Developer: Nintendo EPD, Grezzo
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Switch
Tested on: Switch
Miitopia – Review
Since the release of the Wii, the Mii characters have become a staple in the Nintendo games world. We have seen them pop up regularly when playing online on the Wii, they became the standard way of measuring how many people we met during our journeys when running around with a 3DS on standby, or they even came to life when actual ‘Mii’ Amiibos were made. These little personal avatars have also become a creative outlet for many, recreating famous characters from other games or series, albeit within the limited palette the Mii creator had on offer. In 2016 (2017 worldwide) Miitopia came to life, which was a grand-scale adventure to populate an entire pocket-sized RPG experience with as many Mii characters as possible. 0Now, we have a semi-remastered version of that game on Nintendo’s Switch, with new features that allow creative people to truly go wild, and a few other changes, such as outings to create a bond between characters, and a valiant steed to aid your party in battle.
Story
The story in Miitopia is actually quite simple. You create your own avatar to embark on an adventure in an unknown world. You have no particular skill set, but you soon find yourself in quite a pickle when the Dark Lord (who you can give a face and name yourself) starts stealing all the faces of the people in the world. With divine intervention, a god grants you powers in order to track down the Dark Lord and have him return the faces he has stolen.
Overall the plot is not really that thick, but it is quite charming and engaging. It also puts the creative aspect in play, as you design the faces of all the NPCs and party members yourself. You’ll get bits of information now and then, while playing through short levels, making fairly quick progress. Your party members will also communicate with one another during your journey, but this is all just random banter and does not add up to the overall story value.
Graphics
There is no doubt that the Switch version of Miitopia looks a lot more detailed than its original 3DS counterpart, it doesn’t immediately push the Switch to its limits. The game consists of a lot of premade models, with facial features that come out of the Mii editor, be it the original one or the one from inside this new ‘remaster’. This means that you’ll have a mix of 3D models with drawn-on facial features, creating a fun experience for young and old. As this game includes its own editor for wigs and makeup, you can create a lot of different combinations for the NPCs and your party members in the game. You can literally recreate iconic characters from other games to star in your game. You want to play as a character with Bowser’s face and pummel Mario to create an opposite world? That’s perfectly possible. You want to go on an RPG adventure with Sonic, Tingle, and Midna? That’s also a viable option. Each character will also have some physical changes depending on its job type and gear. Depending on how you have created your Miis, you will encounter a fair number of clipping errors.
Other than the near countless options in terms of facial features, the game drops you in simple on-rails levels with simple backdrops. The game does offer a variety of different environments, making sure things don’t get too dull. Some cinematics are animated in a sort of sketch-like comic book fashion, which suits whatever is going on. Nonetheless, some things get recycled too much, making them somewhat tedious after a while.
Sound
For a ‘simple’ game such as this, the soundtrack is amazingly expansive. Of course, the combat music ends up becoming repetitive, which is not uncommon for a game like this, but there is a varied soundtrack when exploring the world, or doing casual events. We did very much enjoy the backdrop throughout our fairly lengthy journey. The sound effects suffice for a game in this genre. Your characters make some gibberish sounds when talking, but there is no real voice acting present in the game.
Gameplay
Miitopia is a simplistic RPG adventure game with a fairly low difficulty level. The game will let you go from one tiny stage to another, to move automatically, only having to choose a different direction now and then, and best your enemies in turn-based battles. The game offers a varied number of jobs (classes) to pick from for you and your party members. The game, however, only allows full control over your own personal Mii, while your compatriots automatically choose their attacks and skills during battles. Of course, you can intervene in terms of healing. The offset is quite simple, as you just beat tiny stages, gain experience while bonding with your party members, to eventually always end up in an inn, to buy new gear, bond even further, play mini-games and provide your party with food, which will boost passive stats. The basics are all there, and there are some intricacies to get the hang of, but overall Miitopia is a simple affaire to play through. This is by no means a bad thing as it makes the game very accessible. The accessibility factor is further strengthened by the addition of adding a trusty steed to the party, which you can also bond with, allowing you to do even more damage at times, making some battles a lot easier.
The main gameplay loop consists of plaything through short levels, while also designing a lot of Miis to inhabit your world. The designing factor is something you can go all out with, as the added make-up option in the game makes it so that you can recreate many famous characters from other games and franchises. The levels, however, just put you on rails, with a few encounters and treasure chests sprinkled in-between. The game is somewhat of a rinse and repeat kind of experience, leaning more towards very old-school RPG titles. The only drag is that these levels force you to play them multiple times if you actually want to fully complete them. More than often you’ll have multiple forks in the road, making it so that you have to pick a direction and then replay the level later to explore the other part(s) of that level. Some levels you actually have to beat four or five times to explore it to the fullest. This is probably an incentive to make sure you replay levels and gain enough experience for tougher battles.
While the game’s simplicity will be quite alluring for a younger audience, and those seeking a more casual experience, it is also the game’s biggest weakness. After a set number of hours, the game turns into a grind, dulling down some of the initial fun. This is also noticeable in the segments the game locks away your current chosen job, as well as your party members, to basically ‘restart’ from scratch, forcing you to grind once again. This mechanic actively halts your progress, only for you to do everything over again, albeit on a new part of the map. We understand that due to the nature and basic offset of the game, this is just a tactic to ensure the game takes longer to beat, but it could have easily done without this mechanic. Having to work with a new party also means that you will once again have to form bonds, which level up really slow, as well as provide food for your party members, making sure they don’t get killed instantly in future fights. We reckon the addition of the ‘outings’ to the inn menu tries to soften the blow a bit, but the outing tickets are actually quite rare to come by, thus not adding that much help of forging better bonds with your allies. To speed things up, you can keep the B button pressed down to accelerate combat, conversations, and certain other events.
Conclusion
For creative minds and casual gamers alike, Miitopia is an absolute delight. The game allows creative players to create tons of original characters to be part of their story, easily ramping up the actual gameplay hours the game has to offer. Then, casual players can enjoy this adventure at a leisurely pace, being able to also download very pretty character designs via access keys (which you can easily find online). Those seeking a hardcore RPG experience, however, will be left wanting more. Miitopia is a great access point for those looking for an easy-to-play RPG experience, but you’ll have to do a fair bit of grinding to actually keep progressing at a steady pace. We enjoyed the game, but we do hope for some more elaborate mechanics in a possible sequel.
Miitopia - Review,
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