Discussion VideoGame / AceCombatAssaultHorizonLegacy

By the way, guys, but I stumbled across someone who helped record the music for Legacy last month. I'm hoping she might be able to share the lyrics for some of the songs, like the ones that play during Fighter's Honor, Hunting Season, and Gambit.

I haven't played Assault Horizon personally, though I have seen plenty of footage of it in play, so I have an idea of how that game behaves compared to other Ace Combat titles.

I have no reason to lie or exaggerate the truth with what I've written. All those features I listed as having origins in earlier Strangereal-based games really are in the game. Whether or not you'll find it "awesomer" is entirely dependent on your personal tastes.

By the way, thanks for correcting that goof of mine. I have an odd problem with typing the wrong month names (August for November, May for March, July for June, etc.) and I didn't catch that error.

I see. I have played AH but AHL isn't released yet where I live. Basically, AH left me unsatisfied. It was a good game, I even liked it, but it was way too short and the jump in style from the old PS2 games has been too much at once for my tastes. I would have preferred innovation at a more gradual and subtle pace... which seems to be exactly what this article describes. Also, it sounds like AHL picked up goodies from older games and fine-tuned the new stuff from AH, which is basically what AH should have done instead of making a leap of faith as it did. -__-

I am considering to get the game for Christmas, but that would also mean getting the console...

Well, as far as length goes—I'm fairly sure I've unlocked all the missions, but I could be wrong. Here's what I can tell you:

A single campaign run will involve eighteen missions; there's 23 missions in total, but like AC 2 there's a few times where the mission path forks. A few missions from AC 2 didn't make it into AHL, which accounts for the slightly shorter length. In some cases this is because events from AC 2's campaign were consolidated into a single mission, or because an all-new mission replaced one of the original ones. However, the majority of missions are updated versions of the originals.

Unlike in AC 2, the epilogue missions aren't hidden, and are part of the campaign progression. You can play any of the campaign missions after you've played through them at any time by using the Free Mission feature, like in other Ace Combat games.

There's six bonus Survival Missions which are remixes of select campaign missions, but turns your aircraft into a One-Hit-Point Wonder while giving you only a few normal missiles/SP weapons to work with and not much time to complete a mission. You can earn time extensions, extra health, and more MSSL/SP ammunition by destroying certain targets.

There's also four Extra Missions, two of which are Brutal Bonus Level remixes of campaign missions, and two which are unique challenges in their own right (one is a Marathon Level of sorts).

And in all cases, you can earn rewards (extra aircraft customization options, new paint jobs, new special weapons for aircraft, new aircraft altogether) which are buyable and usable in the main campaign as well as any of the challenge mode missions. Unlike in AC 2, there's no "Extra Mode" with additional aircraft to play as; they're all available for every mode when you unlock them.

Also, the lineup of aircraft in AHL differs from AC 2, though I haven't tried comparing which aircraft made it in and which didn't; I can say that AHL has 27 aircraft compared to AC 2's 24, though.

But between all of that, I've already racked over 30 hours on my save file. The game's really addicting for me, and I think it does a good job in using the 3D. (Really makes flying in cockpit mode fun!)

Thanks for the info. ^^ Is there a New Game Plus option? I really missed it in AH.

No problem! And yeah, it's got a New Game Plus; after you've beaten the campaign on your first playthrough, it unlocks Ace difficulty. You can then replay Campaign mode on any difficulty as many times as you like, and you keep everything you've earned between playthroughs (rank, EXP, money, medals, unlocked/bought aircraft and any paint jobs/special weapons/customizable equipment you unlocked for them as well as all the unlocked extra missions and other goodies).

Yeah, I really love that stuff. The main reason I haven't replayed the AH campaign yet is that I want to do so while flying a PAK FA in Bishop's missions and Russian bombers and gunships in others', and you can only do that in Free Missions or online. :( What made the older games so replayable was the sheer satisfaction of trashing the Wake-Up Call Boss with your shiny new 5th gen/super fighter. -__-

EDIT: Can you elaborate how the new maneuver system works in AHL?

Assault Horizon doesn't have a New Game Plus mechanic? Damn, that sucks.

But sure, I can explain the Maneuvers system—there's two types of maneuvers, Attack Maneuver and Evasive Maneuver. Attack Maneuvers allow Phoenix to reposition himself directly behind an enemy target with the press of a button—after a brief cutscene of fancy flying—but you have to charge the Maneuvers meter to do it. That's accomplished by staying near your target. You don't necessarily have to try tailing him, as I've had cases where the meter charged even though my aircraft was flying the opposite direction of his—we were just close enough, for long enough, that the meter charged up enough.

The Maneuver gauge has two levels; at halfway the meter's usable and lets Phoenix get generally behind the enemy. They won't usually be right dead center if you do this. If the meter is charged fully and turns gold before it's used, though, Phoenix will practically have the enemy on the nose. This is most useful for gun kills.

Attack Maneuvers are not a guaranteed kill, though. Regular pilots will sometimes dodge the missiles using flares or the same fancy Evasive Maneuvers that Phoenix uses. Boss battles against ace squadrons and Z.O.E are more likely to involve that (especially Albireo, Cocoon, and Beast squadrons) and they'll often get behind you in the process.

As for Evasive Maneuvers, those can be done only when a missile is tracking Phoenix and is close enough that it's about to hit him. You know how in other Ace Combat games, the HUD will turn red and you'll get a missile warning? That still happens, but there's a short window where the Evasive Manuvers screen pops up, as a set of yellow arrows pointing in a specific off-screen direction.

When that happens you have to push the circle pad in that direction and press the Maneuvers button, upon which Phoenix will pull a quick High-Speed Missile Dodge and let the missile fly on by. Sometimes this also causes him to drop behind any pursuing enemy aircraft.

If you happen to not move the circle pad in the right direction and press the Maneuvers button, Phoenix will jostle his aircraft about briefly, which usually isn't enough to dodge the missile. (Sometimes you'll get lucky.)

Compared to Assault Horizon's Close Range Assault, Assault Horizon Legacy isn't as dependent on the Maneuvers mechanic. You can play the game just fine without ever using it, and you're never required to do so—although it is a big help when it comes to ending a turning fight with an enemy fighter, or catching one that's about to get away. You can still dodge missiles through the traditional use of hard turns and afterburner ... but believe you me, the Evasive Maneuvers REALLY come in handy when you're trying to chase and shoot down an Ace Squadron member while one or more of his buddies parks themselves behind you and starts spamming missiles. @_@;

Thanks for the explanation. It seems, once again, that the Maneuver System in AHL is what the Close Range Assault in AH was supposed to be: an entirely optional aid in defeating particularly nasty bosses. Because in AH, you end up doing the CRA on every goddamn enemy plane in the game because even regular unnamed non-target enemies will dodge missiles like a boss unless you are in DFM. -__-

About Attack Maneuvers: if you charge a meter against one enemy and then switch to another, is it reset or can you still use it? Because AH used something very similar, but you had to get close to an enemy for the CRA circle to appear around them, and it wasn't transferable. As for Evasive Maneuvers, AH only has get-behind-the-chasing-plane one, which is really broken. A lot of the time, I just flew slowly until an enemy got a DFM on me, then did the backflip trick, killed him in two shots, and waited for the next one. Which wasn't really fun but it was the most efficient tactic against pretty much anyone in the game. -__-

And yeah, there is no SP New Game in AH that I have noticed so far. :(

Yikes. D: DFM looked pretty cool, but it sounds like they tried to milk that mechanic for all it's worth ...

As far as AHL's Attack Maneuvers go, the meter charge state is not transferable between targets. If you switch, it resets. At least in AHL nobody has to be shot down via Maneuvers, so it's no big deal if the meter is reset or depletes—that's the other thing, if you get too far away from your target, the meter doesn't suddenly reset, but depletes instead. Gives you a chance to still get behind them if you notice you're about to lose the opportunity.

Yes, that they did. I love the DFM, personally, but even I think that they got carried away with it.

The AHL maneuvers sound like a fair deal. That's basically what I wished for back in Zero, when I spend half the mission time chasing Gelb 1 in my F-16. ^^; Also, the meter is so much better than the circle because it forces you to actually chase the target for a while, with ample opportunities to just shoot the bastard old-style, which is as much effort as any non-boss enemy should take.

Umm, have you even played the game? A lot of the stuff on this page is actually based on canon taken from the game itself, including the cinematic during the game's Opening Narration.

If that doesn't convince you. maybe this will.