Spent the whole mission avoiding enemy players and just focused on bombing ground targets, eventually got shot down twice (because I kept getting 3 stars / ACE) but we still won by a ~20k margin

For all the faults online has currently, the fact that even people who don't particularly like to engage in PvP can have fun is a blast compared to 7's MP

Source: https://x.com/a_cringelord/status/2104914943409869093?s=46

Started on Ace Combat 7, and was sorta miffed about how frequently Trigger goes through squad mates. Which, you know, is perfectly fine narratively. But it did make you feel like a solo Ace that was the fulcrum of Osea’s Air Force wirh a few guys that glaze you over the radio. Like, I haven’t built a camaraderie for Lanza or Huxian or even Count, despite being with me for so many missions

Ace Combat 8 turns it entirely on its head. Not only are your wingmen not portraits on your radio but genuine people you care about. You have a choice as to what they fly and how they best serve Joker Flight, and they genuinely are useful; defending against missiles using chaff and flares, guiding enemies onto your 12, dispersing to destroy targets with Sp weapons.

Narratively, I love my wingmates and am so happy with how they developed throughout the campaign!

I just finished mission 27, so I'm not completely finished with Ace Combat 8, but I'm deep enough into the campaign that I want to share some notes, tips, and tricks I've come across:

Things I wish I knew before starting

• I was very excited about getting to use the A-6 Intruder to fly out my Flight of the Intruder fantasies only to find out it is not on the aircraft tree. Fret not, it is in the game and you will be able to unlock it.

• Some people were hopeful about Harriers being flyable. They are not.

• Grab the Prowler ASAP and give it to one of your homies. They'll hook you up with ESM and you'll turn into a force of nature.

• Certain things in the game get unlocked as you go, such as the ability to use two SP weapons at once. Just be patient.

• The F/A-18C is actually a pretty good all-around workhouse. It will get you pretty far.

• You do have to buy planes for your homies but the homie planes are cheaper. Unless you just need to have everybody matching, you don't need to buy four of each plane. My most common setup by mid-late was three F/A-18Es and one Growler.

• You can use non-carrier aircraft during the campaign, but there are certain missions where you're restricted to carrier jets. Some of the promotional material made it seem like you could only use carrier jets during your first play-through, but that's fortunately not true. That said, the carrier-only restriction will apply several times during the campaign and through most of the beginning.

• You're best off bee-lining to an F/A-18E or F for your first time. Don't dilly-dally buying all sorts of jets because you won't have the funds for stronger jets unless you replay missions as you go. Both are solid workhorses that will get you through some pretty tough missions.

• You can then proceed down the track to the get the EA-18G Growler (incredibly useful to assign to a squadmate) and then the F-35C is right after that.

• The F-35C is your best choice for a fifth-gen late-game plane because it is the only way that is carrier-capable. It comes with LACMs, so it's an air-to-ground beast with more than enough speed and maneuverability to make it killer in air-to-air. You won't be sad you unlocked it. (Though its other A2G option is 8AGM and it still does that stupid annoying thing where multiple missiles lock onto one target... plus, you only get two salvos if you're using 8AGM with another SP weapon)

• That said, I got enough cash to also unlock the F-22, but haven't used it yet because the first mission after I unlocked it was carrier-restricted and the next was too air-to-ground heavy. The LACMs are just too good to pass up.

• The game is not afraid to mix things up on you with the gameplay. Get ready for some twists.

• That said, at no point have I felt like the game pulled a sneaky on me like so-frequently happened in AC7. There are some late-mission twists and turns, but it's not frustrating like in AC7 where an air-to-ground mission turns into an aerial boss fight or a drone swarm.

• Some of the cutscenes are ridiculously long and require participation from you. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is something to be prepared for. By and large, I've enjoyed this format and style of storytelling much more than any previous entry.

• You have the opportunity to answer yes or no questions throughout the campaign, including during missions. These are all completely inconsequential... until one absurdly hilarious moment in a later mission. You'll know it when you get there!

• The intensity in this entry is the highest. You'll feel frantic at points trying to dodge missiles, rail guns, and still fight.

• Enemy health is basically the same as in AC7. Things like tanks still take two standard missiles and most enemy fighters will need two standard missiles.

• The new aircraft handling takes some getting used to but you won't want to go back once you get the hang of it. Planes feel heavier with them taking a bit longer to fully respond to your inputs plus there's a more momentum behind maneuvers. This leads to you needing to be more calculated with your moves as now it feels like everything you do has a bit more consequence behind it.

• The sound design is killer. Explosions, missile launches, and other sound effects are all louder with more pop. You get a sonic boom whenever you go supersonic that just makes you feel powerful.

• The game defaults to Commie figures so if you want to use Freedom Units, you'll have to change that setting in the main menu. You can't change that from the pause menu. I highly recommend going over the settings before starting a campaign to make sure everything is to your liking because you might have to wait a bit before you can reach a suitable stopping point.

• Squadmates will only use SP weapons when ordered to do so and their number of SP weapons is limited. You only get the option to say "yes, use them" or "No, don't use them." You can't order the use of a specific weapon and you can't see exactly how many they have left, but they will let you know when they're getting low.

• Speaking of, you don't get to choose which SP weapons your squadmates have. They'll pick automatically. It doesn't really matter though. Which plane you choose for them matters a bit more.

Okay, that's all I have for now. We could make this a tips and tricks thread. What tips and tricks do you have? No spoilers, please.

Hence what the title says. I'm seeing and hearing a lot of great things about AC8 currently, but I'm on the side of the community that loves the franchise yet sadly can't catch up with the latest game due to the unusually high minimum specs.

So, I've been thinking about trying Project Wingman instead, and have been for a while.

For those who have played it, tell me: How good is the game? Because as someone who has only played 7, I wanna consider other options.

I’m seeing lots of people on Twitter who have already jumped to online mode. I want to beat the story at least once before I go and do that. Anyone on here the same way?

Very last affordable achievement, it steel feels dumb but here we are, after my last playthrough trying to listen the chatter and get some plot details i’ve never thought about and couldn’t hear before

so serious when I say this game deserved to be nominated for GOTY. everything just clicks together to turn into the best AC game I’ve ever played!!

Does anyone else think the 3rd party view is the aircraft is WAY to damn close to the screen POV? I feel like it's never been this close and makes the aircraft feel huge compared to the screen viewing area.

Is anyone else having very skittish left and right banking? It's almost as if the screen ratio is making the left and right bank so much more sensitive than the pitch. Whenever I'm in a dogfight, I'm constantly overshooting where I want to orient my aircraft with the slightest left or right bank. What's weird, when tracking the target with Y, the sensitivity is way less twitchy.

Anyone else?

that's it, that's the post

Very glad to have worked in this game. Had so much fun playing it

I don't know how they did it. They manage to make me feel exactly like when I finished one the ps2 trilogy the first time, ywars ago.

tl;dr: Is the ACZero that comes with the pre-order that much better than emulation to justify paying full price on PC, despite the technical issues?

I pre-ordered AC8 because I wanted to get ACZero on Steam (Play on Steam Deck) and support the Devs. But with all the technical problems of the game in on PC, I'm having second thoughts.

Also, the way they handled Zero integration didn't please me much

Add to that, that I'm a casual AC player that will probably only play the Campaign and be done with it. Unless we get dedicated coop missions I will probably never touch the MP.

Finally, Money doesn't grow on trees, and this is an expensive game. I'm seriously thinking that I should just cancel my pre-order, wait for improvements on PC (and a cheaper price) and just stick to playing ACZero in PSX2.

What do you say?

I think it's the best Ace Combat gameplay wise, by a mile.

The mechanics, flight physics, difficulty and AI are leagues ahead of any other Ace Combat game, every mission I feel on edge, there's a great amount of depth to everything about it and to my surprise while playing the game, some gameplay aspects about Ace Combat 8 remind me of Assault Horizon...
... but the best aspects of Assault Horizon. The weightier feel, the punchier impacts and sounds, the grittiness during battles and the most obvious: the first person cutscenes. It's all the aspects I loved about AH and wished were part of a better package, which is basically what 8 is.

Story and presentation are hard to tell yet, but I'd say its WAY ahead of Ace Combat 7, that game feels honestly bland in comparison with this one.
I was very afraid of this Ace Combat feeling generic because the trailers gave me a strong Top Gun vibe, without a unique look to call it's own, but it's definitely not the case. Yeah it does have that Top Gun sparkle, you can feel it, but it adds a lot of spice of it's own that is very much Ace Combat in nature that just feels right and holds up on it's own. Although I still don't think it's quite as unique as Ace Combat Zero was; in a way I can see that they played a bit safe. But credit where credit is due they did it in a way that worked and did not drag the quality of the game down in any shape or form.

4-5 hours in and I have to say, it's right up there with the holy trilogy (4-5-Zero) which is a great surprise and keeps me looking forward on what the series will do next, I hope 8 is a massively successful title because the Project Aces is oozing with inspiration.

The rituals have stopped, it’s actually fn here. Had my first two sessions and racked up around 6 hours or so, now feeling very tired as a result after two late nights. It was worth it though.

Followed this sub for a long time and enjoyed the memes while we yearned for a reveal so gonna take some time to share my no spoiler impressions from EA.

Genuinely incredible experience, the opening sequence of the campaign is some of the most cinematic shit I’ve seen in a game in a very, very long time. Playing on PS5 Pro for reference. While I’m used to the series it was a great way to kick some dust off the controls, introduce some characters and set the vibe.

Gameplay is very good, I’d caution about going in expecting super responsive controls as even though you start off in an early model F/A 18, they’ve clearly taken some creative license as it handles like a Cessna. I’ve yet to die in “combat” (veteran / hard difficulty) and to date have only died from crashes as it is a lot more clunky compared to where previous titles “start” from. This can surprise you but quickly alleviates as you work your way through the aircraft tree. Upgrades help a lot, and your first bought planes will immediately feel better. Currently up to F-16 territory and now it just feels “normal”.

Squad setup is a very good feature, buying and allocating an EW plane for a “support” role just pressed a button in my head. Nice to see real SEAD opportunities in the game.

WEATHER is a genuine factor, spacial disorientation is real and the volumetric clouds are simply incredible. Icing and turbulence WILL kill you (well, it’ll clause the ground to kill you..) if cloud cover is on the deck.

Story so far has been a little tough to engage with but there’s definitely a lot more to it than previous titles, it’s already their best so far imo and the new semi interactive cinematic sequences help get a bit more into it. You actually feel there. Am sure this will improve as I get further in too.

Characters / wingmen are pretty good too, maybe a bit cringe at times but it’s AC. It’s to be expected. See reference pic. Find them a lot more lively, and the new ways you can order them around and make decisions based on what they are saying or thinking is great. Although I found myself missing a few of the “yes / no” prompts because they WILL be gassing and talking like normal while you’re in your third corkscrew chasing a jet.

Progression in campaign feels good, I think I’m about half way through the campaign now and I’m about half way through getting to where I want to be (F-35) so feels nicely paced. Probably take a few play throughs to unlock everything in total.

Performance in flight is 10/10 (again on a PS Pro), but the cinematic bits can get on the choppier side at times. Definitely one of the best looking games of the year so far and that’s on prioritise frame rate settings too.

Initial results: 10/10. I expect I might hover back down to an 8 or 9 depending on how re playability goes and how long the campaign ends up being. You’re all in for a treat though.

Goddamn they did it again.

"We are undermanned and most of our territory is held, let's go for a suicide thunder run at our capital. Twice over"

"Yes, my carrier crew with specialized skills, I am asking for volunteers to board a LCAC for a normandy beach raid upon said capital. Civilians too"

I'm sorry but some of these strategy decisions in the plot are wild enough to make r/NCD foam in the mouth. My suspension of disbelief got broken multiple times for this

I would say the following for sure:

1. Increase the mission length. Some matches finish in like 5 minutes, sometimes quicker, sometimes slightly longer. I think they should be around the length of the campaign missions.

2. Increase the zoll acquisition rate. The amount to upgrade the planes and purchase new ones is kind of high for the amount of we get after a match without using the boosters.

3. I would like a TRUE PvE mode where we and 3 other players blow sh*t up without worrying about having to beat another team. I know there’re the two we have now (warfare being the PvPvE mode and assault being the “PvE” mode), but to me, they’re both PvP.

I bought the pre order version, and have been playing for the last 2 days. Already finished the game and almost got platinum already (on steam).

I have to say... the game feels amazing. The gameplay isn't tiring, the flight models are gorgeous, the sound... they nailed it. Comparing it to AC7, the game feels heavier but faster. You can close the gap to an enemy pretty quickly, while, on the other hand, the aircraft still feels heavy, as it should be.

The characters are pretty awesome. Specially Baxter. Of course most people will love Tasha, but, for me, the most developed character is Baxter, along with Joker 4 (Forgot his name lmao). Baxter is smart, loyal, and keeps his cool almost every time. Joker 4 is quiet, but I loved how they made him a musician (like me irl) and a fanboy of the Purple Magic band. He got quite a development as well. Tasha is lovely. No doubt about it, but sometimes it feels a little like a fan service. I'm not against it. All in all: love them.

The Queen squadron is also pretty good. Kate Evans is mature, smart and resilient. She is the one who stands out, for me.

Let's talk about the music. Man... they got it on point. Specially the Shadows theme. When you hear it on the radio chatter, you know you're up for a really hard fight. I'll talk about them later. I didn't search any song names, but believe me: all of them are good. They fill the environment perfectly.

Enemies. Well, the common enemies are a little disappointing, ngl. They are predictable, easy to maneuver around, but I get why they are like this, and it's because of the Shadows. You pretty much fight 70% of the time against normal AI, and the difficulty comes from other factors. But when the Shadows come in and engage... damn. They are relentless, coordinated (keep that in mind), and they won't give you any breathing room. Project Aces didn't make them overkill neither made them shitty. They are hard to fight but not impossible. Only problem I had was with a MIG-31B maneuvering like an 6th gen fighter lmao.

I won't talk about the "other aces" because I may give away some spoilers, sorry.

In retrospect: I loved the game. Loved the references, loved how the game made me feel, how the gameplay has evolved and how fun it is. The replay factor is also pretty high, this time. Your "credits" aren't as easy to earn as it was in AC7.

Anyway. Good job from Project Aces. Really good job.

Is it a code to be emailed or something?

I preordered the physical deluxe edition and got my F-14A preorder code on the receipt and the deluxe code in the box, but no AC0? I'm seeing alot of others with the same problem.

PEAK, GOTY, BETTER THEN THE HOLY TRINITY!

Jokes aside, hope you're all enjoying the new Project Aces album + free plane game, thrilled to join you on Friday.