What is a sequel for?
Is it to continue with the adventures of the previous cast and see what they're up to? See how they've grown and how they face new adventures?
Or do we instead focus on exploring the world and the plot? Wrapping up old threads, making new ones.
Is it to continue the themes and ideals but put a new spin on it; Seeing the world through the lens of another?
The problem with NEO: The World Ends With You is... I don't know why it exists, and I don't think it does either.
The original DS version of The World Ends With You wraps itself up nicely, with room to think about it, but the journeys of the characters are pretty much complete.
Then the mobile version teased an extra piece of information.
Then the Switch version had an extra scenario which pretty much undoes the original ending (this is clearly meant to be important in a sequel).
Then they released an anime of the original game; intended to be the "definitive cut" this was touted to be the true predecessor to NEO: TWEWY.
So Square Enix basically created the need for a sequel out of nothing. Fair enough, they want to make money.
But the new scenario in the Switch version is pretty much hand-waved away with no explanation in NEO and the anime doesn't cover it at all. So there's this clearly important past event which did happen, and is central to the motivations of characters, but is just entirely dismissed by the game itself.
So if we see NEO as a sequel of plot: it doesn't make sense. They didn't keep the plot thread cohesive. Which, again, is fine. The original game was about the themes and character development, maybe this one is too...
NEO: TWEWY mostly follows a new cast of teens, but doesn't really give them room to do anything beyond their gimmicks. Interesting characters are killed off as soon as they threaten to become interesting, motivations change with the wind. Returning "legendary" characters just kind of show up to undo the events of a different mystery which is trying to change another thing which hasn't been explained yet. So you get this jenga tower of mysteries that totally undoes itself in a way that leaves you with a net-zero of satisfying mystery solutions... So what's the point in it?
The same goes for the "theme sequel". The original was about opening up to the world. This one is about... friends are good? Don't time travel? God could fix anything he wanted in to seconds but just fucking doesn't?
The game also has a literal Deus Ex Machina which has no impact before or after it beyond getting the plot out of a corner that they put themself into. So yeah, I think the theme is that God could fix all of this. Sometimes he fixes some of this, some times he shows up and says he would have fixed all of it but didn't.
In summary:
- It doesn't continue the exploration of the themes of the original or try to pave new grounds
- New characters are under baked, old characters are like ticking items off a to-do list
- The driving force of the game comes from an event that the game itself pretends didn't happen until it needs to and then forgets until it needs to not. It's impossible to get a read on it.
As a game NEO: TWEWY is a pretty fun action/rpg game with an unsatisfying plot that really settles me in the camp of "sometimes things don't need a sequel".
Assorted musings:
It feels like the end of a trilogy, but the second game just never existed and they're pretending that it does and we all played it.
Character motivations and mysteries are constantly teased, and then are basically settled & solved back to back to back in the last portion of the game making them all pretty unsatisfying.
There's a lot of characters you're meant to feel bad for, but they're barely on screen and then you're meant to feel sad for them, and then they're gone. Rinse and repeat.
The character that was originally teased in the mobile port of the original has essentially no impact and I don't get what her deal is.
They bring back an original character in a sort of "I know what's going on, but I'll be mysterious about it" role, but then just fucking forget to do anything with him until the end. A hundred different plot points that would make sense for them to be involved in are shoved inexplicably onto someone else.
So many of the days are incredibly padded out by sending you all around the city or doing a bunch of extra fights. I was willing it to end by the time I hit the final act.
As soon as you get the final 300% team attack, there's no reason to do anything else. Ignore all pins that don't massively boost your groove,
Not being able to skip stuff you've already seen is a crime.
Is it to continue with the adventures of the previous cast and see what they're up to? See how they've grown and how they face new adventures?
Or do we instead focus on exploring the world and the plot? Wrapping up old threads, making new ones.
Is it to continue the themes and ideals but put a new spin on it; Seeing the world through the lens of another?
The problem with NEO: The World Ends With You is... I don't know why it exists, and I don't think it does either.
The original DS version of The World Ends With You wraps itself up nicely, with room to think about it, but the journeys of the characters are pretty much complete.
Then the mobile version teased an extra piece of information.
Then the Switch version had an extra scenario which pretty much undoes the original ending (this is clearly meant to be important in a sequel).
Then they released an anime of the original game; intended to be the "definitive cut" this was touted to be the true predecessor to NEO: TWEWY.
So Square Enix basically created the need for a sequel out of nothing. Fair enough, they want to make money.
But the new scenario in the Switch version is pretty much hand-waved away with no explanation in NEO and the anime doesn't cover it at all. So there's this clearly important past event which did happen, and is central to the motivations of characters, but is just entirely dismissed by the game itself.
So if we see NEO as a sequel of plot: it doesn't make sense. They didn't keep the plot thread cohesive. Which, again, is fine. The original game was about the themes and character development, maybe this one is too...
NEO: TWEWY mostly follows a new cast of teens, but doesn't really give them room to do anything beyond their gimmicks. Interesting characters are killed off as soon as they threaten to become interesting, motivations change with the wind. Returning "legendary" characters just kind of show up to undo the events of a different mystery which is trying to change another thing which hasn't been explained yet. So you get this jenga tower of mysteries that totally undoes itself in a way that leaves you with a net-zero of satisfying mystery solutions... So what's the point in it?
The same goes for the "theme sequel". The original was about opening up to the world. This one is about... friends are good? Don't time travel? God could fix anything he wanted in to seconds but just fucking doesn't?
The game also has a literal Deus Ex Machina which has no impact before or after it beyond getting the plot out of a corner that they put themself into. So yeah, I think the theme is that God could fix all of this. Sometimes he fixes some of this, some times he shows up and says he would have fixed all of it but didn't.
In summary:
- It doesn't continue the exploration of the themes of the original or try to pave new grounds
- New characters are under baked, old characters are like ticking items off a to-do list
- The driving force of the game comes from an event that the game itself pretends didn't happen until it needs to and then forgets until it needs to not. It's impossible to get a read on it.
As a game NEO: TWEWY is a pretty fun action/rpg game with an unsatisfying plot that really settles me in the camp of "sometimes things don't need a sequel".
Assorted musings:
It feels like the end of a trilogy, but the second game just never existed and they're pretending that it does and we all played it.
Character motivations and mysteries are constantly teased, and then are basically settled & solved back to back to back in the last portion of the game making them all pretty unsatisfying.
There's a lot of characters you're meant to feel bad for, but they're barely on screen and then you're meant to feel sad for them, and then they're gone. Rinse and repeat.
The character that was originally teased in the mobile port of the original has essentially no impact and I don't get what her deal is.
They bring back an original character in a sort of "I know what's going on, but I'll be mysterious about it" role, but then just fucking forget to do anything with him until the end. A hundred different plot points that would make sense for them to be involved in are shoved inexplicably onto someone else.
So many of the days are incredibly padded out by sending you all around the city or doing a bunch of extra fights. I was willing it to end by the time I hit the final act.
As soon as you get the final 300% team attack, there's no reason to do anything else. Ignore all pins that don't massively boost your groove,
Not being able to skip stuff you've already seen is a crime.