Topic: NEO: The World Ends with You

Played some more of this game at work on my Switch Lite. I’m actually really impressed with how good it looks in handheld mode. And the battle system, I think, is more fun than the original. Just my opinion. Now, it’s been so long since I’ve played the original DS version that perhaps it’s because I just can’t remember that one well enough, but I don’t recall liking it as much.

This is a really high quality game. The only reason I’m not playing more of it is because, as expected, the excellent Monster Hunter Stories 2 demo has engulfed me. But I think I’m just about wrapping that up and once I do, it’s back to Neo TWEWY.

I admittedly got a bit worried about NEO some time after its announcement, but the demo has mostly made me more optimistic. I found the battle system to be surprisingly fun, and they seem to have nailed replicating the music and atmosphere of the original game.

As long as the story is good and they don't undo Neku's story in any way, this will probably be my personal game of the year.

As for if it is going to do well, it'll probably do ok. For what it's worth, I have tried to get my friends who love RPGs to at least try the demo, but they aren't doing it (one of them saying they want to play the original first)...

So it seems Square Enix's store (NA only?) broke street date and is sending out emails to anyone who bought the physical version that contains a download code (which... we aren't even supposed to get). I plugged the one I got into my Switch and it's downloading now. Apparently, some people are already playing... I'll update this when I can confirm. As of right now, new sales seem to still be getting codes, but you have to click in the email confirmation where it mentions getting access to the digital products.

EDIT: Confirmed, I am now playing the game.

@Snaplocket There's a demo available if you wanna see. But so far? No problems that I've seen. I don't have the best eye for framerate, but I can tell you I've seen zero hitches and the game maintains a decent resolution, at least in docked mode. The game could use a little antialiasing, but that's about it.

Oh and load times definitely seem noticeably shorter than during the demo... not sure why that is. I was getting frustrated there, but in the launch version they seem to be much closer in length to the original game. Still not as good as the PS4 version I'd assume.

I still need to grab and boot up the demo for this one. I played and finished the Final Remix version of the first game recently and enjoyed it overall, but it was fairly obvious that the game was originally designed to be played on a different platform. Plot-wise, it was great, and it was unique enough that I'd certainly consider grabbing this as well should the gameplay sway me.

@Tyranexx I just came here about to say the same thing, I need to play the demo LOL.

@Snaplocket Well, I can't discount a day 1 patch, so these might not be final numbers. But here's my loading notes:
1. Transitioning areas - Approximately 3 seconds (Most of which is spent in the animation, not the loading icon, so not sure it'll be any less elsewhere)
2. Entering battle - 2-3 seconds
3. Between rounds 1-2 seconds
4. Exiting battle - None (surprisingly). Edit 2: Nope, I was wrong. It's only nothing if you don't look over your results. If you try and mash through, it's also 2-3 seconds.
5. Entering Shops - ~1 second

Admittedly, in practice I'd thought they were shorter because most of the loading screens are disguised in someway. I would say if you want the snappiest gameplay, PS4 is def gonna be the way to go, but the portability on Switch wins out for me.

EDIT: Also, I STILL only have 3 members, so uh... I'll update if the fourth member changes that.

@Snaplocket ...Uh... I can't tell? I'm not noticing any hitches at least, but I always get told I can't tell the difference. At the least, if there are issues, it's not that bad. Like, I sure noticed them in Age of Calamity. But again, only got a few hours in today between real life stuff.

Anyways yeah, I'm not sure if it varies by area (I picked up from where the demo left off so), but it does seem improved. I measure those times with my stopwatch app, so if that's the accurate demo numbers then something sure has changed.

@Snaplocket That made me realize lol, now I took some videos of my own to make measuring easier. With all four party members, a four round reduction battle took around 7 seconds to enter (It does seem to vary btw, but this was the longest). I think I was also starting checking late before, because I was waiting for the actual loading icon, so it probably is slightly longer than my original numbers.

@Snaplocket Oh shoot, well okay then. I mean, that makes sense, I had a suspicion that they were setting up a fifth party member, but I wasn't certain. Anyways, yeah I've taken videos of a bunch of loads to check, and I think I'm just bad with a stop watch lol. Those times you mentioned definitely line up pretty well with how it loads now that I have 4 party members. Though, usually those seem to be worst case scenarios more than averages.

EDIT: After reviewing the UI, I'm nearly 100% certain that you can only have 4 party members in battle at a time, no matter how many you have. I don't think we'll be seeing 6 people fighting at once.

@Snaplocket This game appears to be WAY longer than the original, so uh... haven't gotten that far yet despite having put at least 8 hours into it now. I probably could be further, but there's a ton of side content to explore. All I can tell you is it's been pretty consistent so far. I'm super enjoying it. Even the crazy boss battles so far haven't managed to put any dent on the framerate. In fact, the only hitch I've noticed has been while just walking around the overworld in one of the more crowded locations during a certain event, but that was just one. The game's lack of a controllable camera probably contributes to the consistency in the more crowded overworld, while the battle arenas remaining mostly basic allows for the crazy effects to not tank it either.

I will say, there was one segment where you had to challenge a bunch of one round battles in a row, and that was the only time I've actually gotten annoyed with the load times. But yeah, I don't think they'll improve that much from the demo, or get any worse.

@Snaplocket Uh... This isn't a spoiler to anyone who's beaten the first game, but Week 2, Day 3. Presumably out of 3...? Not that I know anything that would prove that.

Anyways, in even more generic terms, I suspect maaaaybe 30-40% of the way through? I'm guessing my total playtime before starting postgame content will be roughly 25-30 hours... But I could be way off about how much content is left, I really don't know.

@Snaplocket It's slightly more traditional than the original. Instead of everything being on the main story path, there's a lot more sidequests you can do.

It's also kinda slower paced? Mainly because, well, they don't have to do things like stuff Shiki or the first GM's entire storyline into a single week due to differences in structure. Not that there's not some characters like that. But just generally there's a lot [I]more[i] going on in every aspect of the story.

...I will say though, I still feel like I know nothing. But that's usual for TWEWY lol. I've got a thousand theories though.

One of the things I distinctly remember about TWEWY is how much backstory and lore is saved for the post-game.

This is a compliment, I didn't want the game to obsess over lore instead of telling an actual story, putting it in post-game was a good move.

@Snaplocket I can confirm there are additional party members... I do believe we are limited to 4 at a time, but I can't discount that changing still.

@CactusMan Half week? I only know about A New Day and Another Day, (both of which were fun but)

But yeah, you're on point. The freedom of pacing is even greater in the sequel... And I like to take my games slow lol. Though, certain sections seem like they'll require insane amounts of time to do, even waiting til postgame. Or maybe I'm missing something lol (it's probably that).

Something else non-spoilery - A whole lot of the later pins become so much more intricate to use in terms of understanding both positioning and timing. I'd say [spoiler]Week 2[spoiler] is when the battle system really comes into its own, like I the original. I died half a dozen times last night tbh (mainly due to picking some ridiculously long chains, but still), it was fascinating learning just how to manage battles damageless, especially since many Noise can chunk out huge parts of your health in a single hit.

One piece of advice? Always read the Beatdrop section on pins, it's critical to understanding how to synergize loadouts. No one pin is good enough to carry a team.

Welp, they've officially locked the game. Guess I gotta wait a week with the rest of you now cause my online accidentally got turned back on.

There’s been so many other games it’s been hard to even think about Neo TWEWY.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 and Zelda Skyward Sword are so utterly captivating. It’s so rare that I play games this good grab me this hard. And I’m nowhere close to finishing either.

I want to get into Neo TWEWY so badly. I have physical and digital preordered. Played the demo and everything. But I just don’t have time for it right now. It’s gonna have to go into backlog- Idk what else to do. It’s either this, or Zelda, or MH Stories 2 that gets shelved for a bit. There isn’t enough time in the day for all three.

But, I’ll still play some on release day. I always do. I’m afraid it’ll grab me as much as those other two and I’ll end up in a trilemna.

83 on Metacritic. Pretty great response for such an odd game like this.

Also the Switch version seems to be sold out on Amazon. Same thing happened with MH Stories 2 and MH Rise. Game after game exceeds expected demand.

Launch day and not a single person on this site talking about this game?

It's an absolute wonder it made it into the top 50 on Amazon.