All the world needs is me...
The world of the interwebs is well aware of my intimate love/lust relationship with Square Enix,so it should be of no surprise that I would be interested in a game by the name of The World Ends With You. We experience a different approach to the RPG category. In this game, we are not transported to a different time in history or into a realm of fantasy. For once the setting is modern time. It is modern day Tokyo, which is the epicenter of fashion trends, culture and the end...of the world?
This doesn't seem to make sense during the opening sequence of this game. The world isn't fashioned after every apocalypse or post apocalypse game. It allows us to see that the end of world as we know it doesn't necessarily involve explosions, natural disasters or political schemes gone crazy.
In The World Ends with You, you play Neku. In my opinion he is every EMO character we have encountered in all of the Square Enix RPG's to date. However you have to make him at the age that in Japan where it is alright to let him out into the real world. [Which we all know is 10 and above] For my sake I will say that he is about about 14 or 15 years old. He is overflowing with boyish angst and attitude which if you didn't have a younger brother or were ever male can lead you to find him EXTREMELY ANNOYING!
As always, he has no idea who he is (besides his name)where he is(which is Tokyo), and why there are frogs with tribal markings all over them, beating the ever-loving crap outta him! This game wastes no time throwing the basic mechanics at you. Keep in mind that the game uses both screens of the Nintendo DS. While one character is in one zone the other character is in a completely different one. They both share the same amount of HP so you have to be aware what is going on at all times! Controlling Neku isn't very hard at all; his abilities are simple movements of your stylus across the touch screen. Shiki is a little more difficult as her abilities are linked to the directional pad [or the letter buttons for lefties!][Note: If you new to the Nintendo DS world then be warned that the combat system may appear unfamiliar to you. Frustration and anger are common emotions to encounter...especially with new games.]
Pairings are very common in RPG land, so no sooner do you learn how to move do you meet your first party member, Shiki. Now, she is very ditsy in the beginning. She pretty much brow beats you to make a pact with her [No she isn't Satan.....as far as I know] and once you've signed your name in blood *cough* I mean agree to the pact, you are forever partners. She throws a lot information at you, which as Neku you dismiss because you have the hugest chip on your shoulder. [What else is new?!]
The premise of the game's story is as follows: Neku, Shiki and several others are called Players. Each of them have pins that grant them special powers *IF* they are wearing them [Note: Make sure to Equip pins from the start...unlike me who did not] Once players have been selected they are notified that they have to survive this "game" for seven days. As a price for being a player the most important thing of value to you is taken away. If you win, you get it restored to you, if you don't... well don't get it back and your right to exist is taken too. That's right! You don't just die...but your existence gets completely wiped out...but no pressure...its only a game.
This leads me to believe that Neku valued his life more than anything, which is why he doesn't remember a gosh darn thing! Shiki's most valued thing is her best friend Eri [Hmmm now I know what you are thinking, and I thought the exact same thing too but no, they are really friends...The type of friends who loved each other and did everything together, maybe even made out once or twice..OK I'm sorry...back to the game =(]
So we have our protagonist and his band of prepubescent followers and as for the antagonists we have Reapers. They are people who also have special abilities. They can erase players and Noises [Which are the beast like monsters you fight to save the world.] It is the Reapers job to set up missions for the players along with a time limit in which to complete the given task. If players do not do this in time the reapers get to erase them. However they are only allowed to give one mission a day, and if they do not erase a certain amount of players they themselves get erased. It is truly a dog eat dog world in this RPG.
Now, if you are a fan of games like Kingdom Hearts then the animation style will be very appealing to you. Neku resembles Sora only, taller, thinner and A LOT more EMO. Shiki kind of looks like a very slutty version of Kairi...and I haven't seen a Riku look-a-like yet but that doesn't mean he doesn't exist! [He better exist dammit!]
Another positive in this game, would be it's soundtrack. It is very Tokyo urban which is very catchy to the ear. I plan to get all the songs for this soundtrack, I swear the game and music industry have a great thing going on here! I can hardly wait to get fully immersed into this game. I aim for this to be the first DS game that I play completely through. Wish me all luck, or else the world will end....with me....
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