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You haven’t played the best PlayStation exclusive of 2020 - Polygon (it's 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim)
- Thread starter Dreamboum
- Start date
Yep. I bought into the hype and the "no, it's really not what you think it is" and I am regretting it for now. If you don't like anime, there's a very good chance you won't like this game.
I'll still play this game a bit longer but I really think it's not for me, just as I expected.
Yeah these two along with the nurse stick out and I wish they handled them better. The other characters look fine but it is just those two that look weird and the nurse with her weird design.
If terrible opinions were a bannable offense, this one would easily be a perma.
Outer Wilds is one of the best games ever made so... just no.
Love how over the top people go with feedback for games. Based on this thread this sounds like the best game ever.
I'm currently playing it now and still in the prologues, so maybe it takes awhile to take off, but so far it's just alright and some of the framing and writing around the female characters feels really cringey, bordering on sexualization in a gross way. And I'm used to anime tropes but I feel like they're kinda detrimental here. Like the school nurse? Come the fuck on, man.
No, the program specifically has to be interrupted by the invasion before they're 18, otherwise the program would end and they would enter the next stage. I believe Juro Kurabe is explicitly said to be 16.
And I didn't say there wasn't obvious pandering with titillation - Kisaragi was my favorite character but I was super disappointed with the way they framed her cockpit portrait because it was the only one I thought was obviously gross. But I don't think it's fair to say it's a similar situation to Quiet, which I haven't played but I've read others complaints so I might be wrong, but... It sounds like her whole "thing" was invented for the purpose of showing her nudity. In this game, the plot reason not only makes sense, but
people would be asking left and right, "wait if they were in the pods then why did they have clothes, that doesn't make sense.
They could've handwaved it away, but at it's core it is ingrained into the story in a way that just makes sense. That they still dialed up the titillation on the women in particular sucks and I'm not defending that aspect, I'm just saying they obviously didn't start from a nude design then found a justification to it.
All the talk on this forum convinced me to buy it. About 4 hours in and I love it. Wish I could skip some of the combat tho since the story is so arresting
All the praise this game gets always makes me want to try it, but then I remember this is the naked kids in mechs game and lose interest. Rinse. Repeat.
I get why people would be hesitant at the whole "child nudity' thing, I really do, but I'll just say the following:
1. There's no actual nudity. You see them from the shoulders up for the most part when they're in the robots and that's it. The game's rated T for teen. You really think the ESRB would okay a T-rated game with "child nudity" in it?
2. This is going to sound like your typical excuse, but there is actually a legit reason why they're naked in their mechs. This is coming from someone who usually rolls their eyes at the "you'll regret your words and deeds" Quiet-like excuses, but this is one of the few times that it actually holds water. If you want to know why early (since you don't find out till near the end of the game), then....
At the end of the day, it's a legit good game with a great story. I doubt Sakurai and Yoko Taro would have praised the game so highly if it wasn't. There's a reason why most people who give it a shot end up really liking it. I doubt you'll ever play a game like it again. That being said, it's obviously niche as fuck and your enjoyment will depend on how much you can tolerate visual novels/adventure games, RTS sections, and anime artstyle/tropes. If you're one of those people who goes "ew anime" at anything with an anime artstyle, then you're probably not going to like this.
1. There's no actual nudity. You see them from the shoulders up for the most part when they're in the robots and that's it. The game's rated T for teen. You really think the ESRB would okay a T-rated game with "child nudity" in it?
2. This is going to sound like your typical excuse, but there is actually a legit reason why they're naked in their mechs. This is coming from someone who usually rolls their eyes at the "you'll regret your words and deeds" Quiet-like excuses, but this is one of the few times that it actually holds water. If you want to know why early (since you don't find out till near the end of the game), then....
This game pays direct homage to a BUNCH of sci-fi tropes and stories. Terminator, War of the Worlds, A.I, Back to the Future, the list goes on. Them being naked is a direct Matrix reference since humans were actually just naked in their pods while living in the Matrix. Same for the characters here.
At the end of the day, it's a legit good game with a great story. I doubt Sakurai and Yoko Taro would have praised the game so highly if it wasn't. There's a reason why most people who give it a shot end up really liking it. I doubt you'll ever play a game like it again. That being said, it's obviously niche as fuck and your enjoyment will depend on how much you can tolerate visual novels/adventure games, RTS sections, and anime artstyle/tropes. If you're one of those people who goes "ew anime" at anything with an anime artstyle, then you're probably not going to like this.
Honestly if anyone asks "why did they do that" in regards to your second spoiler tag, those people should be dismissed. I get that there is precedent in games, tv and film for them to look that way inside the sentinels, but they're still children at best and any nudity of 14-18 year olds is too much imo.
and on the Quiet thing, I agree Quiet was more done for the sexualization and the portraits in 13 sentinels could be much worse. I meant to say I think both of their reasonings for the nudity are bunk and not needed at all.
I've heard good things about the story but I just can't do visual novels. They're all so boring to play.
Still darn expensive so been waiting for it to go down more. Even the BF sale was too much for my liking.
I see. Good to know that there's an easy mode that you can breeze through cause knowing my inexperience with RTS style games and my overall gaming skills, I likely wouldn't have made it too far in the regular mode. Sounds like the way to go for me. Maybe I'll check it out in the future when it's on sale. Thanks.
EDIT: Reading the thread more closely and all of the child nudity stuff is honestly pushing me off from the game, even if there's a "perfect explanation" but also the fact that such explanation is at the very near end and a spoiler that'll ruin the game? Uhh yeah I don't know. Might dip.
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This game is the only time I have regretted my words and deeds.
Okay not really but humor me for a minute while I put on my professional game writer hat. I am incredibly skeptical of the defense for these sorts of story design choices because that's not how writing works.
Let me use Metal Gear Solid V as an example. If I were in a room with Kojima (hey, it's happened before) and somehow had the opportunity to critique Quiet's mode of dress, I would tell him "Kojima, I don't care that Quiet needs to dress that way because she breathes through her skin. You wrote her that way. It's only neccessary because you, the writer, made the creative decision to make it so. You could have written it differently. You didn't. Criticism is both valid and warranted. Be better."
I do not feel that the nudity in this game falls into the same category (and let's be clear: this game is rated T. You don't see anything.) The writing in the story not only justifies the decision, but the decision itself is part of the larger creative project of the game, which the article linked in the first post highlights: a pastiche of a wide variety of science fiction cliches and tropes that draws on specific, canonical genre works in order to critique them. This is not a choice made for titillation - there is a genuine artistic motivation and desire to say something worthwhile about the fiction that our culture elevates.
That is of course not to say that this game is devoid of problems. No works are. This is a George Kamitani game, and that fact brings with it baggage. There are without hestiation character designs in this game which I find off-putting and unjustified. There are some shots that are framed in a way I think is somewhat distasteful. However, I do not think that anybody who has played through this game could in good faith argue that the fact the characters are nude inside their robots is one of the problematic elements. It feels very much to me like a strawman that only would make sense to an outside observer, because if one plays the game one would know there are valid, worthwhile targets to choose as a vector for criticism.
Of course, you may play it and just not think it's fun. That's totally fine of course! Just don't let this specific aspect miscolour your perception of the work.
Edit: some clarification
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Chris Plante said:
This is a nice metaphor but this was 100% not my experience with this game. Most of the time I had some vague idea of what was going on and was expecting it to all come together in the end...and it just didn't. It sorely needed another chapter or two to tie things together, or at least some kind of climax, and it feels weirdly empty. It's really frustrating because it felt like I was playing the game wrong even though people keep insisting there's no proper way to experience it.
It's been a few weeks since I beat it and I still can't quite figure out what to make of it. The plot is pretty complex but also very emotionally shallow, and it feels like it sacrifices narrative coherence in favor of piling on weighty sci-fi concepts, without stopping to question what they mean.
The story overall is pretty cool and there's quite a lot I like about it, but ultimately the biggest praise I can give is that it made me appreciate the writing in Steins;Gate and 428 so much more.
I'm kinda baffled at all of this defense for the nudity (and if they aren't teens then uhh the narrative clearly makes it appear as though they are teens which is also HMMM). Like sure, there is probably a story reason for it that I haven't gotten to yet, like maybe it's symbolic in a silly ~show your true self~ sort of way that nudity is done. But there is really no defense for how the women are portrayed when they are nude when compared to the male characters. None of the male characters need to salaciously lift their skirt or show off their lower back to summon their robots (or whatever it does). When the male characters are piloting, they're in power positions like they're... you know, piloting. While Fuyusaka is lying on her stomach and looking over her shoulder at the player in a way that clearly invokes erotica! Like... come on people. The nudity might be defensible but the framing really isn't.
Just finished Yakuza: Like a Dragon and this is the next game I'll be playing. It's the only GOTY Contender for my tastes that I need to beat now.
I think that honor goes to TLOU2, but 13 Sentinels is right behind it as the second-best PS exclusive of 2020.
But I'm happy to see any gaming publication/website giving this game more exposure. It dearly needs it. I wish I could snap my fingers and make everyone who's on the fence about trying it take the plunge. It's worth it.
But I'm happy to see any gaming publication/website giving this game more exposure. It dearly needs it. I wish I could snap my fingers and make everyone who's on the fence about trying it take the plunge. It's worth it.
I feel bad about not picking it up, but knowing me I just wouldn't be able to find the time to play this game on my TV.
When I first saw GB's quicklook for it I thought it looked crazy and awesome, and I wanted to play it right then. I hadn't heard what console it was for and stupidly assumed it was on Switch, so I was super disappointed to find out it wasn't.
I'm still considering getting it on PS4 and remote playing it to my iPad, but I don't even have my PS4 hooked up anymore, which tells you how often I play console games anymore. :/
I'm going to try holding out for a few more months (maybe to Fall) to see if any ports get announced for it, but if not I think I'll finally break down and get it.
When I first saw GB's quicklook for it I thought it looked crazy and awesome, and I wanted to play it right then. I hadn't heard what console it was for and stupidly assumed it was on Switch, so I was super disappointed to find out it wasn't.
I'm still considering getting it on PS4 and remote playing it to my iPad, but I don't even have my PS4 hooked up anymore, which tells you how often I play console games anymore. :/
I'm going to try holding out for a few more months (maybe to Fall) to see if any ports get announced for it, but if not I think I'll finally break down and get it.
This is actually just straight up incorrect and indicates you didn't understand exactly what was going on
Crap, that's completely on me, then. My apologizes, I clearly misinterpreted/misremembered what happened & some other users did a better job explaining it. Plot heavy games like this are harder for me to fully absorb and I guess it clearly showed.
But either way, the context for it been discussed & further detailed by others. It's understandable why some people still have no interest in playing this despite the game giving a reason, especially when we had a trailer showing the portraits beforehand, which probably played a big role in turning people off from this.
I only meant to leave context so everyone could be on the same page when it came to discussing the major elephant in the game, even if I made a mistake.
See this is why I don't wanna play this game because of stuff like this. Pass.
I 100% get that, and while there is a reason for the nudity, the reason didn't particularly make me look back and be fine with the nudity. I distinctly still thought the framing of some of the characters was outright dumb and indefensible even with all the information.
That being said, the "nudity" isn't really that prevalent in the game, so at least personally, it was somewhat easy to just sigh, roll my eyes and continue on. I completely get it if it's a deal breaker tho obviously.
I agree. Maybe it's petty but I always find titles like this to be a lil' condescending.
Same. If it were presented, gameplay wise, in any other way but VN, I'd be knee deep.
I just cant do VNs.. :'(
I haven't even played this game yet and I can say with certainty: No it absolutely didn't.
I got the platinum for this week two weeks ago. I will sing this game's praises from every rooftop I can find. I was hooked from the very first moment, and the fact I walked away from the ending in utter disbelief at how well they handled everything was incredible. This game will leave a lasting impact on me for a awhile yet.
I have it on order and should receive it before Christmas. It'll be the next game I play after Demon's Souls. I only really know about it thanks to the buzz it's received on this forum.
So, on the surface this looks like something great - the idea of 13 stories, combined with amazing 2D art - and mechs!
However, this is always the case for me: I just don't "get" anime games. And not sure anime is the right word, but neither is Japanese because there are certainly games from Japan that I do get. But I think you understand I mean. Anyway with these games: there is just too much of everything, from story to gameplay.
For example, I got Fire Emblems: Three Houses because every review out there said the characters are amazing. I expected amazing like, I don't know, like Joel or Geralt or Aloy - or even amazing like, say, Celeste. Instead, they were pretty much standard anime characters with the game spending an insane amount of time to explain (through a lot of text) every detail about them, including their favorite food and stuff. For these games the famous Mies van der Rohe quote - "less is more" - does not apply: here, more is the way to go. While a, say, "western" game might paint a picture of a character with a single dramatic event or a few meaningful details, these games do it by bombarding me with information, and - for me - this always misses the mark. Just imagine that the prologue in The Last of Us was three hours long and you had to spend a day in school with Sarah first, then go through Joel's day before the outbreak where we would be served with an exposition on how the virus spreads comparing it to fungus growing on ants and other insects (which is like s real-world inspiration of this) to explain how all of this works.
And it's not just the story. While some of the best games I played are simple on the surface but surprisingly deep when you invest time in them, these games are just complex for the sake of complexity. Based on my experience with several of these strategy games like FE, the choices you make are which of the 20 attributes do you want to raise for each individual unit and also do you want to evolve them in 5 different paths but also do you give them items and upgrade their armor and do you train them and choose what kind of breakfast are they going to have. Some may like this approach, but I never got it.
Why the rant? I don't even know if this game is like that. But it seems that it is - and yet, all these games always draw me in because they have an interesting premise or idea. And this one really has an interesting premise! In a way it's just like anime: so many have such interesting ideas and beautiful visuals that I keep trying to get into one after the other, but honestly, other than Cowboy Bebop and an occasional Ghost in the Shell, I haven't found one that I actually enjoyed. And for some reason, I keep starting new ones all the time.
Anyway - this game looks super interesting. But I just think if I do take it, I will be greeted by the same type of game. Am I correct? Should I avoid it?
Sorry for the rant - it could be completely misplaced here.
However, this is always the case for me: I just don't "get" anime games. And not sure anime is the right word, but neither is Japanese because there are certainly games from Japan that I do get. But I think you understand I mean. Anyway with these games: there is just too much of everything, from story to gameplay.
For example, I got Fire Emblems: Three Houses because every review out there said the characters are amazing. I expected amazing like, I don't know, like Joel or Geralt or Aloy - or even amazing like, say, Celeste. Instead, they were pretty much standard anime characters with the game spending an insane amount of time to explain (through a lot of text) every detail about them, including their favorite food and stuff. For these games the famous Mies van der Rohe quote - "less is more" - does not apply: here, more is the way to go. While a, say, "western" game might paint a picture of a character with a single dramatic event or a few meaningful details, these games do it by bombarding me with information, and - for me - this always misses the mark. Just imagine that the prologue in The Last of Us was three hours long and you had to spend a day in school with Sarah first, then go through Joel's day before the outbreak where we would be served with an exposition on how the virus spreads comparing it to fungus growing on ants and other insects (which is like s real-world inspiration of this) to explain how all of this works.
And it's not just the story. While some of the best games I played are simple on the surface but surprisingly deep when you invest time in them, these games are just complex for the sake of complexity. Based on my experience with several of these strategy games like FE, the choices you make are which of the 20 attributes do you want to raise for each individual unit and also do you want to evolve them in 5 different paths but also do you give them items and upgrade their armor and do you train them and choose what kind of breakfast are they going to have. Some may like this approach, but I never got it.
Why the rant? I don't even know if this game is like that. But it seems that it is - and yet, all these games always draw me in because they have an interesting premise or idea. And this one really has an interesting premise! In a way it's just like anime: so many have such interesting ideas and beautiful visuals that I keep trying to get into one after the other, but honestly, other than Cowboy Bebop and an occasional Ghost in the Shell, I haven't found one that I actually enjoyed. And for some reason, I keep starting new ones all the time.
Anyway - this game looks super interesting. But I just think if I do take it, I will be greeted by the same type of game. Am I correct? Should I avoid it?
Sorry for the rant - it could be completely misplaced here.
I don't want to be that harsh about it, even though it didn't click with me to the same degree that it resonated with some here. It's still a game I enjoyed a great deal.
I think the Polygon review talks about the game in more detail than I'd probably recommend, but it does capture the plot's strengths and weaknesses to an extent. It starts as an aggressive pastiche of a pretty wide band of sci-fi, and in that regard it's not doing anything new. But while I was initially worried that it was just going to be a ball of plot convolution with nothing underneath, I was pleased to find that it cohered for me into a powerful message about how these stories can change us and allow us to change our world.
I also really liked the process of puzzling out the story I was being given, with the analysis mode and the freedom to choose my path through the adventure aiding in my active engagement with the plot. Spreading everything across thirteen fairly evenly-developed characters blunted my emotional connection to any one of them, which prevented the game from reaching the highs of some of my all-time favorite game stories, but it still left me with something very unique and worthwhile.
Honestly, calling it a visual novel isn't even that accurate. If you're expecting Steins;gate levels of entire paragraphs on screen, then that's not it.
You control a character and walk around talking to characters in a scene. All dialogue is voiced. I'd say it's more inline with old time adventure games (but with no actual item based puzzles) more than a visual novel. A better comparison would be to Phoenix Wright or Danganronpa more than your average visual novel.
The only time you'll be getting unvoiced paragraphs of text on screen is when you are looking through the game's equivalent of a glossary, that has all the characters and info you've unlocked in the game, and that's only if you want to check out some info you might have forgotten while playing the story.
That's called ignorance.
There are a lot of visual novels which are more than "walls of text". You have set pieces, you have scenes going on, animations and such. There's a sound design for each scenes. Voice acting.
It's far more than "just a wall of text". Even for the more simple ones, there's still music going on for the mood.
In the case of 13 sentinels, you have characters doing stuff on screen. It's not a "wall of text". Or do you call any game with text a "wall of text" because there are dialogues ? What about cutscenes with subtitles ? Are those a "wall of text" ?