Ah, TWEWY.
That's The World Ends with You for the lot of you, though any Japanese readers might know by it a seemingly happier name. But no matter what you call it, doesn't that acronym just rock your pretty pink socks? Seriously, stop reading and say it aloud. Do it right now. Let the letters roll off your tongue and perhaps you'll get a tantalizing taste of the title we've been raving about for the last few months. You also might sound a little silly. My bad.
But what's that? You've already played The World Ends with You? Good for you! I might be treading well-worn ground with this week's edition of Gaming to Go, but Square Enix's latest epic deserves mention for one simple reason: it makes fighting fresh, fast, and -- most importantly -- fashionable. Tired of tedious turn-based battling? Tired of donning drab, colorless garments whenever you step into the war zone? TWEWY might be just what you need!
What other game actively rewards you for playing in short bursts? That feature alone makes The World Ends with You an easy recommendation for a gamer on the go. Hit the jump if you need further convincing, you fashionista, you!
Perhaps you've been living peacefully under a rock since April and haven't heard of TWEWY'S unique approach to warfare. Wipe the dust from your eyes, my dirty friend, and check this out: two characters, two screens, and a whole lot of pins, the combination of which is just as crazy as it sounds. You'll primarily control protagonist Neku on the bottom screen, scribbling and scratching to victory while keeping an eye on your partner on the top. Said partner is perfectly smart enough to fight on its own, though you'll have to watch and control both characters if you have any intention of mastering the battle system.
Seem complicated? Well ... it is. You can be forgiven for doing an awful job in the beginning, as it'll take a bit of experience to manipulate both screens like a pro. Once you get the hang of things, however, you'll be blazing through battles in no time at all. It helps that TWEWY's battle scoring system rewards a quick finish, as netting the best grade requires you to hone your skills to perfection. I vividly remember receiving the worst ranking every time I fought in the beginning, so don't feel too bad if you put Neku through a lot of pain and suffering when you're just starting out.
There would be little point in practice if fighting wasn't fun, however, and here again TWEWY stands out from the competition. Destroying the Noise monsters is made infinitely more exciting through the introduction of pins, each of which comes with a special psychic power. Equip a few of those and suddenly you'll be starting fires, flinging cars around, and wielding a whole slew of powers that are undeniably sweet.
In true RPG style, you'll have to grind your way through many battles to level those pins up and unlock their true power. Yeah, it can get repetitive, and yeah, some of the cooler pins can only be accessed through the magic of the grind, but TWEWY still makes battling a far more entertaining affair than most of its portable brethren.
That realization is an important one. For a column devoted to games best suited for a busy lifestyle, RPGs are not what any sane gamer would expect to see covered, right? Yet TWEWY takes the age-old mechanics of number-crunching and makes them both snappy and enjoyable. Sure, you'll be grinding, but here's the thing: you'll probably like it.
Battles are quick and the action is intense, so it's hard to walk away unsatisfied. The speedy nature of it all is even better for a gamer on the go, as working your way through a few battles at your next lunch break lets you smother the Noise with fire and eventually upgrade your pin to brutally roast even more! Good times, man.
I imagine most of you have popped the game in at least once to see what all of the hubbub is about. I imagine a few of you then popped it right back out, as the early stages of the game feature young Neku generally acting like an ass for no reason at all. Those of you who then took a deep breath and came back to the game probably noticed one of TWEWY's most unique features: it rewards you for not playing!
Or something close to that, at least. Whenever you take a break from the game for more than a few hours, your currently equipped pins start gaining experience points, the amount increasing the longer you leave the DS off. I'm not entirely sure what the plot reasoning for this is, but I do know one thing: it's pretty freaking awesome. How often does a game actively cater to players who can only pick up and play in short bursts?
Knowing that you're accomplishing something in-game while you're not even playing is a fantastic feeling, especially when you consider the game is technically grinding for you. Never thought you'd have time to work through an RPG while still working from 9 to 5? Square Enix disagrees. The fruit of their efforts, an RPG that takes age-old mechanics and updates them for a fast-paced and portable world, is a title I heartily recommend for a gamer on the go.
Ready for the stat sheet? You don't even have to roll any dice!
Sleep time: TWEWY doesn't pause a battle if you should slam the lid down mid-fight, so stay sharp when you open it back up.
Load time: Around twenty-five seconds will pass from the moment you turn the DS on and load a saved game. If you're starting fresh, however, it'll take a good ten minutes to go through the introduction tutorials and get to the first save point, giving you ample time to reflect on just why you haven't tried this game yet. The crushing guilt that should follow will sync perfectly with Neku's insufferable angst!
Play time: Battles shouldn't last more than a few minutes, provided you're actually trying to get a good ranking. I wouldn't recommend attempting a boss fight, however, if you only have a few seconds to spare. Either I really suck, or those fights typically take multiple minutes and multiple tries.
Tick tock of the clock ringing in your ears? Tell your timepiece to shove it! We live busy lives, but remember this: there's always time to game. Check back with Gaming to Go every Thursday for the latest and greatest titles you should spend your precious few minutes with.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-24-2008 @ 11:14AM
Foodie_Monster said...
Boss fights tend to take longer than normal fights (which you can roughly finish in 30 seconds on a normal level and much faster if you dominate your pins), but there are some bosses that will not only take minutes - but also multiple retries. I know the final boss *owned* me, even though I busted my ass off trying to level up all of my pins (I wish we had an achievement system on the DS, I really do).
On another note, this game deserves extra credit for being an RPG really built for the "on the go". It's very well planned in that regard, so Kudos to Square Enix.
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7-24-2008 @ 11:58AM
Kia said...
I'm having a hard time getting into this game. Maybe because I'm old and I *like* turn-based gaming.
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7-24-2008 @ 11:59AM
Morning Toast said...
OK, I need help with TWEWY. I tried it out and was slightly turned off by all the talking/banter. It just seemed to start out *very* slow and thus I got bored really fast. I'm not a fan of character talk, per se, so long bouts of dialog that may or may not be important to the story really hinder my acceptance of a game.
But...everyone raves about the game and the fighting. I didn't mind the fighting system in the first few battles I tried. I wasn't sure how much I had to worry about the girl fighting on the top screen so that threw me off. I don't really mind level grinding so long as it's quick, challenging, and entertaining....but I'm not sure if TWEWY is really that type of game or not.
But reading that the game "plays" while the DS is off makes me want to crack the game again. I like the idea of a game working while I'm working.
Simply put, the game didn't hook me right away but gazillions of gamers can't be wrong, can they?
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7-24-2008 @ 12:50PM
ballistic3188 said...
it is different. I start liking it around the 4th or 5th day. that when the story IMO got good. but the story isn't something too deep. it very simple with a few minor twists.
but really depends on the gamer you are. the thing is the game is like most RPGs. it has a grinding and it has tons of dialog. the combat needs some getting used to. pretty much slecet a few pins that you feel are effective and use those and one like those. the top screen just for the most part just go => => =>. you can make it more complex if you feel like it, but as starting out just spam the side buttons till you get the hang of it.
the thing about the game is that the game can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be there are 4 difficulty levels and then there is a level slider. the harder you make it the more reward you get but that does not mean you can't beat the game on mostly easy mode
7-24-2008 @ 12:22PM
deadlylife said...
The first time I encountered the jellyfish, I didn't know how to get rid of them and it took me about 25 minutes to figure it out and another 5 or so to finish them. Longest battle I've ever been in. :P
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7-24-2008 @ 12:35PM
Jimmijam said...
I must be getting old... keeping track of two screens is quite challenging, especially when the action is short and visceral. I find myself scribbling, slashing, poking on the bottom screen in a controlled frenzy...and I'm supposed to maintain control on the upper screen AT THE SAME TIME!?!
I'm on Day 5 of the game... so still learning. But I've got Shiki on auto play for now, which is disappointing since I rarely get Fusions. :-(
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7-25-2008 @ 3:14AM
iofthestorm said...
Yeah I found that just random button mashing works better than autoplay, and after a while your brain actually starts processing both screens and kind of stops button mashing and actually playing. It's really cool. Love this game.
7-24-2008 @ 12:56PM
ballistic3188 said...
the main thing on the top screen is to just start off with side buttons. just go side side side. this will get you to attack more than auto and be more effective. once you get the hang of that you can try to make your self do a pat your head rub your tummy move of being able to do the side down/up side side movies.
but mainly I paid attention to the bottom screen on glacing on the top to see if i was close to a super attack. if yes then finish the chain if not do more stuff on bottom while spaming the top.
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7-24-2008 @ 6:52PM
bones3d said...
One note regarding top screen characters... if you tweak the "auto-play" setting in the game to "fast", instead of the default, the battles will rank higher.
The game imposes a timer on the upper screen character to wait on input from the user. As you provide that input, the timer gets reset again and again until it finally times out and lets the AI take over.
During these wait periods, it leaves the upper screen character open to attacks while they are temporarily left helpless between the last moment of user input and the point were the AI is allowed to take over. If you tend to accidentally brush against the D pad or the buttons while using the touch screen, it could be part of the problem some users experience with the game as it resets the auto-play timer each time.
I've been able to achieve some A-rankings in the game despite being paralyzed on my left side thanks to the auto-play setting adjustment.
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7-24-2008 @ 9:44PM
Ry Guy said...
As interesting as the battle system is, it's rather devoid of strategy and after a while it gets pretty boring. There's no real point to the two screen combat other than to distract you from the fact that you otherwise wouldn't be thinking during the fight.
Furthermore the fashion system is annoying as hell, especially when missions start requiring you to grind up money just to buy clothes that are "in fashion", and almost all of the missions are the same thing.
I really was annoyed by the story too, it goes nowhere fast, and characters seem to either change or appear with no gradual motive at all for it. There were only a few times in the story that I was genuinely intrigued and wanted to find out more, and then I ended up finding out almost nothing by the end of the game.
The only things I'll really praise TWEWY for are the fact that you have total control over the difficulty level and that it tries a lot of things, even though most of them are not practical or well thought out, like mind reading, the fashion, or even the controls, which aren't very responsive at all.
I'm sorry to everyone that loved this game, but I can only appreciate new things so much before I realize I'm not having any fun and I'm only playing because I paid 40 bucks for this thing and I'm hoping it'll get better.
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7-24-2008 @ 9:50PM
Ry Guy said...
I should clarify that when I say all the missions are the same, I mean it pretty much comes down to killing Noise. Either for money or a quota, each mission is an excuse to grind.
It's annoying to be held back when I really just want to keep going, especially considering the battles are very little challenge once you get used to the top screen, in which case you're just sitting around being bored.
The few missions that involve people are very short and very simple.
7-27-2008 @ 4:34PM
Ibinixer said...
The main character is a total pube and it's an incredibly cheesy story in the end, but that makes it all the better if you have any sense of humour and post pubescent patience. If you take the game off easy and try out lots of different pins you get a lot more challenge out of the game, also there are plenty of battles where you need both your guys and to be good with them. Tell me you beat the last boss without switching it down to easy first time and I'll show you a man who has never known the touch of a woman.
There's no strategy in the fighting? It's an action rpg, thank god it wasn't another FF game, it tickles some peoples fancy sure but so does cross dressing. Attack, attack, attack, heal and repeat? Oh but every now and then one of my guys has to use a potion. WOW, that is strategic. And dull, and repetitive, and slow not to mention not actually anything to do with strategy.
In closing, this is an amazing game, top three on the ds for me and really I've not come across anything like it before and hope to see more of the same from jupiter/square enix.
7-25-2008 @ 5:35AM
tekdroid said...
my initial impressions were "god this dialogue is boring the crap out of me". I can't say the fighting hooked me either.
Each to their own.
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7-26-2008 @ 8:11AM
Bill McCai said...
This is SO not a game for playing on the go. Mostly because of the frequent inane chatter the characters get into. On more than one occasion have I found myself shoving my DS into my bag with it still on (in sleep mode) just because i sat there for minutes skipping the dialog just so i could save it and grew fed up. You begin to wish there was a 'shut up, just let me save' button.
And yeah, i found top screen play would often result in simple button mashing. Which is kind of pointless.
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7-27-2008 @ 11:32PM
Pie Pants said...
I wanted this game to be great, I really did. The visual presentation - both graphics and music - were a real treat for the DS.
It's just a shame it dumps a lot of words on you (for not a lot of plot), and then dumps an ending on you that leaves many things unexplained. And yes, I'm aware you can go back through the game for a few more explanations, but honestly I don't think I'd enjoy TWEWY nearly as much the second time round.
All said though, this is one of very few games that has kept me motivated enough to see it through to the end, and much to SE's credit, the difficulty doesn't ramp through the roof (at least not until the last boss).
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