My love for this game is like a monotonically increasing unbounded function
Yeah. Just guess which game this is about.
Also, about the title? Math jokes are totally fair game, no matter how crappy, or the fact that I had to steal it off the Internet for I fail at math.
ALSO A WARNING*
This game is, hands-down, the most innuendo-laden game I have ever played. Ever. I'm not kidding.
Bad math jokes also reign supreme.
The battle system takes some time getting used to; I played through the main game with my partner constantly on auto:fast, and only after I finished it and went about gathering all the secret reports did I grow more adept at using it. Adept in this case meaning: trying to gather fusion stars and constantly forgetting that Neku is on the bottom screen getting kicked around. I also finally have all the fusion levels for all my partners (uggggh farming for dark matter so I can has scarletite = not fun. Because it means constantly beating either Taboo Minamimoto on Hard with Beat, or Reaper Beat on Ultimate with Joshua).
Joshua is my favourite partner, and not just because he's so ~fabulous~
His system is simply the easiest to spam for fusion stars and that little sneer he gives sometimes at the beginning of a battle ("Have fun, Neku!") is amusing.
Beat's system, on the other hand, sucks ass. Lining up the cards is annoying, and those flames at the ends make it fucking annoying. To clarify; you have to line up cards of the same suit, then select skull cards to gather fusion stars. At the edges of the screen are two flames. If you take too long in selecting the next card the flames move closer, until they touch the cards. When that happens, all the cards you've gathered disappear and Beat takes damage. On the higher difficulty modes, the flames move more quickly. And whenever Beat gets interrupted his combo tree will disappear and you'll have to start again. Neither Shiki nor Joshua have anything like those flames.
I do like that each partner has a different style of fighting. Shiki has her ESP cards and you have to guess which symbol is where. She can jump, block and counterattack. Beat has his cards, has aerial combo's where he'll deal damage to every enemy on the attacked side of the screen (though the damage is lower), and can block as well. Joshua is generally hated at first, because he never learns how to block and, unlike the other two, doesn't deal damage to enemies with every step on his combo tree. On the other hand he can dodge attacks, switch them around from one side of the screen to the other and stun them.
And then he learns how to levitate, at which point you find out just what exactly those 'Jesus Beams' fandom has been raving over are. Because I am a retard and never paid attention to the top screen until they were screaming at me to heal them I only learned of Joshua's beam spam attacks when I'd finished the main game.
But generally it comes down to scratching frantically at your bottom screen while button-mashing and every so often glancing up to see if your partner is targeting the right side of the screen. And abusing your fusions.
The most tragic thing in this game is obviously that whatever you have equipped doesn't show up on screen. I mean, obviously it is difficult to decide how to wear a potted plant, but still. Even if it was only for those missions where the Reaper won't let you through until you're decked out entirely in one brand. One Wall Reaper demands that you put Neku in head-to-toes Mus Rattus, the most unpopular brand around. So I gave him a pink sweater, blue socks, flip-flops and a cap. According to the Reaper it was hilarious and it suited him. Much fun could also be had when a Reaper demands that Joshua dresses up in Natural Puppy (mostly cutesy girls' clothes, as if the name didn't give it away). So you put him in a dress, pumps and whatever else you fill your slots with. And then the Reaper will tell you that you can't pass anyway. Uh, what? (Apparently, Joshua looked great anyway. If you believe the Reaper. Yes, I'm serious. He sounded surprised as well)
I also adore every character in this retarded game. No seriously. Every character. Yes, even Higashizawa. Yes, Kitaniji as well. I am somewhat unsettled by Shiki (or actually Eri)'s creepily sharp hipbone, though. The tiny waists are all a bit freaky.
The clothing you can equip can be retarded. Like the aforementioned potted plant, which gives you an insane defence boost. Or Joshua's best accessory, that can best be described as an Infinity Plus One Feather.
Although I am sad that I cannot have him wearing both the feather and Kitaniji's headphones. Why? Because you just can't. Deal. Or so the game will tell you, anyway.
Let's see... Plot plot plot... I do like the story. It's of course very much about the wonders of Friendship Power and Trust and all that jazz, but it's a J-RPG, we wouldn't expect anything less. Neku's growth is very believably played out: he starts out as an antisocial little brat who doesn't want anything to do with this babbling girl who follows him around, but he learns how to trust her a bit. End week one.
About Shiki being Neku's entry fee for the second week; it's only logical, and for two reasons. First there is the fact that the Composer is absent and only the Composer can ressurrect people. Because Kitaniji, the Composer's second-in-command, was covering up that fact, he naturally couldn't let any Player come back to live. This would probably also be the reason for him electing Higashizawa for Game Master: Higashizawa always goes for a survival rate of zero. Taking Shiki as Neku's entry fee would mean that theoretically there would be no Players left to reincarnate. And secondly, Neku had lost his memory as his first entry fee. He got it back in the end, but during that week Shiki was the only person he knew. He'd forgotten everything else. So of course she would be important to him.
Second week gets him Joshua as partner. According to the secret reports, Joshua's high Frequency would give Neku lots of trouble, which is actually kind of neat, but Joshua being a major asshole would probably have a lot to do with it as well.
Anyway, Neku is now playing the game with the belief that if he fails, Shiki will be erased as well. Add to that Joshua, who behaves a lot like Neku did prior to Shiki ony times a thousand, and you have a recipe for conflict. Because Joshua thinks so much like Neku, Neku gets his own values pushed in his face for once. And I think this helped a lot for Neku's opening up more.
Week three starts with the knowledge that Joshua gave his life for Neku. Neku is now in his third week, both of his second chances having been bought with his partner's life (or so he thinks). Beat becomes his partner for that week, and they both know that this is their last chance, their last game. The repercussions of Minamimoto's crazy homicidal rule-breaking failure (Minamimoto was the second week's GM and more than a little insane) are still felt and they have to 1) beat Konishi, the GM, 2) take out the Composer, the one they feel is responsible for everything, and 3) save Rhyme, Beat's partner who got erased during the first week. All in seven days of which they don't know when they will end (as in: game days, not 24-hour days).
And then it all ends with a hefty dose of Nice Job Breaking It Hero.
Personally? I think it's great.
The ending didn't do that much for me the first time around, but yesterday I beat it again and now I did tear up a bit at the "...See you there?" And then you see the secret ending and know that, no, he didn't.
Moreover, what hit me hard as well was after the final boss fight, you get, as always, thrown to the screen you always get whenever you beat an enemy. Only this time there was no background music playing, you didn't get any EXP or PP. There was only Neku, saying against complete silence, "That's how it's done." And I know he often says that after battles, at least battles you finish with a high rank, but it was so striking because there was no background music. Only silence.
Trivia:
Give me all your love is a creepy song, especially considering it is one of the random battle themes. For extra gay factor, it also plays during Joshua's boss chain and, apparently, the Panthera Cantus fight, although I wouldn't know that given that I fought that battle yesterday (or more accurately, today) at one o'clock in the night, with the sound off. I also fought it cheaply, on Easy with my level cranked up to one hundred and the Eden set of pins. And with Joshua as my partner because I'd heard he could dodge the attacks the best, which was true. The way to that boss battle was harder than the battle itself (fuuuuck those fucking Pig noise), probably until I try it on a more difficult setting at which time rape will be imminent.
Lullaby for You is gorgeous and I have no idea why they took that song off the OST.
Best omake ever. It's like Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series, only with pins and canon. And gay. Lots and lots of gay. Dibs on the rainbow~
GAYEST GAME EVER Y/Y?
Also, about the title? Math jokes are totally fair game, no matter how crappy, or the fact that I had to steal it off the Internet for I fail at math.
ALSO A WARNING*
This game is, hands-down, the most innuendo-laden game I have ever played. Ever. I'm not kidding.
Bad math jokes also reign supreme.
The battle system takes some time getting used to; I played through the main game with my partner constantly on auto:fast, and only after I finished it and went about gathering all the secret reports did I grow more adept at using it. Adept in this case meaning: trying to gather fusion stars and constantly forgetting that Neku is on the bottom screen getting kicked around. I also finally have all the fusion levels for all my partners (uggggh farming for dark matter so I can has scarletite = not fun. Because it means constantly beating either Taboo Minamimoto on Hard with Beat, or Reaper Beat on Ultimate with Joshua).
Joshua is my favourite partner, and not just because he's so ~fabulous~
His system is simply the easiest to spam for fusion stars and that little sneer he gives sometimes at the beginning of a battle ("Have fun, Neku!") is amusing.
Beat's system, on the other hand, sucks ass. Lining up the cards is annoying, and those flames at the ends make it fucking annoying. To clarify; you have to line up cards of the same suit, then select skull cards to gather fusion stars. At the edges of the screen are two flames. If you take too long in selecting the next card the flames move closer, until they touch the cards. When that happens, all the cards you've gathered disappear and Beat takes damage. On the higher difficulty modes, the flames move more quickly. And whenever Beat gets interrupted his combo tree will disappear and you'll have to start again. Neither Shiki nor Joshua have anything like those flames.
I do like that each partner has a different style of fighting. Shiki has her ESP cards and you have to guess which symbol is where. She can jump, block and counterattack. Beat has his cards, has aerial combo's where he'll deal damage to every enemy on the attacked side of the screen (though the damage is lower), and can block as well. Joshua is generally hated at first, because he never learns how to block and, unlike the other two, doesn't deal damage to enemies with every step on his combo tree. On the other hand he can dodge attacks, switch them around from one side of the screen to the other and stun them.
And then he learns how to levitate, at which point you find out just what exactly those 'Jesus Beams' fandom has been raving over are. Because I am a retard and never paid attention to the top screen until they were screaming at me to heal them I only learned of Joshua's beam spam attacks when I'd finished the main game.
But generally it comes down to scratching frantically at your bottom screen while button-mashing and every so often glancing up to see if your partner is targeting the right side of the screen. And abusing your fusions.
The most tragic thing in this game is obviously that whatever you have equipped doesn't show up on screen. I mean, obviously it is difficult to decide how to wear a potted plant, but still. Even if it was only for those missions where the Reaper won't let you through until you're decked out entirely in one brand. One Wall Reaper demands that you put Neku in head-to-toes Mus Rattus, the most unpopular brand around. So I gave him a pink sweater, blue socks, flip-flops and a cap. According to the Reaper it was hilarious and it suited him. Much fun could also be had when a Reaper demands that Joshua dresses up in Natural Puppy (mostly cutesy girls' clothes, as if the name didn't give it away). So you put him in a dress, pumps and whatever else you fill your slots with. And then the Reaper will tell you that you can't pass anyway. Uh, what? (Apparently, Joshua looked great anyway. If you believe the Reaper. Yes, I'm serious. He sounded surprised as well)
I also adore every character in this retarded game. No seriously. Every character. Yes, even Higashizawa. Yes, Kitaniji as well. I am somewhat unsettled by Shiki (or actually Eri)'s creepily sharp hipbone, though. The tiny waists are all a bit freaky.
The clothing you can equip can be retarded. Like the aforementioned potted plant, which gives you an insane defence boost. Or Joshua's best accessory, that can best be described as an Infinity Plus One Feather.
Although I am sad that I cannot have him wearing both the feather and Kitaniji's headphones. Why? Because you just can't. Deal. Or so the game will tell you, anyway.
Let's see... Plot plot plot... I do like the story. It's of course very much about the wonders of Friendship Power and Trust and all that jazz, but it's a J-RPG, we wouldn't expect anything less. Neku's growth is very believably played out: he starts out as an antisocial little brat who doesn't want anything to do with this babbling girl who follows him around, but he learns how to trust her a bit. End week one.
About Shiki being Neku's entry fee for the second week; it's only logical, and for two reasons. First there is the fact that the Composer is absent and only the Composer can ressurrect people. Because Kitaniji, the Composer's second-in-command, was covering up that fact, he naturally couldn't let any Player come back to live. This would probably also be the reason for him electing Higashizawa for Game Master: Higashizawa always goes for a survival rate of zero. Taking Shiki as Neku's entry fee would mean that theoretically there would be no Players left to reincarnate. And secondly, Neku had lost his memory as his first entry fee. He got it back in the end, but during that week Shiki was the only person he knew. He'd forgotten everything else. So of course she would be important to him.
Second week gets him Joshua as partner. According to the secret reports, Joshua's high Frequency would give Neku lots of trouble, which is actually kind of neat, but Joshua being a major asshole would probably have a lot to do with it as well.
Anyway, Neku is now playing the game with the belief that if he fails, Shiki will be erased as well. Add to that Joshua, who behaves a lot like Neku did prior to Shiki ony times a thousand, and you have a recipe for conflict. Because Joshua thinks so much like Neku, Neku gets his own values pushed in his face for once. And I think this helped a lot for Neku's opening up more.
Week three starts with the knowledge that Joshua gave his life for Neku. Neku is now in his third week, both of his second chances having been bought with his partner's life (or so he thinks). Beat becomes his partner for that week, and they both know that this is their last chance, their last game. The repercussions of Minamimoto's crazy homicidal rule-breaking failure (Minamimoto was the second week's GM and more than a little insane) are still felt and they have to 1) beat Konishi, the GM, 2) take out the Composer, the one they feel is responsible for everything, and 3) save Rhyme, Beat's partner who got erased during the first week. All in seven days of which they don't know when they will end (as in: game days, not 24-hour days).
And then it all ends with a hefty dose of Nice Job Breaking It Hero.
Personally? I think it's great.
The ending didn't do that much for me the first time around, but yesterday I beat it again and now I did tear up a bit at the "...See you there?" And then you see the secret ending and know that, no, he didn't.
Moreover, what hit me hard as well was after the final boss fight, you get, as always, thrown to the screen you always get whenever you beat an enemy. Only this time there was no background music playing, you didn't get any EXP or PP. There was only Neku, saying against complete silence, "That's how it's done." And I know he often says that after battles, at least battles you finish with a high rank, but it was so striking because there was no background music. Only silence.
Trivia:
Give me all your love is a creepy song, especially considering it is one of the random battle themes. For extra gay factor, it also plays during Joshua's boss chain and, apparently, the Panthera Cantus fight, although I wouldn't know that given that I fought that battle yesterday (or more accurately, today) at one o'clock in the night, with the sound off. I also fought it cheaply, on Easy with my level cranked up to one hundred and the Eden set of pins. And with Joshua as my partner because I'd heard he could dodge the attacks the best, which was true. The way to that boss battle was harder than the battle itself (fuuuuck those fucking Pig noise), probably until I try it on a more difficult setting at which time rape will be imminent.
Lullaby for You is gorgeous and I have no idea why they took that song off the OST.
Best omake ever. It's like Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series, only with pins and canon. And gay. Lots and lots of gay. Dibs on the rainbow~
GAYEST GAME EVER Y/Y?