New York Times: The World Ends With You is the best RPG ever
Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 9:34pm by Jake
Devolved by the top RPG masterminds at Square Enix, The World Ends with You is one of the best third party offerings ever created for the DS. Move over Chrono Trigger, because the New York Times believes The World Ends with You to be THE greatest role-playing game ever developed. World has the rare balance of twisting plot, unique art style, and innovative gameplay that is just so difficult to come by these days. Here’s a snippet of New York Time’s drooling review…
In my experience playing Japanese role playing games, those with a great battle system will be undercut by a mediocre story while those with a strong story will make do with an indifferent battle system. But World’s story is just as fascinating as its gameplay.
Full of mysteries and surprises, interesting characters and some genuinely touching moments, World is wonderfully plotted out. Neku is not just an angst-y teenager fighting monsters, but someone who finds his experiences working with and learning from others push him towards self examination; the odd title itself refers to Neku’s need to expand his horizons.
The game’s designers follow a similar path, pushing at the boundaries of the role-playing genre. The result is not just the best role-playing game ever designed for the DS, but one of the best role playing games ever designed for anything.
It’s unfortunate that titles like these simply go unnoticed amongst AAA console offerings. Not picking up Wii Fit? Get The World Ends With You in its place, or both!
May 11th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Great game; buy it; nuff said.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
I got this instead of Okami.
May 11th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Move over Chrono Trigger?? I HAVE TO CHECK THIS OUT. If it’s better than Chrono Trigger, it must be epic.
May 11th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
wow im def getting this
May 12th, 2008 at 12:16 am
mmm- ds goodness ftw
May 12th, 2008 at 1:20 am
I’ve been playing this game every day since it came out, and I’m *still* hooked on it. There is just so much to do in the game ; The battles are really fun, the music is catchy, and the story really does throw in a lot of surprise twists out of nowhere. I wouldn’t say it’s the BEST RPG of all time, but I’d say it’s definitely somewhere in my top 5 list.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:48 am
“Move over Chrono Trigger, because the New York Times believes The World Ends with You to be THE greatest role-playing game ever developed.”
What What What What What!!?! O_O I can’t believe until I play!
May 12th, 2008 at 2:55 am
I’ve been playing this game since it was released, and while I’m not ready to exalt The World Ends With You to “best game ever” status, I will say that all the other claims are spot on. The story is engaging, with a good script to back it up. The combat is fun, making great use of the touch pad (and the d-pad, natch). Furthermore, fighting is scalably complex if you really want to get into the nitty gritty of strategy and combos.
I can’t recommend this title enough.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:30 am
The fighting system is pretty innovative for an rpg. I wouldn’t classify it as the best rpg ever, but if you own a DS you really need to pick this up. The price tag is pretty severe, but it has more gameplay than some full price Wii games.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:33 am
I’ll chime in on this one. I haven’t put it down yet. It’s certainly got a ‘hook’ like no other I’ve played in a long time. I will say I think you have to the kind of person that isn’t swayed too easily by an abundance of text; there is a lot of reading.
The ‘pin’ system is great, being able to switch combat styles and customize you fight style on the fly adds a nice personal touch. I’m sure there’s hardly anyone using the same pin set.
All in all if you own a DS there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have this in your collection.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:18 am
There is simply so much to do with this. Tired of playing? Get rewarded for turning the game off. Get rewarded for leaving it on standby with Mingle on. Adjust your difficulty to your preference, reward for honing your skills. Match clothes/pins/items for different experiences
May 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Definitely get this game if you like RPGs.
It’s a definite twist from your usual Final Fantasy-style game.
The tricky thing about it is wanting to control both characters manually; thankfully, the second character is on “auto-play”, so if you don’t have the dexterity/concentration yet, then you needn’t worry.
The game is great, I like the plot, the characters are really cool, not to mention the music as well! It’s cool that you can actually buy music tracks in the game, too!
And don’t forget Mingle Mode! I powered up a ton of pins (your weapons to use) while Mingling, and a friend can mingle a ton of times so you’ll get a bunch of points to accelerate the pins’ levels!
You can also register normal DS units that are playing Pictochat/wireless connected as well.
And I found you’ll rack up another Civvie when you’ve got your Wii turned on into the DS Download center! Another 20 pin points just for your Wii!
This game is amazing, and I’ll write a more detailed review later!
Rating: 9.5/10
May 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
OK, I’m sold!
I was going to get Summon Night Twin Age because I loved the first two on the GBA, but I just can’t resist all the good reviews TWEWY has gotten over the internet…