I made the mistake of playing Summon Night: Twin Age after The World Ends With You. Do not do this. After TWEWY's amazing stylus controls, Summon Night's amateurish attempts will only make you angry. This is completely aside from Summon Night: Twin Age being a gigantic pile of fail.

NinjaDebugger

I'm enjoying the hell out of "The World Ends With You" right now. It's a JRPG where I'm actually looking forward to the fights.

mangajunky

Cover to me looks decent, but the album is full of win.

D-Sovereignty

@bob7317496: Once you play for a while, you'll forget about the pointy hips and huge shoes and find a great game. I was a little skeptical too when buying it, but its ended up being one of my favorite games of all times.

The music to this game was soo unique, it varied from psycodelic to hip hop to jrock. So varied, kinda like Shibuya. :o

OmniDragon

@bob7317496: No offense, but that isn't a Square Enix hallmark, but a Tetsuya Nomura hallmark. And yeah, sometimes it seems like he is everywhere in Square Enix these days, but quite frankly melodrama isn't really limited to Square either...they just have the cornerstone on RPGs right now. I think it's annoying when people complain about Nomura's designs yet manage to conveniently overlook Akihiro Yoshida's work, as well as Yoshitaka Amano's.

Anyways, that's a lovely cover! I hope that FFXII's soundtrack gets a release eventually.

dreamy-moon

Love this game. I'm a failure of finishing games, but I'm actually going for 100% on this one. The music is great, and the after game is just hilarious. So, can I preorder this, or at the very least not have to import it?

Marion517

When considering this game, I just couldn't get past the overdone Square Enix hallmarks - the melodramatic plot, the pseudo-futuristic "hip" setting, the spiky haired, effeminate protagonists and their gigantic feet and shoes... I hate judging a game by its cover like this, especially since it sounds like it might be worth my attention, but I'm frankly a little burnt out on most of their offerings right now.

Except Dragon Quest. But I seem to be the only American who even buys those games when they make it over here :-)

bob7317496

Square Enix needs to have more faith in new IPs.

BossMonk

@h_jeremiah: WHAT THE HELL MAN! YOU'VE MESSED WITH THE NATURAL ORDER!!!!!!

Jechticknight

Yeah, the game is pretty much doing as well as it can, considering the short supply. Even with Square's insistence on 40bux for DS games, it's pretty consistently selling out in most places, mostly on the strength of word of mouth.

NinjaDebugger

Of course - it's a brand new IP. People bitch and moan all the time about how they want to play new IPs, then when companies make new IPs, they don't buy them and bitch and moan that their favorite franchise isn't getting yet another sequel.

Rebochan

I want a DS..and that game would be my first pic. Then a slew of bargain based Castlevanias, or stealing them from my friend when he's not looking. It's all for the love of the game.

Jechticknight

It took me three or four weeks to get a copy. Amazon is consistently sold out and EB games told me they only had four copies of the game in the first release month. Two were new and two were used. I came in an hour after I got the fourth copy (used) and the clerk was surprised it had lasted that long on the shelves.

Slow supply perhaps has something to do with Final or Dragon not being in the name though. Imagine how many copies of Final Dragon Fantasy Quest would sell? I'm pretty sure I just created some sort of paradox...

h_jeremiah

Ha, I just switched the game off after playing for an hour, then I read this. SOLID. I wish Square would do more stuff like this instead of putting all their money in the big-budget train.

phinehas

That's a nice, clean design; not bad!

BrandtRock

Yeah, I was going to say Bash, this game was at the top of the DS charts when it was released. I suggested it to my girlfriend who had a hell of a time finding a copy.

Mike Fahey

For some reason I keep finding myself going back to the other cover, just to see if it still makes me feel like my eyes are bleeding. It's a bit like licking a 9v battery, you keep daring yourself to do it for just a little bit longer to test your mettle to breaking point.

ThursdayNext

It's hard for the game to do better when you can't find it in stores...

Gamestop was out of stock on it for almost a month because "demand had exceeded supply." It's back on shelves now though. Hopefully SE does some more advertising to show that the game is still around.

At least, that was the case in the US....don't know if you were talking about Japan or not :-p

Fierfaerie

That does look quite nifty.

ray89

@Tonx The videogame amnesia will make sense when you get to the end of the first week. And your other problem is temporary, too. I think you're gonna be a lot happier at the end of the week.

NinjaDebugger

@Tonx:
don't worry, he gets more likeable as you go along.
I like this game. story's not great, but the action and soundtrack are.

nikolaj

Um... does this somehow differ from the soundtrack that's already on iTunes?

Also, $40 isn't really that bad for this game. I don't care what you say, this is by far one of the most original games (not just RPGs) to come down the pipe in a long time on any system.

The action can get absolutely hectic while you're trying to manage both screens and finding a balance between risk and reward (chaining battles, level capping yourself for higher drop rate, setting the difficulty). It wasn't until I had actually beaten the game that I felt like I finally understood how much timing went into a successful fight.

I haven't loved a game this much since Jet Grind Radio. The fact that they're set in the same area is just icing on the cake.

Now if only Square would quit dicking around and release some officially licensed pins, I could fully geek out.

PerswAsian

It's a fantastic game - I'm only on the 'third day' so far. But I hate the main character. He's got video game amnesia (ugh, so overused) and an emo lone wolf personality that makes him even less likeable than Squall in FF8.

Tonx

@Human Bomb: *you're (damned no edit button)

Human Bomb

I had no idead this game was hard to find. My friend bought it, told me to get it. I bought it, got my friend to get a copy... It was on shelf in all the stores here. @beeporama (brian.j.parker): It looks like the one this story links to is either a chopped down version with only 19 tracks (not too good at squigglies), or a new one entirely with remixes. If not then your right this news is olde, as I ordered the one off play asia as well.

Human Bomb

i got through the first week of the game, i tried to like it but it just didn't do it for me. i wasn't immersed at all and every other battle felt like button mashing/scribbling depending on what screen i was looking at. yes, it was a fresh game but it got dull in one in-game week. if i have to trudge through the beginning of the game just to get to the "meat" of the game, pass.

Cucco

I can only assume any "poor sales" are because it's so hard to find? I got lucky, grabbed a copy right away when I heard there were supply issues.

The soundtrack is pretty keen. So keen I bought the OST CD< or so I thought: [www.play-asia.com]

What's the difference between what I just got from Play Asia (with a black cover, which they already shipped to me), and this (with a silver cover, which you say goes on sale next month)?

beeporama (brian.j.parker)

can't find it yet in Mexico T_T

Resso

As far as the success of TWEWY goes, the reason I haven't picked it up yet is the price. $40 is just too much to spend on any ds game. I regretted spending that much on the ffiii remake and I doubt I'll be spending that much any time soon. Square Enix has been recently a ton of mediocre stuff lately, they are no longer the best jrpg makers in the world and they need to stop pricing their titles like they are.

Methusalah

But... wait. The album's already up on iTunes. Has been for about a month now. I think this must be the new REMIX album that's coming out for the game next month.

ndoto

This game is one of the few times I'm glad I have a reserve on something. I'm still enjoying the hell out of it and I don't see that ending anytime soon.

@Libo:
Agreed. The soundtrack is completely worth the buy.

AndrewG009

One of the best games I've ever played. Exciting story, rewarding battle system and very emotional character development...

Synthex

I've already finished the game twice to get all of the story details. In retrospect I loved the amount of control over combat with the various settings you can change, but I wish the combat system was a little bit less chaotic (mainly in the later parts of the game; I was fine with it in the early middle parts). Overall, it was pretty fun, and the soundtrack kicked ass.

@PerswAsian: I think this is a remix CD, and from what I've gathered it's also going to get an iTunes release. They play some of the music for it on the CD's page: [www.square-enix.co.jp]

Also, Jet Grind Radio is amazing - I went back and played it again after finishing this game because, as you mentioned, they're in the same area. That game is amazing, and it also has an awesome soundtrack.

光物

Thank you for reminding me that I never bought the OST for this game, the game and its accompanying soundtrack are absolutely phenomenal.

Libo

My eyes they burn T_T the last 1 did nothing to my eye's and I stared @ it got 5 minutes lol

Ruisu

so this is a "The World Ends With You" soundtrack and not a "It's a Wonderful World" soundtrack? It looks like SE is trying to make money by selling the "western" version of the soundtrack back to Japan.

Human Bomb

@tallguy: I think this is the arrange album. It contains both the JP exclusive tracks and the English exclusive tracks.

Zho

"Last year, which was released ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK It's a Wonderful World, which is on the vocals and songs tailor-made to the overseas edition of It's a Wonderful World, a new recorded music disc recordings of Special Wonderful I + The World Ends with You scratch in 2007, 30, announced in July. All 19 songs, priced at 2100 yen [tax] said.

The Soundtrack CD Prior to the launch, iTunes music and limited overseas delivery songs version of Twister-The Twister-to June 25, 2008 prior to the delivery. Square Enix's mobile site "SUKUENIMOBAIRU" But delivery has been the leading baby clothes."

HILARIOUS!

Human Bomb

Well Ashcraft, your definition of not doing so well might need some work. It's completely sold out in America because they didn't make enough. I'd say that's Square Enix's fault for not making enough, not that the game wasn't well recieved. There's supposed to be another large shipment in July. Let's see if that sells out just as fast before we call if it didn't do well or not.

mattjop1033

Haven't seen it in the stores yet, myself. Or seen a single advertisement of it outside of a mention or two from Tycho.

tk.

I still haven't seen a copy here in Australia, granted I was only going to pick it up if it was under $50 (long story) but I have heard nothing but good things about this game. At least I got Crisis Core today and damn, Squeenix did a great job with it, both in the actual game and probably the best voiceovers in a Squeenix game I've played. 8 hours in and loving it.

el_rezzo

@tallguy: If the iTunes version has only 19 tracks, I would assume it's the same. According to google translator, I gather that this version is being released in Japan to match the iTunes version...

Human Bomb

The soundtrack is one of the best parts of the game...I went and bought it from itunes after 2 hours of playing the game. Let me echo the question already asked, is this release somehow different from the current album on itunes?

tallguy

I was really excited for the game and it just couldnt pull me in. It was really confusing and just not fun. You say it's a shame that it didnt do better...I say it's a shame that it wasnt better itself.

hellodon

It would probably have done better if they'd brought more units to store shelves..

everyone's always complaining that the game didn't sell well, but everywhere I go the game is sold out.

Definitely not the gamers' fault on this one but rather the... marketing?

bigmuffpi

This is the game that makes me take my DS seriously (though there were other games worthy of it that I just didn't get hooked on like Castlevania or Pokemon.) It's the first time Squenix has got my attention with a game since they published that wave in the late 90s of Bushido Blade, Einhander, Brave Fencer Musashi, Parasite Eve, and Ehrgeiz. Since then I've been saying "you're so talented, Square! Do something original!" Well I'm in shock - here it is!

Although top screen fighting to me is still cryptic, mysterious, and just plain bad. Can't complain since you don't have to do it!

I have a downloaded copy, but as soon as I find it in stores I'm definitely going to pick it up and stick it on my shelf.

(miiiiinor spoilers)

I just made it to the end of the first "week" and now I'm noticing new songs. It's weird, but I'd actually hold off on getting this to avoid musical spoilers.

Also, were any songs dubbed for English? I notice there are a couple Japanese songs, but most are in English so far...

@Methusalah:
I fully sympathize with you there. This is only personal opinion but believe me, this is a whole, full, "serious" game like you'd find on other systems, except for all the parts you could only do on a DS. Most games feel like an appetizer, but this one hits the spot. I'm playing more DS than PSP the last week or two.

fuchikoma

I LOVE THIS GAME, I have the japanese one (but I'm stuck in it now =[) and when it came out in the US I went right to gamestop where I was promptly told that the game was only available to people who pre-ordered it and they wouldn't be selling it to anyone else... ever =[ wth man... I will most likely buy it off the internet... but its not the same.... I love all the art work from the game <3 soundtrack is freakin awesome also <333 maybe the right time to buy it off itunes with that gift card I have :D

hrabbit

I think that the FF Remix album art was cooler. It was trippy, but at least it was interesting. This one is just...bland? (no, clean is not the word I'm looking for). That's just my opinion.

Still haven't played the game. I have to splurge on that and GTAIV eventually.

Tako Attack

Loved the game, it didn't sell well? Maybe someone could get some numbers up or whatever? It would be interesting to see where it sold well and whatnot. I know that Amazon ended up taking forever to ship mine so...

Shadowmist

Yep, the album's on iTunes right now as we speak (and has been up for a few weeks now).

Mudron

Ha! Sucks to be everyone else, I had a copy reserved at launch. =3

But srsly, isn't this soundtrack already for sale on the iTunes store? I bought it there, so I most certainly /hope/ it is.

The Great Moof

It's the best game for the DS since Phoenix Wright 3. If you have the system, get the game. Really, it's worth it.

Skychrono

The Western Soundtrack is different from the Asian one
For starters, it has new music

Arkanius

@Rebochan: That wasn't the problem with this title though. People DID buy it.

placebofud

@fuchikoma: I'm pretty sure those english songs were in the Japanese version as well.

OmniDragon

Now Calling can be stuck in your head even without the game!

Superstar90

I am playing this game now on the advice of many.

Well...

GOOD GODDAMN ADVICE :)

Spoony Bard

I held out on buying the game only so I could get the game with my store discount, however it never came. In fact, out of the 7 stores that sell games within 10 minutes of my house, only one carried it. They weren't sold out, but I'm sure few thought to look at FYE. Since I bought, I been addicted to it, putting in 40 hours so far, playthrough 1. The game is excellent but there was no marketing for it except the big contest on Deviant Art. New IP's should get marketed, not big name sequels. People already know about the sequels. I really want the soundtrack, but I don't have Ipod (I don't want one) and I'd much prefer the english edition since it has about four extra tracks. Art cover looks awesome, by-the-by.

Ryodestined

Yeah, I got the game right when it came out, and traded it in almost immediately.

I simply could not get past the emo anime kids and the retarded melodramatic story, especially when the gameplay wasn't all that fun.

Combine that with the 40 dollar price point and limited availability and im surprised it sold as many copies as it did.

chumpwagonrider

Shiki freaks me out with the secret smile.

thisisasignin

@h_jeremiah: I'll take 3, please.

jacksinn

I think TWEWY has become my favorite game of all time. It's that good. There's like...30 different battle themes the game cycles through? And there are so many little details that just make you, laugh, smile, or go "Oh, wow."

RocketDarkness

And I'm assuming that 99% of the people that hated the game didn't even get past the third day. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO THE STORY, PEOPLE! Just give it a chance!

PRguitarman

Doesn't the soundtrack that's already out have a black case? That'd be cool if this was a remixed one, especially since the black-case soundtrack is missing a lot of the songs I loved so much in the game (Deja Vu, Three Minutes Clapping, etc)

PRguitarman

I highly dislike the music of the game. Most of the songs (or actually song is wrong here, since they are all just small loops being played over and over and over) consist of over-used drum breaks and cheap samples taken from sample CD's, it reminds me of a lot of the stuff beginners would come up with in the beatmaking scene.
I prefere to hear real RPG music when playing RPG's, in the vein of Chrono Trigger, something the Japanese usually excel at, with melodies that touch the soul and timeless compositions over this boring & simple "me too, hip" music.
Besides that, I thought most of the "hip" dialogue was pretty bad and I never got into the silly combat system, sure it's new and innovative, but that doesn't equate to fun for me, so now it's just collecting dust.

Bluetribal

And on another note, wow people sleeping/hating on this game AFTER THE THIRD DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK WOW... to each their own, but this game gets better and better.

Yeah Neku's early emo ramblings got on my nerves, but once you get to the end of the week and into the second, or rather the swing of things (pins, clothes, etc.) There's not looking back! But I was hooked from the intro, so yeah that about it.

FunKrusher

I searched for 4 weeks to track this game down. I'm in agreement with everyone else who says maybe if the damn game was available for demand it would've sold better.

Great game one of the best RPGS (w/action twist) I've played. It's all good, don't worry, 2-3 years from now this shit will be going on Ebay for like $80+, hmm... now that I think about it maybe I should by an unsealed "collectors" copy right now.

That's actually not a bad idea...

FunKrusher

@Bluetribal: Sorry it's not like 99% of RPGs where you simply upgrade your sword and armor to the next level at each town. Actual thought required when equipping your characters? Perish the thought.

RocketDarkness

If the third day was supposed to be convince me of the story's uberness I guess it failed for me.
I played up to to the mini-endboss of day 5, who beat my ass, but at that point I did not have any motivation to beat it or grind and become stronger, as it all didn't seem interesting or fun to me anyways. Also the idea of having so many freaking stores with all kinds of clothes that have bonuses or minuses for different areas really put me off... I seriously don't get how that can be fun.

Bluetribal

This OST is already on iTunes...God I hope it is. If not, what the hell did I buy?

Waz

I have my copy of TWEWY...granted, probably only because I bought it last week, after it fell off of everyone's radar.

Redface

How the hell does a Kotaku writer get off on wishing TWEWY did better? You guys didn't report on it at ALL aside from when it was first announced. No review, no thoughts, no nothing.

On that note, TWEWY was probably the best RPG on the DS I've played. Great story with a nice, personal theme and addicting gameplay.

JAcK0R

TWEWY is already on iTunes... at least, I bought it a long time ago.

Xeneizes

I can't stand the dialogue in this game. Maybe I'm getting too old, but I find it to be painfully inane.

cio

Bashcraft, please post next month when i actually does go on sale, thatll be awesome

fyrtoes

@Ashcraft

"The World Ends With You sold 43,000 copies during April 2008 in North America.[34] These sales were better than expected; the first shipment of the game sold out mid-May[35] and a second shipping was made in mid-June, 2008.[36] The game was the top selling DS title the week of its release[37] and again two weeks later.[38] To date, the game has sold 180,000 copies in North America.[39]"

[www.nintendoworldreport.com]
[www.gamasutra.com]
[www.gamasutra.com]
[vgchartz.com]

@JAcK0R:

Agreed. Meanwhile, Zack and Wiki had an entire campaign behind. Search "Zack and Wiki" on Kotaku and you'll get over sixty results. Search "World Ends With You" and you get a tenth of that. Good thing the game didn't rely on Kotaku to sell it.

Don't get me wrong, I bought, played, and completed Zack and Wiki. Fun game, but not nearly worth the hype put behind it. Not a game I see myself going back and playing again after going through it once. TWEWY is a game I'll be playing again and again.

Mact

@Tonx:

At least his amnesia has a good explanation.

The third day isn't that far in, so I don't think they have explained "the Game" much.

I will just say that the game has an entry fee.

Mact

Is this a new album, because there has been a TWEWY soundtrack on iTunes for over a month.

Mact

The thing I find most compelling about this game is how good of a representation of Tokyo subculture this is. With the fashion, the way people act, the things people are thinking (when you scan them). People who miss that are missing out on why this game is more than just battles with "bad dialogue" - it's a unique portrait of modern-day Japan, at times a satire, and at times an embrace of the uniqueness of it all.

phinehas

I'm still playing this game, and I've been encouraging all my friends to get it. They all say the same thing - it's sold out everywhere, and they refuse to pay $70 for it on Ebay. Definitely a miscalculation on the distributor's part.

sasquatchua

I kept hearing hype for this game before it was released. I took a look at the box art and the screenshots and I thought "another annoying game that is cashing in on the absurd popularity of final fantasy". It seems like these days, unless it's related to games originally published by Tri-Ace or Enix (like Valkyrie Profile or the DQ series)I just can't bring myself to get into it.

My boyfriend, however, bought this game the day it came out and kept going on and on about it, so I went and got it the next day. It happened to be the last copy, and I haven't seen it back at the store since.

I sure am glad that I purchased TWEWY. The battle system requires actual planning, almost as much as I seem to put into strategy RPGs; the dialogue and the story are interesting (to me, I see a lot of people hate the dialogue..); and I happen to like the music. I am a fan of sweeping RPG orchestral scores, but the music really adds to the overall atmosphere of the game. I really like the modern setting as well, I imagine in a decade or two it will be fun to look back at this game and remember when I first played it.

It really is tragic that more copies haven't been made available. I want everyone to play this game. It takes me back to the 80's and 90's, when playing games was..well, fun. I haven't bothered to play many games to completion lately (with the exceptions of Fire Emblem games, Castlevania handhelds, and Okami), but I find myself obsessively trying to get 100% on everything. I really can't recommend this game enough.

On a side note, Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw gave this game a pretty scathing review (without really naming as many of the redeeming factors as he normally does..) A lot of the dissenting opinions people are expressing here resemble his complaints.

Bottom Line: I thought this was going to be another weeaboo KH/FF RPG, but it completely blew my mind and expectations away, and I'm sorry I ever doubted TWEWY!

sexylittlerobot