Can't help thinking

[u/objectivejeager18]

[u/Bloodb0red]

Ace Combat put itself into a weird situation with 3 where they made it really early in the series’ life and now everything after that has to build towards it, but also there’s an easy out built into 3 in case they ever want to contradict it.

[u/XaosDrakonoid18 → u/Bloodb0red]

I never got myself to play AC3. I don't mind spoilers so what is the built in out?

[u/Ocassional_templar → u/XaosDrakonoid18]

It’s all a simulation

[u/XaosDrakonoid18 → u/Ocassional_templar]

But isn't it one based on reality? So like they can deviate from the plot but not the setting

[u/Agloe_Dreams → u/XaosDrakonoid18]

It’s based on a future projection of reality. So even the reality is a guess.

[u/XaosDrakonoid18 → u/Agloe_Dreams]

Oh i see. So AC3 can potentially become the lone wolf among the numbered titles

[u/GTU875 → u/XaosDrakonoid18]

So I'm going to preface this by saying that the "out" doesn't really work as an out. The "out" is that none of it really happens. AC3 is a simulation put on by Simon Cohen to find if his AI, Nemo, can kill Dision no matter what. It's regularly claimed to be a way for Project Aces to just remove AC3 as it currently exists from continuity if they want to.

Now what makes it not an out, is two things. For the first, if Simon is just making up the geopolitics and technology, it's not really an effective simulation of anything. Additionally, Dision physically has been dead about ten years by the time of AC3, and continues to exist as a brain ghost in the Electrosphere, and that's what Simon is trying to kill, and his AI pilot requires the Coffin system as plausible deniability for why no one ever sees the pilot. Essentially, if everything is made up then the scenario doesn't work in the first place.

The second issue is that Project Aces is having a lot of fun setting the table for AC3 both in AC7 and AC8. Both games feature General Resource, a company who becomes a massive player by the time of AC3, AC7 makes a passing mention of "Massa" in one of the later cutscenes. This is a localization error and "Massa" should be Martha. As in Yoko Martha Inoue, who is a woman Simon and Dision were both in love with, and, is sort of the reason Simon wants Dision really dead. Jaeger, one of your wingman in Strider is literally the father of Jager, one of the wingman in AC3, General Resource is bankrolling you in AC8 and the plane that was announced yesterday is a less-advanced variant of one of the endgame planes from AC3.

The out isn't an out. There's way too much connective tissue at this point.

[u/TheDAWinz → u/GTU875]

Yea I never understood the "its a simulation so its not accurate" cope, like what would be the point if simon was to make a inaccurate simulation to kill a copy of the man he hates? Does he not want his AI to be good at killing copy dision? And exactly right that PA have been setting up ACE 3, even as far back as 04. Not to mention we see GR boxes in 6 and "nucomm" ads in 7 (they later merge with EASA). Plus, they keep including it in the official timeline each time they release one.

Speculation from me, but since mission 11 is in 2030 and "early game" we might see or hear a bit about the GR plot that killed Yoko and Dision later in 2030.

[u/c-williams88 → u/GTU875]

Btw the old spoiler screen thing doesn’t really work, you need to use the in-app or website based text modification

[u/GTU875 → u/c-williams88]

Eh, just have to go by block of text.

[u/honorvi4 → u/XaosDrakonoid18]

Ace Combat 3 was a simulation. So they can deviate from the plot of AC3 if necessary

[u/Crimson_Sabere → u/XaosDrakonoid18]

Commenting so I can come back and check what that out is.

[u/Odd-Forever7016 → u/Bloodb0red]

I'm just gonna throw this: Let's say that we arrive at AC3 time, in AC9 or 10, and it's what was shown in the simulation, what ever happens may not come true because our perspective be from another protag. the one that cannot be killed even by Nemo even if he was us many games ago. All because "You can't use data in the simulation, you need actual data" Otacon MGS1 (paraphrasing), and this small thing could mean anything for the story in future AC games.

[u/Leevalee]

luckily for ace combat, if you've played ACE 3 you'd know that the continuity is pretty solid

[u/Skylinneas]

Tbh 2040 seems quite far into the future when AC3 was first released in 1999. That’s a full 40+ years, almost half a century. A lot of things can happen in 40 years (IRL: two World Wars).

Other franchises have set the ‘border’ for the future way lower in hindsight. For instance, Back to the Future’s ‘future’ timeline is set in 2015 (about 30 years from the films’ released years), the Macross series (the first series took place in 2009, and we have interstellar travel as early as 2012 xD), or Mass Effect games where humanity went from first contact to fighting ancient eldritch robots for galactic survival in about 30 years lol.

[u/cluckay]

They made MGRR way too early? 

[u/RevBladeZ → u/cluckay]

Metal Gear SOLID

[u/Candle-Jolly]

Related: I’ve always wanted Hideo Kojima to be a guest writer/director for an Ace Combat game. 

[u/Scared-One9295 → u/Candle-Jolly]

What so we can fly nanomachines and the enemy ace would be called something like Top Gunman?

[u/Candle-Jolly → u/Scared-One9295]

Precisely. 

[u/Scared-One9295 → u/Candle-Jolly]

Sigh.

I guess that does sound pretty sick.

[u/Ragnarok_Stravius → u/Scared-One9295]

We'd have more scantily clad pinups on our aircraft, which is a massive plus.

[u/John__Silver → u/Scared-One9295]

Nanomachines could explain superhuman endurance of the protagonists. 

[u/TheDAWinz → u/Scared-One9295]

We fly nanomachines in ace 3 against a guy named Abyssal Dision lol

[u/Skylinneas → u/Candle-Jolly]

I want him to design rival aces/bosses. Metal Gear games are famous for creative/memorable (mostly) boss fights. Imagine Hideo Kojima designing a rival ace squadron or a superweapon. He’d most likely knock it out of the park. :)

[u/alkaweiss → u/Skylinneas]

basically, import all zone of the enders orbital frames as bosses and futuristic planes.

[u/Skylinneas → u/alkaweiss]

Yep, that exactly lol. ZoE bosses are pretty awesome.

Heck, Kojima actually designed ZoE bosses already, and there is Z.O.E. in Ace Combat. Might as well make it full circle and have Kojima design Ace Combat's Z.O.E. bosses for a future game as well xD.

[u/Candle-Jolly → u/Skylinneas]

This right here 

[u/polandreh]

Meanwhile, The Legend of Zelda: yeah... we don't care... in fact, here's three timelines. We know we said there were 2, but what are you going to do?

[u/Kamikumo9889 → u/polandreh]

“also, ignore that half if these dont make sense. oh also heres like five new games that dont fit into any timeline. yeah have fun”

[u/Very_Angry_Bee]

Tbf, it would be really easy to retcon AC3, since it has the benefit of, canonically, not being real

[u/Rationalinsanity1990]

They should heavily recton AC3

[u/iDunn_07]

All of the countries in Ace, though… the continents… that world is another Earth that I have come to learn a lot about.
MG and AC have some similar visual language. That is about it. They are both military games made by veteran Japanese developers that love anime.