David Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 OK, where to begin on this one? It's set in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, and you play as a random emo dude (Neku) who becomes involved in a game somewhat similar to Battle Royale, except without killing your classmates. Complete 7 missions in 7 days, or else you'll be 'erased'. Everything about this game is shit hot cool, from the music to the awesome character designs, the amount of effort put into the presentation is clear. Walking around the city, you can read people's minds, which occasionally is useful, but most people just say something random, and often funny. From the reading mind menu, you easily enter a battle by touching the enemies (Sound), that exist there. Now, the battle system, which is all in real time. It's hard to describe this. You control the main character using the touch screen here. Totally. His attacks are all performed by various gestures like slashing by drawing lines, whereas drawing creates fire, with the moves you can use dependent on the pins you have equipped. This is where it can get confusing. You also control a second character who exists on the top screen using the D-Pad. They both fight the same enemies, and share the same HP bar. The secondary character fights by tapping buttons dependant on the location of the enemies, i.e if they're on the left side of the screen, tap left. If you're involved in a sticky situation down below, just stop with the top screen, as it becomes automated, and you can re-enter it whenever you want. In fact, the whole top screen part of battles are optional, but awesome combos can't be reached with a computer controlled partner. This is all terribly confusing and disorientating at first, but it soon begins to make sense, and I actually think it's a brilliant battle system. (The actual fight scenes are somewhat like Streets of Rage) So yeah, I'm really liking this so far, and it's such a fresh and original RPG in a time when the genre has gone stale somewhat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hendo Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 It does sound pretty different to the usual same-old. How big do you reckon it is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 It does sound pretty different to the usual same-old. How big do you reckon it is? I reckon you have to play through 3 '7' days, as the manual tells you about 3 sidekicks, although I'm not sure. I'm about half way through with the first one, and I've been playing for about 7 hours, so it's quite long probably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 This game has some really weird stuff in it as well, using the wireless features and internal clock. When the game is switched off, you gain experience depending on how long the game was off. And you can set the game to mingle with other people playing any wireless DS game (Not just this one), and 'leech' off the connection to gain exp. Not sure it's really that useful, but hey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hinn888 Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 earn experience when ur not playing? thats weird :S Might be useful when u get annoyed coz of a really hard bit n dnt go bk to it in months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 I'm in the second week now - this game is seriously great. It's just so different from other RPG's, and playing one that's actually set in a 'real world' environment is something I've never done in an RPG. The fact that you can change the fashion styles of certain areas in Shibuya to get battle upgrades is great too. I've actually looked around the internet for info on Shibuya - they've actually recreated the main places pretty well, including the statue of a faithful dog (Think Greyfriars Bobby). Ah well, at least it's something to play whilst every other person jerks off to GTA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeDead Posted April 30, 2008 Share Posted April 30, 2008 It's strange that this was despatched from play.com days before GTA4 which I ordered at the same time yet it still hasn't turned up, I've had to play GTA4 all the time, what a damn shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illdog Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 Mine arrived but ive given it to my sister so she can give it me for my birthday. I dont really mind as im play Apollo Justice at the moment, but it does mean im actually looking forward to my birthday this year (this and Rock Band). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Started playing this today and it's really good. Neku, which I think is japanese for cat, is a cock. He does get slightly more likable but if this is meant to be a pastiche of a certain type of person then they've nailed it! Part of me would quite like to fight solo, the battle system using the touch screen should be nicked by someone for a Guardian Heroes type game, maybe then next Castlevania as the previous one has a similar mode after it's completed. It does work with both screen though and you can get decent combo's, essentially juggling between the 2 characters. What I found myself doing which is testament to how well this could work is starting one persons attack chain before the other had finished so that I switched the green orb (that indicates the combo between the 2 characters) as quickly as possible between the 2. Also you can start an attack but not land the final blow as a means of defending yourself, particularly usefull for the girl. Kind of disappointed that only Dave seems to have started it so far, get it togather lads, we had a pact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted May 10, 2008 Author Share Posted May 10, 2008 I'm pretty close to finishing this now, although since I got GTA it's been relegated to be played in bed. It's a very good game on the whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeDead Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Kind of disappointed that only Dave seems to have started it so far, get it togather lads, we had a pact! I got it a few days after GTA4. I've played it for over an hour and I'm not getting into it. I can't use both characters effectivly so I end leaving the top one on auto and I get the niggling feeling that I'm missing out the stratagy involved. Anyway both Oundan(?) games turned up at a similar time and they are currently eating up any DS time. I hope to get back to this though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Maybe it's because I've gotton into too many fights, or maybe its that I've been playing it for too much in one day but the game's starting to lose its gloss. Some new pins would help, and also missing out the fetch quests (especially when the answer is so obvious). Probably not helped by my lack of interest in dressing my characters up, it's a nice idea but it's something that left me cold about pokemon too. I think i might up the difficulty for a bit too, it increases the likelihood of drops and might spice things up a bit Hopefully now things are going to kick on (i think im on day 3), it's felt a little like a tutorial so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HandsomeDead Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 It also reminds me of Persona 3, because of the Tokyo setting and emo characters. It just makes me want to play that instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANGERMAN Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 Changed the difficulty thing last night and things did improve. It didn't really help with any useful pins being dropped, but it did throw up more money which let me buy some new pins. When I turned it off last night I had 4 new pins set to charge while the game was off A bit disappointingly the new pins were reworkings of moves I already had, likely they're more powerful, but they are branded which means I have to pay attention to the fashion trends now. I'm back to loving this game, I know I've already compared it to pokemon once but I'll do it again. Pokemon is good when it's throwing new things at you, and this is the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimboxy Posted May 11, 2008 Share Posted May 11, 2008 I've only played the first hour or so, but i did like what i saw. Haven't picked it up all week though. I'm going to take it to work with me next week, get in a few hours whilst i'm skyving on the toilet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikman Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 I'm looking for a game to play on the way to the States in a couple of weeks. Just picked up puzzle quest but how would this one do too? I'm really intrigued, think I really ought to get a copy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 I'm looking for a game to play on the way to the States in a couple of weeks. Just picked up puzzle quest but how would this one do too?I'm really intrigued, think I really ought to get a copy... I'd definitely say so. That and Puzzle Quest seem like awesome ways to spend a journey, except you might wanna use headphones because the music is hugely cheesy j-pop stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pikman Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Agreed Thanks for the tip. Should be quite a pleasant journey really! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sambob Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 I cant beleive ive not posted on this yet, im on week ? (dont want to say) on what seems like the last day...I hope its not almost over but I think it is. I was really worried on week 1 that this would be over so quickly but I was SO pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be longer. I love pretty much everyhting about this game apart from sometimes struggling to evolve certain pins....they just seem to level up and do nowt...bastards. Im a bit annoyed about the money thing on the game too, I got the second size wallet quite late on and I dont see me getting the third size wallet, because I dont genuinely think I will need it to beat the game, and I typically play on normal/hard with a drop rate of about 45/50 depending on whether im trying to get good pins or not...so far my absolute favourite has been 'squid' the electric attack one, does about 65 damage per second to anyone in the attack area for 6 seconds, its really good for holding clumps of enemies together while you try to get fusion stars on the top screen with whoever you have up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Went back to this and finally completed it. The last boss is rock, but the ending makes it all worth it. One of the most original and great games I've played in ages, with an awesome story to tell. Shame it probably sold like utter shite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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