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WiggumFan267 posted...

but where #1

here #1

1) 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Vanillaware / Atlus
PlayStation 4
Released September 22, 2020
Would make my top 100 list if re-written: Yes, top 20

I have never been that much a follower of Vanillaware's titles - I own Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, Muramasa Rebirth, and Dragon's Crown as well as this game, but the only other one I finished was Muramasa, and it was only one of the two paths in that one. There was a lot of positive buzz around this one, so I decided to pick it up - though I didn't start it for a couple months after release, and then had to delay playing it due to the trophy contest with it giving very little points there. Finally, when I did get to enjoy it, I found it to be the best game of 2020.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim takes place in multiple time periods - the main period is 1985, but it expands both into the past and present to the years 1945, 2025, 2065, and 2105. The thirteen main characters that you control come from all over the different time periods, who cross over with each other during their storylines. In all periods, the threat of the kaiju looms over the city where all thirteen of the characters live - the kaiju attack each during each time period, as 2025 and future periods are all in ruins from their attacks. I'm a big fan of sci-fi like this game, which appealed to me more than the fantasy style of Vanillaware's previous titles, so that was a big plus.

When you're not uncovering the plot of the game in the above story sequences, you are tasked with destroying the kaiju in real-time strategy battles. You get four types of Sentinels, three of #1, #2, and #3, and 4 #4s. You choose six for each battle to protect a base from being destroyed by the kaiju. The different numbered sentinels have different skills and loadouts depending on what number they are, such as #1 sentinels being specialized for melee combat, while #3 sentinels are more adept at ranged attacks. Even with the different loadouts, the sentinels aren't really that balanced - I think Natsuno had like 20 MVPs by the time I was done with the combat portion, and Megumi's sentinel was so worthless I had no reason to ever use her. To counter this, a Sentinel will have to recharge if used in two battles in a row (or later upgraded to three battles) so you can't field the same sentinel over and over again. This can be quite an annoyance as some levels require you to use certain characters for the mission objectives! I looked this one up so I didn't lock myself out of any of the objectives, just in case. I ended up enjoying the combat portion by the end of the game, even though it lagged quite a bit on my base PS4 when some large waves of kaiju showed up. And this game is coming out for the Switch as well - I'm not sure how well it would run there and it feels like they'll have to downgrade it a lot just to make it work.

Because the game is so spoiler-heavy I can't really say much without spoiling something, so I'm just not going to talk too much about it. The plot and characters is the true highlight over the combat, and it all ties itself nicely in the ending, answering almost all the questions the game throws at you over the course of its storyline.

Character ranking:
Natsuno Minami > Ei Sekigahara > Takatoshi Hijiyama > Yuki Takamiya > Tomi Kisaragi > Nenji Ogata > Juro Kurabe > Keitaro Miura > Iori Fuyusaka > Shu Amiguchi > Ryoko Shinonome > Renya Gouto > Megumi Yakushiji

Soundtrack links
Isoleucine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yhh41Z77_Y

Deoxyribose
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggDdPlIVlQU