Zero Punctuation: The World Ends With You

[9NineBreaker9]

Wow, the "report" button looks a lot like "reply" XD. Go me.

Anyways - different genres for different players, I guess. As always, he nails the issues of the game on the head while ensuring to piss off every other fanboy in existence. I personally liked the game, but can easily see why the gratuitous amounts of dialogue can drive those who don't like it away. As far as JRPGs go, I thought TWEWY's story was refreshingly original, if still relatively doomed by the general "I are be good boy now" mentality of Neku who, despite trying to do something very awesome on the second day, becomes a bit of a goody-goody later on.

The dual screen combat can be summed up pretty easily, though - look at top when battle starts and see whether or not enemies are on the left or the right. Now mash that directional button until you notice that people aren't there anymore. Mashing works just as good as actually trying to perform the combos that are presented for the partner.

All well. As if I expected anything but a sea of bile from the great Yahtzee. At least you state why you don't like games or genres, rather than just saying that it sucks like every other person I know >,>

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

After the scathing Uncharted review I realized that if Yahtzee reviews a game you like... don't expect him to like it, be suprised when he does, because it is rare.

 

[Tietsu]

Good calls all around, Yahtzee .

Er...I mean I hate you and you smell.

Yeah...that sounds about right.

 

[SilentHunter7]

I laughed at the Charles Whitman reference.

 

[Cairnth]

Very nice review as usual. This has become the highlight of my week. Thank you Yahtzee for being so normal.

 

[Sasha Janre]

I'm glad to see this game on here and I agree with most of his points. That being said, this was probably the most fun I've ever had with my DS XD I really was overwhelemed by the battle system at first, but you really get the hang of it as you go on, adn I couldn't just leave my partner on auto becasue sometimes they move slower than ... well insert a developer here.

The food helps boots your atk, def and whatnot, and also your brv so you can wear better stuff. Your levelling up only increases HP, so .. well I'm going to ramble if I keep going so I'll just say it's a good unique game and it's a shame there aren't more games out there that are taking a bit of a chance like it did.

AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAY.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Hmm, seems like it took a step back from JRPGs then a step forward.

 

[Myself0101]

animation has improved leaps and bounds! not that it was bad to start with!
i have to agree with yahtzee, jrpg do tend to suck, however i do still have a love affair with Final fantasy 9.....
still as i have read somewhere that yahtzee likes to be insulted....

you're ginger! mwahahaha

 

[Sasha Janre]

The writing holds up well, but it doesn't really shine until AFTER the game is over. That had me in stitches; it's a shame that level of comedy wasn't dispersed through the whole game.

Dibs on rainbow.

Exactly what I mean.

"No, no, no, I call pink." "(Great, now they are fighting over colors!)"
"His blue strikes me more of a...black and blue." "What do I look like, a bruise?"
"You're like a bruise on the tomato of my heart."

Also, "(Great, not only did he name us after crayons, apparently he's been EATING them too.)"

"You're the one that refuses to call me pink."
"So now it's MY FAULT?"

"I demand you make me a spirit!"
"Why would you wanna be a crayon!?"

I COULD DO THIS ALL DAY. XD;

 

[TheeSpongeman]

I think Persona 3 FES has many of the points that are missing in "The world ends with you" (Stupid name). Turn based combat is okay as long as it goes fast. As far as i know every SMT Game had turn based combat and DDS/Nocturne are damn hard. You played Persona 3 FES? Just curious.

Played it, loved it. Just, judging by Yahtzees opinions and tastes, he wouldn't like its focus on Teenage Life in Japan or playing the hero with the most Emo hair ever.

I know! Fuck that god damn hair! What i think is the most impressive thing about Persona 3 FES are the characters, there are all so ... alive. But in the end, i guess you are right. :?

That's another thing I liked about the game. The voice acting fit the characters, each one with their own distinct personality. You can even tell when Aigis is changing when how her voice tone starts to grow less and less robotic. (she is a robot, for those who haven't played the game)And plenty of times, I let an out loud laugh with things would go crazy, or grow awkward for the character and group. Why your character has an emo haircut and it's the color blue, I don't know. But the way the story flows makes you actually care about the characters, and this is something not easily achieved by many games.

 

[drawthreecards]

Good as usual. I wonder what you'll review when you get another "week off" from the Escapist.

I liked JRPGs growing up, and I still occasionally enjoy them, but they seem rather outdated. More and more I can't help but think to myself while playing: "I could play an MMO if I wanted to level up and explore, and I could watch an anime or read a book if I wanted a compelling story". Even IF the game's story is wonderful and interesting, a game that makes you think of real life too much just reeks of bad design (suspension of disbelief is key).

That said, I buy JRPGs these days for combat, and combat only. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time was an RPG whose battle system was absolutely wonderful because of the customizability of your skills, equipment, and party members; the variability of strategies and kill conditions, and the completely optional and ball-crushing extra bosses. Did I mention that you can pick easy, medium, hard, and cut-my-wrists at the beginning of the game for even more replay value?

When JRPGs revamp their combat to be a little more enticing and strategic than "Find weak point and bash with keyblade" or "Sword doesn't work? Use spells", while retaining good replay value and fast-paced action, I'll buy some more. I rented TWEWY and liked it, but I won't remember it.

 

[tobyornottoby]

(J)RPGs have the nasty habit of having laboriously long cutscenes and NPC conversations which you'll either hate as a gamer because you're not gaming while you're passively sitting through these or will like because you're part of gaming's expanded presence in society that includes people that would normally read a book or watch a movie but wouldn't be off-put to press a button every once in a while. There are games and there are "movies with interactive moments" like those flash videos that give you a little minigame to play while it loads.

yes very true different kinds of people looking for differint things in the same medium (games).

Story in games is something that happens while you're playing. My complaint is that a number of games have the story happen instead of playing the game. RPGs and FPSs can both be guilty of this crime. Half-Life 2 kept most of the story-telling in game mode by keeping it short and rare and not changing the camera out of your skull or nailing your boots to the ground. Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars was most clearly a JRPG that had all the usual JRPG fodder that I actually liked because the story wasn't presented to the detriment of play.

I think HL can work that way, because the number of characters are limited. A typical JRPG has a lot of different characters with all kinds of interactions/links between them, which sound way harder to do 'ingame'.

One of my all time favorites games & JRPG (Legend of Kartia), had like 25% gameplay and 75& noninteractive dialogs. Which meant that all the various characters had character, including all the baddies (making them less bad).

Guess it comes back to the first point, different people playing for different reasons. A strong story (however it's told) motviates me to advance, makes the game more fun to play

 

[x434343]

Anyone else notice that the reviews seem to get caught up on one frame, the dialouge goes like 20 seconds ahead, and then the screens are rapidly skipped into the right place? It happens here.


Good review, like "2007 Yahtzee". I liked it.

 

[WolfMage]

Yay, the World's Strongest Poplar ((Spelling?)) Tree is back!
But great review Yahtzee, an Happy Birthday man.
Oh, and way to go with the GH 3 thing. I'm still trying to get past medium, but then again I only play with a 360 controller.

 

[GirlFlash]

*takes a guess*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAHTZE! <3

brilliant review, though I love story games, I hate when they put stats over the top. >.<

 

[YeOldeSchool]

Nice graphics in this one, Yathzee. I really liked the jumping around the brain of the character-part.

 

[mephidrossxx]

Nice review.Yahtzee should review more JRPGs is hilarious.I don`t think Nocturne is really that hard i was playing it the other day and is not really much harder than Digital Devil Saga.

 

[Bob_F_It]

Great review, and you are so right about the out-of-the-box protagonist! I read somewhere that in FFXII, Basch was meant to be the main character, but they changed it to Vaan just so that the demographic could relate more.

BTW, any chance of doing a podcast of Zero Punctuation? Or would that force us to miss the rest of the website too much?