[Det. Bullock]

Now that I got the HOTAS to work somehow I did a couple of rounds of multiplayer before the campaign (first round was a disaster because of inverted pitch control that couldn't be corrected during gameplay, woopsie-daisy) to test if everything was ok and then did a couple of missions plus some free-flight to admire the scenery.

Apart from the screwy "anything that isn't a Xbox pad" support (even mouse and keyboard controls are kinda weird as per japanese console ports tradition) the game looks gorgeous and runs like a dream.

The game uses the two analog triggers for throttle so mapping it to the throttle slider works really well and it seems I got it right on first try, and using flares is obviously less awkward.

[Aesaar]

Tried playing this with my XB1 gamepad, then tried with M+KB, and the M+KB controls work just fine and I'll be sticking with that going forward.  The only annoying thing is not being able to use the mouse to work the menus.

[manwiththemachinegun]

Re: Osean motivations, I feel like that's being way too harsh.

Spoiler:

No body MADE the idiot Eurseans rearm and try to settle old scores after their last disastrous, insane war which nearly ENDED THE WORLD via asteroid impacts. They were chomping at the bit to rearm with Belkan tech and settle old injuries perceived and otherwise.

Also, the Oseans play dirty real politik with the best of them, but this game was shocking in that there was no "magical" third front forming around 444 squadron fighting extremists on both sides like in 5. If anything, it was intentionally averted. The Princess is the one who got played for a chump, and her people and the rest of the Useans suffered again for it.

[StarSlayer]

So um, has any one tried "Rescue" with a Mig 21 sporting double guns?  I wonder how it resolves if you don't Fox at all. 

[Det. Bullock]

So um, has any one tried "Rescue" with a Mig 21 sporting double guns?  I wonder how it resolves if you don't Fox at all. 

Spoiler:

I didn't try that but the next mission if you abuse the guns like I did they comment that you must have used the guns to do what you did.

[Colt]

Just my opinion, but I think AC7's OST is the best of the entire series. Daredevil, Faceless Soldier, Transfer Orders, the list goes on.
Werewolf gave me some big AC5 vibes. Reminds me of Heartbreak One.

[crizza]

I like the game. Yesterday I played several Battle Royale games and I have to say: It is quite different to fight humans like the AI.
In my first game I used high G turns and was killed. I noticed, that other player actually slowed down, the biggest surprise was the Strike Wyvern, simply slowing down, I overshot and he killed me with the EML.
Afterwards I won several times, guess I'Ll try Team Deathmatch today.
Edit: Just learned the Cobra and... culbit(?) maneuver, dang, usefull stuff 

[StarSlayer]

I'm a little sad they took the Sparrows off the Tomcat.  I was pretty good at using Semi Active in previous games, plus the replacement Aim 120 Pods look very goofy.

[Det. Bullock]

So, using the multiplayer to grind MRP I managed to get all the MP medals but one. According to the internet it wuld requires 50 wins in team deathmatch which is gonna take a looong time if I keep meeting pilots who can blast me out of the sky with 6 or 7 QAAM at a time (at the moment I got only 17 victories).
But it also means that I have an extra reason for grinding in multi before the servers dry up, team deathmatch rooms are not as common as Battle Royale and I had to make presets for the various restrictions that might apply, this is good thinking on the part of the Ace team since this way you may have a plane available for any situation without losing time in the hangar while in the lobby.
It's rather interesting that the more points you make the more points you are worth if they manage to slag you which usually means that the last few minutes of a winning match are usually passed inside clouds dodging missiles if you did particularly well otherwise your death might mean a results reversal if the two teams are close enough.
Also it's probably one of the few multiplayer games I'm actually decent at and has players on-line at least for now so for now I'm trying to make the best of it.

I have managed to unlock the F-22 via the F-35, my initial intentions were to unlock the last of the Sukhoi branch but, heh, I like the way the F-22 looks and wanted a superplane with stealth capabilities for the later half of the game though I don't know how useful it might be in multiplayer.
It seems my copy didn't have the pre-order bonus so Fanatical has sent me a key for in the mail (I never noticed since I preordered mostly for the slight discount rather than any bonuses), the plane is very similar to the MiG-21bis I've been using as a SAAM launcher for 2000 and under matches but looks much less odd and is a bit more agile which definetively doesn't hurt, also SASM are almost as good as SAAM but are fire and forget so no more getting picked off when I try to keep the target in my sights.

Also it seems I should have went for the Deluxe since now it has come out that there will be three extra missions in the Season's Pass which are indeed a better incentive than the bunch of skins and extra planes originally rumored.

[Colonol Dekker]

I'm a bit wary that all but one MP medals can be unlocked in under 20 matches.   Is the multi a bit diluted?

[Colt]

I'm a bit wary that all but one MP medals can be unlocked in under 20 matches.   Is the multi a bit diluted?

I've had no problem (or good luck?) finding full matches in the sub-2000 games quickly. Trying out different parts for planes gives it replayability. Map variety is alright, though a couple more would be cool. Lack of Co-op is disappointing. Currently there's only two modes; TDM and BR (FFA), so hopefully future updates beefs it up.

[Colonol Dekker]

Sorry I meant to say "bit easy to unlock all those medals?!".

[Det. Bullock]

I'm a bit wary that all but one MP medals can be unlocked in under 20 matches.   Is the multi a bit diluted?

I have about a 100 sorties under my belt at the moment, one medal requires 100 sorties to unlock.
It's just that I have 17 victories in team deathmatch, I mostly played the classic deathmatch (AKA Battle Royale) until I noticed I needed a certain number of wins in TD for the last medal and while I'm not bottom of the barrel I'm not even particularly good at multiplayer.

Sorry I meant to say "bit easy to unlock all those medals?!".

There aren't many in the first place and I've been lucky, a couple of those are quite difficult to get if you are a rather mediocre player like me.

[StarSlayer]

So um, has any one tried "Rescue" with a Mig 21 sporting double guns?  I wonder how it resolves if you don't Fox at all. 

Spoiler:

I didn't try that but the next mission if you abuse the guns like I did they comment that you must have used the guns to do what you did.

Spoiler:

I flew the mission again only making gun runs around the Osprey and a missile comes flying in from a third party to pop Harling, I kinda want to hunt down the JAG officers and hang them off my F-15E rails after that.

So I finished the campaign and have started dipping my toes in the multi.  The campaign was fun overall with the derpy story I expected, plus I got to fight Big Boss.  Missions were varied and enjoyable with only a few being frustrating (Mostly due to time restrictions or not having an optimal aircraft unlocked for the mission profile).

Mechanics wise, while I realize Ace Combat is about spamming ordinance like it's a Macross series, I seem to recall being able to have proper dogfights against AI in AC6 and ACAH(minus the silly rails QTEs).  For example I could load up Invasion of Gracemeria and so long as I didn't trip Strigon Team's arrival I could fly in the Merge for days.  In AC7 it seems like no matter how much I brake or maneuver I cannot stay slotted in on an AI's six and constantly overshoot.  Also I don't know if its an artifact of the upgrade system but the guns seem really anemic in this version.  Because of this I end up having to rely on arcade spam and dance gameplay instead of treating it like the really dumbed down Sim I could with previous titles. Though I concede I could setup the old console and find I'm misremembering things and just full of ****.  I also wish they added the strangereal Special Weapons as a fourth choice rather than remove some of the older loadout options.  Death lasers are nice and all but I find I miss having Mavericks/SAAM/ect on certain aircraft.  Minor gripe is not being able to assign multiple emblems to different places in the plane customization, separate tail art at least would be a big step up.

Multi is kinda fun, though it typically devolves into a repetitive cluster flock.  I've been having some luck using BnZ with SASMs, its easier to catch someone not in a wild turn and the SASMs at least get a little chip damage which adds up over the match.  The Devs missed a lot of opportunity by not having some objective modes in the larger maps, most of the strike aircraft are pretty useless in multi without something to bomb.  Having some strike targets to attack/defend would add a little dynamism from the typical furball QAAM meta.

Anyway time to get thrown in solitary!

[Det. Bullock]

So um, has any one tried "Rescue" with a Mig 21 sporting double guns?  I wonder how it resolves if you don't Fox at all. 

Spoiler:

I didn't try that but the next mission if you abuse the guns like I did they comment that you must have used the guns to do what you did.

Spoiler:

I flew the mission again only making gun runs around the Osprey and a missile comes flying in from a third party to pop Harling, I kinda want to hunt down the JAG officers and hang them off my F-15E rails after that.

So I finished the campaign and have started dipping my toes in the multi.  The campaign was fun overall with the derpy story I expected, plus I got to fight Big Boss.  Missions were varied and enjoyable with only a few being frustrating (Mostly due to time restrictions or not having an optimal aircraft unlocked for the mission profile).

Mechanics wise, while I realize Ace Combat is about spamming ordinance like it's a Macross series, I seem to recall being able to have proper dogfights against AI in AC6 and ACAH(minus the silly rails QTEs).  For example I could load up Invasion of Gracemeria and so long as I didn't trip Strigon Team's arrival I could fly in the Merge for days.  In AC7 it seems like no matter how much I brake or maneuver I cannot stay slotted in on an AI's six and constantly overshoot.  Also I don't know if its an artifact of the upgrade system but the guns seem really anemic in this version.  Because of this I end up having to rely on arcade spam and dance gameplay instead of treating it like the really dumbed down Sim I could with previous titles. Though I concede I could setup the old console and find I'm misremembering things and just full of ****.  I also wish they added the strangereal Special Weapons as a fourth choice rather than remove some of the older loadout options.  Death lasers are nice and all but I find I miss having Mavericks/SAAM/ect on certain aircraft.  Minor gripe is not being able to assign multiple emblems to different places in the plane customization, separate tail art at least would be a big step up.

Multi is kinda fun, though it typically devolves into a repetitive cluster flock.  I've been having some luck using BnZ with SASMs, its easier to catch someone not in a wild turn and the SASMs at least get a little chip damage which adds up over the match.  The Devs missed a lot of opportunity by not having some objective modes in the larger maps, most of the strike aircraft are pretty useless in multi without something to bomb.  Having some strike targets to attack/defend would add a little dynamism from the typical furball QAAM meta.

Anyway time to get thrown in solitary!

Some maps allow to abuse the clouds quite a bit and there seem surprisingly few pilots following me under the clouds on the Alps map, though once I get the remaingin three victories in team deathmatch required for the last MP medal I'll finish the single player on normal, then do easy Vulcan-only (there is a medal for that I gather) because apparently the achievement for all difficulties doesn't unlock if you don't play it on easy too and then I'll work my way through all the single player medals and achievements remaining (I'm at 34 out of 49 currently done mission 16).

[Colonol Dekker]

I'm hoping it has this sort of stuff coming in the future.

[Buckshee Rounds]

Holy **** why have I never seen that before?!

[Colonol Dekker]

It was a free to play,
Way back in the day,
we all used to wing up,
you hear what i say?

Lizard be splashin'
laser be smashin'
I did a victory loop and ended up crashing :C

[Det. Bullock]

In the meanwhile: got all MP achievements and finished the single player.
Unfortunately the achievement for the take off, refueling and landing sequences didn't unlock which means I might have skipped one without noticing while repeating one of the early missions, dang.

[Rhymes]

Too bad infinity had some really nasty freemium bull**** going on. Would have liked to get into it.