I played the demo for NEO, and found that while the combat was good, the story was somewhat unimpressive even though the demo covers the first three days. The characters were decidedly less interesting, and the plot didn't have any of the surprises that the original did. Take how in the original, Neku got manipulated into trying to kill Shiki at the end of the second day.
The original had a significantly smaller and more manageable cast- four party members, three Game Masters, one Conductor and a handful of other secondary characters- which makes it easier to develop each of the characters.
I also think NEO should have had an entirely new cast, with the possible exception of Joshua and Hanekoma, since Neku, Shiki and Beat all completed their character arcs.
As much as I enjoyed the original, I doubt I'll buy the sequel. This is a good review, and I especially appreciate you using spoiler tags.
I haven\'t quite finished the game, but I had the opposite experience—I don\'t like it mechanically, have mixed feelings on the plot, but am reasonably impressed with the character work
Finished the game. I would argue that characters from the first game being in the game actually makes sense. It ties this game’s plot with the first game’s and the characters barely appear because this isn’t just a sequel to the first game. It’s its own story. The story of viewed as a whole is focused on the new characters. Even though Beat is a party member, you learn very little about him. Same for Neku. The writers know that they’ve already finished their character arc. I’m pretty sure the message is enjoy the now, like Hanekoma says. If you focus too much on the elements from the past Game, you won’t enjoy this game. It’s a smart thing the first game’s characters barely appear in it. It’s so they don’t distract from the plot. I think the cast not having the same amount of depth as the first game was okay. They’re basically a bunch of nobodies caught up in the game. Unlike the first game, the main character is not the direct proxy of the bad guy. He’s just some chump that has the right flaws to manipulate. And the plot is treated that way. The characters are not gonna get ahead by going with the flow. They have to make an effort to win. Saying all of this, I can agree that the game doesn’t have as much impact as the first game. But I would say it doesn’t have much less impact if you choose to pay attention to what does make this game.
Let me get this straight: you believe that bringing back previous player characters with completed character arcs into central roles as party members and doing nothing with them somehow means they\'re barely there, not distracting to the plot and makes the experience standalone, but at the same time that they should be there to connect to the first game? Excuse me if I find your opening statement to be contradictory Doublethink.
And why shouldn\'t NEO be compared to the first game when the dev team is going out of their way to reference and reuse it so much? Instead of going for a new setting, they brought back the same district and characters, even going so far as to Retcon an entire faction\'s alignment in the Secret Reports to justify further conflict in Shibuya. How does Neku\'s story in NEO end after they killed him off in A New Day? By repeating his reunion with Shiki at Hachiko statue for cheap emotional fuel when he already had his happy ending in the first game. And how about Another Day\'s The Stinger? It ends on the absolute same meta-note as A New Day: \"Pi-Face will totally be up to something in the sequel, buy our next game,\" which as anyone who\'s finished the game can tell you, nothing of the sort happened. Where does that leave the OG crew? At the exact same position they were at the end of the previous game. If the dev team is trying so hard to tie the TWEWY franchise to Shibuya, then it is absolutely fair to judge what they\'re doing from the roots of the original and how its world is being expanded or rather, the lack thereof effort in doing so.
Perhaps you haven\'t read NEO\'s Secret Reports yet? Rindo is just like Neku, Joshua\'s proxy chosen for their Fatal Flaw to determine the fate of Shibuya. And perhaps you\'ve forgotten that Shiki and Beat were random people swept up into Reapers\' Game? In what manner does that justify NEO\'s cast having less depth, especially when one of the core messages of TWEWY is how everyone has their own story?
You say the cast did not go with the flow and made an effort to win? Bullshit. They coasted along and did nothing to circumvent the Game with Kariya outright telling them there was nothing to do but wait for an opportunity and their only attempt to do so with Kanon was swatted down. Hell, the NEO party followed the rules from start to finish while Neku had more rule-breaking than that with the entirety of his Week 3.
And I did judge NEO by it\'s own merits and found it lacking. Half the new cast are there to die and give the main party more motivation to fight on. Or perhaps I should highlight Hishima whose existence is literally \"Shiba\'s ex-BFF\". And I\'ll point to the above paragraph about the plot: the main party coasted along and barely developed, Shiba\'s plan was absolutely contrived in an attempt to repeat the first game\'s three-week structure, and NEO barely expanded the world of TWEWY.
If you say NEO had its own impact, then by all means I would ask you to share it.
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Shibuya without its soul: a disappointing follow-up to TWEWY with its shallow cast and story.
This is focused on the story and characters because of the 3k character limit. I found the gameplay and music suitable in my path to 100% completion otherwise, though a friend took issue with the combat, citing camera issues, the auto-lockon, lack of precision in the jump to 3D, certain pin types being unviable, and lack of individuality between party members so YMMV.
To start, the game should've been standalone; all the returning characters have little impact on the plot and could've easily been written out with their role as nostalgia bait for marketing purposes quite evident. From the growing importance of Shibuya in the Secret Reports, it wouldn't be a shock to hear of Executive Meddling thinking NEO, and any future sequels, wouldn't sell unless set in the same city as a direct sequel.
As for the plot threads from A New Day? It can be summed up in a small paragraph found stapled onto the back half of a Day. The bonus scenario should've stayed the bad fanfic that it was.
Now for the characters, it's a bloated cast with one-note personalities aside from when they have dedicated Character Development moments. Most of the new Reapers are one role plot devices and most of the other Player teams don't matter. The main party is a little hard to care about due to lack of depth. Why is Nagi so invested in Ele Stra? Because that's her character 95% of the time. Why are Rindo and Fret friends when Rindo would ditch him in a heartbeat to text Swallow some more? How they met or what they do to hang out doesn't matter because a Social Network buff calls them "Best Buds" even if Rindo is annoyed at him half the time and doesn't even speak when Fret is up against Kanon's imitation. There's just no downtime where they talk about themselves.
As for the story, it falls apart on observation. The first 2 weeks contribute nothing of value with no good reason for why Shiba didn't enact his plan sooner and minimal character development to cover up the lack of plot progression. On the start of the 3rd week, the fate of Shibuya is openly declared to hang in the balance simply because it's the final week. The motive of the Big Bad is almost laughable compared to the original: he's under More Than Mind Control from the true Big Bad whose motive is... he's evil. That's it. Compared to the original's character focus and constant intrigue, NEO is badly paced and almost bland in presentation.
The difference in quality between games is clear when comparing their Another Day scenarios. Neku had dialogue for talking to every NPC before and after the Molco Slam-off, not to mention an actual plot and more insight into his character from Pork City. NEO only has 4 bosses and 3 bonus fights with obvious sequel baiting for the latter.
Even knowing the dip in quality from A New Day and the anime, I played NEO hoping it'd surprise me and it didn't. If this was the best they could manage, I'd rather they leave the TWEWY name alone than try to milk it.