#shattered skies

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

I made this image before I had a tumblr account. Finally get to share it.

[redteapanda]

REX,

REX TREMENDAE MAJESTASIS,

QUI SALVANDOS SALVAS GRATIS,

SALVA ME, FONS PIETATIS.

The final piece [FOR NOW] of my Ace Combat Mucha set, ITS MOBIUS-1 WITH THE STEEL CHAIR. The opening scene of megalith lives rent free in my head.

ANYWAYS.

If you would like to get these as actual prints, I will be at CARRIERCON 2024, March 9th!

The convention is on the USS Hornet, artist alley IS IN THE AIRCRAFT HANGAR HOW COOL IS THAT.

[breakingarrows]

Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies as Literature

Within Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies are two parallel narratives. One is a man recalling the memories of his time as a child during a war. This war is the one that you participate in during missions as Mobius 1, the call sign for the player character, and follows their ascension to becoming a legendary icon over the course of that conflict.

Missions are your general arcade flight simulation kind of tackling varied objectives to rack up high scores, combating air and land targets, picking your aircraft and armament as you proceed along the linear progression of the game's campaign. In between missions will occasionally be interludes, allowing the player to view the recollections of someone who was a child during these same concurrent periods. These are presented with still images, with voiceover by the adult child and greatly moving pieces of music. The first interlude, “Prelude”, is scored by the composition “La Catedral” by Paraguayan guitarist and composer Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885-1944) and generally considered one of his greatest compositions. This piece introduces the overall mood of these interludes, and the game proper, as a melancholic reflection on what is later described as a “meaningless war.” It is the first, and most recurring, of the three tracks composed by Barrios that appear in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies.

The emotional crux of this prelude is the death of the child’s family, the result of a plane crashing to earth after being shot by an invading army. The only identifying factor for the killer was a yellow 13 on the tail of the plane that circled around to confirm the kill. The death of the child’s family is dramatic, and at the same time so casual. These are the facts of war: civilians who aren’t involved suffer no matter their allegiance or status. Throughout the interludes the child has to grapple with the fact that the new family he has found, a group of ace pilots, are the ones responsible for his loss. This is revealed in another interlude featuring a piece from Agustín Barrios named “Session." This piece is played diegetically by the lead pilot of Yellow Squadron, whom the child joins on his harmonica after it is revealed that this pilot is Yellow 13, and the song is one the child’s father played at the end of each day, connecting them not only through death but also in life.

The child’s complex feelings are the basis for all the interludes. He hates Yellow 13 for being responsible for the death of his family, but also finds himself loving this same man for offering protection and warmth during an occupation. The child feels obligated to support the resistance within his town, but also follows the Yellow Squadron after they are routed. He grows to admire Yellow 13 for his moral character, but continues to imagine their eventual confrontation over his family’s death. When Yellow 13 discovers the barkeep's daughter is responsible for recent sabotage, the child yells, “Get out of our town, you fascist pig!” It is the last time we see them speak to each other. Yellow 13 lets the two go, unable to turn in these children, and similarly feeling a mixture of both love and hate towards those he watched over reveal their resentment towards him and what he represented.

These complex feelings can also be felt by myself for this game, and the series as a whole, as one that actively engages with and benefits imperial industries. By licensing real world models from various manufacturers, and rendering them in lavish detail, Ace Combat projects these airplanes as noble creatures fighting for the benefit of mankind which is far from the reality. As Autumn Wright wrote of the series, “But we also can’t, we mustn’t, separate a games fiction from its own politics of creation. To do so would be to betray the story, the artistry, the work.”

There is a shared fascination with how planes, specifically fighter planes, can be objects of such beauty but also of such violence by many artists. Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises is about Jiro Horikoshi, an engineer whose desire to create aircraft was subsumed by Japan during World War II and led to him helping develop planes that caused much destruction over the course of that war. His film has been the subject of much analysis and debate over interpretations of its message in regards to Horikoshi and their contributions to the war machine. As someone who grew up both day dreaming and sometimes even lucid dreaming about being able to fly myself, I have a fascination with the freedom granted by flight, especially that of fighter pilots with their speed and maneuverability that easily outpace any private aircraft. I also find myself fiercely opposed to instances such as the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) casually integrating something as awful as white phosphorus into its plaything multiplayer mode. I criticize Call of Duty’s obsession with rendering their guns in the most “real” style, I should do the same for Ace Combat and its rendering of aircraft built to kill. Most of my reluctance to condemn this series’ participation in propaganda, despite atrocities constantly committed by military aircraft, is due to the smaller mindshare it has compared to Activision’s preeminent shooter. Ace Combat has never been as commercially successful or influential as Call of Duty. Nonetheless it has the same responsibility towards what it is presenting. Project Aces was able to produce an entire fictional world and history for players to inhabit. I think they can also produce fictional planes to further separate themselves from promoting war machines and benefiting their manufacturers. Though it will cost them the World of Tanks obsessive crowd, it would be worthwhile to see a line drawn not only by the series’ themes but also by its rendering of aircraft.

It doesn’t help that as the series progressed, it lost the subdued tone that is found here in Shattered Skies. Future entries would increase the superweapon scale and stretch the reality further. Belka, a country found nowhere within this entry, would become such a boogeyman for the series that they have become a meme within the community for its frequent employment as the “true antagonist” in games such as Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, and the latest Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. In that latest installment, the dissonance between the arcade-style flight sim and serious war storytelling becomes much more prominent and harder to buy into as compared to Shattered Skies. As Ben Sailer writes of Skies Unknown, “But the unintentional sub-text of its design decisions undermines its sense of escapism its otherwise throwaway plot tries to create, breaking its own sense of illusion by failing to stick within a consistent narrative universe.” Reviewing Ace Combat Infinity, a multiplayer-focused entry taking place on Earth as opposed to the “Strangereal” conjured for Shattered Skies, Nick Capozzoli writes, “But Ace Combat once chased its Top Gun guitars with Agustin Barrios Mangore. It interlaced vignettes about the personal lives of rival squadrons in among its screeching dogfights. Those old games were idealistic and enthusiastic (occasionally embarrassingly so), full of operatic flourishes and moments of pathos that few video games can claim--let alone ones about planes. These were games that knew that when engagements take place over the span of miles, between pilots who never see each other's face, it's the little personal touches that keep the whole affair from feeling like a training exercise. The melancholy cutscenes. The frantic radio chatter. The call signs and emblems and the way enemies sauntered onto the field of battle like WWE wrestlers...that was what made Ace Combat human.”

Yellow 13 crosses over the parallel line of the child and into the missions of Mobius 1, connecting player and child even if secondhand. First Yellow 13 appears as an invincible foe that forces you to retreat. You later strike back, wounding through the downing of Yellow 4, someone the player knows was dear to Yellow 13. It’s a moment of victory, in that you have shown Yellow Squadron is mortal, but also at great personal cost to an opponent you have empathy for. This complex feeling the child has is now shared by you, the player. The penultimate mission sees you coming up against Yellow Squadron for the final time, destroying them all, Yellow 13 included. All that remains of him is a handkerchief that floats back to the earth, buried by the child. The interludes end with the narrator revealing that all of these reflections have been from a letter written to you, the player as Mobius 1. By writing, and speaking, these words he continues to keep Yellow 13’s memory alive, just as Yellow 13 confided in the child about Yellow 4 after her death to keep her memory alive. 

“I know it must have brought him unexpected joy to have an opponent like you,  at the end of that meaningless war. At least that’s what I want to believe. Only you… the pilot who shot him down, can confirm this. And so I write to you.”

It was overwhelming to realize that all of these interludes being retold by the grown child have been intermixing with your own characters' recollections of their participation in that war, coming to better understand those that they fought and humanizing what would otherwise be another number on your long kill list. This reveal worked not only for players at the time of release, as noted by IGN “The ending would be criminal to give away, but it has a very neat O. Henry sort of twist to it, capping off a surprisingly effective bittersweet memoir.” (Smith) But it also worked for contemporary players as well, such as YouTube channels alter ego, Salokin, and oboeshoesgames, who all comment on the way the story touched them in their reviews. “...all culminating in a triumphant ending for Mobius 1 and ISAF, but a somewhat bittersweet ending for the narrator as he recollects on past events to the fighter pilot.” (McCoy)

The penultimate mission that ends with the death of Yellow Squadron also reveals the motivation behind the war, as Farbanti, the capital of Erusia, the opposition, was not protected from the falling meteors described in the introduction. Stonehenge, a series of cannons constructed to protect the mainland from the meteors, had Farbanti within the very edge of its range, and so the city, and country, suffered. As you fly around the capital you view the sunken portion of the city and the crater (a recurring geographical feature throughout multiple missions) that was the cause of such destruction. Erusia’s war was one of revenge, but to what purpose? It makes sense to take Stonehenge and turn it against its creators, the ones who either through ignorance or purpose excluded Farbanti from its umbrella. Erusia struck out and locations such as the child’s town, San Salvacion, places that had no real participation in their wounding but who benefitted where Erusia did not, suffered under the boot of occupation. What was accomplished by this war? Flying over Farbanti and destroying the last remnants of their armed forces, it does not fill me with the same feeling of victory as the sixth mission, “Invincible Fleet,” which ends with the allied radio joining together to sing the “USEA National Anthem (Hymn Of Liberty)”. Instead it is a feeling of, “What are we doing?”

Mobius 1, the callsign for the player character, is a silent protagonist, a trope often clung to by games attempting to avoid the difficulties of player character writing. A character controlled by the player provides a unique challenge for developers, who often side-step by having the player-character be an empty vessel such as within Half-Life 2, Dead Space, and The Legend of Zelda. Unlike in those games, Mobius 1 isn’t being addressed directly in conversation by any other character, and so more easily skirts around it. I find it also works here in favor of the game as there is no personality to inhibit Mobius 1 from becoming a legendary icon by the game’s end. This game’s sequel, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, has your collective squad ascend to a similar status of godhood. Though your character in that game is given prompts to respond to your wingmen (and wingwoman), it is largely their burden to contemplate and engage in what it means to become an icon for your country, especially once betrayed by that country. Shattered Skies, by comparison, is a lonely affair. One in which the player is given the space to reflect on the effect they are having on morale on both sides, never being distracted by a scripted monologue or by one-sided conversations from allies.

Throughout the progression of missions radio chatter from ally and enemy alike begin to recognize your prowess and reputation as a fighter pilot, to the inspiration of the soldiers below you and the fear of the enemies around you. It all culminates in the finale, in which an extremist group of surviving Erusian officers have secured an experimental superweapon and are planning on launching it against any and all of their enemies. This mission is introduced by the track “Rex Tremandae” attributed to Keiki Kobayashi and followed by the main mission track “Megalith (Agnus Dei)” attributed to Tetsukazu Nakanishi. “Agnus Dei'' is traditionally in Catholicism the name of music that accompanies prayers to the Lamb of God. Its use here is representative of the collective prayers of the USEA nation for Mobius 1 to succeed in their current mission, insinuating they have ascended from being just another individual to something much more. Even without that context, it is a track that ascends above all the others for its choir vocals and imbues your final mission with a much grander scale and risk than any previous one, and is a fitting end cap.

I have attempted to write about Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies multiple times since I first played it so many years ago, but I do not believe I will ever be able to communicate how hard it hits me every time I replay it. Here I sit, twenty-two years after its release and I’m still finding new insights into how it affects me. Tracks from Agustin Barrios bring a warmth and longing to the interludes in a way no other composer could. Despite having sold over two million copies, discussion about this game is lacking. All those who have played it find it affecting like so few games are, especially one that falls under the arcade flight simulator genre. For how it continues to touch me to this day and for continuing to be a source of new script, Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies is Literature.

[a-luyarus]

it’s been a while huh?

[chronically-introverted]

there is something off.

my eyes are teary and i look at my shattered reflection, confused.

i don’t recognise the girl staring back at me.

what is wrong with me? i don’t understand myself anymore.

[renposter]

Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies official album art... (2001)

My favorite of all the Ace Combat series. From here.

[shattered-skies-campaign]

///PILOT_03

///NAME: GAIUS AGATHON

///CALLSIGN: TOOLBOX

///ULID: TEF-GA6-327

//:TDC Engineer. Skilled.

//:Affirmative. Highly skilled in frame repair, modular system integration, includin-

//:I get it. Next.

[viperzerofsx]

[ironedsleeper]

Went to a Fucking amazing goth concert tonight

I saw some new bands (shoutout to Shattered Skies and Urban Heat) and we saw Goth Dad in Vision Video. All of them killed it, smaller shows really are fucking incredible and everyone crushed it

Also dressed up for the occasion

[thelastomnitect]

THE WILD SKIES OF ATANRIA IS LIVE RIGHT NOW!

The aethersea rises, TTRPG Voyagers!

Cast off and set sail on THE WILD SKIES OF ATANRIA! Our lighter-than-air Pathfinder 2e continues right now, so come and join us! We're LIVE on my TWITCH CHANNEL as of this post!

[lockheed-martin-unofficial]

My Ace Combat/Transformers crossover AU is henceforth named:

Aces of Cybertron!

Now with that out of the way, should I keep Y13 as a human? Struggling to think of a cybertronian design for him and I think it’d be funny

I already have a half-made Mobius 1 design. That man is an F-4 man.

And I’m being very normal about Torres as the Tanager/Alicorn right about now

[hecking-heavy]

Where should i even start with my au thingy

Not even an au it's really just a fan interpretation of mine that I follow like my own word of writer hehe

[questionableupgrades]

I threw together a quick demonstration graph for Breath and Blood. The Sub-Aspects of each being individual parts of the vast breadth of their representation.

Your Classpect Combinations are incredible! Would it be okay to include them in my Webcomic? My Themeing is all about Shattering and splitting into parts, but I think a cool short-term Fusion power would be cool to Utilize this concept.

So on the one hand you have the Aspect splitting into Sub-Aspects (my favorite is Rage splitting into the seven deadly sins) and on the other you have Aspects fusing with other aspects to create new ones like everything in your list

ohohoho I LOVE that concept that is so cool!!!!!! (rage splitting into the seven deadly sins... AHDHDJE <33) I would absolutely adore it if u used my work!!!

[demaparbat-hp]

Hey, @geothewriter, was it necessary to break my heart?

A little thing for Vermillion Seas, Cardinal Skies, a truly magnificent fic that has left yours truly rolling on the ground more than once. I'll post the entire artwork once it's finished! For now, you get a little sneak peek.

Start reading the fic here. You can find Chapter 19 (from which this scene comes from) here!

[a-luyarus]

what do i see in your eyes?

[saturniandragon]

Ace Combat games summarized (badly) by me

AC2: top gun but with nukes or something AC3 (the Japanese release, not the shitty European/American one): reality is a simulation, nothing is real AC04: plane jesus AC5: belkan fucking witchcraft AC0: belkan fucking witchcraft ii, the fuckening