LogFAQs > #900606183

17. The World Ends With You
Original Release: 2008
Year Played: 2009
Developer: Square Enix
Platform: Nintendo DS

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This was a unique, come-out-of-nowhere game that unfortunately never launched a franchise. I'm sure that will change, since there's lots of potential here. I also believe this was one of the few good things to come from Nomura. It seems...underappreciated, maybe? Nah. But I do think there's a possibility for a sequel if the final mix does well. For me, I went with my gut when I randomly picked it up in the store and ended up enjoying it.

TWEWY starts off with a hero who says he doesn't get people and generally seems to act like he's about to go shoot up a school, but Neku actually grew into a generally likable character. The other supporting cast were well written too, except for maybe Beat who was annoying. The game has a weak beginning as a whole, but turned into an addictive and well realized little adventure by the time you're near the end of week 1. Even the battle system, which seems like a mishmash of random chaos on the screen, becomes addicting. Now, this is NOT the case with the iOS version I also played recently. The one screen makes it frustratingly difficult to win any boss battle due to some kind of weird control scheme that I haven't figured out yet which allows the player to use the second character in the top screen. If anyone knows how to do this, please tell me now, because it just seems to happen at random and I'm stuck at one of the early bosses.

Moving on, TWEWY has probably one of the coolest, most charming soundtracks in a JRPG. I've already mentioned my love for the composer and arranger in the Crisis Core write-up, as he also did the music for that game. What's really impressive is that these are fully vocal, Persona-like themes and they're in a DS game! Most of my favorites are also battle themes, and they're all pretty fitting for a game of this caliber.

The World Ends With You oozes with style, and it's entirely self-aware. I loved its rendition of Tokyo, but if there's one thing I didn't love it's the fashion mechanic, which was just a bit too weird and hard to utilize because I didn't like the menu interface at all. In fact, while I liked the style, sometimes it got way too in your face, as it did with the menus.

But yeah, sequel please.