The Let's Play Archive

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

by Arist

Part 13: Destruction 0

Music: Voyage To Tomorrow (Hitoshi Sakimoto)



Chapter 13: Destruction 0




I’ve decided we will, in fact, be playing on Intense, because this game is very easy and I want to make it slightly more interesting.







The kaiju are going to try to burrow underground to attack the terminal. If they get that far, then the Sentinels won’t be enough to stop them.
This is the only way we can stop them. We cannot allow even a single one through. If they manage to get past our defense squad, then our battle really will be over. We need to balance our priority between defense and directly neutralizing the invasion force.



You guys just hang back and watch me kick their shit in.



But we can predict the kinds of Deimos we’ll be seeing in the oncoming waves. We should probably build our offensive ream based on what we know they’ll be up against.





So, here’s the Team Organization screen, where we pick the pilots who will be on offense. We can have a maximum of six members on offense. Everyone else will be on defense and automatically use their one defensive skill. We should, as mentioned earlier, pick our squad based on the enemy type detailed in this menu. Here, it’s looking like we’ve got a lot of ground-based enemies, so we should prioritize 1st-gen Sentinels for melee. I only pick Ogata, though, because it’s only the first stage and I know I won’t need a second.

As you can see, the team is broken up into the four generations, with 1st-gen being melee, 2nd-gen being all-rounders, 3rd-gen being long-range, and 4th-gen being flight support.

Also, note that Okino is missing from this screen. Interesting.



The starting party looks decent, but I replace Shu with Yuki. Not just for the obvious reasons, but because her Leg Spike will be useful against anything with a lot of HP. From there, I hit “Deploy”.




Oh, there’s Okino. Where are you, buddy?

Don’t “easy there” me, I’m trying to lead the charge…
I just want to go over something before the battle kicks off.



…What, a refit? Right now?
Sort of. This is one of the meta-systems we managed to analyze. Basically, we can use those Meta-Chips you earn in battle. With those, we can make some serious improvements to our armaments, and the Sentinels themselves. You might even be able to make some brand-new armaments on the fly…
That’s amazing, Okino…! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?
Well, I haven’t even tested it yet. I didn’t have a way to confirm it. But hey, no time like the present. So let’s give it a try.
I hope we don’t break it…






Let’s unlock Demolisher Blade for Hijiyama.




And it’s now equipped. As you can see, we only have six slots for “Gear.”







Um… I’m still not sure if I get it…
Yeah, maybe this shit will make sense once I actually get to punch somethin’.



Yeah… Let’s get going.

Actually, we’re not going to go just yet. We should review some of the individual details of these Sentinels and upgrade them.



First up, the Meta-System upgrades. From here, we can unlock new Meta-Skills, upgrade the terminal to let us use more Meta-Skills, increase multipliers for our score and Meta-Chips, and increase the level of the Meta-System itself to unlock more gear for each pilot. We can increase the Meta-System Level up to 10.

We’re going to upgrade the Meta-Sytem to level 3.



Sentinel No. 10: Nenji Ogata. First-generation. Defensive Skill: Anti-Ground Multi-Lock Missiles

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Nenji is basically the top dog of the 1st-generation pilots, and it’s all thanks to his Hyper Condenser, which turns his Demolisher Blade into a buzzsaw that shreds everything in a 270 degree arc in front of him. He’s got some other decent stuff too, but I tend to stick with stuff like EMP Attractor to bring fliers down to him and Tackle to get take care of enemies while moving. I’ve never used Limiter Removal because the attached risk makes me nervous, but I’ve seen it used to great effect by others. I’ve also never used his Anti-Ground Multi-Lock Missiles, because that just feels like missing the point.

In terms of upgrades for him, we give him Tackle, and then upgrade some of his gear to +2 (the maximum is +8).
“Setup Movement” is how far the Sentinel can move while attacking.



Sentinel No. 12: Takatoshi Hijiyama. First-generation. Defensive Skill: EMP Attractor

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Hijiyama isn’t quite as useful as Ogata as a pure damage dealer, but having Counter and Composite Ceramic Armor gives him a powerful niche, especially with EMP Surrounding. He can run into hordes, drop them all, and get out unscathed.

As mentioned earlier, we already gave him Demolisher Blade.


Sentinel No. 11: Ei Sekigahara. First-generation. Defensive Skill: Anti-Air Flares

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Ei doesn’t have as strong an identity as the other 1st-generation pilots (probably because he lost his), but Forced Cooling Device is really great and means he can take actions incredibly frequently.



Sentinel No. 13: Juro Kurabe. 2nd-generation. Defensive Skill: Multi Rocket Launchers

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Juro has some really great options here! Jammer Rocket Launchers in particular are really interesting, being weak on their own but also reducing enemy speed and durability. It’s almost a shame the 2nd-gens are mostly just good for Sentry spam!

Also worth noting that 2nd-generation models are versatile but sloooooow, with long wait times after their moves. They tend to hang in the back and not engage the enemy directly, which is why it’s so weird that their big unlock at the end is the fucking plasma cutter I’ve never once used because it requires you to get up close.

For Juro, we unlock the Sentry Gun armament and increase its level to +2.


Sentinel No. 15: Iori Fuyusaka. 2nd-generation. Defensive Skill: Jammer Rocket Launchers

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Iori is really good at support due to her Repair Emitter and Shield Emitter. She also has Jammer Rocket Launchers to help take down tough foes. But, again, we’re going to be prioritizing Sentry Guns.

Upgrades:


Sentinel No. 14: Ryoko Shinonome. 2nd-generation. Defensive Skill: Arm-Mounted Machine Cannons

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Ryoko is really, really good. She lacks Jammer Rocket Launchers, so you might want to back her up with another 2nd-generation pilot, but her Hyper Condenser is amazing and she’s a good balance of Iori’s support and Juro’s attack focus. If you’re confused as to why that Hyper Condenser is so good, the description is a little misleading. It sounds like it lets you put down a second Sentry Gun after you already have one… but no. The cap on number of sentries is honestly absurdly high and I never once hit it. What it actually does is let you place two Sentry Guns at once. It’s great.



Sentinel No. 17: Natsuno Minami. 3rd-generation. Defensive Skill: 6 Multi-Launching Rapid Cannons

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Natsuno lacks Super Large Missile, so she’s unfortunately she’s the least powerful member of the already-situational 3rd-generation pilots. However, that’s not to say she’s not useful. Forced Cooling Device is, again, great, and almost everything she has is useful in some capacity. Except Stun Knuckles. I’ll have to post a gif of Missile Rain at some point, it’s nuts.

For Natsuno, we unlock and equip Long-Range Missiles.



Sentinel No. 19: Keitaro Miura. 3rd-generation. Defensive Skill: Main Battery Heavy Railgun

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
First things first: Super Large Missile is the strongest single attack in the game, hitting a huge area for massive damage. Miura has that and Missile Rain, making him a serious force all on his own. His unique skill is Main Battery Mega Railgun, which does absurd damage.



Sentinel No. 16: Tomi Kisaragi. 3rd-generation. Defensive Skill: Long-Range Missiles

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Tomi is powerful, but the only thing she can do that Miura can’t is fire off two consecutive railgun shots thanks to her Hyper Condenser… and that Hyper Condenser is the least useful one in the game, unfortunately. The way I tend to use railguns (fire into mass of enemies), I generally don’t have a need to fire a second time, and even if I do, Miura’s Mega Railgun is already over twice as powerful than Tomi’s Heavy Railgun. Super Large Missile continues to be amazing, though.



Sentinel No. 23: Megumi Yakushiji. 4th-generation. Defensive Skill: Repair Drones

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Megumi is actually really useful on support! Shield Matrix and Shield Repair are both great for defending, Gravity Missiles to pull enemies to a central location for easy disposal works wonders, and she’s got a Hyper Condenser to increase the number of Interceptors she can spawn at once! She’s even got a Forced Cooling Device!

Interceptors are amazing, by the way. The small damage and HP may make them seem weak, but they’re legitimately kind of crazy.



Sentinel No. 21: Yuki Takamiya. 4th-generation. Defensive Skill: Multi-Lock Missiles

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
LEG! SPIKE! LEG! SPIKE! LEG! SPIKE!

But for real though, Leg Spike plus Composite Ceramic Armor makes Yuki an absolute beast.

Upgrades:


Sentinel No. 22: Renya Gouto. 4th-generation. Defensive Skill: Arm-Mounted Convergent Lasers

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Gouto and Megumi just have the same Hyper Condenser, but it’s really good so whatever. Gouto’s pretty much just the Interceptors guy. Interceptors all day every day.


Sentinel No. 20: Shu Amiguchi. 4th-generation. Defensive Skill: Shield Matrix

Starting Gear:
Additional Gear:
Shu’s unique skill is Floating Mine, which I have never once used. Uhhhh… that’s it?



There’s a couple other ways pilots are differentiated. One of them is in skills, which are not unlocked yet because everyone’s at Level 1.



We also can’t access whatever the hell this is yet.



Well, that’s all the preparation we need. Next time, we’ll actually head into the first stage.