Board 8 > Andy plays 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim

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masterplum
03/20/23 9:24:22 PM
#51:


I think my two favorite characters I thought would be lame and finished something like 12th and 13th funny enough

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andylt
03/21/23 2:38:48 PM
#52:


I've not been thinking too hard about which characters to pick, as otherwise I'd be paralysed by indecision! So far when a character gets locked off I've been generally going to whoever I think would tie in closest to that story. I think it does help staying within the same circle of sorts, it's easier to remember what's going on.

Though the downside is there's some characters I haven't touched in a long time because they're not too closely connected to the ones I've done. Mainly Iori and Megumi. Iori is always tangentially related to what's going on but never the most obvious choice and I often forget Megumi exists >_>

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Bitto
03/21/23 2:51:42 PM
#53:


To be fair, I think you're focusing on some of the higher quality stories! I really enjoy the Ida side-section. I think Amaguchi was the last "normal" story I finished, so it's interesting that he was one of the first ones you finished.

Kisaragi is a really enjoyable character. Probably my 3rd favorite character, right behind Minami and Miura.

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andylt
03/21/23 7:22:57 PM
#54:


Here you go with your nonsense again.

Natsuno Minami
The track team's reactions to Natsuno are half of what makes her so amusing. It's cool that the other playable characters are unintentionally shifted between sectors not knowing what the heck is going on, and here's Natsuno and BJ bouncing around wherever they feel like! This time we're in Ida's old lab in Sector 1, where we learn many of BJ's memories have been lost and then Gouto and baby Morimura show up. Turns out the sentinel infection is a program that severs the D-code that is attached to the part of the brain that stores memories. OK! I'd forgotten to mention that in Ryoko's ending fake Morimura gives up on the sentinels and they remain infected, I'm not sure if that applies to all of them but that does not bode super well for our protagonists. ChildChihiro has also forgotten some important details, which she attributes to her smaller brain but I'm noting in case there's some shenanigans afoot. It is confirmed that we have restarted the loop twice since the world ended.

BJ recovers his memories thanks to his past self predicting events and Natsuno's accidental misnaming of him. I had been wondering what BJ stood for. He mentions the UFO, and Natsuno is of course very disappointed that it is not a real UFO. People should be more careful naming things so she doesn't get hurt again, imo.

On our way to the UFO, Ryoko shows up and kidnaps BJ (who is very protective of Natsuno's wellbeing, aw! All Miuras must share this trait). This surely leads into BJ showing her her 2188 self, but more importantly poor Natsuno is stranded in 2025. So much for what I said before! This must be when Yuki starts looking for her.

Yuki Takamiya
Yep, it all slots in neatly! Unfortunately Ei is starting to lose himself Ryoko-style, I guess he couldn't put off the nanomachine detachment forever given how his story begins. Yuki's VA does a great job showing her worry for Ei here, but she listens to him and together with BJ we head back and rescue Natsuno from the exterminators. A heartwarming, cheesy, satisfying ending here as Yuki finally finds her girl and they hug it out! This is probably meant to show her subconscious mothering instinct or something but I'll take it how I take it. And the three of them all live happily ever after!!!

Natsuno Minami
I said HAPPILY. EVER. AFTER. Why must you do this to me, game :(
We've surprisingly skipped ahead a lot here, past Natsuno and BJ's successful expedition to UC and onto Sumire Bridge with the two of them, Yuki, and Keitaro. The dream team, honestly. We're in battle prep mode and Natsuno becomes the pilot for #17, but in transferring the logs over, BJ erases his own self to make room :'( BJJJJJJ!!! I guess his absence in the battle scenes was telling. These logs had better be DAMN good because I can't see how they'd be so important that it'd be worth us losing him. Natsuno cries among her friends, and one of the most fun journeys ends in a real downer. RIP BJ, your sacrifice will not be for nothing.

Keitaro Miura
Naturally I jump over here next. This whole game is gorgeous but the sunset scenes are particularly appealing, I think Miura's homebase on the riverbed is maybe my favourite out of the lot. Keitaro finds BJ, or rather vice versa, and we get a well overdue discussion between the two Miuras. BJ confirms what we've already figured out- he is an AI Miura created after the last Miura died and partially moved into a drone after the infection. And in what I expect might be a bigger deal for other players who went a different route, it is finally stated out loud that we have not been time traveling at all. Nice to get that on the record.

But it's the promise BJ asks Keitaro to make that I find most compelling here. He claims Morimura's Operation Aegis will lead us down a path of destruction, and asks us to figure out a solution. Well, looking at what the battle section of the game is called it seems like we've not solved it yet >_> I hope Keitaro has a plan and that BJ's last wish wasn't for nothing, it's cool to get some intrigue thrown in to the final battle section and for someone we know to be good countering Morimura for once. I love that despite not knowing her in his own time, BJ says he's very fond of Natsuno. And he's aware he will be dying soon, I hope we get another scene of him before all is said and done. I will miss you, BJ.

But it wouldn't be a Keitaro Miura section without a 2188 scene throwing us off balance. Professor Morimura is here! More discussion about the sectors follows, the people in charge couldn't decide on which past era to evoke in these constructions so they went for a mix of a bunch (not sure who made the final decision, I thought Miura implied it was him but I may have misheard). I guess everyone involved in this scientist team must be from the same region of Japan! Still not sure why they needed to create a fake past where nobody knows what is going on, but maybe that came later. We are told that 'nanomachine incidents' in the present time period sent Earth to a dark place that nobody wants to remember in building these domes. Hmm, I don't think hiding out in a reconstructed past made out of nostalgia counts as moving forward as a society, but Morimura makes it clear that all she cares about is our civilisation surviving at all.

Man, Miura's scenes are so good. We're locked off here, and his last segment will have to wait a while as it's behind a Hijiyama gate, who himself is locked behind Ogata, who we haven't started >_>

Perhaps humanity tasted the fruit of knowledge too early.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya- CLEARED
Natsuno Minami- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Juro Kurabe- 55%
Ei Sekigahara- 28%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Megumi Yakushiji- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done
Nenji Ogata- prologue available

Next up: IDK. Ogata perhaps. I kinda wanna save Ei for later, he feels important and his story starts after some storylines have finished... we'll see how well I restrain myself. Then there's Iori, who should hopefully shed some light on Morimura. And Megumi, who... has the cat going for her.

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Leonhart4
03/21/23 9:28:25 PM
#55:


Don't be afraid of playing as the tough guys...!

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Thorn
03/22/23 12:17:07 PM
#56:


andylt posted...
Perhaps humanity tasted the fruit of knowledge too early.
The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate...
Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope.
Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed...

...oh wait wrong game >.>

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andylt
03/22/23 6:06:19 PM
#57:


You're on the wrong train, Nenji Ogata.

Nenji Ogata
Well, I did not expect this prologue. Time shenanigans are BACK! Nenji is stuck in a repeating loop of the train scene with Tomi that we saw from her eyes, only now it leads directly to the apocalypse. And when that apocalypse comes, we are suddenly away in space listening to a mysterious voice (that sounds a lot like Okino) asking us to find the D-key. And then we're back again!

I'd been wondering the point of Ogata, he's not exactly the most immediately appealing of characters, but this setup is fantastic. I am very fond of good time-loop stories, and right from the word go we're dropped into a lot of potential. I've not felt this in the dark about a story for some time now, very glad the game is still pulling surprises on me.

Back in we go, and this time we go right and find Iori talking to Okino. Following her into the train, we meet baby Chihiro (!), who... turns into regular Iori. And then again into catsuit Morimura. Who claims we have always had the key and then shoots us, prompting a flashback where a peak stranger danger League of Darkness Morimura says some real creepy shit to child Nenji and then shoots him to trigger the sentinel process or something. I can't overstate how cool this all is! My original theory was that the timeloops here are actually the different full loops, but I am now wondering if this isn't a timeloop at all but merely some kind of simulation.

Next go around, it's Ryoko's turn. Her and Ei collapse, and we see IDA! I guess he still has a role to play. He drops some really interesting tidbits, though claims he's a man of the past now (is he an AI Ida brought back for whatever this experiment is?). He says that fifteen (!) teenagers are the commanders of the D-forces (!!), and that the real enemy is the Deimos creators: the cancer that is mankind. Well, yeah, that had to be how this goes. He does have a dramatic flair with his words! Really leaning into that villain role.

Ogata catches a glimpse of Okino, and following him into a train results in us waking tied up in his lab in the real world. Ah, that's what this is. I feel like Natsuno did discovering there were no aliens in her story. Still, cool! The train station and all those inside it are a mixed up mess of Ogata's memories, so this has become a character piece. Aw, he really does care for Tomi. He also has memories of some surprising characters like Ida and baby Chihiro, but maybe other data is mixed in here? Regardless, Okino and Hijiyama explain things a bit (they could've done this from the start tbh) and Tsukasa forcefully insists that we go back in without an escape option. Once again we are told that fifteen children's lives were manipulated so that they'd destroy the world. I suddenly remember Izumi a long time ago saying how the nanomachines called the kaiju in the first place, now it seems like the nanomachines somehow create them too? But we know the Deimos are just Shikishima bots that were maybe manipulated by 2188 Ryoko, I don't yet understand how these pieces match up...

Regarding the number fifteen, it's worth a think. 13 of these kids, presumably, are our protagonists, but who are the other two? My first guess is Okino himself- he's in the battle scenes so could be compatible- and as for the other, the only person I can think of is Tamao Kurabe. She's involved in the creation of the Ark project much like most (all?) of the kids are, and in 1945 she talked about having dreams resembling those that Juro, Iori, and Shu have. She's also maybe the only major character left who isn't already cloned into being one of the leads >_> Those are my predictions at this stage. Heck, maybe there's another player yet to be brought in.

Back into the simulation, Juro Kurabe is sounding mighty shady and yep, it's the one and only Izumi. Clearly not a dream manifestation but the actual 426 who snuck in here somehow, to protect the secrets of the key. The key passed from Ogata to Natsuno Minami two months ago, so she is now the unwitting commander of the D-forces. But Izumi doesn't want Okino to learn this, and asks Ogata to keep it a secret. Hmm, there's some very interesting dialogue here.

On the face of it, Izumi seems an obvious villain. From the way he speaks (which is very badass tbh), telling Nenji to hide the truth, manipulating his caring nature to ensure he gets what he wants, it's all pointing a certain way. And I don't think Okino is gonna be the bad guy. But for some reason, I kinda want to believe Izumi. For one, the whole story gets much more interesting if he's telling the truth and this game doesn't tend to go for obvious answers. But also, I'm having trouble deciding what it is he'd gain from destroying the operation. Going from the flashbacks, he is devastated to learn the kids brought the Deimos in the first place and goes so far as to kill his friends over it. And he's an AI, not the original Izumi, so I don't think a full loop reset would keep him alive. Then there's BJ!Miura's mention of Morimura's plan being flawed, and a clearly deep history between Morimura and Izumi that is likely driving both of their actions... I dunno, maybe I'm overthinking it and he's simply in a 'burn it all down' revenge plan.

In any case, Ogata decides to hide the truth from Okino and I don't blame him for it. Megumi shows up and 'casts a spell' to help us out, her being brought here by her cat friend who I guess must be Izumi. Okino is gone and Hijiyama incapacitated, so Ogata escapes and heads to the final battle. We cut to some time during the final battle, where Nenji is finally able to act the hero of his dreams, professing his love to Tomi (in a pretty cool manner I must say) before beating back some kaiju. The end! I did not have high expectations for Ogata and he still isn't my favourite character, but his story was a great one through and through. Well done, Nenji!

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Juro Kurabe- 55%
Ei Sekigahara- 28%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Megumi Yakushiji- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

I like that the event logs display the sector number as well as the year now.

NEXT: It's between Hijiyama and Megumi. I assume Hijiyama's story is basically Okino's story as well, which does interest me, but I'm bursting with questions about Izumi so I think I'll head to Megumi. If he is the cat as it appears he is, why is he manipulating Megumi to trigger people's sentinels and mess with those wanting to help the world? The more I think of it the more blatantly villainous he seems, so I'm excited to discover the next inevitable twist in the tail.

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ZaziGuado
03/22/23 8:03:00 PM
#58:


When I played it, I kept people all at roughly the same percentages the entire time, so I learned a lot of the big revelations later into my play time. It's interesting to see you completing whole stories and going into other stories with all that knowledge. It's so remarkable how flexible this game's storytelling is.

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MysteriousStan
03/22/23 8:32:52 PM
#59:


Completely agree on Ogata's story. He was always kind of there for me but he's the character I mentioned where once I started his story I kept going back to it. Love me some time loops so I was hooked immediately! Ogata himself surprised me too, might be in the top half for me.
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Leonhart4
03/22/23 9:41:15 PM
#60:


Yeah, Ogata didn't seem too interesting from what you see of him in the other characters' stories, but the time loop thing was really fun.

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tcaz2
03/22/23 9:55:01 PM
#61:


Nenji is my 2nd favorite character after Natsuno personally and was the first story I actually completed (I also mostly kept the %s around the same)
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Thorn
03/23/23 7:43:35 AM
#62:


Ogata's train time loop adventure is so good and not what I expected from his story.

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andylt
03/25/23 7:14:27 PM
#63:


I'm enjoying blitzing through certain stories instead of keeping them all level, it makes me feel like I'm cheating the game and getting sneak peeks of things I shouldn't discover until later on. I hope it all hangs together just as well in retrospect once I'm done.

Megumi Yakushiji
Not much to update today, I run through Megumi's story until it's locked off. Much like Ogata, I wasn't expecting very much with this story based on the bits I'd seen of the character beforehand. Unlike Ogata, Megumi's story hasn't risen above those expectations, at least so far. In short, Megumi wanders around shooting 'witches' to satisfy the desires of a talking cat, with whom she has entered into a Faustian bargain. Somehow, this isn't half as compelling as that sounds!

I think my problem here is that there isn't much attracting me to Megumi as a character. She's pretty one note, doesn't have many connections to the rest of the gang, and her lovelorn story with Izumi isn't something I find appealing. Maybe that's because this love story happens almost entirely offscreen, or maybe it's because we already have a love-obsessed jealous girl knowingly being used for the man she loves in Ryoko, and that story was done better. That's not to say I dlslike Megumi, I just don't really feel much towards her at all.

I think I'm coming across too harsh, I'm still enjoying myself. My fav bits here may be the glimpses of our other protagonists living their regular day-to-day lives. There's some good character beats with Ei reaffirming what a stand-up guy he is, and with Tomi and Megumi chatting as two friends who have drifted apart would do (and Megumi's reluctance to shoot her). The game could explore the contrasts between Tomi and Megumi more here, with how Tomi has fully embraced this era while Megumi is clinging to her past with both hands, but still it's something. For Megumi herself, I like the confrontation with Iori where she admits to herself that she's acting selfishly. And, of course, there's Fluffy. Let's talk about Fluffy.

Fluffy is... a huge pain in the ass. He's abrasive, whiny, selfish, demanding, and straight up cruel to Megumi for no reason. I came into this story assuming him to be 426, and I haven't wavered too much on that, but it's pretty strange how mean he is. I know that, if he is 426, he's not the same Izumi that fell in love with Megumi, but he's not acting in line with the cool calm Izumi we've seen in flashbacks, as Aiba, and in Ogata's dreamworld. We have also just learned that Megumi is the only one who can see Fluffy- very similar to Juro with Shiba (and both Shiba and Fluffy alter Juro's memories), so maybe he's Inaba? That doesn't seem to track with her character either though, maybe I have it backwards and Shiba is 426 as well. Or Fluffy could be someone else entirely, but if so it's very coincidental that Megumi showed up to help Ogata when she did. And at one point he indicates that he's been shot before, which I took as a reference to Morimura killing Izumi.

Whether he's AIzumi or not, Fluffy's motive for doing all this is unclear to me. He's having everyone shot to force them into the sentinels when the kaiju attack comes, but I'm still not sure why. Haven't they already been selected as compatible pilots long ago? It is probably connected to when Morimura shot Ogata (and maybe the others?) as a child. I wonder why he is doing this now, so close to Deimos-Day, instead of... at any point prior. And why he's manifesting this through a talking cat when he clearly has other methods of manipulation at his disposal. It's too early to speculate on all this, as said this story isn't done yet.

To make it clear where exactly we are, Megumi has shot Gouto (lol), failed to shoot Ei, presumably shot Hijiyama and Ogata during the lab breakout, shot Miura, Shu, Tomi, and Iori. Then we're locked off after Miwako reveals nobody else can see Fluffy. Out of our protagonists, this leaves Juro, Natsuno, Yuki, Ryoko, Ei, and Megumi herself yet to be shot. I think things are starting to kick into gear, so I hope this story finishes strong. Maybe Fluffy will ask her to shoot Juro and that will be the breaking point. We'll see!

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Megumi Yakushiji- 71%
Juro Kurabe- 55%
Ei Sekigahara- 28%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

NEXT: Juro has finally opened up again, I plan to head straight there.

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Leonhart4
03/25/23 7:31:42 PM
#64:


Yeah, I thought Megumi was one of the weaker stories, but I'm not a huge fan of her archetype to begin with.

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Bitto
03/26/23 12:51:38 AM
#65:


Megumi is the weakest story by a fairly significant margin.

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LordoftheMorons
03/26/23 1:21:43 AM
#66:


Megumi was definitely my least favorite as well

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masterplum
03/26/23 10:21:37 AM
#67:


I liked Megumi

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MysteriousStan
03/26/23 11:21:38 AM
#68:


I wanted to like her more but I think she's my least favorite character. Which isn't to say she's bad! The entire cast is solid all around and she's just okay.
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andylt
03/26/23 11:32:52 AM
#69:


Glad I'm not alone in finding Megumi to be a weaker storyline+character.

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andylt
03/28/23 5:46:06 PM
#70:


Sorry but this is on pause for a few days btw, I have a free week trial of Switch Online and am trying to make the most of it. Very unprofessional of me, I know >_>

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MysteriousStan
04/01/23 6:15:00 PM
#71:


Free Switch Online save
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andylt
04/01/23 6:35:51 PM
#72:


You're putting the fate of humankind's last colony... in a video game?

Juro Kurabe
After a few days off, we're back in with the main man. Let's hope I remember everything! Right away our focus is on Kyuta Shiba, who is, yep, Juro Izumi. Well, that was one of my guesses! He's been handing Juro his own memories via video tape to transplant them into his brain, presumably to help our Kurabe become more like him. I assume most people would have an idea what's going on by the time this branch of the story opens up again, but I imagine those who managed to avoid knowledge of 426 or invisible Shiba may be very confused lol. We learn that 426 transferred from Aibabot into Juro's nanomachines, so there's no getting away from him. There's something very unnerving about him never dropping the smiley guy act in this form.

There's several Izumi flashbacks here- I'm particularly amused watching him, Morimura, and Okino running around having no clue what is going on in UC. It's refreshing seeing them all so ignorant back then. As the apocalypse comes, Okino sacrifices himself to transfer the other two to Sector 0, but they come out in 2089. Did we just witness the loop restarting? I'm unsure, but it's a possibility. If so it probably is all automated as future!Ryoko had planned, as these folks had no idea. Morimura and Izumi vow to stop the Kaiju this time around, and we later get another flashback with an imprisoned 426 (it feels wrong referring to him by his prison number but it's the easiest identifier to distinguish the Juros >_>) being interrogated by Yuki's cop friend, then introduced to this timeline's Izumi and Okino before things fall apart again.

The other major flashback solidifies what happened to Aibabot, and there's some juicy dialogue between him and Ei. Ei let him out of the underground in the first place, and Izumi 'spared' Ei at some point. Izumi also claims that Miura is 'well aware' of something and deleted Ei's memories to hide a log from him, but I've no clue what he's referring to (he could well mean BJ!Miura, as nothing like this has come up in our Keitaro's story... unless I've forgotten, which is very possible). Maybe it is all stalling as Ei suggests.

Kurabe tries to talk to Okino, but is instead whacked on the head by Hijiyama and kidnapped the way Ogata was. Okino claims Juro wouldn't have come willingly but I honestly think he would, you've gotta at least try before resorting to causing concussions, Tsukasa! Though as luck would have it it was probably for the best, Izumi would have surely interfered otherwise. In any case, we now have what I imagine is a vitally important scene with Izumi.

He's not coy, and tells us a lot of new details. Morimura planned for Izumi's backup memories to be implanted into Juro, but Tamao (!) insisted on the new personality instead. Then we get to the crux of things: Izumi's motives. In 2188, Okino developed the environment management system for the enclosures, and in doing so borrowed some code from a video game, code which included the D-code that is now active and creates the Deimos. Our kaiju are the result of sloppy coding, our apocalypse simply the accidental emulation of 2156 video game Mighty Kaiju Deimos! ...What? lmao. How meta are we about to get?

Well, very! Izumi's new plan is to take advantage of this system by upgrading the sentinels using meta-chips, levelling up to give us a chance of winning this war. This is an absurd development on its face, but I think it works within the established lore. Hopefully the game's not going to get too cute about this, but it's fine so far. I wonder if that's why Izumi has Megumi shooting everyone, to get the pilots ready to level up. Hijiyama has seen a log referencing this, so hopefully we get into more detail in his story.

Izumi nods to Inaba in space (are they on the same side after all?), then has bought enough time for Megumi to come rescue Juro. With that, we can safely conclude Fluffy is also Izumi, and we end Juro's story ther- what's this? Yeaaaah, I love when the game throws a surprise 2188 scene on me, they're always so hype! This time we see a uniformed Hijiyama refuse safety to an 'infected' Yakushiji Sr and his daughter, but then Juro Izumi heroically risks his own life to save Megumi and promises to keep her safe. Wow, not where I thought this was going. So there is an honest connection between Juro and Megumi at its core. Great scene.

And even that isn't quite our ending, as the two Juros talk shortly before the final battle. After everything, Izumi gets a pretty sympathetic send-off as he relinquishes leadership at the end of all things to the new Juro. Is this really 426's finale? I'm not sure, there are questions remaining: if he's in Juro's nanomachines how is he also appearing to Megumi, and how did he get into Ogata's dreamworld, etc. If this is his end though I'm glad they didn't make him the arch villain, a misguided but well-intentioned man is a much more satisfying arc. He was willing to do everything to stop the kaiju, whether that meant blowing up a weapons factory (defensible), or shooting a bunch of unarmed children (less so). Of course there's a fair chance he's not done with his bag of tricks and more twists are coming, but as is this is a really good set of ending scenes for Juro Izumi. Unfortunately for Juro Kurabe, this story was ultimately more about Izumi than him, but it was a very fun time.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Megumi Yakushiji- 71%
Ei Sekigahara- 28%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

NEXT UP: There's incentive for everyone with stuff we learned today- Ei's history with Izumi, Hijiyama and the video game, and Iori's whole Morimura deal, but Megumi is the natural successor here. Her new scenes have to take place after the end of Juro's and I'm hopeful we'll get more info on Izumi, and the connection between them.

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Thorn
04/01/23 7:41:13 PM
#73:


The Juro segments right after Shiba reveals who he is to him hit just the right note of psychological thriller for me. Absolutely loved them.

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Bitto
04/01/23 8:21:24 PM
#74:


I thought the meta-chips and leveling up being referenced in the lore was really great.

And yeah, Shiba post-reveal really makes Juro's arc. It's a good one! Izumi's a contender for my favorite character in the game.

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SSBM_Guy
"[Freud] started his scientific career by trying to explain the sexuality of a fish. And he failed."
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LeonhartFour
04/01/23 8:28:04 PM
#75:


Juro's section is so good, definitely one of the best

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andylt
04/02/23 6:19:32 PM
#76:


There were things that happened... I didn't expect...

Megumi Yakushiji
Not much today, just cleared up Meg. First we see her come to a rental agreement with Tamao Kurabe, who I believe is the legitimate Tamao-bot at this stage before Izumi takes over. I wonder what Tamao's purpose is, I'd previously assumed she came to 1985 just to capture 426 but there must be more to it. And we've barely seen anything of her in this time period, curious... Come to think of it, 1945 Tamao was having dreams like the others, maybe she remembers who she is like baby Chihiro did and shifts sectors to... idk. More to come with her, probably in Ei or Hijiyama's stories.

After Juro's finale, Megumi now finally comes to realise that the memories he is gaining are not of the Izumi she knew. She is soon accosted by Chihiro and Gouto (it's been a while!), and it's nice seeing her behave like a regular person for a short while here. I like that she immediately answers Chihiro honestly and fully, it's just that her story comes across pretty batshit. It was a cat! The duplicitous duo seem to get the wrong end of the stick regarding Izumi, thinking he's gonna leave the sentinel defences wide open. I suppose I can't rule out the possibility they're right, but I'm beginning to think these two are less knowledgeable than they believe.

Then it's time for the final confrontation with Fluffy, and after being a bit disappointed throughout this story, I'm really impressed with this climax. Megumi suddenly wisens up to Fluffy's manipulations, and ironically it comes at a time when he decides to be honest with her. He casually drops in the fact that humanity went extinct millions of years ago!! This isn't framed as some massive reveal, but if he's truthful (and at this point I'm fully on his side) and correct then this simulation has been running far longer than we know. I think I briefly considered this possibility way back but it's a seismic revelation nonetheless, just how many times has this cycle reset without it ever being broken? It certainly adds to the stakes if there's no one waiting out there on the other side.

There's some cool hologram/simulation visuals as Megumi collapses under the weight of her own guilt and shoots herself with the magic bullet (I like that she mentions Tomi multiple times, the shame is particularly strong there), and then Fluffy monologues. I'm not sure why Izumi adopted the guise of this wise-ass cat or why he belittled Megumi for so long, but much like with Shiba he pulls another pretty great face turn here at the end. Maybe he's just a natural prankster. Izumi turns out to be a complicated character indeed, neither a scheming villain or a secret hero, he's a flawed man trying to do the right thing but making mistakes and falling to his own selfish impulses sometimes. Though the Izumi this AI is based on never had a strong connection to Megumi, he has grown to care for her and lets his personal desires fade, rooting for her and Juro Kurabe to make it out. I'm glad Megumi realises he was trying his best, and fights for him as well as her Juro. It's about time he got some credit from somewhere.

Lastly we have a romantic confession between Juro Kurabe and Megumi, which is sweet though I don't personally love this couple. He's rather new to the world and his feelings for her are likely at least partly due to Izumi's memories, and I'd hoped Megumi's arc would involve her moving on from Juro to live her life. But there's intrigue in the idea of this relationship, even if we never see it through. Megumi joins the final battle, to fight for Juro, and Juro, and Juro, and hopefully for herself too.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe
Megumi Yakushiji- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Ei Sekigahara- 28%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

Next up: It's Ei, Iori, or Hijiyama. I don't know!

Also, for real I wonder how Megumi can see Fluffy if he's only in Juro's nanomachines, he doesn't seem to be able to show up for anyone else. I wondered if the connection was made due to Juro and Megumi living together, but it hasn't come up here. Does he only show up when Juro is nearby, I don't remember. I assume we'll get closure on this point but this part of the story feels over now. Maybe I missed it!

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andylt
04/05/23 5:51:01 PM
#77:


Whether we retain our memories or not, we're never the same as our past selves.

Ei Sekigahara
I'm glad I left this route late, because Ei crosses paths with pretty much every other story at some point here. But unlike some other characters, there's a strong focus on Ei himself and his arc continues to progress as we go. I like this guy a lot!

Continuing to reluctantly follow orders from the mysterious voice (Would Ida make sense? You usually can't go wrong guessing Izumi. Or it could be Ei himself? The phone has a short range... who knows!), we wander around interrupting everyone else's plots and getting some juicy flashes of Ei's past. First a curious Tomi has us remembering an encounter in Ida's lab. Thanks to the voice work here we can instantly tell this is Izumi, who creates the drugs that will later be used on Ryoko, Iori, and Shu to counter DD-426. I don't know why I didn't notice DD-426 has 426 in its name until now >_>

Then we learn Morimura and Ei share authorisation over the fancy motorbike, and head to Okino's lab. In flashbacks, Okino reveals that he is sort of an AI construct. A year prior, 426 had created DD-426 (I keep forgetting how close together a lot of this timeline really is) and Okino used it on himself to try and detach the D-code from his brain. I wonder, did Izumi know what he was making here in an attempt to kill all the compatible nanomachines to stop the apocalypse, or was it an accidental result while he was trying to upgrade them? Either way, Okino got infected and transferred his memories into his nanomachines to create a simulated personality that then attached to his brain. He considers himself 'the true Tsukasa Okino' now, which raises some very interesting questions.

The meaning of identity and the 'self' is a rather crucial theme of the game- maybe the central basis for the story given all the clones, amnesia, repetition and looping we've seen. Every one of our protags shares some similarities with their 2188 originals, but they all deviate in their own way, too. Juro for instance has a bond with Megumi in one life, and Morimura in another. Amiguchi and Ida, BJ!Miura and current Miura, Iori and the Morimuras, everyone is distinct but shares certain qualities across their various lives. Beyond nature v nurture there's stuff like Ida wanting to reset the world to recreate his muse in perfect form, the matter of memory loss changing who a person is, and I guess this all connects to the idea of reality and artifice, and if the two can overlap (yes!). Okino himself obviously believes in self-determination, and he's a good character to give that lesson. Sekigahara chooses not to create a backup simulated personality, partially because he hates himself ( :( ), and this choice is accepted too. I'm clearly not well versed on these topics but I enjoy how the game is exploring these themes.

Okino's memory backups appear to have failed Ei, and our next clue sends us to Keitaro, via Megumi and a legitimately hilarious Fluffy cameo ("Well, I guess we're doing this whole thing now"). Before BJ was BJ, he was Ei's friend. I really like this relationship! We don't see their history but the connection here is believable, Ei sees the person in Miura and not the AI, and Miura hides incriminating data to help his pal out. It's a very wholesome bond and I am now VERY sad that BJ dies later on. Iori seems to believe her and Ei are bound to be a couple, but his strongest pairing is clearly with AI Miura!

While we're here, Miura suggests that AI Tamao is the pilot of Sentinel 18, and I forget who actually pilots Sentinel 18 in the present. I should have those names down by now, jeez. He also believes Morimura quarantined important data logs that he has created backups of in his sentinel, surely the same logs that are key in Natsuno and Keitaro's routes. Morimura looks more suspicious than ever, but I won't jump to conclusions. The voice on the phone wants BJ destroyed, could it be coming from Morimura herself? Or Gouto? I rewatch the scene with Gouto and Chihiro in 2025 and Gouto isn't certain the adult Morimura has been hijacked, but he is very clear that there's something majorly off about her decision making. Hm.

Natsuno and Yuki lead Ei to the least abandoned Abandoned Building in history, for BJ to show Ei another 2188 log. I love you for all these logs, BJ, but you're such a tease eking them out one by one instead of blasting them all at once. We see 2188 Sekigahara for the first time, an assassin ordered by Renya Gouto to kill Chihiro Morimura in the still-under-construction Sector 4. Purely for the sake of hiding his own corruption, smh Gouto. Very interesting that both of them wind up inside the enclosures and that our Gouto works with Morimura in here. What really happened at the start of these cycles?!

Our last flashback of the day brings the grand return of the villainous bespectacled Mr Ida. Hooray! He orders Ei to deceive Miura in order to extract the most vital log, and we get more info on how the looping works. I wonder, did Ryoko really kill Ida? He's escaped death before and talks here like he's in it for the long haul, but we already know his plan failed... I'm bouncing back and forth wondering if he'll return for the final act or not.

There's one more section for Ei that requires 10 characters at 80% completion, and as luck would have it we reached that marker tonight! But I'm tired and want to be fully alert for his finale, so I'm forcing myself to leave it til tomorrow. Great stuff so far, though.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe
Megumi Yakushiji

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Ei Sekigahara- 85%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

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LeonhartFour
04/05/23 10:02:15 PM
#78:


Sekigahara the best

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andylt
04/06/23 5:52:55 PM
#79:


He's definitely up there!

Ei Sekigahara
Our heartthrob assassin's final segment does not disappoint. Yuki helps Ei get to the SIU HQ, where he comes face to, uh, glowing orb thing, with an android Tetsuya Ida. Ryoko did kill the guy but he of course saved his memory to a backup, which now holds Iori hostage. But Ei has regained more memories and we get an enthralling flashback sequence with Morimura. She has learned we're on a hard time limit now: the world we are on is losing stability, and any further attempted loop resets would destroy Sector 0. And then we finally see the infamous log she erased.

The log wasn't removed as part of some grand conspiracy, she was acting out of regular self-interest. And guilt. In 2188, Morimura and Sekigahara confront each other. In doing so, we learn that there are allegedly only ten humans left alive (which ten?), that Ei is willing to detonate a bomb on the only remaining structure with surviving humans, and that... Professor Chihiro Morimura caused the annihilation of humanity. Whoa. I wonder if humanity was already on a downward spin and that's the reason for the Ark project in the first place, or if she was simply an egotistical scientist getting down and dirty to fund her own vanity project, which ironically then became humanity's last hope. Either way, she traded nanomachines on the black market and this somehow resulted in the spread of the infection that has all but destroyed the species.

2188 Ei moves to kill her, and back in the alley Morimura expresses her guilt over her identical DNA self's actions. I wonder if learning all this is why she's been acting 'off' according to Gouto, there's no reason to doubt her sincerity here. As I contemplate this, child Chihiro arrives, and shoots the adult Morimura. Holy shit! This is cold-blooded murder, I can't think of any reason this killing needs to happen. Is this Chihiro in on some other agenda, or is she petty enough to kill anyone sharing her DNA? Does Gouto know about this? Will multiple clones be unable to coexist after all is done? If so, I worry for Iori! The scariest part here is that child Chihiro exists as of the final battle, so if she is up to something then nobody has stopped her yet.

Ei tells Idabot the truth and causes Ida to hesitate, thinking about Tomi and giving Ei a chance to finish his mission. He rescues Iori, nonchalantly embraces her and we cut to the final battle, where he is the last sentinel to take his place in the fight. A thrilling story from start to finish, Ei's assassin-with-a-heart-of-gold character is very appealing and having connections to every other central plot character doesn't hurt. Ida's story may be done for real this time, though once again I'm not certain on that front as his memory is still backed up to Sector 0. The tale of Morimura and Izumi, however, I think is far from over.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe
Megumi Yakushiji
Ei Sekigahara- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Iori Fuyusaka- prologue done
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

NEXT UP: It's Iori or Hijiyama. I'm gonna follow the thread and go for Iori next, to see the other half of this self willed love story and hopefully get some much needed perspective from Morimura. From what I've seen so far, there's very little of Iori that resembles any of the other Morimuras personality-wise, I'm very interested to see how this will all tie together.


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Bitto
04/06/23 6:00:59 PM
#80:


Sekigaharas finale is pretty memorable.

Fuyusaka was actually the first story I finished, so its pretty interesting that its one of your last.

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SSBM_Guy
"[Freud] started his scientific career by trying to explain the sexuality of a fish. And he failed."
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MysteriousStan
04/06/23 8:48:50 PM
#81:


Same! Her and Juro struck me as the "lead" characters so I figured I should start with them. I actually also did a lot of Hijiyama's story when available (think I remember it having some long locks though) so it's wild to me that these two are among the last to be done here. But super fun to see as well!
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andylt
04/09/23 4:42:27 PM
#82:


I also saw Iori as female lead but I hadn't planned this order, it just kinda worked out this way. It should be a decent test to see if the 'play the stories in any order' premise actually works! I'm sure it will.

For now I've been doing destruction. I like that fighting in the apocalypse is when the game decides to loosen up and let its characters joke around. The individual powers are cool, I've been abusing Keitaro's bombardments and Natsuno's wide railgun very often. The long range and melee crews are great, def the best generations. Flight support has its uses too, but all-around seems the least necessary group.

I've been locked off after 3-8 until I 100% the story, so there's nothing left to distract us.

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MysteriousStan
04/09/23 5:03:33 PM
#83:


Not that the battles were ever particularly hard to begin with even on hard, but between the 2nd gen sentinals laying down sentry guns and the 4th gen sentinels deploying interceptors, you could just let the 1st gen sentinals cleanup the rest of the enemies most of the time. I really liked the 3rd gen sentinels in the beginning too but found myself using them less the further in I got.
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andylt
04/09/23 5:59:59 PM
#84:


Huh, I used the interceptors a lot at first but didn't find them to be worth their cost. As far as the gen 4 units go I've gotten more use out of stuff like like Gouto's teleport or Yuki's Quad-spike. I play very aggressively so don't use the defensive powers all that much tbh >_>

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tcaz2
04/09/23 6:03:10 PM
#85:


Interceptors aren't defensive. They're killing machines. Same for sentries. Use them every time they're up and they snowball HARD.

I definitely 100% agree the 3rd gens are the ones that, while not useless because they're still fine, are the least needed. They don't really do anything the other 3 gens don't already do better. Missile rain is fun though.
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LeonhartFour
04/09/23 6:46:23 PM
#86:


I just used an even distribution of Sentinels from each generation for every battle.

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andylt
04/10/23 5:23:52 PM
#87:


If only I had the courage to take your hand. That would've been for the best.

Iori Fuyusaka
Things start off a little slow. These girls love their fast food! It's almost nostalgic seeing these early lighter scenes again, and I like the sly hints at other stories going on, like Juro mentioning that he's easily influenced by movies, or Tomi being extra kind to Miwako presumably after she has had her memory rewritten. Flashbacks/dreams of Morimura are always welcome, I did not expect Okino would be the one who coined the term 'UFO' for UC lol. Nice Natsuno shout-out from Iori there, too.

Another dream shows Ida looping back to 2089 to assist Morimura, I had completely forgotten about the accompanying scene for this until checking the event database afterwards oops. I'm not sure exactly how the loops work, as I think this is a different one to the time Morimura and Izumi warped back together, but she seems to be acting the same only without Juro this time. My mind is a little jumbled on this stuff! Later we get a long overdue (for my playthrough, that is) flashback of Izumi and Morimura on Sumire Bridge. He discusses their romantic relationship, and she reluctantly kills him. Juro+Chihiro is a relationship from multiple loops ago and does not seem to carry over to Kurabe+Iori at all, but it hangs over the whole narrative and I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't done with the couple. Honestly, I hope we aren't, they're too vital to the story not to get some satisfying closure to the doomed couple.

Iori's story shifts into gear when she accidentally activates the science room gate and runs into Ei in Sector 2. Her longing for the handsome stranger she knows nothing of is a little silly, but she is a teenager I suppose. Seeing Ei from an outside POV is interesting, the guy really does not have a high opinion of himself. Gouto and Morimura find Iori, and do what they do best: gaslight. Iori ignores them and open sesames her way back to the future, only to misread Ryoko and Ei's relationship. Then we get a bizarre interlude with a rapey Wajima and boring Good Cop Onishi, I don't think these scenes were necessary tbh.

Iori winds up confessing her love on Ei's motorcycle, and again this romance feels a bit underbaked. It's very cliche hollywood 'love at first sight', though I'll admit it can be cute. Ei doesn't openly reciprocate but he is clearly touched by her feelings, and rather bluntly states that he's not known love in his life since he was a child. I wish we'd seen more of Ryoko and Ei's relationship, it's very sad what happens there. At least Ei's not alone now, poor guy, but he and Iori know virtually nothing about each other >_>

At the park we meet Morimura, and she admits she was trying to rewrite her personality onto Iori's (and Tamao is mentioned multiple times, we're running out of options for her relevance so I have to assume she'll be major in Hijiyama's story). The big reveal of the day is that looping through Sector 0 isn't a real way to save yourself. UC reconstructs your data and duplicates you into a new body but you're a different being to before, and not a human one. This is what Morimura now is, an illusion, and that's another reason for her to insist on Operation Aegis. Another instance of the ambiguous nature of identity and self! Baby Chihiro overhears this conversation, perhaps this is when she decides to murder herself.

Iori is willing to take up the hero mantle but Ei thinks himself useless and leaves again. After thinking on it, he transfers ownership of #15 to her and tells her to believe in herself, and when Judgment Day comes she is the first to take up the call and fight. Having played Ei's story already, I like that he decides to join after seeing Iori and the others fight, it's a nice way of showing the impact she's had on him and makes the relationship a bit more two-sided. Overall I don't think this is the strongest story, it has some great flashbacks (and music!) and I always like Ei, but Iori herself is a little underwritten. I wish they'd done more to flesh her out as a person, she's decent, but there could've been more here to help layer the romance.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe
Megumi Yakushiji
Ei Sekigahara
Iori Fuyusaka- CLEARED

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Takatoshi Hijiyama- prologue done
Renya Gouto- prologue done

NEXT UP: Hijiyama fans rejoice, now is your time!

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andylt
04/11/23 6:02:58 PM
#88:


You overestimate your borger, my friend!

Takatoshi Hijiyama
Hijiyama's path is fun. A third of it is about Okino's research and the overarching story, and then the rest involves Hijiyama running around school picking up change left by a nearby cat, Hijiyama wrestling with his feelings for Okino, and Hijiyama embracing his feelings for Yakisoba Pan. I had never heard of Yakisoba Pan before this game and now it's all I can think about. Someone on the writing team was very hungry.

We cross paths with pretty much everyone here at some point, though it's mainly glimpses while they're going through their own stories. In fact, one of the only people we don't see is the one Okino is searching for, our Deimos commander herself! One of my fav smaller scenes is the one between Keitaro and Takatoshi, a genuine conversation between two old friends reconnecting, and then arguing about food.

Takatoshi is still pretty isolated in this world, his only real relationship is the complex give and take between him and Tsukasa. Their dynamic is by and large a good one. They're mainly up front with each other when it comes to serious issues, and there's an easy chemistry between them. I'm rooting for Takatoshi to accept his feelings, though Okino does overreach sometimes when it comes to teasing Hijiyama's insecurities. Monitoring his brain activity like that was too far! You've gotta cut the guy a break, he's been transplanted out of the '40s into an unfamiliar world and clearly has a lot to sort out in his head. Offering Okino half of his Yakisoba Pan is probably as close to a declaration of love as he can give! The poor guy winds up thinking Tsukasa's in a relationship with Nenji, Ei, and Tomi lol.

Takatoshi is a good guy, despite everything he's trying his best to help people and wants to protect the world. The visit back to a ruined 1945 is good, though I once again judge the 2188 crew for deciding to pick a slightly pre-World War II Japan for one of their eras. A real case of trauma tourism there, folks! Hijiyama is, of course, affected by the devastation of the war, and it'd be no different if there weren't giant mecha kaiju involved. The two get so close to realising there's no time travel going on, but don't quite make the (admittedly large) logical leap.

The best scene here, unsurprisingly, is the one with 2188 logs from BJ. Where would this story be without BJ? Hijiyama and Okino are a couple in this time, it's nice seeing their romantic relationship be stated explicitly and for Takatoshi to be so effusive about his love. Though I see Okino has kept his penchant for manipulation across incarnations! Curse that corner-cutting code. Then we see the aftermath of an energy dispute, which for some reason resulted in Ogata opening fire. Tsukasa is killed (an interesting decision having the shooter be Izumi, a reminder if we needed it that he's not always an all out amazing guy!), and Hijiyama annihilated Ogata's whole crew in response. It's noted that Ida and Shinonome got out safely (hmm), and then Takatoshi muses that he'd like to save his friends if Project Ark comes to pass. A sad scene, even in humanity's last days something so trivial caused so much destruction. Hopefully our Hijiyama and Okino will be able to live a happier life than their 2188 counterparts after this is all over.

Takatoshi is noticeably shaken by seeing this, and declines to tell Okino what he saw. After an amusing sequence with the dysfunctional Nenji/Tomi and Takatoshi/Tsukasa pairs, we reach our final scene of the day as Okino lays all his cards on the table. We learn a few new things. First, Sector 4 has been left til last by the kaiju as their commander is based here. Second, the D-code maintains regular updates with UC, the automated factories in Sector 1, and the artificial satellite, and third, the D-code only uses a small amount of the innerlocitor processing power and we don't know what 80% of the nanomachines are being used for. Or who implanted them in the first place. Is this merely Izumi's meta-upgrades at work, or have we got another major reveal left to come. I'm thinking the latter, as Okino feels he's missing something fundamental, and to my great surprise we are locked out of the final Hijiyama section.

Checking the event archives, this scene took place before the scene with Juro in Okino's lab, so next time we should get a clearer view of events from him. But I am shocked that we're locked off behind Gouto's story, which has just opened up again! You love to knock me off my guard, game.

Cleared:
Shu Amiguchi
Ryoko Shinonome
Tomi Kisaragi
Yuki Takamiya
Natsuno Minami
Nenji Ogata
Juro Kurabe
Megumi Yakushiji
Ei Sekigahara
Iori Fuyusaka

Uncleared:
Keitaro Miura- 87%
Takatoshi Hijiyama- 85%
Renya Gouto- prologue done

NEXT UP: Keitaro's last scenes are unlocked and I won't be able to resist going there. After that, we'll see what the second shadiest glasses wearer in Ashitaba has been up to.

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andylt
04/12/23 5:55:29 PM
#89:


You... are correct. Is that what you wanted to hear? That I was driven by some... cheap, naive impulse? That I... That I can't think about anything else?

Keitaro Miura
I'm unsure why they locked this last section off, nothing major happens and I don't think it even reveals much about Hijiyama's story. Miura and his long time colleague have a nice chat, this really is one of the most believable friendships in the game, and we get mentions of BJ, Chihiro, and an appearance from Natsuno. A smaller finale than most, but definitely one of the best characters.

Renya Gouto
As one would hope, Gouto's story provides some much-needed answers. As one would expect, it also throws a bunch of new questions our way. The path is less about Gouto himself and more about the clone formerly known as Chihiro Morimura, and excuses to give us many more welcome flashbacks that help clear things up. There's only one scene here that I think centres on Renya himself, and it's an excellent one where he confesses his love of Ms Morimura and his frustration at being driven by such base emotions.

After Ms Morimura's death, Gouto has figured out that baby Chihiro is not a clone of our top-heavy teacher nurse, but instead a direct clone of Professor Morimura from 2188. I did not see this coming, I thought they were leading us to a reveal that she was 426. But it's a great way to tie us back to the original story, and get some answers from 'humanity's traitor' herself. Though she mainly sits there quietly while Renya delivers the exposition dumps. Again this isn't a complaint, I like being spoonfed when things are this ambiguous!

One flashback reveals that Ida was lying about Juro killing the 4 who tried to loop again. We didn't need to learn this info directly, it was pretty obvious, but seeing Morimura break down in guilt over it makes the scene worthwhile, and helps strengthen her motivations for bringing Juro back later on. The myriad of 2188 logs (yay!) come from all corners: Ida, who I think looks more like Gouto than Amiguchi in 2188, berates everybody including the person watching the log (lol, classic Ida); Takamiya and Morimura talk about making clones with some language that goes over my head, and a blatantly evil Kengo Ogata AI taunts 2188 Gouto. The last one doesn't really land as well for me, Nenji's dad is one-dimensional and it's awfully late to add a new key player to the proceedings, but Gouto sets out to halt Project Ark so it's possible there's a later reveal to come from this. Making Ogata Sr the one directly responsible for the infection is a bit cheap, but I suppose it doesn't alleviate Chihiro's responsibility entirely.

As for Child Professor Morimura herself, she's an arrogant sinister egomaniac who will stop at nothing to get what she wants... but what she wants, it seems, is to save the species. She just doesn't trust anyone else to do it right. She's layered pretty nicely considering how fast her arc moves along, and Gouto's key role is to remind her of her own humanity and argue the case for this world's inhabitants to fight for themselves. It works, and she berates herself as she begins to grow fond of Renya and his plan, helping to shift 1.2 million civilians to Sector 3. It's cool seeing the destruction scenes from way back when shown from here on the ground level, and I like that Miwako played a part in helping proceedings.

Another major help comes from Morimura's newly revealed biological son, Tsukasa Okino.

Takatoshi Hijiyama
Instead of sticking with Gouto it feels right to shift to these two. While waiting for Inaba to show herself, Okino and Hijiyama are attacked by androids, and Okino shifts Hijiyama to safety before being attacked. Then Hijiyama runs around the school looking for anyone who can save him, not even stopping at the cafeteria. That's how you know it's serious! His only pause is to reminisce about an encounter with Okino, and then the game's constant MVP BJ comes to the rescue. Bless you, BJ! It's too late to save the AI Okino, but Takatoshi resolves to fight to keep a home for Okino to return to, which is so very sweet.

We know Okino comes back for the final battle, so his return isn't a surprise. But the information he brings us is! He reveals to Hijiyama that the world as he knows it is a simulation, and 80% of the innerlocitor's processes go to simulating reality to make it believable for the 15. I have to admit I'm a little confused here, I thought the sectors were real constructions 30km in diameter and that their waning stability is the reason we can have no more resets. But Okino says the sectors are a simulated space, and only the pods they are in are reality. The people, though created by UC, must be real by some definition or why would Chihiro bother saving all 1.2 million of them? Are you telling me Miwako isn't real, game?? Maybe I misunderstood this and Tsukasa is just putting things in a way Takatoshi can understand. I took 'simulated space' to mean the space itself is non-existent, but maybe he meant the space is where the simulations take place.

More easily understood is Takatoshi's way of declaring his love, and no longer burdened by shame he marches with a clear head into the final fight. A solid story, still hope these two have a happier epilogue ahead.

Renya Gouto
The professor softens, and Renya makes her a bet that this world can take care of itself. Even she can't deny this possibility, and she shifts some satellites to create one final opportunity for us to save the world (which she refers to as Earth!). She's done a lot wrong, but I can't help but love her for addressing Keitaro as big brother here and wishing him luck.

And... that's it! We're onto the final battle for real this time. There's ten more scenes left unseen in the event database, and an unusually large amount of analysis logs still missing, so I hope we have more story to come. I'm not clear on absolutely everything (an understatement and a half), but I'm eager to see what happens after the Deimos' demise.

A random thought I've been having: I wonder if Tamao was originally planned to be a playable character? She's likely one of the 15, and is always tangentially evolved in events. I kept waiting for her major role to come through but it never did.

Also, did any of you pick up on the 'design engineer' slip from Chihiro to indicate she was the professor? I don't recall what I thought at the time but I think I just assumed Morimura knew everything at that point >_>

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

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tcaz2
04/12/23 6:14:07 PM
#90:


Tamao was indeed intended to have a bigger role in the game, and had an entire plot arc that got cut. Cuts are also why you don't see Megumi shoot everyone, and a few other minor things here and there.

Kinda sucks, but that the story is so good regardless makes it suck a bit less overall.
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andylt
04/12/23 7:18:56 PM
#91:


Shame, I admit a tiny part of me was hoping for a secret 14th route with Tamao.

The data archives reveal how Okino un-infected the Sentinels, that feels like something they should've told us on-screen lol. Guess there were budget/time constraints somewhere.

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tcaz2
04/12/23 7:42:39 PM
#92:


The game actually went through a *lot* of revisions and cuts, it was originally suppose to be much more choices driven and have multiple full narrative splits based off decisions you made within each characters stories.

In some ways, it's arguably for the best it got cut down as much as it did, because that sounds like a mess waiting to happen and its already super impressive how complicated the story of the game is yet works so well.
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andylt
04/13/23 5:59:09 PM
#93:


It's about a promise.

3-9 and 3-10 are simple enough battles, in fact I could've done 3-10 faster if I'd known in advance that a single Limiter Removal powered Demolition Blade from Nenji would slice 2/3 of the boss's health off in one go. The last fight is tougher, I did not prepare for a defensive battle so I brought all 3 Melee units with me. Oops! Maybe I could've kept on top of the enemy onslaught but I try to play it defensive as best I can, thankfully everybody had EMP gear and Keitaro's Wide Range Bombardment continues to be a godsend to the end.

The plan succeeds, UC wakes up to the Deimos threat and the simulation is cut off. We get a lengthy explanation clarifying Okino's earlier remarks (the sectors are all virtual, but we did land on a planet and the facility we're in is physical), and bless Iori for asking about the 1.2 million people still inside. After a message from the 2188 professors, our 15 survivors (I guess Tamao is sitting offscreen quietly this whole time) exit their growth pods, and make their way to the new world. Juro and Megumi embrace, and vow to live on for humanity.

That ending is fine alone, but I can't tell you how relieved I was to see the simulation continue in the credits. 5 years later, Sector 4 is back up and running and our protagonists hop back in to their previous lives to reunite with their old friends. This is a very cheesy and fanservice-y epilogue and I eat it all up. Well not quite all of it, I still don't love all of the pairings. I like Shu and Yuki but don't love them as a couple, I've spoken on Juro and Megumi before, and are Renya and Ryoko supposed to be together? It was mentioned they used to date when they were kids, but if they're a couple now that's one of the saddest cases of pairing the spares I have seen. They were both madly in love with someone else and would be together simply because they're the only two left. But the game doesn't explicitly mention they're a couple so I'll assume they aren't. The professor will help the two develop a way to give real bodies to the AI populace, so a truly happy ending is coming down the line.

The non-romantic interactions are the best here, from the girls embracing Miwako, to the return of our story's real hero BJ, to an unexpectedly emotional reunion between Ogata and Wajima. Minami and Miura remain the best romantic pairing, I still like Hijiyama and Okino but I wish they had more affectionate scenes that weren't just Okino toying with the dude. The double Tamao meetup is odd, maybe that's a remnant of when she used to be a bigger part of the story. I like that Ei didn't feel like hopping into the simulation lol, I guess there's not much in the way of positive memories for him here. Though it'd be nice to see him and BJ reunite.

I am baffled that Tetsuya Ida gets a happy ending with Inaba, after everything he pulled. He doesn't even redeem himself, he just gets what he wants because it's happy ending time! Poor Tomi, she could do better. But I'll freely admit I'm a complete hypocrite here, because I really like that the game ends on a romantic reunion between two other people who have manipulated events and caused so much destruction for so many lives. Against all odds, Chihiro Morimura and Juro Izumi finally get to embrace and look to the future, and dangit if that isn't sweet.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim- CLEARED

And... that's it! I think. There's a bunch of new data archive info, but it's mainly clarifying things in case we were still confused (much appreciated). A post-ending scene teases one possible alternate world generated by the self-replicating probes, and there's a new wave of battle maps. Is it worth doing these, do I get anything plot-related for them? Not sure if I'll bother otherwise.

I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game and it pretty much stuck the landing in the end, props to the writers for handling so many plot threads and tying them together in a way that made sense. I'll have to sit and digest on the game for a bit, but I might do some character rankings or something before ending the topic. Thank you very much to anyone who followed along, I hope you got something out of it!


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MysteriousStan
04/13/23 6:46:27 PM
#94:


Definitely a game I thought about for weeks after finishing it. Very impressive how everything came together!
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Leonhart4
04/13/23 6:54:31 PM
#95:


The bonus maps have no story content at all, so don't feel the need to play them if you don't want to.

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tcaz2
04/13/23 7:29:33 PM
#96:


The official word on Ryoko and Gouto is "You can decide if they did or not".

So yeah.
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andylt
04/14/23 2:28:28 PM
#97:


Why anyone would want them to be a thing is beyond me.

I've started looking things up now, apparently the bonus maps are numbered in the hundreds or even thousands? That's absurd, good job they don't lock anything behind it. Also all the unique sentinel powers were brand new with the Switch version so many here may not have even witnessed Miura's bombardment or Natsuno's very chunky laser!

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Arti
04/14/23 3:13:22 PM
#98:


Even without that laser Natsuno was easily my most used sentinel

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tcaz2
04/14/23 5:23:18 PM
#99:


idk I just hope Ryoko gets with someone that will give her a hug. She really deserves one or twenty or so.
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MacArrowny
04/14/23 5:37:37 PM
#100:


andylt posted...
Why anyone would want them to be a thing is beyond me.

I've started looking things up now, apparently the bonus maps are numbered in the hundreds or even thousands?
9999

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All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.
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