I need to play less Armored Core 4

I've already mentioned my love for the Armoured Core series of games stems from the fact I'm actually GOOD at them. It's one of my few games I can perform at a high level at. Granted I'm not a superhuman as some people seem to be (search for AC4 missions on Youtube, there are some ANIMALS on there), but I can hold my own, and given enough practice and time to design a giant robot I can take out most threats.

Case in point: There is a mission in the game where, in normal difficulty, you and two other Armoured Cores (both of them horribly designed) are up against a force of four elite ACs. You're outnumbered, outgunned and outclassed. It took me a few goes and a bit of tweaking of my AC, but I could beat it in the end. Then after finishing the (very short) game I decided to give the Hard version of this mission a try, since apparently you get special items for doing so. Now just so you know, when you do the hard version of a mission in this game it isn't a matter of "hey hey, enemies have higher accuracy", it's a genuinely redesigned mission with more enemies and less allies. Sometimes it's not much harder (a little extra health on the lone enemy), but other times it's genuinely WAY more difficult. In this case it was the latter.

For this mission I had to take on, by myself four weakened Armoured Cores. That is a BIG deal. It took me nine tries, and three difference ACs, but in the end I finally came up with a design that I believed could do it. First time through this final design (The Sledge MK IV) ripped them apart, barely lowering me to half health in doing so.

I had a minor panic attack when I realised this was the game I was "that" guy for. The one game where I rip through things, while normal people who play it struggle.

Then I pushed it aside and dedicated myself to that which takes up WELL over half the gameplay for me. It's not the actual missions, or the simulation/arena stuff, oh no. It's my holy grail.

Customisability.

Say it with me brothers!

Customisability.

Say it for me sisters, in your sexy voices!

Customisability.

I will grant you, the majority of customisation in AC4 is not truly game-altering, the most you can possibly do is change primary three factors

1. How much you can be shot
2. How fast you jet around
3. What guns you shoot

Other alterations are majoritively cosmetic, with their influences being secondary considerations at best. But still, it's enough for me. Even if it is just window dressing to change my ACs head to another design that looks better and offers 1% better armour, at the cost of 1% extra weight... It's still wonderful.

The reason for that is the ability to look back at that which you create and say, even if it has likely been designed by someone else somewhere in the world:

"This is MY Armoured Core 4 design, my NEXT. There may be other ones like it, but this one is mine."

For me it's like the love a car nut has for his vehicle, constantly tinkering with it and trying to get that LITTLE bit extra out of the little bastard. If I'm being honest with myself, I know the tiny alterations I make barely make an appreciable difference, but when I start up a mission with a rejigging of an old design I always think to myself "ahh, that's better". Or starting up a mission with a brand new design my first thought is to categorise the flaws and ponder how I can iron them out.

The game gives points called "FPS" points, which can be used to tweak certain statistics of the giant robot, making some parts of it perform better. Each of these provides a percentage based boost, that in playable terms probably makes almost NO difference by themselves, but throwing 50 or so into one stat can really help. So why, oh why, do I agonise over where to play that last miserable five points? It makes NO difference.

That's customisability for you. It turns a relatively geeky player into an obsessive/compulsive nutcase.


P.S. Yes, I know there are plenty of people out there who are animals at the game who could rip me a new one, but I haven't met them, and I imagine if I do meet them I'll feel like I need a shower afterwards. I'm the best player of the game I've encountered in my (admittedly) limited experience, so in my little world I'm far, FAR too good at the game to be healthy.

P.P.S. Next post I'll ramp up the nerd value by discussing Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition.