If anyone remembers the series very well my first introduction to the series was a version of Armored Core 2 I've never been able to find since. I've tried searching online and plenty of things but I can't seem to find it at all? Like Armored Core 2 is easy to find, but not whatever this version was... I don't remember the name either. The series I know did put out a bunch of alternative versions to games (like how Silent Line was to Armored Core 3) but I can't find the one for AC2 anywhere. Towards the end of the game where I had gotten it started getting into wierd themes of like bioweapons gone wrong and that sort of thing, I particularly vividly remember one mission I was too afraid to go through with as a kid where you had to search an abandoned mine for an unknown threat but the ambiance spooked me. It had a lot of more sprawling complicated missions which I liked in comparison to a lot of the shorter missions AC games tend to have, I only had it as a kid though borrowed from a friend so I've neve rbeen able to find it since - anyone remember this one?
I think it's Armored Core 2: Another Age. Unless you played one of the sequels to the original Armored Core. That said, I loved those long and windy missions. Nothing said Armored Core like a 30 min or longer mission that drained all of your resources to get to the end, only to be ambushed by 1-3 ACs (I know I already mentioned it, but I never forgot that lovable nonsense).
Normally how I wanted to play though was either go a mid ranged 4 legged energy fighting setup, or go for a light airborne reverse legs setup. I always tried to play the game a different way though, those just tended to be the most fun - I always thought the quad leg designs looked the coolest but they tended to be the most difficult to find a good balance between weight and firepower since they had such huge energy requirements to make lighter energy weapons less viable but couldn't hold the heavy duty firepower that 2 legged or tank tread designs could hold. I never did play the game with a completely light reverse leg design myself, I probably should try it sometime it seems like it'd be a challenge since it limits your firepower so much to play that light but the bonus to manueverability could be a huge advantage. Also floaty leg designs are fun to but the fact that you have to stop moving to shoot any heavy weapons was always a big drawback to me, 4 legged designs let you pop out the machine guns and grenade launchers if you could fit them on them without stopping moving so they always seemed to have the advantage for the speed to me.
I rather liked the 4-legged ones. One of my favorite riggs (in AC3) was a quad that used the blade that shot, used a mid-grade laser rifle, and had that giant freaking laser cannon on its back. All of its weapons were energy, but strangely enough, if I was wise, it had enough energy to do everything I needed it to do. Another rig I liked was one where I maxed out Shell Resistance. Needless to say it was a clunker, so to counter act the fast ones I gave it a machine gun (which by that point had been nerfed to be fairly inaccurate), and either High Accuracy Missiles, or missiles that exploded near the target. It worked well enough, but sadly, the thing had terrible heat problems so all it took was a simple flamethrower and that was that. Though, for missions, I too tended to go a bit heavy. Most of the time it was a jack-of-all trades kinda deal. Med-heavy bipedal legs, laser rifle, perhaps another rife in the other hand for x2 damage, and usually a large gun or two (or hoards of missiles) on the back. I'm rather fond of laser rifles. Their ammo is free
I could see Armored Core boasting a big online competitive scene if they made a game that really takes advantage of it, with how much customization there is in it that could lead to some really cool individualized playstyles - unfortunately it's boom during the PS2 days kinda prevented that from really happening and it seems like it lost it's steam after that sadly.... I didn't know they made a 5th one but I heard the 4th one was kinda not amazing. Like if they made something with the in depth customization and world building that like Armored Core 3 and 2 did I'd have so much fun with that. Haven't found a good mech game with that sort of in depth customization and gameplay since, I wish the mech genre was still as big as it was. Also metal wolf chaos looks super fun but we never got that in the US ='D
AC 5 actually had an online mode where players could join/create factions and they battled for dominance of different parts of the world map. Players could also sell and buy parts from each other. Sadly, the official servers are shut down now. I don't know if Verdict Day has the same feature of not. And sadly, by the time I found out it was a thing, it was already all but dead anyway.
That said: ACs 3&5 were my favorate. AC4 was rubbish. Well, okay, that's a little harsh. It had okay things to it, but From Software didn't do it, Sega did. And they changed a lot of things. For example: if you built right, you had energy forever. I made a 100% energy weapon AC and I could spend almost an entire mission airborne. The missions were also like 5-10 min a pop. Granted, they were a bit longer, but it sure didn't feel like. Also: you didn't have to kneel for the big guns. Thus, there were really only like 3 or 4 kinds of legs. No hover or quad iirc. The story also made no sense. In short, I think they decided that AC needed to be faster, more streamlined. I didn't much care for it, but then again, it was like drinking purple Gatorade when one is used to red. So I suppose it wouldn't hurt to give it try...
5 is legit though.