'World Ends With You' (aka It's a Wonderful World) coming Stateside
 

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So, is anyone excited about this? It seemed to be a bit iffy at first, but, now SquareEnix's interesting little DS RPG is slated for a US release! Of course, I'm sure you can tell that by the title...

I personally find this great, as the DS really needs some good RPGs for its library, and it's interesting battle system, it seems fun at the very least. The clothing aspect seems cool, but I'm wondering how that works out in-game (I haven't looked at any Japanese reviews yet). The story's a little... familiar though.

So, lovely members, what do you think? Will this game be great, a flop, or just, kinda floating around in that sea of 'who gives a damn'?

And for people who haven't heard about the game until now, here's a little bit of info about it.

Looking at many screens of this game, it looks awesome... I honestly can't wait for this to come out.

But I'm wondering why they changed the title... It's a Wonderful World seemed like a good title.

I heard that the gameplay is actually challenging and different from regular RPGs, and the story is kinda... trippy? It also had a lot of Japanese puns so there was alot of skepticism about a localised release in the states or anywhere else... But I'm glad this is coming out and will probably pick it up as soon as its out.

The soundtrack is also good, got it from gamemp3s, and the music is an important element in the style and setting of the game. Its overall a different feel to the usual fantasy or futuristic Sci Fi turn based RPGs Square churns out latly.

And the title changed cause of copyright issues. There's an old film of the same title, and a music album.

It's a Wonderful World - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's a Wonderful World (album) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have the game in Japanese, however I haven't played it much. The story & battle system are pretty unique. I will for sure play it in english and I am happy it is coming stateside.

To quote a good friend of mine's "review" on it from way back in July:


For some reason I see a lot of the content losing meaning when translated into America so we'll have to see how it turns out.

I enjoyed what little I played of it, so unless they find a way to completely screw over the English release I don't see why I won't enjoy the stateside release all the same.

Now I want to play it again =(

Its confirmed that alot of content WILL be lost, alot of the dialouge relies heavily on Japanese puns that made most imported fans were skeptical of a US release, that and the whole Shibuya street culture...

I'm really curious as to how they'll handle the localization of this one. I wonder if they'll change the location of the game to a US city or something or if they'll just do a text translation and adjust the dialog for a US audience.

Ooo, that's a very nice looking DS your friend has there.

I'm also kinda worried about the localization issues with the heavy Japanese culture. But, then again, with us Westerners becoming more saturated with Eastern influences, maybe Squeenix will be either smart enough to leave it intact, or find good Western counterparts people can relate to.

But, honestly, though, as long as they don't mess up the battle system (somehow?), I think it'd still be a pretty good game.

If they change the location that would require new artworks to be made. The background artworks are 100% Shibuya, not a knock off, but the an artist depiction of how the city district actually looks. I doubt Square US is going to ask Nomura's team to just make some new artwork of NY or something, so I say its probably the latter of your statement.

Yeah, the game takes place in THE BRONX.

Word.

I'm sure the game itself will still be enjoyable. Just... the whole point of it was the Shibuya style and all these funny puns.

If it worked for Persona 3, it can work for this.

Also, there's a partial translation for this game already.

If every single character in this game doesn't have a heavy Bronx accent I'm going to be very, very disappointed.

I really don't see why they had to change the location, though. It's not like that would've turned people off from the game; People would have just seen "HEY HE LOOKS LIKE SORA" or "SQUARE-ENIX? COUNT ME IN" and it would've sold like hotcakes regardless.

Oh good, and I was running out of RPGs for my DS.

PASS. This sounds absolutely dreadful for anybody who's not a die-hard Japanophile. The gameplay sounds interesting, but I pretty much consider Nomura's involvement to be the kiss of death for any game.

Haha... I"m not very fond of Nomura's work either... but, then again, this game DOES look promising, at least to me. I'm wiling to look past it if the battle system and story can deliver.

It sounds kind of cool, but after watching a video clip I find it looks WAY too remniscent of KH: Chain of Memories. I bet it's really, really repetitive.

Would you be saying that when Versus XIII eventually releases to Japan and then the U.S? Though, I hate to burst your bubble guys. But trailers like those hardly do any justice. Playing the game and watching are two different things.

I'll have to agree with you here; there's no real reason to do much of anything other than translate. Honestly, I think it odd to assume that US gamers are comfortable with all manner of alien worlds (high-fantasy or otherwise), yet would be turned off by something from across the Pac.
If nothing else, the setting would ensure that it stands out from the crowd; whether that is for good or ill is a judgement I leave in the hands of the players.

I tried it out a whle back. Didn't really understand jap (obviously) but the gameplay is pretty trippy. So not knowing what's going on, gameplay and the OST is what kept me going. Can't wait for this to hit our homes.

Thread bumpage, again. Sorry. ;_;

So the European ROM just got dumped online today. Has anyone tried the English version yet?

Really looking forward to this game. I couldn't really understand the combat system from the videos I watched, but the game looks very interesting.

It's actually kinda refreshing to see a game where the character design by Tetsuya Nomura doesn't suck all flavors of awful.

Gonna try it in just a few minutes here...

You have to put the stylus to work for this game. No worries since in every event battle in the beginning has a little tutorial. Funny cuz when I played the jap version , it wasn't too hard perform slash attacks but in the US it took me a while ;p.

The difficulty was bumped down a bit (not too much though) for the US version, but I don't really mind I guess, since they nixed the idea to make it take place in America.

Shiki is voiced by Colette from Tales of Symphonia. Not sure how I feel about that. Neku is voiced by some fellow who has only done some minor roles in kid shows.

I believe the game still takes place in Japan. Early in the game, Neku does mention Shibuya and why he's still there or something like that.

Right.

Before there were talks of making the game take place in America to appeal to the audience.

Glad they didn't go with that though, it wouldn't really fit with the theme, although if they went with their original choice of American locale it could be justified.

Any progress reports, people? From what I've read, this game is fantastic. Also, how's the music? Does it work well in context? :p

Day Four, haven't gotten extremely far in it yet. Music fits the mood incredibly well too.

I finished it the other day. It's a pretty solid game, but the story kinda doesn't really touch enough on certain issues, so you're left not knowing things you should know. They do clear this up in some after game stuff (I won't spoil), but I think they should have just made the game longer and included more plot.

I finally picked this game up, and I cannot for the life of me multi-task these damn battles. Hopefully I'll get used to it soon, since I'm only at the start of day two.

As far as the story goes, Shiki shows an odd amount of patience with whiny-bitchboy, Neku. I really hope he doesn't stay this way, since I'm not looking for Squall Redux.

EDIT: Ohhh, I can control the second character at any time. I thought I could only do that when the D-pad commands popped up, but that only happens when it goes into Auto (and it was pissing me off that it took control right when the commands popped up). It's begun barraging me with tutorials and info screens, and I'm starting to see how deep the customization is going to be.

Should be fun.

Anybody else think the learning curve is a bit steep?

Very akward. Just got the game, and I love the style and music, but the gameplay is really making it hard to not put it down because I just don't get it.

That's the problem with the gameplay. It's a different learning curve for everyone because it depends on how good you are at multi tasking. You can put your partner on auto with 3 different speeds. You will benefit nowhere near as much as when you manually control him/her though.

I got pretty used to the top-screen controls, but I prefer to button-mash in the direction of the enemy (at least with Shiki, not sure about Joshua or Beat yet) and focus wholly on what's going on with Neku. My best clothes also happen to give Star bonuses, so I can get away with it and still get those Combo special moves about a third of the time.

Honestly, though? The best RPG to come out in years. I'm rather surprised that this came from the guys who made Chain of Memories.

I still largely ignore the top screen. I've gotten to the point where my pins are strong enough that I can whoop ass with Neku and let Skiki run support. I'm chaining battles and pulling down star ratings, so I haven't found a need to manage both screens yet.

I'm on Day 7 right now. I hope I find some new pins, since I've fully levelled up everything I own. So far, the combo of Ice Risers, Onikiri, Murasame and Fuji Yama pins has been extremely effective in battle. I'm ripping through fights like mad.

I'm not gonna say this is the best RPG in a while but it's strangely compelling at least.

I'm on day 5 leveling up some pins that have branching evolutions. A bit time-consuming when I have to level through Mingle PP, but it's manageable. Making an Angel Magnum at the moment.

I can't think of an RPG I've enjoyed this much in almost all aspects (Pokemon Diamond was definitely up there, but that's enjoyable for entirely unique reasons), which is why I'm making that kind of claim.

For me it was the music that kept me interested in the game, since the top screen combat was rather tedious (until I figured out that putting Combo Panel -1 is a good thing for Joshua) and my touchscreen is a bit weird, so attacking with Neku was rough for some Pins.

Post-Game is just severely screwing me. I suppose I should eat a ton of food to pump stats.

Now, for me, the soundtrack is the least compelling part of the game. It's hugely repetitive and monotonous, and like most J-Pop I've heard, it's just... not good music.

Only around 7 of the 43 tracks (US ver) in the game are actually worth listening to anyway. Although I'm more attracted to the beats in the music than the weird j-pop (or in the rare case the 2 songs come up, rap) lyrics that they have.

Just finished recalibrating my touchscreen, so I have more control over Neku now.

My wallet is going to be shot to hell buying the food to increase stats.

Which pin is that? I'm past Day Five and don't recall it.

http://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/021.png

Angel Magnum (021 - Natural Puppy)

Evolved via Shutdown PP from:

http://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/018.png

Bear Hug Magnum (018 - Natural Puppy)

I somehow missed those. Where were they located?

http://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/012.png -> Battle PP http://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/013.png -> Shut Down PPhttp://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/017.png -> Battle PP http://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/018.png -> Shut Down PPhttp://oic.houyokusen.com/pins/021.png

I think I got that evolution chain right...

Go to Cadoi City [Darling Designs - Natural Puppy] and drop 3500 yen on a Happy Beam to start it off.

Evolution with SDPP and MPP is different, as they count 9x as much as BPP on the pp bar. A little goes a long way sort of thing.

(as in 200 SDPP vs 900 BPP, SDPP becomes dominant and if it could evolve via SDPP it does)

Yup, that's about right. Currently gaining Battle PP for the Hounder Magnum.

Yes, I just found a nice Pin Primer. I had no idea it was this complicated. Now I need another Masamune and Happy Beam.

A question: I don't really have any contact with other DSes. How the hell am I supposed to acquire Mingle PP?

1) Nintendo Channel -> DS Download Service, fire up Mingle Mode in TWEWY. Should count as a Civvie for 20 MPP each time you turn on and off Mingle Mode. Requires a Nintendo Wii with the Nintendo Channel (Europe is out of luck until the end of the month?)

2) Turn on Mingle Mode, plug in the DS and leave it on overnight. Should wake up to find an alien or two. Takes a while since Aliens are random, but count as 100 MPP.

ESP'ers = People with this game who are actively in Mingle Mode. Worth 50 MPP (450 PP in terms of Evolution).
Civvies = People with a DS doing something wireless (Pictochat, trading pokemon, etc). Worth 20 MPP (180 PP in terms of Evolution).
Aliens = Randomly given to you by the game. Worth 100 MPP (900 PP in terms of Evolution).

Nintendo Channel was released 05.07.08 in USA and costs 0 Wii Points and takes up 123 Blocks.

Alas, I do not own a Wii.

I just steal a DS, leave it in Pictochat, then continuously enter and exit Mingle mode. It's slow, but it works.

For those with absolutely no access, there's only Aliens.

Leveling up pins via BPP has proven to be the most absolutely boring endeavor in any RPG I've played to date. This could be because I simply can't stand Joshua and his combo system.

The Pin List sure is nice to have on hand, though. I was wondering why my shit wasn't evolving after I had mastered it.

You know, it'd be nice if a person could leave his DS connected to the Nintendo wi-fi, via the USB adapter, and earn Mingle points that way.

I wonder if this is possible.

I'm not sure how you mean. If you have one DS, it needs to remain in TWEWY's Mingle Mode in order to get MPP. Since that only searches for people via local wireless, I don't think the USB dongle will do much of anything.

i was wondering how do you evolve mastered pins, like the money pins. i've got a couple mastered pins that didn't evolve because it didn't gain PP through mingle mode.

Mastered Pins do not evolve.

Mastered means either it had no evolution or you picked the wrong type of PP to level it with.

Incase for some reason, someone wants something to do with the stuff:

US/EU Voices & Sounds

JP Voices & Sounds

The voices (if you can call some of them voices) are in the stream folder, wavesample has the sounds.

Also a game-rip of the 8 tracks created exclusively for the US version. I think the EU version doesn't have the "gang mix" of Twister, and one song is actually on the JP ost just under a different name (the bonus track) but anyway...

Forgotten Tracks

The one you get on iTunes has the US version of Twister on it + JP ost.
I think S-E offers a hard copy you can buy, but they mentioned it was simply the JP ost.

I'm working on the Angel Magnum myself. Thank god for the DS internal clock trick. Just in case anyone hasn't figured it out, you can fast forward the DS internal clock for quick and easy shutdown PP. Just do it week by week because I don't think you get any more after a week.

Day 4 here. It's hard to get through cuz there's so much fucking text. Although I do redeem the game for using the term "full of fail". I laughed, and it made me think that they retailored some of the japanese puns to cater to American lingo. I like it that much at least.

I'll help you with those mingle points, I suppose, Crash. Just have to get myself that far, also.

+Nice, colorful presentation.
+Solid battle system.
+Interesting premise and story. I appreciate that they did something very different.

-Couldn't hold my attention. Battle system seemed slow in growth, and after about seven hours I was still using the same two badges to get max combos.
-Awful character design.
-Seems to suffer from "press A to get through the dialog ASAP" syndrome.
-Lectures about how to be hip.

That last one pretty much started killing my interest.

I understand that you do not like the look of the characters, but I thought they were aiming for the trendy looks in Japan right now. From what I know, they hit the nail on the head with that. Same thing about the whole "hip" factor.

Have you noticed games about American youth culture and music tend to miss the mark? Either they use terms and phrases from older rap (Gears of War) or tend to jump on the popularity bandwagon about a year too late (music games that use licensed American music). Example? Britney Spears' Toxic. In my Taiko Drum Master. Words cannot describe the lameness.

To say The World Ends with You is an accurate representation of Shibuya youth culture is silly. It's more along the lines of a caricature of Tokyo's upper middle-class' youth socialites and their goofyass fashion sense.

Point taken. But you're still saying that it's following their current fashion sense. Whether it's exaggerated or not.

I played it when I was last onshore, and the controls were fucking atrocious (in battle) :( I'd like for the touch screen to be an OPTION, not THE ONLY CHOICE on combat. It's too damn squirrelly on what it likes and doesn't approve of.

Gech, the game uses both control types at the same time. It's not feasible in the least to reverse them.

No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying it's a caricature of their oftentimes extreme and absurd fashion sense; not their fashion specifically. The outfits used in The World Ends with You are either too vague or simple to be applied to a particular fashion style (Joshua's button-up shirt and jeans), or way off the deep-end and not applicable to the real world (whatever the fuck Neku is wearing).

The game is right when it states that trendiness is Shibuya is constantly changing, so why would anyone think this game could possibly have a firm grip on that?

I still have to debate that I see no difference. You're just using a fancier word for exaggerate. It's really a moot point anyway. I have nothing to prove here so I'll shut up now. My apologies for going so off track.

You're selecting the wrong quote.

You're talking about the clothes they wear. I'm not. You're arguing that the character designs are okay because they're based on what Shibuya teens think is trendy and is actually what they wear right now, but it's not. That's the simple point I'm trying to make.

COME BACK, SHIKI! PLEASE COME BACK!

Don't like Joshua much?

His inability to snag bonus Fusion Stars (Shiki gets x2 for either a lucky first guess or an identified slot) has slowed the process of enemy smack down, considering "high or low" involves a bit more processing for me. Not too fond of the lock-on damage, either. Lack of mobility, gay ass side step command... yeah, not liking Joshua.

Just give Joshua some equipment that lowers his attack chain by 2 and then just start mashing left or right. You get Stars pretty fast that way.

That takes care of the damage problem only slightly, given that the game still has a habit of giving him dumb crap like "Equals X" or "Greater than 8" or "Less than 1." I hope future characters don't have potential screw job mechanics like this.

Joshua is the best character in the game...

Potential investment means nothing for my enjoyment right now.

Yes, but you run through individual chains so quickly that it balances out.

Basically, even when you're not paying attention, you have a 33% chance of selecting the correct number. With the attack chain lowered by two, you get to select a number every two-three seconds. It adds up.

Not when homeboy can't survive onslaught for 2-3 seconds and I have to buy equipment that lowers chains by two and I have to make sure he doesn't get destroyed by enemies. I can see he will improve later, I'm just letting you know that I hate him right now. He can't hold his weight like Shiki could right from the start. Things aren't as bad now with a few stat upgrades and stat boosts, but the flow of combat at the moment is much, much slower.

He's getting worked? That's kind of weird. Maybe I did a little too much grindan and eatan, but I never had that trouble.

Make sure to always feed your partners nothing but HP boosting stuff. The partners come and go, but HP is shared and vital. I won't worry about their Attack and Defense until the post-game.

Right from the start, Neku would be schooling folks and Joshua would be doing like... 8-9 points of damage. And again, there's that whole "I did prep work" crap. Shiki, even if she was doing low damage (but so was Neku), has evasive properties in her moves and a much better chance of getting Fusion Stars through player input than Joshua does. Her growth is much more organic and enjoyable for players that aren't reading Pin Growth charts and eating at the Shadow Ramen place. I prefer the pharmacy, honestly, I have way more money than I know what to do with and 20 Brave in 3 digestion points is awesome.

Modifier or not on his attack chains, I don't like playing as him. He's stiff, rigid, he ain't got the funk. He is probably better end game, but like my thoughts on the genre, I refuse to suffer when maximum payoff is much more enjoyable.

Stop eating food that increases Brave after you hit 180 or so. I haven't found any clothes that exceed that yet.

If you have a lot of money, go to that organic foods store and buy some things there. You could use those items for your Collection list, as well as the ingredients for the Tatsumi Burger. Or just go to the expensive shops in the same shopping area and buy a suit or two for Joshua. That helps a lot.

I feel ya on the Joshua issues early on. The problem I had with him was that his attack wouldn't fire off until you finish the chain. They do reward you for using a longer chain, but he's almost totally wide open the whole time. You'll love him when he can attack from the air though. It's just a damn shame that's almost at the end of that week. -_-

Yeah, at this point, I'm not a fan of Joshua. He's a giant sitting target and my finances have slowed to a crawl now since I spent my money on development items, but I can't play on Hard because this immobile faggot just can't survive a battle. I won't get touched, but I can count it like clockwork when he'll say "Neku, do something!"

Can't wait to end this fucking week and be rid of this baggage, Jesus Beam or not.

Joshua is not helped by the fact that he is a massive fucking douchebag. In a good way, as impossible as that sounds.



This game's learning curve is kinda brutal, but getting used to it is well worth it. Another Day has hilarious dialogue and game references.

Fucking second boss, screaming out "SOA CAH TOA", shut the fuck up, don't ever try math jokes ever again SE.