Part 7: Ei Sekigahara 1

Chapter 7: Ei Sekigahara 1

Music: High Alert (Yoshimi Kudo)




The quiet on the rooftop is suddenly interrupted by a boy bursting through the door.







He’s got a fucking piece!?

You must know who I am, don’t you? That’s why you’ve been following me.
Of course I do. You can’t escape us, Ei Sekigahara.
Sekigahara…



Tell me!
……
Guess you have a death wish.
Wait! It’s because… You came from another dimension.

Guh?????

Another dimension? Enough with the games. Tell me the truth.
…… Resistance is futile. Surrender now, or else.
If you won’t answer my questions… Then talking to *you* is what’s futile.




Holy shit!

Hmph. Another dimension… Could that really be true?



There’s no way I’d be able to tell.



Oh god, we’re doing this one, huh?



Consider Ei Sekigahara

(Ei Sekigahara… It’s no use. I can’t remember anything. But that’s what he called me. It has to mean something.)

After “Consider”-ing Ei Sekigahara, the keyword remains green. That simply means that there’s an additional thought we can get out of it. Many of Ei’s “Consider” or “Examine” prompts in his prologue have a second dialogue, for some reason. I’ll show them anyway.

Consider Ei Sekigahara

(Ei Sekigahara… That name doesn’t sound familiar. But it apparently belongs to me.)

Consider Phaser



Whoa, careful with that thing!

(This gun *does* feel a bit out of the ordinary… Could it really be from another dimension?)

Examine Phaser

(As long as it’s set to stun, it won’t kill anybody.)

Oh, boo.

(But it’s strange… why do I know how to use this?)

That’s… a good question!




I made sure to set it to stun, not kill.

Weeeeeeaaaak.





Maybe he has something on him that’ll give me a clue. Just a pair of handcuffs in his pocket… And…





*sigh* You won’t mind if I borrow these, will you?

Examine Black Wallet



(Might as well put it to good use. I haven’t eaten a thing in two days after all… But hang on. This is strange. The designs on these bills look completely different. There’s even a 500-yen bill. Aren’t those out of print? And these coins are from back in the Showa era…)

Wait, aren’t you supposed to have amnesia? You remember some specific shit.

Examine Black Wallet

(A fancy leather wallet. There are a few bills and coins inside. No credit cards, though.)

Examine Communication Device



(Its range looks to be only one or two kilometers. That means his little friends can’t be too far. If I mess with it now… They’ll know I’m nearby.)

Examine Communication Device

(An outdated transceiver for communication purposes. It has a very limited range.)



It might be safest to travel along the river. But before that, I should really get something to eat.



I woke up in that alley, my memories gone. Since then, I’ve been on the run non-stop.





…I can’t remember anything.





Consider No Memories

(Everything is a complete blank… Why am I here? I d on’t even remember my own name…)

The “No Memories” thought actually disappears once we Consider it.

Examine Strange Gun



(Why would I be carrying a weapon?)




Wait, that’s…

Music: Sneaking Suspicions (Kikuchi Yukinori)

…! She isn’t breathing…



What happened here?







Based on this evidence… The gun appears to be the most likely cause of death.



Consider Woman’s Body

(Is it possible this woman and I know each other? All I know is I woke up next to her with a gun in my hand. Was I… the one who killed her?)

Now, we need to look around the alley for clues.





Oh hey, pills here.

It’s highly likely these belong to me. All right. I should see if that woman has anything useful on her. It might serve as a clue to what happened here.

Examine Empty Pill Bottle



(The bottle’s made of plastic. There’s nothing inside.)



Now we return to the woman.




Are there any other clues around here?

Examine Cryptic Note

(The note says…)



(What could it mean? A password of some sort?)




…… I haven’t checked my own pockets yet. Let’s see…




Examine ID Card



(Sakura High School. Class 1-B. Iori Fuyusaka.)

…Right, from when he bumped into her in her prologue! So this must be after that!

(Fuyusaka… Her face does look familiar. But I can’t remember how I know her. It’s uncanny, though. Almost like she’s important to me. In one way or another…)

Examine ID Card

(It’s a student ID from Sakura High School. It appears to belong to a female student. Iori Fuyusaka. Class 1-B.)

Examine Key



(Maybe it’s a car key?)



Looking around further, we come across this envelope.



Could it have something to do with that woman?



Examine Envelope



(Some documents are inside.)

Examine Envelope



Chihiro Morimura. Occupation: Teacher.

Well, no more doubts about the identity of that corpse now.



“If capture is not possible, then shoot to kill.”

And all signs point to us having done the deed. Whoops.



Examine Morimura’s Files

(Chihiro Morimura, 31. Sakura High School nurse. A key member of Shikishima’s weapon development team.)

And that’s why Shu saw her at the Shikishima building last update! Everything’s falling into place! Pfft, I thought this game was supposed to be a mindfuck.

Examine Orders

(A note that was included with the files on Morimura. It says “If capture is not possible, then shoot to kill.”)



Use Morimura’s Files on Woman’s Body



That’s who this woman is. Well, was.




Music: High Alert (Yoshimi Kudo)

Someone’s coming. I won’t be able to talk my way out of this one.

But you’re so personable! Don’t sell yourself short, buddy!

I need to get out of here before they see me.



They’ve got me surrounded. I need to hide.




Ei quickly slips into a gap between two buildings.




Where’d that boy run off to?
He has a gun. We’d best proceed with caution.
We’re authorized to use deadly force if necessary.
Yes. We need to clean this up quickly.
If he gets away again, we’re in deep shit?
Let’s contact HQ and tell them we’re on it.
I’ll leave that to you. We’ll monitor public transits. He can’t have gone far.




Then that means… I must be their culprit. Why can’t I remember…



At least until I figure this all out for myself.

Music: LONER (Azusa Chiba)





What’ll happen to me?



Examine Orders

(A note that was included with the files on Morimura. It says, “If capture is not possible, then shoot to kill.” Did I kill her? Did someone order me to do it?

Examine Morimura’s Files

(Chihiro Morimura, 31. Sakura High School nurse. A key member of Shikishima’s weapon development team. The one I found dead…)




You stick out like a sore thumb in this part of town. Get yourself somewhere with lots of people.

…I’m sorry?



But they’re able to track your general location.
Wait, who are you?
I’m here to return the package I borrowed from you.
A package?





Do you know me?
I’m not here for small talk. Coming here at all was risky enough as it is. Just go get your package.



See ya.




Music: Lonely Struggle (Rikako Watanabe)



Wait, BJ!?

I can’t imagine how seeing this must make you feel. Forgive me for the theatrics. I didn’t have much choice. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now. My name is Ei Sekigahara. I’m you. If everything went according to plan… Then I’m talking to myself, but with no memories. We don’t have much time… So I’m only telling you what you need to know.

Ain’t that (in)convenient!

This is not your world. You’re a human from another dimension.



Your stay here was intended to be temporary. But… There was an accident. A very grave one… And now, many people are unable to return home. I—well, *you*—are stuck here as well.
……
But don’t give up yet. There’s still a way back. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you here.

Of course not! That would be too easy!

You understand now, don’t you? If they see this recording, they’ll know. So I’ve hidden the information you need elsewhere. Its location is known only to me. You must find it. And don’t get caught. If you do, there’ll be no escape. You have to trust me… I only hope you make the right choice.






…BJ turned into a helicopter. How quaint.




It *does* line up with what those men in black were saying. First things first. I need to get out of here. If what that girl said is true… Then I’m not safe here.




Eventually, we’ll learn what these “Mystery Files” and “Event Archives” actually are.



But not right now! We’ve got kaiju to fight!

Music: (METHIONINE) (Kikuchi Yukinori)




Miura moves up to join the other Sentinels.





Takatoshi-san… So it was you.
No matter the war, it’s an honor to fight at your side.



We haven’t even met this chick yet, wow.

It’s my Sentinel, isn’t it…?





You came, too, Sekigahara? And why are you in that Sentinel…
As long as it’s functional, does it matter?



Hehehe, he said “flimflam.”

Wait. Stay in position. If any one of us tries to do this alone, we lose any chance we have at victory.
Fine… So you call the shots. You’re the only one here with command experience.
…We will split into teams individually prioritizing attack and defense.



The rest of you will defend the terminal until Aegis activates.
Operation Aegis… We’re really doing this, huh?
…We’re short on firepower and time… We’ll need every trick, every weapon in our arsenal. Right?



This go-around introduces something new: defenders. Anyone not in the active assault team will be put on defense and will use their defense ability on any kaiju that gets into range. Each member of the team has one defense ability. I can’t really go more into detail about it just yet, but just know it’s there.




This stage also introduces another way to clear by running out the timer, which I one thousand percent guarantee you will never, ever do in normal play. The game simply isn’t hard enough for the timer to matter, and given that the game pauses while you select actions, with any modicum of skill you’re probably clearing most stages in a fourth of the two-minute timer.



So, once again we have Hijiyama and Ei (both gen 1), Shinonome and Kurabe (gen 2), Miura (gen 3) and Gouto (Gen 4). Miura is here using his long-range missiles to take down a swarm of small kaiju.

This stage is honestly rather simple, with the only real complication being a Hi-Quad near the top corner.



Ei has the standard Rush attack of 1st-generation Sentinels, plus Ogata’s Demolisher Blade and a new move, Anti-Air Defensive Flares. This places flares in the air that will deal damage to any flying kaiju or missiles that enter them. They’re marginally useful.



The only other cast member we haven’t used yet here is Shinonome, who has Juro’s Rocket Launchers and Heavy Knuckles for explodin’ and punchin’, but also Guardian, which places a construct down that enemies will target, distracting them.



Since Ei has Demolisher Blade, we’re sending him up north to deal with that Hi-Quad.



And Hijiyama too, for good measure.



You’ll note that following that Rush Attack from Hijiyama, the Hi-Quad is now closer to the barrier at the edge of the map. I say “closer,” but really it’s only half-inside the field. This is… something of an odd quirk of the battle system. Your Sentinels can’t leave the battlefield… but the enemy technically can, if they’re pushed. And many moves, like Rush Attack, have some knockback. Now, you can still shoot the enemy when they leave the arena, but that would really suck because 1st-gen melee attacks are much more powerful, especially at this point in the game, than whittling down their health with projectiles.




No matter, we still manage to kill it before it glitches out of the stage.





All right!



Okay, and now we finally get the difficulty select!




Given that Normal is already extremely easy, I’m leaning towards picking Intense for this run so I can actually show off the game. It’ll be fine. Probably.

Music: Voyage To Tomorrow (Hitoshi Sakimoto)




And now the main overview menu is here! Let’s check out Destruction, the tower defense combat portion of the game.




All right, that’s enough Destruction for now. Just wanted to give a slight bit of context for the way it’s structured if nothing else.



Analysis!



Here is the Event Archive, which shows every story event in order. We can sort them by character, too, in case we just want an outline of a character’s journey, be through in their own story or someone else’s. I won’t be showing much of this because just knowing what event happened when can have massive implications. This is a time travel story, after all.



This is a sample of what the archive looks like for an event we’ve seen, though.





And next, we move on to the Mystery Files. These are files that detail characters, items, and elements of the story, sometimes with a bit more detail than we get in the game. I probably won’t cover a huge amount of these, but some will be important enough that I probably should show them.








Here are the files for the characters we’ve controlled up to now, just for reference.



And we can also unseal new files by unlocking them with Mystery Points gained from Destruction.




Wow! Useful information!



Finally, Remembrance!



Wait, what? “Diverge based on the actions you take?” This game is already too complicated for a branching storyline, goddammit.





Some events are actually locked until we see other events.



Some are even locked until we complete certain stages in Destruction.





And that’s all of it! So… what next? Well, part of the fun of this game is going through everything in your own order, trying to unravel the plot based on what leads and characters you find most compelling. So we’re going to do thread voting, with the caveat that I have ultimate veto power. Why would I need veto power? Well, it’s been brought up that it’s possible to see stuff in kind of a “wrong” order, where revelations come too early or too late to really be effective. So to mitigate that, if I play an event and really strongly think we should see a different event first, I’m just going to pick a different one. I do not expect to do this very often if at all, because the reason this game is so good is that it doesn’t really matter what order you do things in, but it’s *possible* I will end up doing this, so you’ve been warned. On that note I will not tell you when I have done this because that would just give the whole game away, now wouldn’t it?

Now, the available choices are:

Juro Kurabe (11% completion)
Ei Sekigahara (14%)
Iori Fuyusaka (14%)
Megumi Yakushiji (14%)
Natsuno Minami (12%)
Destruction (18%)

There's also:

Takatoshi Hijiyama (14%, locked behind Ogata)
Shu Amiguchi (14%, locked behind Destruction)

You’re free to choose! Here’s the poll.

(but I really suggest we pick Juro next, it would really help me out for structural reasons, c’mon guys just do me a solid this once)

Oh, and before I forget:



Ei Sekigahara is voiced by Kyle McCarley, who’s known for roles like 9S from Nier Automata, Mob from Mob Psycho 100, and Narancia from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind. Ei is actually way deeper than his normal register, I’m honestly super impressed with this performance.