The World Ends With You is, out of the gate, quite the curiosity in 2008: a Square-Enix RPG with a lot of love put into it and yet not bearing either the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest names. Its modern setting is only the beginning of its challenging of standards the genre has long taken for granted; every step you take in the main story mode is yet another plunge down the rabbit hole, with no end in sight.
It starts with the Stride Cross Battle System, which has you doing battle with enemies simultaneously on both screens of your Nintendo DS. Hundreds of techs can be equipped and activated with gestures on your touch screen, while you attack and build combos for special attacks with your d-pad on the top screen. If it sounds overwhelming, well, know that it can be, at first—but when you get it, it works almost ridiculously well.
The longstanding tradition of getting access to a new shop, loading up on the bigger and better equipment, and selling your old gear is rethought, too. WEWY has a fashion system; every area of the game's setting of Shibuya has brands that are in fashion and those out, and you'll get stat boosts and penalties for wearing and using the wrong stuff. Brand popularity isn't just random, though; you'll actually be able to influence the trends by succeeding in battle with the brand of your choice.
What really makes WEWY, though, is your ability to customize the very game itself. As you win battles, you'll pick up experience, boosting your stats. Once you've gained a few levels, though, stick your head into the menu. You'll note a big slider at the bottom. You can use this to dial back your level, and in doing so, you'll up the rate at which you get drops. If you're still feeling unchallenged, or not challenged enough, there are eventually four difficulty levels for you to choose from, each with its own unique drops and experience doled out.
If you're feeling strong, you can also choose to chain battles together, carrying over HP and other mid-battle stats between fights to earn yourself a nice multiplier on tech experience. Also, remember the confusing-sounding dual-screen battling I mentioned above? Well, your top-screen party member can fight entirely for themselves, if you want—or you can adjust how long she'll wait for you to command her before taking over herself.
With all this overwhelming wonderment, surely something must be wrong? Yeah, I can point to a few things, but they're almost all rooted in the experimentalism that permeates the whole game—and I love the hits too much to fret over the misses. Mostly, my offense is directed at silly or tedious requirements to progress through story mode.
I can't recommend WEWY enough; it's a great game, oozes style, feels great to play, and can literally be shaped if you so choose into your ideal challenge. It's kind of surprising to be getting such a sweet package from the dev house responsible for Spectrobes and the much-maligned Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but there it is. If your DS is feeling a bit neglected as of late, a bit of world-ending might just be the thing it takes to put it front and center once again.
It starts with the Stride Cross Battle System, which has you doing battle with enemies simultaneously on both screens of your Nintendo DS. Hundreds of techs can be equipped and activated with gestures on your touch screen, while you attack and build combos for special attacks with your d-pad on the top screen. If it sounds overwhelming, well, know that it can be, at first—but when you get it, it works almost ridiculously well.
The longstanding tradition of getting access to a new shop, loading up on the bigger and better equipment, and selling your old gear is rethought, too. WEWY has a fashion system; every area of the game's setting of Shibuya has brands that are in fashion and those out, and you'll get stat boosts and penalties for wearing and using the wrong stuff. Brand popularity isn't just random, though; you'll actually be able to influence the trends by succeeding in battle with the brand of your choice.
What really makes WEWY, though, is your ability to customize the very game itself. As you win battles, you'll pick up experience, boosting your stats. Once you've gained a few levels, though, stick your head into the menu. You'll note a big slider at the bottom. You can use this to dial back your level, and in doing so, you'll up the rate at which you get drops. If you're still feeling unchallenged, or not challenged enough, there are eventually four difficulty levels for you to choose from, each with its own unique drops and experience doled out.
If you're feeling strong, you can also choose to chain battles together, carrying over HP and other mid-battle stats between fights to earn yourself a nice multiplier on tech experience. Also, remember the confusing-sounding dual-screen battling I mentioned above? Well, your top-screen party member can fight entirely for themselves, if you want—or you can adjust how long she'll wait for you to command her before taking over herself.
With all this overwhelming wonderment, surely something must be wrong? Yeah, I can point to a few things, but they're almost all rooted in the experimentalism that permeates the whole game—and I love the hits too much to fret over the misses. Mostly, my offense is directed at silly or tedious requirements to progress through story mode.
I can't recommend WEWY enough; it's a great game, oozes style, feels great to play, and can literally be shaped if you so choose into your ideal challenge. It's kind of surprising to be getting such a sweet package from the dev house responsible for Spectrobes and the much-maligned Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but there it is. If your DS is feeling a bit neglected as of late, a bit of world-ending might just be the thing it takes to put it front and center once again.