NEO: The World Ends With You

This game is really fun. Played through the demo and loved it. Looks like there's tons of pins and setups. Read somewhere you can equip more than one later.

The battle system is hard to explain. It sort of feels similar to Valkyrie Profile, in that you have multiple characters and each is assigned to a button. But NEO allows you to move in 3D.

You can dodge roll and cancel animations/recovery. Has that floaty feel that KH has. There's no jumping. The characters will float upward towards flying/launched enemies though not all attacks make them do this.

Your Psych abilities (what equipped pins give you) are on meters.  You get a certain amount of uses and will go into cooldown if you exhaust them. But you don't have to use them all at once.

With a lot of the moves I got in the demo, the characters you can move the characters around while doing them. They levitate. It's kind of weird. Not all attacks allow this. The fire one makes you stand still.

When you use another move it switches to that character. Wherever they are in the battle zone, they'll warp to the location of the character you switched from.

Once I found out you can attack with every character at once the options skyrocketed, though mostly in theory as demo pins are limited. You can even have multiple characters holding charged moves at once.

Here's an example:
I got these assigned to two characters. One has an ice spike charge attack that launches at full charge, and the other a rock throw (the character creates and holds it above their head then jumps above the enemy and slams it down at max charge) that has a special property of doing more damage on enemies in the air.

By holding L1 and R1, both start charging. And these are the levitate types so you can move around, though note if you need to dodge, you'll cancel both since it becomes like controlling multiple characters at once. Release the ice launcher on R1 then release rock throw once the enemy is launched and chain into the bonus.

When I first started I didn't realize this right away. Oh yeah, I had the third guy, whose attack was exploding arrows (stick and explode if you hit with the max number) going as well. I didn't try but in theory it should be possible to insert all arrows but the last, release ice launcher, then insert final arrow to cause explosion, then drop the rock and get the air bonus. Got tons of ideas.

There's knockback, wall hit, and status effects too.

Ordered the game as soon as the demo finished. Should arrive mid next week.

I got this at launch but haven’t touched it. Really curious to see what you think.

The demo was enough to make me pissed off that it ended and order it for $90 immediately after.

Outside of battle you run around some city in Japan solving riddles and talking to people.

You can chain encounters and fight multiple battles in a row.

Wasnt able to access shops in the demo but I know from reviews you can buy clothes that work as you usual RPG armor. OnlynHP goes up with levels but I read you can eat foods that boost stats permanently or something.

Pins level up and can evolve. There's something called Mutate but not sure what it does.

I wonder if the original game is worth playing, as I still haven't gotten my hands on a Switch. Or a powerful enough PC.

>Mutate
It's just evolution but it needs to be equipped to a certain character for it to mutate.

>OnlynHP goes up with levels
The point of level ups is to allow you to lower your current level to boost droprate, the status increase is irrelevant in the long run because you can cap everything with food.

>original game is worth playing
Yes, if anything the original game is a must play while the sequel is an okay pick up if you liked the original enough.

Any benefit to not evolving? Can you delay it or is that your one chance? I'm thinking like how Pokemon could miss out on moves if you evolved too early.

>first game
Can you move freely in combat? It looks like you can't. Havrnt really looked into it much.

>Any benefit to not evolving?
Not really, you'll want to evolve the pins for better numbers and encyclopedia completion, mutation is a bit more tricky because unlike evolve it changes the behavior of the pin but then again you'll always want to evolve/mutate for completion in the long run, in the rare case(which I'm not sure exists) a pin evolution nets you a worse pin you can just level up another(which you'll most likely have a copy of).

>Can you delay it or is that your one chance?
No idea, generally speaking unevolved pins always get obsolete by evolutions or later pins which usually do the same but better so it's not something I played around.


>Can you move freely in combat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RavAhZEkZZg
Neku(the bottom screen) is controlled by the touch function and he has more mobility, his partner on the above screen is controlled by the Dpad alone and has limited mobility but all have unique gimmicks. NEO is inspired by Neku's combat alone, you can even notice how Neku has several pins which are all distributed to his teammates in NEO.

>Havent looked into it
The ds version is one of the best Jrpgs I've ever played, every other port including the switch one has garbage gameplay and doesn't do the ds version justice. Look into that if you're interested.

What happened with the Switch port? Did they change the gameplay?

Yeah, the mobile, the switch and the ds version all play completely different.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipihnn5Tx3E

NEO is a damn great time. The amount of customization options you have at your disposal as well as how all of the mechanics work together makes for some of the most synergetic combat feel since KH2FM and I’d even rank it above the original, despite how much I also love that game.
https://a.pomf.cat/sllzvv.MOV

Alright, so here are some notes I made regarding NEO’s enemy hit reactions.
• Downed: Occurs after a wallsplat, bouncing or launch on enemies and having them fall onto the ground. Pairs up well with Downed Assassin and helps with providing breathing room. Notably, when an enemy is downed, they actually gain super armor for a brief period of time as they slowly start to get back up, rendering them immune to attacks with knockback or pulling properties (not necessarily the damage but more so the effect) so keep that in mind. However, this doesn't apply towards pins that can send an enemy flying.

• Knockback: Self-explanatory. Pins with certain knockback properties (usually ones that send enemies flying) can cause enemy collisions that can down and spread apart non-heavy mobs (i.e. enemies that are not mammoths and rexes).

• Bouncing: Downing enemies with certain pins (G-Storm pins such as Giddy Graviton and Relative Absoluteness, Psychic Storm pins like Caught in the Undertow, Heavy Slammer, Grave Marker's finisher, causing enemies to collide like with one another, etc) will cause an enemy to bounce off of the ground with doing so actually opening them up to the Aerial Assault ability for extra damage as well as making them susceptible to knockback again.

• Wallsplat/bounce: One of the main conditions for producing Beatdrops. Descriptions usually entail "sends enemies flying." Depending on the pin, can be used to farm tons of Groove (Gale Force, Massive Hit, etc). Interestingly, doesn’t require pins with the Knockback condition in order to inflict the state (enemies getting blown back by the shockwaves of certain Meteor Strike pins, large objects from Psychokinesis pin) though they won’t produce Beatdrops. Wallsplatting an enemy also opens them up to the damage bonus ability of pins with Aerial Assault

• Launched: Self-explanatory. Opens up enemies to extra damage from abilities such as Aerial Assault and Aerial Assassin as well as makes them more susceptible to knockback.Can be paired up with pins with the ability Knockback Assassin (Rock ‘n’ Rock for example) get to the finisher quicker and accumulate Groove. Said combination is incredibly effective with Whirlwind pins.

• Stunned/Confused/Dizziness: Causes an enemy to stand dazed in place, opening them up for attacks. Doesn’t last as long as Frozen or Entombed but knocking an enemy into the ground or a wall won’t knock them out of the effect unlike the other two. Can be affected by Frozen Foes and works with Frozen Fatality (ability that has certain pins doing bonus damage on immobilized enemies). Can be caused by Darkness or certain Sound pins.

>Frozen: Causes an enemy to be encased in ice, locking them in place for attacks. Doesn’t last as long as Entombed but is easier to inflict thanks to having more pins. Interestingly, if you freeze/entomb an enemy while it's getting up after getting knocked down or in the middle of its attack animation, it will sustain the enemy hit state, making them much more liable to getting moved around on the battlefield by pins that can inflict knockback with each hit such as Lance Lunge and Grave Marker. Can be affected by Frozen Foes and works with Frozen Fatality.

• Entombed: Causes an enemy to be entombed in rock, locking them in place for attacks. Lasts the longest out of the immobilization status effects but is a lot harder to come by. Same rules as freeze applies. Can be affected by Frozen Foes and works with Frozen Fatality.

• In addition to the above two, certain freezing/entombing psychs like Dynamite Darts and the Ice Mashup, induce a sort of "downed state" on the enemy, which is why they become impervious to knockback in comparison towards other pins. However, you can get around this by freezing enemies while they’re in the middle of getting up from their knockdown states or freezing them while they’re going through their attack animations

• Chained: Locks an enemy entirely in place with chains, even in the air. Can’t knockback, launch, or knockdown enemies in this state but the chains will do bonus damage based on the damage of any further attacks, and on top of that, if an enemy is weak to the affinity of the Trip Wire pin it’s trapped with, all of your attacks will do 2x elemental bonus damage equal to that of your current attack, regardless of the pin’s affinity. Additionally, while you can't physically launch an enemy when they’re chained, if you launch them beforehand, they’ll be made susceptible towards launcher Beatdrop prompts, which is something that comes really in handy for building Groove with psychs like Whirlwind. Can be affected by Frozen Foes and works with Frozen Fatality.

• Binded: Effect unique to Black Hole, Poltergeist, Snare Trap, and the Gravity Mashup. Can reset enemy revenge values and prevent counters much like the other status effects. Black Hole can cause enemies to collide with one another for additional damage and draw them in further, Snare Trap can lock an enemy entirely in place, even in the air, Poltergeist can be used for positioning shenanigans and collision damage (even being able to move time-stopped and chained enemies around), and Gravity can suck enemies into a single place in the air and automatically activate Aerial Assault's damage bonus ability. On top of that, Gravity also shares Time Mashup’s aerial property of launcher Beatdrop conditions working when the enemy has been previously launched into the air before being held in place by the gravity well. Doesn’t drag in large enemies such as mammoths and dinos as well as certain bosses BUT it can still be used on them to produce Beatdrops as long as you’re targeting them while unleashing the Mashup. On top of that, if an enemy’s revenge value is activated while you unleash the Gravity Mashup, they will still move around in the gravity well, not just opening them up physically to launcher moves but knockdown and catapult as well, providing you more opportunity to do some back-to-back Beatdrops. Be wary that enemies can still break out in counterattacks during this, however. Can be used with Frozen Fatality.

• Timestop: Locks every enemy in place for as long as the duration of the Time Mashup. Has unique applications for both the ground and air such as Frozen Fatality working with it and enemies being susceptible to launcher pin Beatdrop prompts in the air if you launch them before unleashing the Mashup just like with chains. What's interesting about this Mashup is that it technically counts as an immobilization state so it won't work on enemies in the middle of counterattacking and if you override it with another immobilization status effect, the Time Mashup's effect on an enemy will get canceled out. It can also cancel enemy/boss attacks since the effect technically counts as a stun, such as Mr. Mew's lasers, Shiba's sword slam, Iris Cantus' acid rain before she launches it, or even the Grunge/Plague Wolves’ lightspeed dash

• Burned: Does the least DoT damage at the fastest tickrate. Lasts as long as Shocked. Affected by Ailing Enemies and Perpetual Pain.

• Shocked: Does the most DoT damage at the slowest tickrate. Lasts as long as Burned. Affected by Ailing Enemies and Perpetual Pain.

• Poisoned: Does middle of the road damage with a medium tickrate. Lasts the longest. Affected by Ailing Enemies and Perpetual Pain.

Currently replaying this game again. One thing I love is how you can maximize DPS with some smart pin combinations and utilization of status effects. I like to chain up enemies so that I can then go for rapid damage with a Heavy Slugger pin since the bonus damage stacks up, which makes deleting health bars in the early game a lot of fun.

https://youtu.be/Fed2PkX0Wk8
Have I mentioned how much I love Bee in Your Bomb-et as a pin? Because I really love Bee in Your Bomb-et. It can move chained and time stopped enemies with nothing else but Black Hole being able to do that, you can lay down multiple bombs to have them either set each other off or move enemies through a sequence of traps/AoE attacks separately, it can cause collision damage AND stun. Plus the concept of black hole bombs is just cool as hell. Something important to note about BIYB is that it will only stun enemies after they have been grappled in by the black hole. In other words, it cannot stun any enemy that is immune to the grapple, such as rexes and mammoths.

Been a while since I last updated this forum so I might as well fix that. Anyway, let's cover Mashups/Killer Remixes in this post and how they work:



First you gotta get Groove (which is basically your meter in this game and the number in the center on the top part of the screen with the percentage next to it) and while that's simple enough (chain together combo finishers for each pin into one another by fulfilling a pin's Beatdrop condition), there are huge factors that mean the difference between hitting 200% in one fight or in seconds. Considerate pin use is one, mashing them all might feel like good damage but if you do so, you'll lose out on Beatdrop chances. When your learn their conditions and chain Beatdrops fluidly between them with your next move in mind, you can potentially gain a ton of Groove in one simple burst. Aim to both trigger and hit at least one each pin use/combo to start. This also ties into my next point: Beatdrop sweetspots.




This is an upgrade you get from completing the Week 2, Day 1 sidequest Wallet Woes for a guy named Itsuki Kaneda. DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS since unlocking this mechanic will add tons of dimensions to the combat and give you more tools to consider during a battle.



Beatdrop sweetspots are orange sections that appear in somewhere in a Beatdrop gauge and hitting a Beatdrop sweetspot always double your Groove gains for less pin gauge. What's interesting about this system is how different Psychs/pins will have different sweetspot locations in their Beatdrop gauge and they’re related towards how you can effectively manage your damage output. For example, Vulcan Uppercut’s (a launcher Psych) sweetspot location is smack-dab in the middle, which is related to that being where the launched enemy reaches the apex of that launch and coincidentally also leads into the damage bonus of pins with the Aerial Assault damage bonus, which only activates if you hit an enemy while they're launched into the air. Meanwhile, most Massive Hit pins (knockback Psychs that wallsplat enemies) have the sweetspot gauge be located in the very beginning of the circle gauge, since the combat design wants you to go for an aggressive follow-up right after to keep the offensive pressure going. The game is actively rewarding the player for learning how to efficiently combo well and playing optimally in NEO allows for all kinds of mechanical cohesion and decision-making that forms the backbone for some of the greats within the action genre. It also isn’t a linear design too since if you time your combos in a different way, you can still effectively hit that sweetspot with different Psychs.
For example, I find myself launching a Grenade Launcher pin before the Beatdrop gauge for Vulcan Uppercut appears so that I’m able to hit the sweetspot at just the right time.

Now, you're maybe wondering, "how do I get the Groove necessary to unleash back-to-back Mashups like I see in some of those combo vids on YouTube?" Well, there's actually quite a variety of ways.














What you're seeing here is what my friend and I like to call the Groove Buddy System. Basically, when you hit Beatdrops between certain pairs of characters, there's a chance that you'll get a boosted surge of Groove that increases far beyond what you would normally get, hitting to upwards of 40% to 150% in one go, depending on whether or not you also have a Groove Boost pin/thread and/or fighting a Plague Noise foe. It is absolutely bonkers. This doesn’t just extend to pins but also to Mashups as well. For example, if I have Rindo activating a Gravity Mashup and then have Shoka combo into the Mashup and vice-versa, I can potentially gain a huge burst of Groove that I wouldn’t otherwise if I had use a different pair of characters.



Lastly, you get an movement upgrade called Soundsurfing during Week 2 of the game and when you press the button in time to the beat of the song currently playing in the overworld, you get to build up Groove before entering a battle, with the upgrade in the picture above allowing you to cap out the percentage in fewer button presses.

Now, as for making the Mashup stronger, there are a few considerations. First is if the team's Ready. Each member who either triggers or hits a Beatdrop gets Ready above their pin, adding an ATK multiplier up to 6x for the Mashup. Efficient Beatdrops/pin use is relevant again, as building Groove fast is nice but so is x6 Atk. Naturally it's easier to hit x6 with 200% Mashups (though still doable with 100%s) which is why they'll feel stronger. On that segue a 200% gets better in damage, AoE, projectile count/size and duration depending on type. This means some Affinities benefit more than others, with Fire and Ice being main examples, however this doesn't mean you should discount 100% Mashups, as their lower cost makes them easy to rapid-fire, plus they retain utility. On top of that, activating a Mashup will give the character who activates it invincibility frames, brings them down to the ground instantly, which is very useful for avoiding attacks in the air, recovers you from suffering status ailments at the hands of enemies, and frees all party members from enemy grabs/holds, so a quick Mashup activation can potentially save your life in an instant. When activating a Mashup, you can't do anything with anyone (including dodge) until the animation ends, with a VERY big exception as any other pin in use can keep being used (not dodge cancelled), covering a huge gap in offense with a seamless combo. This is most prominent with charge pins that you charge up beforehand but this tech can be used with potentially any pin. Oh, and to cap it all off, most Mashups will appear on top on whoever you're targeting at a time. Learn this, it matters a ton.

The thing about Mashups is that you need to think of them as an extra pin move to combo with, which can be utilized as you wish, instead of an ultimate as most Mashups need you to set them up first (enemy position, stunning enemies first, gather them in one place, etc) in order to fully take advantage of them. I’ve seen so many people needlessly save them up when Mashups by themselves can provide tons of Beatdrop opportunities for you to take advantage of and get Groove back to unleash them back-to-back.

So with that all in mind, let's dive into each Mashup Affinity and what makes them tick in particular.
Neutral Mashup
Summons a constant stream of energy orbs that appears above the head of the party member who activated the Mashup and follows them even if you switch out to different characters. Each energy orb produces a Beatdrop gauge on contact with the enemy, making it extremely handy for gaining Groove for back-to-back Mashups and the orbs do solid damage as well.
-Lends itself to being more useful against single targets/tight groups since the orbs can spread out to hit other enemies.
-Since the orbs primarily follow the character that activated the Mashup, this can lead to interesting strategies. If you were to, say, buffer another pin in the background (activate a rapid-tap Force Round pin while controlling the Mashup activating character), you can potentially rack up a ton of Groove in a single combo.
-The absolute king of Scramble Slams, being extremely useful for racking up tons of Scramble Points due to being quick, easy-to-use, and producing Beatdrops with each hit.
-Can also stagger enemies/bosses like crazy, making it great for if you want to buy time for your pins to recharge or keep on piling the pain and get more Groove.



Fire Mashup
Summons a huge fireball on top of the target that leaves behind lingering flames in a localized area. Sounds straightforward enough but there's some interesting things you can do with this.
-For starters, it is great for triggering an enemy's revenge value/counter attack to have them soak up more damage from the attack due to their moving hitboxes stacking up the lingering flames. Not only does this work insanely well against enemies such as rhinos, scorpions, and jellyfish, but also against large enemies and even against bosses such as Cervus Cantus for massive amounts of damage. Combine this with pins like Headliner that not only increase the damage output of pins but Mashups and, well, see for yourself.



-Another good way to let enemies soak up damage is to immobilize them beforehand and/or move them through the lingering flames. Black Hole is a very good example since enemies are moved around when caught in the whirlpool and you can do similar tactics with the Snare Trap Psych and the Bee in Your Bomb-et pin.



-Knockdown pins also work very well with the Mashup as enemies will also soak up damage when knocked to the ground.

Ice Mashup
One of the deadliest Mashups in the game. Summons a cluster of ice pillars that hit instantly and freeze enemies on contact. Each pillar can be additionally hit for extra damage and this can be abused with good knockback pins that can catapult enemies through the pillars for a shitload of damage. However, it's up to you to take advantage of that aspect since the Mashup won't do additional damage on its own.


-Combining this Mashup with the Poltergeist Psych (allows you to lasso and move around enemies on the field for collision damage) makes for some of the highest DPS in the game and can positively shred through health bars, even certain bosses!



-Won't do much against fliers unless you bring them down with a knockdown/knockback pin or bait them into coming at you.
-Can reset enemy revenge values due to its freezing effect, making it very handy for staving off enemy counters.

Electric Mashup
One of the harder Mashups to utilize but one of the most effective when used properly. Summons an electric cage around the target that afflicts the enemy with the Shocked status effect when coming in contact with the wall. Works as a great offensive AND defensive tool.
-With good knockback pins, you can bounce around enemies off of the walls for a ricochet effect that has them accumulating more damage.
-You can use it as area denial for enemies such as jellies, birds, wolves, and bears, making it act as a psuedo barrier if they try to run at you while you're in the center of the cage.



-Can stack up damage on large enemies such as mammoths and rexes since their large sizes means more hitboxes spread across the cage.
-Can be used in combination with Psychs/pins/status effects such as Black Hole/Snare Trap to hold enemies in place at the edge of the cage walls and get them to soak up damage. When Frozen or Entombed, enemies that are immobilized in a moving state are more susceptible to getting knocked around the cage.



Wind Mashup
Really strong early-game Mashup that nonetheless still retains use in the endgame. Breaks out into 6 tornadoes that knocks away enemies and produces Beatdrops if the enemy hits the wall. Can absolutely tear through enemy defenses such as Leo Cantus Armo's armor. Its speed, knockback, and AoE make it great for interrupting enemies and is used best against tight crowds.



-What's interesting about this Mashup is that you can ricochet enemies off of one tornado into another for some positioning fun.



Stone Mashup
Ice's equally devastating counterpart with less need or way for you to affect it. Summons boulders from above that drop down on randomized locations and entombs on contact.
-Can be hard to predict but you can anticipate their locations by looking at the ground and seeing the incoming shadows.
-Gets more mileage on large enemies and can entomb multiple times in comparison to Ice.


Water Mashup
One of the most interesting crowd control Mashups. Summons forth water geysers that pop out in randomized locations and launch enemies into the air. The geysers tend to last a while and cluster up together, making it incredibly useful for juggling/air-comboing enemies. When it comes to using this Mashup, it's advantageous that you use pins that can knock away or knock down enemies.


-Gives quick access to instant combo finishers/damage multipliers such as Knockback Assassin, Aerial Assault, and Aerial Assassin
-Can be used as a great defensive maneuver since you can bait enemies into running into the geysers.



Kinesis Mashup
RANDOM BULLSHIT GO: the Mashup. Chucks down large amounts of vehicular and construction debris down on enemies, with the larger objects afflicting knockback on impact and producing Beatdrops while doing so. Comes with the RNG associated with the majority of Kinesis Psychs/pins but the sheer volume of objects being thrown make it pretty strong by default.


-Objects tend to linger on the ground for a short period of time so using pins that can knockback enemies into the debris or psychokinetically throw them to take advantage of this is a good call.
-Interestingly, the Mashup seems to change direction depending on where the enemy is currently targeted at.



Poison Mashup
One of the more underrated Mashups in the game. Covers the screen with poison cloud smoke that inflicts damage and, well, Poison on enemies.
-Despite the slow travel speeds, this Mashup is very effective when it comes to raw damage and DPS. Works best in small arenas and against tight crowds.



-As you can see here, it is VERY effective at tearing through Leo Cantus Armo's armor.



Burst Mashup
The screen-clearing nuke of the Mashups. Summons a series of randomized, dome-shaped explosions that spread across the battleground and knocks back enemies, producing Beatdrops with each hit.


-Great for juggling enemies against the arena and works best in small arenas.
-Also works great against large enemies due to the larger hitboxes.



Sound Mashup
Neutral's slower yet easier to follow counterpart. Summons a large enemy ring around an enemy that produces a Beatdrop with each pulse/hit and travels across enemies. Works best against single targets and tight crowds.
-Unlike Neutral, it doesn't have the chance to whiff so it's incredibly efficient in both staggering enemies/bosses and refiling Groove.
-Also pretty effective in Scramble Slam competitions.



Gravity Mashup
One of the most versatile and unique utility Mashups in the game. Think of it as the equivalent to KH2's Magnet and that extends to beyond the surface-level comparisons. Brings forth a gravity well that draws all but the largest enemies (as well as certain bosses) to a single point in the air.



-Automatically activates the damage bonus/combo enders abilities of pins with Aerial Assault and Aerial Assassin (though only if the enemy is launched beforehand for the latter)
-Works as a great interrupt tool since it will pull in enemies, even when they're trying to counterattack you when their revenge values are activated, making it handy for 100% activation



-If an enemy’s revenge value is activated while you unleash the Mashup, they will still move around in the gravity well, not just opening them up physically to launcher moves but knockdown and catapult as well, providing you more opportunity to do some back-to-back Beatdrops. Be wary that enemies can still break out in counterattacks during this, however.



-If you launch an enemy into the air with a launcher pin before unleashing the Mashup, they become susceptible to launcher Beatdrops conditions, giving you a prime opportunity to build up tons of Groove in the moment.



-Lastly, even though it won’t pull large enemies or certain bosses in, the Mashup will still work off of them for you to potentially gain Groove but only if you aim it at them in the first place.



Time Mashup
Another interesting utility Mashup. As the name implies, it stops every foe on the battlefield in place for a short period of time and outside of outliers such as Grus Cantus' super armor phase and Cervus Cantus phase 2, this works on almost EVERY foe within the game.



-What's interesting about this Mashup is that it technically counts as an immobilization state so it won't work on enemies in the middle of counterattacking and if you override it with another immobilization status effect, the Time Mashup's effect on an enemy will get canceled out.
-Can cancel enemy/boss attacks since the effect technically counts as a stun, such as Mr. Mew's lasers, Shiba's sword slam, Iris Cantus' acid rain before she launches it, etc...


-Has unique applications for both the ground and air such as Frozen Fatality pins having their property of bonus damage on an immobilized enemy work with it and enemies being susceptible to launcher Beatdrops conditions in the air as well as Aerial Assault and Aerial Assassin just like Gravity


-Unlike the other Mashups, it noticeably isn’t affected by the Ready ATK multiplier, meaning that you can activate it at whatever combination that leads into a getting comboed with a Time pin for maximum efficiency.

Light Mashup
One of the most unique Mashups in the line-up and an interesting foil to Neutral and Sound. Dishes out low, thin laser beams that emerge across different directions continuously and pierce through enemies, producing Beatdrops on contact.
-While its design makes it less liable to hit Beatdrops in the same efficient manner as Neutral and Sound, it more than makes up for it with its ability to heal on contact by draining health from enemies with each hit.
-Used best in small arenas and against tight crowds.



Darkness Mashup
One of the best Mashups when it comes to status afflictions. Brings forth homing saw blades that appear from multiple directions that damage enemies in a continuous manner.


-Can inflict the stunned/confusion effect on enemies and due to the sheer volume of sawblades coming from all directions, 100% Mashups can be especially potent when it comes to wanting quick interrupts on enemies. Be wary of potential retaliation, however.

Killer Remix
And last but certainly not least, we finally get to the Killer Remix. A combo attack you unlock at the beginning of Week 2 Day 7 that allows you to finally ascend to 300% Groove and unleash a series of multi-colored energy beams that bombard the area and juggles multiple enemies in its wake.



-Increases the amount of drop rate and healing intake the more party members are Ready, with 6x always fully healing you.
-Resets the battlefield in full as well as removes obstacles you may have created such as Time Bombs and Trip Wires.
-Instantly reboots your pin gauges to be full, allowing you to get back to the fray as soon as possible.
-Allows you to just delete Puffer Noise without them going into their bomb death animation so you can use this to save time and make them less of a hassle
-Activating a Killer Remix during a Dive does NOT pause the timer so use this at your own risk, unless you want less rewards as a result.
-The final Killer Remix attacks sends down a huge explosion that instantly launches and downs enemies caught in the blast.
-If you press a button and tilt the movement stick after the Killer Remix plays out, the last party member that activated the attack will get to move, allowing you to immediately follow up on an enemy with an attack if you so desire.



What I love about Mashups and Killer Remixes as systems is how they have a great amount of synergy with each other.
With the right set-up, Mashups can become potentially more damaging than Killer Remixes, especially when you use them in combination with your pins. And you can build up more Groove during them, which allows you to just keep dishing them out whenever you want. On the flip-side, Killer Remixes become far less powerful on higher difficulties BUT they allow you to get a free full heal AND refill all of your pins. Which pretty much eliminates the need for healing pins entirely and in turn allows you to just go nuts with your pin builds.

Holy shit, that’s a lot of info. I’ll have to reference this when I get around to playing the game.

Infinity_Divide wrote:Holy shit, that’s a lot of info. I’ll have to reference this when I get around to playing the game.

Yeah, there’s a LOT of depth to the game’s combat as well as a lot for you to experiment with, which is why is kind of annoys me to see some people regard it as nothing but a button-masher. Sure, button-mashing might seem like you’re doing a lot, but you’ll fall into a much better flow and have an overall better experience if you properly time and sequence your combos.

https://vxtwitter.com/mageknight14/status/1677559980411559936?s=46&t=hHMkRZSCKFxMe1Gq_aHQhg
Fun fact: this game also has restands.

Another cool thing about this game that I haven't noted is how it treats parrys/counters. In this game, there's a psych type called Protective Field that summons a barrier on ALL of your party members at once and it actually comes into two types with differing nuances and applications for each. One barrier can be erected without a concern for timing and can last for a while, allowing you to safely melee enemies without having your combos get interrupted while by contrast, the protection window for the other is very small in exchange for reflecting damage back, which makes for some really cool risk-vs-reward play. Both of these can be only be used once before having to recharge and you'll see why in a minute. One type will recover health lost if you time it just right, another will knock enemies back as well as inflict damage towards them, and another And another will launch enemies into the air when they come into contact and since the barriers cover your entire party, you can launch enemies by your teammates into the air as well and this also works on bosses to boot!
The thing about parrying in this game is that since it's dedicated to its own separate button, you can parry enemy attacks while in mid-combo or, even cooler, since they appear on every party member at once, group them together into a single point to increase the damage output of the parry exponentially, making for some of the most interesting applications of a Perfect Block mechanic I've seen in an action game.



You also shouldn't discount the pins that just defend either. For example, Lost in Space is a purely defensive pin that lasts a while in comparison to other types. Which actually makes it incredibly effective for multi-hit attacks from certain enemies and bosses and since each hit into the barrier procs a Beatdrop, you can actually build a ton of Groove with it!

Can confirm, NEO combat slaps and hard.

W as usual Mageknight.

>go on Reddit to see a post complaining about the game
>comments claim that the enemies become "boring health-sponges that take too long to kill" instead of actually using the tools available to them to kill them as quickly as possible.
Every time. I played through the entire main game with no stat boosts or equips and I was still able to beat it with no problem. A lot of people seem to confuse their unwillingness to learn as being an actual flaw of the game.

Are they on the 1st playthrough or replaying? I can kind of get the 1st one cause NEO is quite unique even among other action games even tho it is just them problem.

>>comments claim that the enemies become "boring health-sponges that take too long to kill" instead of actually using the tools available to them to kill them as quickly as possible.

That's what they say about CL and it just isn't true.

Sadly they won't listen even if you post video evidence. Mechanical Blindness is often followed by a serious case of Double Down.

>enemies are sponges
Assuming this is the game's meme (as it is with GoW and 'square square triangle')?

Phoenix Wright wrote:>enemies are sponges
Assuming this is the game's meme (as it is with GoW and 'square square triangle')?

More or less, alongside "button-masher", when the game itself exponentially rewards you for not just button-mashing and actually considering the combos you craft.

Currently on Week 2 and the game is mad fun. The pin system is intutive and has a nice execution barrier while also allowing a certain degree of freedom (both in how you use them and which pins you choose). The enemies are somewhat weak for now, not that many moves and a bit too sandbaggy, but serviceable enough. The things to do outside of combat are pretty boring, but that comes with the territory. Wonder if Hard/Ultimate difficulty changes something outside of damage values (want to know if the AI gets a significant change as well).

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I started playing properly recently. The combat is fantastic.

>but the rest of the game really dragged it down for me.
What are you referring to?

I skip all the cut-scenes so it's either fighting endless random battles or running to the next story fight.

Malcar wrote:Wonder if Hard/Ultimate difficulty changes something outside of damage values (want to know if the AI gets a significant change as well).

Enemies actually become more aggressive/faster on higher difficulties. I think this vid shows it off pretty well. https://x.com/mageknight14/status/1641703114838364160?s=46&t=hHMkRZSCKFxMe1Gq_aHQhg
You also get more interesting enemy/mob combinations as the game goes on.

mageknight14 wrote:

Malcar wrote:Wonder if Hard/Ultimate difficulty changes something outside of damage values (want to know if the AI gets a significant change as well).

Enemies actually become more aggressive/faster on higher difficulties. I think this vid shows it off pretty well. https://x.com/mageknight14/status/1641703114838364160?s=46&t=hHMkRZSCKFxMe1Gq_aHQhg
You also get more interesting enemy/mob combinations as the game goes on.

Also enemies don't become more tanky right.

Golden_GustVerse wrote:

mageknight14 wrote:

Malcar wrote:Wonder if Hard/Ultimate difficulty changes something outside of damage values (want to know if the AI gets a significant change as well).

Enemies actually become more aggressive/faster on higher difficulties. I think this vid shows it off pretty well. https://x.com/mageknight14/status/1641703114838364160?s=46&t=hHMkRZSCKFxMe1Gq_aHQhg
You also get more interesting enemy/mob combinations as the game goes on.

Also enemies don't become more tanky right.

There is some damage reduction but you have so many ways to make enemies your bitch in this game that it’s honestly a non-factor.

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Shrekgamer69 wrote:

Birdman wrote:I started playing properly recently. The combat is fantastic.

>but the rest of the game really dragged it down for me.
What are you referring to?

I skip all the cut-scenes so it's either fighting endless random battles or running to the next story fight.

The biggest issue for me was that the game is too long. I dont think its ever necessary for a game to take 40 hours (with cutscenes, its probably shorter without) to beat and its made even worse by the fact that you spend the whole game in the same city. theres also not that many different enemy types.

I personally don’t see many of these as a problem. TWEWY as a series is not like a lot of other JRPGs out there where you go around exploring a wide variety of locations. It’s all about the city of Shibuya and how the characters you play as form a connection with it in many different ways. In that sense, the city itself can be viewed as a character and I don’t think the aesthetic, themes, and writing would hit nearly as hard without those aspects. The games also do just enough to make each day feel different, whether it’s doing sidequests around the city, having to do missions that have you completing different tasks (spot the difference puzzles, an entire VN section where you have to choose the right answers to progress, the whole day where you have to piece together your memories in order to complete a task, etc…)
As for enemy variety, I find that the enemies were distinct enough in a wide variety of ways to keep things feeling fresh, especially in different mob combinations.
>Raven enemies that can immobilize a party member, dive at you, attack you at close-range with their wings, and shoot out wing projectiles in arcs

>Grizzly enemies hit hard with their slow telegraphed attacks, slam the ground around them, and can even rush at you

>Jelly enemies can multiply into a giant horde if left unchecked, spin around to continually attack and spew poison, and pass electric currents between them. While other Jelly Noise are easy to decipher from their clones due to the marking on their bodies, Germanic Jelly has no such distinction, making it easy for them to overwhelm you if you don’t kill them first.

>Wolf enemies can also immobilize a party member, enabling the other wolves to gang up on you and take away vast chunks of your health, and dash around the battlefield at supersonic speed, some leaving trails of fire that can damage you on contact. One later variant even has lightspeed dashing which has them bouncing off of the walls (especially deadly in certain areas such as Takeshita Street)

>Shark enemies have to be forced out of the ground lest you allow them to take chomps at you, leap from the ground to divebomb you with a splash attack, and come at you with their razor fins

>Stinger enemies can long range snipe you with their tails, can inflict Poison DoT with their clouds, swipe at you with their claws, and even grab you from afar

>Puffer enemies can not fundamentally die unless left alone at 0 HP for a big explosion, can shoot poison darts, and even bust out poison spike armor for close-ranged

>Rhino enemies will ram into you hard, stomp at the ground around you, uppercut you into the air with their horns, and can only be attacked from behind unless you launch or down them.

>Chameleon enemies that will go invisible and untargetable at far range, can snipe you with a reticle laser or tongue lash that pulls you in closer, and shoot off close-range electric-powered shocks. Later variants can even heal other enemies.

>Mammoth enemies with superarmor, suction, AoE stomps, nose whips, and homing lasers

>T-Rex enemies have superarmor, deceptively fast moving chomps, can leave behind stomps that explode after a short period of time, wide tail whips that can take out chunks of your party’s health, have the ability to snatch up your party members in their jaws to buff themselves until they eventually spit them back out, AND can shout out long-range roars that can one hit KO your party if not careful

>the rest of the game really dragged it down for me
I don't particularly care for the story (of any game really, I find atmosphere more important) but here it's nicely executed (at least so far). The non-combat stuff I can take or leave, boring puzzles and running around. At least soundsurfing makes movement more interesting.

>this vid shows it pretty well
Good stuff. I hate when the AI doesn't change significantly between difficulties. Do you know if it also changes between Hard and Ultimate?

>enemy types
Are these really the only ones in the game outside of bosses? 11 is a pretty small number for a 40 hour game all things considered, especially since some of the enemies have pretty limited movesets. So far they support the combat system well enough, so I can't complain too much.

Malcar wrote:
Good stuff. I hate when the AI doesn't change significantly between difficulties. Do you know if it also changes between Hard and Ultimate?
Enemies become faster and more aggressive on Ultimate as well, yeah.  
>enemy types
Are these really the only ones in the game outside of bosses? 11 is a pretty small number for a 40 hour game all things considered, especially since some of the enemies have pretty limited movesets. So far they support the combat system well enough, so I can't complain too much.

I also left out the frog, penguin, player, and pig enemies as well (though pigs are more like puzzle enemies if anything) so that brings it up to 15 enemy types, which I feel is pretty fine overall, especially with the distinctions I’ve noted. It also helps that the Dives and chain reductions make these types a lot more dangerous, especially on higher difficulties.

Oh yes, forgot about those. Still, my point stands but it's not like it's a fatal flaw anyway. Everybody loves MGR and that game has like 9 common enemy types.

>Dives and chain reductions
They certainly help, yes. Currently on W2D3 and doing 4 chain reductions to get some Scramble Points and I'm getting my ass kicked (how it should be). Dives are also pretty challenging, Fear noise especially.

Malcar wrote:Oh yes, forgot about those. Still, my point stands but it's not like it's a fatal flaw anyway. Everybody loves MGR and that game has like 9 common enemy types.

>Dives and chain reductions
They certainly help, yes. Currently on W2D3 and doing 4 chain reductions to get some Scramble Points and I'm getting my ass kicked (how it should be). Dives are also pretty challenging, Fear noise especially.

One cool thing about the game is how it actually subtly encourages really cool pin combinations. On the day that you’re on, in Tower Records for example, the red jellyfish drop InaZuma • Surge on Normal, which is an electric Trip Wire pin that forms a box of wires around the area. Also in the same area are wolves who leave behind fire trails and drop Drift Tackle pins, which have the ability Frozen Fatality, which does increased damage for the pin based off of an enemy is immobilized beforehand. What’s even better is that you just got Beat, who’s not exactly up to snuff with the rest of the Twisters yet, so a new player might be encouraged to drop the difficulty until they get Beat’s stats right back up. And even if you didn’t want to turn the difficulty back down, you still have other status infliction pins from beforehand!

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>encouraged to drop down the difficulty
Might do that just to get the new pins and then switch back to Hard. I enjoy the punishment.

Shrekgamer69 wrote:
I didn’t mind this in the first game but I think it doesn’t work in Neo. The problem is that none of the “puzzles” actually work like a game. It’s all just scripted set pieces where you do whatever the game decides is correct and then it lets you progress. Again, I didn’t mind it in the original game since it was usually very short. I also think that game did a better job at making “puzzles” feel like an actual part of the story where a majority of days In Neo just felt like they existed because the devs needed to fill in 3 weeks my opinion. Only a handful actually felt like they served a purpose in the story. I also don’t mind the idea of the whole game taking place in one city but i think 40 hours in one location with minimal visual changes is just not very enjoyable. The game should have been 20 hours at most.

I personally didn’t see it that way. A lot of the puzzles were actually used in service to either build up the characters and their relationships, progress through the story, or a mix of both. W2D4 is a pretty good example and one of my personal favorite days because it’s not just a reference to KH2’s Seven Wonders of Twilight Town but it’s also great for exploring the psychological damage the Game imposes on the players. It really shows off how the other Player teams cope when it comes to having to endure several agonizing loops of a never-ending Game, resulting in Players AND Reapers alike abusing their powers in order to try and have SOME entertainment in their currently stagnant unlife. This is important because it serves as key foreshadowing for

Spoiler:

reveal and gives extra context for the actions of him and several other teams in hindsight: people who are so broken down by their circumstances that they’ll do anything to escape the stagnation and dread. Not only that but the day and W2D3 also serve as a peak into

Spoiler:

inner struggles and conflicts with Beat’s confrontational personality and questions piercing through

Spoiler:

shell and having

Spoiler:

take more proactive measures into helping Rindo and the other Twisters out.
With all due respect, it just feels like you’re only looking at the game from a surface-level and the 20 hours at most comment kind of shows that considering how NEO uses its longer structure in service of developing the relationships between the party members amongst themselves and others. NEO's writing, while feeling very faithful to the OG's tone, takes a different approach to how it presents information. OG TWEWY was a lot more direct about the message it was trying to convey to its audience. This is a perfectly good way of writing things because you can guarantee your audience will be invested. It also focuses most of its character writing on the intimate connection between Neku and his partner and prioritizes that more than other characters, which is also a great approach for some people because they can get a very focused message from the game.
NEO, on the other hand, leans heavily on its varied ensemble cast of characters and showing their growth and development through all of their interactions with each other. Other characters, such as reapers and other players, are much more fleshed out and there are even more people for the protagonists to bounce off of. Unlike the first game, the character development and themes isn’t directly spelled out to the audience, and if it is it is usually only said way later while the characters have been developing subtly up until that point. In this way, a lot of the characters' development feels far more dynamic than the first game, but at the same time it is a lot harder for people to grasp or keep track of than OG TWEWY's more direct and pinpoint approach.
NEO also has a habit of throwing you a lot of details/behaviors at you that you do not get context for until much later. The game does this for Rindo's time travel segments, but it is not limited to those segments alone. This style of writing is present throughout the entire story. Since a lot of these details are so small, you probably will not retain this information once you actually reach the points in the game you get the context, which is often either at the end of the game or the postgame secret reports. I personally like it a lot because it transforms the story into an entirely different experience once you replay and re-experience it. You don’t have to like this approach in comparison to the original but I respect it a lot and find this kind of writing style to be interesting to dissect everytime I revisit it.

>doesnt really let you skip a majority cutscenes properly so you have to either mash
It goes by pretty fast.

> I dont think its ever necessary for a game to take 40 hours
You mean to just see the end credits? If so, this would only be an issue if you're following the story.
After we beat stories we continue replaying for the mechanics for hundreds of hours.

>not many enemy types
Like many action games. But there is tons of variety in enemy combinations. 10 enemies can potentially be 100 by mixing them up.

>other aspects
If it's not combat I have no interest.

Another funny thing about that game is that you can actually buy and resell pins to fill up the VIP level gauge or fulfill the Social Network node requirements that only ask you to buy a select number of items.
https://x.com/mageknight14/status/1725990284192780500?s=46&t=hHMkRZSCKFxMe1Gq_aHQhg
Highly recommend doing this so that you can get access to the Turbo Charge Accessory thread from Ryoji’s girlfriend as early as W2D2.

>skips all the cutscenes
>only combat matters
Based.

>sell and rebuy shenanigans
This will be useful.

Tried the tripwire + Hog Fang charge pins and the combo is pretty devastating. Like the square tripwire pin more compared to the regular tripwire pins for normal encounters. Made quick work of everything while I was struggling before.

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Shrekgamer69 wrote:
> I dont think its ever necessary for a game to take 40 hours
You mean to just see the end credits? If so, this would only be an issue if you're following the story.
After we beat stories we continue replaying for the mechanics for hundreds of hours.

Yeah just to get to credits. Putting hundreds of hours into a game is fun but it’s only something that should be done of your own free will. A game shouldn’t force you to play it for 40-60 hours just to see the credits.

With all due respect, why are you playing a JRPG in that case? That kind of length is more or less the norm.

> A game shouldn’t force you to play it for 40-60 hours just to see the credits.
I don't quite understand.

The end credits don't matter. The gameplay does.

I thought that the trip wire pin was the one making the game easier, but it's the charging one. You can interrupt tons of enemies with it, has a pretty easy beatdrop activation condition, deals decent damage and knocks back a decent amount (plus it has a low-ish cooldown too), so that was the secret sauce. Now I added a freezing and an entombing pin (the ConyXCony rock dart pin, which has a very good AoE entomb) into the mix and the enemies cannot keep up, it's great.

Malcar wrote:I thought that the trip wire pin was the one making the game easier, but it's the charging one. You can interrupt tons of enemies with it, has a pretty easy beatdrop activation condition, deals decent damage and knocks back a decent amount (plus it has a low-ish cooldown too), so that was the secret sauce. Now I added a freezing and an entombing pin (the ConyXCony rock dart pin, which has a very good AoE entomb) into the mix and the enemies cannot keep up, it's great.

What’s your pin deck at the moment?

Dine 'n Dash, Gorgeous Gemstone, Ever-Artic Treasure and Yukimitsu. I change pins often in order to level them/evolve them. Now I'm trying this combinations and it seems to work very well.

Question: how much does the attack power of a pin matter? There are certain pins that I like but their attack power is only a fraction of what I'm using currently.

Malcar wrote:Question: how much does the attack power of a pin matter? There are certain pins that I like but their attack power is only a fraction of what I'm using currently.

Honestly, not much. Pins with lower Power on average have more uses/faster Reboots meaning more chances to Beatdrop, and the Power difference isn't nearly as extreme as it looks, so it's a playstyle consideration. Power is not hard-coded, and is arguably the least important factor when choosing what pins to use. Combo utility is arguably far more important in the long run, and besides that there is reboot time, uses, element, ailment strength, abilities and several different psych-specific factors like combo length and makeup, range, projectile speed and type, and much more. Then said combo utility is also based on the enemy you're fighting, the arena and the rest of your pins, not to mention how you prefer to play. Lower-power pins can still have utility due to charges/refresh rate/reboot time/element having preferable synergies compared to 'better' options, giving you a reason to not just slam your biggest number against anything with a health bar.

For example, Freestyle Launcher has more Power than the Lovebird Magnum pin it mutates from, but Lovebird Magnum is unique is that its finisher spoiler off into three ways, giving you a multi-hit projectile at closer range. https://x.com/mageknight14/status/1669912293662965760?s=46&t=hHMkRZSCKFxMe1Gq_aHQhg
Glacial Getaway, the first evolved Piercing Pillar pin you get in the game, also remains useful due to fast reboot speed and charge time (especially with Turbo Charge threads equipped), its size allowing you to hit the apex of a launched enemy and subsequently its Beatdrop Sweetspot more easily, and for giving you quick access to the Ice Mashup, one of the most devastating crowd control moves in the game.