who honestly cares about that?

Originally posted by Osssssssssuzu:

who honestly cares about that?

Someone close to you my guy.

"How people can reconcile that when looking at thier kill counts"

the AC community as a whole doesn't have the IQ for that.

you're better off with another franchise

Originally posted by Ryu Hayabusa:

It is one of the most famous contradictions in gaming: the Ace Combat franchise heavily promotes anti-war themes while simultaneously requiring you to become a high-tech mass killer. How people can reconcile that when looking at thier kill counts via the stats menu in campaign mode ?

Because you are supposed to become attached to the characters who are anti-war because you care about them. Like Tasha and as a player looking in from a 4th wall you can clearly see how destructive it is. The superace you play is merely the vehicle for you to experience and see all that within the setting.

This isn't hard man, even Gundam does it.

I think Metal Gear works its anti war message a bit better because ultimately you can play the games without killing people. Once you get to Peace Walker and MGSV, it's actually far more beneficial to capture soldiers instead of killing.

Originally posted by Jangowuzhere:

I think Metal Gear works its anti war message a bit better because ultimately you can play the games without killing people. Once you get to Peace Walker and MGSV, it's actually far more beneficial to capture soldiers instead of killing.

You don't always have a choice to not kill people in war, that's the point. Should the FCU just have ceded all their land at the start of the game because it'd result in less bloodshed? Would that be a better anti-war message than showing you what happens when war is the option chosen for you?

There's a few squadrons you don't have to shoot down and, without spoiling, it is portrayed as beneficial. Compassion's a big part of this game, so much so that the Sotoans aren't even portrayed in a negative light. The game has a bigger bone to pick with separatists and there's plenty of exceptions within their ranks too.

Originally posted by Ryu Hayabusa:

It is one of the most famous contradictions in gaming: the Ace Combat franchise heavily promotes anti-war themes while simultaneously requiring you to become a high-tech mass killer. How people can reconcile that when looking at thier kill counts via the stats menu in campaign mode ?

A niche series isn't a famous anything, but I'll engage with the meat of your point instead of the oddball opening statement. It's fun to make things go boom, it's true. I can see why that'd look contradictory to the anti-war message, but keep in mind you're not the only character in the story. Wings is important, the FCU and the Endurance need to use him to survive and then win the war, but notably the protagonist's views and morality aren't a focus of the story at all. How you feel about it is up to you. Me, I played him like a rabid attack dog because the game's fun and fictional, but to the other character it's real. They all have negative views on the conflict and lose somebody they care about.

Baxter loses Cope. Coster loses Purple Magic. Tasha loses Baxter, and so do you. The perpetuation of the conflict is never portrayed as a good thing, it's just fun to play. That you happen to down 1000 planes over the game is, in context, because the war keeps going. In reality it's because you're having fun and the story's engaging, presumably. This game isn't trying to be Spec Ops: The LIne and say "ooough, you player you did a bad thing (that you had to do to see the end credits), you should feel bad."

Nah, it's hyping you up because you're ending the war as fast as you can. It's just Enso Order prolonging things, and I'm glad the game's picking that bone in particular because ♥♥♥♥ corporations.

One final thing, but every named enemy you kill has their own biography in the assault records. Go check it out, it's not pretty.