rionaleonhart | It's Ya Boy.

The goal of NEO: The World Ends with You is to survive and escape the deadly game you're trapped in. The goal is not to make friends with the in-game shopkeepers. But tell that to my playstyle.

My replay is partway through week two, but there's not really anything spoilery in this entry, largely because I've become fixated on this one shopkeeper and half my notes are about him. I don't understand how this happened.

My mission to befriend Hog Fang shopkeeper Yudai Miki is finally making progress! I think you just can't make friends with shopkeepers until week two, but now he smiles and says '...Welcome back' when I enter the shop.

I just checked Yudai's bio, and apparently 'his friend suggested he take this retail job as a way of improving his lacklustre social skills', which explains the endearing awkwardness that made him catch my attention in the first place. And he's an underground brawler in his spare time, apparently?

Also an interesting line in the bio: 'He is gradually warming up to people thanks to Fret, inspired by his outgoing nature.' Fret, we found you a boyfriend! (Adds a whole new meaning to Yudai asking us '...Wanna try anything on?')

I don't imagine there's any Fret/This One Shopkeeper fanfiction out there. I don't... think I'm going to change that?

'I'm still not used to this whole "customer service" gig,' Yudai just confided in me while I was browsing. I'm alarmed by how invested I've become in this one in-game shopkeeper. He was only programmed in so I could buy clothes from him! But they gave him a few lines of dialogue and included a mechanic that lets him gradually warm up to you, and suddenly I really care about this person who's more a gameplay convenience than a character.

I went through a period of fascination with the shopkeepers in the first game, come to think of it. My favourites (other than the Don, who goes without saying) were the guy who becomes increasingly gay for you if you buy a lot from his shop, the guy who becomes increasingly convinced that you're gay for him if you eat a lot at his restaurant, and the woman working at the extremely high-end shop, who's at first bewildered and then increasingly fascinated by this teenager who keeps wandering in and dropping incomprehensible amounts of money on things.

Rindo feels slightly unusual to me, as a character who's portrayed as introverted and introspective but not especially smart. Sort of the opposite of Zidane of Final Fantasy IX, whose portrayal feels unusual because he's cheerful, confident and extroverted while also being intelligent. They're traits that can easily go together in real life, but I feel fiction often correlates introversion very strongly with intelligence.

Kariya: How's the search going? Swimmingly, I imagine.
Fret: More like drowningly.

The localisation team so clearly had a great time with this game. It makes me smile.

I always feel slightly bad when Fret goes 'man, I'm starving!' at the café and then I just force-feed everyone six cups of coffee. NO FOOD. ONLY COFFEE. You'll thank me when you see your defence stat.

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Yay, you made a friend!

I'm officially starting the countdown to see how long it takes for Fret/shopkeeper fic to exist.

I just ran a quick search of AO3. There's exactly one fic tagged with Yudai (A Haven for Your Weary Eyes and Soul by

fret), and he only appears in one line, but, to my surprise and delight, it's not a stretch to interpret that line as Fret/Yudai: 'He tries things on at the Hog Fang and asks the worker what do you think, dude? I’m not sure about me, but I think this would look great on you, red is totally more your color, and Miki Yudai’s eyes shine in a way that says I wish I had your confidence as he soaks up everything Fret says.'

Aw! That can definitely be intepreted as Fret/Yudai!

"I don't... think I'm going to change that?" - oh come now, let's be real.

how dare you, I would never dream of writing something I've said I wouldn't write

(I very much enjoyed this comment, while also being outraged.)

I'm officially enchanted by the shopkeepers

I'm glad I'm not the only one! 'Shopkeepers get to know you better if you use their shops a lot' is such a fun mechanic.

I can't believe you're force-feeding everyone six cups of coffee!

You should be feeding them absurb amounts of canned air, instead. Then you could feel really bad. (I still find the fact that it's a menu item, and such a useful one, really funny.)

The NEO TWEWY team is probably the team in fiction that I've played that are the least intelligent. They're just not the smartest cookies in the jar, especially if you don't count Minamimoto as being a Wicked Twister (since he technically isn't) one or two aside. Now I'm sure I've mixed metaphors there which is kinda funny given the topic, but I'm autistic and often end up mixing metaphors, so I've learned to live with it!

I liked NEO TWEWY a lot but I did feel like although it went a bit confused about what to do with some of its character returns (possibly part of this as because the team isn't especially the smartest it can particularly lead them to seeming to play second fiddle to the previous leads), what it really needed was more Joshua. (Doesn't everything?) He's the character who it would make the most sense to recur based on game one (and not just the New Day stuff, but where the game was originally left off). It's not like they were trying to avoid spoilers or anything.

I hope that you continue to let us know your thoughts on AI Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative as you get to play more as I'd like to talk about it!

-timydamonkey

Not a brain cell between them, these kids. I was relieved when members five and six joined the team. I do like the first four, but it got slightly wearing that they were all so clueless; you need some contrast in your party!

what it really needed was more Joshua

I would be fascinated to see what a NEO TWEWY with more Joshua would be like. Say what you will about Joshua (and he probably deserves it), but he's never boring!

I'm looking forward to playing more nirvanA Initiative when I can! I'm playing it with Tem, who's been unable to visit since I brought COVID into the house. We're all testing negative now, though, so hopefully xe'll be able to drop by soon!

My mission to befriend Hog Fang shopkeeper Yudai Miki is finally making progress! I think you just can't make friends with shopkeepers until week two, but now he smiles and says '...Welcome back' when I enter the shop.

Cute! I love that Fret is helping, however inadvertently, this shopkeeper-cum-brawler to open up his world. I could ship this. If you were to write fic of these two, I have no doubts I would read it immediately.

So many stores in videogames either don't have shopkeepers at all, or all have what feels to be the same uncharacterized shopkeeper in every store (looking at you, Pokemon! where no matter which Pokemart in the region you're shopping from, every shopkeeper looks the same and says the same darn thing!). Giving shopkeepers their own dialogue, dress sense, and characterization can do a lot for a game's overall personality, and for me it's a huge part of why both TWEWY games ooze style at every turn. The world of the games feel lived-in, real. Shibuya isn't just a funky background, it's a city we might as well be a part of, it interacts with us as if it were a player of the same game. It's so good.

I always feel slightly bad when Fret goes 'man, I'm starving!' at the café and then I just force-feed everyone six cups of coffee. NO FOOD. ONLY COFFEE. You'll thank me when you see your defence stat.

We had the cast eat some truly unholy meals on our playthrough. So many alligators-on-platters from SBY BBQ.

It's Ya Boy.

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