Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies
AWACS Sky Eye: Mobius 1, engage.
Narrator: I was just a child when the stars fell from the skies. But I remember how they built a cannon to destroy them. And in turn how that cannon brought war upon us. War was an abstract idea, nothing more than a show on TV. As a child, I only saw it as something that happened in some far away land... Until that final day of summer...
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
Chopper: Aw man, my rock & roll records, they're in my room! It took me forever to collect all those!
Admiral Andersen: I've lost time and time again... but now I've finally won. Look! We launched them off safely. There's my victory. As long as they're in the air, I haven't lost. And I know they'll succeed.
Prime Minister Nikanor: To those who still dare to hide behind the power of their hateful weapons, bring yourself before the light of peace and harmony!
Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War
AWACS Eagle Eye: This is AWACS! Listen up, Galm 1! We've completed analysis of the enemy craft. Codename: Morgan. This plane is protected by an ECM defense system. It's only weak point is in the front air intake. You'll have to attack from head-on. Go! Take down Morgan! You're the only one that can stop him. Demon Lord of the Round Table, I pray for your success.
Pixy: Yo, Buddy. Still alive? And thanks, friend. See you again.
Strangereal, 1995. The longstanding rivalry between Belka and its neighbor in the Osean Federation saw an arms race for a massive increase in military capacity and a substantial expansion of territory for the two nations during the 20th century — creating two superpowers on the same continent. However, maintaining an armed force, especially one as technologically advanced as the Belkan proved costly and as voices for independence rose in the regions Belka had captured during the arms race — Gebet, Recta and Ustio — the Belkan Federation started to fall apart. Extremist groups took advantage of the power vacuum left by the chaos and as dissatisfaction and propaganda, partly spread by neighboring forces, took like wildfire among the general populace, the increasingly authoritarian government, in a bid to save the country from economic collapse, declared war on the surrounding nations.
...at this point, the only reason I'm still here at all is just to remind you that the gameplay this all precedes is still just you flying a dumb little plane around, trying to up your score, to a time limit.
...at this point, the only reason I'm still here at all is just to remind you that the gameplay this all precedes is still just you flying a dumb little plane around, trying to up your score, to a time limit.
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
AWACS Ghost Eye: Look, Talisman. The sun's comin' up. Even after the darkest nights, morning always comes.
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
AWACS Long Caster: Unidentified aircraft. Land your plane and surrender. Why do you feel the need to continue fighting on your own?
Mihaly: That's funny, it seems one of your own pilots is also fighting alone.
Long Caster: He's not alone. Look around you.
Mihaly: ...I see. Perhaps it would've been best to entrust the future to pilots like that. Let me test him, then, to see if he's truly worthy.
Commentary on Ace Combat
The writing in Ace Combat, through its entire run, has always been theatrical, dramatic and over the top, with characters often regarding actual substance as secondary, instead just opting to sound as cool as possible — an aspect that might come across as a negative. If you value presentation over telling an actual story, surely, you must have a tonal problem? But Ace Combat doesn't have a tonal problem. Much like the dialogue sacrificing anything and everything to convey the feeling of a theatrical childhood dogfight, even to the extent of shrouding any information behind layers and layers of creative writing, so do the games as a whole. It doesn't care that you should know this, do this or understand that — it cares only for one thing. It cares that you should feel.
