Entire Lancer Session spent playing the Armored Core Trailers on loop
The entirety of Friday’s Lancer session in San Jose, California, was spent watching the new Armored Core story trailer on repeat. Game Master Aneta Pawlik said that everything else about the session was normal, except for the fact that no gameplay was completed. “We just kept dragging the progress bar back to the beginning. Every once in a while, we’d go back to the announcement trailer, but soon we’d be back to watching a squad of mechs getting eviscerated.”
Isabel, Pawlik’s partner, said that from the other room it sounded like any other Lancer game. “There were ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ like after a good damage roll, but when I came in they were just freaking out over the same three and a half minutes of prerendered cutscenes. I mean, there’s no way the game looks like that, right? They have to have seen the gameplay trailer by now.”
By the end of the night, apparently no one was concerned by the lack of actual Lancer play that evening. Player Brandon Jackson said, “When we started, there were a few comments about the squad running a Gauntlet Sitrep, or what each mount might be. But by the end of the first watch, we were just enjoying it for what it was: hot mech-on-mech action. No one even made a “CASTIGATE THE ENEMIES OF THE GODHEAD” joke on the suicide explosion, and you know what? The night was better for it.”
Next week, says Pawlik, they’ll get back to their campaign. “It was a nice side-session, but we need to get back into things. I thought we were in the clear after the G-Witch finale, but of course Fires of Rubicon is just around the corner.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I just need all this awesome mech stuff to stop coming out. I’m trying to focus on our game, but I’m torn away again and again by the siren call of any and all massive metal colossi.” We had just been about to ask if her group had heard of the Phantom Brigade game, but decided against it.
