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13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim |OT| Yoko Taro and Masahiro Sakurai Recommend
- Thread starter purseowner
- Start date
- OT
So I've been playing thru stories until I have to do battles, and then going back to stories. Is there a particular character story route order that ppl recommend? What's the easiest play route to take to experience the story?
There isn't a best/easiest route. Everyone can just experience the story in whatever order they please.
Personally I bounced around a lot, doing a couple chapters of a character's story before switching to someone else. And I'd do like 1-2 battles for every 4-5 story missions along the way.
This felt like a balanced way of going through the game as I was rarely gated off from anything and didn't get burned out on combat or any one character's story.
I binged most of this over the past few days and I'm still sorting my thoughts but I found much of it to be intensely frustrating.
I spent most of the game confused as to what was going on and was expecting the finale to wrap everything up. The ending explains the broad strokes of what happened but there are lot of particulars that I found murky at best and inexplicable at worst.
My main issue is that this sort of non-linear structure is terrible for the mystery box storytelling it's going for. So there can be revelations made early in the player experience that don't really make much sense in context, but when you do get that context, it could be hours later, so they end up getting robbed of emotional impact.
The only big twist I thought was handled well was when the Shu and Yuki discovered the edge of the world. The stuff about time travel not actually being time travel was weirdly handled because Miura wonders it outloud and more or less makes it obvious, so when it's explicitly stated it's more of a "oh OK" then a "wow mind blown". It's also an issue because you may learn that "time travel isn't real" but then play another character's story where they still refer to it as time travel. So is it real or not? It's not, but that kind of dramatic irony is really distracting. But maybe not every player experienced this way?
Even moreso, I'm really struggling to find how many of the events of this story actually matter. Most of the narrative is set in place by characters from loops ago, and you're left to try to put together the pieces because they're all presented wildly out of order so it's hard to feel any connection for them. But even those only affect of a few of the main characters - one of the biggest is Okino, who you don't even actually play as and just glean information from in other character's stories. At the end of the story, what did most of these characters actually *do*?
Not every character needs to tie-in into the central story but I don't find this game was good at the individual stories either. Some of them are likeable because their art is fantastic, the voice acting is excellent, and dialogue is well-written, but what are their motivations? What are there character arcs? I couldn't tell you what happened in Tomi Kisaragi's storyline at all, except in a previous loop she ended up becoming a sentient pop star AI in space? And also replicated as a killer android but is actually the soul of a character that was painted to be a villain for most of the story but actually wasn't? OK, but how does any of that affect the overall story? BJ/Miura sacrificed himself for...data? But what was that data used for? I'm going to go through their events in-order to get a better idea, but you shouldn't have to do this!
Also Shinonome's motivations being vague as hell is a narrative crime. You can't just toss off a single line of dialogue about it, this is important stuff!
And it's aggravating, because overall, the story is pretty interesting. The kaiju invasion code being taken from an old video game is a neat concept! In spite of my complaints about the characters, I did like a lot of them, and the epilogue was pretty well done. But I want my WHAM moments to actually hit when I'm experiencing it, not by reading about it in the in-game Wikipedia.
I guess that I'm still trying to piece all of this together means I didn't hate it, but a lot of this feels convoluted for convoluted's sake.
Also, was it ever really explained why most character's stories "reset" the events, just keeping they knowledge and keywords they discovered? I figured it would be addressed since the concept of looping is pretty important but I don't think it was explained much beyond "it's a simulation".
My main issue is that this sort of non-linear structure is terrible for the mystery box storytelling it's going for. So there can be revelations made early in the player experience that don't really make much sense in context, but when you do get that context, it could be hours later, so they end up getting robbed of emotional impact.
The only big twist I thought was handled well was when the Shu and Yuki discovered the edge of the world. The stuff about time travel not actually being time travel was weirdly handled because Miura wonders it outloud and more or less makes it obvious, so when it's explicitly stated it's more of a "oh OK" then a "wow mind blown". It's also an issue because you may learn that "time travel isn't real" but then play another character's story where they still refer to it as time travel. So is it real or not? It's not, but that kind of dramatic irony is really distracting. But maybe not every player experienced this way?
Even moreso, I'm really struggling to find how many of the events of this story actually matter. Most of the narrative is set in place by characters from loops ago, and you're left to try to put together the pieces because they're all presented wildly out of order so it's hard to feel any connection for them. But even those only affect of a few of the main characters - one of the biggest is Okino, who you don't even actually play as and just glean information from in other character's stories. At the end of the story, what did most of these characters actually *do*?
Not every character needs to tie-in into the central story but I don't find this game was good at the individual stories either. Some of them are likeable because their art is fantastic, the voice acting is excellent, and dialogue is well-written, but what are their motivations? What are there character arcs? I couldn't tell you what happened in Tomi Kisaragi's storyline at all, except in a previous loop she ended up becoming a sentient pop star AI in space? And also replicated as a killer android but is actually the soul of a character that was painted to be a villain for most of the story but actually wasn't? OK, but how does any of that affect the overall story? BJ/Miura sacrificed himself for...data? But what was that data used for? I'm going to go through their events in-order to get a better idea, but you shouldn't have to do this!
Also Shinonome's motivations being vague as hell is a narrative crime. You can't just toss off a single line of dialogue about it, this is important stuff!
And it's aggravating, because overall, the story is pretty interesting. The kaiju invasion code being taken from an old video game is a neat concept! In spite of my complaints about the characters, I did like a lot of them, and the epilogue was pretty well done. But I want my WHAM moments to actually hit when I'm experiencing it, not by reading about it in the in-game Wikipedia.
I guess that I'm still trying to piece all of this together means I didn't hate it, but a lot of this feels convoluted for convoluted's sake.
Also, was it ever really explained why most character's stories "reset" the events, just keeping they knowledge and keywords they discovered? I figured it would be addressed since the concept of looping is pretty important but I don't think it was explained much beyond "it's a simulation".
Finished today. One of the finest sci-fi stories I've experienced in a long time.
Anyway, really wish more people would play this. Tempted to buy a bunch of copies for people I know who would give it a chance.
I really like the time-travel red herring. I've never experienced a story that presented as time travel, then turned out to just be different areas modelled after different time periods. It was a clever way to bring a time travel plot into the realm of the possible. Most of the other twists were cool too, but that was the big one for me.
Destruction gameplay was fun (I played the whole thing on intense as the other modes seemed too easy). A few of the later battles dropped to single digit fps when there was a lot onscreen. Would be interested in knowing if a PS4 Pro or PS5 runs them smoothly. Didn't really interfere with my enjoyment though.
If I had one gripe with the game it's that it's too complex for its own good perhaps. I only have a loose grasp on who originally came from what time period / loop. Morimura is the worst offender for this. However, I skimmed through the event timeline after finishing it and that helped a bit. It's nice that they're all sorted in "real" chronological order (i.e. not sector timeline) so you can see how things played out.
Destruction gameplay was fun (I played the whole thing on intense as the other modes seemed too easy). A few of the later battles dropped to single digit fps when there was a lot onscreen. Would be interested in knowing if a PS4 Pro or PS5 runs them smoothly. Didn't really interfere with my enjoyment though.
If I had one gripe with the game it's that it's too complex for its own good perhaps. I only have a loose grasp on who originally came from what time period / loop. Morimura is the worst offender for this. However, I skimmed through the event timeline after finishing it and that helped a bit. It's nice that they're all sorted in "real" chronological order (i.e. not sector timeline) so you can see how things played out.
Anyway, really wish more people would play this. Tempted to buy a bunch of copies for people I know who would give it a chance.
Are you me? I was gonna buy a copy or two to give away here on ERA before I had second thoughts for monetary reasons. So I've settled for just raving about the game to anyone who will listen, both online and in real life.
It runs without frame drops on PS5, I tested it myself as have others, so that's nice.
Excellent breakdown of what was discussed and announced on the Anniversary stream.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim 1st Anniversary Stream Summary: Seiyuu Comments, Character Popularity Poll, Figures, New Manga, Remix OST Album With New Miyuki Inaba Song
Announcements and everything that happened on the 1st anniversary stream of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, newest masterpiece by Vanillaware.www.dualshockers.com
Anyone know how I can buy the prints?!
So I've just unlocked
story seems to be ramping up even if I'm still very confused and it's still tropey.
my guess is
it's definitely starting to sink in it's hooks.
Yuki Chan's story and played the first few parts. Her being Natsuno's mom and those characters being from 2188 was a cool twist.
my guess is
each sector is a different time period and they aren't on earth or something
Almost finished with the game after I got it in the black friday sale (just need to finish up two stories and Destruction area 3) and I think my favourite thing about it is how it is super disjointed but everything has an explanation somehow.
Great game, should have played it earlier (I thought about getting it in Japanese way back but was intimidated by sci-fi vocabulary, in retrospect it would have worked out fine, the JP is pretty easy) but better late than never. Especially since I am playing on PS5 and heard the game was a technical mess on the normal PS4 - I didn't have a Pro - so I guess that's a plus I had for waiting.
Like how it has an in-universe explanation on why the gameplay loop in Destruction with Meta-Chips and everything is the way it is. I thought that was really cool.
Great game, should have played it earlier (I thought about getting it in Japanese way back but was intimidated by sci-fi vocabulary, in retrospect it would have worked out fine, the JP is pretty easy) but better late than never. Especially since I am playing on PS5 and heard the game was a technical mess on the normal PS4 - I didn't have a Pro - so I guess that's a plus I had for waiting.
30% through Remembrance.
This is quite complex; notably, characters have their own sidestories off in Ogata infinite loop train land (Source Code, anyone?), and Tomi and Ogata and Miwako in ruined 2025, and because there's no general indication of chronology between stories, it's very hard to figure out when any of this is actually happening.
I'm secretly hoping I don't *have* to figure that out, because each character's story ends up being a unique isolated branch of time formed by the "loops", which have been mentioned once or twice, but I feel like I've definitely seen some direct overlap between multiple characters' stories...though, of course, they could just be similar things happening in different loops.
The kaiju have appeared in 1945, 1985, 2025, 2064, and 2178...seems like they just go back in time to wherever the hell they feel like it in various different loops? Probably responding to where the main characters end up going back to, time and time again.
Favorite character by far is Usagi, so far. I just love Cassandra Lee Morris.
Will play more tonight!
I'm secretly hoping I don't *have* to figure that out, because each character's story ends up being a unique isolated branch of time formed by the "loops", which have been mentioned once or twice, but I feel like I've definitely seen some direct overlap between multiple characters' stories...though, of course, they could just be similar things happening in different loops.
The kaiju have appeared in 1945, 1985, 2025, 2064, and 2178...seems like they just go back in time to wherever the hell they feel like it in various different loops? Probably responding to where the main characters end up going back to, time and time again.
Favorite character by far is Usagi, so far. I just love Cassandra Lee Morris.
Will play more tonight!
Aww yeah. You're right at the percentage that I would describe as the "rising action" portion of this interwoven story. Get ready for a steady drip-feed of interesting revelations from here on out.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous. I wish I could experience it all again with fresh eyes.
With regard to the order of events, don't worry. You can always hop into the Event Viewer under Analysis and see all events laid out chronologically.
I mean...ARE they laid out chronologically? From the perspective of a certain character(s), perhaps?
idk never mind don't tell me ^^
So someone posted a pic of early Morimura concepts from the newly releases Japanese art book.
Those all look better than her final iteration that made it into the game, IMO.
Except non of them look like Fuyusaka
13 Sentinels is up for the Player's Voice Award at The Game Awards
Round one ends on Friday and only the top 10 games move to the next round:
thegameawards.com
Round one ends on Friday and only the top 10 games move to the next round:
Players’ Voice | Brackets | The Game Awards
Check out the nominees for PLAYERS’ VOICE at TheGameAwards.com. Who will you vote for? #TheGameAwards @TheGameAwards
thegameawards.com
I have to get back to work but if someone hasn't tackled this I'll try to do my best later. I think one of the big things about this game is putting yourself in others shoes. A big thing is how much romance there is and how you, the omnipresent player, have no control over how it plays out. You just need to take that removal of agency and apply that to each character. This isn't your story.
There are no resets outside of Ogata's. I was confused at first, too, but it's doing two things. The first is that it's mimicing real life in how every day can feel routine and looking back only a few key moments will stand out each day. The other is that this is all a simulation and it's likely similar to their false trips outside town. The easiest answer is it helps make scenarios easier but certain characters have similar scenarios where dialogue doesn't repeat so I think it's a choice.
That whole part was weird because Ogata was the only character who seemed aware that the events were looping. I thought that maybe applied to the other characters too but they didn't realize it...but nope. Dunno if that was an intentional misdirect or not. The Universal Control does "reorient" things so maybe that's one of the reasons it (kinda) resets things? It added to the dream-like atmosphere of the game but at the same time, it made it feel like nothing of consequence happens in most of the stories.
Another thing that occurred to me - is there any actual physical space or is everything virtual? The cities are only 30 km but if they're in a simulation, why isn't it unlimited? Then again, it might've been technical constraints with creating words that were too large, even in virtual space.
Another thing that occurred to me - is there any actual physical space or is everything virtual? The cities are only 30 km but if they're in a simulation, why isn't it unlimited? Then again, it might've been technical constraints with creating words that were too large, even in virtual space.
Might start this soon. Does it support VITA remote play? I'd rather play this lounging instead of seated at my desk.
I am so fucking lost in here :/ is there some chronoligal video recap after I beat the game or something like that? It doesnt have that effect on me where I understand more by playing more... i dont want to gasp all of this by reading some neverending text recap where are a lot of names and years and what not. Really enjoying this but I am fucking lost :/
The "All Event" timeline in the analysis section will contain everything in chronological order and is the absolute truth.
Thats normal, are you still going through the story? If so my advice is to play in short sessions so your brain doesn't overload trying to remember details.
Another helpful tip I did was to recap the last revelation you made with a character before you start their new route just as a refresher.
I am about 60% into the story. Iwill try to recap all events by character.. hope it helps.thanks.
About 60-70% through the game and loving it so far! A few thoughts though:
- Before playing I noticed mention of naked teenagers, etc. I haven't seen naked teenagers in my 15 hours of playing. Am I missing something? Surely, its not about the fact that they're naked in the cockpit?
- The combat system could have been so much better! It's not awful but it just doesn't feel very impactful. Also Sentry is over powered.
- Before playing I noticed mention of naked teenagers, etc. I haven't seen naked teenagers in my 15 hours of playing. Am I missing something? Surely, its not about the fact that they're naked in the cockpit?
- The combat system could have been so much better! It's not awful but it just doesn't feel very impactful. Also Sentry is over powered.
30 hrs in, 5 cleared characters and I still dont understand many things or have a clear sense of the order of events within the world and character development, even with the help within the game.
Is making me feel frustrated with it, Im constantly "wait what? he/she is really *****? but**** was already ****" , "what are they doing? oh yeah because of that.... but wait... it wasn't the the opposite of what they wanted?.... oh yeah in this sector hasnt that happened.... but wait on that other sector it already happened..."
Maybe Im overthinking too much, it feels like Im playing a version of the TV series of DARK but with even less cohesion
Is making me feel frustrated with it, Im constantly "wait what? he/she is really *****? but**** was already ****" , "what are they doing? oh yeah because of that.... but wait... it wasn't the the opposite of what they wanted?.... oh yeah in this sector hasnt that happened.... but wait on that other sector it already happened..."
Maybe Im overthinking too much, it feels like Im playing a version of the TV series of DARK but with even less cohesion
Considering you still have over half the cast left to complete I am sure the pieces will start coming together.
35 hrs in, 11 cleared characters ...
Nah... too much deus ex machina for the "narrative" GOTY.
Loop? which loop? all loops? no! The loop you silly.
Me? no! you! the you from before, no, the real you, no, other one, yes that one, no, the other one other one, the back up, no the other back up, no! the one from the logs, no!, the erased logs! didnt you pay attention?!
The absolute breaking point, 32hrs into this game.... "hey! lets beg the cat for coins!" btw I forgot to tell you how or where to do it......but does it matter?/make sense?-or-is-relevant 32hrs into the F***** game????
"Narrative" GOTY my ***!!
Nah... too much deus ex machina for the "narrative" GOTY.
Loop? which loop? all loops? no! The loop you silly.
Me? no! you! the you from before, no, the real you, no, other one, yes that one, no, the other one other one, the back up, no the other back up, no! the one from the logs, no!, the erased logs! didnt you pay attention?!
The absolute breaking point, 32hrs into this game.... "hey! lets beg the cat for coins!" btw I forgot to tell you how or where to do it......but does it matter?/make sense?-or-is-relevant 32hrs into the F***** game????
"Narrative" GOTY my ***!!
So I'm doing Juro's last story mission, and I've beaten all battles expect the final one. Do you have to complete all character stories to beat the game?
I'm pretty sure you're locked out of completing destruction until you clear the story 100%
Done with this game.
I "liked" it over all but it was needlessly obsessive, even till the very end , about how obtuse they will flesh out the story.
Other games told a similar story without the need to be convoluted from start to finish. Muv-Luv and Horizon Zero Dawn say hello.
I "liked" it over all but it was needlessly obsessive, even till the very end , about how obtuse they will flesh out the story.
Other games told a similar story without the need to be convoluted from start to finish. Muv-Luv and Horizon Zero Dawn say hello.
But Horizon Zero Dawn's storytelling was TERRIBLE compared to 13S.
just started this. I am still in the tutorial phase. I'm currently playing as Tatatoshi in the 80s.
Question. In the Japanese dub, does Takatoshi use female pronouns when referring to Kiriko?
Question. In the Japanese dub, does Takatoshi use female pronouns when referring to Kiriko?