AC: Style balance

[Grim]

...if I had four legs that would prevent me from ever being knocked out in a boxing match, I think I'd keep them even if they were tiring to use.

Good point. Unfortunately, the legs that allow you to move the fastest at the lowest amount of risk, for as long and as far back as I can remember, are biped legs. Again.

AC3... introduced one part that changed AC forever (at least in my opinion): THE HOWITZER. Yep. Because of that part, I haven't equipped blades on my ACs since. It was like a foreshadowing of things to come.

Yeah, the beginning of dual gunning was the beginning of the end for blades. After AC3, it was clear that using one against a player of the same skill would lead to nowhere, fast. All the ninja moves you learned in the previous games were totally invalid already, what with the other player's ability to just attack from a longer range. Dual guns underlined the fact that sometimes skill isn't enough to overcome superior part combinations. Skewed playstyle.

It [SL] was probably not the most balanced of the AC games but it was definitely one of the most fun for me.

Agreed. After I calmed down on finally getting SL I noticed that certain parts did have that "auto-win" status: use them and you win. SL was like a throwback to the earlier games, putting in a ton of speed at relatively low opportunity cost to the player. Alas, all this potential for fun ended up maligning the possibility of the game having just enough balance (for me, it didn't).

*I'm not even considering hovers in any of the AC games. They simply don't seem to be for competitive use. -_-

joust had a good run with hovers in a previous MoC, but then again, this incident is more of an exception rather than a rule. It's possible, but highly improbable.

As I've said before, I wish AC was a patchable PC game that the developer could periodically tweak.

This is what AC4 is. Unfortunately patches don't answer the question of lag.

I'll wait for a few more opinions on this one, but the evidence presented seems pretty clear that yes, every game has a certain imbalance to it. It's not just in the types of legs though, it's in all other parts as well, which constitute the type of AC you're going to make, and incidentally, dictate the playstyle you're going to use. For example, not using OB in SL, while still possible and very much playable, just doesn't yield the same potential and advantages in higher level play. All ACs at the tourney-level had 008, and basically if was all over for you if you faced a skilled opponent without one. Or how dual Wyrms killed anything in Nexus. RS > anything in LR. The list goes on and on. Of course, this doesn't bode for the customizability that is supposed to be at the core of the game.

That brings me to another series of questions. So let's say that going against the grain in AC, generally speaking, gives you disadvantages. Say you use a shotgun against a sniper in LR. Does putting up with these parts necessarily make one more skilled, and a better player? Once you're used to the crappy stuff, are you really all that better with the good ones? Is there merit in using garbage? Like jumping with weights, once they're off will you find yourself jumping higher and farther?

Oh, and the person that owns a domain can never ask too many questions on his own domain

True, dat!

EDIT: Despite all this bitching however, I still love AC for the fact that I can make a pretty unique AC and do fairly well with it. Not win each and every time, mind you, but do fairly well. I guess my point with this whole topic was to show (mostly to myself) that it's alright to experiment, that not every AC needs an HP on the left hand, have Gull boosters strapped to the back, and be cooled by Ananda.