Noise, games, and fashion

I've been playing long enough to beat the game (unfortunately and actual time count is unavailable), and I stand by my my statement that The World Ends With You is one of me favorite DS titles.

The World Ends With You, also known as It's a Wonderful World in Japan, is a DS RPG made by Square-Enix, creators of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. I found this game purely by accident while working on an assignment for a class a couple years ago. For some reason or another, I was looking at games online and saw The World Ends With You posted on a store listing, looked up some stuff about it, liked it, and sometime after that picked it up at Gamestop. It's brilliant. I love the plot, I love the characters, I love the music...

...and I fail at the gameplay.

However, we'll touch on my ineptness in a bit. The plot rundown comes first. Neku Sakuraba is anti-social, quick-tempered, lone wolf teenager who always has a pair of headphones over his ears in order to block out everyone around him. Neku himself states at the game's beginning, "I don't get people. Never have, never will." He's basically alone, and it doesn't seem like he intends to change that. One day, Neku wakes up in the center of the scramble crossing in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Despite being a Tokyo resident himself, waking up in the midst of a crowded shopping district would surprise anyone. Even better, Neku's got a case of amnesia. It's not a total mind wipe or anything. The bitter teen has retained his "do it on my own" personality, and he knows who he is, but memories about his past are non-existent.

Before he can get his mind straight, some freakish frog creatures start chasing him. Naturally, he runs and is hopelessly confused when none of the countless people around him even attempt to offer assistance. Just as his situation looks dire, a girl darts up to him and forces him to make a pact with her, after which the two of them promptly kick the enemies' tails. The girl is named Shiki (not-so affectionately called Stalker by Neku) and proceeds to explain to Neku that they both are taking part in something called the Reaper's Game, and they have to survive for one week. They've gotta stick together in order to keep from getting erased by the monsters they were just attacked by called Noise. Each day the pair will be given a mission to complete in a set time, and if it's not complete they "face erasure."

Neku was not pleased.

The plot then continues to unravel in a series of surprising twists, dramatic events, and plenty of funny banter between characters. Now onto the gameplay. Different DS games use the system's dual screens in different ways. TWEWY uses both screens in battle at the same time. The bottom screen in where you control Neku. You move him by dragging the stylus around the screen, and you attack using psychs, which for Neku are small pins in the Reaper's Game that each have different abilities that Neku seems to be quite adept at. Psychs have various ways to use the ability, and you can choose which psychs you want to use. Sometimes you dash the stylus across the screen, sometimes you may just tap the screen somewhere, and sometimes you might need to shout into the microphone (blowing into it works just as well). Here's a video of Neku's screen.

The top screen holds Neku's partner Shiki. If you so choose, Shiki can be controlled by the CPU. Otherwise, you can take over yourself. I really don't understand much of controlling Shiki, but by using the control pad you navigate through a short path of arrows to pick a symbol card. If you pick the right cards (which I'm totally not sure about) you can add to a fusion gauge thingy that can eventually allow Shiki and Neku to perform a dual attack. I normally just jam the control pad either right or left just to get Shiki to move and attack faster, but if I get tired of doing that I can stop and the CPU will pick up the her controls in a few seconds. See Shiki's portion of battle here.

If my lame explanation of Shiki's gameplay didn't already justify my claim of battle ineptness, I'll explain a little more. I'm can't adequately focus on both screens at the same time. If I'm focusing on playing as Neku normally I'll only jam the control pad either left or right, as stated earlier. If I'm focusing on the top screen, the most I'll do with Neku is just dash him around the bottom screen so he won't get the snap beaten out of him. The CPU can control Shiki, but Neku's movements are all up to the player. Even if you can only fight efficiently with one screen you still need to watch out. The health bar is shared by both characters, so they both to be decently able to... not get killed. Both screens together look like this (the black cat in the video is Mr. Mew, the stuffed cat Shiki carries as well as her weapon. Neku swears it looks like a pig.)

Next week I'll touch on some more of TWEWY various aspects, including fashion. Yup, fashion. Happy gaming folks.

Next week on I've Been Playing for 40 Hours: TWEWY Part 2

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Court Day 2 (a.k.a The Edgeworth Rant)

WARNING! This post is mainly about one character.

I've been playing for the same amount of time as last week, because I've been busy and some new games have come out.

Before I get started, I'd just like to say that Nintendo's ploy to make Pokemon fans get up and walk has worked. I've had my Pokewalker on all day, and, after returning to the Wal-Mart clinic after a short walk around some of the store, I considered making another round so I could earn a level up for my Sentret as well as get some more shots at catching pokemon. Thank you Nintendo. You guys are awesome (seriously). /rant

I haven't touched an Ace Attorney game at all this past week (well, I touched the case and the game cartridge for Investigations as I switched it out for Pokemon), but I have some semi-decent reasons for it. First of all, I go to school. School gives homework, and although this work saddens me I must do it for the sake of my grades. Second of all, this week marked the release of a game I've been wanting for a year, as well as the release of the newest Pokemon remakes. So, my attention was diverted from good ol' Nick. Still, I can continue the discussion on Ace Attorney as promised.

However, I'm not entirely sure what I intended to start this post with, so I'm going to talk about Edgeworth.

This is Edgeworth. Edgeworth does not wear pink (it's more of a maroon/magenta). Edgeworth is a 24-year old, hard as stone, cold as snow, absolutely perfect prosecutor. Edgeworth will do whatever it takes to get a guilty verdict (as he himself explains).

Edgeworth is my favorite Ace Attorney character.

During your second case of the game, Nick is told that the case's prosecutor is Miles Edgeworth, so he should probably just go ahead and give up because Mr. Edgeworth has never lost a case, pal. Nick doesn't give up of course, and heads into court the next day to face the perfect prosecutor. I see Edgeworth and I want to let out a very fangirly "EDGEWORTH!" squeal. I've done it before, and I'll probably do it again. If you're not already a rabid fangirl, which most of you probably aren't, you might want to grab Edgeworth by the shoulders and shake him in frustration.

Caution: I'm about to mention the evidence used to slam a contradiction in case 2. I'm not telling you what the contradiction is or where it's at, but you've been warned.

You've discovered that the witness's testimony contradicts the victim's autopsy report, you're feeling confident about said discovery, and you call out your objection with pride. It's all going great, at least, it is until Edgeworth calmly informs you that your autopsy report is outdated, because he ordered a new autopsy to be performed. The new report supports the witness's testimony, and your contradiction no longer stands. Edgeworth does this a lot when you first face him, and while it's annoying, it makes even the smallest victory over him that much better. He stuttered once in court, and I felt victorious. Imagine how great it feels to watch his cool composure break as you slowly take victory. It gets the blood pumping! Take that Edgeworth (you're still awesome by the way)!

While Edgeworth is frustrating, Manfred von Karma is downright terrible. Guess what? He's Edgey's mentor (that nickname for Edgeworth is in the game, and is thus available for use, okay?)! Everything you say is interrupted by Von Karma's deep throated, frightening objection, and the man is so commanding and cruel that he basically controls the judge, and therefore controls the court. Von Karma's 40 year record holds not a single loss, and it probably has something to do with the fact that compassion is practically foreign to him.

Remember the prosecutor with the whip that I mentioned last post? That's his daughter.

Although the ending point is terrible, I'm stopping here. If you've read through all the entire post then congratulations! You've survived a lengthy character rant! If you've skimmed through/skipped parts of the post then... congratulations as well! If you skipped everything except this last part then that's okay. See you next week, and happy gaming!

Next week on I've Been Playing for 40 Hours: Ummm... It's a surprise!

Because I haven't really picked next week's topic yet...

"I... object to the witness's talkativeness!"

I spent about four hours on Case Three, but other than that I don't know how long I've been playing.

I don't really know the fine details of the American court system, because, well, it seems really dull. I know some of the basics though. You get a lawyer, there's a jury, witnesses swear to tell the truth, and you're innocent until proven guilty. Doesn't seem to exciting, so why the heck would I play game all about court? First of all, the Ace Attorney series is not an emulation on the American court system. I'm not sure it's an emulation of any court system actually. Second, the combination of humor, drama, and suspense is for some reason very exciting. Finally, there's something immensely satisfying in watching the "perfect" prosecutor break his stoic "anything you can do I can most certainly do better" persona because you just blew his witness's testimony the pieces.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney places you in the shoes of Phoenix Wright, who is actually a newbie defense attorney. Phoenix, or Nick as his friends call him, is under the tutelage of the talented Mia Fey. The game's first case is Nick's first trial, and, luckily for him, it's a murder trial. Now, looking at it from Nick's perspective it's probably a really crappy situation, because a) his best friend has been charged with murder, and b) he knows said friend is innocent but has no idea who is the actual murderer. The point of each case is to prove your client innocent, and in the process catch the actual bad guy.

Now, in real life it's not really the defense's job to catch the bad guy if I'm not mistaken (which I could be), but in Phoenix Wright things are way different. As stated by my brother, in Phoenix Wright you're guilty until proven innocent, and you're not innocent until the bad guy's captured. Seriously. Basically, the entire world is against the defense and everything they hope to accomplish. The prosecution on the other hand receives much love as demonstrated by the fact that they're in cahoots with the police department. In every case the prosecution's opening statement essentially says, "The defendant is guilty because I have a witness/piece of evidence that irrefutably says so." By the time the words leave the prosecutor's mouth, the judge is ready to deliver a guilty verdict (there's no jury in Ace Attorney). Favoritism to the prosecution aside, the defense also has witnesses who refuse to the tell the truth for whatever reason they find acceptable.

Ace Attorney games are text based. Epic hand to hand fight sequences between Nick and the various prosecutors don't really exist, although Nick does get hit with a taser once and in the second game is openly whipped in court by a prosecutor (no, she doesn't get in trouble for it). The first two cases of the game show a brief little scene blatantly showing you who killed who, just so you can get your feet wet and know exactly who you're shooting for. Typically, cases start with an investigation phase where you amble around picking up whatever clues you can to help your seemingly hopeless situation in court. Investigation leads to a day in court, where you either actually make progress or stall long enough to extend the case to another day in court. If needed, you then do some more investigating and then head to court again. Due to the game's plot cases can only last three day, but as long as you don't get a game over you'll accomplish everything you to do in court sessions.

Nick's quite a funny guy. When he really has no direction in court, he makes something up. In fact, he actually tries to make a witness who he knows is innocent seem like the murderer in order to buy an extra day in court. Seem mean? Don't worry. She was released soon after and Nick slammed the real murderer in the end. Many times, dramatic court sessions become quite humorous when you see what Nick's inner thoughts are, and his general personality lends itself to humor. Despite having only a few cases under his belt, Nick has proved himself to be a twenty-four year old defense attorney prodigy which the grand ability to turn crappy court situations into great ones, thus the fact that the game's Japanese title translates to "turnabout trial" or "turnabout court."


That's Nick's "objection" pose.

Seeing as this has gone on long enough, I'll continue next week. So, until next time!

Next week on I've Been Playing for 40 Hours: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (Court Day 2)

Mega Man ZX Part Two

The time I've been playing hasn't changed from last week, so... yeah.

It always seems that by the time update day comes around I've moved on to a different game. Today I played Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney for about four hours, because I wanted to beat case three and head off to case four which is amazing in many different aspects (and also involves a prosecutor with the scariest "Objection!" ever). Last night I played Tales of Vesperia, some Phoenix Wright, and some Mega Man X4, but I didn't play Mega Man ZX. Oh well, I can still talk about it.

Last week I ended my post with a basic plot description. I'm not really sure what I intended to write after that so I'm just going to wing it for a bit.

If you like 2D side-scrolling platformers then you're in luck, because that's Mega Man ZX is. Oh yeah, then there's the whole "take down the bad guys" part that requires you to use the weapons you receive as you play the game and find biometals along the way. One of these weapons includes rapid fire ninja stars. :D The game runs on a mission system. You go to something called a trans-server, pick a mission, and head to the specified area and complete said mission. After the mission's done you return to the server and send in a mission report. You'll want to get the last part done decently quick, depending on your amount of patience. If you have a very low tolerance for blinking symbols accompanied by a noise that sounds in sync with it, then you'll want to send in you mission report very, very quickly, lest you be plagued by the constant reminder that your mission report must be filed.

I'm fine with missions. Missions give me the chance to choose what I want to do, and when I want to do it. My biggest personal problem is that I have trouble finding where my missions are. The world is divided into areas that are classified by letter, and then the various sections inside an area receive a number for identification. You might want through a door that says A-1. That just means you're in the first part of Area A. While, I completely understand that I still fail to find areas with a relative amount if ease. When you read a mission's info it might tell you to go to Area F. The information fails to tell you where Area F is. The result? One terribly lost Elizabeth.

Aside from the different Maverick filled areas, ZX has a peaceful little city where various civilians can be found. I like that little city, mainly because the background music that plays in it is really neat and catchy. When you first waltz into the city in full battle gear one of your new allies drop a friendly tip that using a biometal isn't the best idea. Dressing like a ready-for-battle combatant freaks out the citizens, and it also makes you the little security robots (or whatever their classification is) number one target. The latter really isn't that big a deal. Some of robo-guards are slower than Christmas, and most of the them are easily destroyed. In fact, they're so simple to be rid of that I take slight joy in running across town flaunting my battle-ready character.

As for freaking out the civilians, that's really no big deal. I actually find it rather funny. Without the biometal, fellow citizens simply view you as an average transporter, and they show very little hesitation in chatting about whatever they feel like with you. One little boy recommends that your character should take a trip to the local arcade, because you're obviously a harmless stranger. Activate a biometal however, and that same little boy will inform you that his teacher told him not to talk to strangers.

Seriously, I like that little city.

I also like the characters in MMZX. Giro is a character that is intentionally similar to Zero from the Mega Man X and Mega Man Zero series (his consciousness also resides in Biometal Z). Now, Zero is on of my favorite Mega Man characters ever, so Giro is automatically promoted to a high spot on the "Favorite Mega Man ZX Characters" list. For some reason, I also really like the villain Prometheus even those he seems kinda sorta crazy... If memory serves (which it might not), you don't get much back story on the ZX cast. Vent/Aile lost his or her mother during a maverick raid some time prior to the game's start. Prairie, the Commander of the Guardians, has quite a few background points that heavily allude to the presumption that she was a minor character found in the Mega Man Zero series. Still, there's not much back story going on. Doesn't make the characters bad though.

Feel free to look into this game if you want. I like it and you may too. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a case to solve and a man to prove innocent! Gosh, I love Phoenix Wright...

Next week on I've Been Playing for 40 Hours: Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney