When Has Thinking Ever Got Anyone Anywhere?

[rionaleonhart]

Still hugely enjoying NEO: The World Ends with You, an incomprehensible and delightful love letter to Shibuya.

Food's expensive now that you have to order for everyone in the team, but the thought of everyone eating together is cute, so I'll allow it.

My head goes 'feed everyone the most efficient stat-boosting foods', but my heart goes 'give everyone food they'll like', and my heart is stronger.



I love that Fret's always ready to go along with us. Whatever we suggest, he'll agree to it, even if we can't explain our reasons. He may have no idea what's going on here, but he's going to back us up.

Is Fret, the character I immediately disliked when I first met him, my favourite character in NEO: The World Ends with You? This is exactly what happened with Joshua.

I hope Nagi also warms to Fret, at least a little. Her instant disdain for him is entertaining, but I feel her character is limited by the fact that she's only really able to interact with Rindo; she ignores Fret and worships Minamimoto. (Or, as my phone tried to write instead, she ignores Feet and worships Longframlington.)

I'm a big fan of Rindo ending up in horrific situations - seeing the lorry land on Fret, dying at Susukichi's hands in front of Fret and Nagi - and then rewinding time to get out of them. Great potential for trauma there.

It also raises interesting questions about what happens to the inhabitants of the original timeline when he changes things. And I'm curious about what happens to the original Rindo when future Rindo uses his time-travel powers! Where is the original Rindo when the future Rindo is inhabiting his body? When future Rindo jumps back out, does the Rindo who's left there remember what just happened, or is he left completely bewildered after a blackout?

Fret mentioned Neku being in the Game three years ago, but he shouldn't know the specific number; nobody's specified that it's been three years! Is this a 'Fret knows too much' plot point, like Joshua addressing Neku by name before Neku introduces himself, or is it just a continuity error? Hmmm.

Strange tension between Rindo and Fret as we move into the second week. Fret is being really possessive and jealous, in a way that tips me from 'huh, Fret's constant desire for Rindo's attention sort of makes it seem like he has a crush' to 'Fret definitely has a crush, even if he's not consciously aware of it, and isn't managing it well'. Don't get angry because your boyfriend is texting other people, Fret. Has something changed between them, or is Fret's bad mood at being denied their victory just sharpening the jealousy that was already there?



This game does away with the bravery requirement for clothes, meaning that the boys in the party are absolutely happy to wear dresses straight out of the gate. It's a shame you can't actually see the clothes they're wearing, because I bet Fret is rocking the miniskirt I've equipped him with.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

My head goes 'feed everyone the most efficient stat-boosting foods', but my heart goes 'give everyone food they'll like', and my heart is stronger.

Aw!

This game does away with the bravery requirement for clothes, meaning that the boys in the party are absolutely happy to wear dresses straight out of the gate. It's a shame you can't actually see the clothes they're wearing, because I bet Fret is rocking the miniskirt I've equipped him with.

I know nothing about the game, but I'm assuming this is because skirts and dresses for boys have been normalized in the in-game universe to the point that they're no more remarkable than girls wearing pants.

[pict]

Wait, is this a sequel? For some reason, I thought it was an updated re-release.

[rionaleonhart]

It's a sequel, yes! The name definitely makes it sound like a rerelease, but it's a completely new game.

[rionaleonhart]

The in-game universe is present-day Tokyo, so I think these kids are just ahead of their time!

[(Anonymous)]

I am completely unsurprised that you like Fret after you learned to ignore his overuse of "galaxy brain". (How are you finding his remembering minigame, anyway? I had some control difficulties with it - I got the concept, and I settled on doing it a stick at a time to see what I was moving, but I don't have a lot of hand strength and I can't hold the stick in position for more than a few seconds without it slipping, so I had to kind of memorise the position every time I slipped while finding the other stick. Fortunately I worked out a bit of a trick to finding it out quicker on the other stick, but the amount of times I had the position nearly correct and just one or two squares were out of place because I physically couldn't get the stick back into position at the same time as the other was really frustrating. Easily my least favourite part of the game.)

I feel her character is limited by the fact that she's only really able to interact with Rindo; she ignores Fret and worships Minamimoto.

I think this probably isn't helped by the fact that in the first week Minamimoto isn't there as often as he is for conversations so the conversation "groups" are small anyway. He always vanishes in particular when any non-Wicked Twister is around but there are other times too.

I'm a big fan of Rindo ending up in horrific situations - seeing the lorry land on Fret, dying at Susukichi's hands in front of Fret and Nagi - and then rewinding time to get out of them. Great potential for trauma there.

There's definitely a part later in the game relating to this where my first thought was "Riona will be pleased".

I know we've both come from the original game so were aware that was likely to be more than one week, but the fact the first Scramble Slam is explicitly numbered as first did make it fairly clear the game wasn't going to end there for anybody paying attenton, haha.

Is this a 'Fret knows too much' plot point, like Joshua addressing Neku by name before Neku introduces himself, or is it just a continuity error?

I'm obviously not going to address the question here, but there are definitely a few continuity errors in the game. I'm sure in the first week it says the Wicked Twisters are last, then that they're second last, then that they're last again - all in the same day or so (the golden pig day, I think?). I was confused as I wasn't sure we actually had any points whatsoever so was pretty sure we were last. I'll forgive them that though for the excellent effort to keep the game from sounding stilted and polite to give it the sort of lively voice the first game had.

-timydamonkey

[rionaleonhart]

I am completely unsurprised that you like Fret

Come to think of it, I do have a bit of a weakness for the talkative, loyal, energetic, slightly ridiculous friend who's clearly in love with the protagonist (see also: Prompto, Yosuke, Ryuji, Zell). Having a crush on everyone doesn't hurt either.

I was going 'I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S HAPPENING' while helplessly flailing on the controller the first couple of times I had to use Fret's power, but I've got the hang of it now!

Minamimoto being present in all the battles and absent in most of the cutscenes was a little perplexing, but I wasn't going to complain too much because I tend not to find his interactions with other people that interesting. He never seems to actually listen and respond to what anyone's saying; he just maths at people!

There's definitely a part later in the game relating to this where my first thought was "Riona will be pleased".

Ooh, I look forward to this.

I'm sure in the first week it says the Wicked Twisters are last, then that they're second last, then that they're last again

I also noticed that! It was very confusing. But, yes, the game's voice is very fun and lively, so I can forgive the occasional slipup.