Ace Combat 3 Analysis - The Ultimate Deconstruction

Air Combat: “haha flying planes is fun!” Ace Combat 2: “haha flying planes in third person is fun too!” Ace Combat 3: “have you ever experienced the waking terror of knowing that your entire life is merely a fabrication, an illusion, and that your very consciousness exists within the confines of a machine while warring mega-corporations vie for control over an ever-encroaching cyberpunk dystopia? Your free will is an illusion. You are a ghost of data and software. Your memory will be of nothing more than a computer program recycled into nothingness.”

Wait...Erich Jaeger? I guess all those stories about Trigger must've inspired him.

So: Erich Jaeger is actually pretty well retconned to be the kid of one of your wingmen in Ace Combat 7; and his motives for joining UPEO have become "His dad helped change the world for the better as a fighter pilot, so He'll do the same thing."

03:01 "... eroding the very idea of countries and borders." Pixie: IT'S TIME

An extra thing to add to the meta commentary of AC3. The original two Japanese game discs had the words "Project Nemo Archive Disc" on them. In its original version, the true nature of the game was foreshadowed as soon as the player opened the game box and took out the disc.

The fact that the EU and the States got a gutted version of this game is a downright travesty, I had no idea about any of this when playing it on the PS1 way back when. The Project Nemo people are real MVPs for translating it all.

Something of an interesting influence Ace Combat 3 had was that it's director, Takuya Iwasaki, and some of Namco's staff went on to form Cavia Inc. and develop Drakengard which was pitched as "Ace Combat with dragon" I can't help but feel that the story structure of Ace Combat 3, playing several scenarios that interlink to tell a fuller story before revealing a "true ending", was a decisive influence on Drakengard and it's spiritual successor Nier.

The "Entering Electrosphere" message always gives me goosebumps, such an unsettling moment.

Nemo is practically the most Powerful AC Protagonist. It is practically a more advanced ZOE. Shot down the Night Raven which shot down the Megafloat in one shot. Can practically mimic Fly styles from other Aces. Rena mention Nemo flying similar to her. Singlehandedly Destroyed All the AC3 Factions. Not to mention It can Hack other planes while maintaining its own. It’s a shame Nemo is overshadowed by all the other AC Protagonists. Seriously Nemo is fucking scary. Imagine if Simon for some reason decided to make an Army of AI Aces similar to Nemo.

Something worth mentioning is the fact that Takuya Iwasaki, who directed Ace Combat 3 is coming back for the development of the next ace combat game, which might be a clue of what direction the series is headed.

On the topic of deconstructions and soulless killing machines, I wanna take a brief moment to talk about Ace Combat Zero and the protagonist, Cipher. Pretty much everyone you encounter over the course of the story has some ideal or cause they're fighting for, but they're all taken down by Cipher, a random Mercenary with no clear allegiances or motivation besides their current employer and a paycheck. Armed conflict isn't a moral contest, or even a clashing of ideals. It's just people trying to kill each other, and the ones who are "right" are the ones who are in better shape when it's all over. Also it's really hard to discuss this without sounding like a total edgelord lol.

Oh how I wish Electrosphere had gotten the proper US release it deserved.

You know what would be a good idea for Ace Combat 8's story? The real Corporate War. The events that occur after Simon releases Nemo into the real world; you will play as a faceless human pilot who joins UPEO right as Nemo is introduced. At first, you and your wingmen are skeptical about allowing a sentient AI to fight alonside humans. However, as the war goes on, you will rely on Nemo to help accomplish your objectives, while it will rely on you to help accomplish its own. Think wingman command from a gameplay perspective. Except on steroids. As the story progreses, you will end up following Nemo, and it will end up following you. At some point in time, you as the human pilot will be faced with a monumental question: Is the AI in command of your fate, or are you in command of its own?

I definitely get the feeling that someone at NAMCO loves AC3 as much as some of us, because NEMO and friends have a weirdly consistent history: 1. In Assault Horizon: Legacy, when Zone of the Enders is finally defeated, the lyrics have this: Why do you still challenge me? You can't win It's not your destiny Like the moth who flies into the flame You won't return You'll lose your name "Lose your name." NEMO. In a song about a Phoenix rising From the ashes, which could be the player, or...hmm. 2. Doctor Schroeder took that old ZONE data, and built an AI that can learn to fly from people. Which NEMO is also noted to do. 3. Want to guess who two of Schroeder's assistants were? 4. Skies of Deception's original planes, like the YR-302 Fregata, should look rather familiar to people who played AC3. 5. AC6 even has General Resource containers, despite being otherwise almost entirely disconnected from anything else. For a series that barely has any continuity, AC3 gets a surprising amount...

The mission in space is even more incredible because you have to do an orbital entry without burning up and exploding. I figured it out through trial and error in Japanese before the internet was available to me. Still sticks in my mind.

Wow. I was stationed in Japan when this came out, so I bought the Japanese version and played it on my modded PS1. It was so good. The animated cutscenes and story made it much better of a game. I didn't understand a lot of the material, but the eerie atmosphere of some of the levels was exactly what the franchise needed. My favorite in the series.

Finally, a good Ace Combat 3 analysis video. I hope this inspires more people to play the game and talk about it. The first time I played it my first thought was "Wait, why don't people talk about this game more often?". For as good as the game was, it is shockingly difficult to find conversations praising the game for its story.

The late 90s where the peak of Cyberpunk! Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments, Ace Combat 3, etc! i hope someday they make a remaster or something

Man, I wouldn’t mind analysis videos for the rest of the Ace Combat franchise, I’ve yet to see anyone else really do it. Electrosphere, as much as I appreciate its uniqueness, I can see why people would feel disconnected from it back when it first came out. You have to remember that this came after Ace Combat 2 which was literally just an arcade game with cheesy (but amazing) rock music and light hearted tone. Imagine buying the sequel to it two years later, and finding out it’s now suddenly an anime game about corporations, war, morality and existentialism, yeah it can be quite a sudden change in tone. Which is why I think that’s the reason Shattered Skies went back to basics and Project Aces decide to slowly reintroduce all the wacky elements Ace Combat is known for slowly so that it’s more accepted. Judging by how many people now appreciate 3, I think they did a good job

I hope I'm not the only one who's thinking of this, but Ace Combat 3 is easily the darkest game in the franchise.