Ace Combat 5

[Skull Leader]

I'd like the lyrics for Unsung War.  I know the first line is "something something something something Razgriz". 

hey David.

I am almost 100% sure it's in latin... not harsh enough to be German or italian or whatnot... The soundtrack was done by the Warsaw philharmonic, so there's a possibility it's one of the eastern bloc languages or russian. The recording in the game doesn't bring the words out enough to know for sure... I tried taking the MP3 of "Unsung War" that I have and isolating the voice, but I can't.

I guess we'll just have to wait until Namco releases the words. IF it's in latin, I can translate it no problem (thank all of my years of choir experience and 2 semesters of it in my undergraduate college.)

Edited November 5, 2004 by Skull Leader

[David Hingtgen]

Soundtrack comes out in December, hopefully the liner notes will have the lyrics.

[Gaijin]

I'd like to know more about the flightstick, how's the drivers for windows, or simpler yet, where are they, who makes the flightstick and how is playing Ace Combat 5. A summary review would be appreciated since that bundle costs as much as a brand new PS2 system, so i'd like to know that it's good before i shell that amount  , thanks 

The Flightstick is made by Hori, which is itself is basically a Saitek stick. It works great with AC5, and I know jack about the drivers for the stick for the PC. I know it can be done, as people on the AC forums on both AC net and the official site have used them.

Yes, it's pricey, almost $80...but nothing beats it if you want to play AC5 (or AC4). If you think it's too pricey, just get the game and use the Dual Shock. Haven't seen anyone who bought the bundle gripe about the stick though...you get the game, stick, and a huge Wardog squadron flight patch big enough for a jacket. (If you pre-ordered you got the tin with patches and preview DVD).

Edited November 6, 2004 by Gaijin

[mikeszekely]

I'd like to know more about the flightstick, how's the drivers for windows, or simpler yet, where are they, who makes the flightstick and how is playing Ace Combat 5. A summary review would be appreciated since that bundle costs as much as a brand new PS2 system, so i'd like to know that it's good before i shell that amount  , thanks 

The Flightstick is made by Hori, which is itself is basically a Saitek stick. It works great with AC5, and I know jack about the drivers for the stick for the PC. I know it can be done, as people on the AC forums on both AC net and the official site have used them.

Yes, it's pricey, almost $80...but nothing beats it if you want to play AC5 (or AC4). If you think it's too pricey, just get the game and use the Dual Shock. Haven't seen anyone who bought the bundle gripe about the stick though...you get the game, stick, and a huge Wardog squadron flight patch big enough for a jacket.

No, I think that the flightstick bundle is a good price, especially since it works with AC4 and PC games... it's a solid, workable joystick that you can use on good games, instead of a really expensive game (ala Steel Battalion).

I picked mine up today. The stick is definately comfy, and you do feel really bad-ass playing with it (although I wish that, as a minimum, AC5 should have had better options for configuring it). The controller layout is fairly intuitive, and for the stuff that you do forget (like which button calls up the map), it's posted on the controller. The rumble feature is a nice bonus with AC5, too. I really only have one serious gripe, and one minor issue.

First, the serious gripe. The stick is too sensitive. I mean, it feels tight enough, but in the game, pushing it all the way to one side rolls the plane a lot faster than pushing the stick all the way over on a Dual Shock. As for the minor issue, it's kinda obvious that Hori took an existing product and just applied it to Ace Combat... the two wheels and and the pinkie trigger don't do anything, and worse, the pinkie trigger actually gets in the way (but not enough to cause any major issues).

[NoSuchFile]

The Flightstick is made by Hori, which is itself is basically a Saitek stick. It works great with AC5, and I know jack about the drivers for the stick for the PC. I know it can be done, as people on the AC forums on both AC net and the official site have used them.

Yes, it's pricey, almost $80...but nothing beats it if you want to play AC5 (or AC4). If you think it's too pricey, just get the game and use the Dual Shock. Haven't seen anyone who bought the bundle gripe about the stick though...you get the game, stick, and a huge Wardog squadron flight patch big enough for a jacket. (If you pre-ordered you got the tin with patches and preview DVD).

Thanks for posting about acecombet.net found this http://acecombat.net/forums/index.php?show...2132&hl=drivers tells you how to use the stick in winblowsXP. Sounds more like a good deal with the fact that you can use this stick on something else than ace combat 4 and 5

Thanks

[Gaijin]

No problemo. Flightstick 2 rules in flying game. If only it worked in AFDS (I never finished AFDS, so I was looking forward to maybe completing it with this stick, though my desire to do so is less now that I'm playing AC5 )too. But, at least it works for AC4 as well.

[Mechamaniac]

Well, I tried the Flight Stick tonight with Mechwarrior 4, NO GO.

At least not yet.

The drivers I got from that other link are way too spartan IMHO. The game launches fine, and I can see the Fightstick 2 in the controller options. But when I launch a mission, the game crashes.

The mouse/keyboard gameplay works fine. I also applied the latest patches from FASA, and had the problem still.

I think the HORI drivers just don't provide enough support. They are not very user friendly at all with what little GUI interface they provide.

[mikeszekely]

Well, I tried the Flight Stick tonight with Mechwarrior 4, NO GO.

At least not yet.

The drivers I got from that other link are way too spartan IMHO. The game launches fine, and I can see the Fightstick 2 in the controller options. But when I launch a mission, the game crashes.

The mouse/keyboard gameplay works fine. I also applied the latest patches from FASA, and had the problem still.

I think the HORI drivers just don't provide enough support. They are not very user friendly at all with what little GUI interface they provide.

That's basically the problem I had! I got the drivers installed, and I tried it with Jet Fighter IV (hey, I got it for free). I got to the screen where I could configure the controls, and it looked it was registering the joystick... but then whenever I went to start a mission, it crashed.

I'm thinking I'm going to delete those drivers, and then download drivers for the Saitek X36. They're obviously the same thing anyway... like I mentioned before, there's stuff on the Flight Stick II that has no use in Ace Combat, and it's obvious that Hori took an existing product and adapted it to Ace Combat.

[Mechamaniac]

I'm thinking I'm going to delete those drivers, and then download drivers for the Saitek X36.

Nope, that won't work.

I downloaded the latest drivers from Saitek and you will get about half way through the install when it will ask you to plug in the joystick to continue.

At this time the NEXT button is grayed out, and will not highlight until you plug in a compatible joystick.

So, the HORI must have different firmware as it is not recognized by the Saitek drivers.

Oh well, I'll just snag a used X45 somewhere.

[hellohikaru]

The AC5 F-4X is a turbofan powered E with CFT and AMRAAM capability ?

How does it handle ?

BTW

The default X-29 scheme is similar to the one used by the baddies in Ac2.

[David Hingtgen]

Default X-29 scheme is identical to the default F-5 and F-20 schemes. I think. Only flew it once. Saved them some work, re-using a lot of textures.

F-4X is vastly superior to the other F-4's in every way.

AC5 has most every upgrade handle better than the predecessor. As in, F-14D is rated both more agile and faster than the B, when it obviously shouldn't be. They also rate many planes way too close in speed, and make many slower ones almost as fast as the faster ones. There's almost no difference between the Mach 2 and Mach 2.4/2.5 planes in the game, they're all rated in the mid-80's for speed. Which is about the entire speed-range in real life for most jets.

Edited November 7, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[hellohikaru]

I am sure you guys have seen the AC5 reviews out there.

www.gamespot.com/ps2/sim/acecombat5/review.html

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/...t5theunsungwar/

http://www.mygamer.com/index.php?id=243670...al&mode=reviews

The last one is by far the worse review out there..what is he expecting a flight sim ?

[David Hingtgen]

Quote from the last review:

"the A6E Intruder comes with unguided free-fall bombs which are difficult to use, making the plane undesirable"

Uh huh. Getting the target in the middle of the circle is obviously too difficult. And never mind the fact that the A-6E has some pretty big bombs which make nice big BOOMS. In the entire AC series, Mavericks (Which the reviewer seems to like on the A-10) etc have always seemed useless to me---you don't get enough to make them better than a double-dose of Sidewinders, and have no spread damage. A few 1,000 or 2,000lb bombs are a lot more useful than a dozen Mavericks or SLAM's. Heck, the F-5E is pretty good for a bomber in the entire first half of AC5, due to a decent bombload and the ability to have 4 bombs dropped at a time.

I had lots of fun using the A-6E in mission 18 on Expert, to get exp to get the EA-6B. A-6's are just inherently good planes. If they weren't, they wouldn't have been in the fleet for decades upon decades.

Edited November 8, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

EXACTLY. The guy who wrote that review was probably just a dumb newbie who thinks dated planes shouldn't be in Ace combat and that teen fighters and above are the best. Does he not the know the A-6 is a BOMBER? The hell?

BBTW anyone notice that the Super bug is rated BETTER than the F-14A in speed and other things? I was pissed....since in reality the superbug is slower than even the F-14A. I mean come on. Better mobility yes but speed? Hell no.

Least all is redeemed in the F-14D. BTW was the FB-22 concept supposed to have verts or did namco just add those for fun?

[David Hingtgen]

I think added just for fun. Or maybe they couldn't figure out what control surfaces should move if it was tailless.

I do think they didn't quite get the YF-23 right. It's 1000x better than AFDS did, but not 100% correct. Try full aileron, and note the tail position. Then add in full rudder in the opposite direction. The plane will yaw, but the rudders won't change. I think it's purely due to having too much "visible" differential with the stabs for roll. All the planes in AC5 do that with their stabs---most obvious with the Super Hornet---full roll should not move the stabs to their max position in opposite directions. They should only have like a 30 degrees difference. In AC5, if you have max roll and max pitch simultaneously, one stab is full up and one is neutral--in real life, you would have one stab full up and one like 80% up. Stabs don't need to move much to cause roll, because they don't have to counteract the entire lift/gravity balance on the plane like they do when controlling pitch. They also don't do it alone, they have the ailerons or spoilers for help. Even an F-14 with max stab deflection for roll, is never more than 20 degrees I think, maybe 30. And that's BETWEEN them, not each. So 10 or 15 degrees up, the other 10 or 15 degrees down. F-15's and F-16's have REALLY subtle stab differential for roll.

Edited November 8, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[hellohikaru]

Maybe Namco feels that a FB-22 without verts aren't very attractive. Luckily they didn't add some sort of love triangle between you blaze and edge.

Edited November 8, 2004 by hellohikaru

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

i think it looks better wit verts. Unfortunately i am on my 2nd go around,shot down some YF-23s with my A-6E GUNS only, and have yet to see the YF-23 in the buy menu. Also, noticed the YK color

scheme for the GRipen is viggen colors!! ANd towards end of game you get BL(belkan) color schemes instead of YK. BL SU-47 is white camo. RZ SU-47 is REAL life black proto color INCLUDING the sharkmouth decals on intakes!!

[Coota0]

Rented it loved it, but barley got to play the last mission, what happens at the end?

[VF19]

Mega Supremo gonzastic spoilers.

SOLG falls towards Oured. Guess who has to stop it?

[mikeszekely]

Maybe Namco feels that a FB-22 without verts aren't very attractive. Luckily they didn't add some sort of love character between you blaze and edge.

Well, the FB-22 is just a concept for serious consideration. One was never built, and from what I've read, a prototype isn't likely to fly before 2013.

There have been concept drawings of the FB-22 that were featured in articles by Bill Sweetman in Jane's Defense Weekly and Popular Science. However, how much of that design is what Lockheed has in mind, and how much of it is purely what the artist has in mind, we don't know. If the FB-22 goes into production, it may well have the vertical tails. The concept art that's circulating, though, doesn't. It looks a lot like the X-44, but with kinks in the wings. And while the X-44 is supposed to maneuver purely on thrust vectoring, the tailess FB-22 is supposed to use decelerons for yaw, and movable wingtips for roll.

[hellohikaru]

Gripen in Viggen colors ... You mean the 3 tone splinter camoflauge ?That would look cool. They never actually did that although we have many artist concept paintings of the JAS39 in splinter.

[mikeszekely]

Okay, seriously, there has GOT to be a better way to get plane upgrades. I mean, I'm on mission 11 of my third run through, I've unlocked and earned enough money to purchase the Falken, and all I've unlocked so far is the F-20, the F/A-18E, F-14B, and the FB-22. I'm maybe halfway done working on the F-16C and the Rafale M, and maybe a 5th of the way done with the Su-47 and the F-15C.

[hellohikaru]

Guys

Is the S-55 single engine Flanker really in AC5

And did they implement the weapons bay for the MFI and Su-47 Berkut ?

[mikeszekely]

Guys

Is the S-55 single engine Flanker really in AC5

And did they implement the weapons bay for the MFI and Su-47 Berkut ?

Can't answer you're second question, but to your first, the answer is no. The only Sukhoi planes in Ace Combat 5 are the Su-27, Su-32, Su-35, Su-37, Su-47, and S-32.

[The_Major]

Yes the Berkut has internal weapons bays, but im not yet sure about the MFI though.

[David Hingtgen]

Upgrading planes:

Did you use "basic" planes for the entire game? I mean, I used the F-22 when *necessary*, but otherwise, F-16C, F-14B, etc. Still took until 2nd run-through for many. Still don't have some on 3rd run. Best way to upgrade:

Mission 16B. LOTS of targets. Little to worry about in the air. Mission 2 is the shortest mission, if you just need like 10 kills. 4 is also short, with more kills. 17 for air-to-air. I upgraded many planes purely by fighting in free mission. I mean, you're sure not going to upgrade planes much sinking the Hrimfaxi or rescuing Nagase all the time.

[mikeszekely]

Upgrading planes:

Did you use "basic" planes for the entire game? I mean, I used the F-22 when *necessary*, but otherwise, F-16C, F-14B, etc. Still took until 2nd run-through for many. Still don't have some on 3rd run. Best way to upgrade:

Mission 16B. LOTS of targets. Little to worry about in the air. Mission 2 is the shortest mission, if you just need like 10 kills. 4 is also short, with more kills. 17 for air-to-air. I upgraded many planes purely by fighting in free mission. I mean, you're sure not going to upgrade planes much sinking the Hrimfaxi or rescuing Nagase all the time.

My first run through, like I said, I used whatever fighter I had that was best suited for the mission. A lot of the carrier missions, I used the F-35C when I could have used the F/A-18C or F-14A, but finishing the game was the most important thing. Second time though, planes are important. I used the F/A-22 until I unlocked the FB-22, then I started using the F-14A (while assigning decent planes to my wingmen). Third time through, same thing.

I'm starting to play in the Free Mission mode, but it's just monotonous to play the same mission over and over. The only thing I can think of is that kill point value goes up with difficulty, so maybe I should start playing on Expert.

Speaking of difficulty, is it just me, or is the only difference between difficulties the ammount of ammo you launch with?

[hellohikaru]

That's a bit odd.

I understand S-32 was the former designation of the Su-47...so are we having separate versions of the Berkut here ?

[mikeszekely]

That's a bit odd.

I understand S-32 was the former designation of the Su-47...so are we having separate versions of the Berkut here ?

That would be correct. The only real difference is that the S-32's verticals are spaced farther apart and are canted inward instead of outward, and the exhaust is shaped differently.

[David Hingtgen]

Why they have the S-32 as a separate plane I'll never know. And I REALLY wonder why it's considered better than the Su-47, seeing as how it's the unbuilt prototype. That's like having the single-tailed F-14 concept rated as better than the F-14D...

Difficulty: ammo, and how much damage you take. 1 missile will do about 3/4 damage on Expert. No plane can take two missiles. Hard vs Expert---guns do quite a bit more damage against you.

Free Mission: The more exp gained for harder levels isn't worth the added difficulty, because there's NOTHING more frustrating than having racked up 20 air-to-air kills--- (I think they're worth more than ground kills--actually, I think Exp is based on the target's point value, because the last time I played 27+, Grimm actually got the final SOLG hit, his only kill that mission, and his plane's bar shot up like 20%--because SOLG is worth a LOT of points)

--then die with 30 secs to go because they kind of expected you to be using an Su-47 when playing mission 17 on expert, not an F-16C... Play normal, maybe hard. Expert--nothing beyond the first missions, because you'll be fighting for your life trying to evade missiles with "less than the best" planes. You can go from 100% to 0% health REAL fast in expert, unless you're moving CONSTANTLY. I've never been able to use a full load of SAAM's, you'll die if you stand still for long. From a time/annoyance/boredom factor, replaying lots of missions on easier difficulties is better I think. Still say 16B, boring but low risk of death and lots of targets. I actually do 3,4, and 27+ a lot just to hear the music. Same for 18. Not worth as many points, but more fun.

Edited November 9, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

ANyone get other color schemes? I am loving them~~!! Someone please tell me what the YK F-4X and F-16b60 look like!!!

Using the Bombcat on "sea of chaos" is AWESOME. FASTEST navy plane in the game, and hell I'd say most POWERFUL naval bomber in the game as well. ANd it don't hurt to see it in Kieth Ferris colors

[David Hingtgen]

Well the F-14 is the fastest Navy plane of all time. And the F-4 still holds second place.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

just got some new planes~~~!! or color schemes I should say,

F-4E YK=JASDF F-4E color scheme(blue 2 tone like on F-2).

F-5E YK=IRIAF F-5E

BTW.

I just beat it again. And I was wondering...when filling the bar on the F-16.......does that UNLOCK ALL the falcon variants buyable?

and to those trying to get the SU-37 YEllow. Try using the FALKEN and ABL. I hear it can hit multiple targets with ease.

[David Hingtgen]

Yes, the F-16C will unlock all other F-16's. Takes about 170 kills, based on my stats.

I still don't have the Su-35, be a while before I get the 37. As for Yellow--I still haven't even SEEN him. I presume he can't be much worse than any Su35 or 47, I just haven't even had the chance to fight.

Edited November 9, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Phyrox]

I asked this before, but didn't get the kind of answer I was looking for.

How arcade-like is this game as far as engine and realism?

I don't like the idea of taking dozens of missiles or being able to survive multiple missile hits...but I guess I could live with it if the flight dynamics felt right.

I was very dissapointed with Secret Weapons Over Normandy and the lack of any "feel" for flight in that game. It is sad when the flight engine in Grand Theft Auto gets its more right than a dedicated flight game.

This game sounds pretty good, but unless you guys tell me otherwise I'll steer clear.