The World Ends With YouJupiter/Square-Enix
Anthony: It’s well established that I have a significant problem with Square-Enix’s constant barrage of money-grabbing, especially with their $40 DS games that are basically never worth that asking price. Welcome to the one exception I’ve found to that criticism: Through the combination of an excellent story, unique and successful gameplay, and what’s obviously a ton of love put into developing the whole gaming world, The World Ends With You is actually more than worth the asking price.
TWEWY follows the story of Neku Sakuraba, a selfish jerk of a kid who finds himself stuck in a “game” that immediately takes a bad turn for all of its participants. The meaning behind the players, the game, and the “reapers” who control it is unclear; you only know that you’ve got to save yourself, you can’t do it alone, and there are consequences if you don’t. If it sounds morbid, that’s because it is. Although there’s good humor and cool characters to be found, it’s an appropriately dark game that’ll have you using both screens to survive.
What’s good:
- The graphical presentation is very cool. Well drawn characters exist throughout the world and are given great expressions to convey their moods. Battles are full of color, vibrant effects, and excellent enemy models. And while the world itself may look pixellated and unimpressive at first, when one realizes that the game is a near flawless replication of the Shibuya District of Tokyo, it goes right back to being impressive. They worked extremely hard on all aspects of this.
- The story isn’t just morbid, it’s excellent. It’s the kind of story that could easily make a movie, except that you know the movie would never catch all the necessary subtleties that make it special. It’s full of plot twists, “aw!” moments, and leaves a lot in store for people who’ve beaten it and want to relive the events to get a better understanding of it.
- While I might’ve originally thought Persona games had a lock on the funkiest and most modern music in RPGs, I was wrong. TWEWY manages to be stuffed full with tons of tunes that bridge gaps from j-pop to rap to 8-bit throwback. The songs add a lot of life to the experience, and the option to set your menu music is welcomed.
- The game is extremely open-ended in regards to your progression. With a few exceptions, you can get through the game fighting basically zero random battles. Or, you can go into each area and fight tons of battles back-to-back in a bid for higher exp and item gain. You can at any time in the game (once unlocked), switch the difficulty down or up to accommodate your play style. Just want to breeze through the story and nothing else? Set it to Easy. Want to challenge yourself? Set it to Hard. Want to have a huge risk/reward scenario in attempt to get tons of item/money drops? Scale your level down to level 1 in the menu, set it to Hard and fight chain battles. The amount of functionality and flexibility here is rarely seen and a big achievement.
- Customization is also key for battles and equipment. The game is full of different fashionable items throughout the game that can be worn in four equipment slots, and you can gradually take a total of six Pins into battle that greatly affect how the battles are fought. Equipment gives all sorts of stats and bonus effects to characters, meaning you can tailor your stats or abilities the way you want... if you prefer higher attack, or more combination skills, or bigger exp bonuses etc. Pins are your source for everything in battle - attacking, defending, healing, and they have a similar amount of customizability. You might prefer slashing the screen with melee attacks, tapping enemies for damage, scratching the screen for earthquakes, or who knows. You’ll have those options available in spades and it’s a great point for the game.
- When I saw that some pins require wi-fi interactions with other players to level up, I was ready to cry foul. Then I found out that if you keep the mode running, eventually it “gives” you a bunch of points of that category as a way of earning them without actually needing others. This was a shockingly rare and insightful move that I appreciated.
- The menu has an open bestiary that lists all the monsters you’ve fought, as well as the drop rates on items by difficulty level that scales to whatever level you’re currently set at. I’ve never seen a system that detailed for helping players experiment to get the drops they want.
- If you die - no problem. They let you retry the battle or even retry the battle on easy mode; you’re not forced to lose progress.
- Upon completion, you can replay any story chapter at any time, in any order, with all of your items/levels/stats intact, but with the additional ability to switch partners. Awesome feature.
- The game is extremely open-ended in regards to your progression. With a few exceptions, you can get through the game fighting basically zero random battles. Or, you can go into each area and fight tons of battles back-to-back in a bid for higher exp and item gain. You can at any time in the game (once unlocked), switch the difficulty down or up to accommodate your play style. Just want to breeze through the story and nothing else? Set it to Easy. Want to challenge yourself? Set it to Hard. Want to have a huge risk/reward scenario in attempt to get tons of item/money drops? Scale your level down to level 1 in the menu, set it to Hard and fight chain battles. The amount of functionality and flexibility here is rarely seen and a big achievement.
- Customization is also key for battles and equipment. The game is full of different fashionable items throughout the game that can be worn in four equipment slots, and you can gradually take a total of six Pins into battle that greatly affect how the battles are fought. Equipment gives all sorts of stats and bonus effects to characters, meaning you can tailor your stats or abilities the way you want... if you prefer higher attack, or more combination skills, or bigger exp bonuses etc. Pins are your source for everything in battle - attacking, defending, healing, and they have a similar amount of customizability. You might prefer slashing the screen with melee attacks, tapping enemies for damage, scratching the screen for earthquakes, or who knows. You’ll have those options available in spades and it’s a great point for the game.
- When I saw that some pins require wi-fi interactions with other players to level up, I was ready to cry foul. Then I found out that if you keep the mode running, eventually it “gives” you a bunch of points of that category as a way of earning them without actually needing others. This was a shockingly rare and insightful move that I appreciated.
- The menu has an open bestiary that lists all the monsters you’ve fought, as well as the drop rates on items by difficulty level that scales to whatever level you’re currently set at. I’ve never seen a system that detailed for helping players experiment to get the drops they want.
- If you die - no problem. They let you retry the battle or even retry the battle on easy mode; you’re not forced to lose progress.
- Upon completion, you can replay any story chapter at any time, in any order, with all of your items/levels/stats intact, but with the additional ability to switch partners. Awesome feature.
What’s neutral:
- When levelling up your Pins, there are three ways in which you can gain Pin Points or PP towards their level. You can earn them from Battles in-game, from leaving the Pin equipped as the game is shut down, and from wi-fi interactions. The cool part of this is it sometimes offers Pins to have branching evolutions... maybe you’d prefer your pin to have fewer, stronger attacks, or maybe you’d prefer faster combination attacks. It gives you some flexibility in what they become. On the other hand, it’s arbitrary and rigid... aside from a menu option saying the Pin can evolve, you don’t know which method makes it happen or, if multiple, what results will come out for each. Without a chart or a lot of memorization and experimentation, you’re going to be high and dry, and potentially missing out on much stronger Pins. With hundreds of Pins available, that’s too much hassle for the average player to go at alone.
- Some pins are just needlessly complicated to use. While many fire off with the greatest of ease, others that require you to violently scratch the screen, or repeatedly draw circles etc... some just aren’t as precise in their use and are more likely to be left on the backburner for players. I do understand the idea of complex versus easy pins to use, but the complexity is better saved for when and how to use it rather than what complicated method is needed to activate it. Some pins just require you to tap the pin on the screen, and for some like those mentioned, that would’ve been preferable.
- The dual screen battle system is equal parts awesome and overwhelming. While it means you can be dishing out punishment on both screens simultaneously, for most players it will mean they’ll be overwhelmed trying to coordinate attacks with both hands. Thankfully an option exists to let the partner fight automatically, or semi-automatically. Because you share a life bar though, you may become dependent on this and then be shocked when you die suddenly because your partner took a ton of damage on harder modes. So, the learning curve is steep, but avoidable.
- When levelling up your Pins, there are three ways in which you can gain Pin Points or PP towards their level. You can earn them from Battles in-game, from leaving the Pin equipped as the game is shut down, and from wi-fi interactions. The cool part of this is it sometimes offers Pins to have branching evolutions... maybe you’d prefer your pin to have fewer, stronger attacks, or maybe you’d prefer faster combination attacks. It gives you some flexibility in what they become. On the other hand, it’s arbitrary and rigid... aside from a menu option saying the Pin can evolve, you don’t know which method makes it happen or, if multiple, what results will come out for each. Without a chart or a lot of memorization and experimentation, you’re going to be high and dry, and potentially missing out on much stronger Pins. With hundreds of Pins available, that’s too much hassle for the average player to go at alone.
- Some pins are just needlessly complicated to use. While many fire off with the greatest of ease, others that require you to violently scratch the screen, or repeatedly draw circles etc... some just aren’t as precise in their use and are more likely to be left on the backburner for players. I do understand the idea of complex versus easy pins to use, but the complexity is better saved for when and how to use it rather than what complicated method is needed to activate it. Some pins just require you to tap the pin on the screen, and for some like those mentioned, that would’ve been preferable.
- The dual screen battle system is equal parts awesome and overwhelming. While it means you can be dishing out punishment on both screens simultaneously, for most players it will mean they’ll be overwhelmed trying to coordinate attacks with both hands. Thankfully an option exists to let the partner fight automatically, or semi-automatically. Because you share a life bar though, you may become dependent on this and then be shocked when you die suddenly because your partner took a ton of damage on harder modes. So, the learning curve is steep, but avoidable.
What’s bad:
- Basically nothing. Although there are minor issues throughout, the game is so well balanced that they always managed to overcome it with a balancing positive aspect.
So there you have it. I can’t remember the last RPG I’ve played that I couldn’t think of a single genuinely negative aspect of it. Sure, there are some flaws, but basically every one can be addressed in game. What this mainly comes down to is whether or not you think you would like an action RPG that has you tapping and scribbling a screen while you mash a D-pad. If you might, then I can’t recommend this game enough.
- Basically nothing. Although there are minor issues throughout, the game is so well balanced that they always managed to overcome it with a balancing positive aspect.
So there you have it. I can’t remember the last RPG I’ve played that I couldn’t think of a single genuinely negative aspect of it. Sure, there are some flaws, but basically every one can be addressed in game. What this mainly comes down to is whether or not you think you would like an action RPG that has you tapping and scribbling a screen while you mash a D-pad. If you might, then I can’t recommend this game enough.
TWEWY is not your usual Square-Enix offering. The feeling of open-endedness in progression that tailors the game to how you want to play it is an aspect seen more often in Nippon Ichi games, but in a way, is even more robust than what Nippon Ichi typically offers. Add that to a great story with cool characters, stylized graphics, diverse music, plus great replay value, and you basically have the total package there. Highly recommended, and it's an absolute steal at its current price.
Lauren: The only complaint that I can think of is the lack of a second save slot, but I understand that such an inclusion would be difficult given the size of the game. However, as a result of this, I'm not really able to comment on the gameplay. I played through the story on Anthony's file, so my characters were very much overpowered and I didn't really get to experience the battles and pin system the way they were meant to be experienced.
Beyond that, I can't praise this game enough. The graphics looked great for the DS - not perfect, but very stylish. The music is so incredibly catchy that I still occasionally get some of its tunes stuck in my head. And the story is one of the best I've ever seen. It'll draw you in right from the beginning, making you wonder not just what's going to happen, but what's even going on in the first place. I highly recommend that anyone who plays this also puts forth the effort to unlock the secret notes in the post-game content, because a lot of great plot exposition is found there.
The World Ends With You is an excellent game, well worth the time of any RPG fan. It was a wonderful world indeed.
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