So... yeah. I beat AC1.
First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who helped me in the last post. Thanks for the reassurance, kind words, and for telling me to relax. I took "Being a True Raven" a bit too seriously and forgot to just... enjoy playing the game.
And thanks as well for the advice of configuring my controls. Using the face pad to look around literally changed how I played the game. I went from barely clinging on to being somewhat decent. A good improvement, I say.
Just making this post because I feel like I somewhat owe it to my fellow Ravens who helped me get this far, and it's a nice ending to the other two posts of my AC1 journey, finishing this in a neat Trilogy or three-act structure.
Now for my thoughts on Armored Core 1 overall after finishing the game:
Pretty good. I can see why everyone loved it, and why it grew as a franchise. For a PS1 game, it had nice lore and worldbuilding and pretty good mechanics, especially for its time (most likely). Even now, despite my raging, frustrations, and taking the game too seriously, I had fun in the end once I just let myself enjoy playing how I want to and not how I perceived "it should be played".
So, when I actually let myself have fun, I did. I'm happy that I finished playing AC1 with the goal of having fun and not just the goal of beating it so I can say I did.
And honestly?
I'm glad I didn't give up playing it. It makes for a good memory of a good game.
Even if I did internally rage a lot, but hey, that's part of the Armored Core fun!
Thanks for being with me in this journey--especially to those who tried, and did, help me out. I think this is where I'll stop the Reddit posts of my AC journey. I'll keep most of those experiences and memories of playing the rest to myself, as not everything has to be shared.
Stay safe and God bless!!!