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[asoulofatlantis]

What the actual hell? And what is so funny about this?

I knew it! She was way to obvious!

For now...

Did I mention: For now?! ^^'

Thats a lie.

Shiki asked him to come along to buy stuff... she will have to wait for that for quite a long time.

I wanted to say: "At least it wasn't Joshua this time..." but uh...

...what the hell is going on?

Oh wait! I think he actually shot her, after she shot Neku. I... think. (Sad that I still don't trust Joshua enough XD

W-Wait! W-Why did his body just vanish?!

And you wonder why i still don't trust you, man!

Was the math guy super popular or something or why do they keep bring him back? O.o

Yeah... clearly.

Ah! Thats the picture from the original ending.

Okay. Thats it. Finally done!

What do I think about it? People in the comments say it will all makes sense after Neo but seriously? I can not see that yet.

Whatever. I am finally done with The World Ends With You Final Remix.

[asoulofatlantis]

Suddenly Kingdom Hearts XD

I... think this thing just destroyed the entire city? O.o

And who are you? And why did you survive that?

I've already read in the secret reports from that part of the game that Neku now has mysterious visions.

My boy... you are awfully calm here. You DO know what needs to happen to end up with a player pin in the UG. A bit of panic would be more than understandable here... and not panicking actually makes me question your mental state ^^'

Ah... thank god Beat seems to be sane enough to understand the proper reaction. How ironic tho XD

Neku has played the game for FREE FUCKING WEEKS AND BEAT THE FREAKING CONDUCTOR! What can me more "expert mode" than this?

Oh come on! This game is too old for that kind of language! ALSO you can totally see the difference in drawing style between Beat and Neku whos old models are clearly used and that new girl here.

Oh boy... she uses Puppy-Dog-Eyes on the boys...

But why would someone who is supposedly a reaper be interested in joining them? O.o

Can't argue with that if Beat and Neku got lost in Shibuya of all places.

OH! Isn't that the girl from the ending of the original game? There were so many theory around of were she was back then and it looked like we would never get an answer because TWEWY wasn't exactly very popular back then.

How long after the ending we just saw does this play? Because Neku is still mean enough to call poor Mr. Mew a piggy XD (Would assume that if he and Shiki became friends in the Real World he would stop doing that. Then again... teasing her with that might actually be fun XD)

Yeaaaaah... no. Something is definitely off here.

Thank you for noticing Beat! Shame on you Neku to not notice it after the Eri-Blounder.

The Girls left without you! How does this make any sense to you! Shiki would immedeatly ask to work together and Rhyme wouldn't want to finish the mission without Beat, partner or not. HOW CAN YOU GUYS NOT SEE THIS?! ARG!

Looks like these two are still running the show. Glad to see it.

Uh... these also don't seem to be the original ones, because they totally mixed up their personalities.

Uh... did... Joshua kill him again? O.o Or is that vision fucking with his mind.

Is this some kind of parallel world? O.o

They had to change his model because Joshua always looked smug in the original game and this one is a scaredy cat. You... see the difference too. (OR is that intentional?)

Well gee... we would have never noticed that without you Mr.H. thanks for the head up...

(This is just half an hour of cutscene collection from this part of the game and I am halfway through it at this point but somehow I am bored to death. Its really hard not to stop watching ^^')

Either this confirms we are indeed in a parallel world and that is this Version of Mr.H OR Neku was too quick to trust him.

Oh no, no, no no! Not again!

Well... you know what happens if you lose your partner, Neku.

Funny sprit aside... this girl insist way too much on them getting out of there. I do not trust her at all.

[asoulofatlantis]

Its a bit sad that Nekus inner monolouge had now subtitles in the english version, since it was voice. Because it was really good. How he talked about the changes in his thoughts and feelings, about how he thinks about Joshua and how happy he sounded when he said "I got friends now!" It made me smile.

I mean, look at him! He looks so happy! And he deserves to be happy. (Just wish the makers of that game would agree with me...)

Looks like the cool looking Beat is actually a very emotional guy. But I understand him... just a week ago he thought he would never be able to have a moment like this ever again.

I never understood why they never showed her true face. I mean... wasn't the lesson she brought with her, that you are fine the way you are, even if you maybe look a little bit plain? So why not show her?

Ahh... this would be such nice happy ending... if I wouldn't know what I know... that is.

This is such an important moment, because its symbolizes that he finally stopped shutting the world and people out. Congratulations, Neku! You had a truly amazing character development.

They say that... and then ruin it XD

So okay... lets adress the Elephant in the room and THEN talk about how many points this game would get from me at this point and why.

WARNING! BIG ASS FAT SPOILER INCOMING!

As we all know... and as I have been hinting at... Neku is not... alive in the next game. There is more to the game than this, but it is only added after fulfilling certain requirements after playing the game for a second time and then watching (and playing?) whatever that "A new Day" Stuff is. And then we will find out what the hell happened to Neku this time. HOWEVER if you think I will seriously replay the game any time soon... you are very wrong XD You must be called Trails of Cold Steel 3 to be replayed on a regular basis *lol* BUT we do need the information in order to play NEO which means... I watch the rest on YouTube XD (And do a mild live reaction for it, so we are all up to speed whenever I will find the freaking time to play NEO - I own it, just so you know, just like many, many, many other games that I haven't touched or finished yet ^^')

Before that (and my little Review) let me tell you something: I played and finished the original a long time ago and I was happy when the game came out for the Switch and I could play it again. I started playing it and got stuck in Joshuas week as per usual, but always planned on finishing it eventually. HOWEVER while on Tumblr someone postet something about how Neku died again at the end of Final Remix which, as you can see now after the ending of the original game, RUINS EVERYTHING. Which is why I gave up on this game, since it didn't seem worth it anymore to finish it. I was never interested in NEO, because I don't like sequels without the original characters. One day someoen on my timeline who also ships Neku and Shiki finally got to that game... and convinced me it was worth the hassle of getting through Final Remix and then play Neo, as in the end, Nekus ending will be satisfying enough. And this, Ladys and Gentleman, is the only reason I actually decided to play this game again (this time with a live reaction) and finish it for once. So here we are.

Now... about my review. The game is good. Pacing was really bad in the second week tho, by the time you reaching Beats week you are so done with it, because Joshuas week took so damn long with all this running back and forth from A to Z and back. However Joshuas week makes up for it very well by beeing very fast paced and not dragged on at all. Even tho the people you fight in this part of the game are certainly strong. I mostly liked what they did with the two-screen-situation for the Switch. It was always a stupid idea. I never truly managed to control both Neku and his partner at the same time and playing on anything but easy has never been an option for me because of that in the original game. Learning how to handle the pins and the partners skills was still a pain in the ass. And I am so glad that I NEVER have to return to the touch-screen-controls. It was a freaking nightmare. I like the plot of the game, aside from the fact of course, that the ending we saw, is sadly not the true end of it. But if you never play Neo and just end it here, you will never know. So in theory its fine. The characters were all likable enough. Musik was... interesting but certainly had some great songs. I still listen to "Calling" a lot and I sometimes have "this part is yet unknown" and "You think I'm fat cause I'm looking like that" (is that what they actually sing? Sounds evil!) stuck in my head. I do not like the remixed versions that much, but you can listen to the original soundtrack so its fine. I have some qualms with the fact that we do not see any other characters in this ending, like our favorite reapers, but other than that its really nice and satisfying. Minus points for having to play the game a second time AND fullfill certain conditions while at it to get the full context tho.

So at this point I would give the game gladly a solild 8,5 out of 10 points.

[asoulofatlantis]

Yes he is alive. He was in fact never dead. He played Tinpin or whatever it is called in a parallel world while you were fighting for your live, thinking that damned asshole died to protect you...

Neku was really cool in that scene and I love how essentially he actually beat the boss "alone", which is a well-deserved thing given how he was the only one who had to fight himself through 3 full weeks of this game.

Ridiculous how Joshua stands there like he is a regular one of Nekus' partners. That damn hellspawn...

And then he pulls this move:

His "Hihi" is something that makes me want to slap him. In the face. With a chair.

This was like such a plottwist. You always play "the good guy" in such games and we do that here as well... just that the good guy unknowingly actually was a player for the bad guys. And while he was working towards saving himself and his friends this whole time... he ended up sealing the deal on the destruction of Shibuya... him and his friends included. How evil of Joshua.

(Okay guys, since these post are so endless because of the 10 pictures limit for mobil... I switch over to YouTube and take screenshots there from the rest of the game to try to end up with not 5 more posts. By the way that means the rest is in englisch of couse XD)

He is such a damn piece of shit... (yes that is what I waste my new limit of now 30 pictures for XD)

So what we saw in Nekus last vision, that Joshua likely used to manipulate him into believing he is such a good guy, it looked like the math-guy killed Neku, however the bullets you see in the pictures, one of them is from that very shot that Neku thought was aimed at him. No. They were all aimed at Joshua. Not sure tho, why the messi math guy never said he didn't kill Neku. Maybe he thought it possible one of his bullets actually hit him?

Since I brought it up yesterday, how Akechi and Joshua are both beloved by the fandom and shipped with the protagonists even tho they clearly killed them and did so without a second thought... BUT there is still a huge difference between them and how that difference makes the ships and situation feel is funny and ironic. Joshuas plus point, is that when he so codly killed Neku for his own benefits, he did not know them at all. Making him killing him less destructive for the ship. Akechi on the other hand knew Joker relatively well, when he did what he did and yet it still looked like he felt no remorse. Which is making it ship look much more questionable. HOWEVER what does make the Akechi and Joker ship so appealing IS the fact that they knew each other and that Joker was clearly attached to him (wherever as a close friend or more is for you to decide of course, as that is the nature of a persona game...) Joshua and Neku did not know each other much or well and Neku took ages to take a liking to that kid he wanted to strangle in the beginning and thus they just don't feel as close, Neku not as attached and thus what Joshua did, feels more unforgiving in his case. Which means, how much the protagonist likes and how easily he forgives his murderer has a huge impact on how willing the player is to forgive and forget.

Nekus reaction is much more real and reasonable than Jokers tho. ALSO "trust your partner" is a really mean sentence if you think about it, knowing fully well what Joshua did and was doing to Neku this whole damn time. Killed him. Used him. Manipulated him. Tricked him. Glad that Neku made so many good experiences with Shiki and Beat or otherwise he might have gone straight back to distrusting everyone after this.

Joshua deserved to be killed after all he had done and with the plans he had for the future of Shibuya. But Neku is not like him. He isn't a killer. And he definitely doesn't kill a friend. HOWEVER... I guess that was one of the reasons why Joshua decided to give up on his original plans to destroy Shibuya.

When I saw this I wanted to scream too, back in the day, when I first played that game. Because I thought I had to play yet another week.

By the way... the secret records kind of say that the world Neku returned to is a parallel world and parallel worlds were explained by Hanekome to be worlds that form if different decisions were made. So while Neku and everyone seemed to have kept their memories... this could have easily been the answer to our "but they were dead for like 3 weeks!" - problem, as this is likely a parallelworld were they did never die in the first place and they basically just took over the bodys or something. I don't think this is how that works, because that would put some stuff from NEO into questions, but that COULD have been an easy enough explanation.

Stay with me guys, we are almost done with this part of the game.

[asoulofatlantis]

On one hand... yes... it did bring him a lot of pain... not just in the game, but also in the past before he died. HOWEVER he came far enough in those 3 weeks to actually learn that people do not just bring pain. They also bring happiness and the feeling to belong. Love even. Friendship of course. And the contact with people allowed him to make new memories, some bad... but some also good.

That second player bin was such a nice plot amor XD They mention it like once or twice in the game and then we just forget it and thats it... until this very moment where everything slowly starts to finally make sense.

Beat was kind of really cute here. Gives you a big "awww" - Moment.

(Still not done...)

[asoulofatlantis]

(I don't think JRPGs or any story driven games should be played on the Switch... not if you want to make live reactions at least. This is such a hassle. I was thinking about deleting some screenshots but... that wouldn't be true to what I want to do with this live reaction. It... wouldn't be me. So... bear with me for a little longer.)

I love how Shiki noticed how down Neku was because he thought Hanekoma was waiting behind that door. Beat was so busy rushing to become the composer and get Rhyme back that he has not once realized how heavily it weighed on Neku to think that Mr.H was the enemy. Shiki doesn't even know about the Mr.H situation and yet absolutly noticed something was wrong. And that ladys and gentleman is the true reason she was his entry free, because despite all the things she has said and done, she always cared about him.

So... the game was over for them but they still stayed in the UG? O.o Isn't that... weird? I mean... if the whole Composer and Conductor mess didn't happen... what would have happened to those 3 kids? Would they have been stuck in the UG forever. *looks at the Neo spoilers* Uh... then again... maybe that would indeed be what would have happened ^^' Moooooving on.

Controlling Shiki was evil of that man with the sunglasses, I tell you. She was Nekus entry fee. If course he would not harm her nor let anyone else do so. HOWEVER I honestly question Beat here. I hope his only plan was to knock Shiki out and nothing more than that, given how he spared the Reapers the other day.

I am glad that Neku protected Shiki but allowing Beat to get hurt for that was... kind of a little mean if you ask me ^^' I mean yes, it was Beats decision to push Neko away and take the brunt of the attack, I get that, but Nekus first reaction wasn't: "Oh no! Beat, are you okay?" but instead he used that moment to free Shiki from that pin and thus the conductors control. Clever, sure. But still a bit mean.

Once again. Poor Neku. He learned many lessons in those 3 weeks but not all of them were easy to swallow. Among them, the fact that just because you respect someone, does not mean this person is who you think they are... and you might end up disappointed, if you do find out who they truly are...

I just finished reading the regular secret reports. And I had to laught so hard. Joshua really WAS playing tin pin ^^' Did he have that much faith in Neku or did he really care so little about him? ALSO shocker that Hanekoma was responsible for the Math-Freaks-Abilities. He said the guy was his plan B to stop Joshua but... what would have happened to Shibuya with a guy like the Messi-Math-Guy on the throne as composer?

(Ah... still more to go.)

[asoulofatlantis]

I love this scene. In the original English version, those damn speech bubbles weren't so big (at least that is how I remember it. Its been a while tho XD) and you could see Nekus ' embarrassment even better.

In any case... Shiki might have been surprised and... a bit embarrassed, but she too still never truly questioned it. (ALSO Beats face is so good XD)

She only said it was unlike him, which is understandable, given how she mostly knew him as acting cold towards her. When she first asked him to meet again after coming back to life, he was like "maybe" and it took their heartfelt goodbye in this complicated situation for him to say "yes" to meeting again in the real world. Of course she never guessed he had grown so attached to her.

When I saw that I thought: "Damn. Joshua did a number on him..." and honestly...

...I could not understand how Neku didn't realize it was Joshua. Throwing cars and those machines was his thing, after all and who should know that better than the guy who had been working with him for one full week?

Those last fights really were weird when it came to difficulty. Konichis fight made me say "fuck you!" in the truest vulgar German frustration language. I almost died in that one. The other two fights afterwards weren't really much of a big deal on the other hand. Although the one were Shiki was mildly involved was not exactly nice to poor Nekus health... until I figured out the attack pattern and how it works that is. That final boss dragon was a walk in the park tho - despite that, I would not wish to have to fight it on a harder difficulty, that much is for sure ^^'

Okay... were still not done.

[asoulofatlantis]

(Guys... I took so many damn screenshots and we aren't even fully done yet... ^^' So... bear with me. Since I am limited both via the Switch and via my upload method here to Tumblr there will be a shitton of posts for this freakin final day and the Ending... which means this is also going to take a while...)

Beat was supposed to have died already. The secret reports give no answer to how he managed to "stay alive" long enough to make this ending happen. ALSO appearantly his hands aren't constantly half gone, as he could fight and hold the Rhyme pin just fine. If we must find and explanation then I guess "He has overly strong willpower" will have to do, because that is something certainly no one can deny.

I knew that from the secret reports, had forgotten it otherwise and would have never assumed that was the case at all if not for the reports ^^'

I can not believe how after so many damn failures to predict right, she still had so much damn faith in her predictions.

This woman was such a bitch. Very ambitious and heartless. I am glad we could finally get rid of her.

Konichi or whatever her name was bitched about the fact that Rhymes feelings for him were his entry fee, not hers and that that means she doesn't love him as much as he does. But isn't it more that only one of them could pay that kind of fee? That Beat had to pay it was likely soley to fuck up his feeling of guilt he already had. (Just like with Shiki, the entry fee was meant to be a punishment, no matter what Hanekoma said...) However since Beat already payed that price, Rhyme naturally had to pay with something else. AND If both had lost their love for and their memories of each other, that would not have been useful as it would have not made any of them suffer. If you look at it outside of Hanekomes bullshit "The composer doesn't mean it as a punishment but as something to brighten your horizon" - comment, it is clear as hell that all entry fees were solely meant as a form of torture. Neku couldn't remember shit, entering this game, feeling the way he does towards people and the world and not beeing able to even remeber WHY. Shiki beeing stuck in the body of her friend, believing it granted her her greatest wish only to suffer the realisation that changing how you look, will not change who you are. Beat lost not really his sisters love for him, she flat-out couldn't remember him and yet, she was still there with him and helped him, even sacrificed herself for him once more, because that was purely playing on Beats guilt for the fact that she died because of him. Think about it! At first glance if she actually remembered him, but didn't have any kind feelings for him anymore and never felt like she ever had, it would have been way crueler for beat at first glance, but at second glance he would feel like he deserves it, after everything that happened. Instead, he had to live with the fact that she could not remember how he treated her and why she died while he stood next to her knowing all that and suffering through those feelings he had all on his own, because he couldn't tell her. Rhyme was not "alive" in the UG very long, but Beat makes it clear that she didn't even feel like getting a second chance was worth it, because of how she didn't have any dreams anymore AND this was also clearly an extra punishment for Beat. ALSO Nekus second entri fee was Shiki. He ruined her chance of a getting revived, even tho without her, he would have lost the game at the very start and thus her win felt deserved for him. Tho the very reunion of them, he was always blaming himself for this. (Wo do not talk about his third entry fee because that was straight out cheating from the conductor.

Did it broaden their horizons in the end? Yes, it did in fact. Neku opened himself up to other people, started to trust again and was willing to live and fight to for and with others. Beat learned to appreciate his sisters love for him more and understood that sometimes, you can not live to the beat of your own drum, because other people need you. Shiki learned that it is okay to be herself. Not sure what Rhyme learned in that short amount of time... aside from (IF she can remember much that is) that her brother loves her more than anything. But it was still very much a punishment. Even more so, if you will never regain your entry fee upon losing the game, even if you will somehow get revived.

[asoulofatlantis]

I love how Neku is like "Calm down!" but after Beat goes through like 6 emotions in 10 seconds, he is like: "We don't have time for a meltdown!" What now? Calm down or panic? XD

I guess you could say reading the secret report was beneficial here too... somewhat, since we do in fact know now WHY the Messi-Math-Guy attacked Mr.H and were he went and that he is in fact alive and kicking. (I found it really funny by the way how Mr.H was like "Of all things" when he found out Joshua ended in the world were that Beyblade ripoff game was really big. I wonder if he couldn't reach Joshua because he was playing while Neku worked his ass off XD) Of course the math guy tells us later he didn't found him, but that doesn't have to mean he is okay, after all. Without the secret reports, we would not know what he was up to the past days. He might as well could have gotten killed by reapers or something.

You know... I can imagine myself beeing absolutly, terrible frustrated and like "Oh god, please no!", after finding that piece of junk and knowing exactly what that means for me.

Your "beauty"? Uh... I mean I can not see you are a terrible unattracktiv character with that nicely built body and all... but inside, you're even more trashy than the stuff you build!

Fun fact: You are not supposed to win this fight. HOWEVER... I am playing on easy, my pins are REALLY good (I FINALLY got the hang of most of them believe it or not... took me only 4 times of at least partly playing this game or so XD) and so I've beat the guy with ease. I am always happy and proud if I beat someone you were not supposed to beat (or don't have to beat) even if I am playing on easy. (Because easy is for people like me with skill-issues and that means even on easy, some enemies are NOT easy at all. This one was tho and I feel great about it.)

So... last day? Last day! Hurray! Beats chapter is a breeze guys.

[asoulofatlantis]

Neku was often annyed by his partner in one way or another. Beat is no exception. HOWEVER, Neku still manages to always find the right words to make them feel better when needed, which is really interesting, thinking of the fact that this guy has shut himself out from people when he first entered that game.

I feel sorry for Neku here. I mean we know that Mister H. is not a bad guy but he also isn't... you know, he knows things that he kept to himself and he help a certain person with his plan and... you get what I mean. In a sense, it is still some sort of betrayel, even if Mr.H himself had no bad intentions. And Neku trusted CAT before he trusted anyone else. You don't need a betrayal like this after you just started trusting people again.

First time ever that I feel like it was truly benefical to read the secret reports. (I remember when I finished this game for the first time people were going on and on about how damn important it is to read the secret reports to understand the game better but so far I never felt like it was really necessary. I understood the game just fine without them back in the day. (Some minor details aside, like why Mr.H was here. But seriously? Is it really THAT important to know that he tried to destory those noise-thingys? After all... he might as well just checked it out or something, the picture doesn't show him do something evil after all.

I mean I guess you could argue about Hanekoma telling us in the secret reports that the Math guy returning was do to his great imagination is an explanation the game might not give us otherwise but... what does he even mean with "great imagination" or whatever? If anything, that confuses me more than it helps ^^'

I am glad we left them "alive". Especially since I think after they were nice to us just the day before they deserve that we give them another chance.

(Kinda cute that even in this state, they did end up showing up together. Like their subconsciousness is still active enough for them to know that they somewhat belong together.)

And with this... another day is over. I got a bit lost in the beginning but all in all it was quick and easy enough.

[asoulofatlantis]

Neku is immensly calm, knowing that Beats time is running out and thus his time is as well, given that without a parnter he can do shit in this game.

Japanese parents are known to exspect A LOT of their kids because society has no place for "losers" in this world - or so I have heard. But honestly? Here in Germany, there are many people asking ridiculous stuff of you all the time too. Never understanding their children's own limits or trying to live their own dreams through them. And no matter which county you are in, if you have an amazing sibling that can do all the stuff your parents ask of them, than its bound to be frustrating.

I honesty do found it sad tho that Beats parents actually really gave up on him in the end - although that might only be how Beat sees it, given how he had an argument with them just the day he died. If they had truly given up on them, had they even argued with him?

ALSO I do think its immensly awful how often we only realize what we had when it is just too late. We take so many things and people for granted or even complain about them being annyoing... until we lose them and realize how lucky we were to have them.

Ah wait! Yesterday I was pondering what Beats entry fee was... could it be that her memorys of him were HIS entry fee and not hers and hers were her dreams? Or was it the other way around because Beat seems to have found his sisters dreams so amazing and important? Hm... either way would be bad, if you ask me. Yes, her waking up in the real world remembering her brother would be great but not having any dreams anymore? I think it will be hard to live like that on the long run.

Rhyme is this games example of the fact that often people that are great... leave us far too early.

[asoulofatlantis]

I find it weird that aside from the flowers they put Cola and a cup of water there. Is that... something people do in japan or is the game just doing that to emphasize the difference in character of Beat and Rhyme?

That aside... I know Beat is upset and all and I don't want to play that down or anything. He doesn't exactly have "survivor's guilt," as he isn't technically speaking alive, but when someone dies, guilt is one phase of mourning, and I guess, in a sense, given that they are technically dead, he is kind of in mourning? So the feeling of guilt comes naturally. We always search for "whys?" and "what ifs" when something like this happens. I wonder if this is a mechanism of our brain to keep us alive by somewhat "distracting us" from the actual pain? ANYWAY... what I wanted to say is that I do not wish to say Beats guilt is not important or anything but can you imagine what their parents must go through? They lost both of their children, the good one and the "bad" one, because of one of surely many arguments parents have with a more rebellious teenager. They will blame themselves for the rest of their lives. If they hadn't argued with Beat. If they hadn't allowed him to run, if they had at least stopped Rhyme from following. Not to mention... Beat would still be alive, if he hadn't tried to protect Rhyme, which likely makes them feel even worse, as he clearly loved his sister so much and they might have never appreciated as they should have.

One thing that ALWAYS bothered me when playing this game is... how do they resurrect them without the real world being... irritated? It would make sense to put them in a coma until the game is over and only after they have lost their hearts would stop beating. Instead, the flowers (and also Neo it seems...) clearly indicate that these people are actually really dead. PLUS... the flowers also indicate that its has been at least a day or two since the accident happend. (Not even talking about the NEO situation here but...) HOW on earth can they come back to life days, if not even the full 3 weeks later without causing much stir? Do the memories of everyone get altered? Graves and such erased? I always wished the game would have spend a bit more time on a quick explanation especially after Neo. (Then again, I have not played NEO yet... so maybe they do?)

(Another thing: Nekus reasons for his reaction here go beyond just empathy... but the original game in your first playthrough never touches on that, which is really stupid. A game should NEVER hide important information behind something optional OR as tedious as a second playthrough or whatever...)

I think one or the reasons to like them, is that despite what the Lady pulled in the beginning of the game... you know these two are actualyl good guys.

You would believe they planned from the start to trick Beat with the fake pin but they were genuinely sorry about this whole mess. Which is why I think its deserved that Beat and Neku warned them about what happened to poor 777.

Sadly... I guess a warning is not enough to protect them. (I can not remember what happened to them afterwards... are they... still "alive"?)

And on that note WHY is he alive?

Also... the secret reports get more and more boring. Its basically just Hanekoma philosophizing about stuff. Not even giving us any useful information. How boring.

That said, that will be it for today.

[asoulofatlantis]

I am breezing through this game... Beats route is so fast and easy... why did I dislike it so much when I played this game for the first time? Either it was because at that point the game overstayed its welcome thanks to Joshuas week or because on the two screens controlling Beat in Battle and use his Sync attack were a nightmare to deal with and in that game working together was much more necessary than it is here.

Anyway the introduction into this game was hillariously stupid and unnecessary. It was basically our favort female reaper asking us to play Reaper Sport 4 with hear but Beat, has catched a cold - which is absolutly stupid, given that he is already dead - and sneezed over the information and thus didn't know what to do and came up with some bullshit because he couldn't reveal that he didn't know, so we were literally chasing shadows until we finally got a heartfelt conversation and some lore about Beat.

I think the hints were there clearly enough but it was still about time Beat came clear, even tho we do not know the full story of why Beat blames himself so much yet. I found it nice that Neku made him understand that he too is desperate and needs help. That they are essentially in the same Boat. I am sure it made them both feel lighter to know that they both have very good reasons to survive and win the game.

It was really embarrassing for her XD Since Beat didn't know what they were supposed to do, they ended up not playing tag with her, as they were supposed to. And since she doesn't exactly have much patients, she ended up coming to them to tell them to stop taking detours. After revealing what game they were actually playing Neku sneekily used the opportunity to touch her, basically telling her "Your it" and thus she has lost the game.

She was absolutely furious about it and fought against us and when she lost she was still out of her mind until our favorite male reaper came to calm her down and low and behold, we got a lot of information about these two out of the conversation.

We thought he was lazy and should be dead by now (given the reveal from the other day that the reapers points decided how long they live) but he was in for a promotion that he refused. She on the other hand thought he refused to stay with her, as she did not get a promotion. So when the icy bitch offered her a promotion she though she needed to get it so she wouldn't hinder him anymore. Thats why she was so desperate. However he is fine were he is and now she will be too, at least for a while. Nice why to round up their story.

Although his story isn't over yet, as he wants us to beat him in order to get the Rhyme pin back.

The secret report was boring. Hanekoma pondering that one should not mourn the loss of something dear to us - which I call bullshit. While he is right that the desperate hole in our hearts will likely eventually be filled again... the scars will stay and upon touching them, they are still almost as painful as on the first day. I wonder if it was supposed to show how "inhuman" he actually is, despite the fact that he so far used only wise words on us? What was important to know is that Rhyme lost the game and thus her Entrifee will not be returned, even IF she returns to live. Meaning that she will not remember Beat (as that was her entry fee) even IF we manage to revive her. And then Hanekoma went on and on that this fee was never meant as a punishment but as a way for players to reflekt on themselves and yada, yada. And while that is in itself not a problem as he wasn't wrong about a change of perspektive, as we can see with Neku and Shiki, I can not say I think its true that the entry fee is not a punishment, if it is not returned to you upon losing. What else is it be than a punishment if it never gets returned?

I hope the game doesn't decide to suddenly have longer days, now that we only have 4 days left. (Especially with Beat running out of time. In Theory I think we have only 3 days left, given Beats internal timer.)

[asoulofatlantis]

So day two of Beats week was a bit full of bad surprises.

Including what that icy bitch did to our adorable Rhyme noise.

She effectively stopped them from going to the Shibuya river with her cat and mouse game after taking Beats Rhyme-Pin away from him. One must say, she is certainly clever.

It never gets old how he reacts upon hearing the mouthful that is his full name XD

What did get old was that all the Reaper were super easy but the final boss of that day was a freaking fucking nightmare. I almost lost and my hand hurts. (I am also so not used to touch-screen controls...)

We kept him alive only for her to kill him a mere minute later and he thought it was his lucky day and was looking forward to giving a concert later. (I also wonder... since he lives this doubly live... how do they explain that in the Real World? Does he just go missing and people assume something happened to him but will never find out what?)

So... my wish gets granted and we really have only short days left? I will so not complain!

[asoulofatlantis]

You know why I hate Joshua even more these days and can for the death of me not understand why everyone else likes him so much and wants him to be with Neku? Because look at this! Poor Neku feels like Joshua died because of him, which is absolutly not the case. From the beginning to the end Joshua manipulated Neku and kept a hella lot of secrets from him. What is there to like about that manipulating, lying hellspawn? Seriously, Neku deserves so much more and so much better than someone like him.

(When I look at Persona 5 and how popular Akechi was, I always wonder if it is the BL-Loving part that makes players absolutly blind and forgiving to certain characters' sins or is everyone secretly into toxic people and toxic relationships? I mean everyone always wines about how important it is to ask for consent and whines about huge age gaps and some bullshit like that but when an attractive, manipulative lying asshole comes around and has it in for the nice protagonist, everyone swoons? Joshua didn't ask for consent when becoming Nekus partner (or anything else for that matter) and he used the powers his position gives him to manipulate him left, fight and center but that is okay? WHY?! And Persona fives Akechi is not that much better. Because I didn't see one shred of regret when he did what he did to a certain person whos name is up to you. But in that game, I at least see were that ship comes from. In this game... Neku was literally manipulated into liking Joshua by a shitload of lies and tricks and deception and... URG! I could rant about this all day. This isn't about shipping preferences. As to each their own. I do ship questionable ships too, after all. My problem is the hypocrisy here. This ship basically is all people always pretend to be bad and forbidden and attack developers for in other games but in this game its fine?)

I wonder if at this point Neku is actually fighting for himself anymore at all?

Neku always has a really interesting dynamic with his partners XD

I wish all days were as quick and easy as the last two. I would breeze through this game XD

[asoulofatlantis]

I am pretty sure that that I thought something along the lines of: "Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me, when we started the third we like the last two weeks before that, because after Joshuas week, you feel like you REALLY need to get this game over with. Its a great game and all and I totally get why we had to do 3 weeks but the pacing in Joshuas week was so awfully slow that adding another week felt like a chore back then. (Because of my long break, I do not have that problem now but I could see me getting kind of tired of this game otherwise... - I am getting tired of the way I have to live-react here, that much is for sure...)

Back when we started this game Neku wanted people to get out of his way and was annoyed by them, said he needed nobody and now look at him beeing upsed about everyone he cares about beeing gone.

In addition to that he feels responsible in all 4 cases. Shiki was denied a second chance in life, because she was his entry-fee for the second week. Joshua SEEMED to have sacrificed himself so Neku could make it to the end of the game. Rhyme migh have been saved if Neku would have been faster and more careful. Beat only joined the Reaper because he was so desperate after losing Rhyme.

Nekus entry fee this time were all other players. While this is purely in favor of getting Neku out of the game (Hanekoma was not sure in the secret reports if he did that because he knew Neku was Joshuas proxy or simply to end the game quick and easy this time...) as one player alone can not win, no matter how strong and capable he is, Neku still comes to the conclusion of this beeing his entry fee himself. Meaning he clearly understands that after Shiki, what he cares most about these days, are the other players. Which is a HUGE ass character development for someone like Neku, who has started out as such a people hating loner who couldn't give a damn about anyone who had not much to do with him, even if in theory, they could have saved his life in this game. He understood that those people too have lifes and want to return to them just like Shiki did and he does, so he can relate to them. He also met some of them and got to know and like them. He reached a point were other people are not meaningless strangers to him and where he feels for the other players. He truly came a very long way in these 2 weeks.

He was very lucky tho that Beat survived by becoming a reaper and that he was intelligent enough to understand that helping Neku was the right thing, even if that meant risking whatever his left of his chance of survival. Otherwise, Neku would not have been able to even just survive the first day of the third week. Hanekoma himself said in the secret reports that it was a rather precarious situation, as he was not allowed to intervene and Joshua was currently in another dimension or plane of existence or whatever. But it ended up beeing in their favor because Neku was supposed to be guided to the Shibuya river and that is just were Beat also REALLY wants to be. Neku has gotten a lot of luck for a kid that ends up getting killed TWICE!

Beat in the original game was an awful partner. Hard to control and all. And while I have not found out how to sync with him yet I think in the Switch version controlling him is easy as heck. I wonder if they thought for the third week they should finally have mercy on us XD

(By the way... the Tumblr-App only allows 10 screenshots - unlike the PC Version. So more post for one In-Game-Day incoming I fear.)

[asoulofatlantis]

I have no Idea what I was thinking when I stopped playing this Game for such a Long Time. As If I would just remember how to Play it after such a damn long time. When I reread some of my live reactions so far, I read that synchronicing with Joshua was really hard and you know what? I can not remember what to even tho do sync whit that hellspawn. Heck, I can not even remember how any of my pins work. I am dooomed!

ALSO I am now taking the screenshots with my Switch 2 and you can not upload tem to Facebook anymore. I have to upload thrm to one of my smart devices and then download them there from the Nintendo App (it does not work with the Nintendo Intenet side...) and then I have to download them from the App, to the phone and ten I can finally use it here on Tumbr but of course, scine thepictures are only on my Smat-Device-Apps I also have to do the live reactions there, which means I am now having my tablet on my lab, while usin an external blootith keyboard to wrirte this and frankly? This sucks! This ws only meat for a shortteam Vacation kind of solution, not for an "Whenever I do a live reaction for a Switch game" - kind of solution. So this really sucks.

It kind of makes me want to stop doing live reactions for Switch games, but it is also kind of sad because live reactions are so much fun.

ANYWAY I am trying to finish this game in the upcoming weeks and I will do my best with the live reactions.

I think about posting the pictures here and then adding text on my PC.

One whole week the poor boy had to last. Fighting with an untrustworthy partner in a cruel game, against his own friend, and with someone else's life at stake that wouldn't even be at stake if it would not have been for him. Imagine the emotional toll on that poor boy. The first week, he woke up dead, without even knowing so at first, beeing thrown into this game having no idea whats going on and why. Having to speedrun learning to trust again after he had shut himself out for so long and dealing with a seemingly hyper positive social butterfly as his partner. And now it looks like he finally reached the end of this nightmare... he can free Shiki and himself and get back to the real world. Or so he thought. Poor guy.

This man is a monster. If I hadn't somehow remembered how that idiot Joshuas attacked worked, I would have died in this battle. Aside from my healing pin, 2 of 4 pins I brought with me were utterly useless. I saw myself starting that day all over again after losing to that math-freak because CLEARLY my choice in pins was stupid. And honestly, if I hadn't changed the difficulty to easy I would have been done for like 1 minute into this fight XD

At the end of this week, they seem to finally show you who truly killed Neku and now you feel bad about accusing poor Joshua of murder. But trust me... there is nothing poor about that hellspawn and there is certainly no reason to feel bad about accusing him of killing Neku... and you will see that soon enough.

ALSO... I loved how the game was like: "Oh no! You thought Joshua were an evil traitor who actually killed Neku in real life and you disliked him even tho he actually did nothing wrong and now that poor guy sacrificed himself for our dear Neku. Do you feel bad?" And seriously? Back in the day I did in fact feel a bit bad. Joshua is still a freaking bastard to me, killing Neku or no, but I still felt bad about hating him, given that he sacrificed himself here. Until I found out the full truth, that is.

(By the way, I saw in my previous live reactions that I had read the secret reports of the game... I can sadly not remember any of them at all ^^' HOWEVER! Lucky for us, I can just read them as we go. There is not much to say about this thankfully relativly shot day but that EVERYTHING and I mean absolutly EVERYTHING went exactly according to Joshuas damn plan.)

In any case... with that I am FINALLY free of that hellspawn and week 2 is done and over with. HURRAY!

One week left and with the hardest partner the game has to offer, if I remember correctly.