YMMV / Armored Core: Project Phantasma

• Sequel Difficulty Drop: Mission payouts are more generous and the Arena provides an additional safety cushion by giving players another way to make cash without the risk of incurring debt. This is before taking into account you can transfer your money balance and mech from the first game; any AC that can beat the original game's story is not going to have much trouble here.
• So Okay, It's Average: One of the least contested but also one of the least revisited Armored Core installment for this reason. Consensus is that the Arena is a great addition and it does its job at providing more Armored Core but the short length, easy difficulty, and lackluster story makes it one of the least essential entry. Its "meh" sales and critical reception would lead FromSoftware to invest much more development time in Master of Arena.