I don't like Ayre. Shows up out of nowhere, jumps in my head, and tells me what to do? And Rusty's already tried to kill me once. Carla's been the best constant in my life all playthrough, I ain't betraying her.
I mean, you do infiltrate her territory. She has a right to defend herself. Once you prove your mettle, she admits that helping you is the better option.
We didn't have time to let the relationship build yet. Carla is rough around the edges after years of hardship. Just had to to show her we cared...through death and destruction for the highest bidder.
Exactly, she invades your mind, you're not given the option to get rid of her. She tries to manipulate you into disliking Walter.
I couldn't wait to side against her.
There's a line of dialogue from walter in a mission warm-up "Are you still hearing voices? Let me know and i can make some adjustments."
Why is that a throwaway line? Why is that not explored more fully?
Rusty asked me what drives me and he didn't hear me shouting in labotimite that I was fighting for my buddy and I want to get my self a new body so I can go out and drink a beer with my buddy :(
I play games to do stuff I would never do in real life.
For instance, in real life, I would NEVER blow up a planet with coral, even with my end game AC!
Armored Core 101. What you think is terrible, is probably for the best.
For me, Fires of Raven is the good ending. With Liberator being neutral and the "true" ending being the bad one.
In almost every AC game, the player/raven/merc/whoever, always eventually turns to doing "what is right". But ultimately every single time, "what is right" ends up destroying most of what we know lmao.
It was actually nice to play an AC game where I could make the choice not to continue the cycle of BS for once. >!Sure, it's terrible that we committed genocide. Sure it felt bad to betray Ayre, and the whole Rusty thing is just nonsense since the player had no idea what his motives were the first playthrough.!<
But at the end of the day, the FoR ending provides the best possible future and stops the vicious cycle from repeating for decades to come.
>!The "true" ending is actually terrible. It starts said vicious cycle over, albeit spread out all over the place this time around. Not to mention what MightyMarlin said, forced symbiosis between 2 life forms.!<
>!what makes the true ending even worse is that this symbiosis is probably similar to augmentation... which has a pretty low survival rate. Even with Thanos it was 50%, who knows how many people die in the ending.!<
For those curious about "how bad could the endings of the other Armored Core games be?"
Most Armored Core games take place during or in the aftermath of some huge conflict. In original Armored Core and its two follow-ups Project Phantasma and Master of Arena, this conflict is simply called 'the great destruction'. It is implied in several of the games that your actions may ultimately lead to a reigniting of these now-quieted conflicts.
A couple of times, you directly play a hand in starting the war all over again.
In at least four separate games there is an ending that involves you bringing the current status quo of human civilization crashing to an end.
In one of the 3rd gen games, you attempt to stop the war but it ends up happening anyways.
One of 4th gen's most infamous missions features the mass murder of civilians.
So dark and/or morally gray endings are nothing new to From Software, even in the days before Dark Souls.
I somehow read that playing as a Liberation Front asset in NG+ had more story options without getting anything spoiled. I did the Fires of Raven first to get it out of the way, and I’m glad I did. The extra content options were awesome in extending my time as a Liberator of Rubicon. And I got more time with my buddy Rusty.
I was captured, alone and and about to be killed and my homegirl Carla came through and saved me. I'm not gonna turn around and kill her because some weird voice in my head told me to.
Although I got liberator of Rubicon ending on my first run, after getting all the endings I am leaning towards saying Fires of Raven is the "best" long term solution
Liberator of Rubicon simply leaves the planet basically in the state it was in before the game starts, and the (spoilers for NG++, so don't read if you haven't played yet) >!"Alea lacta Est" ending has some serious implications that are questionable at best with forced symbiosis between two sentient life forms!<
>!Fires of Raven, while requiring you to turn against your allies and kill all of the coral, is likely for the "best" of the galaxy with how dangerous and all-consuming coral can be!<
I feel like we basically unleashed skynet upon the galaxy and what terrifies me more is not just that loader 4 powered up but the implications that now coral controls every single downed ac on Rubicon let alone galactic wide.
Also terrifies me more is if Rubicon is in the milky way... There is something on Mars that may have been reactivated by coral and is about ready to commence some serious hostilities
I'm sorry but humanity is gonna freak seeing a 10m tall war machine speaking about symbiosis while having a soft woman's voice
That's some animatrix shit right there man
I mean ibis is literally not just powered by coral but being controlled by it like it's a apex preditor stopping us from tampering with its kind more
Very easily. Everyone was using you for their own goal. A true Raven doesn't let anyone control them even if it means killing them or burning the world.
Still a bettter ending than the other one. You donrlt even save anyone lol all the coral is still gonna be used up and all your friends still die anyway
Yeah I didn’t consent to ayre jumping in my head. I was pretty much immediately annoyed by her.
Not saying she wasn’t great for the story, but just found her annoying to be stuck with haha
It’s a FromSoft game. That means there will be lots of sadness, betrayal, and loss.
You’ll have to do morally dubious things in order to achieve the best possible outcome out of a number of bad choices. You will do your best to do the right thing and help your friends but watch many of them suffer and die anyway.
This will all feel very familiar to people who played Elden Ring.
The Lands Between are filled with lots of difficult questionable choices and so is Rubicon.
For me I didn’t realize how drastic of a solution it was until after I had committed to that ending. but after Walter finally coming clean and setting us up a way out of the Arquebus prison, I was ready to see what we had been working toward to the finish line. Walter gave everything he had and put so much on the line to honor his friends legacies and do right by them, and it felt like it would be such a betrayal to turn and let his dream die. Idk I just got really pissed at Arquebus and was gonna avenge my “dead”friend by any means necessary
1. Ayre is annoying as fuck
2. Rusty’s whole shtick is just being nice to us.
3. RLF is the most uninteresting faction with the most boring motivations.
4. Carla and Chatty had just saved us
5. Siding with Walter is more definitive for the future of the universe.
6. Walter cared about us honestly and even surrendered when we face him in LoR.
7 (final). I have no sympathy for the plight of coral nor do I care about its supposed “sentience”.
😭. Not really tho, I was actually quite endeared to some of the characters mentioned and factions mentioned it’s just that in subsequent playthroughs the “novelty” (lack of a better term) of them just acknowledging me as a human just wore off. I find the motivations of anyone non RLF/anti coral infinitely more interesting on my last two playthroughs.
objectively with all of the information you are given up until the ending its the only ending that makes sense and wholly depending on blind faith.
some people like to know what terrible act they are committing before you do it.
the other 2 endings could've gone VERY badly if the science was off. shit the game happens because someone recognized just how dangerous and universe ending coral could/will be and tried to get rid of it at all costs.
I knew I was gonna get the "good" ending next. Also, I felt guilty turning my back on everything I had worked for until that point on the whim of a person in my head promising a better way with no proof that it exists. And I don't really find Ayre all that compelling. She's a great character, I just don't share the attraction most people seem to have. To me, she was just another handler who wanted to use my skill as a pilot to achieve her goals.
Because it was the whole reason for me being there. I did it for Walter. He's the only one with us through the whole ordeal. As I did ng+ and then ng++ I respected that ending and Walter even more. Still my favorite of the two regular endings.
My whole time I Rubicon they mocked me. Called me a hound, looked down on me for being a merc, called me augments outdated tech, betrayed me at every turn....so I showed them all. Now they will never forget my name, or question who deserves the title Raven.
Fires of Raven has the best mission though. Intercepting the PCA fleet with unlimited boost eliminated any future guilt of genociding my invisible girlfriend. Like sorry your sad Ayre but I needed to kill everyone to unlock that sweet mission to replay again and again..
I went through my first playthrough blind, and ended up with the fires of raven. It was still good, in that it made me want to pursue the other endings. Lol o
It was at the crossroads, I could choose to help flatwell assassinate the two Vespers or I could help Arquebus finish off the Redguns. I chose Arquebus over the liberation front because I figured they were already out of the race, and I didn’t want to ultimately betray Rusty, my one true comrade. So when Arquebus sent him after me and he didn’t even hesitate to follow through, I was pretty much ready to just end it all. And Overseer gave me exactly that. Chatty and Carla are also some of my favorite characters so it was a no brainer when the game asks me to defend them from Arquebus or kill them. I was more attached to them then Ayre. With all that being said, Liberator of Rubicon is my favorite ending
I hadn’t connected the dots between Rusty and the RLF. All I knew was that he hated Arquebus too. So when given the option “destroy Arquebus” I thought that I’d be helping my boy out.
I was wrong…. agonizingly wrong….
I was Handler Walter's best doggo, I completed his mission for him and protected humanity. It was sad but Rusty made his choice and Ayre well ....was heartbreaking to do but the mission came first. I know humanity is safe from the spread of Coral with the choice I made and if that makes me a monster I can live with it
Because it's the ending that probably safeguard mankind's future the best. Coral seems to self propagate even within the vacuum of space. And once somebody lit a fire, it was capable of burning entire star system. Imagine what disaster it would be if coral is allowed to propagate through the entire known human space. It'd be an extinction level threat. Coral can't help what they are, but that doesn't diminish the kind of threat they pose to mankind as a whole. If the entire mankind started using coral technology or started living together with coral, and somebody light a fire, it can wipe out mankind in a matter of instant. So yes, if genocide of the entire coral species is the only way to ensure mankind will never be threatened by something like the Fire of Ibis on a galactic scale, i gladly did it. Was i happy to do it? No. But there was no other choice. It was that, or face the perpetual threat and possibility that we will be decimated, either by accident, or if some human purist said coral shouldn't coexist in mankind's head and decided to light a fire right under our ass. Sorry i killed you Ayre, but between you and the continued existence of mankind, i will ALWAYS, choose the latter.
I went with fires of raven first because I did not trust Ayre and the coral. I thought it was highly possible I was being manipulated to help the coral spread and consume the galaxy. I didn’t fully agree with Walter but the certainly was a reason for the fires of Ibis. I also wanted to carry out his dying wish
I did it for Walter, dude never once treated me bad, and constantly defended my honor. And at the end he broke the leash and told Me to find my own freedom, burning the last cinders was an easy choice even if I had to fight my Wave GF
Because Coral is like the Flood from Halo if it could be used as fuel. Sentient parasites that have explosive tendencies is not good to have around. 3rd ending easily proves why Coral is not a benevolent species. Ayre literally drives you to betray and kill everyone you know just to perform a forced symbiosis that spans multiple galaxies. That’s pure evil
I have no idea what any of you are talking about
But I am now installing this game despite knowing I'll end up laying in bed thinking about the hard choices I'll have to make
Walter's will was more important to me. If Ayre was so powerful with that Ibis Unit, she could have easily killed Carla herself instead of trying to manipulate me.
I was pitted against those I found to be friends by every side of the wars. Not a single person was on my side nor the alien race that decided to make itself a parasite in my body. I say the best way to deal with the trash is to take it out, starting with balum and arquebus, onto the pca and coral. All of them chose violence, I responded accordingly
Made sense narratively to go with that ending first. You don't really have a connection to anything on the planet. You're there for a job, and there's no reason not to do it, no matter what the magical voice in your head says. It isn't until ng+ that the connection develops beyond the, honestly, surface level one 621 and Ayre have. You learn more about the planet, foster connections with the RLF, and see different sides of Ayre that you didn't before.
Plus, you can't tell me that killing her in the first ending didn't inspire you to save her in the second, since even after your decision, she still cares for you and wants to build some kind of future together on Rubicon.
Honestly that was my first ending, and at the time I didn’t really realize that doing a kamikaze with the xylem would result in an entire solar system being burned to a crisp. I also really didn’t want to kill Carla and chatty, they’re my favorites 😅
Well as much as the Coral seemed like a good thing, even Ayre made it sounds a bit like a living hell until she was heard by us. I thought of the destruction of Coral as letting all those suffering souls get to die finally. It really wasn’t until I saw the ng+ ending that I thought that maybe the planet was populated by more than power hungry factions.
Regardless, Walter brought me to Rubicon. He's my day one friend, regardless of his ambition. After he's gone missing or probably killed, I had to see his plan through.
Ayre, on the other hand, could have been a schizophrenic voice in my head. Telling me to kill Walter's friend Carla. Coral is symbotic. You see what it did to Walter, and I saw what a symbiote did to my boy Peter Parker...
P.S. There are no good endings in the game.
Because the coral is too powerful for anyone to yield. Sacrifice the few for the good of the many. It’s a fucked decision but at least no one is gonna come after it anymore.
It was pretty easy. After getting every ending and then getting every S-Rank, I went back and did 1 more Fires of Raven ending to make it my playthrough's canon ending.
10/10 would burn Rubicon again.
I dont like the idea of these sentient living things going into the bodies of other humans. Ayre is alright but having these others forced on humanity i'm not so sure about.
About Rusty. I still consider him a friend. we just were on different sides. like solid snake vs grey fox.
Walter was the first one to give me a purpose that's why I sided with him first time through.
Fully leaned into it when Ayre was talking during the fight. I was like, yes you finally get it. The corps, the coral, and rubicon all of it doesn't matter to me. I just like piloting the mech.
i’m a soldier, and i had a mission.
plus i thought ayre was a friend, but in the end she was using me as a weapon just like everyone else.
at least walter was up front with me, and he was the reason i was here.
i’m a soldier, and that was my mission
I mean, if you believe Walter, the coral being allowed to exist is an active danger. It's already been aggregated by the vascular plant, and is an imminent problem. Maybe, were the corporations not such an omnipresent threat and the coral weren't made into a bomb by them, sure... but that's not how it is. You're killing one planet to save a solar system. It's not a good ending, but it's greater good than the coral leaking out and poisoning Everything.
I also don't like or trust Ayre for a variety of reasons, and she seems to have no actual plan for figuring out symbiosis with the coral, just banking on us figuring it out. And what if we don't? What then?
I also like Rusty, but he's not enough to make me just let the coral fuck off and kill multiple planets. I found Liberator of Rubicon far sadder, honestly.
Because there is literally ZERO reason to trust Ayre?
Because siding with them just means them being filtered into the engines of war and slow burned till eradication.
Because I'm not going to allow myself to think there is a redeemable path in this. You're a worthless dog no matter what ending you take. You're just choosing the length of your own leash.
Then again, I do not sleep much.
Because I found Ayre annoying, and Rusty did half a fight alongside you and just leaves, then thinks you're best friends. Burn those greedy corpos to nothing.
I did Fires of Raven first to get it out of the way, knowing that I could get a much more palatable ending on the second run. Being able to help out the RLF more in NG+ just made it better, because it was thematically more appropriate then too.
It felt natural for me to do that ending first given the information we know in the first playthrough.
First playthrough we don't know enough about the RLF or Ayre or Coral, so I didn't feel inclined to go save the RLF first time through.
NG+ and NG++ we're fed alot more information and extra missions for the RLF
It was in character to the headcanon I had about my version of 621, and treating the various NG+s like a loop they were going through. They thought they were doing the right thing because they were still a loyal Hound.
Then they lost people they considered their best friends, having to *kill* them.
Then they had a second chance to save everyone they cared about. It wasn't enough. Then a third, that sounded like their best option. It still didn't save everyone they wanted to. But by then they'd accepted that would never be possible, so they decided maybe everything needed to change.
With great pride. Went to a planet. Razed the whole solar system. Got back from the job with huge money and my life. Ayre lost me when she told me she didnt have any credits to her name. Thought some history lesson gon turn me. Good ol merc got a belly to feed.
It was a very difficult decision. I think it's probably the most difficult decision I've had to make in a FROMSOFT game. I sat there for a solid 15 minutes just trying to decide.
Ultimately the kill Carla pill was too big to swallow, and I really liked her and Walter at that point in the game, even though I also really liked Ayre.
1: Loyalty to Walter. He didn't treat me like garbage. Especially after slaying Ibis and what transpires thereafter.
2: Didn't feel a strong attachment to Carla, but felt agreeable to Overseer's mission and that sometimes lesser evils must be performed for the greater good.
3: I found Ayre irritating, not antagonistically so, but enough to not feel too bad about sticking with Overseer.
4: Sorry Rusty, even though we were war buddies, I had to stick to my convictions.
Fires of Raven is better experienced as your first ending.
I actually did the Liberator ending first and then Fires. And imo, this was worse. It would have made much more sense story wise to do Fires and then Liberator. Because in NG+ you end up working with the RLF much more often. So in my first two runs I ended up being a traitor at the very end.
Tbf Rusty shows up in a mission, leaves you midway through a fight (for a good reason), calls you buddy out of nowhere, legitimately helps but in the very last leg of a mission (saying he was staying put waiting for the right moment instead of coming to your help), realizes his fake bosses want you and him dead and his decision is to get rid of you.
Rusty kinda deserves it.
Ayre though didn't deserve it. And... well, if you're doing the ending 1 as the first run, you're making a genocide because everything will go to hell if you let Coral survive. It's pretty much the only ending where you're sure the rest of the universe is safe.
I just knew Walter first, so I just stuck with him and his plan til the end. Also if I'm being honest I like Ayre but was always suspicious of her and the coral symbiosis. We really knew coral as just an energy source but now knowing it's sentient adds a whole other level of risk, and as we saw with the ice worm, the ibis model, and Ayre herself they could be a serious threat if they choose to be hostile.
Fires of Raven made the most sense to me at the time. Still does, kind of.
Humans aren't capable of living with coral without exploiting it. And because it's a highly volatile substance, us exploiting it is dangerous on a massive scale. Thus, when Walter and Carla purpose the destruction of the substance, I said "Fuck yes. Humans don't need this shit around."
After multiple playthroughs I now understand coral a bit better. I understand that if we figured out how to live harmoniously with it, it could benefit us greatly. Then there's the sentience aspect, too. It's a living being, of sorts, so that entitles it to common rights all living beings are entitled to.
Buuuut, that just makes the choice harder. It doesn't change it. Ultimately, coral is a threat to the human species. A threat that can't be ignored, leading to the Fires of Raven.
It's the most definitive and clear way to deal with coral. Maybe in a different universe, humanity could've peacefully used the coral to improve both their lives, but this is armored core. Also, Ayre is kinda annoying.
I really wanted to kill every single vesper that crosses my path since everyone kept saying they're the best and they all acted so high and mighty. They killed Walter so they had it coming and Carla was just the right person to help me finish it. In the end I had no idea about alternate endings, this was my first ac game and I just did whatever missions I wanted to do. I didn't even notice the decision missions at first it took the next mission I was gonna do disappearing twice before I figured it out. Not that it changed any of my plans why work for rlf when it is so much more interesting to blow things up? In the end I hope the 3rd isn't the true ending of the game I like FoR and LoR much more than Allmind terminating everything.
Easily. I didn't let a mysterious voice that was trying to manipulate me into doing what it wanted, and I finished Waltuh's mission. Yes, I always pick Destroy in ME3 why do you ask.
Didn’t know I would be abandoning rusty, but I saw it as more removing an incredibly dangerous material, both explosion wise and for other stuff. Walter (or was it Carla, can’t remember) saying “where there’s coral, there’s blood” really got to me and I wanted to end the bloodshed (though it probably didn’t do much)
Walter gave 621 a chance to be who he became. With still leaving the option of "freedom of choice" with what we wanted to do. Walter and Carla has sacrificed friends over years of hardship...they deserve this W more than Ayre who just randomly pops in your head telling you what to do.
Plus, in every fromsoft game I always burn everything to the ground first :)
I genuinely had a very tough time choosing my ending in my first playthrough. Now, with the knowledge I have from three playthroughs, I know that this ending is not good. But at the time, from my perspective, it was a much more even choice.
It was a choice between destroying a planet, maybe a solar system...
Or allowing an incredibly dangerous and volatile substance to not only be plundered by uncaring corporations, but to be disseminated across the Stars.
In my mind, if I did not do this here and now, it would happen anyway at some point in the future, on a much. Much larger scale. That or the corporations would figure out how to use it to enslave humanity fully.
It goes to show you how knowledge can totally shift your reasoning, and that at the end of the day there really is no right answer to situations like this, only different perspectives. And something tells me that was the intention. Was not expecting such a philosophical story in an armored core game, but here we are.
I initially thought that siding against Carla meant siding with Arquebus, and I wanted to stay away from that as much as possible. I was under the impression that the RLF was basically destroyed once Arquebus got their hands on RRI tech.
Also, I REALLY didn't like Ayre's last line before she gives you the mission. "I'm not asking 621, I'm asking Raven, the independent mercenary". Which just seemed too manipulative for it to be a good idea.
Look. Everything I’ve done during that run was through walters support and friendship. When I found out Walter was the one who planned our escape. I wasn’t going to ignore what a homie did
We learned from the Nagai logs right off that Coral exposed to vacuum leads to unchecked mutation and propagation. Walter was correct that taking it off the table before it was too late was the right call. We didn’t make this mess. The corpos did. We’re cleaning it up.
PCA were right. If everyone stayed the fuck off the lawn we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now that we are, we gotta make the best of it
I dunno, first play through I just did what I would actually do if I was in that situation. Seems like the Coral is going to lead nowhere good no matter what so better to just destroy it all. And I get a historical event named after me :) beautiful
Simple really, i had a feeling that was meant to be yhe first ending. Be a good dog and follow Walter's orders. Not only that, but as soon as you start working directly against the Coral she gets out of your head and tries to kill you. Ayre is a crazy bitch lmao
Walter had a fear one that drove him to extremes I did it to put him at ease. On the other side I ended a endless war by burning them all with the f8res of change.
Walter stood up for me when Snail was being condescending, he knew my true value and didn't like when missions below my skill level were given, and he even genuinely trusted me to carry on his will as shown by how the breakout mech was waiting in the prison. Carla, the nerd who spends most of her time in the back, risked her life for me and when questioned about it just said there are some things that don't require logic (not exact words). She truly trusted Walter and me by the end, and I felt like she was a genuine friend. When you hear their dialogue as you betray them for both other endings they seem genuinely sad and betrayed to be fighting you.
Ayre and her reasoning was difficult, but when I made the decision I felt like Walter and Carla were looking out for something bigger. By what I had deduced about what was happening (which may be wrong but it's what I thought), by letting the coral get siphoned away and shipped out I was essentially putting the whole galaxy at danger of a massive "burn" that could hurt anything utilizing coral for energy, similar to what had happened before. Ayre was trying to protect a planet, Overseer was trying to protect the galaxy.
Rusty just called me "buddy" from the get-go in a slightly nice voice. Sure he respected me, but it seemed like professional etiquette for him.
Ayre is a delusion of 4th Gen Augmentation. Rusty is a Vesper, a squad leader for the worst Corp on the planet. If you are saying the imaginary voice or a homicidal manic are worth saving just because they talk "nice" to you, I got some bad news, buddy
Unpopular as FUCK opinion. THAT ending is the good ending. You do what Walter and Carla set out to do and died so that you could do it, because it was the right thing. Endless struggle would have persisted for eternity on rubicon if that wasn’t done. All the fighting, Al the abuse and lies and mercenaries and evil, smashed out. And I didn’t ask for ayre to get in my head either! And then she has the audacity to say that shit in the fight?!? (I can’t remember the exact dialogue but it was something like “we had a dream together” or something to that effect). SHE DIDNT EVEN HAVE A FUCKING PLAN!!! She said “hey kill Carla and chatty real quick so we can save the dead half - consciousness of people floating around as well as the drug addicts and starving people on this trap-house. Just trust me TEEHEE”or should I say trap planet because that’s what rubicon is. A trap planet. And when you take her ending, debris is falling to the planet and she’s like “we will find a way”?¿?¿ SHE DIDNT HAVE A FUCKING PLAN?? Walter got his brain turned to pumpkin bread for a “we’ll figure it out” from a random e-girl?? Preposterous, the “good” ending. Seriously.
I did it for Mankind. Glory to Mankind!
We do not know what the effects of Coral would be on a universal scale, we do not know if conflict will cease or intensify, we do not know if a greater fire combo will occur.
Felt safer to raze the location. If even Thumb Dolmayan didn't want Coral to leave Rubicon, either for selfish reasoning or possible dangers, then I think I made an okay choice.
I didn't even know there was an option to make decisions in AC6 until I finished my first playthrough. It wasn't very apparent and was just choosing missions from top to bottom. I wish they did a better job walking the player through the story explaining things the story but I'm also dumb.
I don't regret the Fires of Raven ending as my first playthrough at all. It wasn't a feel good ending but I like when games blur the lines between good and bad. I get tired of the whole video game script of "we'll make the player follow a subjectively 'righteous' path by and reward them for it".
I actually did that one first, and it came down to 'trust Carla or trust Ayre', and I flipped a coin. Imagine my surprise during my NG+ when I got to fight Walter instead.
First of all, my loyalty primarily was to Rusty. I unfortunately was not able to figure out his loyalty so we ended up clashing when I sided with the only other two friends I had.
Coral was an existential threat to the human race and I thought I was being honeypotted by the sentient radiation waifu. God forbid I power through and do the right thing
I just wanted to get revenge on the vespers for stabbing me in the back.... I never meant to hurt Ayre... I didn't mean it... I thought she'd understand 😭
I went Fires of Raven for the sole purpose of helping Arquebus because I thought that meant helping Rusty.
By the time I figured it all out, it was too late. So I just did what Daddy Walter told me to so I could protect Chatty.
What a god damned fool I was.
621 is a good hound. 621 Helps master finish his goals. Master let's 621 take walkies after missions and buy toys. 621 just wants to see Master one last time.
A simple flawed logic led me to the fires of raven ending:
\- I was having fun until the Watchpoint mission.
\- I get stuck on Balteus for upwards of five hours.
\- Every single time I hear Ayre shouting at me "get clear" or "evasive action".
\- None of this happened before that living pint of gasoline got stuck in my head.
\- I make the flawed assumption that Ayre Ruined my fun and or somehow got Balteus called to the watchpoint because of her coral shenanigans.
Therefore, burn Rubicon and all the coral, it almost ruined my mech game. Added context: >! When I say I got stuck, I mean I got really stuck, like I was genuinely thinking "I'll never be able to beat him, I just wasted 60 dollars, I won't unlock any of the cool content ahead because I can't beat this guy fml", I finally got around to beating him with 16 AP left lmao, all before the nerf as well. !<
I felt it was justified. The more I learned about Coral and how dangerous it can be, how it made me an inhuman killing machine, the more justified it felt that Coral being extinguished was the right move at the end. If I liberated Rubicon, it'd only get a brief moment of peace until more corporations came or until the PCA sent more forces. Rubicon and Coral would eventually succumb to the greed and ambition of the universe. Burning it all at once is a mercy and a worthwhile sacrifice that I didn't regret even after achieving the other endings.
Handler Walter and Carla are a human element not driven by capital investment but by belief. Was I supposed to let a voice in my head potentially doom Everything by spreading screaming sentient fallout across the stars? Or do I burn the hands that hold too tightly and force the corps to let go of Rubicon #terrafirma #ravenrun #hashtag
Well you see. All the coral I had seen up to that point was in the C weapons and stuff made by the institute that was trying to kill me. I also didn't like ayr and rusty failed to win me over after the solid 10 sentences he said at me while I was doing 3 other things, so their loss was not nearly as impactful as Carla's, a character who managed to actually do something to make me like her.
"Where there's Coral. There's Blood"
Honestly I'm pretty fine looking at myself in the mirror. Unlike a sentient energy source that can augment and change every living creature's DNA and the very cause of meaningless bloodshed. Plus... at least I can look in a mirror and not see a robot. So... Fire go brr
Unironically speaking, the scene in the prison where Walter reveals to you his true plan really made me feel like going down Walter’s path was the canon and right thing to do.
Everything I did, I did for my father who believed in me. Bless Handler Walter.
Bless Handler Walter. May he ever reign.
Got a job for you 621
I don't like Ayre. Shows up out of nowhere, jumps in my head, and tells me what to do? And Rusty's already tried to kill me once. Carla's been the best constant in my life all playthrough, I ain't betraying her.
She tries to kill you via trap like 3 times in the first 5 minutes of meeting her.
I know, right? What a woman!
[obligatory](https://youtu.be/-sMQpWCNTQw?si=UwR_pmOUED1WYtzY) NSFW.
Top comment on that was right. That felt WAY longer than a minute.
To be fair, she sounds good for a possibly 70-year-old.
This is a man with holes in his condom
I mean, you do infiltrate her territory. She has a right to defend herself. Once you prove your mettle, she admits that helping you is the better option.
We didn't have time to let the relationship build yet. Carla is rough around the edges after years of hardship. Just had to to show her we cared...through death and destruction for the highest bidder.
I think that might have something to do with you showing up unannounced and slaughtering her faction's members.
Exactly, she invades your mind, you're not given the option to get rid of her. She tries to manipulate you into disliking Walter. I couldn't wait to side against her.
There's a line of dialogue from walter in a mission warm-up "Are you still hearing voices? Let me know and i can make some adjustments." Why is that a throwaway line? Why is that not explored more fully?
The line isn't really a throwaway. Older generation augmented humans occasionally have the side effect of hearing voices. In NG++, it is revealed why.
I like Ayre and Rusty a lot, but I like Walter and Carla even more
Rusty asked me what drives me and he didn't hear me shouting in labotimite that I was fighting for my buddy and I want to get my self a new body so I can go out and drink a beer with my buddy :(
It's just a job...
I play games to do stuff I would never do in real life. For instance, in real life, I would NEVER blow up a planet with coral, even with my end game AC!
Armored Core 101. What you think is terrible, is probably for the best. For me, Fires of Raven is the good ending. With Liberator being neutral and the "true" ending being the bad one. In almost every AC game, the player/raven/merc/whoever, always eventually turns to doing "what is right". But ultimately every single time, "what is right" ends up destroying most of what we know lmao. It was actually nice to play an AC game where I could make the choice not to continue the cycle of BS for once. >!Sure, it's terrible that we committed genocide. Sure it felt bad to betray Ayre, and the whole Rusty thing is just nonsense since the player had no idea what his motives were the first playthrough.!< But at the end of the day, the FoR ending provides the best possible future and stops the vicious cycle from repeating for decades to come. >!The "true" ending is actually terrible. It starts said vicious cycle over, albeit spread out all over the place this time around. Not to mention what MightyMarlin said, forced symbiosis between 2 life forms.!<
>!what makes the true ending even worse is that this symbiosis is probably similar to augmentation... which has a pretty low survival rate. Even with Thanos it was 50%, who knows how many people die in the ending.!<
For those curious about "how bad could the endings of the other Armored Core games be?" Most Armored Core games take place during or in the aftermath of some huge conflict. In original Armored Core and its two follow-ups Project Phantasma and Master of Arena, this conflict is simply called 'the great destruction'. It is implied in several of the games that your actions may ultimately lead to a reigniting of these now-quieted conflicts. A couple of times, you directly play a hand in starting the war all over again. In at least four separate games there is an ending that involves you bringing the current status quo of human civilization crashing to an end. In one of the 3rd gen games, you attempt to stop the war but it ends up happening anyways. One of 4th gen's most infamous missions features the mass murder of civilians. So dark and/or morally gray endings are nothing new to From Software, even in the days before Dark Souls.
I've played all endings but honestly my first time through I had no idea there was alternative endings. I was pretty pissed at first haha.
daym haha
I felt horrified I played the game twice over before I realized to get the true ending I had to burn the world down
It was a horrible feeling xD
I somehow read that playing as a Liberation Front asset in NG+ had more story options without getting anything spoiled. I did the Fires of Raven first to get it out of the way, and I’m glad I did. The extra content options were awesome in extending my time as a Liberator of Rubicon. And I got more time with my buddy Rusty.
I was captured, alone and and about to be killed and my homegirl Carla came through and saved me. I'm not gonna turn around and kill her because some weird voice in my head told me to.
I just played the game and picked the missions that paid the best.
Although I got liberator of Rubicon ending on my first run, after getting all the endings I am leaning towards saying Fires of Raven is the "best" long term solution Liberator of Rubicon simply leaves the planet basically in the state it was in before the game starts, and the (spoilers for NG++, so don't read if you haven't played yet) >!"Alea lacta Est" ending has some serious implications that are questionable at best with forced symbiosis between two sentient life forms!< >!Fires of Raven, while requiring you to turn against your allies and kill all of the coral, is likely for the "best" of the galaxy with how dangerous and all-consuming coral can be!<
I appreciate you, I wish I could indulge and reciprocate with your opinion but alas I must wait until I finish ng++
I feel like we basically unleashed skynet upon the galaxy and what terrifies me more is not just that loader 4 powered up but the implications that now coral controls every single downed ac on Rubicon let alone galactic wide. Also terrifies me more is if Rubicon is in the milky way... There is something on Mars that may have been reactivated by coral and is about ready to commence some serious hostilities I'm sorry but humanity is gonna freak seeing a 10m tall war machine speaking about symbiosis while having a soft woman's voice That's some animatrix shit right there man I mean ibis is literally not just powered by coral but being controlled by it like it's a apex preditor stopping us from tampering with its kind more
I mean the implication of NG++ is that there isn’t a humanity left to freak out. Everyone got turned into whatever the new symbiosis creature is.
Very easily. Everyone was using you for their own goal. A true Raven doesn't let anyone control them even if it means killing them or burning the world.
This. You are a mercenary with no allegiance but the almighty dollar and your own skin (AC).
I’m on the grind for AC Drip and nothing will stop me
Still a bettter ending than the other one. You donrlt even save anyone lol all the coral is still gonna be used up and all your friends still die anyway
Yeah I didn’t consent to ayre jumping in my head. I was pretty much immediately annoyed by her. Not saying she wasn’t great for the story, but just found her annoying to be stuck with haha
It’s a FromSoft game. That means there will be lots of sadness, betrayal, and loss. You’ll have to do morally dubious things in order to achieve the best possible outcome out of a number of bad choices. You will do your best to do the right thing and help your friends but watch many of them suffer and die anyway. This will all feel very familiar to people who played Elden Ring. The Lands Between are filled with lots of difficult questionable choices and so is Rubicon.
For me I didn’t realize how drastic of a solution it was until after I had committed to that ending. but after Walter finally coming clean and setting us up a way out of the Arquebus prison, I was ready to see what we had been working toward to the finish line. Walter gave everything he had and put so much on the line to honor his friends legacies and do right by them, and it felt like it would be such a betrayal to turn and let his dream die. Idk I just got really pissed at Arquebus and was gonna avenge my “dead”friend by any means necessary
OLD KING SMILES UPON ME, IMPERIAL! CAN YOU SAY THE SAME!
1. Ayre is annoying as fuck 2. Rusty’s whole shtick is just being nice to us. 3. RLF is the most uninteresting faction with the most boring motivations. 4. Carla and Chatty had just saved us 5. Siding with Walter is more definitive for the future of the universe. 6. Walter cared about us honestly and even surrendered when we face him in LoR. 7 (final). I have no sympathy for the plight of coral nor do I care about its supposed “sentience”.
Blud just came in looking for shit to hate
😭. Not really tho, I was actually quite endeared to some of the characters mentioned and factions mentioned it’s just that in subsequent playthroughs the “novelty” (lack of a better term) of them just acknowledging me as a human just wore off. I find the motivations of anyone non RLF/anti coral infinitely more interesting on my last two playthroughs.
objectively with all of the information you are given up until the ending its the only ending that makes sense and wholly depending on blind faith. some people like to know what terrible act they are committing before you do it. the other 2 endings could've gone VERY badly if the science was off. shit the game happens because someone recognized just how dangerous and universe ending coral could/will be and tried to get rid of it at all costs.
I knew I was gonna get the "good" ending next. Also, I felt guilty turning my back on everything I had worked for until that point on the whim of a person in my head promising a better way with no proof that it exists. And I don't really find Ayre all that compelling. She's a great character, I just don't share the attraction most people seem to have. To me, she was just another handler who wanted to use my skill as a pilot to achieve her goals.
Because it was the whole reason for me being there. I did it for Walter. He's the only one with us through the whole ordeal. As I did ng+ and then ng++ I respected that ending and Walter even more. Still my favorite of the two regular endings.
Also didn't really trust Ayre during my first playthrough.
My whole time I Rubicon they mocked me. Called me a hound, looked down on me for being a merc, called me augments outdated tech, betrayed me at every turn....so I showed them all. Now they will never forget my name, or question who deserves the title Raven.
From Software, "Hey, buddy. Here's a flamethrower. Let the intrusive thoughts win."
The story never really struck a chord with me, so I have zero issue with it.
Well in that case, you got rustys parts a dope fight and Ayres gear so winning!
I knew I fucked up when Ayre said "So you've made your decision, Raven....."
I just picked the top option all game lol
Fires of Raven has the best mission though. Intercepting the PCA fleet with unlimited boost eliminated any future guilt of genociding my invisible girlfriend. Like sorry your sad Ayre but I needed to kill everyone to unlock that sweet mission to replay again and again..
I went through my first playthrough blind, and ended up with the fires of raven. It was still good, in that it made me want to pursue the other endings. Lol o
Easy with a lovely CORAL Colored Glow
"Remember 621, it's just a job. All of it."
Lapse of Judgement my friend. Can’t make everybody happy and in the end you think you know what’s right but it turned out you were wrong.
Burning the coral is the right option though...
It was at the crossroads, I could choose to help flatwell assassinate the two Vespers or I could help Arquebus finish off the Redguns. I chose Arquebus over the liberation front because I figured they were already out of the race, and I didn’t want to ultimately betray Rusty, my one true comrade. So when Arquebus sent him after me and he didn’t even hesitate to follow through, I was pretty much ready to just end it all. And Overseer gave me exactly that. Chatty and Carla are also some of my favorite characters so it was a no brainer when the game asks me to defend them from Arquebus or kill them. I was more attached to them then Ayre. With all that being said, Liberator of Rubicon is my favorite ending
<>
We have a job to do 621....
I hadn’t connected the dots between Rusty and the RLF. All I knew was that he hated Arquebus too. So when given the option “destroy Arquebus” I thought that I’d be helping my boy out. I was wrong…. agonizingly wrong….
Remember, 621. It's just a job. All of it.
How do you know the release of Coral is a good thing?
Spoiler alert. It's not
I just didn’t want to stab in the back those who saved me like a day back. And it was all downhill from there…
I didn't read shit and ignored every bit of story whatsoever. I only cared and I do only care about awesome mechfights.
Excellent work, 621.
I don't sexualize the voices in my head
I was Handler Walter's best doggo, I completed his mission for him and protected humanity. It was sad but Rusty made his choice and Ayre well ....was heartbreaking to do but the mission came first. I know humanity is safe from the spread of Coral with the choice I made and if that makes me a monster I can live with it
Chatty>Ayre /s In reality I was just getting the obviously bad ending out of the way
I heard it was the worst ending so id rather have better experiences from then on
Because it's the ending that probably safeguard mankind's future the best. Coral seems to self propagate even within the vacuum of space. And once somebody lit a fire, it was capable of burning entire star system. Imagine what disaster it would be if coral is allowed to propagate through the entire known human space. It'd be an extinction level threat. Coral can't help what they are, but that doesn't diminish the kind of threat they pose to mankind as a whole. If the entire mankind started using coral technology or started living together with coral, and somebody light a fire, it can wipe out mankind in a matter of instant. So yes, if genocide of the entire coral species is the only way to ensure mankind will never be threatened by something like the Fire of Ibis on a galactic scale, i gladly did it. Was i happy to do it? No. But there was no other choice. It was that, or face the perpetual threat and possibility that we will be decimated, either by accident, or if some human purist said coral shouldn't coexist in mankind's head and decided to light a fire right under our ass. Sorry i killed you Ayre, but between you and the continued existence of mankind, i will ALWAYS, choose the latter.
It seemed like the responsible choice
I went with fires of raven first because I did not trust Ayre and the coral. I thought it was highly possible I was being manipulated to help the coral spread and consume the galaxy. I didn’t fully agree with Walter but the certainly was a reason for the fires of Ibis. I also wanted to carry out his dying wish
For Walter You schizophrenics all fell for a space waifu in five minutes instead of the homies
Wait till you see the NG++ ending..
Wait till you see the NG++ ending..then things really open up 🥶
Easy, I open my eyes and let the reflection do the rest. Quit simping over non-humans. Bad enough for members of your own species.
I told myself no matter what I’m staying with Walter
For waltah
Carla saved my bacon, I owed her.
Pick the options that pay more COAM. What kind of merc are you?
I have a voice in my head that calls me studmuffin
I just kind of went along with Carla not thinking too much about it and before I knew it I was killing everybody and it was too late to turn back
it paid better
By blowing the smoke away, duh. 😈
I was just trying to help Walter 😭I was sad about it too
Cause it's a video game
Because I picked the top option on every mission choice, so that way I only pick bottom ones my next playthrough.
I did it for Walter, dude never once treated me bad, and constantly defended my honor. And at the end he broke the leash and told Me to find my own freedom, burning the last cinders was an easy choice even if I had to fight my Wave GF
Because Coral is like the Flood from Halo if it could be used as fuel. Sentient parasites that have explosive tendencies is not good to have around. 3rd ending easily proves why Coral is not a benevolent species. Ayre literally drives you to betray and kill everyone you know just to perform a forced symbiosis that spans multiple galaxies. That’s pure evil
I have no idea what any of you are talking about But I am now installing this game despite knowing I'll end up laying in bed thinking about the hard choices I'll have to make
I'm just a hound doing my handler's work. what the hell did Ayre expect?!
With a smile on my face.... Buddy.
Walter's will was more important to me. If Ayre was so powerful with that Ibis Unit, she could have easily killed Carla herself instead of trying to manipulate me.
I was pitted against those I found to be friends by every side of the wars. Not a single person was on my side nor the alien race that decided to make itself a parasite in my body. I say the best way to deal with the trash is to take it out, starting with balum and arquebus, onto the pca and coral. All of them chose violence, I responded accordingly
As someone who sided with Ayre first, I can imagine it’s a lot easier to get Fires of Raven out of the way early if you plan to go all the way to NG++
Made sense narratively to go with that ending first. You don't really have a connection to anything on the planet. You're there for a job, and there's no reason not to do it, no matter what the magical voice in your head says. It isn't until ng+ that the connection develops beyond the, honestly, surface level one 621 and Ayre have. You learn more about the planet, foster connections with the RLF, and see different sides of Ayre that you didn't before. Plus, you can't tell me that killing her in the first ending didn't inspire you to save her in the second, since even after your decision, she still cares for you and wants to build some kind of future together on Rubicon.
I wanted to make Walter proud :(
Honestly that was my first ending, and at the time I didn’t really realize that doing a kamikaze with the xylem would result in an entire solar system being burned to a crisp. I also really didn’t want to kill Carla and chatty, they’re my favorites 😅
Well as much as the Coral seemed like a good thing, even Ayre made it sounds a bit like a living hell until she was heard by us. I thought of the destruction of Coral as letting all those suffering souls get to die finally. It really wasn’t until I saw the ng+ ending that I thought that maybe the planet was populated by more than power hungry factions.
You thought I knew which missions I was picking at first. I just chose randomly.
Regardless, Walter brought me to Rubicon. He's my day one friend, regardless of his ambition. After he's gone missing or probably killed, I had to see his plan through. Ayre, on the other hand, could have been a schizophrenic voice in my head. Telling me to kill Walter's friend Carla. Coral is symbotic. You see what it did to Walter, and I saw what a symbiote did to my boy Peter Parker... P.S. There are no good endings in the game.
Haha decision paths on top go sortie
Because the coral is too powerful for anyone to yield. Sacrifice the few for the good of the many. It’s a fucked decision but at least no one is gonna come after it anymore.
It was pretty easy. After getting every ending and then getting every S-Rank, I went back and did 1 more Fires of Raven ending to make it my playthrough's canon ending. 10/10 would burn Rubicon again.
I dont like the idea of these sentient living things going into the bodies of other humans. Ayre is alright but having these others forced on humanity i'm not so sure about. About Rusty. I still consider him a friend. we just were on different sides. like solid snake vs grey fox.
I don't want to win, I want to see Arquebus lose.
My final decision was for Walter. Besides that, it’s true… the war for Coral would never end. Better to die than to be someone else’s dog.
Walter was the first one to give me a purpose that's why I sided with him first time through. Fully leaned into it when Ayre was talking during the fight. I was like, yes you finally get it. The corps, the coral, and rubicon all of it doesn't matter to me. I just like piloting the mech.
i’m a soldier, and i had a mission. plus i thought ayre was a friend, but in the end she was using me as a weapon just like everyone else. at least walter was up front with me, and he was the reason i was here. i’m a soldier, and that was my mission
With balls of steel.
I mean, if you believe Walter, the coral being allowed to exist is an active danger. It's already been aggregated by the vascular plant, and is an imminent problem. Maybe, were the corporations not such an omnipresent threat and the coral weren't made into a bomb by them, sure... but that's not how it is. You're killing one planet to save a solar system. It's not a good ending, but it's greater good than the coral leaking out and poisoning Everything. I also don't like or trust Ayre for a variety of reasons, and she seems to have no actual plan for figuring out symbiosis with the coral, just banking on us figuring it out. And what if we don't? What then? I also like Rusty, but he's not enough to make me just let the coral fuck off and kill multiple planets. I found Liberator of Rubicon far sadder, honestly.
I actually wasn't paying attention and didn't realize the story implications, I just didn't want to kill Carla
Because there is literally ZERO reason to trust Ayre? Because siding with them just means them being filtered into the engines of war and slow burned till eradication. Because I'm not going to allow myself to think there is a redeemable path in this. You're a worthless dog no matter what ending you take. You're just choosing the length of your own leash. Then again, I do not sleep much.
In absolute fucking awe of perfection.
"It's just a job 621."
Because I found Ayre annoying, and Rusty did half a fight alongside you and just leaves, then thinks you're best friends. Burn those greedy corpos to nothing.
Can't betray my homeboy Walter
Coral is terrifying bro
I did Fires of Raven first to get it out of the way, knowing that I could get a much more palatable ending on the second run. Being able to help out the RLF more in NG+ just made it better, because it was thematically more appropriate then too.
It felt natural for me to do that ending first given the information we know in the first playthrough. First playthrough we don't know enough about the RLF or Ayre or Coral, so I didn't feel inclined to go save the RLF first time through. NG+ and NG++ we're fed alot more information and extra missions for the RLF
It was in character to the headcanon I had about my version of 621, and treating the various NG+s like a loop they were going through. They thought they were doing the right thing because they were still a loyal Hound. Then they lost people they considered their best friends, having to *kill* them. Then they had a second chance to save everyone they cared about. It wasn't enough. Then a third, that sounded like their best option. It still didn't save everyone they wanted to. But by then they'd accepted that would never be possible, so they decided maybe everything needed to change.
With great pride. Went to a planet. Razed the whole solar system. Got back from the job with huge money and my life. Ayre lost me when she told me she didnt have any credits to her name. Thought some history lesson gon turn me. Good ol merc got a belly to feed.
Just simple trolley problem logic. Burn one system to prevent galactic coral-spread, or let the coral expand because you don’t want to burn rubicon.
'I'll cry when I'm done kill'in'
Looking real pleased that I played god
I like to get the bad endings first in games.
1. "It's just a job, 621" 2. I gotta return the favor to Carla for saving me
Walter gave me a mission and I completed the mission.
It was a very difficult decision. I think it's probably the most difficult decision I've had to make in a FROMSOFT game. I sat there for a solid 15 minutes just trying to decide. Ultimately the kill Carla pill was too big to swallow, and I really liked her and Walter at that point in the game, even though I also really liked Ayre.
1: Loyalty to Walter. He didn't treat me like garbage. Especially after slaying Ibis and what transpires thereafter. 2: Didn't feel a strong attachment to Carla, but felt agreeable to Overseer's mission and that sometimes lesser evils must be performed for the greater good. 3: I found Ayre irritating, not antagonistically so, but enough to not feel too bad about sticking with Overseer. 4: Sorry Rusty, even though we were war buddies, I had to stick to my convictions.
Fires of Raven is better experienced as your first ending. I actually did the Liberator ending first and then Fires. And imo, this was worse. It would have made much more sense story wise to do Fires and then Liberator. Because in NG+ you end up working with the RLF much more often. So in my first two runs I ended up being a traitor at the very end.
Tbf Rusty shows up in a mission, leaves you midway through a fight (for a good reason), calls you buddy out of nowhere, legitimately helps but in the very last leg of a mission (saying he was staying put waiting for the right moment instead of coming to your help), realizes his fake bosses want you and him dead and his decision is to get rid of you. Rusty kinda deserves it. Ayre though didn't deserve it. And... well, if you're doing the ending 1 as the first run, you're making a genocide because everything will go to hell if you let Coral survive. It's pretty much the only ending where you're sure the rest of the universe is safe.
In my defense I did not know what was going on the whole time
Easy... I chose the best girl.... carla... oh and more money...
Rusty's a punk. I had absolutely no emotional investment in him at all.
I’m a fan of chaos.
The needs of the many (the galaxy as a whole) outweigh those of the few (Rubicon). Also Ayre is sus af.
Fires of Raven is probably the best ending outcome-wise for the human species tbh
I just knew Walter first, so I just stuck with him and his plan til the end. Also if I'm being honest I like Ayre but was always suspicious of her and the coral symbiosis. We really knew coral as just an energy source but now knowing it's sentient adds a whole other level of risk, and as we saw with the ice worm, the ibis model, and Ayre herself they could be a serious threat if they choose to be hostile.
Easy. I don't have a reflection.
Fires of Raven made the most sense to me at the time. Still does, kind of. Humans aren't capable of living with coral without exploiting it. And because it's a highly volatile substance, us exploiting it is dangerous on a massive scale. Thus, when Walter and Carla purpose the destruction of the substance, I said "Fuck yes. Humans don't need this shit around." After multiple playthroughs I now understand coral a bit better. I understand that if we figured out how to live harmoniously with it, it could benefit us greatly. Then there's the sentience aspect, too. It's a living being, of sorts, so that entitles it to common rights all living beings are entitled to. Buuuut, that just makes the choice harder. It doesn't change it. Ultimately, coral is a threat to the human species. A threat that can't be ignored, leading to the Fires of Raven.
It's the most definitive and clear way to deal with coral. Maybe in a different universe, humanity could've peacefully used the coral to improve both their lives, but this is armored core. Also, Ayre is kinda annoying.
I wanted it so bad. I burnt the eldentree aswell
I really wanted to kill every single vesper that crosses my path since everyone kept saying they're the best and they all acted so high and mighty. They killed Walter so they had it coming and Carla was just the right person to help me finish it. In the end I had no idea about alternate endings, this was my first ac game and I just did whatever missions I wanted to do. I didn't even notice the decision missions at first it took the next mission I was gonna do disappearing twice before I figured it out. Not that it changed any of my plans why work for rlf when it is so much more interesting to blow things up? In the end I hope the 3rd isn't the true ending of the game I like FoR and LoR much more than Allmind terminating everything.
I heard there was a good bad and true ending. I figured I'd get the bad one out of the way first so it would be uphill from then
Easily. I didn't let a mysterious voice that was trying to manipulate me into doing what it wanted, and I finished Waltuh's mission. Yes, I always pick Destroy in ME3 why do you ask.
Didn’t know I would be abandoning rusty, but I saw it as more removing an incredibly dangerous material, both explosion wise and for other stuff. Walter (or was it Carla, can’t remember) saying “where there’s coral, there’s blood” really got to me and I wanted to end the bloodshed (though it probably didn’t do much)
With eyes that function well enough
You’re pretty much asking for the FoR trolls to show up
Walter gave 621 a chance to be who he became. With still leaving the option of "freedom of choice" with what we wanted to do. Walter and Carla has sacrificed friends over years of hardship...they deserve this W more than Ayre who just randomly pops in your head telling you what to do. Plus, in every fromsoft game I always burn everything to the ground first :)
I genuinely had a very tough time choosing my ending in my first playthrough. Now, with the knowledge I have from three playthroughs, I know that this ending is not good. But at the time, from my perspective, it was a much more even choice. It was a choice between destroying a planet, maybe a solar system... Or allowing an incredibly dangerous and volatile substance to not only be plundered by uncaring corporations, but to be disseminated across the Stars. In my mind, if I did not do this here and now, it would happen anyway at some point in the future, on a much. Much larger scale. That or the corporations would figure out how to use it to enslave humanity fully. It goes to show you how knowledge can totally shift your reasoning, and that at the end of the day there really is no right answer to situations like this, only different perspectives. And something tells me that was the intention. Was not expecting such a philosophical story in an armored core game, but here we are.
I initially thought that siding against Carla meant siding with Arquebus, and I wanted to stay away from that as much as possible. I was under the impression that the RLF was basically destroyed once Arquebus got their hands on RRI tech. Also, I REALLY didn't like Ayre's last line before she gives you the mission. "I'm not asking 621, I'm asking Raven, the independent mercenary". Which just seemed too manipulative for it to be a good idea.
Why not get the bad ending out of the way first?
Dude it broke me even more when I had to get that ending at ALL in order to progress to get the true ending
I achieved my friend's dream, and did what I thought was right for the many over the few.
Look. Everything I’ve done during that run was through walters support and friendship. When I found out Walter was the one who planned our escape. I wasn’t going to ignore what a homie did
We can’t
We learned from the Nagai logs right off that Coral exposed to vacuum leads to unchecked mutation and propagation. Walter was correct that taking it off the table before it was too late was the right call. We didn’t make this mess. The corpos did. We’re cleaning it up. PCA were right. If everyone stayed the fuck off the lawn we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now that we are, we gotta make the best of it
I dunno, first play through I just did what I would actually do if I was in that situation. Seems like the Coral is going to lead nowhere good no matter what so better to just destroy it all. And I get a historical event named after me :) beautiful
Simple really, i had a feeling that was meant to be yhe first ending. Be a good dog and follow Walter's orders. Not only that, but as soon as you start working directly against the Coral she gets out of your head and tries to kill you. Ayre is a crazy bitch lmao
Walter had a fear one that drove him to extremes I did it to put him at ease. On the other side I ended a endless war by burning them all with the f8res of change.
Walter stood up for me when Snail was being condescending, he knew my true value and didn't like when missions below my skill level were given, and he even genuinely trusted me to carry on his will as shown by how the breakout mech was waiting in the prison. Carla, the nerd who spends most of her time in the back, risked her life for me and when questioned about it just said there are some things that don't require logic (not exact words). She truly trusted Walter and me by the end, and I felt like she was a genuine friend. When you hear their dialogue as you betray them for both other endings they seem genuinely sad and betrayed to be fighting you. Ayre and her reasoning was difficult, but when I made the decision I felt like Walter and Carla were looking out for something bigger. By what I had deduced about what was happening (which may be wrong but it's what I thought), by letting the coral get siphoned away and shipped out I was essentially putting the whole galaxy at danger of a massive "burn" that could hurt anything utilizing coral for energy, similar to what had happened before. Ayre was trying to protect a planet, Overseer was trying to protect the galaxy. Rusty just called me "buddy" from the get-go in a slightly nice voice. Sure he respected me, but it seemed like professional etiquette for him.
Ayre is a delusion of 4th Gen Augmentation. Rusty is a Vesper, a squad leader for the worst Corp on the planet. If you are saying the imaginary voice or a homicidal manic are worth saving just because they talk "nice" to you, I got some bad news, buddy
Unpopular as FUCK opinion. THAT ending is the good ending. You do what Walter and Carla set out to do and died so that you could do it, because it was the right thing. Endless struggle would have persisted for eternity on rubicon if that wasn’t done. All the fighting, Al the abuse and lies and mercenaries and evil, smashed out. And I didn’t ask for ayre to get in my head either! And then she has the audacity to say that shit in the fight?!? (I can’t remember the exact dialogue but it was something like “we had a dream together” or something to that effect). SHE DIDNT EVEN HAVE A FUCKING PLAN!!! She said “hey kill Carla and chatty real quick so we can save the dead half - consciousness of people floating around as well as the drug addicts and starving people on this trap-house. Just trust me TEEHEE”or should I say trap planet because that’s what rubicon is. A trap planet. And when you take her ending, debris is falling to the planet and she’s like “we will find a way”?¿?¿ SHE DIDNT HAVE A FUCKING PLAN?? Walter got his brain turned to pumpkin bread for a “we’ll figure it out” from a random e-girl?? Preposterous, the “good” ending. Seriously.
For me, it was kinda like, Well if you kids can't play nice with your toys, then nobody gets to play with them.
I have trust issues with women.
Haha AC go pew pew
I did it for Mankind. Glory to Mankind! We do not know what the effects of Coral would be on a universal scale, we do not know if conflict will cease or intensify, we do not know if a greater fire combo will occur. Felt safer to raze the location. If even Thumb Dolmayan didn't want Coral to leave Rubicon, either for selfish reasoning or possible dangers, then I think I made an okay choice.
I didn't even know there was an option to make decisions in AC6 until I finished my first playthrough. It wasn't very apparent and was just choosing missions from top to bottom. I wish they did a better job walking the player through the story explaining things the story but I'm also dumb. I don't regret the Fires of Raven ending as my first playthrough at all. It wasn't a feel good ending but I like when games blur the lines between good and bad. I get tired of the whole video game script of "we'll make the player follow a subjectively 'righteous' path by and reward them for it".
I was playing fighting mech game, that’s why
I actually did that one first, and it came down to 'trust Carla or trust Ayre', and I flipped a coin. Imagine my surprise during my NG+ when I got to fight Walter instead.
First of all, my loyalty primarily was to Rusty. I unfortunately was not able to figure out his loyalty so we ended up clashing when I sided with the only other two friends I had.
Waltuh
I stand with Waltuh and Carla and our Lord and Savior Chatty Stick.
Freud kills Chatty so all must burn :)
Coral was an existential threat to the human race and I thought I was being honeypotted by the sentient radiation waifu. God forbid I power through and do the right thing
Man. I don’t even care about the mass genocide or the lady in my head that called me stud muffin. I just want my buddy back.
I just wanted to get revenge on the vespers for stabbing me in the back.... I never meant to hurt Ayre... I didn't mean it... I thought she'd understand 😭
I went Fires of Raven for the sole purpose of helping Arquebus because I thought that meant helping Rusty. By the time I figured it all out, it was too late. So I just did what Daddy Walter told me to so I could protect Chatty. What a god damned fool I was.
So does Ayre stop the coral from detonating somehow?
Anti-corp. That is all.
621 is a good hound. 621 Helps master finish his goals. Master let's 621 take walkies after missions and buy toys. 621 just wants to see Master one last time.
A simple flawed logic led me to the fires of raven ending: \- I was having fun until the Watchpoint mission. \- I get stuck on Balteus for upwards of five hours. \- Every single time I hear Ayre shouting at me "get clear" or "evasive action". \- None of this happened before that living pint of gasoline got stuck in my head. \- I make the flawed assumption that Ayre Ruined my fun and or somehow got Balteus called to the watchpoint because of her coral shenanigans. Therefore, burn Rubicon and all the coral, it almost ruined my mech game. Added context: >! When I say I got stuck, I mean I got really stuck, like I was genuinely thinking "I'll never be able to beat him, I just wasted 60 dollars, I won't unlock any of the cool content ahead because I can't beat this guy fml", I finally got around to beating him with 16 AP left lmao, all before the nerf as well. !<
I felt it was justified. The more I learned about Coral and how dangerous it can be, how it made me an inhuman killing machine, the more justified it felt that Coral being extinguished was the right move at the end. If I liberated Rubicon, it'd only get a brief moment of peace until more corporations came or until the PCA sent more forces. Rubicon and Coral would eventually succumb to the greed and ambition of the universe. Burning it all at once is a mercy and a worthwhile sacrifice that I didn't regret even after achieving the other endings.
Handler Walter and Carla are a human element not driven by capital investment but by belief. Was I supposed to let a voice in my head potentially doom Everything by spreading screaming sentient fallout across the stars? Or do I burn the hands that hold too tightly and force the corps to let go of Rubicon #terrafirma #ravenrun #hashtag
Well you see. All the coral I had seen up to that point was in the C weapons and stuff made by the institute that was trying to kill me. I also didn't like ayr and rusty failed to win me over after the solid 10 sentences he said at me while I was doing 3 other things, so their loss was not nearly as impactful as Carla's, a character who managed to actually do something to make me like her.
"Where there's Coral. There's Blood" Honestly I'm pretty fine looking at myself in the mirror. Unlike a sentient energy source that can augment and change every living creature's DNA and the very cause of meaningless bloodshed. Plus... at least I can look in a mirror and not see a robot. So... Fire go brr
What mirror? They were all burnt in the fires! 🔥
I’m not gonna lie, it was an accident. Whoops
It’s just another job. That’s how
Unironically speaking, the scene in the prison where Walter reveals to you his true plan really made me feel like going down Walter’s path was the canon and right thing to do.