The World Ends With You

“No TD, you are the demons!”
And then TD was a zombie.

The game is excellent.

This game sounds so perfect in every way, except that I hear the combat is very similar to Kingdom Hearts, a game that, in my opinion, had a horribly clunky fighting engine. Someone please tell me “That’s wrong, this is way better” so I can go spend an irresponsible amount of money on this game.

Huh? Nothing I’ve heard about the battle system sounds remotely like KH. Maybe you’re getting confused with Crisis Core.

Its not really like KH. Think of this as a side scroller where you point with your stylus where you want your character to attack and drag to move your guy. Its fairly simple if you’re controlling 1p. When you control more than 1, it gets…complicated.

What you probably heard is that it was made by some of the folks that made Kingdom Hearts, thought.

Is ANYONE playing this?

I might pick it up… Looks like I’m going on a business trip and need something to pass the time, and I’m afraid Crisis Core won’t last long enough. :sunglasses:

I’m playing it. It’s truly wonderful. Controlling both battle types at once would overload my brain (you control the main character on the bottom screen with the stylus, your partner on the top with the D-pad or a/b/x/y), but luckily the game provides an auto-mode for your partner if you want. The writing’s great, the soundtrack’s great. I’m unready to give a review, since there seem to be features of the game that haven’t been introduced yet.

Question, does it use the mic? Mine is broken (or at least not very sensitive), so my DS is less useful to me. :frowning:

I hope not. The few times I’ve been forced to use the mike in DS games I’ve been ridiculously embarrassed, even if nobody else was in the house at the time.

Fucking Phantom Hourglass.

You need to shout to lower the price of this item! At 1 AM.

So I went outside in my boxers and screamed at the top of my lungs into the DS. Hell yeah, 200 rupees for the item.

Walk outside, HEY GUY, YOU COULD HAVE JUST CLAPPED YOUR HANDS NEAR THE MIC.

Fucking Phantom Hourglass.

I’m a few “days” into the game and up to now, no. TD, learn to blow. Actually, that’s a skill you should already be familiar with, living in Holland and all.

Originally Posted by Sinistral
I’m a few “days” into the game and up to now, no. TD, learn to blow. Actually, that’s a skill you should already be familiar with, living in Holland and all.

No. He probably just needs to learn how to blow even lower.

It’s not his fault, Phantom Hourglass is tricky! It resists the typical “blow into the microphone” attack. I think it looks for a spike in the sound level (consistent with screaming words or clapping) instead of just detecting amplitude.

Seriously, blowing air strongly into the mic works.

Take that! (whispered into the mic)

I recall the game/instructions mentioning the use of the mic for something. Pins, I think, which are your attacks. However, since you can choose which pins to equip, you can avoid those entirely if you choose.

I can’t give a review yet, but I can at least describe the battle system a bit more. For your main character, Neku (the headphones-wearing guy you might’ve seen in screenshots), you equip him with pins to provide attack options. Each pin has its own stats and can level up with PP (tee-hee!) earned next to XP in battle (as well as a couple other ways). Neku shows up on the bottom screen, where you direct both his movement and attacks with the stylus. Touching Neku “grabs” him and you can make him run, walk, or dash depending on how quickly you move the stylus. If you jerk it quickly, he performs a dash during part of which he won’t be hit by any attacks.

Pin attack methods vary. The very first one you get requires you to drag the stylus across the the screen. Flames spring up wherever the stylus touches, damaging the enemy/ies. From first touch, I think you can draw the flames for six seconds, after which you have to wait for the pin to recharge before using it again. Other pin methods involve quick horizontal or vertical slashes to launch Neku into sword strikes, vertical strokes to do an uppercut or call forth an ice piller, tapping rapidly to shoot energy balls in the indicated directing, circling Neku to summon a shield around him, and so on. At first you can only equip two pins at a time. I’m up to equipping four at once. Each usually has some sort of cooldown associated with its effect. The fire one I mentioned. For the sword strokes, the particular pin I’ve been using allows 12 hits, then a two second recharge. The recharges are a nice idea if only because they make you use different techniques in a battle, so you avoid to some extend the tap-a-single-button-endlessly syndrome of some action RPGs.

At the end of a fight, you receive PP multipliers based on your performance - time spent, damage taken, and such. Battles are initiated by scanning for enemies in the area and tapping their symbols with the stylus. For those who have played Blue Dragon, you can chain battles together in something of a similar manner (up to 4), but the only benefit seems to be increased chances to drop items. In that respect, maybe it’s a bit more like FF12’s chains.

Anyway. I don’t possess the command of prose needed to describe the aesthetic aspects of the game. Get SG on the job.

Somehow I doubt my blowing skills will get me cheaper boat parts :frowning:

Just means you need more practice.