#acvd

A lot of games have special people… That you inevitably kill, as some random ass mercenary. Sometimes you too are special, Masters of the Arena had their family killed by Nine Ball, damn if that ain’t an origin story, IDK what else is… Oh wait, now who you played as is the final boss in the sequel… And you just killed him…

I’m not going to pretend I know everything of the series. So I’ll go over the last 2 ish gens for the cases I know well by heart:

- Rusty (AC6): An experienced AC pilot with his own theme song, iconic mech and has a rich story with many other characters in the verse and is himself a turncoat agent waiting for the right moment to turn on Arquebus and help free Rubicon. In the Fires of Raven route, he goes against you, a new mech, his wolf emblem unmuzzled with its fangs bared and he’s coming at you with everything he has, even getting a second wind when all his repair kits are exhausted. You still kill him in the end, even when you play the role as an antagonistic extremist.

- Magnolia Curtis (ACVD): Descendent of Fran Curtis (AC5’s main operator) following the legend of the Dark Raven (AC5’s player character) and quite possibly their descendent too. Doubly whammied, first she’s crippled and loses the ability to fight after being defeated by Reaper Squad Leader, J, after many years of being undefeated. Then, turned into a digital consciousness, literally sacrificing her soul so she can fight again, a very familiar second wind occurring even with her AC’s arm blasted off and in critical condition… You still defeat her.

- J (ACVD): A soldier bred for war, very likely from genetic material from either Joshua O’Brien or Anatolia’s Mercenary (AC4’s player character), he’s even given an all powerful NEXT in the final battle where he (very edgily) states he is made solely for the purpose of warfare. And yet he falls to a lone mercenary.

- RD (AC5): Not much explicit to talk about here other than theoryboarding, RD is implied to have some degree of Lynx pilot in him as there’s suggestions his paranoia is related to AMS capability and furthermore his last name a callback to the “Dominant Theory” in Last Raven, even the AI Chief thinks he has genius talent and potential. He’s the classic case of cowardly young man who has a lot more strength than he realizes… But in the end, in the height of his ego and embracing of his special nature, the player’s character fells him one on one.

All these special characters with blessed genes, great potential or borderline main protagonist built stories are gunned down by an up and coming merc for whatever motives your player character has, your un special player character who often starts the game in a mass produced mech composed of scraps that claws there way to victory.

Specifically when N-WGIX shows up. This makes you realise that 5th gen is in continuity with 4th gen. A lot of fans saw this as proving the Foundation Man right. That humanity is evil and irredeemable and will wipe itself out, afterall they poisoned the world with Kojima particles and then the destruction ending happened and Strayed killed most of humanity. So he is right, humanity deserves this, humanity will wipe itself out... except humanity did not wipe itself out.

The world has not healed yet from 4th gen, but it is healing. Conflict is not over, but people ARE building new things. People are still fighting for the ideals they hold (a thing the game could have handled better by making the 3 factions feel more distinct in game too and not just in lore entries and manuals, but it is still present to some extent). People are still going, they persevered through the horrors of 4th gen.

This proves the Foundation Man wrong. As Fatman says "we will NEVER stop fighting".

The N-WGIX fight was a perfect capstone to what armored core was. And leaves a fresh start for 6th gen, where it still plays with the themes of armored core of past but also introduces new themes and takes some ideas in new directions. Id say armored core so far is kind of 3 main eras, 1-3rd gen, 4-5th gen and now 6th and onwards. Maybe I am just trying to fit things into patterns, but narratively there are some interesting connections like this I think.

Oh also completely unrelated almost but it occurs to me that while the Dark Raven thing is clearly about AC5 protagonist, it also applies to Strayed. A lone "monster" who casts down "god's" order. "God is force" as the AC4 opening cinematic says. The corporations striving to have a monopoly on force via their arms forts and NEXTs get cast down by a lone renegade monster.

And that is what Maggy wanted to become or die trying. Someone so strong she could destroy god, and not have to fear defeat. Even if it meant being a monster.