Dungeon Level: 104
Guest: Neku (Level 99)
Current Level: 1
Past Level: 99
The World Ends With You (Or Subarashiki Kono Sekai in Japanese) is my Favorite Game of all eternity.
For years, I've played a thousand games in different consoles.
But none has captured my heart as fast as The World Ends With You (TWEWY) did.
I first played The World Ends With You when I was in High School. That was approximately 6 or 7 years ago. I was either a sophomore or junior then.
Do not kick me for this, but I had downloaded the game on a whim from the internet and played it on the emulator because I didn't have a DS at the time.
When I first played it, I wasn't very enthusiastic about it. I had nothing to do so this game was just on a list I had so I played it and the initial gameplay didn't quite intrigue me at first since you start with Neku just burning stuff with his Pyrokinesis Pin and Shiki just throwing Mr. Mew at Noise.
The dynamic of the Dual Screen Combat system just didn't make a strong first impression. At least until the game built up the system one Chapter at a time.
The story is direct and mysterious at the same time.
At the start of the game, you are treated to Neku's iconic Hate the world monologue.
"I don't get people. Never have, Never Will."
And immediately, you are dumped into the middle of Shibuya with absolutely no explanation. Just a pin that lets you read minds, weird mail, a timer on your hand, and a bunch of evil frogs trying to kill you.
For the sake of easy understanding, I'll cut to the chase.
You play as Neku Sakuraba, the game's antisocial teenage main character. He hates people and will try as hard as possible to not be involved with others.
But in a large turn of events that I cannot say due to spoilers, Neku ends up in the Underground, or U.G. Shibuya, where he's been entered in the Reapers Game.
He has no memory of this or anything at all except his name and was just lucky enough to run into Shiki Misaki, his first partner in the game
The Reapers Game is a a test where people who have died undergo a week of trials to see if they're worthy of being granted a second chance at life.
The game is basically gauntlet of Missions given at each day for a week where Players must do the mission and survive against what the Reapers and Game Masters throw at them as well as the Noise, TWEWY's large variety of monsters.
Failure to complete these missions or being defeated by Noise will subject the players to Erasure. Meaning they lose their rights to exist.
Since the Reapers Game is only playable by Partner, Neku is forced to cooperate with Shiki if he wants to stay alive, and while he;s extremely cold to Shiki and even considers her a nuisance, he slowly warms to her and his antisocial ice wall begins to thaw.
The game is divided into 3 Weeks, 1 for each possible Partner.
On the first week, you get the fashionable (but maybe a little scantily clad) Shiki Misaki, a bubbly young girl constantly serving as the source of optimism in the first week. Shiki fights using Mr. Mew via a pin using Psychomancy.
For the second week, you get the Sly and sarcastic Joshua Kiryu. He is shrouded with mystery and is the only other person sassier than Neku. He drives Neku insane. He is cunning, confident, and extremely smart and you'll find it difficult to trust in him. He's my favorite character.
Joshua fights with a cell phone. Yes you heard that right. He drops things from the sky. Each varying in size. While he will appear like the weakest of the partners at first, his true strength emerges later on.
For the last week, you get the Skateboarder Idiot, Beat.
Beat isn't a very hard character to understand. He's too simplistic, and literally dumb, but is in a sense imposing and much more aggressive than Shiki or Joshua. This is emphasized in his quick fighting style and strong attack power, but weaker defenses. A glass cannon. He fights with a skateboard, and while he can get the fastest fusion stars(Explained below), he has the riskiest combat system in the game.
Each Week will delve heavily around a much deeper story than a week of survival and you will learn that there really is more to the game than Neku sees, which will eventually rock the foundation of the weeks itself before a series of revelations force characters into action.
Sorry for the vagueness, but I'm trying to keep this spoiler free for people who have not played this game.
Returning to the gameplay, you start out slow and you will feel the game move at a slow pace for a short while before you start to learn variety in combat and pins, learning to make proper combinations to make battles easier.
For the most part, you'll find yourself switching between the upper and lower screen if you are serious in trying to do good in battle.
There is only one HP bar which connects from both top and bottom screen. The partners share it and if either Neku or his partner take damage, the hp screen will slowly deplete.
The lower screen is where Neku is located, fighting with a variety of pins you assign to his deck. Each pin has a unique power activated by a different touch command such as Drag for Pyrokinesis, or Slash for Shockwave, etc...
The upper screen is where Neku's partner is located. Unlike Neku, the partner stays stationary in a single spot and attacks enemies from either the left or right side of their screen.
Partner's are controlled with the D-Pad where you will initiate in a short card game with each press of the left or right directional button leading to a card. At the end of the arrows, a card will be shown and used for each partner's specific card requirements located on top of their screen. Each of their combat styles are different and you will have to be adaptable for each as they all have their own strengths and weaknesses that can frustrate you.
Shiki's is called ESP Cards, where you try and guess the hidden cards atop the screen. Its safe and easy enough. Joshua's is High and Low, and is the easiest of the partners. You have to match the cards that appear on the top of his screen. This easy system is however at the cost of a slower card system than Shiki or Beat.
Beat's is Suit cards, reminiscent of Poker(Well, he says so, but I have no way of knowing cause I don't play Poker) You basically align a bunch of similar cards and try to activate them all via a Skull card. While perfectly executing this insures a fast and sometimes instant Fusion Pin, the cards only remain on his screen until he activates it or the fire that accompanies the screen burns the cards. Burning of cards will damage Beat.
The card system the party members have are for the Fusion Pin (This game's Limit Break) where by accumulating Fusion stars, you can activate the Fusion Pin to initiate a devastating AOE attack on all enemies on the screen.
The benefits of Clothing(The game's armor system), Food, and the Light Puck are also strong implementations of the game that start small, but become heavily important as you reach the harder parts of the game.
Yes, the game becomes further complicated as you progress, and while you are told you can just leave the top screen on auto when doing the dual screen combat... I wouldn't recommend that.
Unless you want to play the game on easy mode all the time and not have a good time, the game's strongest point is how unique the system works when you've fully understood how the game should work. You work on your best partner, you tirelessly grind and do everything possible to make sure you aren't going to suffer the boss fights, and you will.
The bosses on the first Week of the game aren't too difficult, even on hard mode, because Shiki's week is how you ease in to TWEWY. Its when you reach Week 2 and 3 that the game forces you to learn all the mechanics.
And I beg of you, when you play this game, please do not forget to buy your Partner's Fusion Level stickers and find the Pin Slots for your Pin Deck. Week 3 is a killer week and I suggest you try to be diverse. While there are three partners, you can't swap between them in the main story until you beat the game. You will need to be at least competent with each partner if you want to survive the game's enemies.
If you feel you will be frustrated at the game's difficulty rise, fret not. A good way to forget about this frustration and use it as force, listen to the game's soundtrack.
The game is unique enough to change soundtracks every time you enter combat. And while you can't change them manually, they're all usually pretty good.
You might find yourself humming Someday instead of throwing your DS across the screen if you can't beat Week 2's boss, or rocking out to Emptiness And... while you're fighting against this duo of reapers you've been waiting to fight.
But if you're really worried, just tone down the difficulty. You can change it any time in the menu screen.
The difficulty is not only for a challenge, but pins drop from certain enemies on certain difficulties so keep that in mind.
Either way, this game will keep you entertained.
What should be a weird mess of mixed and complicated elements in a game becomes a well blended and worthwhile experience as you come to hone the game's system and appreciate the well thought out scenario the game has for you. At the end of the last week, you'll come out feeling a sense of happiness, relief, and maybe even anger.
But don't just turn your game off at the end of the game.
The World Ends With You has an extra chapter that is mostly entertainment and mini games, but holds a difficult boss rush and even more difficult secret boss.
As a bonus, you can replay the chapters while doing a set of conditions to unlock secret reports that will give more clarity to the game.
By completing these reports and finishing the game again, you'll be treated to the secret ending.
I hope you take my word when I say that this game is absolutely amazing.
Give it a chance, and you'll find yourself not just invested in a game, but maybe even learning from the philosophies and values this game shows you.
The World Ends With You.
Exp Gained: 85
Exp to Next Level: 135
Save File: 1
>ThanosVenge
Level: 2
Class: Thief Mage
Equipment: Rune Switchblade
Armor: Thunder Hoodie
Accessory: Cross Ring
Accessory: Swiftness Brace
No comments:
Post a Comment