The Let's Play Archive

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim

by Arist

Part 110: Destruction 13

Chapter 110: Destruction 13

Well, I fucked up. I thought my PS4 was set to only download patches when I requested it to, but I turned it on recently and found it downloading a new patch for 13 Sentinels. This patch mainly serves to bring it up to parity with the more recent Switch version of the game, which featured a number of new abilities and balance changes. I can’t list all of these changes because I sincerely do not know all of them, but the main balance change I am aware of is a nerf to Sentry Guns, oh joy. Sentry Guns used to have 1300x12 (which was apparently mistakenly written as 1300x10 ingame) POW, now they have 1000x12. This means they do less damage per shot. Believe me, we’ll be feeling the difference.



Here’s the PS4 patch notes. You’ll see that they’ve added new armaments, yes, but they also fixed an issue where EP wouldn’t fully regenerate after completing a stage in Destruction, which I had assumed was intentional. So that’s why Gouto and Ryoko always started maps with such low EP! :argh:

Music: Voyage To Tomorrow (Hitoshi Sakimoto)



If we drop in and check the Customize menus of each of our pilots, we’ll notice some new details. Ei here has four red markers above Anti-Ground Multi-Lock Missiles, an armament we never unlocked. If we were to unlock this armament and upgrade it four times, we would unlock a brand new armament for Ei to use. Every pilot has two of these to unlock now.



If we shift over to Nenji, for instance, we’ll see that he has already unlocked the High-Performance Charger armament, because we have already upgraded the prerequisite armament, EMP Attractor, four times. I’ll go ahead and list everything we’ve unlocked so far:
I’d normally blitz unlocking all of those, but the balance changes have made things a bit more annoying, and I’ll have to smartly prioritize what purchases I make to come out ahead. Don’t worry, I’ll unlock everything before the final battle, at least. The real issue is upgrading these new armaments, as they’re much more expensive to upgrade.




We need Natsuno and Miura for this one.



We equip Plasmic Wrecker on Iori to replace Plasma Arc Fusion Cutter, but don’t upgrade it.



For Ei, we upgrade Anti-Ground Multi-Lock Missiles to +4 to unlock a new armament, Anti-Ground Missile Barrage, which we upgrade to +5. This skill fires a random barrage of missiles toward ground kaiju in the area of effect. We equip it, replacing Limiter Removal.



Finally, for Juro, we upgrade Arm-Mounted Piercing Cannons to +4. We also unlock and upgrade Plasma Arc Fusion Cutter to +4 to unlock his other armament, Elite Plasma Arc Fusion Cutter. It’s a stronger Fusion Cutter, but we weren’t really using that thing anyway.



This’ll do.

Music: (THREONINE) (Rikako Watanabe)






……
Natsuno-san?
Y’know, Miura-kun… you kinda remind me of BJ.
Uh… I do?
Weird, right? It’s not like the two of you are that similar, even.

Uhhhhh, about that…

If I had to guess… it’s because he felt the same way. You can withdraw, Natsuno-san. I’ll stay here, as a shield.
I’m not going anywhere. No. 17’s gonna win this for us. It’s BJ’s own Sentinel, after all.
…… You’re right… He and that Sentinel are one and the same. And I know that I can count on him to protect you.



Well, nothing else for it… Please, cover me.



Video: Destruction Wave 3-6







If we activate Aegis on all the terminals, time as we know it will stop in this world.
We’ll stop time!? You gotta be shittin’ me…



Everyone but us will disappear. They’ll never come back.
And that’s not all. We’d be completely isolated. Trapped in a dead world. Just us and the ruined city until the day we die.
…So this Aegis isn’t gonna save our asses after all.



If Morimura believed the Sentinel Project was a lost cause, this must have seemed like her only option.





Miura’s Tactics Drill increases his attack “when the total number of combos exceeds 100,” whatever the fuck that means. Apparently it’s really easy to get over 100 combos, so eh, free boost. In the process of looking this up I also discovered what city damage actually is: kaiju that are left alive for too long will target a city block instead of a Sentinel or the terminal, damaging it. The goal is already naturally to kill kaiju ASAP, so whatever.



Ei’s Saw That Coming gives him a high chance to dodge close-quarter attacks.



Megumi’s Watch Me, Juro significantly increases her Attack whenever Juro is nearby.








Unfortunately, we need both Juro and Megumi for this next wave, and we only have Megumi available. Fine, whatever.



Fine, whatever. I’ll knock out the Wave 2-9 S-Rank real quick.




Nenji upgrades his Anti-Ground Multi-Lock Missiles to +4 to unlock Wide-Range Suppression Rockets, which he upgrades to +5. This is basically Missile Rain but only for ground kaiju and in a more focused AoE. It’s pretty good, considering Nenji’s lack of ranged options.



Iori upgrades her Plasmic Wrecker to +3.



Ryoko equips Cyberattack Missiles to replace Heavy Knuckles and upgrades it to +3. She also upgrades Anti-Ground Piercing Rocket Launchers to +4 to unlock her other armament, Anti-Ground Salvo. Anti-Ground Salvo fires a random barrage of armor-piercing rockets around the Sentinel.



Finally, Tomi upgrades Anti-Ground Hunter Missile to +4 to unlock High-Performance Charger, which is the exact same as Nenji’s High-Performance Charger. It’s less useful on her, but we’ll equip it anyway because it’s a good way to get the EP to use Super Large Missile. We slot it in to replace Long-Range Missiles. We also upgrade EMP Stunner from +2 to +3.



Okay, let’s knock this one out.




Yuki’s My Only Friend increases her Attack significantly for a time whenever Natsuno is attacked.



Gouto’s Just As Planned is a weird one. If he defeats many kaiju in a single hit, his Attack, WT recovery speed, move speed, and damage received increase temporarily.






Okay, back to the real action.



It’s going to cost a ton, but let’s just get Nenji’s Wide-Range Suppression Rockets maxed out.



Megumi gets her Multi-Lock Missiles upgraded from +2 to +4 to unlock Piercing Multi-Lock Missiles, which are like regular Multi-Lock Missiles, but they ignore armor. We also upgrade her Interceptors from +6 to +8.



Natsuno gets her Missile Rain upgraded from +4 to +5.



Let’s go.

Music: (THREONINE) (Rikako Watanabe)





Ms. Morimura probably didn’t know how tough it would be…



Tetsuya Ida probably never realized Sentinel combat would get this rough.



Even the one they called 426 couldn’t have predicted this.



You’re right… No turning back now. All we can do is see it through.



Video: Destruction Wave 3-7






So… Kisaragi! There’s somethin’ I gotta tell you.




Wait, didn’t you already do this?

Now hold on!
Gah! What!?
Seriously!? Here, now!? You are such an ass! You have no idea how to do this!




What, that’s bad!? But… this is how they always do this stuff in the movies…



…Sorry, Kurabe, but… That shit just makes me feel even worse…

Ha!





Nenji’s Get Away From Her! increases his Attack significantly for a time whenever Tomi is attacked. Cute that we got it right after that scene.








Clear within sixty seconds and without a Sentinel being immobilized. All right, then.



For Yuki, we upgrade Shield Matrix to +4 to unlock her armament Active Cooling Device. This shortens the time needed for allies in an area to take action again by 50%, nifty. We upgrade it to +5, but all that really does is increase the range.



And let’s finish one more wave.

Music: (THREONINE) (Rikako Watanabe)






Nothing for it. Outnumbered as we are, we have to cover them all…
It’s the only chance we have. At least, until Miyuki Inaba reconnects with us.
Let’s do our country proud, Amiguchi. Show these fiends the courage of Japan!



You’re an inspiration to us all, Yakisoba Pan Angel.
Hijiyama-san… could you stop calling me that…?



Looks like duty calls, huh?
Exactly. That’s the true pride of the men of Japan… The will to stare death in the face and laugh.
‘Scuse me, but the ladies are kicking butt out here too…
Hey, works for me. Kill my kaiju, too. Knock yourselves out.
They’re within range now.

Perhaps one of the first times I’ve really enjoyed Shu, there.



Video: Destruction Wave 3-8

None of these Destruction Waves have been very interesting, despite our new toys.








There are three terminals remaining. We can protect two of them with Aegis. But we’re on our own with the last terminal.
How much longer do we need to hold out?
We need to reestablish a connection with Miyuki Inaba. That’s still 10 hours off.
10 hours we don’t have…
But her plan is our last hope.



The kaiju are heading for the next terminal…
Brace yourself, Keitaro. We are soldiers, and this is the moment we trained for. Hours, days, it doesn’t matter. We’ll hold the line.





Hijiyama’s Tactics Drill is exactly the same as the one Miura got earlier in this update.



We got the S-Rank, but I accidentally skipped past the Mystery File reward (it was for Repair Emitter)





Christ, we’ve got a lot of Mystery Points.



No progressing through the rest of Destruction until the story is completely finished, I see.

Time for some Mystery Files!








Ha, it be a unicycle here. Cute. Really like that they actually created this poster as an art asset just for this.



And let’s also see the Mystery Files we skipped from the last update: