Haven't gotten to finish the demo, and I'm still not even finished with Day 1, but some impressions so far. These are on Switch:
- Framerate maintains a solid 30 or higher. It's perfectly playable on Switch for those that were concerned.
- Combat on day 1 is pretty simple, mainly because you spend most of it using only Rindo and Fret, I just got Minamimoto and got to use him for one battle before I had to stop for now (and will pick it up after work)
- However I can see how combat can get more complex. Having it be pretty simple at the start makes sense. The DS game was the same way, because of it's weird combat being a TWEWY staple, you have to really learn the ropes of it.
- Enemies do have AoE attacks, such as the bear noise's swipes. Allies you aren't controlling will automatically try to dodge, but might always necessarily. It can be a good idea when you switch to spread out if necessary.
- Pressing the button switches you to that character. If they're too far from where your current one is they just teleport so the camera is not shifting all over the place.
- Pins have different input methods, like the original, but of course it uses buttons. Rindo and Fret's first pins are just a simple press of the button repeating, but when you get Minamimoto, his pin is activated by holding the button until you see it charged, and letting go to unleash a kick. I know there's more input methods, so you will not be able to get away with just mashing the buttons.
- The beatdrop meter is basically the light puck of this game, and the biggest focus of this is actually managing pin cooldowns. It works very much like the light puck from the DS game.
- I LOVE the visual style of the tall buildings warping as you move closer and further to them, like how they were in 2D in the original. I'm glad that's a stylistic touch they kept.
- Presentation is great, the dialogue parts are much more animated and have a lot more flair to them.
- They still do the thing, at least on day 1, where you're often told the answer to puzzles rather than figuring them out yourself. Wasn't really fan of that often happening in the first game, and not really a fan of it here either.
- I love these characters so far. Rindo is nothing like Neku at the start of the first game, and that's a good thing. Not that Neku's personality at the start of the first game was bad, I'm just glad they didn't repeat the same trope.
- There's a difficulty and de-leveling option like the first game. Press +, but only Normal difficulty is available. I assume you unlock Easy, Hard, and Ultimate like the first game.
Really hyped to finish the demo after work, but so far impressions are definitely positive. I hope we get to see more wrenches thrown into the combat before the demo ends.