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I love that the VOB is basically that old cold war concept of a nuclear-reactor-powered nuclear cruise missile. It's a ridiculous slab of metal that just dumps horrific radiation all over the place and then it's disposable once used, and the only thing it's for is making you go places fast. It's so hilariously, almost cartoonishly wasteful.

You'll probably see this in other comments, but hard mode on missions isn't just a simple increase enemy stats. What changes in hard missions are the scenarios within, for example in a mission that requires you use a VOB to close thr distance might have the VOB malfunction and forces you to purge it well before your anywhere near closer to the objective or different enemy layouts that make the mission different.

Likewise, AC6 gets its 3 paths/endings idea primarily from this game. I HIGHLY recommend playing the 3rd ending (destruction) in preparation for AC Verdict Day

That increased speed of 4A further exacerbated the online PvP situation. With laggy netcode, you'd often see opponents warping around inconsistently, and tracking opponents became a literal nightmare. The game literally could not keep up with player movements, and sometimes you'd just die or you'd crush your opponent without any resistance. While the increased part diversity was beloved... the number of things actually good at hitting another player was not nearly as expansive.

Also, keep playing through for the other endings, 4A's other paths might surprise you.

As a mecha genre fan, I must say White Glint from for answer is one of the best mecha design in all media. It's  elegant and powerful, featuring interesting transformation while boosting. A timeless AC designed by Macross creator Shoji Kawamori himself.

I think they named it “For Answer” cuz all the questions left unanswered after 4 😂

You unlock another smaller arena set on NG++. And you'll like the final bosses on ng+ and ng++ a LOT better, I promise.

Does 1 playthrough. Me waiting for Chole to discover how hard mode changes the story and for the final FINAL boss fight on the final playthrough changes his opinions further.

4 Answers is one of the games in series that rewards S ranking every mission, just like Last raven. And yes, doing so brings up a punishing final mission.

The second lowest arena opponent is that hard because she's an Original from the National Dismantlement War. Yep. An Original, dropped down to second lowest. Really gets to show just how much NEXT technology and LYNX skills have developed between 4 and 4A. And another fact, White Glint is you from 4. The frame is also designed by the same in-universe architect as Joshua's White Glint, Abu Marshe, .

It’s fun hearing about all these new additions knowing how many of them become a new standard for the series

Nice video. I remember not liking AC4 when it released and didn't expect much of this but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was blown away when I found out you could chain quick boots and blades and finished the whole game just using two blades. This game is so cool and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I would also highly recommend doing the 3rd ending. The most fun and challenging mission in the game in my opinion, and possibly related to the lore in subsequent games.

As far as the mission briefings, they made a call back to this style in AC6. I think there was a lot FromSoft did right stylistically in 4A that they repeated in 6.

at 9:30

That specific mission has a funny thing where all the tiny helis will pile up in a random spot near the base, they're the last enemies you're supposed to kill, didnt know the timer ran out and completed the mission for you anyways

The "evil" ending is the true difficulty spike. If I remember correctly its this AC game and its a 5v1.

Also this is still my favorite AC build. Other were good but this games micro weight adjustment system allowed for a blade build that could 1 shot anything and I mean ANYTHING. Even a glancing blow was often fatal for mid weight ACs, Granted it was a glass cannon tho.

It couldn't turn worth a damn but its forward speed was such that you would instantly close distance before the max lock range the best FCS could get a lock on you and if you missed with your attack you'd speed past them and go beyond the max range again before the lock on happened. My opponents had to manually aim and pray to hit me. (or my smart opponents would just stand at the arena edge and basically force me to risk going out of bounds)

Loved that build. Called the AC Buzzkill. Piloting that AC felt like you were on drugs.

Another mistake from 4 fixed: Weapon arms are a thing, which is an overall DPS boost for some builds.

Assault Armor is immensely useful, it's just a bit slow. I use it to kill groups of small targets to save ammo in my main weapon. I tend to build with the Linstant generator (the one with the least energy and the most kojima regeneration) for the best AA cycle time. It combines pretty well with the Rigel overboost thruster (which has the best OB and like 2nd best AA of all AA boosters).

The game had a hard mode from what I remember, at least some missions for sure, I think it’s a mission called defend arteria carpals that has you take on the top 5 ac at once. One of the most difficult mission in the franchise. Super fun

4 Answer is definitely one of the peaks of the whole Armored Core series. It takes all the new things 4 tried, and makes them just that much better. And its got more than double the parts of 4, so potential build variety is incredible. I spend most of my time in this game replaying missions with all kinds of different builds, just because I can.

And, of course, Arms Forts are one of the coolest enemies in any of the AC games.

I love how 4A tells its story. By forcing you to take the League ending first, it intentionally hides certain information from you. So when you finish the first time, it seems like you did a good thing. But then, when you get the Orca ending, it gives you more context, and you might realize that it wasn't quite as good as you originally though.

Or, you can follow Old King, and just ruin everything for everyone. Because why not? Is there really anything left that's worth saving? Plus, there's a reason that final mission is so infamous among anyone that's played it. If you want a crazy final fight, this is it.

I love 4A's hard mode, too. Instead of just doing something basic like increasing the HP or damage of enemies, they actually completely change how the mission works. They throw new and different enemies at you, or add some extra hazard to increase the challenge. So you basically get two missions for the price of one.

Basically, my one complaint with this game, is that the environments are kind of boring. It fits with the lore that basically everything is just empty desert. But that's not the most exciting thing to play missions in. This is the one thing I think AC4 did better than 4A. 4 had several interesting and varied environments to explore, while 4A pretty much always has you flying over empty desert or ocean. I really wish there were more maps like Line Ark. That place is super cool, but only used in like three missions, two of which are just boss fights.

4A was my first AC game and it was a blast, from that point, I fell in love with the franchise and played each AC games released after that.

My dream is to see the customization (mostly from mech parts) from 4A and multiplayer aspect from V/VD being put in AC6 in the future.
It'd be heaven for me.

Something about Armored Core 4 Answer aesthetic is just hits man... Idk how to explain it but just look at the logo alone and you can tell the theme for this game. Simple word mean, Nier Automata if the game focus on mech only

And Armored Core 4 Answer was my very first Armored Core game and it will always have special place in my heart. Really wish Fromsoft remastered this game just imagine 60fps on a modern console and maybe no that stupid height area limit, that just annoying