13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - PlayStation 4

I need to get something off my chest first: the product itself came slightly creased on the cover (as well as the artbook). This made me anxious about playing the game for quite some time. However, after I actually put the disc in, I realized this didn't take away from my enjoyment at all! 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is Atlus at the top of their game. 13 Sentinels takes quite a unique approach to gameplay, in the forms of 13 protagonists (hence, the game's name). Each character is fleshed out and helps contribute to the overall plot of the story (which I'll get to later). With the exception of maybe 1-2 protagonists, I enjoyed the cast. All of them are unique in their own right (I'll give some small description for each). REMEMBRANCE By far, the greatest feature of this game is Remembrance, which is the game's central section to telling it's plot. And while the plot is incredible, it's more-so the approach to the story which is genius. While you do play as 13 characters, from their own points of view, you have to unlock each character by completing other character's events. I'll give an example: Yuki Takamiya's story becomes locked at a certain point until you complete Natsuno Minami's "Exterminator" event. Events are instances during each character's routes. Think of them like checkpoints. You will find yourself replaying certain sections, but choosing different options in order to progress. This is an event. Whenever I mention a character's event, picture a break in their route. In game, an event will always end with a "To be Continued...." My recommended order to play through this game would be to hop between protagonists frequently (I do it every single time the event ends and I'm brought back to the protagonist selection). I highly encourage players to switch between other characters that appear in that protagonist's story (Ex: In Juro's route, Iori Fuyusaka can be seen, therefore I switch to her after I complete Juro's event; in Iori's route, Shu Amiguchi can be seen, and in his route Yuki Takamiya appears, and so on). This is the way the game is intended to be played, in fact I discourage you from trying to outright complete one character's story in one shot, as it takes away from the central narrative and most-often-than-not it will be locked. At key points in the game, certain character's stories directly follow each other (assuming you've been using my order), and this is very rewarding. Most of the time, you'll be finding yourself switching between characters to unlock the other's story. In simpler terms: Even though the character may be unlocked, they will become inaccessible until a certain story event/enemy wave (more on that later) is completed first. To me, this never upset the impeccable pacing, which is astounding, since the game takes place over several key time periods. Speaking of characters, let's name a few shall we? (this is just a short summary and it's purpose is to demonstrate how each character ties in with the next. I included some images regarding each character's routes) Juro Kurabe: A boy from 1985. He's living with Megumi Yakushiji, but he's worried the school might find out and expel the both of them. He greatly enjoys Mecha and Kaiju movies, and often shares them with his best friends (Shiba and Shu Amiguchi). Juro has been talking to Iori Fuyusaka, an insomniac kept awake by the dreams she has. In truth, the school he's attending is keeping some deep secrets from him. Megumi Yakushiji: A girl from 1985. She's living with Juro, who she has a romantic interest towards. Her story is all about restoring Juro's memories by following the orders of Fluffy, a supernatural cat. If you've seen Madoka Magica, you'll come to appreciate this route. Shu Amiguchi: A boy from 1985. Personally, one of my favorite characters. He's a flirty rich kid who's trying to get the best out of life. He becomes acquainted with Yuki Takamiya, a "sukeban" girl, who he comes to see as the ideal romantic interest for him. For his entire life, he's had girls throw themselves at him, but he's never had someone refuse him. This is what lead to his initial interest. While this is all going down, he's been having a supposed pop idol, Miyuki Inaba, talk to him through his tv. She warns him about a great conspiracy involving their town. Eventually, he finds himself too deep in the conspiracy to get out. Yuki Takamiya: A girl from 1985. She's amassed a great deal of respect as the leader of the "sukeban" girls (delinquents, basically). She's been sent (forced) as an undercover agent to investigate Sakura High for those who are compatible with the Sentinels by the government, alongside Ryoko Shinonome. Her best friend, Natsuno Minami, has been missing from school for several days. Unbeknownst to her, Natsuno Minami is being investigated by the government, which she is working for. Yuki knows that Natsuno was never the kind of girl to run away, so she immediately pulls together an investigation with her partner: Erika Aiba. Her investigation leads to several bomb (metaphorical) drops. Ryoko Shinonome: I'm not sure just yet what time period she comes from. She developed a crush on Tetsuya Ida, one of the higher ups at the government station that Yuki and her are working at. She suffers from great headaches (when playing as her you actually see how much pain this girl goes through) and has to take pills in order to subside them. She's looking for 426, a prisoner who was believed to have caused the Deimos invasion. Natsuno Minami: A girl from 1985. She's one of my favorites as well. Natsuno is heavily invested in Alien and conspiracy theory media. She watches the same movies that Juro and Amiguchi watch, but she whole-heartedly believes that Aliens are real. Imagine her surprise when she discovers an Alien robot, who she aptly names BJ. BJ is looking for the pilot of Sentinel No. 17 (I'm not sure if that's the exact number, but you get the point). She hides him in her P.E. bag and shoves him in her track locker. Keitaro Miura: A boy from 1945. Once again, one of my favorites and for good reason too. Miura was preparing to leave his home and fight in WWII as a pilot of a Sentinel (I don't remember the exact number). His friend, Takatoshi Hijiyama admires his will to fight and gives him his regards before they depart. Before leaving, he is shocked to find his home in flames from a US air raid. He travels to the future by accident and is devastated to learn that Japan lost the war. Honestly, he's the best character in this game. Takatoshi Hijiyama: A boy from 1945. His story begins at Tokisaka Shrine, a very important location to keep in mind. He corners Kiriko Douji, a supposed traitor and his love interest. However, Kiriko reveals herself to be Tsukasa Okino, a guy who worked on the 4th Gen Sentinels. Hijiyama chases after him into the future: 1985. Iori Fuyusaka: A girl from 1985. Iori constantly suffers from her dreams and finds herself oversleeping in class to compensate. She's friends with Tomi Kisaragi and Miwako Sawatori, who appear most in her story. She met a mysterious boy (Ei Sekigahara), after bumping into him at the school gate. She sees him as a romantic interest and tries to find him. Ei Sekigahara: A boy from the future. Ei is an amnesiac. He wakes up in a dark alley to find a corpse, a gun (Phaser), and several other things. His story is all about piecing together his steps in order to recover his memory. Why was this woman killed? Who killed her? Why this exact location? What does this key unlock? Who am I? These are some of the questions that will pop up during his route. I'm not finished with his story yet, but it's certainly very interesting. I hope I managed to at least pique your interest with some of the descriptions. I also wanted to show the importance of switching protagonists frequently, that way the plot makes more sense. I didn't include the other 3, since those focus on some plot heavy details (Especially Gouto). Trying to play this game in chronological order is impossible, so don't bother; most of the shock is only delivered so well, due to the buildup. ANALYSIS If you ever find yourself needing a chart or a list to navigate through the story, Analysis has you covered. While playing Remembrance, you get thought bubbles. By thinking those thoughts, you add on to Analysis. Analysis, is in essence, a carefully thought out guide. All 13 character's profiles (assuming you've unlocked them) are stored here and gradually built upon as you progress with their routes. The best feature, however, has to be the mystery files. Mystery files help clear up certain details, which may have confused you during the story, without giving too much away. They are a great addition to Analysis. You will unlock mystery points to spend on these files through Destruction and Remembrance (mostly the former, but there are rare instances where Remembrance will grant these points). I recommend coming back to Analysis every now and then (let's say every 4 events), or if you are completely lost. DESTRUCTION (I don't remember what the mode itself is called at the moment, but it's a blast) Hear me out on this. I absolutely can't stand Mecha shows and tropes. It's just not my cup of tea. That being said...I love this mode! In Destruction, you pilot all 13 characters' Sentinels and defend the city from the Deimos (Robot Kaiju). Each character is separated into 4 types of playstyles depending on the Sentinel: -1st Gen (Brawlers, big damage boys): Nenji Ogata, Takatoshi Hijiyama, Ei Sekigahara -2nd Gen (All Rounders): Juro Kurabe, Iori Fuyusaka, Ryoko Shinonome -3rd Gen (Long Range): Natsuno Minami, Keitaro Miura, Tomi Kisaragi -4th Gen (Aerial Mid Range): Megumi Yakushiji, Renya Gouto, Yuki Takamiya, Shu Amiguchi The battle scale will get progressively difficult (it won't feel challenging until the 2nd Area). Just make sure you are always upgrading your pilots and switching them out when needed. Each pilot comes with perks which unlock at LV 5, 10, 15, and 20. It can anything to increasing all stats if the pilot is completely alone (Shinonome) to increasing damage if a follow-up was preformed by a certain character-duo (Natsuno and Miura). Overall, you won't have any problem as long as you upgrade your pilots after each battle (I recommend focusing on Demolisher Blade for the Brawlers, put that to +5 and it will insta-kill all Wave 1 and most of Wave 2 Kaiju; don't rely on the machine gun skills they suck trust me). Also DON'T recover unless absolutely necessary. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I haven't recovered my pilots ONCE and I'm doing fine. If you choose to recover your battle score will reset: Mine's currently at 2.10x more, since I won 12 battles straight without dying. OVERVIEW Overall, 13 Sentinels is absolutely worth the $60 price for how much content you're getting for it. If you see a sale, buy it immediately. I recommend picking up the physical copy, since it comes with a mini artbook. Vanillaware managed to make this game look absolutely gorgeous, so I figure why not get the physical copy and admire the art. Trust me, you'll appreciate it more once you actually play through the game. Anyway, 13 Sentinels is a masterpiece regarding yet another Time Travel basis flipped on its head. All of the dialogue is voiced, even the thought bubbles, so if you've neglected visual novels, since there are no voices to keep you engaged; 13 Sentinels is a great place to start.

Wish I had picked this game up sooner. The game is split into Story and Mech Action segments that you can choose to tackle in pretty much any order (up until a few points when you have to progress Story or Action to get further). There's also a third segment for the lore and events that happen during the story so you can revisit them in case you forget. The art style and presentation are so outstanding, I love the hand drawn visuals and its cozy vibes. The story may not be for everyone, it takes quite a bit before the full picture comes into view but I believe all the characters are fleshed out and I enjoyed learning their backstories. I played the game swapping constantly between character stories, if I forgot anything between play sessions I could refresh in the lore/event segment. The mecha side of the game features high-stakes combat where you control 6 of the 13 character's mechs and defend a certain point for 2 minutes or until you eliminate all enemies. When you select a character, the game pauses for you to choose whether they'll move, defend or activate and ability. I played on the hardest difficulty and battles normally took 40 seconds in-game, but maybe around 8-10 minutes in real time (and longer for the final missions). There are 4 classes of mech and each character has slightly different variations within those 4 classes that made customizing loadouts and trying different strategies fun. Lastly the soundtrack is amazing, I love all of the tracks during the mecha fights. I also played the game with subs and Japanese VA, which I thought was pretty good. All of the little banter during mecha fights was subbed, something I notice most foreign games don't usually sub. Overall, the story and lore segments are nice for when maybe you don't wanna try super hard and just experience a fun story. When you want some intense action, you can dive into the mecha combat segments. I love the freedom of choice this game gives you and recommend this game.

Shipping: came nice and fast and in one piece. I was very happy with Amazon's handling of the product. The Product: I really like the packaging, the art book it came with is great. I LOVE the artwork and storyline to this game. They did a game I wasn't sure would even come state-side more than justice! Great translation work, to a BEAUTIFULLY made title with amazing attention to character development and continuity. The soundtrack is interesting, with good production. I'm excited to see Vanillaware do something different than what they've been doing with more action based titles. This was an interesting way to see them apply their art and story telling skills in a new formula. I was worried I wouldn't like the tactic bits with the combat since it was a not as visually inviting but I found it smooth and fun to play. I won't spoil anything from the story. Enjoy it for yourself. Great game!

Aegis Rim tells a fun if deliberately confusing story. Plot twists are frequent(perhaps a bit too much so) but still it's enjoyable and as usual for Vanillaware their unique artistic style makes the visual novel portions of the game beautiful. Thirteen characters, with overlapping stories that get you curious but each arc isn't equally interesting. But overall it is a lot of fun and the homages to so many different sci-fi movies and some anime are constant, usually in a good way. Then we get to the tactical RPG part. It's pretty average. As opposed the beautiful art of the visual novel portion it uses simple symbols to represent your units and the opposing forces. Luckily this part while needing to be done is pretty easily even at normal difficulty and at casual difficulty you can literally breeze through it with no effort at all. Overall I recommend this game if you're more interested in art and story than gaming. If you're looking for a good strategy game on the other hand I would recommend looking elsewhere.

I researched this game before purchasing it and just looked the art style. The problem I could see right away is that I might not enjoy the combat but after playing it, I fell in love with it. The problem is the combat leaves a lot to your imagination, it could have been so much better if it was all animated in a way like the story cutscenes but unfortunately they rely on a different look when you jump from the story to the battlefield. You'll see little animations to demonstrate what is going on with weaponry but I could have loved if they could have found a way for you to see it unfold better and that the actual mechas and enemies being represented the exact way the main story is. Instead you get the glowing icons and no more than that. That aside, if you know this ahead of time, it's not very jarring. You'll be utilizing tactics, powering up your units, and have fun unlocking new and stronger abilities over time. The story is great also, I love how they slowly give you bits and pieces and as I was watching it unfold, I was really invested. Long term, once you're done with the story there is a kind of endless mode that held my attention for a while but I eventually put the game aside after completing it 100%. I got into the combat but because you can't see your mechs or the enemies animated nicely on a battlefield, I'm enjoying it purely on a tactical level and not getting the kind of feast for the eyes that could have made this bring in a lot more people.

A sci-fi narrative driven game riddled with twist and turns akin to the Spike Chunsoft games like the Zero Escape series and The Somnium Files. The presentation of the main story is stunning water colored 2d animation art with crisp and well recorded audio from talented voice actors you'd very much recognize in both languages (English and Japanese). On the flip side, there is a battle section which is an isometric RTS style tower defense game that I personally find addicting. The music is great and the in game audio design fits their assigned parts of the game (my personal favorite being the sci-fi techy music and sounds in the "DESTUCTION" section). The plot centers around time travel and if you're familiar or a fan of the German Netflix Original series "Dark", you'd love this game as it invokes the same feelings of confusion and reward when mysteries are explored and plot points open up. My game still came with the art book even though I didn't pre order or bought on release. If you're a collector, you'll likely get one with your copy. This game is a 10/10.

I have been a huge fan of Vanillaware since Muramasa Rebirth on the Vita. Anytime I see a game made by them with their distinct art style it's always an instant buy from me, because I love the look of their games, and the gameplay itself is usually very good. This time around I'd say the story is definitely more the draw here. The game is not bad by any means at all, but it is not the fast pace button mashing time that most of Vanillaware's games are known for. It's more of a fast paced tactical game. But like I said, for me, and I feel like for a lot, that's not the main appeal of this game. The artwork is just pure candy for the eyes, and the story is rich and very well thought-out. It's very scattered and out of order, but that's part of the fun, going through the pov of 13 different protagonist. I find myself engaged with all of their stories. I haven't finished the game yet, but having nearly 25 hours in, I feel it's safe to say that this is an amazing game.

Don't let the "visual novel" bit turn you off. The story is fantastic, and plays out as more of a graphical adventure, although very, very simplistic in mechanics. The characters are interesting and fleshed out. There's more of the tower defense / battle bit than I expected. It's a perfect balance so far of "gameplay" and "story", where neither is too brief nor drawn out, and the story bits are captivating so far. I'm about 2 hours in and enjoying every bit of it. I haven't mentioned the obvious. The art / graphics / animation are pure Vanillaware goodness, and the sound and music... sublime. An audio / visual feast. And to top it, Atlus as the god-tier publisher. The bonus artbook is a nice touch. The game comes in a standard case, with it and the artbook encased in a slip cover. Worth it. Edit and update: 25 hours in, and omg. What an amazing story. I am NOT a VN guy, and my days of graphic adventures were decades ago, but my goodness. I'm actually at a point where I've advanced the story so far I need to catch up on the tower defense bits, which are normally more my thing. This game is something really unique that I'm not sure has ever really been done before. I just wanted to update, as my original glowing review was after 2 hours. After 25, I can say that... WOW!!!!

Honestly this game is really good. It takes advantage of being a game in letting every character be the main character of their own story. They are all interacting in different ways and playing supporting roles at the same time. It is honestly a lot of fun going from one character to another. You start out with certain views of what they are like and who they are only to see them grow and change through the story. You just can't get this kind of experience in a book or movie as easily. It is a very good looking game. They did a fantastic job making the backgrounds look good and the characters look sharp. You are a bit limited in where you can go and who you can talk with. But that rarely feels like an issue as far as I'm concerned. Probably a good thing the story forces you to go down different character routes so you don't just focus on one character. You even have to do some fighting for some of them. The action isn't anything special in the battle portion. Pretty simple stuff. But that's fine since the narrative itself is so good. Easily one of my favorite games of this year. Definitely worth checking out to see if you are interested.

Very underrated game and clearly alot of work has gone into it. A strong contender for GOTY 2020.

Un poco decepcionado.me a venido sin ningún manual.y y eso que se suponía que está versión,traía un manual con algo de arte....una edición sin manual.solo el disco pelado..

Bought from amazon. Combination of visual novel and half real-timed, half turn-based tower defense like RTS. Visual novel part weaves Vanillaware's unique art style and storytelling way into a non-chronological, multi-protagonist sci-fi epic. RTS part unlike Vanillaware ever made is 8-bit simplified style, however it allows hundreds to thousands of "Deimos"(which they called the kaijus in the game) spawn simultaneously. Two mode can be switched in any time except for some plot twists being locked at first. Those who love classic sci-fi, story heavy games, Vanillaware's art style, twisted plot, and Megazone 23 should give it a try before being spoiled.

日本語でも英語でもプレイが可能です。 いい感じのリスニング勉強に活用しています