History VideoGame / ArmoredCoreVIFiresOfRubicon

* NintendoHard: While ''VI'' largely streamlines some of more [[AntiFrustrationFeatures frustrating series-wide mechanics]] such as the debt system and adding replayability, the game significantly ups the difficulty of missions with challenging, dynamic boss fights. In Creator/FromSoftware tradition, the boss fights are easily the biggest threats in the entire game, and will leave you a pile of scrap in record time if you aren't on your A-game and/or packing an AC build that readily counters their patterns and output.

** [[spoiler:In the ''Liberator of Rubicon'' ending, Walter is reduced to a traumatised, barely-conscious wreck of a human being who has been [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil tortured into]] being [[ReforgedIntoAMinion Arquebus' personal suicide bomber against you and Ayre after [[MindRape filled with whatever vile methods Snail inflicts on his "re-educated"]], and this is after his well-meaning plans of breaking the Corporations' stranglehold on the entire universe have been ruined and his close friend has been killed by you and Ayre. Ayre expresses sadness it had to come to this.]]

** ALLMIND [[spoiler:turning out to be a hostile AI with murderous ideas for protecting and/or uplifting humanity recalls various villains, starting from Nineball in ''Armored Core 1'' trying to jumpstart

* CrapsackWorld: Rubicon has long been reduced to a barely-habitable wreck fifty years after a massive detonation of Coral destroyed every single city; the survivors are at the mercy of both the government agency that's supposed to protect them and the Corporations that constantly lay waste to each other and the survivors. One log you find says that the survivors under the Rubicon Liberation Force have

* CompanyCrossReferences: The prominence of fire and cinders as motifs recall the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' trilogy, as the player is given the choice of [[spoiler:whether or not to ignite a massive fire, a decision with huge ramifications for the setting. That said, the ending where that fire's ignited it is a massively nihilistic solution to the problem as opposed to perpetuating a dying world's cycle, which is instead reserved for the ending that prevents its ignition.]]

* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: While unnecessary to become a great AC pilot, many undergo or are put through operations to augment their capacity to the point they pretty much live in their AC. The procedure has seen ten different "generation" of revision, from low survival rate to lacking even psychological ailments; not every backers will pay for the top surgery.
* DashAttack: The Boost Kick is an OS upgrade that allows your AC to kick after an Assault Boost.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: Automatic ballistic guns tends to take hundreds of rounds to destroy anything more resilient than standard {{Mooks}}. An average AC can also survive about a hundred micro-missiles. But either can be fired in massive, continuous streams without being telegraphed or slowing the attacker down. This makes dodging less effective, generally exhaust the target's energy to avoid most if it, creating openings to use harder-hitting weapons.

** If you, for whatever reason, do not bring the weapon meant to take down [[spoiler:the Ice Worm]] to the appropriate mission, Michigan will call you out on it.
--->'''Michigan:''' G13! Let's see that fancy gizmo that Arquebus paid the big bucks for. What?! You didn't bring it?! G13, Your ability to ruin my field trips is uncanny!

* AmbiguousSituation: Much of the game's story revolves around the Coral and the game's endings all focus on [[spoiler:the possiblity of Coral merging with humanity. But what this will actually entail is left rather vague. Walter and his allies see it as an AssimilationPlot (though the actual ''plot'' is exclusive to ALLMIND; the Coral simply naturally want to make contact, and Ayre for the majority of the story is more concerned with helping Raven than advancing an agenda of mass symbiosis) that will result in a FateWorseThanDeath for human beings, Ayre sees it as a positive transformation that will uplift humanity, and ALLMIND agrees with Ayre, but wants to 'uplift' humanity by eradicating their free will in the process. Precious little is known for sure about Coral symbiosis, beyond that only augmented humans can join with the Coral and even then it can be dangerous, as 621 was at risk of having their consciousness dissolved into the Coral when making Contact with Ayre and Iguazu is all but stated to be experiencing his own form of Contact that is driving him to madness. On the other hand, Ayre's Contact with 621 proves it is possible for a mutually beneficial relationship with the Coral, but she is also noted to be a Coral "mutation" and it's not clear how much her Contact with 621 can be taken as a normal human-Coral connection.]]

* IdentityImpersonator: The tutorial mission is about finding an AC wreckage that still contains a valid merc license since you are not legally allowed to operate on Rubicon 3. At the end of the first mission, you assume the identity of a fallen mercenary with the callsign "Raven".

*** Even earlier, in Chapter 1's Retrieve Combat Logs mission, you can find a semi-legible message intercepted from [[spoiler:Rusty's]] comms: "When [[spoiler:the ti]]me comes [[spoiler:F]]urlong will [[spoiler:share their]] technology [[spoiler:with]] Elcano. You must [[spoiler:stay]] hidden [[spoiler:until]] then." Elcano is the manufacturer of the [[spoiler:ALBA]] parts used for [[spoiler:STEEL HAZE ORTUS.]]

*** Even earlier, in the Retrieve Combat Logs mission, you can find a semi-legible message intercepted from Rusty: "When [[spoiler:the ti]]me comes [[spoiler:F]]urlong will [[spoiler:share their]] technology [[spoiler:with]] Elcano. You must [[spoiler:stay]] hidden [[spoiler:until]] then."

*** Even earlier, in the Retrieve Combat Logs mission, you can find a semi-legible message intercepted from Rusty: "When [[spoiler:the ti]]me comes [[spoiler:(F)]]urlong will [[spoiler:(share their)]] technology [[spoiler:(with)]] Elcano. You must [[spoiler:(stay)]] hidden [[spoiler:(until)]] then."

** The PAC's Light Cavalry units are practically mini-Armored Cores, having the mobility and firepower of one but being much less resilient.

Not to be confused with another game of the abbreviation [=AC6=], ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation''.

Not to be confused with another game of the abbreviation [=AC6=], VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation.

* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Following the discovery of [[spoiler:Institute City and the Coral Convergence there]] in the game's final chapter, the surviving corporations somehow manage to construct a new, gargantuan megastructure that reaches into Rubicon 3's ''low orbit'' in what's implied to be ''days'' at most, if not mere hours. However, said structure, [[spoiler:the Vascular Plant]] is an existing one implied to have been operational at one point in the past, although its sheer size would probably mean it would take longer than a few days to be operational again.

* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: Following the discovery of [[spoiler:Institute City and the Coral Convergence there]] in the game's final chapter, the surviving corporations somehow manage to construct a new, gargantuan megastructure that reaches into Rubicon 3's ''low orbit'' in what's implied to be ''days'' at most, if not mere hours.

* ShoutOut: The PCA Code for requesting backup is Code 78, with 78E meaning that the target is a major threat. "78" is a reference to ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', specifically the [=RX-78=] Gundam series mechs, the icons of the franchise.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/armored_core.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[{{Tagline}} Feed the fire. Let the last cinders burn.]]]]

* BoringButPractical: The AC Tuneup to let you equip primary weapons in your shoulder slots. This allows you to have an extra left or right hand weapon that you can swap on the fly. It's not particularly flashy, but it gives you a lot of flexibility in what weapons you bring (you can have a standard assault rifle for dealing with mooks and then swap it with a strong but slow grenade launcher for heavier damage against meatier targets for example).