Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere Japanese box art
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	Namco
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Genre(s)	Flight simulator
Mode(s)	Single-player

Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere (エースコンバット３ エレクトロスフィア, Ēsu Conbatto Surī Erekutorosufia) is the third installment in the Ace Combat series of games. A major departure from every other game in the series, it featured a futuristic storyline involving a war between a group of multinational corporations.

Plot

The plot, taking place in the future (between January 1 and July 21, 2040), revolves around a war between a group of corporations fighting over territorial disputes, and eventually a prototype fighter known as the X-49 Night Raven. During a period of financial chaos, the many governments of the world have eroded to nothing but corporatocracies. These corporations, not unlike the governments they control, have disputes often, and eventually a war is sparked.

Gameplay

AC3 was the first game in the series to feature a third-person 360-degree camera that could be rotated on all three axis with the right thumbstick; allowing the player to keep enemies in constant sight. This was a welcome feature and was carried over to later games. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their aircraft's armament.

It is the only game in the series so far to feature a mission in outer space. Although there is only one, it featured a reasonably accurate physics model of a zero-gravity situation. The game was also a departure in other ways; the style is reminiscent of the Wipeout series of games, especially the Head-Up Display (though some found it was too bulky and interfered with the player's view). The company logos of Neucom, Ouroboros, General Resource and the UPEO bear resemblance to the works of The Designers Republic. The soundtrack consists of a variety of electronic music, largely ambient mood setting tunes (as opposed to the rock music found in Ace Combat 2), composed by much of the same team responsible for the critically-acclaimed Ridge Racer soundtracks.

Development history

Released in 1999, the Japanese version is extremely story-driven, featuring anime cutscenes, detailed characters, and 52 missions, with multiple paths through the game and 5 possible endings. The Japanese version introduced some elements carried over to Ace Combat 04, including radio chatter between comrades and enemies, and intelligent wingmen. The American and European versions, released a year later, have been extremely criticized for removing almost all of the story elements, including all of the cutscenes, and cutting the game down to 36 missions. The anime cutscenes and the fictional aircraft also alienated Japanese fans of the series, who were expecting something closer to the arcade style of Ace Combat 2. However, sales in Japan were still strong (though still 100,000 copies less than Ace Combat 2), but the cutting down of the storyline led to a lack of success in other markets.

Characters

Note: All characters only appear in the game's Japanese version.

Nemo

Nemo, "Nought; Nobody", is the 'codename' of AC3's main protagonist. It is a highly intelligent computer programme developed by Simon, capable of flying aircraft and completing missions it is tasked with. It also has its own free will and personality, reaching as far as switching sides and joining the enemy if desired.

Since Nemo is in essence a programme, it is capable of completing sorties with extreme efficiency possibly unmatched by human pilots. The thought and reaction intervals normally present in humans are eliminated, and it can withstand as much G-forces as the airframe could theoretically handle. It could also load itself through an available connection into the Electrosphere or enemy aircraft.

Nemo itself is only, however, part of the big picture. A few years prior to the events of Ace Combat 3, Simon also created a mission simulator to examine all possible outcomes of a potential future Corporate War, and whether the creation of exceptionally intelligent AI pilots like Nemo would help stop the war from breaking loose. The whole programme, with the Nemo coding and the Simulator is collectively called the Nemo Project.

Simon, at the end of the game, determines that while Nemo appears to greatly influence the lives of its copilots, and despite its extreme usefulness as an instrument of war, the impact of its independent decisions on the outcome of the 2045 Corporate War is extremely minute, almost non existent. Since the project has served its purpose, Simon purges all of the programme's files fearing it might fall in the wrong hands.

Simon Orestes Cohen

Simon is the creator of the Nemo project. In 2023, Simon had completed his doctorate in Information Technologies from the graduate program at Accel University. A year earlier in 2022, he received the Electra award for his published dissertation titled "Basic Theory of Artificial Intelligence Organization by Genetic Information Conversion". This theory has been used in military activities such as the creation of Artificial Intelligence for military use. One such A.I. was "Nemo". In 2023, Simon joined General Resource Ltd. After 8 years of service at GR, he transferred to Neucom Inc. in 2031. Now he belongs to Neucom Inc. and engages in military-related research.

After completing all five endings in the Japanese version of Ace Combat 3, it is revealed that the entire game is a computer simulation, and, since the simulation is over, Simon purges Nemo.

UPEO

Gabriel W. Clarkson

By being a member of the USEA assembly, he became an active voting member of the NUN. In 2037, he became the official representative of UPEO and is still serving that position till halfway through the corporate war. Mr Clarkson decided to leave UPEO and join Neucom in a classified mission at Lambert Mountains.

On discovering Gabriel's betrayal, Nemo (as part of UPEO) and his wingmen were ordered to shoot down the R-505 with Clarkson and Fiona onboard. If Nemo spares their life and joins Neucom, Mr. Clarkson successfully flees UPEO's corruption and joins Neucom.

In an alternative scenario, Nemo (as part of General Resources), Keith and Dision shot down the R-505 in the same mission over Lambert Mountains.

Erich Jaeger

Erich had a significant role in The Corporate War of 2045. His first mission of the war was to, along with other SARF squadron pilots, intercept and destroy Neucom transport planes over Expo City. Despite his squadron temporarily losing its leader, they were thrown into battle again to eliminate Neucom's radarsite network and secret military bases in Waiaboro. Participating in most of the major SARF operations, he was recommended as a good and experienced fighter pilot. However, he doubted UPEO's significance and it's priorities, calling it a "paper tiger".

During the secret mission concerning the escort of an UPEO representative above Mt. Lambert, he was one of the pilots who refused to shoot down representative's R-505U when ordered to do so. He went AWOL along with his whole squadron during an assignment to rendezvous with an allied UI-4053 Sphyrna airborne aircraft carrier, and there is no further information available at the moment. However, it is certain that he was one of the rogue UPEO pilots who attacked and destroyed the UPEO base in Expo City, along with Gilbert Park, UPEO's supreme commander.

There are two known fates for Erich in the Corporate War, depending on the player's actions. If the player decides to favour General Resource, Erich will be shot down early in the engagement in the mission "Tainted Peace". If the player decides to stay with UPEO until then end, he lives. It is unknown whether or not if he survives in the two other endings, but it's assumed that if the player decides to join Ouroboros with Cynthia, Erich will be killed during the raid on the UPEO base to capture Rena in the mission "Reality Distortion".

Neucom

Fiona Chris Fitzgerald

Fiona joined UPEO in 2039, continued to work for SARF till halfway through the Corporate War, where she attempted to join her sister at Neucom in an escort mission over Lambert Mountains.

There are two possible fates for Fiona in the Corporate War. Three paths lead to her death and on the last she survived, but at the price of her sister. Fiona was flying an R-505U transport aircraft carrying one of UPEO top ranking officers, Gabriel W. Clarkson. As she approached Mt. Lambert, she was intercepted by a multitude of General Resource fighters. If Nemo formerly decided to join General Resources or refuses to join Neucom when offered the chance, he shoots her down in this mission. If Nemo obliged and joined Neucom when offered the chance, Fiona gets safely escorted to the respective Neucom base.

At Neucom, Fiona regrouped with her sister Cynthia. Their first mission was to destroy some General Resource facilities in White Valley. After the destruction of the base, and after secretly finding out about her sister's involvement in the Sublimation project as a test subject, she had a huge argument with her sister about the matter. Unable to get the reply she wants, she left the matter unresolved for the next few missions.

After another mission well done in the White Valley region, Cynthia made her final decision: to join Ouroboros as a Sublimation project candidate despite Fiona's attempts to change her mind.

If Nemo decided to join Fiona, she lives till the end of the corporate war, assisting in the destruction of the Sphyrna, and a few missions later, the Nightraven in the Geofront. With assistance from Nemo, Fiona also avenges her sister by shooting down Dision, OB leader and the reason why Cynthia got involved with the terrorist organisation, after an extended follow up battle also in the Geofront. Nemo and Fiona returned to Neucom after the showdown.

Sometime later, Fiona receives a message from her sublimed sister Cynthia, telling tales of how great free living in the Electrosphere is and how she wishes Fiona was here to join her.

If Nemo decided to join Cynthia into Ouroboros when given the chance, Fiona is killed in one of Ouroboros' raids on the Neucom bases.

Cynthia Bridgitte Fitzgerald

She's an ace pilot in NEU, Neucom's paramilitary force. She is Fiona's older sister.

Her first missions in the Corporate War are unknown. She made her first appearance in a video call made by her sister to Nemo. During the course of the war, Dision successfully convinced her to sign up for the sublimation project, promising her a life free of bounds in the Electrosphere, striking himself as an example. Fiona, on finding her name in the list of sublimation candidates, spawned a huge argument with her sister. Fiona failed to alter her sister's decision and was left with a disappointing answer.

A few missions later, Cynthia was put as the lead of a three-plane formation tasked the bombing of a General Resource facility in White Valley. After a brief 'row', the mission starts. After the mission, Cynthia followed Dision's calling and decided to join Ouroboros. At this point, Nemo had to choose whether to stay in Neucom or to join Ouroboros.

If you follow Cynthia and join with Ouroboros, she was to attack and infiltrate UPEO base in order to capture Rena, the X-49 Night Raven's trained pilot (and a former friend of her sister's). On returning to base, she witnessed the destruction of Neucom bases and her sister's death in the news. Fueled by her frustration, she went to Dision for answers but to no avail. Feeling powerless and full of sorrow for her sister, she shot the screen through which Dision communicates with her and went on a quest for revenge.

After leaving the Sphyrna for another mission, she predictably turned against the OB headquarters and with aid from Nemo, heavily damaged the huge airship and went for the newly deployed Nightraven. After an extended showdown in the Geofront and over Port Edwards, Nemo and Cynthia successfully shot down the X-49.

After seeing the truth behind Ouroboros and regretting her decision, Cynthia decided to rejoin her former employer, Neucom.

On the other hand, if the player stays with Neucom, Fiona doesn't die under Nemo's lead and therefore Cynthia proceeds with the Sublimation project as originally planned by Dision. Cynthia's body was shot down later on by Nemo in a long lasting dogfight (optional) and after the corporate war was over, the sublimed Cynthia contacted her unhappy sister via the Electrosphere.

General Resource

Youko Martha Inoue

After her graduation, she joined General Resource Ltd. and participated in the "DOE Plan", a General Resource's secret military research project, started in 2028. She was appointed as the project leader and she became the one who came up with the first concept of sublimation or computerization development, the way to change information within the brain from solid flesh into software, by a brain surgery that transforms the brain into digital data. Through sublimation, it becomes possible for people to discard their physical bodies from this world and live on software. However, she, along with a fellow staff member (the body of Abyssal Dision), was involved in accident while in the midst of researching in 2030.

She appeared to have a special relationship with Abyssal Dision, and it seemed that Dision really took deep heart of her. In the DOE research center, Dision saw, through his vision connected to a camera, Youko in trouble as he found some sneaking terrorist troops who were about to blow up the lab. Dision became really upset as he could not help her out from the accident. Youko would die in the attack, but Dision would live on in the electrosphere.

Keith Bryan

Unlike his Squad Leader, Abyssal Dision, Keith remains loyal to General Resource and goes on a quest to shoot down Dision. If the player flies for Ouroboros, Keith will attack Dision, Rena, and the player. Once he is damaged enough, he will do a kamikaze attack on the Night Raven and get his plane stuck in it. The player will then shoot Keith off the Night Raven, finally shooting him down, and destroying the Night Raven. If the player joins and stays with General Resource, he and Keith will attack Ouroboros. The player and Keith will attack the Night Raven at the underground city Geofront, destroying the city to take out Night Raven. They will then chase the Night Raven out of Geofront and shoot it (and Rena Hirose) down. Afterwards, they will chase down Dision and Keith will destroy him, damaging his own plane in the process.

Ouroboros

Gilbert Park

He presided over a UPEO increasing in its ability to maintain peace and order. Now he serves as the supreme-commander of NUN's UPEO.

He is generally mistrusted by every character in the game, and for good reason; he is revealed to be the leader of Ouroboros. No matter what the player's decisions, he will die at the end of the game.

Abyssal Dision

Dision is the main antagonist of Ace Combat 3.

In 2030, Dision got involved in a top secret General Resource research project known as 'DOE', led by an experienced General Resource scientist, Yoko Inoue, whom he later had a relationship with. Dision and Yoko were experimenting the process of duplicating a subject's consciousness into the Electrosphere, a process termed as Sublimation. Dision, being one of the first test subjects, has successfully uploaded his personality into the Electrosphere.

During their extensive research a mysterious military faction bombed their laboratory, killing both Yoko and Dision in the explosion, leaving a sad AI Dision on the Electrosphere as the only person to know about the Sublimation project.

At around the same year, Dision met a 9-year-old girl with great flying talent, especially using COFFIN system. Later, he invited this girl, known as Rena Hirose, to participate in GR's power development project before joining UPEO 7 years later, in 2037.

Dision later became Keith Bryan's military partner, who graduated from the same college in Sandbury Desert. During the war, they have undergone joint training schemes in conjunction with UPEO pilots. Later on, Dision defected from GRDF with secret plans of using his knowledge of Sublimation and his abuse of Rena's capabilities of piloting the Night Raven, to spawn a long hidden terrorist organization spearheaded by himself, called the Ouroboros.

Dision successfully lured a selection of key players in the war (one of which was Cynthia, a NEU Ace Pilot) into signing up for the Sublimation project, to "experience a world unlimited by the boundaries of flesh. To try and convince Rena into flying the Night Raven for him, he first promised her an explanation to her past and the Night Raven project. Failing to convert her to Ouroboros, he attempted to use her ENSI connection to corrupt her memory.

At the beginning of the corporate war, Dision met Nemo during one of the GRDF-SARF joint training missions. Amazed by Nemo's performance and thinking Nemo could be a great asset if turned over to Ouroboros, Dision asked Nemo to follow him to leave the paper tiger that is UPEO and join GRDF. From here the story can split into four paths:

UPEO Path

Nemo declined Dision's offer and chose to stay with UPEO. Seeing there's no hope in Nemo, he resorts to his original plans of converting Nemo's then fellow pilot, Rena. Rena followed Dision's fake claims (accompanied by Nemo if he chooses to in the previous mission). Seeing Nemo as an obstacle, Dision risks exposing the Ouroboros by starting a terrorist attack in Axel Bay as a distraction. When Nemo was handling the Cralias threat, Dision offered Rena the opportunity to join Ouroboros, but unable to completely convince her, she returns back to the UPEO base.

Much later on in the war, seeing it's best to strike when the conflict is at its most vulnerable part, Dision leaves GRDF in an unexpected move that leaves even his own colleague, Keith, surprised. As the leader of Ouroboros, he starts raids on Neucom and General Resource bases everywhere while summoning candidates of the Sublimation project to the Sphyrna. Dision uses Rena's ENSI connections to corrupt her memory and forcefully makes her pilot the Night Raven for Ouroboros. Rena, under Dision's control, annihilates Neucom's greatest achievement and command centre, Megafloat in one hit.

Ouroboros' success was short lived when Rena started to break out of Dision's control. She, with help from Nemo and Erich, destroyed the OB headquarters, the Sphyrna and Dision, effectively putting an end to the organization. With Neucom and GR exhausted from the war and the unexpected OB attacks, the corporate war has reached an end.

Neucom Path

If Nemo joins Neucom he will end up helping Fiona Fitzgerald. The fight was on when Fiona sought the truth about her sister's intentions. She and Nemo would end up fighting against Dision's Ouroboros faction who made her sister 'suffer'. The final fight started above the remains of Megafloat and ended inside the GeoFront, when Dision was at last shot down, while crying for his lover during his last moments.

General Resource Path

If Nemo joins General Resource (GR), he will fly along side Dision and Keith without any problems. It was not until only moments before the mission, "Dilemma", that Dision showed his true motives. During an encrypted message to Nemo, he said that he had this dream that people shouldn't be limited by their flesh and they should break free. The message was a one-time-deal, and he kept silence to the others until he said his objective clearly after Mission Dillemma. After Dision went to Ouroboros, Nemo stayed, and the GR side went on a full-scale battle against Neucom forces when suddenly a transmission came in showing pieces if Dision's memories. The static transmission consisted of conversations between Yoko and Dision. Later, Dision and Nemo came face to face above Port Edwards where he was finally shot down, Keith making the final death blow.

Ouroboros path

If Nemo does decide to join Ouroboros, Dision went on fightng the world along with Nemo across the continent. The fight was reaching its climax when Rena, suddenly went haywire. Dision, worried by his apprentice weird behavior, went on a rescue mission when he met Keith who was hunting the Night Raven. During their fight, a piece of information flashed. It was a few years back, where Dision still had his 'flesh body'. The scene showed Yoko successfully upload Dision's personal data to the Electrosphere, creating a secondary consciousness of Dision. But there was an armed group who advances towards them. Dision's 'secondary consciousness' tried to warn Yoko and his own body about the attack, but it was all in vain. After the fight, Rena was shot down, and it was Dision who went haywire. He had a mental breakdown and Nemo set about to eliminate Dision. Dision, refused to be 'deleted' jumped to Electrosphere followed by Nemo. The two fought to the bitter end, and Dision was shot down inside the Sphere.

Alternatively, Nemo could help Cynthia who joined the Ouroboros to feel 'sublimation'. Cynthia would later seek revenge on Dision for the death of her sister, Fiona, who was killed during an Ouroboros raid. If Nemo follows this path, Dision would later be shot down along with the Sphyrna above the Usean Sea.

Rena Hirose

Born with Silverstone disease (the pigment offers no protection from sunlight), she is forced to wear a special spacesuit-looking suit to protect her from direct sunlight. Rena joined General Resource Ltd. in an early age of 9 for her extraordinary ability in piloting. There she was involved in the development of the Night Raven. In 2037, she was transferred to UPEO. She is a pilot for SARF, which formed in 2040, along with three other pilots. She always flew her blue Su-37R during her flight with SARF.

Her first mission in the corporate war was to stop Neucom transports over Expo City along with other SARF members. From then on, she flew on various missions for SARF. Until the decision of Megafloat and Mt. Lambert.

There are five possible 'fates' for Rena Hirose from the Corporate War. Except for the SARF path, all of them lead to her death. Depending on which ending, Rena will be shot down in either Geofront or over Port Edwards.

When the player decides on the SARF Path, Rena and her companions flew for various missions. She flew on a mission inside Hatties Ravine and above Expo City, canceling General Resources' attack on the city where she found out that her enemy is none other than Abyssal Dision. And then she came as reinforcement above Mt. Lambert just to tell the other pilot that the transport they have been escorting is on the run to Neucom. She gave the pilot Nemo an order to shoot the transport along with Fiona in the helm. Various missions were flown by this ace while she tenured at UPEO until mission 'Bug Hunt' where she is 'bombed' by ANB because she was contaminated by nanobytes. She went to the Ouroboros' flying fortress and joined them for a moment before she was crashed above Erusean Sea. She was later discovered by Erich and Nemo and possibly rescued from her wrecked aircraft.

External links

• Official Japanese Ace Combat 3 site
• Template:GameFAQs
• Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere at MobyGames
• Ace Combat Wiki
• Japanese version vs. English release