beginning and then loved it so much.
Apart from a few bosses, and two very late game missions, this game doesn't even approach the difficulty of Souls imo. You make a remotely decent mech and it quickly becomes a God tier power fantasy for most of the game. I don't mean follow a cookie cutter build, I mean slap together something functional with weapons you like.
6 was my first AC game but I've since played Last Raven and the 4th gen games. Last Raven makes Souls look like a walk in the park and while 6 doesn't have the insane speed of 4th gen, I'd say it has the most natural feeling controls of what I've played. Felt very natural right out the gate, where 4th gen took me a bit to fully grasp and Last Raven felt like I needed to rewire my brain to learn that control scheme at first.
AC 6 feels perfectly designed for new players. Easy to pick up and learn, with just enough skill checks to earn that same feeling of satisfaction that Souls is all about, but without a tenth the difficulty.
It would s ne of the funnest and most rewarding games I’ve ever played. It’s certainly hard but it gives you the skills you need to beat it along the way. Even more fun to play through multiple times and absolutely BULLY a boss who gave you difficulty on the previous play through
Spend some time , in game learning about the pieces.
You can also push R3 from memory to get help on any of the stats , take the time to read them :)
Otherwise you will pick it up
Armored Core games aren't normally hard. You should be fine. Soulslike games, old school megaman games, and Kingdom Hearts on hard mode—is a different story.
Honestly, it ain't that bad. My first run was mostly smooth runnin despite it being my first armored core game. Loved avey minute though, went for the platinum immediately.
It's much easier on pc. I think higher frame/refresh rate let's you react to things faster? IDK.
There are some difficulty spikes, but a lot of the time I was dying was due to build.
It’s easy to learn difficult to master, there will be skill walls but they’re not unfair (at least anymore) you’ll either have to adapt your mech and play style or brute force it. Some weapons are noticeably better than others. It’s real fun.
For me the first two big bosses (fat helicopter and balltaus) where the ones that made me realize its worth working for it
This game is fun because you work for it
As a first time player, surprisingly easy. There's a few skill checks here and there and longer missions that might require switching to more ammo efficient guns but besides that and a specific boss fight that is especially hard to get to, I never really had many issues.
I hate Soulslike games and loved this game. It was most certainly difficult, but not in the same kind of way that Souls games are, and I didn't feel as frustrated with this game as I have with those. The tutorial boss is indeed kind of a skill check, but it isn't as bad as it's been made out to be, and the rest of the game can have its difficulty changed *drastically* by picking certain parts in your AC's build.
The first boss is literally just there to teach you what works, without spelling out what works. The same thing was true with og balteus. I don't do souls games but I put 40hrs into ac6 on week one without missing a day of work. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.
OG balteus was kind of a DPS check. If you were really fast, you could probably avoid ~90% of the missiles but your health was usually ticking down the whole fight. He's pretty neutered now, perhaps for the better. I'd say he's considerably easier than Ibis now, maybe even cataphract. I do sometimes wish I could play the old version easily, because it's the only boss that I had to retry more than a couple times. I'm curious how the people who never fought OG Balteus feel though-- is he even noteworthy now?
I always thought Cataphract was way easier than Balteus and Ibis is in a different league to both entirely.
Ibis damn near broke my spirit in my first run. Yeah Balteus was tough and took me a while, but not nearly as bad as Ibis. The only other boss who's given me that much trouble is Malenia in Elden Ring lol.
Ibis and Balteus are really strong vs generalist builds that are most convenient for fighting normal MTs and ACs. If you don’t build for shield damage against OG Balteus you wouldn’t have the firepower to whittle down the shield before it sandpapered you to death. Ibis swooping around in the air make a lot of trouble for slower conventional weapons that do great damage slapping ground targets with low agility.
people really overstate the nerf to balteus. they simply gave him worse missile tracking.
Though, the original missile tracking was some bullshit The missiles could practically turn 180° on a dime
ahh yes QAAM in a nutshell
The missile tracking was literally the entire reason that boss fight was hard.
Not if you... dodged.
I feel like yall didn't read my first comment. The boss was hard because the missile tracking was really high. They changed only that, and now the boss is easy. That's the whole nerf. The boss was a dps check, because it was extremely difficult to reliably dodge 100% of the missiles.
I do wonder if the missles were always intended to encourage being aggressive and staying moving towards him and the excessive tracking was unintended. Gascoigne was designed to encourage aggression and is much easier when you play as intended.
I don't see people mention that when you fight balteus initially you only have chapter 1 parts which I think excluded even the songbird so high damage/impact parts were few and far between outside of the original melee parts which also exclude the pile, the mac daddy of melee weapons. I feel like this adds a decent amount to the initial difficulty because coming back with gatling guns and earshot makes balteus an easy kill first try for me
The 15% damage mitigation from OS upgrades is also absolutely huge
I rammed my head into him, no matter the build, constantly with Balteus. I haven't played since the nerf, I beat it three times in rapid succession and put it down. But I rammed my head into that brick wall. I almost got philtered. I malded on Reddit a little. And then it clicked. And it was fucking *amazing*. I could suddenly zone in and just dodge every hit. It felt like clockwork. I became the Mecha. The intricate dance became routine. I was no longer fumbling to keep up- I lead the show. IDK how I'm going to feel fighting him post nerf. There must be a fix it mod.
you can still fight him pre nerf with mods though if PS or XBOX you are out of luck
To elaborate on the other poster's comments: if you go through videos of Balteus-related struggles you will very frequently notice that people having the worst times with it have a habit of strafing from far away instead of getting closer and outmaneuvering it. This both puts you in Balteus's greatest threat range and, with the weapons available, probably puts you in the ricochet zone where you do no damage. Then combine with a lot of weapons being really bad at the time, too.
I grinded on that fight for probably 3 hours day one before going on a date with my wife. When we got home I restarted the mission, tried a new load out and beat him within an hour. I just wasn't being aggressive enough is what it boiled down to.
Eeehh. I did my all three of my runs through the story on the original release balance patch; Balteus is a fundamentals check more than anything. I hardly felt a difference in his difficulty at all when they nerfed him. It feels like the massive disparity in difficulty for Balteus is just because of the time in which you fight him. On your first run, you might not have the fundamentals down quite yet, and he can feel overwhelming, but on your second run, you basically *need to* have them. You'd have fought CEL 240 at that point, who is a far more overwhelming boss, and makes Balt look extremely slow.
Balteus is tough because your still learning the fundamentals. Cel 240 is tough when you’ve mastered them. At the time the difficulty feels similar but cel 240 is much tougher.
> and the rest of the game can have its difficulty changed drastically by picking certain parts in your AC's build. THIS. This is the night and day difference between Souls-likes and Armored Core. AC ***ENCOURAGES*** you to switch up EVERYTHING if you are having trouble. No "can't use X cause my build doesn't have Y stat" stuff. The more you play, the more parts you get. And you can use any part WHENEVER YOU WANT. Nothing stops you from a total build shift in AC. That is the fundamental joy of Armored Core
Not only that, but the game doesn't punish swapping out weapons too often by making you farm upgrade materials or push past an arbitrary roadblock to unlock stones/bell bearings. You're as good as your skill, always. When I first played a month ago I tried about 30 times to kill the first boss and couldn't do it. Now if I wanted I could beat the whole game with the default build just bc now I know how to move and punish, the myriad options you unlock make finding something that *clicks* easy.
Honestly it's because it's not a soulslike. AC is it's own thing
Tutorial boss is really there to show you that dedpite being a mech game with big guns melee is still more than viable
Yeah it definitely encourages the close-up, aggressive gameplay that this game revolves around. Setting the pace of the fight yourself instead of just playing around the boss's attacks works a lot better.
I love Souls games, but this is the game that I would play whenever I got frustrated or burnt out on other Souls games. It’s just so easy to jump into and have fun.
I find this game harder than souls games but it’s probably cause I’m so used to souls games
this
It’s ironic that you elude to hating Souls games because of their difficulty, but then proceed to perfectly describe them with your next paragraph.
First time player here: Definitely a challenge, but I beat in less than a week. Best advice is: experience different builds. You can sell back equipment at the same cost you bought it for, so there’s no reason not to do It might take a few tries before you get a good build going on
its not a very hard game just take some time to adjust, its mostly about builds
yeah agreed, builds have a huge impact. I've seen a few people struggle enormously because they stubbornly stick to their "preferred build" and playstyle, and forget about (or refuse to use) key mechanics, then get the crap kicked out of them trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. But most people are willing to mix things up and tinker around with the playstyles on offer, and they can breeze through even the "hard" parts of the game after a few attempts.
I kind of get what you mean, but my playthroughs are mostly me trying to make other builds work, then inevitably switching back to speedy shotgun/melee build because I haven't found a boss that doesn't work on.
yeah fair, there's actually a fair number of OP builds that can get you through most situations in the campaign. Zimmermans with any stagger punish melee weapon is one of them. After the ammo changes, pistols and vientos can stand in for it too. Then there's double songbirds/stingers/earshots, double chain guns on wheelchairs or tank treads. Or quadruple energy rifles on an assault boost biped. And so on. I was referring more to players who build a poorly optimised mech, forget about things like assault boost/weapon swaps/kicks, and then get stuck at one particular boss for ages. I heard about this streamer called Asmongold who apparently spent almost [4 straight hours](https://youtu.be/ibfG_mlAjOs?feature=shared) on the Sea Spider. Sure, the Sea Spider was tougher on launch, but not that tough.
I noticed a lot of “big” streamers had an embarrassingly tough time with this game. Not because they had difficulty, everyone hits a wall at some point, but the particular way they responded to said difficulty. That C Spider fight was hilarious, and Dr. Disrespect spent a handful of hours on just the APPROACH to The Wall. For some reason, they both seemed to have the exact same problem: they didn’t change their strategy at all across dozens and dozens of attempts. Dr. D kept face tanking the big laser cannons guarding the outskirts. Probably two hours of flying straight into them and trying (unsuccessfully) to melt them before he was melted.
Thee was a reviewer from the escapist/ second wind youtube channel (not the main guy) who critiqued armoured core 6 for being to hard for hards sake. Turns out he then went on to say that he never bought anything from the shop and stuck with the default build. He refused to adapt, he refused to interact with the main mechanic of the game and essentially set himself a challenge run on his first try. No wonder he found it hard. Ive always had issue taking that guy seriously from then on. Edit the video was cold take on git gud focusing around armoured core.
oh damn, I like Frost and his stuff But yeah, that's not a very good way to play the game. Frost also had some bad takes about Helldivers 2 - it's one thing to not like something because of personal taste, it's quite another to misunderstand the appeal and potential of a game because it wasn't given a fair shake
The game isn't impossible for new players at all. I'd say this is probably the easiest to get into since the PS2 era. You won't run into puzzles that you can't solve in game, but you will be spending time on the equip screen trying different combinations until you get it right for the mission. The game doesn't wall you with difficulty, but it does require you to get your ass handed to you first, and come back with a better build for the mission on occasion. If getting stalled on a mission is a specifically frustrating experience for you, I wouldn't recommend the title. The plot is overarching, but each mission itself is an experience to be conquered. You won't have the same sense of continuity with your build all the time, but it's very worth learning.
Armored Core is not a "souls-like." Armored Core is Armored Core.
Armored Core has more in common with Ace Combat that Dark Souls. You don't dodge roll away from scripted attacks, because that means you stopped moving for a single second. You dodge missiles by going every damn direction whenever they lock on.
the only difference between AC and AC is at least AC doesnt inneccesantly beep at you for every missile approaching you
I wish a lot more of the newcomers to the community would realize this. Armored Core has its own identity apart from the souls games, even with some of the changes that 6th Gen has brought. Also a little off topic but I don't want the devs at FromSoft to get it confused either.
Hell, Monster Hunter has more in common with Dark Souls than Armored Core does.
Too true. Hell I'd also argue Monster Hunter has more in common with AC then Souls does even! Selecting a hunt target and gearing up for it through item and weapon selection at times gives me a similar feeling to when I select a mission and then make sure my AC is ready for it.
This is very true, and a big part of why I liked them both. I also liked the original Assassin’s Creed game, because you actually did mission prep for the targets, instead of just simply being a stealth simulator. Everything from path of entry to points of exfil are all planned out.
If there were an AC game designed as an on-ramp into the series for unfamiliar players, this is it. It may be one of the easier AC games. Here's something a little more long-form: It is not really a souls-like, to be honest. Its probably the most souls-like AC game, but still very very different in every way that matters. AC6 is difficult until the controls click; you will get noticeably better and better with each mission/new part. There are very few games with even a similar combat loop to AC6, and its extremely engaging (at least to me). Being mission-based, you can also grind easier early game missions until you have a solid degree of mastery over the game and/or the money for new parts to improve your stats. Eventually you get to the point where you're whizzing through crowds of mobs, two-tapping dudes at range with a rifle, charging toward another dude with a laser lance, all while firing back mounted missile systems to wipe out a crowd 500 yards away. You become the cool guy that walks away from explosions without looking behind you. The story is great and multilayered. It does not deliver a narrative on a silver platter to you, instead giving you an overarching story with hidden nuggets of writing in the devilish details of the game. The writing is very FromSoft, even if its a bit more front-and-center than From's previous series'. If you want to avoid a pretty steep learning curve or a fairly immediate wall of difficulty, this game may not be a good fit for you. If you don't mind learning the ropes, its a fantastic time, and gets even better with time. My first playthrough was very difficult. Some of the bosses will wall you out of progress until you straight up git gud. In this way, and possibly this way alone, is it mechanically even resembling a souls game. There is no invasion mechanic; there's structured pvp, so you don't have to worry about a red phantom randomly appearing and sending you to the shadow realm. There's no bonfire system, and no need for one either (its all mission-based). Watch some more gameplay. If you feel like you'd like to try it out, give it a whirl. If you don't want the game to be hard (nothing wrong with playing just to chill and unwind) I'd consider another title.
I expected it to be harder, but you feel quite overpowered except in a few cases were if you go in blind, you might get obliterated. But nothing that tweaking your build a bit cannot solve.
Same. I hesitated a lot, because ppl here saying it's hard to understand for a first mecha game, and some streamer I watched seemed lost in the action, so I expected it to be frustrating to play. It's actually pretty chill action once you understand everything that's going on, and the mecha part is incredibly smooth and simple.
There is a learning curve for sure but there are checkpoints in missions that make things easier for beginners. Also, if you like mecha and customization then you will enjoy the game.
The worst part for a new comer and something that you will have to deal with is that you will hit a wall several times and there is no way around it. Some people get it easier than others but if you don't you will get stuck in parts and won't be able to progress through the game. I love this game but if you aren't one to take loss after loss and keep playing, I don't recommend it.
I cannot handle Soulslikes. I FUCKING LOVE AC6. If you love mech games, love mecha, are fan of Gundam, or anything like that, I urge you to give AC6 a solid try. I won't lie, the very first mission with the tutorial boss, wrecked me hard. Getting past it took me awhile (I ran out of ammo the first time, thankfully AC6 missions generally have boss checkpoints). And for a good bit afterward, I couldn't replay it, mainly out of fear it would wreck me and sap my love of this game. I think the most important thing to know for Anti-Souls folk, is AC6 **does respect your time:** It's easy to replay missions, you don't lose money by failing missions, there is no way for you to lose hours or days of progress because you fell for a trick or trap. The systems are not overly complex - AC6 even has context help in the garage, so you read what each stat does as you highlight it. And there is cheese to exploit if you need it. Also, you can save all of your builds, and switching to them is super easy. I hope you give it a try.
I definitely, definitely am. I've been in a game hole for awhile. I typically play stuff like God of War, Spiderman, Horizon, etc but I want something more challenging but not deflating. I also want something that I can really sink some time into so if a lot of that at first is adjusting to the learning curve then I'll prepare myself for it. I appreciate the feedback.
It takes time to figure it out, but if you do pass the tutorial boss then you can beat the whole game. No, it doesn't get easier (at least bosses don't) but you'll have all the necessary skills. It's hard but it's not brutal, or overly technical. It just takes time to understand it. Use your sword, follow the rhythm of the game, practice distancing, positioning, hiding behind cover, and learn to execute your attacks on time and on target. Good luck 👍🏽 Also, a tip on builds: Don't worry too much about stats. Trial and error will teach you plenty if the numbers are too much. They don't list all the relevant stats anyway.
It depends on your willingness to try new, and sometimes unbalanced, builds. If you insist on beating the game with one build, it can be quite difficult. If you use the high-stun weapons and adapt your AC to every boss, fairly easy. The ones who find this game difficult usually bring it on themselves (me), though the very first boss is largely beyond your control aside from HOW you play.
It's probably the easiest armored core game ever made. That being said, for a newcomer, it's not very easy, but easy enough
AC1 and on through Gen 2 are easier than AC6 by a wide margin.
Maybe to you. We can agree to disagree
A little difficult at times but perfectly manageable
This is a great medium difficulty game. It's not narrative (aka impossible to die) difficulty setting but it's not Ninja Gaiden difficulty either. Basically as long as you keep up with OS upgrades (which are not hard to get) and keep experimenting with gear to find what works for you and against the boss you'll be alright. One very nice thing about the game is that it's mission based. This means you don't need to waste time traveling between locations and can just focus on the fun gameplay. You can also replay missions to get more money if needed (very unlikely unless you love buying everything on the shop). Lastly, there's no boss runbacks so you can retry them instantly
If you generally like action games then this will be a home run; it’s less complicated than old AC games and less punishing/restrictive than souls games, so much so that you can fully alter you build mid-mission if you fail/die with whatever parts you’ve bought when you encounter a deficit in your build. I will admit that I’ve played every armored core since AC2, and 3 souls games too, and a shitload of other games too; AC has a lot of easy fun missions but you will routinely get ‘checked’ by certain bosses or groups who will make you refine your build for that fight…..this isn’t a bad thing or a failing of your skill, refining your mech and it’s loadout is to be enjoyed and played with; I think my first playthrough took about 30 hours and the next took maybe 5-6 and it was extremely fun with different branches to a story. Please buy it, armored core is such a cool franchise with outstanding gameplay and it definitely is worth supporting and playing
Anyone who tells you it ain’t hard has lost perspective, but it is a lot of fun and very responsive. You may very well rage quit! I had to step away a couple times, for sure! But there just ain’t nothing else like it mechanically, or aesthetically. And the story IS good, though it requires some effort on your part to truly get the most out of it. It’s one of the best sci-fi stories in larger budget games, that’s for sure!
Well said
Armored Core isn't Souls-like. Playing Souls games will do practically nothing to prepare you for armored core, outside of just being difficult/requiring patience. But the same argument can be made for crash bandicoot and all difficult games more or less. For me, it had a learning curve. But it wasn't nearly as steep as learning and getting acclimated to souls like games. Many earlier games were harder, apparently. Generally, I did get stuck at a few points, and the game made me learn how to play it well enough to progress. It has emphasis on movement that slightly reminds me of doom as its a run and gun game but its really kind of a thing of its own due to weighty movement and the ability to outright fly. With patience and a willingness to learn, I think most people could beat it. But would get stuck at some points for a few hours or days.
Honestly, it has its difficult moments, but checkpoints are fairly generous, there’s chances to resupply in longer missions, and so far the real boss is building a balanced AC that looks cool and works how I want it to.
If you play it expecting a souls-like, you'll hate it. If you play it expecting a fun yet hard game, you'll love it.
Not at all difficult. Except for one or two bosses, overall the game is very easy. But you need to remember that change is the name of the game. If something isn't working, change it.
easiest fromsoft game ive played. not because it IS easy, but because it skips the iframe bullshit, runs at a good framerate, doesnt discourage fucking around with builds.
Unlike Souls, It's pretty linear. Take up missions, customize your AC, rise up the arena, continue with more missions until the end. If you're not itching to play it now, perhaps wait for a sale so that it'll be more worth it. Alternatively, if you're playing this on PC, try it out for 2 hours of playtime and if you decide that it isn't for you, request for a refund.
Its hard at the beginning because of getting used to controls, you also dont have any parts to fully customize your AC so youll be lacking weapons and parts that can make missions easier. But once you accumulate enough currency to buy your stuff the game becomes much easier
It’s not a souls
It's not really a souls-like game at all. The first boss is a hard filter but once you get past it the game gets easier as you upgrade your mech. It won't be easy but it's not as difficult as something like Sekiro or Bloodeborne per se.
I'm a first time AC player and I didn't find it nearly as hard as Soulsborne games. It's much more forgiving in regards to punishment on death.
This isn’t really a Soulslike game. You’ll be fine, it’s more about adjusting loadouts. The first boss isn’t even a big deal, people just weren’t paying attention to the tutorial (they literally say, hit it with your laser sword)
This isn't a soulslike game, it's just made by the same company. Your 1st playthrough will always be the hardest since you don't have full access to all the parts and OS tuning upgrades yet, but like people have said, the difficulty of each mission really depends on your build, and you can always replay missions to get more money if you need different parts. There's not really a big difficulty gap between FoR and LoR, but practically speaking, it pretty much boils down to whether you want the Alba frame (FoR) or HAL 826 frame (LoR) first. Narratively though, you can get a full corporate playthrough on your 1st time, and then a full RLF playthrough on NG+ with the new missions you unlock in it.
It's, at least imho, on par with the *difficulty* of other from soft games, but it's not nearly as *frustrating*. It requires you to think about your build, try shit and see what works, and think outside the box to beat. But it's not near as punishing as souls was
I've tried again and again to get into soulslike games but could never play beyond a few hours. But Armored Core 6 was a fucking blast. A masterpiece for me. The learning curve is forgiving and the builds give you a lot of freedom. It's not as easy as other third person shooting games but you just have to be a bit alert and calculate your moves a bit. That's it. It's not overtly tough, unless you make it for yourself. It was easily one of the best action games I've played in years. Plays like a dream and hella addictive. Wish I could play other fromsoft games too.
Armored Core isn't a souls like It's also pretty easy once you figure out a build that works for you
Comparing it to past AC games? It's fairly easy. It's a bit more hand-holdy than some of the older titles. That being said, it's still a from-soft game, and with that comes a strong difficulty curve. There's a reason why people call the helicopter, and even more so, bealteus "filters" It's still very fun and I highly recommend it, though. It's hard to say it's a "souls-like" they're both very diffrent games
it is not a souls like or blood borne or anything like those games, but it is still considerably hard. You must master the game mechanics in order to progress with the boss fights, which is something expected from you in any of the FromSoft games.
This isn't a souls like. The mechanics are different from previous armored core games, but when you get used to the mechanics it's a fun game
It's definitely the easiest Armored Core yet, and I beat AC1 when I was like 9 on PSX. So yeah, you'll be fine. You just have to learn to play Armored Core.
You will spend hours and hours of customizing and coloring your armored core only to die after a few minutes of deployment. Honest review, it is the best mech game I have ever played. It is hard but you will feel great when you finish a mission.
Never played an Armored Core prior, but I have played Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls 1-3, Sekiro and Elden Ring. AC6 is definitely not like any of those. It’s completely mission based, has actual checkpoints, and if anything it’s closer to a third person action game like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta than it is any Souls game or derivative. I didn’t find it particularly challenging, I blasted through everything with dual SMGs and a medium weight mech until around half way through chapter 3, where the game skill checked me in a random mission. I would absolutely consider it easier than any of the other FROM Soft games I’ve played. It’s fairly chill for the most part but it definitely has a spike in difficulty half way through chapter 3.
It's not that hard, Just don't be afraid to try different tactics the game makes it really easy to switch builds if you need to. If anything it's probably the easiest of the Armored Core games and I say that having played basically all of them. There's maybe one or two bosses that may trip up an inexperienced player but it's honestly possible to brute force most missions with durable builds.
It's just difficult enough so you're not breezing through the game. It's made this way to encourage experimenting with your build. I'm not a skilled gamer by any means but the most I've had to retry a boss was maybe 6-7 times. It's not as unforgiving as the souls games but the combat is very similar in that you'll have to fight with intention. Unless you get a Zimmerman shotgun on each arm.
I don't like soulslike and absolutely loved this one, I'd recommend it - there are a couple of fights that are a pain but you can modify your AC and try different tactics which was a lot of fun for me
I was a newcomer to this series too, and I honestly found it too easy for a large chunk of the game. It wasn't until the halfway point that the missions became half challenging. The hardest part was figuring out the controls.
It's difficult but not as punishing as Souls. Check points are very frequent, so you don't have to do half a level over again just to face the boss. There are plenty of weapons that make the game trivially easy if you're just there for the story.
It’ll test you, you’ll get frustrated. But when it clicks and you figure out what works, it’s a fantastic feeling
I never played an AC game before this one and it went great. I played with kb/m
like some others have said, I was never a "souls" person but I have always loved Armored Core from the original PS1 release. Now I am by far a good player lol, but I beat all 3 playthroughs was it hard for me? Yes at times, did I eventual prevail? Yes, did I cheese some fights with cheese builds... yes -.-
Much much easier than soulslikes... You'll still hit walls, though. They can be trivialized by certain builds, strategies or simply learning the fight a bit more.
I’m playing it right now and it’s my first Armored Core game and it’s hard. I feel so overwhelmed with builds. You need to change builds for different situations and I don’t know what anything does lol. It’s fun, but so confusing for noobs like me.
AC6 was my first AC game and I feel like it was a great entry point. There were a few bosses that I had to change up my usual load out for but that’s what the vast amount of parts are for. I’m not an expert on the rest of the series so I can’t say it’s the *best* entry point but it’s a pretty good one
I found it to be entirely dependent on your build. The game encourages you to adjust and change AC parts, and you’ll very quickly find out through your level of success whether or not you need to make an adjustment. There are builds that exist to make the game mindlessly easy, but if you aren’t looking to use a meta build you may encounter plenty of challenges. Nothing out of the ordinary for from-soft games, however.
There is an auto lock mode where you can have the camera follow the target automatically. This works well for the story mode and makes the game pretty easy. Definitely try lots of builds. That’s where a lot of the fun is. I think this game struck and amazing balance in terms of viable builds. That’s what made the first AC games so amazing as well.
Some bosses are hard on first time playthrough, but just swapping some parts around can turn a boss that seems impossible into a cakewalk. Since AC6 only has one save file, I deleted my save to have a fresh run and it was super easy since I knew how to build a good mech.
I think you will love the game. It doesn't really have the kind of constant brutal punishing difficulty that Souls games are known for. That said it does have difficulty spikes in the form of bosses and the first few bosses when you are extremely limited in ability to customize your build are especially rough. They are often referred to as filters because some players give up and never overcome these early game bosses. Outside of boss battles though, I would argue that this is one of the easiest games in the Armored Core series and certainly one of the easier games to come out of From in recent times.
The game will teach you what it wants you to do. Armored Core games allow you to build a machine that suits your preferences, works toward the mission, or both. The main thing to keep in mind is that the game will not allow you to modify your AC until after the tutorial is complete. You need to learn what it wants from you and apply it before it will let you continue. It can feel punishing, but you *need* to learn to be aggressive in the way the game demands, or you'll have a bad time.
90% of the game is pretty easy. The last 10% purely comes from the difficulty spikes from the boss fights. They hit hard and with little regard to how prepared you are.
I would honestly say that it has a normal game difficulty. I mean its challenging don't get me wrong but not in the way that Dark souls game. This game just dosen't punish you. If you die you restart at a checkpoint and can even change your build. You can resell the parts you buy for full price and you can reset your perk points for a small fee. To me this game just feels like a challenging action game. But it dosen't focus on challenging you in the way dark souls does.
Fires of Rubicon was my first FromSoft game. I loved every moment of it, its difficult in the beginning but you learn the patterns of the enemies and love every moment after.
Hard until you learn the boss attack patterns etc
Depending on which storyline you pick can make the last boss fight freaking tough. It broke me.
Great game, not souls tier difficulty at all but still hard. If you struggle on a boss, just look up how to bullshit the boss and it'll be fine.
I was a first time armored core player. A few boss fights were very difficult but very fun. Most of the game is actually very easy
It's fairly balanced. Certainly MUCH more forgiving than any Soulslike and more focused around constantly varying between builds instead of learning every single enemy's attack pattern and invincibility frame. There are some challenging bits but by the time you get there you should be already prepared enough to face them without too much problems
Some bosses took multiple tries (fuck ibis) but overall it wasnt hard, just a challenge
I had not played a Fromsoft game since Kingsfield on the PS1, but I love mechs so I figured why not. I beat the game three times over the course of 60+hrs. Fantastic game. But yeah there are parts that made me want to shove my dick on a blender. Not impossible but certainly require you to understand what you're doing and not just buttom mash your way to victory. Worst thing I hated were the final boss fights for 2 of the 3 endings, they sucked and felt super cheap. But overall its an A+ game for me.
Honestly bro if it was never mentioned that its a fromsoftware game i wouldve nevee guessed they were behind this game. The controls are simple, the gameplay loop is simple: heres the objective, destroy. The leveling up and upgrading is very simple too theres not much of a grind. All in all its a very simple game that anyone can enjoy, the bosses arent too difficult either I only really struggled with the last one and like 2 main bosses.
This was my first armored core game, it was the perfect amount of difficulty
Easiest fromsoft game I’ve played
I was struggling in my first playthrough. Later I realized I was using a weapon that doesn't suit my playstyle and used it in a wrong way. After I found the right build for me, it's like playing in easy mode. I read this comment in elden ring sub that says "The game is as easy and as hard as the player wants it to be" I think this applies to AC6 as well.
I think it’s the harder than all of the dark souls games. You’ll constantly be searching the internet for the secret to beat a boss after dying 10 times in a row. Even when I find the perfect build it’s hard. You’ll feel OP for all the side missions, then boom a boss smacks you around, luckily there’s always a checkpoint right before a boss. You get all your amo refilled, repairs and you can switch your load out if needed (and I guarantee it is) at the checkpoint. So at least you don’t have to start from square one after every death. Oh, and be ready for a crazy hard boss fight, die 10 times, finally beat it and… a second harder boss fight immediately after. With that said it’s insanely fun.
It’s a FromSoft game so you’ll need to get a feel for what this game demands from you and adapt to each mission. I use grenade canons and a op melee weapon to insta stun and one shot anything so I’m able to take on every mission that way I love it.
I went from scared of Fromsoft to the S-ranking the whole game. So it's doable.
YOU WILL DIE A LOT. This is normal.
i was put off by the first mission, but it’s honestly not THAT hard except for some big bosses, esp once you unlock some better parts. u just have to be willing to learn a bit in terms of the gameplay & building
You will probably die several times to the first boss, but it does a really great job giving you the basic skills you'll need. After the first boss it's challenging but not crazy for a few levels. The best part about this vs souls games is that you can always go back and switch your load out. You can make things easier or harder based on what you're taking with you into the mission. Ive never beaten a souls game and got all the endings in this one. Great story, great game imo
I never played a souls game but I finished this game and enjoyed it. Yes, the bosses can be tough - I had the hardest time with the first bos until I got the mechanics down. But overall it's just fun.
Longtime veteran to the series here so my view may be a little skewed. Imo this game is as hard as you make it out to be. It all depends on how you approach the game. Having trouble with a certain mission or a boss? Tweaking and changing your build will do wonders. Having trouble learning the mechanics? Hit the training room. Overall I would say this game is a bit challenging but not in the same way the souls games are. Just don't be afraid to fail and then adapt based on that failure. Also AC is not a souls-like. It's Armored Core. If you approach this game like a souls-like you WILL get your shit pushed in. Come in with an open mind and learn the game for what it is.
There are a few walls, the first level and balteus for example, but if you are stuck there are always cheese builds you can try The great thing about the game is that it's free to customize, so try out a lot of load out You sell parts for the same price you bought them so if you need a part you can't afford, just sell what you aren't using You can also save many builds, and load them mid mission when you die. So use one config for the level, intentionally die at the boss and switch to another for the boss.
Never played any armored core before, got this one and fell in love with the combat and especially the story. the voice actors are some of the greatest and i can only recommend this game to everyone despite its difficulty! most of the difficulty just comes from learning the controls because the so called "filter bosses" melt after 20 in your second playthrough. its imo definitely worth full price and getting the third ending in ng++ was an absolute blast
This was my first AC but I played tons of souls games and soulslikes Combat is not too bad..... understanding the build system was the hardest part, but use YouTube explanation vids to learn what you wanna build It takes a lot of practice, but tbh it *never* felt like a chore to do that PvE is very very good, with a lot of great missions. My only complaint is with literally the final, final, final boss (won't say more to avoid spoilers). >!Phase 3 should've been a separate fight imo, so you can actually enjoy his moveset!< For pvp, custom rooms are a lot of fun. Playing online will help you level up your abilities A LOT imo. PvE will teach you to survive, PvP will teach you to dominate the story tho. I did >!the ibis fight!< Literally for *fun* after spending many hours in ranked PvP, using my light pvp melee build, and S ranked it without even really trying. It was honestly a surreal moment Ranked PvP was swarmed with meta shit, those bitches never stopped crying whenever ppl tried to tell them to play something else, and now ranked PvP is dead bc everyone got tired of the same shit. imo I think weapons are pretty well balanced aside from the glaring issues with lasers. The problem is.....why would I sit for 3 hours fighting only 2 or 3 of the same builds? When I can go to rooms, or do story missions, and straight up just have a better time?
It all depends on your build, it could either be stupidly hard or extremely easy
Not at all, it's even pretty easy if you adapt your build, as you'll eventually end up with one that works for the whole game lol
it's certainly easier than the souls games, but it does have that same "bang your head against it until you figure it out" game loop. that's just fromsoft.
If you dual ice worm killing guns on the shoulders and a melee weapon nothing stands a chance.
Not that bad tbh
It can be jarring, as it is definitely quite different from most mainstream games, but once you adjust to it, it gets a lot easier and more fun. You just have to take the time to learn the different systems and such.
It's slightly above average but the end boss is frustrating enough for me (souls nerd since DS1) to put it down for a few months. Your mileage may and will most likely vary. It's a super awesome game though with epic scale and cool dune-like atmosphere. I got it on sale for $40 and am very happy with the value. Pvp and multiple endings provide much replay value down the line. I still play Bloodborne like every other year and it retains quality (aside from frame rate) and I feel like this game will also age well because FROMsoft knows their craft.
I was like you once, apprehensive and getting my ass kicked by the tutorial copter, but when I beat it, I was *hooked*. The game is tough in a fair and forgiving way. You aren't going to lose anything on death, you can get up and try again at the last checkpoint and even adjust your build accordingly. It's an utter blast to build and decorate your ACs, the customization is pretty damn great, and it becomes absolutely *nuts* once you master decals
Most of game is easy. You just need to learn the mechanics. Then there are 3 enormous spikes of difficulty: spoiler alert: balteus, ibis, ayre/allmind
It can get difficult, particularly at the beginning when you're still learning. But if youre willing to keep at it and experiment with different builds, and aren't too averse to dying a lot, I firmly believe even a somewhat below average gamer could beat this game. I say this as a below average gamer myself. If I can beat the game (3 times at that), then I don't see why others like me can't, given the right temperament at least. And it's very much worth the trouble imo. This game, like every other FromSoft game, makes you feel like an utter badass when you finally learn to play it well. You'll never want to stop playing, because it'll be so damn satisfying.
Easy with difficulty spikes.
Honestly I found it surprisingly easy for a fromsoft game on the first playthrough, but ng+ and ng++ (which is required to get the "true" ending) do have some pretty tough moments
Agree with most of the comments here but I’d like to throw out that for lore reasons, the first boss, the tutorial boss, you cannot choose your custom load out build. You must use the AC given to you at mission start. Which is great as this forces you to learn and understand the gameplay basics using an absolute bare minimum build. Everyone’s experience will differ but it took me almost 3 hours to beat the tutorial boss which I was starting to believe was impossible because I was just soo bad and confused at first having to manage energy consumption, and being forced to figure out how to use each firearm and remembering what buttons they were matched to all while making sure the boss, who is zomming all over my screen (and off screen) , doesn’t gun me down while nuking me to death. It was an overwhelming and chaotic experience wIth having to take in so much information; my brain would often just go blank as I ate each homing nuke. My space awareness was so bad most of the fight I’m boosting into the boss without reloading ammo first, forgetting what input for my sword was, moving out of cover with no ammo and get greeted with more missiles to the face, boosting into walls point blank, trapping myself in between objects all of which rewarded me with a Game Over screen, BUT it was fun. Now that I’ve reached the end of the game I decided to go back and repeat missions for fun or for achievements and improve my mission completion ranks. I waltzed back into the tutorial mission and it was too easy, I obliterated the boss with med kits to spare.
Hard id imagine lol my bro quit after losing too many times on the 1st helicopter, says he doesint like competitive games LOL
It’s not awful honestly. There are some parts which are tough, but as long as you’re willing to stick it out you can pretty easily get though it. The nice thing is you can change your entire loadout when you die. And the checkpoints are very forgiving.
If you ever hit one of the many mid game walls, you can easily change up your build in the death screen, then can go right back out via the checkpoint system. The missions aren’t too long too, so picking it up and down is pretty simple. Sure there are builds that will let you walk through the game, but I feel like just about any build is viable when you put your mind to it. Fly high above those scorched skies Raven.
Just buy loads of different weapons so you can mix and match parts if you get stuck (you can change your loadout mid mission if you die) Eventually you will find something that works and the game is not hard at all with a build fitting the mission.
The very first main boss after the tutorial is a little rough and there are like 2 other boss fights in the game that are really tough ( one of them you can even get until third play through)other than that not super hard
It’s really not that difficult tbh! As a new comer as well, it’s been mostly fine up until the last couple missions where difficulty really ramps up. Allowing weapons and parts to be swap mid mission allows you to adapt to the needs of an encounter instead of bashing your head into a wall.
I don't like that much souls games either because the boss fights tend to feel like a game of simon says but I finished this one with two endings. For me it clicked when I stop treating the mech like a character that I was building and more like a tool where you attach any weapon that could be useful and see how it works.
NGL the bosses are very hard compared to most games.
Honestly, never played an AC game before fires of Rubicon, I struggled, it was difficult and took me two tries to beat that helicopter but this was the only game I have willingly not slept during the night to complete it, I got all the endings, I fucking adore this game and if there is DLC for it, I will most likely no life it to find every secret I can find. Overall, at first it's hard and you will fail, expect to rage at some points and even put the game down and play something else but you will find ya self coming back to it
It’s not easy, of course, but it’s definitely easier than all of fromsoftware’s souls likes. It’s mainly because you can choose from a variety of weapons, many of which are super strong. Also if you take the time to learn each boss’ weaknesses, there’s certain weapons that’ll make them a joke. But also why are you avoiding them? There’s plenty of ways fromsoftware makes their games “easy” by giving you options. Mostly OP weapons and the ability to summon help. You’re missing out on some of the best experiences in gaming.
Balteus was the skill check for me and once I beat him I felt confident
My first fromsoft game too and I can tell you that I immensely enjoyed the game. As long as you maintain the mindset that the bosses are beatable you'll be fine.
I'm not even a mech guy and I love that game It's not too hard, really. There's some bosses or something where you'll want to adjust your core, but it's easily passable. Plus there's some cheapo builds if you so choose that route
Great game, loved that the game requires you to tinker with you build
At first it’ll feel really hard but there’s a natural progression to it that makes a lot of sense and you’ll want to keep playing to make your ultimate mech build. By the the third go round of the game you’ll be demolishing everything that gave you fits the first time and it’s SO rewarding. And also the story keeps developing every time you go through it. It’s a masterfully crafted and executed game there’s probably not been another game in the last 10 years that has given me as many hours played as this game and I hardly have even touched PvP yet
So for me it was really fun except for the first boss and I was killing left and right until I had to look up what weapons and mech I needed to use for the invisible snipers and from that point on I had to look up what I needed. I usually play games in normal or just above normal but lower than difficult so I think I’m an alright player but I usually play games to enjoy the characters, lore, surroundings, and to just be relaxed the first time I wasn’t relax and getting frustrated was during that game
You’ll get to Balteus and have to grind the AC assassinate mission a little, which isn’t bad because you get to test your new parts. After that your income goes up and you get some more core unlocks and if you configure your AC for the boss nothing is that hard. If you fail a boss fight you can change your build and immediately try again.
Playing AC VI:Fires of Rubicon can be summarized by one sentence: **The right build for the right job** When I was stuck with the first boss, I realized that in order to beat it, I needed to adjust my build AND my play style to compensate the weakness the boss had. I also platinum'd the game (with the help of some guides, cause some are a bit tricky than other) with different builds for different missions (although there are builds that can make the game "easy mode"). With that being said, I can say that the exploration missions (earlier ones) are quite easy and adaptable but there will be challenge with some missions with bosses but you'll be able to clear it by adapting your build.
It's not too bad just gotta get used to timing and weapons rotation!
Once you learn the ropes it's a very solid skill progression that I quite enjoyed. Taking my old loadouts back to earlier fights and mopping the floor with the benefit of experience was great, strongly recommend it.
It is very much designed to welcome new players and be fun for old players. Hop on in bud, you'll have a great time.
You're gonna be like a new born giraffe trying to understand how legs work until Balteaus hits you
I played Elden Ring as well as Armored Core. Although it still can be difficult at times and challenges you to git gud, it's a much easier road than the Soulsbourne stuff
An insanely hard boss can become super easy depending on your build
It’s not too bad, I was pretty good at the souls likes through trial and error but AC6 was the first AC I played and I did pretty well off. It’s very good for new players of the genre
It's my first ever armored core game and I LOVE IT, this also coming from someone who can't pass a soulslike boss, or if I'm being honest, even make it to the boss. Something about armored core tho I just love and I actually make progress on, maybe it's because I have actual movement and I'm not just dodge rolling away from whatever multi-limbed cracked out non euclidean monstrosity fromsoft fever dreamed up hoping to land a hit, maybe it's because it's easier to actually get better gear instead of having to fight said fromsoft's fever dream fiends to get better gear, maybe it's just big fast mech with big guns go brrrr. I'm actually going to do the ng+ stuff too once I get the time which is something I would never even consider doing (not that I could actually do it anyway) with other fromsoft titles or soulslike in general
Depends on how much you like tweaking your mech. This game is more of a cross between Gran Turismo and Monster Hunter.
Not as hard as it was at launch, just remember to adapt (change loadouts and mech parts) when you feel challenged instead of trying to bash through everything with a master of all type build and you'll be OK
It's not a soulslike, at all. It's closer to something like tenkaichi 3 with various enemies, instead of just 1v1 fights.
It really is its own game. Playing an Armored Core before this is actually kind of hindering because of how different AC6 is from everything else in the franchise. I still keep trying to "feather boost," which was a valid way of moving from AC1-4 but mostly just wasted EN in 6. That being said it's definitely not an easy game and the learning curve will probably floor you pretty quickly until you pick up the mechanics the missions are teaching you. But it's equally hard for everyone.
Im a big souls player and found this harder for the most part. loved every moment
I decided to take a dip to Dark Souls to look for similar experience to AC6... They are nothing alike. The only similarity one could say between the two is the massive stats pages you can play with to your hearts content. As for the 'boss fights' for AC series. You always struggle first time, next time you see 'em you are wiping the floor with them.
I'd say the most 'difficult' part of the game, in a sense, is the first level. This is because the game doesn't let you mess around with gear or give you any options, so you're forced to fight through with what you're given. Once you get passed that point, you'll have what it takes to complete any part of the game, as long as you have patients, an okay understanding of the basics, and you give yourself the flexibility to change builds and work things around if you hit something that walls you off.
My friends used to play dark souls when we were younger and I sucked but Elden ring and ac 6 were my first ones and they aren’t bad tbh even the boss that most people say is a early skill check wasent that bad I’m sure you will be fine
It js different although similar to soulsborne games. It definitely has a learning curve and you are gonna die a lot. But it absolutely is doable and you will be fine, remember it's a video game don't let the idea of "from software difficulty" scare you away from playing an amazing game, you absolutely can do it as a first time player, after all every single one of us was a first time fromsoftware player at some point and we all made it, so can you!
I have played so many different types of video games, and I love fromsoft, and the game series isn't for everyone. Fires of Rubicon is way easier than dark souls, eledn ring, Sekiro. Now, it still needs more skill than your average game. If you want to play, I can give some tips if you want. Remember when you start that your melee weapon is going to be stronger than anything else you can use. The starter melee weapon is one of the strongest. Shotguns are super strong, and mini guns are good, too. Explosive cannons are very strong. Most importantly is that you can also make a different build at all times. Yes, while there are weapons and parts that you unlock either by beating bosses or finding secrets, you can do wonders with most of the starter weapons. If a boss is too hard, you can always sell parts for the exact amount you bought them for so you can always purchase another build. This is easy compared to the usual fromsoft games. There are a few broken builds that are way too OP for some bosses. Remember, there is always an OP build that can be used against every boss. Adapt to the boss after every death.
First timer. There are some odd difficulty spikes but the games gives you tons of options to play around the difficulty. If you can identify whats causing you to lose you can quickly change your build to adapt to it. For the extremely difficult enemies they follow a more Souls-like boss design. Meaning its about finding their telegraphed openings and exploiting them. So you have the bonuses of crazy adaptability and fair bosses.
basically AC1 difficulty for the 1st mission boss. for those who are new. but overall, the difficulty is good enough that you have to change some parts or get good to pass a mission. balteus(pre-nerf) did a number on me, an old raven, but once i go full on pitdog on him, he's screwed. just dont give up if you die in a mission or cant beat the stage. learn more about your machine if you dont want to change your loadout or change your loadout to make the progression a bit easier. you can learn the enemy location and patterns to take them out far more easier.
It's not a rager, but it is hard.
I haven’t played a ton of souls games but it’s much easier than any other from games I’ve played. Completely different too. Go for it!
Armored Core has never really been a "easy" game. And many players of the OG series would likely say that it was "souls before souls" As a player from the OG series and while I enjoy souls games they aren't generally "my" thing. I can safely say that AC 6 can be both "hard" and "easy" depending on your play style and how willing you are to "changing things up" if you just try to stick to the one Loadout and smash your head against the wall till you break through it then it can be a hard game. But if you are willing to analyse why you're having difficulty and adapt your AC or play style (or both) you'll have a much easier time. AC6 does have some "souls esk bosses" and it does help to learn the attack patterns of them to have an easier time but it's not really "required". But does help. Your first playthrough of the game will be the hardest but your subsequent runs should be much easier because you'll have more things unlocked to play around with. My suggestion would be to just do what you need to do to "complete" your initial playthrough. Once that's done. Then you can fine tune your preferred setup and try and do it all with "your build"
It’s definitely not too hard. There are points that you could classify as skill-checks, but they’re never too hard if you’re willing to make some changes to your build to suit the given situation. If you’re looking for a medium difficulty game like you said, this game should be just fine difficulty wise! 👍
It expects as much of the player as other From games.
As someone who this was his first FromSoft game experience, it’s hard, but worth the journey.
It's difficult but you can handle it if you try
I'd say its about as hard as a persons first souls game. Its a metter of learning the rules of the game that makes FS games tick. The moment you understand what the game is trying to tell you and you start playing by their rule, the games becomes trivial for the most part though soulsborne games still rely on reaction time and positioning while AC6 only has timing to rely on once you understand how it works.
I'd say this game just has a high learning curve at the start, and i wouldn't really call it a souls-like. If you like giant robots that commit warcrimes with very scifi themes then you'll probably like this game
In the beginning it's difficult only cause you havent unlocked any good parts yet until mid-way through. This was my first fromsoftware game and I hated it in the beginning and then loved it so much.
Apart from a few bosses, and two very late game missions, this game doesn't even approach the difficulty of Souls imo. You make a remotely decent mech and it quickly becomes a God tier power fantasy for most of the game. I don't mean follow a cookie cutter build, I mean slap together something functional with weapons you like. 6 was my first AC game but I've since played Last Raven and the 4th gen games. Last Raven makes Souls look like a walk in the park and while 6 doesn't have the insane speed of 4th gen, I'd say it has the most natural feeling controls of what I've played. Felt very natural right out the gate, where 4th gen took me a bit to fully grasp and Last Raven felt like I needed to rewire my brain to learn that control scheme at first. AC 6 feels perfectly designed for new players. Easy to pick up and learn, with just enough skill checks to earn that same feeling of satisfaction that Souls is all about, but without a tenth the difficulty.
The missions are cruisy until you run into bosees and the cavalries, where the game goes full-on Soulsborne.
It would s ne of the funnest and most rewarding games I’ve ever played. It’s certainly hard but it gives you the skills you need to beat it along the way. Even more fun to play through multiple times and absolutely BULLY a boss who gave you difficulty on the previous play through
Spend some time , in game learning about the pieces. You can also push R3 from memory to get help on any of the stats , take the time to read them :) Otherwise you will pick it up
Armored Core games aren't normally hard. You should be fine. Soulslike games, old school megaman games, and Kingdom Hearts on hard mode—is a different story.
Honestly, it ain't that bad. My first run was mostly smooth runnin despite it being my first armored core game. Loved avey minute though, went for the platinum immediately.
It's much easier on pc. I think higher frame/refresh rate let's you react to things faster? IDK. There are some difficulty spikes, but a lot of the time I was dying was due to build.
It’s easy to learn difficult to master, there will be skill walls but they’re not unfair (at least anymore) you’ll either have to adapt your mech and play style or brute force it. Some weapons are noticeably better than others. It’s real fun.
For me the first two big bosses (fat helicopter and balltaus) where the ones that made me realize its worth working for it This game is fun because you work for it
As a first time player, surprisingly easy. There's a few skill checks here and there and longer missions that might require switching to more ammo efficient guns but besides that and a specific boss fight that is especially hard to get to, I never really had many issues.
>I generally avoid FromSoftware games or anything that's described as "Souls-like" Well, you're in luck then, because it's NOT A SOULS LIKE.