AndyKazama

#Platinum 206

13 Sentinels Aegis Rim

Difficulty to platinum: 2/10
Time: 24 hours ish. 
Score: 92/100

Tl;dr review Brilliant game with excellent story and characters. Easy trophy list however that's not a problem. This isn't a game you should buy just for trophies.

In depth look

Story
I will not give anything away. Play it to experience it. Amazing stuff.

Characters
Doing this from the top of my head so let's see if I can remember all 13 main characters...
Nenji, Ei, Takatoshi, Juro, Iori, Ryoko, Natsuno, Keitaro, Tomi, Megumi, Yuki, Renya and Shu.

Then there's standout support characters like: Tetsuya, Chihiro, Miwako etc.

The point is having 13 main characters does this game no harm and they're all great. Some have weaker stories than the others. That's a given for any game.

Graphics/Presentation
Vanillaware are back with their hand-drawn style. There's so much charm here it's off the charts. Lightning is surprisingly good is treated like a fully 3D game, contrasting with the 2D art work.

I did notice it didn't scale well to my 4K TV but that might just be me. Nothing deal breaking.

Music
Not going to lie. The music does it's part. There are not any tracks I'd say are stand out, however there are no stinkers either. Edit: so I wrote this as I was still getting the platinum. Turns out the final boss music is amazing.

Gameplay
This is broken down into two main areas.
Remembrance - A visual novel style mode with the branching paths of Odinsphere (if you've ever played that game, you'll notice the "map screen" is similar). This is my favourite part of the game. You have to think about what to do to progress to the next story beat.

Destruction - A RTS style game mode where you fight off waves of kaiju in your Sentinels. I'm okay with this game mode, it's fun, however it's not as good as other Vanillaware games. That said, it's not that it's bad, it's just not for me (and it certainly doesn't make me think less of the game.)
*Strongly recommend only doing what you need in this mode. Do whatever Remembrance when you can first.

Honestly, my words cannot do this game justice. A must buy and contender for game of the generation, yet alone the year!

Any questions, just ask.

(and if I had to rank* top 5 main protagonists, here you go
1) Megumi
2) Natsuno
3) Nenji
4) Iori
5) Takatoshi

*rankings based off whims)

13 Sentinels Aegis Rim is not only a game of the year contender, but game of the PS4 generation contender. 

I'll try to rationalise my thoughts tomorrow when I post after I get the platinum. 

This one is a serious recommend. 

13 Sentinels Aegis Rim is a huge departure from Vanillaware's previous titles and it's great 3 hours in. 

The "visual novel" aspects of it are super interesting. For example, key words learned in one story branch can be used in another. If that's not new, bear in my mind I don't play many games like this. 😅

The story tactical robot combat is pretty good too. 

#Platinum 205 Need for Speed Payback

Normally I do a big long post, but not for this.  This one had me going "why am I doing this?". 

Driving is fun, but story sucks. I like none of the licenced music. Collectibles are there for no reason. Challenges were no fun. 

Hot Pursuit Remaster soon tho. That's a fun platinum.

Atelier Ryza 2 pre order looks fancy. 

Interestingly they're not using NISA this time and on their own site now. 

Won't be missing out on Ryza figure this time. 👀