So, Usea again. Honestly that's pretty disappointing, specially since we're fighting a Verusean nation, couldn't it be set there?
Then there's the fact that a seemingly random small country is fighting a seemingly random small country from
another continent. Feels a little weird to me.
It appears they're finally doing something deeper than the "you're the only hope of an entire nation" that applies to all games. But, despite the potential of that, it is still the same old "blitzkrieg, then liberation" that is also a constant in the series. Which is pretty boring but whatever, it'll be OK.
And I guess it's still too early, but where's the IUN-PKF? Or whatever organization they became after 7 (
UPEO). They should have put an end to this war by the time anything military left Sotoan airspace, let alone let they take over the FCU. I sure hope there's an explanation for that.
Gameplay is probably the same as always, with presumably the return of wingman commands and the addition of an extra SP weapon slot, which is certainly welcome. I'm personally fine with that, I like the regular AC gameplay and I don't think there needed to be many changes. I do hope the planes are slower, and the flight ceiling higher. In AC7, you can accelerate to well over mach 2 in an instant and then reaching the ceiling so quickly and so effortlessly the maps felt cramped. But that's pretty subjective anyway, and if it's exactly the same as 7 I'll enjoy it regardless.
Visuals are great, I have 0 doubts the music will be amazing. 7 was an amazingly optimized game so I imagine 8 will be too. I do hope the annoying filter and vignette, as well as certain HUD elements are removed/removable. It was pretty annoying on console where there was no customisation.
I'm kinda scared about the voice acting and writing with the bigger focus on characters. While the DLC missions of 7 were absolutely amazing, that was an outlier as Ace Combat has always had poor VA and writing. NBD when it's just background stuff, but if it's front and center, it better be good.
As a final note, I hope it goes ties into 3. According to that game's original lore, by 2029 corporations were well underway to taking over the world, and in fact General's Darkness of Enigma project started in 2028. It wouldn't make any sense to see the X-49, which first flew in 2032, or an 8 year old Rena, but GR is very much active, as well as Dision, Yoko and Simon. The latter two were involved with Schroeder and the ADF-11 project, so Project ACES hasn't forgotten about them.
Damn, reading back, it'd seem like I'd rather the whole thing get cancelled.
It really doesn't look like it, but I'm super excited, and no matter what I will enjoy the heck out of AC8.
