A humorous RPG with tons of charm, but is that enough to give it legs?
Recently, I played through the demo of Miitopia, a new RPG developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. As this is a demo, and therefore only covers a small section of the overall game, I have decided to simply give my impressions in lieu of a full review (which may come later once I finish the full game).
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Who would've guessed, that in the year 2017, we would be getting a full RPG starring Miis? Those weird avatars we used to bowl and play golf with are now fighting monsters as warriors and mages. Strange times we're living in.
Miitopia is a turn-based RPG staring, you guessed it, Miis. You (or more accurately, your Mii) play as a hero who has to save Miitopia from the Dark Lord (who can be any Mii of your choosing-so go ahead and make your friend, or ex, the main villain). The Dark Lord, in a rather disturbing plan, steals the faces of various Miitopia citizens, leaving them faceless, emotionless husks (this game got dark quick). Being chosen by a higher power, you journey across Miitopia to rescue faces and stop the Dark Lord.
Being a game made up of Miis, the game becomes very funny right away. The first face I rescued was Batman's, who is the son of Bella Swan. Town populations are (as far as I can tell), made up of random Miis, while the more important ones can be chosen by you. In addition to the Dark Lord, you can pick the Miis of your party members, a great sage (who I made Rick Sanchez), and possibly others. I made all of my party members friends of mine, and seeing them interact and battle together was a delight.
Despite being a turn-based RPG, player involvement is surprisingly detached. In battle, the only character you directly control is your own, where you can choose from the standard RPG menus (attack, skills/magic, items). However, that's the only character you control. All your party members are controlled by AI, where they'll execute one of those three commands at random. This can lead to some pretty frustrating outcomes at times. When using items, you can only choose to use them on yourselves, so if a party member is low on HP or MP, you can't use any items to replenish them yourself, and instead have to hope that they are smart enough to use one themselves.
The level of detachment is also seen when it comes to upgrading your equipment. Instead of dedicated shops like most RPGs, every time you stop at an inn, you can see what item each party member wants. You don't actually buy the item, instead giving the gold to the character to buy the item. Most of the time they'll come back with the desired item, but sometimes they'll instead buy a completely different item.
Another example of the game's randomness is when it comes to the food preferences of your party members. As you battle monsters, your party will gather various food items, each upping a different stat. The twist is that certain party members won't like certain foods, and that will affect their effectiveness. If they don't like it, you get less, if they love it more, and so on. But you won't know how they feel about it until *after* they eat the food once. So it's all a guessing game.
Most notably, this lack of involvement is exemplified in the game's exploration, or lack thereof. The only time you move your character is in towns or the world map. Besides that, your party just moves on their own, and is essentially a cutscene, with your party members interacting with each other. This is amusing at first, but dialogue begins repeating, and I got the sense that this is something that could get old very quick. Honestly, this just feels like a huge missed opportunity, but I'll get more into why I think this is the way it is later.
There are some things I very much enjoyed about this game. I think the job/personality mechanics work great. Each character is assigned a personality in addition to a job, and this can impact how battles play out. For example, a cool character may be more likely to dodge attacks, while a cautious character may bring out an item they need if there are none in stock that they had hidden. Its a very clever system, and one that can add tremendously to the variety of battles.
And it can't be stated just how charming this game is. In my hour or so playthrough, I still hadn't gotten over the novelty of seeing my friends go on this grand adventure, and I don't think I will. Knowing their personalities makes some of the interactions even more funny, and I hope you will be able to give even more Miis roles later on.
Now, I feel this is an RPG created for the casual RPG fan. The fan who doesn't want to spend hours grinding or exploring dungeons. Battles happen at predetermined times, and like I said, there's no actual exploration done in the game. As a huge fan of turn-based RPGs, this is a little disappointing, but I think I'm in for the long haul.
Miitopia has definite faults, but it's a game I want to keep playing. I'm definitely going to buy the full version (and I may have already by the time you read this). It's just so damn charming and witty that I can't help but smile my entire time playing. As for whether this will keep me going throughout my entire play through, well, let's see what my final review says.
Miitopia is a turn-based RPG staring, you guessed it, Miis. You (or more accurately, your Mii) play as a hero who has to save Miitopia from the Dark Lord (who can be any Mii of your choosing-so go ahead and make your friend, or ex, the main villain). The Dark Lord, in a rather disturbing plan, steals the faces of various Miitopia citizens, leaving them faceless, emotionless husks (this game got dark quick). Being chosen by a higher power, you journey across Miitopia to rescue faces and stop the Dark Lord.
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| Watching the characters interact is one of the game's highlights |
Despite being a turn-based RPG, player involvement is surprisingly detached. In battle, the only character you directly control is your own, where you can choose from the standard RPG menus (attack, skills/magic, items). However, that's the only character you control. All your party members are controlled by AI, where they'll execute one of those three commands at random. This can lead to some pretty frustrating outcomes at times. When using items, you can only choose to use them on yourselves, so if a party member is low on HP or MP, you can't use any items to replenish them yourself, and instead have to hope that they are smart enough to use one themselves.
The level of detachment is also seen when it comes to upgrading your equipment. Instead of dedicated shops like most RPGs, every time you stop at an inn, you can see what item each party member wants. You don't actually buy the item, instead giving the gold to the character to buy the item. Most of the time they'll come back with the desired item, but sometimes they'll instead buy a completely different item.
Another example of the game's randomness is when it comes to the food preferences of your party members. As you battle monsters, your party will gather various food items, each upping a different stat. The twist is that certain party members won't like certain foods, and that will affect their effectiveness. If they don't like it, you get less, if they love it more, and so on. But you won't know how they feel about it until *after* they eat the food once. So it's all a guessing game.
Most notably, this lack of involvement is exemplified in the game's exploration, or lack thereof. The only time you move your character is in towns or the world map. Besides that, your party just moves on their own, and is essentially a cutscene, with your party members interacting with each other. This is amusing at first, but dialogue begins repeating, and I got the sense that this is something that could get old very quick. Honestly, this just feels like a huge missed opportunity, but I'll get more into why I think this is the way it is later.
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| The relationship between your party members is a huge component |
There are some things I very much enjoyed about this game. I think the job/personality mechanics work great. Each character is assigned a personality in addition to a job, and this can impact how battles play out. For example, a cool character may be more likely to dodge attacks, while a cautious character may bring out an item they need if there are none in stock that they had hidden. Its a very clever system, and one that can add tremendously to the variety of battles.
And it can't be stated just how charming this game is. In my hour or so playthrough, I still hadn't gotten over the novelty of seeing my friends go on this grand adventure, and I don't think I will. Knowing their personalities makes some of the interactions even more funny, and I hope you will be able to give even more Miis roles later on.
Now, I feel this is an RPG created for the casual RPG fan. The fan who doesn't want to spend hours grinding or exploring dungeons. Battles happen at predetermined times, and like I said, there's no actual exploration done in the game. As a huge fan of turn-based RPGs, this is a little disappointing, but I think I'm in for the long haul.
Miitopia has definite faults, but it's a game I want to keep playing. I'm definitely going to buy the full version (and I may have already by the time you read this). It's just so damn charming and witty that I can't help but smile my entire time playing. As for whether this will keep me going throughout my entire play through, well, let's see what my final review says.
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Have you played the Miitopia demo? Or the full game? Let me know what you think about it! You can also follow me on Twitter!
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