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The World Ends With You sequel teased in iOS game

All the work done for the iOS version seems to me Square clear intention to continue the series on iOS; indeed, the team states in a post-mortem of the game that the dual screen battles were the thing that went wrong the most during the development, and the worst part for the players.


Having an agenda is fun. The sequel will be multiplatform. It's silly to think they will shift platforms to an untested one. The iOS port is still being tested, and there's like 3k people on the iPad leader board, which is about 1% of the DS version's total sales.

Also, the dual screen format was integral to the storyline in the DS version, and the game's original director stood by it vehemently.

I guess we like to read what we want to believe.
 
Having an agenda is fun. The sequel will be multiplatform. It's silly to think they will shift platforms to an untested one. The iOS port is still being tested, and there's like 3k people on the iPad leader board, which is about 1% of the DS version's total sales.

Also, the dual screen format was integral to the storyline in the DS version, and the game's original director stood by it vehemently.

I guess we like to read what we want to believe.

It's also true that might also be just a new "chapter" for the iOS version and nothing more.
 

Spierek

Member
#hyped

But I wonder what's up with the cat and the headphones. Shibuya would've evolved significantly if this was Neku and Shiki's daughter (a time skip of at least 20-30 years), but in the background it looks the same as in TWEWY. A parallel story from one of the other worlds, mayhaps?
 
Like I said, this is either going to a be a hefty multiplatform sequel or a very limited, likely slipshod, exclusive. Or maybe the TWEWY universe will become S-E's ambitious freemium attempt where you're charged for pins and clothing and the main draw is to stylize your avatar and mingle in a cheap, MMO-like Tokyo. The franchise is already well primed for such a devolution if you think about it.
 
Like I said, this is either going to a be a hefty multiplatform sequel or a very limited, likely slipshod, exclusive. Or maybe the TWEWY universe will become S-E's ambitious freemium attempt where you're charged for pins and clothing and the main draw is to stylize your avatar and mingle in a cheap, MMO-like Tokyo. The franchise is already well primed for such a devolution if you think about it.

Indeed, it could be their best attempt to exploit all the new (for them) method of payments on iOS and Android, like microtransactions and the like. TWEWY is perfectly suited for this.
 

also

Banned
It's disappointing this sequel/extra chapter/whatever will be set in Shibuya and I'm not getting excited until they confirm it for 3DS, with the dual-screen combat intact.
 

Datrio

Member
Haha, I finished the game yesterday and saw this scene, but I never finished the original, so I thought this is just a part of the ending, not something hinting a sequel.

So I understand
The World Begins With You
would be the new name?
 

Hylian7

Member
Haha, I finished the game yesterday and saw this scene, but I never finished the original, so I thought this is just a part of the ending, not something hinting a sequel.

So I understand
The World Begins With You
would be the new name?

That was there in the original version too. I had always wondered that back in the day, but it was probably just the message at the end of the game.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Having an agenda is fun. The sequel will be multiplatform. It's silly to think they will shift platforms to an untested one. The iOS port is still being tested, and there's like 3k people on the iPad leader board, which is about 1% of the DS version's total sales.

Also, the dual screen format was integral to the storyline in the DS version, and the game's original director stood by it vehemently.

I guess we like to read what we want to believe.
Currently 18K people on the iPhone leader board for what it's worth. Unfortunately, GC numbers aren't a perfect representation of sales because it lacks people who bought the game who never logged in GameCenter + adds people who pirated the game.
 

Mario007

Member
Having sold my 3DS just last week I still hope this will be a 3DS game. The concept of Dual Screens was huge from the narrative and gameplay perspective and I wouldn't want to experience the game without it. Now since h.a.n.d seem to be ok with porting TWEWY, I'd say let Jupiter maker the sequel for 3DS and h.a.n.d to port it to iOS/Android/Vita (I still think a Vita version would be the best after the 3DS version thanks to the buttons and back touchpad so that your partner can actually fight with you)
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
The part of the postmortem where they talk about the dual screen combat that electroplankton mentioned:

4. Dual-screen battles, or "What's going on here?"

The original concept of dual-screen battles came from creative producer Tetsuya Nomura, but it was easier said than done.

Fighting battles on the lower screen using the touch panel was our original concept, and turned out as well as we expected. But our biggest headache stemmed from the battles in the upper screen.

We threw a number of ideas at the wall to see what stuck, like command-based battles or even music games. At first, we were determined that the player would have to fight on both screens at once, but after trying out a few systems we realized the error of our ways.

Why did we have to make the user do anything in the upper screen at all? Once we left our creative egos at the door and looked at things through the player's eyes, we realized what was wrong.

We had to make the user want to fight on both screens, but still provide the automatic combat if they elected to avoid it.

This sped things up and we arrived at the battle system we have today, where the player can simply let the battle progress in the upper screen by itself, or actively fight using the control pad. I regret that we hadn't come up with this solution earlier.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132401/postmortem_square_enixs_the_.php?page=3
 

Kouriozan

Member
That is kind of a funny situation.

Game sells well on ios -> Sequel only on ios.

Game don't sells well on ios -> No sequel on ios or 3DS/Vita.

I'm not hyping this until Square-Enix say it's coming to handheld.
 

wrowa

Member
If it's a 7-day mini sequel I just hope that they won't release it as IAP but as a standalone app. I'm really not willing to pay 16€ for the original version, even though I have no intention of replaying it on iOS.
 

heringer

Member
Having an agenda is fun. The sequel will be multiplatform. It's silly to think they will shift platforms to an untested one. The iOS port is still being tested, and there's like 3k people on the iPad leader board, which is about 1% of the DS version's total sales.

Also, the dual screen format was integral to the storyline in the DS version, and the game's original director stood by it vehemently.

I guess we like to read what we want to believe.

I think this is a silly claim. Hypothetically, if the game was originally released like it is on iOS, do you think people would play and say "What? There should have a second screen for this to make sense"?

It's the concept of partnership that is important to the storyline. And that's intact on the iOS version.
 
I think this is a silly claim. Hypothetically, if the game was originally released like it is on iOS, do you think people would play and say "What? There should have a second screen for this to make sense"?

It's the concept of partnership that is important to the storyline. And that's intact on the iOS version.

It's not a claim actually. There's an interview with the original director, and he details how the dual screen aspect was key to the story/concept. I can dig it up later for you, but it was in the announcement thread.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Solo Remix.
Considering there's still a partner system I think the Solo stands for solo screen. Doesn't really matter anyway.

It's not a claim actually. There's an interview with the original director, and he details how the dual screen aspect was key to the story/concept. I can dig it up later for you, but it was in the announcement thread.
These are the parts of the roundtable where they mention using dual screens:

Kando: Sure has been a long time. The World Ends With You has taken a really long time.

Arakawa: Two and a half years ago, while we were working on KINGDOM HEARTS II.

Hasegawa: We hadn’t even seen a DS unit then.

Arakawa: I remember how we wondered how the touch screen would work (laugh). We knew that we had to use the touch screen but didn’t know how.

Kando: There are surely people who haven’t played this game, so let me briefly explain. The DS has two screens, and this game not only uses one screen for battle, but two. We thought that it’d be interesting to have a game where both screens were packed with action, and that’s how we formulated this game idea.
Arakawa: I remember how I came to realize the capabilities of the DS then, thinking how amazing the touch screen was.

Hasegawa: It was really fun, getting to try out the touch screen.

Arakawa: I thought that it was awesome how I could really see what I touched do something in the game. When I first learned about the DS I had an idea that the bottom screen could be used for card games, like an extension to CHAIN OF MEMORIES. On the upper screen would be something like an action RPG. But after a while we wanted to use the touch screen for something more…

Kando: I remember your first planning documents. You had the idea of an action game that you controlled with the touch screen.

Arakawa: Right. Since we were going to be using a touch screen I thought that we should go in this direction, but we didn’t even know the technical limitations of the touch screen yet, so we couldn’t fully rely on it. I sent my plan anyway and made revisions, went to the show again, played with the DS some more… After a while the game plan started to concentrate on the lower screen more. I felt that the game wouldn’t do the DS justice if it didn’t use the touch screen.

Kando: In the beginning the three of us kept sending game ideas and were in arguments about it.
Arakawa: Right. I remember being chewed out by Mr. Nomura. He’d say “No, we could do this on the PSP,” or something like that. The hurdle was really high from the get-go, because we set out to create “a game that can only be played on the DS.”

Hasegawa: Coming up with what to do with the two screens was the biggest challenge.

Kando: We initially thought that the player would control the game on the bottom screen and watch the action happen on the top screen, but that always made one of the screens less important.

Arakawa: Right. At the beginning, we were saying, “There’s no way we can use two screens,” but we kept playing with the idea that we could have a battle on both screens.

Kando: And that was the answer we were looking for. We shifted our thoughts to making a game that would utilize every function of the Nintendo DS, something truly worthy of the system. That’s how the dual-screen battle was born.
Then we have the postmortem I posted above where they think it's one of the things that didn't really work, and a single screen iOS release, so there is no way to know how they currently feel about it or what they're planning for a sequel.

One way or another, no one in these threads will change their minds. I like the dual screen features but like I've been saying the game is much more than that to me, and the lack of another screen doesn't kill how good it is at all. If a sequel ends up on 3DS (or Wii U) I have faith they'll come up with a new system that uses both screens the best way they can like they did with the original.

edit: I didn't post a link to the full thing because it's not on SE's members site anymore. You can read a copy on this German forum, parts 2 and 3 are on the following page.
 

heringer

Member
It's not a claim actually. There's an interview with the original director, and he details how the dual screen aspect was key to the story/concept. I can dig it up later for you, but it was in the announcement thread.

The storyline is available for anyone to experience and judge by themselves. Of course the director will sell the idea. News at 11.

Priceless. ;)
So? It's only a name. And it's alluding to the fact there's only one screen now, not only one character.
 

heringer

Member
Hasegawa: Coming up with what to do with the two screens was the biggest challenge.

Kando: We initially thought that the player would control the game on the bottom screen and watch the action happen on the top screen, but that always made one of the screens less important.

Arakawa: Right. At the beginning, we were saying, “There’s no way we can use two screens,” but we kept playing with the idea that we could have a battle on both screens.

Kando: And that was the answer we were looking for. We shifted our thoughts to making a game that would utilize every function of the Nintendo DS, something truly worthy of the system. That’s how the dual-screen battle was born.

Yeah, sounds like the dual screens are totally essential to the storyline. It wasn't something created strictly under a gameplay perspective.

And they didn't think it was essential even from the gameplay perspective. In fact, it almost sounds like it was a shoehorned concept.
 

GSR

Member
TWEWY's translator confirms it's real.

He also posted the following:

Brian Gray ‏@brilingual

NEWS: In today's issue of Audition Monthly (p. 31), SE and @ishimoto_t took out a full page listing for a "TWEWY Vocalist Audition." #twewy

Brian Gray ‏@brilingual

Successful entrants will "make their debut in a Square Enix game with music produced by Takeharu Ishimoto." What could it mean???

Brian Gray ‏@brilingual

Karaoke tracks of the audition songs are available on the site: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/subarashiki_crossover/ #twewy

Looks like something's in the pipe after all.
 
Given the tease, it might well be either a new week just for the iOS version, or a iOS / Vita sequel, so they could keep the battle system and not working too much on two screens as it would require a 3DS version, which seems unlikely now.

Vita is the unlikely thing here. Don't know why they would put it on that system at all.
 

miksar

Member
I think they'll make more profit with 3DS version in Japan, and, let's be clear, there's no chance for it to sell decently in the West.
 

Mzo

Member
I think Fuu did a pretty good job debunking the myth some fans like to spread, that playing this game with anything other than two screens defeats it's purpose.
Feels good to be right.

Still don't see Square Enix making a simultaneous, multiplatform release on handhelds. It'd be great, but we'll see.
 
Given the existence of the iPod Touch and the almost-certainly-upcoming iPad Mini, people should really just be thinking of iOS as one of the three handheld platforms at this point.

I assumed from the beginning that this teaser was for an IAP "extra episode" added to the Solo Remix and I suspect most people will ultimately be happier if they temper their expectations accordingly.
 
I assumed from the beginning that this teaser was for an IAP "extra episode" added to the Solo Remix and I suspect most people will ultimately be happier if they temper their expectations accordingly.

I don't really see how they could just add "another episode" to the story of TWEWY.

I mean, yes, from every other angle it's significantly more likely and/or practical than a full blown sequel, never mind one for another platform, but the story wraps up really nicely. The one thread they purposefully leave hanging for a potential sequel is not designed around the existing game- that is, an extra episode would have to mix things up in a fashion that would be considered bizarre for what would basically be a piece of DLC.

So they'd really be pulling something out of their arse if they do go down that road.
 

heringer

Member
Given the existence of the iPod Touch and the almost-certainly-upcoming iPad Mini, people should really just be thinking of iOS as one of the three handheld platforms at this point.

I assumed from the beginning that this teaser was for an IAP "extra episode" added to the Solo Remix and I suspect most people will ultimately be happier if they temper their expectations accordingly.

TWEWY Solo Remix doesn't even run on iPod Touch.
 

El Sloth

Banned
Why does this scare me.
You're just worried that the girl you fell head over heels for is cutting her hair dramatically short and dyeing it a color you don't particularly care for.

If she does go through with it you might start having second thoughts, but in the end she'll still be the same charming girl. So you might as well give it another go and see if it really was such a big deal anyways.

Business as usual if she decides to keep her long intricate braids.
 
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