http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/ArmoredCore

Congratulations [troper], from this point on, you are a Raven.

The rest is up to you.

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The Armored Core series is a mech-combat video game series developed by FromSoftware . It started on the original PlayStation , and over the years, has been on the PlayStation 2 Xbox 360 , and mobile phones. With the exception of Armored Core 2, each numbered sequel seems to take place in a different continuity, separate from previous, and later, numbered titles.

The main draw of all Armored Core games is that the titular Core can be separated into various parts; core, head, leg, generators, weapons and so on. Players are offered choice of parts in the market which can be mix and matched at will, before taking them out on missions in third-person mecha shooter gameplay.

The games in the series and their plots are:

Armored Core: In the distant future, the majority of Earth's population has been wiped out in an event known as the 'Great Destruction.' In the wake of destruction, humanity has been forced to live underground while corrupt corporations battle for supremacy. You play as a 'Raven,' a mercenary of the Ravens' Nest group, who pilots an Armored Core (AC), the eponymous Humongous Mecha. Armored Core: Project Phantasma: A Raven operating out of Isaac City receives a mysterious request, to 'infiltrate the Amber Crown.' No corporation or sender name is given, and due to the amount listed in the monetary reward, the danger is obviously great. Armored Core: Master of Arena: In one of the corporation's more violent battles, several innocents are killed in the crossfire. One man loses his entire family, and a few months later, he decides to take revenge on the pilot responsible, the Raven known as Hustler One, pilot of the AC named Nine-Ball.

Armored Core 2: Sixty-seven years after the first game, Earth's second largest corporation, Zio Matrix, attains the plans for a research project on Mars, dating back before the Great Destruction. They launch the terraforming project, which causes the Martian atmosphere to approximate Earth's. The other corporations learn of the project, and follow Zio Matrix to Mars, bringing the battle between them from Earth to Mars. As a Raven, a mercenary of the group Nerves Concord (similar to the Ravens' Nest of old), you don't care about any of that. It's all about the money. Advertisement: Armored Core 2: Another Age: Five years after Armored Core 2, the corporations have all fallen out of favor with the Earth government after the incidents on Mars. The people, still living in subterranean cities are tiring of being ignored and armed revolts are a daily occurrence.

Armored Core 3: Set in a post-apocalyptic future, society lives in a subterranean society known as Layered. It is ruled by an AI construct known only as the Controller, which dictates nearly everything that goes on in the world. The major corporations Mirage and Crest and the smaller Kisaragi vie for dominance. The Controller's strange actions seem to indicate that it is going haywire. You play a Raven of the game's mercenary group, this time known as 'Global Cortex'. Armored Core 3 Portable

Armored Core: Silent Line: Following the destruction of the machine-run society of Layered, mankind seems to be back on its feet, and has begun repopulating above-ground cities. All seems to be well, and reconnaissance teams are sent out frequently, to determine what has changed. One area, however, seems to be unable to be scouted, and is dubbed the 'Silent Line,' as all communications past that point go silent. As a Raven of Global Cortex, you're employed to find out what is behind all this. Armored Core: Silent Line Portable

Armored Core: Nexus: Years have passed since the incident at Silent Line, but as always, the corporations are still at war with each other. Navis, a new corporation, is obviously much smaller than its competitors, but has complete control over a new resource. As a Raven of Raven's Ark, you are employed by various corporations to deal with this.

Armored Core: Nine Breaker: During a rare lull in the war between corporations, humanity is finally in a state of relative peace. The entire world is happy for this change, save one organization. This organization does not want the world to return to the state of constant war, but does not want the Ravens, who will man the front lines in the event of a future emergency, to become complacent. The goals of this organization are-to hone the skills of the best, and provide a sufficient, capable fighting force should the need arise again in the future.

Advertisement: Armored Core: Formula Front: As the newly hired architect for a new team in the Formula Front league, your job is to design and assemble the team's ACs.

Armored Core: Last Raven: In the wake of Navis' attempt to recover and use lost technology, the world has been left in ruins. The major corporations have merged into one super-corporation known as 'The Alliance.' Fed up with corporate rule and oppression, one Raven known as Jack-O forms an organization of his fellow Ravens known as Vertex, out of the ashes of the Raven's Ark. After collecting a sizable force, he declares he will announce an all-out war with The Alliance in 24 hours. Leading the opposing force, a Raven known as Evangel has created an equally large force to combat him. You are approached by both forces and will ultimately be the one to take down The Alliance, or uphold the corporate rule. Armored Core: Last Raven Portable

Armored Core 4: The human population experienced an exponential increase, putting a strain on global food supply. As populations increased, so did the gap between the rich and the poor. The governments of the world began to lose control of their populations, and the six major corporations stepped in, declaring an all-out war. Using advanced AC technology known as NEXT that relies on Kojima Armor, they toppled the world's governments in less than a month, and worked out a new system of government, Pax Economica. Under this system, loyalty to the corporations provides one with food and shelter, essentially forcing people to be slaves. The Ravens have essentially been destroyed, and most pilots are either forced to patrol the colonies for meager pay, or side with one of the armed rebellion groups.

Armored Core: For Answer: After the events of Armored Core 4, the desolation and destruction of the surface via pollution of both Kojima particles and production has forced many portions of humanity, but especially the rich and powerful, to live in aerial Cradles to avoid the pollution of the surface. The NEXT pilots, known as LYNX and organized by Collared, feared and renowned for their skills, have been left on the polluted surface to rot and fight in the perpetual wars. However, not everyone's going to stand for this for long.

Armored Core V: After long, bloody wars have polluted most of the Earth, humanity is sequestered in a portion of land that has grown into a large Megapolis simply called The City. Led by a despotic ruler called "Father", The City manages to get by even during harshest of conflicts, except when the Resistance takes matters into their own hands and initiates a coup, emboldened by the addition of a very skilled AC pilot: you. However, things get complicated when a nefarious third party called The Corporation seemingly aids Father by supplying strange, often powerful technology, while at the same time pursuing the Player Character relentlessly.

Order Missions: The survivors of The Resistance band together to become freelance mercenaries, eking out a living as territories of the City and its surroundings descend into lawlessness and fighting between factions of Migrants, freelance AC pilots. Here, the story deals with the general life of a mercenary, while introducing Men of Honor, an older mercenary establishment that one of your allies had ties to, and an enigmatic band of cybernetically enhanced AC pilots called the Zodiac.

Armored Core: Verdict Day: Countless years have passed and the events of ACV have been consigned to forgotten history. The pollution has cleared, but what should be a celebration of humanity's revival is turning into a prelude for a new apocalyptic war. Across the land, countless structures known as Towers remain from times past, so massive that their interiors are still not fully mapped, but stocked full of valuable Lost Technology. Eager to dominate the new world, the Three Great Factions prepare to battle for the Towers and the unpolluted lands: the wealthy Sirius Executives, the dictatorial Venide, and the inquisitive EverGreen Family, setting the stage for what will come to be known as the "Verdict War".

The Marvelous-developed, Nintendo-published Daemon X Machina was developed by some former staff who worked on this series, and it shares several themes and mechanics.

Main system: Engaging combat mode.

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Mission objective achieved. System switched to normal mode.