An Unkindness of Ravens

[Black Dragon]

Well this one isn't really about who plays what, if that's the message you got.

Point is that the AC community, as a whole, is an utter mess right now. There's no unifying platform. There's no unifying game.

And the thing is, you can't directly force any one game on the community for them to play. So while From Software keeps churning out new and/or rehashed iterations of Armored Core, people will like different things, even though there's a general consensus on what games are "good". And also, I think it's the differences between each game that attract different kinds of players and aid in segmenting the fanbase.

Even though you throw tons of advertising and money behind a game to showcase it to the prospective players, ala AC4, history has shown the fanbase's preferences still play a very strong part, ala ACO (vets like older games, new players like AC4 onwards more).

Here's what I see:

PS1 + PS2 games
Pros: old school AC action
Cons: no legitimate online, connectivity hampered (iLink lag)

PS3/XBox 360 games
Pros: legitimate online mode
Cons: is not the AC we know --- this is actually... OK with me. AC has to evolve sometime

PSP games
Pros: old school AC action, legitimate connectivity, portability
Cons: controls hampered

What's frustrating is despite over 13+ games, From definitely knows what their market wants. But they never give it.

Also the original fanbase are getting older and most have moved on to other interests. Most have little time to play and participate in community activities anymore.

You guys definitely have some points on what you say. Unless From manages to innovate some of it's features and/or keep some of the old school AC spirit, the number of Ravens will continues to dwindle. But it seems the latter solution is hardly feasible , with From splitting fanbase into three (old school AC and the new AC generation and those who like both). Not that it's all their fault, but I guess it's something to pay after renovating too much of the mechanics.

I'll probably keep on playing AC series even if it "dies" *sob*