The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

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CheeryMoya
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The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#1 Post by CheeryMoya »

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After waiting for 5 years, The World Ends With You fans were given a teaser site (linked above) with a week-long countdown starting on August 20, 2012. Each day the website would play a medley of songs from the original game, and every day that passed more instruments and vocals would be added. The first day it was this, the second day this, third, fourth, fifth, sixth... last day! You could only imagine what excitement it stirred only to reveal an iOS port of the original game.

Everyone was outraged, naturally, and SE went underfire. A whole website for an iOS port? I have to say that it was over-the-top too, but Solo Remix is drop-dead gorgeous (forgive the pun). So everyone settled down. Until another announcement, one day after Solo Remix was released, was made.
The World Ends With You saw release on iOS platforms this week, but there are “various other things” in the works, according to director Tatsuya Kando.

“To everyone who has been waiting for new developments on The World Ends With You, thank you,” Kando told Famitsu this week. “Solo Remix is a port of the original work, but it’s turned out to be a quality game that feels complete. According to the buzz on Twitter from those playing it, the world feels quite spacious. Various other things are being prepared, so please enjoy Solo Remix until then.”

Kando touched a bit more upon the iOS port. At first, he thought porting the game to the Apple platform was a bad idea.

“I thought it’d be in vain to do on iOS. Since it was a strain to play the game on one screen, it might not be easy for players of the original to get used to. After five years, you could say that the contents of this one is a ‘complete version’, so by all means please download it.”

The World Ends With You: Solo Remix is available now for iPhone and iPad.
So everyone's excited again and certain that Square-Enix won't pull another one. Will it be a sequel or a prequel? No one knows yet.
~~~
Now that the basic info you need to know about the past few updates is out of the way, let's talk about TWEWY since the story has so many layers and hidden meanings to explore. Spoilers abound! You probably shouldn't be here if you haven't beaten the game, and it'd get annoying to cover up every single post with the spoiler tags.

I'm going to link tumblr user reapershadcat's essays since they're very interesting interpretations of the game, and well written at that. I doubt you'll find anyone who's more obsessed with TWEWY than Shad :P

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#2 Post by Victoria Jennings »

Tempted to read those articles, but... hm.

This might be an odd question to ask of you all, but what do you guys think makes TWEWY so compelling? 0:

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#3 Post by CheeryMoya »

Victoria Jennings wrote:This might be an odd question to ask of you all, but what do you guys think makes TWEWY so compelling? 0:
How it all comes together.
Just like it says in one of the Secret Report files, all the elements were necessary for the ending to happen, and nothing was gratuitous or out of place. The characters are all so well-developed and complex: Neku is the prime example of a protagonist who develops as you follow his story, Shiki is not just a bubbly fashionista, Beat is more intelligent than he initially lets on, Joshua is just a plain manipulative little bastard genius. The story made you laugh, cry, think, get confused, scream with rage. 5 years ago I played that game nearly every day, honing my skills, collecting pins, fighting Noise. The gameplay is awesome, as is the OST. The atmosphere, the people, the dialogue: all of it is just great. I can't describe it any other way.
Mink wrote:Also...why the hell is Josh called Josh? I mean, when he introduces hisself, he goes, "I'm Yoshiya Kiryu. But my parents call me Joshua."
Each of the characters' names are meaningful, as you can expect.
Joshua is a Biblical masculine given name derived from the Hebrew Yehoshua , which has a meaning similar to אלוהים הוא הישועה Alohim hoa Hishoah meaning "God rescues" or "God is salvation". ...
Yehoshua, Yoshiya, Joshua. Seeing something? Joshua is the Composer of Shibuya, and might as well be a god figure. He was going to destroy the place you know! But it's because of his mercy and kindness when he saw that Neku changed that he thought Shibuya could change as well.
On that note, does he even HAVE parents? And did he lie about his name? Is he even a teenager, seeing as what you could see of him in the extra/epilogue/whatever he looked slightly older?
We can assume that he was a normal human being once upon a time, though we aren't sure how old he was when he entered the game. Details about his life when he was still alive are sketchy or nonexistant, though the reason Joshua appears older at the end is because when he tuned down his vibes (I can't recall at the moment, but something like his power) his appearance became that of a 15 year old. This worked to his advantage so Joshua could partner up with Neku without much suspicion. This is also how the Reapers didn't recognize him (if they ever saw him before) during Week 2.

Fun fact: the Joshua in my game is named after Yoshiya :3 My Josh's personality was inspired by him too, so you can guess what's going to happen if you go on his route :P

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#4 Post by Victoria Jennings »

CheeryMoya wrote:Just like it says in one of the Secret Report files, all the elements were necessary for the ending to happen, and nothing was gratuitous or out of place. The characters are all so well-developed and complex: Neku is the prime example of a protagonist who develops as you follow his story, Shiki is not just a bubbly fashionista, Beat is more intelligent than he initially lets on, Joshua is just a plain manipulative little bastard genius. The story made you laugh, cry, think, get confused, scream with rage. 5 years ago I played that game nearly every day, honing my skills, collecting pins, fighting Noise. The gameplay is awesome, as is the OST. The atmosphere, the people, the dialogue: all of it is just great. I can't describe it any other way.
Well said.
CheeryMoya wrote:Fun fact: the Joshua in my game is named after Yoshiya :3 My Josh's personality was inspired by him too, so you can guess what's going to happen if you go on his route :P
Funnily enough, I immediately thought of TWEWY Joshua when I was looking at the characters for TWCC. Of course, I always think about TWEWY Joshua when I see that name anywhere, hehe.

Though, the part about him being a womanizer tripped me up. Definitely not a trait those two share. x'DD
CheeryMoya wrote:But it's because of his mercy and kindness when he saw that Neku changed that he thought Shibuya could change as well.
I have been mulling over this for some time. From the way Hanekoma and Megumi talk about Joshua, he sounds incredibly benevolent, kind, caring, and generous... which is pretty much the exact opposite of how the Joshua everybody knows (and loves/hates, depending on how hilarious you find his interactions with Neku to be) acts. Joshua is, to be frank, an arrogant douchebag that enjoys messing around with others for his own entertainment. If you look at the bigger picture, you can kinda see how he's, um... helpful? Except not really. He's kind of an ass.

Which brings me to this far-fetched theory I came up with based off of what Mr. H wrote in one of the reports. He said that lower-vibe Joshua's presence puts a strain on everybody around him, particularly Neku since they spend so much time together. Obviously, Neku pretty much hates Joshua for the entirety of the week. But c'mon, even if Joshua's background was different, I can't really see Neku being any less pissy at him for his behavior.

Maybe the reason he acts like such a snot is simply because Neku (and I suppose everyone else around him) perceives him that way? Would explain the dissonance between the Composer that Megumi practically worships and Neku's partner. Maybe the strain put on Neku manifests itself in Joshua's attitude. U:

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#5 Post by CheeryMoya »

Victoria Jennings wrote:
CheeryMoya wrote:Fun fact: the Joshua in my game is named after Yoshiya :3 My Josh's personality was inspired by him too, so you can guess what's going to happen if you go on his route :P
Funnily enough, I immediately thought of TWEWY Joshua when I was looking at the characters for TWCC. Of course, I always think about TWEWY Joshua when I see that name anywhere, hehe.

Though, the part about him being a womanizer tripped me up. Definitely not a trait those two share. x'DD
What are you talking about, TWEWY!Joshua is totally a womanizer too. When he sees a hole, he knows how to fill it ;)
Victoria Jennings wrote:Which brings me to this far-fetched theory I came up with based off of what Mr. H wrote in one of the reports. He said that lower-vibe Joshua's presence puts a strain on everybody around him, particularly Neku since they spend so much time together. Obviously, Neku pretty much hates Joshua for the entirety of the week. But c'mon, even if Joshua's background was different, I can't really see Neku being any less pissy at him for his behavior.

Maybe the reason he acts like such a snot is simply because Neku (and I suppose everyone else around him) perceives him that way? Would explain the dissonance between the Composer that Megumi practically worships and Neku's partner. Maybe the strain put on Neku manifests itself in Joshua's attitude. U:
One of the other theories is that Joshua had to be the Neku his proxy was last week. In other words, Joshua was to Neku as Neku was to Shiki. Week 1!Neku was really emo, prissy, mean, negative, etc. Joshua thus has to be an obnoxious smartass to show Neku how insufferable he was being last week. It's all up to how you want to see the game, of course.

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#6 Post by Victoria Jennings »

CheeryMoya wrote:What are you talking about, TWEWY!Joshua is totally a womanizer too. When he sees a hole, he knows how to fill it ;)
I don't know, I think I'd peg him as more of a man-eater, based on the way he treats Neku. U:
CheeryMoya wrote:One of the other theories is that Joshua had to be the Neku his proxy was last week. In other words, Joshua was to Neku as Neku was to Shiki. Week 1!Neku was really emo, prissy, mean, negative, etc. Joshua thus has to be an obnoxious smartass to show Neku how insufferable he was being last week. It's all up to how you want to see the game, of course.
Hm. Never thought of it that way... no matter what, though, I'd be a little bummed if that wasn't Joshua's natural personality, just because most anything he says sends me into uncontrollable fits of giggling no matter how many times I read it. x'D

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#7 Post by Arelune »

CheeryMoya wrote:What are you talking about, TWEWY!Joshua is totally a womanizer Nekunizer too. When he sees a hole, he knows how to fill it ;)
Fixed. :) And...
One of the other theories is that Joshua had to be the Neku his proxy was last week. In other words, Joshua was to Neku as Neku was to Shiki. Week 1!Neku was really emo, prissy, mean, negative, etc. Joshua thus has to be an obnoxious smartass to show Neku how insufferable he was being last week.
Never thought of it that way either. It is a nice theory, but I always just thought he just liked teasing/annoying Neku. Been a while since I played the game.

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#8 Post by Mink »

I always thought Neku deserved how Josh treated him, but then we know how I feel about Neku. 8D

And yes, I know he changes, but by that point I just didn't care. I remember playing and thinking, "Man, what's going on with Beat and Rhyme? I SURE WISH I COULD SEE WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THEM INSTEAD OF THIS ASS." Or, "WHY CAN'T I GO SEE WHAT'S UP WITH SOTA AND NAO NAO? WHY DO I HAVE TO STICK WITH NEKU?"

Like, seriously. I was really broken up about Sota and Nao, and you barely even know them. But nooo. I have to stay with ~Neku~
CheeryMoya wrote:
Mink wrote:Also...why the hell is Josh called Josh? I mean, when he introduces hisself, he goes, "I'm Yoshiya Kiryu. But my parents call me Joshua."
Each of the characters' names are meaningful, as you can expect.
Joshua is a Biblical masculine given name derived from the Hebrew Yehoshua , which has a meaning similar to אלוהים הוא הישועה Alohim hoa Hishoah meaning "God rescues" or "God is salvation". ...
Yehoshua, Yoshiya, Joshua. Seeing something? Joshua is the Composer of Shibuya, and might as well be a god figure. He was going to destroy the place you know! But it's because of his mercy and kindness when he saw that Neku changed that he thought Shibuya could change as well.
On that note, does he even HAVE parents? And did he lie about his name? Is he even a teenager, seeing as what you could see of him in the extra/epilogue/whatever he looked slightly older?
We can assume that he was a normal human being once upon a time, though we aren't sure how old he was when he entered the game. Details about his life when he was still alive are sketchy or nonexistant, though the reason Joshua appears older at the end is because when he tuned down his vibes (I can't recall at the moment, but something like his power) his appearance became that of a 15 year old. This worked to his advantage so Joshua could partner up with Neku without much suspicion. This is also how the Reapers didn't recognize him (if they ever saw him before) during Week 2.

Fun fact: the Joshua in my game is named after Yoshiya :3 My Josh's personality was inspired by him too, so you can guess what's going to happen if you go on his route :P
No, see, I figured that was why from a symbolic stand point. What I don't see the logic of, "My name's Yoshiya, but my parents call me by the English name Josh, for some reason." That's what makes me go, "WTF?" If he'd just said, "My name's Josh" I'd been like, whatever.

And personally, I prefer to think that Josh was never a teenager (because no offense, I'm just not overly fond of children/teens, even when I was one <_<), and he's actually someone from an alternate plane of existence who just changed his appearance at will. >_>

Although, this makes me wonder if Mr. Hanekoma was ever human. Which...wouldn't make sense from a Biblical stand-point, because angels were never even remotely human*. But we know how people are with Biblical accuracy and context and just making crap up, so...

*Angels only took human forms to not freak people out. I mean, one (Metatron?) is described as having the head of a bird

Edit: I also still maintain that Reapers were all psychopaths in life.
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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#9 Post by CheeryMoya »

Sota and Nao Nao were really cool I agree, but you had to stick with Emo McAngst because he was the Composer's proxy.
Mink wrote:No, see, I figured that was why from a symbolic stand point. What I don't see the logic of, "My name's Yoshiya, but my parents call me by the English name Josh, for some reason." That's what makes me go, "WTF?" If he'd just said, "My name's Josh" I'd been like, whatever.
Sometimes parents give their kids and name but refer to them by a nickname, unless there's a situation that calls for the real name. It does happen :/
Edit: I also still maintain that Reapers were all psychopaths in life.
So you're saying that Beat was a psychopath? Players can become Reapers, and Reapers can become Angels. It's all about climbing up the ladder, and since dead people become the Players, we can assume that both Mr. H and Josh were human however long ago they died. Whether they came from that alternate reality is up for interpretation since they are able to travel from plane to plane.

Also, breaking news!!!!!
Image
Click for a larger image!!!!! Yes, yes, yes it's real! This image appears as a bonus at the end of Solo Remix, hinting at a new protagonist. Don't believe me?????
I'm so freaking excited ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
/rolls off for MORE PARTYING

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#10 Post by Mink »

Fair point about everything else, but Beat never actually erased anyone; I remember him getting lectured about it. He was also doing it to try to help Rhyme, not for his own self-advancement. You have Psychotic Reaper Girl who was gleefully erasing people/siccing noise on people/pretty sure at one point was contemplating murdering people who were still alive/etc., and Lazy Reaper Dude, who's seems merely bored by the whole thing, never mind the bosses you fight, who have their own level of WTF is Wrong with You.

Or maybe they're like Sachiko in Corpse Party
who became so used to killing, she went insane and started to enjoy it.
Maybe it's something similar to that. Or maybe we should just agree to disagree about this. I dunno.

And if the possible new thing is still for iphone, I still don't care because...I don't have an iphone, so I don't see the point in getting excited.

(Not that you or anyone else can't be, of course, but that's just how I feel about it)
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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#11 Post by teacup »

CheeryMoya wrote:
Image
Click for a larger image!!!!! Yes, yes, yes it's real! This image appears as a bonus at the end of Solo Remix, hinting at a new protagonist.
That's Shiki's cat, isn't it? Why would the potentially new protagonist have that? :0
Image

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#12 Post by CheeryMoya »

teacup wrote:That's Shiki's cat, isn't it? Why would the potentially new protagonist have that? :0
YEH THAT'S MR. MEW

Everyone's tossing theories around. The new girl has a Mr. Mew (if not the Mr. Mew), so she has to be connected to Shiki somehow. Maybe this is Shiki, maybe she started manufacturing Mr. Mew dolls, maybe this is her kid. The new protag also has Joshua's hair color, so this might be his kid too??? Maybe he and Shiki ??????

IDK man I'm so excited I can't type properly right now hhhhhhhhhh

And don't be a party-pooper Mink you gotta enjoy the moment!!!!!!! :V:V:V

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#13 Post by Mink »

SQUEENIX HAS BARELY DONE ANYTHING TO WARRANT ME GETTING EXCITED ABOUT POSSIBLE SEQUELS. AND IF I DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING GOOD TO HAPPEN, I CAN'T BE DISAPPOINTED WHEN IT DOESN'T. /caps rage

And oh god, not a "KIDS OF THE FORMER PROTAGONISTS" plot, ANYthing but that, because I have an unbelievable hatred for those. I swear to all that is holy, if that's what this is, I'm not touching it with a thirty-foot-pole.

THANKS, MOYA. I'm no longer apathetic towards it, I'm now dreading it. >8T
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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#14 Post by CheeryMoya »

NUH-UH MAN I WAS JUST SAYING WHAT OTHER PEOPLE WERE SAYING YO

I'm secreting rooting for an unrelated protag in the Shibuya several years after the first game. We just don't know anything right nowwwww

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Re: The World Ends With You: Solo Remix (and more?)

#15 Post by Mink »

Oh, people on Tumblr. Your kid not looking like you is not evidence enough to support that someone is not your kid.

That being said, I agree with whoever said it'd be predictable (and cliche, might I add) beyond belief if that's Neku and Shiki's kid. Then again, I would expect that from Squeenix, so...

But, really, even if it's not for something I own, don't be that cliche Squeenix. PLEASE don't be that cliche. If it's not that, and it's for something I own, I'd buy it just to congratulate Square Enix for not choosing something so monumentally terrible.

Because I've always felt "Kids of the Former Protagonists" was a terrible plot idea, even when I was a kid.
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