Board 8 > Better put on a show for Yuki-chan! (13 Sentinels beat)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'll go more into it tomorrow when I'm not tired but my other 13 Sentinels topic purged so I wanted to mention something

The game really turned me around on it by the end, and while I still wish there was a little more interactivity in the story I was blown away by how much I ended up caring about the characters and how absurdly everything was woven together (to the point I get most of it but not all)

Overall really really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll do a character ranking or something

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ok so more thoughts

When I initially made my topic about it, 40+ hours of gameplay earlier, I mentioned how I kept falling asleep playing. That... never fully went away, but it did lessen, and it still wasn't so much the fault of the game. What did change is how much I looked forward to playing more of it and diving down the rabbit hole further.

While the story isn't perfect (and I think it knows, as much as in-game meta moments say things like "inconsistencies don't matter" and complain about the digital lock signs) it's still wildly impressive to see so many different plot threads and sci-fi concepts and references interwoven into a story that makes even a little sense by the end.

That being said, here go some rankings

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SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY
SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY
SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

Romances
9. Gouto & Ms. Morimura

Was this supposed to be a thing? It only really showed up in Gouto's story and... only when she comes across as a very young child. It's a little uncomfortable and feels, at best, completely unnecessary and irrelevant, and it's basically one-sided

Plotlines
13. Megumi relives the television show Sabrina the Teenage Witch but with guns

Megumi is so fucking dumb. Like Fluffy is funny, but this plotline is so out of left field, when the whole game is sci-fi based? I guess as the player you know this is all nonsense, so it can just be treated as a joke, but it's dragged down by the fact that Megumi sucks. Think I laughed out loud when she accidentally shoots Juro because she's repeatedly trying to shoot a gun at the ghost cat that she already knows isn't actually there

12. Renya Gouto ties up loose ends

Kinda boring. I get why it's necessary, and why it's saved for last, but kind of just a bland note to end on.

Characters
24. Miwako Sawatari

In all of her scenes (but particularly in Kisaragi's story) I'm constantly reminded of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ikGvLUbOuU

23. Megumi Yakushiji

Hey did I mention Megumi suuuuuuucks? Her entire motivation is that "she loves Juro" in her past-life memories (not sure if this was her memories from previous loops or memories from the space station where she was a child and Juro Izumi took care of her) but that's already pretty much the same motivation as both Shinonome AND Iori and she's just so dumb and she betrays everybody all the time and by the 80th time she "surprise" pulls a gun on someone it's just like UUGGGGGH WHAT NOOOOOW

22. Heizou Onishi

He was a character, kind of.

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Tag

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Miwako at the bottom more like Johnbobb at the bottom

Miwako at the bottom is sacrilege

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Megumi is indeed the worst main character!

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Gotta be honest, really wasn't expecting the Miwako support

Why

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Because Miwako is a precious cinnamon roll whose smile must be protected!!

Miwako is boring

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I think I liked Miwako because I spent the entire game waiting for some big reveal involving her and there just...wasn't. She's just a completely normal character in a game where every other recurring character has some greater purpose, and there's something intriguing about that.

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Miwako's fine. Neither deserving of love nor hate.

Megumi is just wasted potential. I like the idea of her being in love with prior Juro, but the execution is kind of rote.

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The issue with Megumi is you don't see enough of her relationship with prior Juro to justify how she acts. It's all stuff that happened off screen, and she has a really, REALLY strong reaction to that stuff, which is pretty off putting.

Miwako has great animations and is a fun character. Unleashing her to distract Gouto is always a fun mechanic too.

Not sure what you're counting for romances. Miwako x Gouto gets more time than Gouto x Morimura (though maybe you're still including that)

And yeah Megumi isn't the best. Would rank the character and plotline pretty low.
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Miwako was just kind of there at best. Like she spent literally all of Iori's story talking and boys and what food she wanted that day, but she was really dragged down by Tomi's story, where she's thrown into the future, freaks out in just the most grating way (which, I'll admit, is a fair response, but at this point the player is already so used to time travel that the response feels excessive even if it's technically not), and is then just kinda there

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Mac Arrowny posted...

Not sure what you're counting for romances. Miwako x Gouto gets more time than Gouto x Morimura (though maybe you're still including that)

Admittedly Gouto x Morimura was a stretch, and I mostly only included it because it seemed to be such a driving point for him. The other 8 I believe are more established

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CasanovaZelos posted...

I think I liked Miwako because I spent the entire game waiting for some big reveal involving her and there just...wasn't. She's just a completely normal character in a game where every other recurring character has some greater purpose, and there's something intriguing about that.

Yeah this is where I land on Miwako. The only twist with her is that she was just an AI along with mostly everything else, but it didn't lessen the friendship she had with part of the main cast even after they found this information out. I really appreciated that.

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Storylines
12. Iori's in loooooooove

in the other topic I made, I had posted this



I like Iori, but much like Megumi, she entirely driven by love. However, unlike Megumi who has secret memories we're told to accept with no reason to, Iori never tries to even pretend this is anything other than first-sight infatuation. This leads to her action to pursue it being almost funny in how absurd it all is, though it's honestly kind of fitting for a lovestruck 16-year-old. What was less enjoyable was daily conversations between the three girls about what food they would like to eat that day.

11. Kisaragi ditches her annoying friend in the apocalypse

I like Kisaragi, but I found she's, for the most part, better in other characters' stories than her own. This struck me as a story that was more driven by connecting the pieces and plotlines of everyone else. The highlight of this is her, Ogata and Miwako accidentally jumping to 2025, leaving her to explore the ruins of that world more in depth than the other plots have allowed up to that point and diving deeper into what the "kaiju" actually were. Then they jump back and "uh oh Miwako is still in the future and there's no way to go back to save her lol whoops"

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Absolutely phenomenal game. Tag!

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Romances
8. Ida & Kisaragi

Yeah so fucking ew, this is the game's one toxic relationship (which only does better than Gouto x Morimura because it's not as boring). Ida's kind of a creep, who wants to bring back his lost love, but in a way that also gives him complete control over her? There's definitely something I missed along the way, because their epilogue (where Ida apparently isn't a bad guy and they're actually happy together?) didn't seem to make much sense.

Characters
23. Ryoko Shinonome

so are we just going to gloss over the fact that past Ryoko was the person who caused pretty much all of the problems in the game because she didn't want humanity to actually start back up again, essentially because the dude she worked for and was also in love with didn't love her back. Seriously, there are 5 playable women in this game and 3 of their stories are about being obsessed with a guy. There's a lot the writers did great, but that wasn't it.

22. Chihiro (child)

The subplot of who is Iori/Ms. Murimura/other Ms. Murimura/baby Chihiro was actually pretty interesting, but once the reveal was done, it kind of lost its appeal. Young Chihiro goes from being Miura's little sister to being the younger Ms. Morimura (woah!) to being the adult Ms. Morimura's mind trapped in her child body (WOAH! but also, what?) to being the even older Ms. Morimura who was accidentally inserted into her mind as opposed to the regular Ms. Morimura (uhhh sure?) and they dressed her up as a little kid because... I don't know, this is just one of the plotlines that I just cared less and less about as it progressed

21. Renya Gouto

he's boring

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Johnbobb posted...

so are we just going to gloss over the fact that past Ryoko was the person who caused pretty much all of the problems in the game because she didn't want humanity to actually start back up again, essentially because the dude she worked for and was also in love with didn't love her back. Seriously, there are 5 playable women in this game and 3 of their stories are about being obsessed with a guy. There's a lot the writers did great, but that wasn't it.

...What?

Are you confusing the original Ryoko Shinonome with the one we follow that is a clone and has zero memories of the original (as do none of them)?

The worst thing Ryoko did was help spread the Sentinel virus, but she didn't know that is what it would do.

I like Ryoko more than I probably ought to, I think the plot with her struggling with her memories and not knowing who to trust is interesting. The conclusion is pretty strong too, but then gets undercut in the end.

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tcaz2 posted...

...What?

Are you confusing the original Ryoko Shinonome with the one we follow that is a clone and has zero memories of the original (as do none of them)?

I mean I did specify "past Ryoko"

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I don't see how that has anything to do with a ranking of the Ryoko Shinonome who is actually a character instead of a ranking of a short, one scene blurb, that you are actually talking about though.

Speaking of waiting for nonexistent reveals

Did anyone else prepare themselves for a twist about Ida not actually being Shu because he looks nothing like him (and, in fact, looks way more like Gouto)?

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Speaking of waiting for nonexistent reveals

Did anyone else prepare themselves for a twist about Ida not actually being Shu because he looks nothing like him (and, in fact, looks way more like Gouto)?

This still bothers me so damn much, and is probably my number one complaint

like you can't explain this away with dyed hair

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Characters
20. Tetsuya Ida

So the idea of him somehow being Amiguchi was interesting, in part because he doesn't remotely seem like Amiguchi. Ultimately if I had to choose one "villain" of the game, it would probably be him, although the game tries to resolve every antagonist as having good motivations to some extent. Even he gets what I think was supposed to be a happy ending, but I didn't totally get that.

19. Takemi Wajima

Yeah so this is easily one of the most one-note characters in the game, and it was definitely his last scene that got him even this high. Poor guy is the world's weakest gang leader, getting beaten up by everyone all the time every time, but you gotta respect that he always comes back for more. Ogata missing him and Wajima's genuine concern for Ogata's well-being just touched my heart.

18. Chihiro Morimura (adult)

So this goes for both nurse Morimura and femme fatale Morimura who I think were the same character, at least most of the time, but honestly it's kinda hard to tell. She, to a lesser extent than Izumi, was always in that spot of "is she a villain or not?" and her identity was one of the more interesting early-game mysteries. For as often as she appears in the story, it wouldn't hurt to make her a little more dynamic, but she's one of those that just manages to have a hand in everything.

17. Miyuki Inaba

So this is one that I don't completely get. So I get that she's Kisaragi, and she's the version Ida was in love with, and she's one of the only characters that still exists outside of the simulation and can communicate with those in it. But unlike Amiguchi, Kisaragi already exists as a real-world character, in the form of a scientist. Inaba is an AI based on a version of Kisaragi though, but I'm just not sure from where? Regardless, she's a pleasant presence; her appearances on Amiguchi's TV are always compelling and her singing over the last fight of Area 2 was one of the best moments of the combat section.

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Miyuki Inaba sings seaside vacation, 2020's video game song of the year

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Romances
7. Juro Kurabe & Megumi

Just gonna touch on this quick, because my issues with this relationship largely overlap with my issues with Megumi's character overall. This is a relationship we're constantly told about, and by the end we're even told that Juro Kurabe has fallen for her (though I'm not sure why, and I suppose she just accepts that he's not Izumi but still wants to be with her anyway?). What makes this more bizarre is that she's constantly visited by Fluffy, and never realizes that the cat mysteriously has the exact voice and personality of the man she's obsessed with?

6. Yuki & Amiguchi

This is a weird one, because there's a lot I like about these two together, and a lot I don't. They're both good characters, but the relationship is very one-sided. In fact, prior to them ending up together, I had kinda thought the implication was that Yuki might be gay? Amiguchi is obviously 100% all in on this relationship though (also surprising given that Ida is obsessed with Kisaragi) and his commitment to wooing her is kind of adorable. While I think Yuki never really returned his interest much, I still feel happy for them in the end.


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Plotlines
10. Ryoko Shinonome tries to remember things

So while I didn't care that much for Shinonome's motivations, the way her story was presented was plenty enjoyable. Her perspective is the least trustworthy of the lot, as her mind is so jumbled and confused from her sickness and overlapping and missing memories that half the time she can't keep track of her own motivations. There was something just neat about knowing that any moment her mind might crash and alter the course of things, as was the mechanic of changing the story progression by taking or not taking her meds.

9. Yuki gets blackmailed

Here's about the point where I really started to dig the stories (I at least enjoyed almost all of them). Yuki working as a blackmailed SIU agent was alright I suppose, if nothing special, but the highlight of this story was Yuki playing detective with her secret robot partner.

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I felt like Yuki was a somewhat underused character. Mostly it was that, rather than watching Yuki find out what happened to Natsuno, I was more interested in seeing it in Natsuno's story, and Yuki just felt like a satellite character to that.

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I like Yuki a lot, but did not like the Amiguchi x Yuki romance at all, and was really hoping she'd reject him in the end.
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oops almost forgot about this



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Characters
16. Iori Fuyusaka

This is the lovestruck, naiive but passionate teen girl trope to a T, but I did enjoy playing as her when she wasn't just talking about what to eat that day, and I've also gotta admire her confidence, even when she really isn't prepared for whatever she walks into.

15. Erika Aiba/Tamao Kurabe

This is the "main" character where I think I had the most trouble keeping track of who they were, and I definitely think I'm missing some chunks of her story in my head. Still, she got plenty of great moments, with her highlights being her ecstatic detective work with Yuki and her conversation with her alternate self in the epilogue.

14. Juro Kurabe

He's the main character!

13. Ei Sekigahara

He's not the most dynamic character, but he fills a lot of sci-fi tropes in a nice way. He's the secret undercover assassin with no memory who might know more than he lets on and might be a double agent and has a really cool motorcycle and left messages to himself from the future. He's the game's Rick Deckard, the Neo, the guy from They Live.

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no real issues with any of these character rankings so far. I kind of like the Yuki and Amiguchi romance, if only for the fact that without it we wouldn't get this topics title! I generally like it more than any of the romances Iori is a part of.

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Romances

5. Juro Izumi & Ms. Morimura

You know, I thought from the very beginning this was gonna follow the typically anime progression of Juro ending up with Iori, as they seemed to be the main two characters, and in a way I was kind of right? This romance subplot kind of rested in the background, as it's the only one that doesn't directly involve a playable character, but there's something ultimately sweet about these mysterious characters and their not-so-secret connection.

Plotlines

8. Amiguchi solves all the mysteries by accident

It wasn't until the end that I realized how many of this game's twists were discovered by Amiguchi, mostly just by him hitting on Yuki and going about his daily life. He fights Ida, travels through time, reaches the edge of the world, talks to his TV, meets basically everyone, and it never feels intentional like with most of the other characters. He's just kinda riding the waves in front of him, and it's always fun.

7. Hijiyama collects spare change

I'm torn on this story, because Hijiyama has one of the most interesting plots, he's one of the funniest characters, and he has the most boring and annoying gameplay loops of any character. Walking around looking through the same areas multiple times every day for loose change to buy lunch is just such a waste of time and is never fun. But Hijiyama dropping to his knees in pure joy after eating his yakisoba pan is always funny.

6. Ei relives the movie The Bourne Identity

This was mostly covered in Ei's point, but this is just an interesting mystery. Not much of a specific gameplay loop unless you count ignoring the increasingly annoyed phone calls while going through all your thoughts. Just fun to try and figure out.

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Characters

I fucked up the count earlier apparently

10. BJ

the game doesn't pretend that he's anything more than robot ET for 90% of the game and it's great; just a fun little guy with a tragic ending that remind me a little too much of Pascal from Nier: Automata (who I still don't like to think about)

9. Shu Amiguchi

Just a cool dude. Friendly to everyone, flirty without being a creep about it, generous, and willing to look at his own future self and say "fuck that guy"

8. Takatoshi Hijiyama

There are a handful of characters that could be considered comic relief (see Amiguchi above, for instance) but probably none moreso than Hijiyama, whose yakisona pan obsessionand banter with Okino and Miura never ceases to be hilarious

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Hajiyama too low

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Bump
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oh lol completely forgot about this

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you're posting like an amateur

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not gonna be around much for a while so I'll try to get through these quick

Romances
4. Ei & Iori

cute but dumb

3. Miura & Minami

This one's odd, because they had less interaction than most of the main couples, but their care for each other was always obvious, and it's even more endearing once you realize that Minami's been bonding with Miura all along via BJ.

2. Kisaragi & Ogata

Two great characters that have a love/hate relationship, emphasis on the love. It was impossible to go through Ogata plotline and not see just how much he cares about her, and their post-game banter was excellent

1. Hijiyama & Okino

I don't think I've ever seen a true LGBT relationship in a Japanese game. They often hint around LGBT people without ever trying to flesh things out or treat them with care. There's fun but one-note drag queens like Lala Escargot in Persona 5, there's implied gays like Tenko in Danganronpa, and characters that don't conform to their perceived gender but never go deeper than that, like Chihiro, also from Danganronpa. Seeing them flat out confirm "these are two male characters and they are in a loving, dedicated relationship" felt like something special in itself, but really these two just have my favorite chemistry of the game by far. Okino teases Hijiyama much in the way Ogata and Kisaragi do, and though Kisaragi almost always resists because he's questioning his sexuality, the way they care for each other is obvious, and their interactions were a highlight of the game.

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Hell yeah Hijiyama x Okino
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Plotlines
4. Miura jumps forward in time and doesn't know what the fuck is happening

girls are wearing short pants and going to school??!??!

3. Juro Kurabe relives the movie... Fight Club? There's a better example but I'm blanking on it

the fuckin Shiba jumpscares when Kurabe knows too much are so good

2. Minami relives the movies ET and The Terminator

They sqeeuzed two of the best sci-fi references into one character's story and that's just not fair to everyone else

1. Nenji Ogata relives the movie Source Code

seriously I fucking loved his bizarre train-crash time loop. Did a great job developing his character and his relationship with Kisaragi, dove into some of the cooler mysteries, and was just a blast to play through (I love that every time he encounters Wajima, regardless of what's going on or how dire the situation is, he can't help himself and has to beat him up)

Characters
7. Juro Izumi/Kyuta Shiba/Fluffy

Wasn't sure if this should be considered 3 different characters, but honestly the reveal that they're all the same mastermind makes it all that much better.

6. Natsuno Minami

she's precious

5. Keitaro Miura

just a really great guy with an interesting story and great interactions with the people around him

4. Tomi Kisaragi

I love Cassandra Lee Morris in both this and Danganronpa, so why do I hate Morgana so much?

3. Nenji Ogata

see above

2. Yuki Takamiya

best girl is always the one that can kick my ass

1. Tsukasa Okino

Smart, funny, interesting. Has some of the best moments of the game, the best relationship, and some of the best dialogue, all without being a playable character


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my top 3 is completely different but I can't fault the list. The characters are just too good!

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just finished 13 Sentinels last week and Im glad you finished this! It was a trip and definitely worth it.

Im not sure if I agree with Ogata scenario #1 since its mostly a little low-stakes in the story, but I definitely loved the Groundhog loop. Okino/Hijiyama and Okino #1 character is A+.

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