Sorry Ulysses lol.
Never liked Armored Core, it's not a Mech game to me. Its an FPS arcade shooter with robot skins. Giant robots should not be zoomy-ass evengelion ballerinas engaging in sword combat. They should be unweildy tanks that casually stroll thru one-story buildings and fart artillery.
My first stompy robot game was Mechwarrior 3, and that's set my expectation of the genre ever since.