Armored Core Nexus

[Zed]

They havent bother with AC3: Silent Line yet, so i doubt Nexus will be anytime soon... Sure they might skip SL, but i'm guessing if/when FROM does an online version it will go worldwide, and i really hope its fully "WWW" and not just limited to Europe playing with itself like past PS2 online efforts.

But feel free to hassle Metro3D or Sony to hurry up the PAL version, after the abortion of PAL AC3 i dont hold much hope myself.

[SuperBrother]

Is the JP version playable for non-japanese speakers?

[E. Randy Dupre]

Oh, bollocks. I've just bought myself the PAL version of AC3 in the Play sale, after hearing that the previous game had a 60Hz option in it and presuming that the same would apply. I dread to ask, considering that it's arriving tomorrow, but what's wrong with it?

[Zed]

Bit slow (gameplay) but mostly it lost the iLink function and dialup vs multiplayer. Many wont actually care about that, so enjoy, but i exchanged a few emails with Metro3D post-AC2AA and pre-AC3 release, and basically they dont have a clue.

Superbro: Nexus is playable by non-Japanese speakers, but all the stats are in kanji now, so its a whole lot harder than previous imports to tweak designs. If you've played SL it will be much easier, and of course i have no idea about the subtleties of the storyline...

[Jashin]

Surely the gameplay is exactly the same speed as the NTSC version if the 60Hz option is selected?

[Zed]

Surely the gameplay is exactly the same speed as the NTSC version if the 60Hz option is selected?

You'd think so...

I guess if you setup two TVs/PS2s side by side and tested them out? But my gut feeling was the PAL regionalisation just didnt pull it off. I did test AC2 against AC2:AA once (same map and AC designs) and the latter did have a faster gamespeed in 60Hz mode vs AC2 and AA 50Hz, so maybe i'm wrong, or SL & Nexus are faster than AC3 and that's coloured my feelings. I dont own PAL AC3 anymore so i can't test it scientifically.

AC3 is good, and there are incremental changes as it progressed to SL and Nexus, but overall the series needs a kick to freshen things up. Online would be one place to start, however if it remains singleplayer/LAN i'm not sure if i'd buy the next in the series. The mindst of Japanese developers as they are make me wonder if they get the west's liking for online play, and hence we might all shift to Phantom Crash 2050 or Front Mission Online, while AC remains distinctly Japanese?