User blog comment:Ishimura Elite/My Gripes with Infinity (What That Game I Love)/@comment-1824272-20160926025003

1. There are rumors that Infinity was never supposed to have a story mode, and also rumors that it was supposed to end at Far Eastern Front. Compared to Assault Horizon's 16 missions for $60, Infinity's 8 missions are $20 (now $13 in the United States). Story mode was not supposed to be a focus for Infinity, it was supposed to be a free-to-play multiplayer game through and through. Understand from their perspective - Ace Combat, to Bandai Namco, was dead in the water. Infinity was its last chance to survive. And everyone loved the gameplay so much, and was willing to support their story mode, that we now have Ace Combat 7.

2. Enemy air AI in some cases, especially SP or TGT enemies, appears to copy code from DFM. That's why they pull off some insane maneuvers sometimes. Grin and bear it, unfortunately; Infinity uses Assault Horizon's engine so they figured they could use the DFM maneuvers to give those special targets increased difficulty. It kinda went too far, obviously. :P

3. That's your internet.

4. That's also your internet. Actual hackers are, in fact, banned by Bandai Namco once they're detected.

5. You're complaining about a free-to-play game being a free-to-play game at this point. There always has to be the elite stuff that most people won't get. Half of those 1,000-medal aircraft aren't worth it when compared to many other aircraft that are easily accessible through the rest of the game or even for less medals, and just as powerful. The medal system alleviates the tournament system a lot, you're right, and the amount of medals you get for some of the ranks are abysmal, you're also right, but it's not that devilish.

6. You're being paired up with players at ~2600 MR because either you made the room with "No Restrictions" on the matching range, or the 2600 MRs did. Make a room with the "Wide" matching range or even something less than that for a closer match.

7. I agree, the prices for the "vanity planes" are ludicrous compared to similar-performing aircraft. This is the same thing as #5, with the 1,000-medal aircraft. Like I always say in reference to Whose Line Is It Anyway, "Welcome to Ace Combat Infinity where the balance is made up and the stat bars don't matter."

8. Just like #5, you're complaining about a free-to-play game being a free-to-play game when the Ace Combat series was near death. The Sortie Fuel system, known as "energy" in many other free-to-play games, is exactly that - common in free-to-play games. What they COULD have done was make us pay $20 outright for each of the "vanity planes", but that's not fun. The gameplay in Infinity IS fun, and I think you're underestimating how easy it is to get Stocked Fuel in this game.