The Controller handled the major decisions of everyone's life..
People took it for granted that The Controller would handle every aspect of their lives for them..
Under the rule of The Controller, people lived safe, yet uninspired lives of a promised prosperity..
As time went on, several powerful factors known as Corporations came on the scene..
In their separate struggles to gain absolute power, the Corporations waged war upon each other.
The Controller even manipulated the Corporation's war.
All was going according to the plans of The Controller, but somehow, the forces of chaos began to rise...
The sixth installment installment in FromSoftware's Armored Core series, released in 2002 for the Playstation 2.
Following a brutal war, humanity has sought refuge in the underground society of Layered. All aspects of life in Layered are handled by the Controller, an AI construct whose rule offers mediocre but comfortable lives. Corporations wage brutal wars for absolute power of Layered: they are Crest, who are fanatically loyal to the Controller; Mirage, who wish to subvert its rule; and the smaller Kisaragi.
You recently registered with the mercenary mediation and service firm Global Cortex to become a Raven. Shortly after your arrival, erratic decisions by the Controller and intermittent attacks by mysterious autonomous units lead some to suggest the unthinkable: the Controller is malfunctioning…
The first Continuity Reboot in the series, Armored Core 3 further refines and iterates on the formula of Armored Core 2. The overall speed has been brought closer to that of the PS1 installments. Limiter Release has been removed but players can now ditch their arm weapons and extension parts with appropriate effects on speed and energy consumptions. Serving as an alternate to Overboost cores are a new category of Cores called Exceed Orbit, who can deploy auto-aiming Attack Drones. Certain missions allow the player to hire Consorts for extra help, ranging from military vehicles to fellow Ravens.
An Updated Re-release titled Armored Core 3 Portable was released in 2009 for the PlayStation Portable. This version features extra parts, a revamped user interface based on that of Armored Core: Formula Front's, the ability to store five Armored Core designs instead of three, and a bonus Arena opponent plucked from the Armored Core: Brave New World novel.
The game is followed by Armored Core: Silent Line.
The game provides examples of:
- Apocalypse How: Like the previous continuity, the game's backstory alludes to an event called the Great Destruction which lead to humanity's decline and retreat underground. The exact causes of this timeline's Great Destruction would only be revealed much later on in Armored Core: Last Raven.
- Blatant Lies: Your first mission against Union takes you to a sector that was officially condemned due to earthquakes, but has no signs of damage whatsoever. After completing it, Crest sends you an email reaffirming that the sector was obviously closed due to the earthquakes.
- Canon Immigrant: The PSP port adds 13, one of the main characters of the Alternate Universe novel Armored Core: Brave New World.
- Dawn of an Era: The ending. Upon defeating the Controller, it executes its final directive and opens the bulkhead leading to the surface, letting humanity repopulate a healed Earth.
- Dub Name Change: The Controller was named DOVE in the Japanese script and the name is still visible on its logo. This change obscures a minor instance of Theme Naming in Silent Line.
- Gameplay Grading: After each mission, you now get a letter grade from E (mission failure) to S, awarded based on a combination of completion speed, damage taken and objective completion. Beside personal bragging rights, getting higher grades will level your Raven Rank faster, allowing you to access more of the Arena.
- Guide Dang It!: The whole OP-INTENSIFY mechanic. After beating the main storyline, you receive a new option part that takes up all of your option slots. By itself, OP-INTENSIFY does nothing, but by completing arbitrary tasks in the Arena and missions with it equipped (ranging from completing a specific mission again, killing a specific optional target in a given mission, beating a specific Arena opponent again, and so on), you get permanent upgrades similar to the Human Plus enhancements of the previous games. There is absolutely zero ingame hint of how the OP-INTENSIFY upgrades are acquired or the specific objectives to accomplish — you have to experiment yourself.
- La Résistance: Union, a group of citizens concerned by the Controller's erratic behaviour.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The email for OP-INTENSIFY mentions that you may be judged dishonorable for using it, giving a wink to out-of-universe debates about the validity of Human Plus builds.
- Machine Worship: Many citizens of Layered worship the Controller as it were a god. The Arena ranker Cypress is noted as paying his respect to the Controller before each Arena bout and the two enemy Ravens in "Investigate Magna Ruins" treat you like a heretic for going against the Controller's designs.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Crest is fiercely loyal to the Controller. When the Controller launches devastating attacks against them, Crest can only rationalize it as them deserving their fate.
- Mythology Gag: The Controller's emblem ressembles the Raven's Nest logo in the Japanese version of the original Armored Core.
- Nonstandard Game Over: Failing certain story-critical missions will give you a message explaining Global Cortex revoked all of your Raven privileges.
- Obvious Rule Patch: The arena in Project Phantasma and Armored Core 2 could be accessed any time after the first mission and had no barriers to progress, so any sufficiently skilled (and patient) players could do the entire Arena ladder and get an unlimited supply of money to steamroll the main story with. 3 introduces player rank that limits your ability to access the upper echelons of the arena, forcing players to alternate arena and mission play.
- Superboss: Sitting at the very bottom of the Arena after you beat the main story is Exile, a skilled Raven who boasts insane mobility, far more armor than your typical hover leg build, a complete suite of OP-INTENSIFY upgrades, and the dreaded CROW extension part. He is so powerful that the anonymous sender of the OP-INTENSIFY part suggests you use it to beat him, though it is possible to do so without using it.
- Underground City: Layered is a fully self-contained underground society, complete with artificial skies and oceans.
- Video Game Caring Potential: You sometimes get rewarded extras for going out of your way to protect friendly NPCs. One such instance is the MT Pilot in "Defend Ruglen Laboratory". If you let him survive the mission, Cold Heart upgrades to an Armored Core pilot immediately after and becomes a selectable Consort for future missions.
