History YMMV / ArmoredCoreVIFiresOfRubicon

* AwardSnub: The game ''only'' getting nominated for "Best Action" in the 2023 Game Awards has attracted this sentiment, especially since From Software's previous work, ''VideoGame/EldenRing'', won Game of the Year the year before.

* AwardSnub: The game failing to get nominated for a single category outside of "Best Action" in the 2023 Game Awards has attracted this sentiment. It's especially odd when one considers that ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' won Game of the Year just a year prior. Then again, ''Armored Core'' ultimately ''[[SubvertedTrope winning]]'' "Best Action" has helped take some of the sting out.

** [[spoiler:All Don't Mind.]][[labelnote:Explanation(spoilers)]]ALLMIND becomes the TrueFinalBoss on NG++ route, but with all those clumsy performances throughout the game (including those from MemeticLoser entry above), it's very hard for the players to take her seriously, and thus she is called as such in Japan; in fanarts she's usually depicted as a ButtMonkey who failed to achieve her plan. Her Japanese VA [[https://twitter.com/han_meg_han/status/1712882807079686413 also took this as the pilot name]] when she started playing [=AC6=]......And her lack of experience playing the game just reinforced fans' depiction on ALLMIND being dumb.[[/labelnote]]

* AwardSnub: The game failing to get nominated for a single category outside of "Best Action" in the 2023 Game Awards has attracted this sentiment. It's especially odd when one considers that ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' won Game of the Year just a year prior.

* PolishedPort: The game runs like a dream and supports 120 FPS as well as ultrawide resolution, and its hardware requirements are actually quite generously low.

* PortingDisaster: The game's PC version uses the ever-infamous Easy Anti Cheat with the less well-known Arxan. This has, however lead to repeated issues on some builds, most notably a pronounced stutter and a severe impact on framerate with the only real fix being to bypass it and to tinker with the CPU compatibility settings.
** EAC aside, this game is generally considered an aversion of the trope. The game runs like a dream and supports 120 FPS as well as ultrawide resolution, and its hardware requirements are actually quite generously low.

** "Brainwife/Brainwaifu" for Ayre, as wordplays of "brainwave" and "wife/waifu" [[spoiler: due to Ayre's nature as Coral wave mutation who's InvisibleToNormals except 621.]]

* {{SugarWiki/Most Wonderful Sound}}: [[spoiler: Destroying V.II Snail's ARQUEBUS BALTEUS during the "Liberator of Rubicon" path. After dealing with Snail's insufferable narcissism for the entire game and witnessing the atrocities he commits, bringing his machine down and hearing him die screaming makes for an extremely cathartic end to his boss fight.]]

** [[spoiler:All Don't Mind.]][[labelnote:Explanation(spoilers)]]ALLMIND becomes the TrueFinalBoss on NG++ route, but with all those clumsy performances throughout the game (including those from MemetiLoser entry above), it's very hard for the players to take her seriously, and thus she is called as such in Japan; in fanarts she's usually depicted as a ButtMonkey who failed to achieve her plan. Her Japanese VA [[https://twitter.com/han_meg_han/status/1712882807079686413 also took this as the pilot name]] when she started playing AC6......And her lack of experience playing the game just reinforced fans' depiction on ALLMIND being dumb.[[/labelnote]]
*** [[spoiler:Transexual Iguazu.]][[labelnote:Explanation(spoilers)]]A Japanese player was attracted to play AC6 due to ALLMIND's fanarts alone, up until the last fight in NG++ when he was crushed by the fact that ALLMIND chose to possess Iguazu instead of him, even expressing his envy to Iguazu instead of the opposite. The result is the fandom plays up the idea of [[https://twitter.com/une_back/status/1709881984644968616 Iguazu-in-ALLMIND]] altogether, creating a new line of meme.[[/labelnote]]

** And fans from Japan went way further than that. Ever since a Japanese [[Website/TwitterX X]] user created [[https://twitter.com/wasshi_ex/status/1700685019277336844 a mascot]] of Arquebus called Arqueboy, which only based on their logo ''and didn't appear in the game wheresoever'', it sparked a whole BIG lot of fanart creations, such as another mascot for Balam Industries known as [[https://twitter.com/Maguro_Maznaga/status/1700802098215211096 Baltaro]] (followed with both either fighting, hanging out, or even shown as lovers), then [[https://twitter.com/ni_ki_te/status/1700895836425863168 a character representing Dafeng]], and mascots for other lesser corporates. [[https://dic.pixiv.net/a/ACVI%E3%81%AE%E4%BA%8C%E6%AC%A1%E5%89%B5%E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7 Here's a list on Pixiv rounding up fanart categories over AC6]].

** Someone Japanese [[Website/TwitterX X]] user have decided to make a [[https://twitter.com/wasshi_ex/status/1700685019277336844 mascot]] of Arquebus called Arqueboy, based on their logo. As a result, some also made a mascot out of Balam Industries known as [[https://twitter.com/Maguro_Maznaga/status/1700802098215211096 Baltaro]], and already fanarts are springing of them either fighting, hanging out, or even shown as lovers. The Internet then went crazy as they decide to [[https://twitter.com/ni_ki_te/status/1700895836425863168 create a character for Dafeng]].

* SelfFanservice: Despite the game continuing the ''Armored Core'' tradition of never showing people directly on-screen (though this time they provided rough images for some characters in in-game documents), fan artists quickly came up with their own designs for major characters, usually as incredibly attractive men and women. This includes Ayre ([[spoiler:who is nothing more than a disembodied brainwave pattern inside C4-621]]), ALLMIND (who is explicitly an AI with no physical body [[spoiler:until NG++]]), and 621 themselves, who is rather heavily implied to be more machine than human by the time the game starts. Ayre tends to be depicted as a MysticalWhiteHair MysteriousWaif with red eyes and ALLMIND as a SexySecretary.

** Balam and the Redguns have their following too, largely because of the popularity of G1 Michigan. Many players have expressed a desire for a story route in which 621 sides with Balam over Arquebus just because of how likable Michigan is, while glossing over the fact that Balam is just as much of a cutthroat corporation as Arquebus is and that their goal to monopolize the Coral would put them at odds with Walter/RLF and force a confrontation with them anyway.

* AwardSnub: AC6 failing to get nominated for a single category outside of "Best Action" in the 2023 Game Awards has attracted this sentiment. It's especially odd when one considers that ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' won Game of the Year just a year prior.

** Duels against other [=ACs=] can be hit or miss, and not even for using a GameBreaker build that would make anything an anti-climax. Because they use the same parts and statistics as you do, this also means that unless they're a special boss encounter that specifically [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheats their design a bit]], most don't hold up against the same kind of punishment that regular bosses can; fights should rarely last even a full minute unless you and the AI keep boost-dodging around each other, trading weaker hits. It reaches the point that the Rank 1 Arena position, [[spoiler:V.I Freud]], is considered one of the ''easiest'' opponents of the entire Arena simply because his build doesn't have the eccentricities or gimmicks that pose danger to an experienced player. As a straightforward AC fight, he gets chumped easily by that point. It's somewhat more difficult against multiple [=ACs=], but those fights are featured on NewGamePlus routes, which by then, the player would have ready access to GameBreaker builds anyways.

* TearJerker:
** Pretty much everything to do with the [[spoiler:Liberator of Rubicon ending. You have to watch as characters you've probably become attached to and have helped you throughout your journey die, mostly at your hand, for the sake of the greater good. First you kill "Cinder" Carla and "Chatty" Stick, the latter of whom has been nothing but polite and courteous to you. If you kill Carla first, Stick, a rather [[TheStoic stoic AI]], shows anger in his voice for the first time and declares you're in a world of trouble for killing Carla. Later, during the second to last mission, V.IV Rusty shows up in a shiny new mech called Steel Haze Ortus, with a new emblem without the muzzle on the dog. He's severed ties with Arquebus and decides to help you. And then right after the boss of the level, he is unceremoniously KilledOffscreen. And finally, the last mission. A one-on-one [[DuelBoss duel]] with you, vs a [[AppliedPhlebotinum Coral powered AC]], piloted by Handler Walter. He's undergoing SanitySlippage due to being utterly inundated with Coral, implied to be a result of Arquebus capturing him and subjecting him to their "reeducation" program based on dialogue from V.II Snail in both fights with him leading up to this fight. Walter spends the battle talking to himself about how he has to finish his friends' mission of destroying all the Coral, and deliriously praising 621, saying they've "earned all the credits", and how they can "finish the job, reverse the surgery" to live a better life, all while Ayre is on the side begging for the two to stop fighting. After a tense duel, he refuses to back down, charging up his cannon while 621 stares him down, muttering about how he HAS to do this. And then, he stops. [[DyingAsYourself He slowly lowers his weapon]], and says in a [[SincerityMode genuinely warm tone...]]]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Handler Walter:''' 621... You've got yourself... A friend...]]
** It isn't hard to feel sorry for the Rubicon Liberation Force. They're no more than colonists who want Rubicon 3 and the Coral to be left alone, understanding the dangers it poses after the Fires of Ibis. The Corporations, driven by greed and the prospect of fortune despite being aware of the dangers, send their personal soldiers and hire mercenaries to attack the RLF to get at a valuable resource. Worse, it's made abundantly clear that these people ''are not soldiers''. They're normal civilians who resort to using whatever pieces of scrap lying around they can get their hands on to protect their planet and its resources.
** The [[spoiler:"Fires of Raven" ending. One of the bleakest and bitter endings in an ''Armored Core'' game, it kicks off with 621 deciding to go along with Walter's plan and create a second Fires of Ibis -- the very same calamity that ravaged a planet and other nearby planets while robbing billions of lives in the process. Walter is willing to go to extreme lengths to make it clear to the known world that Coral, as a resource, is better off left alone. While the obvious loss of life alone is horrific enough, it gets worse when you remember Coral is not just a resource, but a collective mass of living organisms. Among those organisms is Ayre, who has been nothing but kind and thoughtful of 621 throughout the entire game. She's understandably upset you'd want to enact mass genocide, but it's far worse given that Ayre genuinely considers 621 a friend, if not more. That's not even going into how your friendship with Rusty deteriorates to the point he enacts one last desperate charge against you in an attempt to stop you from carrying out Walter's plan. It hurts even more that, as Ayre expires, her last words are her ''still clinging'' to the hope of the shared dream humanity and Coral being one due to her prior friendship with 621 — ''[[WideEyedIdealist wanting]]'' desperately to believe that you'll still do the right thing and you won't destroy the Coral in her last moments. As you complete your genocide both of the Coral and the entire Rubicon system, you are left to wonder if it really was worth sacrificing your OnlyFriend who was willing to stick through it with you thick and thin, as well as millions of lives, to serve your debt to help Walter and earn your freedom.]]

** Pretty much everything to do with the [[spoiler:Liberator of Rubicon ending. You have to watch as characters you've probably become attached to and have helped you throughout your journey die, mostly at your hand, for the sake of the greater good. First you kill "Cinder" Carla and "Chatty" Stick, the latter of whom has been nothing but polite and courteous to you. If you kill Carla first, Stick, a rather [[TheStoic stoic AI]], shows anger in his voice for the first time and declares you're in a world of trouble for killing Carla. Later, during the second to last mission, V.IV Rusty shows up in a shiny new mech called Steel Haze Ortus, with a new emblem without the muzzle on the dog. He's severed ties with Arquebus and decides to help you. And then right after the boss of the level, he is unceremoniously KilledOffscreen. And finally, the last mission. A one-on-one [[DuelBoss duel]] with you, vs a [[AppliedPhlebotinum Coral powered AC]], piloted by Handler Walter. He's undergoing SanitySlippage due to being utterly inundated with Coral, implied to be a result of Arquebus capturing him and subjecting him to their "reeducation" program based on dialogue from V.II Snail in both fights with him leading up to this fight. Walter spends the battle talking to himself about how he has to finish his friends' mission of destroying all the Coral, and deliriously praising 621, saying they've "earned all the credits", and how they can "finish the job, reverse the surgery" to live a better life. After a tense duel, he refuses to back down, charging up his cannon while 621 stares him down, muttering about how he HAS to do this. And then, he stops. [[DyingAsYourself He slowly lowers his weapon]], and says in a [[SincerityMode genuinely warm tone...]]]]
--->[[spoiler:Handler Walter: 621... You've got yourself... A friend...]]

** The [[spoiler:"Fires of Raven" ending. One of the bleakest and bitter endings in an ''Armored Core'' game, it kicks off with 621 deciding to go along with Walter's plan and create a second Fires of Ibis -- the very same calamity that ravaged a planet and other nearby planets while robbing billions of lives in the process. Walter is willing to go to extreme lengths to make it clear to the known world that Coral, as a resource, is better off left alone. While the obvious loss of life alone is horrific enough, it gets worse when you remember Coral is not just a resource, but a collective mass of living organisms. Among those organisms is Ayre, who has been nothing but kind and thoughtful of 621 throughout the entire game. She's understandably upset you'd want to enact mass genocide, but it's far worse given that Ayre genuinely considers 621 a friend, if not more. That's not even going into how your friendship with Rusty deteriorates to the point he enacts one last desperate charge against you in an attempt to stop you from carrying out Walter's plan. It hurts even more that, as Ayre expires, her last words are her ''still clinging'' to the hope of the shared dream humanity and Coral being one due to her prior friendship with 621 — ''[[WideEyedIdealist wanting]]'' desperately to believe that you'll still do the right thing and you won't destroy the Coral in her last moments. As you complete your genocide both of the Coral and the entire Rubicon system, you are left to wonder [[WasItWorthIt if it really was worth sacrificing]] your OnlyFriend who was willing to stick through it with you thick and thin, as well as millions of lives, to serve your debt to help Walter and earn your freedom.]]

** Some fans are under the impression that Rusty may actually be C4-617 from the Story Trailer. Rusty somehow figured out that you were working under Walter within a few seconds of meeting you. His emblem is of a wolf, which stands out from the rest of the Vespers. All of the Vesper's names are references to artists or philosophers, and fans have found that the artist Leon Kelly has a painting named Rusty, Number 617. On top of that, Sulla curiously leaves out 617 when mentioning the hounds he's killed. Also, 617 is noted as "Down" in the Story Trailer while 618-620 are noted with "Vital Signs Lost."

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: V.VIII Pater is directly stated to be a sociopath in his arena bio created by ALLMIND. But some of the player base wonders if this is true. In the mission where [[spoiler:he is fought alongside his superior, V.V Hawkins, he seems genuinely distraught if Hawkins is killed before Pater's AC is destroyed]]. This has made some players wonder if he is a sociopath or if ALLMIND was just off the mark. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Pater rather quickly gets over his apparent grief upon realizing he can take over his number in the organization, and upon defeat only expresses anger that he was taken out so soon after ranking up. Two interpretations were made: Pater really is a sociopath for brushing it off so quickly, or it's a coping mechanism to deal with the sudden loss.]]

* DracoInLeatherPants: The [[spoiler:Overseer]] faction has gathered up a non-insignificant following due to their AntiVillain status. While the root origin of their goals is sympathetic, they are nevertheless [[spoiler:actively attempting to cause a repeat of an extra-planetary calamity that nearly devastated humanity before and which the player knows will constitute an act of genocide against a sentient species that harbors no desire to harm them.]] Rationalizations vary, both from person-to-person and in comparing Western views on the matter to Japan's, but common trends include [[spoiler:a sense of familial duty for 621 to carry out Walter's wishes in spite of personal reservations, a view that the existence of Coral will continue to bring out the worst in humanity and only ever be used for weapons, and the harsh wording that the first mission taken in opposition of them specifies you will be killing "Cinder" Carla... who just one stage before had rescued you from Arquebus.]]

** The [=AH12=] HC Helicopter tutorial boss has developed quite a reputation thanks to it's difficulty and slew of angry posts lambasting it's difficulty - therefore gaining the nickname "Filterchopper". Japanese players meanwhile have taken to calling it "Rubicopter-sensei" for the same reason.

** The Stun Needle Launcher, despite seemingly being a gimmick weapon, still retains surprising utility; it does ''obscene'' damage and stagger, can build up Electric status, utterly obliterates health bars on staggered foes, and has the handy benefit of having its slow wind-up fake out the AI a lot of the time to take the hit. Using tank legs mean they can also be used on the go, alternating shots repeatedly and obliterating most foes in your path. Because it's a mission-related weapon, one is given for free, so you always have one really powerful shoulder weapon for the rest of your playthrough no matter how much you're budgeting.

*** The debt system has been de-emphasized for a long time: ''VideoGame/ArmoredCoreNexus'' introduced ''extremely'' generous advance payments that made unsuccessful sorties still profitable as well as several "testing" missions that automatically refunded the player's repair and ammo expanses, and the games from ''VideoGame/ArmoredCore4''-onward would offer players to replay a mission if they lost money on it.

** "Eliminate the Enforcement Squads" in Chapter 3. Played normally, the mission is already a stiff challenge: you've got a bunch of Planetary Closure Administration [=MTs=] with rockets, then a duo of evasive Light Cavalry mechs, and then several more [=MTs=] before you get to the beefy Heavy Cavalry mech that serves as the boss. The Heavy Cavalry has a unique laser rifle with a punishing charged shot, and you confront it in a cramped room that works to the enemy's advantage by hampering your ability to dodge its laser and missiles. But this mission can become downright frustrating when you set out to collect all of its combat logs. One combat log is tied to [[spoiler:Ring Freddie]], an optional boss-strength enemy hiding in the opposite end of the surprisingly large map, and his loadout can hit like a brick. Did you take too many hits from the optional boss and burn through one or more of your three precious Repair Kits? Too bad, there's no checkpoint or supply drop anywhere in this mission, and you still have to get past the Light Cavalry and the Heavy Cavalry to finish it if you want to keep the combat log. In other words, going after a single combat log for the sake of completionism effectively doubles the overall length and difficulty of this mission, and you'll likely be repeating it multiple times because of that.

** "Escape" from Chapter 5 is similar to "Eliminate V.VII" in that you must stealth your way through the map. Unlike the latter mission, getting spotted doesn't automatically fail you. On the other hand, "Escape" sees you forced to use what is explicitly stated to be a piece of junk AC. Not only is its Attitude incredibly poor and likely to go down fairly easily, but your only reliable weapon is your shoulder-mounted rocket launcher. The other source of frustration is the sheer number of enemies on the map, some of which can reduce your health in seconds. Fortunately, you will have backup toward the end and you only have to kill a few enemies, but you'd best pray your energy output doesn't go out while your boosting in the air lest you land in a pack of [=MTs=]. The only saving grace about this mission besides having backup is that you don't have to go out of your way to score a combat log.

** Duels against other [=ACs=] can be hit or miss, and not even for using a GameBreaker build that would make anything an anti-climax. Because they use the same parts and statistics as you do, this also means that unless they're a special boss encounter that specifically [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheats their design a bit]], most don't hold up against the same kind of punishment that regular bosses can; fights should rarely last even a full minute unless you and the AI keep boost-dodging around each other, trading weaker hits. It reaches the point that the Rank 1 Arena position, [[spoiler:V.I Freud]], is considered one of the ''easiest'' opponents of the entire Arena simply because his build doesn’t have the eccentricities or gimmicks that pose danger to an experienced player. As a straightforward AC fight, he gets chumped easily by that point. It's somewhat more difficult against multiple [=ACs=], but those fights are featured on NewGamePlus routes, which by then, the player would have ready access to GameBreaker builds anyways.

* SelfFanservice: Despite the game continuing the ''Armored Core'' tradition of never showing people directly on-screen (though this time they provided rough images for some characters in in-game documents), fan artists quickly came up with their own designs for major characters, usually as incredibly attractive men and women. This includes Ayre ([[spoiler:who is nothing more than a disembodied brainwave pattern inside C4-621]]), ALLMIND (who is explicitly an AI with no physical body [[spoiler:until NG++]]), and 621 themselves, who is rather heavily implied to be more machine than human by the time the game starts. Ayre tends to be depicted as a MysticalWhiteHair MysteriousWaif with red eyes and ALLMIND as a secretary.

* ThatOneAttack: [[spoiler:Arquebus Balteus's]] Plasma (purple) Laser dance is nigh-impossible to dodge and deals heavy damage. The attack lasts very long and covers the entire area, so going out of range isn't an option. The boss is also very mobile while unleashing the attack, and some players have reported the cases of the boss performing physics-defying maneuvers to hit the player, or continuing the attack even after being staggered. This means that using lightweight builds to dodge the laser sometimes isn't worth it as the attack will hit you for more damage anyway.

** "Eliminate the Enforcement Squads" in Chapter 3. Played normally, the mission is a mild challenge: you've got a bunch of Planetary Closure Administration [=MTs=] with rockets, then a duo of evasive Light Cavalry mechs, and then several more [=MTs=] before you get to the beefy Heavy Cavalry mech that serves as the boss. The real challenge is when you set out to collect all of the mission's combat logs. One combat log is tied to [[spoiler:Ring Freddie]], an optional boss-strength enemy hiding in the opposite end of the surprisingly large map, and his loadout can hit like a brick. Did you take too many hits from the optional boss and burn through one or more of your three precious Repair Kits? Too bad, there's no checkpoint or supply drop anywhere in this mission, and you still have to get past the Light Cavalry and the Heavy Cavalry to finish it if you want to keep the combat log. In other words, going after a single combat log for completionism effectively doubles the overall length and difficulty of this mission, and you'll likely be repeating it multiple times because of that.

** A lot of older AC fans are concerned that newer gamers who only know Creator/FromSoftware via the Souls series and its many imitators will come to this game thinking it's a SoulsLikeRPG and be disappointed when they find out it's a mech action game.
** After the first patch came out, let's say part of the fandom isn't amused to see some of the ThatOneBoss entries [[ItsEasySoItSucks got nerfed]].