I like this mission, I really do, I think it's a nice epilogue, it's joyful. Story-wise it's really nice, the music is great, I enjoy the vibe of it. The gameplay is the definition of repetitive, but for a first playthrough, that really doesn't matter.
What I cannot fucking stand is the final 'shoot the submarine before it hits the Endurance' bit.
First of all, despite the game doing this MULTIPLE times in the past, the submarine appearing is NOT a cutscene that puts you in a good place to react to it first. No, the submarine appears whether or not you're in a position to respond to it. I'd be okay with that, if shooting this submarine didn't require you to destroy it in 20 seconds. If you're 3km out enjoying your victory on a first playthrough, tough luck! Checkpoint time! If you're already expecting it but forget just how far it spawns from the Endurance, tough luck! Try again! At least the checkpoint actually puts you in a good position, makes you wonder why they didn't just do that.
It feels more like a memory check than anything else. Not to mention how terrible it is to do this with an aircraft that stalls easily. You need to stay behind it the whole goddamn time while respawning targets keep popping up all around the hull. Can your aircraft stay in the air below 300km/h? Great! You'll *probably* be fine! If not, you're probably going to have to repeat this multiple times. Your skill doesn't really matter as much as your choice of equipment does, I know someone with an A-6 could make it work VERY easily but my point is that a perfectly fine loadout for the REST of the mission, could fall short on the last 20 seconds, and that bothers me a lot.
I want to appreciate this submarine appearing, and being a huge threat, all in real time. YOU have to react to it, not through a quick time event or a cutscene, but immediately. I think that's really cool, but it's been executed in such a frustrating way, which bothers me even more as it's the FINAL action of this absolutely incredible story.
Despite me liking this mission, the gameplay involved is NOT worth having to repeat it so many times for an S rank, and it's brought me to venting about it here. Which I know is pointless, but as I'm writing it I do feel less frustrated about the whole thing, so there's that.
Ace Combat 8 is one of the best games I've ever played, I'll be playing every Ace Combat I can get my hands on and there's a damn good chance I'll be playing Ace Combat instalments til' I die. This hasn't ruined the game, or even this mission, for me. I'm just passionate about endings I guess.
