Armored Core 6 Speculations

[Lord_Leperman]

They should get rid of the whole lock-on FCS mechanics in the game. Rather, they should be expanding on it further to add variables for weapons. A lot of weapon balancing also revolves around how it locks and etc. Some guns are harder to use due to lock sizes, lock times and etc...

I kind of get what you mean, like say, an accuracy stat or a recoil stat for each weapon (which can be mitigated by arm parts for example) and sort of like the targeting circle akin to World of Tanks. The ring continuously shrinks, up to the weapon's max accuracy when not firing, and expands whenever it's shooting.

In this case, skill measured in distance control, movement, evasion, and timing when to fire your weapons. Aiming is still there, but it's now tied to knowing what weapon to use at what situation. 

That's all in theory though.

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The whole back and forth/pressure thing reminds me a LOT of the rally system in Bloodborne, where the game rewards players for going on the offensive immediately if they take damage by giving some of their lost health back on a confirmed hit, even in PvP. Now while it's not gonna be health regen, VI is probably gonna have a lot of that kind of measured tempo when it comes to battles.

Side-note: It's tiring to keep talking about the Soulsborne games in the context of AC, but I guess that's just how big of an impact the series has had on FromSoft - everyone's looking at how some of their gameplay elements will seep into a completely unrelated universe/genre.

I agree, FCSes are a bit of an antiquated idea. But sometimes you shouldn't go all-out in giving players power and agency; you have to set some hard limits to what they can do in-game. I honestly liked the additional layer of customization and management they brought into the meta, not to mention the skill floor they imposed onto gameplay. Remember how we marveled at how well Imori read his opponent's intentions and kept him on screen and in his lockbox (3:20 mark onwards)? In an incoming age of full-screen and deep-range lock-on weapons, how will the developers manage to keep battles engaging and challenging?

I'm guessing the "rewarding aggressive gameplay" is much more evident in Sekiro, where you have to break an opponent's posture in order to really finish them off. Yeah, the comparisons are unavoidable with From's other games, but they do plan to use their experience on those, so it's safe to say they'll be taking a thing or two from their recent games.

For AC, I'm still banking on that PA break to have a genbust effect, sort of like breaking posture in Sekiro, where an AC would be defenseless.

As for lock boxes, you make a good point that there probably would be a skill floor with the game, but as to how low they plan to set it I honestly have no idea. If they want to make accessibility as wide as possible, then the Souls style lock-on. If they want to increase the floor a bit more, then ACV's lock ring. Pure hard core would mean the classic AC:LR Type-B controls using L2 and R2 to look up and down. There's also the issue of Mouse and Keyboard users who're gonna have a way easier time with lockboxes (or worse if the only control option is keyboard mapped AC:LR Type-B controls, with no mouse aiming ), so I'm thinking that knowing when and where to use your weapons would play a bigger factor than the actual act of aiming this time around.