The World Ends With You

I finally beat The World Ends With You and I'm on mission mode to get the secret reports. The World Ends With You is one of the quality games that Square Enix has ever made, period (and dare I say better than most of the stuff that Square Enix has given fans for years). This game just moved up on my top ten DS games of all times (DS games) and is ranked very highly in terms of RPG games (its up there with Disgaea and Tales of Symphonia).The story is about an emo teen named Neku Sakuraba who wakes up in the middle of Shibuya with no memory of his past and suddenly being able to hear the minds of people. He's suddenly attacked by a frog monster called a Noise forcing him to retreat to the statue of Hachiko where he makes a pact with a girl named Shiki Misaki. She explains to him that he's involved in a Reaper's Game and how they must work together to survive 7 days to get out of Shibuya. The only problem is Neku is a loner and would rather shun the world than help someone he doesn't even know. Little does he know that while in the Reaper's Game, he'll understand what the power of friendship means.This game was on my list for a long time with comments on everything about the game is better than what Square Enix has made as of late and its true. This game is HARD, has awesome music and believable characters that is easy to relate with. The world of TWEWY is very unique and even though you're playing the game for 3 weeks in game, you feel like you're on a journey.The game is VERY hard. The game WILL punish you if you don't understand how the mechanics work. Yes people play differently with the pins but some pins are needed to win on higher levels. The game is difficult with the partner system where you and your partner shares health (the bosses do too) and you get a game over if one partner is killed in battle. The computer is not that good being an AI sadly (le sigh) so you have to do ALL THE WORK (again) in terms of controlling them. This makes the game even harder though as you have to pay attention to the top AND bottom screen. Neku fights on the bottom with a variety of tactics while the partner is stationary at the top of the screen with limited options. The game ranks you based on how quickly you kill the opponent and how much damage you take. The less damage you take, the higher your score. The goal is usually to get an S rank (star) to get the most out of the BP system where you can level up your pins. And of course the game actually doesn't tell you that the pins can evolve depending on how you level them up (by battle, tin pin (I hate this game!) or turning your game up and evolving via time you stay away from the game).The battle system overall is very fast pace and you can't make any errors on higher levels. Outside of battle, you can equip Neku and his partner with items (and its brought up that if you match the items based on the area they are in Shibuya, the higher the sync rate and damage in said area. To wear an item, you need a high bravery stat (which Shiki starts with a high bravery being a girl and all followed by Joshua for obvious reasons) and you can only wear one item per section (so its not as awkward like in Disgaea where you can for some strange reason equip two glasses). Also the character can eat regular food like in the actual game because this game is very realistic in that you can only eat a certain amount each day and then wait 24 hours before you can eat a bigger meal. Each character has their likes and dislikes and its based on their personality. Beat loves fast food but hates sweet while Shiki is the exact opposite. Joshua clearly states he's a ramen person etc.)The partners themselves are all useful in their own way. Shiki is your first partner in the game. As the only female partner she has the advantage of being able to equip most of the items given at the beginning of the game and is easy to get a combo with given her special ability on the top screen is just her matching up the card symbols. Alas, her biggest weakest is the fact you lose her after the first week and while she has the items when she joins in near the end the game her attack becomes pathetic in comparison to the other characters. Beat has the advantage of being the last partner to pair up with. He's fast and has a high defense of his defense is terrible and he's rather wavy when he attacks given he rides on a skateboard. Plus, his ability requires you to get pairs and sets on the card game of hearts, clovers, diamonds and spades (in honesty, I'm not going to pretend like I know how to play Beat and I just attack the way I attack). Joshua is the hardest partner of the 3 to master especially given how he starts out in week 2 as pathetically week and I don't know if it was just me but HE JUST STOOD THERE during the week 2 day 1 boss. I mean I was having a hard time on the bottom but he did no damage whatsoever on the top and its like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Yes Joshua gets better near the end of his week when he decides to start levitating but come on! You make a hard game even harder! Alas, mastering Joshua is crucial for beating bosses on higher difficulties especially the bonus boss as not only is it easy to spam attacks while levitating but levitating works better in terms of dodging.The characters are still the best. All of them have their strong personalities and flaws. The flaws are why they're in the game to begin with but without spoiling their backstory, I'll just say that each character turns out better by the end of the week. Neku is the main character who gets better so while its easy to hate his personality at the beginning, by the end of the game, he's a very likable protagonist and because he becomes more like a hero is important to the end of the game for a certain character.The music is the best and its even better when you realize Neku is the one listening to the music in battle. The music changes constantly so you're never stuck with the same BGM and on the menu option, you can basically change it to how you see fit after you buy the CD. Personally, Calling is my favorite version (and I can see why people complained when it was changed in KH:DDD) and Give Me All Your Love is so...heh heh. And I still want to know what the song Twister is talking about.If you find this game anywhere, get it. It's a must have, must play and if all goes well, we'll have a sequel eventually especially with all of this foreshadowing and hype.

Update 04/24/08: Updated reviewSynopsis: The World Ends With You is not a traditional RPG where you encounter random enemies or even see them on the screen, rather you scan and search for your enemies (this might sound a bit weird but trust me you will understand once you start playing the game). You start out the game as Neku (name cannot be altered) who is given a strange "pin" and in the beginning you cannot attack any enemies by yourself until you have a partner who happens to be Shiki. Neku and Shiki are part of a "game" where they are given missions to complete otherwise they will be erased.Playing the game (Battle): The game is pretty much controlled by the stylus though moving around can be controlled by the d-pad. When you are fighting with Neku everything is controlled by the stylus (movement and attack). When partnered up with Shiki, you can control Shiki's attacks with the d-pad (if you are a lefty the A, B, X, Y buttons will act similar to the d-pad). You do not however control her movements, only her attacks. Pins are your main source for attacks. Each pin is used by the stylus and it differs for each one. Make sure you understand how to use each Pin (there is a hint screen that will appear to help you understand how to use the Pin). Once Shiki becomes your partner you have to fight on both screens as Shiki will be on the top and Neku will be on the bottom. Also, once you obtain a specific "Pin" you will be able to perform special attacks called "fuse" where you will need to sync correctly with your partner in order to charge this up. Shiki has the difficult task as you need to match the right card to activate the skill. If you set Shiki on Auto the chance of getting the fuse is not high, though at the same time if you set on manual you might end of losing the battle if you are not paying attention to Neku (I advise most people to leave Shiki on either "Auto" of "Auto after 3 sec" unless you are pretty comfortable controlling both Neku and Shiki to charge up the fuse).Playing the game (ranking/leveling): This game has a ranking system where the amount of damage you inflicted on your enemies and the amount of time that you took will determine your rank for that battle and how much PP points you will be awarded after each battle. Also, whether you take any damage, get 10+ consecutive hits will also factor into the PP points as well. PP points is what you need to raise the ranking of your pins. Ranking are from E, D, C, B, A, and * (* being the highest and you need to get both * ranking in time and damage to get this ranking, A + * will not get you a * ranking) You also gain Exp Points but that depends on the enemy you face and has nothing to do with the type of rank you receive at the end of the battle. In addition, you will get base PP Points and this number is determined by the level you set in your option screen (unlike conventional RPGs where you level up and cannot alter your current level you can change your current level and bring it down all the way to level 1). Decreasing your level means more enemy drops such as Yen (currency of the game) and more PP Points, however the battles can be more difficult and you might find yourself getting the game over screen often (I played the game on low level and found the challenge and extra enemy drops to be more rewarding and besides once you figure out which Pins to use the game isn't that hard, of course the same can't be said of boss battles).Playing the game (food): Food is a vital part of the game to raise the stats of your characters. Each character is allowed to have 24 bytes of food each day. Each food will have the number of bytes listed and in order to digest the food you will need to fight battles equaling the number of bytes of the food. Reminder that your limit for 24 bytes disappears the next day (real time) and you can start the process over again.Misc: The story starts off way too quick for anyone to follow, but it does unravel itself so you'll need to play to find out what's going on. The graphics are very good for the system and I have to say the art is done very nicely. Soundtrack is another great feature for this game as it features J-Pop and Rock music. Also, the battles feel refreshing since you are fully in control of the battle unlike many traditional RPGs where you choose what you want to do.So far I have to say I am impressed with this game. It has a very interesting battle system and it takes skill to control both characters at the same time. Also, the game takes place in Japan so those unfamiliar with the culture will get to understand a bit of Japan. Even though I've had good things to say about the game so far that doesn't mean the game is perfect, here are a few gripes for the game.The battle system takes time to learn especially when you are controlling both Neku and Shiki. Controlling both at the same time can take a while getting used to and many might find this a bit annoying especially when you are dealing with a group of enemies. Activating the fuse skill is even more annoying since you need to guess the right combo to obtain the right card. This is especially annoying when your attention is on the top and Neku is getting pummeled. Other than that the story and setting might turn some people off especially for those who are into fantasy RPGs (e.g, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Breath of Fire, Tales of Destiny, etc.)I personally thought the game was executed very well and it definitely warrants a purchase for those who are fans of RPG. My score remains the same as before.