The world ends with you. GET THIS GAME!

[Aegix Drakan]

I'm surprised. One of the most quirky, yet awesome DS games ever comes along, and no one here is talking about it at all!


...For those of you who have no idea what "The World Ends With You" is, allow me to explain. It's an RPG (Battles play out in real time) that takes place in the modern day, and it's made by Square-Enix. No, don't let the name turn you off if you're not a final fantasy fan. This game is nothing like anything they've made before. It's a new style, and it kicks ass with it.

Story: (SPOILER FREE!). Neku (the dude as my avatar at the moment) is a seriously anti-social jerk who just can't stand other humans. And that's big problem, since he's trapped in downtown Shibuya, Japan. ...He wakes up in the middle of an intersection, with no idea how he got there. Suddenly, a text message comes in on his cell phone: "Get to the 105 building in 60 minutes, or face erasure". And if that wasn't enough motivation, then that pack of insane looking animals running at him sure are. Neku is a participant in a contest...a deadly contest with his life on the line...The Reaper's Game.

As to gameplay...it's quite different. You walk around Shibuya, clearing missions, and scanning people's thoughts. TO engage in battle, you simply scan the area, and tap the enemy icons that are floating around. Then, you'll be warped to a battle field where the combat takes place on BOTH screens at once. On the bottom screen, you have Neku, who fights using psychic pins that are used via touch screen (slash the screen, toss objects around, etc). On the top screen is his partner, who fights using combos done by either the control pad, or via the XABY buttons. IF it's too hard for you to handle both at once, you can set the top to auto, and take over if you feel it's needed.

Also, this game fixes the whole *grinding* issue. You see, you have a little slider in your menu. By sliding it, you can control your current level. SO, you could fight at level 5 instead of you max level, if you so choose. And the game rewards you for lowering your level by boosting the drop rate accordingly. So, if you need cash, just drop your level a bit, chain a few battles together, and voila, the pins (and from them, cash) just keep on coming.

SO...GET THIS FREAKING GAME NOW! It's got to be one of the most amazing DS games I've played in a long long time.

[Warlock]

I'm planning on checking Best Buy on my way home, but SE DS games are notorious around here for not actually coming out until 2-3 days after the "official release date." So we'll see. My bet is on them not having it until tomorrow or Thurs. though.

[Sam Atoms]

And that's big problem, since he's trapped in downtown Shibuya, Japan. ...He wakes up in the middle of an intersection, with no idea how he got there. Suddenly, a text message comes in on his cell phone: "Get to the 105 building in 60 minutes, or face erasure". And if that wasn't enough motivation, then that pack of insane looking animals running at him sure are.

Hey, I wouldn't mind facing Erasure at all. I've been thinking about picking up their latest album, as a matter of fact...

[vegeta1215]

This game has caught my attention too, if only for the style. It sounds neat, but also sounds really complicated. As I've gotten older, I have less patience for highly customizable games, and especially for games where you collect things. I'm a completionist with most games, but I just can't play games as much as I used too.

I'm still eager to hear more about the game though! Is the battle style hard to get used too?

[DarkDragoonX]

It's a fairly fun game, but wow, is it ever angsty! The fun is also diminshed (for me) a bit by the fact that I hate Nomura and his insipid character designs. It takes "zazz" to the edge of taste. Then over the edge. Then does a few laps to cross the edge multiple times. The fact that Nomura has not yet been fatally struck by lightning is just one more piece of evidence supporting atheism.

[Warlock]

I picked it up yesterday - surprisingly Best Buy actually got it somewhat fast (I do think they only just got it yesterday though.. their website finally listed the game for the first time yesterday as coming out that day, so yeah).

It's a lot of fun so far. The music is awesome. The combat takes a little getting used to though. I don't like the little "arrow maze" on the top screen. I find it impossible to do anything but > > > > > [+] (or whatever) without completely ignoring Neku on the bottom screen (which is usually bad). Also, the pin powers seem kind of flakey and don't quite activate when I want them too (except icicle, which works flawlessly and is probably one of my favorites just due to how well it works). It's more or less a matter of scribbling all over the enemies and hoping they die And none seem to want to drop any new pins (other than money), so I don't really have any new abilities yet.

But yeah, so far it's a lot of fun.

[Aegix Drakan]

Allow me share some of my wisdom, Warlock.

I don't like the little "arrow maze" on the top screen. I find it impossible to do anything but > > > > > [+] (or whatever) without completely ignoring Neku on the bottom screen (which is usually bad).

I remedy this by switching my partner to Auto-fast. That way, they can take care of themselves if Neku is in a bind. Then, once in a while, when Neku is in the clear for a bit, I focus on the top, and direct the combo to go for a fusion move. It works most of the time.

Also, the pin powers seem kind of flakey and don't quite activate when I want them too (except icicle, which works flawlessly and is probably one of my favorites just due to how well it works). It's more or less a matter of scribbling all over the enemies and hoping they die

It takes a bit of practice. I, for one have a lot of trouble with said icicle, yet, I am amazing with pyrokinesis, and both "sword" slashing types. ...also, please note that the order you load them into your deck determines their priority (I.E. if they both have very similar motions, the one in front will trigger. and sometimes the game confuses the two... I've had many times when my slashing pin mixed up with my piercing beam pin (one is slash enemies/air, and the other is slash across neku...).

To fix this, set the similar pins as a sub-pin (press L or R on it at the deck). Then, you press L or R in battle to turn those on , and turn off the others. It helps out a bit.

And none seem to want to drop any new pins (other than money), so I don't really have any new abilities yet.

Yeah, in the beginning, they don't drop very many new skills. but as you progress, they do so more and more. (also, you can buy some)

[Warlock]

I remedy this by switching my partner to Auto-fast. That way, they can take care of themselves if Neku is in a bind. Then, once in a while, when Neku is in the clear for a bit, I focus on the top, and direct the combo to go for a fusion move. It works most of the time.

Does she attack faster? She kind of took her time whenever she reverted to auto, which was annoying.

It takes a bit of practice. I, for one have a lot of trouble with said icicle, yet, I am amazing with pyrokinesis, and both "sword" slashing types. ...also, please note that the order you load them into your deck determines their priority (I.E. if they both have very similar motions, the one in front will trigger. and sometimes the game confuses the two... I've had many times when my slashing pin mixed up with my piercing beam pin (one is slash enemies/air, and the other is slash across neku...).

To fix this, set the similar pins as a sub-pin (press L or R on it at the deck). Then, you press L or R in battle to turn those on , and turn off the others. It helps out a bit.

That's probably true. I have a lot of trouble with the fire one - it was fine when it was the only one I had, but now it's not very consistant as to when it gets used.

I'll try the L & R thing, though I don't quite get how that works yet. Do you set those in the phone menu, or in battle?

Yeah, in the beginning, they don't drop very many new skills. but as you progress, they do so more and more. (also, you can buy some)

Yeah, so far I haven't found many stores. One was selling all girly french maid crap, and the other refused to sell me anything. And of course I found the Ramen shop

Speaking of which, is there a way to tell which characters like what food? I gave them some to try and boost certain stats, and only after I actually fed it to them did I get any kind of reaction ("yuck", etc). So I have no clue. And actually, I'm not even entirely sure what feeding them stuff they don't like does, if it has a negative impact or whatever.

[Aegix Drakan]

Does she attack faster? She kind of took her time whenever she reverted to auto, which was annoying.

If you set her to auto-Fast, she only has about a 0.5-1 second delay.

I'll try the L & R thing, though I don't quite get how that works yet. Do you set those in the phone menu, or in battle?

Set it to sub-type from the phone menu. Then, in battle, hold L or R to bring them up.

Yeah, so far I haven't found many stores. One was selling all girly french maid crap, and the other refused to sell me anything. And of course I found the Ramen shop

aaahh...You're not very far. As you keep going, more and more of shibuya will open up. And you'll find more shops.

Speaking of which, is there a way to tell which characters like what food? I gave them some to try and boost certain stats, and only after I actually fed it to them did I get any kind of reaction ("yuck", etc). So I have no clue. And actually, I'm not even entirely sure what feeding them stuff they don't like does, if it has a negative impact or whatever.

You can't really tell...but so far, I haven't had much trouble with that. and as for a negative impact...I think you get less synchro from eating it, but that's about it. (I THINK synchro affects how fast you get fusion stars, but I'm not totally sure)

[Warlock]

I tried auto-fast, that's a lot better. She at least doesn't stand there helplessly every so often

I was reading online that the icicle pin can evolve if you give it the "turn off your DS" type of PP, so I tried that (advance the DS clock ftw!). Now it shoots three icicles up and does a lot more damage - it's awesome

I also think I found a pretty good combo of pins, at least for now. I have that one, the one that shoots energy bullets, one that automatically does Defense Down on a lot of Noise at the start of battle, and since I recently got an extra slot, I put the soda can healing one back in (just in case, I rarely have to use it). I've been fighting everything at level 1 and it's been easy. It's crazy how on Day 4 you get rediculous amounts of money for killing stuff. Granted, stuff costs a rediculous amount as well now, but yeah