Why does Ace Combat work?

It's hard to think of a game more mechanically simplistic than Ace Combat. This isn't an attack on the game for not being a simulator like DCS, it's fine that it shares more DNA with action games. But even as an action game, it's really basic.
>turn to avoid missile
>chaff if you don't want to change direction
>get behind enemy
>shoot when they aren't turning
So why does it still engage players after 8 (main series) games?

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planes r fun :-)
they go zoom :-)

fighter planes are cool innit

a good game is good forever

It doesn't. Its boring.

>It's hard to think of a game more mechanically simplistic than Ace Combat.
Asteroids. Pacman. Space Invaders. Centipede. Joust. Balloon Fight. Mario Bros. Punch-Out!!

>Why is a simple formula still working?
>Why are players engaged and loving the games if they don't have games as a service features and battle passes?
>The developers aren't even trying to subvert expectation or push the globohomo agenda!
I dunno, it truly boggles the mind

Play literally any of the games on ace and tell me there is no nuance on when to use flare, when to use which sp mission, and which targets to engage in what order. Not to mention plane choice per mission.

Its like asking about FPS games working when they are just about shooting gun at man.

Ace Combat and Armored Core may as well be best friends

I dunno it’s pretty boring and repeptitive
I only ever finished Ace Combat 3 (japanese) because it was like a 90s scifi anime

>Fun universe
>Good story
>Sick ass music
>Dialogue and chatter
>Themes
>Planes are cool
Gee I dunno.

I've learned that gameplay doesn't trump everything. Presentation is extremely important. Ace Combat has an interesting world, realism aesthetic, stellar sound design, cool set pieces, engaging stories, and awe-inspiring soundtracks. The feedback loop of listening to the other pilots and enemies be struck with awe or fear at your actions (even thanking you if you save them) is one small element that contributes significantly. It's a fantastic series with a lot of love, passion, and creativity poured into such a niche setting and genre that it's impossible to pick up an Ace Combat title and NOT find it endearing.

I played the newest one using only keyboard, and it is pretty binary
>hear missile warning: commence barrel rolling
>all other times: shoot missiles

Ace Combat 3 is one of the most (positively) strange games I've ever played. It's weird to think that major releases were allowed to be so experimental at one point.

and thats a good thing

always been meaning to play it, how experimental is it? i know it's futuristic but what rules do they break?

It's not too different in terms of gameplay, with the exception that the planes feel less "on rails" (not quite a sim, but there is a sense of momentum). I'm referring to the story, and the method in which it is told. Give it a playthrough, and see the different routes.

God-tier soundtrack scoring and dramatic timing. They’ve achieved mastery of the military action movie aesthetic that Hideo Kojima always goes for by cutting out the part where you have to sit though an eight hour audiobook with pictures to earn five minutes of gameplay.

Not only is it simplistic, the gameplay has basically not changed since the first game. 7 mainline games and like 5 spin-offs and nothing really changed. A few games has team commands but otherwise it's the exact same gameplay since the PS1.

Ace Combat wouldn't have 1/10 of its fanbase if it didn't have a story to go with it.

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I hope 8 adds in some of the improvements Project Wingman added. Being able to carry both bombs and anti-air special weapons is a real game changer, makes you actually want to use bombs.

I hope they take a bunch of lessons from it. Except of course the outcome. Strangereal doesn't deserve to get any more wrecked.
Having your main character become the king of a devastated land with absolutely nothing or nobody on it was one sobering ending.

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Batshit insane story, characters, and music can carry even objectively bad games into popularity.
See: Touhou, FFXIV, Undertale, TWEWY, etc

You're Jesus Christ in an F-15 blowing up bogeys and superweapons left and right while your enemies and allies are losing their shit with really well done music, what's not to like?

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>it's impossible to pick up an Ace Combat title and NOT find it endearing.
Unless it's garbage like 5.

>TWEWY
>objectively bad
Fuck off, nigger

>touhou
>objectively bad
Filtered.

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>Erusia is bad because…. Osea said so okay???

>yes, I didn't play Ace Combat 5. How could you tell?

>ally with b*lkans
>not bad

Monarchy is fucking based. I'm tired of democringe nations being the good guys.

Soundtrack and cheesiness. Next.

Erusea keeps chimping out and trying to conquer all of Usea. First because of “muh lebensraum” after the meteor until they got their ass kicked by one mad lad from Strangebritain, the second time because the one genuinely altruistic politician in Osea set up a combined power for the third world / save the world from another meteoroid megaproject and they reacted about as well as a certain Russian autocrat recently did when confronted with their fomerly powerful empire being reduced to a stagnating second-string nation.
>The Erusean cries out in pain as it strikes you

The length, melodrama, and grinding all make it the worst mainline entry by a good margin.

Cause fighter jets are cool, the music is amazing and anime Top Gun is great.

It's weird how they bring in shit like the Ace system from Zero and just never bring it up again. It doesn't seem like an incredible amount of work from a pure gameplay standpoint (making cutscenes for the route exclusive squads maybe, but the later games probably can omit that and just substitute it with something else).

Plane goes brrrrr is pretty fun

But yeah i wish we could get a more arcadey DCS in third person with ace combat missile reloading, the "durrr turn turn turn" way of dogfighting in AC is getting stale

Because it makes me feel like a goddamn BADASS

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My only real issue with PW is that conquest mode is still pretty buggy. I've had it freeze up at the end of missions constantly which is frustrating. Neat concept but needs more polish and work. They are apparently planning to revamp it later but we'll see.
The story is also batshit and illogical, but I don't mind, it was a fun ride.

It's the story and thematic sense. The game perfectly encapsulates what people want from an arcade flight game, which is that they want to be Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

AC1 and 2 are boring, because they don't really have a story. 3 and onward are great, because they perfectly merge segments that could be considered annoying on their own with HOLY SHIT HE JUST FLEW INTO THAT TUNNEL IS HE INSANE?

6 is worse by a good margin simply by being fucking boring. None of them will ever be as bad as Ass Horizon though.

It wouldn't be appropriate in the other games. It works in Zero because it fits with the whole mercenary theme.
What's really weird is how mid-mission rearm was missing in 5.

I'll take boring over bad every time.

>soul and souless

God I miss the purple flames on my jets from AC1

Bad means someone cared enough to try. Boring means nobody gave a shit.

>So why does it still engage players after 8 (main series) games?
Because they have this formula where towards the end of the game every character in the game is fellating you. Gamers, who are inherently losers, get to experience what it's like being liked and popular. It's not about the gameplay because it's pretty dogshit desu. DCS is much more interesting.

That's irrelevant from the player's perspective.

>Ace Combat
Air Combat. Ace Combat is the sequel.

to S-rank on hardest difficulty you need to do these steps very quickly and very consistently

>Mentions all that instead of Pong
Ngmi

Do this for shits and giggles.
>go to DCS mission creator
>set fuel to lowest percentage that does not cause an annoying warning horn
>equip a couple heater missiles, and one "SP" weapon
>turn off fuel consumption, turn off g-loc, turn on infinite ammo, turn on aircraft labels
>set temperature low and density altitude low for max performance
>you reload missiles/guns, can burn infinitely, and have a crazy good performance
Doing this was a fun arcade-ish experience. The Su-27 and F-18 can do some borderline anime moves with a thrust to weight ratio that high

>Ace Combat has an interesting world, realism aesthetic, stellar sound design, cool set pieces, engaging stories, and awe-inspiring soundtracks. The feedback loop of listening to the other pilots and enemies be struck with awe or fear at your actions (even thanking you if you save them) is one small element that contributes significantly.

So basically it's a flight combat game for JRPG fans and I mean that in both a positive way and as an insult.

Bros how the fuck do I get AC4 to work it is my lifelong favorite game but it still has the fucking black texture bug and is borderline unplayable on PC

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Literally this

I am interested in a game where it's possible to do the carpet bombardment of enemy positions. Does it exist?

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GTA V has better dogfighting than this piece of shit series

metal gear but with planes and actually fun

Check out Arma 3, it has mods for anything military related.

>He doesn't still own a PS2

This is why you don't fucking sell your consoles

Can you even yaw in that?

The disc is literally still in it right now. My Ps2 copy got damaged, it runs into major issues

Just play the game in Software mode. There are ways of resolving the black plane issue, but you can't fix shit like the missing volumetric effects like clouds.