Thread 23598571

So yesterday I finished replaying pic related and I have two questions.
1. Having only played this and about 2/3 of FM3, what's the general consensus on the series and what are the better installments of it?
2. Are there actually more deployment slots on the final mission than recruitable pilots or I somehow missed one? I had 16/17

>>23598571 (OP)
>what's the general consensus on the series and what are the better installments of it?
Most people only like the wanzer aesthetics and don't care much for the plot and games. As for which one is best, that award goes to 5, since it's the most complete of them all. But it also expects you to play all 4 ones before so yeah, the entry barrier is a bit steep.
2 is a great game too, essentially being Patlabor 2 in videogame form, but it's painfully slow it can drive you nuts at times. Still worth trying at the very least.
I'd also recommend the Dog Life Dog Style manga, it's great.
>2. Are there actually more deployment slots on the final mission than recruitable pilots or I somehow missed one
Yeah, you did. Don't remember which one, but it had a somewhat esoteric recruit condition.

>>23598660
Regarding FM2, DuckStation gives you the ability to fast-forward through anything at any given time, so FM2's loading times and animations are not an issue anymore.

for me, it's gun hazard
>valken combat with RPG progression
yes please

>>23598665
Gun hazard is great I and I wish there were more games like it.

>>23598663
Even with fast forward, the game is still as slow as molases. I know because that's how i played through it.
>>23598665
Oh, yeah, Gun Hazard is great. For an SNES is pretty packed with content. Very fun indeed. Although the mechless sections were aids.

>>23598676
>Gun hazard is great
except labyrinths.

What about the steam re-releases of 1 and 2? Their score isn't very high but most of the negative reviews cite the fact that the remasters are too faithful to the original gameplay and some new bugs.
>>23598660
>Yeah, you did. Don't remember which one, but it had a somewhat esoteric recruit condition.
Dang, annoying but I guess not a big loss since there's barely any story or character interaction anyway. Not like there was much need anyway, the final fight is kind of a joke.
And it's not even unprecedented in the game too, it's quite easy to miss Alder or not recruit Gregorio

>>23598707
For one they are not 'remasters', they are complete remakes and that's kinda their main problem, they didn't know on how to take advantage of QoL improvements lest it interfere with the original gameplay.

>>23598571 (OP)
>1. Having only played this and about 2/3 of FM3, what's the general consensus on the series and what are the better installments of it?
Wasted potential and took a massive nosedive after Square bought the team with FM3 and started meddling with the franchise, 3 in itself is easily the worst game in the series because Square was very hands on.
FM2 is considered by most the peak of the series due to the narrative and refined (but still kinda braindead) gameplay, FM5 is also appreciated for similar reasons.
Gun Hazard is basicaly an offbrand Assault Suilt Valken with some tacked on RPG mechanics, but it's not terrible gameplay wise, it's noncanon to the main series and honestly kind of a mess.
Fun fact: FM3 OST was done by Koji Hayama of Cho Aniki fame, and also the guy who made the themes for Baran Doban, G-Burnkwaran and Gunleon for the SRW games.

Aren't y'all forgetting something?

Also, never finished 3 because it dragged on and on and stopped being fun to play

Still haven't finished 5, looking good so far

I also have to say FM has my absolute favourite mecha design ever, squat blocky chunks of metal that actually look like machines of war instead of a dude in plastic cosplay.

>>23598808
>Aren't y'all forgetting something?
Some things are better left dead...

>>23598858
I honestly don't get the hate. It's an okay game, I had fun.

>>23598808
>Aren't y'all forgetting something?
Evolved?
It never happened?
Left Alive?
Total fabrication

>>23598898
You can't handle the truth!

>>23598909
Those two games?
We made those up.
Front Mission Online?
...That was actually true.

>>23598808
>Also, never finished 3 because it dragged on and on and stopped being fun to play
Give it another try after you're done with 5 and feel ready for more Wanzer action, though I doubt it once you get hooked up on 5's Survival mode.
I found 3 to be a faster game compared to the previous entries because of the limited deploy count and coordinating their attacks on the fly, and not by linking like in 4. Unless you take your time salvaging enemy Wanzers and "sparking" skills from parts or don't know what you're doing, the game goes by pretty quickly.
Also remember that the game has actually two campaigns that you choose if you go with Ryogo (Emma) or not (Alisa) after the tutorial/test drive. Try the one you didn't pick previously.

okay, so what exactly is the problem with this?
Left Alive was stealth survival, that I understand, but what's wrong with Evolved?

>>23598934
It's too arcade-ish for some people coming from the original games and it becomes repetitive real fast. It's basically "we have Armored Core at home".

>>23598929
Wait, the split for the ending happens that early on?

>>23598954
Yeah. With different playable characters and all.

>>23598723
It's kinda endearing how it ends up being a "the version of the game you remember, warts and all" reconstruction rather than "we filed the sharp edges off and made it the game you try to hype it up as to your friends whenever it comes up"

Though honestly 1st was the only one that seemed to have full effort dedicated to it, things seemed to have gotten out of hand with each subsequent game and subcontract job to the point I dunno if there are any plans on updating the weird AI upscale trash out of FM3re at all.

>>23598989
My big issue with the recent remake of the first game (and this is on release so it may have changed) was how goddamn slow the combat transitions were. I started it after playing a few hours of FM3 for the PSX and that was three times as fast.
It is a shame because the PSX version of 2's fan TL is really rough but has incredibly aesthetic environments. Square of that era were masters of modern environments, hence the way FF drifted. Look at Parasite Eve or Racing Lagoon's world maps.

Opinions?

>>23598756
>3 in itself is easily the worst game in the series because Square was very hands on.

are they responsible for the sister fucker protagonist

I've been playing a bunch of 3 but frankly I just don't really love tactics games with random to hit chance. It fucking sucks having a few turns to kill someone before reinforcements show up or something and you just miss 3 missiles in a row.
I also think the locational damage is neat but perfectly shooting every single limb down to super low health without ever getting that killing shot off just makes this feel even worse.

>>23599073
No idea about that, but G-Craft was dissolved after FM2 and absorbed into Square, you can see the results in FM3 mechanics being extremely simplified coming from 2.

>>23599006
It comes from how each game did their transitions. By 3 the games just go for zooming into the already loaded models on the already loaded map textures and just doing it all live, whereas each prior game had to boot into its own dedicated battle view per combat step.

No joke but I found it hilarious that FM3 was a literal fucking copy of Zeta Gundam down to the "Newtypes" all the way down to Dakar takeover

>>23599067
Any interest I had in it evaporated when I found out it was gachashit. I only have the time and energy for one of those and nothing Mecharashi does is interesting enough to make me change my mind.

Anyone remember Dog Life Dog Style? One of the most deeply fucking evil manga I've ever read and really didn't feel too much like the games either.

>>23600250
It's a fanfiction, the original writers literally had nothing to do with it

>>23600250
Yes, I wanted to bash the reporter over the head with a crowbar multiple times while reading it. But I never actually finished, got bored about two thirds in.

>>23598929
Using FM3's debug menu
https://tcrf.net/Front_Mission_3
made me realize how many branching paths there were. Scenarios I had never played despite hundreds of hours in the game.

>>23598571 (OP)
>what are the better installments of it?
1, 2 and 5

>>23598660

>Most people only like the wanzer aesthetics and don't care much for the plot and games.

Why do you suppose that is? I mean, was it because of how Squaresoft, before and after merging with Enix, failed to bring FM properly outside Japan?

>>23600250
I feel like the dark elements get memed up a bit. It's mostly only a few stories and even only a few characters in those stories where it gets super edgy. Once you get past the warcrimes montage at the start and you get more novel characters it lightens up a lot. The one eyed guy is just a cool dude.