Author Topic: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion  (Read 14511 times)

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Offline Jonnyboy117

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RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« on: November 10, 2010, 01:42:30 AM »
Please use this thread to discuss The World Ends With You. Excerpts from this thread may be quoted on Radio Free Nintendo for our on-air conversations about the game.


Tentatively, we plan to begin this RetroActive feature discussion on RFN Episode 220, with the option to extend it for a second episode depending on how far into the game we get by then.
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Offline greybrick

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2010, 12:14:14 PM »
I will kick this off by asking a couple of questions:

A) Do you find that the presentation and dramatic elements detracted from your experience?

    I noticed that very quickly, the game's characters started to irritate me. I didn't care for the way they
    were dressed (e.g. spider-like headphones, giant beanies, zippers galore), nor did I care for their
    contribution to the game's story.

B) Do you think that the game could have been a success without all of the zippers and teenage angst?

    The game certainly wouldn't be the same, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been successful.
    By removing all of the 'tude from characters, I would have been able to take the scenario a bit more
    seriously. I understand that the development team was trying to portray how a Japanese teen would have
    reacted to an apocalyptic event, but I would have liked to see them take a more realistic approach. I think
    Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor did a slightly better job of the doomsday in Tokyo scenario.

    Of course, by removing the fashion elements one would be directly affecting gameplay. The developers could
    easily think up something other than pins to power up characters, especially since magical pins are
    far-fetched in the first place.
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Offline Stratos

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2010, 04:32:02 AM »
I personally liked the art and presentation. The characters were all very interesting.
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Offline KDR_11k

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2010, 12:33:05 PM »
I got as far as the second week and dealing with the secondary character in that became too much of a chore, I couldn't be bothered to continue, especially after hearing that the third week is even worse.

Offline Jonnyboy117

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2010, 01:42:47 AM »
The "Beat" character is embarrassing. Neku starts off really annoying, but it's pretty clear that this "journey" is at least partly about him learning to develop an actual personality and communication skills. He is starting to act more like a decent person after the first few hours of playing.

Mostly touch-based battles are a cool idea, and the pacing of battles is usually good. I am getting bored though, as most of my pins leveled up very quickly, and the game hasn't offered me any new ones in a long time. When do I get to a store where I can buy new pins?
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Offline Stratos

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2010, 06:48:33 AM »
A lot of pins are noise drops. Pins also evolve through several means. It's actually very similar to Pokemon. Some by gaining battle experience, others through 'streetpass mode' experience and also some gain it by you not playing the game (yes, not playing). Unfortunately the game is quite vague on which need what kind of experience to evolve. I was just placing different pins in my roster before turning the game off to find all of the evolutions. It can be risky if you have one really good pin you want to level up that is rare. It gains all of it's experience on one 'exp bar'. So if you maxed out your favorite pin with fight exp but it needed sleep mode exp then you are out of luck unless you find another one.

The plus side to Pins gaining exp when you do not play is that if you get stuck somewhere on a tough boss you could just set aside the game for a week and hope your pins level up or evolve.

There also appears to be no benefit for leveling up a pin a few times before evolving it. In fact, maxing out a pin prevents you from evolving it.
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Offline Shaymin

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2010, 10:47:08 AM »
I'm only headed into W1D3 but have the player's guide and it actually advocates screwing with the DS clock (setting it ahead 7 days) to upgrade the pin.

Also, I'm really noticing how there's eerie similarities between me and Neku - and that's not a good thing.
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Offline LittleIrves

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2010, 08:03:32 PM »
Off-topic, for which I apologize, but....
Picked up Soul Bubbles after I saw it on the poll, and it is niiiice.  Me likes.  Very soothing.  Thanks for the indirect recommendation.
Now, back to your TWEWY chatter...
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Offline Pandareus

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2010, 08:41:44 PM »
I'm not sure why I skipped this game originally. I think it came out at a time when I thought I was "over" JRPGs. But playing through Guadia Quest (which I actually loved) in Retro Game Challenge inspired me to try Dragon Quest V, and so on. Now I'm more into the genre than I've ever been since Chrono Trigger.

TWEWY is very NOT like Dragon Quest, though, is it? I can't say the game has the same charm at all, and it's not very friendly to the player at the beginning either. The multiple 12 page tutorials for each section of the menu or whenever a new gameplay element is introduced were pretty daunting at first, but now I think I'm past most of them, and the game isn't that complex, really. There's just a lot of basic concepts you have to grasp that are different from the way RPGs usually work.


I had a LOT of trouble with the fighting system initially, but I think I'm getting the hang of it now, or at least I'm not constantly dying. It took me a surprisingly long time to realize how important it is to run away from some fights, too. Probably because so many JRPGs have conditioned me to think that the Run command when you're on the brink of death will screw you over way more often than it will help you.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2010, 08:45:59 PM by Pandareus »

Offline Shaymin

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2010, 10:12:58 PM »
So I figured the best way to play it at this point would be to literally play it 1 day at a time so I'm not ODing and driving the DS through my table.

Week 1 - Day 3

- Oh god, the amnesia trope. If I'm playing a JRPG drinking game, I'd probably have to have a liver transplant for all the times that's come up.

- The fusion system is where Auto-Battle really shines - I tried to do the tutorial in control for a while and couldn't pull it off.

- I know it's early in the next week before the ice king really starts defrosting, but it's nice that the temperature is getting turned up on him, at least.

- It might not be the most damaging pin, but Psychokinesis is probably my favourite early game pin. If throwing cars at bears is wrong, I don't wanna be right.
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Offline GearBoxClock

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2010, 09:11:57 AM »
Although I don't like the character design, the story is surprisingly interesting and I don't hink I've every seen a battle system quite like this one.
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Offline GearBoxClock

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #11 on: November 15, 2010, 11:38:31 PM »
Still not liking the main character, though the comedic interactions are pretty entertaining.
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Offline FZeroBoyo

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #12 on: November 17, 2010, 11:29:00 AM »
Like many others, I also thought the protagonist was a complete jerk at the beginning and like how he developed as the game went on. Admittedly, I felt the first of the "weeks" was a good length and seemed a bit unnerved when I had to do it for a second and then a third time.


I didn't find the overall theme of the game to be a detractor. I found it to be pretty well implemented, namely the whole fashion system and how food consumption worked.


And of course, there's the battle system. Having to manage two characters on two screens with two control inputs seems a bit overwhelming at the beginning but after some practice, I found it to be very satisfying and I overall really enjoyed the game.
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Offline GearBoxClock

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #13 on: November 17, 2010, 03:19:00 PM »
He does get better as it goes on, and I actually eventually gave a **** about the plot. That's pretty rare for a Square Enix game for me.
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Offline RagnaBlade

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #14 on: November 17, 2010, 05:47:33 PM »
This is unquestionably my favorite DS game. Many people may be at first turned off by the "emo" attitude that Neku has, but I found that the story was quite compelling, and certainly unique.You simply have to give it a chance to pull you in. If you watched a movie and found the first 60 seconds didn't amaze you, and so you walked out, you might miss a great film, and that is certainly the case here. The Neku character develops so much over the course of the game, and in a legitimate maturation process, mind you, not the fake video game "I just had a contrived life-changing experience so I will change every aspect of my life" way, that at the very end I felt like a father watching his son go off into the world and saying "They grow up so fast." At least I imagine it's the same feeling. I'm only 19.
 If you approach the game with an open mind, it will really wow you. The combat system is innovative, and is truly a showcase of how all the myriad functions of the DS can be utilized without feeling gimmicky. I play games like James does, and I finished it in a few days, but I still go back to it now. The one flaw that bothered me was how the evolution patterns of the pins are not particularly well communicated to the player. It took me a while to find out how to make a pin evolve after I maxed out its battle EXP and it would not transform, despite the pin description telling me it could evolve. However, the internet fixed that, and I went on to enjoy the best DS experience I've had to date.I hope everyone enjoys the game as much as me.
Good luck everyone!!!
« Last Edit: November 17, 2010, 05:49:49 PM by RagnaBlade »
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Offline Shaymin

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #15 on: November 18, 2010, 11:01:30 PM »
Caught up to Week 2 now, figured out that "slashy" pins (Masamune, et al) are probably the easiest to use though I can't resist the draw of dropping meteors on things in battle.

Caution: The Week 2 game master will cause you to :facepalm: at least once during his speeches. The rest of them are zetta awesome. Also, Kitanji is a grade A dick, in case it wasn't obvious before.
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Offline Pandareus

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #16 on: November 19, 2010, 11:14:54 PM »
I'm about to enter day 7 (of week 1, I suppose. Damn spoilers!). I'm really enjoying the game a lot more, since around day 3. Something clicked, and I finally got the hang of the combat.

I'm digging just how customizable the difficulty is, the whole risk/reward aspect of it. Not only can you choose a difficulty level, and lower your characters' levels for a chance to get more pins after a battle, but recently I got the ability to "chain up" battles, once again increasing the risks and the potential rewards. I had heard about some of these aspects of the battle system before I bought the game, and I had my doubts, but it works beautifully.

Also, just as I was about to complain about having to rewatch long dialogue scenes every time you die at an important battle, the game goes ahead and allows me to restart any battle I lose on the spot, and even lower the difficulty level. I'm not sure why it wasn't introduced from the very start, but it's early in the game and I'm thankful for it.

Offline Stratos

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #17 on: November 20, 2010, 03:13:34 AM »
The nice thing about beating the game is that I can speed through all of the dialogue if I replay any of the days again by holding the L button. And there is a good reason to return to all of the past days. Each one has a set of 'achievements' and when those are completed you get a page from a journal written by a mysterious author. They give further back story revealing who certain important characters and and how the world works. The final page is unlocked upon the completion of the bonus 'Another Day' and you see who was behind everything. I got into the back story and so this was all very enjoyable for me even if some of the achievements were annoying.
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Offline Shaymin

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #18 on: November 20, 2010, 11:51:31 PM »
Well, so much for the grand plan... now into the final 3rd. (spoilers below)

So that zetta cosine Minamoto was the first time I had to "Retry on Easy". I didn't have any problems with him the last time I played, so I don't know what happened - though I think I may have overcompensated on the healing items (1 regular, one emergency kick, and one pin for extra uses left me a whole 2 offensive pins). Taboo Noise are really annoying when Joshua's getting beat down on the top screen and losing combos.

I totally forgot that they implied Minamoto was the guy who shot Neku originally, and it nearly caused the DS to end up in a wall. Still, the rolling procession of villains continues - it's only Day 2 of the 3rd week and already Rhyme's been killed twice in the same game based on how Beat's acting. Not sure if that's ever happened before in another RPG.


Also, I was worried that I was going to have "Calling" stuck in my head for a month, but I think now it's more likely that "Transformation" or "Three Minutes Clapping" will. If I ever become a pro wrestler, a) smack me, and b) Transformation is my entrance music.
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Offline Jonnyboy117

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #19 on: November 21, 2010, 12:00:10 AM »
I kind of hate the soundtrack to this game. The 30-second loop of "I... am crazy... for you" is particularly misguided. Well, like many DS games, it can easily be played while listening to a podcast.

Did anyone else think of FF13 in relation to the game mechanics being rolled out so slowly? I'm on Day 7 and still have a couple of blank slots on the sub-menu.
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Offline greybrick

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #20 on: November 21, 2010, 01:22:51 AM »
I kind of hate the soundtrack to this game.


I agree, the soundtrack is essentially an aural representation of the characters' clothing.

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Offline RagnaBlade

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #21 on: November 21, 2010, 01:39:30 AM »
Really? I actually love the music, Calling and The One Star, as well as Hybrid, were so catchy that I even got them for my iPod, and that is odd, considering my tastes are Springsteen, Queen, and Bowie. I feel that the soundtrack did a great job encapsulating the themes of the game, as well as the frenetic action of the combat.
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Offline Stratos

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #22 on: November 21, 2010, 06:51:50 AM »
I simply adore the music. I d/l'd the soundtrack from iTunes and listen to it all the time. I especially love 'Give Me All Your Love' and 'Make or Break'. Annoys my girlfriend to no end though :P
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Offline Pandareus

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #23 on: November 21, 2010, 11:25:49 AM »
Did anyone else think of FF13 in relation to the game mechanics being rolled out so slowly? I'm on Day 7 and still have a couple of blank slots on the sub-menu.
No, not really. TWEWY throws the game mechanics at you much more rapidly.

If you've got a couple of blank menu slots at this point, you probably simply missed something at one of the shops. You can buy a multiplayer game at one of them, if I'm not mistaken.

Offline RagnaBlade

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Re: RetroActive #15: The World Ends With You (DS) Discussion
« Reply #24 on: November 21, 2010, 03:30:36 PM »
Yeah, the game does a really good job dishing out content. Every time you think there cannot be another mechanic, or feature... The only complaint I had was that I wanted the ability to chain battles much earlier, it was mentioned a lot and I was too tough for the Noise even when I took my level way down, but after I got that I was really engaged.
One thing I enjoyed was the variety supported by the pins. My brothers, ages 13 and 10, love this game as much as I do, and I got to see how we developed our arsenal differently. I had the only copy, so they played through with the chapter selection after I finished, and I thought it was really great, though odd, that they both developed their own pin sets instead of abusing my hugely powerful ones. I was even kind of proud of them for not taking the easy way out. Noah really liked to use telekinesis and sound pins, whereas Owen liked tapping and slashing pins while I mainly utilized a trio of slash-shoot-sound pins, with the occasional heal pin.
The director said hew would be interested in making a sequel, and I hope to God it happens. I have no idea how it sold, or how realistic that is, but I couldn't ask for anything better, unless Neku shows up in the Layton X Wright game.
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