Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE

Scroll down to read the review, or watch it in video form here!

Tokyo Mirage Sessions # FE is the current 1st place contender for most utterly stupid game title of 2016. It’s also a turn-based JRPG developed jointly by Intelligent Systems, creators of the Fire Emblem series, & Atlus, the guys behind the extremely dark and mature Shin Megami Tensei series, and published by Nintendo on the Wii U.

The story takes place in modern-ish day Tokyo. A series of mysterious incidents have begun occurring result in numerous people vanishing seemingly into thin air. When our player character, witnesses his friend, and a room full of people disappear right before his eyes, he discovers a supernatural parallel world &, through the magic of “it’s video game logic so who cares” acquires a demon, I mean, persona, I mean a “mirage”, an amnesiac individual who can transform into a weapon which he will then use to battle the monsters within this world and hopefully find a way to save his friend and stop these incidents from….wait hang on a sec…

Yep, this is another RPG that blatantly copies the Persona formula almost exactly. And you know, it’s not like that’s such a bad thing, because it’s a formula that works really well, or at least it can in certain circumstances.

That said, if you’re hoping for some super-original, complex or interesting story, then I’d recommend you check elsewhere, because the plot & characters are about as cliche high-school anime as you can possibly get. Just looking at the line up, you got the benevolent airhead hero, the shy overly-friendly girl who may or may not have the hots for him, the flamboyant comedic-relief best friend, the stoic action girl, the popular girl whose full or herself, the creepily hyper-sexualized boss, the hardcore otaku, the loli-bait, & the one who’s ark and edgy so he must be the most interesting. As each character levels up, you’ll unlock side missions for each of them that give them each more individual development, but it’s never so much to the point that if you don’t already like these archetypes, which I admittedly do, then I wouldn’t count on getting that attached to anyone.

Though at least the character get by with just being “okay”. The story fares far worse. It tries to set itself up as a mystery plot, but this the bad kind of mystery, where instead of the characters actively working towards finding answers with key plot points being revealed at just the right time for dramatic effect, the whole thing is basically everyone just sitting around waiting for the next dungeon raid or plot twist to happen on cue so you can go “alright, let’s crawl through another pretty-looking, sluggishly paced dungeon for 2 hours, fight the boss at the end and save the damsel-in-distress for the day”. Occasionally the story will pull something really interesting adding another layer of intrigue but then refuses to give you even the slightest explanation for literally no reason. Withholding information for the audience just for the sake if it doesn’t immediately make your story interesting, if anything it makes it annoyingly frustrating.

For a Shin Megami Tensei game the plot is rather dull and uninspired, and it’s not like the Fire Emblem references help anything since it hardly borrows any mechanics from the series and the crossover characters are essentially limited glorified cameos. Even when the game tries to tie the two series together more, it’s still basically just fanservice without adding any really difference to the story.

Now I realize there’s a possibility that you’re probably getting the feeling that I hate Tokyo Mirage Sessions, or I’m one of those whose writes the game of as “Weeaboo Trash” and moves on. Well, the truth is I actually really like it a lot. In fact, barring Ara Fell (which you all still need to play right now), Tokyo Mirage Sessions is probably the most consistently fun I’ve had with a classical JRPG since probably Radiant Historia on the DS. From a purely mechanical and gameplay perspective the actually combat and character progression is some of the best designed and most refined in the entire SMT series.

Again this is turn-based combat so there’s not a lot to explain in terms of how you play, but there’s a number of additions that keep things interesting. For one thing, the Fire Emblem, rock-paper-scissors-esque weapon triangle means that you can’t just spam attack you way to victory, since even normal attacks won’t work equally on every enemy, but there’s also a mechanic that whenever you strike an enemy’s weakness, you can have your allies do a follow up attack for extra damage, and rewards you for finishing battles in as few rounds as possible. What this does is force you to carefully plan out every single attack you make even when fighting trash mobs, and gives you an intense sense of satisfaction every time you take a risk in strategic risk in combat that pays off. The whole thing is very risk v.s. Reward based, but it’s all balanced well enough to where as long as you know what you’re doing you’ll be able to clear your way through each dungeons with little frustration.

In terms of the design the game, the entire thing has a heavy Japanese Pop Culture vibe going on, which is definitely something that will turn a lot of people off, but I actually really appreciated it. I’ve seen plenty of elements of JPOP used in japanese games before, but they always feel like their being snuck in there, or that they are somehow ashamed of their existence. It’s so refreshing to see a game that so unapologetically goes “balls to it. We love JPOP and were not ashamed of it.” Every element from the catchy soundtrack to the art direction to the actual plot is basically one big celebration of JPOP culture and I admire that it fully embraces the crazy weird world without shame out of sheer love for it.

“Now hold on a minute. What was all that you were going on about before, then about the story being bland, or the characters personalities & development being so cliche, huh?” Well consider the fact that maybe I actually enjoy these cliches a bit. The characters may have cliche personalities & characters arcs but at least they HAVE them, which is more than I can say for the miserable attempts at characterization I see in most modern game narratives. This isn’t a Legend of Legacy situation where you have a paper-thin plot and characters who are basically walking mannequins. There is an actually story with dedicated characters here, and as corny as it all is, it’s at least committed and sincere in its execution. It never takes itself too seriously and there is an overall sense of self awareness to the whole thing, which is appreciated.

And that’s the thing with Tokyo Mirage Sessions. If you’re into the JPOP culture or the heavy modern anime style then this is going to be your jam. If not, then this isn’t going to do anything to sway your opinion. It’s a game designed for a very specific and niche audience, but instead of using that as an excuse for mediocrity, it does it’s best to make an experience that those within that niche can unashamedly enjoy to it’s fullest. While this is yet another JRPG of the year that I have to throw into “good not great” category, I’m at least glad we’re moving up the average from the sea of mediocrity is was most of the last generation.

And explanation of my rating system is available here.