Vagrant Story has similar meditations on the value of a character presently versus their past actions. Joshua’s motivations are also quite similar to Sydney Losstarot.
The TWEWY duology is one of the best examples of having both style AND substance. Deeply customizable gameplay mechanics, intricate character writing, surprisingly fascinating lore and worldbuilding, a bold, graffiti-esque aesthetic a la Jet Set Radio, and some of the most eclectic video game soundtracks out there. There are some aspects I feel one game does better over the other (OG TWEWY has pacing and tight storytelling down to a fine point while NEO has more in-depth character/relationship writing and balanced/deeper game mechanics) but overall, they’re both fantastic experiences and are tied for being my number one favorite game.
@Alpha Beta I disagree. It is in fact THAT deep. It's got subtext that goes far beyond face value and is very reflective of the disenfranchised youth of both the early 2000's when the first game came out and the social media hungry youth of today who are both hungry for meaning and identity in a cynical world that rejects authenticity.
I love how Neku wears headphones cause he refuses to listen to others and wants to shut the world out while Rindo wears a face mask because he refuses to make his own decisions and chooses never to speak up. PS: this is your best video so far btw!
The interesting thing about those design choices is that they primarily take inspiration from the Three Wise Monkeys proverb (“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”) and the devs have said that if they were to make a third game, they would most likely design the protag of that game around the see no evil part. Another interesting thing is that you can see all three proverbs represented in both protags despite them primarily being designed around one. Neku’s hair covers his eyes in a lot of his sprites, representing his inability to see the people around him as more than just shallow faces in the crowd, and his high collar covers his mouth, representing his tendency to shrink away from the crowd in order to not draw unneeded attention to himself. His NEO design is a great reaffirmation of his growth as a person: his hair is slightly shorter, he doesn’t have the high collar anymore, and most importantly, he doesn’t have his headphones anymore. He’s fully opened up to the world around him. Rindo primarily blocks out the world via the smartphone he practically keeps surgically attached to his hand and a lot of his sprites has his eyes practically glued to the screen and he tends to block out what his friends are saying while they prattle on and try to include him in the conversation and in the ending, he finally puts the phone down to reach out to Shoka, signifying his own growth as a person.
Personally, I think rather than Rindo’s “crutch” being his mask, it’s his phone. It’s something he puts down in the last part of the game for a real friend. Edit: whoops I didn’t read the first reply completely I agree completely
There is also Rindo's jacket, which is patchwork of random shapes and designs, additionally reinforcing that he is not good at making decisions. I just love some good in-the-face unsubtle character design sometimes.
TWEWY unironically saved me from suicide, i was gonna do it on christmas but since i wanted to play the game before i died so i payed a lot of money to get it to my country fast, i distinctly remember opening it and putting it on my 3ds i played that game for roughly a month and a half almost no lifing it because i was gonna die anyways so my grades slipping didnt matter; i am here today because TWEWY resonated with me, especially the character Beat. At the time nothing really mattered to me and i stopped putting any effort in anything because my parents were gonna complain about the smallest of mistakes so i might as well let go and make it so that small accomplishments were celebrated, instead of that my parents complained that i had let myself go and that a delinquent like me would never get anywhere. I still have the game and 6 years later im still alive because that game gave me hope
my favorite part of neo: the old characters are treated as a danger, less like "these are the strongest guys" and more like "if we leave them alone with everything important, then on purpose or accident, it will break" least favorite thing: crabs not back
you see humans always tend to overtake whatever is against and for them. difficult task taking care of these little buggers... they break at every step... like a game would... if you do it right.
Here’s an unmentioned feature: TWEWY gives the player PP when you *don’t* play the game (up to an irl week, if I remember correctly). The majority games are neutral about how long you go between play sessions but TWEWY’s passive PP (heh) drip for stepping away to focus things other than the game is a breath of fresh subtexual air in a world that usually looks down on/actively punishes taking breaks.
Lol this was definitely mentioned. Loved the system though. Especially when you consider that certain TYPES of PP were necessary to evolve certain pins in the original. Like if you want this super cool pin you legit have to go touch grass or make some friends first. Great stuff.
even though i only seen a lets play of neo, i just love how everyone's personality is on full display at all times like nagi. She isn't nice to Frett when he is being fake but you can see her do a 180 when he's being genuine in small bits before his arc. hell you might even notice Fret use his Remind before he even knows he can do it. Its so rare to feel like videogame characters show subtle quirks that influence their personality so heavily. character just overcome trauma but now they can do this 1 thing with full confidence.
The thing about the secret reports is that they don’t really spoil anything. By the time you get around to finding them, both you and the characters likely know what’s going on. In the case of Neo TWEWY, you definitely do, because the only way to get most of the secret reports is to fight secret bosses, which you can only find after making friends with a character that you only meet near the end of the game. The secret reports merely expand on these big plot reveals that you already saw, giving you an insight into the inner workings of stuff.
Neo Twewy surpassed all my expectations of how a Twewy sequel could work out all these years later than the original. Both games are dear to my heart, and masterpieces in my eyes. Both have the same soul, but they execute themselves in pretty different ways. You can tell the developers actually had passion for both projects.
Playing co-op with yourself in the switch version is such a big brain move it almost sounds like how you were intended to play. Also never forgiving Sqeenix for sending Neo out to die.
If Neo twewy is going to die out, I'll be the first person to take back where it's rightfully heir 😌✋🏻 Don't worry, I hype things up and make sure twewy have a proper game in the future (well, I have a story light novel/web novel based on real life places. Which starts at Yamanashi, Tokyo, every district and prefectures. Luckily, they are perfectly suited for my timeline favorite game like twewy, so it's a rare chance to spice things up after Square gave it a whole bad game rep, I hate how they did that to my comfort game 😭😭💀)
I'm always glad when TWEWY gets some love. Fans give it more than Square itself has. I sure hope we can get a third game sooner than it took for the second one.
Aaaah that intro just hit the right spot. TWEWY's got a special spot and you can defo feel it by the way you express yourself, how you convey your love for the franchise in this video. ♥
I played the original game my junior year of highschool around when it initially launched. I could not fathom how different of a person I would be without this game. It was truly the right game at the right time
we dot not say no to experience... only to complexity... beauty lies in simplicity... life is not easy... but if we embrace whats difficult and complex... we can prepare for whats ahead.
Man it was incredibly satisfying to watch this video. TWEWY, if it isn't apparent from my profile picture, is my favorite game of all time. It's incredibly stylish and fun, while also containing gameplay-narrative cohesion that puts most big modern titles to shame. Really glad to see you cover this in such detail.
I'm glad you mentioned how scenes in the game get recontextualized once you've finished it in Neo's case. Once I realized that(Along with the secret reports, because BOY do those go even further with things) I had to go on the ride again and now I was piecing together things and my mind was getting blown from all sides.
man, i wanna 100% the game on ps4 and read those SO BAD!! i beat it on switch, but next time it goes on sale i’d love to experience a better looking, higher quality version
To anyone who isn't aware, the Switch version has touch controls if you play it undocked and it's AMAZING. Don't hesitate getting that version, since it comes with vast improvements for literally everything else.
@@starbreaker6441 No, they're not. It's actually better AND more fun than the DS version, including the whole touch screen combat as a whole. It's okay if you're just not good at it, bro
@@amnesiaWTF in terms of gameplay the DS version still takes the cake. Reducing your partner to a just another pin was understandable as we're no longer using dual screen but it's limiting to say the least. It was more fun controlling both characters at the same time and have unique combos depending on the directions inputed on the Dpad
@@kaos-qc5ho Despite the fact that the combat with pins was always infinitely more fun than pressing buttons on the D-pad, the partner in SR and FR isn't "just another pin", much less "reduced". The fact that you can use the touch screen to control both the partner and pins *at the same time* and combo with them (since pins themselves can only be used one at a time) adds an elevated layer of complexity and fun to the best part of the combat that the DS version didn't have. Of course, the enjoyment of this is subjective and if you had more fun using the D-pad than controlling Neku, that's fine. I played both versions extensively, so I understand each of their appeal - I just personally believe the modern version is way more fun (and vastly superior in practically every aspect of the game).
I genuinely think neo is the aliens to twewy's alien effectively a perfect sequel and it deserve an award for such good story telling through it's gameplay cutscenes and music every element took what I love about the original and just expanded on it it is a fantastic sequel to a game that ended pretty conclusively and somehow completely changed my perspective on the first games need for a continuation
I'm glad to see one of my favorite game series get more spotlight and hope it leads to more people exeperincing it. TWEWY has always been close to me because of it's story and how every return with every re-relased I grasped the context better. And while NEO didn't really click with me like the original did, I do want to give it another go since ive gotten 3+ runs with the first game to have what it set out to do process in my mind, and with some extra context from the video hat did fly over my head, I think maybe I need to go back soon..
I first learned of this series about when Final Remix came out, and I liked it, but wasn't the most passionate about it because I couldn't get into the controls. Then NEO dropped and as I played through the game I was initially frsutrated by the story, before eventually warming up to it more and more. By Week 3 I'd realised that it had become my favourite game ever, which I thought simply impossible, because the previous game to hold that title (Persona 5), was so important to me when I found it that it's pretty much directly responsible for me being alive today. NEO was such an incredible experience and I'm so grateful that there are people out there who can spread the word of why these games are so important and special. Thanks KBash.
My reaction to NEO was “wait what” because the first time I heard about it was when I saw it randomly on my Amazon recommendations and I thought it was the HD port of the og game to switch. Keep in mind, I know about every video game. I am in the pulse, and NEO managed to completely slide under my radar. Squenix completely failed to advertise the game at all. Okay this is for the mouth-breathers that want to contest my claim; of course I don’t know every video game. What I was trying to convey was that I keep up with a great many releases, and somehow, the game that had next to no marketing behind it somehow managed to fly under my radar. Who would have guessed. If you are replying to let me know about how you knew about this game that was coming out that had zero presence online, congratulations, you’re a bigger loser than I am. I’m not bragging when I say I know a lot about games, in fact, I find it deeply shameful and embarrassing.
@@enrique7925 still I can't say I've regretted seeing them at all tho All the hype leading up to this was unreal. Even though square utterly failed in marketing the game to a wide audience... I still gotta say they were totally on point with what they decided to show and when.
Yeah, Square utterly failed to promote it. They were too focused on that Avengers game as well as Guardians of the Galaxy. At least the latter was good, but it still hurt to see. Especially with such good games.
Hey Kbash, thanks for giving this series some love and coverage. This game holds a special place in my heart and this video essay brought a much needed smile to my face. Hope you're doing well, man.
This is a really great video… Happy to see you go over both of the games. I think that most people tend to like Neku more than Rindo- he sticks out a lot, his character development is clear and fun and interesting, but man, Rindo ended up being one of my favorite characters of all time. He’s just some guy, really. Just some guy who’s indecisive and a little mean but not blatantly, introverted but not to an extreme, and someone simply trying to make it through life. For some reason his character really spoke to me by the end of it. He loves his friends and he loves Shibuya. Twewy and Neo are really great games with really great characters!
NEO:TWEWY SPOILERS: I remember so viscerally when frets backstory was revealed. It was the moment that I really started to realize how good the writing on this game was. It’s probably because I lost a friend to suicide and could related very heavily with fret but I still think that’s important. Being able to write characters that not only have relatable experiences but relatable reactions to this experiences is hard but Neo: twewy did it.
Yeah, my feelings to a T there regarding the differences between the casts in TWEWY and NEO. Neku leaves such a stronger impression than Rindo, but because it's INTENTIONAL I didn't really mind. The story fully intends on making Rindo a far weaker, drifting personality who is far more passive than Neku, and then explores that mentality and where it comes from, what it does to his social interactions and even how it can help him... on occassion. It makes it interesting when we get Beat back in the team and he's the same as he was back then, and how that plays with the team dynamic. Like, if you're the type who cathegorically dislikes narratives with passive leads because you're not interested in exploring them or want more dynamic stories I totally see how NEO would disappoint in comparison to TWEWY, but I dug the story well enough that I could bear some irritations. Besides, he and Shoka's report ended up being very interesting because of that- her abrasive personality ended up wearing at him until even Rindo took a stand, and then the two of them managed to become much greater together... dang, it's sorta-kinda like a gender-flipped version of Neku and Shiki, in that regard. Didn't even realize that until now. Good stuff still, good stuff. Did not expect to like Nagi as much as I did, either.
Yeah, the twewy games are pretty underrated. For me at least, NEO actually blew the first one out of the water and I like the dub as well. (Rindo in particular, since his VA was a big fan of the original, and you can hear him giving his all)
I bought NEO on day one. I loved the english dubbed. Also, the game didn't flop. Sqaure was wanting it to sell like ff7 remake. It didnt. So it didnt meet their standards . It did make its money back.
When I first played TWEWY as a bright-eyed youngster, I was like "I'm glad that Neku learnt that lesson" Nowadays when I think about it again as an old lady, I'm like "Neku was right all along, I just want to shut the world out now" lol
i played both games pretty close to each other and i actually found myself connecting with the neo twewy cast a lot more, and having beat back was a bonus since he was my absolute fave from the first. i think the neo twewy cast is great, i'm a little surprised to hear ppl were kinda lukewarm on them at first. maybe this is bc i find rindo a bit more relatable than neku since i never went through an edgy phase like he did.
I've been fascinated by the TWEWY series forever but never played it, and when the remake came out it was panned for the control scheme so I still never played it. The way you articulate why certain games are good or important makes me really want to pick this up finally
How do you consistently make a video around the exact time that I'm going through video-game critique withdrawals? This is like the fourth time dude...
I was a huge og twewy fan and I bought Neo when it came out. I set it aside after a few hours because I was busy with work though, and never got around to playing more. This video made me actually go finish it! I stopped watching before you spoiled the ending so I could experience it myself, and it was really worth it. I’ve never felt so eager to watch a bunch of cutscenes and see how the characters interact. I eventually went back down in difficulty just so I could focus on the story, because I was more interested in how I interacted with the world than any of the combat
TWEWY is my favorite game of all time, I have a huge emotional attachment to it and has helped some of the best things in my life to happen. Neo was a fantastic addition and I could seriously gush about this seriously all day, which I have. It's just so important to me hence why a lot of my tattoos are TWEWY based. I'm really happy to see a video like this
Fret and Neku both are the way they are because they had a friend who died (you find out about Neku's friend in the Pin Slammer day when finding CAT). I don't know why, but I find it strange how you never find out who these friends are and how they died. I was expecting it to be revealed they were the same person, or there was alternate universe shenanigans where Fret and Neku were the dead friends mentioned, but each one died in a different reality. Clearly, that's not the case, but I am 99% sure the writers are planning some sequel with this plot point.
This video is amazing! Thank you so much for making this, the TWEWY games are some of my favorites of all time and it makes me indescribably happy to see such a great analysis of them. You helped me realize a lot of things about these games I’d overlooked before, and I’m grateful!
I introduced my best friend to TWEWY and had him play the DS version on an emulator. Because of that, we were able to do co-op with him controlling Neku and me controlling his partners.
I asked for NEO for a christmas gift because Tahk0 recommended it, and it absolutely broke me at the time. I still need to learn from it. Absolutely one of if not my favourite narrative games.
The world does not deserve TWEWY....it is one of those gems that remain hidden and those who have played it, held it very close to their hearts. I'm one of those people.
I do love and appreciate the love and appreciation in this. TWEWY is in my top 5 games of my life, and it hit me when I was 20 and just getting out of my parents' place. This game taught me about Japan and Shibuya and another country's youth culture, and it taught me that I can like ANY kind of music depending on how it's used - a direct application of the game's messaging and pushing myself beyond my usual boundaries. Experiencing something new, clashing, and learning from it. This past weekend I just finished NEO. Now I live in Tokyo and I'm making games for the next generation of players. I actually played the sequel in Japanese, so I'm sure I missed some stuff but it felt like too perfect an opportunity not to take advantage of. This world helped move me TO shibuya, and even if I don't catch everything, I wanted to expose myself to even more of the culture shock and push my own growth by doing it in the native language. This video helped convince me I should make time to go back to the original again. I do have the DS cart on my shelf, but maybe I'll play it on switch. For the Japanese version. Experience something old in another new way and learn something. :)
TWEWY was one of the best games, and it was one that I needed back in High School. I was that one guy that drifted from group to group, spending a little time here, a little time there. Never conforming perfectly to any one group. TWEWY was a masterpiece, and I both played the DS version, as well as the Final Remix version. Undocked, and made important use of the touch screen. NEO:TWEWY though, despite being a fantastic game, is one that objectively, I gotta rate as a 7.9/10. It's great at what it does well, but the flaws are there, and it's kind of awkward. I will say, major props to trusting the player though. I remember my friend being confused about Kaz, and, without any concrete knowledge, I answer "Oh, that's because he's this." and spelled out my reasoning. NEO has some serious props given to its narrative, and it shows. But in doing so, has a few bum notes. I'm still 100% a TWEWY fanboy though, and I'm not going to deny it.
Can't believe you just spent a full 30 minutes talking about OG twewy without once mentioning its genius approach to the overworld's optional fights and npc interactions with the scanning mechanic. I honestly cannot understate how impressed I was with such a unique and fresh design choice in an old JRPG and how neatly it all fits into the narrative of the game.
NEO: TWEWY kind of echoes a lot of issues i had with Kingdom Hearts 3 where it felt like square thought of these really cool events with existing characters but forgot they had to write something that led up to that, would’ve much preferred if the time travel was used much more sparingly and in its place were more normal based missions that focus on more of the characters
Same while I enjoyed NEO I did feel the time travel aspect dragged the story down a bit with how often it was used and I don’t think it was especially used in an interesting way.
These games NEED more attention, they're so good; brimming with life, an original style with charming memorable cast of characters and catchy tunes that to this day I still rock out to every other week. I'm furious that Square put the least amount of effort of advertising NEO leading to low sales. This is the same company that put all their attention to crypto and nfts to only then blow up in their face the coming days. I love Square's games but their business practices are as bad as Nintendo's nowadays, I hate it.
The pacing and ending of neo was pretty rough for me. an issue and weirdness with the plot was that the ‘executor’ was added at the last minute and beat and neku had completely different roles in the original draft. I really wish they stuck with those ideas.
Ok but I actually love the english translation work on both games. Seriously the people whining about how its inaccurate don't have any idea what they're talking about. The whole deal of the game is about being hip and on the now! If the jp version uses jp lingo, then the use of English internet slang is a given. Hell, that's the reason the first TWEWY did so well in the west. If anything, the sequel's translation is more literal than the first game's. Y'all should be grateful that we got a translator that cares this much, doing a literal sounding word for word repetition would have been ten times easier for him. Heck there's this thing I read on the wiki about how he saw the game on TGS in 2007 and begged the bosses to let him translate it because he loved it so much, imma see if I can find the url.
Are you serious? The localization is terrible. Games so Japanese should not be this horribly westernized. They absolutely destroyed the scene where Shouka gets erased by translating it incorrectly, thank goodness I played with Japanese audio so I could enjoy the scene the way it was meant to be with that revelation that happened, even with my limited Japanese.
I really wanted to love the original DS game but I never had that moment where the combat system clicks for me. I got to the final boss just frantically struggling to go back and forth between the top and bottom screens as fast as possible and just kept getting overwhelmed. Tried grinding too but not even that helped
I don't actually pay attention to the second screen tbh. For me and lots of other people it amounts to mindlessly pressing the button as fast as possible without looking or thinking about it, only paying attention to the top screen when you need stars for a supermove. And I've 100%ed the game on EX with that strategy. Or you could use a mic-blow pin whilst looking at the top screen or something. Also for an OP setup check out the Burst rounds pins, and the green shorts or the purple sneakers.
Still loving your videos and commentary, seriously I've dug thru your entire backlog and I always immediately download your new videos to listen to at work because you're just that entertaining. And I don't want to undercut that praise with unsolicited comments on your appearance but as a man who could never pull off long hair, I think you're really rocking it now. Keep on knockin' em outta the park KBash
I’ll admit I have really been struggling with NEO. I absolutely love the style and want to get engaged with the story and characters, but the rough start and gameplay that I didn’t fully understand held me back. I think I’ll try to play the original first, then go back with a fresh mind to hopefully appreciate it anew.
@Daten-shi Ⓙ Mild disagree, I think the original used the system it was on much better than NEO did and had better gameplay as a result Storywise, I’d have thought the original was better too but the final act was so goddamn good that I actually prefer NEO at the end of it all
@@SunshineJesse I disagree on that. Most of the time, you’re fighting separate enemies that just so happen to share a health bar and while that’s cool and all, I feel like the only times the game ever actually took advantage of the concept of the screens affecting the other’s end was in Konishi’s fight, where you can send Taboo Noise into hole in the ground to make her visible for Beat to tackle or send her up to Beat and back again with Rhyme or the bat boss, where you have to use Shiki or Beat to free the lights in order to make the bat visible for Neku to fight. Those were genuinely really cool and I would’ve loved for the game to do more fights like that. I also think that Week 3 loses some steam mechanically and it’s especially noticeable in the boss design. Taboo Sho mechanically is really stripped down from his previous incarnation, having less moves overall and just spamming long-ranged projectiles at you, making him little more than a glorified Kariya, who at least had Spark Core for close-range. He lacks the duality aspect of his original fight, which asked you to not only manage him but also the Taboo Noise that he summons and absorbs into himself to transform, not to mention how you can influence what screen he appears on by taking out the Taboo Noise on one end to make him appear there in order to take advantage of those puck-boosted finishers. Uzuki and Kariya are still pretty damn cool even though I have some minor problems with the fight (mainly how some of Uzuki’s attacks are telegraphed). It’s a really great showcase of the game’s themes not just being used for the heroes but for the villains as well, which I’m a sucker for. Though I do find it a bit odd that their berserk forms are able to use Fusions while their normal selves aren’t. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the opposite to happen? Eh, it doesn’t really matter in the long run. Kitaniji and Shiki I’m mixed about. On the one hand, Kitaniji is actually pretty solid on his own. He has good tells, a pretty cool time stop gimmick that you can maneuver around, and a good variety of moves to use (dragon arm bite, fireball spam, orbs that can summon slow-moving projectiles [which you can actually attack to make them disappear), lasers that move along a line, etc…). Plus the fishes in the floor actually follow Neku where he moves, which is a neat touch. On the other hand, Shiki’s top-screen portion is a mess. For some reason, the devs didn’t think to take away her invincibility frames in her portion of the fight so you’ll be stuck doing nothing despite mashing Beat’s controls no matter what and she has no openings at all even if you give Beat threads that decrease his combo panels. Also doesn’t help that Mr. Mew’s attacks come out too fast for Beat to consecutively block. In short, one portion of the fight is super solid, the other portion is a mess of design. Konishi is actually a really cool puzzle boss. Takes advantage of the dual screens in a really creative way, has great presentation, and actually ties together the story and mechanics in a seamless way, allowing you to take her down with either Beat or Rhyme for the cathartic finish. Anguis Cantus is just “eh, okay.” The top screen portion has a tendency to just go down to the bottom, which basically means free damage for your partner while you focus on Neku and his attacks are pretty easy to dodge thanks to the generous wind-up they each have. Draco Cantus mechanically and thematically sucks as a final boss. The battle system revolves around you learning how to control two different characters at once and has you getting down each of your partner’s movesets to reinforce the game’s message of trust and communication only to throw all of that away to have Neku’s partners acts like glorified Light Puck batteries and more and less have him take on the final boss himself in a boring bullet hell-esque segment that you can cheese like it’s nothing with Psychs like Lightning Arrester, Entanglement, and Time Bomb. Sure, the final Fusion Neku does is cool but that’s about it. Hell, even the Blue Noise feel uninspired compared to what came before. Compare the Grindcore Minks and Progfox (bosses that actually do have unique moves to them that their base Noise archetypes don’t have) to Wooly AOR and Goth Metal Drake (just buffed up versions of their base Noise archetypes with stat tweaks). Overall, I still like Week 3 for the narrative payoff and the chemistry between Neku and Beat and some of the new Noise introduced are pretty cool but between all of this, the inclusion of the random Reaper encounters everytime you enter a new area, and the repeat of bosses (you not only get to fight Pteropus AGAIN with no actual moveset change but also Uzuki and Kariya back-to-back three separate times), I can’t help but wonder if they were pressed for time or they were just tapped out at that point. Even the plot feels like it's largely just blasting towards the end rather than giving you as much in between to build on, though that at least makes sense with the story. By contrast, I think Week 3 in NEO was more mechanically solid and had more good payoffs throughout. Granted, I don’t think it’s perfect (I think Kanon’s Plague Noise possession was a missed opportunity to have an actual Kanon boss fight instead of just Plague Scorpion and the last day can feel particularly repetitive with how you have to jump back and forth in order to get everything in place to combat the final boss) but overall, the boss line-up is much more solid (Sho, Shiba, Ayano, and Suzy K in the same week? Hell yeah), the payoffs are excellent, and even the days change up in interesting ways, like having to help Shoka learn to how deal with facing Ayano via VN choices or the entire day where Rindo loses his memories due to the Plague Noise tampering with his mind and now he has to travel back in order to piece together what happened.
I'm so happy you are talking about these games! Especially since you mentioned them a couple of times! Massively Underrated games that need more attention!
I LOVED this game as a kid. And it's inspired me to dig up my copy of Final Remix to finally get around to replaying it... Mid video. Also I never knew Minamimoto was in the new one. I had an unhealthy obsession with him and already became sold on the game as soon as I saw. It's been FAR too long! 😭 Edit: And I will have to return post NEO for spoiler section lmao. Love the video
While the NEO story isn't as strongly developed as the first, I mean, Nagi is written like a self-righteous asshole and its justified with "I'm emotionally intelligent," I do like that the game's THEME is a continuation of the previous one. The first game is centered around how reliance on others is necessary to live, first with a pact literally being mandatory to use psychs, but also through how each partner is a foil to Neku which helps him progress through the variety of noise, puzzles and the mystery of how to beat the repear's game. The second game is centered around how important it is to be honest to your friends, Rindo and Fret's argument is solved when the two reveal to each other the source of their emotions, AnOther revealing himself to be a fraud, Fret's unexplainable trust of Kanon ending up being vital to their success.
The ONE thing that killed me about Final Remix is the fact that they didn't use A Lullaby for You as end credits music. That shit slaps THE HARDEST and it suits the end of the game to a fucking T.
I like run away better than lullaby for you. I don’t know why, but there’s something about lullaby for you that doesn’t click for me, while run away can almost always bring me to tears.
Love your content LeBash and so happy you not only covered this series, but felt a similar level of resonances with it. I remember making my parents drive me almost 40 minutes to the only gamestop in my town just to buy this, and was utterly absorbed into it. Nothing has come close to starching the itch this game left me. Truly goat.
I hate how Square treats TWEWY as a franchise, this game is just underrated it just hurts that this story is not as widely known as other Square's famous IPs
I'm hype for Magneton LET'S GO Also thank you for selling me on the TWEWY series. I have NEO but haven't played it yet, and I plan on buying the original soon. Those poor sales figures got me in my feelings bro.
The part where you told me to go and eat to take care of me really hit home... havent eaten today yet xD Other than that, this got me interrested more in the sequal. been a bit interrested before but i might get the game sometime! :)
Could only watch half since I haven’t gotten around to NEO yet (gonna let the vid play fully to help tho) but TWEWY is easily one of my fav games ever. I remember buying it for the DS on release and during a subsequent visit to Game Stop with my dad, I mentioned the title to him and soon found myself in small discussion group of two store associates and like 3 other customers just absolutely gushing about how much we were loving the game. It’s one of those games that I wish I could wipe my memory just to experience again for the first time.
I played it as a kid on the ds and finished it twice, it was so good. Just saw some people talking about it and was hit with major nostalgia so now im watching youtube vids. I'm thinking of watching the anime for a refresher on the story before seeing if I can play the sequel
Okay real talk, never understood the argument against ntwewys localization. "Oh no these teenagers are sounding like...teenagers." Plus I give kudos for Square Enix for casting smaller vas/unknowns in some of their games, Dragon Quest, Octopath, ffxiv.
42:54 BET 😂, as I'm still on first week, I'm guessing she can't move forward in a similar way to rin being indecisive. Thematically with her as his team's assigned reaper, it would make some kind of sense (Or maybe when rin can't move forward on a decision, maybe she looks too down on herself to make a decision and thus have the ability to "look up" , eh? Eh?😅 That's the best guess I got currently lol)
You nailed my issue with NEO's main characters -- they're paradoxical. Fret is the "funny" guy but I was absolutely expecting him to heel turn at any time because of how false he came across (plus he was the one who pulled Rindo into the game in the first place...) And Rindo. What a complete non-entity. A character with so little agency, someone written to be so passive and ineffectual that you just end up wishing he'd do ANYTHING interesting to break up the monotony of nothing. Small spoiler, the game tries to convince you that Rindo's main flaw, the crux of everything in the story, is how he refuses to take responsibility for his actions. How can someone who NEVER MAKES A DECISION BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING WHEN HE JUST LETS OTHER PEOPLE LEAD THE WAY AND BLUNDER INTO DANGER?! Then the game goes "oh, well if Rindo had just dealt with the consequences of his choices, everything would be alright!" -- no, no, no. Shut up. How late into the writing did you decide this and why doesn't ANYTHING reflect this?! I get the point you make about Rindo's power recontextualising the flat scenes but I wouldn't agree it does anything as a lot of issues come from Rindo not doing anything or saying things that could just cut to the quick of the situation. I love NEO. I genuinely do. The themes, direction, villains, everything else EXCEPT Rindo and Fret.
>How can someone who NEVER MAKES A DECISION BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING WHEN HE JUST LETS OTHER PEOPLE LEAD THE WAY AND BLUNDER INTO DANGER?! That’s That’s literally the entire point of Rindo’s character. He whines and moans whenever someone tries to push responsibility onto him and tries to pin his responsibility onto other people: he heavily relies on Sho to do the heavy lifting for the team as their MVP and didn’t even want to recruit Nagi at first because he was so sure that Sho would carry the team on his own only for that to bite him in the ass. THEN in Week 2, he tries to recruit “Neku” so that he can get the Legendary Player to carry the team yet again only for it to turn out to be Beat, who Rindo is less than enthused to have him around at first before he starts opening up to the guy. There’s also he didn’t confide into his teammates about his time travel abilities until Sho dragged it out in the open for the others to know about. To Rindo, following along with who he already knew while not confiding in them kept him safe and able to just slip through life without having to worry; thus avoiding any potential responsibility. Think of it like this: “I'm in a group project; everybody is contributing and making decisions about how we should go about doing things. I keep my mouth shut and refrain from pitching in despite maybe thinking some of their ideas misses the point of the assignment. Because God forbid that my ideas could be helpful. Or maybe they won’t but that’s life I guess. We end up handing in our project and whoops, we got a C-. I guess I'm not responsible for receiving that grade because I never made a decision, therefore I shouldn't be accountable for my lack of contribution.” You see that paragraph? That’s basically Rindo in a nutshell.
??? I'm not going to address Fret since all I got from this was that you expected him to turn on the team or something idk? You ain't giving me much to work with. There seems to be a misunderstanding in regards to Rindo though. Its not that he makes bad decisions and wont accept responsibility, its that he hesitates to act make decisions or contribute PERIOD and then complains when shit hits the fan. Rindo initially can't reach his full potential because he lets other people take the lead and passes the buck to others when HE should be contributing. Its about understanding your CIRCUMSTANCES, knowing what you want and THEN taking action and accepting responsibility for the choices that you make. This is something that he is afraid of doing. Becauce he fears risk, he fears failure. This is his character flaw. Both Nagi and Fret call him out on this behavior on Week 1 and Week 2 respectivley. To paraphrase Nagi: "How dare you blame other people without thinking about what YOU can do?" To paraphrase Fret: "You bitch and moan about everything but when we ask, you say nothing." That's why during the Replay segments he speaks up and takes control of the situation to lead the team to victory, he has to think things through and be more assertive and mindful. This is notable in the Final Day where he has not only given up the Deus Ex Machina given to him by Haz in the form of Shibuya's saftey but risk the existence of Shibuya to the Dissonance Noise, all for his friends. It is a very reckless and risky decision. Almost selfish even. But THAT is what makes it one of the most powerful moments in the story. In this pivital moment, Rindo understands the circumstances behind the Final Replay, knows that above all his friends are what he wants to protect, and takes action by performing the Final Replay, accepting that it is now HIS RESPONSIBILITY to save Shibuya from the Dissonance after putting it and it's citizens in harms way. To which he then succeeds with flying colors. There are other moments regarding Rindo's overall character and how he develops. Particularly from how he interacts with Shoka, Shiba, and Motoi, but I'm stopping here.
@@thebigchungus4515 I see your point, especially with the example, and I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote my comment -- but while everything is true, I think I can better articulate my problems now: My issue comes back to how what the game does with Rindo doesn't reflect what the game SAYS it does with Rindo and his arc as a character. If those reports had said "Rindo never made decisions so we forced him to act for better or worse" I'd be absolutely fine with that aspect, if it focused more on him overcoming passivity and indecision. But it doesn't. It says it's about him not taking responsibility for his decisions, and that's a completely different thing. That's more akin to Rindo making the worst decisions based on impulse or letting things get out of control due to his passivity and not making choices when he really should have. In this case also, the report writer would be actively chastising him for using his power, rather than his powers reflecting an opportunity to make the right decisions when he needed to instead of just going with the flow into ruin. I just feel what the game presents in the story as you play it is completely undercut and confused by what it says the real issue with Rindo was in the metanarrative of the reports. If the focus had been the same in both, I wouldn't have disliked Rindo so much personally. It felt jarring to see this kid develop and start making choices/plans and grow and have the game go "His REAL issue was never dealing with the consequences of his actions!!" as if that was the same thing. Thank you for taking the time to parse through my late night nonsense rant though!
I have literally seen TWEWY work as a therapy aid. It is that well written. The game just fundamentally gets humanity.
Vagrant Story has similar meditations on the value of a character presently versus their past actions.
Joshua’s motivations are also quite similar to Sydney Losstarot.
Neo Twewy literally did help me break down personal shit and deal with it,
Mostly due to shoka, I'm a dedicated shoka stan
lmfao i get that. personally i related to and obsessed over my guy fret
@@playertoo9730 Do you deal with “triple threats” like Kanon in your daily life as well?
Ha gayyyyyyy
@@mauroalvarenga7002 correct yes
CAT’s outlook on life in the first game helped my entire worldview when I was an impressionable teen.
The TWEWY duology is one of the best examples of having both style AND substance. Deeply customizable gameplay mechanics, intricate character writing, surprisingly fascinating lore and worldbuilding, a bold, graffiti-esque aesthetic a la Jet Set Radio, and some of the most eclectic video game soundtracks out there. There are some aspects I feel one game does better over the other (OG TWEWY has pacing and tight storytelling down to a fine point while NEO has more in-depth character/relationship writing and balanced/deeper game mechanics) but overall, they’re both fantastic experiences and are tied for being my number one favorite game.
@Alpha Beta I’ve played through Persona and Final Fantasy and I don’t particularly care for them as much. TWEWY just appeals to me way more.
@Alpha Beta twewy unironically clears them both
@Alpha Beta I disagree. It is in fact THAT deep. It's got subtext that goes far beyond face value and is very reflective of the disenfranchised youth of both the early 2000's when the first game came out and the social media hungry youth of today who are both hungry for meaning and identity in a cynical world that rejects authenticity.
@@thebigchungus4515 opinions, to me the franchise is mostly cringe.
@@Dark-Fenrir_65 And I’m sure that you’re the epitome of what’s cool, huh, pal?
I love how Neku wears headphones cause he refuses to listen to others and wants to shut the world out while Rindo wears a face mask because he refuses to make his own decisions and chooses never to speak up.
PS: this is your best video so far btw!
The interesting thing about those design choices is that they primarily take inspiration from the Three Wise Monkeys proverb (“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”) and the devs have said that if they were to make a third game, they would most likely design the protag of that game around the see no evil part.
Another interesting thing is that you can see all three proverbs represented in both protags despite them primarily being designed around one. Neku’s hair covers his eyes in a lot of his sprites, representing his inability to see the people around him as more than just shallow faces in the crowd, and his high collar covers his mouth, representing his tendency to shrink away from the crowd in order to not draw unneeded attention to himself. His NEO design is a great reaffirmation of his growth as a person: his hair is slightly shorter, he doesn’t have the high collar anymore, and most importantly, he doesn’t have his headphones anymore. He’s fully opened up to the world around him.
Rindo primarily blocks out the world via the smartphone he practically keeps surgically attached to his hand and a lot of his sprites has his eyes practically glued to the screen and he tends to block out what his friends are saying while they prattle on and try to include him in the conversation and in the ending, he finally puts the phone down to reach out to Shoka, signifying his own growth as a person.
Personally, I think rather than Rindo’s “crutch” being his mask, it’s his phone. It’s something he puts down in the last part of the game for a real friend.
Edit: whoops I didn’t read the first reply completely I agree completely
There is also Rindo's jacket, which is patchwork of random shapes and designs, additionally reinforcing that he is not good at making decisions. I just love some good in-the-face unsubtle character design sometimes.
Also tying into the three monkeys motif, Neku's preferred style is literally Jupiter of the Monkey.
@@dr.velious5411 Rindo's too, going by the label on his chest.
TWEWY unironically saved me from suicide, i was gonna do it on christmas but since i wanted to play the game before i died so i payed a lot of money to get it to my country fast, i distinctly remember opening it and putting it on my 3ds i played that game for roughly a month and a half almost no lifing it because i was gonna die anyways so my grades slipping didnt matter; i am here today because TWEWY resonated with me, especially the character Beat. At the time nothing really mattered to me and i stopped putting any effort in anything because my parents were gonna complain about the smallest of mistakes so i might as well let go and make it so that small accomplishments were celebrated, instead of that my parents complained that i had let myself go and that a delinquent like me would never get anywhere. I still have the game and 6 years later im still alive because that game gave me hope
Thank you for sharing your story. I don’t know you, but I’m glad you’re still here.
my favorite part of neo: the old characters are treated as a danger, less like "these are the strongest guys" and more like "if we leave them alone with everything important, then on purpose or accident, it will break"
least favorite thing: crabs not back
you see humans always tend to overtake whatever is against and for them. difficult task taking care of these little buggers... they break at every step... like a game would... if you do it right.
Here’s an unmentioned feature: TWEWY gives the player PP when you *don’t* play the game (up to an irl week, if I remember correctly). The majority games are neutral about how long you go between play sessions but TWEWY’s passive PP (heh) drip for stepping away to focus things other than the game is a breath of fresh subtexual air in a world that usually looks down on/actively punishes taking breaks.
It gives even more PP if you go and meet other people, counted by having DS. Especially if they also have TWEWY on it.
hold up i mentioned this
Lol this was definitely mentioned. Loved the system though. Especially when you consider that certain TYPES of PP were necessary to evolve certain pins in the original. Like if you want this super cool pin you legit have to go touch grass or make some friends first. Great stuff.
The Active Grass Touching System
What is PP?
6:34
"twewy is like heelys"
actual savant level take jesus christ
yeah kbash is a savant alright, just not in the way you might initially think
even though i only seen a lets play of neo, i just love how everyone's personality is on full display at all times like nagi. She isn't nice to Frett when he is being fake but you can see her do a 180 when he's being genuine in small bits before his arc. hell you might even notice Fret use his Remind before he even knows he can do it. Its so rare to feel like videogame characters show subtle quirks that influence their personality so heavily. character just overcome trauma but now they can do this 1 thing with full confidence.
we never seize to find whats beneath or on the horizon! always keep that in mind!
The thing about the secret reports is that they don’t really spoil anything. By the time you get around to finding them, both you and the characters likely know what’s going on. In the case of Neo TWEWY, you definitely do, because the only way to get most of the secret reports is to fight secret bosses, which you can only find after making friends with a character that you only meet near the end of the game.
The secret reports merely expand on these big plot reveals that you already saw, giving you an insight into the inner workings of stuff.
Neo Twewy surpassed all my expectations of how a Twewy sequel could work out all these years later than the original. Both games are dear to my heart, and masterpieces in my eyes. Both have the same soul, but they execute themselves in pretty different ways. You can tell the developers actually had passion for both projects.
Playing co-op with yourself in the switch version is such a big brain move it almost sounds like how you were intended to play. Also never forgiving Sqeenix for sending Neo out to die.
If Neo twewy is going to die out, I'll be the first person to take back where it's rightfully heir 😌✋🏻 Don't worry, I hype things up and make sure twewy have a proper game in the future (well, I have a story light novel/web novel based on real life places. Which starts at Yamanashi, Tokyo, every district and prefectures. Luckily, they are perfectly suited for my timeline favorite game like twewy, so it's a rare chance to spice things up after Square gave it a whole bad game rep, I hate how they did that to my comfort game 😭😭💀)
I'm always glad when TWEWY gets some love. Fans give it more than Square itself has. I sure hope we can get a third game sooner than it took for the second one.
Aaaah that intro just hit the right spot. TWEWY's got a special spot and you can defo feel it by the way you express yourself, how you convey your love for the franchise in this video. ♥
I played the original game my junior year of highschool around when it initially launched. I could not fathom how different of a person I would be without this game. It was truly the right game at the right time
we dot not say no to experience... only to complexity... beauty lies in simplicity... life is not easy... but if we embrace whats difficult and complex... we can prepare for whats ahead.
hd version still procession, i was up late =_=
*processing
It's early
You play TWEWY by blowing.
TWEWY was the type of game I wish I could have given a younger me, what an incredible story
The soundtrack for this game is so damn good. I almost tear up every time I hear "Deja Vu".
I agree and same, I kept getting distracted singing along to the songs that I like which is most of them lol
Man it was incredibly satisfying to watch this video. TWEWY, if it isn't apparent from my profile picture, is my favorite game of all time. It's incredibly stylish and fun, while also containing gameplay-narrative cohesion that puts most big modern titles to shame. Really glad to see you cover this in such detail.
I'm glad you mentioned how scenes in the game get recontextualized once you've finished it in Neo's case. Once I realized that(Along with the secret reports, because BOY do those go even further with things) I had to go on the ride again and now I was piecing together things and my mind was getting blown from all sides.
man, i wanna 100% the game on ps4 and read those SO BAD!! i beat it on switch, but next time it goes on sale i’d love to experience a better looking, higher quality version
To anyone who isn't aware, the Switch version has touch controls if you play it undocked and it's AMAZING. Don't hesitate getting that version, since it comes with vast improvements for literally everything else.
You can crank the sound and literally feel the music pulse in your fingertips, I love it
@@starbreaker6441 No, they're not. It's actually better AND more fun than the DS version, including the whole touch screen combat as a whole.
It's okay if you're just not good at it, bro
@@amnesiaWTF in terms of gameplay the DS version still takes the cake. Reducing your partner to a just another pin was understandable as we're no longer using dual screen but it's limiting to say the least. It was more fun controlling both characters at the same time and have unique combos depending on the directions inputed on the Dpad
@@kaos-qc5ho Despite the fact that the combat with pins was always infinitely more fun than pressing buttons on the D-pad, the partner in SR and FR isn't "just another pin", much less "reduced". The fact that you can use the touch screen to control both the partner and pins *at the same time* and combo with them (since pins themselves can only be used one at a time) adds an elevated layer of complexity and fun to the best part of the combat that the DS version didn't have.
Of course, the enjoyment of this is subjective and if you had more fun using the D-pad than controlling Neku, that's fine. I played both versions extensively, so I understand each of their appeal - I just personally believe the modern version is way more fun (and vastly superior in practically every aspect of the game).
I genuinely think neo is the aliens to twewy's alien effectively a perfect sequel and it deserve an award for such good story telling through it's gameplay cutscenes and music every element took what I love about the original and just expanded on it it is a fantastic sequel to a game that ended pretty conclusively and somehow completely changed my perspective on the first games need for a continuation
1 minute into this anime game review and we're in a certified KBash self-reflexive existential spiral, I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm glad to see one of my favorite game series get more spotlight and hope it leads to more people exeperincing it. TWEWY has always been close to me because of it's story and how every return with every re-relased I grasped the context better. And while NEO didn't really click with me like the original did, I do want to give it another go since ive gotten 3+ runs with the first game to have what it set out to do process in my mind, and with some extra context from the video hat did fly over my head, I think maybe I need to go back soon..
I first learned of this series about when Final Remix came out, and I liked it, but wasn't the most passionate about it because I couldn't get into the controls. Then NEO dropped and as I played through the game I was initially frsutrated by the story, before eventually warming up to it more and more. By Week 3 I'd realised that it had become my favourite game ever, which I thought simply impossible, because the previous game to hold that title (Persona 5), was so important to me when I found it that it's pretty much directly responsible for me being alive today. NEO was such an incredible experience and I'm so grateful that there are people out there who can spread the word of why these games are so important and special. Thanks KBash.
speaking of persona 5
shiki kinda reminds me of kasumi
i won’t say why to avoid spoilers for twewy and p5r
My reaction to NEO was “wait what” because the first time I heard about it was when I saw it randomly on my Amazon recommendations and I thought it was the HD port of the og game to switch. Keep in mind, I know about every video game. I am in the pulse, and NEO managed to completely slide under my radar. Squenix completely failed to advertise the game at all.
Okay this is for the mouth-breathers that want to contest my claim; of course I don’t know every video game. What I was trying to convey was that I keep up with a great many releases, and somehow, the game that had next to no marketing behind it somehow managed to fly under my radar. Who would have guessed. If you are replying to let me know about how you knew about this game that was coming out that had zero presence online, congratulations, you’re a bigger loser than I am. I’m not bragging when I say I know a lot about games, in fact, I find it deeply shameful and embarrassing.
To be fair, you had the benefit of not seeing the second (and last) trailer for Neo, which spoiled a bit of the endgame
@@enrique7925 still I can't say I've regretted seeing them at all tho
All the hype leading up to this was unreal.
Even though square utterly failed in marketing the game to a wide audience...
I still gotta say they were totally on point with what they decided to show and when.
Maybe you're not as in the know as you think you are...pulse man. 🙄
Yeah, Square utterly failed to promote it. They were too focused on that Avengers game as well as Guardians of the Galaxy. At least the latter was good, but it still hurt to see. Especially with such good games.
Yo, this guy knows about every video game. Poggers.
Hey Kbash, thanks for giving this series some love and coverage. This game holds a special place in my heart and this video essay brought a much needed smile to my face. Hope you're doing well, man.
NEO TWEWY and The Great Ace Attorney dropped on the same day, so my husband and I literally had to come up with a schedule for our one Switch.
you can afford two!
This is a really great video… Happy to see you go over both of the games.
I think that most people tend to like Neku more than Rindo- he sticks out a lot, his character development is clear and fun and interesting, but man, Rindo ended up being one of my favorite characters of all time. He’s just some guy, really. Just some guy who’s indecisive and a little mean but not blatantly, introverted but not to an extreme, and someone simply trying to make it through life. For some reason his character really spoke to me by the end of it. He loves his friends and he loves Shibuya. Twewy and Neo are really great games with really great characters!
NEO:TWEWY SPOILERS:
I remember so viscerally when frets backstory was revealed. It was the moment that I really started to realize how good the writing on this game was. It’s probably because I lost a friend to suicide and could related very heavily with fret but I still think that’s important. Being able to write characters that not only have relatable experiences but relatable reactions to this experiences is hard but Neo: twewy did it.
Yeah, my feelings to a T there regarding the differences between the casts in TWEWY and NEO. Neku leaves such a stronger impression than Rindo, but because it's INTENTIONAL I didn't really mind. The story fully intends on making Rindo a far weaker, drifting personality who is far more passive than Neku, and then explores that mentality and where it comes from, what it does to his social interactions and even how it can help him... on occassion. It makes it interesting when we get Beat back in the team and he's the same as he was back then, and how that plays with the team dynamic. Like, if you're the type who cathegorically dislikes narratives with passive leads because you're not interested in exploring them or want more dynamic stories I totally see how NEO would disappoint in comparison to TWEWY, but I dug the story well enough that I could bear some irritations. Besides, he and Shoka's report ended up being very interesting because of that- her abrasive personality ended up wearing at him until even Rindo took a stand, and then the two of them managed to become much greater together... dang, it's sorta-kinda like a gender-flipped version of Neku and Shiki, in that regard. Didn't even realize that until now. Good stuff still, good stuff. Did not expect to like Nagi as much as I did, either.
Yeah, the twewy games are pretty underrated.
For me at least, NEO actually blew the first one out of the water and I like the dub as well.
(Rindo in particular, since his VA was a big fan of the original, and you can hear him giving his all)
I bought NEO on day one. I loved the english dubbed.
Also, the game didn't flop. Sqaure was wanting it to sell like ff7 remake. It didnt. So it didnt meet their standards . It did make its money back.
it’s moments like the hot dog water orange pekoe that truly makes it stand apart as performance art
i really want to know what you think abou ethics, not in a bad way... since i know youve made it this far.
@@sebastianwardana1527 huh
man. this game changed my life. thanks so much for covering it, i love everything about both these games and i cannot express that enough.
When I first played TWEWY as a bright-eyed youngster, I was like "I'm glad that Neku learnt that lesson"
Nowadays when I think about it again as an old lady, I'm like "Neku was right all along, I just want to shut the world out now" lol
so you played the game and didn't listen to anything it told you?
i played both games pretty close to each other and i actually found myself connecting with the neo twewy cast a lot more, and having beat back was a bonus since he was my absolute fave from the first. i think the neo twewy cast is great, i'm a little surprised to hear ppl were kinda lukewarm on them at first. maybe this is bc i find rindo a bit more relatable than neku since i never went through an edgy phase like he did.
I've been fascinated by the TWEWY series forever but never played it, and when the remake came out it was panned for the control scheme so I still never played it. The way you articulate why certain games are good or important makes me really want to pick this up finally
Thank you for this. NEO TWEWY is ridiculously underrated and is truly up there with the first game as some of my favorite games of all time.
How do you consistently make a video around the exact time that I'm going through video-game critique withdrawals? This is like the fourth time dude...
TWEWY is my favorite game of all time and it always pleases me when I see someone covering it. Amazing vid KBash!
I was a huge og twewy fan and I bought Neo when it came out. I set it aside after a few hours because I was busy with work though, and never got around to playing more. This video made me actually go finish it! I stopped watching before you spoiled the ending so I could experience it myself, and it was really worth it.
I’ve never felt so eager to watch a bunch of cutscenes and see how the characters interact. I eventually went back down in difficulty just so I could focus on the story, because I was more interested in how I interacted with the world than any of the combat
50 minutes gushing about what is definitely my favorite duology in anything and I'm so here for it.
That 'drop the Beat' joke got me.
I have been waiting for so long to have a person who has so many profound words and human insight about videogames, to talk about TWEWY.
Thank you.
TWEWY is my favorite game of all time, I have a huge emotional attachment to it and has helped some of the best things in my life to happen. Neo was a fantastic addition and I could seriously gush about this seriously all day, which I have. It's just so important to me hence why a lot of my tattoos are TWEWY based. I'm really happy to see a video like this
Fret and Neku both are the way they are because they had a friend who died (you find out about Neku's friend in the Pin Slammer day when finding CAT). I don't know why, but I find it strange how you never find out who these friends are and how they died. I was expecting it to be revealed they were the same person, or there was alternate universe shenanigans where Fret and Neku were the dead friends mentioned, but each one died in a different reality. Clearly, that's not the case, but I am 99% sure the writers are planning some sequel with this plot point.
This video is amazing! Thank you so much for making this, the TWEWY games are some of my favorites of all time and it makes me indescribably happy to see such a great analysis of them. You helped me realize a lot of things about these games I’d overlooked before, and I’m grateful!
I introduced my best friend to TWEWY and had him play the DS version on an emulator. Because of that, we were able to do co-op with him controlling Neku and me controlling his partners.
That's a good friend right there
a little out of nowhere but i love your thumbnails man, they're really well put together and suit your style.
I asked for NEO for a christmas gift because Tahk0 recommended it, and it absolutely broke me at the time. I still need to learn from it. Absolutely one of if not my favourite narrative games.
loved TWEWY when I was a kid and I just started NEO and I'm loving it so far: can't wait to see what you have to say!
The world does not deserve TWEWY....it is one of those gems that remain hidden and those who have played it, held it very close to their hearts. I'm one of those people.
I do love and appreciate the love and appreciation in this. TWEWY is in my top 5 games of my life, and it hit me when I was 20 and just getting out of my parents' place. This game taught me about Japan and Shibuya and another country's youth culture, and it taught me that I can like ANY kind of music depending on how it's used - a direct application of the game's messaging and pushing myself beyond my usual boundaries. Experiencing something new, clashing, and learning from it.
This past weekend I just finished NEO. Now I live in Tokyo and I'm making games for the next generation of players. I actually played the sequel in Japanese, so I'm sure I missed some stuff but it felt like too perfect an opportunity not to take advantage of. This world helped move me TO shibuya, and even if I don't catch everything, I wanted to expose myself to even more of the culture shock and push my own growth by doing it in the native language.
This video helped convince me I should make time to go back to the original again. I do have the DS cart on my shelf, but maybe I'll play it on switch. For the Japanese version. Experience something old in another new way and learn something. :)
TWEWY was one of the best games, and it was one that I needed back in High School. I was that one guy that drifted from group to group, spending a little time here, a little time there. Never conforming perfectly to any one group. TWEWY was a masterpiece, and I both played the DS version, as well as the Final Remix version. Undocked, and made important use of the touch screen.
NEO:TWEWY though, despite being a fantastic game, is one that objectively, I gotta rate as a 7.9/10. It's great at what it does well, but the flaws are there, and it's kind of awkward. I will say, major props to trusting the player though. I remember my friend being confused about Kaz, and, without any concrete knowledge, I answer "Oh, that's because he's this." and spelled out my reasoning. NEO has some serious props given to its narrative, and it shows. But in doing so, has a few bum notes.
I'm still 100% a TWEWY fanboy though, and I'm not going to deny it.
“neku is the most relatable character” yeah, i feel that so much.
Can't believe you just spent a full 30 minutes talking about OG twewy without once mentioning its genius approach to the overworld's optional fights and npc interactions with the scanning mechanic.
I honestly cannot understate how impressed I was with such a unique and fresh design choice in an old JRPG and how neatly it all fits into the narrative of the game.
Side note: punctuation marks are for nerds
@@indecisiveponderer643 Dang it, I was too Zetta Slow to correct you in time.
NEO: TWEWY kind of echoes a lot of issues i had with Kingdom Hearts 3 where it felt like square thought of these really cool events with existing characters but forgot they had to write something that led up to that, would’ve much preferred if the time travel was used much more sparingly and in its place were more normal based missions that focus on more of the characters
Same while I enjoyed NEO I did feel the time travel aspect dragged the story down a bit with how often it was used and I don’t think it was especially used in an interesting way.
KBash: video games, anime, and philosophy. My hero
These games NEED more attention, they're so good; brimming with life, an original style with charming memorable cast of characters and catchy tunes that to this day I still rock out to every other week.
I'm furious that Square put the least amount of effort of advertising NEO leading to low sales. This is the same company that put all their attention to crypto and nfts to only then blow up in their face the coming days. I love Square's games but their business practices are as bad as Nintendo's nowadays, I hate it.
I waited to finish the game to watch the second half and you did not disappoint
Dude I see Kbash posting about TWEWY, I click with a twitch reflex I never knew I had. Thank you for continuing to give us such great content ☺️❤️
Trying this series thanks to you.
WOOOOO TWEWY REVIEW!! Never played the games, I couldn’t get into it but banger review
The pacing and ending of neo was pretty rough for me.
an issue and weirdness with the plot was that the ‘executor’ was added at the last minute and beat and neku had completely different roles in the original draft.
I really wish they stuck with those ideas.
Honestly, Beat purposely posing as Neku would’ve raised more questions and plot holes if I’m being honest.
Word? Is there any way to see that original draft on the Internet?
That red underwear reveal almost got me in trouble.
Ok but I actually love the english translation work on both games. Seriously the people whining about how its inaccurate don't have any idea what they're talking about. The whole deal of the game is about being hip and on the now! If the jp version uses jp lingo, then the use of English internet slang is a given. Hell, that's the reason the first TWEWY did so well in the west. If anything, the sequel's translation is more literal than the first game's. Y'all should be grateful that we got a translator that cares this much, doing a literal sounding word for word repetition would have been ten times easier for him. Heck there's this thing I read on the wiki about how he saw the game on TGS in 2007 and begged the bosses to let him translate it because he loved it so much, imma see if I can find the url.
Are you serious? The localization is terrible. Games so Japanese should not be this horribly westernized. They absolutely destroyed the scene where Shouka gets erased by translating it incorrectly, thank goodness I played with Japanese audio so I could enjoy the scene the way it was meant to be with that revelation that happened, even with my limited Japanese.
@@eri_noemi1462 You know that people like you are the reason why Weebs are the butt of the jokes of the entire internet almost 24/7, right?
I really wanted to love the original DS game but I never had that moment where the combat system clicks for me. I got to the final boss just frantically struggling to go back and forth between the top and bottom screens as fast as possible and just kept getting overwhelmed. Tried grinding too but not even that helped
Dude, just spam Lightning Rook.
@@thebigchungus4515 can you believe its EVEN stornger in Solo Remix and onwards? They BUFFED it. Double Lightning go brrrrr
I don't actually pay attention to the second screen tbh. For me and lots of other people it amounts to mindlessly pressing the button as fast as possible without looking or thinking about it, only paying attention to the top screen when you need stars for a supermove. And I've 100%ed the game on EX with that strategy. Or you could use a mic-blow pin whilst looking at the top screen or something. Also for an OP setup check out the Burst rounds pins, and the green shorts or the purple sneakers.
Having my gaming brain rot channeled into a chaotic and well edited video is what I follow you for, doing the Lord's work.
Still loving your videos and commentary, seriously I've dug thru your entire backlog and I always immediately download your new videos to listen to at work because you're just that entertaining. And I don't want to undercut that praise with unsolicited comments on your appearance but as a man who could never pull off long hair, I think you're really rocking it now. Keep on knockin' em outta the park KBash
I’ll admit I have really been struggling with NEO. I absolutely love the style and want to get engaged with the story and characters, but the rough start and gameplay that I didn’t fully understand held me back. I think I’ll try to play the original first, then go back with a fresh mind to hopefully appreciate it anew.
You should definitely play the original first. It's aged well, and is better than the sequel.
@@halkon4412 I honestly view both as equal. There are aspects that one does better than the other.
@Daten-shi Ⓙ
Mild disagree, I think the original used the system it was on much better than NEO did and had better gameplay as a result
Storywise, I’d have thought the original was better too but the final act was so goddamn good that I actually prefer NEO at the end of it all
(I also stan Shoka harder than just about any other character like anyone with good taste does)
@@SunshineJesse I disagree on that. Most of the time, you’re fighting separate enemies that just so happen to share a health bar and while that’s cool and all, I feel like the only times the game ever actually took advantage of the concept of the screens affecting the other’s end was in Konishi’s fight, where you can send Taboo Noise into hole in the ground to make her visible for Beat to tackle or send her up to Beat and back again with Rhyme or the bat boss, where you have to use Shiki or Beat to free the lights in order to make the bat visible for Neku to fight. Those were genuinely really cool and I would’ve loved for the game to do more fights like that.
I also think that Week 3 loses some steam mechanically and it’s especially noticeable in the boss design.
Taboo Sho mechanically is really stripped down from his previous incarnation, having less moves overall and just spamming long-ranged projectiles at you, making him little more than a glorified Kariya, who at least had Spark Core for close-range. He lacks the duality aspect of his original fight, which asked you to not only manage him but also the Taboo Noise that he summons and absorbs into himself to transform, not to mention how you can influence what screen he appears on by taking out the Taboo Noise on one end to make him appear there in order to take advantage of those puck-boosted finishers.
Uzuki and Kariya are still pretty damn cool even though I have some minor problems with the fight (mainly how some of Uzuki’s attacks are telegraphed). It’s a really great showcase of the game’s themes not just being used for the heroes but for the villains as well, which I’m a sucker for. Though I do find it a bit odd that their berserk forms are able to use Fusions while their normal selves aren’t. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the opposite to happen? Eh, it doesn’t really matter in the long run.
Kitaniji and Shiki I’m mixed about. On the one hand, Kitaniji is actually pretty solid on his own. He has good tells, a pretty cool time stop gimmick that you can maneuver around, and a good variety of moves to use (dragon arm bite, fireball spam, orbs that can summon slow-moving projectiles [which you can actually attack to make them disappear), lasers that move along a line, etc…). Plus the fishes in the floor actually follow Neku where he moves, which is a neat touch. On the other hand, Shiki’s top-screen portion is a mess. For some reason, the devs didn’t think to take away her invincibility frames in her portion of the fight so you’ll be stuck doing nothing despite mashing Beat’s controls no matter what and she has no openings at all even if you give Beat threads that decrease his combo panels. Also doesn’t help that Mr. Mew’s attacks come out too fast for Beat to consecutively block. In short, one portion of the fight is super solid, the other portion is a mess of design.
Konishi is actually a really cool puzzle boss. Takes advantage of the dual screens in a really creative way, has great presentation, and actually ties together the story and mechanics in a seamless way, allowing you to take her down with either Beat or Rhyme for the cathartic finish.
Anguis Cantus is just “eh, okay.” The top screen portion has a tendency to just go down to the bottom, which basically means free damage for your partner while you focus on Neku and his attacks are pretty easy to dodge thanks to the generous wind-up they each have.
Draco Cantus mechanically and thematically sucks as a final boss. The battle system revolves around you learning how to control two different characters at once and has you getting down each of your partner’s movesets to reinforce the game’s message of trust and communication only to throw all of that away to have Neku’s partners acts like glorified Light Puck batteries and more and less have him take on the final boss himself in a boring bullet hell-esque segment that you can cheese like it’s nothing with Psychs like Lightning Arrester, Entanglement, and Time Bomb. Sure, the final Fusion Neku does is cool but that’s about it.
Hell, even the Blue Noise feel uninspired compared to what came before. Compare the Grindcore Minks and Progfox (bosses that actually do have unique moves to them that their base Noise archetypes don’t have) to Wooly AOR and Goth Metal Drake (just buffed up versions of their base Noise archetypes with stat tweaks).
Overall, I still like Week 3 for the narrative payoff and the chemistry between Neku and Beat and some of the new Noise introduced are pretty cool but between all of this, the inclusion of the random Reaper encounters everytime you enter a new area, and the repeat of bosses (you not only get to fight Pteropus AGAIN with no actual moveset change but also Uzuki and Kariya back-to-back three separate times), I can’t help but wonder if they were pressed for time or they were just tapped out at that point. Even the plot feels like it's largely just blasting towards the end rather than giving you as much in between to build on, though that at least makes sense with the story.
By contrast, I think Week 3 in NEO was more mechanically solid and had more good payoffs throughout.
Granted, I don’t think it’s perfect (I think Kanon’s Plague Noise possession was a missed opportunity to have an actual Kanon boss fight instead of just Plague Scorpion and the last day can feel particularly repetitive with how you have to jump back and forth in order to get everything in place to combat the final boss) but overall, the boss line-up is much more solid (Sho, Shiba, Ayano, and Suzy K in the same week? Hell yeah), the payoffs are excellent, and even the days change up in interesting ways, like having to help Shoka learn to how deal with facing Ayano via VN choices or the entire day where Rindo loses his memories due to the Plague Noise tampering with his mind and now he has to travel back in order to piece together what happened.
Absolute banger of a video my guy. Well done.
I never comment on things but this was absolutely stellar content. Thanks!
The G-string gag had me loudly chuckle in a quite office, well played.
I cry erytime. TWEWY the goat, nothing else comes close.
I'm so happy you are talking about these games! Especially since you mentioned them a couple of times! Massively Underrated games that need more attention!
One of my favourites of yours! I will now be referring to the NEO cast as the kino kids from now on
I legit like how they subtly imply Rindou is a former shut-in without fully saying he is one via information told to you subtly
Yay let's gooooo. Been waiting ages to see your take on this.
i'm totally not that fan that was begging Square for a sequel year after year. no bias.
Oh we are in the good shit now. It's fulfiling to see something actually niche get a sequel that's fucking good.
Easily one of your best videos, I think you really did TWEWY justice
I LOVED this game as a kid. And it's inspired me to dig up my copy of Final Remix to finally get around to replaying it... Mid video. Also I never knew Minamimoto was in the new one. I had an unhealthy obsession with him and already became sold on the game as soon as I saw. It's been FAR too long! 😭
Edit: And I will have to return post NEO for spoiler section lmao. Love the video
While the NEO story isn't as strongly developed as the first, I mean, Nagi is written like a self-righteous asshole and its justified with "I'm emotionally intelligent," I do like that the game's THEME is a continuation of the previous one.
The first game is centered around how reliance on others is necessary to live, first with a pact literally being mandatory to use psychs, but also through how each partner is a foil to Neku which helps him progress through the variety of noise, puzzles and the mystery of how to beat the repear's game.
The second game is centered around how important it is to be honest to your friends, Rindo and Fret's argument is solved when the two reveal to each other the source of their emotions, AnOther revealing himself to be a fraud, Fret's unexplainable trust of Kanon ending up being vital to their success.
The ONE thing that killed me about Final Remix is the fact that they didn't use A Lullaby for You as end credits music. That shit slaps THE HARDEST and it suits the end of the game to a fucking T.
I like run away better than lullaby for you. I don’t know why, but there’s something about lullaby for you that doesn’t click for me, while run away can almost always bring me to tears.
@@Beefboss72 To each their own.
dude yes. yes. im the voice of nagi in the english version and dude. YES. i watched this whole goddang thing
i still like the visual style of TWEWY even now tbh. especially the enemies in TWEWY 1 (for the sake of pinpointing which game let's call it that)
Youre my hero kbash, your content is so fucking good man, continue being you please, you come so far i am proud
Love your content LeBash and so happy you not only covered this series, but felt a similar level of resonances with it.
I remember making my parents drive me almost 40 minutes to the only gamestop in my town just to buy this, and was utterly absorbed into it. Nothing has come close to starching the itch this game left me. Truly goat.
I hate how Square treats TWEWY as a franchise, this game is just underrated it just hurts that this story is not as widely known as other Square's famous IPs
I'm hype for Magneton LET'S GO
Also thank you for selling me on the TWEWY series. I have NEO but haven't played it yet, and I plan on buying the original soon. Those poor sales figures got me in my feelings bro.
The part where you told me to go and eat to take care of me really hit home... havent eaten today yet xD
Other than that, this got me interrested more in the sequal. been a bit interrested before but i might get the game sometime! :)
Could only watch half since I haven’t gotten around to NEO yet (gonna let the vid play fully to help tho) but TWEWY is easily one of my fav games ever. I remember buying it for the DS on release and during a subsequent visit to Game Stop with my dad, I mentioned the title to him and soon found myself in small discussion group of two store associates and like 3 other customers just absolutely gushing about how much we were loving the game. It’s one of those games that I wish I could wipe my memory just to experience again for the first time.
YOU ARE SO ENTIRELY CORRECT it's so odd how hard it is to find good videos on twewy, glad to find this BD
I played it as a kid on the ds and finished it twice, it was so good. Just saw some people talking about it and was hit with major nostalgia so now im watching youtube vids. I'm thinking of watching the anime for a refresher on the story before seeing if I can play the sequel
TWEWY needs to be played by more people
Been waiting for a good video not just on the original twewy but neo, was on the fence about getting neo but I'll give it a try now
Okay real talk, never understood the argument against ntwewys localization. "Oh no these teenagers are sounding like...teenagers." Plus I give kudos for Square Enix for casting smaller vas/unknowns in some of their games, Dragon Quest, Octopath, ffxiv.
42:54 BET 😂, as I'm still on first week, I'm guessing she can't move forward in a similar way to rin being indecisive. Thematically with her as his team's assigned reaper, it would make some kind of sense
(Or maybe when rin can't move forward on a decision, maybe she looks too down on herself to make a decision and thus have the ability to "look up" , eh? Eh?😅 That's the best guess I got currently lol)
You nailed my issue with NEO's main characters -- they're paradoxical. Fret is the "funny" guy but I was absolutely expecting him to heel turn at any time because of how false he came across (plus he was the one who pulled Rindo into the game in the first place...)
And Rindo. What a complete non-entity. A character with so little agency, someone written to be so passive and ineffectual that you just end up wishing he'd do ANYTHING interesting to break up the monotony of nothing.
Small spoiler, the game tries to convince you that Rindo's main flaw, the crux of everything in the story, is how he refuses to take responsibility for his actions. How can someone who NEVER MAKES A DECISION BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING WHEN HE JUST LETS OTHER PEOPLE LEAD THE WAY AND BLUNDER INTO DANGER?! Then the game goes "oh, well if Rindo had just dealt with the consequences of his choices, everything would be alright!" -- no, no, no. Shut up. How late into the writing did you decide this and why doesn't ANYTHING reflect this?!
I get the point you make about Rindo's power recontextualising the flat scenes but I wouldn't agree it does anything as a lot of issues come from Rindo not doing anything or saying things that could just cut to the quick of the situation.
I love NEO. I genuinely do. The themes, direction, villains, everything else EXCEPT Rindo and Fret.
>How can someone who NEVER MAKES A DECISION BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING WHEN HE JUST LETS OTHER PEOPLE LEAD THE WAY AND BLUNDER INTO DANGER?!
That’s
That’s literally the entire point of Rindo’s character. He whines and moans whenever someone tries to push responsibility onto him and tries to pin his responsibility onto other people: he heavily relies on Sho to do the heavy lifting for the team as their MVP and didn’t even want to recruit Nagi at first because he was so sure that Sho would carry the team on his own only for that to bite him in the ass. THEN in Week 2, he tries to recruit “Neku” so that he can get the Legendary Player to carry the team yet again only for it to turn out to be Beat, who Rindo is less than enthused to have him around at first before he starts opening up to the guy. There’s also he didn’t confide into his teammates about his time travel abilities until Sho dragged it out in the open for the others to know about. To Rindo, following along with who he already knew while not confiding in them kept him safe and able to just slip through life without having to worry; thus avoiding any potential responsibility.
Think of it like this: “I'm in a group project; everybody is contributing and making decisions about how we should go about doing things. I keep my mouth shut and refrain from pitching in despite maybe thinking some of their ideas misses the point of the assignment. Because God forbid that my ideas could be helpful. Or maybe they won’t but that’s life I guess. We end up handing in our project and whoops, we got a C-. I guess I'm not responsible for receiving that grade because I never made a decision, therefore I shouldn't be accountable for my lack of contribution.”
You see that paragraph? That’s basically Rindo in a nutshell.
???
I'm not going to address Fret since all I got from this was that you expected him to turn on the team or something idk? You ain't giving me much to work with.
There seems to be a misunderstanding in regards to Rindo though.
Its not that he makes bad decisions and wont accept responsibility, its that he hesitates to act make decisions or contribute PERIOD and then complains when shit hits the fan.
Rindo initially can't reach his full potential because he lets other people take the lead and passes the buck to others when HE should be contributing.
Its about understanding your CIRCUMSTANCES, knowing what you want and THEN taking action and accepting responsibility for the choices that you make. This is something that he is afraid of doing. Becauce he fears risk, he fears failure. This is his character flaw.
Both Nagi and Fret call him out on this behavior on Week 1 and Week 2 respectivley.
To paraphrase Nagi: "How dare you blame other people without thinking about what YOU can do?"
To paraphrase Fret: "You bitch and moan about everything but when we ask, you say nothing."
That's why during the Replay segments he speaks up and takes control of the situation to lead the team to victory, he has to think things through and be more assertive and mindful.
This is notable in the Final Day where he has not only given up the Deus Ex Machina given to him by Haz in the form of Shibuya's saftey but risk the existence of Shibuya to the Dissonance Noise, all for his friends. It is a very reckless and risky decision. Almost selfish even.
But THAT is what makes it one of the most powerful moments in the story.
In this pivital moment, Rindo understands the circumstances behind the Final Replay, knows that above all his friends are what he wants to protect, and takes action by performing the Final Replay, accepting that it is now HIS RESPONSIBILITY to save Shibuya from the Dissonance after putting it and it's citizens in harms way. To which he then succeeds with flying colors.
There are other moments regarding Rindo's overall character and how he develops. Particularly from how he interacts with Shoka, Shiba, and Motoi, but I'm stopping here.
@@thebigchungus4515 I see your point, especially with the example, and I was a little emotionally charged when I wrote my comment -- but while everything is true, I think I can better articulate my problems now:
My issue comes back to how what the game does with Rindo doesn't reflect what the game SAYS it does with Rindo and his arc as a character. If those reports had said "Rindo never made decisions so we forced him to act for better or worse" I'd be absolutely fine with that aspect, if it focused more on him overcoming passivity and indecision.
But it doesn't. It says it's about him not taking responsibility for his decisions, and that's a completely different thing. That's more akin to Rindo making the worst decisions based on impulse or letting things get out of control due to his passivity and not making choices when he really should have.
In this case also, the report writer would be actively chastising him for using his power, rather than his powers reflecting an opportunity to make the right decisions when he needed to instead of just going with the flow into ruin.
I just feel what the game presents in the story as you play it is completely undercut and confused by what it says the real issue with Rindo was in the metanarrative of the reports. If the focus had been the same in both, I wouldn't have disliked Rindo so much personally. It felt jarring to see this kid develop and start making choices/plans and grow and have the game go "His REAL issue was never dealing with the consequences of his actions!!" as if that was the same thing.
Thank you for taking the time to parse through my late night nonsense rant though!
Thank you so much. These games are just brilliant and deserve all the recognition.