Nintendo games from almost any genre are capable of making something absolutely extraordinary. Take worldwide popular Japanese role-playing game. That they can bring new, if almost everything has already been tried by hundreds of other studios? The developers at Nintendo decided that it would be nice to move the player, and along with all his friends directly into the game, thus increasing immersion in it. It is done! So, the light appeared like no other portable JRPG called Miitopia, which I would like to tell our readers.
Game: Miitopia
Platform: Nintendo 3DS
Genre: JRPG
Release date: July 28, 2017
Developer: Nintendo EPD
Publisher: Nintendo
Almost all manufacturers of gaming platforms sooner or later try to create a virtual ecosystem in which users will be comfortable to make friends, to chat, to go together with the video games and engage in other joint activities. An important component of such ecosystems are the virtual avatars of players. Microsoft is a system Avatar with a cute little painted artists Studio Rare. The Japanese company Sony was trying to create for its users a virtual world with many locations and opportunities called Home. However the attempt was unsuccessful, and the project soon turned. Nintendo in 2006 simultaneously with its Wii console introduced the world to the avatar system under the straightforward title Mii — a hybrid of the name Wii, and the English word “Me”.
Mii is created in a special editor men, embodying the players in different video games and social applications. They look extremely funny and sometimes even a little ridiculous, but certainly have a charm of its own. Tens of millions of players around the world today have their virtual incarnations in the Nintendo ecosystem. Mii avatars are used not only to game consoles Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U and Switch, but also in mobile applications of the company. Over time, the leadership of Nintendo has come to the conclusion that based on the Mii you can try to develop games in new genres, but always with a strong social component.
So in 2013, there appeared the game Tomodachi Life in the genre “life simulator” for the portable console Nintendo 3DS. The player, or rather his Mii, settled on the beautiful island along with the other avatars. Together, they partied, went shopping, settled in their homes, fought, fell in love, got married and even had children. Japanese and Western players, this uncomplicated at first glance, the idea came to mind, so the game sold an impressive circulation of 6,000,000 copies. In 2016 released a free mobile app Miitomo by which holders of Mii avatars could chat with their friends, participate in fun polls and mini-games to win various prizes and bonuses. But Nintendo decided not to stay.
The idea to create a role-playing game featuring Mii was in the air for a long time. In 2011, when the console went on sale, to all users free of charge became available to the StreetPass Mii Plaza app that includes several mini-games. Thanks to the technology of StreetPass Nintendo 3DS console instantly find each other and exchange data. Thus, players would visit each other’s homes. Drove around the city with the console in a backpack, and in the evening see you in the guests also visited several of the same players. So, one of the mini games for StreetPass was the “Save Mii”, where the main character went on a journey to a fantasy world, to release from captivity of the king, captured by the evil demon. Helped the protagonist in his wanderings Mii other players, whom he met in reality. This was the first attempt to cross Nintendo Mii avatars, and genre role-playing game. The next logical step in the development of this idea was the game Miitopia.
Miitopia – fairy-tale world that is inhabited by avatars Mii created by the owners of the consoles Nintendo. The most striking and original images into the game by vote, and vote for them by the players themselves. The game does not just avatars of ordinary people, but also different celebrities and characters from art works. So, in the game you can easily meet Gabe Newell, Donald trump, Batman, Peter Griffin, Lady Gaga and even key employees of Nintendo, including Shigeru Miyamoto and Reggie Fils-aimé. Of course, not without the characters of the famous game: here, you and Mario and link and Samus Aran, and Princess Peach, and many other well-known childhood characters. But the most important thing in the game is you and your friends. That you have to assign the Mii to the role of certain characters, including comrades and mortal enemies. You can create your own Mii into the editor from scratch, choose from a variety of presets, to load from the app Miitomo and games Tomodachi Life, or simply to choose a character from your friend list.
The plot Miitopia tells the story of a prosperous world being invaded by the Dark Lord who stole the people most dear – their faces. Yes, that’s right and things. The characters have lost their funny faces and now I can’t even communicate with each other in the absence of the mouth. The dark Lord uses the human face in order to create an army of their minions. Putting on individuals on a variety of monsters, he subdues them to his will and sends not yet affected by the disaster settlements. The main character, that is, to you, calls for help for some unnamed deity and asks to save Myutopia from the intensity of the trouble. A real hero can not stand aside when the innocent suffer. He did not hesitate to send in a long journey, whose goal is to win over the Dark Lord and return peace in Eithopia. Alone with this evil our protagonist never to handle, therefore, the deity sends him a few faithful companions.
Initially you find yourself on the world map, broken into several large regions. Each set of levels, passing that you will access later. Completing the level looks like this: on the lower screen of Nintendo 3DS is a schematic route on which the moving icon with the face of the hero, and on the top screen we see the characters stomp through fields, forests, mountains, talking to each other, engage in battle with monsters, find treasures and meet new friends. Characters can be made to run on the level, if you click on the bottom touch screen Nintendo 3DS console. A level may contain several alternative paths with forks. Where to turn at the crossroads, chooses the player. Sometimes he even gives hints like, go to the left – get on the head, I will go right to the treasure you will find. And here it all depends on your courage and ambition. Personally, I was curious to explore every alternative path and find without exception, all the treasures and secrets, so I pereprohodil some levels several times. But doing this is not necessary.
Every character in Miitopia not only has a unique appearance and name, but also temperament. You can make it good, energetic, lazy, tough, stubborn, careful or careless. And his character will directly influence its behavior in certain situations. Good characters may sometimes regret some particularly charming monster in battle, and lazy – asleep at the time when the night guard sleeping at a campfire companions. In addition to nature, you also assign each character a his “profession.” And in Miitopia a lot: from the classic warrior, mage, cleric, thief, ending a very unusual classes like cat, imp or flower. There is in the game even the profession of the tank, when the character literally puts on the tracks and turret with a gun. There are also several secret professions that you have to discover on their own in the passing game. All professions have their pros and cons, so I recommend you to try out all the options and combinations to find the optimal composition of the team of heroes.
Fighting in Miitopia step-by-step, as in most classic Japanese role-playing games. During the battle with the monsters you can control only the main character. The other characters make decisions on their own. However, you can completely automate the course of the battle, just clicking in a checkbox in the beginning of the battle. If you feel that things go wrong, don’t hesitate to use the magic powder on the funny salt shakers, restore life, mana and even quickening the dead in combat of the characters. At salt there is a certain amount of which is fully compensated at the end of each level. If the situation is even worse – you can always hide the wounded hero in “a safe place”, temporarily removing it from the battlefield. There he will regain strength and get rid of all negative statuses. Even if this does not help, you can always escape from battle and to enable his players to lick their wounds. You probably think now: this game is too easy. Yes. It is really so. But Miitopia does not cease to be fascinating. In its causality has its invisible charm that pulls you for hours and days.
At the end of each level awaits weary travellers coaching Inn where they can rest, restore your health, mana and just chat with each other. It should be noted that in the game a very important social connections between the characters. If you put two characters in one room, they get to know each other, and eventually increase the level of their relationship. This, in turn, will improve their interaction in battle. Each new level unlocks a new relationship combines skill. For example, the character will be able to take the blow intended for his companion. Or in the course of the battle and he’ll fall asleep compliments his girlfriend, thereby temporarily increasing its combat characteristics. But the coin has other side too. Sometimes the heroes fighting each other for one reason or another. In this case, be prepared for additional challenges in duels with opponents. However, quarreling always possible to reconcile, repopulating them in a hotel room or just giving them a little bit to cool down and gather my thoughts.
In the Inn the characters not only relax and socialize, but also to eat. For defeating monsters, you get gold and loot in the form of various culinary dishes. These dishes by eating increase one or several basic parameters of the character: health, mana, attack, magic power, defense and speed. Obtained from food bonuses are added to the current characteristics of the heroes and significantly help during dangerous adventures. Dishes in the game just a huge number, so here the developers have shown the wonders of the culinary ingenuity. But keep in mind that each character has certain tastes. And if one of your heroes can not live without a juicy roast beef, the other only one kind of meat may be vomiting. Tastes influence the effectiveness of a particular dish. So you need to experiment a lot and find the best menu for their wards.
Sometimes your characters will ask some pocket money for personal expenses. Someone needs to buy a new armor, and someone very fashionable sword or magic wand. Nintendo’s artists drew hundreds of various types of weapons and clothes for characters of different professions. The player will be able to choose the color of the clothes or of its elements, making the game more touches. Money to buy things can be found in scattered Meitei chests to knock out monsters or win in the arcade room of the coaching Inn. However in the latter case, you will need a special game tickets can also be found in treasure chests, or to several other ways. The choice of the visitors of the hall there are two arcade games. The first drum with a prize sectors, just like in the game show “Field of miracles”. For one ticket you can spin the reels and win money, a ticket to a holiday on an exotic island (and that the heroes also need to calm the nerves), rare armor and other valuable prizes. The second game is a classic “Rock, scissors, paper”, a prize which is money. Win once – get 500 gold. Can collect money or to participate in the second round, where your prize is doubled, and so on. If you lose, you lose all of your money, so don’t let the excitement to gain the upper hand over you.
The game manages to be simultaneously charming, funny, exciting and even somewhat ridiculous. To observe the relationship of the tiny men, listen to their reasoning, internal feelings and dreams – it is always interesting and unusual. They sing and dance, laugh and sad, make a wish when see a falling star, a sacrifice, if their friends are in trouble. In other words – act like real live people. Virtual world Miitopia lives a very busy life and become part of this amazing ecosystem Nintendo allowed us players. The game, despite the lack of interactivity in some cases, never ceases to surprise the player with their variety, a huge number of comical situations, unexpected plot twists, vivid characters and witty dialogue. What can I say: even the monsters and bosses in the game look and behave the way they smile. Take the evil gobbler, who pulled stolen by the Dark Lord’s face on his sorry ass, and now it is taunting our heroes. Well, how can we not be touched? In some cases, the player is given a choice: to punish or to spare the vanquished villain. The game teaches us to be kind, learn to forgive and to love others. But not in the religious sense, but as something in its own way, philosophically.
To minimize player fatigue from constantly recurring events (level – coaching Inn – pumping – again level), the developers have tried to diversify the gameplay with mini games and various bonuses. In the course of the wanderings and then you will meet a very colorful NPC. For example, fan quizzes, asking you to play with him in an exciting game, the prize for winning which can be very valuable items. You just need the silhouette to guess what kind of character, or of several very similar faces to find his comrade. Sometimes you will meet a pretty lady that asked: do you have at hand collectible Amiibo? Attaching a figure to the console, you will get a rare costume for their characters or more tickets in the arcade room. A trifle, but nice. I’m especially not going to tell you about the other surprises that are inherent in the game. I think that all this will be especially pleased to discover on your own.
Visually Miitopia looks very nice. Of course, it should be understood that the hardware Nintendo 3DS console much obsolete. It in 2011 was not much performance, and even 6 years later. But even so, artists EPD Nintendo tried to fame and created a bright, memorable and most diverse world in which you want to return as often as possible. Game locations are incredibly vivid and picturesque, and to attend our heroes happen in a huge number of various places: from the arid deserts and tropical jungles to the depths of the volcano and the city with neon signs. What struck me most in this game is its music. Especially for Miitopia four Japanese composers have made hundreds (!!!) music tracks, including some with vocal parts. And this music is not some kind of “prohodnyak” and truly memorable works that you’re then in between humming and smiling.
Most likely, in our country most of the players this great game is not appreciated. And they will make it completely in vain. Despite the childish innocence and Miitopia has an interesting combat system, based on the relationship of the characters, just a huge amount of content, interesting mini-games, ridiculous situations, and other pleasures. If you don’t want to spend 2,500 rubles for a cartridge game, fearing that you have no taste, for a start you can download a free trial version Miitopia. The demo is fairly large and it takes about a couple of hours, and save from it can then be transferred to the full version of the game, if you do decide to buy it. I did not expect from Miitopia nothing special, as I was not completely impressed with the game Tomodachi Life, which is the ideological predecessor of this JRPG. But in the end Nintendo will get something truly amazing. And I’d really like to convey this important information to their readers.
Pros:
- Pleasant graphics, animations and very beautiful game world.
- The game understandable and accessible to all categories of players.
- The first time you and your friends will be in the heart of the plot of the RPG.
- A huge number of random events and a variety of mini-games.
- The range of professions for your characters.
- Deep system for the development of relations between the characters.
- Great music, including the beautiful vocals.
- The game has a very comfortable level of difficulty.
- In Miitopia can get stuck in 40-50 hours, if not more.
- The game is very good: teaches the player to love and forgive.
- In the game you can meet dozens of celebrities.
Cons:
- Not a serious environment of the game will scare away most players.
- There is no translation of the game into Russian language, which is very sad.
- Repetitive actions are sometimes tiring.
- Lacking full control over characters in battle.
Miitopia was completely unexpected and a pleasant summer release for the handheld console 3DS. The developers at Nintendo managed to perfect a way to breed avatars Mii and popular JRPG genre. Never has a player could not make a journey in the fabulous world together with your friends. Despite the simplicity of the gameplay and the lack of seriousness of the plot, Miitopia captivates the player behind him and takes him dozens of hours. Nice graphics, beautiful music, good humor, interesting combat system and a huge number of comical situations – it is far not all advantages of this great game. To be honest, I continue to play it almost every day and just don’t know how to stop. Of course, Miitopia not reinvent the JRPG genre, however, has breathed new life into it. But it’s worth it. I put the game score of 8 out of 10.
Review game Miitopia: JRPG for the whole family
Sergey Grey