The Power is yet unknown, the power is yet unknown, the power is yet unknown....

Hey, guys, I AM BACK!  And I hope to go back to making this a regular thing.

So, why am I back?

This website

Specifically, how it relates to "The World Ends With You". 

TWEWY was an original property developed by Square Enix.  It was developed to help them understand DS programming for "Kingdom Hearts 358/2".  Honestly, I think it's better then 358/2.  We have complex characters, fantastic artistic design, an amazing story, changing relationships, and that's not even mentioning the gameplay.

But, moving on, what's more interesting right now is the revived interest in the project by Square Enix. 

SE had casually brought up the game before, but no one new the severity until a recent Tokyo Game Show.  Why?  Because the KH3D demo had Neku in it.  As time went on, Joshua, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme all appeared.  Tetsuya Nomura (the director of the Kingdom Hearts series and character designer for TWEWY) was asked about this, and he implied that the voice casting was for a future project.  (Shiki, Joshua, Beat, and Neku had a few lines in game, but most "speaking" was done through text)

Well, KH3D was released, the TWEWY fans were very happy, then yesterday the SE PR department twitter tweeted out a link to the above website.

We know very little, but between the "Calling" background music, the style of the timer, and the Shibuya style background, it appears we are going back to Shibuya for another game set in TWEWY universe.  (If you want a sneak peak, adjust your date on your computer. The art and music assets up to day 2 have been preloaded onto the site). 

So, what is next?

Well, nothing until that timer hits zero. Tokyo Game Show will finish in the next few days so the timing is rather odd.  Why is the timer set to expire AFTER the game show?  If something was to be announced, why not set the timer for earlier? Is it a set up for the Square Enix Production Department show?  But they should be focusing on the Final Fantasy's 25th Anniversary party.

Any way, we just wait and see what happens. 

Musical Monday - Twister Remix

The World Ends With You was composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, but was preformed by local Shibuya artists. The main singer for this song is called "Sawa"

Anyway, the song in question "Twister" is one of the iconic songs of The World Ends With You. (In fact, the Demo of Kingdom Hearts: 3D introduces Neku by playing 'Twister')  and the album remixes it several times.  I have to say, this is my favorite version. 

The power is yet unknown.  The power is yet unknown.  The power is yet unknown.  The power is yet unknown.

Design Analysis - The World Ends With You Opening.

Congratulations, I just spoiled the entire game for you.   (Spoilers ahead... since unless you played the game you don't realize how important any of that was)

Basically, this is a fascinating way to do credits.  It's "What the HECK" at it's finest, The names get in there, but rather then a basic background (such as from Final Fantasy III)

or alternate screens, the names are flashing with the various scenes... which explain everything as I said  before.

Two Shikis? Because there actually are two Shikis,only one is named Eri.  All those people Neku passed? His partners later in the game. The mindless drone reflections in Megumi's glasses? His master plan.  Yep, they out the villain five minutes into the game, I think before you even get to play as Neku.

It's an interesting way to do credits, and one I hope gets picked up more often.  It's stylized and by the time you realize this MEANS anything, you forgot about it.  It still sticks with you.

I really should play this game again... I feel like I'm missing things. 

Design Analysis: The World Ends WIth You

There is ALOT of reasons why The World Ends With You (TWEWY) is amazing, but I'll cover them all later. Right now, I want to look at the design of the world.

The game takes place in Modern Times,  in the area called Shibuya.  And, yes, Shibuya is a real place.

As a result, the game is defined by a modern aesthetic, much different from a typical Square Enix game.  The clothing looks like something that could be bought (well, mostly anyway)  And, in accordance to Shibuya fashions, most people dress according to certain styles.  There are shops that cater to styles (and some shops that sell a hodgepodge of clothes), fast food restaurants can be found almost anywhere, and the music is performed by local Shibuya bands. 

Finally, the areas you go to are all local places in Shibuya (though some have been slightly altered for copyright reasons.)  Hachiko statue, Tower records (Towa ingame) and Miyashita park are all locations in game (I'm sure there are more, but the map I used doesn't list them)

As a result, the game world feels much more real.  While we Americans might not know the real world locations as well, they certainly look much more real then other SE buildings.  the streets look like streets, with cars and people and buses riding by.  We can read people's thoughts (Analogous to a real world overheard conversation)  and pick up pieces of people's lives.  The characters shop, the clothes look real, and other then one very big thing, the characters wouldn't be too different from people we could know in our own lives.  The world feels real, and it gives us something to fight for mentally.

Shibuya feels like a real city.  While it is infused with a Japanese style, with some tweaking it could be any big city.  It takes alot to turn a real city that people live in, into a city just like it run by sprites and programming.  But I believe Square Enix succeeded.  One of the reasons why the game is so amazing is because we can feel the thrum of Shibuya's life.